《Supersum: Living in another world [LitRPG Transmigration Fantasy]》 Archive Chapter 0: Collection Of Maps, General Information And More 1. 2. 3. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. 4. 5. 6. 7. Chapter 0.1: All Skills Sorted
Mana Skills Magic Skills Artificing Skills Hex/Holy Skills Summoning Skills Linguistic Skills
Body Overload (Mana) Algorithmics Artificing Abjutation (Abschw?rung) Conjuration Linguistic
Mana Absorption Assembling Enchanting Astrology Evocation Lip Reading
Mana Compression Chanting Engineering Fortune-Telling Sign Language
Mana Emission Cryptography Hacking Hexes
Mana Fear Encryption Physics Tarot Cards Reading
Mana Force Spell-Crafting Coding Theology
Mana Manipulation Multi-Casting
Mana Resonance
Mana Sense
Mana Vibration
Mana Theory
Mana Seering
Alchemy/Pharmacy Skills Medicine Skills Agriculture (Plants & Animals) Skills Animal Handling (Not Agriculture) Skills Food Preparation Skills Housework Skills
Alchemy Biochemistry Animal Breeding (Farm) Animal Breeding Baking Cleaning
Botany Biology Animal Handling Animal Riding Brewing Gardening
Herbalism Dentistry Farming Archaeology Butchering
Pharmacy First Aid Fishing Coaching Cooking
Medicine Herding Monster Breeding
Nursing Monster Riding
Surgery Taming (Animal)
Toxicology Taming (Monster)
Civil Engineering Skills Blacksmith Skills Leatherworking Skills Tailoring Skills Physical Strengthening Skills Mental Strengthening Skills
Architecture Blacksmithing Leather Working Cobbling Fitness Meditation
Building (Construction) Metallurgy Skinning Knitting Stretching Pain Resistance
Carpentry Mining Tanning Patching Cold Resistance Stress Resistance
Digging Sewing Heat Resistance Sleep Resistance
Stonemasonry Tailoring Hex Resistance
Woodworking Curse Resistance
Poison Resistance
Abnormal Status Resistance
Body Reinforcement
Corrosion Resistance
Fine Arts Skills Adoration Skills Beauty Skills Gaming Skills Assassin/Spy/Thief Skills Law-Enforcement Skills
Acrobatic Charm Cosmetics Chess Criminology Interrogating
Acting Flirting Fashion Sense Gambling Disguising Law
Calligraphy Seducing Specific Game* Escape Artistry
Candlemaking Sexwork Forgery
Composition Lockpicking
Dancing Locksmithing
Designing Sleight Of Hand
Drawing Sneaking
Juggling Stealth
Miming Torturing
Music
Painting
Poetry
Pottery
Puppeteering
Sculpting
Singing
Specific Instrument Playing*
Story Telling
Ventriloquism
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Socializing Skills Mental Fortitude Skills Elementary Education Skills Academic (Secondary) Skills Economical Skills Liberal Arts Skills
Bargaining Bravery Mathematics Analyzing Accounting Culture
Bartering Determination Reading Deduction Administration History
Begging Focusing Writing Logics Appraising Philosophy
Bluffing Insight Memorization Economy Politics
Brainwashing Absolute Mental Control Researching Management
Confidence Mental Control Parallel Thinking Marketing
Debating Mental Resistance PR
Deceiving Persistence Trading
Detect Lies Lust Control
Emotional Manipulation
Empathy
Hypnotism
Instigator
Leading
Mimicry
Noble''s Pride
Persuasion
Provoking
Psychology
Teaching
Threatening
Convincing
Military Skills Marine Skills Survival Skills Fighting Skills Moving Skills Nature Skills
Cartography Camouflage Archery Arts Climbing Transformation
Climatology Astronomy Detect Traps Axe Arts Dashing
Geology Canoneering Disarm Traps Dagger Arts Dodging
Military Science Meteorology Tracking Force Deflection Evasion
Navigation Sailing Trapping Hammer Arts Flash
Strategy Martial Arts Marching
Tactics Parrying Miniscule Reaction
Polearm Arts Running
Shield Arts Steady Feet
Spear Arts Swimming
Sword Arts Balance
Throwing Arts Poise
Tail Arts
Chapter 1: The Beginning "Is everything fine?" Two women were standing around a crib in a room full of beautifully carved middle-aged-style furniture. Both were gorgeous and mature ¨C one with golden eyes, the other with crimson-red ones. The one with red eyes sighed, clearly annoyed, "Please don''t worry, my lady." On the other hand, the one with golden eyes bit the nail on her thumb slightly. Her red hair concealed her face slightly while she stared worryingly inside the crib. She was not listening to what the red-eyed woman said, concentrating worryingly only on what was before her, "I don''t get it. His siblings were so different." The woman with red eyes stepped a little toward the crib and brought her wolf''s tail to block the mother''s sight, "My lady, I bet I am not the first healer, am I right?" The mother looked at the healer, who blocked her sight. Her wolf ears stood up, and with eyes full of anger, she answered while growling, "If you don''t tuck your dirty black tail away, I will rip it off." The room''s atmosphere became so thick that it was possible to cut it. The healer moved her tail swiftly away while stepping back from the crib and spoke full of fear while slightly bowing down, "I apologize, lady Marisia." The healer bowed and felt the lady''s sight on her. Sharp killing intent could be felt around the room. She was intensely sweating while looking at the floor without moving. The red-haired wolf-kin sighed and dismissed her, "Fine, leave." "Thank you, lady Marisia," the healer turned around and went quickly for the door without looking back out of fear. Her back was so wet from fear that Marisia could see her skin through the clothes. As the door closed, Marisia clicked her tongue and looked back inside the crib, her killing intent gone. Her eyes became more peaceful as she saw her child lying inside. It had golden eyes, a snow-white tail, hair, and ear fur. She smiled as she looked at her son''s calm but curious eyes, ''My little boy, Alexander.'' She took Alexander in her arms and started to caress him while talking in a soft and quiet voice, "I don''t know why you are so active, trying to move so much, but also so quiet at the same time, barely crying." She opened the window lightly and got a blanket to cover herself and her son. Afterward, she went to a rocking chair. The beautiful and elegant woman with wolf-like features sat down gently so as not to disturb her son. She began to rock back and forth softly. Marisia continued to caress her son while saying softly, "Your siblings cried as much as the cat tribe during their mating season while you¡­." She chuckled and watched as Alexander slowly fell asleep in her arms. ... Hours later The puppy, or how he was named: Alexander, woke up and looked curiously around. After checking that he didn''t dream, he started his daily routine, ''Pampers? Hungry? Check and Check. Everything looks and feels fine.'' Trying to move, he gave up very quickly again, ''Too tiring¡­.'' Ten minutes passed while he lay there, sometimes moving from side to side and playing with his tail while he contemplated his current circumstances, ''I can''t believe it¡­.'' Like always, after he slept, he thought about what had happened last month, and not like he had much else to do. He remembered how he was born and being watched by what were probably: doctors, parents, siblings, and maids, ''This shit is crazy¡­.'' Sighing heavily, as much as an infant could, he looked around again and thought about what had happened before he was reincarnated, like so many times before. He was an ordinary guy in his previous life. While he came from a relatively low-income family who lived in a war-torn place, his luck was quite good, more or less, as his family sought refuge in a Western country and got accepted. When young, he went to school, afterward joined the military for a couple of years as an orientation, and then got a degree at a university. Friends and family thought he was crazy for going to the military, but they consisted not only of guys at the front line. He remembered that ~50 - 70% of personnel were in support roles. Medical teams, IT specialists, accountants, logistics specialists, technicians, etc. So, most concerns were unfounded, as they would never send someone like an accountant to the frontline, even if he wished they would do it to their lawyers. After the initial training, which everyone went through, and some tests, he was accepted to a field where his talents could shine. Luckily for him, it was STEM which he also liked. While not having a college degree was problematic, he got vocational training as an electrician in IT/CE (computer engineer). Nothing fancy, though. After six years, with four of them in a foreign country, he left the military and started his college career with some love life in between. Finishing it resulted in a Master''s, 2 Bachelor''s, one B.A., the other B.Sc., and a fianc¨¦. This is where his luck stopped, as he got stabbed by an ex of hers before he could start at his first job. Death was what happened instead, or rather reincarnation, as he slowly realized it and came to terms with it. While thinking about it, fury sought within him, ''That stupid fucker! I hope he burns in hell!'' After cursing inwardly and wishing his murderer got fucked by Satan''s spiky dick, he became more relaxed. Alexander tried to be more positive, as being negative only dragged him into depressing and suicidal thoughts, ''At least my sister is a doc, so she can keep my little brother financially stable¡­ shit. I miss them so much¡­ why did this happen to me?'' His face contorted slightly, and his frustration was slowly seeping out after holding it back for a long time, ''I volunteered and helped my community, donated money, helped underprivileged kids¡­ DAMN!'' "A heee Ahh Waaa eee!" ''I even lived as a Vegetarian, more because of my better half than on my own accord, though¡­.'' This thought stang the most as he remembered his fianc¨¦, ''God, I miss you, Angie¡­ I love you, sweetheart ¨C hopefully, you are living a happy and fulfilling life after I died.'' "Ga geee uuuuhhhhh." Tears started to fall as all his emotions exploded from the inside. He sniffed and crawled into a ball, hugging his tail, ''I thought I would at least see my parents again, who were executed in this shit-ass war right before fleeing¡­.'' "A waaa eee uuuuu." He sniffed again and gripped his tail with more strength, his ear dropping, ''Fuck, I need to get my shit together, but I am obviously not myself ¨C I can''t control my emotions and thoughts.'' He sniffed again and cried. He held everything back for a time as he oriented himself in this new world, but after he accepted the situation, all the emotions came rushing back, and dark thoughts entered his mind, ''Should I end it¡­ maybe then I can see my loved ones again...'' He sniffed and cried. The door to his room opened, but he didn''t notice it. He sniffed again, wetting his tail with his tears and sobbing. Alexander heard a series of steps, and as he looked up. He knew who this was by pure instinct. Before him stood a beautiful woman, his mother ¨C looking at him with worried eyes, "#### ####### ##### ### ######## ####." She gently said something that Alexander couldn''t understand and took him softly. She went to the rocking chair, sat down, and started caressing him as delicately as possible. It was dark. Only the moons were in all their colors, and this woman looked at him like only a mother could, and he could feel her love. Like a link, you could never explain. Marisia''s expression showed worry as she sat and caressed her son, ''Damn it. I forgot that I have a new life.'' Alexander broke down in tears and gripped her hand. ''¡­new loved ones¡­.'' He tried to wrap his tail around her arm to get closer. ''¡­new parents¡­'' He needed closeness. ''¡­new siblings¡­'' Warmth he only got from family. ''¡­I need to get over it and start a new¡­.'' It was a bliss that he could only now appreciate. Before his thoughts went into overdrive again, he heard a wonderful voice. Soft like a summer breeze, which hugged him with every note like a warm blanket. Alexander closed his eyes and decided to embrace this new world. It was a fresh start, he thought. Afterward, he fell asleep to a soothing voice that comforted his soul. ... Sometime later A young wolf-kin girl ran through the main mansion. Her hair was greasy and messy, and she wore a white shirt that was buttoned up asymmetrically, crinkled linen pants, and a pair of house shoes that differed on each foot, ''I overslept again! She was lucky that her father was on a thinning campaign in the West, or he would let her suffer if he saw her like this. Such thoughts let her shiver. Thinning meant nothing more than hunting all monsters down they came across in vital areas. It was much more complicated than it sounded. It was done to secure trade routes for a prolonged time. Monster thinning consisted of identifying the locations where the monsters were born, exterminating them, and then cleaning up the area to keep it as free from monsters as possible. While some adventurers and mercenaries helped with protection, more was needed, and the Leonandra''s, as rulers, provided it. Her mother was as occupied as her father, but differently, with the new puppy to even care about her sloppiness. The latest blessing was much more active than what she ever saw from her siblings. She remembered how they sat on a couch in the tearoom, discussing various topics. Out of the blue, Alexander, who was lying between her mother and one of her friends, shot up like a wild boar and banged his head against her mother''s thigh, almost falling to the floor. Luckily, the visiting friend managed to grab him by the foot in mid-air, preventing a severe injury. Everyone in the room almost had a heart attack. Since then, someone was always looking after him: The servants, his siblings, like her, or their mother. Even her mother used to mumble that this was abnormal, but what made it more unusual was that he had already started talking in coherent sentences after only four to five months, which was very early. She didn''t know what this meant, but he always tried to babble with her. He tried to form sentences, but the wolf-kin girl, obviously, couldn''t understand him. Lorient came out of her thoughts as she was before the door to the dining room, she tried to change her mindset, but this puppy didn''t leave her mind, and a whisper left her mouth, "Cute." Opening the door to the dining room, five pairs of eyes fell on her. She rubbed the back of her neck, smiled, and apologized sheepishly, "Hehe, sorry for being late¡­." The whole room sighed at her, and she thought that even the puppy did that, ''What the...?! I could''ve sworn that Alex sighed at me!'' She ignored it, though, and went quickly to the end of the table to the place reserved for the oldest child, and as one, she showed a perfect appearance, except for the clothes, hair, and shoes. But her demeanor was excellent, having a stride befitting a knight''s daughter. Maintaining a straight back like a pole. Overall, a show of dignity and gracefulness, which was the minimum after all the training she went through in her short life. She sat down and started her meal by grabbing the bread with butter. Annoyingly, her breakfast was almost immediately interrupted as she took a big bite. She heard a slightly passive-aggressive voice with a chuckle, "Lori, if you need help to put clothes on the right way, just ask. No need to embarrass yourself, hehe." Lorient glanced to the opposite side of the table and saw her younger brother wagging his tail slowly, Narsiz. Golden-blonde hair, a face with childish big golden eyes, and baby fat, typical for a nine-year-old puppy. But his eyes showed something of a competitor. Lorient''s relationship with him worsened since she awakened a rare [Divinity Line]. Well, it was not really rare in the narrowest sense since it was rated as common, but nonetheless, it was seen as something rare because it was very nich¨¦ and precious in this part of Moorgrel and, of all, the Mal-Gil empire. Narsiz had always been more talented than her. Still, she had awoken a relatively unique and outstanding [Divinity Line], which brought out his fighting spirit as only one child of the current generation could inherit the knightage title. This made him suddenly become overly competitive for the title. The other children in their household were mostly free to do what they wanted. This made Lorient remember her little knowledge about politics and their empire''s rank system. It was pretty unique for the Leonandra family, and the reason was unknown to her, though. You would be married off in every other aristocratic family for more power. There was also more uniqueness: The inheritance didn''t go to the oldest child like human nobles or other beast-kin families did. There was a strict focus on merit. She clicked her tongue and tried to ignore him. If they started a fight right now, their mother would be their new sparring partner for today. This made her shiver slightly. She saw how Narsiz smirked and shrugged his shoulders from her peripheral view, obviously stopping his obnoxious provocations. But then she remembered her little sister, Sarah, who sat beside her. Lorient peeked at Sarah, and she looked right back at her. Her big green eyes locked onto Lorient, and an adorable smile bloomed on her chubby little face. She looked so adorable to Lorient, which automatically brought a smile to the oldest sibling, ''She is the best potion against feeling down since she is so cute.'' Sarah greeted her joyfully, "Good morning, big sister!" Lorient gently grabbed her head and started caressing behind her pastel-green-furred ears. This already made Lorient more cheery, "Morning Sarah, did you have fun yesterday with the teacher?" She took a bite from her bread and tried to talk with a full mouth, "Uhum, Tscheacher wat reabby shtrict." Lorient chuckled slightly and stopped her before she choked on her breakfast, "Swallow first down and then tell me everything." The little puppy nodded while she waved her tail slowly and concentrated on her food again. Lorient took another slice of bread, smeared a handful of butter on it, and looked toward her mother and the family''s newest puppy. She let out a small whisper, "So cute¡­." He just lay in their mother''s arms while she breastfed him. She looked up from Alexander and met with Lorient''s eyes, smiling slightly at her, "Hm, honey, do you have any plans for today?" She was much more friendly than usual, even calling her honey. This made Lorient feel a little weird, but she chose to ignore it. Lorient thought for a moment before answering, "Nope, do you want me to look after this little puppy?" Marisia looked between Alexander and Lorient and sighed, "Yes, I need to be in Wolfsteeth for a meeting." "Oh, what for?" After asking her, Lorient looked at her mother as she furrowed her brows strongly. Her tone became much more serious, "The wave this time will be much stronger and¡­." Lorient almost choked on her bread and started coughing. After a moment, she asked hastily, "What about Dad?!" Marisia panicked as Alexander stopped eating and started to look at Lorient, scared. Everyone thought only one thing: ''Please don''t cry!'' After ten seconds of intense silence, they were clear as Alexander started to eat again. Everyone sighed in relief. Alexander wasn''t a crybaby, but sometimes he would start crying for hours without reason, so they wanted to avoid upsetting him. Marisia said with a slightly tensed voice, "Eat. I will tell you after the meeting." She stared blankly at the plate and remembered the last time a big wave had happened. A cracking sound interrupted her thoughts. The wooden cup in Narsiz''s hand cracked while he looked at his mother, and he sounded worried, "Mother, how bad?" She leaned back in her chair, holding Alexander more intimately, and said solemnly, "Estimation shows that it should be around three times the normal wave." "WHAT!" "HOW?!" The dining room became void of sound after the outburst. A wave three times the size was insane since wild demons could just roll over their territory like a tidal wave if they only prepared as usual. Also, something else worried the children: Nine years ago, shortly after Narsiz''s birth, it was terrible, too. Their father followed his duty and went to the frontline, like every couple of years, but that time, he almost died. He needed some years to recuperate from such a wave, and now it seemed worse. Narsiz urged his mother for more information, "Mother, will the count or the other clans and families send us aid?" Lorient looked at Narsiz and saw that he was anxious. While he was competitive and a little scumbag to her for some time, he, like Lorient, held their family''s well-being over everything else. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Marisia became slightly annoyed as she furrowed her brows and pinched between her eyes, "I don''t know, for this, we will have the meeting later, but so you know..." She looked at her children, and her voice became saddened, "Your father will not come back for years then it begi¡­." Before she could end her sentence, Sarah cried out, interrupting her, "WHY!? I want to meet Papa!" Lorient saw how Sarah had tears in her eyes and knew how she felt. She thought back to when she would meet her father again as he was most of the time at the frontline, pushing back wild demons or monsters who either wanted to disrupt their territory''s trade routes or, in general, encroach into their fief and threaten their subjects. Because of the coming wave, which will be much more extensive, her father would need to thin out as much as possible beforehand, build more infrastructure to hold the monsters back more efficiently and hire help from the outside while he is in the east fighting wild demons. Lorient understood that her father''s duty was more important than having tea time with his children, so she reacted more composed. Marisia seemed very apologetic as she spoke to her youngest daughter, "Sarah, papa will be back in around two years, after he¡­." Before Marisia could end her sentence, Sarah threw her beautifully carved wooden plate to the floor and screamed, "NO! HE PROMISED ME!" Tears were building up as she breathed intensely, "I ONLY¡­" she huffed heavily, barely holding back, "...PAPA ONE TIME¡­." she became more agitated, "...HE PROMISED ME!" Sarah cried and sobbed. She was in distress, "Wahhh!" Lorient stood up and wanted to hug her, but Sarah was too much of a hothead and pushed her away, "NO! I WANT PAPA!" She looked at everyone with red eyes and snot all over her face and ran away after a short moment, bashing the door behind her. Marisia approached Lorient, clearly distressed by this fiasco, saying, "Here, take Alexander and look after him." For some reason, in Lorient''s mind, the puppy stood still and looked curiously around, not even disturbed by the situation. She took him and watched her mother walk gracefully towards the door. Lorient knew she would tell her how the meeting went later today or tomorrow. As such, she needed to calm herself down, expect the worst, and hope for the best. Before Marisia left, she looked at Narsiz, "Go and talk with Sarah, be sensitive, and just be there for her." Narsiz nodded slightly and stood up after he used a serviette to clean his mouth, "Absolutely." Marisia said her farewell, looked back and sighed heavily before leaving for the meeting. After the door closed, Lorient looked Narsiz in his eyes, and he looked back with a more friendly expression. He sighed, "Huuuh, I will get the servants on my way to Sarah so they can clean up this mess." Lorient nodded and gave him her gratitude as today, many servants were busy with some dealings, and she would need to look for them, "Thanks." Narsiz walked away towards Sarah''s room. He waved his hand without looking back, "Not for this." Lorient looked at the little puppy in her arms as he held onto her blouse. She sighed and whispered to him, "Let us go to the art room." ... A little later Alexander was confused. Not only was he reborn, which shattered a lot of his worldviews, but he also landed in The Jerry Springer Show. From the little he could understand, it had something to do with his father, ''I hope he didn''t cheat on Mom. Christmas would be weird... if there was Christmas, but I doubt we have here a Jesus... do we actually?'' He threw the useless thoughts away to the back of his mind and looked up and saw his new sister, Lorient. Her wolf''s ears twitched, and she looked back, smiling at him while walking somewhere with him in her arms. Alexander somehow accepted that he was reborn, but he had to accept that he was now some kind of weird animal mix with abnormal ears and a tail. He thought that he could get used to it. But this was not even the most bizarre thing to him as he remembered the system and its appearance. In the first couple of weeks as an infant, Alexander was pretty much bored to death after overcoming his mental breakdown. To not get insane from the boredom, he did some mental calculations and heard a continuous ringing sound. He thought it was his subconsciousness as he had nothing to do except sleep, eat, and let the servants suffer. After he rolled, played, and did a lot of thinking, he heard more of those sounds and thought that he was going insane as it sounded eerily similar to the system notifications of a particular operating system. Before he could imagine the worst again, out of nowhere, his glorious system window popped up in front of him. He immediately understood what the ringing was and what the window meant, as he had played a couple of RPGs at some point in his previous life. Everything was there. Skills, levels, attributes, and so on, but the best thing was that the bored puppy had something to do! Alexander then tried out more things that he could comfortably remember and pushed the levels of some skills, which was pretty easy in the beginning. While he tried to level up his skills, he also noticed that his experience increased. Every time he would level up, he would get the experience equivalent to the previous level from which he leveled up. Examplewise, if he leveled up [Mathematics] from level 1 to 2, his Exp increased by 1, but when he leveled it up from level 2 to 3, his Exp increased by 2, and so on. As his overall level increased several times, he noticed how each level needed 100 Exp. He would also get a [Free Stat Point], which he couldn''t use for some reason, ''I can''t wait until I can communicate better to ask more questions!'' At that point, he tried as many things as he could. [Logics] was the hardest, as he barely remembered stuff like propositional logic. But as he tried to recall all that he had learned in his university days, for example, De Morgan''s laws, and apply them exemplarily in his imagination, he almost instantly leveled the skill up two times. Miraculously, he could recall it more clearly and use it much faster, ''I would''ve needed you in my university days...'' This obviously made him ask more questions, for example, how the system determines what skill would level up. What would the system choose if one did a complex calculation in something physics-related? ''Well, this is food for thought for later.'' While he was lost in his thoughts, they arrived at a room full of paintings. They started looking over some art that reminded him of a mix of the middle ages and modern times, ''I hope I didn''t land in some backward country, but looking at what the art looks like, I am very right.'' Some knights and brutal scenes were depicted, so Alexander''s assumption was even more confirmed, ''Well, at least I won the lottery this time! I am probably some child of a wealthy merchant or aristocrat, hehe.'' Their short appreciation of NSFW paintings was interrupted as a lady in white came looking for them. He had seen her often in the last weeks. She always examined him with something that looked like a spell. This was something new and fascinating since, in his eyes, this was something akin to magic, which only existed in media in his previous world. It looked like she was in a hurry, searching for them, and wasn''t really keen on doing this work. The doctor, this was what Alexander assumed she was, greeted his big sister and started her daily examination on him. By that point, he was stable enough, emotionally, to investigate the feeling she gave him. Every time she examined him, something felt weird and out of place, and he couldn''t put his finger on it as this was something absolutely new. Alexander became giddier as the examination started, ''This is obviously magic, so this should be something I can learn too, right?'' With this in mind, when she used her spell again, a greenish-white light came out of her hands and invaded him. He tried to hold onto the sensation as much as possible and tried to copy it. It was weird when he suddenly sensed it more clearly and knew what it was. Since he was born and started to examine the world around him, there was a bizarre sensation; only now, as he tried to hold onto it, could he recognize it much more clearly. It was odd, and this feeling became clearer until he heard the system notification. That was when he started to sense the bizarre sensation around him more clearly. Alexander couldn''t accurately describe it, but if he needed to, it felt similar to when he was blinded by a flash grenade and was blind for weeks. When he recovered and opened his eyes again, it was like a whole new world to discover which he had forgotten. The healer concluded her examination and left. But Alexander ignored her entirely as his adventurous spirit was ignited and started testing everything he could to see if it was now functioning differently with his new sense. Sadly it was somewhat restricted as he was an infant and could only test things mentally. Not like there was a roll-around or tail-hug skill. He unlocked [Meditation], which was pretty easy to get. He didn''t know what it did precisely and only knew that he got relaxed after a round of meditation. To his dismay, nothing changed. He immediately tried another skill that could be slightly different: [Alchemy]. It was weird since alchemy in itself was, in his previous world, only an old term for chemistry and disregarded after the concepts became more fleshed out. After much trial and error, Alexander could unlock it because he knew about typical lab tech stuff and remembered fundamental things. He imagined the procedure step by step: titrations, distillations, etc. But his new sense didn''t do anything to it as he tried to imagine everything from the theory to the practicality in the laboratory. It was a downer, as he could guess it had something to do with it. Otherwise, the system would probably name it chemistry, ''One more thing on my to-do list, next!'' He tried to imagine medicine/biology and remembered what his ex-fianc¨¦ told him about her studies as she was about to become a doctor, ''Nothing... damn it!'' He wanted more privacy to test out this sensation more, but his sister interrupted his tests as she spoke in this annoying baby-blabbering tone. Still, Alexander appreciated that she tried to always talk with him. This time though, it seemed she was thinking a lot and only spoke occasionally. He assumed it had something to do with the situation at breakfast. "Hey ###### puppy, do you #### to ####?" He felt proud that he could understand her partly. The only problem was that his new language was very longwinded and exact. There were little ambiguities, as much as he could tell. Alexander gave his best ladykiller smile and tried to communicate as coherently as possible, "Yesh!" He heard the level-up notification and instantly felt how his old gamer personality came alive, ''Hell yeah, probably leveled up [Charm]!'' She let Alexander down on the carpet and started playing with him. After he began to get much more active, she helped him crawl and stand up for a bit while holding him, ''Oh yeah! Soon I will be able to sit up without falling down to the side like a potato sack!'' After a moment, she heard something from the outside. She said something too quickly to Alexander to understand and left him alone, ''What the fuck?! Leaving a baby alone! Never mind, my chance!'' He feared opening his system in front of others since it was probably not normal for an infant to have that many skills in scholastic subjects, ''System!'' He saw something new and exciting: [Mana Sense], ''Mana? Can I fucking summon Bahamut?! Wasn''t this some kind of stuff to fuel spells within games?'' Even though he didn''t know exactly what it did or how it worked, all skills he learned came with some ingrained knowledge that gave him a little vague understanding toward the next level. If he imagined solving fractions with addition/subtraction and leveled up, it solidified his current knowledge and gave him a nice hint toward the next level, like some abstract feeling he couldn''t describe. Alexander closed his system window as instinctively as he opened it and started concentrating on his new skill and the knowledge he had received, ''Oh yeah, baby, let me summon Ifrit!'' He closed his eyes and, after a short moment, could feel it. Even though minuscule, it was like a very low-density gas around him that he could feel momentarily. The notifications went wild in his mind, but he ignored them. Alexander slowly widened the range of his [Mana Sense] and, at the same time, tried to grasp everything close to him more clearly. He could feel it better by the second until he heard quick steps. Thus he interrupted his training, and his other senses noticed something else. Lorient was back, she sighed in relief as she saw her little brother alive and well, but her sense also picked something up, making her facial expression scrunch up. She came over and heard her little brother talking to her, "Shishda, ma yaber!" She looked at her little brother with big golden eyes and chuckled slightly. She picked Alexander up and went with him on the adventure for fresh linen diapers. ... The City of Wolfsteeth, inside a meeting hall in an inn In a big room fully equipped with furniture, were around thirty people sitting down or standing around, doing small talk. If the average commoner beast-kin could sell a chair from here, they could live worry-free for a few months. A perfect fit for nobles and wealthy merchants. Some village lords, a couple of earls, three knights (Marisia included), and two minor barons were here. All these people belonged to the east part of the county of Moorgrel and ruled the little territory they received from the count. There were also some non-important trading partners from the central region. They decided to join spontaneously to socialize, but everyone else was from the East. Marisia sat at the most prominent table. She put one leg over the other and listened while they discussed the hot topic: The demon run. Not just any demon run, but one that would be at least three times larger than the average ones. On a positive note, the county knew about this already for two weeks, so the meeting was arranged in Wolfsteeth so that the Leonandras would not be inconvenienced in such times. But something else inconvenienced her very much as her ears twitched non-stop out of anger at what she heard. If she could, she would rip everyone a new one to whoever suggested that the Leonandras could defend the border by themselves just fine, ''I wish duels between nobles would be made legal again.'' She remembered how it was made illegal by Count Moorgrel in his territory as all his nobles, at some point, had a lower life expectancy than poor farmers and, thus, couldn''t fulfill their duty as a noble and administrate their fiefs. The Leonandra estate, which lay far east in the county of Moorgrel, never had such problems for various reasons but had others, like demon runs. Marisia and her ancestor''s primary duty was protecting against wild demons from the farther East for generations. Right now, those against aiding them in their duty were obviously from the central and west sides. She gripped her thighs hard enough to tear a hole into a tree as she remembered how they protected those scumbags, and all her household received was apathy. Most of the talks were not by accident loud enough so she could listen to them, ''I promise that I will pressure the last drop out of you after the demon run is over.'' They obviously believed that her household could stomach it even with many casualties. So they cared little about the prospect of some knightage. Someone poking her side with an elbow suddenly interrupted her simmering anger, "Is Kairo fine?" She looked to her left and saw an old friend. Marcus Melodia was a knight with the rank of Mono(I) - Blood and Iron who worked for merchants. While he had barely any power in politics, the wealth he piled up was more than enough to make it up. Knights rarely worked for people other than nobles, but in some cases, giant trading companies could pay knights an equally tremendous amount of coin for protection and prestige. He was Marisia''s husband''s good friend, but she couldn''t stomach a knight who sold himself for some coin at this point in time, "He is right now thinning out in the west." He answered quickly as he stared at her with shocked eyes, "What?!" Before he could babble Marisia to death, she preemptively answered him with what he probably wanted to know, "I know what you think, so shut up. Ultimately, we must also trade while dealing with the demon run." He shrugged and thanked her, "Hm, I get it, and Nil Trading is really thankful for¡­." She interrupted him, not caring about some greedy golddiggers, "We do it out of duty, not for some merchants." He held his hands up in a show of peace and smiled at her somewhat mockingly, "Sure, sure, so what is your plan for getting help?" Marisia waved her tail subconsciously in annoyance. She answered loudly so everyone could hear her, "I don''t beg. I will just take our soldiers and healers back to the estate, those stationed around the county. We will stop providing food support in winter and start our campaign in the East when Kairo returns." The whole room fell into silence as everybody heard her declaration. Some lord from a large-sized village started to yell in panic somewhere in the back of the room, "Ms. Leonandra, you can''t do that!" Others joined too, "Yes, how will we defend our village¡­." "The Leonandra can''t take the food away! We will starve!" Marisia listened to everyone in silence, but after some minutes of selfishness, she released a tiny amount of her [Aura] and pressured the whole room into submissiveness, "Silence!" She stood slowly up, and a barely visible red energy surrounded her. Marisia was the strongest in the room, even more powerful than all the adventurers or mercenaries hired by different nobilities for protection. Standing at ~1.7 meters (~5.6ft), being relatively small, her dastardly energy told another story. She looked like a giant in their eyes, looking down on them. They were all weak in her eyes. In her mind, a noble needed to be strong, ready to take arms and defend the empire, ''Disgustingly weak.'' But realistically, she understood that nobles also needed to have administrative abilities, but there was a need for basic combat abilities. What she saw here wouldn''t even meet the level her weakest child, Narsiz, had. She gave them a decree, "The count gave me full authority over the east defense." Marisia took a leather scroll from behind her and threw it toward one of the barons. The noble caught the scroll and started to read it. His jaw dropped to the floor shortly after, "Wha¡­ how can a lowly knight order me, a¡­." Before the leopard-kin in front of her could continue insulting her, she interrupted him with the energy she released around him. Sadly, she couldn''t touch him with it, as there was a chance of killing him accidentally. The baron felt like a mountain was on his shoulders and was forced to bow. Marisia came a little closer and asked him sternly, ready to chop the head of this noble off if he said something in the wrong tone, "Do you disagree with the count''s words?" If he said something wrong, it could be appropriate to make him a couple of inches shorter just because he disagreed with the command of the count. The baron looked frightened as if he could die at any moment. The energy around her right hand became visible. A thick dark red radiated out, and everyone could feel the demonic energy that radiated from it. A quiet whisper was heard from the crowd, "The Leonandra [Divinity Line]..." The baron decided that his life was not worth the little pride he would throw away. He bowed and saluted with the right hand on his heart, "Of course not!" Marisia could clearly hear him grinding his teeth. A baron bending his back towards a knight was unheard of. She looked around again and knew what he said was just for the sake of it. Otherwise, she would''ve had his head in her hand a moment later. She sighed heavily, put away the pressure, and started to discuss her plans, "We will conclude our thinning campaign in the west in the next months and will afterward concentrate on the upcoming demon run." Even though she wanted to get as many resources as possible from them, she couldn''t do it forcefully and needed to think about the situation as a whole, ''The county''s capital is in chaos because of some god damn shovelers who started skirmishes in the northwest, I can''t just come and take all I want as they could be needed in the future.'' Marisia looked at the different nobles and knew that the situation was sub-optimal for her, and she couldn''t wait for help from the count, "The food is needed for our soldiers, builders, and healers." She knew directly what they were thinking by how they started to act nervous. If her household fails, the chance the East would hold is minuscule, and the wild demons would invade more of the county. Thus the verdict from the count. Count Moorgrel knew that it could come to a chain reaction that could reach far into his county and endanger his subjects, ''These morons are too short-sighted.'' She first declared, "We will temporally raise taxes till the end of the demon run, and the difference between the rate of the new and old one will go to us directly." It needed to be done with taxes since something like a fee was a bureaucratic nightmare for reasons she didn''t know and only knew that her head accountant ranted about it. Murmurs were heard, but nobody had the guts to speak up. She could see the unsatisfiedness in their eyes, so she thought about a compromise beforehand that would benefit them in the long run, so no internal problems could come from the tax raise. She continued after the short pause, "The taxes will come down after the demon run to the point, which is a proportional decrease to the rise, for double the time." With this policy, they would be inclined to pay even more taxes or donate, so their decrease will be even higher overall. Anyone with basic [Mathematics] and [Economics] skills should see a great long-term opportunity. After a short moment, she saw their eyes flaring up with greediness, ''This is what I want.'' She announced the next point, "The following policy is canceling tolls for entries, products, etc. The movement of labor and products is crucial right now. Anything disrupting it will commence with forced conscription or the death penalty. You must cease any tolls for labor and products." She stated more points after that, which had to do mainly with the movement of subjects and trade and how it couldn''t be disrupted. Marisia also knew they would need time to prepare, "The implementation will begin in half a year, after the spring harvest." Nobody could prepare something like this on short notice. They would need time to calculate everything through. The labor question was equally important, and nobody would be stupid enough to go to the East, even if her estate tripled the wages. Forceful conscription wouldn''t work either since most would send disgruntled and ill-equipped children who would only endanger others or put down morale. Marisia planned to make everyone happy despite feeling mostly disgusted toward them. She represented the higher nobility and needed to think of a bigger picture. She announced, "Debtors and prisoners will be brought to the East as soldiers. They will regain freedom if they survive, except for type A and B prisoners. Furthermore, creditors will be compensated with tax deductions." Type A and B prisoners were mostly murderers and tax-evader, and the whole hall thought they would probably be used as meat shields. She swung her tail slightly. The crimson-red of her fur was reflected by the sun, which slowly settled as the last rays of sunshine for the day came through. Depending on how long this will be going on, soon, servants will come in with mana items and light the place up. After a pause, she continued her announcement, letting everyone wait on purpose to show that she was making the shots, "While the conscription is voluntary, except for the group of people named before, you are obliged to follow the law." Marisia would need to plunder her estate''s treasure, but it would be fine. They had more than enough wealth to hold on for years, "Everyone who joins the demon run will be paid one large iron coin per month, while at the start of the demon run, the pay will increase to a silver coin per month, depending on the abilities of course." She saw how their mouths opened and smirked slightly. She knew they didn''t think their estate had this much wealth, "All basic necessities and training will be provided." It was, on average, a meager pay for skilled soldiers or mercenaries, who wouldn''t even stand up for this, but since she also included food, housing, and so on, all the coins could be saved or sent back to their families. Also, training was provided, which would, for many, come as a chance to later join the combat caste and earn much more in the long term. She paused again, as the next part was crucial for the poor. While it saddened her, sometimes there was a need to exploit them, even if it was against the knight''s codex, for the greater good, there was a need, "In case of death, a testament will be provided, which will guarantee a payout, depending on their service, of up to a years payout to family members or a partner ¨C additionally, a lie detector test is needed so we can determine the correctness and sort out blackmail." The lie detector test was crucial since nobles could send some poor folks to die for them and then take the payout away. Luckily, they had someone with decent skills in this area at their estate. The whole room stared at Marisia as if she was insane. Everyone knew the Leonandra''s as a knight family who kills demons, but this was just a tiny part. They had many more revenues, like the thinning campaigns. Even though Marisia acted arrogant toward her colleague, her estate received high payouts. But even without those, the taxes they could collect through trade was substantial. Through their economically sound acting, they accumulated an insane amount of wealth in the past. With this, they built more infrastructure and created a positive feedback loop, allowing them to collect even more wealth. Also, all their close members are loyal to a tee because the estate treats them exceptionally well. It could be seen as buying their loyalty, but the needs were real, and ideals wouldn''t feed their family. Almost no one would sacrifice a good long-term job for a short-term gain that would only benefit them maybe two to three years down the line. Thus, even if someone wanted to bribe them, it would cost so much it wouldn''t be worth it anymore. She also strictly implemented her policy for her children, that there was no need to pressure them into political marriages or similar arrangements. With this, she hoped that they would not act like the children of other nobles. All this prevented mainly corruption since the gain wouldn''t most likely outweigh the benefit they would receive by following the rules. With this, their administration functioned well enough to support their economic growth. She smirked inwardly when she saw how they couldn''t believe the wealth they made, "This should also conclude the possible food shortage as many will probably join the demon hunt. Enough should be maintained for villagers who stayed behind." She continued to state her proposal for hours, which they needed to announce to their subjects. This coming demon run was an emergency, and the only good thing about it was that it was spotted early on by one of the mages in the cathedral of pestilence. Not preparing for it would be disastrous. With the Authority of the count at hand, it should be easy to implement policies on the surface level, but if Marisia wanted them to comply fully and work with her, they would need tasty carrots. She hoped that her carrots were enough. Chapter 2: The Beginning Continues Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Narsiz K. Leonandra (wolf-kin) Alexander K. Leonandra (wolf-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (wolf-kin) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... The oldest son of the Leonandra family, Narsiz, walked in long strides through the estate toward Sarah''s bedroom. His mood could have been better, as it was directly after the chaotic breakfast. He tried his best to imagine what he could say to calm his sister down. A sigh escaped him, ''She is so hot-headed.'' Narsiz thought about her personality, and she fits perfectly into the family as all were weirdos. He was one, too, but he decided to ignore that. Their family liked to marry a lot outside of their noble circle and primarily out of love. It became the norm after his mother took power with his father, who was an outsider and commoner. He remembered that there were some in his family of older generations who tried to pursue a balance between strict adherence to noble conduct and the current mindset. Even this was seen as degenerate by other nobles. They couldn''t believe that they would not sell off their children for a little political power. This disgusted him deeply. He was in line with their current mindset of merit-based conduct. Someone with special skills or abilities should be invited to the family and receive their name. The children, who were real nobles, not only members of a noble household, would be different as they would automatically get the first name from their parents, as the second name, as proof of at least second-generation nobility. Children of the household members wouldn''t receive a second first name as they were not noble by blood. But what to do with the newcomer''s families? Most of them were not nobles and, as such, had no education or noticeable skills. So most of the time, they would receive unimportant jobs with decent pay. Should they show noticeable skills, the Leonandras were ready to help them in that sense through their connections. This was another reason why everyone from the aristocratic circles called them weirdos, from accepting commoners from simple backgrounds to helping their close family. For nobles, such actions were a waste of time, but for Narsiz''s family, it was an easy way to make talents loyal to their household. It cost barely anything and provided an incredible return. Accepting others into the household was customary, but not to such an extent as they did. Thus, they had to deal with many commoners who were usually uneducated and tried to show their respect in relatively simple ways. In Narsiz''s mind, it was the thought and intent that counted. He couldn''t expect simple-minded commoners to follow the rather complex structure of noble-kind. But the behavior Sarah showed, or other unmannered talents, became even more apparent in their military. The Leonandra''s had, in that sense, a rather individualistic atmosphere. Everyone was so different in this world, caused by the system and differences in the beast-kin race. So, instead of forcing them into some kind of standard, like some other militaries, it was easier to accept most quirks, work with them where they were, and try to implement discipline and loyalty into them. It was even more so the case of the ones at the apex. The more talented someone was, the more freedom they received since they had incredible worth. The result was that Narsiz''s family, which upheld such ideals, never really disciplined their children to the same degree as other households. The outcome was Sarah, an incredibly talented little wolf-kin girl but also hot-headed. In his mind, it was sad that she didn''t really care about etiquette and could be mistaken for her behavior for a commoner sometimes. But not her combat abilities, as even her walk and posture significantly differed from a fit commoner. This ended after she opened her mouth, though. Lorient, his older sister, was the one that came next in his mind on how someone would benefit from a little bit more discipline, and he remembered an event around three years ago. It was a ball for the children of nobles, which Narsiz and Lorient attended. Even the thought of what happened made him frown. The event was held for the noble youth to build connections, but others had to make fun of her. The next thought made the young wolf-kin boy giggle as he remembered how she became so enraged that she beat a guard of some other child unconscious. Narsiz also became extremely angry and wanted nothing more than to slit their throats, but he wasn''t even close to the strength of Lorient at that point. To prove the point, she almost killed the guard as she bashed him repeatedly with his shield at his head. Luckily, Narsiz became aware rather fast and dragged her out before something worse could happen, ''Fun memories, hehe.'' He was brought out of his memories as he stood before the door to Sarah''s room. Narsiz prepared himself mentally and adjusted his attire out of habit, ''I need to change Sarah to be calmer. We already have a berserker in our row, and one is more than enough work for me.'' He knocked and sounded sincere as possible, "Sarah, may I come in?" She sounded like a harpy with her wings pulled out, "NO, GO AWAY!" Narsiz frowned and pinched between his eyebrows. It was already getting annoying, and he would instantly use his skills if she was not his sister. He tried again with a more passive approach, trying to sound more worried, which he was, "Sarah, I''m just here to listen to you." "I don''t wanna talk!" Which also didn''t work. He furrowed his brows and waggled his tail in annoyance. In his mind, he needed to calm down, ''Try and emphasize with her... you can do it, and don''t be an asshole.'' While he thought about how his sister felt, he heard a ring, ''Huh?'' He opened his system window and saw a new skill: [Empathy], ''Why though?'' The preferably pen and paper-wielding wolf-kin teen read about this skill in a book once. It helps to feel what the other person feels. The higher the level, the better the understanding of the underlying circumstances of the emotions. Many healers and nurses had this kind of skill. Narsiz wanted to use it but held back, ''Using skills on my own blood is disgusting.'' He knocked again, and a sharp sound invaded his ears as he reared them back, "WHAT?!" ''It seems like the harpy also has no legs anymore.'' A sigh escaped him. Sarah''s circumstances were not the best, so he understood, but he hoped she would lose her hotheadedness in the future and didn''t stay like that, "If you give me five minutes, I will leave you alone afterward." After a short moment, he heard a sad voice, "Come in¡­." He entered the wonderfully furnished bedroom with a giant princess bed and a door leading to a walk-in wardrobe. It was blemished by chaos and dust. Their parents wanted the servants to only sometimes clean their rooms so they could level up some skills which could come in handy later on, so sometimes, the servants just stopped cleaning for a week or more. For other nobles, having such a skill would disgrace their honor, so they were pretty unique in this sense, too. As he was inside and closed the door behind him, the first thing he saw was how Sarah sat on the bed, held her plushy, and sobbed. Narsiz''s heart broke. He clenched his hands into fists, ''This will be a hard chat.'' He knew exactly how she felt, as he was precisely in the same situation once before, "I have seen father only three times in my whole life." What he meant was that their father was at home only three times for a longer period of time, so technically, he met him much more often than three times, but she didn''t need to know this. Sarah looked at him with teary eyes, obviously confused. Narsiz looked back at her sadly and continued, "Whatever I say right now, you need to know that Father loves us more than anything else in the world." He took a handkerchief out of his breast pocket while speaking softly, "What he is doing is exactly what a Tier 3 combatant and lord in our empire need to do." He came closer to Sarah, kneeled on one knee, and softly wiped her tears away with the handkerchief, "He protects all the people who can''t protect themselves nor run away from monsters. Elders too old to move efficiently, children younger than you, or pregnant women." He gently opened her hand and laid the handkerchief into her hand, "If he stops, the whole east part of Moorgrel will fall into chaos, and in the end, it would harm not only our kin or the distant family but also us." Sarah looked at the handkerchief and back at her older brother with her big green eyes and quietly said, "Why? I just want to meet him¡­." Narsiz shook his head and asked her, obviously knowing the bleak answer, "What would happen when Father stops his campaigns against the monsters, or rather where would the monsters go, and what would they do if he is not there to fight against them?" Sarah looked down and started to think about the repercussions her brother had pointed out. Being already saddened as she was, her voice almost cracked, "I¡­." Narsiz looked deep into her eyes and answered cold-heartedly, "Yes, the monsters will come from the West and the demons from the East." She stuttered slightly and tried to find someone to blame, "Bu¡­but what about the count?" He didn''t hold back in his following words, as hate could be heard in every syllable, "In the last 15 years, the dwarves started attacking us repeatedly, kidnapping our people, treating them like pets and slaves¡­and before asking ¡­." He clenched his teeth and showed his fangs as unimaginable hate overcame him, "The majesty and count are at war with multiple human and dwarven kingdoms, and while we hold out just fine, that is only due to Father''s effort and other''s sacrifices of other nobles in their respectable fief to hold up the peace and stability." Sarah looked at her feet and clenched her hands, clearly visibly angered. He gently raised her chin, "Rather than being angry with Father, hate the monsters who look like humans and dwarves, who started this..." The sudden noise from the system interrupted him for a moment, "Hate the demons from the east, monsters from the west, and make them pay for what they did later on." Narsiz looked into her eyes and could see that little glint that she understood who their real enemy was. He stood up and softly caressed her head, "Don''t forget who did this to us, stole Father away, and most importantly, who put him in danger." As he turned around and was about to leave, she spoke up hastily, "Narsi, wait! Your handkerchief!" Looking back, he smiled at her innocence, "It''s yours now. It was a present from Father the last time I saw him." He closed the door and briefly adjusted his collar and blazer as this habit relaxed him a little, ''This was exhausting.'' Narsiz started to walk towards his room but suddenly slapped his forehead so hard the sound reverberated all around the hall, ''Totally forgot¡­ I need to find a servant to clean the mess up in the dining room¡­damn.'' ... Sometime later A little beast-kin puppy gradually opened his eyes and started to waggle his tail slowly. He tried to grab to the right or left, wanting to know what time it was, ''Oh right, there was something.'' Alexander woke up for the umpteenth time in this new world, and every time he needed to reorient himself, ''Well, a coffee wouldn''t be bad, though.'' This was one of the strangest things for him, as he slept for around sixteen hours daily, but even after waking up, the tiredness just didn''t go away entirely. He constantly felt sleepy, which made him wish for a solid coffee, ''I bet the coffee at that cheap caf¨¦ behind my university would actually make my heart explode, hehe.'' The problem didn''t end there. Every time Alexander woke up, he had nothing to do, ''I always thought that doing nothing is great, but it is actually pure hell.'' Every time he woke up, he did his eating and cleaning routine, where his mother fed him and the servants cleaned him. Not like he could make himself some sandwiches and take a shower. He would afterward start his only saving grace against boredom which was leveling up his skills, which also made him tired after every level up. A hellish cycle of the continuity of repetition made him slowly crazy, ''Was this what Chaplin tried to show in his movie? Never mind, it''s only temporary.'' This time though, the metaphorical wrench stuck inside the gear. Alexander somehow hit a bottleneck with [Mathematics] at level 25. He even tried to solve quadratic equations in his head, but it would not level up, ''Well, I am stuck.'' A couple of thoughts ran through his mind as it could be that it was the limit of leveling up in an imaginary way or if it had something to do that he was so young, ''Not like there are many infants with the understanding of analysis II and linear algebra around.'' For some reason, this made Alexander''s inner gamer itch. He was gaining levels without any pause, which made him, in some way, addicted to the system''s constant knowledge increase and solidification. Every level was a little high which he overlooked since it was the only way to occupy his time, ignoring the servants and family, who played with him, ''Why aren''t you increasing?! Damn, it! I need to quickly learn to talk!'' Everything he tried didn''t further his cause but made him increasingly tired. It felt similar to a big mistake he made in his youth as he borrowed a game and console from a friend to play at home one week before some important tests just so he could relax. The result was that he almost flunked them as he played more than just a little. Alexander wanted nothing more than to crack the stupid system and increase his skill, ''I¡­am¡­so tired¡­working on multiple things at once is incredibly mentally taxing, but¡­.'' He dozed away as he was about to try and do an integral of the window frame he saw from his crib. ... A loud bell woke him up, "Woah!" He was stunned, ''No fucking way¡­.'' Alexander looked around hastily and saw what could be called a modern class, or at least it looked like the ones in US Highschools, from ''90s movies. It was colorful and childish, like an elementary school classroom, ''Did I die and was reborn again?!'' More chaotic thoughts invaded his mind as he couldn''t believe what was happening. Soon though, he saw his classmates, or rather what he assumed were representatives of students because of how they looked. They looked like toys. Some were mannequins, some enormous plush toys, some action figures, ''This is a nightmare.'' He started to observe himself and noticed that it was not his previous self. The hands were the ones of a ten-year-old, the ones of his new identity of Alexander. How did he know this? The tail and ears were pretty good indicators, ''Ok, this is either this world trying to fuck me over, or this is just a bizarre dream.'' Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. More questions arose as he examined himself more and identified that he wore his old school uniform, and it even felt the same. He moved around uncomfortably on his seat, trying to adjust himself, ''Fuck, couldn''t this be a dream where I am in underwear? I rather prefer that to this guillotine pants.'' After trying to ignore the uniform that was obviously made by a sadist, he recognized a problem, ''I never had something akin to lucid dreams, and this here is too damn realistic.'' Alexander tried to imagine other things since he once read that lucid dreams were something one could do anything in them, but nothing happened. A giant hip-hop clothes-wearing crocodile didn''t burst inside the classroom. Panic slowly crept up, ''Did I go insane because of the mental exhaustion?!'' His mind went full-blank for a minute before he could pull himself together and start looking around again. This time trying to find a clue where he was or what this was. The room was decorated with learning material, to put it nicely. The PSE was structured in kinds of cakes. In place of noble gases, for example, were all sorts of typical American pies, which would give one diabetes in their thirties if they were consumed regularly. He kept exploring the insanity around him and found more things where it looked like the corporations won. The poster where the SI''s should be were only seven kinds of chocolate bars: Peanut-Choco, KitDog, Venus, Giant-Cat, Coconut, Andromeda, and Twin-choco, ''Not even brand names, huh.'' A poster hung behind him. He squinted his eyes and tried to read what was written, in English, under the Andromeda section: ''An Andromeda bar, the sweet measurement of comfort in every way, is a 1/300.000.000 of the speed of light in Andromeda''s bar length in a second.'' He turned around and faced the blackboard blankly, "I am officially cuckoo." After some minutes of blanking, he started to think about how he could off himself the quickest way with a sharpened No. 2 pencil, but his plans were interrupted as he heard the voice of a middle-aged woman, "Good morning, dear Students. Today we will have a math quiz!" Looking where the voice came from, he saw what should be the teacher. He ignored all the murmurs from all sides and couldn''t believe what he saw. A doll teacher who looked like a model. Alexander tried to clean his ears out of habit but remembered that he had wolf ears and stopped poking since it felt much more uncomfortable than with human ones. After a moment, he returned to the matter at hand, ''Did she just say math quiz?'' After a few seconds, he saw how a math quiz materialized before him, ''Ok, calm down, just write it and see what happens? You are already in hell where sweets companies have taken over the world, not even the brand ones.'' She stood before Alexander with open arms and a big smile. She announced the beginning of the test with a clap, "Ok, you have 30 minutes. Please begin!" Alexander turned the math quiz around and started it. Algebra with some fractions. It was pretty basic stuff for the fourth or fifth grade. After thirty minutes and dozens of times of rechecking everything, another clap was heard, and the math quiz was dematerialized, "Ok, good job!" Suddenly someone or rather something said in a muffled voice to the left of him, "How did it go for you?" Alexander looked to the left and saw a mighty red hunter sitting and looking at him through his helmet. The now-adolescent puppy lips twitched into a crooked half-smile. He tried to acquire some information, "Don''t know, hopefully good¡­ do you know where¡­." Before he could finish his sentence, another clap was heard. On the blackboard in front of all the students were the results displayed. Looking at it, he saw that he was in the first place, ''Well, overwhelming others in elementary school knowledge... don''t know how I should feel about it.'' Math-quiz results:
  1. Alexander K. Leonandra ¨C 100%
  2. Itch, a drawing toy ¨C 98,3%
  3. Annoying owl ¨C 97,1%
  4. Fast dying chick ¨C 96,8%
  5. Big grey rectangle¨C 94,9%
The teacher Doll Model looked at Alexander with pride, while the others looked at him with envy. He could''ve sworn to even feel killing intent coming from behind. Turning around, he saw something peculiar, ''A goddamn drawing toy wants to end me?!'' The drawing toy shook slightly, and his blank board''s face showed an angry emoji. Before Alexander could react, after a blink, he woke up in a panic and cried out loud, "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" In reality, what was heard was, "Bawaga hu gah!" Looking around in panic, he saw the grid of the crib and a sleeping sister with red hair on the rocking chair close to the French window, ''It was just a nightmare, good¡­ but it was too realistic for a dream.'' He rolled around slightly and checked his body, ''I never had a dream this realistic¡­ Wait? Did I hear a ring while I woke up?'' ''System'' He instantly opened the system and understood what happened, ''I got it.'' [Mathematics | 26] He could rationalize now the weird dream and what happened to some extent, but this was too much to digest for him, ''It was like a mushroom trip. Fuck me.'' Alexander stared blankly at the ceiling with the chandelier and tried everything not to panic. For some reason, the notion of getting sucked into a different world while asleep and probably doing a skill test was strongly disturbing to him. ''Ok, as far as I get it, you need to do something like this for every skill at level 25 to pass it if this stays consistent.'' Going by this logic, there was also probably a need to do these tests every 25 levels. In Alexander''s mind, there was no way that it was the last test, ''Ok, calm down. Not like you can die, right? FUCK! Can you actually die and then die in real life?!'' He needed to learn the language now more than ever to find more information. It could be a death trap, or it could be normal. He didn''t know but wanted to find out as quickly as possible before he got beheaded by a toy. ... Sometime later A young wolf-kin girl in a summer dress was going through the corridor to the tearoom and hastened her steps. Sarah''s mother was back and sent servants to call her and her siblings to probably inform them about the outcome of the gathering, ''I hope everything is fine!'' While walking, she could only think about what her big brother had said earlier, ''I know he is right. Even Mama talked about the dwarves and humans and what they do, but don''t we all look almost the same? Why would they enslave us because we have different ears and tails? It makes no sense to me.'' Even her big sister sometimes talked about how hateful they were and said that she would understand when growing up, ''Why couldn''t she just tell me that?! So annoying!'' She was angry but somewhat understood that most things were too complicated for her, but even so, her anger manifested in the stomping she produced while walking. Sarah arrived before the tearoom in no time. She opened the door carefully and saw that her mother and siblings were already there. There was also personnel like the archivist Noriken and head accountant Salyna. She moved carefully to one of the free seats. Everyone looked at her, which made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. So she quickly sat down and waited for her mother, the lady, to speak. While waiting, Sarah looked at her, as she was in her half-plate armor, had one leg over the other, and had an aura like she looked down on the world, full of pride and arrogance, ''A true Knight.'' She had nothing less than adoration for her, as she had been her role model since she could remember. But she also loved how her father was as he was more leger and had the strength to act like he wanted in front of others. Sarah clenched her fists slightly and tried to sit as gracefully as possible. Obviously trying to imitate the grace of her mother. But even as she was nervous and could barely concentrate on anything, the things her brother said floated inside her head, but before she could become agitated again, the door opened. Multiple maids and butlers came in and started to serve tea. This instantly changed her thoughts about what was before her since she loved how they looked, ''So pretty!'' Most servants in the Leonandra estate were butterfly-, swan-, or spider-kin. The butterfly-kin''s beautiful faces looked like they were painted on a canvas, while their colorful wings and eyes were like rainbows, bright with beautiful patterns, almost too perfect. While the swan-kin were also winged, they had beautiful white feathers and clear blue or green eyes instead of the playful colorfulness of butterfly-kin. Their faces were also stunning, radiating elegance only seen on nobles. On the other hand, the spider-kins were much more cute than beautiful. They all had two eyes like most beast-kin, either red, orange, or purple in color, and multiple other eyes on their forehead, but they were more petite. They were also one of the few sub-races born with thread-making skills. Almost all of them weren''t soldiers or guards. Her mother told her that there were beast-kin much weaker than wolf-kin, so they had a lower chance of becoming knights, soldiers, or guards. Still, they had other exceptional talents, which were much more critical for the day-to-day basis, like cooking, cleaning, sewing, gardening, farming, etc. Some even awakened a [Divinity Line] resembling magic and learned to use powerful lifestyle [Mystic Skills]. An example would be a butterfly-kin with a specialized [Divinity Line] in gardening. Narsiz told her how they could control the growth from the prettiest and most exotic flowers all year round for luxury purposes or for rare alchemical potion ingredients. Such beast-kin would be weighed in gold, so much worth would they have. Lorient also told her that some spider-kin could also create and tailor clothes with tough threads that could be better than plate armor and much lighter than silk. Sarah saw how her mother waved her hand to dismiss all servants. She caressed Alexander, who was curiously examining everything around him while speaking, "I will make it short since it is getting late." She looked at everyone before continuing in her stern tone, clearly stressed out by the meeting, "We are getting our aid, but it will be costly." Everyone sighed in relief while Sarah was shocked, ''What does it mean it will be costly?'' She gulped down and got all her courage together, trying to ask, hoping it was no dumb question, "What does it mean it will be costly?" Everyone looked at her, a little confused, then they smiled slightly and looked towards the lady, ''What is happening?!'' Marisia nodded towards Salyna, the head accountant, who looked at Sarah with a soft smile, "Young miss, I have done the accounting for our Leonandra family for decades, so while the Mistress said that it would be costly, knowing how much wealth we have, it will be probably not much¡­." Salyna and Sarah looked back at Marisia, who smiled softly, "Don''t worry, Salyna, it will be doable." Sarah looked back at Salyna, who frowned and pinched between her eyebrows. Narsiz and Lorient started giggling and holding their hands in front of their mouths. The head accountant inhaled in and out in exasperation and asked with a more aggravating tone, "My lady, would you please give me a good estimate so I can plan it out?" Marisia sighed with a smile and pointed towards the table, where stacks of parchments were lying and a teacup on top of it. Lorient used them as a saucer. Salyna moved towards the stack of papers, took them, and read it. After every page, her eyes became rounder and bigger. In the end, they were like plates. Sarah waited for some minutes and could see her siblings becoming louder in their giggling, ''Why are they laughing?'' Salyna suddenly focused on the lady and screamed, "ARE YOU MENTAL?!" Out of the blue, Lorient laughed out loud and mumbled, "That''s our Saly." Marisia frowned as she looked at Lorient but didn''t say anything. Salyna already forgot her etiquette and just argued against the lady. The pastel-green-haired young girl only now understood and started to swing her tail, ''Oh, I get why this is funny!'' The head accountant held the papers before the lady, waving them fiercely while her wings opened fully, "Marisia, you can''t be serious about paying this much coin?!" Marisia shook her head and looked towards Noriken, "Take Alexander and look after him. He already ate, so don''t worry." Noriken nodded, headed towards the lady, took the pup, and went out. Marisia looked at her mischievous children, who giggled, "You three, go to your rooms. I need to discuss business with Salyna." From Sarah''s point of view, she didn''t understand why her mother always took them with her if she discussed something in the first place. Lorient told her once that it was a learning opportunity for them, but only Narsiz could understand what they were talking about, but now, he behaved like Lorient. She could see how tired he was, with big bags under his eyes, and he couldn''t probably concentrate anymore, in her opinion. All three went out of the room, and as the door closed, a scream could be heard, "YOU CAN''T BE SERIOUS! DO YOU WANT TO BANKRUPT US FOR SOME SHIT-ASS DEBTORS?!" Narsiz started laughing hysterically while holding his stomach. Lorient was not much better, as she held against the wall and started to wheeze. Sarah looked at them and did find the situation funny, too, but not to the degree they did. After giggling and laughing, they looked at her younger sister, who tilted her head in confusion. Narsiz wiped a tear away, slowly stopping his laughter, clearly marveled by such a scene, "Don''t be confused. This scene is scarce and needs to be enjoyed to the fullest!" Lorient came from the side, smiling all over the place, caressing her head, and sounding like some hyena-kin as she didn''t stop her giggling, "Yeah, not everyone has the guts to call mom mental, hehe." They started walking towards the kitchen for a snack, and Sarah decided to follow them. She overtook them quickly as walking behind them became annoying since their tails waggled too vigorously. While she ran to the side of Narsiz and tried to ask them curiously, "It is funny, but¡­." Before Sarah could end her sentence, Lorient interrupted her cheerily, "Hm, I know what you think, but Mom would rip anyone else a new one if they talked to her like this." She panicked and raised her voice at her older siblings, "Oh! We need to help her then!" Narsiz patted her head and said calmly, giggling, "Don''t worry, nothing will happen to Salyna. She is an incredibly skilled accountant and an old friend of mother. She would never raise her hand against her, hehe." Sarah was perplexed, "Why? I understand that because she is a friend, but why an accountant?" This time Lorient responded, "Hm, you may think that knights or soldiers are the most important, but¡­." Sarah interrupted her, remembering clearly all the lessons she forcefully received, to the point she got annoyed, "No! I know how essential others are. I am not stupid! Mama and my teacher told me this a hundred times." Luckily, they arrived at the kitchen when Sarah stomped her feet and smacked Narsiz''s hand away. Both shook their heads in unison like the monkey-kin who teased Sarah once. This made her even more aggressive, "What now?!" Lorient ignored her and was already looking for food. She looked to both of her siblings like some homeless raccoon-kin. Narsiz leaned against the wall, ignoring his older sister''s low point, and tried to clarify the situation for Sarah, "Listen, Salyna is not just any accountant. She is a Tier 3 accountant with incredible [Mystical Skills] and high skill levels. She may be weaker than any of us, but hypothetically, should she leave our estate. She could work instantly for the crown." Sarah couldn''t believe what she was hearing! Tier 3? The crown? She understood, but it was hard to believe, "I¡­I¡­." Lorient poked Sarah''s cheek teasingly, "If you don''t close your mouth, flies will fly in, hehe." Sarah looked at her big sister angrily, who already had a piece of jerky hanging out of her mouth, and slapped her hand away, "No, they will not!" Sarah rotated her head back to her big brother and urged him to answer, "Why wouldn''t she when just leave?!" She didn''t know why she said that, as she didn''t want Salyna to leave, but was interested in why she wouldn''t. Many fairy tales and novels she read made her assume that working for the princess and princesses was the ultimate romanticized goal. In her mind, it was insane not to work for royalty. Narsiz scratched his chin while he thought, "Hm, good question!" Lorient started mockingly imitating him, "Hm, indeed, a very good one!" Sarah became angry as they started teasing her. She fletched her teeth and stomped again, almost erupting in anger. Both siblings simultaneously raised their arms in peace while smiling. Narsiz was the first to apologize and propose to move places, "Ok, ok, sorry for making fun of you, let''s have our snack at some place other than the kitchen and talk where we can sit comfortably, alright?" He obviously ignored his older sister, who probably already had eaten half a pig. Sarah nodded to this, and they went to the art room after getting some food. On the way there, the children could hear screams between the lady and her head accountant resonating through the whole wing of the main mansion. As they arrived, they sat down, and her older siblings looked at her curiously. Lorient was the first to ask her earnestly, "Why do you think Salyna isn''t leaving our family?" First, Sarah wondered if they wanted to make fun of her again, but when she saw their serious expressions. She started to seriously think about this question. Being in deep thought for a good minute, she answered them honestly, "Maybe we pay her a lot?" Narsiz shook his head while chewing some jerky, "No, try again." Sarah frowned and had no idea, so she threw out a dumb guess, "We treat her very well?" Narsiz nodded with a grin this time while some jerky stuck out, "Very good! You are 100% right!" She was perplexed, "What?! We treat her better than the royalty would treat her?!" This time Lorient answered, "Yes and no. You see, we are a bit different regarding certain things." She looked down and probably thought of something, but after a moment, she rocked back up. She looked at Sarah and held one finger up, "For example, when it comes to inheriting some noble title or the crown, everywhere but here and some other similar places, the potential heirs need support from different parties..." Lorient took a sip of water and continued, "...and being an extremely talented accountant on the level of a finance minister will bring her a lot of prestige but also a ton of pressure. Everyone would want her to be on his or her side, and if not, they would probably assassinate or blackmail her, her husband, or her children." Lorient looked at Narsiz to continue, as she wanted to keep eating, "This is not all, obviously, but we do everything we can to protect her family. We have done it for generations. Even her ancestors, going back generations, worked for us as accountants." After Lorient gobbled up half the jerky, she continued, "We have considerably more talented individuals in our estate and under our family name, more than some higher nobles, but this is not here or there." Sarah looked confused at them, "This didn''t really answer my question?" Narsiz nodded at her, "Right, sorry. The short answer is that we don''t care about internal politicking." Sarah tilted her head to the side, "But, weren''t you really mean to Lori for the last year?" Lorient started to laugh out loud, and Narsiz became flustered and tried to explain himself, "I was just bored!" She asked, "Well, but why being mean then?" Both girls stared at Narsiz, who sighed, "I don''t know. It feels just a little stale since we have no rivalry." Lorient agreed, "Hm, you are right, but we are actually too different from having anything close to this." Narsiz shrugged his shoulders and looked at Sarah, "See? Something like this is our daily life, where we literally don''t care about others'' prospects. In other noble families, I would have a dagger in my back by midnight." Lorient corrected him, "You were an asshole, so make it two." Narsiz and Lorient started to chuckle. Sarah looked at both again and sighed, "But you care for each other, right? What do you mean by don''t care?" Narsiz answered this question as Lorient looked disinterested and tired, "I don''t care about her prospects. Let me give you an example with Salyna. Do you know who her grandmother or her husband is?" Sarah shook her head, so Narsiz continued, "Her husband is a common potter and her grandmother a common tailor..." He suddenly tried to be more energetic as the talk became too serious, "Now the hundred mithril coin question! What would happen if you were under a noble''s name as a high-ranking member and fell in love with a lowly commoner?" Sarah understood it now, "They would..." She didn''t want to end her sentence since it was for her unthinkable, ''Were we so much different from others? How could they discriminate against others just because of whom they love and want to marry?'' Lorient interrupted her thoughts, "You got the rough idea. You wouldn''t know it now, but if you go to some noble''s parties with many other children later, you will quickly understand two things..." She held two fingers up, "First, they are a bunch of talentless and arrogant assholes who will always use their name rather than their skills...." Narsiz nodded so vigorously that it looked like, for Sarah, his head would fall off. "Second, the adults are the same and will backstab even their own children if it means their favorite child gets that useless title." Narsiz smiled wildly, "You forgot the third thing, big sister, and the most important reason why they also hate us throughout the empire''s many households." "Oh! You are right!" She turned from Narsiz and looked back at Sarah, holding three fingers up while smiling mischievously. Her tone was heavier, "Do you know how they called us around hundreds of years ago?" Sarah shook her head. She was not into history or other things alike. She could barely go through the lessons with her current teacher and was only good at fighting. Lorient''s voice was full of pride, "Noble slaughterer and King decapitator." Sarah couldn''t believe what she had heard, "Why?! I thought we would only kill demons and sometimes monsters!" Both shook their heads, and Narsiz was the first to correct her, "Yes and no, hundreds of years ago, the corruption was so insanely high from the central nobility that they sold an insane number of beast-kin as slaves to other races, and worse yet, the crown allowed it." Both girls could suddenly feel killing intent oozing out from Narsiz, and even Lorient shivered a bit while looking at him, "We did what needed to be done. We came together with other nobles who were against it too." A sadistic smile formed slowly on his face, making Sarah''s blood freeze, "We went to the capital and annihilated the bloodlines of all those traitors." The pressure dimmed a bit, but she could still feel the sinister energy coming from Narsiz, "We slaughtered more than fifty noble families, from pups to elders, so they could not search for vengeance with our progeny. Since these days, certain families, like ours, are feared and hated throughout the empire, but this also shows why we are different and follow certain ideals." Lorient added something, "We then put the one which led to the bloodbath in charge. At that point, it was the third or fourth son of the crown on the throne." Sarah looked down, embarrassed as she didn''t know such things, "I¡­ understand." Lorient shook her head, "You don''t, but you will when you meet that scum from the Moorgrel nobility, at least." An eery silence permeated the room. Narsiz tried to go back to the topic they discussed before this, "So, do you understand why I was a childish asshole who didn''t wake up with a dagger in his heart and why Salyna won''t leave the estate?" Sarah almost, out of instinct, knew the answer, "Freedom?" Narsiz nodded, "There is more than just marrying whoever you want, though. Do you have an idea?" Sarah thought hard, but Lorient interrupted her as she talked to her brother, "Give her a break since it is already late..." She turned toward Sarah, "She hates politics and everything around it like I do, and our family can only do so much of it. Since we give our retainers and servants more autonomy, they can ignore the petty squabble..." She pointed her thumb toward Narsiz, "Like from this guy." Narsiz stood up, "I already apologized! Can you stop being unbearably annoying?!" Lorient also stood up, "You did not, and you are annoying!" While Sarah''s siblings were hurling insults at each other, she understood it. If talents were disinterested in power and just wanted wealth with a secure place to live, they wouldn''t choose the palace or other nobles striving for more power. Instead, they would prefer a trading company or them though the former provides less protection. Plus, they could enjoy freedoms in the Leonandra family ¨C like not being obliged to marry other nobles, as they could just choose a lover on their own. After a while, she stood up and wished good night, though she didn''t know if they had heard her since they were fighting with each other. Sarah scratched her head in annoyance, as today was a very emotional and stressful day. Only sleep was in her mind. Chapter 3: Tests, Maid And Dumb Behauviour Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ¡­ A school bell woke Alexander up. He opened his eyes slowly and was greeted with an unusual surprise, "This¡­." He looked around and noticed that he stood in the classroom where he previously wrote the math test for his skill test. This time, though, he was in front of the class, where the teacher usually was, and everyone stared at him, ''What is happening now?!'' The doll teacher sat at his desk and smiled at him, "Are you ready?" He became confused while readied himself for the worst, "Ready for what?" She winked at him while the other students giggled, "Your oral test, of course, you dummy!" Alexander looked blankly at her. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. He knew there would be a test because he reached [Physics | 25], ''Nobody fucking said I needed to do it orally!'' He looked upwards while rubbing the back of his neck. He was a little pissed if he was, to be honest. Even more so because the teacher looked at him with curious eyes, ''I hate surprises such as these.'' After a moment of inhaling and exhaling to get a grip, his instincts from his previous life kicked in. He looked back at the teacher with his best and most charming smile. In his opinion, while teachers like to pretend to be as objective as possible, it is but a lie. Who are they kidding? Every human¡­humanoid creature? Whatever they were, they were incredibly superficial, so acting confident should already be a big plus. Alexander opened his arms, "I am ready, teach. What should I do?" She clapped her hands and beamed a smile at him, "Great! The topic will be¡­." While she said that, Alexander saw how her eyes rolled inside her head, like a slot machine, and suddenly stopped after half a minute, showing some weird symbols, "Kinetic and potential energy!" He exhaled slightly as he was pleased. While this topic could be something he would need to prepare for, luckily, he did not need to do it since skills functioned like encyclopedias. Knowing, applying, transferring, and solving problems was very doable with little to no preparation. Alexander held his chin and thought about how to start. After a moment, he looked at the teacher, "Ok, no problem. Where do I start? Should I first derive the E-kin and E-pot formula?" She shook her head with a mischievous smile at him and held her hand towards the class, "They will be asking¡­." She then pointed back to Alexander, "...and you are answering!" Alexander cringed inwardly, ''Why being so dramatic?'' It was nothing new for him, and actually, it was much easier than having a presentation and, after that, a colloquium. He shrugged inwardly and merely nodded with a smile. The first one to ask was an action figure who smoked a cigar, "What two measurements do we need to calculate kinetic energy?" Alexander answered almost automatically, "Velocity and mass, next." This went on for thirty minutes as he was asked basically everything in the book. Some questions were basic, and others were much harder where the skill couldn''t help. The teacher stopped the oral examination, "Good job, you passed without any problems!" Alexander smiled and wanted to ask some questions about this weird place, "Tha..." Everything went black, and he found himself again in his crib, ''I woke up.'' He looked at his system, ''[Physics | 26], perfect.'' Alexander closed the window, glanced around curiously, and saw that he should have left at max for a minute or two, ''Hm, thoughts for later, I guess.'' ... After some months A school bell rang, indicating that Alexander was again about to do some kind of test. He looked around him and saw all the people sitting around him. Now was the [Algorithmic] test''s turn, ''Whatever they throw at me, I am ready!'' But to his displeasure, he got hit in the back of the head. As he turned around to find the source of that attack. A dog plushie was sitting there while blushing and smiling with its tongue out at Alexander. He smiled back to appear friendly, ''Is bullying a thing here too?'' It put a paw up and pointed toward a crumbled piece of paper on the floor, ''Oh, was this thrown at me?'' He took it and uncrumpled it. It was cringe. +----------------------------------+ You are Paw-Some! [ ] Let us go for a walk! +----------------------------------+ He raised an eyebrow, ''Wow, how pushy! Not even an out¡­wait, what the fuck am I thinking? First, I am not into dogs; second, she is a plush toy¡­.'' Before Alexander could answer her love letter, the teacher returned to class and pointed at him, "You!" He pointed at himself, confused, "Me?" A beaming smile was seen on her puppet-like face, "Yes, you! You are not even one year old and are racking one test after another!" Hard coughing was heard behind him, but the teacher and Alexander ignored it. He tilted his head, "So?" The teacher''s smile grew even more extensive. She looked so excited that Alexander could see her face become flushed, "Nothing! It is just so interesting! I have never had such a student, so this will be fun! Don''t disappoint me in the coming test, little pup!" Alexander responded excitedly but not as much as her, "Sure, teach!" In his mind, he shrugged inwardly, ''I can kill time since it is boring in the real world. After all, I am too young as my real self, so I can''t do much there.'' She clapped her hands and looked at everyone else, "Today, you all have self-learning class while I take this pup to the test area!" They walked through the hallway when she started a conversation, "Don''t you have any questions, little pup?" He shook his head while following her through the colorful school corridors, full of posters and decorations, "Nope." She giggled and hinted at something, "You are more interesting than I thought. Don''t you want to know who I am, why you are here, and so on? Hehe." Alexander smiled slightly as he was sure she couldn''t answer the questions he wanted the answers to, "Do you want me to ask you those questions?" After walking for half a minute, she suddenly laughed, "Bahahaha! You are not the first one who gave me such an answer." In Alexander''s mind, she, or whatever was behind her, should know he was not from the new world he landed in since they perfectly replicated many aspects of Earth in this dream. As such, he believed that they rummaged for sure inside his memories. There was also the problem that this teacher was so excited about Alexander having so many tests, which made no sense since they should know that he was from a different world and just someone reincarnated. Going by this alone, she should know that Alexander was actually a guy with much more knowledge inside of this puppy''s body than would make any sense. There was a big difference between intelligent and just highly knowledgeable, so clearing one test after another in this short time frame should be expected and not celebrated. If he deduced everything and did some guesswork, the chances of her being literally a puppet that knew nothing was high, or rather some AI, without the most essential information he wanted to know. ''If she doesn''t even know who the previous me was, I have no hope for her knowing the answers I seek.'' Alexander didn''t care about common knowledge she could give him, like that was obviously an environment made from his memories. So, he could pass his tests in the most comfortable way possible. Though, he ignored the corporal domination over the world. As Alexander was in his own world, the teacher''s voice came like a hit, taking him out of it, "Almost, little pup." Standing still, his smile vanished. He looked at the teacher, who turned around and smiled at him while shrugging her shoulders, "I am semi-autonomous, and you are right. At least subconsciously, I am here only to help you pass your skill tests, and I can''t answer questions unrelated to the skill test because I was not given any more information than that. So you are right about that! Also..." She touched her hips while licking her lips, "Did you look cute in your previous life?" Alexander stepped back while sweat ran down his forehead, but before he could run away or do anything, she laughed out loud, "BAHAHAHA, calm down, not like I would violate such a cute puppy!" She gave him a wink and kept walking again. After a moment, Alexander frowned and followed her, but more than a couple of steps behind her this time, trying to not think about anything since she could obviously read his mind. Suddenly, a question came to his mind, "What if I fail the skill test?" She giggled while looking up into the void like she remembered something, "How worrisome is it to want to be perfect. You will have another chance in a week. You can repeat it as much as you want, but the test will always change." Alexander nodded in understanding, "Seems fair." They walked for another two minutes in silence, and as they reached the designated room for his test, she remembered something again, "Oh right, if you can''t pass this test, no other test can be passed till this is done." Alexander clicked his tongue in annoyance, knowing it couldn''t be that easy. But rather than a frown, he felt a big smile building up. Wasn''t this fantastic? Since transmigrating, all he was doing were tests, leveling up skills, and training his mana. Without any punishments, this kind of thing would become much more boring. She smiled back at Alexander, her voice sounded cheerful, "I knew you would like it. I bet I will see you much more often, little pup. Hopefully, you also like the test since [Algorithmics] is a scarce skill." The teacher opened two big double doors, and they went inside a large auditorium with a stage. Standing on it were ten puppets who wore hip-hop clothes. On every outfit was a piece of paper with a number painted on it. The numbers went from 0 to 9, and they all stood disorderly ¨C not sorted by any means. They walked towards a table in the middle of the auditorium, and Alexander took the piece of paper on it, ''Well, this will be easy.'' He read the task out loud, "Build the most efficient sorting algorithm by sorting the dancers. The more efficient, the better the result. They should be sorted from the smallest number to the largest." It was an easy task. An insertion sort algorithm should do the trick. He also thought about others, but this scene, in front of him screamed insertion sort,'' A voice from the side came out of nowhere, almost breathing down his neck, "It is nice, isn''t it?" Alexander got scared and jumped against the table and hit his leg, "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" He turned around and glared at his semi-autonomous teacher, who giggled, "Sorry!... hehe." She held her hand over her mouth and kept laughing while Alexander glared at her, "Hehe..." Frowning, Alexander concentrated again on the test but had a question. So, he looked at her and tried to show an innocent smile, "Teacher, I have a question." She pointed towards the wall, where a giant clock hung. The clock''s hands had already started moving, "Sure, ask, but you only have an hour for the test." Alexander nodded, looked back at her, and asked, "What I mean to ask is, what is the difference between barely passing and perfectly passing the test?" He was confused since he had a perfect score on his last tests and wanted to find out the exact difference between barely passing and acing. She smiled at him and held a finger up, "It is pretty straightforward. The better your test, the easier the leveling will be for the following 25 levels until the next test." He rubbed his chin and thought, ''So, it doesn''t matter in the end so much.'' While the sound of faster leveling sounded appealing, it wasn''t that important at the moment for him, but it could become a great cheat. After the first test, he could fail on purpose, get some idea of what it would be about, and then prepare for the next one more thoroughly. He pushed all possible loopholes back in his mind and concentrated on the test he was doing, which he didn''t want to fail. The moment he read the task out loud, he solved it almost instantly. He looked at the teacher with his hand open, requesting, "I need a pen." She raised an eyebrow, put her hand into her D¨¦collet¨¦, and got a pencil out. Now, Alexander raised an eyebrow and took it while commenting on this behavior, "This is not really hygienic, teach." She opened her eyes wide open and laughed out loud, "BAHAHAHA! You are a weird little pup!" Alexander ignored her weirdness and concentrated on the most efficient sorting algorithm. He found it too easy and wondered if there was some trap, but after five minutes of looking at something, he glanced at his teacher, "Teach, do I need to sort only these ten dancers?" She stopped and took a look at the puppy. A wide smile emerged on her face, "Good question! Yes! Don''t worry. The first tests will always give you a little taste of what will come in the future and are usually easy." Alexander sighed and went back to examining the paper again. He already had an idea in mind. ... Forty minutes later After rechecking the sorting algorithm at least ten times, he gave the sheet to the teacher. She raised an eyebrow as she took it, mumbling, "It is quite new that someone actually wrote something. They usually tell me how it should be sorted¡­ let me see¡­." She looked at the sheet of paper, and her smile grew, yelling euphorically, "GREAT! Let us begin!" While the music played and the dancers got in position, his thoughts were a mess. He hoped that he had chosen the best one for this situation. He also considered using a merge-sort algorithm, but ultimately, he decided on his first idea since it was almost self-evident. They all stood in a row. Mannequins with no facial expressions. But Alexander could feel they were looking at him for some reason. The second dancer [3] bowed to the first dancer [5]. They interlocked their feet while rhythmically moving (or rather jumping) toward the beat. While interlocking, both made one move simultaneously, a summersault, to end it by interlocking their feet again. After they were done with their moves, the second dancer [3] did multiple spins while jumping around the first dancer [5] while also interlocking their feet after each spin. In the end, they changed positions. Now the third dancer [2] bowed towards the first dancer [5], who was now, after the swap, in the second position of this array. Both jumped and made some insane moves. A spin while somersaulting. Alexander always respected hip-hop dancers since he had no idea how they could not throw up mid-air. After swapping positions, the third dancer [2], now in the second position, looked directly at the second dancer [3], who was in the first position. After some new moves, they swapped places. A new marker was set, and it started anew. ... A simple Insertion sort algorithm should bring the best case out in such a small dataset. To explain it as simply as possible, Alexander set a marker to the second [3] one. He was the first in the unsorted group. (This unsorted and sorted group stuff is only for your imagination.) The first [5] one is set in the sorted group. The marker set up on the second [3] one will always look towards the sorted group. The marked looks at them, one after another, and whether he should swap (depending on how you want to sort). He swaps along the way to the back until the correct sorting positions are reached, or rather, to the point it can''t swap anymore in the sorted part. Stolen story; please report. Then the marker moves on to the third [2] one, as it is now the first one in the unsorted group, and it begins anew till it is sorted out. ¡­ After a couple of minutes, the dance concluded. Alexander looked at the teacher in anticipation. A frown was seen on her face, and he fell into panic inwardly, ''SHIT! I did something wrong!'' Then, she laughed while holding her stomach, mocking him, "Bahahaha, you should see your face!" He frowned, but she tried to calm him down before he could say something, "Don''t worry, it was excellent. You passed!" Before Alexander could say something, he suddenly woke up. He clicked his tongue, or at least tried to, and decided to sleep some more. It was really taxing having to deal with the eccentric skill test teacher. ... Months later The light fell through the French window, and the tiny dust particles danced insight the sun''s gift to the world. Alexander reminisced how such a beautiful present existed and was reminded why he contemplated such things, ''I am bored!'' But all this changed when he saw his savior, "Big Shishder!" A smile bloomed on Sarah, "What is it, little pup? Want to play more?" In his mind, his sister probably loved everything cute, which you saw in what she wore, as she loved to wear summer dresses with all kinds of poppy colors and, as a waistband, a colorful and giant ribbon, ''Also, let''s be honest, I am God damn cute!'' Being relieved from boredom, the puppy cheered, "Yesh!" Her mood also went up by a notch, "All right!" As she helped Alexander out of prison, she put him down and supported him while he tried to walk again, ''It is pretty annoying to learn again to walk!'' It was super weird since his muscles were underdeveloped, and he would need to get a feel for them. It was also highly disorienting having his mind in another body altogether, as his old experiences sometimes made things much more difficult. The door opened, and someone came in, a butterfly-kin butler, and spoke to Sarah, "Ms. Sarah?" While not neglecting to support her little brother, she looked back, asking what he wanted, "Oh, Aro, how may I help you?" He held on to his matter-of-fact tone, "Hm, the teacher is waiting for you." She frowned quite heavily and took the puppy into her arms, obviously trying to get out of this, "I think¡­." Before she could continue, Aro interrupted her harshly, "Ms. Sarah, don''t." This situation already happened a couple of times when Sarah didn''t want to learn and instead wanted to play with him, ''I can''t blame her, though. I am irresistible.'' There were always some servants who looked for her. Sometimes, she even took him with her as she wandered the estate, trying to evade everyone as they looked for her because she avoided her teacher. She frowned and gave her brother to Aro, "Alright." After she gave Alexander into Aro''s arms, she smiled at him and kissed his forehead, her voice full of joy, "I will come later to play!" As she left, Alexander saw her tail and ears hanging low, ''Somebody is not happy about her education. At least some things are the same as on Earth.'' Alexander watched Aro''s almost perfect face with rainbow-colored eyes. He couldn''t decipher his expression for the life of it. He was at the same time solemn but also very friendly like he had a switch. He glanced at the puppy in his hand, and the puppy took his chances, "Play with me, big brodda!" He used the [Charm] skill to the fullest, but the butterfly-kin butler shook his head, "I am sorry, Mr. Alexander. I have a lot of work to do, and you should sleep." Alexander clicked his tongue inwardly. Aro laid him back into the crib and called a maid to watch him. This was also something new. They were watching him with eagle eyes 24/7. The reason was apparent to him, though. Once he was left alone and tried to flee his prison, which they call crib. It didn''t end well. As he tried to flee, he got his tail stuck somewhere between the bars, down in some crack or so, for hours. Afterward was such a commotion that multiple healers/doctors visited him for days because he couldn''t feel his tail anymore. Luckily it lasted only a few days. The only positive thing he could take from it was that he got a giant crib to move in more freely! He shivered slightly as he remembered how his mother screamed at the maid who should have watched him but didn''t, ''I pray for the carpenter who built my previous crib.'' Alexander felt sorry for the maid, not that he could do anything about it. She was really at fault. While he might be a moron, she should''ve watched him at least once every hour or so and seen that he tried to get his tail out. Now, she was nowhere to be seen. Now he was bored again, and like always, he loved to check out his system window now and then and train his skills, but he was careful as he checked it under his blanket so nobody could see it, ''This is really addictive.'' Even if he was sure that nothing had happened, it was addictive seeing the progress he made in all the months. This whole level thing was no good for gamers like him. ''System.'' ''Hmm, not bad.'' He had a skill test in [Logics] a week ago, but it was a rather dull writing test that he aced, naturally. He also unlocked new skills like [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission]. For the absorption one, he tried to take the energy into himself by sucking the air and trying to get the mana into him, which was in the air he could sense. He was bored and tried something stupid, but it worked nonetheless, so it was a win in his mind. He got the emission one afterward by concluding that he could also push mana out, as [Mana Absorption] took it in. He tried it by sensing his inner mana and, at the right moment, wanted to push it out of his mouth by blowing. It worked, and he was proud of it. It sounded straightforward that anyone could do it passively, but gaining those skills took a lot of deliberate work. After sensing the mana around him, he was sucking the air for hours where the most mana was, while he could push the mana out by blowing it at the exact moment when the mana was around his lungs the densest. Only after hours was he able to gain the skills which gave him the knowledge on how to use them correctly, even though roughly. [Mana Absorption] was pretty neat. With it, he could absorb ambient mana and accelerate his mana regeneration by ~50%. If he did it together with [Meditation], it could reach ~100%. [Mana Emission], on the other hand, was confusing. He understood that he could push out his mana with this skill, but he needed to figure out where to. He tried to push it into something, like his blanket, and it went only slightly inside and was forced out again after a moment. So he didn''t see any use case for it externally, but he had a great idea of how to use it internally. Alexander wondered if he should try something others would probably consider dangerous. This thought was subconscious, while his conscious mind went, ''Nah, it''s fine!'' He brought his hands together while lying on his back. He tried to ascertain the mana inside his body with closed eyes first. He couldn''t see it moving, but it felt like blood running through his veins. The mana had multiple exchange points inside the body. The biggest one was inside the solar plexus. The smaller areas were in the joints of the hands, elbows, shoulders, hip, knees, feet, tail, ears, eyes, and so on. It was connected to all the others through the main one via veins and arteries-like lines that pulsated in various intervals. With it, he could feel it flowing in and out. Alexander used [Mana Absorption] and could feel how mana came through his pores inside him, but much faster and slightly forced through the skill. He tried to use it on more solid objects with little mana, like the bed or the blanket. All objects had saved up mana inside them, even if it was very little. It didn''t work. He couldn''t absorb or inject (emission) mana into more solid objects or only very little. He thought it was too embedded of a structure to do with his skill levels, ''It should be possible later when I am stronger.'' But he could inject his mana into the air by letting it out of his body. It didn''t make sense why he would do something like this other than just to level up his skills. It was all exciting to him, especially with something new as mana. If he needed to describe it, he would see it as something like energy, but for how exactly it worked and functioned, he would need to do more experiments, which he surely couldn''t do at this point in his life, ''It would be a sick movie idea though, baby mage, heh.'' After chuckling inwardly at his bad movie idea, he thought how there was no mana in his previous life, or he at least didn''t know anything about it, if there were. He became angrier by the second, his tail waggling angrily as he couldn''t decipher anything he wanted to know, ''DAMN IT! I AM BORED AND ACTUALLY WANT TO RESEARCH BUT CAN''T!'' Also, because of his boredom or because he was a baby, he had insane mood swings and was quickly tired out after good physical exercise, which consisted of crawling, trying to sit up, and a lot more. Regardless, his mind switched back to hypothesizing about how mana worked and what it was. How did mana affect the structures and properties of materials? He wanted to find it out the same way Earth scientists did. They first tried to clarify the properties of elements through many experiments. They could, with this, build a fundament for further research, though he would rather not repeat some experiments like licking on radioactive material. ''I need more mana for my experimentation and clearly quantify and plot it.'' As he thought about it, he remembered that he had no computer, ''How did people do it before the 70s... wait, when was the first computer-like machine built? Was it one from IBN? No, it should be the one in the 50s.'' He interrupted himself from drifting away into more useless thoughts, ''What am I doing here? Lying around like some slob!'' He didn''t know that he had a little scientist inside of him like his father. He wanted to be more drastic while he had one of his mood swings, ''If Curie could do it, I can surely too!'' He wanted to try more with mana as this was a thing he knew from video games. Energy with which he could conjure spells. Alexander already had some ideas for cool tests, and through his boredom, he decided to go through with one. He brought his hands together as he wanted to try out what would happen if he pushed his mana around his body, ''Should be doable since mana is in my body and also moving.'' He concentrated on using [Mana Emission] with the left hand, [Mana Sense] in general, and [Mana Absorption] with the right hand. As he started, his whole body suddenly heated up at an insane speed. After a short moment, he could feel how he lost mana at a crazy rate and how it flowed at least four to five times faster inside his body. "Keupuk." After a few seconds, he stopped it and saw that he had puked out blood, ''Oh, this is not¡­. good¡­.'' He heard rapid steps and screams as Alexander could barely hold his consciousness. After some time, which felt like years but was probably only a minute or two, came people rushing toward him, ''Hopefully, mom has the healer on the short dial... because... I... barely... hold...'' ... In front of Alexander''s bedroom In front of Alexander''s bedroom was a relatively young spider-kin maid walking back and forth. While she made a hole in the redwood floor with her spin every three steps she did, she was also so nervous that she started chewing her nails again after years of abstinence. ''I can''t believe what happened.'' Melina was lucky. She reacted instantly when she heard that little puppy puking and called for help. Who knew what would happen if she didn''t or was somehow distracted for a minute. But it was not over yet. Half a dozen healers were at it in the last four hours, and there was no news, and the time they needed was worrying. She was nervous and didn''t want to lose such a great job. It was paid a little better than her old one, but the perks she got made it too good. She and her family could live for free in a much better and bigger part of one of the mansions than their old home while the food was free. There were better positions like being a personal servant, which paid only a little more but had more perks like free education for her and her family. The door opened, interrupting her thoughts, and four of the six healers came out and mumbled something barely audible between themselves. She heard and saw the first one, a fox-kin, clearly tired and with blood all over his robe, "I can''t believe it. We barely did it." The next one was a seal-kin, barely walking, "How can he have such internal injuries?!" A toad-kin, who looked the oldest, was not much better than the two, chided in, "Don''t talk. Your annoying voices will give me an even stronger headache now that I have barely any mana." The maid ran to them, bowing down slightly and anxiously asking them, "May I go in?" They looked at her and were quite annoyed. Being overworked like this, she could understand them. One of them, the old toad-kin, waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, go inside. He is stable." The maid instantly went inside the room. There were standing two other healers around and the family except for Ms. Lorient, who was on a training expedition with her personal guard. Everyone glanced at her as she entered the room. After seeing who came in, they returned to what they were doing. The tiredness in their eyes was apparent, and the young Ms. Sarah was crying while she petted her little brother and looked worryingly at him. Melina held her hands before her chest, praying and hoping he was healthy, "Is Mr. Alexander.... fine?" The lady looked at her and ignored all etiquette as she was too tired, "Yeah, he could be saved, thanks to you. He just needs a lot of rest." The maid heavily exhaled as she felt glad that he survived. For one, she didn''t want such a young puppy to die, but there was also fear that, if he died, she would be blamed. The lady crossed her arms and started questioning her, "You are Melina, right?" She nodded, "Yes, my lady." Marisia rubbed her eyes, "Good, now tell me every detail and what happened." Melina kneeled instantly, and sweat began to form on her forehead, ''Right! They could think that I could try to kill him!'' She remembered how the other maid was yelled at and kicked out, so she tried to appeal, "Mistress I¡­." Before she could speak further, the lady interrupted her, "Calm down. We know it wasn''t anything external or poisonous ¨C you have nothing to worry about. Now stand up." She stood up and calmed down a bit, "Thank you, my lady." The lady waved her hand to calm her down. Even looking this tired, she was rational and pragmatic. Melina expected nothing less from such a knight. From rumors, all nobles were relatively easily irritated and were prone to give out harsh punishments for even the slightest mistakes. But, since Melina worked here, it was never the case, and her paranoia always hung in the back of her head. Other servants, who were not personal servants, thought, more or less, the same. She urged Melina to speak, "So, tell me every detail of what happened." She thought for a moment and chose to tell everything. Even if she would stand out badly, there was hope that the lady wouldn''t blame her, "I¡­ was sitting close to young Master in the chair, reading a book and sometimes looking at him¡­." She looked back at the lady, who nodded and signaled her to keep talking. "...well, after¡­ maybe an hour, he moved around a bit too much. It was like he was annoyed or something but nothing else when I looked...." She thought about every little detail for a moment. She continued, "...but after a short moment, Mr. Alexander put his hands together, and then shortly after that, he puked out blood. Luckily I was at that moment looking at why Mr. Alexander was suddenly so silent¡­." She peeked at the lady and saw that she was in deep thought. After ten minutes, nobody said or did anything except for Sarah and Narsiz, who kept caressing Alexander. ''Such a poor child. I don''t know what to do if something happened to my children like this.'' Suddenly the lady looked at Melina sternly, "You reacted well and fast. You will be Alex''s personal maid from this day onward." Melina became quite perplexed. Being a personal maid is one of the most prestigious positions inside the estate, besides head maid or head butler. Marisia decided by pure instinct. She felt that this woman was not the best maid, but she felt she would be reliable and loyal. This mattered the most to her. But she wasn''t naive. She would have someone look over her for the first months and see how she conducted herself. The new personal maid on probation stuttered, barely saying anything, "B¡­ But my lady, I... I don''t think¡­." Marisia held her hand up to stop Melina from talking and reassured her, "It doesn''t matter what you think. You are the right person. We will sort out the rooms close to here in the next few days and temporarily give you a neighboring room. Also, we will give you two servants to help you watch after Alex. We clearly don''t know what happened, but it could happen again, and I want him to always be observed. Do I make myself clear?" Melina bowed down roughly with the right hand on her heart, "Yes, my lady!" Marisia satisfyingly nodded and went back to Alexander. She suddenly turned around and instructed Melina, "Go tomorrow to Salyna and Noriken. Let them know everything. If you have family, bring them in here too, but we must make the same investigation and contracts as we did with you." The investigation was a lie detection test. Everyone who wanted to work in the inner estate needed to show their system window and answer many questions. While this was considered taboo, the Leonandra estate did something like this openly for every new applicant. Because of this strictness, they paid more and coupled the previously mentioned benefits to it. Nobody really saw a problem with it, well, at least the commoners. Other nobles didn''t like it because some of their talented workers switched to Leonandra''s estate. Ultimately, showing the system window was only considered taboo for nobles for different and more complicated reasons Melina couldn''t comprehend. But Marisia did. Nobles had rare skills or [Divinity Line]''s which they didn''t want to show. This taboo they also tried to ingrain into commoners and especially their talents, so they didn''t leave if someone like the Leonandra family made them an offer. It did not work, though, as most commoners didn''t care about something like this, and they cared even less about things like honor or pride. Furthermore, the contract was a mana contract that ensured loyalty. Some didn''t sign the contract because the penalty for breaking it was immense, though the clauses were reasonable for most who wanted a simple and safe life. Melina bowed again, "Yes, my lady, I will bring them tomorrow to this mansion." The lady nodded, "Good, now go home. We will look after Alex ourselves tonight." Melina nodded and headed out as fast as possible, as she had a lot of things to do. ... Some hours later Alexander barely opened his eyes and felt a stinging pain around his body, ''I fucked up, big time.'' He didn''t think that it would be that bad and expected, in the worst case, something like a stomachache at most. Apparently, forcefully circulating your mana inside your body will turn you into an overclocked PC, ''I overheated my whole body.'' In his mind, he thanked god that he was at least alive, ''Thank the gods!'' ''System'' The HP and MP explained why he felt so terrible, ''hm! I got a new skill: [Body Overload (Mana) | 1].'' It was self-explanatory, ''If I want to overload again, I would need either a much stronger body than the one I have right now, which made sense after almost killing myself. Infants weren''t the most robust or a team of healers standing behind me.'' But something good happened, which made Alexander very happy and only slightly distracted him from the pain. His [Constitution], [Spirit], and [Perception] increased by +1, ''Who knew that almost dying increased my attributes by a minuscule amount, huh.'' Alexander didn''t attribute it directly to the skill. He thought it was rather that he overtaxed his body to the brink of death, so the body kind of adjusted itself. Nonetheless, Alexander was happy: A new skill, better stats, and probably no long-term disabilities, ''Hehe, I am a genius¡­ouch! My head is killing me, and I am hungry.'' Alexander looked around and saw his mother sitting there. He didn''t know when, but he started to accept her as his new mother. Now he felt horrible because of what he did, ''Well, shit.'' He wasn''t alone, and like in his previous life, he wanted to start looking after himself to look after his new family. Alexander sighed inwardly, as he was really annoyed by his stupidity. ''Now, to a bigger problem,'' His stomach grumbled, but he didn''t want to wake up his mother. She was probably stressed enough having a brain-dead son. After a moment, he heard something and saw that she woke up and stood beside the crib, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Alexander''s eyes became teary, and he almost choked, "Mom." She leaned over towards him and smiled lightly. She looked terrible. Messy hair, bags under her eyes, and tiredness on her face, like she went through a war. Tears were flowing out, and he tried to apologize, feeling horrible, "I shorry, Mom¡­." She shook her head, clearly making her son feel better, "It''s all right. Are you hungry?" Alexander nodded and wished his moist eyes with his tail away. His mother picked him up and went to the kitchen to look for food while trying to teach him, "Don''t wipe your face with your tail. It''s a sign of unmannered behavior." It was a quiet night, which Alexander enjoyed even while feeling bad. Knowing he had people who loved him that much almost brought the tears out again. It was pure happiness. In his previous life, while having a great family, he was, in the end, the one who was always the adult. Looking after his siblings and their needs. It was an incredible burden for him as he was never really at ease, but this now was soothing to the soul, ''Hopefully, my new family will not discover too fast that I am a moron by heart.'' ... Next day ''He looks fine?'' It was already the next day, and Melina brought her husband and four children over to Salyna and Noriken for the investigation and contract signing. In her mind, they wouldn''t fail, but even if they did, nothing terrible would happen, she hoped at least. If they were not allowed into the mansion she would live at, she would find it sad but acceptable if looking at the incentives. Worst case, her husband could stay with the children while she visited them regularly. The money and especially the education, which was provided for free, were just too important. It was much more vital for her to secure a promising future for her children than to have more closeness with her husband or children. With the wage and perks she received, she could achieve precisely that. She already saw the new rooms for her family. The biggest room was three times bigger than their old house. Also, she suddenly got paid three times the old wage, which cemented her decision to stay here, ''They probably overpay me since I will have more work to do.'' She wanted to at least stay this puppy''s personal maid until he went through his legacy. Until she could save up enough, her children would receive the promised education. She would love to stay longer if she could, even if her little master would become an asshole. The problem was that the lady put her into that position, and if he became old enough, he could dismiss her. She ignored all the negative thoughts, and ultimately, because of this little pup, she got the job. She hyped herself up to do everything she could to protect him and serve to the best of her abilities. She walked into the bedroom of her new master, and she saw that the little pup walked inside it while holding onto the grid and mumbling. He noticed her and smiled wildly, "Who you big shishda?" This whole situation somehow caught her off guard. She didn''t know what to think. She remembered her children, ''What was their age when they talked first? Surely not this early!'' The day the accident happened was her first day looking after the puppy, so there was not enough time to appreciate this rarity. Melina came out of her daze and did a rough bow with her right hand over the heart, "Mr. Alexander, I am your new personal maid, Melina." He tilted his head cutely to the side, "Oh, og! Whad gan I do fur you, Meilna?¡± With both hands before her, Melina stood again and put on a stern face. She tried her best to follow the etiquette, "I am here to support you through your day, Mr. Alexander." He swung his fluffy snow-white tail and looked at her with big golden eyes. Responding cheerily, "Good! Gan you shaw me how do read and wride?" Her eyebrow twitched slightly, and she couldn''t believe what she had heard. A not-even one-year-old pup wants to learn how to read and write from her, a simple maid. Nobody had the time to teach Alexander. His mother was the lady and had a ton of work to do. His siblings had their own life, and his father was who knows where killing demons, monsters, or whatever. There was a possibility of getting a teacher, but who would actually want to teach a one-year-old? In his mind, only one option presented before him, ''I only need to learn the basics. The rest I can learn by myself.'' On the other hand, Melina tried to process the whole situation as this was really weird. Why? Usually, wolf-kin age slower than most other beast-kin subraces. This means they start a little later to get educated, around six to eight, since they also need more time to develop physically. They were similar to fox-kin, tiger-kin, and so on. On the other hand, spider-kin, ant-kin, butterfly-kin, and so on needed less time to develop. Turtle-kin or elephant-kin were the ones who developed the slowest, most of the time, even going so far as only starting their education after their legacy at the age of ten, when everyone got their [Divinity Line]. This obviously had its positives and negatives, as the one who started later also had a much longer lifespan on average. Melina remembered all the common knowledge and sighed slightly, trying to advise him, "Mr. Alexander, I think you are too young to learn it." Melina''s heart stopped momentarily as she saw his saddened face, "Bud you said you wull helb me?" The little puppy did his best, used a skill, and tried to manipulate her to the best of his abilities. She, as a relatively new maid, didn''t notice it. Melina frowned inwardly. Not that she didn''t want to teach him, as she even learned the basic skills [Reading] and [Writing] while working at the estate, which was unusual for commoners. She looked into his big, sad eyes, ''I don''t want to see him feeling bad, but I also don''t want him to see him fail if he starts to learn too early. He could feel much worse.'' Melina tried to reject him, "Mr. Alexan¡­." He instantly interrupted her, with a facial expression that said he figured her out, "Sdob, led us mage a deal, og?" She sighed again, now without restraint. In her mind, she already broke the etiquette she should have toward her young master, but it seemed in her eyes that he liked it and smiled at her. But thinking about what he said, she decided to at least listen to him. So, she just nodded. He clapped his hands, "Gread..." and fell, "Uufff!" Her heart stopped for a moment, but before she could help him, he held his palm towards her to stop her, and he reassured her, "I am wine¡­ where was I? Oh, righd, the deal!" While standing up, he talked. Melina was fascinated by this deal because it came from a toddler, "So, you will deach me for a weeg, if I gand learn id, you sdob, og?" He stood again and gave his baffled maid an expectant smile, which she couldn''t even think of resisting, ''DAMN IT!'' Melina sighed again and accepted his deal with a nod. His smile widened considerably, and his fluffy tail wagged enthusiastically, "Good! Led us sdard afder eading something, og?" She nodded again and went to get a servant to get some food for her young master. ''I am getting crazy. I can''t believe this job has become so weird. Why can''t he just want to play something?'' Chapter 4: Fairies and Shovelers Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... A young wolf-kin girl was sneaking through a forest in the savanna, looking at various footsteps, sniffing the smells of different monsters in the air, like a wolf hunting for a rabbit. Lorient loved it, and if someone saw her, they would see how her fangs were showing through her smile as she was in bliss. She used the [Tracking] skill to find her snack but found something much more interesting than a rabbit. ~30m (~32 yards) away from her was a giant bull eating her tender snack. What she saw was an excellent mid-Tier 1 monster, perfect for training. Standing two meters (~6.6 ft) tall, five meters (16.4 ft) long, with two enormous and curved horns on its head. It had dark-blue and green skin and a slightly longer neck than usual. Licking her lips, she approached her dinner closer. [Stealth] guided her every footstep, making her instincts more sensitive to certain spots like shadows and soft ground. Her feet moved smoothly and soundlessly as she circled her prey to position herself slightly diagonally from behind in preparation for the ambush. She learned to be patient. The memory was vivid when she was kicked by a comparable creature the last time she tried the same approach and wanted to avoid repeating the same mistake. When she was only ~10m (~11 yards) away, she knew that every further step would signal the monster in front of her that she was there. Lorient crouched down and leaned her body as parallel as possible toward the ground, almost touching the earth with her knees. She activated her [Aura], and a red-goldish mist slowly surrounded her hands and formed claws. After a moment of analyzing the situation, she activated the [Dash] skill and rushed forward like a meteor. Only leaving two small trails of her energy and a burrow from the recoil. ''I can even taste him already! Come to Mama!'' Shortly before she was in range for an attack, the bull''s tail swung at her with an enormous velocity. The very flexible wolf-kin girl twisted her body, faced upward towards the sky, and got even deeper toward the ground to avoid the tail. As the tail was above her, she was so deep down that her whole body almost touched the ground. The tip of her leather shoes barely got traction but enough so that she could kick herself off, parallel to the monster''s side, towards the front. As she pushed herself off, she worked a spin in. The tail''s air pressure added to the momentum of her spin and twisted her faster. She spun her body clockwise while flying close to the bull''s side, and with every rotation, she hit the bull with her claws like a small red-goldish tornado made from blades. The first and last cuts were shallow, but the in-betweens ones slit right through into the bull''s skin. After spinning to the front, she grabbed the ground and rolled away to the side, a meter or two away from the bull. Seeing the monster injured, enraged, and losing blood at a fast rate aroused her bloodlust. Her ears stood up, her nose became as sensitive as possible, and her eyes glittered golden as she looked at her prey, not even a doubt in her mind that she couldn''t kill it. The wolf-girl slowly formed her energy mist around her tail, readying for the next attack. The bull in front of her scratched the ground with his hooves and readied himself for a dash. Lorient gave him no chance to attack as she darted forward. As an answer, the bull instantly accelerated, cracked the ground underneath him, and charged at the wolf girl. While dashing at the bull, she slipped intentionally, feet forward, while the bull brought his horns down to impale her. As she did it, she twisted her arm to grab the ground and pushed herself into a twirl to get her momentum into a spin. She gracefully avoided the bull''s horn, and while in spin, her tail acted like a blade, surrounded by her destructive energy. While in rotation, she cut the bull''s lower part of its throat. Slitting it multiple times. After her rotational momentum ended, she slipped straight through between the bull''s legs. When out, she instantly jumped up, no longer underneath him. She was ready for another round. Although not her own, Lorient was full of dirt and blood and waited for the bull to turn around as her bloodlust reached a new height. After mooing quietly, the giant cow just fell, "Mooo ¨C grrrrrr¡­!" Boom A giant pool of blood was gathering beneath him, and she sounded annoyed as her adrenaline slowly disappeared, "Tsk, how boring." Lorient''s smile quickly vanished, and she looked disappointed. She looked around and tried to find her personal guard by smell, though the intense blood smell from the bleeding out bull wasn''t helping, "LARRY, COME OUT! I DON''T WANT TO CARRY THIS THING BACK!" Something gigantic emerged from the forest ¨C an ox-kin, standing 2.20m (~7.2ft) tall while his horns made him look even bigger, carrying a mace on his back and wearing a half plate and half leather armor. He slowly walked towards the girl, who looked like a pup beside him. A deep-bass voice echoed through the forest clearing, sounding irritated, "Ms. Lori, why do you kill so many monsters? We have so much food already." Lorient frowned slightly at what this big muscle said, "I know! But he looked so strong! Look how big he is. I thought I could train a bit while fighting him." The giant ox-kin just scratched his butt and nodded toward Lorient. He then went towards the big bull, heaped him over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, and stood beside her, waiting for her command. Lorient''s eyebrows twitched slightly, "Erm, Larry, doesn''t the blood flowing all over you disturb you?" Larry looked at himself and shook his head towards his mistress. Like many times before, she just stood there dumbfounded by the simpleness of her personal protector. She knew that he was in no way dumb or anything. He was just¡­ too caring for her needs. That would be how she would describe him. After looking at herself, she thought the saying birds of a feather flock together really hit. Smiling happily, she commanded the big ox-kin, "Let''s return, Larry. We need to move back tomorrow." The big Ox affirmed and hoped for a quick journey, as he was already annoyed by all the insects gluing to him, not knowing why, "Yes, Ms. Lori." While walking back, she thought about the last months when she trained day and night, either with Larry, who was like an impenetrable wall, or with all kinds of Monsters. Still, she needed to return to the estate, ''Narsi''s divine legacy should be soon.'' Lorient had a smile on her blood-smeared face, fangs showing from it as she thought about her family. If somebody saw her, they would think she looked like something directly from hell. ... Later They only needed around two hours till they were back at their camp, a small cave void of any monsters they found by luck. While both cleaned themselves up, Lorient looked towards the sundown and fell into thoughts. In her mind, she wanted to get even more powerful, ''Reaching the next Tier would be great but can I do it?'' She was very young, and becoming strong fast wasn''t possible without getting into dangerous situations. This was especially hard, with a personal guard always looking over her shoulder. If she could, she would go as a soldier for the coming demon run to the east in Kratikal. She sighed, ''Mom or Dad would never let me join.'' Her parents, especially her mother, were very overprotective and would rather have her train for a couple of years longer before sending her to the front. After cleaning herself up and putting clean clothes on, she and Larry made a bonfire and sat down to eat with a map lying between them while talking about what to do next, "Larry, how long till home?" Larry looked at the map in front of them... They were west of Furri and somewhat on the forest edge, "Ms. Lori, we should need a week or two if we march to Furri. From there, we could take a boat towards Wolfsteeth." Lorient simply nodded. For many, this kind of distance was long and perilous. Even given three weeks, it should be barely doable while marching. Larry was the only reason they could travel quickly, as he was the designated mule on this trip. Even heaving double the weight of his mass would bring no problems towards the Tier 2 ox-kin, who had an apparent physical build. She merely smiled at her personal protector, who was always around since she was young, protecting her like his own child, so she trusted him with her life without any doubt that he would sacrifice his own for her. After checking the route together, Larry started preparing the meat for the following days while Lorient reviewed her system window. The overambitious wolf girl sighed about her not being good enough as her level was far from where she wished it should be. Everyone else would think she was crazy if they could read her mind, as her levels were high for her age. Usually, someone at ~11 or 12 would be at most level 10 and start their apprenticeship, depending on the [Divinity Line] they received. However, what irked her wasn''t the general level, which she found low, but her [Mystic Skills]. The problem was that they were too specific, making it impossible to level up in this area. Usually, her energy would absorb part of every creature''s [Experience] like her mother could and simultaneously level the [Mystic Skills] up. It didn''t work. After some research at the estate''s library, she found out that she had the same [Divinity Line] as one of her ancestors who would only absorb the energy of wild demons but to a ridiculous degree, which also would make her [Mystic Skills] level up much faster. So she needed to go against wild demons to increase her [Mystic Skills], but they only existed in Kratikal or inside the buffer zone. Against demons, she would be like a wolf inside a group of sheep. She could absorb the energy from wild demons, which would usually poison almost everyone else. But she couldn''t just go there for a couple of reasons, and one was that she was too weak, even if she had some advantage. Wild demons came in numbers. They were like locusts, destroying and devouring anything in their way. She thought about her parent''s stories about the demons, and they always talked about one thing, which annoyed them. It was that, after they died, they would release all of their energy at once, which destroyed all land, and it became poisonous and uninhabitable for at least a century. She remembered that one would also need a robust [Constitution] to not get poisoned, ''Maybe I can help out in the buffer zone? It should be less dangerous.'' She tried to remember where the buffer zone began and ended. But after some more thought, she clicked her tongue inwardly. Even if she was Tier 2, she knew her parents wouldn''t allow her to join the demon run. She mumbled while watching how the rainbow-colored moons stood in the clear night sky, "This sucks¡­." Leonandra''s law, or rather the estate law, was that you must be at least 23 to join the military. It was to have enough time to build sufficient physical prowess and enough willpower, to resist the wild and destructive demonic energy. The less developed someone was, the more susceptible one was. Throwing wood into the bonfire in front of her, she stood up and went into the cave while giving orders to Larry, "Wake me up in ~five hours. I will take the second watch." Larry simply nodded while polishing his mace, which was made from a mix of demon bones and Orichalcum. It was one of the sturdiest metals with almost no mana conductivity, perfect for pure physical builds. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. While she looked at the mace, she remembered how it was a present from her family after he took the position of her personal guard. This brought a smile to her when she remembered seeing him so perplexed when she chose him. Even though many more talented soldiers wanted the position, she liked him the most and decided out of pure instinct. He just felt right. "HUUUAAAM," while yawning, she laid down on her improvised bed made from hides of previously slain beasts. ... Days later They marched through the Savanna for already three days to Furri, and it was exhausting for Larry, not physically but mentally, "How long, Larry?" Hearing this, he sighed inwardly and ignored the question by playing deaf since he was asked more and more frequently by the day, ''I couldn''t answer it the first time and can''t answer it the hundredth one.'' He had no idea how long they would need to travel. Navigation was not his job but of intelligent beast-kins, in his opinion. Larry decided to play dumb as Lorient was looking at him. He tilted his head, "Yes, Ms. Lori?" She frowned and sounded annoyed, "Nothing, just thinking there should be a village somewhere." Larry nodded, ''Good. Hopefully, she will not ask me again in the next five minutes.'' As they silently walked for another four to five hours, the big ox-kin enjoyed the Savanna outside the woods. It was much safer, and he could slightly lower his guard. Larry was always stressed when Lorient, his mistress, consistently wanted to travel. Because of her recklessness, he was almost always on edge. The last time he lost her was because she decided to run away. He found her quickly by the commotion she created when she fought the giant bull. He suddenly noticed how her ears stood upright, and energy was focused on them and her nose, "Larry, I can smell¡­ nature-dweller and ¡­ their blood¡­." There was only one thought crossing his mind, ''Bad.'' Throwing all the bags to the ground, he grabbed his mace, "Where?" Even with lower skill levels, Lorient''s scouting and tracking abilities were much better than Larry''s, as he couldn''t sense anything. She looked towards a direction that should be south-west-west of Furri, "We need to hurry, go!" At her command, they both bolted in the direction she pointed to. As they ran through the savanna, she could smell it more clearly, ''Blood. Nature-dwellers blood.'' Lorient couldn''t comprehend why the hell there were nature-dwellers around this part? She couldn''t ask Larry, as he was a muscle-brain, and there was no time to contact military camps, and not like she knew if there were some close by. After minutes of running, she saw fairies in the distance, bound together and loaded onto the cart by vulcanic dwarves, "No¡­." Her blood started to boil. Beast-kin and nature-dwellers were in an alliance. If they get abducted close to their estate, problems could arrive, "LARRY!" His answer came prompt, "YES!" She remembered the motivational cry soldiers did at her estate while training and changed it a little to fit the situation: "Blood for blood, slaughter the Dwarves and leave only some alive!" Larry answered her mistress''s war cry with the only appropriate one without hesitation, "Shall the souls burn!" After the scream, Larry charged toward the first dwarf like a wild bull. The dwarf was armed to the teeth, armor, a shield, and a one-handed ax. He used [Charge] and was in but a moment before his first target. The dwarf was bewildered, but Larry ignored every bit of chivalry and fairness, only seeking blood as he swung with might downwardly before the dwarf could react. The mace landed fully on the helmet of the dwarf. It could protect the head, but the force traveled toward the neck, which cracked his spine. He instantly died and fell. Before the dwarf''s corpse touched the ground, Larry got into position and locked onto the next one, and like this, he used [Charge] again. Still, this time, the dwarf he latched onto was ready because of the previous commotion, and two of his colleagues were close to him and prepared too. Larry would not just appear before him, he stopped half a meter before him, and as the dwarves instantly tried to stab or slash at him, Larry was nowhere to be seen. He appeared behind the one on the right and used the [Weight multiplication] skill as he bashed the dwarf horizontally from behind with a mace that weighed at the exact moment ~half a ton. The great thing about the skill was that it would change not only the weight but also the direction in which the force would apply. It was a great mystic skill, in his opinion. You could hear bones breaking and metal denting as the hit connected. The dwarf flew towards another one, who stood on the left, and after crashing into him, they both flew away like a bird making a nosedive, just parallel to the ground. Larry looked at the last dwarf of this group, who raised his shield. He swung his giant mace again and activated his other mystic skill [Bloody Nourishment]. This mystical skill considers all the ones you killed in a fight in the last 24 hours and multiplies his [Strength] Attribute accordingly with the number for ten minutes. The air around Larry became heavy. His muscles bulged. Veins popped out like giant snakes out of the river. He hit. The dwarf defended against the hit, but his hands and arms cracked. The bones broke. He was partially buried to his ankles into the ground as he drifted a couple of meters away. He looked at the giant monstrosity that should be an ox-kin who was readying himself for another attack. The dwarf puked a bucket of blood, eyes red as blood vessels popped. He died and fell to the ground. Larry looked around and saw another four dwarves standing and readying themselves. A vicious smile appeared on his face as he prepared himself, too. While Larry charged toward the other dwarves like an unstoppable force, two others were about to use the fairies as hostages to stop the ox-kin from killing their comrades. They were lower-ranking members, as anyone could guess by their equipment. It was subpar at best, but more was unnecessary as they only looked after the prisoners. One of the dwarves wanted to grab the first fairy, who was crying and protecting herself by holding her bounded hands in front of her. A deep killing intent stopped the dwarf, and he suddenly saw the world upside down. Lorient jumped towards him from behind, cutting his head off in a spin with her energy-loaded tail. She was in [Stealth] and waited for the right moment to strike. Luckily for her, the dwarves she was facing were lower members of their group, or else she would have much bigger problems. Even surviving would be difficult for her. After landing, she readied herself and used [Dash] towards the last dwarf. He looked panicked, grabbed his rather big two-handed ax from his side, and slashed horizontally toward Lorient. As the axe came close, she stepped in the same direction the ax was swinging. She kicked off the ground, towards the swing, and somersaulted, her back pointing towards the ground, over the ax. Barely avoiding it, and only thanks to the combination of the [Evasion] and [Acrobatic] skill was she able not to be split in half. Landing gracefully, she spun on the ground while setting her [Aura] hastily around her left foot, and with a kick, which was like a blade, she aimed towards the throat of the dwarf. Blood spurted out, and he fell to the ground. While breathing heavily, she checked her surroundings and saw that Larry was done, too. It was perfect timing since she barely had any Stamina left to power her energy. Usually, she had more than enough, but she had hardly anything left because she used [Running] and [Dashing] to come here as fast as possible. Lorient turned towards the four fairies and strode towards them, ''I hope they didn''t lose too many.'' The fairies looked now relieved since they were saved by this unusual duo. At first, they thought all would be lost, as they decided to travel by coach instead of using other, speedier means to cut costs, and thus were captured by a group of dwarves. As Lorient walked in their direction, she was already relaxed since she couldn''t sniff anyone else out and thus concentrated on the fairies who fascinated her. They were no more than a meter tall and had four beautifully decorated wings that were greenish and brown colored while having a very nature-like pattern. But all the cuteness needed to be imagined by Lorient since they were very dirty and looked a bit malnourished, as their light green skin and hair were barely visible as they were very dirtied. But even so, Lorient instantly knew who they were by smell alone: Leaf fairies. She never seen them before, though. Her only knowledge was from books, and their smell was described like the ones from druids like her father was one, so she could identify them instantly. ''They really only wear clothes from leaves. How interesting!'' The fairies wore weirdly tailored clothes made from a mix of bark, leaves, and different plants. They were not typical plants but were produced uniquely by nature-dweller tailors. She looked around again, trying to affirm, "Are there any more of you or the dwarves?" They suddenly looked sorrowful, and one of them answered the wolf-girl, "No, there are no more dwarves and¡­." The fairy stopped talking and looked towards their camp, or what was left, "There are also no other fairies apart from us..." Another fairy stepped from behind, almost crying, "They killed and burned two of us..." He almost choked on his words, "We don''t know where the remnants are, but we hope they are one with the circle by now." Lorient nodded. She tried to assure their safety and share their grievances, "Ok, you are safe now. Let me now look for the key for your handcuffs and interrogate the dwarf who is still alive..." Though she didn''t know how to share grievances. She sadly loved to skip her etiquette lessons back in the estate. She saw how they were downfallen and tried again to cheer them up, "Also ...I believe that we took vengeance for your fallen brethren. They can rest in peace now." The fairies nodded gratefully. While they didn''t believe in vengeance as peaceful folk, they understood the wolf girl''s good intentions. Lorient then left the awkward exchange as she looked for the key, which she found quickly on one of the corpses. Afterward, she freed the fairies and tied down the only dwarf Larry left alive. She also needed to run back to get their bags before they dropped them off to arrive as fast as possible, ''I am so damn tired, and it is already eve.'' After she talked with Larry, she learned more about the dwarves, at least their fighting capabilities, as they were only around mid to high Tier 1, so around level ~25 ¨C 45. Larry, who ate his meat while cleaning his clothes and weapon, looked over their prisoner. Both were annoyed as they needed to look over the fairies too and protect them, but it must be done, ''Not like I can let them die.'' Nature-dwellers and beast-kin were friendly toward each other and had mutual enemies like dwarves and humans. Thus there was some unspoken rule to help each other while out in the wild, especially when one group got attacked by their enemy. Lorient walked towards the group of fairies who were sitting and chewing on some stuff she wouldn''t like to try. It looked like a paste made from berries and leaves. They weren''t omnivores. Actually, none of the nature-dwellers were. They were all vegan and despised eating meat. From what her father told her, they were all crazy, and one should avoid having discussions with them since most of them were very idealistic in their beliefs. When Lorient approached them, she put her thoughts away and instead put on a tired smile out of courtesy. She waved her hand to announce herself. They made space on the ground between them for the wolf-kin girl to sit, which she did with a plop toward the ground. Before she could say anything, they had already started their etiquette of thanking. The first one to talk was a female who had a beautifully decorated wreath on her head, "We, as members of the circle of nature, want to¡­." Lorient was pressured on time and tired, ''I want to sleep! By the circle, please shut up!'' The little fairy was really thankful and talked a lot, but Lorient had nothing of it, already forgetting the courtesy she wanted to show, as she needed to wake up in the middle of the night and take the second shift after Larry. She interrupted them, "I am sorry dear fairies, but I am a bit on a time crunch and tired ¨C could we skip all the niceties?" The fairy giggled and nodded, "The wolf-kin are always so direct; it is very refreshing." Lorient nodded, accepting the compliment, "So, who are you?" The fairy with the wreath smiled and answered nonchalantly while shaking her head, "I can''t say, dear wolf-kin, but I already guessed your next question, and we are traveling towards the Leonandra estate, this much I can say." Lorient raised an eyebrow, pointed at herself, and tried to get more information since it became more interesting, "I am Lorient M. Leonandra. How about now?" Usually, Lorient should''ve investigated longer, but she was too tired to play any games. In her opinion, giving out her name should do it, and nobody in their right mind would impersonate a noble in their territory. The eyes of every fairy went wide except for the one with the wreath. Instead, she smiled at Lorient, "Hm, I expected you would be a prodigy of the Leonandra or Ros¨¦ family." Lorient smirked to herself as the fairy inflated her ego. Even though she flattered her, Lorient''s fighting capabilities were top-notch while only 11 years old. However, Lorient asked the fairy again, "So, will you tell me now?" She shook her head. Lorient nodded and took the situation as is. If the fairy was on a mission or something else, it wasn''t her business as long as they didn''t break the law. But if they did not tell the child of the ruling noble, it probably had something to do with the temple and was perhaps for her parents to hear whatever the fairies needed to say or do. She shrugged her shoulders and wanted at least to find something out about the dwarves, as they were obliged to disclose this information, "What about the shovelers?" The smile on the fairy''s face vanished, "They are probably scouts to intercept us. Probably some slavers who roam around." After what the fairy said, Lorient started frowning and rubbing her hair, ''It is too much for me. Not like I can do anything; in the worst case, I will make it worse. I should probably bring all of them along and let the estate investigate. Defending them should be now my priority.'' Lorient''s liked to fantasize about conspiracies, and for a moment, she had some thoughts about it, but after a moment, her mind shut down, and she would rather think that they were just some slavers who hunted around the rural territory to catch some beast-kin. After all the running and fighting, she was too tired to even give in to her thoughts about secret organizations and other very unprovable things. So, she would do the only right thing: She would hand this problem to someone else to solve while doing the minimum. She looked at the fairies sitting silently and eating, "So, do you want to travel with us?" Before she could even inhale, the fairy with the wreath nodded heavily, "Yes! Thank you very much, Ms. Lorient!" Lorient slightly recoiled backward, ''They are too enthusiastic for me... I can barely think... I need sleep.'' She stood up and observed them, "Good, as for now¡­." In her eyes, they were weak. It was nothing unusual as most nature-dwellers were a peace-loving race. Their abilities were also more appreciated in day-to-day life, like farming. However, she knew from her father, who was a druid, that there were extremely strong nature-dwellers. Lorient was a little shaky on her legs and decided on something else, ''There are no free meals, and I need more sleep if I want to be tomorrow on top.'' Scouting and tracking were part of her specialties, and for her to be tired while trying to sniff out more enemies or monsters would be detrimental. Typically scouts also had strong stamina and sleep resistance skills, but she didn''t have those as she was too young to develop them. "You guys will be the second on watch ¨C if something happens, just scream, and that big guy here..." She pointed toward Larry to the side, "Will smash at anything stupid enough to attack us." The fairy with the wreath giggled slightly and thanked Lorient while she was already walking away and waving at them, "Thank you, Ms. Leonandra!" She walked towards Larry and the dwarf, who was bound and gagged, "Hey Larry, we will bring all of them along to the estate. We will switch and look after this shoveler so he doesn''t die on us." While saying it, the dwarf tried to move and talk but couldn''t, so he just glared angrily at them. Lorient looked back into his hateful eyes, and something inside her snapped. Great killing intent radiated from the young wolf-kin girl that she could barely hold in, ''These are the scum that tortured us for centuries just because we look different.'' She crouched before the dwarf and glared at him with a menacing smile, "Listen, little gnome. I don''t care about your pride as shovelers or some stupid shit ¨C I know what you are doing in the west, and I will enslave your children as you did with ours¡­." Her last bit of energy surrounded her hands, "Make your women into prostitutes for beggars and murders, as you did with ours¡­." She pointed at him, "While you¡­." Lorient licked her lips as her bloodlust surged, "Will be nothing more than a shoveler ¨C until you fall dead so we can feed our beasts with your corpse¡­." She showed her fangs with a vicious smile. She wanted the dwarf to learn what fear was. She could barely hold herself back not to tear his throat out. In her mind, he was why they fled for centuries or even eons and lived like Monsters, ''He is the demon that enslaved my ancestors¡­ barely surviving¡­.'' Larry stood beside her and was on guard that his mistress didn''t kill the dwarf, ''Urgh, youth is always so emotional.'' He knew that she was always prone to extreme and irrational outbreaks since she got her legacy, and he didn''t like it at all but stood guard nonetheless, ''I need to tell this, the lady. Maybe she has a solution for these emotional outbreaks?'' While Larry readied himself to save the dwarf, his mistress''s [Aura] wrapped around her hands, which became redder and more menacing while she watched the dwarf sweating profusely with tears in his eyes. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Bringing her out of her bloodlust. Lorient looked to the side at Larry, who talked softly but sternly with her, "Ms. Lori, you gave me the command to ensure that he lives till we reach the estate." ''Oh, I blanked out a bit.'' She frowned but nodded toward Larry. She was genuinely thankful for her personal guard. Otherwise, she would accidentally kill the dwarf. Luckily, her personal guard was like a mountain, never weathering against anything and bringing her back when she had one of her emotional moments. The tiredness suddenly overcame Lorient, "Hm, are you ok? Can you make the first watch?" He simply nodded. As she stood up, she was stared at, full of fear, not only by the dwarf but also by the fairies who witnessed her display. Lorient shrugged her shoulders inwardly. She thought that they wouldn''t try anything stupid, at least after her little freak-out. It should be a suitable warning. She yawned while stretching her sore body. She informed Larry while she went toward her bed made from the hides of beasts she slew, "Huuuuaaaam! Good night, the second watch will be doing the fairies." As she fell on her improvised bed, she fell asleep instantly when she closed her eyes. Chapter 5: The Problem Child Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... Training ground, Leonandra Estate ''Why does the ground outside the estate feel so comfortable suddenly?'' Sarah lay on the ground, huffing and wheezing, barely catching her breath. She was drenched with sweat, so much that it felt terrible as the leather armor parts, like the breastplate, shin- and wrist-protectors, were rubbing heavily against her skin or the cloth, which was just moist. It felt icky. ''This is too much! I said I wanted to get stronger, but this is too much!'' Standing before her was one of her teachers, Lukri, a shield master from the snail-kin race. He had a swirl on his head, reminding Sarah about the whipped creme they occasionally had. This swirl looked like hair but was actually his head form. She fell into thought while resting, ''Do I look weird to them with my tail?'' Beast-kin looked similar, but depending on the subraces like wolf-kin or snail-kin, they all had certain body parts that differentiated them. Not only superficially but also internally. Wolf-kin had a fantastic sense of smell, and snail-kin had great defenses and race-specific skills, increasing their defense and flexibility. Lukri interrupted her thoughts, "What is it? Do you already give up?" ''This...'' Sarah gnarled her teeth and was ready for more, "No! Another round!" She stood up and raised her abused iron shield. She was ready to fight again. It was weird for someone from the Leonandra household to fight with a shield or even a weapon. However, all children learned to fight with every weapon to some elementary level, but not to the extent Sarah was doing right now. Learning [X Arts] like [Mace Arts], [Shield Arts], [Martial Arts], and so on, was important not only for fighting with them but against them, too. By learning them, they automatically learned how someone used them in battle if they fought against those weapons and their wielders. The Leonandra knightage had a tradition of teaching their children close combat and, by proxy [Martial Arts] with many different movement skills. So, it was weird that Sarah loved using a shield since she started training with different weapons. She didn''t know what it was, but it was as if the shield was perfect the moment she touched it, like another tail. After telling her mother about it, she got her a prominent shield master, a mercenary from Wolfsteeth as a teacher. If someone felt like this towards something like a weapon, art, or craft, it was an essential indication of where primarily the talents were. So, losing time on it was a no-go. Especially before they go through their legacy. Sadly, most didn''t have the luxury Sarah had, as she was a noble and could hire good teachers immediately, while others would be lucky to even watch the training. However, as she started her intensive training, she never regretted it and felt pure bliss. She believed this was the absolute right choice to concentrate on the shield. The last months when she trained were the most fun she had overall, even though she was practically beaten up at every of her training sessions. Sarah threw her thoughts to the back of her mind and got herself ready. She needed to learn how to block correctly and read the opponent. All she did the last weeks was block training, and she learned a lot of great skills. There were shield masters who only used shields without any additional weapons. They were living bulwarks who could block everything and were able to redirect their attacks toward others to create carnage. She loved the idea of it. After waiting for Sarah to get ready, Lukri dashed forward, not too slow, but fast enough for her to notice, and diagonally slashed with his wooden sword. A loud clank resounded. She blocked it, but the next hit came almost instantly, and he changed his grip this time. Another clank was heard. This time it was horizontally and close. Sarah moved diagonally backward to direct the force away from her body, ''Hold the shield steady.'' If she didn''t hold her shield tight enough, it would fly away, but if she didn''t hold it flexibly, her arm could brake. A clank. The next slash came vertically from above. Sarah held the shield directed to the slash and tilted it sideways so the force would be diverted while stepping in the opposite direction to not lose balance. The slash would be led down. Clank. Another successful defense as a stab toward her throat was averted. As it stabbed the shield, she tilted it slightly, stepping sideways to direct the force away. Through the whole training ground was a clanking heard for the entire afternoon, followed by screams and motivational insults. As the sun moved to the zenith, the wolf-kin girl fell to the ground after her teacher hit her legs, "Argh!" She couldn''t stand up anymore. All she did was lay on her back while inhaling and exhaling strongly. It felt to her that there was not enough air around her, ''Too tired.'' "Good job, you are learning fast, and you are learning skills like a genuine prodigy - next time, though, we will do our basic training again. You need a steel-like body, which means: physical training." It was nothing unusual to train her body to the maximum since, at her age, it was the perfect time to get the most out of it. The only downside was that she would lose her girly figure, which she liked, as her muscles would build up even more, and her food intake would at least double. It wasn''t bad to eat a lot, but she would need to concentrate on getting the most out of it since she couldn''t have the chiefs of the estate cook for her fancy stuff six times a day. Sometimes a roasted chicken would be enough, and this thought was sufficient for Sarah to try to stand up again. When she was upright and tried to beat the dirt away from her clothes, she saw how Lukri took out a long smoking pipe. He took some salt and other herbs, put them all in, and held a mana crystal toward the head of the pipe to turn the heat on. The pipe looked brand new, which meant he bought it with the coin from his teaching here. Sarah had no problems with it, but she heard servants gossip about him and say that the drugs he used were very potent. Without even looking at her, he started a conversation, guessing what she thought, "Don''t worry, as a tank, you have an incredible [Constitution], which means that most common drugs won''t even work on you, and let''s not talk about alcohol. I already gave up on it." Standing up, she looked curiously at the pipe. ''Maybe trying once is fine?'' "No." She was a little shocked by such an answer, like he could read her mind, "You are too young and not strong enough. This stuff I smoke could knock out a peak Tier 1 warrior without any problems." He looked at her while puffing, felt more relaxed, and smiled, "This means no." She shrugged, ''Whatever, thought it would be interesting.'' If it is that dangerous, even out of interest, she wouldn''t like to try it then, "Fine, so I will get myself ready for dinner. Will I see you tomorrow morning?" Sarah wanted to invite him for dinner, but it was a big no. As long as her little brother was so vulnerable, there was no way that her mother would let someone foreign inside the estate, even if he was an old friend of her father. Especially since the news came out that the Leonandra household was looking for a mage as a teacher. The whole of Wolfsteeth basically knew for whom they were looking the teacher as they knew the three other children pretty well, so only one remained. For some reason, her little brother could use mana skills, which he told and showed. Well, he tried to show it, but since nobody really could sense it, they identified them through other means. Alexander was, in her mind, already an old soul since all he did was learn, which motivated her, too, to train much more. "Sounds good. See you tomorrow," Lukri left pretty fast, and Sarah walked towards the main mansion of the estate while trying to ignore her sore body. ''Hmm, maybe looking at my progress will distract me? System, open yourself!'' ''Looks really great! I increased my skills again so quickly, hehe.'' While she walked through the estate, she hopped at every second step as she saw her progress which was excellent in her mind. ''Since I started training with the shield, my skill levels jumped like a kangaroo-kin... hehe.'' But she also knew she needed to calm down and digest all these skill levels first before leveling again. She also knew that her teacher also knew this. Thus, the next training sessions would only be physical training. But even then, her [Constitution] rose like the sun, ''Nobody can stop my progress!'' As she thought about rising skills, she wondered how the puppy was doing? As he was learning to read, he suddenly read so fast that even Salyna, their head accountant, was shocked. But Alexander wasn''t only training his mental skills. He also did physical training, which was funny to watch as he could barely do anything other than a little running or rather fast walking and some body-strengthening exercises. It looked hilarious and cute to everyone who watched him. ''I should visit him later and see how he is doing. I saw him a week ago, and he looked exhausted... I wouldn''t be surprised if he already had a skill test. Maybe I can help him?'' She went through the same phase as him, but she was not even close to as young as he was now when she was obsessed with training and getting her levels up. But her thoughts quickly changed as she walked through the mansion and heard servants calling her little brother: The future Arch-mage or The Arch-mage puppy. This brought a smile to her face. ... Alexander''s bedroom Alexander was sitting in his dim-lit room, on the floor, surrounded by dozens of books he had read over the months, ''If the tower of books fell, would I be squashed? Note to me, be more careful.'' He reviewed his Compendium, which he wrote about the system and its aspects. Alexander wanted to create a small manual explaining how the system worked. Why did he want to do it? Because he researched it, and while doing so, he tried to help his family and future generations since they had nothing like that. Close to him was a plate with food that he had earlier gulped down, ''I was never a foodie, but the food was delicious.'' It was really basic mush that tasted fruity and meaty. He wanted more solid food but was denied, ''I can''t wait to have real food.'' He looked to the side, where one of his maids sat on the couch. This time, Cloelle was looking after him. His maids built a stringent shift system for looking after the puppy. ''I feel like a prisoner...'' He was watched every single minute of the day, and in the beginning, he liked it since they would answer many questions, but this wore out very quickly. He last asked for help in reading or writing two weeks ago. Alexander trained for the last months all his skills to an extent where he reached what he assumed was a high level. He was really proud of himself, ''I bet I can reach level 50 before I am ten years old!'' Every new ring he heard was an endorphin shot to his brain, and he loved it. This was super addictive. The only problem he felt was that he was unfocused and could have higher levels of specific skills if he concentrated on them. But he also didn''t know what he wanted to do in the future since he also didn''t know what the hell this world was. In that sense, he tried to concentrate on getting as many skills as possible and, later on, be strong enough to at least defend himself. With this in mind, he also read and gathered information, trained his mana skills, and did his physical workout. Of course, there was also the aspect of curiosity since this world was brand new, and the system it employed was novel to him. Sadly, he was forbidden to share his window with others as this was deemed the most private thing one had. ''Well, another world (dimension?), another customs, I guess.'' He also had some skill tests, but nothing fun like the algorithm test. They all were super basic. Even his teacher was visibly bored and took at some point a test away when he rechecked it for the tenth time and just gave full points. When he always fished for information while in those tests, her answers never helped as they were cryptic at best, ''Well, maybe I find here something?'' While looking and noting everything down, his reading speed went through the roof, and his skill level increased fast, and since he was also compounding the information, he got new skills like [Writing], [Deduction], [Analyzing], etc. All these skills helped him think in the most scientific way possible, but this only was relative and depended heavily on the information available. With the wrong data, he could easily conclude that the planet was flat. Skills only aided someone and weren''t really something that automatically made him overpowered. In that sense, they could be very unproductive if he wasn''t trained enough to reason through their veil of deceptive ability gain. Alexander remembered the saying that one should learn how to walk first before running, and it fitted well toward skills and their effects. If you got the skill [Running] before even knowing how to breathe or move correctly, it would become suboptimal in the long run if the skill didn''t correct it later on. However, this system also brought one to a decent level right out of the gate, and there was a perk that wasn''t directly visible, but one could conclude easily. Creativity was greatly rewarded if one tried to think outside the bounds of the information the skill gave. Also, Alexander sometimes just received skills by pure coincidence and would later write down how he acquired them for others. When he learned [Calligraphy], for example, he immediately knew why. He lay down the parchment sideways as he wrote, so the writing would become automatically cursive and voil¨¤, a new skill. He wasn''t one to hoard skills for himself or how to get them. This little personality trait came from his time as a coder, where he openly put all of his source code online for everyone to see and copy. It was actually not unusual to do it in the industry since most programmers had some kind of idealistic tendencies. Unluckily, in the new world where he was, the ones who analyzed their system didn''t have such tendencies, so he would need to discover most things by himself or probably buy them somehow. There was, of course, common knowledge, but more was needed in his eyes. Some information was very straightforward, which everyone could find out by themselves. For example, the [Divinity Line] will be unlocked when reaching the age of ten. Easy so far. The impossible part was determining it: The [Divinity Line] and the [Mystic Skills], which would unlock, will be determined by the morals, skills, levels, etc. Or how Alexander defined it: The whole being of the specific individual. Someone who has a love for cooking but is strong and brave, what [Divinity Line] will one receive? The one they desire or the one which fits the best? This was an existential question, and no one could answer him. His mother was a little reserved and barely had time as she was the lady of the estate. His siblings weren''t helpful, too, since they treated him like a toddler, which he was, and his servants were confused. ''Was this called determinism in philosophy?'' He wanted to know how to determine his [Divinity Line]. Still, the only information he got was that as a child of the Leonandra bloodline, he would get a chance to get a wild demon [Divinity Line], which he also needed to find out what it was exactly. All he knew was that his family [Divinity Line] had something to do with killing demons. Still, he also understood that he was too young to be taught such complicated topics, and his mother was already looking for a teacher. ''I get it. If I had a child who suddenly was a genius but also almost died multiple times, I would only get a teacher after checking their background thrice.'' Alexander sighed and ruffled his hair in annoyance. Many more problems irritated him as he read all the books: There was no scientific method in this world, and most nobles would hold onto their information and even take them to their grave. So, he had only anecdotes, which were very biased self-reports, and only from their family. This made the puppy incredibly angry and frustrated. More than usual. There could also be more books he had no access to, but he was told there was only the library he already had access to and an archive, which even the lord and lady had restricted access to. The only one who had access was the archivist, who was more or less a neutral but loyal party inside the estate. It was designed to protect their workers'' information and increase thus loyalty. ''Well, luckily, none of the companies from my previous life are here. They would salivate at the thought of system windows.'' After the bad joke, he thought about the following question how his family would secure the specific [Divinity Line]? He didn''t need research to get an answer as he guessed that they would usually just pop one child after another until at least one had it. Still, sometimes it can jump a generation, and parents from side families who hadn''t such [Divinity Line], get a child with it. ''So, genetics are a thing too... I guess?'' This made him smile since he remembered the same problem as in his previous life. It was the question of nurture vs. nature. How would one''s personality determine? By genetics or the environment? So the question was unanswerable, at least for him at that moment, but he hoped it would be in a world full of magic. ''At least I can determine my nurture part as I can easily become spoiled with all the treatment.'' As a child of a knightage household, he had three maids, who tended to all of his needs, and they were not thrilled by their looks. Not because they didn''t like it but because he overworked himself regularly and sometimes fell asleep while reading. They were probably frightened every day when they reported to his mother. Alexander shrugged inwardly. Commoners had too much fear of nobles. Also, he trusted that his mother would never do something radical toward them. Instead, she would probably put him in chains. So, he understood them but didn''t care. ''Knowledge is power, and right now, I need power! Who knows what will happen in years to come?'' He knew from Earth''s history too well that making nobles a few inches shorter was standard. And he has yet to learn how they were treating their subjects. This was politics, though, a topic for later when people could take him seriously. Right now, he was more of a furball, ''My tail is so god damn fluffy!'' He fell into a trance for some minutes and played around with his tail and ears. It was fun for him, but he got himself together after a moment, ''Where was I? Right, something about the system.'' He looked at his parchments, feather, and ink and sighed, ''Back to work.'' [Divinity Line]''s. He barely knew anything about them, so he decided to do the most pragmatic thing. He ignored them for the time being. ''What should I review next... right, Tiers.'' There was an infinite amount of Tiers, which followed a specific pattern depending on the general level. Tier 1: Level 1 - 50. Tier 2: Level 51 - 150. Tier 3: Level 151 - 300. ... ''Next is experience.'' The needed experience per level in specific Tiers also followed a particular pattern, and after every level up, one would receive a free status point. Like with Tiers, where the levels to the next Tier increased with every new Tier, the needed experience for a level-up also increased with every Tier. Tier 1: Level 1 - 50. -> 100 Exp per level-up. Tier 2: Level 51 - 150. -> 200 Exp per level-up. Tier 3: Level 151 - 300. -> 300 Exp per level-up. ... ''Thank God there are no damn tests for increasing one general level or Tier.'' There were also more perks for reaching the next Tier. One was an attribute multiplier increase of 20% and an additional mystic skill. Tier 1: Level 1 - 50. -> 100 Exp per level-up. -> Attribute multiplier: 1.0. -> Total [Mystic Skills]: 3 This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Tier 2: Level 51 - 150. -> 200 Exp per level-up. -> Attribute multiplier 1.2. -> Total [Mystic Skills]: 4 Tier 3: Level 151 - 300. -> 300 Exp per level-up. -> Attribute multiplier 1.4. -> Total [Mystic Skills]: 5 ... ''Hm, should be everything about leveling up the Tier... what was next? Right, attributes.'' It was fundamentally pen and paper with some twerks. Alexander didn''t get why this was the case, but this question was also very philosophical. Was the god of this world, or whatever deity, a nerd? Was this designed or developed naturally since something like mana changed everything? This was an incredibly fundamental question that he probably wouldn''t find an answer to in the library of a knightage family who specialized in killing swarms of demons. Still, he was sure that he would fill it up with questions for future generations could contemplate. ''Fuck it, right now I need to review the practical reality for me and create a small guide for future generations.'' He also wanted to put this as public as possible. This was where his idealism played a decisive role, but he remembered something else from his previous life: In the age of nobles, most commoners couldn''t read in his last life, and he didn''t know how it was here. All of this was unimportant for collecting practical information, so he ignored it and returned to the topic of the practicality of the system. He was a little tired and forced himself to concentrate, ''Attributes... come on, don''t get weak on me, Alex!'' Attributes grew naturally, like if someone trained physically, [Strength] would increase. Still, there were also ways to increase them unnaturally through the system, and this is where the three categories for different attributes came into play. The unnatural increase will only be possible after receiving the legacy at the age of ten. Alexander had no idea why and this was again some weird rabbit hole of a philosophical conundrum he wanted to avoid going into. The three categories were also indirectly described in the literature, so he couldn''t make them out too well. Still, luckily the servants told him what commoners called them: Standard, special, and conditional attributes. Standard attributes (STA) were the basic ones: [Strength], [Dexterity], [Constitution], [Spirit], [Intelligence], and [Perception]. Special attributes (SPA) were: [Charisma] and [Luck], while conditional attributes (CA) were: [Aura], [Defense], and [Essence]. For Alexander to decipher what they did, he asked a lot around since the literature was crap, and came to an unsatisfied conclusion, ''Whatever the fuck one wants, arguably.'' STA''s like [Strength] was mentioned as muscle power but also to increase one''s health. Others said that after they raised it, they felt like they could better work on their crafting-like hobbies since the strength of their hands increased, and with it, indirectly, their dexterity improved. It was a clusterfuck for him, but he could understand that he wasn''t in a game where a simple attribute increase only resulted in simple-minded betterment of certain things. ''What was this shit called again? Intersectionality from the social sciences would fit pretty well in here.'' If someone increased their [Constitution], it meant their body would become healthier and sturdier. With it, they could think much better, which meant an indirect increase in intelligence without putting any points into [Intelligence] in itself. Luckily for him, CA''s were much more straightforward. In his opinion, they increased one''s so-called energy output, which could be used mostly for fighting. [Aura] was destructive, [Defense] was protective, and [Essence] was, as described in books and by the servants, something mages used. [Essence] was very unique in the sense that it was not as destructive as [Aura] and not as protective as [Defense], but it always had some unique effect, which depended on the individual. One would know after receiving their legacy. There was also a dire warning to never mix different kinds of energies, which the specific CA''s produced. They don''t mix together well, and backlashes were recorded, with the worst of them could lead to death. What about SPA''s, like [Charisma] or [Luck]? The funny thing, though, which the puppy didn''t find funny, [Charisma] was the same as STA''s. As one puts points into it, one could increase one''s appearance but also not. It could also give out an aura of a particular inner feeling one had, like authority, innocence, competence, etc., and influence others. He wouldn''t even want to try and define [Luck], but he remembered a servant telling him: I increase [Luck], so I find more coins on the street randomly, ''Well, not like I can talk about my life choices since I already died once and he is alive and well.'' Alexander ruffled his hair strongly and bit with his baby teeth into the third feather since he had chewed the last two away. He could formulate the attributes, but it would take him hundreds of pages, so he didn''t, as he was already getting increasingly tired. He understood that having such explanations for the attributes, even if their use was a little fuzzy, was important and could be used to define future builds of oneself. So, he would write them down and describe them to the best of his abilities later. ''Next time, let''s go to the more practical notion of how to increase them.'' The increase of them all was different but had some similarities, like they all could be increased by Free Stat points one received by leveling up. He remembered that most servants in the estate had no need or interest to fight against bloodthirsty monsters or ravaging bandits but also didn''t need to craft and were mainly here to serve. So they increased them with their [Free Stat Points]. There was also the possibility to increase some attributes with the experience of killing or leveling up one''s skills. For example, if one wanted to increase the standard attributes, one needed to use the equivalent of the attributes level in experience to increase it by one. [Strength | 1] -> [Strength | 2], cost: -1 Exp [Strength | 2] -> [Strength | 3], cost: -2 Exp ... Conditional attributes, though, as the name suggested, were restricted till something was acquired, and then one could increase them. To even acquire the possibility of increasing them, one needed to have two specific STAs to reach the sum of 50. For every further increase by 1, one would need to increase first the sum of the two STAs by 10 or put Free Stat points in them, with whom one could increase them indefinitely. [Aura] would increase by the sum of [Strength] and [Dexterity]. [Defense] worked with [Constitution] and [Spirit], while [Essence] needed [Intelligence] and [Perception]. Also, depending on the allocation, the specific energy would change accordingly. How? Nobody really knew since this was also something very individual. ''It will look like this, I guess?'' STA: Increase by experience. Increase by Free Stat points. CA: Increase by experience. Increase by Free Stat points. SPA: Increase by Free Stat points. ... Alexander wanted to compare his information as he saw this as very beneficial for everyone, but he was looked at like he was some freak. ''Can''t really blame them, though.'' He could freely talk early on and started to read and write much earlier than others who would learn it only if needed. His family accommodated him and never judged, but he could see how weird he was in the eyes of the servants. ''I am already a sucker for my family.'' The bond was incredible between him and his family, and he already forgot that he was actually an outsider to this world. This is why he didn''t even try to hide abilities or anything of the sort and just told outright that he could sense mana and his other skills, which had the prefix mana. They were initially a bit perplexed, but after a moment, his mother''s smile grew so wide that he thought he would see her headshot someone with a pencil by doing a magic trick. He was told he would be the first Leonandra to be a scholar or mage. He didn''t know if he should feel so proud, but his mother explained that they were essential for every fief. They had a dragon-kin mage or two, but they were not part of the household and only acted as hires. They would need to contact them in advance if they needed something done, which would cost quite a bit. There was also that the only beast-kin subrace that had mages were dragon-kins. So they would be arrogant and act like a tight-knit group. The whole estate went actually crazy about it. For beast-kin, having a mage in the family was very prestigious, even if they were low-level ones. Mages were incredibly versatile, as they could cast spells freely without having the specific [Mystic Skills]. This was the whole crux. Alexander thought, for example, that some servants could use magic too, not aggressive magic but lifestyle ones. But they were actually using [Mystic Skills]. He asked a bit around to get a broader picture, and Francesca, one of his maids, said that mages for beast-kins were like saints since they were scholars, researchers, inventors, artisans who made mana items, and so on. But he needed to be mindful of what the servants said since his mother told him something different. He guessed that the perception of commoners was usually one of a lot of smokescreens, while nobles would have a better grasp on the information. The picture painted for commoners seemed a little extreme, especially in areas like theirs, where almost no mages existed. ''Now I need to be careful not to get an ego big enough to play football on it. Thankfully my family is helping me with that.'' Sarah was one who just ignored everything else and saw him as a pup. She played all the fun games with him, which he also liked for some reason. His mother was having trouble because she saw him as a pup, too, obviously, but she sometimes talked with him like with an adult because of how he spoke and acted. But it was by accident, and then she remembered who she had talked to. She quickly switched back to her motherly voice. His older brother Narsiz looked at him always like he had something stuck in his commercial district, but in the end, he always helped. Alexander could feel that he was a bit perplexed by him, so he stayed neutral until he could wrap his head around it. Sadly, he didn''t see his older sister Lorient and was told she was traveling and gathering experience. All of them smirked when he asked this, as they probably couldn''t wait to see her face when she would be back and speak with Alexander. He sighed and went back to end the collection of information. Now he only needed to write down some general things for himself. Things like how [Experience] was gained were ignored since it was the first thing he wrote down. The only thing he could add was maybe how much [Experience] one gained by killing monsters, but even this was convoluted at best. He only found that [Experience] could only be gained by killing if someone did it all by themself. If you were in a group, it would be split up, and the amount would decrease heavily. Even if someone killed a monster by themselves, but there was someone behind you who would jump in if you got in danger, the system would somehow know and decrease the [Experience]. So, slaughtering infants so they could reach higher Tiers was impossible. His headache was getting worse, but he wanted to push through with the general information about the world. Afterward, he could take a break. Alexander discovered that the calendar system was much more to his liking. 13 months, 520 days per year, and 8 days a week. It was much more logically built. ''If I am here ~1 year old, on earth, I would be around 1.4 years old. There is also the feeling that the day is much longer... well... argh.'' Alexander rubbed his temple as the headache was getting worse, and it didn''t help that all the information was scattered around in dozens of books, ''Why would they just not do the same I did and make a short lexicon of sorts? I read so much useless shit... damn!'' The headache worsened, which irritated Alexander to no end, "Cloelle?" A bored voice came from the side, "Yes, Mr. Alexander?" "Could you bring me, please, some water?" She nodded and left the room immediately. ''Ah, silence.'' Even if it was silent all the time, it felt like he could hear her breathing, ''I am so sensitive right now... am I just too tired?'' ''What would a noble do in this situation? Behead the maid and have intercourse with the wall? Sounds like a plan.'' Alexander lay on the ground and giggled about his own joke. He enjoyed the freedom and silence at this moment. Even if they didn''t restrain him, being observed 24/8 was stressful. He heard the door open and wanted to open his eyes and thank Cloelle, but he could sniff out that Sarah was visiting him before that. As he stood up, he saw that Sarah looked shocked, ''What happened?'' "What happened, Alex!" ''I actually wanted to ask that...'' Alexander waved his hand in dismissal and yawned. He answered her honestly, "Sorry, I was reading too much and making notes about all the system window stuff. I am just tired." He did his I love you so much smile to calm her down since she looked agitated. What happened next was unexpected. As Cloelle returned, Sarah looked at her sternly and commanded, "Bring all the books and parchments back now! For the following weeks, he is not allowed to read!" Alexander''s eyes widened. He couldn''t believe what she said, "Wai..." Before he could even say something to Cloelle, she acted like a whirlwind, and took all the dozens of books, put them inside a box, and brought them out, probably to the library. ''What the fuck?!'' He never saw butterfly-kin being so fast, but this was the last of his worries as Sarah looked at him angrily. ''Huh, did I fuck up again? I slept when I was sleepy. I ate well and was physically active.'' Alexander asked her softly, "Big sis..." But was instantly interrupted, "Don''t big sister me! Have you looked at yourself?!" He shook his head. The last months were only intense training and research. He would go even so far that..., ''Oh, I see the problem.'' He wanted to apologize, "Erm, I..." But was immediately interrupted by a Sarah who suddenly opened her eyes wide open like saucers, "Are you training right now, your mana!?" ''How? She can''t even fucking sense Mana like me?!'' "Don''t look at me like that. Mana has no smell but will neutralize every other scent." ''Oh.'' He quickly stopped the combination of [Mana Sense], [Mana Absorption], and [Mana Emission], which he would always train passively. It was not the same as before when he almost died. He just tried to widen his [Mana Sense] while emitting and absorbing ambient mana. It worked well enough so that two of the three skills increased at a nice pace. [Mana Emission] stuck, and he probably would need to use it in a more specific... Before he could finish his thought, she crouched right before him and inspected his eyes while holding them open, "I knew it." Alexander wanted to ask what the hell she knew, but before he knew it, Sarah grabbed him suddenly and dragged him away in her arms, princess-style, "Sis, I can walk..." She didn''t even spare a glance and angrily retorted, "Shut up! The following weeks you will be following me!" ''She is really rough sometimes. I pity her future husband.'' He put the jokes aside and understood it. He needed some leisure... Before he could finish his thoughts, Sarah interrupted them again as she screamed at a maid somewhere in the distance, flirting with some butler, "Hey, you! Call Mama! I need to see her in my room. Say it is about Alex!" The maid ran off like she had bees in her backside. ''Welp, don''t need to think about what I did. I will find it out in a couple of minutes.'' ... As Alexander was inside her room, he wanted to say it was chaotic, but he decided against it. Though, he decided to take a mental image of her room as this was the perfect analogy for entropy. She laid him down on her bed and stood beside the door like some mafioso, waiting for the executioner. He got frightened, "Big shishder, I love you soooo..." She looked at him sternly and didn''t even let him finish the obvious try to manipulate her, "Don''t." He clicked his tongue inwardly. Something cute would actually work on his big sister with a giant colorful bow around her waist. After some minutes, their mother came in with a more or less grim facial expression. She looked between Sarah and Alexander a couple of times. After a moment, she ignored him and started talking with her. He wanted to try the same trick on her, "Mo..." Without even ending the first word, she held her hand up while talking to Sarah, interrupting him, ''I feel like a child... well, I am more of an infant, but... come one!'' After a moment, Alexander could hear her saying, "Mama, look at his eyes and smell him." His mother came close, looked into his eyes up close, and smelled him more intensively, ''I always forget that we are wolf-kin, so smelling is one of our most vital assets, and I also feel it. Our [Perception] attributes are over the roof.'' This was actually crazy since he could basically smell what his maids had eaten over the day, who they met, and where they were. Alexander couldn''t describe the places or persons, but he could keep them apart. It was sometimes confusing that his best sense was the sense of smell and not sight anymore. His mother nodded after checking and looked back at Sarah, "I need the anti-mana collar." Something inside of Alexander cracked as he heard it. He was already sensitive for the last few days, but now it was enough. He wasn''t some fucking puppy. He was a grown-ass man and wouldn''t let them put a shit-ass collar on him. ''Fun is over!'' He jumped up and started to instinctively growl at them. ''Nope! Just fucking nope!'' Alexander didn''t need to be a genius to know what an anti-mana collar was, "There is no way in hell I will let you restrict my mana!" He let his mana run wild. They looked at this puppy, but he couldn''t discern their facial expressions anymore. Did they look angry? Sad? Disappointed? He didn''t know. The headache also worsened by the second, ''I am so damn tired.'' "###### ####### ### ###," One of them said something, but all Alexander could hear was only a ringing sound. Sarah was cautiously moving towards him, "###### #### ####." Even though he was delirious, he could control his mana excellently, so he pushed it out. As he emitted his mana outside, he consolidated it like trying to protect himself. In his little bit of clarity, he imagined how the gaseous molecules moved with his mana. He pushed them together, and with every moment, they became tighter and tighter. Suddenly, he felt extreme heat forming, and a blue, almost transparent, film materialized before him. He could discern a certain ring inside the constant banging he experienced. Everything started to look spongy in front of him, and shortly before he lost consciousness, he had a clarifying thought, ''I guess I overdid it... why did I do this again?'' ... Hours later A particular puppy was rustling under a blanket inside Sarah''s room, moving uncomfortably. Alexander woke up as he felt a headache. It got worse by the second until it was so bad like he had never felt before, "Argh!" He held his head and went into the fetal position, "Damn it!" Shortly afterward, nausea invaded him, ''What is this strong smell?!'' It was not a bad smell, but it was so overwhelming that he needed to concentrate to not throw up instantly. A soft voice greeted him by whispering, "Good morning Alex." He barely opened his eyes and tried to look at whoever was screaming at him, ''Why is it so bright?! Has someone brought the fucking sun into my room?!'' Alexander saw Sarah sitting on a chair in front of him, and with it, all the memories came back of what had transpired, but he didn''t care. He felt so bad that he would instead get stabbed again as to living through this torture, "ASS!" She tilted her head and frowned, thinking he was cursing, "What?" He started to growl in pain, "Give me a damn ASS or Ibu. My head is killing me!" Even saying this, felt like someone banged his brain with a sledgehammer. She shook her head, "I don''t know what it is." Alexander tried to move his body. His muscles felt sore and hurt like hell, ''Why am I feeling like this?!'' "You need to lie in bed for a couple of weeks." As he moved, the ringing came back, and even the slightest light almost blinded him, "What? Wh... argh!" Sarah sighed with a mixture of relief and concern, "It is a wonder that you actually could use mana skills in the end." "What do you mean?" As he squinted at her, she pointed a finger toward her eye. "Let''s say it like this: A fragile body like yours can''t handle the mana overuse, mental exhaustion, and other things, but you are lucky I found it in time otherwise..." She stopped and made a horizontal line around her neck. ''I would die?!'' She stood up and came over to sit down on the bed. Sitting beside Alexander, she caressed his head while talking with him in a concerned voice, "It will have incredibly negative effects up to death." "It was pure luck that I saw yesterday your eye and could smell you." He remembered that his eyes did hurt, but it wasn''t anything concerning in his mind since he knew what it meant to sit in front of a PC for hours, but he was wrong since she obviously meant something different, "My eye?" "Yes, you had glowing blue eyes with red inside them..." she sighed again, but this time more heavily, "Talent is a curse, little pup - we all know what you can do, but you need to calm down. What happened could''ve killed you." "But..." She laid her hand on Alexander''s mouth, "Don''t talk, and just close your eyes." Alexander did what she said while she kept on talking in a very soft and quiet voice, but it sounded nevertheless loud to him. Very loud and irritating. "Your senses are right now extremely sensitive, so we remodeled the room and put an anti-mana collar on you, so don''t use any of your skills." Alexander started frowning, ''Welp, fuck me, I guess?'' Sarah giggled as quietly as possible, "You were so cute yesterday while trying to go against us, but the restraint is necessary so that you can heal fully." ''I get it. It''s like one of those cone things for dogs so they don''t scratch their wounds. Otherwise, I would try like a moron to keep on training.'' He just lied there. Even if he wanted to use a mana skill, his headache, and the collar would prevent it. Sarah tried to distract her little brother from the pain, "By the way, what was this ASS and Ibu?" ''Oh, right. I said it out of reflex and totally forgot where I was.'' He lied, "Secret alchemical solutions that elves invented against headaches I read about." She tapped her chin with her index finger and was a little in thought, "Hm, alchemy was never something I was interested in." ''Hmm, maybe I can create it at some point? I remember how to make it...how was it again?'' As he thought about it, he felt an enormous headache coming, "My head!" Alexander crawled closer toward Sarah, "Don''t try to level up your skills either. It will worsen your pain." She smiled sadly, "You know, I also went through the same kind of struggle." "You...," she interrupted him by laying her hand softly on his mouth. "Psshhhh, I said no talking, and yes, while I was not as young as you now... well... I doubt anyone can have a 1:1 comparison to you...." she giggled lightly, "...however, I started running when I was 2, and at that point, my skill levels shot up, and I got new skills after new skills." Alexander listened attentively and expected that he was not the only moron in my family, "I also sparred against Narsi and Lori very often, and when they had no time, I would train till I lost consciousness out of exhaustion." ''Oh! I have a moron in arms, good going sis!'' Sarah continued, "After doing it for a couple of months, I couldn''t suddenly move anymore and needed to lie down for three months in bed. I over-exhausted my body to the extreme. Even two years after that, I couldn''t do any regular training. Only after three years could I train again normally." ''So, it was like me, just with purely physical training?'' "You are lucky, as your case is much less severe, and I found it early on. A couple more weeks, and you would end up like me...." she sighed, "....gaining skill levels and skills is addictive and dangerous, as your body needs to adjust to it, if not..." she shrugged, "...well, now you know." Silence prevailed in the room. Suddenly, she lay beside Alexander and caressed him, "Try to sleep." ... East of the Leonandra territory A giant three-meter-tall brown bear stood deep inside a cave. His tattoos, which were all over his body, glowed all in red while a thin green mist surrounded the whole body. He inhaled strongly, and a savage roar followed, like from the depths of hell. With it, one could see that it affected the opponent before him. A giant spider''s leg shot toward him like an arrow, but he avoided it, and the leg collided with the ground and buried itself inside. Cracks all around the bottom appeared. The green mist around him started to condense around his body, and the tattoos started glowing even stronger as he grabbed the leg that he had avoided before. In front of the bear, the enormous four-meter (~13 ft.) spider glared at him with her eight red eyes and shot another of her legs toward him, trying to pierce his body. He caught the leg that flew toward him and held it under his armpit like the other. A deep voice resounded as he held onto the two legs, and the green mist condensed stronger, "GOT YA!" One could see a savage grin in the giant bear, "Nature, come and entangle this asshole!" Roots shoot out of the ground, breaking the hard floor open and entangling the spider, who screeched loudly in annoyance while trying to deafen the perpetrator. The bear exhaled, and a hot mist came out, "Huuuh, don''t worry, sweety, I will end it quickly!" He roared again and pulled the legs he held onto with a sudden and intense move. A crunching and cracking resounded through the cave. The spider tried to move toward him to avoid it, but the entanglement of roots held it solidly into place as her legs were pulled out. The pain it felt was unbearable, and it screeched in a high-pitched scream. Green and red liquid spurted all over as the bear pulled them out. The bloodlust he experienced grew so much that even the spider started to fear him and wanted to flee. The excited bear threw one leg away and turned the one he held onto around. Thick green mist surrounded it as it turned more solid. He charged the spider with a hump, and the ground cracked under him as he ran toward the giant spider, using the leg like a big lance. He targeted the most challenging part of the spider, and the lance cracked the exoskeleton and went directly into the spider''s innards, like a hot knife into butter. More liquids and gut spilled everywhere inside the cave. The lance buried deeper and deeper as the spider screeched and tried to somehow break free by moving erratically. In a last-ditch effort, it spat poison at the bear, but it had no effects. After a moment of sizzling, it evaporated entirely. Even the steel-like threads all around couldn''t stop the maniacal bear. He was like a moving mountain. After some wriggling and convulsing, the spider stopped moving, and the bear stood before it. He frowned. Somehow disappointed by the enemy. After a moment, he turned around and walked out of the cave. While walking, he transformed back to his normal form. A male wolf-kin of 2.3m (~7.55 ft.) tall who wore nothing more than cheap linen and leather clothes. For everyone who didn''t know who he was, he would look like a simple Lumberjack. After the fight, he was full of sticky and colorful fluids and innards. At the entrance were other beast-kin, mostly wolf-kin, wearing mostly decent half-plate armor and equipped with different weapons. They all waited for him, and as he went out, they all screamed and saluted in unison, bowing down with their right hand on their heart, "MY LORD!" The big wolf-kin waved his hand in dismissal, "The cave is all yours." As he said it, they all went into formation and went into the cave, exterminating the rest of the monsters. The wolf-kin strolled towards his camp. Arriving there, a fox-kin came sprinting towards him, screaming, "My lord!" while saluting. Like before, he just waved his hand and was visibly annoyed by this. He looked at some servant and commanded, "Bring me water. I want to clean myself up." While waiting for the water, he started undressing in the middle of the camp ¨C most of them ignored it as this was a common sight from their commander and lord. Only some younger female beast-kins blushed visibly. The fox-kin forced a smile, "My lord, please be more attentive." while looking around at some sniggering servants. The wolf-kin looked down at the fox-kin, who was normal-sized but looked like a child while being close to him. He smiled and looked like the devil, full of fluids from the fight, "I am sorry, Sarus, but you know that women can''t resist either way, right?" Silence prevailed in the camp while some started giggling, "GUHAHAHAHA! Calm down! This was the last elimination spot, so you can relax!" Sarusos visibly frowned and took out some documents, "We got a letter from the Iolya Estate. They are asking for more help as¡­." Before he could finish his sentence, a massive bang was heard as the black tail of the lord hit the ground and produced a crater. Intense killing intent was felt around the camp, some could barely walk, and others just sat down and waited it out. Sarusos, the fox-kin, also just stood there, waiting for his lord to calm down. He knew he wouldn''t do anything against him or the other servants and was a little bit impulsive sometimes. But the pressure was also too much for him, as he became drenched in sweat, standing close to the source of such a killing intent, "We will head back, and I want you to write them something." The killing intent intensified, and almost no one moved anymore, "He can go fuck himself, and I don''t care if he has a problem. If he is trying to send us fewer resources, I will personally eradicate him and his blood!" An audible growl could be heard. Sarusos tried to stay beside his master but needed to say something. It came out forced and barely audible, "The killing intent." The killing intent almost instantly vanished, and he smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck, "Sorry, got carried away." In the next second, he became serious again, but he controlled his killing intent this time, "We already helped them in this thinning campaign. The Iolya Estate can go fuck themselves." The retainer smiled a little viciously but also frowned in the next second, as he wasn''t so keen on writing some lord from another fief a diplomatic letter, "I understand¡­." Their chat was interrupted by a servant that came with the water, "I apologize deeply for the wait, my lord!" He nodded and started to wash the blood and gut from his body, "Did you say I was so dirty that you let me wait?" The servant became visibly worried, "No, I didn''t mean¡­. Lord..." Interrupting her was a hand on her shoulder, "Calm down, you are new, right? He is joking. Look at him." He pointed towards his Lord, and a big smile was seen, "GUHAHAHAHAHA! You are such a mood killer, Saru!" The servant was visibly confused as something like this had never happened since she served other nobles. Sarusos sighed and dismissed the servant. He looked back at his Lord, "However¡­." He was interrupted, "Don''t say anything else about these sons of bitches. Just send them a letter and make it clear that I don''t tolerate it and also make clear that the demon run will end at some point, and the Leonandra estate will have more than enough time to look after enemies they ignored till now." A grim smile was seen on the Wolf-kin, who tried to clean the spider innards from his body. Sarusos sighed and thought about how he would need to write down the letter, "Yes, my Lord, I am on it." Before he moved far enough away, the stressed-out fox-kin heard something from behind him, "Don''t forget that we have a party today! You need to drink with us! GUHAHAHAHA!" The Fox-kin stopped momentarily and started walking again while rubbing his temples. A quiet mumble could be heard from him, "It is more likely that a circle becomes a triangle than that I attend a party." ¡­ After half an hour, the wolf-kin was cleaned. Kairoso had a black and furry tail. Also, every part of his body was full of black hair: chest, stomach, hair, and the only difference were his green eyes. His build and look were that of a barbarian made of steel. Bulking muscles that looked like they could withstand even a giant crossbow. As he walked naked through the camp towards his tent, nobody seemed to care except the newcomers, who were visibly shocked that a noble would display himself like this. Arriving at his tent, he put some leisure clothes on, grabbed some meat as a snack, and laid down in his bed, which was made out of dozens of furs from monsters. While eating, he thought about many things, but the most prominent thought was that he wanted to return to his family. He knew he had a pup waiting for him for a year now, but what could he do? Someone needed to do the thinning, or else the trade and, in general, the logistics would be disrupted, which would become detrimental in such a giant demon run. Kairoso got the news about it while he was already in the middle of his campaign, so he needed to ensure that Tier 2 and Tier 3 Monsters would be more thoroughly cleaned out. "Huh, I should also be early enough at the Estate for Narsi''s legacy. A Dad should at least be there for this." As he scratched the back of his neck, he longed more for home and sighed heavily, "I can''t believe that being strong actually means less freedom." Chapter 5.5: Letter For Iolya Dear Baron, Di-Gold, Iolya, I have read your letter with great attention and am much in agreement with what you say. Your trade routes in your territory are essential and should be protected as much as possible. We also understand that your intentions by doing this also lie in ours. That is why we agreed to the thinning detour north and east of your estate. The monster thinning ended with almost unprecedented results, which will secure your routes, to the east, for years to come. Your humble request for us to go west and northwest from your estate and secure more routes is indeed somewhat in our interest. However, it is unnecessary as these routes have no strategic importance on the resources for the upcoming demon run. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Thus, securing more of your trade routes will only be a time-consuming venture, with little to no profits on our side, and the prospect of a chain reactionary trade disruption, as you mentioned, is slim by our estimates. However, I would like you to know that the Leonandra family owns the two-meter (6.6 ft.) tall ceremonial mace made out of pure blue iron, which was gifted by his majesty to us due to our merits. Suppose there will be any disruption in delivering essential goods in any way during the demon run. In that case, I will make sure to cram that mace up your ass so far that it will take a Tier 6 dragon-kin scholar to figure out how to dislodge it. Seriously, don¡¯t fuck with us. Best regards, Sarusos Leonandra Chapter 6: Furri Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Larry Leonandra (Ox-kin) Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarusos Leonandra (Fox-kin) This chapter has a minor torture scene, so be advised! ... Through forests and savannas, uphill and downhill. Lorient walked for weeks with the fairies, the dwarf prisoner, and Larry. The progress was slow, and she was tired, not only physically but also mentally. Her fellow travelers weren''t the most chatty. The silence wasn''t actually what was so suffocating, but the dwarf, who was glaring at them full of hate and fairies who only looked around and whispered between each other in their language, which Lorient couldn''t understand, ''I should''ve listened to my teacher and learn it.'' She wasn''t the best student and hated dry topics. She loved the outdoors, which was also why her teacher left after a year, as she wasn''t doing anything. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as she caught a whiff of something, instantly making her mood turn 180¡ã. ''A city... Furri!'' Furri, a city and part of the Leonandra territory, was built for more efficient logistics as it was close to a big sea and a river that cut through their region, coming from the north. Furri in itself was part of a larger conglomeration of other cities, which are around the sea Howl. The cities, all together, have millions of subjects with various beast-kin subraces who came from the West or South to work at the harbor or do trade. As they approached the city, Lorient noticed first the walls around the city, which were more or less only built for appearance''s sake, barely not existing. They were at most a meter (~3.3 ft) tall. But it was not like the cities were defenseless since they had a ton of ditches dug out for stopping monsters or, rather, redirecting them to specific paths so they would be easier exterminated. Lorient remembered how her former teacher taught her that most of the cities in their territory were like this because of their rapid expansion for decades. The first towns were built around Howl and the river down south in the last hundreds of years. Suddenly, through the influx of subjects lured by their fief''s policies and new job opportunities, they expanded heavily in the previous hundreds of years. Now they were full-fledged cities. Their household needed a lot of logistic points to increase their trade and able them to transport to the north, where other territories were, and south where the ocean was. Thus workers were required, and they came en masse, ''What was it again? Low taxes and a lot of security?'' Her mother made many policies that attracted workers, merchants, and companies from around the county of Moorgrel and even the empire as a whole. The influx of new residents became so bad that they needed to demolish the old infrastructure, like the walls, and build anew. Her mother, or rather her administrators, destroyed them as the economic exchange would slow down if they stood and separated the city. Even though wealthy merchants and nobles would like to separate themselves into their own parts, the overall economic fluidity was more important than having a giant zone with useless mansions clogging the whole city while it was expanding. They broke down the walls three times and rebuilt them further out till it became nothing more than a hassle to build sturdy ones. Thus they were also only made out of adobe instead of sand-lime. Also, more straightforward solutions, like the ditches, were chosen for protection against monsters from the West. Lorient tried to remember every detail but couldn''t. Even this information she knew was because her brother talked her ears off with all that. It was a hassle to chat with him since he loved to talk about possible solutions to administrative problems and all that stuff that she didn''t care about. But she could remember that they paid mercenaries and adventurers some coin to hunt down the monsters roaming around the vicinity. It was apparently cheaper than building a sturdy wall every couple of years. She tried to remember everything while she walked toward the walls. Even though she hated to think about everything relative to administration, she needed to know a lot about it. She would probably be the lady in the future or administrate the military part, while her brother would be the lord. She frowned slightly while thinking about it, ''I really hope Alex and Sarah will grow up and be more like Narsi. I am really not fit for this stuff.'' Nonetheless, she kept contemplating and trying to remember everything she loved to forget. Other cities with dungeons could allow themselves to stifle the economic flow since they mostly used the dungeon as their primary tax source, so it was optional to actually care about such things. Still, the Leonandra fief had none. Thus many other things needed to be done to ensure prosperity. The walls were always presented to her as a great example in case of how to administer a city. If you wanted to destroy them, labor costs needed to be paid, and it was the primary factor, together with the necessary equipment for such an endeavor. Afterward, rebuilding needed the same plus the material cost, while the workers couldn''t work on other projects that added more economic value to the city as a whole than a wall. She remembered her question at the time, which made her teacher giggle, why not just move the wall outwards? It was possible but too expensive. Sometimes destroying and rebuilding something was much cheaper than repairing or moving something. The only thing the wall was suitable for was to keep monsters and demons out, which was not a big deal. Luckily, the invasion by foreign powers was basically non-existent for them as they were in an odd spot as a noble family. This was too complicated for her to comprehend since the intertwined and incestuous doings of aristocrats were like a net made by a manic spider. Politics are a cluster of interests, and the Leonandra family was deep inside them. But, in her mind, she had no doubt they could defend themselves from an enemy attack. She considered their family the strongest and most vital force in this region. While enemies could siege them quite fast, due to the lack of walls, it would end quickly when her father or mother arrived. She was also proud that they had dozens of peak Tier 2 fighters with mighty [Divinity Line]''s. This was something that not even barons or viscounts had. She stopped her thoughts as they went through the entrance, which was nothing more than a hole in the wall with half a dozen guards standing there and looking like they were bored out of their minds. ''Makes sense since there are no tolls or anything. I would be bored too.'' Nobody in their right mind would start a fight in the entrance section of the city where the guards were, so they had really nothing to do. This changed, though, since they brought an unexpected guest with them. Everyone looked at the dwarf with anxiety. A guard came over and pointed at the bound dwarf. "Hello, young lad, what do we have here?" Lorient looked at Larry, who came over and brought a red badge out of one of his pockets. The badge was square and a bit clunky but was intricately designed. On it was an engraving of a wolf''s head biting into a demon with two horns. It also emitted a demonic energy which also she could emit. The guard''s eyes opened wide, and he looked back at the young wolf-kin girl while she just smiled back. He inhaled and exhaled strongly. It looked funny to her how the poor cat-kins face paled very quickly, and his tail was tucked between his legs. She frowned inwardly, though, as there was a big preconception of children of nobles who were spoiled and became furious by the slightest thing. This she didn''t like since her family wasn''t like this, and this guard was probably someone from outside their territory and didn''t know better. ''I really hate all the arrogant assholes who ruin our reputation!'' Yet, if she was honest, their family''s upspring was sometimes rowdy. Still, they would never ruin the lives of commoners, or at least she never heard of anyone doing it without any objective justification. How the rationale would look like, she never considered it. In contrast to them, her father''s status was a lot different as he was a nouveau noble and a druid. Druids are part of the Temple Of Nature and almost free to do what they want as they are spiritual figures who accompany the folk under challenging situations. They cemented themselves into the hearts of commoners as they did a lot of charity work, from healing the sick to providing comfort to loved ones after one''s death. Of course, they are also powerhouses akin to knights of nobles to the temple. Even if Lorient had a good opinion of them, her father didn''t, which he didn''t want to elaborate on. It usually ends in a diatribe of him berating all of his colleagues. They usually have the same rights as commoners. Still, no noble would be stupid enough to mess around with the spiritual leaders of Beast-kin, as they were probably the most influential group right after the royalty. Luckily for the noble''s circles, Temple members usually distanced themselves from politics and only involved themselves when nobles went against them or their doctrines. ''Oh, did the guard say something? I was in my own world.'' She shook herself away, "I was thinking about something. What did you say?" The guard gulped and said, presumably, what he said before, "I mean to ask, what does Ms. Leonandra have to do with this dirty dwarf?" Lorient shrugged and ignored the guard''s wrongful conduct, "We got attacked and killed the rest of them. He is the only surviving one which we then caught." The cat-kin guard looked more relaxed and nodded toward Larry and her since he identified him as her babysitter, "Please wait here for a moment. We will get a restriction collar." He looked back at her and was probably waiting for permission, which she gave with a nod. With that, he ran towards some house made out of adobe with the same symbol as her token, ''He should need a couple of minutes.'' Lorient looked back and saw the fairies looking at everything curiously except for the one with the wreath on her head. This gave her at least the information that they were a more isolated group and never went to larger cities except for their leader, presumably. This is all she knew about them, and if she was, to be honest, it wasn''t much. They only occasionally discussed food, other customs, and how theirs differentiated from the beast-kin. That was it, as they never said their name and called themselves by their titles if they had any. She could probably figure more out through their talks, but her cultural knowledge about other races was shallow at best. ''Oh, he came back¡­ with someone?'' She saw the red-furred cat-kin that was following an elephant-kin. She was a big, bulky woman of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) with two giant tusks protruding from her mouth with tattoos engraved on them. She wore full plate armor and a massive double-handed ax on her back, ''The engravings probably symbolize her tribe or so.'' A wide smile bloomed on her as she came closer, showing her yellow teeth, "Good day, Ms. Lorient!" ''She knows me somehow?'' Lorient rarely went to Furri to know the locals by name. She tilted her head and tried to force a smile, "Good day¡­." Larry saved the day before she could further disgrace herself, "How are you, Sjantja? Did you already smother your Husband? Ho ho ho!" Lorient tried her hardest not to laugh at Larry''s laughter. Sjantja turned towards Larry and grunted at him, "At least I have a cute husband. What about you?" Larry crossed his arms before his chest, "I am Ms. Lorient''s personal guard!" They looked at each other for a good minute until something Lorient was very familiar with interrupted them, "GUHAHAHAHA! Look at these children!" She turned immediately around, her eyes became teary, and a quiet voice left her mouth "Dad¡­." Her father looked at her with an extensive and joyous smile. He was the lord of this territory, a peak Tier 3 druid full of raw power, the husband of her mother and her father. Lorient didn''t see him for the last one and a half years which made her incredibly angry, not because solely she missed him but also because of her siblings. Sarah was a little clingy and missed him very much. Narsiz should also miss him, but he is more composed. Then, there was Alexander. Even if she considered him more intelligent than her, her little brother probably thinks that not knowing his father was normal, ''In ordinary noble families, this is normal, but we are the LEONANDRAS! WE PUT FAMILY OVER EVERYTHING!'' Lorient looked back at him. All the frustration and anger went through her like a tidal wave, which she held back for at least a year. She reeled her leg back, "You could at least send a letter to us, you giant idiot!" and swung against his thigh with all she had. A loud bang was heard. An uncomfortable silence permeated the area. Nobody dared to say something as Lorient cried quietly after kicking the lord, her father. From her peripheral view, she could see all the others around her. The guards stood just there like made out of stone, with pale faces, like the fairies who looked worse since it was a druid who was attacked. The dwarf was¡­ well, he was already dead inside. Dad''s soldiers were standing there and waiting, fully relaxed, as this was what they expected from his blood. All the other onlookers stepped back and were ready to run away if this giant started to get angry. As for Larry, he grabbed his Mace on his back, not to attack me, but he looked at her father, ready to defend her at any cost. The loyalty of the personal protector was scary. He knew nothing about the lord and perceived him as a regular noble, so his reaction made some soldiers smirk. The only sound heard was minutes of her staying and crying but not looking away from him. Her pride didn''t allow it. The smile on his face was no more as he looked purely neutral at her. He bent forward and kissed his daughter on her forehead. He stood straight again and said with guilt in his voice, "I apologize, Lori. You know how Dad is. I never forgot about you but forgot to send a letter. Your Dad is a real idiot." Before she could think what to say, her anger slowly faded away, but suddenly, he took his daughter and threw her over his shoulder. Larry let him do it because no killing intent and bloodlust were felt around him. "And this is for being such a bratty child! GUHAHAHAHA!" he slapped Lorient on her butt. Spank ''Did he¡­spank me in public¡­?'' She wasn''t hurt but felt incredible humiliation. Her face started to flush, "You!" Her father interrupted her rant before she could even begin, "GUHAHAHA! Calm down, little pup! You have more than enough time later for your ol'' pops!" ''I will strangle Dad¡­.'' "Hey, guard commander, organize some rooms for her and my men. Also, I want to see this little guy here later¡­." He nodded toward the dwarf, and killing intent could be felt, but before it erupted to something more terrifying, his retainer interrupted him, "Ahem! Killing intent, my lord!" It subsided instantly, and even Lorient could feel it slowly coming like a massive tidal wave of knives that would point at her heart. ''Thank you, Saru! Being so close to him, I would probably faint.'' Kairoso scratched his head sheepishly, "GUHAHA! Got too excited, but never mind..." he looked at the elephant-kin and pointed at the fairies with his thumb, "...got to go and talk with the little leaves first. Do you have a place for a good private talk?" Lorient was let down again, and as she straightened her clothes, her father started to caress her head, ''Such a big hand.'' Lorient looked at him, but he looked at Sjantja, who rubbed her chin, ''Oh, right, he asked about the fairies... totally forgot about them.'' Kairoso turned toward the fairies, "You are leaves from the Twin-Acorn Temple, right? What are you doing so far out from your compound.... wait...that means¡­ that old bitch¡­." "Mr. Druid! You can''t talk like that about the se..." Before the fairy could say more, the one with the wreath in her hair interrupted by touching her shoulder, "Lady?" She shook her head and made it clear to ignore the provocation. ''Huh, did Dad provoke them purposely?'' If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She looked at his smile. Perhaps he didn''t like the fairy he called a bitch, or maybe he just wanted to tease them. He called them leaves, implying they were at the bottom of the Temple''s hierarchy, while her father enjoyed a higher rank. "However, he turned to Sjantja with a big smile, "So, sweetie..." he said, "...could you give the little ones and me a bit of privacy? It''s quite crowded here at the moment." Lorient looked around, ''He is not wrong.'' A big crowd stood around them, listening and watching. Sjantja saluted, "Please follow me, my lord!" As they started walking towards what was possibly one of the guard''s offices, her father turned around, "Why are you standing like that, pup?" he asked and looked at his soldiers to the side, "Oh, and all of you are dismissed. If you want, stay here. If not, come with me to the estate. You need to be there in around four weeks, so you are free to do what you want until then. Saru, give them their bonus!" Lorient snapped out of her stupor as the soldiers cheered. She also felt a wave of elation, ''I can follow Dad and find out what the fairies have to say, which has been bugging me this whole time!'' She caught up to her father while Sarusos was already organizing their soldiers. They walked towards one of the bigger houses, which was likely one of the guard''s offices. The guard''s building was painted crimson so they could be easily noticed. She had never seen any other buildings painted the same color, so, in her mind, there was probably a law forbidding it to ensure that residents could quickly locate the guard''s facilities. She also glanced at the other buildings, which were painted and decorated randomly. Some were yellow, some white, and a few even rainbow-colored. It was a wild mishmash. ''The administration of Furri probably doesn''t care about it, while Wolfsteeth is much more systematically administrated. But that will be Narsiz''s future problem, as I don''t care about such things.'' He was likely to receive a [Divinity Line] on the path of bureaucracy, leading to his internship in a city in a few years. Then, he would move on to administering a smaller town, and so forth. ''Perhaps he''ll become the bureaucrat for our military, which would be fantastic, given his excellent skills in these matters.'' She shrugged inwardly, knowing it would be revealed soon, as his legacy was in a few weeks. The door opened, and they entered the guard station. Inside, there wasn''t much to see besides a counter, wanted lists, and job offers similar to those found at the adventurer''s guild. Behind the counter, one could see some tables with chairs where the guards took their breaks and ate. At the counter, several other guards were speaking with residents, ''They''re probably here to file complaints.'' Lorient found it exciting to have many different kinds of beast-kin races living in such a big city, but it also brought many problems, as each group had its own issues and affairs to deal with. The mole-kin sometimes made holes under their houses, which could disrupt the structure of other nearby buildings. Bat-kin would try to buy blood from beautiful beast-kin, which could scare them out of their wits even if it was done in good faith. Some giant beast-kin would unintentionally destroy things or even injure much smaller ones. Then there were those with a strong temper who could quickly get angry and punch a hole through a building. The canine-kin, such as wolf-kin, were also problematic. During mating season, they would become nervous wrecks... she remembered that, actually, all beast-kin would become nervous wrecks. As they entered the office, she heard her father from the side, "What are you looking around for, pup?" She looked at her father, who appeared as casual as she remembered him, except when he was in fights. In those moments, he was like a completely different person. His killing intent was so extreme that anyone who wasn''t a fighter would faint instantly. She shrugged and said, "Nothing. I didn''t often leave the estate." He patted her on the shoulder, "Don''t worry. You will catch up fast." She sighed out of frustration, and a little part of her hoped that her father would notice and ask what was going on. He did, "What are you sighing for?" Suddenly, she let out all her frustrations that had piled up during the trip back and expressed what she truly wanted, "I don''t just want to go on a sightseeing trip. I want to fight demons!" He shook his head, "You''re too young and not strong enough." She flexed her biceps and boasted, "But I''m as strong as a regular foot soldier!" He looked at her with a weak smile, like she was no older than five, "Hm, I know, but you need to understand that your mental attitude is too weak." Lorient was confused by her father''s statement, "What do you mean with my mental attitude being too weak?" He looked at her and pointed to her head, "The demon aura, little pup, not only destroys the body but also corrupts the psyche. If one doesn''t have a strong mental attitude, one will go insane. Why do you think we couldn''t just take a few thousand soldiers, split them up, and slaughter them all?" Lorient frowned but understood the gravity of her father''s words, "I understand, but why do you think I am not ready?" Kairoso looked at his daughter as if she was an idiot, "You are too young, little pup! With age comes a stronger fortitude. If you train, you will slaughter them in no time!" She frowned but nodded in understanding. Kairoso started patting his daughter''s head, "Don''t frown. It makes your cute face look like my butt. GUHAHAHAHA! You''ll get your chance to kill them. Just give it time." She tried to distract herself by looking around. The office was sparsely furnished with a desk, couches, and a tea table. She and everyone else sat down, but the door opened before the talk could begin. Sarusos came inside and looked annoyed, ''Well, he is fast. Probably just directed the work to someone else.'' He walked over to where Kairoso and his daughter were sitting and stood behind the couch where Larry was standing. On the opposite side were the fairies, fascinated by even the most minuscule things. After a moment of silence, the fairies looked at Kairoso. Their leader, the one with the wreath on her head, seemed relaxed, while the others appeared nervous. The fairy wearing the wreath nodded respectfully to Kairoso, "Mr. Druid, it''s nice to see you. As you''ve already guessed, we are leaves, and you can call me Green." Kairoso nodded back, looking extremely bored, and Green obviously didn''t like it, as everyone could tell from her facial expression. Green sighed, "Mr. Druid, our seer looked into the demon''s territory, and she has bad news for you. But before I say it, please control your killing intent..." she inhaled softly, "....there is a Tier 3 blood demon there." The big wolf-kin started to frown and ruffle his hair, "Damn it, I haven''t seen that one in a long time." Kairoso looked at his daughter worriedly and sounded stressed, "This means I will be gone for a long time when I go to the east." Lorient immediately felt stressed, and her voice became louder, "Wait! What do you mean you won''t be there for a long time?! Wasn''t this demon run estimated to last three to four years?" In an indifferent and dismissive tone, Green answered her question, "Ms. Lorient, a blood demon, is a rather troublesome foe, especially a Tier 3 one. They are not particularly strong, but they have really nasty skills." Lorient was utterly confused, and as Green saw this, she elaborated further, "Blood demons, in general, are like parasites. No, they are parasites, and the higher the Tier, the greater the chance that their skills become more sophisticated and harder to detect. That''s why we must eradicate this demon as quickly as possible." The young wolf-kin girl grew angrier and angrier, sounding distressed, "But why won''t you help Dad then?!" Kairoso responded, "Because that old bitch doesn''t have the resources, and all our druids are already on missions of similar importance, or at least I hope so¡­." His face darkened, and his smile became sinister. "¡­otherwise, it''s never too late for another ref¡­." The fairy suddenly looked similarly sinister, and a barely noticeable killing intent oozed from her toward the dad and daughter duo, "Mr. Druid, I would not finish that sentence if I were you." Kairoso stood up and looked down at them. His facial expression became more mocking but equally angry, "Oho! Did you just intimidate my daughter? Did the Twin-Acorn Temple forget their place?" His tone was filled with disdain. Kairoso''s stare was intense. Before Lorient could say something, Green began coughing intensely, as if someone was choking her. She struggled heavily to catch her breath, ''What''s wrong with her breathing?'' Lorient looked at her father as he sounded suddenly like a demon. His voice deepened, "You see, the seer came to me, not the other way around." He began to growl, the sound growing louder as he spoke, and Lorient could sense his bloodlust, which seemed to be directed primarily toward Green. The feeling was so strong that Lorient could feel it oozing out, "You think I will let myself be commanded around like the other treehuggers? Your whole little shit-ass branch would be eradicated if I weren''t here!" A roar resounded similar to an ancient beast, almost deafening Lorient, and she was not the only one who felt frightened or worse, as the other fairies, except Green, fainted, but she could barely sit. ''Dad is mad, really mad!'' After a short moment, an ethereal voice was heard saying, "Stop, Kairoso!" His smile became softer as he looked at Green, "GUHAHAHA! How are you?! Didn''t think you would use your little toys as your medium! What an honor!" Lorient looked at Green and saw how her eyes glowed in bright green, ''Medium? What was that again?'' Before she could recall all the critical positions in the temple, the voice resounded again, "Kairoso, I want to apologize for the messenger. We know your status as a free druid, and we thank you for helping us without expecting anything in return." Green, who was possibly possessed, stood up and saluted. Afterward, the bloodlust slowly dissipated as he muttered, "Tsk, fine." He slumped back on the couch, which creaked under his massive weight, "So, tell me, are there high-tiered blood demons? I heard that the Cathedral of Pestilence was the one who discovered the irregularity in the coming demon run. Do they have more information?" Green didn''t move at all from her position, and while Lorient heard the voice that came from her as a medium, the little fairy acted like a doll that didn''t move her lips, "We don''t know." Kairoso crossed his arms and looked annoyed, "Tsk, got it. I expect support through communication and surveillance in this campaign, so let this group stay with us." "Don''t worry. This was my intention in the first place. I will say farewell as I can''t hold this connection for long. Good luck, Kairo." After she said her farewell, Green fell to the floor, unconscious. Nobody even helped her, but Lorient felt terrible for her. Looking at Larry behind her, he understood his mistress and went to her and just threw her roughly on the couch. Lorient sighed and rubbed the place between her eyes. He could have been at least a bit more sensitive in her mind, ''She was not a potato sack!'' However, her attention quickly switched to more exciting topics, like what was happening. Her father was in deep thought, but his aide, Sarusos, started telling her what it was all about. He came close to her, and with a professional merchant smile, he started explaining the situation while she walked beside him, "Ms. Lorient, it is problematic because it is so hard to eradicate a high-tiered blood demon, and it is also probably the reason for this big wave..." He frowned stronger and stronger while explaining, "...it is also possible that the Cathedral is behind it, or rather one of their experiments that went out of control. Now, what does this mean for us?" Sarusos ran with his hand over his blond hair as his smile contorted slightly, "Let''s ignore the Cathedral since it is impossible to prove, and beginning a war with them would be unnecessarily bloody..." Lorient knew about the Cathedral of Pestilence. They were more of a radical religious group, neither good nor bad, but extreme in that they extensively researched new sicknesses, parasites, curses, etc. Lorient knew only a little about them, but she knew that they never attacked directly or did anything bad in that sense, as the problem came with their experiments. While they didn''t do their tests on beast-kin, their experiments sometimes went out of control, leading to catastrophes. It has already happened several times, and they accidentally eliminated whole towns and cities. Other times, something ridiculous happened, like a village that suffered a curse that revived all the dead rats inside a bar, who then started drinking all the alcohol. Needless to say, the scholar who caused this came out alive but needed to pay a hefty fine. Lorient also remembered why the nobles and commoners didn''t burn them to the ground. They were very open-minded and accepted everyone, regardless of race or status, as long as they had talent in medicine, alchemy, or other relevant fields. This was seen by many poor commoners as a possible way to a better life, and the Cathedral also did a lot of charity work, such as healing the sick. He chuckled slightly as he watched the thoughtful expression of Lorient but interrupted her and continued, "...the blood demon has the nasty skill to infect other demons, monsters, and kin of all kinds, and through this infection, it can take possession of their body and control them. The higher the Tier, the higher the sophistication of the control." His fox ears twitched slightly, and a bright smile emerged on his face, "Luckily! In Tier 3, its control is rough enough to notice an infected one. This means that we need to thoroughly eradicate that thing before it can become stronger, which also means that the campaign can, theoretically speaking, be over in half a year or last for ten years..." his smile faded slightly, "...in short, we don''t know the exact time frame." She didn''t like it but accepted the situation for now, "When does Dad need to go?" He smiled sadly at her, "Probably in a couple of months. We need to prepare ourselves thoroughly." She sighed heavily, feeling the weight of the situation. She had been stressing about it since she heard it and couldn''t help but feel frustrated, ''I want a day alone with Dad before he goes away for a long time. Maybe we can have tomorrow to ourselves?'' Sarusos interrupted the young wolf-kin girl''s thoughts as he addressed his master, "My lord, we should interrogate the dwarf." Kairoso nodded solemnly while trying to focus on his thoughts, "Hm, Lori, follow us." As they walked through the building, Kairoso spotted a guard on break and called out to him, "Hey! Get the fairies excellent accommodation and treat them well. But keep a close eye on them. If they try to leave the city without us, detain them." The guard quickly stood up and saluted, "Yes, my Lord!" he said before running off to carry out his orders. Lorient asked her father curiously, "Dad, why would the fairies want to escape?" He snorted in response, "The pressure they felt is not something you''d want to experience again. They would probably rather flee and face punishment than meet me again. The temple wouldn''t punish them too harshly if they abandoned their duty. After all, they''re just a bunch of treehuggers." Lorient nodded, trying to understand the nature-dweller''s personality. She realized she knew very little about them except for what her father told her: they were all crazy. Without looking at his daughter, Kairoso asked, "Tell me everything you know about the dwarf." She explained everything that had happened and shared her thoughts on the dwarf''s intentions to disrupt their alliance with the nature-dwellers. Kairoso smirked slightly, "Good job. Shovelers are some little fuckers, but they were probably just hunting for slaves. And the closer you get to a city, the more villages around it you''ll find, which means less protection and more weak and vulnerable beast-kin. They''re easy targets." Lorient thought that her father was probably right. She tended to get carried away with grandiose ideas, like imagining that poorly equipped and weak dwarves were the personal henchmen of the Vulcanic Forge. She even considered the possibility that they could disrupt the relationship of their alliance by killing some low-level temple members. Lorient felt the heat rising to her head out of embarrassment for her overblown conspiracy theory. Fortunately, they arrived at the door to the jail before she could become even more ashamed of her delusional ideas, ''Sometimes, the easiest answer is the best.'' Lorient was surprised as they entered the jail. It was clean and dry, and in her opinion, it was tolerable. She secretly wished for something much worse, like rats or cockroaches, to be eating the dwarf. The dwarf sat on the ground, gagged, bound, and blindfolded. He appeared angry as they entered, fuming at them and attempting to speak through his gag. Lorient grew angry as she remembered the hassle the dwarf had caused them, especially when they had tried to make him drink water. He had refused to cooperate and had even tried to bite his tongue off, requiring them to force a wooden pipe into his throat to make him drink. Kairoso nodded towards his retainer, "Saru, do your job." This confused Lorient, ''Saru? What about him?'' She turned her head toward him and saw that he was putting on some white gloves. A smile akin to that of a devil from a children''s storybook was seen on his face, which was new to her. As he removed his blazer, he began to speak, "I don''t like getting dirty myself. This work is so tedious, but I love it for sure." He turned toward the wolf-kin girl, "Ms. Lorient, it is never too early to learn the art of torture." He then turned toward a guard who had followed them into the cell, "Mr. Guard, please be a sweetheart and bring me two chairs and a table." Upon hearing this, the guard bolted instantly to bring the furniture. There were now only four people inside the cell. Sarusos walked with a little hop in his step towards the dwarf and removed the blindfold, revealing the dwarf''s blood-filled eyes. Sarusos looked at him sinisterly, "Don''t worry, Mr. Shoveler. I know how to make you talk, but I also feel like honing my skills, so I hope you don''t break down that fast." He threw a bag on the floor, which he had been wearing over his shoulders, and then reached inside to retrieve a cylindrical leather bag. The guard returned, together with others, and carried a table and two chairs into the cell. Sarusos exclaimed, "Fantastic! Thank you so much for such excellent accommodation!" Kairoso grumbled beside Lorient, "I don''t get him." Sarusos placed his cylindrical leather bag on the table and opened it up to reveal a knife roll, or rather, a roll containing all kinds of instruments. Some of the instruments in the roll looked like tiny knives, others like needles, and even some that Lorient couldn''t identify. All she knew was that Sarusos seemed really pleased with his collection. He began to speak while inspecting his instruments, "Hm, let me teach you a bit about the art of torture, Ms. Lorient. What is the most important thing to consider when torturing someone?" Lorient knew very little about torture. While a fighter, she knew those who gathered information also specialized in this field. As Lorient was lost in thought, Sarusos continued to prepare, "Guards, please place him on the chair and make sure that every part of his body is securely fixed." Sarusos turned around and looked at her, causing her spine to shiver, "I... I think it''s about being brutal?" she answered uncertainly. While Lorient didn''t think her answer was completely wrong, Sarusos shook his head, "Not bad, Ms. Lorient, but incorrect. The methodology of torture is about the efficiency principle, similar to economics. We aim to inflict the most pain with the least amount of damage to the subject. We don''t want to kill him." As Sarusos talked, Lorient noticed his tail wagging happily, ''He''s crazy.'' As Sarusos continued to prepare and sort his instruments, he attempted to teach Lorient, "Now, while we''re still getting things ready, let me ask you something else. What is typically the most painful or sensitive spot on the body regardless of race?" Lorient had no idea. While she knew roughly which spots on the body were the most vital, she wasn''t sure which were the most sensitive, so she guessed, "Perhaps the eye?" Sarusos shook his head again, "Incorrect. Let me show you, Ms. Lorient." Sarusos sat on the chair before the dwarf, who was tied up. He took a very thin needle and poured a substance similar to liquor on it but much stronger. The smell was so terrible that Lorient had to cover her nose. As he sat in front of the dwarf with the needle in his hand, his smile became the most sadistic Lorient had ever seen from anyone. Even demons were not depicted like this in picture books for children. He slowly stuck the needle under the dwarf''s fingernail. Even Lorient could feel the pain throughout her body. Sarusos kept the needle under the dwarf''s fingernail, twisting and turning it, worsening the pain. The dwarf tried to scream through his gag, and tears streamed down his face. Sarusos kept teaching Lorient without looking at her, but she now didn''t know if she wanted to learn this art, "Now, Ms. Lorient, why does it hurt so much for the shoveler?" She thought, ''By the circle, how would I know this.'' "Maybe because... the fingers are the most sensitive part?" She could see how he became more ecstatic, "Wrong again!" He looked back at her, "The most sensitive spots are the nerve endings, but right now, I am not there. You need to slowly build up the pain. Nonetheless, it will be painful." Sarusos turned back and started twisting and pushing the needle deeper from an awkward angle as he said it. The dwarf was clearly in so much pain as she looked at him wriggling around, but luckily, her father distracted her from this grotesque sight, "This bastard has a ton of skills for torture and this kind of work." This surprised her, but it made sense in her mind. There were a lot of different skills, and surely some of them would affect the pain one received. "Now, we don''t want that he faints, don''t we? It will disturb my artwork and your lesson, kehehehehe!" Lorient was actually surprised, and she asked him, "Wait! Why aren''t you asking him anything and only torturing him? I mean, I am fine with it, but it''s weird." Sarusos was surprised and looked at her happily, "Excellent question!" he closed the dwarf''s ears in case he understood their language, "Before I start the questioning, we need to gauge his tolerance and make him think that this is only an appetizer." Lorient nodded in understanding but didn''t comment, ''I don''t know if I ever would need to get information like this. Ever.'' Sarusos nodded back at her, satisfied, and turned towards his leather roll. He took a little bottle with a colorless liquid from his instrument roll, "Now, this is something interesting. It''s some kind of alchemical mixture. Dragon-kin scholars use a drop of this to avoid sleep for a night to learn for longer periods. Now, open your eyes wide open, my little shoveler, kehehe!" As the sadistic fox-kin tried to hold the dwarf''s eyes open, he forcefully dripped a drop of the solution into each eye. After a minute, the dwarf started quickly and strongly inhaling and exhaling through his nose, and Lorient could hear his heart beating extremely fast. Sarusos explained, "This solution has a lot of side effects, such as over-heightened senses, which in our case should be seen as a positive. Am I right, Ms. Lorient? Let''s keep going. Kehehehe." He sat down again and kept on torturing the dwarf, and even Lorient started to feel almost bad. But only almost. However, she was shocked by how he held up. Everyone else would probably faint, but he couldn''t. The solution did a perfect job of keeping him awake. Sarusos kept asking his temporary student questions, and she couldn''t even answer one correctly, ''Who knew that this subject was this complicated? But I am slightly relieved that I don''t know much about it... I don''t think I am the type for this.'' He suddenly stopped his torture, "Now, enough warmup..." he suddenly changed the language, which Lorient only understood a little but got the context, "...be a nice dwarf, and listen. I can either torture you for the next days, weeks or even months..." while talking, she could see how Sarusos hoped that the dwarf would lie or not answer anything, "...but if you tell the truth, I will give you a quick and painless death. So, choose wisely." He took the mouth gag off, and the dwarf immediately spoke, "I will tell everything. Please just kill me!" The room was filled with uncomfortable silence and a sobbing dwarf. Saruso clicked his tongue in disappointment, "Tsk, what a weakling. Fine, so tell me, what did you do in our territory?" The dwarf revealed everything to the point where they had no idea what else to ask. Saruso also used one of his skills to confirm if the dwarf was lying. It was scary. No, Lorient found Sarusos scary, but he looked heartbroken. It reminded her of Sarah when she was little and her favorite toy broke. What the dwarf said was that he and his partners worked for a slave merchant and were looking for merchandise. That''s it. He was nothing more than a low-level worker. Lorient found it for some reason disappointed, too, but for other reasons than Sarusos. In the end, Kairoso asked his retainer, sounding a little disturbed, "Truth?" Sarusos sighed out of disappointment, "Yes, my Lord." "Damn freak, end him already. He is useless." Sarusos stood up and took a regular knife from his clothes, "I stay to my word." with that, he slashed the dwarf''s throat. ... Little later Lorient and her father stood in front of the guard''s building, enjoying the fresh air after what they witnessed, and waited for Sarusos to finish cleaning his instruments. She was a bit disturbed and wanted to ask her father about Sarusos, "Dad." He held his hand before her, "Don''t ask me about Saru. He was always like this. The less you know, the better." She nodded in understanding, ''I mean, he is loyal, so I shouldn''t care so much... I guess.'' She leaned against him, and he caressed her head while they both looked at the bustling city. "Dad." "What is it, pup?" "Why have you not sent even one letter to us?" "I am sorry." He stopped momentarily caressing her head, "Your Dad had a lot to do and just forgot, but not about you or your siblings. I thought about you, Narsi, Sarah, and Mari every night. I just forgot to write a letter. Your Dad is a moron." "You forgot someone." He looked at her, really not knowing what she meant, "What do you mean?" A sad smile emerged on her face, "Alex." His eyes opened like crazy, and he slapped his forehead so hard that a loud bang was heard, "I am really a moron." She looked at him with a smirk, "Can''t deny my lord''s father''s words." and started giggling, He frowned, "How is he doing?" She ignored his question since she also didn''t know this. Not like she wrote any letters. Instead, she tried to propose something, "Hm, I don''t know when our ship is ready, but how about having a couple of hours of catching up tomorrow and I tell your everything?" He nodded. "Sounds good. Today, it''s too late already." Seeing how the sun went down and shone orange, it looked beautiful how it fell on the city. Chapter 6.5: Sjantjas Diary Entry Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Chapter 7: Skills: Blessing Or Curse? Part 1 Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Melina Leonandra (Spider-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Blond hair, fur, and golden eyes. This young noble was around 1.5m (~4.92) in height, which was very large for someone his age, with an athletically built body. Even though he was young and didn''t lose all the baby fat on his face, all the servants looked at him much longer than needed, especially the younger female ones. He also did understand why, as his [Charisma] attribute was incredibly high. But what surprised him was that his natural charisma only strengthened over the years, and since [Charisma] only enhanced his natural aura, which heavily grew too, it sometimes resulted in stares and blushes. He mostly forgot his lessons about the system, but he could still remember some things: The more points one put in, the stronger it enhanced one''s natural aura. But the increase would flatten out at some point, depending on the general Tier and level. Narsiz sighed as he tried to concentrate on the task at hand, putting his growing ego away and getting himself ready for the big day. He brought out his best clothes: A marine blue suit, a white shirt with colorful flowery patterns which were only slightly greyish white, light-brown shoes, the Leonandra silver tack pins with the typical design of a wolf biting into the neck of a demon, and a snow-white silk handkerchief. He wanted to wear the handkerchief his father had gifted him, but he gave it to Sarah. He didn''t know if he should feel sad about it or not. However, he made the right decision back then, ''What''s done is done.'' He stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself, feeling incredibly nervous, but luckily he could distract himself as he looked in the mirror at the maid behind him who put a big white ribbon on his tail. The white ribbon was a symbol of purity and one''s childhood. Narsiz''s father, the Lord, would open the ribbon, a ceremonial gesture representing his entrance into adulthood. Today was his legacy, and he would receive his [Divinity Line] and the corresponding [Mystic Skills], which made him nervous. He had anxious thoughts about suddenly receiving a legacy that had little to do with his interests and talents. Something like a commoner''s legacy, akin to being a farmer or carpenter, would destroy all his plans for the future. So he looked back at the ribbon to distract himself from such dark thoughts. It was made out of the best silk his mother could procure and stitched with fine symbols representing his family. This was an age-old tradition the Leonandras followed, and a lot went into it. For example, the material the ribbon was made of showed the person''s personality. His mother had one made out of pure white linen: Elegant and rough. Lorient had one almost the same, but hers was rougher but sturdier. However, Narsiz''s father never had one, to begin with, as this tradition only applied to the Leonandra family. He was from the Temple in the first place and married into their family. ''Useless thoughts.'' He also tried to distract himself as best as possible from his nervosity, knowing his father would return in an hour. The legacy would only begin at midnight on his birthday, so he would have time to talk with him about different things, especially his favorite topic: Politics. He was giddy to talk about the Temple''s political structure. The maid was done, and he looked the last time in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction, "Perfect..." He turned toward the maid and nodded to her with his best smile, "...thanks." The young spider-kin maid instantly flushed and looked down, "Not for this, Mr. Narsiz." Narsiz turned around and walked out of the room toward the entrance hall. As he arrived, he saw his mother staying at the entrance with Alexander and Sarah. Noriken, Salyna, Aro, and two dozen more servants were also there. Sarah was the same dressed as always, a cute summer dress with a bow around her waist. Colorful and playful. In his opinion, she had some knacks for fashion. There was also his little brother, who was wearing a rather sloppy outfit. Colorful pants, suitable for younger puppies, a white shirt not tucked in and open around the neck, without any tie or bow. Also, he had loafers that looked out of place, ''Are his servants slacking off?'' But his eyes quickly fell on the anti-mana collar around his neck, which also explained his miserable facial expression. Since he went through the same difficulty as Sarah, everything could be excused temporarily, ''I am lucky that I don''t have such bad luck, and I wouldn''t even want to know what he is feeling right now since all his senses are overly sensitive.'' What Alexander thought wasn''t a big secret because he said it freely and annoyed all his servants by chatting them up and stealing their time, ''I am so boooooooored!'' Since he had this collar and was not allowed to do anything he enjoyed until now, he could, at most, go for a walk or play, but even this was dangerous, as he remembered it vividly. He accidentally got a skill by playing cards, [Sleight of hand], because he remembered some cool tricks from his previous life and tried them. It didn''t go well; after he heard the system''s ring, he felt incredible pain, putting him out of commission for the next 24 hours. The only grace he was lucky for was that the sensitivity of his senses went down by a notch in the last weeks, enough to not throw up if he smelled something disgustingly strong like what his servants ate through the day. He shrugged inwardly, not like he could change it for the following months since it should gradually disappear over time. Anyway, he didn''t want to put himself into the spotlight since today was a big day for his big brother. He would receive his [Divinity Line]. Alexander looked at him as he came closer and raised an eyebrow, ''He got it, damn! He looks so good!'' He suddenly got worried for him as he remembered what he had read once in a book. The wolf-kin, or in general, the canine-kin, had a 70/30 ratio from female to male birthrate, ''I will pray for you in time for your first mating season, big bro.'' However, right now, he didn''t need to worry about him, as the mating season only affected 14 and older ones. From what he also read, there was a fascinating fact about this: The healthier and more physically fit, the longer one had to wait for their first mating season. This was basically when puberty began. ''Mana and the system really change everything... I remember that humans were somehow the opposite... or not? Damn, I was never good at this stuff.'' When there was the next weirdness of this world: Time. If going by purely days, his big brother would be ~14 years old, but he felt the days were longer than usual, which irked him. He wanted to compare the Earth to this planet, which was called: Obis. For an accurate comparison, he had already considered measuring the difference in the Earth''s rotation to this planet to determine the relative difference. Still, he didn''t even know where to start, as this was far beyond his capabilities, and he didn''t even know if this was possible. He only knew how to measure the planet''s circumference with two sticks. That was it. There were so many other things, too, like how fast someone aged and how mana affected them. Without any reference point, Alexander was entirely clueless, ''Thoughts for later, not like I can do much about it in my situation... oh something is happening.'' Narsiz came up to them with dignifying and long steps while smiling, befitting that of a young aristocrat, "Hello, family and servants!" Everyone greeted him back naturally. Alexander too, but the young puppy was more interested in how he was dressed for the event. He knew that his family had this thing with the white ribbon, and looking at his one, it screamed nobility and wealth. While he scanned his big brother''s whole attire, Narsiz talked with their mother. It felt like before someone went to a prom ball, the only thing missing was how their mother would start to take photos and want everyone to be in them. In Alexander''s case, though, he was the one who made all the photos and also the one who threatened his sister''s dates in his previous life. This thought brought a smile to him. After the short recollection of how he greeted them with a baseball bat in one hand and a camera in the other, he was starting to get bored again. He felt bad for Narsiz since he, his little brother, didn''t care about what was happening and only wanted to do magic. Could someone really resent him? Yes, but he could use magic after he was reborn, and now he was restrained from doing precisely that and was pulled into some boring formal welcoming ceremony for their father. This made him more irritable than he already was, ''Couldn''t I just come down when he was... I don''t know, already here?! Being nobility is so annoying with all these decorums.'' Furthermore, Melina, his personal maid, held his hand, so he couldn''t escape. The only saving grace was that his brain was in eco mode after waking up, so time flew faster. Alexander yawned, "HUUUAAAAM." His maid looked down on him and found him not well dressed. The morning was hell as she was forced to handle him like a puppet as he was barely waking up. She kneeled down and buttoned up his shirt while talking to him, "Mr. Alexander, please wait, as the Lord will be here soon." "I know, no need to tell me, I just need caffeine - where is a Moondeers if you need it?" "Please also stop using alchemical elven terms. Nobody except you, Mr. Alexander, understands them." Alexander chuckled inwardly. He sometimes just said something before thinking and used some terms they did not know. As for the answer to what it was, he would say it was secret elven technology or something along the lines. That worked every time, but it could also be that he was mostly ignored because he was an infant. "Sure, do you want to learn them?" After saying that casually, he thought that it would frankly be a great idea to have a couple more hands, and since he couldn''t do anything at all, he would have at least something to do, ''Teaching doesn''t sound bad at all.'' She looked a bit surprised, "I am sorry, Mr. Alexander, but I have no skills in alchemy or anything of the sort¡­." He interrupted her, "It''s fine! You practically only look after me, so you can also learn simultaneously, right? You should have the time." She looked a bit annoyed, "Mr. Alexander¡­." Alexander interrupted her again. He already understood this hierarchal society. While he didn''t like it from an ideological perspective, as he lived a very liberal lifestyle on Earth. However, he was very much ready to use his status as a noble when he needed to. Furthermore, he could only see the benefits in his mind as having another alchemical expert at the estate could only bring more advantages to his household. "I will not take no for an answer, Melina. What bad could happen? You learn something, so what? Knowledge is power, and you, as my servant, should not only be a mindless puppet looking after me, alright?" She frowned, and her additional eyes changed color from light orange to purple. For Alexander, and everyone else, Spider-kins were like an open book as they altered the color of their upper eyes depending on how they felt. He suddenly heard a ring in his ear. "Oh no¡­." The pain came instantly as he got some skill or level-up again, ''What the fuck is wrong with this damn system? It gives me a skill for everything! Why not give me one for pain suppression, you fucking asshole, huh?!'' While Alexander tried to fight the pain, Melina used the silence to think through what her master said, ''Mr. Alexander is so weird again and wants strange things from me.'' She understood what was going on. Her young master was very bored, and while most of his requests were reasonable, such as he wanted her to be thoroughly clean before visiting him as he was oversensitive due to his circumstances, others were not. Such an instance was happening now. Teaching a servant one of the most precious skills like [Alchemy] was unheard of, and she also didn''t have the time to learn, especially with her four children and a husband at home. While it sounded like a great opportunity, the little puppy was only a little over a year old and inexperienced. Every other servant who was a little more greedy would have already exploited him. It was not a big problem since the lady employed all of Alexander''s servants. If she found out that someone tried to influence the puppy, their head would roll immediately. This meant even if she wanted, the lady needed to allow it first. ''Hopefully, he will become more sensitive to the struggles of his servants when he gets older.'' She sighed inwardly and already knew by how Alexander talked that the day would be tiring as this puppy was hard to satisfy. For the last weeks, Melina tried to read him some fairy tales to cheer him up, but he decided on a book on Leonandras History, ''I never leveled up my [Reading] skill much as this time¡­.'' "Shit¡­" Her thoughts were interrupted as her master cursed. She looked at him, who was growling, "Is everything all right, Mr. Alexander?" He looked in pain, "Yeah, I am fine. I just accidentally learned a skill." This baffled Melina, "M¡­ Mr. Alexander, have you learned a skill again? What?! How?" The young wolf-kin frowned and looked annoyed at her, "How would I know this?" This was unbelievable for her. Most people needed weeks to months or even years to obtain skills, and he was just learning them accidentally. At this moment, she had an idea, ''Maybe?'' Melina remembered all of her children. One already went through his legacy while the others were too young to be taught, but one was just at the right age to learn from him. ''Maybe she could learn something from him, like alchemy, and assist him? Even being close to a genius should rub something off, right? I will propose this to him later.'' If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. But before that, she would need to talk to the lady and be prudent not to come across as some greedy servant who just was out to get as many perks as possible by manipulating a puppy. The voice of the lady came through. "Alex, are you alright?" She sounded worried, and Melina understood her as she was a mother, too. Her son needed actual rest but somehow leveled and acquired skills without any end in sight. Luckily, it was rare enough that his rest didn''t get disturbed too much. "I am good. Give me please a moment, Mom. The spotlight should be today on Narsi, so just ignore me, please." His personal maid and mother both looked a bit confused. Still, before they said something, Alexander already answered, probably knowing that he used some weird elven jargon again, "Spotlight means something like that: All eyes should be on him. Please give me a hot minute." Marisia frowned. She couldn''t do anything about it because it was unavoidable for her son. She wasn''t also perturbed since she knew that something like this was inevitable and brought her son only some discomfort temporary. Seeing how his facial expression changed into relief, both thought his pain was gone. The lady looked at her youngest son again, nodded, and returned to her other son to talk with him about his big day. Even though Alexander looked on the outside like he was ok. Inwardly he wasn''t, ''Get your shit together! I can''t ruin Narsi''s big day! Just act like there is no pain!'' He felt like someone tried to find diamonds in his brain with a pickaxe. The only good thing was that he had already adjusted to this pain well enough to act it out. It would also not hold for long, at max an hour or two. He looked at Melina, his mother, and some other servants who listened. They all looked worried, which annoyed him incredibly, ''Just look away, goddammit!'' He tried to relax and distract himself without using any skills, even though something like [Meditation] would be perfect at such moments. Alexander looked around the big hall, trying to distract himself from the pain, ''I can''t believe we actually had something like this¡­ well, I only knew of six rooms at best, as they don''t allow me to go anywhere... which makes sense since I am an infant.'' Suddenly he heard from outside a carriage, ''If this isn''t good ol'' pops!'' He had a lot on his mind, but one thing was the most important, ''How will I look like later on? I heard that he is a druid, but I only know that they can transform into trees... will I become a tree too?'' This thought made him chuckle, which was, again, interrupted by the more significant distraction that came his way and became louder. He heard wheels rolling on the street and hooves stomping on the ground. A large carriage was driving into the front yard of their estate, which he could clearly see through the opened door. Melina suddenly pushed him slightly from behind, "Mr. Alexander, let''s move to the outside and welcome the lord." First was the lady, his mother, followed by Narsiz, Sarah, Alexander, and then the servants, who also followed a specific order. As he was outside, he saw the carriage up close and that it was pulled by two gigantic and mean-looking boars which wore armor, ''Holy hell... how do you even domesticate them?'' His attention quickly went from the angry-looking boars toward the carriage, which was red and gold in color and very simply designed, except that it was massive. He remembered those gigantic hummers and trucks in his previous life, but they came not even close in size to the monstrosity in front of him. This one had no intricate designs or engravings but looked impressive due to its simple and clean look. It stopped, and a fox-kin stepped out. He looked beautiful and like a young butler. Every step he took and every move he made was immaculate. Sarusos opened the carriage door, and out stepped a wolf-kin. A giant black-haired one with green eyes and a 3-day beard, his hair was bound into a knot as it probably was too long. His outfit was half-destroyed linen and leather clothes that would be better kept in the trash. Nonetheless, he was clean and looked nice. Alexander could smell him. He was his father, which surprised him even more as he looked closer, ''Holy shit, is he a super-lifter?!'' Alexander imagined that his father was someone very different. A druid with a lot of nature stuff as armor and rather weak-looking or something like a noble knight. If he described him, it would be an understatement if he said that his Dad could beat the living shit out of the Terminator. All his muscles bulged, and he questioned the integrity of his clothes and guessed that they would rip instantly apart when he moved more excessively. ''This is my dad, huh... not bad, good genes, hehe.'' As he stood straight and looked toward him, Alexander flinched slightly, ''He is a goddamn giant... now it makes sense why the carriage is so massive.'' As all the servants registered his glance, they bowed down, like his siblings, but he couldn''t. Something was weird about him, ''This crazy wild aura¡­.'' Alexander didn''t know why, but there was an aura around him that felt menacing to him. His logical side said he would not do a thing to him, but his instincts screamed that he should run away. He took another step back again and suddenly felt that he had bumped into something. Looking back, he saw his mother looking curiously and warmly at him. She crouched and pointed towards his father and her husband, "This is your father. Can''t you smell him?" He wanted to scream but did it only internally, ''I obviously can! But can''t you feel the aura around him?!'' "I can¡­ but¡­" he looked back at him, and his whole body shivered, and tears started to build up, "...his aura ¡­ terrifying." Alexander''s fight-or-flight sense hit him even stronger as his father moved toward them. A smile was seen on his face, and all others, who were standing straight after saluting, were smiling back at him, ''Am I the crazy one here?!'' As his father stood before him, he crouched and held his arms open like he wanted Alexander to run toward him. His heartbeat was so loud that he could swear his heart would jump out any second. Suddenly, a powerful smell invaded his nose before he could do anything. As he was already highly stressed, he couldn''t help himself and concentrated on holding it back. It came out of nowhere. Alexander puked. Keugh! Luckily he didn''t lose consciousness, but the smell was killing him, ''What the hell is this and that aura...'' Everyone looked at Alexander, and he could feel the gazes drilling into him. It felt terrible, and he looked frightened as he stood there. He had his tail between his legs and ears down. It was too much to handle and overwhelmed him from every side. He had no way to concentrate on any skills to mitigate it, and he couldn''t also focus at all to call on his rationality. Alexander could hear how hard his mother clenched her hands and looked at his father, "Wash up, my dear. I will tell you on the way what is going on. I forgot something... Melina, take Alex away and change his clothing." Marisia looked around and announced, "We will do the reunion later. Let my husband first make himself fresh." Kairoso frowned and looked at his son, who looked miserable. For Alexander, the smell was terrible, and his fear overwhelmed him. Lorient came from behind and smelled the same, ''Did they bathed in the innards of Animals, who cleaned themselves in feces?!'' As he was already on his way as he looked back. They started chatting with each other, ''I feel like an outsider, damn it.'' ... Sometime later Before the bathhouse were staying two wolf-kin. One was much larger than the smaller one, and they discussed an important topic. "So, you are saying Alex is a mage, and he can feel my aura? How is this possible? He is barely one year old?!" Marisia nodded, "Yes, remember how mages, or rather, beings who can sense mana, are terrified of you if they don''t have specific mental fortitude skills?" Marisia observed her husband, who started to frown and looked heartbroken. He had an aura from a skill that could only be perceived by beings who could sense mana, which instilled fear into them. They would get frightened, which in turn disrupted their mana control. It was a problem that she had forgotten about. Usually, one could easily turn off such a skill. Still, if it was high leveled, it could ooze out very slightly, and with their son being oversensitive while having who knows how high of a [Mana Sense] skill, it was a terrible situation. They also never had any problems with mages in their territory since they were scarce, so there was no need to control it. If they met someone more magically inclined, they already had the specific mental fortitude skills. Marisia took his hand and tried to comfort him, "Don''t worry, dear, Alex is brilliant. He didn''t know about it and reacted on instinct. After telling him, he will not think any worse of you." It was a big problem. Everyone saw how frightened Alexander was as soon as he saw Kairoso. He shivered and sweated. His ears went down, and he tucked his tail between his legs. It was not something a father wanted to see the first time he saw his son. Kairoso looked at her with a sad face that told it all, "Hm, but why puking? Normally they wouldn''t do something like this!" She also remembered the next problem, which she didn''t think about, "I told you about his overexertion, right? He is susceptible to smells. Remember Sarah, she had the same problem. Maybe after he gets better, he will stop sensing this skill of yours too?" Rage was seen on his face, "Dammit!" A loud bang resounded in the hall where they were in. Kairoso punched the wall and created a crater. Marisia flinched slightly, but only out of reflex. She wasn''t perturbed by such an outburst, and only her instincts which were built up on the battlefield, made her move at all. "I don''t want to be like my old man and be feared by my children!" "Dear, don''t worry. We will look into it later after you wash up. Please get your smell first off as much as possible before seeing Alex again... also, don''t use any fragrant oil." He nodded in understanding but was nonetheless frustrated, so he kept ranting as he needed to let off steam, "Fuck, did you see how frightened he was?" Marisia got on her tiptoes and held his face as softly as possible, "Please don''t worry, we will find a solution for this, ok? Just give it a bit of time." He frowned, "Fine, thank you, my little flower." Her face flushed slightly, and she suddenly lost herself in thought, ''How long ago were we together? It was too long.'' He took her hands as softly as possible, ''He is usually such a rough man. Trying to be soft in front of me is so cute of him.'' While Marisia thought this, she could feel a smile building up, but her thoughts were quickly interrupted, "I will take a bath now, my little flower. Please look after Alex." As he bent forward, Marisia closed her eyes and felt a light kiss on her lips. After a moment, she opened her eyes again and didn''t feel his hands anymore. She looked into his eyes, and he gave her a lovely look as he turned around and left for his bath, ''I wished he could stay and didn''t go away to the east...'' She turned around and went away. While she walked to look at how her son was doing, her mind was racing as to how she could''ve prevented it. In her mind, Kairoso and Alexander would suffer less emotionally if she remembered and prepared for it. She bit her lips so hard that she started to taste iron. She went with her finger over her lips and looked at it while she stood in the corridor, "Damn it..." She felt guilty. Her husband was out there risking his life, while she should''ve managed the estate as perfectly as possible, and in the end, she failed. Nobody would say that she failed. Maybe she made a mistake, but surely not that she failed. However, in her mind, she wanted to be nothing less than perfect. She took out her pocket watch and looked at the time. They had around half a day for other businesses until Narsiz''s legacy. In contemplation, she stood still and watched the pocket watch. She mumbled, "I hope Alex can make up for my mistake..." Of course, she didn''t blame her son for anything that happened or would make him solve her concern. Still, she hoped that Alexander would not be so frightened of his father that he didn''t want to meet him anymore and could understand the problem well enough, so they could try it again, but the next time more slowly. Turning her heel, she walked towards her son''s room, which she hoped would help her make up for her mistake. ... At the same time, Leonandra estate, the main garden A trio of wolf-kin siblings youths were taking a walk through their garden. Narsiz enjoyed the lovely smell of the flowers while being surrounded by his sisters, Sarah and Lorient, who were quite chatty. Everyone around was busy. Butterfly-kin servants gardened while some other races were tending to the stables, and others were just, like them, enjoying a break. The sun shone brilliantly on him, and he felt a pleasant warmth on the back of his head. The blue and red colored sky was barely cloudy. Everything was so lovely, it was ideal for a nice walk. Lorient blabbered about her adventures and Sarah about what happened at home. The chat was long, as both of his younger siblings didn''t see each other for months. Narsiz, on the other hand, liked to listen and observe. For example, Lorient had grown extensively in his eyes by personality and because she became larger than Narsiz while only being two years older. With around 1.65m (~5.4ft), she obviously went more after their father than their mother. After Lorient recounted everything she experienced on the trip, the topic naturally fell on their youngest sibling. He was also the number one gossip topic for the servants for apparent reasons. "What was going on with Alex?" "Remember my over-exhaustion with my physical exercise years ago? He is going through the same, but it is mental exhaustion." "What do you mean?" Narsiz continued for her, "He can use mana. He overextended himself by training his mana and learning like crazy. You should read his compendium about the system window. It is short but explains a couple of things well. Lorient''s eyes went wide, "How?!" Sarah shrugged like this was the most normal thing in the world, "How would I know? He even talked about skill tests he went through, so I have no idea how he could come this far without a teacher or anything of the sort. Maybe he is a real genius?" Lorient was now flustered and couldn''t say anything. In her mind, she regarded Sarah and Narsiz as gifted while she was only a step behind. However, Alexander took the helm on that front and put them all in the dust. Narsiz giggled, "Your reaction is understandable, but I am more concerned about what happened today." Sarah chuckled at the comment, "Hehe, Mama said it was because of Papa''s smell." Lorient came out of her stupor, "What do you mean with smell?" Narsiz explained, "The aftereffects of his mental exhaustion are that his senses are in overdrive like his hearing, tasting, smelling and so on, but he also has another sense which bothered him the most." Lorient asked him questioningly, "Another sense? Do we not have only five?" Narsiz put a finger up, "He can sense mana. If he uses or feels in some way mana, he will experience an intense headache. This is why we put an anti-mana collar on him. But if he also levels skills or learns one accidentally, he will experience the same pain. In short: He needs a lot of rest." Lorient was now obviously a little bit worried and annoyed, "Wha¡­ How? He accidentally learned a skill?!" Sarah shrugged, "Don''t ask me, but don''t you find it thrilling? We now have a mage in our family! What do you think we can do with one?" Narsiz thought a lot about it, too, "I don''t know either, but I can see how he will either bring our family to new heights or will create pure chaos, hehe." Lorient could not compose herself and ignored the ongoing discussion, "Wait! I want to talk about getting a skill accidentally! Did you ask him about this?!" Sarah yawned slightly, "Huaaam. He told me that he didn''t know. He does stuff and gets a skill. He talked for like an hour with me, trying to explain it. I just nodded along..." She giggled as she remembered it, "He is such a blabbermouth, hehe." Lorient became excited, "I need to ask him! What do you think about his level and how many skills he has?" Suddenly Sarah got serious, "Big sister, I hope you don''t think asking Alex to show his system window?" Lorient and Sarah now looked at each other. Both were suddenly ready to fight it out, and Narsiz felt the rising tensions, ''Oh, not today... damn it!'' The killing intent from both was slowly creeping up all around them. Narsiz tried intervening, "Lorient, Sarah, could both of you calm..." He was immediately interrupted by Lorient, "Shut up! I will not be threatened! I will just ask Alex! If he says no, so be it." Sarah showed her fangs and growled slightly, "No, you don''t! He is naive, small, and can be easily manipulated! You will not do it!" A furious smile crept on Lorient''s face, and her eyes slowly turned red, "It is not your fucking problem..." She started to get into an attack position, and Narsiz panicked slightly, ''By the fucking circle!'' He ran in between them and screamed, "Stop! Both of you!" He looked at Sarah, "You will not fight! And you..." He turned towards Lorient, "You will not ask Alexander to show his system window! If somebody finds this out, Mother will personally cripple you!" It was fine to ask someone to show the system, but it was considered a crime if the person was too young and was coerced. It was a big problem, especially for young and talented ones who would talk and show their skills. Afterward, they would be disposed of so the perpetrator could have the skill exclusively and the secret of how to attain it. Since his mother got into power, she despised those aspects which were rampant in other noble families and was very strict with her children in that sense too. No one was allowed to do it since, going by her doctrine, a noble needed to be an example, and the subjects were required to follow. While his mother was considered very liberal, as all children had the freedom to marry who they wanted and do what they loved, she vehemently despised if they acted against laws or conventions which protected subjects or others. There was no telling what she would do to Lorient if she found out, but it wouldn''t be pleasant in his mind. He hoped his fluke that she would be crippled worked, but only a moment later, it showed that it didn''t. Lorient''s eyes turned entirely red as she slowly surrounded her body with red mist, "Is this a threat, dear Brother?" She was a moron in his mind as he was worried about her and didn''t know what got into her, "It is our estate law. You are only allowed to show your window after the divine legacy, and even then, it is rather encouraged not to." "Haha! A law? I am talking about getting stronger for the estate''s sake! You should understand it best. If I get stronger, I could help more!" Narsiz looked solemnly at her, "I don''t care how you want to compensate for your insufficiencies, but the law is precisely for such a reason in place." Lorient became exasperated, "What do you mean? I will obviously not hurt him!" Narsiz shook his head, "Lorient, what if he has a skill you really want and will follow him day and night and force him to teach you? What if he can''t, and you get angry and lose your cool? What if you get jealous? What if you get caught at some point by the enemy when you are training outside, and they will read your mind and find out that he has some rare skills?" A growl was slowly heard that slowly built up inside of her depths. She became enraged, "Haha! I didn''t know you thought so lowly of me, Narsi..." She crouched. The red mist built up around her hands and imitated red claws. Narsiz was surprised and couldn''t believe she would attack him, ''Damn it!'' She rocketed towards him like a wild beast. Before he could think or move, Sarah came from the left and pulled her brother away, "Move, you idiot!" The red claw glided on his neck, and he barely avoided it. Narsiz was thrown towards the ground, and Sarah stood before him, ready to fight, "Tsk, fighting against big sister would be so much more fun if I had my [Divinity Line] or a weapon." She got ready. Narsiz could see Sarah''s smile from the side and frowned, ''My whole family is insane.'' He quickly stood up and tried to get into position behind Sarah to strike after Lorient''s blind spot, then she attacked. Both were getting ready to attack, and as they jumped at each other, out of nowhere, Sarusos appeared from the side like an arrow, grabbed their arms, and spun them around as he took their momentum with him. He threw them both away from each other. A loud bang was heard. Lorient crashed into a tree, "Keough!" Sarah, on the other hand, just landed inside a bush. Sarusos landed elegantly and looked towards Lorient, "Tsk, her [Divinity Line] is acting out. Good, I was here." Narsiz was thankful that he was here but also confused as to why his big sister suddenly became this aggressive, "Sarusos, what is going on with Lorient?" He could see Lorient trying to stand up, full of dirt and red blood eyes, "She never acted like this!" Sarusos sighed and straightened his white gloves, "We told Ms. Lorient should invest in [Spirit] so the demon energy doesn''t corrupt her too much. Tsk, what a troublesome child." "Her energy?" Sarusos looked at him like nothing had happened and smiled, "Oh right, Mr. Narsiz, it is a long story and only told usually beforehand. Well..." He looked again at Lorient, "Would you excuse me? I will deal first with Ms. Lorient and tell you everything later, ok?" He nodded, obviously aware of the situation, "Oh, Mr. Narsiz, please see if Ms. Sarah is ok." From some bush came a rustle, "I am fine! No worries! Just stuck!" The fox-kin giggled, "Hehe, you are such good pups." After he said that, he flashed towards Lorient. Like a wild monster, she was standing back up and ready to fight, full of bloodlust. Seeing her like this, Narsiz thought he needed to talk with his father or mother later to find out what was happening with Lorient. Sarusos appeared behind Lorient, one hit against the back of her head, and she became instantly unconscious. Before she could hit the ground, he caught her in his arms and held her princess-style. He looked towards Narsiz, "See you later, Mr. Narsiz." Before the wolf-kin youth could say something, Sarusos was already away, ''The day is so stressful. First Alexander and now Lorient, well, I presume postponing the legacy isn''t an option.'' He sighed and went toward the bush to help Sarah out. She was in what he would describe as a weird position, "Are you alright?" He gave her a hand and pulled her out. Sarah stood before him, but he would rather describe her as a cute scarecrow than a wolf-kin. She straightened her clothes and smiled at him, "I am fine, thanks!" Narsiz started picking some small branches out of her hair, "I should be thanking you. Without you, I would be..." She stopped him from talking further, "Don''t say something this stupid. I would obviously be in a fight much earlier if you didn''t stand between us and would probably be beheaded, hehe." He sighed, "Don''t say things like this. Are you really alright?" She nodded, "Yeah, what do we do with Lorient now?" He frowned, "It was something about corruption and her energy. I have no idea what was happening, but I also never learned much about our [Divinity Line] since I have no chance of getting it." Narsiz studied a lot about many things, but the day had only so many hours. After seeing where his strengths were, he started to concentrate on them. He ignored everything else, like the family''s [Divinity Line], since it was very combat oriented, and he was sure he would not receive it. Sarah shrugged, "Let''s go and look for Mama or Papa. They will probably tell us." "Sure, good idea. Sarusos is probably already there. Let''s go." Chapter 8: Skills: Blessing Or Curse? Part 2 This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Chapter 9: Demons and Politics, Part 1 If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter 10: Demons and Politics, Part 2 This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 11: Leisure Time With Narsiz ... Alexander''s room, Leonandra Estate "Urgh," after groaning, Alexander slowly opened his eyes as a strong smell invaded his nose. It wasn''t in any way unpleasant, just overwhelmingly strong. He saw how Narsiz entered the room, so he answered automatically, feeling sleepy, "Wood mornin''." His older brother giggled when he saw how Alexander scrunched up his nose and asked softly, "Hehe, are you fine?" Alexander wiped the saliva from his mouth and tried to wake up. He felt a little like after an operation as he was a little dizzy from all the sensations invading him, making him feel weird, ''What does he want?'' He was never a morning person, so he sounded cranky, yawning, "Huam! Yeah, what do you want?" While Alexander rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, Narsiz got a chair and sat beside his bed. None of his usual demeanor was there where he acted like a cold bureaucrat, but he had a warm smile and even whispered as softly as possible, "I just wanted to talk with you." Sitting up in the bed, he had no idea what they could even talk about. However, Alexander was thankful that he spoke quietly since he was oversensitive, but out of habit, he also started to whisper, "Sure, what do you want to talk about so early? Wasn''t yesterday your legacy? How was it?" Out of nowhere, he suddenly opened his System window. Alexander exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, your legacy looks sick." Narsiz tilted his head, "Sick?" ''Right, the lingo thing, '' Alexander remembered that he couldn''t talk like on Earth, so he explained while trying to hide that he was a little flustered, "Sorry, it means good." Narsiz laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, "Hehe, yes, I really like it too. I need now to find out what the skills are doing." Alexander looked at his skills much more closely, and the names of his [Mystic Skills] sounded like some phrases from Earth, so he offered him help, "Maybe I can help you?" His ears twitched slightly, breaking his usual noble-like demeanor, which wasn''t there initially, anyway. He raised his voice slightly, already forgetting about his little brother''s sensitivity problem while sounding overly curious, "How so?" Alexander obviously lied through his teeth since he couldn''t disclose where the information came from, "I read about them in some books where such skills were mentioned indirectly." His already golden-colored tail waggled in happiness while his face stayed the same, as his voice went back to a quiet one, "We can at least try." Before starting, Alexander observed his brother quickly as he looked different. The color of the streaks he had on his fur took over the snow white around them, and all the hair became almost entirely golden/blond colored. Alexander tried not to grimace, ''He looks even more beautiful. I can''t believe it.'' Before the legacy, his brother looked handsome, but now, he was on another level, which brought some jealousy, ''Well, hopefully my genes are as good.'' He ignored his dwindling self-esteem as he was bound to a bed with nothing to do but self-pity, and with a slight smile, he asked him, "With which [Mystic Skill] do you wanna start?" For some reason, it felt weird talking to Narsiz while he tried to be a proper big brother with his aura of nobility showing. At the same time, though, he could barely hold back from knowing his [Mystic Skills]. It was quite the contrast and really cute since it reminded him of his little brother through this behavior. Narsiz barely hid his grin while saying, "How about the first one? [Rabbit Foot]?" Alexander thought about it and could remember different meanings of such a phrase from Earth. He could, however, only remember two at best, "I have only read about two probable meanings which could indicate what it can do." Narsiz put one leg over the other while shaking his head, "It''s fine. There are a lot of beast-kin who run around for years, not knowing what their [Mystic Skills] can do, so no pressure." Alexander never heard about such a thing, but it made sense. If someone got a [Mystic Skill] with a cryptic name, it would be hard to decipher how to activate it. One needed to have at least some hunch what it could do. He nodded and went with his hand through the hair, only to stop midway, thinking that they got overly oily. As he wiped the grease on the blanket away, he gave his brother his conclusion, "The phrase [Rabbit Foot] can have two possible meanings. One of them is about luck, maybe some boost you can get temporarily or permanently." Narsiz put his hand on his chin and was probably in thought while Alexander was halfway thinking about a nice bath with Melina. However, he still kept asking, "Did your [Luck] attribute increase?" He shook his head, "No." Alexander''s focus switched from the greasy hair to his brother completely, and he started thinking about how it could activate or work. After going through his memories, he suddenly got an idea, "Hey, do you have a coin?" Narsiz looked confused at Alexander but, after a moment, took out a silver coin. On one side, it had some emblem he had never seen before, and on the other, some text describing divinity and stuff. He stared at Alexander, obviously waiting for what he wanted to do with it, so he continued, "Flip the coin, say before you do it if it will land on head or text. Most importantly, you should concentrate on your skill and which side it should land on." He nodded, "Good idea!" as he said it, he flipped the coin. The coin rotated in the air, and he mumbled, "Head..." As the coin almost landed in his hand, it slipped away and fell towards the ground. He grumbled, "Damn it." Alexander yelled as he was about to look for it, "Wait! Look at how it landed." After a quick search, he found the coin, "Head!" Both were equally excited, and Alexander became more energetic, "Flip again!" "Right!" ... After 30 tries, they had their answer. However, from the 30 coinflips, more than half slipped away, landing on the floor. Regardless, such things they could discuss later as for now, he summarized the experiment and congratulated him, "26 landed on the side you wanted, so it is a luck-based skill! Congratulations!" Narsiz smiled from ear to ear like a mutant tortoise and softly looked at the coin in his hand, "Yes..." He looked with an honest smile toward his little brother, "...I am very thankful. Without you, I would probably need a lot of time to figure the skill out." Alexander was never good with compliments. As such, he blushed and tried not to stutter his following words, "Thanks..." He had no idea what to say more, and this moment became more embarrassing for him, so he changed the topic, "...but, let''s do the others too, how about it?" Narsiz nodded readily like a child while his tail swung around, ''Ohhh, the teen who pretends to be noble is acting normal. How cute!'' Alexander never saw himself as the little brother in their relationship but as older as he had his experience from Earth. So, now that Narsiz opened a little more up, he also felt much more relaxed toward him. They both exclaimed at the same time, "[Prince Charming]." Alexander fell back onto his pillow and already knew what it meant while Narsiz was in thought, ''Here goes the cute nobleman.'' After a few moments came an expectant voice, a little higher than usual, "So? Did you read something about it?" Alexander sat straight up and looked at him as emotionless as possible so he could convey what it meant as neutrally as possible so that they wouldn''t have an awkward moment, "I think this is a skill that lets you seduce the Ladies... or Gentlemen easier..." He shrugged, "...I don''t judge." Narsiz blushed and began to stutter, "I... I... I am interested in Ladies!" Alexander wanted to start laughing but knew he shouldn''t tease his brother, so he bit into his cheek slightly to prevent it, "I think you need to test it at some other point..." he paused for a second to qualify what his statement, "...of course I mean the skill thing, not the gentleman thing, " what followed was a deafening silence that hovered over them. He could''ve sworn that he could hear how his hormones went haywire. After a moment, Narsiz looked at him like he slaughtered his pet and got sarcastic, "Do you think so?!" After another couple of seconds, Alexander couldn''t hold back anymore and laughed out loud, "Haha!" Inwardly, though, he hoped that he wasn''t like this as a teen. Even though it was embarrassing, it was cute. Narsiz stood up and glared, snapping at him with a slight crackling voice, "Don''t laugh!" Alexander stopped laughing and wiped his tears away. He held his other hand up to calm him, "Hehe, it''s okay, so let''s just go to the last skill, but I remember the name is pretty self-explanatory, don''t you think?" Narsiz relaxed and slowly became his noble self. He cleared his throat, "Ahem, you mean [Smell of Deceit]? I think you are right, but what about the specifics?" Alexander agreed with him that he had a point. If a skill had such a name, it could also easily mean something different, "Okay, let me try and lie to you..." He nodded and waited, which he did after some thought, "...I am 150 years old." He bowed his head low and sighed defeatedly, "No, I don''t smell or feel anything different." Alexander mused and suddenly got an insight, "Hey, Narsi? Can you lend me this silver coin? I will give it back tomorrow." He opened his eyes wide and exclaimed, "What did you do? I smell something foul... should I get a maid?" Now it was Alexander''s turn to blush as he could feel how his head became hotter. He snapped at him, "No, you moron! I said something with the intent to deceive you!" He clapped his hands together and laughed, "Haha!" Alexander looked at him sternly and remembered that he also had a short fuse, "Are you done?!" Narsiz stopped laughing and cleared his throat, "Ahem, yes, sorry, so what did you do exactly?" He sighed, already calming down and finding the thought of snapping at his brother even more embarrassing. So, he tried to ignore it and explain to Narsiz how he found out, "I wanted you to give me your coin with the intent to not give it back, while I said that I would give it back. As the skill name suggests, you were deceived and could immediately smell it." Narsiz leaned back and became silent. He had a satisfying smile and looked proud with his chest pushed out. Alexander, though, didn''t understand it and looked at him in confusion, "What is it?" Narsiz looked back at him with a slightly surprised expression, but he didn''t lose his smile and explained, "You don''t know, but you usually need a long time to unravel the functions of [Mystic Skills]. It is actually insane that I could do it with your help the next day after my legacy..." He started to tap his chin with his index finger, "...how can I thank you?" Alexander laid back down and stretched, yawning, "Huam! Just come back tomorrow and talk with me..." He blushed a little, "...I am really bored, you know?" Narsiz gave him the most friendly and honest smile he had ever seen, but his following words teased him nonetheless, "Sure will do, but now I need to go. See you tomorrow, little archmage!" Alexander''s face scrunched all up as he heard the cringe, "Urgh, thanks, but don''t call me like this." He stood up and walked to the door, but before he closed it, he turned around with a shit grin, "Hehe, all right, Mr. Wizard." Clank After the door closed, Alexander put the pillow on his face and shouted into it, "So cringe! Urgh!" However, besides all the juvenile emotions he started to have, there were also warm feelings towards Narsiz. He came immediately after his legacy and even promised to visit him later, ''It''s nice to have a big brother for once.'' ... The next day Narsiz was back and sitting before him again, but there was a really uncomfortable silence hovering in the room since they had nothing to discuss, ''This was a bad idea.'' Even though it felt great that his brother was back, he was a little distant, unlike Sarah or Lorient, who would come up to him and take him into their arms. He didn''t know why and wouldn''t ask as he was the same in that sense. He was always anxious that coming too close would make the other uncomfortable, so he tried to think of another way to make it work between them. So, Alexander tried to use his godlike social skills, "By the way, what do you want to do now after the Legacy? Being a Hero?" Narsiz immediately rolled his eyes but nonetheless smiled a little as he knew what Alexander was trying to do. He answered matter-of-factly, "Obviously not. I am too weak for this. However, I had already eyed a small town close to Puru and Jorko. I will manage it for some time and learn to administrate it since the Earl there should be pretty good. Hopefully, I can learn something from him." Alexander immediately jumped on this topic as it was at least one, "Hm, I read something about what you wanna do." However, even though he knew a couple of things about administration, he had never read about it in a book in this world. Narsiz''s eyebrows went up, and he became much more awake than before, "Oh, and what?" Alexander tilted his head slightly, "Well, about infrastructure, bureaucracy, economy, marketing, and more." He remembered the courses he took at college, so later on, no economy guy would fuck him over. However, after going through it, there was only a lot of theory and nothing more. He saw this as a waste of time besides the credits he got. Yet, now, it seems to be very helpful. Narsiz''s interest was obviously piqued as he leaned toward his little brother. His ears went up like his voice, full of interest, "Marketing? What is this?" Alexander was obviously not too versed in what the world had to offer when it came to such topics, and it was even more complicated because he had no idea what the world looked like. There were billboards? Ad campaigns? Were there some tickets hidden in chocolate bars? He didn''t know, and it was hard to explain something like this to someone who didn''t have any common knowledge, which the other one had. However, he tried, "You know what psychology is?" Alexander thought that his brother probably didn''t know this or it was a nich¨¦ subject he barely knew about. He determined that since they were in a world of medieval times. Probably no one thought about young farmer boys coming to the big city and taking over it with their self-esteem. However, to his surprise, Narsiz nodded and explained what little he knew about the topic, "It is the science of how someone thinks or something in that sense. The Cathedral is researching it." Alexander raised an eyebrow and immediately tried to imagine Freud as a beast-kin. However, he wasn''t too hot on reading early hypotheses of childhood trauma if someone like that existed. He quickly shook himself awake inwardly and away from thoughts about Freud. He was happy they had some mutual knowledge, even though little, it should be enough to build further what he was about to explain. Alexander tried hard to remember everything about his Economy 101 classes and recount it in an easier way for his brother, "Marketing is essentially the art of promoting your wares to sell it - in your case, it would be the town." Narsiz looked slightly confused at his brother and asked, "Why should I sell my town?" Alexander waved his hand in dismissal and understood that he used jargon from Earth, so he tried to clarify immediately, "No, with selling, I mean that you want to grow it, so you make it more attractive to others, so they would come and live there." He tilted his head again, and the confusion in his eyes stayed the same, "Why should I grow my town?" "More people means more revenue, which means more taxes, etc." Alexander suddenly understood something else. Even though his brother acted very adult-like, he would be, in Earth''s terms, only around 14 to 15 years of age. With this in mind, it made so much more sense that he didn''t understand the basics of these things. Not to mention that, as much as he knew, his siblings, even though they had private teachers, didn''t study as much as humans on Earth, which could come from the fact that they had an increased lifespan compared to Earthlings. The other thing Alexander also needed to remember was that they didn''t have the internet with all the information available at their fingertips. So, even though his siblings were educated, they wouldn''t know about specific topics. While libraries existed, and they had one at their estate, it was subpar at best. On Earth, it was rather typical to know at least roughly what certain subjects meant, and while most wouldn''t know the theory behind it, they would know about the things that were associated with the subject. Like that, marketing had something to do with ads, and they had something to do with selling stuff. Narsiz leaned slightly back and looked perplexed at his little brother. He then asked, seemingly interested in the topic, "But, would it not come to problems if we have a large influx of people?" Alexander nodded, obviously knowing what he meant. However, he tried to give him another perspective without considering the small details, "See this as an investment. You get able-bodied people who already went through their phases and just want a safe place to live and work." Narsiz put one leg over the other and crossed his arms. He looked towards the commode, out of wood, which depicted the phases of a wolf growing from a puppy to an adult one. It was apparent that he looked actually into the empty space to concentrate on the discussion, "Their phases?" Alexander also looked in the same direction and nodded, trying to concentrate, too, "Yeah, you are talking about a town, not a city, right? Such a place is usually there for people who want to settle down after going through their phases of adventuring, making big money, or whatever. But now they just want to stay somewhere safe, work, have a family, etc., and you want exactly such people." This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Narsiz didn''t look away and thought intensely about what his brother said. While doing so, his tail waggled slowly from side to side as he was evidently intrigued by the discussion, ''Sarah and Lori aren''t much into Politics and such, while Narsi loves it, huh? Interesting.'' It was also quite refreshing for Alexander to discuss things that were more in line with his mental age, as Sarah and Lorient only talked about trivial things he could talk about but wasn''t too much into. He could only listen so much to Lorient and how great her traveling was or the new fashion in Wolfsteeth from Sarah. After some minutes, Narsiz looked at his brother again curiously and asked, "What about security and a workplace?" Alexander raised an eyebrow as he was astounded by his brother''s intelligence and foresight, especially for a teenager. When he remembered himself, he couldn''t even compare, so he tried to give him some pointers that could be helpful, "This is something which, depending on the place, situation, etc., would change quite a lot. You need to survey what your product can give them." His eyebrow twitched slightly, "Product?" He replied as he couldn''t believe that his little brother talked about a town like some bread for sale. Alexander smirked inwardly. He had the same look when he talked to someone who was a city manager, and he needed to code some software for them as a freelancer. The way they spoke about their job was practically the same as selling cereal, only much more complicated. He nodded at his reply and explained the principle, "This is marketing at its core. You need to identify the needs of the people who will become your future residents and..." He suddenly remembered an old movie and gestured with his arms like he pulled someone toward him, "...reign them in!" Narsiz stared at the void again, probably trying to process the information. Still, he returned to the previous topic, as he was most likely more interested in practical matters, "Okay, but what about security and work?" Alexander sighed inwardly. He tried to give him some hypothetical situations and explain on them what he meant, "Imagine you have an influx of people to your town, which you also know well enough. You can give them someplace to stay for some time and a bit of food at first if they have no means or resources, then get some administrator ready to find them a job and some housing, depending on their skills..." He stopped himself for a second since there was no way to explain such a thing on the fly, "If they have the basics for living, it should be enough for them not to do crimes like thievery, but in case, get some extra guards. As for work, it really depends on the situation at hand, and I can tell you about it more later, but as an example, you could create jobs where people clean your town for some coin till they find something different and in line with their experience and skills." Narsiz''s tail waved now in annoyance, and for some reason, Alexander could distinguish the different kinds of gestures one would make with the tail, "But, will this not eat up the funds, and didn''t you say that people wanted to live in a small town because it was small and they want to have the tranquility which comes with it?" Alexander shrugged, "Sure, but small towns also want to grow, no? It doesn''t mean that you want to build a second Wolfsteeth, but the administration wants more taxes to repair, build, etc. Since many people living there would be older than the population in cities, they would also die much faster, so you need a constant influx of residents so your town at least can hold onto their numbers. However, the improvements can act as an incentive for others to come too..." He stopped himself again and tried to qualify since there was so much more to this, and generalizing everything would lead to many misunderstandings, "Also, we need to distinguish what a small town is in a relative sense, right? If the main city is, for example, ten million in population size, you could consider that 100,000 as a small town if it was in the city''s proximity. It always depends, kind of, you know?" He scratched his head as it was hard to explain city management from what he knew without having a definitive example and even harder because the new world was too different. Many variables were suddenly very different or weren''t even there. In contrast, others suddenly appeared, and since he was never even allowed to leave his small compound of rooms to see what his family actually ruled, he couldn''t explain it well to his big brother. It was all hypotheticals from which he couldn''t even choose the most fitting ones since he just didn''t know what the most fitting ones would be. However, before Alexander could think about it more, his brother suddenly stood up, ''Oh, did I say something wrong, or was what I said too risky? I can understand it.'' Alexander tried to explain modern Earth city design, which worked well with economic systems with a capitalistic slant. In contrast, he had no idea what kind of economic system actually existed in this world. So he thought he hit some nerve and became a little sad that his brother was about to leave because of his big mouth. Narsiz went to the door, opened it, and suddenly did something Alexander didn''t expect. He screamed at someone, "Hey! Bring me some parchment, ink, and a feather! Go!" Alexander smirked as he heard some servants suddenly run as their lives were on the line, ''Hehe, how bossy.'' Narsiz returned, pushed the table on the other end of the room towards his brother''s bed, and sat down, not talking and waiting for his utensils. Alexander wanted to make sure that he understood the current situation and asked him straightforwardly, "Do you really want to record what I say? It''s basically me teaching you, you know?" He nodded straight, like some brain he had at his university, "Absolutely." Alexander sighed heavily while smiling. He pushed the blanket away as it was getting too warm for him and thought about how to ensure that something like discussing such ideas wouldn''t lead to a catastrophe like ruining the relationship with his brother, "But you know that theory and implementing something with success are two absolutely different things? It can take a nasty turn. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt, okay?" Narsiz looked confidently at his little brother and answered in a matter-of-fact way, "I know what you say makes sense on so many levels. You take the wishes of the common people and use them to your advantage..." He smiled mischievously, "...while not saying it directly, I can read the subtext. You want to manipulate them so they would come to the town even though they might be happier elsewhere. You create a positive feedback loop where one gets more people, uses them as a new resource, and improves the town. Then, with the improvements, one can get more people and so on. The circle starts anew." Alexander was baffled, ''He understood it perfectly?!'' Even though he explained it very roughly and chaotically, his brother actually understood the principle of marketing and that in the example of a town, ''Is he a damn genius?!'' However, he didn''t like how he said it, like he was the anti-Christ incarnate. He went on all fours on his bed and yelled, "Hey! Don''t talk so sinister! It sounds like I am a villain..." His head suddenly started to hurt from the screaming, "...argh!" Narsiz stood up while chuckling and helped Alexander lay down again as he talked, "Hehe, I know, right? But we are talking about governance, and what the serfs want and what I want are different things, so why not align them a little? You didn''t say it directly, but incentivizing someone to live in your town is the same." Alexander knew now that his brother was on a different level. This kind of intelligence, fed with the right information, was something dreams were made of for teachers. This also meant he could discuss more complicated topics and use more complex terminology. As long as he explained it, it should be fine. Clank A sweaty and stressed-out butterfly-kin maid came in. Her wings continuously changed colors, and Alexander felt like he was on LSD. She immediately bowed towards them and started talking to Narsiz, "Mr. Narsiz, I have everything you asked for." Narsiz pointed toward the table, and she put everything on it. Afterward, she quickly bowed toward them and left. Clank After the door closed, Narsiz turned towards Alexander and smiled softly at him, "So where were we?" Alexander couldn''t believe how quickly his brother changed. However, it also meant, at least in his mind, that he was socially very adaptable, ''Well, I am not really that strict with my servants though.'' While he understood why Narsiz was this domineering towards the servants, Alexander couldn''t do it. His Earth-self saw everyone as the same, and even when he served in the military, after clocking out, everyone was more or less on a first-name basis. However, his maid, Melina, was very reliable, so he was fine with how he treated them as long as they did their job well. Now, though, he felt like he needed to do his job as the younger but somehow older brother in teaching his sibling. Yet, he somehow liked it, and it was many times better than listening to Melina''s stories about her daughter for hours. So, he complied happily with Narsiz''s wish, "First, as we talked about, you need to attract people to your town so that it can flourish since stagnation is economic death. More people, more flourishing commoners, and a higher possibility for talents." Narsiz suddenly stopped his writing and looked up askingly, "Talents?" While Alexander loved teaching Narsiz, he suddenly understood his former philosophy teacher''s phrase. He once told him that if even a lion could speak with humans, they wouldn''t understand each other, and now, it seemed like many terms that were widely known on Earth weren''t part of the vocabulary of his brother or any youth in that sense. He tried to clarify the term, "Talent is a term for people with exceptional talents and abilities or that they are just experts in their field. This also makes them outstanding and most important for society and, in that sense, the economy." Alexander saw how he immediately made notes on the side, ''Wow, I wish I was such a dutiful student.'' On Earth and even here, all his notes and writings were stacked in nice big stacks without any order. He would be more efficient if he had half of what Narsiz showed him. However, such things were for future Alexander to figure out. Narsiz suddenly stopped and peeked at his brother, "For society?" Alexander kept lying down and sometimes stared at the chandelier while trying to sound encouraging. Even though he wanted to stand up and write everything down on a blackboard, he wasn''t even allowed to leave the bed, so he needed to be as expressive with his voice as possible, "Of course! Imagine being a commoner from the same town as some genius alchemist, scholar, or something like that. It will give you pride! You need to bind common commoners..." He stopped and chuckled at the phrase, "...hehe, towards your town in some way. Like, only your town could bring out such geniuses." Narsiz sounded solemn as he probably became thoughtful, "You are right. It is like with nobles and their ancestors. We are proud of our history because of them, so a town could have the same for commoners. You want to create a certain sentiment that they would have toward the town." Alexander nodded inwardly as his brother understood the principle well. Through this, he became more enthusiastic, "Yep! Manipulate their perception through a particular lens, but something like that is insufficient. Having specific and fair policies will give them the sense that they could also become like that. The chance is obviously not really high without other policies, which we can discuss later, but hope is a miraculous feeling you can exploit!" Everyone from Earth would immediately know which country Alexander was describing. Such an idea granted them talented people who wanted to reach the stars without an end in sight. It was obviously impossible for everyone to become a superstar, but this wasn''t important at the moment. He wanted him to know that such a thing was possible. Even though they were beast-kin, he assumed no difference from humans in this aspect. Narsiz''s voice became cheerful, "Oh, I get it. You want to tweak their sense so that if they achieve something, they wouldn''t only think that it was only by themselves but that they could only be successful because of the town and, indirectly, the ruler. Putting policies in that could or would help them would seem to everyone like the town was also partly responsible for their success, and thus, people would see the town, from the outside, like one where people could come to achieve something. Even though most wouldn''t achieve anything, they would, in the end, probably stay and work normally." Alexander was surprised and happy that his brother got the principle down. Even though some variables would and could change everything drastically, it was nonetheless an excellent explanation, especially since he didn''t know anything about it until today. Alexander laughed heartedly, "Haha, you got it!" Clank The door suddenly opened, and since nobody knocked, it meant that it could only be their family. They both turned immediately around and saw their Mother. "Mom?" "Mother." She looked at Alexander lying around like some pig in mud and then at Narsiz, "This is enough for today." Narsiz immediately tried to argue back, "Wait! He can..." She only needed to shake her head once, enough to shut him up, ''Huh? He didn''t enter his rebellious phase. Well, at some point, he will probably...'' He suddenly thought about how his siblings entered theirs and made his life a living hell, but now he wouldn''t be one looking after his new siblings, ''...hehe, this will be fun.'' Narsiz nodded at her and stood up. However, before he left, he smiled at his brother and thanked him sincerely, "Thank you. I will visit you in the next few days..." He stopped and probably thought about his brother''s well-being as the next question proved that, "...is it okay with you?" Before their Mother could say anything, Alexander yelled overly cutely, "Yes! Please read me more fairy tales, big browa!" He left the room with a smirk on his face. However, when he closed the door, he laughed so loudly that Alexander and their Mother could hear it. ... Days later "Let me ask you something. Do you think that beings are rational?" Narsiz thought about it momentarily and shook his head, "No." Alexander held a finger up and became cocky, acting out the all-knowing teacher, "Good! Beast-kin, nature-dwellers, and so on are not rational. Depending on the situation, they will act quite irrationally. So, you can use this to get more people into your town..." He stopped and thought about how he could ask his brother a good question where he could not give a right or wrong answer. After some seconds, he got it. Even though it was a very dull one, the answers could be very different, and this was important for Alexander as he would need to pick Narsiz up where he was and discuss with him the ideas he had. Just feeding him information was a big no-no for Alexander, "What are the most important things for the citizens or, in your case, the town''s residents?" Narsiz looked toward the wall, where some ornament swords hung till his little brother almost got kebab''d by them. In all honesty, Alexander was fortunate that his family didn''t know what a padded cell was. Otherwise, he would be in one for his own safety. After a moment, he answered, "Safety." Alexander sat up and pushed away the new blanket that was made out of silk and embellished with flowers and other nature-like pictures. He got the most expensive bedware after asking his Mother if she could give him the cheapest one since he was making them dirty as he ate in bed and sometimes did other unsightly things that made him flustered even thinking about it. He didn''t know what this kind of move of hers meant, but he hoped it was something like that she didn''t care about him dirtying them and not only to sass him. However, through the bedware, he got an idea, "Yes and more. We usually don''t use only taxes on walls and guards. We need administration, clean and well-maintained streets, and so on, but there is a trick..." He thought about it since Narsiz was here the last time, and he wanted to ask and discuss this topic dearly, so he risked it, "...do you know what a republic or democracy is?" Narsiz raised an eyebrow and nodded, "It is a government structure where certain citizens can vote for the king." Alexander shrugged inwardly and continued since it was close enough to what he meant, "So, do you know that you can use this system to manipulate residents?" Narsiz frowned again. His brother had a particular tick to always frown when he didn''t know about something. So, he asked, "How so?" Alexander held his finger up, "Easy! Give them a voice." He suddenly stopped his writing and looked at his little brother sternly. Alexander got a bad premonition, ''Uh oh. Is it even taboo if it is for manipulating the masses?'' He thought a lot about how he could present the topic without appearing overly radical since he was the son of an aristocratic family. In his mind, a tiny spark of democracy would be enough to start a massive fire. Alexander wanted democracy and freedom for many reasons. Maybe it was his modernized Earthlings brain that pushed him towards it. Maybe it was because he knew what it meant to be subjected to an authoritarian regime, or maybe it was because he was bored out of his mind and needed some fun hypotheticals. So, he made a plan that would look like he wanted to reign either way while holding onto the old system. In the end, he was the son of an aristocratic family, and if the beast-kin were even close to the French or Russians, something too radical would make him some inches shorter. He had a good reason not to become a revolutionary immediately. However, there were ways to slowly introduce ways of democracy without losing anything, and he thought a lot about how to do it since he was chained to his bed. Little to say, it was all theoretical since he didn''t know what was happening outside of his rooms and how people thought besides his family and the servants. He was inside a golden cage. He tried to clarify before his big brother misunderstood him, "Let us say you have a town with 20,000 citizens. You gave them one seat per 1,000 residents. You also only count residents who had at least lived there for several years. They would vote for a person who would represent them. Thus, the elected would know what they needed the most..." Suddenly, Narsiz interrupted Alexander, as he became visibly and audibly angry, "Little brother, you want to give commoners the right to govern and lead?" Alexander looked at him, and he was like a wolf, ready to pounce. Yet, he was calm as it was something he expected, "Don''t misunderstand me, the Lord of the town, so to say you, will give them only a voice, not the right to govern." Narsiz softened up a little and became more thoughtful again, "I don''t understand fully." Alexander nodded and continued, "Think about it. You will get direct representation from the residents in the form of an elector who would know their constituents the best. It will be like an administrator, but instead of you choosing, the populace would do it. With this, they would get a sense of belonging and responsibility for the town. While you will ultimately have all the power, they will have the appearance of it." Narsiz suddenly interrupted his little brother with a good question, "But what about the guilds? There are merchants, adventurers, mercenaries, etc. Will they not have a big problem if normal residents get a voice and they don''t?" Alexander hadn''t known about such a thing, but it was actually perfect. His tail started to waggle wildly as the topic became more exciting, "This is even better! Give them a voice, too, and build two different kinds of representations so they can argue against each other. Since they mostly would have opposite opinions, they would barely agree, and if something goes wrong, you can point at them while resolving everything yourself. This will lead to your subjects loving you and hating them, haha!" Narsiz stopped writing and rubbed his temple, "But wouldn''t they know that they have no power, especially the merchants and other more educated common folks?" Alexander laughed aloud, giving him a good solution, at least in his mind, "Haha! Yes and no. The commoners may already think they could influence you if you showed up once a week and discussed the topics with them, which is more efficient than having detached bureaucrats overlook them. If you want the guilds to work with you, though, you only need to work normally with the commoners." Narsiz raised an eyebrow, "I don''t quite understand. How would working with commoners make the guilds work with you?" Alexander smirked at him mischievously, "Easy. As much as they would think that it is all a smoke screen if you listen to the commoners and agree to some of their more obvious suggestions, the guilds would, at some point, be forced to participate, too. Otherwise, you could just ignore them and point out that they never participated in those meetings with you if you introduced a policy they don''t like, hehe." While Alexander spoke, Narsiz started writing again since what he suggested wasn''t anything that contradicted the noble system. It was more or less a way to govern more efficiently while introducing a democratic system into the zeitgeist. He was liberal by heart, and slowly changing the system was at the forefront of his mind. However, he wouldn''t think that his brother would introduce such a system in a small town if there were not already big problems with the current administration. Yet, giving them a logical idea of when democracy could work without dismissing the current system was already a big win. Alexander looked at him and asked the next important question, "Let''s say you have set up such a system. How would you avoid corruption?" He stopped writing and thought strongly about it for a few minutes till he could answer, "Maybe we can increase the punishment?" Alexander crawled out of the bed slowly and carefully. He then wobbled towards his big brother, ''Can I call him a king for fun? I am kind of not brave enough to try it.'' While walking towards him, he could barely stand upright and needed to hold onto something, as it was some time ago when he walked the last time and was too giddy to sit still. However, he continued, even though he was already exhausted after some steps, "Let me ask you differently. Do you think there would be less crime if we put the death sentence on thievery for the residents?" Narsiz thought for a long time while Alexander tippy-toed around the room and, in the end, stretched his atrophied muscles. As no answer came from his big brother, he answered himself, "They would keep stealing. Let us be honest: The vast majority who do it don''t want to steal. They do it because of their circumstances." Narsiz clacked several times with the feather against the table, asking inquisitively, "How would you do it then? Avoiding corruption, I mean." "Think about it. What do we do in the Leonandra estate." Like out of the cannon came his answer, "We give them much better pay, secure their family, and to avoid any problems, we make severe contracts with them in return." Alexander clapped his hands and almost lost balance, "Woah..." He held quickly onto a commode, "...yep! You are right! Give them a good job and environment where they can live happily. All they would steal would be maybe some..." Alexander was about to say some stapler from work but got no idea what they would steal in this world, "...an apple? I don''t know, what do our servants take without us knowing? Probably the deserts we don''t finish, right? However, corruption can partly avoided the same way Mom does it." Clank The door opened, and Melina came in, who looked bored since she had barely anything to do since he was bedridden, "Mr. Narsiz, it is time." ... Some days later "What you want is that people are at least literate." "Why should I want that?" "You want talents, right? Maybe the farmer''s son is a genius linguist but could never fulfill his calling because he never learned reading and writing. What you want to give them is the right of equal opportunity." "Equal opportunity?" ... Some Days Later "What do you mean with welfare? Would they even start to work?" "Of course, big brother. Give them the minimum, as we talked about in their hardest phase, and let them mandatorily visit some administrator to discuss their situation, problems, etc. With this, you can control them and try to find a solution for them, and of course, you can give a limited timeframe. In the end, they will be so much more thankful and loyal to you after they find a job!" "Wouldn''t they just lie then to not work?" "There would always be some bad apples, obviously. However, I am now lying in my bed and wishing for nothing more than to do something. I think most are the same." ... Some Days Later "You want actually to play the role of the Cathedral and Temple?!" "More or less. You pay them to build a branch inside the town and blackmail them through everything they did in the past. You can see this as healthcare for your residents as they are there to only heal and nurse the residents, and through this, you can make your residents pay a bit more tax." "This is... Father already does this." "Well, see? Hehe, it is a good idea then and already in place." ... Some Months later The candlelight in the evening was reflected in all the beautiful decorations on the commode, which was now fully occupied with all the stuff Alexander had since the table became Narsiz''s desk. Like a playful dance of colors that changed with every flicker, it shined in Alexander''s eyes and hypnotized him like the old windows screensaver. For the last few months, he was lying in his bed and thinking about everything he could remember from his previous life and what he had talked about in the last months with his brother, who visited him for hours every day. They discussed every topic regarding administration and every slight possibility that could arise from all the possible policy decisions he suggested or what their parents did. It was an enormous amount of details to go through, but Narsiz filled more than 300 pages with notes about what they discussed. Sometimes, he even sneaked into his room at night to discuss the topic they had before but couldn''t end. It went so bad that Alexander needed to nap after Narsiz left so he could concentrate at night when he returned. While others might find it annoying, Alexander found it cute and had no problems with an enthusiastic sibling willing to learn. However, even after months, their Mother didn''t allow them to be together for too long since she insisted that he should recuperate in peace and also apparently in boredom. Alexander could talk with his brother for another half a year for hours every day, but it was impossible as his own ideas were clearly from Earth and not adjusted to this world. Even though he tried to flesh them, customize them, and qualify everything he talked about, it would become, at some point, counterproductive. Then there was the problem with the skill gain, but he could do nothing against it and suffered pain, which he could endure. He was astounded about why others had so many problems increasing their skill levels or gaining skills while he did it accidentally. In the future, though, he wanted to try and teach someone who had barely any skills to see if it was because he was from Earth or their learning methods were much more inefficient. Yet, even though he had all his work cut out for him, his smile didn''t cease. It was just too much fun for him. The world he was in was like a piece of paper filled with only the colors of yellow and red, but the moment he came to this world, he brought blue with him. What will the painting look like after he could add it? Politics, technology, philosophy, ethics, etc. Everything was possible, and now that he knew that every one of his siblings was adorable and full of love for him, like his parents were, what was there to hold him back the moment he became old enough to change it himself? He came out of his thoughts when someone knocked softly on the door, ''Oh, is it time again?'' Chapter 11.5: Mr. Stork is Having Tea Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Chapter 12: Apprentice ... Alexander''s room A small puppy wolf-kin with snow-white fur sat in the middle of his room as candlelight fell on him from all sides. The shadows moved erratically around him as towers of books encircled him like he was about to get beaten up by all the novels he didn''t read for his book reports and now wanted revenge. Even though he had a soft cushion, his buttocks started to hurt as the tail always got in the way somehow. It was weird having one as it was partly mobile but also not. Even asking how to position it correctly only got him odd eyebrow raises. He deserved it entirely, though, as he always forgot that he wasn''t human anymore, and how he sounded came over as if the tail was something useless. So, he tried to figure it out by imitating his siblings. It worked partly. Regardless, his tail wasn''t even his biggest problem at the moment. After the side effects of the Natural Break disappeared, his unbelievable sense of smell stayed. Even now, as he read through the books, he could''ve sworn that after skimping through some and laying them to the side, he blindly knew where every book was if he followed only his nose. While reading, it annoyed him immensely as he now could smell every servant who walked past his room. So, he could barely concentrate on the content, but not like he needed to. The books he read were mainly about the System, as he was hellbent on collecting as much information about it as possible. Yet, they weren''t even close to what he wished for. Thus, even though distracted, it was all primarily written like biographies with some information sprinkled in, here and there. He wanted to have a guide explain everything. Like the walk-through many video games had: Put your [Free Stat Points] first in ten [Strength] and five in [Spirit]. Afterward, run twenty times against the wall while crouching. This should bring you the skill [Ultimate Spell Of Death]. This was his ideal. However, what he realistically wanted was a simple explanation of the System with some coherent examples. Still, instead, he got antic books written by his ancestors and some pompous scholars who explained the System through philosophy, ethics, and morals. While Alexander wasn''t against such subjects as they were vital for society, most of the stuff was crap he was reading. It was so far away from his ideals, to the point that it felt like they were hundreds of years away from even touching the era of Enlightenment. However, it made sense to him as Nobility and Royalty ruled and, by this, put their unfounded garbage opinions over others, not even acknowledging other points of view or reflecting on theirs. In the case of the System, they decided, for example, what a proper Legacy was. Besides the apparent supremacy arguments that weren''t even coherent in following appropriate reasoning when arguing, they also saw themselves through this as better people as a whole, justifying their rule. Alexander had terrible ancestors. The best example was how they praised their specific [Divinity Line], the [Demon Anhiliation] one. It was one of the Leonandra household, and they tried to paint it in the best light possible while not including the negatives that came with it. He remembered Narsiz talking about what happened with him and Lorient. She almost injured him heavily because she became volatile through the [Divinity Line]. In that sense, a disclaimer or some reflection on the negatives would be appropriate for future generations who could read it to prepare adequately. He closed the book and inspected the cover. Little to say, the outside was pretty much the same as the inside. It was highly pretentious and made Alexander cringe. There was a picture of one of his ancestors sitting in a pompous chair, wearing a golden cloak with their emblem. However, besides the trash he read about their superiority and why it was natural for them to rule the masses, there was also literature that did what Alexander wished for - a guide. Even though it hit the same note as the other pompous assholes, it was much more preferable to the other nonsense as it tried to be more objective. Such books were partly for children''s education and partly for the parents on how one could get their Leonandra [Divinity Line]. After reading through some of them, it became apparent to Alexander that nobody had any fucking clue. Some advice was essential, like acting as a noble would put one closer to the ancestor who first acquired the [Divinity Line] as he was the most dignified by their accounts. The reasoning made sense since if one wanted the specific [Divinity Line] another one had, copying them was probably a good start. Alexander took the advice with a pinch of salt, as seeing how Lorient acted while getting the [Divinity Line], it wasn''t something absolute. Evidently, some chance was involved, and many more factors probably played a more significant role than what was described. Surprisingly to Alexander, there were some better short guides, but those didn''t write about their [Divinity Line]. They mainly discussed how one could get a [Divinity Line] specialized in administration. It was mostly a hyper-specialization as they pointed out that high [Reading], [Writing], and [Mathematics] skills were needed to get it while having their fighting skills as low as possible. Yet, even in those books, there were notions that commoners wouldn''t be able to attain valuable [Divinity Line]s for many reasons. Some were reasonable, like they wouldn''t have the resources available to train their children. Others were not so reasonable, as they spouted something about being since birth intellectually superior and chosen by divinity as they were nobles. These morons were not wholly wrong in that aspect and also aligned with Alexander''s guesses. If one hungers their entire life, the legacy will probably reflect it if going by common sense. So could one of their [Mystic Skills] mirror their living situation and try to find suitable solutions like creating food or making the body less dependent on food or water as something like a better reading or arithmetic skill would be useless for them. It was always in terms of perspective on how useful certain things were, and [Divinity Line]s weren''t excluded from the process. There were no absolutes, and Alexander was sure about this, even though by instinct. Sadly, even though it was helpful to the individual and maybe their close ones, it was mainly useless to society as a whole. So the notion they sometimes wrote about how there were proper [Divinity Line]s and not was ridiculous to him and grinding heavily on his sanity, but they were partly right even if he found them unsympathetic. If beast-kin were like humans, this meant that they were social animals, which could achieve incredible things if working together. Especially with something humanity on Earth only dreamed about, like the system. So, he ignored the current and past mindset and immediately made assumptions about the important information, ''Is it more predictable than not?'' Through the little he read, his hypotheses, if valid, suggested that the system, or whatever was behind it, acted with specific rules. He could decode and write those down for others to follow and achieve an incredible society if they were somewhat deterministic, but the data he could lean on were little. Alexander started to bite his nails as he thought more about the last book, trying to find a kernel of importance in the self-aggrandizing manifesto of a pompous asshole. Still, the moment he recounted the content, it irritated him. It wasn''t even that his ancestor was arrogant, this he could somewhat ignore, but the combination of self-importance while bringing no solutions to the table annoyed him massively. Even if his ancestor saw commoners as lower beings, he could''ve helped acquire his offspring at least a powerful [Divinity Line] with a more detailed breakdown, ''Fucking loser, probably thought he was hot shit.'' However, from the previously read dozens of other books, he knew that a good portion of nobility thinks like this. For them, being a noble means precisely this. In the end, helpful guides or not, almost all reiterated that it was all because they were nobles and their privilege to rule commoners gave them the [Divinity Line] they had. Yet, there were some other interesting opinions that his ancestors spouted. Some pointed at genetics but only called it bloodline. However, they presented it as being isolated from everything, which was untrue since genetics and environment couldn''t be isolated. Still, Alexander also thought as someone with knowledge from Earth, so such mistakes were reasonable to make. Also, he didn''t believe it was a significant factor since his Father was a commoner by birth and had nothing to do with the Leonandra [Divinity Line]. Yet, they had Lorient, who had some version of it. Nonetheless, he wasn''t too sure about anything anymore as it was a new world where the laws of nature were probably defined differently, which also meant that genetics worked differently. It annoyed him since the topic was so exciting, but he had no real resources to learn from. So, he did the most logical thing: Ignore it till he had more information. After he was done reading through the book and reflecting on it, he came only to one conclusion, ''Trash.'' He threw it towards the pile he declared as such. He knew he would get a younger sibling and wanted to educate them. As such, it wouldn''t help if there were books where his ancestors spouted idiotic things as facts. So he decided to put it into some basement to rot. After he threw it, a butler, whom he saw at the tea party some time ago, came over and said worryingly, "Mr. Alexander, this is a book written by one of our ancestors. Please be careful." Since Alexander was freed from his anti-mana collar, he was allowed to train again but much less intensive and more responsibly. Even though he promised to do it, nobody bought it. Thus, Alexander now had a butler appointed by his Mother who would enforce breaks regularly. He did it by putting an anti-mana collar on him. To say that it didn''t annoy him would be a lie. However, he was already in a bad mood for some time, since the tea time they had when his Mother revealed she was pregnant. It was not because he would get jealous if he got a sibling. No, it was that he feared that someone else like him would pop out of his Mother. While it could be a blessing if someone like him were to be born, it could also be the absolute opposite. He wanted to change the world but also knew how many radical idiots existed on Earth. After talking a lot with Narsiz, he knew that a prolonged and carefully planned transition was the best plan to get him to where he wanted to be. Ultimately, he wanted a stable system that could endure outward and inward pressure. Yet, he knew of enough crazy nazis and commis who would rather see the world burn than have their favorite authoritarian utopian system, which he despised wholeheartedly. There was also the problem that most of the commoners weren''t educated and couldn''t even write or read. So, someone coming in and talking about utopian ideologies, which promised unlimited wealth, would indeed find appeal by the populace, and this would, in turn, destroy all his plans. He would be fortunate if not killed. First, he doubted that their household could hold against the crown if they found out that someone talked about killing all nobles and even less if it was some loudmouth idiot. Second, even if it were an idiot, they would probably level up as he did and quickly become revered as a genius. So them trying to change everything by themselves would become more probable. It was a horror scenario to try and control such radical morons who didn''t care about longevity and realities. Alexander knew such a scenario was unrealistic, but it wasn''t impossible. Therefore, something in his mind permanently drew all the hellish scenarios he knew from Earth. All he could do was hope, wait, and calm down in the meantime, which helped as time went on, ''Please, God, don''t let her uterus be a portal to my universe.'' "Mr. Alexander?" He came out of his thoughts after hearing the butler''s voice again, ''Okay, calm down. Now, concentrate on what is in front of you. If nothing works and the person is truly someone insane, there will be more than enough solutions.'' He looked at the butler, a butterfly-kin with beautifully colored and patterned wings. His appearance was meticulous. No wrinkle, no small dirt down at his pants, nothing. It was like he was the picture book of what one would think a servant looked like from a noble. Alexander answered while tilting his head, "What? Sorry, Aro, I had dirt in my ears, y''know?" Aro''s antenna twitched slightly out of annoyance, and he repeated himself, "Mr. Alexander, I asked you to be please more careful with the literature since our ancestors wrote it." Alexander looked at the last book he threw to the side, with the cover which had the pompous idiot on it, and shrugged, "This is nothing more than waste. It is full of incoherent information which can''t be proven or disproven while our dear ancestor really liked to be bigoted against commoners." Aro looked slightly confused but held onto his demeanor, "But this is your ancestor''s work, Mr..." Alexander interrupted him, "Don''t worry. It will be somewhere achieved, and it will stay as a great example of how not to write something..." He remembered the cover, "...I also hate the cover." Aro was stoic, but Alexander swore he saw his face scrunching up at how displeased he was. However, he didn''t say anything and was cleaning up the trash pile. Alexander took the next book, hoping it would be something more factual. While he started, he remembered that Aro would probably put them back into their previous place, and he really didn''t want this, "Bring them back to the library, but we need to reorder everything there. I don''t want this garbage to be taught to my future sibling." Aro broke his stoic self and frowned very strongly but nodded ultimately, obviously unhappy that Alexander was reordering the whole library, for which he got the okay from his Mother. Nobody truly used it except for some weird romance and drama novels, for which Alexander cared little. So he knew that his Mother only allowed it to distract him from training with his mana, which he was fine with. However, he was not okay with having trash lying around there openly. The last thing he wanted was for his younger sibling to get their hands on some disgusting stuff and learn from it. The author was lucky that he didn''t burn it. Alexander also saw some value in it, as future historians could use those writings as a reference for the mindset of nobility at certain times. Was this his mentality from Earth that he judged so strongly his ancestors for their views? Probably. Was there also some Earthen cultural aspect which he find much superior to this one? Absolutely. Nothing was worse than distinguishing people''s status, as he also experienced discrimination. He knew many promising youths who gave up on improving because of such societal mindsets. It was maybe illogical, but humans were like this. He himself climbed the ladder to success while others started much further up, yet he didn''t care and wanted to be the same as he knew that this was the only way to get out of the dump, which was his life. Nobody would care if he whined and blamed everyone around him, even less his younger siblings, who needed a better life, which he wanted to give them. Ultimately, he could somehow make friends through various means. After being done with studying, he would have a safe and good-paying job. Now, though, he was killed and reborn as a noble, meaning he could give those people who were at their lowest, like he was, what they would need to reach a much higher standard: Fair chances. Maybe not everyone would become someone great, but he would be happy if he could better their lives by providing opportunities they could take and work toward a better life. Such thoughts made him excited and giddy till he read the next book, ''Oh great, another pompous moron.'' ... Hours Later Time flew by, and it was time for another break. Alexander stood up and stretched his young body, but it looked like he was around fifty. Melina came over and stood before him while he tried to reach his toes. She glanced at him like she wanted something, "Melina, how may I help you?" Alexander was confused as she started to fumble her hands. Usually, she acted very professionally. He cared little for conduct, but it was odd for her to be nervous, ''Is something going on? She got a little chubier. Hm, maybe she is pregnant too and needs some days off?'' "Mr. Alexander... do you need assistance in your research?" Yet, she confused him even more with what she said. However, after a moment, he looked toward the mountain of books he needed to read, ''Oh? Maybe she wants to help me and is insecure about it?'' Alexander looked back at her joyfully, "Sure! Do you want to help me? I am always in need of a helping hand." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Melina would typically help occasionally, but she would mostly do menial tasks. Since she wasn''t interested in reviewing the literature or learning from him how to do research, he wouldn''t pressure her since it wasn''t also her job. She shook her head, looked at the door, and carefully raised her voice, "Come in, Ocilia!" Clank After the door opened, Alexander saw a young spider-kin come in who was no older than seven or eight. She looked the same as Melina, only more petite, ''How cute!'' She was very well dressed, and because she was so young, her upper eyes were much more adorable when they changed their colors. Alexander wanted nothing more than to take her and feed her till she was a round blob. Ocilia walked toward Alexander and tried to follow the etiquette he saw on Aro or Melina but couldn''t as it was visibly too much for her. She stopped suddenly, and her eyes became teary as she looked toward the ground, probably forgetting what to do next. Alexander couldn''t help but smile widely, ''God, this is so cute.'' Clank Aro came back and noticed the spider-kin duo. His usual stoicism changed into anger immediately as he glanced over them. He stood like a pole while clenching his white-gloved hands into fists, ready to throw them out and certainly have a talk with Melina. Alexander waved toward Aro before he could do something drastic. As he walked over, Alexander peeked at Melina. She became as nervous as her daughter, seen in their upper eyes, repeatedly changing their colors. As Aro was close, Alexander gestured to come close so he could whisper into his ear, which he did, "Don''t frighten her, or I will make sure you clean Larry''s clothes for the next week, got it?" Aro pinched the place between his eyebrows and nodded at him casually. Alexander could honestly understand him if he wanted nothing more than to use him as a football. He was his Mother''s personal butler and someone in a high position at their estate, and now some brat was commanding him around. However, he really didn''t want him to frighten a child because of some stupid etiquette. Alexander nodded with a smile towards Aro while whispering, "Thanks..." He turned toward Ocilia and pointed toward a chair, "Come, I get what Melina wants to do, and I need some assistance for sure, but let''s have a chat first." It suddenly made so much sense to Alexander why his maid talked with him about her daughter when he was chained to his bed for hours. However, he wished she would be more direct since the last thing he cared about were her daughter''s oh-so-great drawings of farm animals, with which she talked for an hour. At first, he assumed that she wanted to introduce her as some partner. While it sounded weird at first, it was also a new world. While he had no idea if he could marry some ordinary commoner, he didn''t say anything to her since he was thankful for every conversation while sick. Now, though, Alexander threw all previous thoughts out and tried to remember if Melina told something interesting about her other than having the basic academic skills [Writing], [Reading], and [Mathematics]. After another moment, he ignored it as he could teach her without problems. All he needed was that she was someone diligent. Alexander waddled toward his chair and gave Melina his help-me-up look. Seeing it, she came running and sat him on a chair. While Alexander tried to get comfortable as he wasn''t acclimated to his fluffy tail, he also analyzed Ocilia, who sat across the table, opposite to him. She was obviously prepared for today. Her clothes, which were made out of linen, were simple but clean with some small self-sewn patterns that looked like their household emblem, ''Melina really is pandering to me... these sewings are looking quite new and really good. I will ask her later to make some for me.'' Alexander smiled at her and tried to be more approachable, changing his tone to be soft and friendly, "Tell me a bit about yourself." She became more nervous and didn''t speak up. She was obviously confused by Alexander''s standard interview question. However, he also noticed that she looked slightly to the side after looking toward Aro, who stared into her soul with his stoic gaze. While Aro wasn''t threatening her, probably because he listened to Alexander, he nonetheless had some heavy air around him, ''Dude, really? She is a child.'' Alexander wanted to send him out but couldn''t. He was watched nonstop, and even this situation was probably already quite problematic as she was allowed to approach him without any guard inside the room. With this in mind, he felt bad for her, but she was fortunate that Aro listened to him and didn''t throw her out immediately. Since she didn''t answer, Alexander leaned back and tried another approach to ease into a more casual talk while trying to be as non-threatening as possible, "Don''t be nervous. Let us start with something easy. What is your name?" Ocilia looked down and fumbled nervously with her hands, like her Mother did as she became his maid at first, stuttering in a soft but high-pitched voice, "O... O... Ocilia." Alexander hoped she would look at him sometimes when she looked up from the ground and be at ease because he was pretty much a puppy and should be equally cute and non-threatening as her. He tried to look her in her eyes, moving his head slightly down while asking, "How old are you?" She looked a bit up into his eyes and down again very quickly. After a short moment, she answered without stuttering, "I... am... eight." Alexander always had something for little kids as they were so pure, ''So cute! Like a little doll!'' "Your Mom mentioned that you like reading and writing. Is that true?" Ocilia just nodded and kept silent. Aro frowned and looked away while Melina was visibly sweating buckets. All Alexander could take from their behavior was that they had a stick up their ass. He would probably already cry if he was ever in the same position as her at eight. He suddenly noticed his dilemma, ''What the hell do I ask an eight-year-old? Well, she should be 11 to 12 on Earth''s time frame, which makes it not much better.'' Tell me, what is your plan for the next five years? If you were a pencil, which color would you be? Describe yourself in three words. What is your weakness? Alexander scratched his head as he was already annoyed by the situation and his fuck up. He wasn''t much better and had already made a big mistake with his first question. So, he decided to go for it, ''Fuck it.'' The whole room was shrouded in an awkward silence till Alexander broke it with an unexpected question, "Do you have any interest in an apprenticeship?" He could see how Aro''s eyes bulged out of his head. He raised his voice slightly in panic, "Mr. Alexander, you can''t do this! We don''t even know her qualifications!" Alexander waved his hand in dismissal as he was already annoyed by how he acted toward a child, and now a grown-ass man wanted to demean her, too. He had nothing of it, "She gets her qualifications from me in the first place. This is why you call it an apprenticeship and not a job." Of course, there should be some prerequisites an apprentice should have, but he believed that with Melina as her Mother, who was obviously pushing her, she could at least become a good assistant, even if she had no interest in research as a whole. Aro opened his arms and was clearly irritated, "Mr. Alexander, a noble giving the daughter of a maid an apprenticeship, such an honor should only be reserved for the most..." Alexander interrupted him through his sudden laughter, "Haha..." Aro looked confused at him, so he tried to calm him down as he understood where he came from. So he pointed at Ocilia, "She has a year of the trial period. If she does not like it, or I find her unsatisfying, we stop it - easy as that, no bad blood or anything." Melina and Ocilia looked very happy, and they both were almost crying while smiling joyfully. Alexander, though, scratched his head in confusion as this whole situation was bizarre to him, ''Damn it, I just can''t understand what is so special about being a damn noble and even less being an apprentice of one.'' Before he could try and think about it this further, Aro was attempting to change his mind, "Mr. Alexander, listen pl..." Alexander interrupted him by gesturing with his hand. He looked at the stressed-out butler, and his wings glittered heavily, which was similar to the eye-color changing of spider-kin or the tail wagling of wolf-kin. Alexander smiled at him slightly, "Aro, first, let me finish my point..." He actually already ended his point but saw that Aro needed more reassurance, so he needed to try and convince him as having some weird spat between servants because some child became an apprentice was something he didn''t want at all. However, Alexander also needed to clarify, "However, even if I am open to discussing with you your worries, it doesn''t mean that you can force your opinion onto me and forget your manners. If you have such a big problem with some little girl learning from me, talk with Mom or Dad. I bet Dad is great to discuss with." He became pale instantly, "I am sorry, Mr. Alexander, please keep going." Alexander actually liked to have such a discussion when people screamed at each other. Still, since it did not concern Aro or anyone else except him, he needed to put his foot down. Thus, he dropped his Father''s name to shut him up, as he would back him up immediately. His Father didn''t care about noble conduct, standing, or anything in that sense since he wasn''t a true noble. They also developed a strong bond after some dad-to-son sessions or what others would call torture. His Father somehow understood his stubbornness, which was great. On the outside, he appeared rough and unempathetic, but in reality, he was very friendly, lovely, and someone you could depend on if you truly needed someone. Too bad that he was already gone, getting his military in order, but he should be back in a couple of weeks and then stay for not long before going to the East for the demon run. Alexander now fully understood his siblings, especially Sarah, as they walked around the estate depressively. The emotion he felt was something he had buried a long time ago, but it came out again. He cherished it, ''I hope he comes back safely.'' Alexander came out of his short-lived thoughts and looked at Aro. He liked him but also not really. It was weird to describe as he was only dutiful and doing his job. Yet, even though his Mother''s butler was very strict, it should be easy to convince him that Ocilia was not some assassin. For this, Alexander needed to be proactive and show that he fully understood his situation. So, he decided to act before them on some things that were either way inevitable¡ªputting the discussion with Aro on hold till Melina and Ocilia were gone. He looked at his maid, "Melina, go to Nori with Ocilia. Tell him about the situation, and tell him she should probably go through some stuff, alright?" Melina nodded happily and took Ocilia quickly, leaving. However, before she left entirely, Alexander yelled, "Hey! You didn''t answer me if you want to become my apprentice!" Ocilia stopped, and her eyes almost popped out. She quickly returned to Alexander and kneeled before him, putting one hand on her heart and the other on her knee. Her action made Alexander smile, ''Isn''t this the knight''s pledge? What is she doing, haha.'' Alexander chuckled while Melina blushed heavily out of embarrassment. After an awkward moment, where she didn''t say anything, she slowly stood up, probably realizing her mistake. Her whole face had the same color as a tomato. At the end of the little comedy act, she only nodded toward him and quickly left the room with Melina. Clank After the door closed, Alexander turned to Aro and looked at him. Saying that he was disturbed would underplay his appearance: Full of repulsion, fear, and confusion. Alexander opened his arms and became serious, "Aro, I know what you feel, but please try to rethink it. I am sitting here alone and need a ton of help. My maids have neither the skills nor the interest..." He pointed his index finger at him before he was about to say something, "...and yes, interest is vital for the work I do." Aro sighed and rubbed his temples. Alexander pointed toward a chair where he should sit down. It was a typical Earthen practice, unheard of in this world, especially for nobles, but he didn''t care. He was a puppy, and he believed his cuteness could allow him to break etiquette for years to come. Aro nodded, knowing of his antics, and sat down. Alexander gestured to him that he should start. The moment he started, his voice appeared to be full of honest concern, "Mr. Alexander, I think this is a bad idea." Alexander was surprised that he stopped but wanted to be more open since Ocilia was gone, "Hm? Give me reasons, please. You can talk freely as I am open for critique." He nodded and straightened himself, "Thank you, Mr. Alexander. It is not befitting of a noble... no, let me rephrase it. Of a very talented noble to have the daughter of a lo..." Before Aro could continue, he saw Alexander''s glare. It was very well-known in the estate that he had some strange ideas about servants, even weird for the Leonandra household, who were much more open to them. Aro cleared his throat, "Ahem, I am sorry. I meant to say of a servant without any showable skills, like Melina''s daughter. Standing for a noble is very important, and with what kind of people they would surround themselves, especially a talented individual like you, Mr. Alexander." After Alexander read all the literature he deemed rubbish, he understood Aro much better where he got his perspective from. Also, the talks with his servants and siblings helped a lot, too. While he loved nothing more than to be more casual, it wasn''t reality, and he would need to follow the current system while trying to bend it as much as possible to reasonable degrees. So he tried to argue to the best of his abilities, "Aro, I understand clearly your point and am aware of my position..." Aro began to brighten up a little, "...however, I need an individual I can trust who is also hardworking and interested in what I do. Everything else can be learned..." Alexander smiled proudly, "...especially by someone with a [Teaching] skill who also successfully completed the first test." Some points were lies, but there was also some truth to it. Alexander wouldn''t be comfortable with having some middle-aged dude as an apprentice who wasn''t part of the estate but had prestige. Ocilia was the daughter of his personal maid and, with it, bound to the estate and would have much more loyalty toward him. There was also the point that he liked to teach as he did in his previous life while volunteering, ''Teaching was always fun, and with a couple of Earth''s theories, I am sure that I can make her into someone great and with it a big help for me.'' Aro''s face scrunched up, "Mr. Alexander, please think your decision over. We can surely find a much more satisfactory and more proper apprentice. Your teaching will be more useful then." Alexander raised an eyebrow as it was actually a good argument. However, his stubbornness didn''t allow him to back down now, especially after giving the okay to Ocilia and seeing her all happy. He looked into his rainbow-colored eyes more intensely, "Aro, I understand you and the noble conduct, but try to think differently. If I can make her very accomplished, she will already be part of our estate and will almost surely be the most loyal servant you could imagine, but what will happen if I take an apprentice from, let''s say, the Ros¨¦ estate?" Aro was initially silent, but after a few minutes of thinking, he looked at Alexander and replied solemnly, "I think I know what you want to convey, Mr. Alexander." To bring the point home, Alexander happily continued, "There are actually multiple points. The one you probably got was that the apprentice could leave at any point or be unloyal to us and use the knowledge against us sooner or later." Aro nodded and waited for Alexander to continue, "It will also be like having a spy in our ranks. Couldn''t the apprentice, even if security measures were in place, murder me secretly? I am sure there were such cases. With this, our household would lose, as you said, such a talented individual just because of the standing..." He opened his arms wide and smiled joyfully, "...which would be restored, or even increase, either way when Ocilia becomes a great asset, right?" Aro crossed his arms and sat in silence, thinking everything through. He was probably trying to find an argument against Alexander''s points. Alexander, though, was proud that he could convince him without using any skills as he was told that it was forbidden to use them against servants as he did already multiple times with [Charm] unknowingly. After over twenty minutes, Aro came out of his thoughts and observed Alexander intensely. After doing so, he became stoic as before, accepting the situation, "Yes, you are right, Mr. Alexander, but you said something about a trial phase?" Alexander nodded happily, "Absolutely. I will cancel the apprenticeship without any reason if she does not like it or I don''t like how she conducts herself. Easy, right?" "What happens after the year then, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander shrugged and tried to take his perspective while providing him a clear conscience should she violate some weird conduct, "I would need to provide a proper reason to throw her out. So, even after a year, she would need to be on her behavior and give everything to not blamish my standing more. I should be fine, right?" Clank As the door opened, in came Ocilia and Melina, all looking like butterflies would fly out of their behinds. However, Alexander ignored them and turned back to Aro, who bowed and acknowledged his decision. Yet, he knew the moment Ocilia would give less than 100%, and he would be on his ass, urging to kick her out, ''Well, nothing is perfect.'' Alexander clapped his hands once and nodded, "Good! Please go to Mom and tell her about our conversation. She shouldn''t have any problems with my proposed arrangement." Aro nodded and went out. However, he looked sternly at Ocilia and Melina on the way out. Ocilia twitched slightly out of fear, and Melina''s eyes became bluish, indicating that she was also nervous, "Melina, later at my office." Melina nodded back at him, knowing that she would have some severe talk later as her behavior was unheard of. Clank After the door closed, Alexander observed the mother-daughter-duo for a little bit. He cleared his throat, "Ahem..." However, before he could start teaching, Ocilia suddenly kneeled again, this time on both, which was also the wrong conduct, and surprisingly opened her system window. Out of shock, Alexander immediately looked away, knowing that a system window was very personal, incomparable to anything he could take as an analogy from Earth. Yet, from the side, he heard Melina''s solemn voice, "Mr. Alexander, a master should know the system window of their apprentice, and since she is willing to do this, there should be no problem." Alexander sighed heavily, knowing it would be no problem if she kept it to herself, ''Argh, they are killing me!'' While it was somehow cute, putting him into such a situation was also annoying. Yet, as much as he respected her privacy, he was also curious. Looking at the system window, he could see that the skills were quite low-leveled, ''Is this normal? That can''t be, right?'' Alexander looked at Melina in surprise and asked her, "Are these skills and levels the norm?" Ocilia twitched nervously while kneeling, starting to look sad. At the same time, her Mother answered him, "Mr. Alexander, I can understand your thoughts, but it is very normal for commoners to have such skills and levels for this age. But I would also say that Ocilia is more talented than other commoner hatchlings..." After a short pause, she continued, frowning and probably thinking the worst, "...did you regr..." Alexander interrupted her as he cared little for such things and even less about what she wanted to say. He was only surprised, and they took it as if he was disappointed, ''Well, after some months, you will forget it quickly after your levels shoot up, hehe.'' However, there were some exciting skills she had, "[Sign Language] and [Lip Reading] should be very unusual. How come you have them?" Melina opened her mouth, but Alexander interrupted her beforehand, knowing she wanted to answer for Ocilia, "I asked Ocilia." Melina nodded and walked to the side. Alexander wanted his new apprentice to overcome her nervousness, so he was okay with waiting for her to answer, ''One step at a time.'' After a good minute, she finally answered, looking like she really needed to give her all for this, "My Father is mute, so... to communicate, I learned how to... do sign language." Alexander nodded, "Makes sense..." After hearing an interesting fact, he opened his arms and smiled at her widely, "...and don''t be so nervous! Now close your window and get up. We have a ton of work to do!" After a short pause and her looking at him nervously, he cleared his throat, "Ahem! Because you are my apprentice, I should give you some lessons, so how about mathematics? It should be fun! Now sit down, and let''s start!" Ocilia smiled slightly and stood up. Melina gave her utensils like a feather, parchment, and an ink bottle. She sat down at the table Alexander was sitting on, only opposite to him. Alexander nodded at her and acted like a teacher, putting his index finger up, "First, we need some rules. The most important rule is, if you don''t understand something, ask me and don''t hesitate! You are an apprentice, so not knowing something or having trouble understanding certain things is normal..." He inhaled and remembered all the students he taught while volunteering, who were too ashamed for him to clarify certain topics differently and, thus, didn''t ask at all. He became much louder, "I repeat! If you don''t understand something or it is unclear, ask! Do you get it?!" Ocilia looked perplexed at Alexander but nodded nonetheless, which showed him the next problem: She had clearly problems speaking. Yet, he remembered that she said that her Father was mute, so he concluded that her daily life was probably mostly doing sign language, ''Well, it is a good explanation, but I need her to talk either way.'' Alexander sighed, knowing it would be hard for her to break certain habits, "Ocilia, you need to talk. Social skills are equally important for this kind of work we will do." She nodded again, but Alexander just sat there and waited for her to say something, which she did after a good minute, "Yes... Master." Hearing the word, he started to cringe, ''Why, Master, though? Urgh, a problem for another time.'' Alexander patted the seat beside him, "Sit beside me. I can''t write upside down." She sat down beside him, and so began their first lesson. Chapter 13: Ocilia Ocilia POV I inhaled and suddenly noticed that the atmosphere was so stiff that I could barely breathe. How long was I in this room? 5 hours? 10 hours? Or was I already the whole day here? I was so focused on work that I forgot the time again. One of my hands stopped moving, and I barely noticed the thread I had around it. While reading, I try and train my thread-making Skills passively. Creating threads in all their forms, knitting complex forms, disintegrating them, and starting anew. Master said that I should train such a great Skill since there are a ton of uses for this, which I couldn''t comprehend at first, but now, I get it. I can make the thread so thin and firm that I can cut through regular wood while using only a little bit of force. Merely a few Spider-kin can do that, and because of this, they are either artisans or assassins. I don''t know why Master said I should do it at first... his answer was just, "Wow! This is cool! Do it!" His vocabulary is also bizarre, stating that the words are from a secret Elven speech if I don''t understand them, ... I kinda got the feeling that he was just making fun of me... However, after explaining it to me, I understood what he meant by "cool" and other phrases. The reason why I should train specific Skills or why we research certain topics is... not really pragmatic, to say it nicely. Maybe it is his unpredictability and his whims that make him this special? I am at least sure that the cathedrals scholars don''t act like him, as I met them for health check-ups at least twice. They are very stern-faced and rational in their behavior. After trying to discuss with Master what we could research, as he allowed and even commanded me to debate him on it, his whole rationale, in the end, was "this is cool!" while ignoring my input... But I tried to argue against the practicality, and he said that everything can be used at some point, and I shouldn''t be such a short-sighted naysayer... I really can''t comprehend his reasons sometimes... maybe it is his age? Yawning heavily and rubbing my eyes, I raised my head up. I looked around and could see my weird Master working on some insects. It was actually a funny story. The entire Estate went mental after he demanded that thousands of living insects be delivered to him. Now we have dozens of giant jars in one of our research rooms with thousands upon thousands of insects in them... buzzing and crawling... I shivered as I hated this thought and tried my best to ignore it. Also, Mom and Ms. Sarah barely visit us anymore. Who would''ve thought... What could he do with the insects? He wanted to train some Mana skills and experiment with them. What the results will show, Master doesn''t know and doesn''t care. I frowned, thinking that I needed to feed them tomorrow morning, even if it was my free day... I need a damn junior for all that menial work. After half a year of working with Master... *clank* Larry came in as I took a little break, interrupting my thoughts. He has been regularly visiting us for the last weeks, like many other soldiers and guards, annoying the hell out of us. Master looked up, and I could see a frown on his face building up. He and I knew why this giant Ox-kin was here, but you could only blame it on Master since he made some huge discoveries for the Estate. It happened a week after I started, as he instructed me to train not only my mind and learn scholastic Skills but also do "Fitness." I asked around and even went to the Salyna and Noriken, but nobody knew what this was. He made a whole regimen of exercises for me, and after a while, the in-house artisans built something he called a "gym." The Mistress allowed it without even batting an eye and sent out servants to get the artisans he needed. I don''t know if she just wants to spoil Master or if we are this rich. After getting the artisans, finding an empty building was easy where his machines and tools could be built, stored, and used. It was close to the training grounds for the soldiers/guards. I could train there since Master said that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body, and while I was skeptical initially, he was 100% right. I felt fit and was the healthiest I ever was. I could work and learn much better. Even some of my Strength and Constitution attributes rose by some points. This is where this annoyance started. I went out of my thoughts, watching how amusing this interaction would be. Larry came close to Master and stated his request, "Mr. Alex, we need machines with more weights." Alex looked up to this giant but was undisturbed by this sight, trying to avoid this work, "And why coming to me? I am not an artisan or have any of the funds." The Ox-kin exhaled so strongly out of his nose, making Master''s hair flutter, which annoyed him to no end, looking at his face. I needed to hold myself back from giggling, or he would punish me by doing some menial work. Larry was clearly confused and ignored his previous statement. He was probably only the spokesperson for his troop and should ask Master for something. Master was notorious for sending everyone away, but Larry was the only one who could bring him to do something, as he was persistent and wouldn''t understand subtle clues. While he scratched his butt, he essentially repeated himself, "Mr. Alex, the machines and tools need to hold more weight but can''t. The artisans also have problems constructing them further, so I came here to ask you." Master glided both hands inside his hair, holding his eyes closed, probably thinking about what was going on. After a while, he nodded toward Larry, "Fine, I will ready my work for today and come with you to the gym, and we will see what is going on, all right?" Larry nodded, stepped back to some corner, and started meditating. This was also Master''s new discovery for the Leonandra''s. The Skill [Meditation]. It is not a new Skill we didn''t know about or anything, but as he worked on it on the side, he discovered that this Skill can actually improve the Spirit attribute. He found it out through me as I talked about how my Spirit attribute increased. After that, he got some guards to test it out, and it worked. Especially Ms. Lorient almost cried when she heard that something like this was possible. She started to pet Master so often that it became a weird obsession. He was so annoyed by this that he started hiding from her. It was always fun betting with other servants, who would smell the other one faster. If Ms. Lorient won, she would pet him, if he won, he would hide his smell through Mana and run away, but she won almost every time. Regardless, another building was used as instructed by Master, mainly for meditating, where it was almost dead silent all the time. Ms. Lorient was there most of her time, trying to increase her Spirit attribute and Mental state, for whatever reason. The other positive thing was that it also calmed everyone down. Guards and Soldiers are usually a bit more hotblooded people, but they have been much more "chill" since then. Another word I learned from Master. He described this in his research that this has to do with their mental state and that [Meditation] would make them calmer, even in critical situations, if they meditated before. At some point, he even dug himself another grave by mentioning, on the side, that, with a different kind of food, the training could be much more efficient, which was heard by some guards. A week later, Lorient and Sarah visited him, obviously wanting him to create a nutrition plan for them. I also now know a bit about biology/medicine and diets, and I can see how the plan he created was a very rough one. Basically, explaining what proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals are and optimizing them to fit roughly a person with a certain weight, build, etc. Some saw much better results after 3-4 months, even with a generalized plan, and the best results came from the weakest ones. The research he did on the Skills [Fitness],[Meditation], the blueprints for his machines/tools and the nutrition plans were locked away with Noriken. Everyone who wanted to use the gym, read the research, or rather, some simplified pamphlets for the soldiers/guards needed to sign a non-disclosure Mana-contract, which guaranteed absolute loyalty. If not, death would be the result. This is how valued Master''s discoveries were. I could understand why the Mistress did what she did. The benefits were just too good, so much so that it could be dangerous if some other Nobles found out about it. While it is a nice gain for a single soldier to increase their attributes, healthiness, and mental state, I couldn''t even imagine if you take the military as a whole... you would basically increase the strength by a large margin! With this, we could deal much better with the Demon-run, thinning campaigns and if the need arises with other Nobles! The Mistress liked the discoveries so much that she sent some letter eagle''s towards the Lord, with all the information, so he could also start preparing instantly. After some minutes of scribbling, I also tried to finish my work for today as I knew that Master would send me home since he needed to visit the gym. Not surprisingly, I heard his annoyed, high-pitched voice from the other desk, specially made for his small frame inside the room, "Lia, go home. I need to visit the gym, so have fun today, and don''t forget, tomorrow is your free day, so relax a bit. I packed my things inside my backpack, which he asked Mom to make for me, and said my goodbyes, "Have a nice visit, Master. See you the day after!" He waved his hand while writing something down, not even looking up, "Yeah yeah, go home." Giggling, I really hope that he would see how important he became for the territory. Even after talking with him about it, he just calls this "cringe," and there are numerous more talented people than him. *clank* *tap*tap*tap* While walking through the long corridors of the Estate, decorated with beautiful paintings of landscapes like forests, mountains, and the sea, you could see that every painting also had some Lord or Lady of Leonandra line, slaughtering Demons, Monsters, or commanding wars against other Nobles. I read dozens of books and saw that Leonandra''s history was blood-filled. This showed honor and loyalty towards the Mal-Gil crown. Every Demon-run they conducted was a roll of dice since there was not always known which Demon we would face, so deaths were inevitable. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. War was not much better as the Lords and Ladies were only pressed in times of Demon-runs. Now is such a time again, and worse, Moorgrel is having other problems and thus weakened in their control, ''Hopefully nothing happens.'' But I couldn''t but admire the Knightage they showed, full of bravery and honor. The Leonandra''s are among the more valued Knighthoods, who will bare their fangs on their enemies, even after their death. Master told me that I should take the literature I read with a grain of salt since it was written by us and obviously presented us in the best light possible. There was always the possibility that the records were polished, and other accounts could be found somewhere in other Noble Estates, which depicted something different. What he said makes sense, but... doesn''t he feel the pride of being the son of such an ancient knighthood?! His answer was unexpected, but if I think of someone like Master, it is the most fitting he could give, "...pave your own path and ignore all others..." Does prestige really doesn''t mean anything to him? What about the adoration of his serfs? The love and tears of the soldier''s loved ones, who now have much more peaceful lives as they were protected? I listened to some talks when Mr. Narsiz came over and had discussions with Master, and they talked about serfs like they are some objects that needed to be controlled and pushed in the right direction so they could achieve their goals... like some game..., ''Where is the pride? Is this what nobility is? Cold and calculative?'' I really don''t like this side of Master, and I don''t understand it. With his research so free-flowing like a bird in the sky, but when he talks about politics, he is like one of those cold machines... Where is all that chivalry from all that was told in our history? The one which was sang by bards for their heroic deeds and told from generation to generation? Lost in my thoughts again, I stood before a painting. It was tremendous, and it was also my favorite one. Roaring towards the sky while standing on corpses upon corpses of Demons. It depicted the first Lord, who slew thousands of Demons and pushed them back to Kratikal. He was holding the head of what was supposed to be the leader at the time of this Demon group that invaded. His armor was cracked, and his body stained with so much blood, you could barely make him out. Seeing this, my blood was running faster and faster. This moment showed what I really wanted and desired since I was little... At first, I thought it would be impossible, but now, with my Master''s help, I have become much stronger and made more progress in half a year than in my 8 previous years. I could do it... right? ''System open!'' If the picture is not showing, please open the spoiler: I leveled and increased my Skills by so much. My body and mental state became so much better. If others would see me now, they would barely recognize me for the one I was. I love the work, but I want more though... I need to talk with him about it. There is something missing inside of me... I want to feel pride... something achieving where songs will be written about me... My family and Master are proud of me, and I have a promising future, but... is this enough... for me? Looking at all the paintings around me, reading the history, and hearing the bards'' poems... I wanted more. ... I need to talk with Master... he never judged my ideas or emotions, so he will surely understand and help me! Closing my Window, I started to walk again towards home. ... ... ... *tap*tap*tap* I needed to walk now much further to our rooms. Since I became his apprentice, our accommodation changed again but for the better ones, and we live together in the same mansion as the head servants. *clank* Arriving, I instantly went to my room to throw my rucksack on my desk. Afterward, I walked towards the dining room, which was specially assorted to our family for privacy''s sake. *clank* Opening the door, I saw my siblings, my older brother Lepto, my younger brother Jarus, and my younger sister, Klili, sitting at the dining table and waiting there. Waving at them, they waved all back, except for Lepto, who became highly envious since I started getting all the recognition from friends and family. But I get him. Master explained that he was always the one, who was the pride of the family, but now I became the one, and he needed to step away from that spot. Besides all the recognition, I also got so many benefits. Usually, an apprentice like Lepto, who was accepted as one by a famous locksmith in Wolfsteeth, was only allowed to clean up and do some menial work for at least a year before he got taught some minor things by his Master. Not me, though. I could instantly start learning and working. I even got my clothes and utensils sponsored and received a monthly wage, while he needs to pay for all of his materials, which he needs for his training. I don''t get why Master pays me. His reasoning is that I should get paid since I work and help him. Mom tried to talk him out of it since we get so many incentives already, like delicious and free food, we can live inside a splendid mansion, and more, but he ignored her, not even acknowledging that point. Because of this, I actually make as much as Dad! Bringing myself out of my short thoughts while I looked at Lepto, I went to the table and sat down, greeting them and asking, "Hey little ones, where are Mom and Dad?" Those little hatchlings who looked at me with their big round eyes, smiling all over the place, were adorable, ''Thank God, they don''t look like Dad.'' Klili was the first one who responded, high pitched and cheery as always, "Mom is in the kitchen cooking, and Dad is right now cleaning himself up!" Suddenly, Jarus chirped in, "Lia, how was your work today! Did you ask Mr. Alexander if we can train?!" I heavily sighed with a smile. They found out about the gym a week ago and wanted instantly to go there to train. I answered solemnly, "No, you are too young..." I could see their smiles going down, but I had a surprise for them! So I changed my voice into a cheery one, "...but I could convince Master to make a training regimen for children! While it is maybe not as good, it is specially made for you, so just wait a bit!" "You are the best, Lia!" "Thank you so much, big sister!" My smile changed slightly, and I looked sternly at them, "I needed to promise Master to do a lot of menial work, so you better be grateful!" Klili hugged me instantly since she was close to me, but after a minute, Jarus came over and hugged me too, ''God, I need to do so much just so Master could make one, specially designed for children... he even refused to make one for some veteran soldier''s children. Saying they should just meditate and run!'' Making one for children seems much harder, but it will be worth it if my siblings can become much stronger! I could hear how Lepto spat his venom out of nowhere, "Tsk, what are you both so grateful to her? She is not even the one making it." Glancing coldly at Lepto, I wanted to rip him into pieces, as he was trying on every occasion to put me down and humiliate me. But today, I feel different, so I mocked him back, "Hehe, don''t you wanna try and speak with Master? Oh wait, you will probably not even be allowed into the same room as he." He *banged!* the table with all his might, clearly angry by my remark, spouting some wild nonsense again, "Do you think you are better than me?!" My younger siblings backed away from me, and I got increasingly angrier, which was heard in my tone, and was somewhat new for me, "So what?! Maybe I am better now!" After 6 months of hellish learning and training, I threw my shyness away, knowing that I had the talent to become someone! I will not shy away again because someone is envious and puts me down, like in the last few months. THIS IS ENOUGH! Lepto''s face was entirely red as he looked at our siblings and was getting angrier by the second. His face showed how agitated he was. He suddenly stood up and took a knife, taking a fighting stance. Was this provocation enough for you to attack me with a knife?! Because I barked once back? Bullshit! I did the same, standing up and pushing our siblings away. I started readying my threads in my hands and coiling them around as protection, and between my hands, I created a long thin thread for attack purposes. Standing in front of him, I felt my heart beating faster and faster. I was nervous, but I would not let myself be pushed by someone who doesn''t even have something to show for it! Should siblings not be happy for each other? Why does he hate me so much! The silence around us was suffocating, but he was the one who broke it. Screaming and shouting, he rushed at me, "ARRRRRGH!" Pointing his blade at me, I wanted to catch it with my hands and cut it off from his hands with my thread. If needed, with his fingers together... but someone was faster... From behind came Dad, and with a *bang!* kicked his side. He flew towards the cabinet, destroying it fully! *Crash!* Lepto was lying on top of the broken cabinet. His clothes were slowly becoming stained with blood. All around him were all the precious tableware that was gifted to us, all cracked and broken, like the cabinet itself. My heart was still beating so fast. It felt like it would flee any moment out of my mouth. I suddenly realized that my brother had now attacked me with a knife because of some remark, probably ready to kill me! I unconsciously disintegrated my thread while still staying in my defense position. Out of nowhere, tears started to run down my face, and I heard how Mom rushed inside, probably hearing this commotion. My legs became weak as I fell to my knees, my tears rushed out, and my hands started shaking... I was frightened, and thousands of thoughts went through my head, ''What if he stabbed me? What if I lost my hand or died?! What...'' I started sniffing and crying loudly, "Uwaaaaa." I heard Mom''s frightened voice, probably seeing what happened, but I couldn''t make her facial expression out through my teary eyes, "What happened?! Why is Lep injured and Lia crying?!" I couldn''t hear anything anymore, but I could somewhat make out that my father "talked" now with Mom. After half a minute, I saw Dad coming my way, slowly lifting me up and holding me like a princess in his arms. I was still crying and automatically closed to him. Right now, all I wanted was to be close to him. He went with me out of the dining room, and while outside, I could hear how Mom started asking my younger siblings before I lost my consciousness. ... ... ... "Where am I?" Opening my eyes, I was sitting in front of a stage, one like theaters had. I saw it depicted in some books, ''What happened...'' I looked around and saw that I was alone in the theater, but my observation stopped as the whole stage before I became suddenly lit. A poorly made dragon made out of wood and childishly painted came from the right side. You could see how people wearing black were behind it. I couldn''t make out who they were. A child came from the other side, a small hatchling, with a wooden sword and shield. She was only a little smaller than the dragon, had black hair, and on top of her head was a funny helmet made out of parchment. Suddenly I heard a childish roar from behind the dragon, sounding like a young boy. After hearing it, I saw how the hatchling raised her sword, her eyes glittering, her posture as messy as her hair. Even though she looked nothing like a Knight, her demeanor screamed the code of chivalry. As such, she declared loudly and proudly, "By the knight''s chivalry, for bravery, to live only by honor and for glory, charity, justice, and truth..." She pointed her sword towards the dragon and raised her voice even more, almost cracking, "...your evil deeds will end here!" The dragon moved back slowly, and you could hear his sorrowful and solemn voice, "Did I not apologize for my deeds? Do I not propose to attorn for my sins? Why do you want to slaughter me!" The small knight''s face suddenly changed, and you could hear a whisper coming from her, "What..." The dragon started crying and begging, "I am sorry... I didn''t want to destroy the village... I am so sorry..." The demeanor from the knight went away, and she stepped back, but she still held her sword pointed at him. The dragon saw this and exclaimed, "Why are you running? I do not want to run away anymore! Am I not here, already giving up, crawling before you..." From the side came another hatchling in a red dress, looking like the knight, only that the hair and eyes were also red. Her demeanor was full of wrath and sorrow. She looked at the dragon, frowned, and returned to the knight. Agitated, she pointed at him and yelled at the knight, "What are you waiting for? Slaughter him!" From the same side came another hatchling, her dress and hair in pure white and clear blue eyes, the mark of Royalty for the Spider-kin. She radiated an aura like she was above everyone else. She looked peaceful, full of pride like you would depict an angel in a fairy tale. She looked at the red hatchling and questioned her issue, "But for what? Don''t he want to attorn for his sins?" The red one got more angry, grinding her teeth and pointing at the dragon more pronounced, screaming, "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING! HE MURDERED THE WHOLE VILLAGE..." Inhaling to catch some air, she continued in a more composed but sinister manner, opening her arms and gesticulating her disgust, "... someone''s mother, daughter, son, and father died because of this disgusting lizard. So what if he wants to attorn for his sins? He already did the deed, and he should be paying for this!" The white ones frowned and looked at the knight, then again at the dragon and at last towards the red one, becoming serious and holding her hands behind her back, pushing her chest out and holding her head high up. Her glistering eyes showed her resolve as her voice boomed through the theater, "Blood for Blood is not honorable! If she wants to be a knight, using the code of some barbarian mercenaries will not be what she desires in her heart!" The red one stomped her feet and started walking around the white one gesticulating more emotionally, being more agitated, her voice almost cracked because of her anger, "This is reality! How can you avenge the family, friends, and lovers who are alive right now, saddened, crying, and praying that the souls of their closest ones will be avenged so they can lay in peace!" The white one didn''t move, even while the red one walked around her. She looked sterner, and I could feel how the aura around her changed, and she felt like she had tripled in height. Her voice sounded prideful, arrogant, and without compassion for the red one, "This is the way she wanted and chose! Did you not remember what she said about what she fights for? Where is the bravery she is looking for in slaughtering an already beat-up dragon! How can she keep on living for honor and glory by butchering something which has no will to resist?! Do you call that revenge is charity and justice?! There is also no truth to such conduct of someone who is a knight!" The red one suddenly started crying, her voice full of emotions, clenching her hands into fists. Hearing her voice, she sounded disturbed, broken, and looking for resolve, "What if he does this again? Will you let him run again?! How many ditches for how many years is a life worth? You say you do it for charity, but where is the charity for the loved ones from who he took..." The red one stopped, and her sight changed towards the small knight who stood there, sweating and not knowing what to do. The white one did the same, and simultaneously, you could hear their voice. "DECIDE!" "DECIDE!" Everything went black. Chapter 14: Manipulation This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 14.5: Do you even Mana, bro? Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Chapter 15 part 1: Ocilias wish, Maurice inability, and Marisias test Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Chapter 15 part 2: Ocilias fullfillment, Maurice strength, Marisias worry and Alexanders whims Ocilia POV Starring at the white ceiling and thinking about what happened, my whole body felt euphoria. After I woke up, I was in a state where I could not believe what had happened and that I had actually persuaded Master! The one problem left I needed to solve was much more doable than allowing me to decide the punishment for Lepto. Turning my head to the left, I saw how the sun went down. It was already evening, which meant I was unconscious for the whole day, ''I hope my family doesn''t think I was disciplined...'' Being reminded of what happened, my high went away as I recalled the glowing golden eyes and the endless bloodlust that went through every cell in my body... I hugged myself and rammed my fingernails into my arms. Did I ever feel something like this before? It was like death itself looked into my eyes, absent of anything resembling the Master I knew of... Comparing this to my brother''s murderous intent is like comparing an ant to a tiger, ''Was he really that infuriated?'' I thought that Master was peaceful and a bit cocky, but I now know that he can be different... very different... The magic he showed almost killed the soldier... I never imagined that you could use magic like this? I knew of it since he trained it passively day and night. Is this why he wants me to train my thread skill, as he knows of methods how I could use it? This will be great, but there is no need to think about it now. There is even no knowing if he even keeps me around and dedicates the same time as before... Do I regret what I did? No, not even a bit but thinking of Master, I suddenly felt how a shiver ran through my spine as I remembered the roar he let out. When I heard it, I lost consciousness for a second before I could forcefully get it together for a short time, ''I don''t want to imagine if this was directed at me...'' But what happened, happened, and I need now to decide on the punishment... and if it is not sufficient, Master will personally do it... Inhaling and Exhaling strongly, I stood up, trying to relax as much as possible. Even now, I could feel how my upper eyes throbbed out of anxiety and stress, "*huuuuuuuuuuuh*... let''s go." *clank* Opening the door to my room, I saw my father standing and probably waiting for me. There was no usual coldness on his face but only worry and concern. His hand moved rough but fast, I nodded and smiled slightly, "Where is Mother? I have good news." He nodded back, and I followed him to the dining room where Mother was sitting and sewing, hands full of scratches and punctures. A small voice escaped me, "Mom..." She tilted her head in my direction, stood up, and walked toward me. Without the slightest hesitation, she *slapped* me. Eyes full of tears, she screamed, "YOU IDIOT! I HEARD EVERYTHING THAT YOU DID!" Dad simply leaned against the wall, clearly knowing not to interfere with Mom, as she probably needed to let all of her pent-up stress out. Inhaling and exhaling, she walked before me, from the front to the back and the other way around. Glancing at me repeatedly, one part of her eyes were red and the other blue, ''This will be complicated.'' I wanted to say something, but before my mouth opened, she started yelling at me again... This continued for the following hours. Mom even screamed at Dad about why he didn''t get angry at me. I treasure my parents, but sometimes I wish I could skip some parts and discuss what I should propose to Master as punishment for Lepto, which would only happen hours later, at best. ... ... ... ***** Salyna POV Taking my cup with lightly shaking hands and drinking the delicious tea our Estate imported from some island in the south was the only thing that could calm me down after what had occurred a couple of hours ago. Mr. Alexander almost killed one of our elite soldiers, with magic no less and without incarnations or runes, ''This needs to stay a close secret as much as possible. I don''t know anything about magic, but using it like this should be unusual...'' The Lady''s voice sounded in my ears, sad and cheery at the same time, "What do you think?" I put the teacup down and looked into her tired eyes, "If you excuse my uneducated opinion, Mr. Alexander is like a mirror image of the Lord. The roar had the same raw and ferocious energy, which reflected his personality." She nodded and looked towards the window, "He is. There is no doubt..." I frowned and looked down, stroking and lightly scratching my nails, "This is not good. Can we not bring him to the Temple or Cathedral after his legacy? So he could learn how to control it?" The Lady answered almost instantly, "No, Kairo only could control it through the Temple after being there for 30 years and only because I promised him my hand. Going by Alex''s personality and temper, he would rather burn a place down that wants to hold him metaphorically in chains, that I am sure of..." She sighed heavily, "...and for the Cathedral... maybe, but we need to see. I have hope that since he is a mage, he will invest more in his Spirit attribute than Kairo at his youth..." I took another sip, thinking everything through. This roar was the same as the Lords, but it could be some accident... no, he has an ancient Beast-kin bloodline, which is terrible. Mr. Alexander can easily let his feelings take over and boost his physical strength. Still, he will stop thinking clearly and is ready to kill everything around him, losing all of his rationales, but we don''t know how this affects mages and have only the Lord as a reference. When the Lord was young, he went on a campaign as a soldier, and the Lady was the General at that time. It was a test for the Lady, and she lost till that point every battle they went into, till the Lord suggested to send him to the very front, alone. He and some archers, who covered him, went alone into the enemy rows. The story of this battle depicted how dozens of soldiers fell to the ground, dead or unconscious, with every roar he let out. As he reached the enemy backline, he ripped the General''s head off, crushing the enemy''s morale and thus, ending that battle. Still, his rage held till the following day, hunting enemy troops in all possible animal forms, murdering them, even after they gave up. This was the main problem with this "ancient bloodline," it was basically suicidal. The minor skirmishes ended after this on the west front for a while, but a wonderful love story started, ''Ah, How enviable.'' The Lord and Lady started meeting each other, and one thing led to another during their mating season, and they fell in love. With the Lord''s action, the Lady was promoted to a genius tactician, and he was known as a "Devil" for everyone who went against the Leonandras. Later, he fled towards a Temple in the west, after killing off some Nobles in his rage and staying there for 30 years, trying to control it. The Lady waited for him all this time and exchanged with the Lord letters, which we can read at the library, ''What a lovely couple.'' Luckily, the Lady paid a hefty coin, so the Lord would not be persecuted anymore. Now Mr. Alexander has the same problem, only without the perks. Since he is a mage, this "rage" can be seen as contra-productive... I think? Do we even have Literature about any Mages or Scholars in our library? I think there should... My thoughts were interrupted by the Lady, "We need to tell him. Go to Aro, and he can tell him everything tomorrow. Right now, he needs some rest." I nodded, agreeing with her. I watched out the window and saw how the sun slowly went down, ''What a seemingly long day.'' ***** If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Alexander POV {The next day} I don''t know why, but I hate more and more all of our public rooms like the tea room where I am right now. I was talking with Aro about my bloodline. The more I heard, the more I thought I had some cheat ability, but after ten minutes, all I heard was that I get suicidal and attack everything if I get somewhat emotional, ''Jesus, all I wanted was a cheat ability, but no, I get a fucking bomb belt...'' Interrupting my thoughts, I heard Aro''s seriousness, "Do you understand Mr. Alexander?" I sighed heavily, ruffling my hair, "So, what you say, is that I am royally fucked if I lose my shit?" Aro frowned but understood for once why I cursed and nodded without commenting further. However, he started with a history lesson, "It was actually an honor, in the past, to have a connection to an ancient Beast-kin bloodline, but it all changed long ago..." His wings changed colors constantly, representing how happy he was talking about it, "...at that time, it was beneficial and a lifesaver for many, since we had many wars till we formed Mal-Gil..." He was ecstatic as he wildly gesticulated with his hands, "...being able to go into a rage and take as many enemy soldiers with you as possible was a god-sent ability, especially in a time where we were enslaved through the whole continent... but right now..." His wings were becoming more colorless, and he heavily sighed, "...it is seen as a curse since it is now useless as we learn more and more about Skills and unlock more potential through it... also thanks to you, Mr. Alexander... we have more use for living Beast-kin than for the ones which go for a suicidal attack..." He let his head hang, and didn''t look into my eyes, obviously feeling bad for me, ''Indeed, royally fucked, but what if I can somehow control it? It is a fascinating ability...'' I *clapped* my hands and stood up, "Thanks, Aro, and don''t worry, I will meditate more, and since I overcame Dad''s [Mana Fear] Skill, I can obviously also do the same for this inherent curse..." I started walking towards the office and waved him to me, "...forget about it. I will just train and learn more about it later on. Not like I can change anything immediately." He instantly stood up with glittering eyes and wings, reenergized, "Yes, Mr. Alexander!" ... *tap*tap*tap* *clanck*crrrrr*cruuuu*boom* I need a new door... From the side came Aro, instantly taking the door which fell down out of my way, "Don''t worry, Mr. Alexander! We will repair it as fast as possible!" Going inside, my whole office was in shambles. All my research was all around the place. Some insects crawled around happily and ate the plants inside my office, ''This is at least cleaner than my old student dorm.'' I was not angry or anything, "Don''t worry, just grab some of my servants so you can start cleaning up... also, kill every insect and use them as fertilizer and get me a couple hundred new ones." He bowed down and went away while I stood inside this chaos and looked for all of my research. While I looked around, I felt very rejuvenated, ''Does this mean that my outburst yesterday somehow refreshed me?'' Does this bloodline react to stress? Do I need a better work-life balance or beat the shit out of some soldiers once a week? Either way, I can try and see how it is. Maybe this is why Dad had so many problems? It is usually expected when you learn of such news that you do everything to avoid anything that has to do with fighting since it is where this rage would most likely come out. Is this why Dad always wants to go on campaigns? Never mind, I can talk with him in a couple of weeks when he is back. My thoughts were interrupted by insects that saw my research as a meal, ''I need to clean up at least a bit.'' Using Mana, I concentrated it on the air around my papers which were lying on the ground, and slowly collected them into one pile. The principle was easy since I trained my Mana like a maniac every second of my day. Picking up a cup and drinking out of it with your hands? Try Mana... which went horribly wrong, by the way, ''I learned my lecture by burning myself.'' As I controlled my spells yesterday, it was nothing logical, as the heat of the moment overcame me, where I forced the Mana, which caused the particles to do my bidding. Usually, I would lead them gently to do what I wanted, ''Is this the difference between being in rage and not?'' Mana has no rhyme or reason for me. It has some logic but is also irrational under my system of rules. It is at the same time like a living being and not. Something you can actually use objectively and makes it harder to use wholly subjectively, ''It sounds crazy, but how can you describe this fucking paradox?'' The concept of what I wanted to do could be cut into small parts, repeated till it was easy and quick to do: create pressurized air, spin it, push it, and it will accelerate basically by itself. I trained everything by itself and only needed to put it together in the end. The fire itself was easy as well to create. Oxygen, temperature, and hydrogen. This sounds insane, but it is as straightforward as before. Take the water in the air, let the molecules vibrate, and thus generate heat as they move faster and faster. Next, take all the hydrogens in the air and what was produced by the vibration. Compress it with Oxygen, and you have a floating fire, as the heat should already be there. I was actually playing with it before mom knocked as I wanted to use it for experimentations, ''This spell did cost me 1/3 of my Mana, but I could at least knock Maurice away with it. It became so much more hungry for Mana if I force it.'' What was more fascinating is that the more precise you are with your commands, the more accurate the attack and the Mana you use will be reduced. Take this pile of papers as an example: If I abstractly imagine how they will stack onto each other, my mana cost will be, hypothetically, four to five Mana per paper stacked. Using chemistry and physics to explain the movement of the paper and how exactly I want it to move - the reduction will go down to two to three Mana per paper. If I also use a stack algorithm to explain how it should be stacked and organized, my Mana will be reduced to two or fewer Mana per paper, and so on. This is all pure hypothetical since there are infinite variables that can influence Mana consumption immensely. Does it mean that Mana is what you imagine? No, I can''t create, for example, medication, even if I knew the exact formula. There is some underlying law for how it acts, if I could find it, I could create a Perpetuum mobile with Mana, and there would be no hunger or thirst... could there be a death cure? Mana is everything but... A cheery and happy voice sounded behind me, interrupting me out of my thoughts, "Mr. Alexander!" I turned around and saw my new sparring partner, "Marcus, was it?" His tail stopped wagging, and his ears flopped down, "No... it is Maurice..." I giggled and waved my hand, "Calm down. You saw what happened yesterday. I am also not perfect, hehe." He nodded and came closer, kneeling down and looking at the floor, saluting, "Mr. Alexander, I came today to present myself before you and continue the ceremony from yesterday." I tilted my head and scratched it, "What do you mean with con..." Before I could end my sentence, I saw before me a System window. If the picture is not showing, please open the spoiler: He is the real deal, a Tier 2 Wolf-kin with a specialization for Mace-Arts. I ignored the window and looked closer at him, ''So, he is my Protector.'' He looked good but had scars all over his face with long brown hair, the face of a 20-year-old, and clear blue eyes. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot, annoyed by the work which stood before me, "Close your window. You will eat what I say from tomorrow onwards and train how I say it. You will regret it, but you will be stronger after a year. Immensely stronger. What do you say?" He looked up into my eyes and flinched a bit before nodding. I went back to look for my research, "Good, I will take you to heights, something you only heard in fairy tales about. Forget about Knights. You will be the Angel of death." Why do I want him to make stronger? I don''t know but isn''t this exciting? He will be a Demon, and he can then protect everything I love... I can''t be everywhere, so he will be in my place... I also need to train Lia when she is back. From behind, I heard Maurice''s excited voice, "Yes, Mr. Alexander!" Suddenly I smelled Aro, all of my Maids, and Lia, ''I thought she needed a couple of days to recuperate and think about this little insect... nothing against the Butterfly- and Spider-kin, though.'' *tap*tap*tap* As they walked into the office, they all had a face that screamed to run away as fast as possible from this mess, ''Well, they had a somewhat easy job with being my Servants till now.'' I *clapped* my hands and, with a smile, ordered them, "Hello, my lovely Maids, today you will have a lot to do. One, kill all insects as my experiment was kinda interrupted and made them into fertilizer. Two, all of my research paper, needs to be collected, and three, I want everything cleaned and what is broken thrown away...." I glanced at Aro, "You will go and get some Artisans, so they will make me and Lia new furniture..." I looked at everyone again, "Everyone got it?" They nodded, obviously not really happy, but what can you do? I need this shit cleaned up, and I will obviously not be the one to do it... even though I was the reason for this chaos. I nodded back, "Good! Now, Lia... we have a lot to do. Come with me." *tap*tap*tap* *clank* I like the art room. Filled to the brim with photorealistic naturalistic art, which resembled the work of Schischkin and Rembrandt. My heart is more toward impressionism, but if I see beautiful art, I simply need to admire it, even though it is slanted in depicting us as positively as possible. I glanced at Lia, how she walked silently behind me, her hands on the side, fiddling with her fingers, clenching and unclenching them. There was no need to observe her, as I could smell how nervous she was. Being a Wolf-kin has some nice perks, as you can memorize all the different scents and organize them. But some things I can''t even smell since she looked beaten up with bruises on her face, ''I will ask her later about it.'' Turning around, in the middle of this massive room, where all my ancestors watched and judged me, here I would decide how I follow my Noble line. Whatever the punishment is, it can set a precedent for future ones and for actions committed toward Lia. I stared at her, hands behind my back, and even though I was much smaller, the arrogance I had, coming from a specific skill, was immense as I looked down on basically anyone. She looked now back into my eyes and solemnly gave me her decision, "The punishment will be that he will be banned from the estate for the next years, and then he will only be allowed to visit it once a month..." She bit her lower lip, almost faltering on her following words, "...his muscles will be..." I interrupted her, "Stop, this is enough. The Leonandra don''t need more homeless people, slaves, or cripples. Let him sign a Mana contract, so he is not allowed to hurt you. This is enough if he is kept out from the Estate. What happens next, we will see." Lia suddenly kneeled and banged her head against the floor, crying, "Thank you so much, Master!" I inwardly clicked my tongue, "Stand up. Take today off and come back tomorrow." No other words were exchanged, and I could see how happy she was and how she looked at me like she would start to worship me any second. *tap*tap*tap* *clank* This is mental. I alone decided the fate of a young man without even hearing him out, ''This system needs to die...'' If Mom didn''t stop me, I would probably already have killed him, ''My whims are the law, and I am an idiot.'' But what about others? Let''s say that I am somewhat merciful. What about Nobles, who will behead anyone who looks funny. I was ready to decapitate someone who tried to kill my apprentice. Was he really deserving death? In this current societal frame, the answer is a clear yes. But do I really want to be like them? Do I need to be like them? There needs to be a golden middle ground. I collected my Mana and created a fist-sized blue ball resembling a planet floating before me and spinning, ''Now I get it. The system we fought for was not perfect... but it was much better than what I have here...'' Even worse... strength actually matters. I shaped a hand out of the wind and crushed with it the blue ball, which flowed down, ''Politics doesn''t work if you actually have so much power that you can overpower whole armies by yourself...'' I need ideas, but this process will require time and practice. Walking out, I looked the last time around, taking my ancestors in and smirking, ''Well, I will be the last Aristocrat this world ever saw with some luck.'' Chapter 15.34: Love Letter (1) Prenote librarian: {Written by Marisia S. Leonandra to Kairoso Leonandra on 17.08.7307. After the accident regarding the Nobility of east Moorgrel, this letter was sent to a Temple in the west of Moorgrel after the Lord fled and exiled himself there.} Kairoso, I love you. Three simple little words, yet never uttered or inscribed in ink by me to another living soul, only to you. I will never love another as I love you. I will never cherish another as I cherish you. I will always love only you. This was the happiest day of my life. For it, I decided it was the first day of the rest of my life with you, on the day when we were together, dancing and drinking, with attendances of my close and far living family, judging and looking down on you and me. Me nervous, and you are joyful and steadfast. I could not wait for the evening to be over with and the guests to leave. Yesterday you were my loyal soldier, holding my hand and your head up while I was still getting there, but today, just the two of us, we are just lovers. Writing such words still leaves me dazed, for I truly believed I would never match with someone I would present my soul so openly. And then into my life, you stepped, or should I say stomped, in your whirlwind of steel and smiles. You slept peacefully in our bed while I could not sleep. I feared falling asleep and waking to find you gone, finding myself alone. While this became true, your last exclamations and promises are soughing my soul. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I am sure this worry will ease with every night as I wait, until one night I will fall asleep myself in your arms, and wake to you, still snuggled in your embrace, and think of it as the most natural state in all the world. But do not ever think I will take you for granted for a moment. It is precious; henceforth, I pledge to nurture our partnership for the rest of my days. You told me that you found you could no longer sleep without me once we shared a bed. I can no longer live without you. For with you, I am truly who I am meant to be. I wonder if I have been walking about as one dead, or as a specter, with sight, hearing and touch, but without the ability to feel. It is as if I have floated through life without experiencing any of it. When did I become like this? How have I walked the halls of kings in such a paralyzed state: Eating without tasting, looking without seeing, touching without feeling. And all the time with a disdainful heart and a soul that was wasted. Until you. I have always considered my birthright a burden to be endured and in the most arrogant of ways. I am well aware of my preeminent place in this world, and I own to being conceited and vain. I have often taken without a thought to the consequences to others and without giving freely in return. I am, by nature, wary and reserved. All this you know and accept and have never been in awe of. Nor have you ever doubted my right to be as I am. You love me unconditionally, and for that alone, I am blessed. You have given me a wondrous gift. You have always been prepared to see the good in others, first and foremost, and only want the best for them. I marvel at how you find joy in living each day to the full. To look on you, to be with you, to experience life in your company is to be complete. For you alone, I strive to be a better lady; to live a better life; to know its joys and its pleasures; to never disappoint you; and never will I squander a single moment of the life that is left to me - with you. With this letter, you have my whole heart, body, and soul. I am eternally yours and await you, Marisia S. Leonandra Chapter 15.67: Love Letter (2) Librarian prenotes: {Written by Kairoso Leonandra to Marisia S. Leonandra in the year 7307. After the Lord reached the Temple, the First Letter of the Lady was waiting for him. As such, this letter mirrors his emotional state as it is written rather rough and hastily, in fear of letting her wait for too long for his response.} My dear Mari, while fleeing through Moorgrel, I woke up every morning filled with thoughts of you. Your scent lingered till now on my clothes, intoxicating me to the heavens and throwing me down again after remembering that what I did was only to the detriment of us. The gods are truly cruel jokers. My soul ached with sorrow at the thought that it was the end of our short and sweet encounter as I wandered through the steppe and forest toward my exile. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Are you angry? Are you sad? Are you disappointed? Those feelings I deserve without any question, and I was readying myself for the time of isolation as repentance for my selfish doings. After reaching the Temple in Nasgrol, your letter was already waiting for me, bringing my senses into complete turmoil. Sweet, incomparable, Marisia. I will promise to come back, but this time in control of my curse, even if this means that I will go through hell and come back to you as something not even your family can show the slightest disapprovement. As I will be your beast on every battlefield, you desire. The Demons and Devils will fear your name as I will be the reaper of your wishes. They will run as they see your silky fire-red hair and cower in fear of hearing your harp-like voice coming from your soft pink lips. Your love and affection will be the only yield for the motivation I need to live through this exile. Till then, please wait for me as I will wait for you. My dearest love, Kairoso Chapter 15.99: Interlude: Love and war 1 {Many years before Lorient''s birth} Kairoso POV Damn it, how long do we need to march? This shit-ass battalion, made out of two dozens or so squads, is so slow. I was together with my mercenary corps, which I joined a couple of years ago in Wolfsteeth because I had barely any coin to pay for my room inside some cockroach-infested inn, ''Damn it, I really don''t want to go back to the Temple.'' Luck or not, there was some recruiting for a nonsensical operation in the west, and the next I knew, I was stranded on some ship that was almost better than my inn for some weeks, sailing towards our drop point. The excursion had something to do with securing an iron mine and a city of a couple thousand of some Noble, which was invaded by some Human Noble, a somewhat experienced General. So the Leonandra''s decided to get a favor and send... her. A young Wolf-kin from the Leonandra''s, acting as a General, and we only got the information after signing up, ''It will probably be her fire probe.'' Being at the very frontline, I was marching for days now since we needed to dock at the south because there was some risk going from the north. In the middle of our troop was the newbie General from the Leonandra''s, a hot young Wolf-kin with fire red hair, ''At least she looks good and pays well.'' I needed as much coin as possible, so I could fuck off from this god-forsaken part of Naisos. Demons, Monsters, insane Nobles, and the occasional underworld fight, ''Damn it, why is this continent so fucked up?'' At the Temple, they told me something about the historical context of why it is how it is, but who the fuck cares. It would be a wonder if I could remember a thing the teacher told me. Peeking again at the General, I had a bad premonition of what was to come because of how young she was, ''I should''ve taken the Ros¨¦ contract instead. It would be much safer, and they wouldn''t send a newbie as a General into a god damn battlefield without oversight.'' I clenched my fist and teeth. Nobles see us as nothing but cattle, ready to be slaughtered for their cause because of their moronic notion that they should rule over us because they popped out of some bitch who was a Noble or was banged by one. At least, even though I hate the nature of the Temple, it ignores status to some extent and even stands against the crown if it violates its core principles. But there is no way I can go against some Nobles alone as this is always a death sentence if I get caught. The Temple could protect me, but they would then put me under arrest. A shout dragged me out of my thoughts, "HALT!" Standing still, a smile emerged on my face, and I licked my lips as I saw the newbie in all her glory, which was our General, ''At least there is this.'' ... ... ... Rushing towards my comrade, I caught the sword aiming towards his throat with my bare hands, "YOU SON OF A BITCH! BE CAREFUL!" Bringing it away, I let it bore through my hand and grabbed his hand, which was holding the sword, and with my other hand, punched against his helmet. BANG! BANG! BANG! After the third hit, he fell down, lifeless, ''Damn it! This never ends! What the hell is the General thinking! The formation is almost broken!'' While I pulled the sword out of my hand, the smell of blood and iron invaded my nose, and I could barely distinguish between Beast-kin and Humans, ''This is dangerous. The only thing which let me distinguish them is the smell...'' I sometimes heard some commands towards our backlines, but they couldn''t follow them since the enemies were trying to encircle us, ''If this goes on, it will get impossible to retreat.'' My rage grew towards the enemy as I could see the corpses of my comrades piling up. The General was not only some newbie but also incompetent, ''This can''t fucking go on!'' I rushed forward, barely hearing the cries of my brethren, who wanted to drag me away. It was already too late. A roar, like from legends, escaped from me, and I slowly transformed into a giant bear. Fur like steel needles and claws like swords, I was again ready to reap lives like farmers reap wheat, "COME AT ME, MAGGOTS!" Dashing into the front, I let my Aura loose, which whirled around me, excited to taste blood once more after such a long time. The first one I reached was some random soldier, which I put out of his misery by swiping him with my massive paw, denting his armor, and, by proxy, his innards. Bang! I hit so hard that he flew to the side, crashing into one of his comrades. The following two came together towards me from behind, again, some poor fuckers, at best mid-tier 1. Concentrating the Aura on my left arm, like a mace, I crushed it against one of them from the side. The other soldier used my opening and stabbed his sword forward, which didn''t penetrate me. After the other flew away, I bit into the neck of the one who stabbed me. Crunch! Another soul was reaped. I crushed one after the other as the pain accumulated for some time as swords and spears stabbed at me. I needed to switch with someone from the back as fast as possible, or this damage would be severe. Getting a clearer head, I saw that I was not alone in my tiredness. Everybody''s breathing was hefty, and they had blood and innards all over them, ''Damn it! I need to stay!'' But lady luck showed me what was under her skirt at this very moment, "RETREAT!" Damn it! Give better commands, you god damn bitch! We don''t have any troop commanders to manage anything on the Left-wing. Clenching my teeth so hard, I could even penetrate Steel, I screamed, "I will take the rear together with Carl''s and Louis''s Squad! GO!" Looking at the enemy in front of me, they were smirking at me, "YOU FUCKERS!" I used all of the Mana I had left in my rage, and the grass under my feet became much greener. Suddenly, roots grew under the enemy''s feet, slowly entangling them. This shocked all the soldiers around the poor, entangled fuckers, as they stepped back from the four front soldiers who were smirking a moment before at me. The roots quickly entangled them and gradually invaded their mouth, eyes, and nose, slowly torturing them to death. If you are not strong enough, forget destroying them as the thick roots entangled their bodies and thin ones invaded their innards, ''Who is laughing now!'' All the others around them were panicking, thinking they were the next, so they let us retreat more peacefully. Stepping back, I almost fell over, ''Damn it, I overdid it.'' ... ... ... "Argh!" The Gazelle-kin in front of me looked sternly into my eyes, turned away again, and continued with her work while blabbering my ears off, "Hold still, you dumb fuck! What the hell did you think about holding the whole left-wing and THEN taking the rear almost alone! Did you know the panic we got because you barely moved after your transformation! And now look at you! You think you were hot shit, huh? Your body tells another story, so lucky..." This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I hate healers, especially her. They are like trash-talking experts. I wonder if they have some skill to be so good... worse is that they are all from the Temple, and she is from mine. The ones from the Temple rarely go to the frontline, but they act primarily as healers in the back. "...if I tell your behavior to our trunk, it would be nice if you clean trash for the next decade! A druid, no less, is acting like some Demon! Are you insane? You should represent our belief and not murder in rage! Who the fuck let a druid be a mercenary, by the way?! Did you run away or something?" Damn it, if the trunk finds out, it will be hell... this oldie is no good... damn it. Sylphs are a frightening bunch, especially the trunk from my Temple... a Tier-4 at that. "...hey! Do you listen, Kairo?! Fuck me. I have barely any Mana left after treating all the poor fuckers at the right-wing, so you need to do with bandages and cleaning. Damn it, do you know how bad it was?! Some bastards lost their limbs, and this is not the worst. The Moral of everyone is at the bottom. It was, what I heard about, an absolute disastrous battle..." Swoosh We both turned and saw who came in, ''Damn it, it is the General.'' She looked solemn and had the typical stink of nobility around her, "I need to speak with him alone, are you done?" The gazelle-kin bowed slightly and went out quickly without saying a word. tap tap tap swoosh ... Being alone in the room, I looked at my body after the healer left, and I could only see how bad it was. My whole body was bandaged, but the General interrupted my observation, "So, you are Kairo? The Druid on the left-wing?" Right. She is the moron who led our "army" in our first battle to defeat. There was no surprise about what happened. She came out of nowhere after setting up our camp and said that we would go into battle the next day with barely any preparation. Looking directly into my eyes, I could not even make out a trace of emotion, ''What the hell does she want?'' I nodded to her answer, not giving her the proper greeting. She crossed her arms, staring intensely at me, slowly waggling her red-furred tail. After good 2 minutes of our little staring contest, she heavily sighed before clearly responding, "I want you at the front." I felt how the ends of my mouth slowly lifted up, "So, the General wants me at the front? May I know the reason?" Asking or questioning the decisions of the upper ones inside an army is equivalent to a death sentence, which could not be imposed on me since Temple members, especially druids, are, as status goes, much higher than some brats from a knightage. Her face changed into one of grimace, and she clenched her hands into fists, and as quickly as this happened, she stopped herself. Looking again into my eyes, her expression showed at least some emotion, "You have a big mouth for some druid in front of a noble." Our starring continued for another minute till I interrupted it, "GUHAHAHA! Don''t worry, oh noble pup. I will do it, but I need control over the vanguard... at least. Nothing against you, your highness, but your leadership skills suck ass." Her golden eyes slowly became red, and a mist in the same color started to surround her. I began to do the same. Even if I don''t have the same education as her, I have at least the experience of bringing my squad and other combatants not into a suicidal situation like the first battle we had and lost. Her intentions were clear as day. She wanted to have some overly complicated textbook formations which would never work in reality. It was chaotic and barely resembled something akin to what she imagined. She probably thought we were some army, ready to execute her commands on the spot without any hitch. That is why she invited experienced mercenaries and adventurers, which cost a lot and expected some phenomenal results. Sending her here alone without any support of a superior and experienced tactician means that they want her to lose and disgrace herself, ''Again... some stupid internal Noble affair.'' But, what she probably didn''t expect was that there was someone of equivalent or higher societal rank like me as one of the mercenaries... makes sense, though. Which Druid other than me would be a mercenary? Now show me, what is more important? Some flimsy pride or your thirst to win? If you choose the latter, I and some other guys I know can bring you to victory, but it will cost the control you have, and you will be nothing more than some newbie learning from veterans. Choosing the former will lead to a loss without a doubt. Her mist slowly dissolved, and I felt what it was, ''Demon Aura... damn, this shit really drags my mental status into a rage with only a sniff.'' She turned heel and walked out, but before she left, I could hear a clearly annoyed voice, "If you are patched up, visit me in my tent..." She turned her head and looked at me, squinting her eyes and fletching her fangs, "Want to be in a leading position, you barbarian tree hugger? Then we have a lot to discuss." swoosh Now, this is what I call a fun mission! "GUHAHAHAHA!" ... ... ... Swoosh "Kairo! Whatever you do, if you disgrace the Temple, I will make sure to send the pests after you!" Urgh, god damn bitch. Even though I am of higher status on the outside, inside the Temple, there are no static hierarchies after you ended your time as a leaf, and she is, if I remember correctly, a twig or something. Being out of the medical tent, I saw the miserable state of the troops. Most of them had practically no morale left, and some squads were eyeing each other, ready for a fight to de-stress their frustration. She forgot to train us. Not in the sense of combat but more to create cohesion between our squads. You could tell her inexperience by how naive she was to throw dozens of different squads together, thinking we would work as one unit. Even if I were not experienced in leadership skills, I could tell that something went wrong while fighting, and the tactic she wanted to deploy was simply overcomplicated. What was it again? Hell, I can not even remember what she yelled, and I would say that I am more of the brighter ones here. Walking towards the General''s tent, I was stopped by a small Fox-kin, "Master! Wait!" He came running towards me and hugged my leg. He looked at me with his bright blue eyes, ''Damn it. He is always so clingy.'' I glanced back towards the tent I needed to go and went on while he stood on my feet, using my leg as carriage, "What do you want, Saru? Go and play with the others." His hold was getting tighter, "NO! Master, where are you going?! Let me go with you!" A frown was building on my face. He was someone I saved from some Gnome slave merchants years ago and took with me out of pity. It was a big mistake since I feel now responsible for him and can''t abandon him anymore. At first, he was literally broken. But it would be weird if he wasn''t on the verge of suicide since he was tortured and raped by those bastards. He needed years to overcome it, but now he is somewhat ok, but his dependency on me worsened... and this clinginess was annoying, to say at least. I don''t even know his real name as I gave him one since he didn''t talk for a whole year after I took him with me, and my squad was even forced to feed him at some point because he didn''t eat anything. He was as thin as a twig, ''Damn! Where is the bitch who should look after him?!'' A squeaky voice came from my leg, "MASTEEEEER! I leveled up and..." A vein popped, "Shut up! You can come with me, but you need to be silent and come down from my fucking leg!" He stopped hugging my leg and came down from my foot unwillingly, but he knew the drill. Whenever I need to talk to someone important, he can be with me but needs to stay silent all the time. tap tap tap There were two guards in front of the General''s tent who only nodded toward me and opened the curtain to let me through. Swoosh Walking with Saru inside, what I saw was not what I expected. It was small, with a giant table and a map on top of it, taking most of the space. Pelts from some Monsters were lying in the corner, which is probably her bed. The tent''s interior and size were a stark contrast to her attitude. Usually, Nobles, especially their children, would use a giant tent and decorate it as luxuriously as possible while having at least half a dozen servants running errands for them. The General was leaning with both hands on the table, and her, what I presume servant Swan-kin, was crossing her arms and glancing at me hatefully. The General''s ears twitched slightly, "What is this Fox-kin doing here?" I shrugged my shoulders and looked at him, "He is my assistant, is it right?" He suddenly straightened up and nodded vigorously, "Hm!" The Swan-kin chimed in and banged her hand on the table while her wings fully opened, "Why the hell do you bring a child?!" She turned her head towards the General and almost spat into her face while yelling, "See? Ms. Marisia, it was a terrible idea! How can this barbarian help us?!" The young General pinched between her eyebrows, "Calm down, Saly. In the end, I decide what we are doing." The Swan-kin crossed her arms and flapped her wings so firmly that the map almost flew away. I ignored her and went to the table, looking at the map and what the newbie scribbled down. What the hell do I see? No wonder we lost. She wanted the front, front-left, and front-right sides to defend, then use the rear and middle troops to go around and attack... this strategy is impossible with a mish-mash of mercenaries... it is even hard to pull it off with troops that are coordinated. No wonder we had no fucking rear for a switch since they tried to break through. I kept staring and mumbled, "So, this is why we got sacked..." The General''s voice came from the side of the table, "What do you mean?" I looked at her. She was looking at the map intensively and trying to find out what was wrong, ''So, she was trying hard...'' I pointed at the map, "This is too complicated for a bunch of mercenary corps. Like you said, we are barbarians, GUHAHAHAHA!" She inhaled and exhaled heavily, "So, you are saying that they can''t coordinate..." I nodded slightly, "Yup, we are not an army and didn''t train together. We are basically individuals and have worked as such for years. If you want such complicated formations to work, you need a solid army and a couple troop commanders who give appropriate orders..." Scratching my head, I familiarized her with how the mercenary system works, "...even though we are not that many, and I get your insistence on commanding alone, it will not work with us, even though it can work with soldiers." Saru suddenly chimed his opinion in, "Mercenaries are idiots! Don''t trust them with anything more complicated than drinking and killing!" I looked at him, and he was peeking over the table and studying the map, too, ''Well, this will not be a bad experience for him.'' I looked back at the map, "Fine, but hush, the adults are talking. Keep silent and learn." A burst of hearty laughter came from the other side of the table, "Hahaha! No, let this pips squeak talk! I like him!" A harsh voice came from the General, reprimanding us, "Enough! We have a discussion right now..." I could see from my peripheral vision how her stare bore through me, "...tell me, Druid, what do you think would be the right tactic? How can I use, you mercenaries, in the most effective way?" My lips curled up, and I took some ink and drew the plan... Being ready, I was satisfied, "Use what you have. Who gives a fuck if you have an army? You have a bunch of bloodthirsty mercenaries whom you paid enough so they would die five times..." I lifted my head and looked into her eyes with a giant grin, "...now, this is what we will do..." Chapter 16: Two Legacies and one Level 50 Test ***** Sarah POV ''Today is the day!'' Posing in front of the mirror, I used my newest Skill [Fashion Sense] to choose the most beautiful outfit I could for the coming occasion. I was so giddy about it that I could barely sleep, but for such things, you have cosmetics! I will receive my Legacy, and it will hopefully be a good one! It should be since I even finished two tests till today. The only thing that sours me is Alex''s statement, which I mumbled under my breath and blew a raspberry, "Per literature, the rarity says nothing about how good something is bla bla bla thbppthpt!" He was so cute for a couple of months when he couldn''t or could barely speak. Now, all he does is correct me or play with his stupid Spells. However, what will it be? Uncommon or Rare? Will I get the Leonandra bloodline or something different? It will definitely not be something akin to Narsiz one... I hope. I can''t stand all the learning... avoiding my teacher was hard enough, but if I get some legacy where I literally need to stay the whole day cooped up inside some office like my brothers, ''There is no way I can do it.'' A shiver ran down my spine, even thinking about such a thing. From the side came a worried voice, "Ms. Sarah? How about this one?" One of my Maids was holding a pastel-colored summer dress. It looked simple but colorful. I like it! Why? Just because! Do I need a reason for everything? I am not Alex, who tries to untangle the world''s mysteries, or Narsi, like some addict glued to his notes, resolving bureaucratic problems. All I want is a decent legacy to help my family out, and I don''t even care about the heir position and would not rather have it. Management and Administration are tedious. Leading others is boring. I exhaled slightly, thinking how, if Mama could listen to my thoughts, she would instantly panic, as having an unmotivated child like me is probably an affront to the talents I received. Well, I like stuff like fighting. It is where all my instincts do my job for me, and I feel excitement while doing it. Everything else is... meh. Also, considering all the networking... I had enough with my only party for children of Nobles. It was strenuous. All the deceit, lying, manipulation... why not just fight it out? I get now why Papa didn''t take over the Administration as a Lord and gave all the power to Mama. I shrugged inwardly, ''not my problem, Alex will take over for sure, so I don''t need to hassle over this stuff.'' My maid came over and helped me put all my things on, but the last thing I put on myself was the ribbon. It was not a silk one like Narsi''s or a Linen one like Lori''s but one out of cotton, beautifully made, with little streaks of color. I needed to fight for it since they are usually purely white, but I hate it since they look dull. In the end, Mama gave up and let me do it. Looking into the mirror, I swang left and right while I heard from the side my maid praising me, "Miss, you look magnificent!" Turning towards Rosa, I smiled and nodded, "Hm!" ... ... ... Standing inside the ceremonial room for my Legacy, I was happy and sad at the same time because Papa was not here, ''Can''t be helped... at least he visited before, and I spent a lot of time with him.'' Standing on the platform, I was looking at my family. Lori, Narsi, Alex, and the new puppy, Janina. Mama was delighted when she was born since she was "normal." There was nothing unusual, no accidents or anything which would set us into a panic. Alex was especially fond of her since he tried to talk with the puppy in, what he called, Elven language. However, Mama luckily stopped and reprimanded him because it looked like some of his experiments. Suddenly the Legacy started, and the starry sky emerged, which was seen over my head. The warmth everyone described went through my body, but it didn''t end there as I felt how my eyes started burning and some glow was in front of me till it was so strong that I needed to close them, which didn''t help. Holding my eyes, I cried out, "What is this?!" My eyes were burning, and the glow was like I had the sun in front of me. I could hear how everyone suddenly panicked, except Mama, who yelled, "Silence!" It was over after some time, and I opened my eyes and looked at everyone. but all of them stared at me, and I could only hear Alex say something, "Holy shit." I didn''t know what was happening until Mama looked more intensely at me, "Your eyes changed..." I wanted to run towards a mirror in a panic, but Alex suddenly created a flat water surface, "Here you go, my hearty sister, hehe." Narsi slapped Alex behind his head, "Don''t talk like that to your sister." Ignoring both of them, I went towards the water and saw that instead of my normal round pupils, they had the form of... hearts?! I felt a hand on my head and heard Mama''s voice, "Don''t worry. It is rare, but Legacies sometimes come with physical changes. What does your window say?" Yes right! My Window! I opened it instantly! My ears rang, and I could not believe that I had Mystic skills of such rarity, but I was quickly brought out of my stupor by Alex''s loud laughter, "Hahaha!" Lori was annoyed by him, "Why are you laughing? She has unique Mystic skills, something like..." Alex broke down and laughed his heart out, "Sorry... pffff... look at the names, haha!" Names? Right, I only looked at the ranks... Bulwark of... love? Pain is my lover? What the hell are these names! Looking at my siblings, Alex was laughing, but Narsi frowned and tried to stop him, Lori was facepalming, but I could see a slight smile. An angry scream resounded through the hall, "ALL OF YOU STOP! YOUR SISTER GOT AN INCREDIBLE LEGACY!" Narsi and Lori stopped, but Alex didn''t, "I am sorry. Sarah, you are incredible even without any Legacy, which is also fantastic. I am just laughing about the names, sorry about that - you can probably laugh at me in a couple of years, right?" I suddenly started laughing, "It is true, haha." The Lady, my Mama, came up to me and nodded, wanting to continue the ceremony. Her solemn but serious voice resounded loudly, fitting her exquisite exterior ceremonial armor, which was beautifully engraved with our emblem. Holding onto the ribbon, she declared, "Today, Sarah M. Leonandra will be declared an Adult, walk by the graces of nobility, and don''t disgrace your ancestors. Be prideful but humble, have an iron will but have mercy, be a Leonandra and be sure of this!" She opened the ribbon, declaring me an adult. ***** {Months after Sarah''s Legacy} Ocilia POV Today is the day... I will become an adult. The last one and half years were insane. My family went through a calamity and came out somewhat fine. I gained many skills and levels that I would be considered a prodigy. My Legacy is today, and I will at least know what my future will hold. To prepare for this, I trained my thread skills in every way possible because Master somehow thought they would be invaluable, and I agreed with him after getting much better at them. [Sewing], [Knitting], [Puppeteering], [Thread Creation] and [Thread Arts]. My hands bled as my Mana and concentration were constantly drained, but I continued studying and training. But even though it was a joyous day, it was awkward... Sitting at the dinner table was Master. I invited him to my Legacy but thought he would decline because... it is the norm to ask their Master, but it is also customary that he refuses... which he didn''t... Master played with my siblings, explaining some natural phenomenon, "So, look, you little hatchlings, ice is floating on top of the water because of its density. Density means on how..." While explaining, ice cubes suddenly appeared and plopped into his water. He told me it has something to do with the water in the air and how he only needed to get it really close together and take their heat away. tap tap tap Mom came suddenly in with a roasted boar, sweating and smiling. Despite her smile, she was actually in days before and probably right now in panic when she heard that Master would come to my Legacy and yelled at Dad to go to the market and buy the best stuff they had. I told them that Master eats whatever you give him, like some of the trash slimes we read about, but Mom insisted on getting the best food. Also, reprimanded me for thinking about him like this. While putting the boar on the dinner table, she focused on him instead of me, ''This is weird...'' This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Her voice was slightly worried, "Mr. Alexander, is everything fine?" He nodded while playing with the ice and my siblings, "Don''t worry, I am fine." She looked towards Maurice, who was leaning at a wall and frowning, "Maurice? Is something wrong?" He shook his head, "Yeah and no, I checked all the food and ingredients already, so it should be..." Alex interrupted him while waving his hand, "Maurice, calm down. Everything is fine. Just sit down and eat." He looked around, especially at my Dad, before answering, "Hm... I can''t, Mr. Alexander..." Master suddenly started a fight with his protector, "Oh, cmon! Don''t be such a..." This was also going on... his protector was here, but I don''t think that Master needs one, to be honest. However, the Lady was especially careful because of what happened with Lepto, who was now banned from the Estate. Thus, Maurice needed to look after him, but after some sparring sessions I watched where he fought with Master, it would not be exaggerated to say that they both are equally strong. I decided to start my fighting training only after my Legacy. As of right now, I have barely any time for anything. clank Mom came in again with much more food which smelled fantastic, ''I should invite Master more often...'' ... ... ... Suddenly while eating, the starry sky over me opened up! I totally forgot the time, and I felt a warmth overcome me... Opening my window without hesitation, I saw my Divinity Line and Mystic Skills... they had strange names... But I also forgot about everyone else and closed it instantly in panic. Observing the room, I saw how my parents looked at me, probably surprised by my level, skills, and the rarity of my Mystic skills. A solemn voice interrupted the silence, "Not bad, you improved a lot." I saw how Master winked at me and kept on eating like it was nothing special, ''How can you comment my window with "not bad"...'' Mom was flabbergasted as she asked him, "Mr. Alexander, what do you mean with "not bad"?" He nonchalantly answered with a giant piece of boar meat in his mouth, not minding his manners at all, "Bweel, bwad do bwuu bmean?" My Dad had the same expression as Mom and quickly talked to her, so she could translate, "My husband asks what is wrong with her levels or skills?" My siblings also saw my window and had the same face as my parents, full of disbelief which filled me with pride, but after Master gave his opinion, all of their faces scrunched up. Probably thinking that something was wrong with me. Master gulped the meat down and cleaned his mouth before replying, "You see, she is on the level of a prodigy for all others, but I expect much more from her." Mom immediately wanted to know what he meant, "...more?!" Master nodded, "She was now only for one and half a year, my apprentice, and look how far she came. What will happen in five or ten years?" Suddenly I got what he meant, and my parents, too, as they stared at me and back at Master, "Mr. Alexander, we are really thankful for you teaching Lia!" He took another bite, "Bsure, by the bway, the bmeat bis bdelicious!" ***** {Months after Ocilia''s Legacy} Alexander POV Waking up, I expected not my usual ceiling, but it was also not my everyday classroom plastered with advertisements for diabetes and childhood obesity. It was now a more "normal" one, but not from any country where I went to school. Observing myself, I was wearing some weird school uniform, which was very excessively designed. My collar and tie had delicate patterns, and the insignia on my left chest was also odd. It was golden with a griffin on it, with this I thought that I had landed in the UK but with a glance at my shoes and I didn''t know where I was since they were blue and white and which looked cheap, like they were made out of plastic, ''What a weird uniform...'' As I observed the classroom, I realized that I wasn''t sitting at the front anymore but in the third row beside the window. But before the teacher arrived, I inspected all my other classmates, ''...holy shit, they look like hookers.'' The school uniform made for girls was awful. It was very tight and body-fitting, while they also were wearing really short mini-skirts, ''This is really not appropriate...'' I glanced at the girls trying to figure out if I knew them. After a moment, I didn''t seem to recognize them, but I was stunned by how they looked, some were as beautiful as models, and others looked like 10-year-old children. Also, a variety of hair colors was seen on their heads, which you would only see at raver parties. I remember what girls in high school looked like, and they were not even close to what is displayed here, ''Yeah, this is not reality.'' The same applied to the guys. Half of the guys looked terrific, like some models, but also had some weird accessories akin to what emos wear. The other half looked like fourth-graders too. I perceived that someone was staring at me, so I turned around, and it was a Wolf-girl. I could instantly identify her by the smell. She had light-brown hair and a small maroon-colored bag around her neck. As I looked into her eyes, she immediately looked away and pouted, "Just a pup, never mind." My glance became more serious, "Yeah, fuck you too." She looked at me with a smile, showing her fangs, "Oh, I knew that men were stupid and jealous, but..." clank tap tap tap Interrupting my conversation and coming in was the same teacher I knew. Still, this time she looked not like a plastic doll, but like a human with one... let''s say two significant differences and a giant cleavage, ''Goddammit, why can''t it be some normal-looking teacher... I miss my old school...'' As she walked toward the blackboard, all the other students sat down silently. She looked around till she spotted me and pointed towards me, "Welcome back, and congratulations on your Level 50 test!" Everyone in the room became loud. "What a drag. Good luck." "Don''t give up, or you will regret it!" "Time never comes back once it''s gone. Give your best!" I frowned slightly and didn''t overthink it as I was encouraged by my classmates. After it became somewhat silent again, I heard her talk again in an annoying high-pitched voice, "Come with me, your test will be in the Auditorium." ... tap tap tap Walking beside her, I sometimes looked out of the window and saw my world... Earth, ''This...'' I stopped and looked outside, thinking if I could go for a walk, ''I would kill for a coke right now...'' Her voice sounded from the side, "You can forget it. You know that the world is nothing more than an illusion made out of your memories." I sighed and started walking again, "At least let me have my delusions." Her laugh resounded through the hallway, "Hahahaha, you are such a weird pup, aren''t you?" ... ... ... Being inside the auditorium, she stared at her clipboard and supervised me, "Walk to the middle." I was slightly confused, but nonetheless, I went to the middle when I heard her telling me what the test was about, "There are all around you guys with guns aiming at you, and you need to find them with your [Mana Sense] and avoid their bullets." All right? What a weird test... Before I was mentally prepared, her yell resounded through the auditorium, "START!" Shit! Using Mana Sense to the max, I could see the first individual, resembling a human, pointing something at me. I stepped back. Woosh. A bullet flew before my face. Heh, this will be ea... pack. ... I woke suddenly up... "FUCK!" ... ... ... A week later, I saw a similar sight. The classroom and the students didn''t change, but someone was obviously starting to bully me. I felt that someone grabbed my shoulder, not in a gentle way, though, and it was easy to make out the sarcasm dripping out of her, "Oh, hello there. Did you make it?" I looked to the side and saw the Wolf-girl from the last time, but now she had a mischievous grin plastered over her face while squinting her blood-red eyes. I tried to take her hand away, but her grip was on another level, and it was getting tighter and tighter. clank Luck was on my side as the teacher came in, so she stopped immediately and sat down, but I could see her stupid grin as she threw a look at me, ''At some point, I will make a nice bedside rug from your fur.'' I had no time to say something as teach pointed at me and signaled me to follow her. ... Standing again in the auditorium, I avoided the first Mana bullet by jumping back and the second by sidestepping. I thought I could avoid the next one by moving preemptively. I heard teach from the sidelines, "Bad idea, little pup!" I turned my head while moving, "What do y..." pack ... As I woke up, I was fully drenched in sweat this time. I stood up and stomped on the floor like it killed my dog and swore like there was no tomorrow, "FUCKING SHIT ASS TEST! FUCK THIS!" Melina came running in, asking me in a worried voice, "Is everything alright, Mr. Alexander?" I looked at her and let all of my frustration out in a rant, "I failed the fucking level 50 test, fuck this teacher, fuck this test, FUCK EVERYONE! All of them are..." It took 30 minutes for me to calm down while she stood there, clearly astounded by my flowery vocabulary. ... ... ... Waking up inside the classroom, I automatically walked out, ignoring everyone as I was determined to make it this time. As I was about to walk out, I heard the wolf-girl mocking me, "You can do it, little pup! Third time''s the charm, right? Haha!" I will definitely skin her at some point... Walking out of the classroom, I slammed the door. ... I avoided ten projectiles this time and knew now why I shouldn''t jump preemptively since some of the gunmen were targeting certain places to avoid... cheating, I guess? Being in thought, I noticed someone who appeared suddenly, which I couldn''t avoid anymore. I tried to make a shield, but I couldn''t manipulate or condense any Mana... pack ... "DAMN IT!" ... ... ... Jumping to and fro, I rolled once and jumped back instantly. I get my problem now. They want me to use Mana Sense in a radius and control it with more roughness than finesse. I usually concentrate my Mana Sense on a point and examine it more thoroughly. It was almost impossible to find a shortcut. The guys are never in the same position and appear randomly, and even how fast the projectiles fly changes from test to test. There was no way to remember the patterns since there were none! I saw how a blue-colored bullet was flying towards my face... well, shit. pack ... Waking up for whatever time after I failed, I wanted to rage but cursing out loud wasn''t enough anymore... I wanted to break something precious..., "Where the fuck is Maurice? Time for some sparring!" ... ... ... I slipped... pack ... "FUCK! MAURICE!" ... ... ... pack ... "Maurice!" ... ... ... pack ... ... ... pack ... ... ... {After more fails} Making a parkour roll forward, I stood up instantly. My sense of balance was all over the place, but I could ignore it if I relied on Mana Sense entirely. I detected the absence of scents through their Mana with my sense of smell, but determining what direction they point was tricky but possible. Their exhaling of breath could determine the direction since it also contained a minuscule amount of Mana which I could pick up my sense of smell. Their breath only implied the direction they were aiming at, but because all of them were holding their rifles in the same way, they were also exhaling breath in the same direction, and through this, I could calculate their aim. Was this cheating? I don''t care. I just want to pass this test! I jumped to the side, dodging another two Mana bullets and standing still. I was on full alert, waiting for the appearance of more gunmen while watching the ones who were standing and aiming at my previous positions. All of them suddenly disappeared. Sweating like hell and enduring probably one of the worst headaches, I heard a voice from the sidelines, "Congrats! You did it!" Turning my head, I wanted to rip her head from her body, "GO F..." ... I woke up. After a short moment, there was some euphoric feeling of realizing that I passed, so I opened my System Window immediataly, I did it! YES! Mana Sense was Level 51, and my overall level was 68. I didn''t speak with anyone about my progress since you would be considered a prodigy if you are level 25 at your Legacy. So, what do you consider a child with a level of 68 before going through his Legacy? Abnormal. Weird. A Monster. History was never friendly towards "abnormal" people till the 20th century. Of course, there were notable exceptions, but I would rather not risk it too much since I don''t know the culture of our territory. Also, they already hiding me inside the Estate. It was made known that I can use "Magic," with magic means Mana-specific skills. Hence, the risk of assassination is not low among other Nobles since having Mages/Scholars inside their Families was a big boom for their territory. The rivalry between Nobles was not apparent, but everything was orchestrated through the back door, like assassinations. If there were any evidence of such things and they would be brought to Count Moorgrel, the one causing such things would quickly lose his/her head. So doing it openly was a big no-no. If it was made known that I also basically surpass some Tier 2 warriors in terms of level, the risk would certainly be unimaginable. Is even this high of a level even "normal" worldwide? For my region, this seems abnormally high, but what about other ones? I shrugged inwardly since I didn''t know and would probably not know for a long time. What is annoying, though, is that at level 30, everything slows down considerably. I thought at first that it was because I suck at Math, well, at least at the university level. But no, everything slows down considerably. Mana Sense was an exception because I could use it passively and improve it while using it. With other things, it is impossible. How can I use Calculus passively and improve it on the side? Never mind, Calculus, real math is probably now on the plan, and I can barely remember anything, ''Are there a positive or a negative zero? Proof it... this will be hard.'' However, I passed my test, and I was mentally tired since I worked on my Mana Sense not only during the trial but outside and tried my best to improve it. I remembered that teach said that the test at level 25 is a freebie, and it was not just a remark. Now, can I actually pass the other tests? What about level 75? No wonder some are stuck at some levels and can''t do further tests before the current one is passed. Trying to turn in my bead, I noticed that I was wet from all the sweat. Throwing the problems back into my head, I went for a bath since I smelled terrible. Chapter 16.5: A little look back Before Sarah''s legacy and Janina''s birth The local temple of Wolfsteeth was very new, relative to others in the empire, thanks to a certain wolfkin, who was now sitting in the main office. Religion was essential to almost everyone on the continent, and the temple was as legitimate as all the others. The problem was that they disliked the region close to Kratikal because of its corrosive energy. This also applies to the other six families entrusted with guarding the border. Thus, Kairoso, a druid born in this relatively devastating region, was an exceptional case, as most druids were born in the most nature-friendly areas without corrupting energies from wild demons flying in the air. Usually, environmental factors play a significant role in receiving their [Divinity Line]. Getting a nature-related legacy close to the east border was the same as getting ice-related legacies inside a volcano or fire-related legacies in the ocean. As this was the case, he was also very resistant to the dastardly corrosive energy and, thus, had a special status inside the temple. He could do special missions in the east and represent them much better than other druids. Inside the office, he cursed inwardly as his seat was too small, so he had problems sitting straight or moving around too much. It would be hilarious for onlookers, but the air around him told another story. The office in itself was small, too. This is a typical problem for Kairoso since most temple members are not tall and belong to smaller-sized races. It was chaotically decorated with various plants, from colorful flowers to ugly-looking cacti. Every plant that could be locally found was crammed into the room. The temple members, especially the nature-dwellers, didn''t have the same sense of beauty as the beast-kin and regarded all plants as beautiful. So every temple had its own style, depending on the plant life in the local region. The desk was the most impressive part of the office, which symbolized that it was not just an office but the head office. It was part of the giant tree that went through the temple and whose crown shadowed the whole building built around the tree. A hole was carved out in the tree with a horizontal plate, which acted as the desk. In front of the desk sat Green in a giant blossomed flower, which acted as a chair. The little fairy and messenger had interacted with Kairoso multiple times, and it was tense every time to say it nicely. But she gritted her teeth and met this unpleasant fellow who, as a druid, had some pull inside their institution. A fox-kin, in a fine butler suit, with a typical fake smile seen by nobles, was standing beside the wolf-kin, trying to speak for his master, "Ms. Green, we are here only for the intel of the oracle regarding the movement of the demons, no need to be so stiff." She sighed heavily, brought some documents out of her drawers, and threw them unsightly onto the desk. The documents were made of special leaves harvested from unique trees. Such leaves could be easily used for writing and were even more robust than parchments. Kairoso took them nonchalantly, ignoring her conduct. He was tired and wanted only to go home. While reading, one of his eyebrows rose higher and higher, and his tone became confused and worried, "Why are the demons only in the northern part? They are usually more distributed around the border, not this focused..." Green sighed and wanted to comment on this matter, "Mr. Druid..." Kairoso interrupted her bluntly while still reading through the documents, not looking up, "Call me Kairo. No need to be so formal." Green''s face twitched slightly as she thought it would be disrespectful to call druids by their name, ''If I think about what the branches would do to me if I called the messenger of nature by their name...,'' she shuddered slightly. Like almost every other position inside the temple, branches were named after parts of the tree. The closer to the roots, the more important the position. Green herself was a bud and pretty low on the hierarchical ladder. Only because of her messenger status did she have her position as a leader of this small branch. She regained her composure after a moment, and the voice came out forced like her smile, "...fine ...Kairo, I just wanted to assure you that we will provide support with our healers and that I hope that you will take some of the... inexperienced ones and look after them... for the temple''s sake of course." Kairoso shook his head, "No. They need a good amount of willpower..." Green instantly interrupted him, waving her hand, "They have! You don''t have to worry about anything in this regard!" Sarusos''s eyebrow went up as his voice changed to a mocking one, "Oh, Ms. Green, if I remember correctly..." he tapped his chin with his index finger and continued, "...wasn''t the fight with demons some kind of ritual for the higher-ups for you fairies?" She was surprised that the rude druid or his retainer before her knew about something like this. Green''s attitude changed, and before she could answer in panic, Kairoso continued, "Tsk, useless noble brats. So you want me to babysit them?" The atmosphere in the room went from slightly uncomfortable to ice cold. Fairies, and all the races of the nature dwellers, have a hateful relationship with all demons. Especially wild-demons are seen as the worst of all. A campaign in Kratikal is nothing but collecting a massive amount of merit for the noble youth. Kairoso fell into thoughts, ''Something happened. Otherwise, they wouldn''t send their children to the frontline... let''s see what she will say and how much I can squeeze out of her.'' Green gulped slightly and waved her light green wings out of nervosity, "Listen, we can surely work something out... right?" The wolf-kin frowned, trying to play hard to get, "There are almost no safe positions in my campaigns to the east..." Sarusos continued with a crescent moon of a smile, "...but my lord, we can surely do Ms. Green this favor if she can do something for us." Kairoso and Green stared at Sarusos to continue, both with different facial expressions, both smiling. Still, one nervously and the other mischievously, "From the information we collected, Ms. Green was a student at a magic academy, and since we can''t get any magician to come to us for the Archmage puppy''s sake, I think it would be a perfect solution." Kairoso nodded, "Sounds good." Since the Leonandra estate found out that Alexander had the talent to be a mage, they tried everything to find someone to teach him, but it was mostly in vain for many reasons. One reason was their ignorance towards magic, and as they described in their letters, Alexander''s ability, which they sent to various institutions. It didn''t go well. The cathedral scholars noted in their letters that he could come to their academy when he was older and take the entrance test like everyone else. They thought it was overhyped parent''s babble by Marisia and Kairoso. If they believed what they told in their letters, Alexander would be an archmage in twenty years. They had very good reasons to not believe them since many other noble parents were doing the same and overrated their child to be the next tower leader, although they only learned [Mana Sense]. Their letters to magic-inclined nature-dwellers also received a negative response. They wanted to avoid stepping into the territory for the previously mentioned reasons. Dragon-kins and their clans declined immediately, saying Alexander was a fluke and it was impossible for him to have any meaningful talent. According to Alexander''s parents'' opinion, they are usually arrogant bastards. The empire treats them with care since they are an essential resource for war, as they are the only beast-kin race that has overwhelming proportionally born magicians. So they have no incentive to come to the territory, even for a pile of gold coins. While Marisia read the letter, she almost destroyed her office out of anger and frustration. She also asked her husband to look for even some third-rate magician as it was getting ridiculous that they couldn''t find anyone. This third-rate magician was sitting now before him. Green was baffled. First, by how they gathered the information since she was a drop-out more than a hundred years ago, and second, that they wanted her to be the teacher for some brat who, most likely, barely mastered [Mana Sense]. She flew in the air and was aggravated, "Wait! What do you mean by teaching magic?! My specialization is herbalism and agriculture!" Saruso shook his index finger, "No, Ms. Green. You were also pretty good in a subject called Lifestyle magic, from which you learned a lot of useful spells, am I right?" Green was shocked at how they even learned about the modules she attended, "Yes but... I mean... isn''t Mr. Alexander like 5 or 6 years old?! Shouldn''t he just try to learn first how to manipulate or widen his [Mana Sense]?" Saruso chuckled slightly with a hand held in front of his mouth. His tail was slightly wiggling, signaling that he was happy, "Sure, but he is already using magic to an extent, but we don''t really know how good he is compared to other apprentices or what to do with him, honestly." Kairoso leaned back, and the chair crunched slightly, "He is strong. Insanely so, even compared with other mages I fought against... but he has no fundamentals, spells, incantations, etc. He does not need some high-level professor from the royal academy but someone who teaches him some basics like the food spell I saw a couple of times." Green was bewildered, ''What does it mean he is insanely strong?! He even said that Ms. Lorient was weak at some point, and she was the one who fought two dwarves and won!'' However, she wasn''t into teaching noble brats and tried to shirk it away, "Hey... I really don''t know if I can teach..." Kairoso raised his hand to stop her, "I like Saru''s idea. I will take your brats if you teach Alex till he gets his legacy." Green slumped forward, "Fine..." suddenly, she looked at him sternly, "...BUT! If he can follow my teachings is another thing!" Saruso chuckled slightly, "Don''t worry, Ms. Green." All she could think was how this was a waste of time, ''Damn it! I will milk those damn nobles dry for their favor! At least I need to teach Alex only for a couple of years...'' Afterward, they talked more about the situation in the north. She gave away more of her men than she wanted but to please the nobles and get later favors was vital for her as she tried to get into a higher position. Later at the Estate Light flooded softly into the sleeping chamber of the lady, which hugged her and the lord, who lay beside her. The light embraced their cuddling, giving a sense of tranquility and peace. Such moments were rare for nobles and, more so, for those who fought against monsters and demons. Most commoners envy nobles for their high levels and privileges, with which they can live much longer than most of them. Still, the truth is that barely any noble, especially those active on the battlefield, reach the end of their lifespan. Be it because of assassination, disease, suicide, or being killed - being a noble never brought the fabled peace and prosperity many peasants dreamed of. Thus, such moments were precious, and the wolf-kin couple knew this, so they savored such occasions to the fullest. While the lady caressed her husband''s chest, his rasping voice was heard through the room, "A couple of weeks, at most." The lady smiled slightly while her big stomach was bulging out from under the blanket, "Don''t worry. This is the fifth one, and it feels more like a chore at this point." The lord suddenly laughed out loud, "Guhahaha! I remember how you got Lori and Narsi. You were like a..." Her look interrupted his laughter, and memories of her first pregnancy and his broken hand flooded his mind. She stopped glancing murderously at him and laid down peacefully on his arm while murmuring, "It was your fault, and by the way, you were looking so wild... I couldn''t resist." Kairo raised an eyebrow, slightly confused, "I was? Not anymore?" Marisia snickered slightly, thinking how Kairo was in the past, "I needed to domesticate you after all the time out in the field and in the temple." Kairo fell into thoughts and answered her after a while, "The field, I get it, but the Temple was pretty fine..." Marisia laughed loudly, "Hahaha, I was there, and it was terrible. The temple looks fine from the outside, but all the nature-dwellers have no sense of culture and etiquette..." Kairo scratched his head with the hand he had left after Marisia occupied the other one as her pillow, "It was not that bad..." Now Marisia raised her eyebrow, "Really? I remember visiting the temple once after our marriage with you and how proudly you showed me around. You were sleeping inside their private forest in, what was basically a hole, hunting for food, and your teacher was a treant who thought houses were dwellings for devils." They looked at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing. "Guhahaha!" "Hahahaha!" Followed by this, they talked till into the night. The next day, in Wolfsteeth, inside a famous restaurant. A clink resounded as the wolf-kin girl put down her glass of wine. She wore an exquisite and colorful dress adorned with a giant ribbon around her waist and a bright flower that accessorized her braided hair. The restaurant they were dining in was one of the most famous ones for the upper classes in Wolfsteeth. Lower nobility didn''t have much wealth, so visiting the "Golden Apple" as a knight family would be unthinkable. The exception to this rule was sitting and chatting casually, "Does it taste well, papa?" Kairoso nodded while putting a giant piece of meat in his mouth while the juices dripped down slightly, "Hm." While eating rudely, Sarah started complaining teasingly, "You know, men should usually entertain women while going out." The Wolf-kin smirked slightly and looked at his daughter, "You and a woman? Fine..." he cleared his throat and sat up straight, "Oh glorious daughter! As the lord, how do I deserve to breathe the same air as my holy and righteous daughter? Who but not you deserve that all men should crawl..." The Wolf-girl noticed how everyone in the restaurant looked at them, undoubtedly because her father was making a scene to embarrass her. Her ears went down, and her tail started to curl slightly out of embarrassment. The blush could be seen all over her face as she shouted, "STOP! You big dumb oaf!" "GUHAHAHA! Alright, alright, calm down, little pup." Sarah puffed her chest out, crossed her arms, and turned her head to the side, "You know, I don''t know how mama can love such a big child!" Kairo smiled sheepishly and shrugged, "Ask your mom. Sometimes you need a bit of childishness in your life." Sarah glanced at her father and smirked slightly, calming herself down and trying to graciously take a sip of her beverage. She was a weird mix of elegance and childishness, which was fine for Kairoso since she should enjoy her childhood. Kairo just watched her and enjoyed such a peaceful sight, ''I will be away and in the worst-case scenario for a long time, so I should enjoy myself now.'' Taking a little sip from his beer, the atmosphere was relaxed except for the servants who were on standby, ready to fulfill all the lord''s wishes at a moment''s notice. He ate like a barbarian while talking to his daughter, and for her, she tried to eat gracefully, but it looked rough, like someone who only read about etiquette but never actually practiced it. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Usually, she should''ve learned the proper etiquette like Lorient and Narsiz before her. Still, she always managed to slip away from her teacher, and with Alexander being the perfect headache for the whole estate, her skips were more or less tolerated. While they talked, Kairoso suddenly became more serious and interested in her interests, "So, what do you intend to do in your future?" This caught Sarah by surprise. She almost choked on her bloody raw steak, "What do you mean?!" He glanced at her and continued, "Lorient wants to join the east, Narsi wants to become a bureaucrat, and Alex will probably be a mage or scholar if he doesn''t explode on one of his experiments. What about you?" She didn''t say anything and just stared at her half-eaten dish, knowing that what her father asked wasn''t anything disturbing, but she had no idea how to answer. She hated learning and management, so this specialization was excluded. Leading others and fighting for months was also something she didn''t like. Even thinking about how she would sleep in a tent makes her shudder. She also hated most other nobles, so marrying down and being a wife or concubine was also out of the question. Nobody really wanted her, too, since marrying the seven families who guard the border was always something without benefits. They existed merely for protection and weren''t allowed to take more territory by force or other means, but theirs couldn''t be taken. Even if they went bankrupt, the crown would pay it off and investigate the situation. Multiple times, such an incident occurred further north with the Sangjaleri family. They went every thirty to fifty years bankrupt because of their awful situation, which their fief is. They took out credits from banks that had the protection of the crown. Thus, marrying the seven families brings no benefit but safety. So most nobles decline it and look for something which could benefit them. She glanced at her father while he took another sip of the beer, ''What do I actually want?'' Before she could answer, Kairo waved his hand, "Don''t worry. Whatever you decide, we will help you with it." After he said it, it was silent while Kairoso ate, and Sarah kept staring and thinking. After a short time, she looked at her father and thought, ''Hm, I like the shield, though... a guardian who defends the family internally?'' She remembered Alex and Narsiz discussing the pros and cons of dividing the defense. Sarah was at this time quite tired as she came directly after training and was only there for the snacks, listening in on their discussion, ''I need to talk with one of them about it.'' Her thoughts came back to her training with the shield. A shield, defending the family. A bulwark standing tall between all the enemies who were crazy enough to take on the Leonandra''s, ''I kinda like the idea.'' Next day at the estate''s training ground Kairoso stood in front of two youths. One didn''t even have his legacy, but knowing him, this disadvantage shouldn''t matter much. Kairo''s (Danger Sense) was telling him to at least not underestimate him. The wolf-boy in question just stood there, playing with his mana casually. Waves of strings swirled around him, connecting with each other and creating new forms. The druid could only see it through his anti-mage skills and was flabbergasted by the fine control his son was showing him. He was training his skills even now, ''This he has from Maris''s side. I was never this diligent.'' The other one, a wolf-kin girl, was just stretching casually and yawning, but even then, her energy was circulating her body, slowly making her ready to fight, ''Not as diligent, but at least she prepares.'' Kairo crossed his arms as he went over them the last time, "So, are you sure about this?" Alexander was the first to answer with a bored look, "Why not? I need a punching bag, and Lorient is annoyed by my magic and doesn''t want to play with me anymore." Lorient looked slightly annoyed at her brother, "What do you mean? You are just too weak." Alex snarked slightly at her, "Can''t remember the last sparring sessions?" Lorient shouted, "I won!" Alexander waved his hand, "Yeah, only because I stopped my spells as you ran into my fireball like a moron. Otherwise, you would be roasted." She tilted her head, "So?" Alexander angrily looked at her, "What so?! Do you want to know what it means to get roasted?!" She put her hands on her hips, "hehe, sure, archmage puppy..." She came over and tried to pet him, but he swatted her hand away, "Don''t touch me! I will freeze you to death!" She postured her hands in the air and grinned at him, "Oh, sorry! I only heard that women use ice magic, are you a girl? Should I call you Alexandria?" Alexander looked at her with slight blood lust and a wide smile. The temperature fell around the training ground by the second while the stench of Lorient''s demon''s aura started to leak out from her. A burst of loud laughter interrupted them, "Guhahahaha! Calm down, both of you. Should you not be worried about how you will even scratch me?" "..." "..." Alexander and Lorient stopped bickering and looked at their father, who was obviously provoking them, and back at each other. After a moment, they nodded and focused on how to kill their father. Their gaze was exciting for Kairoso to see. He never tried to educate his children about being warriors or anything else. He let them free reign and hoped for the best, and Marisia almost agreed with him, just that she only taught them the noble''s conduct and some basics. Everything else was finding their interest and helping them develop it. A warrior can become a general, a mage can become an archmage, a bureaucrat can become the prime minister, etc. With their relatively neutral stance and Lorient already inheriting the demon aura, they could grant their children much more freedom, especially after Lorient showed her desire to fight. With a big grin, his rough voice went through, "Now... let me see!" A green mist suddenly surrounded the massive wolfkin. Kairoso wanted a friendly spar and didn''t transform into any of his forms. But, even though he only wanted to test his children a bit, they kept him on his toes. In the next second, a giant fireball flew directly into him. Holding a hand in front of him, it exploded, but Kairo didn''t have a scratch on him, "Not bad, maybe in a..." Before he could finish the sentence, he saw a smile building on his son''s face and felt at the same time a demonic aura to his left. Turning his head, he saw how Lorient was already spinning on her heel and aiming with her other leg toward his head. Blocking her kick, he wanted to counterattack and see their capabilities. They were already stronger at this age than he was, but something like that didn''t mean much. Like his wife, you could stagnate for a decade and then have a good two to three years where you better yourself massively, especially concerning the demon energy. "Is that ...all?" In front of him, Lorient suddenly jumped back, and his danger sense was screaming at him from where his youngest was standing. Standing at least 10m away was Alex and concentrating on his magic. It was hard to visualize, but through hard work, he could do it faster and faster after every try, even if it became more and more minuscule. And this time, he stood still and spun half a dozen small pockets of icicles in the air. Opening his eyes, Kairo could feel bloodlust coming from him, ''This is bad. Mari told me about his condition, but I didn''t know it would be that bad.'' Kairo''s bloodline was developed through war and suffering. Thus, he could bring out the bloodlust seen by ancient beast-kin. But in today''s world, it was obsolete and only useful for bloodthirsty mercenaries, ''It should be fine. His path is that of a mage, so stacking willpower should give him later on enough resistance.'' Suddenly, Alexander screamed, "Eat shit!" and all the icicles rushed at an insane speed, spinning even faster than flying toward the giant wolfkin. Seeing this, Kairoso pushed his energy a bit, sensing how dangerous such an attack could be. As all the green mist became denser and entirely surrounded him, all the air bullets hit him, sliding him back a couple of meters. After a moment of silence, Kairo heavily exhaled, and a smile was seen on his face, "This is good! Now let me..." Before he could end his sentence, Lorient jumped at him from the other side with another kick, ''What sloppy and repetitive teamwork.'' Grabbing her leg mid-air, he used her momentum to arc her against the floor. A loud crash resounded in the hall, and Lorient didn''t move anymore. "Are you fine?" "Urgh..." "Good. Next time use your aura like your mother, with more finesse and..." As Kairo berated Lorient, Alex thought, ''He is fucking ruthless.'' Looking at his dad, he had no idea what else to use - his previous attack was already equivalent to a handgun. Usually, when he trained this move, every time it hit, a layer of ice surrounded the point of impact, and this monster deflected six shots simultaneously. The ice melted on his energy, which he mantled himself with, but he suddenly got an idea that could work. Glancing to the side at Alex while talking with the half-conscious Lorient, Kairo was waiting for him to make a move, but he also knew that he couldn''t be as rough with him as with Lorient, who was stuck inside the floor and not moving. He was too young to properly have a trained body, and through extensive studying in whatever, he barely had the time to do it, ''He should be around five years old... he is insanely strong for someone this young.'' Suddenly Kairo glared at Alexander as he could feel how the air moved towards him, "Oh, I will gladly accept what you want to throw at me! Guhahaha!" While he was somewhat joking, his aura became even denser since his sense of danger was screaming to stop that spell, ''What the hell is he doing?!'' All he could see was how a small flame was slowly and gradually getting bigger and bigger while Alex was sweating. Under the flame was Alex, he concentrated all the mana he had to move the pockets of Atoms through his mind and crash them together, creating friction, ''The heat is too strong!'' He felt like he was working again in the laboratory and using a special oven to boil magnesium or other alkali metals. The control was not even a problem since he could manipulate the mana just fine, but the heat from his own spell was so intense that he used a water shield in front of him to absorb it, which didn''t really help since it practically started to boil. His head screeched at him since something like this pushed him into extreme concentration, and it felt like someone rammed nails into his ear. "Get ready, my soon-to-be-dead-father!" holding the yellow glowing fireball in front of him, Alex shot it, and while it was only the size of a football, it suddenly grew and grew while flying towards his father. At the halfway point, it had the size of a gymnastic ball. Kairo saw this and knew that it was dangerous, and it made him happy, and a ferocious smile bloomed over his face, ''That is my son!'' Next to his aura, he also used skills for defense like [Bark skin], which laid a layer of very sturdy bark over his body. He rarely felt this alive for the last 12 years, since the birth of Lorient, where he swore to Marisia to act safer and not endanger himself. By the time the glowing murderous ball of fire was before Kairo, he had summoned roots to entangle it and burn it out. All the roots were surrounded by his greenish aura, which trapped the mini sun. It was now barely moving but burning up all the roots, which were replaced quickly. After a full minute, Kairo was huffing and puffing, clearly surprised by such an attack, and his smile showed the pride he had. The fireball was gone, entirely burned up, but as it was very close to him, he could feel the intense heat. While walking towards Alex, Kairo''s [Bark skin], which he overlayed over his skin, was slowly falling down. The little sun god was lying on his back, huffing and puffing with a smile similar to his father''s. As Kairo stood over him, he thought about where to find a good sparring partner. He spotted many things he needed to correct, like his static movement. For a war mage, it was fine, where he just threw a giant spell at the battlefield from range and went back to relax, ''I need him to train more physically.'' An assassin or good archer could take him out as his awareness was entirely focused on me. Whatever mistakes he found, he held back and let Alexander relax. While Kairo used a good portion of his mana, Alex used all of his. But this nice father/son moment was disturbed by Alex, "Dad..." Kairo cocked his head, and his smile vanished, thinking something terrible had happened, "Is everything alright?" Alex looked at his father up and down and, in the end, back into his eyes, "You are naked..." Kairo looked at himself and nodded, "Don''t worry, they were just some sparring clothes." Also, he clearly misunderstood what Alex wanted from him, thinking he felt bad for burning some cloth. Alex then looked around, and all the female soldiers and servants turned around, not daring to look at the lord, but before he could say more, he heard how Lorient stood up again, "Uhh, what was that?! DAD! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!..." another sniff came from her, "...why does it smell so burnt?" Alex just looked at the ceiling, trying not to burn his father''s dong into his mind, ''Hm, it is fun being a child without worries, huh?'' Later at one of the estate''s offices A beautiful study with high-class wood furniture embroidered with carvings of abstract animals of all sorts of legends, multiple wolf-kin were sitting on the Kil¨¦''s, which were more designed like couches. Narsiz was one of them, one leg over the other, stern with a polite but forced smile and a somewhat protruded vein on his forehead. Sarah leaned against him, munching on some grapes while looking at the ones sitting in front of them. Marisia and Kairo sat opposite them, one l¨¦ger, one formal. It was clear-cut who came after whom. In the middle was a table on which were maps and other documents of their territory. Today was to be decided where Narsiz would go. Which city/village will he stay in and learn his art: Bureaucracy. Usually, his head teacher would sit here and decide with him. But he was suspended after Narsiz went through multiple levels of increases, which also gave him a new perspective and knowledge. Alexander''s lessons and homework pushed Narsiz''s skills relatively high, and he sometimes attended his lessons with Ocilia from that point on. Still, only for subjects like economy, philosophy, etc. After more than a year of rigorous learning, he was more knowledgeable than his primary teacher and could easily debate or discuss topics in their particular field. Everything they were teaching him was how he, as a noble, was above all, and everyone should listen to him, or else he should use more forceful methods to make them obey. Is there some riot because of food shortage? Violence and don''t even think about lowering the tax on the farmers. Do you have a wealth of five years'' worth of tax sitting in your treasury? Don''t even think about investing. Make it ten years'' worth of tax even though you could invest it and make more long-term. Commoners should always obey and be happy even living on this land, never mind their productivity or opinion. He talked all the methods through with Alexander and realized there was so much more to being an administrator than just pure face. He remembered how even his mother talked with him about how it would not work or, if it worked, you would have a stifled economy if he went with the methods of his teachers. For various reasons, most nobles didn''t think about investing. One was contempt for commoners. Another one was that they were lazy and satisfied with their wealth. Others only wanted to secure enough resources for the heir or heiress of their house. Narsiz thought about how he discussed an example with Alexander and his mother that he needed a long time to understand. The argument from his head teacher was that money should not be spent on the lowest of the low, as they were basically trash, never able to accomplish anything. Still, Alexander had the opposite opinion: Spend more on the lowest, while Marisia argued that it should only be enough to let them live. It is easy to get a return for the money spent on some food, an administrator who advised the poor towards a job, and someplace to sleep for a while. The same goes for orphanages, widow homes, etc. From the obvious economic advantages this little investment would bring, residents would also have a good view of their rulers. With this, they are more ready to defend what they have, especially if other territories don''t have such things. This was, as explained, not some purely altruistic mindset but how people behave and work. If a war breaks out, would you want to become a refugee and flee to a territory where the conditions of low-class commoners are basically the same as some slum rat or fight, so your daughter doesn''t end up in a whore house in this slum? If going from an altruistic point of view. The territory will grow immensely like Wolfsteeth and all the cities around the sea Howl. More and more people will come, and other regions will lose them, and the only way to go against it is either war, which will not happen, or adjust their policies so that their populace will not run away. Never see people as people but as investments - if looking through an economic lens. This is also something Narsiz learned from Alexander. People needed to be sorted like things by what was required. Strength, economic power, potential, beauty, etc. It sounds even worse than what nobles think about the people, but they need to look as emotionless as possible at them. Pride? Useless. If it is enough for a noble to bow so nobody would ever hunger anymore, Narsiz would be ready to be on his knees for the rest of his life. Even Marisia was surprised by the change in how Narsiz looked at things, but nothing changed in his goals. Only the way was now much different. Having the territory flourish and enter a new golden age? Is it not a noble''s conduct to give itself to the territory and his people? This was his responsibility and conducts, which he followed, and he would choose the best one, never mind the methods. It is different from what most think. Even Narsiz''s grandparents weren''t of that chivalrous mindset. Still, as someone born into the family, Narsiz was put into a situation where he stood, like his younger brother described as excellent, with a sword in one hand and a scale in another. Throwing both away is nothing more than spitting into the face of all the people who gave him the possibility and responsibility to hold the scale and sword. A soft but solemn voice interrupted Narsiz''s train of thought, "Son, did you decide where you want to go and who will be your protector?" Narsiz frowned, not saying anything and thinking things through. He doesn''t want to have any protectors, as he just barely trusts his maids and butlers. He could only trust his own blood; his parents knew this and were concerned by this character flaw. Every noble needed retainer or even the ability to bind people to them. Narsiz wasn''t one with such a skillset. He had distrusted everyone apart from his family. It was simple paranoia explained through an assassination attempt where he was almost poisoned but barely survived as a small child, forcing him to be bedridden for a whole year. Plus, since childhood, he had only minimal interactions with other children of nobles, like all the other Leonandra children. Such led to his current character flaw. Thus, Narsiz was never really able to make connections or even friends like all the other children. This, in fact, went as far as they would be thoroughly ostracized by others. As such, incidents like the one with Lorient, where she went violent against others at a gathering for children of nobility, were nothing unusual. This time, Narsiz was ready to work on this flaw in the town he would be sent to. His father''s rough voice came through as he leaned against the couch like some local gangster scratching the bandages from his burn marks, "We will not force you to do anything. Ultimately, you can stay at the estate and have an easy life. With Alex as a mage, Lorient with the inheritance of the demon annihilation divinity line, and Sarah, a crazy talented shield wearer, you can do what you want." Sarah chimed in from the side while throwing a grape into her mouth, "Yeah! Don''t worry, Narsi. We have your back. Get a harem and get a lot of pups!" she sounded sincere. Marisia started to frown, hearing her husband''s and Sarah''s remarks. She knew exactly what he was trying to do as she looked at Narsiz''s clenching fists, ''Kairo was never the most sensitive, but I at least know that he really doesn''t care if Narsi does something. He just wants him to realize his potential...'' she looked at Sarah, who gulped grapes down without a care in the world, ''...Sarah, on the other hand, is... just honest.'' In Sarah''s case, if the lady told her that she could laze around for her whole life, she would do it without questions asked. The young wolf boy had his head hanging low and ears dropping, but after thinking, he suddenly smiled and looked into his father''s eyes, "I knew who to take with me." Kairoso raised an eyebrow, "Oh, tell me?" Clearing his voice slightly, he replied somewhat unexpectedly, "I want Sarah and Lorient to be my protectors, and I want them to go with me to Puru!" "..." "..." "..." A grape fell on the floor. This was the only sound for a good minute. Suddenly the lord''s laughter was heard even outside the study, scaring some servants, "Guhahaha! All right!" The lady suddenly turned to him, glaring daggers like he was insane, her voice raised, "What do you mean it is ok?! They are not Tier 2, and I suspect Lorient is not even level 40, if at all! Also, she needs to stay and get her demon energy under control! Did you forget how she attacked them?! What is going on in your head?!" Kairo became suddenly serious and swung his arm around Marisa''s shoulder, softly caressing her, while looking at Narsiz and making a 180, "She is right. You need at least one protector. While Sarah would protect you, their protectors will not put their life down for you." Marisia''s tail swung unconsciously around while Kairoso caressed her, but she was clearly upset that he just took her opinion without discussing it further. It was vital for her that Kairoso could be a stopgap for her ideas, which she could bounce on him. She looked at both her men, ignoring Sarah since she was clueless, eating her grapes. She suddenly remembered that Alexander was talking with Aro, Cross, her husband, Narsiz, etc. Basically, every male that was in the family and close to her. She only discovered through rumors that he told them that pregnant women were much more emotional and that you should treat them more softly. Marisia didn''t like it. Not at all. In the last months, she was treated like a child by her family, retainers, and servants. Everything she said was accepted instantly, and all the work she did by educating her retainers to debate her on ideas was gone, ''Alexander, what the hell did you exactly say to them?!'' What Alexander said was true for humans on earth, but in a world of beast-kin and magic, it was not true, especially if you had enough skills and attributes to control your emotions, which Marisia had. Her whole frustration was the treatment, and she couldn''t really blame a child, even though a genius, a child nonetheless. She snorted at Kairoso, "Darling, shut up, please." Usually, Kairo would playfully rebuke, but now he just smiled at her words and kissed her cheek, ''I hate it... but it is not so bad either,'' a light blush invaded her cheeks. She concentrated on the problem at hand and cleared her throat, "Fine, take Sarah with you, but I want both of you to find two more protectors. Otherwise, nobody will leave this estate." Narsiz sighed heavily but gave up discussing it since his mother made sense. Also not want to stress her and the unborn puppy more, "Ok, Mother." She looked at Narsiz and knew what he did but even hated while getting her way. It was important for her that her children said what they thought. Only this way could they thoroughly discuss such problems and develop into more competent leaders. She clicked her tongue, which was very unusual for her, and while she went out, she banged the door in anger. The two wolf-kin men stared at each other till Kairoso broke the silence, "Women, huh?" Narsiz nodded and answered him while rubbing his temples, "Yep, women." Sarah threw another grape into her mouth, "They are so weird." "..." "..." Chapter 17: Mana Infusion "Hold still, Lia!" "I am! But it hurts, master!" "Damn it. Can you feel it now, and does it hurt again?" "No..." "No, you can''t feel it, or no, it does not hurt?" "No, I can''t feel it... and it hurts!" "Ok, let''s stop... well, that was a failure." In a room sat a hatchling with a pup behind her. The hatchling sat on a chair, leaning forward on the chair back while Alexander sat behind her, pressing both hands on her back. He let his arms fall down out of exhaustion and leaned back on his chair, breathing heavily. His tail was starting to get sweaty, and he hated the feeling, so he used a mix of air and heat to create a blow dryer to dry his tail. Ocilia wasn''t better off as she sweated heavily like someone dropped buckets of water on top of her. The disciple could swear that it was just a trick from her master to try out his new torture methods, which he learned from some slimy retainer fox-kin who usually followed the lord all the time. It was when the lord came back. Sarusos took Alexander with him to teach him something. She remembered how her master couldn''t eat the whole day after a teaching session and was pale white and sometimes murmuring about some candy called Geneva confection and how he needed it. Well, there was also that the lady found it out and requested a sparring session where she beat him up so much that he barely hung onto his life. Ocilia sighed heavily, slumping forward like a potato sack, "Master, it doesn''t work..." her upper spider-kin eyes were a soft whitish blue, which showed tiredness. Alexander reassured her, "Don''t worry, it will work!" Around them sat two healers around the desk, drinking tea and chatting about what they saw. The toad-kin healer looked bored and spoke in a bored voice as well, "Is this really fine? I mean, not even the royal magic academy, Merlin, could do something like this?" The other healer, a bat-kin mix, looked contemptuously at the hatchling and shrugged, "Yeah, I think so too. Usually, it is only a matter of bloodline and talent." The toad-kin took a sip of his tea and thought for a bit before telling a story, "Hm, I knew of a couple of dragon-kins who had no talent for Mana and thus were disregarded as trash." The bat-kin snickered slightly, "Duh, what do you want a dragon-kin to do if he can''t even use magic? They are too weak for anything else." A scream rang through the room, "SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" The healers flinched and looked at the puppy, who sweated heavily and tried to catch a breath. Beside him was his disciple, looking depressed and even more tired than before. The toad-kin was a little nervous but tried to speak up regarding what this child was trying, "M... Mr. Alexander... nobody succeeded in gaining [Mana Sense] after their legacy, and even before, it all came naturally..." Alexander stared at the toad, thinking how ignorant some people were. Impossible? Why? Because nobody achieved it and because some stupid academies couldn''t do it either? A disgrace to anyone interested in development and science. Even though Alexander himself was no scientist in his previous life, he knew of the importance of RnD and knew that even the slightest breakthrough could push a new age of technology, and this could better the lives of everyone. Was not Medvedev mocked for his PSE at first? Was not Semmelweis ridiculed by his colleagues for his hygiene protocols? Fuck Galileo, what a prick, but he developed the fundamentals of scientific methodology. Everything started at some point. Even though most stuff was wrong, the ideas, a spark, were enough to develop the theories he used on earth. But Alexander saw the same problem at this place he read about in history books on earth. He somehow thought, in his ignorance, that because of the existence of magic, such a thing would not exist, not considering that it could be even worse because of pre-determined factors. This was what he wanted to discover: Are these factors really pre-determined? Can you change them even after your legacy? He was probably not the only one who researched it, but where he was right now, geographically and status-wise, he needed to start at zero, without any fundament, as there was no way to find any research. And who the hell knows? It could be known, but not in this part of the world. It wouldn''t even be so outrageous since it was a world without an instant information transfer. The more worrying thing was that it was widespread but held sealed, a secret only known to certain clans or families. The former human understood this world as there was no way that the citizens had the knowledge that widespread knowledge could bring a snowball effect to the world. Maybe they did, though, and perhaps it was better for them to hold unto secrets that made them who they were in the first place. On earth, cycles between scientific breakthroughs became shorter. The more people worked on it, the higher the living standard became, and the faster information was transferred. But now, things need time and a lot of trial and error. Alexander''s lips twitched, and his tail curled slightly up, "Disgusting. Nobody built R... Wolfsteeth in a day." He was annoyed by them and all the stress which built up trying to get her this skill, but this he could ignore in the grand scheme of things. This new world was like a playground for him, and he had more and more fun with it. Molding and discovering what he, on earth, thought would be pure fantasy. His disciple''s sighs brought him out of his thoughts of progressing the world into the modern age, and he recognized that his disciple suffered. He took responsibility for her and wanted to help her, too. Furthermore, acquiring such a skill would be not only a boom for his research but also for his family and society as a whole. There was no reason not to research it, especially since he was sure he could somehow unlock it and find a way to dig more fundamentally through it. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Thoughts suddenly streamed in his head as he thought about his father and how he sat in the small kitchen while mom cooked and tried to talk about his research with such a fanatical face, ''Is this how dad felt?'' He threw the thoughts back into his head as his disciple sighed so loudly that she could have a shield over her head that said: I want pity! It was understandable. Ocilia was young, while Alex, young by physical standards, would be considered around thirty years old, so he was more composed when she had her phases. If he was younger, mentally, he would undoubtedly have been frustrated without end. Well, he was even now, but he didn''t show it. The hatchling was downtrodden after listening to those morons'' comments, "Master... I really can''t feel it." Alexander went off to a nearby table with some tableware, creating fresh water through magic and pouring some of it for his disciple, "Take a break... this makes no sense, really. We all use mana for our abilities, so you should be able to sense it..." Out of nowhere, Alexander felt a spark in his mind going off, "...can you use your thread stuff?" Ocilia was composed as the suddenness of her master was nothing new. There was sometimes a problem following his thoughts, though, as he jumped from topic to topic. She turned around and nodded, she opened her hands, showing the threads she had created, and Alex could sense the mana she used. Alexander strained his [Mana Sense] to find where the mana comes from directly and how it interacted with Ocilias body. He started to sweat slightly while hearing a ding but chose to ignore it. His golden yellow eyes began to tint from the bluish mana as he tried to guide his mana beside hers in the threads to find something he oversaw. He remembered his previous experiment with the insects. Through them, he could determine that mana, or rather the amount, is inherited. Thousands of insects can become pregnant and breed in one day; in another, they would become adults. Alexander injected them gradually with mana which could be barely felt, as too much would kill them. Generation after generation. After ~forty-five increments, he created an insect with barely any mana and destroyed it when it became a success. Any more, and he could have made a plague that could devastate the world if one of his little buggers had fled. Who the hell actually knows how it could develop? It could be an excellent food resource or devastate the whole world. Until now, he couldn''t find any more insects with mana, at least ones that were the same size as the ones on earth. Hearing the stories from his dad, he could find gigantic insects everywhere, and they would have more than enough mana. Though he was realistic, it could be that they had so little mana that it was impossible for him to feel it, which means that he just learned in his experiment how to increase the natural mana over generations. But he also learned something different: He could also inject mana into insects that had little or none before it. This was critical, as he could inject mana without killing someone, which could be the key to his current problem. His intuition told him that he was on the right track even though he couldn''t prove it methodically or objectively, not even with the insects he tortured. It would be a long shot to even conclude his hunch implicitly. It was pure intuition. Alexander sweated buckets, carefully moving the mana around her threads and talking to her, "How do you feel when you create a thread?" She tilted her head slightly, which was sweaty, too, as she needed to concentrate on stabilizing her skill as moving it around would disturb her master in sensing it, "I... it is like an innate feeling? Like using a skill. You know instinctively what to do and can follow through in a minimal sense." Alexander got an idea. He grabbed her hands roughly, which surprised Ocilia. It was not so bad, though. He was unlike other masters who would not share a thing with their disciples and ignore them thoroughly. Alexander, in contrast, always asked her opinions, calling the sessions brainstorming. He was eccentric, and sometimes it overwhelmed her, like right now, "Ehm..." The puppy with bloodshot eyes interrupted her, "Cut off your thread and slowly create a new one. Close your eyes and concentrate on the creation of your thread at their origin point and try to feel if anything is different!" She sighed slightly but closed her eyes and just did it very slowly. While she was creating it, Alexander tried slowly trying to concentrate mana on her origin point. It was much harder to manipulate mana directly than to direct it indirectly towards the idea of Atoms/molecules and create those abstract concepts in his head like fireballs with mana pushing those pockets of particles that then convert to his will, so to say. Luckily for him, the more precise he was in imagining, the less mana it cost and the more accurate the spell became. He tried once to create a more abstract version of a fireball or ice lance, but this cost him at least five times the mana, so he tried to memorize calculations and imaginations, which he would just recall. If he could put it into a neat little drawer in his mind and recall it every time, it would be much easier than imagining it from new whenever he wanted to create a standard fireball. He would lose flexibility but would win speed in conjuring up the spells. Directing mana was unpredictable, as there was no flow or pattern. Even worse, the mana particles sometimes would have a temporary pattern, suddenly becoming erratic, killing Alexander''s flow. Other times it was rebellious, like a little brat who needed to be dragged through the whole store because it didn''t get the oreo special edition candy. They were unruly little bastards: mana and children. As mana slowly settled onto the origin point where Ocilias threads materialized, she suddenly felt some burning on her fingertips. Still, she concentrated on all she had on the feeling she experienced, which invaded her deepest parts. She really wanted the skill. A week earlier, her master thought about how to learn the [Mana Sense] skill, something fundamental for everyone in wizardry but usually handwaved as talent. Her master hated the notion of innate talent and thought that it didn''t matter in most cases. She thought natural talent was most important, but when she heard what he wanted to research, she became erratic. He talked about his ideas on bringing out this skill, and she wanted nothing more than to learn it. After the situation with her brother, she tried to regain her bearing and tried everything to get more brave and level-headed in cases similar to what happened with her older sibling. But it also showed her that she was weak after she replayed the scene of her fight hundreds of times in her head. Pathetically weak. So, when he started to write down his ideas on how to get the skill, she had the imagination to become more like her master, who could decimate other soldiers with his spells. It wasn''t even an overstatement as she saw him use spells to crush other soldiers and those too who used energy to shield themselves. Every time she went home, she saw the heroic paintings of the Leonandra''s and, even though she became more realistic, she still loved this notion of knights, honor, and praises by the populace whom bards would sing stories about her deeds. She never told anyone as the youth was too embarrassed, so the chance to get stronger through magic was like a door that opened for her, and she begged her master to be his lab rat, as he called it. He forewarned her that this could go on for months, his experiments, and even though it was the first day, she became frustrated, but she could not show it since it would kill her concentration. She needed to be on top all the time to find some ominous feeling she had never felt before. Even though she had such ambitions, this would be her last try for the day as her concentration reached the limit. Alexander wasn''t better as his mind, and his skills were slowly frying his brain as he worked through his [Mana Sense], [Mana Manipulation], and [Mana Emission]. He needed as slowly and carefully inject mana into her so she could somehow sense it without killing his disciple. He thought a lot before he started this whole ordeal after Ocilia, again, almost broke her skull as she smashed her head against the floor, begging him to use her for this experiment. Nonetheless, trying to formalize what a sense was in a world full of magic, with energy, he couldn''t even comprehend it. Luckily, he didn''t need to write a theorem, only to make a skill appear, which could be done with creativity and the good old brute forcing. The other problem was that he only got this skill through his rather unusual birth and sensed it naturally since the environment felt so much different from earth. It was pure luck and/or intuition. Before the experiments started, he went through his checklist, and while going through it, he needed to adjust himself, too, since the last time he injected someone with mana, it was himself, and he almost died. Fun times, but he got a skill, [Body Overload (Mana)], he wanted to use at some point. Preferably with an army of healers surrounding him. But now it was time to experiment on his lab r... disciple. Alexander tried to coat her origin point with his mana and slowly surrounded it while small strands of mana touched it. This was an intimate feeling for Ocillia. Like something touched her deepest part, she could slowly feel it. She sensed it. Mana. A sound resounded inside her head. Ding. She concentrated on this feeling even more, and suddenly something disrupted her concentration. She heard sounds like someone was screaming through the water. Opening her eyes slowly, she felt something wet on her lips and chin. Everything in her sight was blurry and red. "Oh..." Chapter 18: Cooked Puppy Ocilia was lying in her master''s arms, bleeding from every orifice of her head. Her upper spider-kin eyes were all white, far away from their typical purple, red, or blue. A bad sign. Looking up, she saw that her master was bleeding through the nose and ears, staining his beautiful snow-white hair and fur. She wanted to say something, but she could barely stay awake. A smile was on her blood-stained face that somehow made it through all the pain, and before she heard the so-called bells of the deity, a ringing noise invaded her hearing, becoming louder and louder. She didn''t think about her life and death situation, but if she got the [Mana Sense] skill, she prayed inwardly, ''Please, by the all the circle, let me have it.'' Alexander watched how she bled for a moment before clearing his head and analyzing the situation, pushing his pain away. He turned suddenly towards the healers, who were already scrambling towards them, and screamed at them, "START HEALING LIA! NOW!" But they, instead, ran up to him. Good. It was all that Lia thought before she closed her eyes and slowly drifted towards unconsciousness. As the healer came, they started healing Alexander. Something cracked inside Alexander, and killing intent leaked out of him, "Stop! Lia is first!" This startled both healers, "But... Mr. Alex..." Alexander''s eyes started to hurt, like tiny needles pricking them. With his last bits of sanity, he carefully laid Ocilia down. His anger became unbearable. As he stood up again, a visible misty energy in the form of a gigantic wolf flowed out of him to the ceiling. Staring the healer down. In their eyes, the small puppy suddenly appeared much bigger. Alexander''s voice became more hoarse, his eyes staring them down like some beast, full of anger, wanting to rip them apart, "If you don''t start healing her..." a growl almost escaped his bloodied throat, "...I will behead you both, so... GO!" The visible killing intent vanished. The healer, frightened and pale, started to heal Ocilia with all they got, hoping the noble''s child would survive, as the immediate fear won over, and they listened to him. Alexander started to meditate as he tried to catch his breath. The ringing and headache slowly subsided. Luckily for him, his other pain-reducing skills were the perfect aid, especially the ones he got from resisting his father''s anti-mage skills. Though they sapped a part of the little stamina away which he had left, he could hold on. The skills he used at the moment were practical, like an instant Ibu, and he could hear that something leveled up, but he chose to ignore it for now for obvious reasons. The mana in his body went haywire, but the meditation helped to calm it down slightly. Sadly, as he tried to examine his own body and mana with [Mana Sense], his headache worsened, so he stopped immediately, ''Maybe I really overdid it with the combination of skills? The strain wasn''t much stronger on mana, stamina, and mind than usual, but this time... it was really too weird.'' As he pushed his mana into her, it was as if he had invaded the innermost part of her being, ''This was really... more intimate than sex...'' Alexander shook all the unnecessary thoughts out of his head. He needed to concentrate on not dying right now and not on how it felt to have a go with his dying disciple. Alexander was already on the brink of death many more times in this world than he was in the military on earth. It was a godsend that he listened to his mother and took precautions, as they showed to work. Having a healer 24/8 at the estate and bringing one more in for his experiments. The experimentations the popularly nicknamed archmage puppy did were sometimes dangerous, as he tried to create every possible physical concept through his mana skills. Mana was something he could not predict, less the mana-related skills with it. Right now, his prediction failed as he almost fried his innards and brain, ''Damn it, I was too impatient. I should have stopped by the slightest discomfort and not done it while exhausted... Alex, you are a first-rate moron.'' The self-blame he had for this disaster kindled his anger again, ''Come on, calm down, you can''t push out your blood lust like some moron while your disciple is on the brink of death...'' he closed his eyes, trying to sink in deeper into meditation, which luckily helped him a bit. He calmed slowly down, remembering for later to level the [Meditation] skill much more since he barely used it, relative to other ones, but needed to start doing it more regularly, as it was the only way to soothe his bloodlust, ''God dammit, how in the hell did dad control himself?'' Kairoso told Alexander that it was some stupid ancient bloodline from his ancestors which could be found thousand years ago in almost everyone. Normal then, not normal now, and even though it sounds like something great, it is not. Not for soldiers, not for nobles, not for knights, and not for mages. Every emotion will be amplified, resulting in bloodlust, rage, and a much smaller tolerance to kill, like some maniac. A murder hobo, basically. According to his parents, it was expected to have this attribute in ancient times, thus now named the ancient bloodline. In societies of beast-kin, where tribals fought almost weekly, it was practically mandatory to have such a predisposition. Were animals migrating towards another territory? Go after them and take down the other tribe. Ultimately, it is for survival, and the fear of death hindered feeding your family and tribe. Do others enslave you? Fight to the last drop of blood, even if you rip out the necks of your enslavers with your last breath. If you could ignore your fear, your enslavers would think twice about trying to take you back in shackles. But what about now? Trying to hold formations as a soldier? Not if you run into them like an idiot. A mage who flings around his spells willy-nilly will be a hindrance since others need to look at their backs, so they don''t burst into flames by an enthusiastic fireball. Beneficial then, utterly worthless, going as far as harmful, now, ''Thanks, dad.'' Suddenly the door opened. He slowly opened his eyes again. Cross and Aro rushed inside, with the noisy butterfly-kin in a slight panic, "What happened, Mr. Alexander?!" Looking down at Ocilia, the proud puppy looked back at him with a tired smile, "She learned [Mana Sense]...," he shrugged his shoulders, "...hopefully." Aro stood there with eyes wide like plates, his breath heavier, not believing what he heard from the weird son of the lady. He needed a moment to process it. Cross entirely ignored what Alexander said, not caring about mana-shmana or whatever, thinking it was some fancy stuff. He concentrated on what he had felt a moment ago, "Why did I feel insane bloodlust coming from this room?" Alexander shrugged again and gave Cross a wink, "You know how dad is sometimes. I came a bit after him." Cross grunted and started looking around the room to see what had happened. Always grumpy, that is the Cross, Alexander knew. The personal guard of the lady knew the lord''s mood swings, but he always had a reason, and right now, it looked like the son assaulted his disciple, ''Why can''t he be more like the other ones? All this fancy magic stuff makes my head hurt...'' Cross grunted again and decided to observe the situation more as he stayed on guard. Aro came out of his stupor, remembering why he was in the part of the estate where Alexander and his retainers reside, ''I followed Cross as he felt the short burst of killing intent... or was it blood lust? I really don''t like all the brutish nonsense.'' The nervous butterfly-kin investigated the blood stains on Alexander''s face more closely, asking, with a bit of panic in his voice, "Mr. Alex... Are you hurt?" The wolf-boy looked down at his blood-smudged clothes and swiped under his nose, checking if the bleeding stopped, and it did. Smiling, he opened his arms, "You know. Dry weather." Alexander''s body was okay-ish enough. Even though he was much younger, he was much more robust than Ocilia. At least, he thought so. Who knew what his pain resilience skills hid as pain generally was a good indicator if something was wrong with the body. He needed to wait for the healer to be done with his disciple before they could start healing him. A side thought occurred to the tyrannical teacher, which he needed to remember, ''After today, Ocillia will start training with me together.'' Cross pointed at the healer wanting to say something, but before he could do it, Alexander was already talking with a charming smile. Or at least he tried since, through the blood smeared all over his face, he looked more like a wolf that was done eating his prey, "Cross, we shouldn''t interrupt them healing Lia. We had a little experiment that went a bit out of control, so she needs silence, and the healer needs to concentrate, alright?" Alexander didn''t know why but through Aro''s nagging, he started acting more like a noble, more cordial and restrained. Cross would probably like his true nature more. The one shaped by his earth-self would be telling Cross to step back and shut the fuck up before he could interrupt the healer. Aro and Cross both frowned, which made Alexander chuckle. Aro went out of the room, saying something to Cross, who nodded to him. The old but buffed, grinchy wolf-kin wasn''t the sharpest blade regarding discourse and intellect, but his loyalty towards the lady and her family was unquestionable. He was ready to kill a thousand Ocilias if it saved Alexander or anyone else in the family. The lady''s son was thankful that he didn''t just cut down the commoner spider-kin girl, so they could start healing him. Cross''s glance towards him was noticed since he could distinguish by stance and pose if something was wrong. His intuition was sharp as he went through hundreds of battles against monsters, demons, and the usual riffraff. After some more moments, Alexander''s smile bloomed, and he could feel his pain lessen even more. His tail started to waggle around slightly. This happened either due to increased skills, or the pain subsided naturally. He didn''t know what to hope for as one tickled his inner gamer, and the other meant his internal cooking stopped. He couldn''t ignore Cross and his grimace and wanted to calm him down a little since he was so tense, more than usual, "Cross, don''t be so grumpy, rather be happy that I... no, we, Lia and me, had a breakthrough..." he saw how Cross couldn''t comprehend what it meant. So Alex tried to make it more understandable for him, "...one from which every soldier could improve!" Stolen novel; please report. A small smile bloomed on that ol'' wolf, and Alexander hoped his disciple got the skill. His instincts told him it worked out, even though he needed to wait for her to wake up for a concrete confirmation. At this moment, the healer finished, sweating and barely standing upright, "She is ok," and "We got her." Alexander nodded, and as he looked at them, he noticed they barely had enough mana and stamina to heal him. They were totally exhausted, ''Hopefully, Aro went to get another healer for me... that means I need to silence them now somehow.'' There is no way in hell that Alexander would let them go away with such valuable information. He was not one of those dumb protagonists from the cartoons his fianc¨¦ liked to force him to watch together, ''I can already see the glint in your eyes. Don''t think you will be able to sell such valuable information!'' His eyes turned into crescent moons, "Great, now..." he looked at Cross again, "...if you would, please guard the healer, so nothing leaked out what happened here." The healer gasped, "Mr. Alexander, what does it..." Before he could say anything, Cross shouted, "SILENCE!" The puppy''s eye twitched while his ears reeled back, ''Why is he so loud?'' Cross looked at Alexander and sighed, trying to understand this weird puppy. For him, he was the weirdest one. A room full of insects, always odd smells and ideas, unheard of in this part of the world. He shook his head inwardly, hoping this puppy knew what it was doing since he had already improved the soldiers in the estate, even Cross himself, with his ideas and constructions. Later he would go to the lady and inform her, but right now, he followed her youngest son, watching over him. Cross glanced at Alexander, and he murmured something and could see more than all the weirdness. He saw the lord in him: the will to act as he wished and self-confidence beyond anything, never wavering from his point. It was not stubbornness, no. The will to enact something he was so sure of, even if it endangered his life, was quite intriguing. Seeing such resolve in someone so young was even more fascinating, ''I can already see who the next lord will be... I only hope he doesn''t start war after war.'' Cross''s thoughts and the forced discussion between Alexander and the healer were interrupted as Aro came in with another healer. She was a lovely fairy who always looked like she was going to the gulags. For her, it was only when she was at the estate. She went directly to the apparent patient, the one who was unconscious on the floor, but Alexander stopped her, smiling and trying to compose himself, "She is fine as she is already healed. Would you check me, please?" She nodded and grumbled almost inaudibly while she laid her hands on her future student, activating a skill, "This family is crazy..." Alexander chuckled slightly. True. Even before his craziness, Sarah and Lorient were hyperactive and pushed themselves to no end. To his knowledge, it resulted once in Sarah being bedridden for months. Is this the curse of being talented or having too much energy? Well, Alexander never saw himself as a genius. Intelligent, sure, but nothing exceptional. It was probably the energy that he couldn''t direct anywhere else but his new interest. In his previous life, his energy went into making money, looking after his sisters, and studying on earth. There was no time like here when he could enjoy his interests to the fullest. There were times when he was praised by his siblings and teachers, but so what? Even if he was above average, he had no real chance to explore anything as he needed to remember not to burn his arms when he cleaned the damn grill in the fast food joint he worked at or avoid getting spat at by customers because they couldn''t have the breakfast menu at 4 pm. A wave that made his insides cribble, in good ways, brought him back from his faraway thoughts and washed over him. Green looked at him with intense open eyes, like he was some monster. He did not dislike the look she gave him. She stuttered, "M... Mr... Ale...Alexander, do you have pain anywhere?" Alexander smiled at her while opening his arms, "A slight headache. I think the dry weather is getting to me." She looked at him and nodded, probably knowing that the lord''s son did not want her to say anything about how bad his actual condition was. She started healing. With one of her mystic skills, Green saw that his whole body looked like someone ironed him from the inside, then took his brain and put it into the oven. The fairy''s look made Alexander think, ''Huh, was I more injured than I felt?.'' What if he was on the brink of death? He didn''t know if he would instead make the healer heal him instead of Ocilia and didn''t want to contemplate such dark thoughts, so he ignored them and concentrated on what was essential right now, ''I need to silence the healer, or else, if the information came out that some knight family child found out how to make everyone into a mage, it would probably end badly.'' While Green did her job, Alexander looked at Aro and whispered to him to bring some high-level Mana contracts. While he waited, he was bored again. Thus chaotic thoughts of the future went through his head. The puppy imagined creating a world of magic, science, and liberalization of the nuisance of anything which would stop one from pursuing their dreams. Was it possible to create a mandatory magic education? Even though their legacies and the corresponding skills existed, why not go a step further? A world where a farmer not only has the right skill for farming but also uses magic for anything from planting to fertilizing to harvesting the crops? Combining it with science, he couldn''t imagine what the possibilities would look like! From what he knew, mages and similar professions were too haughty for his taste, and he knew from chatting with his mom that they were basically expensive weapons. There was no way that a mage would go and live in a small village, so they could tend to the villagers'' needs. Besides, the village would not have the money to pay the mage. But what if everyone knew magic? Starting from the estate, it could spread, together with the methods to activate it, and if not, he would make sure that it would, ''Is this what it feels like changing the goddamn world by ripping out the fundament? Why does it feel so good?'' He would create a mandatory education, and the productivity and living standards would skyrocket, ''Beast-kin are already much healthier, have more longevity, and are more resilient to all sorts of things than humans on earth.'' First, Alexander wanted to only bring modern science to this world, but why not make mana training and magic a part of it? He needed only to fix the annoying bug of not killing anyone who activated their [Mana Sense]. He forgot that there was no difference between magic and science. All he needed was time and a good plan. He could... His rather chaotic and unorganized mind ramblings were interrupted by Aro coming in and giving Alexander the high-quality mana contracts, which he floated with magic toward his desk. Seeing this, Green almost gasped. The following minutes were full of cries, threats, and other unsightly things. For Alexander, it was clear that the healer really wanted to sell the information for good coin, but there was no way in hell Alexander would let them even leave their estate before signing a mana contract and running it through by his mom. An agitated healer screamed inside the room, "Mr. Alexander, this is going too far! You can''t force us to sign such contracts!" He held up a pre-written contract on ordinary parchment that was harshly worded, with the total destruction of the whole mana pool and reducing their stats to 10% of their original numbers, making the person who broke it into a useless cripple. Alexander could not decrypt how a mana contract worked. How can language, which could vary in its interpretation so broadly, be used in such a specific way? Language is shaped by culture, class, age, sub-race, geography, and so on, so how would it even be interpreted then? Nobody in the estate knew since they had no access to mana-artificers who created the mana contracts. Someone who mixed their abilities in mana with artisan-like skills, a scarce thing in their fief. He also gave up on getting someone to the estate since how such things are made is a secret of the artificer union, or at least this was what he was told. Be it intent or something else, they worked through whatever reason. How the curious puppy could find out would be only after he reached the age of ten, when he could leave the estate. He looked at the healer, who was sweating buckets. Alexander sighed and opened his arms with a mischievous smile, "My my, the contract only states that you will be forbidden to communicate with anyone or anything in any way about what happened in this estate for the next fifty years, AND you will be compensated well for this. So, where would be the problem?" The other healer looked at his colleague and smiled mischievously, obviously knowing that he could not come out of this situation with the information at hand. Still, he wanted to make sure to be in better standing with the nobles. It was a consolidation price, but better than nothing. He laid his hand on his colleague''s shoulder from behind. His crackling and tired but soft-sounding voice sounded behind his mask of a smile with deceit, "My friend, why are you like this? Just sign it and be reasonable." The toad-kin turned around, clenching his teeth as his bigger eyes bulged even more, "You can''t make me sign it!" The other one shrugged and looked at Alexander, "Fine, I like what is written, so when will I sign the original?" Alexander stood there, baffled, ''Do they know that it is so obvious what they are doing? One wants to crawl into my ass, and the other wants to sell the information.'' The pup scratched his hair, annoyed by all this. He frowned, "Fine..." as he turned around, he glanced at the healer and how both were all smiles, as they had probably different thoughts. Alexander looked towards Cross, "...get mother, and..." Alex pointed with the thumb behind him, "...put them under arrest. If they try to flee, chop their heads off." The last thing the wolf-kin mage needed were nuisances sent by dragon-kins, the sole sub-race which could produce mages from all the beast-kin races. Contingencies must be made to convince the healer to sign or silence them. Luckily, he could act almost insanely, almost without restraint, because of a roll of the dice as he was born a noble. There was a line he could not cross, but this here was not it. This would not be unreasonable even on earth if [Mana Sense] was some secret state technology. The few who leaked valuable information, not technology, were regarded as traitors and fled for asylum. He remembered some whistle-blowers who leaked a truckload of sensible information, ''There needs to be more security around them.'' He pointed Aro towards himself and whispered to him how important that was and that the lady needed to be immediately informed. He was sure their heads would fly if they resisted. The healer union would annoy his family, whatever scenario may play out, but his mother would understand... hopefully. While all this played out, Green stood in the middle of the room, done with the healing. She felt like a lone island in the middle of the metaphorical river of death from the human churches, where the soul of deceased ones cry and wail in anguish till all their sins are washed away, ''By the circle, what is going on?!'' Only now could she really notice everything that was going on in the room, as healing her future student needed much concentration. On the floor lay what she could perceive as Alexander''s disciple and screaming healers who were out of their minds going against a noble on something like the usual non-disclosure agreement, and even she signed one that was much harsher, provided by the druid. Though all this was nothing compared to the body of the puppy she healed, ''His innards looked like a vegetable soup, which was cooked over black fire.'' But she remained silent, as she had the skills to heal him, so there was no reason to sound alarmed, even though she used eighty percent of her mana for this endeavor, making her incredibly tired. She was today at the estate only to introduce herself and talk to her student. The other surprise was that her new student could actually use spells but somehow without any incantations, which only her late professors could do, ''Interesting... That''s good! I will see how much he can do with time, but he has at least talent.'' She feared that his father dramatically overestimated his proficiency with magic. Most parents did this and saw a ignite spell for the black fireball. She saw him perform some minor spell, but this gave her the motivation to teach him seriously, as he would surely remember her as a teacher later on, should he gain status through his spellcraft. As she analyzed the situation, the small fairy also watched Alexander talking to Aro, who suddenly bowed and opened the door, screaming for guards, who rushed inside, taking the healer with them. Suddenly the previously roasted wolf turned around with a tired smile and asked curiously, "...and you might be who? I read in books that you are a fairy..." suddenly his eyes became sharp again, "...oh! I am sorry, I should thank you for healing me!..." he suddenly made the noble greeting, "Thank you... but you need also sign a contract." Green sighed and greeted him properly back, knowing that her new student needed an explanation, "I greet Mr. Alexander. I should start with..." Before she could explain everything, the door shot open, and a spider-kin maid came in who greeted Alexander first with an almost 90¡ã bow and Green with a slight one, showing who was more important to her and in the estate. She whispered something inside his ear while he nodded and suddenly stared at her. All smiles and his tail waggling around like a windmill inside a hurricane, "So, you are my teacher in magic?" Green just nodded, and before she could say anything, the puppy interrupted her again, "Ok, you have already signed one with probably Salyna, right?" Green nodded again, "Good, I trust you since you are dad''s acquaintance. We can do the introductions later. Mom calls..." as how he called the lady, and lord, she remembered how young he actually was. She overlooked it as his demeanor was anything but usual for a child, "...I need to go..." he saluted again, "...till later!" Clack An utterly confused fairy was left alone inside the room, with the maid who looked very apologetic, "So... so... sorry, Ms. Green, it is always this chaotic with M... M... Mr. Alexander." Without wasting more time, she didn''t wait for the fairy''s answer, as the maid turned around and screamed outside to take Ocilia toward her family. Multiple maids and butlers slowly and carefully brought Ocillia out on a stretcher. Green hoped sincerely that this day was an exception. Chapter 19: Talk and crying It was evening as five of the eight multicolored and bright moons shined inside the tea room. The table gave off an illusion, but a different one than Alexander knew of. If sunlight touched it, illusions of colorful butterflies flew around, but now, only ones in darker shades of blue and purple flew around Alexander and his mother. Sometimes they even landed on them, it was cute, and the puppy really wanted to look at this magic item in more detail. Still, he was more than once forewarned that if he researched it, he would be sent to a nature-dweller boarding school where he would sleep in a hole in the ground. His dad described his time as quite adventurous, so Alexander held back his curiosity. They sat and drank tea, and Alexander tested his [Mana Sense] quite a bit as it leveled up quite nicely by three levels. He could see some details of the table but also that his mother''s tea gave an intense glow, ''Is she drinking some special stuff?'' It was not the time to talk about his mother''s beverage choices, as he was mentally and physically tired from the day, and they needed to talk about what had happened today. He was so tired he would probably be asleep the second his head touched the pillow, but he was also excited. His intuition told him that Ocilia had learned the skill, and he could not wait to confirm it! Marisia looked at her son, who somehow had better etiquette than Sarah and Lorient combined. Alexander told her before about how he got a skill that let him conduct himself more like a noble. Thanks to this, he is probably not cursing like a sailor anymore. It could also be because Marisia told Aro to be his shadow and teach him manners. With this thought, she chuckled slightly. Alexander took a sip of his tea, which tasted like mate tea from the earth. He really missed coffee. Honestly, he also missed cigarettes, pizza, sushi, and much more. Especially the unhealthy stuff. The pup saw a smile on his mother, "Mom, are you in a good mood?" She looked at her son with a slight smile and thought about how she would rather deal with demons than have a time-intensive child like him again. She loved him like all of her children, but sometimes she wished him to be a little less talented. The lady cleared her throat, "Maybe you can enlighten me about what happened as the information I received from Aro and others are very... worrisome and incomplete... if I look at the situation..." She looked at her son in more earnest, "Why were you and your apprentice blood smeared while she was also unconscious in a room with two healers who are now in prison, guarded by the same numbers of guards, for which you need to defeat a Tier 3 hell dog?" Alexander cleared his throat and answered with his mischievous smile, "Because it''s Interitus(~Thursday)." Alexander watched how his mother rubbed between her eyebrows, clearly annoyed by his stupid joke. Alexander scratched the back of his head as he chuckled. But decided to tell her, and while he did, his tail propelled under him, "Ok, so let me tell you what happened in short. I tried to awaken Lia''s [Mana Sense], and it worked... probably. She needs to wake up first, but I am very confident that it worked!" Marisia raised her eyebrow, "You... awakened her mana sense?" Her voice became shaky. It surprised Alexander how calm she was, considering that awakening one''s mana sense was the first and most crucial step to becoming a mage. Everything else could be learned with hard work, but if you can''t sense mana and don''t have this skill as a normal or mystic skill, it is impossible to become a mage, wizard, sorcerer, etc. Her thoughts spiraled through all possible means and situations, ''If what Alex is saying is true...'' She loved the idea of her late grandparents, who started what her son called the renaissance, an era that would let her subjects live without worry. Her grandfather''s dream was that the eras of poverty and starvation would be nothing more than a footnote in history books. But she and her grandfather could only do so much to help their subjects, and Alexander could actually have the answer to this problem. It didn''t even matter if everyone could learn magic. 1% was enough... no 0.01% was more than adequate to have enough mages who could be used for civil duties than just act as glorified soldiers. Most mages were recruited by the crown directly and trained. Luckily for her, their family''s situation was quite unique, so this wouldn''t happen to her son, who had more than enough talent to be a glorified soldier. Her thoughts returned to Alexander and the situation at hand, ''...the healer!'' She wouldn''t risk having her son assassinated by some fat lizards. She was sure of that. Her eyes glanced dangerously as she yelled, "Aro!" He suddenly opened the door and came in long strides, bowing down, "Yes, Lady, how may I be of help?" Her voice was strained, "Are the healer gone?" He shook his head, "No, they don''t want to sign the contract Mr. Alexander gave them. One of them is saying it is too much and protesting. So we put them under house arrest like he instructed, together with enough guards that even a flea couldn''t sneak out." Aro was a little overwhelmed and thought whatever happened was over the top of what Mr. Alexander instructed him to do. But he just followed it up; worst case, some guards would have a couple of hours wasted. Still, it was a good exercise for the puppy, and the butterfly-kin actually liked that Alexander was extra cautious. But something strange happened before his eyes. The lady nodded, "Good. If they try to flee or contact somebody. Cut their heads off instantly. This situation is rather..." she inhaled and exhaled strongly, "...dangerous. If they don''t comply - kill them." Aro''s eyes went wide as saucers as the lady continued. Aro could not comprehend what happened, "Also, the contracts Alexander gave them are probably inadequate. Go to Noriken and tell him that we need the ones my late great grandfather had stored for..." she paused, her eyes became more violent, "...for specific situations. He will know." Something happened, and Aro knew that [Mana Sense] was a big deal, but he couldn''t comprehend it fully. He bowed nonetheless and went out immediately. Alexander could hear how he started to give out his commands in a confident but nervous way. Alexander smiled at his mother, but she looked sternly at him, and her following words were something Alexander predicted but not to such a degree, "This is serious. If this leaves this estate, assassination attempts will be our smallest problem." Alexander let the teacup fall but instantly caught it with his mana as he controlled the tea and the cup with air. He let the cup slowly land on the table and let the tea flow inside. He looked nervous and didn''t know what the hell was going on, "What... why? I mean, I get the assassination attempts and all that. But what do you mean by more? Shouldn''t it be something people want? Everybody can be a mage or whatever. While most are maybe not talented or not interested but for the small things, this surely is beneficial if I can refine the process." Alexander was gobsmacked by what his mother said next, "No. This will not leave this estate. Alex, you don''t understand but let me try to explain. Do you know that dragon-kin''s are the only ones who use magic?" She put her teacup down and crossed her legs, looking thoughtfully at her son, "What you did would put their clans, families, or tribes under immense pressure since they have a monopoly on magic. I know your views on liberalization, and you probably think we could push magic toward the commoners, who will have a much easier life. Fresh water and fire. Maybe wood which they can grow themselves for cooking? Forget it. They could conjure up flames to cook. There will be no need for something pesky as firewood anymore." Alexander lost his composure. He knew his mother had the same ideals as him, "Yes! This and more! Our population could live longer and happier with the development of healing spells. Farmers could tend to their land for two hours a day instead of ten and have time for much more productive things!..." He rambled on, "...blacksmiths could produce metals through the control of mana much faster, everyone would clean their place with just a thought, freezing would be nothing more than you would experience but for a moment till you use magic to warm yourself..." As he excitedly told the lady his ideas, he noticed her tired smile and knew this kind of facial expression. He saw it too often when he volunteered and saw social workers who were crushed by bureaucracy and politics. She sighed, shaking her head, "Son, you need to know that people in power want to hold onto it even if they start to get stagnant. We, the Leonandra and some other families, are exempt from such pettiness." "Then...!" Marisia held her hand up, interrupting her son, "While we have more freedom due to our rather interesting position, the dragon-kins are also very unique in their circumstances." At first, coming to this world, Alexander thought that this world''s politics were much easier to maneuver through than on earth. Still, after learning history, it was much more of the same mess but different, as the system could give individuals the power to crush armies. However, Alexander tried to remember what he read and how the law structure worked. He was amazed at how similar it is to earth: The Empire, Mal-Gil, gives rough guidelines for the law that can vary from territory to territory. Then nobles who were dukes or marquise would appoint counts, viscounts, baronets, and knights so they could lead locally more precisely. Then there were the asterisks like the whole of Moorgrel, where the count had almost the same power as some higher nobles but also not. The knight families on the border to the east also had more freedom, but also not. Then there was the honor system, and who was honored through what and how important it is. Alexander frowned, ''I hate this overcomplicated system, and now dragon-kins are some exception?!'' Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Marisia looked at her son''s face and how he frowned as he thought about the empire''s political intricacies. Of all of her children, only Narsiz was interested in their fief''s political and administrative aspects. Sarah was too lazy to even attend her classes. Lorient would rather fight demons and monsters her whole life while she lived in a tent. She needed to wait and see what Janina wanted, but Marisia prayed every day that she didn''t turn out like Alexander, who was a walking disaster in itself. Alexander was young. Very young. He was in some aspects very childish but also very adult-like in his ideas, and she was already organizing and readying all teachers for him for aspects of a noble he couldn''t find in books. But she knew she needed to steer him away from his radical ideas. He was like a wild animal, ready to destroy a whole village just to slaughter a single sheep. Marisia explained, "In short, the dragon-kin clans will do everything to keep this information from spreading, while they will not declare war... officially, at least, if they don''t want to get eradicated by the crown..." a slight chuckle escaped her. She coughed into her fist and kept talking as her tone became more severe with every word, "...they will try and hire every possible sellsword they could get their hands on you and not only threaten you but everyone in the family..." She relaxed slightly, "... however, it would be a mess to do it in a way you think we should be doing." Alex raised an eyebrow, "In a way, I am doing? So there is a better way?" A smile bloomed on Marisa''s face, and her slightly cheery voice came out, "Dragon-kins are bastards. They are absolutely neutral and basically hoarders of knowledge, or why do you think we have almost no literature about Alchemy, Mana, Runes, etc.? Well, thanks to you, it started to fill up at least." Alexander''s mouth was slightly open, not believing his mom cursed for the first time. She cleared her throat and became embarrassed as she cursed in front of her son, "Well, it is frustrating. Even getting you a teacher for magic was nigh impossible, but your father could convince someone from the temple. While you are very talented with magic which could put Tier 2 mages to shame, you have no foundation." Marisia took the spoon she used for her tea and infused her demonic energy into it, "You see, magic is very comparable to the energy I use..." The spoon started to corrode, "...while it is mighty, you may injure yourself, if not handling correctly..." After she said it, the spoon suddenly disintegrated, like it was never in her hand. She looked sternly at Alexander, "...thus, Lorient, who I made a mistake by giving her too much freedom, was corrupted by the energy and is now under house arrest and strict training, but I will not make the same mistake with you and let you risk your life with one of your little experiments..." She frowned, "...again." Alexander was trying to interpret her words, and it suddenly clicked, ''Does mom think I dislike having a teacher? So she is trying to threaten me with house arrest like Lori? hm...'' He waved his hands before his face, "Mom, this is great! I have so many questions that need to be answered! Thank you so much! It is the fairy I met before, right?" The lady nodded, "Yes, her name is Green. She is... somewhat qualified... let''s keep it that way, but hopefully, it is enough to give you some foundation." Alexander clapped his hands together, and joy was seen on his face, "Fantastic! Never mind her qualification. I will have someone to talk to about magic, which will be fun!" The puppy was really excited as his tail swung widely and furiously. At last, he could compare it to established magicians since he would be considered a rogue mage, someone who received zero teaching and just learned by themselves. She took her cup, gulped the tea down in one go, and looked at Alexander with a big smile, " Back to the topic of changing the Mal-Gil for the better..." As she said it, her already big smile widened, and genuine joy could be seen on her face, "...we will release it, but you need to wait for it till all of you are strong enough. We will do it at once and spread the information as far as we can so that even the dragon-kin can only choke on their robes and can''t possibly go after us." Alexander was a little bewildered at how his mother had hatred against this particular group of beast-kin, "Mom, do you have problems with the dragon-kin?" She chuckled slightly and held her hand before her mouth, "Slightly. I will tell you later, go now and look after your apprentice and don''t worry. If you want to go into politics, waiting for the right moment is the most important part. Especially if you want those lizards to suffocate on their own overgrown ego." Alexander nodded, stood up, and came to his mother and hugged her before leaving the tea room, noting down that a set of dragon-kin heads would probably make an excellent present to her. ... Later at Ocillia''s room An unconscious spider-kin girl was lying inside her room, mumbling in her dream, "Urgh... please... no insect cleaning anymore..." Alexander sat beside Melina, who chuckled while her daughter was lying in her bed and talking in her sleep. He looked at her half seriously and shook his head, "She is such a drama queen." Melina chuckled slightly at his joke but caught herself, stopping her poor conduct. She liked Mr. Alexander, but his presence in the servant''s part of the estate put her always on edge. Nobles rarely visited their families, only to fire or punish them, but the puppy was not like the others. He sometimes visited them, dragging her half-asleep daughter back into her room because she and she cited her master: "She is bad in time management." Alexander''s personal maid cleared her throat, "Mr. Alexander, you can go back to your quarters. No need to stay here. I will look after Lia." He shook his head, "Don''t worry, she is my disciple, so I should look after her at least. Well, not that I am not at fault in this situation..." Alexander felt guilty about his little experiment, and sitting and waiting beside Lia somehow eased his conscience. He knew it was stupid, and even if she didn''t get [Mana Sense], she would not mind it as the position as his disciple was already an unimaginative position for her. His thoughts were disrupted by the smell of two hatchlings, Ocilias siblings, looking inside the room. He turned around and waved at the siblings, who ran away instantly as they saw him. Melina frowned at her children. Most would punish them for such an affront. She prayed and thanked the circle every night for her luck for serving with such an easy-going noble. Alexander was confused a bit but thought that something was wrong with him. He conjured an ice/water wall mix as a mirror and looked at himself while touching his chin. Every time he looked into a mirror, it became less surreal since the image shown was a snow-white-haired boy with matt golden eyes and wolf ears. Nothing from his last life was left except his memories, "Why did they run away? I think that I look handsome." As he did saying it, he smiled and winked at Melina. She got a chuckle out of it, "Mr. Alexander, let me at least get you something to eat. We have your favorite dish." Alexander''s eyes opened wide, "Cake? Please say it is strawberry!" Melina nodded and left the room to make some tea and bring out the cake, from which they got a couple of pieces as leftovers. Because of Alexander''s insistence, Ocilia''s family had an abundance and variety of food. Even some poor barons would get jealous. From his previous life, he knew that taking care of the people under him was important. Being in the military showed it to him, so he took care of his disciple and her family as well as he could. In this world, it was even more important since they lived at their mercy for the betterment of their lives. It is not like they could go to a local college, get a degree, and move to a new job. There were also other reasons: giving Ocilia''s family some resources to improve their quality of life made her much more focused, concentrated, etc., especially after what happened with her piece of a shit brother. By all the information available, he somehow fled. His personal maid and disciple were downright depressive for a week before it became better. The people in this world were much more resilient. In his opinion, it was the same as in the middle ages, where you had ten children, and if a couple of them died, you would feel terrible for a short time, but you needed to keep going. The same is going on here. He supported all his maids to a high degree, and they always did a great job, even doing some extras here and there. Even his mother was supportive of how he treated them since it was also her policy for her personal servants and, to a lesser degree, the general servants. A smell entered Alexander''s nose as Ocilia''s father came inside with their children and bowed towards Alex, who just waved his hand dismissively and yawned, "It''s fine." It was already late, and he really didn''t have the mind for etiquette, even more than usual. Her father started using sign language, and the younger brother, Jarus, translated, "Pops is asking if you need anything, Mr. Leonandra." He got a slap on the back of his head and pushed his head down for a bow. The noble child was laughing, "Don''t worry. Call me Alex if we are in private..." he continued after a wink, "...I am here only looking after Lia a bit since I am the reason she got hurt." Klili, the little sister, jumped in, "Were the insects bad?! Lia is always talking about insects and how they annoy her!" Another slap and bow. Alexander saw how her disciple''s father was blushing in shame. Alexander needed to suppress his laughter, ''What a cute family. It kills my inner self that I can''t really befriend commoners...'' He remembered all the novels his fianc¨¦e read and nagged his ear off with this stupid... what did she call it again? Irikey or something. However, all the heroes, some brats, noble or not, befriended commoners and slaves. Even going so far as marrying them and becoming a king, noble, or whatever. This was incredibly unrealistic. Face to a noble or royalty is something extremely important, and if you suddenly befriend some commoners or build a harem out of slaves, it will only hinder you if you want to help the people living around you. Play the game, swallow all this useless modern pride and try to take one step at a time. Otherwise, you will only hinder yourself and your goals. Alexander probably had a lot of luck since he was born into his circumstances since his family members actually married commoners, even going so far as his aunt marrying some farmer she fell in love with. But the puppy knew what consequences it brought. While the family supported her, she was shut out of the noble circles. Even if her husband became a noble through some miracles, nothing would change the fact that he was a farmer most of his life. You are usually only seen as a noble after at least three generations and established in your fief. He had some radical ideas for this world, and while he could play around here and there a bit, he would need to play the game if he wanted to slowly change the system. The puppy leaned back and sighed inwardly, pushing all his frustration down. All he could do was be friendly and accessible but only to a specific degree. It is better to learn now than later to tread the line. A groan brought him out of his thoughts, and Ocillia''s eyes fluttered open. The mischievous puppy leaned forwards and took the noblest smile he could conjure, "Good morning, princess. May I know how you feel?" She looked around and saw her family and then her master, sitting and smiling at her. Her first reaction was a blush. She pulled the blanket over her head, "Wow, after losing so much blood, who knew that you could blush so well?" The whole room went silent as he looked around for a chuckle. All eyes were on Alexander. He mumbled under his breath, "I think I am funny..." he shrugged at the bad audience and became serious, "... so, how do you feel?" She put her blanket down and got a bit more serious, hearing her master''s tone, but her blush did not go away, "I... I feel different. The world..." Alexander interrupted her, "Wait..." and turned towards her family, "...please leave the room. What we talk about is important research." They nodded and left, closing the door behind them. From his glance, he could see that the children didn''t want to go and needed to be pulled out by their father. As the young mage saw the door closing, he conjured a thin Vacuum dome around him and his disciple, so no sound could escape. He learned this spell not without problems, as he almost killed himself. Alexander accidentally sneezed while manipulating the mana and created a vacuum in front of his face, almost suffocating. Fun times. It was one of the easier magics he could conjure, where he used the mana particles to push everything else out, though it could not stay for long since he could literally suffocate again as no sound could leave, meaning: no air could come in, too. Alexander nodded towards her, signaling so she could talk. She started looking at her system window. Her face changed from worry to disbelief to full-on relief, "I... can sense mana, and I have the skill..." Suddenly she started crying and snorting. A mess of barely understandable babble came out of her mouth, "Mas... Masta... Thank you, phoo musch...." Alexander rolled his eyes inwardly and went to her and hugged her, as she looked like she would throw herself otherwise to the floor to thank him. It was actually touching, and he could understand her. She worked with him while he taught her to the best of his abilities. When he told her he wanted to try to awaken [Mana Sense] of some random guard, she begged her master to be the first. If you learn from someone everything but the most essential craft, it will become, at some point, frustrating to no end. Especially since his disciples had such ideals about knights, heroes, and so on where you needed power. She could now accumulate it and fulfill her dream. Her master would not stand in her way but even support her. As the crying continued, Alexander felt increasingly uncomfortable and tried to calm her down. He was a softy when it came to children, "Everything is fine. Calm down." Through the sobbing and wetness of his shirt, he could hear her intensive crying and sobbing speech, "Thank you masta... Thank wu woooo mutsch!" This ordeal went on for the next hour until she was exhausted enough to sleep. Hopefully, it was because of this and not the lack of oxygen. Chapter 20: Getting creative "Do you understand that you need to visualize your mana? Push it into the water and imagine how it heats up. Imagine how the water moves really fast." Inside Alexander''s office, where most of the experiments were conducted, a hatchling kneeled in front of a pot filled with water and had her hands inside it. Ocilia stood in front of a basin filled with water while she tried to learn more mana-related skills, and right now, she is trying to learn how to inject mana into an object. An object is very relative, and the emission of mana into something can be done easily. At least this was what Alexander thought, who stood behind her and frowned at how she couldn''t do it, ''This can''t be so hard, right? I learned it pretty much instantly.'' He wanted to speedrun this whole ordeal of learning all the basic skills and thought that [Mana Emission] was much easier to understand than [Mana Manipulation]. It was the next day after she learned the [Mana Sense] skill, so he may need to be more patient in his approach. He would know after a couple of days. He sighed heavily, frustrating himself as he, a natural, put his intuition into his teachings, and his [Teaching] skill screamed that it was wrong. He wanted to yell back and say that he knew it, but he had nothing else to go on. It was not like he could go to the local library and look for: Mana for dummies. The worst teachers were geniuses who never needed to learn anything and expected the same from their students, "Stop it. We need a different approach." The disciple put her wrinkly hands out of the basin and sat down on the floor, heavily breathing, "I... can''t do it..." She was downtrodden since they had been trying for hours now with all they got. First, it was just injecting the mana into the air. After that, a stick, an insect, etc. Nothing happened, and Alexander was getting nervous since he didn''t experience something like this. Well, to be honest, he almost killed himself multiple times, people could call it a success to some extent, but he chose not to use his methods, even though they could be efficient. He had the same experience as a student in his previous life, where a classmate tried to teach him. He was a natural, thus, couldn''t understand the plight of plebians. After five minutes of silence where he thought of a different approach, the door opened, and one of Alexander''s maids, Cloelle, came in, "Mr. Alexander? Are you hungry and want something hearty or maybe some snacks? You are training for hours now." Alexander stared at her while rubbing his chin and thinking if he should teach more people [Mana Sense] and see if they have the same problems. Still, he could also wait for Green, his new magic teacher, to come and teach both of them, ''I was never the patient type of man.,'' and especially not if he pitted against other long-living races like fairies.'' In the morning, he went to the library and found a book about them, as he wanted to know who actually was teaching them and if he should act in a certain way so she would like him more, and it was... insightful, to say the least. On the cultural side, there were a ton of sub-races, and they all had different cultures, so he would go blind in that sense as he had no idea who Green actually was. On the other hand, he found some facts which were... enlightening. While an average wolf-kin could live up to two-hundred years without much investment into skills or attributes, an elephant-kin could live easily for 300 years. They could easily double or triple their life span by investing in their attributes and skills. Thus Alexander''s great-great-grandparents were alive. Fairies are somewhat different. They are literally immortals who live for more than a thousand years and, at some point, reincarnate and lose almost all of their memories. Only snippets are left with them. The only way to breed for them is if a fairy decides to give up a part of her to create a child. With this, the child will have her lifespan significantly reduced and mostly exist for 200 years in their first life, but it also shortens their parent''s life span. The other thing was that fairies had something like legacies for beast-kin but different, and they received theirs only at a hundred years of age. Thus they could be a child at the age of eighty. The puppy found it highly disturbing for someone who lived on earth. Alexander thought fairies would be unimaginably strong since they could live for so long, as a baseline even! But no, it couldn''t be farther away from the truth. They had a twisted sense of time that gave them insane laziness, and only through his father was Green even moving so quickly to teach him. Otherwise, she would not show up for five years or so. But it made sense if he tried to take the fairy''s perspective. Why rush through something if you could have a break for a year or more? It would be the same as a human on earth taking a break for a few months. However, Alexander found fairies interesting but threw them to the back of his head. Right now, he has other problems. He glanced at Ocilia from the side at how she trained with her threads, and he suddenly got kissed by the muse. He ran up to her, grabbing her hands, "Lia!" Francisca, one of his maids, stood on the side, hoping he wouldn''t expect something crazy from her too. Rumors went through the estate that he wrung the poor hatchling as he trained her, which went as far as injuring her badly. Every of Alexander''s retainers and servants got a new mana contract, much harsher than the last one. Nobody really knew what had happened, but it was nothing good. She was sure of it. Alexander looked into the hatchling''s eyes intensely, "Threads!" Ocilia was a bit perplexed and confused, "huh?" Alexander stepped back and opened his arms widely, "Threads! Use your threads for everything mana related!" Ocilia looked at her hands and released a thread that dangled in front of her, and like almost instantly, the mana came out from her fingertips and twirled around the thread till it was fully hugged. Suddenly the thread started swinging around, and Ocilia burst out in tears and laughter after hearing two system notifications informing her about new skills. Alexander noticed her tears. He instantly cut off her thread with a conjured blade made out of highly compressed air, screaming out of his lungs, "GET TH..." Before he could end his sentence, Ocilia suddenly interrupted him, "No! Everything is fine! I am just happy!" A frown was building on noble''s face, ''I hate this damn world. Because I almost killed myself multiple times and her, I got too sensitive.'' The pissed pup, who almost got a heart attack, crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Hm, so which skills did you learn?" Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Before Ocilia could answer, Francisca stepped in, "Mr. Alexander, you can''t ask something like this." Every one of Alexander''s staff was instructed by Aro, the lady''s personal butler and head butler of the estate, to teach him thoroughly. Usually, teachers do something like this, but because of this wolf-boy''s unique situation, it was postponed till more trustworthy personnel were found. Someone was actually found, and she was right now on the way toward their estate. The problem was if she would sign one of those contracts. Even though a high-level mana contract could counteract treacherous behavior and assassination attempts, they were never 100% secure since loopholes could exist. The one healer from yesterday who signed such a contract needed to sign multiple times since it was fifty pages long, made with special mana-infused paper and enchantments. The other healer refused and was disposed of. Even Alexander didn''t know about it. The healer thought that having the healer union behind him would protect him and felt that the Leonandra-family only made threats void of consequences. He was wrong. Now, for security reasons, the personnel needed to teach him until he was strong enough, or some teacher would be found. Never mind that Ocilia went on and told Alexander since he was the sole reason that she could achieve what she did because of him, "[Mana Emission] and [Mana Manipulation]!" Clapping his hands and ignoring a frowning Cloelle, Alexander was elated, "Great! So, you can use it through threads - that''s fine and possibly the inherited specialty for spider-kin! Now is the time for training!" After a quick high, Ocilia was brought back and remembered what it actually means to be a mage, ''Right... I need to learn alchemy, physics, mathematics, etc... if I want to use the spells my master uses. I need to make clear that he can''t give me even more work!'' She asked nervously, "Ehm, Master..." Before she could say anything, Alexander watched how nervous she became and misunderstood her, "Don''t worry! You will be a great mage, and don''t worry about anything else! We will start right now with teaching and training! I will not get another disciple, so you can do the other stuff on the side, no pressure!" He turned towards his maid, baffled by the energetic pup, "Get my notes from the other room and tell Melina that her daughter is exempt from every chore at home! She will have work to do!" Ocilia was already exempt from doing anything at home; even her mother was cleaning her room, as she was dead tired every day when she came home. If she had a free day, all Ocilia did, was sleep, eat and just sit in the garden, watching birds. Francisca bowed and went out of the room while Ocilia tried to signal her to help her, but she only received a mix of jealousy and pity. Everyone thought that the young noble only got her the position as his apprentice out of his inexperience and that Melina manipulated him somehow. Hence, there was a ton of jealousy and sometimes ridicule from the servants in the estate, but it changed, literally, overnight when the word spread that she could sense mana. Now she has earned the respect of all the workers... and even more jealousy. It needs to be said that rumors and murmurs were the worst she got, and Alexander had no idea what happened behind his back since he was too deep into research. He really wanted to be involved in this kind of bullying and stop it, but everybody in this world saw this as something so minuscule, not even worth baiting an eye at that. Having enough food and a place to stay for themselves and their family was the most crucial issue for them. Then, having a non-abusive boss, who was also nice, was such a miracle for them. Everything else, like some nasty rumors, nobody really cared about. The young noble only made sure to modernize his contracts as best as possible with decent pay, work hours, medical care, etc., to have them be as productive as possible. Money was not a problem, especially since he actually created a training and diet regime for the soldiers, so Salyna, the head accountant of the estate, was much more lenient with him. Alexander was actually interested in how rich they were. Still, all he got was an arrogant smirk from the head accountant with a snide remark which said everything, "Let''s say this, Mr. Alexander, if we went all out with our finances, we could let count Moorgrel look like some peddling beggar." He loved it being rich. While Alexander fantasized about having a pool full of gold coins, Ocilia, on the other hand, frowned slightly but was also excited since she knew that being a mage was something only children could fantasize about! But she also knew that reality was far from fantasy and acquiring power needed a lot of work. There was a misunderstanding that knights were brutes without a brain and mages were only bookworms. It was also not really true. Knights needed to be educated and know psychology, build cultural understanding, and other relevant subjects, while mages required at least a healthy body to not die if someone sneezed at them. Ocilia was ready but also didn''t really know what she was exactly. Was she a mage or a fighter? She looked at her master and asked solemnly, hoping for an answer since he always had an answer for everything, "Master, am I a mage or knight? How should I train?" Alexander was brought back from his thoughts of spitting into the faces of the three ghosts from different times. He looked at his disciple in confusion, "What do you mean? Does it matter?" Ocilia fumbled with her hands and looked down, her upper eyes becoming slightly pinkish, a sign of nervousness, "I mean... I always kinda wished to be... strong... and..." Before she could finish, Alexander did it for her, "Yeah yeah, all that stuff of being a knight. I know how you looked at the paintings. What about it?" She became even redder and baffled, "Wait!..." her voice cracked, "...you knew?!" Alexander stood there blankly, scratching his head and waggling his tail a bit, "I mean... yes? It was so obvious that I didn''t say anything... why should I even? It is a nice dream to have." Now she had a blank expression before turning into a tomato and just staying still. Alexander thought he shouldn''t embarrass her more but give her some confidence and flexibility. He crossed his arms over his chest, "Listen, being a knight..." he looked upwards as of thinking about something, "...if you want honor, pride and all that, be strong first and second, choose how to conduct yourself." Alexander hoped that it would help her if he could direct her toward something more positive, less confidence-destroying, as she tends to self-doubt quickly. This whole honor stuff was nice, but knights were nothing more than exceptional soldiers who were honored with a title and a plot of land, so they would stay loyal. Like always, his family was an exception to the rule, and he was thankful for that. So he played into the idea since it would be alright if she developed more like what she imagined a knight would be and not what they are. Ocilia looked at him with those eyes, which didn''t lose the glint. She saluted and spoke solemnly, "I want more power." Alexander frowned, his tone becoming more condescending, "Why do you not also want to learn how to conduct yourself too?" She didn''t look up, "I... I... don''t know." Her master shook his head and conjured a leviathan out of ice and water, which curled around the room, looking down at her, ''I need to teach her that power and magic should be respected.'' Luckily, he conveniently ignored his own hypocrisy, and he treated magic as nothing more than a toy. He also dismissed this thought. Alexander also wanted to show off since it wasn''t that easy to create something like this. He needed to conjure water first out of thin air, which there wasn''t even close to enough in the room, even with the water in the pan. Forcing an air flow, he basically sucked steam (water in gas form) from far away; using all this water, he created a serpent and froze it. He used mana to stop the atoms from moving. The more he wanted them to stop, the more mana he needed, so a partially frozen giant snake should do the trick. It sounded easy, but in his head, he calculated every single bit and tried to imagine how the particles moved while simultaneously using at least four different mana skills to actually form it all. To say that his head was burning was an understatement, but the moment he saw his artwork, it was worth it. He said, "Look at me." Ocilia looked at the puppy, who had the giant and menacing leviathan behind him. This made her speechless. He looked down at her, even though he was smaller, "Tell me, what is power if not handled with the right morals?" Alexander couldn''t have a debate about morals and philosophy. She was too young for this, so he wanted to ensure that she knew what it meant before he put a gun into her hands. His disciple was frightened, but she stood still and listened as the leviathan slowly crept towards her, "Now imagine that you are some farmer who annoyed me, and I have a bad day already." The leviathan was beautiful. Ocilia listened to what her master said, but she also watched as the giant serpent was so intricate in his carvings, glistening through as light fell on him. He opened its mouth slowly as if it wanted to bite her, and she felt almost panic, but before it could happen, it transformed into water and slowly evaporated into the air. The next she felt was a snip on her forehead, which stung. Then she heard the annoyed voice of her master, "I want a thousand words on when it is the right time to use magic for self-defense..." he thought for a moment before he continued, "...I also want to know your opinion on when and how you should use magic around others... make it a thousand words too, you have three days, got it?" Ocilia understood and nodded toward him. She couldn''t really say anything as she was scared shitless by what her master did, but she understood why he did it: Magic is not a toy. Alexander thought it was kind of cute how she acted, but now he was hungry and needed a bite, maybe even cake. This made his tail propel around as he went towards the kitchen. Chapter 21: Interlude: Love And War 2 A wild roar rang through the battlefield. The druid produced it, and his skill made it so that the closer the enemies were to the source of the shout, the more they would cower in fear. This even affected his allies. Still, everyone in the vanguard knew him and expected nothing less from their sellsword associate. Thus they braced themselves. As the wolf-kin teen''s whole troop was slowly pushed back, Marisia tried to analyze the entire front, ''This is what we want.... come on, a little more.'' The leader of the beast-kin troop was in the middle of her army, riding her war-boar, which she brought from the estate, and tried to coordinate the flanks. Their feint retreat worked as they had planned. She yelled in the common tongue, which humans could understand, "Retreat slowly! They are too strong!" There were only some random words for the beast-kin sellswords that signaled the plan''s next step. For this plan, they needed to get the humans overconfident, so her command was loud, and everyone needed to repeat it, so the enemy could hear it. The first part was done, and she needed to start the second one, "Get the avian-kin ready!" Some pigeon-kin, raven-kin, and Swan-kin flew lightly into the air so enemy troops could see them and started plastering them with arrows preemptively. Luckily all of them avoided the avalanche of arrows since they were prepared to just bait them enough so they would get more overconfident, ''Good, now don''t die on me... a little more. I know you want us, come on...'' They came closer and closer, and luckily they didn''t commit enough to rush them and surprise their vanguard but were advancing slowly. Marisia could see how their formation in the back became looser, ''Good, now or never before their general fix it.'' She saw how her sellsword druid was getting pushed back, but a smile emerged over her face as she yelled, in the beast-kin dialect, which sounded like a different language, "KAIRO GO!" she continued with, "SLAUGHTER ALL OF THOSE ABOMINATIONS!" A roar exploded on the battlefield, like some bomb went off, and stunned the front. The human soldiers, who stood before the druid in his bear form, were scared shitless and imagined that the bear had become twice his size and more monstrous than before. Behind the enemies came the rest of Marisia''s troops from the forest, as she had planned with the druid. From the forests on the sides came the warriors, trying to surround them. They charged at them, ready to earn their coin. The humans pushed far into them, and they became bold. Their confidence was detrimental, even for their general, as their rear broke down before their ambush, and he, the human general, did nothing to fix it. She could see how the middle of their troops panicked, not knowing where to turn. A vicious smile was on her face; she wanted nothing more than to jump into their forces and start slaughtering them all. She held luckily back as this whole campaign should be educational for her. Because of the human''s overzealous leader, they thought that all they needed to do, was push and slaughter them, but that was not the case. Usually, such an easy tactic, the beast-kin performed, would be instantly seen through, as they had possibly scouts in the forest. This was counteracted as stealthy sub-races went long before the battle and killed them off the instant when the fight started. Mole-kin tunneling under the earth, hiding their colleagues, and feline-kin who sneaked even in the night before. They all stayed hidden till the battle started and then picked through their scouts one by one, like picking food out of their teeth and then sneaking their troops inside the forest, which were positioned outside. Marisia was solemn, looking over the battlefield as all the mercenaries stormed from behind the enemy''s flanks - starting with their slaughter. As they connected, Marisia could smell the fear and panic in the air from the humans and the ferociousness and bloodlust of her kin. She heard Kairoso giving his commands, even though he had no say in the hierarchical sense. They would rather have him in control than her. There was no problem for her since this whole expedition was a farce in the first place, plotted by her parents who broke their own code of conduct which the Leonandra''s followed for centuries and oriented themselves, generation after generation. Usually, the Leonandra''s are neutral and never involved themselves in conflict with other territories since they defended the east. It was suicide to split their forces for something like this. Furthermore, they wanted to send her older sister, who was not even a fighter, to the battlefield, but Marisia jumped in and took the position away. It should look like some internal conflict through competition for the noble title, but she didn''t care for it, like her sister. All she wanted was to protect her by jumping into this nonsense. Her thoughts were interrupted by the druid motivating the troop, "YOU BASTARDS, IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO EAT, HERE IS YOUR PREY, GUHAHAHAHA!" As he screamed while mutilating the enemies in droves, all the enemy''s fear and panic rose to extreme levels. They tried to break through to their back but could barely do it and lost a big chunk of their uncoordinated troops, and were intercepted by their charging sellswords. They lost, and the skirmish was over. The mercenaries screamed in victory like they were possessed by demons and plundered the corpses. Marisia rode on her boar to Kairoso and asked him in confusion, "I hope you will not eat humans - you know our ancestral ties are basically the same as other races, right?" Kairoso started licking the blood from his paw and looked at her, grinning widely, "I just wanted to scare them, gehe hehe." Marisia frowned, "You know... I would believe you if you would not lick the blood from your fur." The bear''s face started to frown, almost looking cute, were it not for the pieces of human and blood on him, "You know how hard it is to clean dry blood from my fur?!" Marisia turned around and slightly chuckled and started to coordinate the clean-up and build a forward base. ... Later at the encampment "GUHAHAHAHA Did you see the faces of them? We are unstoppable!" Everybody in the tent screamed at the same time while heaving their beer in the air, "WOOOOOOOH!" Since he was at the frontline, they could push and push, and even if the humans could slightly encircle them, the beast-kin push was fast and ferocious. It was the fourth win, and they came closer to backing them into a corner. They built up a cavalry after stealing horses, and then, at last, the support from her family came: twenty fine war boars in armor. They were strong and could drill like an arrow into their formation, splitting them and ending their lives. With this, they could get the territory back soon enough and then start their defense if they wanted to contest the region. But Kairoso was nervous as the humans acted like little puppies like they learned for the first time what war actually was. They didn''t build trenches, no assassination attempts, no spies, nothing. He stood up, leaving the party as he wanted to discuss it with the general. Even though she was young, she saw the bigger picture. In his opinion, noble pride always came in the way of a good win, which was the most important thing for him. Besides coin, naturally. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. From his side came a small, high-pitched voice, slurping on his ale, with a scrunched-up face, "Master, where are you going?" Kairo turned his head and answered the small fox-kin nonchalantly, "I need to talk to someone, so sit here and enjoy your time." The fox-kin stared back at his ale, trying to take a sip, and nodded. As he went to the general''s tent, he thought about how it came that he now had someone to take care of, ''Urgh, I saved him a couple of months ago from some slave handlers who were traveling through Moorgrel. Since he was so young, even without his legacy, he had no choice but to take him in. He shrugged inwardly, ''Since I also needed some assistance, why not? My clothes don''t clean themselves.'' The druid was starting to like him, ''He is somewhat clingy, but it will be better, hopefully, in the future...'' He thought about how he found him bloody and abused, which made him angry, ''But since he was tortured and raped by those bastards, I don''t blame him for his behavior. The fuckers didn''t deserve such a quick death. I was too nice for them.'' His mercenary group wasn''t the only one walking through the camp celebrating their consecutive wins. "Yohoo! Cmon baby, I am a hero! I killed some of those humans. Give me some love!" "I am a guy, you old bastard." "Never mind that! What cute is cute? What do you say?" "Urgh, go away before I slit your throat!" "Give me some real Ale! This is nothing, but water-shit is!" "Shut up, you fucker! Do you dogs even know what good stuff is?" "How do you call me, you damn pet?!" "God, these herbs are excellent. Where..." a beast-kin exhaled purple smoke, "...did you get them?" "Remember the human caravan a week ago?" "Damn, these bastards have some good stuff." Drugs, sex, aggressions, etc., after a good fight, they needed to calm down, even though veterans are calmer, especially beast-kin, who are more ferocious by nature than other races. They also have a node inside their chest where all the stress accumulates. At every moment, some stray arrow could ram into your head, ending your life. They couldn''t relax even though they won, knowing the next battle was approaching. There was a good relief: Coin and a lot of it. Marisia paid a lot, like a shit ton, and the longer it went, the more they would receive, also depending on the contribution, obviously too. After it was done, some of his colleagues could buy a lovely house in some village and start farming with their families. Few would do so. Everyone who was in this business was fairly fucked up. Addicts, maniacs, or psychos, Kairoso included, ''This damn bloodline calmed down at least.'' He came out of his thoughts as he stood before the general''s tent. He greeted guards who recognized him and didn''t see any need to inspect or do anything. The experienced mercenary shook his head, ''How sloppy. I could be bought off and want to kill her.'' Walking inside the tent, the second in command saw Ms. General leaning on a table and looking at the map, with her servant, a swan-kin, on her left. The bird-kin glanced at the druid angrily and scrunched her eyes, "What do you want?!" He clicked his tongue. Somewhere else, and he would break her pretty white wings, "Nothing, I just need to talk to the General." The general raised her head solemnly and looked at him, like always, her eyes void of emotions, "Fine. Saly, leave us alone." Salyna walked beside the mercenary out of the tent and threw a dangerous glance toward him before leaving, clearly showing disgust, ''Calm down... Kai, no need to rip her head off.'' As her retainer left, the general kept staring at him without saying a single word. An icy atmosphere was inside the tent, like always, but something changed, ''Is it more... welcome than usual?'' He could feel the ice-cold grip on his balls, but there was a little warmer, which he could discern, ''We won, so it makes sense.'' At this point, the druid had another plan. This damn war is already going on for more than two months, and even though his colleagues get paid very well, the morale will decline the longer it goes on. Usually, such contracts are short-term, but this was not the case, and the little noble-lady needed to celebrate with them. There were no ulterior motives, but she needed to interact with her forces besides giving commands, so they could have a friendly face to the voice which commanded them to slaughter the enemy troops. He stretched his head which made a cracking sound, and a smile emerged on his face, "You need to party with your troops, General." She tilted her head and opened and closed her mouth several times, but no sound came out. She was baffled by what the druid wanted. He walked over to her and started teaching her, seeing some potential, "I know, I know, how disrespectful of me, but listen, you are the General, and if you want that the moral stays high, you need to come out and celebrate with us and show yourself." Her eyes became ice-cold as her voice, "You know, I need to plan for the following battles. You can not be ser..." He rudely cut her off, "Doesn''t matter. One loss is enough, and your planning is for naught as the moral will barely hold." Her eyes slowly switched from golden to red, and her voice became more serious, "Leave, or I will make sure..." The druid instantly raised his hands in a show of peace and turned his heel, "Sure, sure, but be careful what a child of a knightage says to a druid of the temple. Not even the count can touch us, Guhahaha!" Out of the tent, he could hear a bang, and how something cracked inside the tent, "GUHAHAHAHA!" ... Days later, on the battlefield Raging through crowds of human soldiers was a giant bear. All the druid could think about was slaughter: ''There is no end to this madness!'' ROAR! Swiping his giant bear paw, ripping into some soldier, and biting another one into the shoulder, ripping it away and spitting the cheap armor towards another to distract him, as one of his vanguards used this moment to cut his arm off. The bloodthirsty bear was tired. His bloodlust was reaching its end, and he was very amazed that something like this was possible and that he could kill too many. Their army saw no end as the enemies were much more numerous than usual since they fought for more than three hours, and he could see from his peripheral vision how their right flank crumbled, and their cavalry couldn''t flick it anymore. The war boars were tired and wanted nothing more than just to flop down and sleep. The avian-kins also couldn''t fly anymore since the enemy archers somehow became insanely good and shot them down almost instantly. As he took another one of those soldiers with a swipe, he panicked inwardly, ''This is shit! Why do they suddenly have so much god damn cannon fodders! For every real soldier I killed, I needed to go through at least four meat shields who were just some goddamn farmers at best!'' ROAAAAAAR! As the druid let out his frustration with a booming roar, he went on all four and rushed towards the enemy frontline, trying to spearhead it, "PROTECT MY REAR, YOU BASTARDS!" As he rushed in, roots started to appear, which grew on his sides, entangling the enemy troops and trying to split them up. This mystic skill cost him almost all of his mana, not that there was much left, but he could barely hold his energy upright anyway, only focusing it on the most vital parts of his body as protection, ''Shit shit shit! If we retreat now, they will gain much more ground through their numerical advantage, and it will cost us more time and more battles to gain it back, and who knows how much more aid they will get after that?!'' Rushing through enemy troops, he soon crashed into a giant shield. He couldn''t break through anymore. Perfect for him since he basically only functioned at this point. There were no clever ideas anymore, only pure slaughter. Standing up, he soon found himself surrounded from three sides. Only the rear had his back, and they tried to rush inside, breaking up their formation, ''This is risky, but fuck it!'' Wedge formations were always dangerous, and the way someone could only do it was with really robust tanks. Luckily, he was really, really robust. ROAAAAAR! The slaughter started anew. For every seven the beast-kin killed, one of them died, which was really bad as they couldn''t as quickly replenish their numbers. Most of the enemy were no soldiers, so it was a nonsensical slaughter, even for the rather bloodthirsty and rough druid, who also disliked killing poor plebians who were forced to fight, "FUCK!" Like a wolf inside of a flock of sheep, he slaughtered everything he came into contact with. Roots entangled and strangled others, while the smaller ones encroached inside of others, ripping their insides with the thorns. The hate towards the enemy general burned his last bit of stamina away. The only reason he could stand was that rage he felt. He thought, ''why did they start now throwing their fucking peasants into these fights?! Obviously, they are on the losing side, but this will deteriorate their morale... they are playing on time and are waiting for reinforcements...'' They slowly dwindled them down enough so they retreated before the beast-kin could divide their formation and take a big chunk out of them. From behind came our general''s screams, "Switch positions, formation two and three! Reserve Stamina and slaughter the rest of those filthy pets!" He thought, ''Not bad,'' she was getting better after some skirmishes in commanding, but she was too much of a stuck-up noble in his opinion, but a good-looking one, though. The sellsword was tired beyond belief, but one could appreciate beauty even when covered in blood. The fights were getting easier. The enemy general is clearly some child of a noble, without any guidance, and only here for the same reason as the Leonandra''s, ''Is this what master told me? Nobles are scum, and was he right? Well, he also said that excrement is really delicious, so I should take it with a pinch of salt as he was a treant.'' Marisia''s army of sellswords was already almost at the front of the town, which had been conquered by the humans. They probably took the fellow beast-kin and already shipped them away. Usually, they are used as slaves after they cut their tails, ears, etc., off and used as ingredients for some weird alchemical solutions. The only reason they could be enslaved in the first place was that they had a very tribalistic society, every sub-race had their own little territory, but after humans, dwarves, and gnomes built up a giant alliance and saw worth in them as alchemical ingredients and slaves, they were quickly conquered. Only after thousands of years could they reclaim their freedom, and slavery or forced subordination was now a very touchy subject in their empire. As the fight was coming to an end and the enemy retreated entirely, Kairoso could see the town and became touchy as he saw a church, ''This motherfuckers either destroyed the temple and built the church there, or they just repurposed the temple.'' Inside the village stood a barely visible church, but anyone could see that it was hastily built. The druid mumbled to himself, "This will be annoying..." Before he could think further, a somewhat small mole-kin screamed from the side, with a high-pitched voice, "WHAT ARE YOUR COMMANDS!" Kairoso jumped to the side, slightly surprised, "By the circle, Mat, can you not always scream like this! Do the fucking same as always! Ditches and tell the couple treants to build a small palisade. Also, make a couple of traps in the forests. Also..." Before Kairo could continue with his commands, from the side came a war boar. Sitting on it, the general, who had a smile on her face, surprisingly. She jumped down gracefully and landed beside Kairoso, nodding toward him. She looked around and yelled, "Everyone who is not wounded, gather the injured towards the healer! Also, take the corpses from our kin and inform me who died honorably in the battle! I will compensate their families well!" Kairoso had a knowing smile, ''Hoh, she became more open? Usually, her bird does the calls for her.'' Kairoso waited for her commands to end. While he could continue and scream over her, he wanted to encourage her. She turned towards the druid, "Continue with your command, don''t worry, your experience is much appreciated, and I will also provide an appropriate monetary reward... also, pl..." she stopped herself and coughed into her fist, "...choose some scouts and look around." Kairoso grinned widely and continued his commands, ''Now she got the hang of it!'' ... At the general tent, Marisia was leaning back and holding her forehead, feeling absolute disdain for what had happened today. She won, and it was one thing to kill soldiers, but the farmers they found, which were used as meat shields, turned her stomach, and her mood swang, ''Disgusting bastard. Something like this is allowed to command and rule over others?!'' Salyna was beside her and could feel her master''s killing intent leaking out and shivered slightly but remained silent. She understood her very well. Marisia S. Leonandra is a noble, born, raised, and as such, she conducts herself to the best of her abilities. Her manners and her whole being is trimmed by her mother. Since she got her legacy, this wolf-kin went one step beyond. In her opinion, someone who wants to rule needs subjects. Otherwise, you are not a ruler. Usually, nobles see their subjects as pawns, used by them however they want, like her too, but she also sees them as something which gives her the power to be a noble. To say it lightly, such a mindset is a little unusual, and she has already got criticized by her family and other nobles while visiting some gatherings. Nonetheless, she never moved away from her position and saw her duty to reign over peasants, but she also needed, no, wanted to get their support. As she sat there, she suddenly sniffed the air and frowned, knowing who was coming. Her tail waved violently, like wanting to diffuse the smell. As Salyna observed her, she saw a small smile and a glint in her eyes, both barely visibly. She frowned, ''Oh no... please don''t tell me you like this barbarian?!'' The druid came in and was surprised to see the noble already with her typical resting bitchface, even after so many consecutive wins, ''Did someone kill her parents and trample on the grave of her ancestors? She looks like she is ready to behead every child in the empire.'' As he came in, two others came in, chameleon-kins with bulged eyes, a reptilian tail, and barely any clothes, and their skin blended into their environment, changing color as they moved. They were the perfect scouts for information gathering because of their sub-race skills, and if they had a good legacy, they would be invaluable. They saluted while Kairo stepped forward, frowning, "I don''t know if it is bad or good news..." he exhaled strongly, looking angry, "...there are around two hundred beast-kin inside the town, and they are probably the previous villagers." Chapter 22: Anastasia Inside Alexander''s laboratory/office stood a bunny-kin, donning a lovely summer dress. Blue eyes and black hair, with a cute flower in her hair but her mimic said something different: She looked stricken with a horsewhip in her hand. Beside her was Aro, smiling. Her voice was high-pitched and very solemn, "Mr. Alexander, I wish you a good day. I am Anastasia I. Ramputt. I will be your teacher from this day onward." Her ears were a little short and standing up, while her tail fluff came slightly through what looked to Alexander like a little hole in her dress. The puppy stood up, surprised to see not the fairy he awaited but some bunny-kin. He was experimenting with Ocilia on spells he wanted to try out where she could use her thread skills. Both looked tired, and the room looked like the word tidiness was banned. It was a typical day for both of them. Alexander straightened up and looked at Aro, very confused, "Hey? So, I thought Green would be my teacher..." he pointed at her, "Who is she?" Before Aro could answer, the whip snapped against the table, and Anastasia was speaking, slightly angered, "First of all, this is not how you introduce yours..." her voice stopped. She became startled, her ears dropping as she watched what her new student did, "...wh... what are you doing?!" As the first snap came with the horsewhip, Alexander became serious and conjured multiple icicles around him. He looked at her like he could kill her at any moment and was ready to do it. His voice transferred his killing intent, "If you even touch me with the whip, I will pierce you like a pincushion." Anastasia was baffled and took a step back. She looked at Aro, who only sighed, ''How can he be so calm?! I AM ABOUT TO DIE!'' She had never had such a situation in all of her life where a student could actually threaten her life. Yes, they tried, but mainly were too young and inexperienced. One glance at the spell was enough for her that Alexander, her new student, conjured to let her danger sense scream at her to run away. Aro took a step forward, "Mr. Alexander, the lady found through your great grandparents someone who could teach you etiquette and other classes, so you have the fundamental skillset that a noble needs..." The head butler looked back and saw how Alexander''s new teacher was frightened, and back at him, who slowly dissolved his magic, "...it was on a short note, and we had no time to inform you... Ah! Also, Green will come later, so don''t worry about her." The head butler also talked about how she was also the teacher for his siblings and was very trustworthy. Alexander analyzed her, and Anastasia didn''t like it. She felt literally like a bunny before a wolf who sniffed her, thinking if she would make a good snack. In the end, Alexander calmed down, thinking pragmatically, ''Why not? If I want to talk to other nobles, I need to learn their way if I don''t want to come off like a county pumpkin... but the problem is this whip.'' The puppy shrugged, "Fine with me, as long as she doesn''t use the horsewhip against me." Anastasia tried to straighten herself while trying to suppress her fear, remembering his parents, ''He is like his father. He is a beast through and through. The only difference is that he can do magic and is, most likely, highly intelligent... I don''t know which is worse: A dumb beast or an intelligent one.'' She took a step forward, looking deep into his eyes. It took everything not to flinch, "Don''t worry, Mr. Alexander, the whip serves only as a learning tool, to produce a sound to gather your attention, so to say..." she cleared her throat, "I despise violence as a learning tool, especially against children." Alexander smiled and answered her in a cheerful voice, trying to sound nobler, "Great! Then I will apologize for my conduct where I tried to use violence against Ms. Anastasia..." he took a step forward and bowed slightly, "...then, let''s begin anew. Hello, Ms. Anastasia, and I hope for good cooperation." This 180 switch surprised Anastasia, also how he conducted himself, ''Rough, but a good start... but he is lying, his tail is still...'' She thought she would again get someone like his sisters, who she could barely hammer in the basics. Only his brother was a natural talent and interested in her lessons. Still, he was more interested in the administration aspect of a noble, but Alexander could really be a rough gem. She smiled inwardly, already trying to push back the memory of almost getting killed by a child. She cleared her throat again, "Hm, very well..." as she looked around the room, a frown started to build, barely visible. "...how about a room change, Mr. Alexander? This room is rather... crammed." Alexander looked around and couldn''t really disagree with her. The room looked terrible. He nodded towards her, "Sounds good, please follow me, Ms. Anastasia..." as he took a couple of steps, he looked back at Ocilia, "...while I have my class, you will learn what air is exactly, you can find my notes... somewhere. Good luck." ... Inside another clean room "Mr. Alexander, what do you think I will teach you?" as she said it, she wanted to use her horsewhip on the blackboard behind her but decided against it, as she valued her life, ''by all what is worth. I get at least paid so much, I can live the next five years in luxury.'' Alexander sat in front of her and felt again like a student and remembered something buried in his mind, ''I hated school.'' He loved studying when he studied what he wanted, but school was not a buffet. There was no choice. Thus he needed to force himself through, ''I hope the topics will be interesting.'' The student sat straight, "Hm, maybe etiquette and history?" Anastasia chuckled and straightened herself, "Mr. Alexander, if it was all, I would be highly overpaid, but no..." she shook her head, "...we will learn so much more." Alexander asked curiously, thinking it could become interesting, "What will..." The teacher interrupted him, "Mr. Alexander, please raise your hand if you have any questions." He forced a smile, ''Right, there was also this....'' he raised his hand, and his teacher nodded to him, "What will you, Ms. Anastasia, teach me exactly?" She went to the blackboard, took the chalk, and started to write down precisely what topics they would be having for the following years. Alexander needed to admit that her calligraphy was excellent... actually, as he watched her closely, her posture was also perfect. Her clothes were a leg¨¦re, but it was a typical style. His sisters told him that since their fief is in a warm region, similar to a savanna, clothing like this was worn by younger women. He found himself drifting away into thoughts like in his school days, ''She looks really good... wait...'' he thought about all the women he saw in the estate and only now realized something, ''...god damn, they all look beautiful if I go from my old standards from the earth, too bad I have not really any drive.'' From what Alexander read, the drive of all canine-kin will come at some point when they become eleven to fifteen years old and during the mating season. As he remembered, it would be like a dam break, but unluckily or luckily, his family would have their children go through it without any salvation, so they could get some skill. After that, the parents would get professionals for their teens to have fun, ''Well, I can''t really judge by my old standards, even though I find it kind of weird. As long as they don''t rape or force anyone, it is all fine with me.'' As Alexander looked at Anastasia, she was nervous and tried to hold her sweating back while writing, ''This is a terrifying feeling! Why is he observing me again?! I need a raise! My heart will stop beating in a week because this child is frightening me to no end!'' As she was done, she turned around and pointed with her horsewhip at the classes she would teach him. Then she pointed at the first point: -Writing and reading She expectedly looked at him, "May I ask how well you can read and write, Mr. Alexander?" Instead of saying anything, he let a piece of chalk float behind his teacher and wrote down perfectly and in calligraphy, like her, in beast-kin dialect She stood there, zoned out a bit, ''This... right, he is a mage and highly intelligent, so I probably need to start with advanced classes, but this handwriting is excellent... can you call it handwriting if he used magic?'' Anastasia never had the honors in her career as a teacher for nobles to have an absolute genius. She thought through more things and decided against advanced classes. It was better if they went through everything point by point; worst case, they would waste a week or two. Who knew what he actually didn''t know? Parents were inclined to praise their children if they could write, read and do mathematics well with seven or eight, but his level is entirely different for such a young boy. She had almost asked him about his skill levels since they would probably be in their twenties or even thirties. She didn''t know but could deduct them by looking at his actual abilities. After a moment, she returned from her thoughts and looked at Mr. Alexander with a broad smile, "Fantastic, Mr. Alexander, so how about the second topic?" The teacher pointed at -Mathematics. Alexander scratched his head, and Anastasia wondered for a moment if he knew any mathematics at all, "I think I know the fundamentals. Are integrals, Analysis and Linear Algebra good enough?" From the previous computer engineer''s perspective, this was fundamental. He honestly didn''t know what fundamentals she was referring to. Knowing some mathematicians from his university days, he knew they had some crazy stuff he barely understood. He only partly had linear algebra, for example, enough for a CE. But he also forgot that he was in the body of a child. The bunny-kin blanked out for a second and asked him curiously, "Excuse me? I don''t know what it means, Mr. Alexander." Alexander sighed, understanding the problem, "Ms. Anastasia, do you have maybe some tests with you? Because I am self-taught, we are talking besides each other." She nodded, grabbed her small backpack, and put out at least fifty papers that would never fit in if the law of physics applied, ''This is one of those spatial bags? I barely saw one, and mom forbade me to study one, saying it was too dangerous hm...'' His mother was right since the first thing he wanted to do, was to cut it open and research it, but this was a violent magic item and had the power to explode if it was damaged. Most of the time, it just imploded, but with his luck, Alexander knew that this thing would throw him into his second new life. So he gave up on the idea till he had more experience with magic. His thoughts ended as his teacher put twenty math sheets full of exercises before him, "Please try and work through it. If you don''t know any further, you can stop, Mr. Alexander." Alexander nodded, opened the first page, and was surprised, ''This is... first-grade stuff?'' He sighed, furrowing his brows, which confused Anastasia, ''So, he doesn''t know math? How weird... I would think that...'' Before she could end her thought, Alexander''s interrupted it with his next actions, which made her curious. He took an ink bottle, opened it, and with what looked like high control and concentration, created something she never saw, even from mages. The ink flowed out of the bottle into a ball in the air, then it suddenly transformed into a feather made out of ink which started to write on her tests. A small string of ink was connected to the top of the feather. It wrote down all the answers at an unseen speed, and she was bewitched at how beautiful the feather looked. It was mesmerizing. Every little detail was correct and so delicate. Every single barb was so finely made, like an artwork. The Quill had a little pattern carved in of tribalistic-looking symbols, and the ink made it glister just right, ''How beautiful and practical...'' Alexander, on the other hand, had other thoughts, ''FUCK!'' The puppy tried to create a more straightforward method to write and came up with an idea: why not just take the feather away and write with the ink? The first tries could have gone better: too much or too little ink when writing, too much pressure, too little pressure, and so on. He wasted more than fifty ink bottles for his little training but, in the end, could create a ball full of ink with which he could write, but it was not enough since it looked disgustingly simple. So, he went on and tried to create something more beautiful and artistic, so to speak. There was no reason for him to do it, but he had something in him that wanted to show the beauty of his art. It was the same on earth when he coded. It was elegant, short, good to understand, and easily changeable... if he had time to work on it, otherwise it was brute-forced garbage, and now he had the time to actually give his craft the beauty it deserved. This feather was his first try, and the insane control he needed to show was even too much for him as he reached his limit with it. But his skills leveled up quite nicely and made it easier for him with every ding he heard. He was proud that his teacher seemed to like it too, ''better is it,'' he thought because reproducing every damn barb and intricate detail was hard. He needed to control the ink and the air between them, but it looked beautiful, and with more training, it would become like a third hand. [Mana Manipulation] was doing its work and the math exercises he solved were, at their most challenging, eighth grade, maybe ninth. So, he was done in forty-five minutes with his last sheet, where he used an equation procedure: addition method, others like the other ones, but he was a fan of this one since he liked to take it slow... how ironic. As the puppy student was done, he put the ink back. Anastasia was back from mesmerizing his feather quill made out of ink, "I am done, Ms. Anastasia..." he handed her the sheets "...all twenty, I hope I didn''t need too long." he really meant it, since he could be done in thirty minutes if he didn''t use his magic. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. As a human, he would need even longer, but he felt like his brain ran now like a computer, and on earth, he had a toaster instead. She coughed into her fist and took the tests, ''Hm, he filled everything out?'' As the bunny-kin teacher checked her student''s answers, her eyebrows rose, and she became breathless momentarily. It was perplexing for her since the last test, on page twenty, needed a [Mathematic] skill of level twenty-five. When she reviewed everything, she laid down all the sheets and didn''t know what to say, ''He has everything correct... this usually takes my students until they are thirteen to know everything to this point.'' It was unbelievable that her new student knew everything off the bat while he was so young. Sure, these were the basics you needed to know if you wanted to have a chance to join any university, which was worth its salt. She shook everything away and smiled at her little genius. While it would be hard to teach him, it would be interesting. "Perfect." "Pardon?" Anastasia sighed, "A perfect test..." suddenly, she sounded stricter, "...so there is no need to learn mathematics for you anymore." Before the puppy could ask more, his teacher moved closer to the blackboard and pointed toward the next point: -Languages. She wanted to go through every subject as quickly as possible to discover what the little genius knew and didn''t. Then she could remodel her lesson plan for him. This confused Alexander, "I think... I speak our language, but I must disappoint you if Ms. Anastasia means other languages. I only speak the beast-kin dialect." Anastasia was relieved to hear that he didn''t speak any other language. Otherwise, her lessons were over before they could really begin, "Hm..." she nodded, "...there are multiple languages a noble needs to know. Can you guess which ones, Mr. Alexander?" She stood and waited for the puppy to think it through. He raised his hand. She nodded towards him, "I would guess if nature-dwellers and night-elves have a language, it would be good to learn theirs, right?" The teacher''s voice sounded joyful, "You are absolutely right, Mr. Alexander..." she began to write on the blackboard while explaining, "...luckily for us, nature-dwellers like fairies or night-elves speak an elvish dialect as their language, they call it Nocir, which translates into our language es darkness or shadow, depending on the context of course." She looked back at her student, "Any more, Mr. Alexander?" The puppy thought about it and tried to compare it to earth, ''Do we have something like English in this world? Well, never mind. I am here to learn and make mistakes.'' He shook his head, "I don''t know, Ms. Anastasia, but I would think that there exists a common language nobles would learn to speak with each other from different race-specific territories?" She raised an eyebrow as this answer surprised her ears slightly, twitching, "Yes, again, you are correct, Mr. Alexander!..." She started writing again, "... nobility and royalty usually learn also languages from other races. Normally, you wouldn''t know the names since your family''s situation is a particular one..." Anastasia stopped and drifted to a different topic, "...I think I can tell you this since we have the time. The Leonandra family and six others defend the border against demons..." The bunny-kin almost hopped towards her bag and looked inside while she kept on talking, "...this families were royal knights and are presented to count Moorgrel by the crown from long before. Thus enjoy something called territorial chasteness..." Her eyes glanced as she took out a giant map and went towards the blackboard with a chair, so she could clamp the map up to the blackboard, "...what a stupid name... however, your family and the other families can''t enlarge their territory but also, nobody has the right, under the crown, to take yours in any way..." After she had hung the map, she jumped down, not making the slightest sound, which surprised Alexander, "...thus your unique situation that you don''t really need to know languages from far away territories as you will probably not join any positions where you will travel to other foreign territories..." Inwardly she also added that he would probably kill everyone in those meetings, so it was suitable for everyone in the empire for him to stay here, "...but I have the opinion that educating themselves could always benefit you in ways you wouldn''t know of..." She opened the giant map and showed the continent, which Alexander never saw. She cleared her throat into her fist, "As you can see, you are the southernmost of the seven families defending the border..." After thinking about how she should continue the lesson since it was at that point improvised, she continued, "But let''s get back to the topic of languages. Mr. Alexander, which language from which territory would you learn?" Alexander looked closely at the map, trying to memorize it. He also knew that she just wanted him to discuss with her and open up more and be more interested, ''Typical elementary school education, except the topics,... but I like it though.'' Like his teacher wanted, he raised his hand and waited for her affirmation to speak, ''What a cheap way for a pavlovian approach... the horsewhip is there to probably shock the children into attention.'' She nodded, and Alexander spoke, "I would say that for a beast-kin noble or royalty, learning the language of humans, dwarves, and gnomes would be mandatory since they encircle us, and we probably, have a lot of territory dispute with them, thus skirmishes that are followed by negotiations if for example, we need to ransom someone out..." Alexander saw her eyes lighten up, which made him feel like a teacher''s pet. He continued, ignoring the conflicting emotions and their origin of disgust for himself, "...furthermore, while I don''t know the political situation around the territory as mentioned earlier, I would guess that not everyone is their ally, so I would say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend... as long as they are neutral to us, historically speaking, thus learning their language would also help us strongly." Anastasia started clapping, and her voice became very joyful, "My, my, if the... let''s say one of my past students was half as well versed in continental politics at twice your age, we would have a bright future for our empire." She cleared her frog in her throat, "Excuse me..." and continued on, "....you are absolutely right, and I can say that for you, Mr. Alexander, learning the dwarvish language, called Mutay, which translates into mother, will be our primary goal, besides Nocir, the secondary will be the human language, called Loi which means light, sun or fire, a very annoying language I need to add, and if we have afterward time, learn the one for our allies the high-demons and djinns." The puppy nodded and wondered what the glance in his teacher''s eyes meant. He could somehow remember it, and it made him shudder inwardly. She stepped close, "Today, Mr. Alexander, before I continue explaining what I will teach you as of tomorrow, I think I need to make changes to the plan I have for you." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Pardon?" She looked down at him with a somewhat sinister smile, "No need for pardon, Mr. Alexander, since you are potentially my best student..." In the bunny-kin mind, she could bring out an unlimited potential, but for this, she needed to overthrow the whole plan she designed for him and concentrate on efficiency. A real rough diamond was sitting before her, and she felt elated by teaching someone like him. Now Alexander felt like a piece of salad before a giant bunny, ''What the fuck is happening, and why does it feel like deja vu?'' Anastasia continued with the same seriousness, "...I personally think that we can learn so much more, but before it, I want to ask you, Mr. Alexander, something: Do you think you can follow a plan at a much faster pace? By this, I mean you will learn history, politics, culture, etiquette, and much more about every relevant territory, in a different language while learning the language. What do you say?" Her smile was creeping Alexander out, and he remembered the same scene playing out in his last years in school, where his teachers wanted him to go to certain classes for the gifted, and in his last year, while taking the school examen, going to university for one or two courses, for early credits. He did take it partially and regretted it. He was ready to decline as his experience showed how studying shaved at least twenty years of his life back then, where he had, instead of blood, coffee in his veins... but he remembered that it was not earth. He had a system that would give him with each new skill level up juicy experience and, thus, more levels in general, ''At least I don''t need to look after my siblings and work for a minimum wage on the side.'' The greedy puppy nodded, "Yes, Ms. Anastasia, I would love nothing more than to go with your program!" The also greedy bunny-kin crossed her arms, looking sternly at him, "Hm, so you know: You will have daily lessons and homework. Usually, my students will have lessons three times a week, but you will have eight times, much faster and longer. With this, we can work through the primary material in a year and then go for the immediate education then..." She inhaled and exhaled strongly, "...are you really sure, Mr. Alexander?" Anastasia hoped that he would say yes. She wanted to teach at least one prodigy in her life, seeing where her limits were, ''If he can do it, I may learn how to go through my skill test...'' She already had students, so-called geniuses, who gave up after a month, breaking down in tears. It was no more than pure disappointment. The student''s parents set it up so she would be interested in teaching them. Alexander didn''t know that Anastasia I. Ramputt was a daughter from the Ramputt family and a fantastic teacher who educated only the ones connected to the crown: princesses and princes, but also all the children of all the ministers and other essential personnel. But she was also obligated to teach the knightages that were east in Moorgrel. Now, she hoped that there was no reason to go back to the palace for the following years, ''Alexander, while you are young, I can see in your eyes a well without a bottom of intelligence... say yes, and with hard work, I can model you into a one in a hundred millennia genius.'' The young puppy shifted slightly back from his teacher''s stare, "Yeah... sure, ok." Anastasia''s smile bloomed like a predator locking unto her pray. This made Alexander very uncomfortable, ''Holy shit...'' She went towards her bag, unpacking dozens of books while talking, "I will stay at the estate, Mr. Alexander, and later talk your lesson plan through with Ms. Green. Till then, please start reading the introduction to the night-elvish language." She took a couple of books and brought them over, laying them down on his desk, "I need also rework your plan and see what I can do... Mr. Alexander, you said that you know mathematics to which part?" The puppy frowned, "Forty-seven." His answer confused her, "Pardon me?" Alexander sighed and started looking over the book which introduced the language. He already missed modern education as this was structured terribly, "I said my level in mathematics is forty-nine. Please plan it out correctly, and yes, I know that it should stay a secret, and yes, I don''t care. I don''t want you to plan the next years of my education with wrong assumptions." She stared at her student, not knowing what to say. Outwardly she was very calm, but inwardly, she began to panic, ''HE HAS A HIGHER LEVEL IN MATHEMATICS THAN I DO?!'' The puppy looked at her, already readying himself to push his limits, "Was this all, Ms. Anastasia?" Anastasia climbed out of her stupor, "Ah yes, I apologize. There was also the problem with leveling too quickly. I think your sister Ms. Sarah experienced it when she was little?" Alexander nodded, "Yes, that is true." She started rummaging again in her bag, "Nobody really knows what it is exactly or why it happened, but fifty years ago, some quack of a doctor was testing medications and found out that the symptoms of that are a disbalance of the body to mana... Ah! Here it is!" His teacher pulled out four green rings, "...and to work against the disbalance, you need to grow it out by strengthening your body..." She looked at him with a twitch of her bunny ears, analyzing him like a piece of meat. Alexander could''ve sworn that he felt mana coming from her eyes, "Much faster." Alexander tried to refute her, "But Sarah was training physically and having her skill levels there?" She put the rings on the desk before her student, "Yes, but you need to strengthen your body much faster than you normally could, especially before the legacy, since your energy is sealed, and this is why this is perfect for you, Mr. Alexander!'' He stared at the four green rings with runes on them, having a horrible feeling, "I... I see." Anastasia chuckled slightly, "Oh, where are my manners? I apologize, but let us talk more freely since it will become rather annoying very fast to look after manners if we want to work through my special education plan. How about it, Mr. Alexander?" The confused puppy nodded, seeing her making a 180-degree switch in her personality after finding a guinea pig, "Sure, I would also prefer it, teach." She held her hand before her mouth while she laughed, "Oh, how country pumpkin like calling me teach, but I quite like it! So, now..." Anastasia pointed towards the rings, "... these are body strengthening rings, usually used for students who have unsealed their energy so they could use them. It should be my present for your legacy, but never mind it!" The puppy took a ring and inspected it, "Ok? How do I then use it? I guess you want me to use them to strengthen my body while we go through your plan, right teach?" She clapped her hands together, throwing out her manners entirely away. Her student liked it, "Alex... is it ok to call you like this? However, energy can be, like we know through our system, either [Aura], [Defense] or [Essence], but there is another energy, which mages are using, can you guess?" Alexander waved his hand before his face, "Alex is fine, and you mean mana? So these things can be activated by mana, and why didn''t I see one of my siblings wearing them?" Anastasia held her finger up, "Because these are rare mana items, and don''t worry, I gifted your sibling''s good stuff too... now, I don''t know exactly your skills, and they might be hard to activate, but maybe together with Ms. Gre..." He was already trying to push his mana inside the rings as she spoke. He needed to use multiple skills: [Mana Sense] to sense where he would inject his mana and how to maneuver it while inside, [Mana Emission] to push it inside, also while his mana was inside, [Mana Manipulation] to actually move it through the complex pathways, ''Huh, it''s not that hard as there is zero resistance, no, my mana is getting sucked through the pathways... shit!'' Before she could speak further and think of a plan to make her dream happen, Alexander interrupted her with his new gift, which started to glow and slammed with full force against the desk downward, breaking it, and continued towards the floor, cracking multiple boards. Alexander let it go after it slammed against the table, as it would likely break his hand. He looked at his teacher, who was first surprised but then back to cheerful, "How great, Alex! You already learned how to use it!" The puppy watched the item as its glow faded, "Yeah, thanks, but I don''t know if I can train with it if it is that heavy." Anastasia came over to the item, and her hand started to glow with milky white energy, coating her hand as she touched the item that destroyed the floor, "Oh, I see the problem... you put too much energy inside, so the weight increased by too much." As she was handling it, Alexander could see how part of his mana was ejected through the item, "You found out how to put your mana inside, but there is also a way to discharge it too... here you go, put this around your wrist." Alexander tilted his head slightly, fighting the notion of scratching it, "So, this is a bracelet? It is too big, though?" "Hm, you seem not really have any experience with magic items?..." she put it on herself instead, and it became smaller, fitting her perfectly, "...there is a mechanism to reduce its size, a real little treasure, I would say." As she was done, she gave it to Alexander again, "Be careful, but as you already figured it out. It should be easy enough now that you know what to do." He was confused, "Yeah, but why are there four of them?" She answered quickly while going to the material and sorting it out. He saw a little hop in her step, "Hm? For your wrists and ankles, of course!" Alexander wondered if it was such a great idea but was excited as he had something he didn''t have in his previous life: Multiple choices and a cop-out without consequences. On earth, he had only one chance, he could not just give up and go away, but he could try things out here. Nonetheless, he really disliked giving up and was always one who always pushed to the end. Looking over to his new teacher, who made probably so many turns today in her personality, she could be a windmill. He looked back at the bracelets and started to figure out how he could adjust their weight before he put them on. It was not hard to figure it out. After a few minutes of studying it, the former CE discovered that the bracelet was a typical electrical board with logic gates. Still, instead of electricity, it ran with another kind of energy. As he ran as little mana as possible through the bracelet, he found a terrible design choice and knew where it came from, ''So, they try to overcomplicate stuff a little, so it would be harder to copy it... huh?'' There were components with complicated gates built in which transferred his energy. This could be made more accessible and more straightforward so that the person using it wouldn''t need to put his mana through some weird winding pathways. The reason could also be that it protected the design from copying. He found the shrinking function, ''Urgh, why not make it more accessible? Well, never mind it, all I can use right now is the interface, and I have no idea how it works internally as it increased the weight.'' There were more things since this magic item ejected minuscule amounts of mana for some reason, ''A defect, maybe?'' Nonetheless, he stopped playing with it since he feared that this thing could blow up in his face. So he put it on, and it shrank and increased its weight slightly. He did the same with all the other three, and something happened. As each of the magic items emitted a wave of mana from them, they responded to it as they connected to each other. Alexander suddenly looked closer and could see how the mana acted and was astounded, ''Do they actually combine [Mana Resonance], [Mana Absorption], and [Mana Emission] to create something similar to Bluetooth?!'' The curious puppy wanted nothing more than to see this thing''s schematics and know what the OS looked like, or if there was even one. Still, this thought went quickly away as, unexpectedly, his whole body became heavier, and he was slightly pushed down, ''Holy shit! Is it increasing my whole body weight evenly?!'' He was pushed suddenly down but could barely straighten himself, "Hey! I need help, teach!" She looked over from sorting out her materials, and a big smile bloomed on her, "Oh! How well you are doing! Others would need at least weeks to synchronize them!" He gritted his teeth and tried to adjust the weights by absorbing part of the mana back to him evenly, but it barely helped, and he already had the minimum amount of mana inside the bracelets. His weight increased twice, and it felt terrible, "I DON''T WANT PRAISE! DAMN IT! I NEED HELP! IT IS NOT GETTING WEAKER!" She came over nonchalantly, looking over one of the bracelets, "Huh? No, it is the lowest setting, and please, Alex, language." Alexander screamed internally, ''I WILL SKIN YOU, YOU BITCH!'' But he catches himself, trying to calm down, "Are you serious that I should wear it to strengthen myself?" She shook her head, "By the circle, no..." Alexander felt better till she continued, "...you need to train with them and increase them if the need arises... oh please, don''t look at me like this. Otherwise, you will gain so many levels, and with the mana disbalance, it would put you out for at least a year... She looked more closely at him, "I am confused, as of now, why you didn''t receive one already... considering high skill levels." Of course, she didn''t know that Alexander wore an anti-mana collar for at least a year, where he could level up fast, but he could barely train his mana skills, "You know, s... stuff happened, teach." Alexander tried to move while thinking if it was such a good idea, ''So, do I want to push through and gain unimaginable strength or chill?'' The mage who almost killed himself because of his curiosity chose the only thing which sounded right to him, ''Hehe... I will be so much stronger...'' He had already tried to be more conservative in his level gainings and could sometimes feel pain, which he thought was some weird growing pain. Never would he think that the mana would be the problem, but he now had a good counter to it. Chapter 23: Learning Magic Little later, at Alexander''s office/laboratory. Alexander opened the door and walked into his office, on his wrists and ankles green bracelets; his face strained. Ocilia sat at her desk, studying, and was surprised as her master returned and looked like he went through another sparring session with the lord, "Is everything alright?" He tried to walk as naturally as possible but had obvious problems, "No... I mean, yes. It looks like I will go through hell in the next years." Ocilia tilted her head in confusion, "Hell? What is that?" Before he could answer, the door behind him opened, and a small fairy came in with a sleepy expression on her face, yawning. As she walked through the room and looked around curiously, she explained, "The circle doesn''t have the concept of hell, it is a human thing, and I am amazed that someone so young is interested in deities." She walked towards one of Alexander''s notes and read it while she talked, "By the way, I am Green, your magic teacher, and it looks like you already are trying to learn science... hm, I approve." Green turned around and looked at Alexander. Seeing the bracelets, she knew exactly what they were for but ignored them, not really interested in what madness this family was getting into. Instead, she asked her new student, "So, you are Alexander. How about you show me what spells you know? With this, I can determine how good you are and where we need to work on." Alexander fell in love with her. Straightforward and to the point, it was all that he wanted. He nodded and conjured a small fireball over his palm, which he could barely lift, "How about this... hello?" Green came nearer and looked closely at his fireball, clearly in her thoughts. She stepped back and looked at Alexander, shaking her head, "This is not magic." Ocilia and Alexander looked first at her and then at his small fireball. Alexander was confused, blanking. He asked her, "I... what?" Green held her finger in front of her and spoke a few words in a language he had never heard. A small flame ignited on her index finger, "Tell me the difference, besides the power, of my flame and yours." He looked between them and couldn''t find any difference except for the power. The fairy raised her eyebrow, looking annoyed, "You need to look at it like a mage would look at it." Alexander understood that he needed to use [Mana Sense] and immediately understood the difference, "Yours is made of mana or at least has mana inside it, but my has none... what does it mean?" She touched her flame, "What you do, is called alchemy, and while it would be funny to me..." She smirked slightly and continued, "... you get burned by your own contraption. You shouldn''t touch it like I do. Spells never injure the ones who conjure them; contraptions do." The puppy stood there, baffled, and looked at his fireball, and he didn''t know what to think. He didn''t use magic but alchemy, and it looked like his spells were also called different: contraptions. Ocilia was similarly confused. She watched this exchange and was fascinated by it. She, like her master, thought that alchemy had to do with potions, not with... conjuring up fireballs. He could barely let out a sound, "Wha.... wai... but..." Green let go of her spell, which dissipated into mana particles. Her voice, instead of disappointment, what Alexander expected, sounded very interested, as if her sleepiness was gone, "Huh, I kind of expected that you would know no magic, but I never expected that you actually were this good in alchemy... can you do more?" Alexander wanted to ask thousands of things but let it go, she would probably tell him with time, so he conjured icicles, a little wind, and water balls, "I can do much more, but I don''t want to thrash my office." Green didn''t know what to say. She had watched him conjure up a fireball before and wanted to call him a genius, but she steeled herself. Now, he could conjure various contraptions, which only advanced alchemists could, ''How the hell should I react now?!'' She came here with the mindset of at least holding on to the power dynamic of teacher/student and didn''t get bullied by a little puppy. Now, if she wanted to continue as efficiently as possible, she needed to get off her high boar. There was no way she could fake it for years. She threw away her pride and told him honestly, "I... this will be a short time where I will teach you." Alexander reacted out of panic, "Wait! Because these are only contraptions and not spells, this doesn''t mean that I can''t use spells. I am sure I can learn them, please giv..." His panicked pleading was interrupted by her roaring laughter. She laughed so hard that tears came out, and she needed to hold her stomach. Both youths were bewildered and especially Ocilia, never seeing her master this desperate for anything. As she was done and wiped her tears away, she looked at her student, "Listen, I mean that I can''t teach you a lot because you already have the skill set to even conjure up spells, which I could never do." Green found it sad and funny, but she was a lousy magician. Yes, she was a student at a magic academy, but it was some third-class one, and even that would be overpraising it. She also had not the mana skills to actually learn spells. Even lesser-mid-range difficulty constructs, like a fireball, needed too long for her to conjure. The one she needed to teach already had skills much higher than hers since an alchemist who could conjure up contraptions that easily would see spell-craft as extremely easy, to a certain level at least. Alexander sighed in relief and was fine with it, ''As long as I can have the fundamentals, I can work it somehow out!'' The fairy walked over to the blackboard, "Can I erase it?" Alexander didn''t say anything but just conjured up water, which washed away some physics he taught to Ocilia someday and dried it up with hot air which blew around it. Green watched it with fascination, "Well, I would say that you will learn everything in a couple of weeks... damn, Kairo was right." The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Alexander overheard his father''s name, "Oh right, you are the acquaintance of dad. Do you know him from the temple?" He knew he was a druid, an essential religious person in their religion, the circle that had the world in itself as their deity. The circle was the main religion for beast-kin, nature-dwellers, and night-elves, so his father was even more important than a low-level noble like a viscount. Of course, it was all relative since druids also had ranks, friends, and influence depending on their power, connection, and charisma. He also heard something about how his parents met and what happened then with his grandparents, but nothing specific, as his mother didn''t tell him about it, which made sense. You don''t tell a child how your father wanted to gut your grandpa. At least Alexander hoped it wasn''t like this. Green sighed, "Yes, and he sang praises about you, but... I am honest. You are more incredible than he told me. He probably didn''t know... wait... do you have problems coming close to your father?" Alexander nodded, "Yeah, but I worked through and got some skills where I can reduce the effect of his mana fear skills." The fairy raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? Well, I also show you a spell on how to counteract it since most warriors have it, but now..." She turned toward the now clean blackboard, "...we start with spell-craft, and I guess, but you probably already have skills at a sufficient level like [Mana Manipulation], [Mana Emission], and [Mana Sense]?" Alexander nodded towards her, which she reciprocated and started writing on the blackboard, "Spell-craft is made out of two things, language and constructs." She wrote down sentence after sentence full of logically followed sentences. The writing was so dry that Alexander thought he had read an instruction manual to a toaster. "I will now show you the ignite construct and that mana constructs respond to what we say. If you want to know more about it, I recommend researching mana theory at the cathedral or one of the magic universities in the free cities because I don''t know why..." She turned around to her student and shrugged, "Sorry." The fairy thought that having her here was a waste of time since he would probably be done in two weeks to a month, depending on how certain other skills were. Also, Alexander thought of something when Green couldn''t teach him anymore. He would ask her if she could get him the literature from her academy, but right now, he concentrated only on her magic teachings. Green turned again to the blackboard and kept writing but now wrote three symbols, "This is a magic language, specially created to cast spells. These three words mean the same as these fifty ones in spoken language, and, honestly, I didn''t know you to have such advanced skills. Otherwise, I would have brought my notes with me for more in-depth teaching, but I will at least teach you one spell today." She started writing down the construct, "Speak after me these words..." Three barely identifiable words came out of her mouth, and Alexander tried to repeat them but halfway had problems as it sounded like a mix of Arabic, French, Vietnamese, and Klingon. Green suddenly stopped as her student repeated after her, but only for a moment, and then kept drawing the construct, ''A genius is a genius in the end... I needed a month to get it right, and he has it already halfway right.'' It was frustrating for the fairy but also really exciting, ''I can use him, later on, to help me out. If he gets famous and mighty, everything else won''t make sense with such a talent... so let''s be nice!'' On the side, Ocilia also tried it, and Green had no problem with it. She already knew that the crazy puppy somehow made it happen that she received [Mana Sense], and sometimes glancing at her thread she played with all the time, there was mana in there and made it also move differently in a skillful way, ''Maybe he will take me as a student, too hehe.'' Only her linguistic skills were terrible, even worse than Green''s, which made her happy since being with Alexander crushed her self-esteem. After another twenty or so tries, Alexander could pronounce it at least as well as Green, but she let him repeat it another fifty times more, so he could better remember it. Green turned around, pointing at the construct she drew, "This is the ignition construct which conjured a small flame. Now, what is a spell-craft construct?" She inhaled strongly, "A spell-craft construct is an amalgamation of mana which has a specific density of mana in specific regions. The lines are the connections between nodes..." She pointed towards the nodes as she slightly flew in the air, "Nodes need to have the same density and volume as other nodes, at least in this construct, and the lines can vary, but the more similar they are, the more stable your spell will be." His teacher held her palm out, "Now watch the mana. You build your construct however you want. Ultimately, it needs to be like what I have drawn." She slowly built the construct in her hand, so slowly that Alexander and Ocilia, who stood much closer, could watch it, "See how I built it from the inside. Luckily, this construct is 2D, so it is not so hard. If it is built, say the specific words, and your spell..." Green was interrupted by Alexander slowly saying his words, and she wanted to chuckle that he was so impatient, but her words were caught in her throat. He cast a solid ignition spell and played around with it while touching it. Green hated people like him, especially since he was actually not from a magic-inclined race but from one with physical prowess and even better scout abilities, ''I thought he would motivate me to learn magic, but right now, I only want some tea with cookies... damn it...'' Ocilia was watching him, shrugging her shoulders, and kept on trying since she didn''t expect anything less from her master. On the other hand, Alexander had other thoughts, ''This is annoying that I have to say the incantation... I need to find out how to cut it out fully.'' Since he was in this world, magic lost its... magic and became a part of his world like drinking water. On the other hand, research became something magical to him, and he couldn''t wait to have more spell constructs, spell... words? He turned towards Green, "Ehm, how do you call the words or sentences or whatever?" Green looked at him while slowly landing on a desk and sitting in the lotus position, "This magic language is one of many and probably not worth much since you already need three words for such an easy spell... however, my university used it, which makes it not much better, and it is called Luminous I." Alexander thought that it was a weird name, "Luminous I? What about II?" She touched her chin with the index finger while trying to explain the intricacies as easily as possible, "Well, depending on how complicated a spell is, it needs different languages so it can be more efficient." "It depends on how many lines, nodes, and overhangs, which we will learn later, the spell will have." Alexander suddenly thought about something and cut off his spell, trying to activate it multiple times, and every time the time he needed became shorter and shorter. At the same time, he also began to speak much faster. In his thoughts, something nagged him, and he knew what, ''I can use the algorithm skill to build the construct much faster and use less mana with it!'' He could build it as quickly as possible by manipulating mana from all sides and from the inside to build it, but it costs much more. If he made it just from one side, it would cut the costs to a third, but the time he needed to build it would also be increased by five. Every time he manipulated mana, he needed to use mana and stamina to move mana. This also meant that the faster he did something, the more mana he used since he needed to push mana much quicker into the position he wanted. It also killed his precision since the slower he was, the more precise and less mana/stamina was wasted, but brute-forcing costs more mana since there will be a lot of waste. The algorithm skill helped him build it up efficiently, as quickly as possible, with as little waste. After twenty tries, Green looked at him and shrugged her shoulders, saying out loud what she only thought, "Well, kind of expected it from somebody who learned his first spell with six years after forty-five minutes." Alexander blushed after hearing it, and Ocilia started to feel proud of having him as a master, even more so than usual. Green smiled slightly and jumped off the desk, flying towards the door, "This is all for today. I will come in two days and bring everything I have at home..." She suddenly stood still in the air, thinking and stroking her chin, "I guess I can contact some old friends from my university days and ask them for as much material as possible... so stay curious, Alex." He was elated as he wanted to do exactly what she did by herself. Asked if she could contact people, he could gain a solid foundation in the years to come with a little luck. As she flew out, Alexander bowed towards her, "Till later, teach." She landed, opened the door, and almost ran into Lorient, "Hey, Green! How are you? Can Alex at least cast a meteor?" Green chuckled and nodded towards her, "Hello, Lorient, and no, but he needs at least a week or two." She squeezed beside her and waved at them goodbye as they chuckled. Alexander was not really surprised to see Lorient. They either spared or cuddled, a weird dichotomy, but it was nonetheless nice. She was a person who loved the wildness and a huntress in her heart, but now, mom closed her up in the estate till she got her demon energy under better control. She could not risk it to let her out, knowing the danger that she could attack innocent subjects. She crossed her arms over her chest, "Well, first, let us eat something but then..." a wicked smile showed on her face, "...I will train you a bit." Chapter 24: Siblings Love In a large, beautifully decorated ballroom and void of any person except two wolf-kin youths, both wearing very leg¨¦re clothes and stretching. The smaller one with snow-white hair and tail was trying to, but his whole body was strained by the warm-up they had done before, and he was sweating buckets. He was mentally exhausted, and his whole body screamed at him to stop. The wolf-kin girl, his sister, was having a blast and had an innocent smile, "Hm, it was good that I met Ana and that she told me what she is planning to do with you..." she shook her head, "...otherwise I wouldn''t know." Alexander frowned, "I get that you want to help me, and I am really thankful..." he was not, "...but why... dancing and acrobatic?!" While Lorient started to do a split and bend forward, she explained, "I am not really clever, and I can''t take you out to teach you how to track, but I was always very good at dancing and acrobatics..." a smugness could be heard in her following words, "Even Ana said it!" With Alexander around, she never felt like a big sister, trying to help him learn reading or anything else. Her youngest brother was always one of a kind, and she felt useless as an older sibling. So, after she heard her previous teacher''s plan for Alexander, she immediately made the suggestion, and Anastasia accepted it instantly. Now she felt like a proper sibling, ''Maybe later I can teach him how to talk to other girls?...'' she chuckled internally, ''...would surely be fun.'' Alexander sighed, "Fine..." he held his hands up, "...you are the boss, so what should I do?" As she was done, she jumped up and circled Alexander, analyzing him, "You know... I think we start with a little easy acrobatics, do a roll, and we will see afterward." She stepped forward and rolled over her shoulder, not her spine, while her arm was diagonally pushing her momentum. She made wide movements so her little brother could see everything clearly. She stood up elegantly with a spin, her tail waggling, looking again at Alexander, "A roll is vital. In a fight, the worst could happen where you fall, but as you fall, you should always attempt to roll forwards or backward..." She stroked her chin, thinking of other situations, "Or when you loot a corpse, and someone tries to attack you, you should roll away too, depending on where the danger is..." She chuckled slightly, "...away from it, of course." Alexander chose to ignore his sister''s experience with looting corpses, it was too morbid for him, but he took the advice, nevertheless, to heart, She stepped to the side of the wet Alexander and motioned to show that he should begin, "So, I will correct you if I see a mistake, obviously." Her brother wanted to surprise her since he had a little parkour experience, nothing much, only a summer course, but he learned there a bit, so he jumped forward, trying to control his increased body weight. The beginning of his roll was perfect, but then he tried to stand up, and his weight overwhelmed him. He fell down in the end. Lorient gave him a hand and helped him to stand up, "Again." No comment, no praise, no critique. For Alexander, it meant it was fine enough. He tried again, and again, and again, and again, but only failed. After thirty minutes, he was drenched in sweat, and Lorient stood over his head while he lay on the floor, breathing heavily. Her voice was stern, "Your breathing, posture, and movements suck." Before he could say something, she continued, "Don''t give me the weight excuse. Even with the increased weight, you should be able to do it. You don''t take your momentum with you and lose most of it mid-roll." Alexander couldn''t say anything because she was right. She held her hand up and helped him up, "Also, you don''t try to get better, but...what do you call it again? Ah, yes, brute force with more power while you barely need any." The wet puppy frowned, gulping down the self-esteem he built up for the day, and asked her sincerely, "So, what should I do?" She shrugged, "Now that I have an idea where the problem is, you will try to better yourself with every try, and I will point it out till you get it. Are you in?" Alexander nodded and went on trying. ... Two hours later Alexander felt that the floor was his new friend as he was lying there and thinking if he should make it his new room, "I can''t anymore..." After hours, he somehow managed to do a couple of good rolls, ''I am bad, so fucking bad... I can''t believe I needed hours to do such an easy exercise!'' In reality, it was very average for someone to train rolls, more so on a hard floor, and he will probably train it for far more hours and days. Lorient helped Alexander for the maybe hundredth time on his feet, "Let''s stretch, follow my routine." ... After stretching every single muscle in his body, he was ready to eat again. Alexander had already lost his common human sense. He ate as a beast-kin at least three times what he ate as a human. It was an insane thought that he needed around 6000 - 7000 kcal, but now, he was even hungrier. As he went out with Lorient, talking about daily stuff, "You know, I will be soon in my first mating season." Her little brother looked at her, a little scared, "Gotcha, but I don''t know why you are saying this to your underaged brother?" She looked at him and laughed loudly, "Haha! Don''t worry. Your big sis has no interest in something like this. I only wanted to warn you beforehand that I will be locked in my room, probably... meditating." she actually meant something different. Still, she decided against it to kill Alexander''s innocence, as she thought he would have. Alexander was confused, "Why, though? It is not like you will attack someone... right?" Lorient''s laughter became a chuckle, "Oh yeah, you forgot my legacy? Also, if I look at dad and if I have at least one-tenth of him, I will probably destroy the whole estate to get a half-decent guy into my grasp." The puppy shuddered, "Okay, I noted it down to not get close to your room." She nodded, now talking more seriously, "I really mean it. Dad told me about his first mating season, and he went almost insane as he was in a temple without any beast-kin... I think he had his way with a fairy or something in the end?" Alexander didn''t want to hear it, but he needed to integrate himself as beast-kins were really open regarding sexuality. Uncomfortably open. Shame was seen as something humans conditioned them into. Thus most beast-kin went the other way, being far more open. The reincarnated human tried his best to accept lifestyles, but even though they were open, rape was nonetheless not seen kindly. So he asked, confused, "Huh, a fairy, though? Don''t they look like children and don''t need intercourse?" Lorient smiled savagely, "Don''t forget that dad was a child himself at that point, and don''t worry, there are enough of them who enjoy it for the lust..." She slightly pushed him, "Didn''t know that it was your type, hehe." Alexander glanced at her and thought about how she acted, trying to imitate their mother. He smirked, "Didn''t you want to be like mom? Knightly and such? What happened? Hehe, trying to hook up your little brother with some old hag of a fairy." His sister blew a raspberry and waved her hand, "Pffff, forget this, a stupid children''s fantasy. I don''t even want to be a noble..." Her smile became savage, showing her fangs off, and Alexander could feel her demon energy building up, "All I want is to be on the battlefield or out there hunting..." Suddenly she slumped forward, all her fervor blown away, "...but mom won''t let me." As he wanted to say something, Alexander could hear someone scream in the kitchen, "Come on! Just give me some sweets!" An angry voice came as an answer, "Ms. Sarah, you already had half a cake after your breakfast! This is enough!" The sweet tooth answered with her undeniable logic, "See? Who wants only half a cake? I will take it, so you don''t need to look at such a thing!" He could hear how Sarah was fighting with the food supply manager, a funny guy who was funny enough a well-fed rat-kin, and he always gave Alexander more than enough to eat, sometimes too much, and right now, he really needed protein. As they entered the kitchen, they could see Sarah staring through Marlo, the rat-kin, and looking at the cake behind him. Lorient voice rang out, "Stop harassing the kitchen personnel, or you will find poison in your food, hehe." Sarah turned around and frowned. Marlo had a panicked face. Alexander didn''t know when but her humor became more like dad''s. More savage and not really fitting for the average beast-kin. He frowned, "Lori, you are not funny." He ignored Sarah and looked towards Marlo, "Hey, can you get me some chef? I am starving from my training. I need something meaty and a lot, please." Sarah looked back from Lorient towards Marlo, "Yes, how about you get someone for my cute little brother and let me look after... this very undelicious-looking cake?" Marlo looked between her and him, only for Alexander to step in, "Marlo, please give her my sweets. I have bunkered up quite a bit, all right?" The fat chef sighed, "Are you sure, Mr. Alexander?" The puppy nodded, as he wanted nothing more now than someone to cook half the animal population into cheeseburgers and give them to him. This is how hungry he was. Marlo nodded and put the cake back into a storage room with a magic item in the middle that held the food inside cold. Sarah looked at him as if he had revived one of her heroes, Fenrir, a wolf-kin from the Leonandra family and the first one to gain the name by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of demons, clearing out armies of dwarves and humans, and liberating millions of beast-kin from slavery. Alexander guessed that the story was slightly exaggerated but fun to read nonetheless. His hungry sister came over, hugging him really firmly, "Where?" Alexander could barely breathe for multiple reasons, "Keough, one of the cabinets in the storage, somewhere where the vegetables are." This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it She kissed him on his forehead and went towards the vegetables but, after a couple of steps, stopped and turned around, "Ah, by the way, I met Ms. Anastasia..." A grin appeared on her face. ... A little later, at the training ground. Alexander was standing before his other sister, who now got pink eyes with hearts in them. A legacy that changed the body wasn''t unusual but what was unusual was that she got extremely rare mystic skills. Alexander learned more about the system window, legacies, and their corresponding mystic skills. As much as he knew, they had something like an indicator of how rare something was. The rarer the divinity line, the more potent the effect was, but it was also harder to level up, reach level 99 and go into the next tier. The higher the tier the [Mystic Skills] reached, the more specific and potent they became. A perfect example was the demon energy his mother and sister possessed. While on world terms, it was not rare at all if you consider that wild demons in Kartikal to the east had this skill en masse. It was highly potent against other than those demons, and because it was easy to level up, it could get even more powerful. His family basically possesses a bugged [Divinity Line], which would have strong [Mystic Skills], which could be potent and easy to level up, to become even stronger. The rest of his information was blurry, but he also found out that you could increase the potency of your [Divinity Line] by improving your first [Mystic Skill]''s you get with your legacy to the next tier. The blurry thing was, what if he reached the next general tier and got a new [Mystic Skill]? More questions to answer, but first, he needed to survive his sister''s training. Sarah told Alexander in the kitchen that she was ready to train him in different fighting skills without any energy or magic. She was a genius when it came to anything physical and learned it fast, thus her disbalance when she was young. However, he hoped she was kind, "Today I will show you martial arts! I am not that good, but we can train together and beat each other up. How about it?" She was lying, as she learned martial arts absurdly fast. Only her laziness stood in the way of reaching an insane level. Alexander was somehow okay after he ate what felt like a feast and a short nap, ''I wished I had such a sturdy body when I was human.'' He frowned, "Big sis, you know I am smaller, weaker, and cuter. How about we start somehow easy?" She smiled and came closer, and Alexander''s instincts went haywire, but before he could act, she had already planted a fist into his stomach. He went down on his knees, trying to catch his breath. She squatted over him, patting his head, saying in a lovely voice, "Alex, I love you too much as to go easy on you. So, because of that, you will train with me daily till you go limp..." He caught his breath, "What happened to the fucking cute big sis?!" Sarah chuckled, "You said what you thought out loud..." She tapped with her index finger on her nose and thought about it, and answered in a cute voice, "Because we have enemies, and I am training as best as I can to protect big brother when we leave for a town which he needs to manage, but this also means that I can''t be there for you and who knows what big sis will be doing." Her smile became suddenly savage. Alexander never saw it on her, "If somebody touches my family, I will rip''em apart, but..." With a loving smile, Sarah continued petting Alexander behind his ears, "...I need you to defend yourself even without your magic... thus..." She suddenly grabbed his hair and pulled Alexander up on his feet, not losing an ounce of her caring smile, "...you need to train till you can''t stand anymore... you can do it, right?" After Alexander stood again on his feet, he felt his bracelets weighing him down more than ever. It was mental as he never saw Sarah like this, and it shocked him. Sarah took a few steps back, cracking her neck, "Get ready. I do learning by doing." The former human knew why his parents and siblings acted like they did and were overprotective. He saw that beast-kin had specific personality traits similar to their animal counterparts. Wolves never had something like alphas, betas, etc. this structure only occurred if they were enclosed in captivity. Typically, they hunted in packs as a family; thus, alpha males and females were the parents. They have a very close family structure and protectiveness, and right now, he could see that Sarah was over the top as the older sister. Sarah, on the other hand, thought about all the things that happened to their family and how Narsiz was almost assassinated as a puppy by poison, Lorient, who was in danger constantly as she was eager to hunt and go to the battlefield, and Alexander who was the most suicidal and since he was a one of a kind and had all the [Mana Sense] stuff figured out, he would be in constant danger from more than just monsters and his own experiments. When she heard that Ms. Anastasia was starting to teach Alexander and asked Lorient to help her, Sarah demanded to help too. She would often break her lovely little brother and build him up again till he could rival their father. This thought alone made her almost ecstatic for some reason, she couldn''t understand her feelings but knew that it would help him, and that was all that counted. A plus for her was that she needed, either way, to train herself when she went with Narsiz to a new town. Alexander took his stance as he saw the resolution in her eyes. Feeling the pressure, he clenched his teeth. Before any thoughts could come to him, Sarah rushed towards him with a kick towards his side, which he could barely block by bending his knees up, pulling his arm towards his body, and tightening his muscles. Never mind it, this kick pushed the air out of him, but he grabbed it, and as a ding resounded in his mind, he now had a better idea of how to act next in his grapple. As he fell back and down to knock her out of balance. But she jumped towards him, sliding her leg through his weak grab, ready to pummel him. ... Two hours later A heavily breathing and beat-up puppy was lying on the floor, and a healer was kneeling beside him, healing him. His sister was stretching, and a smile was plastered over her face, "Good job! I will come to you tomorrow, and we will play again!" With a wave, she went away, "See ya!" It was hell for Alexander but also fun. It calmed him down since he usually only read, did alchemy, and did some sport. All he wanted was to sleep, but he felt that the sun was disturbed by a shadow, "Sarah is really worried." It was Narsiz, and what he knew about, he also started to train himself, but not in martial arts. No, he went for archery since his luck-based skill was basically made for it. Alexander needed another truckload of food, a nap, and maybe a vacation, and he hoped that his big brother didn''t want to train him too. Narsiz scratched his head slightly. As he was nervous, Alexander thought he wanted to ask him something, "I know she means well. However, what''s up?" The now less beat-up puppy stood slowly up and thanked the healer, who was the same one who healed Ocilia and was now under an exclusivity contract under their family. The healer had a giant smile plastered over his face. His pay probably was generous enough that he didn''t care about his union perks. Narsiz was nervous but straightened up and looked down on Alexander, as he was a head bigger, literally, not metaphorically, since he was also quite a bit older. He took a small bow from his back, and Alexander feared the worst, "You see, I heard how Lorient and Sarah are helping you and..." Alexander started to sweat, hoping that it was not what he thought, ''Jesus Christ, please don''t...'' He gave it to Alexander, "...I really wanted to help you since you also taught me a lot, even while you were sick... so, how about it? My archery skill is not bad, and I am getting better really quick... it seems I have talent in it, and the synergy you told me about with my skill is working well!" Alexander screamed: NOOOOOOOOOOOO! But only in his mind. As he stood before Narsiz, he smiled and nodded, "Sure! But let me, please, get something to eat first, all right?" Narsiz was elated and nodded. He even got a servant and commanded him to get something to eat for Alexander. Alexander couldn''t say no to Narsiz as he also really wanted to learn archery, but also the enthusiasm from his older brother made him unable to deny him the request to help him. ... Hours later, early evening. Alexander dragged himself to his office since he needed to check on Ocilia. He didn''t know why his siblings were this forthcoming and helped him, and he was thankful, but he wished for a bit less enthusiasm. Tiredness and soreness were invading his body like Germany did with France. He chuckled inwardly about this stupid joke. Too bad nobody could understand it. From tomorrow, he needed to plan everything out more precisely since he now had five instead of two teachers. Also, as Janina was getting older, he wanted to start teaching her in fun ways so she didn''t become like her sisters, a meathead. He would probably need to invest a lot of time into Janina. While he was in a body of a six-year-old, more like 8 to 9, since this calendar year had around one-third more days, he couldn''t know precisely since time was relative and he didn''t know how to compare times between... worlds? Dimensions? Something like that. He shook his stray and chaotic thoughts away, which always happened when he was tired. However, he had a mental age of around mid-thirties, but acted like a child sometimes and sometimes more adult-like. It was weird. He didn''t know why but he enjoyed having a childhood, parents, and carelessness he didn''t have in his last life. He hoped his sisters, on earth, enjoyed their childhood the same as he is now. Nonetheless, he wanted to use his experience and give back on what he received in his current life. But he needed time, and now, he would drag his maids with him everywhere, so he didn''t need to constantly run to the damn kitchen and get food. As he thought about food again, he noticed that he was hungry again, and he calculated in his head what he ate today and concluded that it was over 10.000 kcal. He couldn''t think of an explanation since he was so damn hungry, but if he spitballed it, he would say it had something to do with his physiology... He duh! himself and thought that maybe mana made it more efficient for him to build his body up, but if he ate every day as much as he did today, it would become a nuisance. He threw the questions to the back of his head, as he was not even closely qualified to answer them, and he needed to meet Ocilia, eat, and then sleep. Alexander entered his office and found it tidied up and Ocilia studying, bringing a smile forward. Before he came inside, he called for a servant, telling him to bring something to eat or go to his servants and tell them. They would know what he wanted. He went inside afterward and threw himself on a Klinai, scaring Ocilia out of her studies. She looked slightly tired at him and greeted him, "Hello, master. How was your training?" Alexander smiled at her, thinking she was too nice for her own good. He also wanted to reward her and thought about her dream and got an exciting idea, "You know, I thought that it would be unfair if I was the only one who received such training, thus..." He pointed at her with his index finger, palm half open upwards, "You will, beginning from tomorrow, train with me..." he thought for a bit and remembered how physically weak she was, "...every third time." Her master noticed how her eye twitched, "I... but... there is so much to learn for me... how about..." He interrupted her, "Nope, I only thought about now and find it better and better the more I think about it." First, Alexander thought it would be nice if she could be physically fitter, but after a moment, it would really be great if she learned how to self-defend herself and be more flexible. Yes, she learned with him: alchemy and magic, but as he saw it, she could primarily use her strings as a conductor. This means that if she ever went into a fight, melee would be a possibility. He straightened himself, getting serious, "You know Lia, I want you to defend yourself. Even though you learn magic and alchemy, it is wise to at least know the basics in other fields." Ocilia looked at her master like he was crazy. No, he was crazy, and she knew it from day one as his disciple, apprentice, or whatever they called her. It changed all the time and didn''t mean much. He was her master, and she accepted it and only received the best from him, and by best, she meant knowledge and training. With her skills, she could leave and become a scribe, and a good one at that. But whenever she thought there was a flattening of her skills and they wouldn''t increase anymore, her master suddenly taught her something new, discussed something controversial, or challenged her worldview. Her skills increased, her mind broadened, and now she had the chance to get stronger. The only problem was that she already had a lot of stuff to do. Learning seemed so easy for him, but for her, it was a fight to understand something, but when he said that she could train with him, the only way she could respond was with greed. Greed for more. Not only power. Not at all. Also, recognition by her master and all others. She really loved the feeling that someone looked up to her. Ocilia could not wait to meet her old friends from Wolfsteeth again and show off. Thinking about Wolfsteeth brought out a strain in her chest as her family couldn''t find her brother. But she ignored it. She couldn''t change it, and it was a wonder that he wasn''t beheaded in the first place. So she dragged it to the back of her mind. So she answered in the only possible way, "Yes, master, do we begin tomorrow?" Her master only blew a raspberry and rolled on his back, closing his eyes, "Pffff, how boring. You are too perfect of a disciple, and yes." Silence returned to the room as both youths smiled to themselves, which was interrupted as a maid, Francesca, rolled a table into the room, packed with food to the brim. As the food was set up, he asked Ocilia if she wanted to eat with him and, as usual, what norms dictated she should''ve accepted. Still, since she felt relatively comfortable around her master, she said she would eat later at home with her family. After setting everything up, Alexander started to eat while testing Ocilia on what she had learned that day, "Did you understand what density means now?" As Alexander stuffed his face full of puree and pork with some sour berry sauce, she answered, "Yes... it is the mass inside a certain volume per a certain measured metric." After gulping down and licking his lips in a very non-cultivated way, he looked around the room and found what he wanted. He used alchemy on some booklet full of parchments which he made and floated it towards Ocilia, "Close enough, here you go. These are some exercises and more information on this topic. If you have questions..." She interrupted him, "Yes, yes, I will come to you if I have any questions or problems I can''t solve. Please enjoy your food, master." Alexander looked at her, first bewildered and then with a smile, really liking Ocilias new bold side, "I really need to borrow Ms. Anastasia''s horsewhip." Ocilia started laughing, "Sure, how was it, by the way, with her? She looked really strict." He forgot that she wasn''t one for rumors and was relatively focused on her family and his teachings, so she never participated in gossip, "She is fine..." While he talked, he cut down his meat in the meantime, "...though, she is also a bit too excited teaching me, and I don''t know if I am good at languages since we will learn everything simultaneously." Laughter boomed from the office, scaring Alexander. As he looked around, he saw Francesca and Ocilia laughing. Confused, he asked, "Why are you laughing?!" Francesca was the first to catch herself and said with a smile, "Mr. Alexander, honestly, I... I... I was today at the training field with Cloelle for a walk and saw you training with Ms. Sarah and Mr. N... Narsiz..." Alexander''s face reddened, "Yeah... wasn''t the best." The maid''s eyebrow rose, "Mr. Alexander, by all respect, you are absolutely insane if you think that it was less than very good what you showed..." then she pointed at his accessories, "... and no less with this weight training." Now the puppy became redder as he was one weak for compliments. Francesca said honestly, "I think you, Mr. Alexander, will be excellent at learning l... l... l... languages or whatever you do with Ms. Anastasia..." She sighed, "...it is insane to think that the lords and lady''s children are this talented." Before Alexander could answer, Ocilia started talking, "I know, right? Even my siblings look up to them like they are heroes. It is insane." Now the puppy had enough, "Okay, enough! Gotcha! We are good at learning, jumping, and beating ourselves up. Good job, me or rather us..." He inhaled and pointed with his fork towards her parchments, "...now enough of this gossip, and tell me what you learned today." Ocilia and Francesca both shook their heads in disbelief, and Ocilia continued to talk about what she had learned on that day. Later, Alexander cleaned himself and instantly fell asleep when his head touched his pillow. Chapter 25: Conspiracy Inside an estate, a hooded person was following a servant as they walked through the hallway of a noble estate, ''Ros¨¦''s Estate is so much smaller¡­ and dirtier.'' As he walked, the person beside him, a cat-kin maid and his contact asked him, showing off her pride in where she worked, "What do you think?" With a smile covered by the hood, he answered, "How beautiful this estate is. I am in awe." Klepto was walking through the estate of the Ros¨¦ family. His guide was one of the servants, and he needed to lie through his teeth to not insult them. Even lowly servants like the maid, who guided him, had a lot of pride in washing clothes, as long as it was in a beautiful mansion, and for a brat who was lucky to be born in his circumstances. He needed to bribe many people to even arrange the upcoming meeting. But this wasn''t even the worst, as the information guild at the black market was expensive, as he needed information about the family he wanted to have dealings with. At least he didn''t need to pay since it was all settled by the one he loved, and he was more than thankful, as the spider-kin wouldn''t have the funds and ideas to do what he did right now, not in hundred years. He trained and learned as much as he could in his free time, even going as far as buying skill corpses, which had significant side effects, but to him, it will be all worth it with time. His family threw him away like a pair of old shoes, expecting him to live like a sewer rat. Even his locksmith master threw him out. He had nothing, and only one person could understand him. It was as if he was touched by his partner''s soul, and he could feel it. The rage and the revenge he wanted. It all showed. The eyes of the spider-kin became purple and red for a short moment as pure rage went through him, but it quickly subsided. He had a job to do, not only for himself but also for his savior. He trusted him as he was the only one there for him in his moment of need, and Klepto also wanted to be trusted. Hence, as they talked, it came out what he did, and the youth wished nothing more than to help him in every way possible. Even though it was hard and he needed to humiliate himself, he did it either way and would keep doing it. So, he pushed everything back and concentrated on the task at hand as he tried to memorize everything as he went through the estate. If it came to the worst-case scenario, he needed to run away. He came prepared and could run away. The Ros¨¦ family, or rather this part of their estate, wasn''t well guarded... or even well-off as everything felt cheap. Their family''s names sake was decorated with gold and silver and integrated into many objects. There was no elegance, only opulence. He felt secure. This family was well-off but far from what he saw from the Leonandras. They were also different in that they treated their children depending on birth and talent, typical for nobles. The one with the most promise lived in better parts of the estate, while those who lived here had little chance of getting the title. They were a Baron family with an administration background, thus the feather and ink title. The full title was: "Baron of feather and ink (II)," and it was very low in the hierarchy of noble society. Klepto needed to learn all those useless and pompously stupid titles, ranks, etc., which was very complicated. First, you had royalty, usually the king, queen, princes, and princesses. Who was part of the royalty was decided if they were part of the direct family of the ruler, the king/queen. Then came the archduke, which could be a purely honorary title or have a lot of power behind it. This title was given only once while the ruler ascended to the crown and was usually given to the most loyal retainer. It meant little since one could be granted territory or not. It was an arbitrary title but showed the importance of the crown to his retainer, who usually was another child of the previous crown. Then came the high nobles: dukes, and marquis, who had enormous territories and were given the right to provide part of their territory to lower nobles, which they could also appoint. The beast-kin were in the past very tribalistic, and there was no actual absolute reign like in human societies. Thus it was brought with them to the current rule after the liberation. Commoners called high nobles: mini-crowns, which was derogatory, but they had a vital role to play. They needed to build up local power to hold everything together. But this was even for them too big of a territory to reign. Thus, a clusterfuck of lower nobles emerged: Knights, barons, viscounts, and counts who could be appointed by higher nobles and the crown. Depending on who appointed them, it could make a big difference which was usually the size or worth of the territory. Then came the achievements that were only given by the crown and signaled the contribution to the empire. Nobles without any achievements under them were seen as pests. It was like with humans and merits, but more formalized. Depending on the contribution that had many forms, you could have one for war: "Blood and Iron," for donations and opening trading routes: "Gold," for administration, like bringing a territory out of debt through policies: "Ink and Feather." There were apparent overlaps, but this was another topic Klepto wanted to avoid touching. Behind it, you had a number set on the importance of the achievement: Mono (I), Di (II), Tri (III), Tetra (IV), Penta (V), up to Deca (X), and for exceptional contributions Undeca (XI). They couldn''t be inherited, only the title in itself. Depending on how well the noble contributed, it could lead to more land by the crown or forcing higher nobles to give up theirs, depending on the geographical location. Luckily, the higher nobles gave up territory on their own. Forcing someone to give up their territory rarely happened since nobody wanted to start an internal war while they were in constant danger from outsiders. Funnily enough, it was taken by the adventurer guilds for ranking their people but only outside of the beast-kin domain for reasons Klepto didn''t care and didn''t need to know. However, the Ros¨¦ head had the title of "Baron of feather and ink (II)," but nobody really knew of their achievement, and this information was so expensive to buy. He just hadn''t the funds for it. Leonandra, on the other hand, was highly regarded as a prestigious "Knightage of Iron and Blood (IV)" and received an achievement through their persistent battling the east and monsters in their neighboring territories. Securing the region for commoners and other nobles. Since they could not be given land, they were given monetary compensation. Moorgrel in itself was a weird outlier, cut out from the central empire by land. It had a count solely looking after it and given power similar to a duke. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. There were far more weird asterisks like a temple member couldn''t be given titles or achievements or that immortal races, like treants and fairies, would need to give up theirs after a reincarnation. Whatsoever, now Klepto needed to talk to some child from the Ros¨¦ family who was in the run for the inheritance but had barely any chance. The spider-kin chose him very carefully, as he was not a full noble, as his mother was a merchant, so to say, a commoner. For some unknown reason to Klepto, she pushed him to become the new lord. For another reason, the Ros¨¦s also hated the Leonandras. He could only find snippets of information about the cause, and it stated that the Leonandras, at some point, killed their lord. Why? He couldn''t find it out, but the most crucial aspect was that he could use the young noble''s hate and ambitions for his own plan. Convincing him to do certain acts and get all his connections should be easy. From his lover, he understood that they wanted to start to harass the Leonandras and provoke chaos between the families while they were already starting in the north to throw demons at them. He quite liked it. Klepto didn''t like that he needed to return to his camp and do something dangerous. Klepto didn''t know exactly what, but it was okay for him. The spider-kin understood that he couldn''t disclose everything too privately, so he let it go, and they even had a symbol of love between them, a contract that bound them to each other. His soul partner first spoke about it incidentally, and it could build trust, but he withdrew the idea almost immediately. Klepto wanted it in the end since he wanted to be trusted, and it was worth it. With time he would surely trust him without a stupid contract as he could understand the situation of a wind-djinn expelled to a desolate place. However, as he was before the door to this noble child''s room, he waited and threw his thoughts to the back of his mind. The maid went in to tell him probably that he had a guest. It was barely possible to even meet him. He wouldn''t know if it was even possible to rile them up against the Leonandras, but he had prepared more reasons. He only needed to forget his pride. ¡­ Inside the office Klepto was kneeling, and he could feel the disgust of the third-born child, Louis. His mother was also the third wife of the baron. So if he wanted to get the succession, he needed achievements. Luckily, he was weak, a little dumb but overly ambitious, probably due to his mother pestering him. He was a leopard-kin and, like everyone in the pure-faction, had more or less prejudice against lesser races, or so they called, like himself, who was a spider-kin. He didn''t move and tried as much as possible to come off not like a country pumpkin, "Mr. Louis, thank you for the chance to meet with you." Klepto could feel the disgust coming out of him, "Tsk, you better be lucky. Something like you can only hope to meet with me." He was a condescending bastard, but Klepto was ready to wait and endure this humiliation. If he could pay back the Leonandras, especially his sister, he wouldn''t care about anything else. In his chest burned a flame that told him that he should do everything possible to destroy them. He gulped inwardly and barely controlled his upper eyes so they didn''t change color, "Yes, Mr. Louis." ¡­ Some minutes later Klepto didn''t move, and it was silent. It was a typical power play by arrogant nobles who needed to prove their superiority as they didn''t have any charisma, power, or connections. Louis crossed one leg over the other as he sat down, looking down at Klepto with a smirk, "At least you have manners, so tell me exactly..." He rubbed his chin as of thinking about something, "What do you mean in your correspondence that I could have a chance to get one over the¡­" his mouth changed into one of disgust, "¡­ Leonandra''s?" Klepto tried to stay solemn as possible as he became excited, "Yes, Mr. Louis, we..." he used the plural as a way to show that he wasn''t alone and could bring in power, "...have our people standing in the east from the Leonandra territory." Louis''s tail began to swing widely in annoyance, "Wait! Are you talking about the disgusting trash to which count Moorgrel gave freedom?" The spider-kin almost clenched his fist but could control himself. He needed to show the maximum restraint; otherwise, he wouldn''t give the blonde bastard in front of him the satisfaction of insulting his partner, "Yes, Mr. Louis." The leopard-kin clicked his tongue in annoyance, probably wanting to start a fight and punish him because he even mentioned, in his opinion, such trash. If he did so, he could probably fullfill his sadistic tendencies, but there was a bigger picture, which his mother mentioned beforehand, and he should be more patient with such scum. He stood up and slowly walked towards the wall where his weapons hung, "So? What''s next, you crawling pest? Keep going." Klepto stayed calm, "We plan to harass them and divert their attention from the east towards other noble houses..." Klepto couldn''t talk about how they could control wild-demons, so he only explained everything roughly, but he also thought that this feline-kin was too dumb to understand anything anyway. Louis slowly grabbed his rapier and walked around the room, thinking, "I see¡­." Klepto made a mistake by continuing talking, "If Mr. Louis¡­." Suddenly a kick to his face stopped him from ending his sentence. A terrible sound rang through the room as some cracking could be heard. Luckily Klepto didn''t bleed, but he could feel his lower jaw was out of place. He grabbed it and cracked it back. It felt like someone pushed multiple nails into his jaw. But he stayed on his knee and was still, without saying anything, thanking the circle for the corpse crystal he obtained, which granted him good etiquette skills and a strong mind. The annoyed teen stood over him with his blade in hand, ready to punish the dirty plebian if he even attempted to move wrongly, but nothing came. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Tsk. Don''t talk if I don''t allow you to." Klepto could barely speak as the pain invaded him with every word, but he stayed calm, "I am sorry, Mr. Louis." Louis frowned slightly, waving his tail in annoyance, "Keep going." The spider-kin continued, "If Mr. Louis would slowly pit the Leonandras and other nobles against each other by targeting and killing their children or servants..." Before he could end his sentence, Louis ended it for him, "We would weaken them and other nobles, and since we can''t get the territory of the Leonandras, we could take on the noble which were weakened!" He swung his sword and smiled maliciously, "We could kill some of their children, and after they would take revenge on some other noble family and even found out about us, they would be too weakened..." Louis suddenly stared at Klepto and pointed his rapier, slightly piercing his temple, "...and you say that you will invade them to the south, take part of their territory while they fight, hm." This let the noble teen think that if they attacked the Leonandras from all sides and weakened them, the Ros¨¦ family could chime in and grab some valuable territories of other families. Klepto was elated inwardly as he had him almost there, "Yes, Mr. Louis." The leopard-kin frowned as he didn''t trust them but had a small smile, obviously loving the idea. With this plan, and if he planned well enough, he could hire enough mercenaries with the wealth his mother''s family side had and slowly but surely attack the nobles after they suffered an attack from the Leonandra family. His thoughts suddenly went haywire, ''This achievement would surely catapult me to the top¡­ good! Very good!'' It was not a real achievement in the sense of a title. Still, if he could enlarge their territory and take with him some land with valuable resources, he would, even without a pesky achievement, inherit everything! Louis suddenly stepped on Klepto''s head, "¡­who knew that a peabrain could think, actually? But you need to show me some good faith, if you know what I mean?" Klepto thought what an idiot the noble was. He probably thought about how he would dispose of them afterward but didn''t know about the parasites and how strong they were. After the end of this whole ordeal, they would dispose of him or, if it didn''t work, instigate other houses against theirs, and he knew the difference in might Leonandra had compared to the Ros¨¦ family. It wouldn''t be an overstatement to say that the flower would be crushed in a confrontation. He would give up a lot if he could kill his precious little sister, and as his thoughts drifted toward it, he endured the humiliation as long as he could fulfill his goal. There was also his lover and the promise he made to him. As long as he could be together with him, he could see the whole continent burn for all he cared. He needed war and chaos for his tribe and family, and Klepto was sure he could instigate it with time and a lot of sacrifices. It didn''t matter in any way who would be killed or not. The next hour they discussed specific details and how Klepto''s side needed to show some good faith approach first, which he would love to do. The spider-kin also thought that such an ambitious person wouldn''t take the lower goal by making friends with the Leonandras by warning them and catching their people. The eyes of the leopard-kin told him everything he needed. He wanted this useless title and a shabby estate. Why he didn''t go for his sibling''s throats like a proper noble was an open secret as they came from a proper noble household, and they would have his head instantly if he made a small mistake. It was too risky. He was the perfect scapegoat, ''Hopefully, I can kill him if this all ends. I would give a lot to see him cover in fear.'' While Klepto had his thoughts, Louis also had his own about the possible future after Klepto left, ''After this is all over, I must make sure to burn their whole tribe down. I can''t let these variables run around, it is too dangerous, but till then, I will wait and hope they are as useful as he made them out to be in his letters.'' The noble teen knew that they were in a bad situation and would probably crawl through dirt to get some bread crumbs, so he was sure that they were weak but many and could help him as disposable pawns. Chapter 26: A Childrens Love A wind-djinn walked through the settlement, of his tribe, in Kartikol. Pure chaos was seen as everyone was choosing a side. Neutrality was, in a time like this, not an option. Everyone who could bring out even a smidge of force was either for their rebellion or the current tribe leader. Blood flowed into the ground, which was corrupted by the demon''s energy, and it looked like it wouldn''t end so quickly. He wasn''t back here for something trivial like this. As he walked through the settlement, almost unseen, he became annoyed, ''Do they need to be this loud?'' It was an understatement since the group he was part of rushed towards the leader''s tent and disposed of him and his retainers. He didn''t care, though. All he wanted was to have fun and for his mother to get better. On the way, some of the more annoying elements tried to attack him, probably here to rob him, but with a single kick towards the knee, the attacker dropped down. The djinn brought out a small knife, and before the aggressor could say anything, he slit his throat and went on his way, ''Annoying.'' He walked inside his tent, where his mother was lying down. She was weaker and thinner than ever. His eye twitched as he wanted nothing else than to cry and scream at her that she should get better, but he couldn''t since it would disturb her and probably make the situation even worse for her. Djinns had an equivalent to beast-kin''s [Divinity Line], which was an area effect, and depending on the area they were in, the more effective their [Mystic Skills] would be. This also affected their health as it would reduce their attributes. He was an outsider since he could survive in this horrible place and thrive. His mother was not since she had a normal area effect, and this place made her sick and weak. It was like poison to her. In the past, she tried to leave multiple times and live somewhere in the woods, but she couldn''t do that since she was too weak to fight against monsters or even wild animals. Also, nobody wanted to go with her since she was, for others, nothing more than a cheap whore. Her son sat down beside her as she was sleeping in her bed. He brought a bucket with fresh water and cloth over. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. He started cleaning her slowly and carefully. She was weak. So weak. Like a beautiful flower inside the desert, she barely hung unto her life. She needed to sleep a lot, and he hoped she would survive until he brought her to their new settlement. Even if he felt much weaker there, it didn''t matter if his mother could flourish again. As he held her hand, he almost choked as tears ran down his face. Her face was so wrinkly. Her fingers were so thin he could see every vein like they were snakes. He slowly and surely turned her to wash her back. She didn''t wake up. She was too weak and slept most of the time, even through his actions. He remembered a time before it. A time when she was more active when he was little. She was his best friend. She played with him, read to him, and talked with him. There was no need for friends as she was his best friend. What would he give for her to be at least as healthy as back then? He would give half his life... no, 90% of his life if he could enjoy a couple of more years of having such a good friend as her. As he dried her with a soft cloth, he stood up, went to the bed end, and, slowly and carefully as possible, started to massage her. Her muscles were too stiff, and it looked like she wasn''t massaged for some time. Rage built up, but he held it inside. After massaging her for hours and contemplating the old days, he went outside and towards a big tent. It was her old workplace, the brothel at their settlement. It was one of a few places which would never be touched even though they cut off their old tribe''s leader''s head. The business would even boom later tonight. He was already known and went directly to the ones he paid very well to look after his mother, a young lady he looked after at some point. The rage inside him exploded when he saw her winking and waving at him. He grabbed her throat and used his skills. Moments later, what was left of a beautiful girl was a husk of herself, as if somebody had sucked every bit of life out of her. Everybody screamed and panicked, but the wind-djinn didn''t care. He went towards the boss, called mother, of this place. She looked panicked but tried not to show it. She knew that if this young man wanted, he could eradicate them all, and even their guards couldn''t help. A, in the wind-djinn his opinion, smooth talk followed. In the boss of the establishment, the talk was full of threats. She swore that she could smell the killing intent leaking out of him. ... Minutes later He went outside, hoping his mother was now taken care of when he was away. He thought about what to do next since the revolution was almost over, and he needed to look after his little puppet and if he did everything correctly. If he did what he wanted him to do, he would reward him. If not, he would need a new puppet. He frowned. Right, he remembered. He needed to go to the new leader and get his tasks and inform them. Boring stuff, but it needed to be done. At least his new job was a lot of fun, and he could save his mother. What else could he wish for? Chapter 27: Stupid Scare And Promising Disciple Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Janina M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Francesca Leonandra (Butterfly-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin) ... "Big browda! Are you ready?!" A small, black-haired, green-eyed wolf-kin girl rushed toward Alexander after he finished training with Sarah, who, as usual, had beaten him up badly. He was exhausted, but today, he would give in to his little sister, who had nagged him daily for the last weeks. She began to speak overly cutely and misspeak every time she was elated. Alexander didn''t know if she was a genius or did it by instinct. Either way, it was a little scary since she could speak perfectly well. He patted her head while she hugged him from the side, "Sure, are you really ready? We don''t want to have the same problem as the last time." She showed her fangs with a broad smile while her tail swung wildly, "I wanna do it!" He walked to his office while she weighed him down, "Sure, sure. Do you also remember what story you wanted me to show you?" She screamed, "Redhood!" Alexander smiled tiredly and patted her, "OK, like you wanted, just give me an hour or a little more. I will come to your room after I look at what Ocilia is up to, ok? Go get two of my servants and tell them to come to me." The little bundle of energy nodded a couple of times and ran away, yelling in her wake, "OK!" And like that, she was gone. Alexander needed to conserve his energy for what he wanted to do. It would be hell on his mind, but he was ready. The to-be mage tried something really cool around a month ago, the day after Green left to get her stuff sorted out so she could get the materials he needed to learn magic. On that day, he played with Janina, his little sister, and, like always, told her stories from his previous life with a bit of change here and there. Redhood, Cinderella, Hercules, the little mermaid, etc. Only basic stuff with just a change of the race, that instead of humans, they were all beast-kin. Redhood was a bunny-kin, Cinderella a swan-kin, Hercules, of course, was a wolf-kin, and so on. It was fun, but at one point, he made a giant mistake which he, honestly, thought at first would be really cool. He remembered that it was weeks ago. ... Weeks ago His sister babbled from the side after he told the story of Little Red Riding Hood. She snuggled in her bed, "I can''t imagine how bad a big bad human bandit would look like..." Alexander grimaced stupidly, opened his arms towards her like he wanted to claw her, and made a silly villain voice. At the same time, he showed his fangs, "Really baaaaaaaaad!" What he got was a pillow thrown from Janina toward his face, "This sounds..." and she copied his voice, "...duuuuuuuuumb!" He took the pillow and knew that this little brat had too much attitude since his other siblings from Earth loved his voice changing. Maybe. He had all the fairy tales remembered since they adored them, and it was better than TV, so he always told them the stories till one evening, when his little sister turned into a mean asshole, and he could remember her words clearly, ''I AM NOT LITTLE ANYMORE! LET ME ALONE!'' It was a sad day, so he ignored this traumatic experience quickly again. Alexander looked at Janina, and it was weird. He felt a strong familial bond with his new family. He loved them and, at first, had an inkling that there would be no bond after some time, but he really adored them more and more. This is why he started to tell stories a couple of years ago after Janina was born, after he confirmed that his mother''s uterus wasn''t a portal to another world. He returned from his inner crisis and looked around to take in this surreal scene he couldn''t get used to. Janina grabbed another goose-feathered pillow lined with silk in a beautiful flower pattern and hugged it. Her and his pajama were made from special threads from spider-kin tailors, which regulated the heat very well. On the side was a servant who was at his call at all times, Francesca, who sat and read something, waiting for anything they needed. He found it weird to be filthy rich and have people serve all of his needs, but after some time, it became more natural, but he couldn''t get used to it nonetheless, ''In the end, they get paid well, so everyone wins.'' Also, this was a very different world than Earth. Being a servant who got paid well with their housing and food provided was like being middle-class. The only problem was that their whole life depended on the whims of the noble they worked for. Not like they could sue if they got abused. Besides Francesca, he saw some water and color paste Janina used to paint for fun and suddenly got an idea. He looked back at Janina, smiled at his little sister viciously, crawled towards her on the bed, and said in an ominous voice, "Do you really want to know what he looked like?" This scared her a little bit, and she took another pillow and hugged it tightly while nodding. Alexander opened, without her knowing, the chest with all the color paste inside, with his air contraption. Out came colorful paste, and he mixed it with water in the air and from the cup she used to wet the painting brush. All candles were blown out, and multiple small fireballs ascended, illuminating the room in green as he used the little copper ring around the brush, which held the bristles together, to produce such an effect. The water collected at the bottom of the bed while opening the jars and the color paste of different colors, primarily red, blue, and brown. They flew out into the air, where they slowly swirled around. He could swear that every time he tried to be more artistic, everything he did create made more fun. It was pure satisfaction when he let his creativity express itself with alchemy or magic. On the other hand, even if he wanted to express himself without restrictions, the technical aspect of his endeavors was always the hard limit. It also didn''t matter if he used contraptions or constructions. Both had their positives and negatives. To craft magical spell constructs, there was no real need to interact with the non-magical world. The construct was created and filled with mana, which probably represented the phenomenon created. What the actual words of the chant did, which were just a shortened version of what the magician wanted to do, was like a call to action for the construct to actually do something. Of course, spell-crafting had other essential aspects, as he discovered how to build it as efficiently as possible. The [Algorithmics] skill could be used precisely in this case. Alchemical contraptions, on the other hand, the mana he used to control the particles was far more efficient in terms of the mana he used for constructions. Still, it drained his stamina like nothing good and strained his will immensely. This was the difference between alchemy and magic: The mana needed to use alchemy could be minuscule since the alchemist, as much as he understood from his point of view, was creating the outcomes indirectly with his mana. The problem came as he also needed a lot of stamina and willpower. In the best case, the mana he needed to redirect the pockets of elements would be barely used. But it didn''t mean an alchemist with willpower out of steel and infinite stamina could create contraptions infinitely. Water is finite, like specific gases in the air and many more elements that needed to be extracted before he could even use them. Here was the most prevalent problem with alchemy. If done right, the mana used to create, for example, a floating ball of water, would be negligible, but the strain on the mind would be enormous. What is water? What is a ball? How did it hold itself together? Where do you get the water? How do you get the water? Where does it float? How does it float? What is pressure? Airflow? And much more. Everything needed to be accounted for, and the more detailed and precise the thoughts and imaginations were, the less mana was required to replace the missing parts. If not done right, more mana would be needed for an alchemical contraption than a regular spell construct when the missing parts were replaced. However, this contraption he tried to build for Janina was very different, and he could''ve sworn that he used all his artistic skills like [Drawing] too. He couldn''t just imagine a figure, and it would be created. Form and structure needed to be manually adjusted, or other skills used for this. If not, the contraption would become random or try to fall into a default state in the best case. Worst case, it would just dissolve or blow up in his face. The color paste came together with the water, creating a watercolor body. Janina watched it, and her eyes bulged like two giant saucers. She backed away to the back of the bed as it slowly took the form of a human, and as color mixed more, brown became the fur of a wolf that hung around the shoulder and his facial hair. He had an eye patch and smiled viciously with a red, only saw in hell. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. He stood tall and bulky at two meters (~6.5ft). His leather clothes were black and brown mixed, and his skin color was slightly pinkish brown, like someone who lived and worked a lot out in the sun. He looked a little watery, but the color mixed wonderfully and, more important: terrifyingly. The atmosphere was enhanced as white mist emerged behind the bandit and mixed a bit of red from the paint while a scary green light shone behind him. A broad and hellishly distorted smile emerged on the face of the bandit, and he took a slow step towards the bed and raised his hand like he wanted to grab Janina. It ended there. She screamed. Francesca screamed. Guards rushed in and thought it was some monstrosity that sneaked inside the estate and attacked it on sight. No fun. Especially not for Alexander afterward. ... 15 minutes later "ARE YOU INSANE! DO YOU HAVE GONE MAD? DO YOU WANT TO TERRIFY YOUR SISTER!" "Mo..." "DON''T MOM ME! IT IS ENOUGH THAT I THINK THAT YOU WILL EXPLODE FROM ONE OF YOUR STUPID EXPERIMENTS AND TAKE YOUR SERVANTS WITH YOU, BUT NOW YOU WANT TO DRIVE YOUR SISTER INTO MADNESS TOO?! LOOK!" Alexander stood in front of his mother, head down, and behind her was a crying Janina, who was so scared that she was curled up on the bed, and Sarah was petting her, trying to calm her down. In the last ten minutes, his mother screamed at him so loudly that even sometimes guards came in to check. He looked at her and wanted to say something, but instead, he approached Janina and looked at her. She didn''t stop him and didn''t say anything. He made a big blunder and thought that children in the world were the same as on Earth. He was so wrong. He felt genuinely sorry. There was no fun scare in this world. Alexander thought Janina would be frightened and laugh it off afterward, but he didn''t expect such a severe reaction, ''This is not Earth... I need to get it into my head...'' Monsters, bandits, and many more terrible things existed, so horror would be an awful genre here. Maybe the comedy horror genre would have a chance, but even that would be stupid, as one should learn early on, if you saw a zombie who wanted to kill you, you ran or fought and didn''t do a dance. There were no zombies, living skeletons, ghosts, or monsters on Earth, and even people like bandits were relatively rare compared to this world. Here, such monsters existed and were a reality. Alexander told her in a very soft and apologetic voice, "Janina, I am really sorry to have frightened you." She heard him as he could see her tail and ears moving slightly, but she didn''t look up. Instead, she buried herself deeper into her big sister. Sarah rolled her eyes at Alexander and gave him the death glare. He knew that the next training session would be brutal. After a good minute, Janina calmed down slightly, and he tried to appease her so she wouldn''t be frightened anymore and forgive him, "Hey, how about this? Just say something, and I will do whatever you want!" He could practically feel his mother''s frown, and before she said something, two teary green large eyes looked at Alexander. She wiped them, and a snotty voice came out, "Eweywing?" Alexander didn''t care what it would be. He did something terrible to his little sister and wanted her to feel better. He understood that he bribed her, but why not if it made her feel better and let her forget the experience? It did work with his siblings on Earth. Sometimes. He tried to smile softly and controlled his tail and ears, so they hung down, "Yes... how about this? You like the stories I tell you, right? How about I make them come to life without anything too scary?" She flinched slightly as he said come to life but became silent and obviously thought about it. She really liked the stories, and if her big brother would make them less scary than that monster before, wouldn''t that be wonderful? Sometimes her big brother created for her funny things out of nothing. Little fire bunnies hopping around, water birds flying and playing. Everything was so beautiful, but now this idiot needed to frighten her with such monstrosity! But the thought of a story coming to life hung in her head. She really liked beautiful things, especially when her brother made them for her. She also loved to draw, but it looked less funny than what he made. She copied everything she could when they were together, but it was rare that they even had time, at most twice a week. He trained and learned the whole day, had his disciple, and now it would probably become even rarer to have alone time with him since he also wanted to learn more magic and waited for the fairy to return. So she tried it herself and drew so much that she almost reached level 25 in [Drawing]. She loved the stories, and them coming to life by her brother was like a dream for her. She decided to give it a try and forgive her lousy brother. Her mother waited for a minute and wanted to say something, but Janina interrupted her before she could, "Red..." All three in the room looked at her, which made her curl up slightly again. Sarah asked her in a soft voice, "Red?" Janina''s voice sounded more joyous, "Little Red Riding Hood." In confusion, Sarah looked at her again, "What is Little Red Fighting Hood?" Alexander chimed in, "Little Red Riding Rood, and it is a fairy tale, I tell her..." He looked at Janina, "...so you want me to recreate it?" Janina merely nodded, and Alexander''s smile bloomed like everything was ok, but he felt something close to his face from behind. It was the intense smell of his mother. Her voice was slightly strained like she held back as much as possible. She whispered into her son''s ear so nobody else could hear it, "If something like this happens again, you will wear an anti-mana collar for at least half a year..." Her last words sounded very threatening in a motherly way, "...do you understand?" ... Back to the present clank Alexander saw Ocilia trying the ignite spell as he entered his office, and she failed. It was not that she couldn''t do it, but her magic and alchemy could only be expressed through her mystic and natural skills, so to say, her thread. He couldn''t help her much in her studies anymore. There was no time, and he was so beaten up at the end of the day that he only trained alchemy for an hour before his head hit the pillow, and he instantly fell asleep. But besides his non-existing life, which he actually liked, was the massive increase in his skill levels and that he accumulated well to Anastasia''s present, which he was wearing 24/8. It became more manageable day by day to wear the magic bracelets. Right now, he had time to help Ocilia with her stuff before he started the movie night for his little sister, which he had worked on like a madman for the last weeks. When her master came in, she stopped her training and was elated that he finally had time for her. It was a week since he showed up after dumping his notes on her. Ocilia knew she was pampered as a disciple, but she didn''t care. She justified that it would also be positive for the estate if she progressed. She was loyal to the Leonandra household and proud of being part of them. Over time it strengthened, and now she needed guidance since she wanted to help but needed to figure out how. All she did was to train and learn, ''Well, better to be prepared for if something happens.'' Her master brought her out of her thoughts by waving in front of her face, "What''s up? Do you need some help?" he clearly hoped that she would say no, as he was already tired from the day. Ocilia ignored her master''s visible fatigue and quickly spoke precisely what she needed, "I can''t recreate the ignite construct... at all." Alexander signaled her to show what she meant. He watched her as she solidly constructed the spell, a little slow but solid nonetheless. All the nodes had the same density, plus-minus a couple percent off. The lines were actually well made too. She spoke the chant, which was good too, and nothing happened. As Alexander concentrated more on his [Mana Sense] skill, he could see the problem: The mana didn''t connect with each other but was only collected. This would be fine for alchemy, as you only need your mana to herd the non-magical components and let them connect through physical and chemical forces. Regardless, with constructs, a magician needed their mana to connect outwardly with each other. Ambient mana could not be connected or barely moved at all, at least not by Alexander, as he tried it before. It felt like he was trying to push a truck through a needle''s ear. However, the inner mana should connect to each other, but hers didn''t. After the test, he rubbed his chin while thinking about what to do. His only explanation was that her mana skills were somehow connected to her thread since it was how she received the skill in the first place. It was nothing more than a guess, as her threads always had since she awakened her mana-related abilities, a much higher mana density. He also couldn''t explain the weirdness of why it was actually like this since her [Mana Sense] or [Mana Manipulation] skills were called the same by the system. If his guess was accurate, that meant that Ocilias spider-kin body, and with this, the mana skills, remembered the feeling of mana that went through her threads and acted as if it was natural to only use it this way. He needed her to test it first, and with this came a wonderful memory from his life on Earth. Alexander looked at her and spoke expectedly, "How about you try to use your thread for the construct?" After thinking about it, she tilted her head in confusion and frowned at her master, "I don''t get it." She needed help understanding what he said since how could she create a construct with threads? Alexander came over and created a thread out of the water from the air, "Imagine that this is your thread but now..." He created more threads that whirled around each other, creating a pattern around it resembling the ignition construct, "Think of it as knitting. Knit with your threads a construct and guide your mana through them..." She looked unsure, but Alexander hoped she would at least try it a couple of times. She was young, and many youths had problems with failure and gave up too often too quickly upon encountering any. He ignored his impatience which almost killed him multiple times. He looked at her sternly, "Can you do it?" Alexander wanted to make it as practical as possible for her, but it also became more challenging. He thought she could probably create a flat construct, but this would become barely usable, so he went for the next step: Contorting the 2D construct into a 3D one that would take the form of a mixture of threads whirled around each other. If she fought, having a flat burning construct in front of her would be a perfect target, but multiple burned threads were much more inconspicuous since one would think it would be a mystic skill and not try to destroy it but rather avoid it. He understood that it would probably be better to first knit 2D models, but he wanted to push her since she had such perseverance in her education. She tried to learn everything he threw at her to the best of her abilities without giving up, so Alexander was curious about her limit since she could keep up with his teachings. She sighed and tried it out. It was hard for her to create the pattern. Even though she had the [Knitting] skill, making a specific pattern around a linear body was much more complex than just knitting some socks for her siblings. She would need to contort the construct around a main thread and swirl further threads around it. She expanded a single thread which was a lot thicker than usual, and around it, she weaved the spell-construct very carefully. The main thread was taut between both of her hands. Because of her mana skills, she could control her other threads excellently, even better than before, as [Mana Manipulation] aided her in this endeavor. Alexander looked closely at her construction slowly taking shape, ''I see. The [Mana Manipulation] is an addition to her thread control and not a separate thing in itself.'' In his mind, even if she gave up as a mage, she would make an excellent tailor for unique clothing made from mana-infused spider-kin threads, but saying this would only destroy her confidence, even though he would mean it in good faith. Her threads swirled expertly around the main thread and slowly came together like an artwork. She needed five minutes to do it but let her mana through the threads more deliberately and tried to evenly distribute it. After she was done, Ocilia spoke the chant, and the thread ignited successfully. This surprised her so much that she almost felt down. It didn''t burn her hands, and it looked beautiful as the flame permeated through her thread without it getting burned. A surprised clapping sound woke her up from admiring her artwork. Alexander stood beside her with a broad smile and looked at her thread, "Good job, now you have a way to use spell-constructs. Did you get the skills?" She stopped the spell and opened her system to look for the skills: [Spell-Constructing] and [Chanting]. She was elated and jumped until she threw herself to her master and hugged him for a good second before stopping and apologizing. Even though they were close, it was improper to do something like this in a disciple/master relationship and even less to a noble. After the awkward hug, Alexander was happy for her, but his mind was with his sister as he needed to somehow make it through at least ten minutes of Redhood, and he hoped it wouldn''t fry his brain. The tired puppy sighed and needed to talk with his student about some things before leaving, "Listen, I am happy for you and all, but you need to practice safely." Ocilia looked at him as if he was crazy, tilting her head. She sounded surprised, "Practice safely?" First, he wanted to make a condom joke but quickly remembered where he was, so he tried to devise some safety procedures as she could burn the whole estate to the ground by practicing a simple ignite spell. Not like Alexander was a role model in terms of safety. While he started to talk, he came over to her, "Yeah, while your magic can''t hurt yourself..." He constructed an ignition spell on his finger and held it towards his palm, "...but if you touch with it something else..." He was at her desk and took a piece of parchment, which immediately went into flames as he touched it with his conjured spell. He looked at her sternly, "Got it?" She nodded and understood that there was a need to train safely, but as her master left, she looked at the half-burnt parchment on the floor and murmured under her breath, "It was my homework, though..." She looked at it and threw the ashes into the trashbin, "... never mind, I''ll go and watch Redhood." ... ''There are more people than I thought...'' After getting everything he needed, he went to his little sister''s room and saw at least twenty people crammed inside as he opened the door. His mother, Lorient, Narsiz, Sarah, Ocilia, and so on. He looked at them and frowned. He suggested, "How about we change the place if so many want to watch it?" Chapter 28: Little Red Riding Hood (Beast-Kin Edition) Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Janina M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Cross Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Cloelle Leonandra (Swan-kin) Francesca Leonandra (Spider-kin) ... 30 minutes later, in the ballroom Alexander''s stage switched from Janina''s room to a smaller ballroom since it was a little crowded. After changing the place, more people came since it was said that the archmage puppy wanted to show something new and unique with magic. Like on Earth, there was a natural curiosity, even though it was dangerous, as always when alchemy or magic was involved. Most didn''t know the difference between them and didn''t care. All they knew was that the little noble wanted to show something unique to his little sister that he had worked on for weeks, which had something to do with scaring her. Alexander worked his ass off for weeks and created the little play as well as he could. There was no way to assemble it spontaneously, as it required ten of his brains to load the power he needed. How did he overcome this? He made single objects repeatedly in certain places with specific movements. Everything was preplanned and memorized. Like a code with predefined objects while it had multiple variables. However, even this was difficult and overbearing, so he decided from the beginning on a style that wouldn''t be realistic but abstract, so he could have enough wiggle room to fail without anyone noticing. Like a hard drive, he loaded up on every scene as much as possible and repeated them enough to see them in his dream. He thought he would get sick of it at some point, but the opposite was true. He tried to make it come true with all the possibilities he was given, and he loved it. Like a video game, there were almost always two options: God mode and Lunatic. God mode was fun since you were given everything and could build and do whatever your heart desired. Lunatic, on the other hand, was a fight to use every single resource to the best of your ability to survive, and this play Alexander planned out was close to Lunatic difficulty. He walked inside the hall, and behind him were Francesca and Cloelle, dragging a little cart with them, which had various color pastes and a lot of water to ease his conjuring. There were also more weird things, a horn from a bull monster which he could blow in, or contraptions, which looked like boxes, not in the alchemical sense. He decided that he needed to create everything out of water and color paste. Otherwise, he would, in the first place, get actors and some clothes for them. This sounded weird, but if he started to use things like costumes for his play, it would seem less fantastical and creative, in his opinion. He walked to the front of his audience and clapped his hands to get their attention, not that it was needed as they were all focused on him, "Hello, this is a little play for my dear and lovely sister..." He looked around and continued, "Today will be no danger! So I want everyone to avoid getting aggressive as I will transform this place into a fairy tale!" He opened his arms wide and, with a smile, said, "NOW ENJOY!" He prayed that it would all work out like he had practiced thousands of times, and because of this, his skills increased significantly. This sounded like a nice side effect, but he needed to stabilize his body by training longer and harder. It went so bad that the bracelets were adjusted so he would have the same effect as when he started his whole ordeal because he leveled so much. He ignored his fatigue and sore muscles and concentrated on the play, ''Let''s make it at least enjoyable!'' His voice rang, and before anyone could clap, all the magical candles on the chandeliers went out. Fireball contraptions flew around toward the designated stage and shined reddish as he added minuscule amounts of calcium at regular intervals. Otherwise, it would be burned away and return to its original color in seconds if he used it once. He stepped away to his designated area, and his concentration peaked. He was in his zone. Water and various colored pastes flew toward the middle of the stage and mixed together like a rainbow whirlpool. Then it slowly settled down to create one thing after the other. A brick wall with a fireplace, furniture, and various items started appearing one after another, all in multiple colors. It was far from reality and had a very cartoony watercolor style, but he had good reasons for this choice. First and foremost, he couldn''t create lifelike images, as he couldn''t control too many variables too strictly. Thus, it was very cartoony and wobbly. Second, it was specially designed to seem cute to not scare his sister so he could avoid a mana collar. Two figures slowly appeared as water and color mixed into the form of a body. One was a dog-kin with floppy ears and a bushy and long tail. She stood taller than the little wolf-kin girl with the red velvet. The mother held something akin to a basket, glowing from within with many colors as the reddish light fell on it. Suddenly an old manly but soft voice resounded through the room, "Once upon a time, there was a sweet little girl. Everyone who saw her liked her, but most of all, her grandmother did not know what to give the child next. Once, she gave her a little cap made of red velvet. Because it suited her so well, and she wanted to wear it all the time, she came to be known as Little Red Riding Hood." Everyone in the crowd looked around, where the voice came from, and saw how Alexander talked through a horn. He could create waves with air, but this neat mana skill, [Mana Vibrations], helped him to manipulate them without straining himself too much. It was a trick he learned while accidentally waking up his big sister from a nap. After burning through his knowledge about waves and air, he manipulated his voice in the horn before it came out by changing the wavelength. It sounds easy enough, but every little tweak could let him all the wolf-kin in the estate howl if he wasn''t careful. Changing this aspect with fine-tuned machines would be simple, but every little tweak also changed the voice. The horn was also needed to increase the volume so he could conserve as much stamina and willpower as possible. He also had [Mana Vibrations], which was perfect for making the mana vibrate and, with this, the air, so he would not need to do it directly. This was already enough to strain Alexander''s mind massively, which he wholly ignored as he was in the zone. The mother comically opened her mouth and gave the little girl the basket, "Come, Little Red Riding Hood. Here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine. Take them to your grandmother. She is sick and weak, and they will do her well. Mind your manners and give her my greetings. Behave yourself on the way, and do not leave the path, or you might fall down and break the glass, and then there will be nothing for your sick grandmother." Everybody snickered as silently as possible for multiple reasons. Marisia laughed about how she sent her daughter with booze to her grandmother and others about the funny way the mother opened her mouth. Almost all servants weren''t acquainted with theaters or play. At most, when they visited Wolfsteeth, they would watch street performers. So slap-stick and other simple comedy was something relatively new for them. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The voice of the charming grandfather resounded again in the room while the scene changed towards that of a funny-looking forest, "Little Red Riding Hood promised to obey her mother. The grandmother lived out in the woods, half an hour from the village." The light became greenish, and everybody could see the wolf-kin girl standing at the forest entrance. A giant, scary-looking human was behind one of the trees, barely hiding and looking at the wolf-kin girl. As this scene slowly built up, Cross and Marisia were ready to destroy it if Janina had the same reaction as a month ago. The opposite happened; She was fascinated by the play and loved it. She never saw something like this and treasured every moment. All the comical and wanky figures. The colorful lights and objects which were made out of water and colors. Something in her awoke, but what would she only later find out. The voice boomed in a thrilling, not-too-scary tone, "When Little Red Riding Hood entered the woods, a human approached her. She did not know what a wicked creature he was and was unafraid of him." His voice was cracking and deep, like that of an alcoholic chain smoker. Alexander referenced one of his old teachers for this, "Good day to you, Little Red Riding Hood." Then the little girl''s voice was heard, making everyone look at Janina, "Thank you, human." Janina was surprised and then elated to watch a play where she was the star. Everyone else had mixed feelings about it, but Marisia looked at it sternly, reserving her judgment, though her thoughts differed from what her outer appearance showed, ''Six months will maybe not be enough...'' The human spoke again with overly theatrical gestic, his mouth moved much more strongly, making others laugh, "Where are you going so early, Little Red Riding Hood?" She answered, with a sweet smile on her face, "To grandmothers." He inquired after he bent forward, almost touching her with his head, and pointed at the basket, "And what are you carrying under your apron?" The little girl stepped back and smiled, "Grandmother is sick and weak, and I am taking her some cake and wine. We baked yesterday, and they should give her strength." The human straightened and looked at her with two upside-down crescent moons for eyes and a vicious smile, "Little Red Riding Hood, just where does your grandmother live?" She tilted her head, and after tapping her cheek with her index finger multiple times, she answered, "Her house is a good quarter hour from here in the woods, under the three large oak trees. There''s a hedge of hazel bushes there. You must know the place." Then the narrator''s voice was heard, which changed to imitate the human one as in thought, "The human thought to himself: Now there is a tasty bite for me. Just how are you going to catch her?" Then everyone could hear the human voice again as he opened his arms, while the vicious smile became ever wider, "Listen, Little Red Riding Hood, haven''t you seen the beautiful flowers blossoming in the woods? Why don''t you go and take a look? And I don''t believe you can hear how beautifully the birds are singing. You are walking along as though you were on your way to school in the village. It is lovely in the woods." Everyone in the crowd started murmuring quietly that she should run away or get the guards or the hunter to kill this malevolent creature. The water and color swirled again, and the scene changed to a clearing where the little wolf-kin girl walked and looked around at the ground. It was colorful. One mistake and all the colors would mix into an ugly, sluggish brown. This was the most challenging part for Alexander. The girl walked around, sometimes bending over and picking a color that flew into the air, making an ark of paint, and then into her basket, marking the flower she picked. The narrator''s voice was heard, "The Little Red Riding Hood thought if she brought a beautiful bouquet to her grandmother, she would be very pleased. She thought it was still early and she would be home on time, too, so she looked everywhere in the woods for more beautiful flowers." After she picked all the beautiful flowers in the clearing, she ran to the side, and the scene became wobbly and turned slowly into bubbles. The bubbles flew into the air and slowly settled down again, creating another scene of a little bedroom, with an old female wolf-kin lying on the bed and a door towards the side. On the outside of the bedroom was the forest. The light changed to a darker red, and everyone could see how the scary human manifested before the little door. He knocked on the door with a banging sound, which Alexander recreated, and the door comically bent inwards so much it was a wonder that it didn''t fly open. A new voice of an old woman could be heard, "Who''s there?" Then the raspy voice of the human sounded, which tried to imitate the little girl, "Little Red Riding Hood. I''m bringing you some cake and wine. Open the door for me." Everyone laughed out loud in the ballroom. Some maids even started wheezing. Marisia was not and only looked at Janina, who was also laughing in tears. The grandmother called out, "Just press the latch. I''m too weak to get up." The human pressed the latch, and the door opened. He stepped inside, went straight to the grandmother''s bed, and ate her up. Everyone laughed again as it was so nonsensical how he ate her. He took her, rolled her into a ball, opened his mouth wide, and threw her inside. After chewing for a good second, he spat out her clothes and put them on. Afterward, he lay down in bed. After a second of observing the scene, laughter boomed in the room, and some servants fell from their chairs. The human had a tiny grandmother cap on his head with little, half-broken glasses on his nose. His dirty boots protruded through the blanket and bed as he was too big to fit in, but he put the blanket over the lower part of his face like he was trying to hide. After a moment, Little Red Riding Hood came to the grandmother''s house with a basket full of flowers, represented by a colorful display of slightly swirling blobs of water and color. When she arrived at the house, she looked confused as the door was open, but she went in very slowly and carefully. Her voice resounded, "Oh, my God, why am I so afraid? I usually like it at grandmother''s." Then she went to the bed where her grandmother lies. The narrator''s voice resounded, "The Little Red Riding Hood thought that grandmother was lying there with her blanket fully covering her face and looking very strange." The voice changed to Janina''s, "Oh, grandmother, what small ears you have!" The room started to chuckle. The human, as grandmother disguised, answered while trying to change his voice to that of a grandmother, "I lost my ears with age, my dear little girl." The chuckle became louder. The Little Red Riding Hood asked again while looking to the side, "Oh, grandmother, where is your tail!" The human answered in his weird voice, "It is in the dresser, my dear." More laughter could be heard. She asked again, "Oh, grandmother, what big hands you have!" The human smile could be seen slightly getting bigger by the crowd, "All the better to grab you with!" The little girl saw the human''s smile become large enough to come out of the blanket, "Oh, grandmother, what a horribly big mouth you have!" He used now his natural voice, "All the better to eat you with!" And with that, he jumped out of bed and jumped on top of poor Little Red Riding Hood, but she could avoid him and ran through the room and around the bed while throwing her flowers at him, making him more colorful with every hit. The light changed periodically every time Little Red Riding Hood hit the human with one of her flowers. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" She threw more things at him, slowing him down and coloring him more and more. She screamed again, "HELP AHHHH!" Suddenly a new figure emerged from outside the house and ran inside it, yelling in a very familiar voice to everyone in the room, "Who is yelling!" Everyone looked at Cross, who started to frown. There stood a hunter. All in brown and with a robin hood cap, feather, and a sword in his hand. He acted when he saw the human in drag chasing a little wolf-kin girl. He stormed towards the villain and hit him. He fell instantly toward the floor. Cross stood in the crowd and mumbled, "I wish humans were this easy to kill." The human didn''t move, and the hunter looked at the little girl, who made a weird face and yelled, "He ate my grandmother!" The hunter slowly walked towards the human, took out his sword, opened his stomach, and took out a rainbow-colored ball. He pulled and pushed the ball till it was reformed into the grandmother. She stood there, crying and bowing, "Thank you! Thank you so much!" The narrator''s voice resonated in the room, "And like this, Little Red Riding Hood learned her lesson of being more careful around strangers." Like this, everything in the scene slowly dissolved into colorful water bubbles and flew around the crowd before landing as a brown and black sludge in various buckets. There was no way Alexander could separate them anymore. The crowd clapped and laughed, it was a success, and Alexander slowly came out of his zone and felt an enormous strain. With this, he instantly dissolved his lights while the normal ones turned on again. He was sweaty and fell on the chair behind him, ''Shit. I feel like I am on drugs and running a fever.'' As planned beforehand, a healer was beside him and started to immediately heal him, "Mr. Alexander, you should feel much better in a moment." Alexander nodded and tried to catch his breath. He didn''t even know if he could return to his room without someone carrying him, ''It was fun, though.'' He had never felt this alive. It was like a call for him. He never knew what he wanted to do, but he now knew that something like this should be part of his life, ''Was I always this much into something artistic?'' He heard the clapping, laughing, and mumbling at how great it was, and he loved it. He replayed the whole play in his mind and was only partly satisfied as Alexander wanted it to do much more like the original but, for obvious reasons, couldn''t. Getting his sister eaten was maybe funny on Earth. Here, on the other hand, he would probably be punished, ''Hopefully, they liked the slap-stick.'' The artist, in puppy form, looked over to the crowd, who talked with each other and were smiling and laughing. He could''ve sworn that someone called Cross Mr. Hunter, ''Heh, did I create an insider joke?'' Then he saw how his mother and sister came over. No, she was running at him, but his mother, luckily, could see his condition and flashed towards Janina and grabbed her from behind by the little bow she wore around her neck. She whispered something to her, and Janina frowned. They came then over slowly. It was quite the contrast as Janina hugged him slowly and carefully, "This was great big brother! Can you do it... keugh!" Before she could say more, Marisia pulled her by the collar more forcefully and looked at her sternly. Alexander immediately understood, ''Oh, I get it.'' He straightened himself on the chair, "Yeah, just give me more time to build actual stamina..." he also tried to ease his mother, "...it is like training with Sarah and Lori simultaneously, hehe." Janina jumped back onto him, hugging him, ignoring his disgustingly sweaty appearance, "Yeah! Can I decide what?" Alexander patted her while looking at his mother, "Do you like it, Mom? I wanted first to make you the hunter, but I thought you would instantly put me in an anti-mana collar, hehe." She nodded with a smile, ignoring his joke, "It was great, and it was the first time I saw something this fantastic..." she came over and started scratching Alexander softly behind his ear. He liked it, "...but ...are you sure you are ok?" Before he could calm her down, Cross''s roar was heard inside the hall, "ENOUGH! WHOEVER CALLS ME AGAIN A HUNTER, I WILL PERSONALLY SEND YOU TO THE EAST! NOW OUT!" The crowd dispersed while laughing and talking about the play they saw, and Alexander looked at his little sister. Both laughed out loud. After a moment, he felt the caring glance of his mother and tried to ease her worries, "I am really all right, Mom. It was really only like training..." He remembered something else to relax her, "...here look, I also wear the bracelets, so I made it even harder on purpose!" Alexander could understand his mother as the only thing she knew about alchemists or mages was how to behead them as fast as possible if they dared to attack. Janina spoke again, "Yeah! It was really great!" With this, the evening ended, and he instantly fell asleep when his head touched the pillow. Sadly, it wasn''t peaceful as he found himself in a skill test, "God fucking dammit." Chapter 29: Surprising Skill Test Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... "God fucking dammit." "Language, my dear little puppy," he felt someone touching him from behind, trying to pet him. He swatted the hand away from, what he presumed, was his annoying teacher, "So? I was kind of knocked out and didn''t check my system window. What is this test about..." He looked around, "...and where are all the other students?" The classroom was void of other students who, what he truly believed, were only there to annoy him or the one wolf-kin girl who smelled really dangerous. Alexander never got an answer to why other students were beside him and why this place was so elaborately made. The only response he got was that he was the reason for this which made it much more confusing. If he guessed, it meant that his subconsciousness was creating the most ideal environment for the test for him. Still, again, he never understood why some students wanted to skin him alive in this space, ''Maybe it is because it feels more natural and thus more comforting? I am really weird then.'' He looked up to the teacher, who, like always, was wearing the usual suit with a knee-long skirt in a dull grey color and high heels. On the other hand, he wore a new school uniform, which wouldn''t be possible for any school to finance. The shirt was silk and perfectly fit. The blazer was marine blue with some weird symbol stitched on it of a flower with a sword behind it. The shoes were light brown with an Oxford stitch. Everything had fantastic quality, and he couldn''t believe any school would give it to some brats. ''This would bankrupt my old school if they tried to give a uniform like this to every student.'' "You are no fun!" she walked towards the front of the classroom and wrote with a marker on a whiteboard, "... it is the [Mana Manipulation] level 50 test!" It was a pleasant surprise, but he wanted to sleep and relax after the little play. He was physically fit, but his mental fatigue was brought over. He frowned, "Great..." he pulled himself together, wanting to at least try it, "...what is this test about then?" The teacher''s smile became more vicious as she held her arm up, "Your tests are the most interesting ones, boy!" and snapped with her fingers. Suddenly a ball the size of a tennis ball appeared before him. It was red in color and was slightly floating above his desk. Alexander was curious, so he tried to grab it, but it floated away from him like he and the ball were the same poles of a magnet, "What the fuck?" He heard a chuckle, raised his head, and saw how his teacher held her hand before her mouth and chuckled, "Hehe, so let me tell quickly what this test is about before you get..." Suddenly a bloodied scream resounded in the school, ''This sounds not good.'' He stood up and readied himself to fight. The teacher looked at him more intensely and shrugged, "Too bad someone died, but that is unimportant!" She used her thumb to draw a line in front of her neck while talking, "Now, let me finish before you get killed." Something was wrong with this place. Alexander didn''t know what, but his instincts were screaming that there was danger besides the scream. It was nothing new, though, as the tests became from relatively children-friendly to a more dystopian version. The [Mana Sense] level 50 test was alike, only that he needed to avoid getting killed. However, this time he could guess that it was far worse. She clapped once, interrupting his thoughts, "No time for your thoughts now!" She pointed towards the ball and quickly gave him his assignment, "Use it to kill all the other students in this school as they will try to kill you!" Then she pointed at the whiteboard and what she wrote down, [Mana Manipulation]. ''Oh, that is just fucking great...'' He was very much inclined to give up, but he wasn''t keen on having the same test a week later. He decided to at least give it a shot. He instantly used his [Mana Manipulation] skill to try to control the ball, and it was easy. After a moment, he could transform it into different forms as it was more viscous and formable than he first thought. He transformed it into a spike and heard another blood-gurgled scream outside the classroom door. He started ranting, "Fuck me! Why not let me manipulate it into some nice artistic figure for a test... nooo! Let Alex go the murder hobo route and do a death match with others! FUCK THIS TEST! FUCK MY LIFE!" The door slowly opened, and he could sense how the mana slowly sipped into the room. Before the door opened fully, he could see a foot. He shot the spike toward the door and pierced it and the person behind it. A scream followed by curses, and he could hear how the person ran away. He wanted to run after the person but suddenly had another thought. He looked at his teacher, "I just need to kill everyone, right?" She nodded, opening her arms, and showed with one hand a thumbs up, "Yes!" and with the other a thumbs down, "And no!" Then she thought momentarily, "I don''t know why, but you are allowed to kill everyone like you want, but this little mana item is superior to a pointy st..." Before she could end her sentence, Alexander was already doing his thing by creating fireball contraptions and continuing his rant, "Well, let''s fucking burn everything down! Do you want me to become a murder hobo? You will get a murder hobo!" He created a small orb of air around his head, sent out his fireballs around the school as far as he could, and let them explode. Moments later, he could hear curses, screams, and running. After half a minute, someone ran in front of his classroom entrance. Alexander pierced the person''s neck with the artifact, "God damn it..." He looked at the teacher while he used his [Mana Sense] to scout everything around him, "...there is no way that the skill tests of others are like this, right?" She shrugged, "It really depends on yourself." Alexander frowned while he found someone trying to sneak around a corner. He pierced her neck, too, "Can you stop talking so annoyingly cryptic?" She smiled, her voice joyous, "I am nothing more than your guide or, in your particular case, a teacher in your tests. I have nothing to do with creating your tests, but they are super fun!" Alexander created as answer more fireballs and sent more of them out. He also sent out more oxygen to stir the flames while he tried to cut the smoke and fire off simultaneously from to his classroom he was staying. He did this by creating a double-layer wall of vacuum and dense air. Alexander noticed that the window was open. He created multiple smaller water and ice shields to have at least some protection around him and went toward the window. Looking outside, he saw a scene that could be from a horror movie. There were corpses all around the sports ground, and someone who stood between them was visibly injured. Luckily for him, he was on the first floor, so he created multiple icicles and shot them out. Everything hit and crippled the person enough that they would slowly bleed out, ''Fuck me, it feels terrible.'' He wasn''t one of these edgy teens who wanted to start killing everything in their wake because someone was disrespectful to them or someone with power fantasies of murdering douchebags. Alexander wanted to puke. Luckily, his bloodline, mental skills, and military experience helped him to stay calm and remember that this was a dream and everything here was not real, even though he could remember the feeling of every bullet he got hit with from the other test. He was brought back from his thoughts as he could smell the wolf-kin girl. He looked outside and saw her as a giant wolf running out of the burning school, her fur charred and panting heavily. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. He shot another icicle down and hit her nose. She roared and looked around. Another icicle hit her eye and was buried inside. With this, she stumbled slightly and fell down. Something came up from his stomach, and he needed to gulp it back down, tasting acid in his mouth, ''Fucking hell, I need to distract myself...'' The distraction came as he heard a particular sound. He opened his system window and saw how a skill leveled up, "Hey, you can level up other skills here?" She came over and looked at his system window, "Yeah, but only when you are successful can you keep it." Alexander nodded and could sense someone else running from the fire in front of his classroom. He manipulated the mana item into a thin needle and shot it toward the footsteps. The person fell, never to stand up again. Doing it became a little easier as some of the skill levels went up, but not by much, "So tell me, how can I change my next skill tests so I do not need to go to town on a whole school." She shrugged, "I don''t know." "What do you know?" "I know what I know." "Fuck you." She smiled at him, "I like you too!" Alexander grumbled, "Urgh, never mind. Do I have a counter somewhere on how many I need to hunt down?" She shook her head and smiled at him mockingly, "Nope, little murder hobo, you need to look for them, but I think there are not many left." Alexander widened his [Mana Sense] to look for others as much as possible but couldn''t find anyone nearby. He periodically stocked the flames with more oxygen, blocked them from entering the room with his barrier, and looked out the windows. Sometimes someone came out, which he shot down with icicles. Even though he was mentally fatigued from the play and from killing teenagers, which felt disgusting. Physically he felt fine even after manipulating so much mana. He also felt much lighter and knew why this was the case, ''I needed to take off the damn bracelets.'' The more he strained his body, the less he could strain his mind. Now his body was much more vital and robust. He felt like he lost weight... well, he literally did and suddenly had so much more resources to spare. He was sure to use it by conjuring a good amount of contraptions and repeating his destruction against the educational institution. After some minutes, Alexander noticed someone walking over to his class slowly and carefully. He shot his mana artifact toward the neck of his new victim, but... it was blocked. This surprised him very much, but what was more surprising was that something quickly flew into the classroom and moved like an annoying and blind wasp. It was an artifact in the form of a blue knife. It pierced the teacher through her head. She fell and didn''t stand up again, ''Well, this answered another question I had.'' Alexander was strangely calm as he ducked and used his item and other contraptions to form a shield to block his most vital points. Then he came in. Alexander saw an Emo with all the shebang: black gelled hair, eyeliner, black nails, etc. He heard him speak in an annoying voice, "Urgh, life is meaningless..." while looking to the side. Alexander cringed, conjuring multiple icicles, and shot them toward him without saying anything. The Emo frowned and used his item to defend himself without even breaking a sweat, "Is this all?" A vein popped, ''This little shit.'' Alexander decided to get more creative and use everything in his arsenal to defeat his opponent quickly. One such thing was what he learned in the last weeks. He used his artifact to float around him as a defense while going into a martial arts stance. He bent his knees slightly and rushed towards his opponent, who simply stood there, frowning. He manipulated his artifact into a spike and shot it toward the charging puppy. Alexander expected it. He used his shield, made from the artifact, to defend himself, but the spike easily pierced through the shield and then through his shoulder. "ARGH! YOU BASTARD!" Alexander immediately jumped back and noticed the mana behind him. It was the artifact, and he immediately tried to dodge it with a roll as it flew toward him from the back. He could avoid it. He grasped out of pain while trying to assess his situation. His opponent, the Emo, luckily, was very stationary. Unluckily, though, he manipulated his artifact very excellently. Alexander knew that this test was to better himself in the skill the test was for, but as the scenario was very open, it could be passed creatively, and he wanted to use everything he had, ''Fuck it! Let''s rapid-fire spam his ass!'' The puppy started to conjure water ball contraptions around him while attempting to attack, with other contraptions made out of air, fire, ice, etc. He threw everything he had toward his opponent. He even started to throw the furniture toward him as a distraction. Simultaneously, he shrank his artifact into a smaller, thicker shield; with it, he could defend against some attacks while dodging others with jumps and side steps. Soon, he felt the strain while his opponent was leisurely using his artifact to destroy his contraptions while switching the form of his artifact seamlessly without any problems and sometimes targeting his vital points. Alexander was pushed back heavily and could barely hold against him while trying everything to bombard him. No surprise attacks worked as both could sense mana excellently and predict most attacks. After two minutes of a pure hail of contraptions, the puppy suddenly felt lightheaded and almost tripped. He looked at his shoulder and forgot the heavy bleeding. He instantly used two small fireballs and burned the wound to close it from both sides. He clenched his teeth together, almost biting his tongue off as the pain was something he wouldn''t forget so quickly. But inwardly, he told himself that it didn''t matter how mangled up he became. It was a dream, and every damage he sustained would be resolved when he woke up; otherwise, he would be dead many times, as he was killed in his [Mana Sense] test. He looked at the cringe Emo who destroyed everything he created, and then around the room and got an idea. With a thought, a strong wind slowly built up, and with his artifact, he destroyed all the windows from the outside, shattering the glass. The black-haired teen scratched his head, "Do you think this will work? How desperate are you? Are you sad? Are you angry? Everything is meaningless..." Alexander interrupted him as he was annoyed by his talk, "Can you shut up for a cool second?!" The Emo frowned, "Nevermind then, let''s end it..." Alexander became increasingly irritated. Something inside of him suddenly wanted to cut this little shit down. Killing intent started to slowly seep out of him. He conjured a storm around the glass and shot it toward his opponent. The gelled teen yawned leisurely while bending his knees and charged Alexander while his artifact changed into a sword, which he held normally. This surprised Alexander as he was too fast to dodge him as he dashed toward him and through all the swirling glass, not even trying to avoid anything. As he was close, he could see that he was scratched and bloodied by the swirling glass. Alexander suddenly felt a burning sensation in his stomach. Looking down, he saw that he had been stabbed. The sword was inside his stomach, and he started to taste iron. He couldn''t even react, and he suddenly became furious at him to an unnatural degree, ''How can this fucker be this fast?!'' "Do you think I am so bad that I can only manipulate it? It was a nice trick with the glass, but I am better, so why not just give up?" Alexander fell into the sword, losing the power to stand straight. It bore deeper into him. His eyes became lifeless. Luckily, his body didn''t hurt much, as he could barely feel anything. His mind started to race, and the anger increased again at an alarming rate. Only one principal dominated his thoughts, ''Revenge. Death. Murder...'' The Emo saw that the wolf-kin puppy was about to die and smiled at him. He kneeled down and hugged him, "See? Just give up and die peacefully." As Alexander was about to die, something snapped inside of him. Something he had never felt with such intensity. It surged like a tidal wave all around him. He wanted to kill more than anything else. His killing intent exploded like a bomb, and his opponent couldn''t move as he felt pure fear as someone pushed multiple blades against his throat. Alexander wanted to kill, regardless of the price he would pay. He opened his mouth, mana surged, and his teeth and fangs were so hot they almost started melting. It burned his tongue and mouth from the inside by the heat alone. The smell was nauseating, and the pain was unbearable. There was no rationale or logical thoughts left in him. His only desire was reduced to that of a savage beast. His mind screamed that he wanted to taste the blood of his enemy. He didn''t want to stop as only his will to kill this annoying pest before him surged increasingly inside him and controlled every action. His killing intent flared even more. The Emo was still and couldn''t move, shaking out of fear, but a moment later, the shaking stopped, and he felt something weird. He had no strength, couldn''t turn his head anymore, and could only see how the puppy bit into his neck. It steamed. Alexander heated with the last bit of his mana, his teeth, and fangs on to an insane degree through friction and invaded the neck of the Emo. He fell to the floor together with Alexander. The puppy stopped his contraptions and suddenly felt the pain he had never felt before. His mouth burned to a crisp. He could barely breathe, and only his bloodlust held him awake and alive for a few more moments before suddenly losing consciousness. ... Alexander''s room "What happened!!!" He woke up, sweating profusely and touching his mouth. He was teary. His heart beat like a drum, and he breathed heavily, ''This was unreal...'' As he was stabbed, all he wanted to do was to kill. Not only the annoying bastard, no. He wanted everyone dead. It didn''t matter who. Alexander tried to escape from this kind of trance, as the pain he felt was unbearable and something he would never forget. He started to shake slightly as he remembered what had happened, and it worsened with every moment. He had this problem with his killing intent, but never was he that savage, and he could always control himself. This time though, it was like a dam that broke, and everything surged out of him. The memories of what he felt in the test came slowly but surely. Killing some school kids, getting stabbed, feeling the absolute urge to kill someone, the pain he could never forget, and so on. After thirty minutes of pulling himself together, he stood up and slowly tried to walk while shaking, ''This shit was unreal.'' Alexander didn''t want to feel the killing intent again he felt at the test. It was making him nauseous as he remembered more and more. The smell, the pain, and the killing became more pronounced. He suddenly threw up. After emptying his stomach, he stood up again and looked around. He was alone, which terrified him, ''I need somebody.'' But before he looked for someone, he wanted to calm down at least a little. For the next hour, he tried as best as he could to not fall into a panic attack by meditating and trying to push the feeling down as much as he could. After another hour in his room, he slowly opened his eyes. While meditating, he heard multiple messages from the system and remembered, ''Right, this was a skill test...'' He opened his System Window. It was level 51, and he did it, ''Thank the lord, I don''t need to repeat it.'' He would need more than one week to get over it, as if he had failed, he would need to repeat the test after the time frame again. Starting to kill again so quickly would be too much for him, ''If I were a human without any skills, I would probably be in a panic attack.'' He looked around at the chaos and at himself. He needed a bath, and luckily it was early and not night anymore, ''I need one of my siblings. Narsi should be awake.'' As the sun slowly rose, he looked outside the window, ''I need someone close to me.'' With this, he changed clothes and went out. Chapter 30: Bathhouse And Family Talk Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... Later in the bathhouse Two wolf-kin sat in a small but luxurious bathhouse. They both sat on fine stone stools, which were engraved with vines. Behind them was a relatively small pool, but big enough for multiple people to fit in. Multiple chandeliers on the ceiling shone a soothing greenish light from mana artifacts. The pool was already heated by mana artifacts and steamed slightly. The bathhouse was part of the mansion where Alexander and his retainers lived. Usually, only someone at age ten would have his own living place, but this little puppy was different, so it was decided to make it more comfortable for him and his people. In the same mansion also lived Narsiz, who had his housing close to Alexander''s wing. Thus, after he visited him without saying much and only wanted closeness, Narsiz decided to bathe together, especially after he smelled his little brother. Narsiz sat behind Alexander, who leaned slightly against him while his hair was shampooed with some plant extract and oil mixture. While Narsiz massaged Alexander''s hair, he asked, "So, will you tell me why you pulled me out of my bed?" "I..." Alexander could not answer it, or rather didn''t want to. "Nightmare?" "No..." he shivered slightly after remembering everything he went through, "...worse." "Hm." Alexander was silent for five minutes while Narsiz murmured a song while shampooing his hair, "Tail." Alexander moved his tail to him, and he started to shampoo it too. This felt like balsam for the soul. Narsiz tried to change the topic, "So, do you really wear your bracelets the whole day?" Alexander nodded. It was silent again for a minute. "How heavy do they make you?" Alexander tried to move his tail instinctively, but Narsiz held it softly but firmly, "Sorry... it triples my weight." "Hm." Minutes later. "Back?" Alexander nodded, "Please." Narsiz stood up, got a washcloth, and returned, sitting behind him. He started rubbing slowly and softly. "Does it help against the mana disbalance?" Alexander nodded, "Yeah, I felt some disbalance but thought it was only that I was tired or because of my growth, but it went away after a week as I started to train with the bracelets." "Hm." A minute later. "Is it the lowest increase?" Alexander shook his head, "No. The lowest was around double, but I needed to increase it after I started to train for the play I made for Janina." "Hm." Little time later. "Do you like it?" "Very much." "You sat beside Lori and Sarah, right?" "Hm." "Do they like it?" "Very much so. After the human imitated Nina''s voice, Sarah fell down from the chair, laughing." "I am happy that everyone liked it." "Hm." Minutes later. "Do you want to rinse down the soap and go to the bath?" "..." "Alex?" Alexander bent forward, and Narsiz could hear him crying. He turned Alexander around and took him in his arms, hugging him firmly while patting his head. Alexander couldn''t hold it anymore and cried loudly, weeping and pressing his head into his brother''s chest. Minutes later, Alexander slowly pushed himself from his chest, looking a little ashamed, "Thanks..." Narsiz tilted his head slightly, "Why?" "I mean... never mind." The wolf-kin teen chuckled, "Hehe, why? Because you cried? Do you know how much Sarah was of a crybaby? Even Lori was not much better." Alexander looked in disbelief with his teary eyes at his brother, "No way? Wasn''t there a story where she even beat down a guard at some noble ball?" "Oh, this? I was there too, and she cried and yelled while rearranging the guard''s face with his shield..." Narsiz laughed out loud, "Hahaha! You needed to be there." "They bullied her, right?" "Yeah, her and our family, basically. She cried, and then they bullied her more, and something snapped in her. She suddenly started ripping into other children while crying, haha!" Alexander went suddenly very quiet, shivering slightly. Narsiz noticed it and tried to comfort him, "I won''t force you to tell me what is going on, but if you want to tell me, I promise not to tell anyone else." "..." Narsiz took a bucket full of water and slowly washed the soap from Alexander away. He overturned another bucket over himself, cleaning all the soap out in an instant. He stood up and took Alexander''s hand, "Come." Alexander nodded, and they went to the small pool of hot water. Minutes later. Narsiz sat cross-legged while Alexander sat ajar to him, while Narsiz petted him. "I killed someone." This catched Narsiz off guard, "In your dream?" Alexander shook his head, "Skill test." "Hm." Minutes later. Alexander shook slightly, "I... it wasn''t the only problem." There were stories from soldiers after they killed someone and were ok, but some could not deal with it and were given other positions. They started drinking heavily and became wrecks, but hearing that his little brother killed someone in a skill test, and that wasn''t the only problem, was surprising for him. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief and was lucky his little brother didn''t see this. Even imagining killing someone would make Narsiz shiver. "What was the problem then?" Alexander shivered again while leaning closer to Narsiz as the skin contact made him more relaxed, "It was a level 50 skill test on [Mana Manipulation] and..." he started retelling everything except the very modern parts like the whiteboard, "...so then he stabbed me." Narsiz thought he listened to a seasoned mercenary, like one of his father''s stories. Instead of going through the test how he should, Alexander just set the whole building ablaze, shooting those who fled with his contraptions, and then while fighting, he got heavily wounded and burned his wound deliberately to stop the bleeding. He always knew that Alexander was exceptional. In some ways, he was very child-like: curious, naive, asking everything new to him, and direct, but in other ways, he was very adult-like, like in his ideas and philosophy. On the other hand, this made him look like a seasoned veteran knight, and he believed him fully. His mystic skill [Smell of Deceit] worked passively, and every time someone lied, a terrible smell invaded his nose. He didn''t smell anything when his brother told his story. Alexander interrupted his thoughts as he wasn''t done, "Then..." What Narsiz heard made him think of Alexander as some madman, like in the stories he read as a puppy. Someone taking every ounce of his life just to take someone down. Setting his own fangs and teeth on fire, burning his own tongue and innards of the mouth was an insane notion, and he didn''t know what to think about it, but this changed quickly after Alexander explained what made him such a wreck. Alexander had a teary voice and shivered more and more strongly, "It was something inside of me... a massive amount of blood lust invaded me as he stabbed me. It was taking over me, and then... everything else was like I acted without reason... I had no control of myself..." Narsiz wrapped his arms around him, and Alexander grabbed them while he continued, "I... didn''t want to kill but did it and excused this as a necessity and that it was only a skill test, but this... I wanted it to rip him apart... I enjoyed it. When I bit into his neck, and as the smell of burning flesh invaded my nostrils..." He shook more strongly, and his tears started to run again, "I... Narsi... I don''t want to lose myself again and hurt everyone around me... I..." Narsiz hushed him, "It''s fine. We will later talk with Mother. She should have a solution... is it fine with you?" Alexander nodded and cried in his arms for the rest of the bath time. ... Later in front of Alexander''s room "He is asleep?" Narsiz nodded, "Yes, he cried the whole time and was heavily distressed." Marisia frowned and clenched her hands so firmly that they turned white. Narsiz told her everything that Alexander went through in the skill test. It wasn''t unusual that there were such tests; they always built after the taker''s personality and made the test more applicable. Killing others in a test said much more about a person than one thought. "Is this father''s bloodline?" His mother nodded, "Yes, and sadly, he inherited it much stronger than I thought." Narsiz tilted his head in confusion, "Stronger?" Marisia nodded, "Yes. While your father went out of control sometimes in his rather... let''s say, wilder times, he never enjoyed it as much as how Alexander described it." Narsiz thought for a moment before he got an idea for a solution, "What about doing the same training as Lorient?" Marisia shook her head, "This will not work. The demon energy is something external which invades the mind, but what Alexander and Kairoso have is much more ingrained into them..." She bit into her fingernail on her thumb, "...this is a problem." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. "Aren''t there more cases? There surely must be a solution to this?" Marisia thought for a moment and then shook her head again, "No, the solution was natural as most of them... died, and the bloodline became rarer and rarer with time. Nobody can survive for long if they go berserk, not caring for their own life. Some became even addicted to this feeling since they enjoyed it more than anything else." Silence invaded the space before Alexander''s room as both thought about what to do. It was a massive problem having a wild beast with the talent of an archmage going mad and killing mindlessly. Marisia would, without question, defend her son even if he destroyed whole cities, but she wanted to avoid it for obvious reasons. She had an idea but was unsure about it, "I think I have an idea on how to solve it, but I need to prepare it and talk with Alexander beforehand." Narsiz looked at her solemnly, raising an eyebrow, "What to do till then?" She shook her head, "It will not take long, so he should relax and calm down till then." Norsiz nodded solemnly and planned forward, "Should I go to Ms. Anastasia, Lorient, and Sarah to cancel his lessons for today?" "Yes, he should relax for today and tell this also please to his disciple also..." She looked at him with a soft smile in a more motherly way, "... thank you for being such a great brother." Narsiz''s face suddenly flushed, but before he could say anything, his mother continued, "Please stay with him when he wakes up. I will join you later in the evening." He nodded. ... Later in the evening Alexander was in his bed, laughing and talking with Narsiz, who was petting him and entertaining him already for an hour. The door opened, and their mother came in with wide steps. Alexander was the first to comment, "Mom! What about privacy, hehe." She frowned but was happy that Alexander was fine and that her sons bonded. She closed the door, came in, sat on a chair, and crossed her legs. All the motions she made were somewhat oppressive and signaled something alarming. Both looked at her and understood what she was there for. Alexander became silent, and Narsiz frowned as he worked hard to cheer his little brother up. Marisia sounded strict from the get-go, which was her usual, "I heard what happened, and I will be honest and don''t beat around the bush. This is a problem, and luckily, there is a solution." She didn''t know if what she had in mind would work but lied nonetheless. Alexander''s current problem could be something that could ruin his future in many different ways. From personal to his magic, everything was on the line. Marisia needed to take extreme action because the problem was that severe. There was no other way; rather, she didn''t want to sit idle and hope for the best. She would never forgive herself if this problem wasn''t controlled and ruined her son''s life while she did nothing. Narsiz sniffed as he could smell a stink and only slightly warped his face in disgust as his mystic skill activated. He ignored it for now, hoping his mother had a good reason for this. Alexander became more elated and asked, "What is the solution?" She sighed, "Well, there is a straightforward way which is also very dangerous. Usually, only children from the seven guards in Moorgrel do it at around nine years of age." Narsiz raised an eyebrow, "You mean the demonic baptism? Didn''t you abolish this practice, Mother?" Alexander''s ears perked up, "What is that? I didn''t read anything about it." His brother explained it to him, "A very barbaric tradition which kills puppies..." Marisia interrupted her son, "Stop it..." She then looked at Alexander and sighed, "He is right, though, that it is barbaric and dangerous as to why I stopped the tradition." Alexander shrugged, "So? If it works, it works, but what must I do? Get some lambs and sacrifice them to call the devil?" Narsiz frowned as he was worried for Alexander and didn''t find it funny, "First, this is a rumor to blemish high demons in a bad light that they sacrificed lamb-kin, don''t repeat such nonsense, and second, it cracks your mental state like a walnut." Alexander made a mental note about the lamb-kin thing and concentrated on the problem at hand, "Pardon?" Marisia now looked sternly at Narsiz. She knew he liked his little brother very much but didn''t show it too openly since he was so reserved. Thus he was worried that something like a demonic baptism would in some way injure him heavily, but depending on the severity of her youngest son''s mental state, it needed to be done. "Your brother is right, even if he likes to exaggerate things. You will be attacked mentally with demonic energy, which needs to bring you over the metaphorical line of insanity while you need to hold onto your sanity with all you have." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Ok? Sounds about like psychological torture, and why was this a thing?" "Because of a stupid skill." "Skills." Narsiz and Marisia stared at each other till Narsiz sighed and explained, "I didn''t go through it, but I know what skill you can get. [Mental Control], a skill that works extremely well against the corrosive energy of the demonic energy on the mind." Marisia continued, "It helps to control one''s emotions to an absurd degree, which should also help with your problem, Alexander." Alexander looked at both and shrugged, "Ok? But I have a lot of mental skills already, though. Couldn''t I train them instead?" Marisia looked at Alexander and asked something she would never do, but the situation demanded it, "What mental skills do you have? Only show them if you rea..." Alexander cut her off as he really didn''t care. He came from a world where everyone knew basically everyone''s underwear size, so privacy wasn''t a big deal to him, "[Determanation] at 14, [Noble''s Pride] 7, [Mental Resistance] with 17, [Meditation] at 39 and [Focusing] with 18 but I also have [Pain Resistance] with 10, though I don''t know if it is a mental fortitude skill." Marisia sighed at the recklessness of her son but nonetheless thought about it for a minute before giving a suggestion, "That explained a lot." Both boys tilted their heads in the same direction in confusion. As Marisia saw this cute scene, she smiled slightly and explained, "I will be blunt. Alexander, you have a strong ancient bloodline which is also very detrimental, so it was weird after listening to what Narsiz told me that it didn''t happen much earlier. However, your relatively high skills explain why it happened only shortly before your... death." She didn''t tell him that the reason that he was that young was also a reason. As he got older, the problem would also grow and become worse. She hoped that he wouldn''t also inherit the demon energy. Otherwise, it would be disastrous. Alexander felt much more lively as this was the light he hoped existed in a very dark tunnel and that he didn''t need to go through the demonic baptism, "This means I only need to level up those skills?" Marisia shook her head, "No, your skills are more like a dam that holds the water back, which is your ancient bloodline. [Mental Control], on the other hand, will redirect the water away..." She leaned forward and looked Alexander more intensely into his eyes, "I really don''t want to force you, but if what you told me and your brother was what happened, you will need to go through the baptism to control this kind of bloodlust you have." Alexander nodded, "I get it... when will it start?" He wasn''t against it and was instead a doer than someone who sat on his hands and hoped for the best. Worst case, he died, which almost made him laugh hysterically, ''This shit isn''t funny, but if I don''t do anything, I will live in fear of losing control... this isn''t something I want to go through my entire life.'' Narsiz looked at his mother sternly, "Mother, are you sure? Is there no other way?" Marisia shook her head, "Yes and no. We can wait and see if the skills really can hold back his bloodline and if Alexander was overreactive..." Alexander chimed in, "I was not." Marisia nodded to her youngest son and looked back at Narsiz, "What I want to say is, we can wait and see, but later on, the baptism will become practically impossible." Narsiz frowned, "Right... there was this." Alexander became confused, "What now?" His mother explained, "The demonic baptism is by purpose torturing someone and trying to break through with the corrosive demonic energy to the limit of one''s psyche, only short of madness, but what if your skills limit it? More power over a prolonged time is needed, and then if, for example, I broke through your skills, the sudden shock could be so extreme that you will actually become..." she clenched her hands into fists, "...mentally ill." Narsiz became more serious, "Mother is right. After the legacy, it will become tough, and with you, it will probably be mostly impossible." Alexander frowned but, after a moment, nodded, "I will do it!" No need to wait for him. He leveled skills too fast, but there were always moments in life where they could fail, and if such a moment occurred, he would never forgive himself when he hurt a loved one because he didn''t want to take this baptism out of fear. Marisia looked at her son and sighed, ''At least I can stop it if something goes wrong.'' She had confidence in going through the demonic baptism without any problems since she had great control over her energy, but the problem was that Alexander was so young. His mental state could be very fragile, even though he showed confidence. This was why they needed to find the perfect time to do it, which was usually around nine years of age, a year before their legacy. Too early, and there was maybe not enough willpower. Too late, and the shock created would be too big after going through all defenses. Alexander became curious as to why they stopped it, even though it was, according to Narsiz, barbaric. It gave a great skill, "So, why exactly did we stop this tradition?" Marisia explained, "This was how we trained for generations our children before they got their legacy. With this method, we believe the chance to get the demonic energy was higher..." Narsiz interrupted her, "Which was never proofed." Marisia continued after nodding toward her son, "But we also did it for the [Mental Control] skill since it helped the ones who received the legacy greatly, and even if not, the skill is great in general." Narsiz brought up an example, "While I hate this practice, it was efficient. Lorient is under house arrest and training her mental fortitude skills because her legacy corroded her emotions and mind." Alexander turned his head weirdly to look at his brother, "Is there a reason why you hate it so much? I get that it is barbaric. It''s not that Sarah beating me up daily is less barbaric." Narsiz grinned at his little brother, "Maybe Mother can tell you how many family members we have who didn''t survive or became mentally broken after this baptism." Alexander looked at his mother, who frowned at Narsiz, "Too many, which is why I stopped it. Other guard households keep using this method, but we will make an exception this time." Narsiz didn''t like it at all. Even though he had, before today, a relatively shallow kind of brotherly relationship with his little brother, he never doubted his love toward him, just like Alexander never doubted his. For him, his family and especially his siblings were most important, so the notion that his little brother went through something like this made him sick. But he understood that if what Alexander said was the truth without any exaggeration, he would need every skill he could get his hands on, so he only criticized this terrible custom but understood that right now, even though it was dangerous, his little brother needed to get through this, ''Hope mother will stop if things get too dangerous.'' The atmosphere was only momentarily dreaded until the puppy said, "Hey! It could be worse, right? Now we have two healers in-house, Green and that bat-kin. What was his name again?" Narsiz corrected him, "Three healers. We got another one, and his name was Peter." Marisia corrected them, "Pierre, and yes, with Green and Lisa, another one, we can make it much safer than what I went through." Alexander asked, "You went through it? How was it?" She waved her hand in dismissal, "Nothing to note off. It would be incredibly dangerous and harmful if a little mistake happened. When your aunt visits us, you will see what can happen, but this is why I will do the baptism. I wouldn''t trust anyone to do it right, but I will also hold at least two healers on hold, just in case." Now Narsiz was piqued, "Why so lax with Alexander? I thought you would be much more on edge?" She smirked slightly, "Alexander already had a breakdown with Kairoso, and his dreaded mana fear skill, so I think he is much more ready than someone from our family would ever be." Alexander puffed his chest up, "Heh, it was a cakewalk." Both in the room looked at him, and Marisia wanted to smack this arrogant and prideful puppy, but Narsiz was the first to respond, "I remember that your mental state and senses were crippled for at least a year." Alexander ignored this. In his opinion, breaking some eggs to make an omelet was acceptable, "By the way, wouldn''t that be a good solution if they went through something like I did? As something like a preparation?" Marisia nodded, "Yes and no. We tried to find ways to make it safer, but we couldn''t. There were cases where some families tortured their children extensively over long periods as preparation, resulting in worse overall results as their mental state deteriorated. Also, let''s not talk about how they changed into psychopaths if they went through both successfully. You are an obvious exception." Narsiz asked, "So this didn''t work, but what were the exact problems?" She sighed, "First and foremost, it needs to be quick. Otherwise, other skills, which are much less effective, will be gained over time. The one who does it needs exceptional control over the demonic energy like I do." She leaned back in the chair and looked to the ceiling, "Someone with rough control can easily overshoot, which would be enough to scar someone mentally, and... well, let''s say that this person becomes unsuitable for an average life." Both boys now understood what happened with their aunt and why she lived in a small village far away from any significant population. Narsiz suddenly understood something, "Is this why we learn energy control to a high degree?" Marisia nodded, "Yes, I changed our priorities after taking over, and your father supported me... even though he is rather rough with his energy." Alexander was confused, "I don''t get it? What has control of energy to do with the mental state?" Marisia looked at Narsiz to explain it, and he happily tried to do so, "The finer and more precise your control is, the better you can control the corrosive effect..." He looked at his mother for confirmation, "...right mother?" Marisia nodded with a smile, "Absolutely right. It needs more time, but it is a work in progress. Lorient''s control was excellent when she left to travel around. Still, it was not enough. So, it needs to be coupled with higher mental fortitude skills like [Meditation], which can be procured easily and safely, but now I would guess there needs to be another one..." Alexander looked at her, elated, "Which one also?" Marisia smirked, "[Lust control] which she will have after we imprison her at her first mating season, which should be in a month." Narsiz frowned while Alexander found this interesting, "This skill can better solidify the mental state?" "Partly. The corrosive energy multiplies the smallest emotions inside of you. The lightest anger can create a positive feedback loop and amplify it to the maximum..." Marisia smiled viciously, "...this is one of the reasons why others fear us. Without a strong mental fortitude, we can corrode others'' mental states and make them into nothing more than wild beasts. Let''s not talk about the physical corrosive effect, which is negated towards ourselves as it combines with our energy." Alexander understood, "So this means that it should be another skill I can learn later to control my blood lust, right?" "Absolutely. Though we need to have more..." She smirked, "...safety measures for you..." She looked at Narsiz, "...and for you too." Narsiz became confused, "But I have barely any fighting capabilities?" Marisia laughed aloud, "Haha, wolf-kin boys will become very aggressive during their first season, and you will be more dangerous than Lorient..." She grinned at him, "...much more dangerous." "Why so?" Marisia asked a pointed question, "Do you find girls attractive?" Narsiz blushed a little but nodded. She asked another question, "Do you also find boys attractive?" Narsiz went entirely red but nodded. Alexander now knew that his brother was bisexual, but he actually wanted to ask if homosexuality was seen as immoral in beast-kin society. He himself didn''t care about it. On Earth, though, it was controversial, and this was only acceptable in progressive societies, while in others, it was a death sentence. Narsiz saw the confusion in Alexander''s eyes and tried to tell him, "You know about reproduction, right? I mean, you told me about the physical aspect when Mother was pregnant." Alexander nodded, and Narsiz continued, "Some also like their own sex or both and..." Embarrassed, he scratched his head, "...I am like this." Marisia continued for him and explained the societal views on this, "Depending on who you are and where you live, it is looked at very differently. Humans have the same view as we do, while dwarves put a death penalty on homosexuality and see this as something against nature, but..." She tried to find the right words, "It is good that Narsiz likes both as even as beast-kins, we don''t fully accept it ... well, only a certain group, though." Alexander asked, "Which group?" Narsiz answered rather sadly, "Nobles. Many expect their children to have more children, but what if they are not attracted to the opposite sex? There is no way for someone then to have children or only through forcing through and an... arranged marriage." Marisia continued, "Commoners don''t care, though, it is only seen in the higher classes as a problem, and many were ostracized because of this." The silence held for a couple of seconds till Narsiz broke it. "Nevermind. So, why is it a problem then?" Marisia smirked at him, "Remember one of your [Mystic Skills]? What was it called again? [Charming Prince]? This is a fantastic skill to woo others to your side, but it becomes dangerous when you try to literally seduce everyone with a pair of legs." Alexander laughed out loud, "Haha, you will be a whore?" Narsiz frowned, "Language, and basically yes... so what to do?" Marisia shrugged, "I will look after you alone. Not like I can send someone inside your room. Depending on your attributes and natural charm, everyone else would be just your toy for the day..." She looked at him more directly, "Or you will just forgo the [Lust Control] skill and..." Narsiz interrupted her, "No, I can do it." Alexander tried to change the topic as it was weird for him to talk about it, "So, what now?" Marisia nodded, "Right, we will do it tomorrow. Come before Lorient''s training. I can have you mentally exhausted from Anastasia but not physically exhausted." Alexander nodded and readied himself for tomorrow. It was late, and he could see how his mother was exhausted. With this, their mother left, but Narsiz stayed and slept together with Alexander as he was in a place where he needed someone around him. While he was mostly fine, the soothing effect of someone he could trust with his life and loved was what he needed after the terrible skill test. Chapter 31: Demonic Baptism Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Green (IV) from the forest of fallen wishes (Fairy) ... In the private training room of the lord and lady of the estate, Alexander sat cross-legged in front of his mother on the floor. The room was very simple. There were lights on the walls and a table with some chairs in a corner, but what was not simple was the material out of which the walls, ground, and ceiling were made. It was made hard enough to block something akin to his father with double his strength. Behind him were Green and Pierre, both healers ready to start at any moment. They were only informed to be ready for the worst and thus had brought many mana potions and other things for all kinds of emergencies. Marisia knew that there was no sure answer to what the worst case could be since her son was in such a unique situation. Green, in particular, was a lucky case, as she was back by pure luck and was actually at the estate to teach her student magic. Marisia straightened herself, and her voice was solemn, "This baptism will be taxing. Your mental state will feel like it will destroy itself from the inside..." She looked more sternly at him, "Your mind will waver, and every single feeling will be amplified: fear, anger, sadness, etc." Her son looked at her with determination in his eyes and nodded. He had been ready and pumped himself since yesterday. "Good. I will start slowly with a minuscule amount of energy to test you first." Alexander nodded again, "Please start." He was already partly in a mediating state and ready for his demonic baptism, so his mother suddenly needed to test him, killing the tension he had built up. He understood why but wanted to get it over with. He could rationalize it after yesterday''s talk with her and his brother. She needed to test out what his limit was and how he reacted. Otherwise, she could accidentally overshoot and cripple him. Marisia started, slowly letting her energy flow out of her body. Alexander felt crept out as he sat before his mother with closed eyes. The energy came closer and closer till it touched him. Now he couldn''t panic and needed to concentrate. As the energy touched him slightly, all his feelings went haywire. The fear of hurting the loved ones he suppressed suddenly exploded, and he wanted nothing more than run away, but he kept sitting and shivering. He used multiple skills passively to relax slowly and carefully until he heard his mother''s voice, "More?" Alexander nodded, and the energy touched him with the same intensity. It was insane that the energy was this potent. He knew that Lorients wasn''t that strong and came not even close to this intensity since he sparred with her regularly. After another five tries, Alexander exhaled softly and said, "Stronger." The next touch of Marisia''s energy doubled in intensity, and Alexander clenched his teeth, trying to control himself as much as possible. This time anger surged out of him and with that aggression. He felt the blood lust surge inside him, which invaded his mind, and tried to tint everything red. Killing intent was felt momentarily, so much so that Green and Pierre stepped further back. Alexander controlled his increased emotions and tried every method possible to hold them back and push them down. That time he needed ten minutes to calm down. ... After another four tries, he needed less and less time and slowly adjusted himself toward the blood lust inside of him. As he slowly adjusted and felt it out, his mother interrupted his thoughts, "Are you ok?" Alexander exhaled slowly and intensely, "I am fine, but I think I am ready to go all the way. Do you have all you need to know, Mom?" Marisia was silent and thought it all through again. She could control her energy so well that not even her grandmother would come close in this aspect. Her first tries were successful, and she had an excellent idea of how much energy she would need to use, but the sudden burst of killing intent her son let out would be a big problem. For him to get the skill, she needed to get over every barricade, and the blood lust he felt was also one. It would protect him from her invading his mind and make him go wild, ''What to do...'' She was brought back by her son''s voice, "Mom? Is everything all right? You look stressed." She shook her head, "I am thinking about what to do exactly." "What are the options? Maybe I can decide my fate before I become a blood-thirsty beast, hehe." She looked at him with a frown and didn''t like the jokes he made. Marisia liked to decrease risks and plan everything through, but the moment she felt the short burst of killing intent, she knew she needed to go through with it. It was a test to see if her son was exaggerating or telling the truth, and it seemed that it was more or less the truth. To what degree she would find out. Nonetheless, it was stronger than what her husband produced, and if she didn''t do it now, his future would be over. It wasn''t even a problem that he could snap at a moment''s notice, but the combination of his talent and the bloodline was the worrying thing. Otherwise, she could have guards stationed around him who could hold him down, but if he got stronger and something happened outside the estate, he would go crazy and wreak havoc. It would be too dangerous to let him out, and in the end, he would get depressed, and worse could happen. "This is the last time I am warning you. You can end like your aunt if I begin. Are you really ready?" Suddenly another voice sounded from behind, from Green, "Are you both insane actually?! You want to literally torture Alex?!" By watching the preparation, Green only knew about this and couldn''t believe she wanted to torture her son. Though, she didn''t know about the whole situation. Marisia looked deep into Green''s eyes, and the fairy felt like prey. She stepped back, frightened. "This is none of your business. You are here only to teach magic and heal, and this has something to do with our ancestry." Green stepped backward to the place where she was before. Marisia looked at her son, "She is right. This is mental torture, and if we begin, you need to go through it without any break." Alexander liked it even though he wanted nothing more than to run away. This was the right solution for him, power through once and get fucked or get the prize, ''Not like I have another solution... fuck it.'' He smiled nervously, "Begin!" Marisia looked at him at first and then laughed out loud, "Haha, you are like your father!" She walked toward Alexander, "The same insanity runs through your veins, but you should know this..." She stood behind him and hugged him firmly, "I love you, and I am sorry, as I want you to have a perfect life and reach your full potential. I want you to be the sun you are and not be enclosed like a pet." Alexander chuckled, "Mom, don''t be so crin..." Suddenly he felt a surge of her energy which invaded him like a tidal wave, "Stay strong and get through this, Alexander!" She was conflicted. She could have a healthy son who would be restricted, but is it what he wanted? No, he had unlimited potential in her mind, and anything less than reaching it would be a crime for her. She would be fine if he wanted to stay at home and research for his life. She would be fine if he wanted to be a playboy and get dozens of ladies pregnant. She would be even fine if he became a drunk and drug addict. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. But her son wanted to be more. He went through hellish training with his siblings. Learned with one of the strictest teachers she knew. Created beautiful plays because he felt terrible about scaring his sister. So? Who is she as not to help her son reach his full potential? A maddened smile graced her face, and her eyes became teary, "Healer! Get out but stay outside!" They instantly ran as they were ready to do so by the time she went over to Alexander. The amount of wild demonic energy she released was too much for them, especially the sensitive nature-dweller fairy. The door closed, and from the little energy she used, it suddenly exploded, and the whole room was filled with blackish-red demonic energy, so thick seeing in front of one was barely possible. Alexander felt his blood lust streaming inside him and killing intent out, he screamed loudly, and mana surged out of him. But it didn''t come far as the mana was quickly corroded and became food for his mother''s energy. He couldn''t even move as his mother hugged him, and as the energy invaded him, his mind went wild. Like a sliver of reason, he remembered to stay strong, and he did so. He pushed back hard while letting it partly flow into him and tried to control his emotions, but it became harder and harder to concentrate as the energy became thicker and thicker. Marisia''s perfect control of her energy made it easy to only surround them with the mind-corrosive part, while the one that corroded physically was slowly destroying the walls, floor, and ceiling and slowly painting it into a dastardly blackish red. She inherited this demonic energy type from her grandmother, who was a fox-kin. They usually had the same reddish energy with black blobs inside them as she had. The black part was mind corrosive while the red part corroded physically. It was easier to control than Leonandra''s demonic energy but more complex to master to the level she had than her household energy, ''Damn it, Alex! How much more?'' She thought she would already overwhelm the killing intent he produced, but she needed to increase her energy with every breath as her son''s killing intent also increased. Alexander''s thoughts couldn''t focus anymore after seconds, and they went from every moment of his life, from the family he had to his current one. All chaotic, and he would need a metaphorical anchor to hold them down as they mixed and mashed together, barely able to concentrate on anything. He screamed and wanted to hurt himself but was held down. It was getting too much for him. He couldn''t believe how anyone could go through something like this. Little did he know that it was an extreme situation. It became even stronger, and Alexander almost lost consciousness. Something awakened inside of him. Something ancient screamed inside his head, ''KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL...'' His eyes became red, and the fur on his tail suddenly started to burn as he couldn''t control his mana anymore as it redirected without any target. An unimaginable killing intent surged out of him, almost knocking his mother out, ''This is... yeah, it was the right decision!'' She increased her energy even more to overcome the barrier of massive killing intent. What she felt was at least a thousand times stronger than what her husband had at his worst. If this came out while he was in Wolfsteeth and with his potential power, the city would not stand, or he would die. If one looked from the outside at the mother/son duo, they were surrounded by a black orb around them, fully enclosing them while the room slowly corroded. The floor had already become entirely red, like the land in Kratikal, if not worse. Alexander didn''t know what had happened, but his blood lust increased by the moment, and he wanted to stop. It was worse than he thought, ''STOP!'' He couldn''t say anything as his body was on autopilot, trying to kill anything before him, but he was held down. With the bit of sanity he had left, he had a decision to make. He tried to push hard back, but it didn''t work. So there was only one solution left. He needed to take it all in and control it. The energy increased again. The killing intent increased too. Marisia was almost again knocked down as it was getting more intense, ''By the circle... how strongly do I need to get it?!'' She was almost at her limit, but Alexander didn''t. But nonetheless, she pushed it the last time and increased it to the maximum. A fox-like tail surrounded her wolf tail, and another one grew in the form of her [Aura]. She went full in and used her [Mystic Skills] with all she had. Alexanders killing intent luckily peaked, but even with this amount of corrosion and stimulus, Marisia needed to concentrate as even she could go insane with this amount. ... In front of the private training room "Shit! Is she trying to turn everything into Kratikal?!" Green screamed and flew as far back as she could as the energy slowly seeped into the walls and air. It was an insane amount. She grabbed into her bag and took out multiple talismans made out of bark and activated a greenish barrier around her and Pierre, who was beside her, ''I hope it will end soon...'' ... On top of the private training room "What is happening?! Why is demonic energy everywhere, and why are the walls becoming red! RUN!" The private training room was in the basement under the main mansion of the estate. The lady''s energy seeped slowly into the walls, corroding every inch of the estate from the bottom up. Like a virus, it gradually spreads. Everyone in the main mansion saw how everything turned red and could feel the demonic energy. Panic spread as every servant evacuated. ... Inside the training room The energy condensed from gaseous to a fluid as the red slowly filled the room. The black orb already looked solid from the outside, with two reddish foxtails attached. Marisia was giving her all, and the killing intent of Alexander stopped rising, ''Come on. You can do it!'' On the other hand, Alexander fought against it and tried to control it as he let it invade his mind. His whole body was in pain, and he screamed internally in agony. He barely stayed awake, but while it felt like nails were hammered into his ears, he concentrated and tried to regain his reason. All his years on Earth and what was left were his ideas, personality, his logic, and rationale he was so proud of. It was everything he had left from his previous life as his memories slowly faded away over the years. He wanted it. He needed it. A ring resounded! He had it! Alexander gained a skill and could suddenly, almost immediately control his blood lust and the madness caused by the demonic energy. He pushed them back without any problems, so much so that he only now noticed something. He was hurt. It was almost to the same degree then he burned his mouth. He wanted to scream for his mother to stop but couldn''t say anything as his jaw was jammed from screaming before, and his body felt weak. His instinct told him that losing consciousness would be his end, so he stayed awake as his brain felt like it was burning inside a wok, and his bones were worked on with a sledgehammer. After more moments, what felt to Alexander like hours, Marisia noticed the change and slowly decreased her energy. Now the problem was that she also needed to retrieve the energy in the room, as it could kill Alexander if she didn''t. She slowly sucked the fluid energy back into her foxtails, and they became almost solid from the density of the amount of energy. More and more went into them, which needed time. Marisia didn''t want Alexander to suffer more and did it as quickly as possible, which caused a slight backlash. Blood came out of her nose and eyes, but she was very relaxed and happy that it worked, so much so that she had enough time to blame her husband, ''Damn it. Kairo, this is your son, not mine!'' In her mind, she blamed her husband solely, as her children would never be like this. This was a good sign that she started to think like this as her thoughts slowly returned to normalcy after a sleepless night and only worrying about Alexander. After more time, the whole room was devoid of the demonic energy except the structure, which was drowned through and through with it and couldn''t be absorbed back. She held Alexander in her arms and smiled at him, "So, do you get it?" He could barely stay awake and felt like multiple trucks hit him but tried to talk nonetheless, "Urg ath wiiine." She nodded, and Alexander saw something he couldn''t believe looked so cool. His mother had two tails behind her, dense crimson red with fluid black dots around them, almost ten meters (~33 ft) long and thick like trees. She looked at him, "I need a moment, Alex." One tail transformed into a blackish liquid, and as she opened her mouth, the fluid slowly flew towards her mouth, and she drank it all up. It felt incredibly energy-dense, and Alexander''s thoughts screamed danger, ''This...'' While his mother drank this energy, he tried to ignore his pain by thinking about what he saw around him as he could barely move his head, ''The room is destroyed... fully.'' The room was pure red, and cracks were everywhere. It looked like it could collapse every second, '' Wasn''t Mom only higher Tier 2? Her power is insane.'' He already knew that the next topic with Anastasia would be about the system. Alexander already learned roughly what they would study but could only learn a little since he now had too much to do. The general tier said nothing about the power of someone, and he took it with a grain of salt, but now he understood that it really was incredibly fluid as how strong someone is. With the right combination of skills, you could multiply your power to the extreme and go toe to toe with higher leveled ones, ''I thought I was strong, but how strong are others?! I only fought with some lowly soldiers and my siblings who sparred with me carefully.'' He returned from his thoughts as he saw how the last of the tail was drank, and his mother exhaled a black mist that looked like it could kill all the dinosaurs if they inhaled it. And they did exist as monsters, but not in their territory. She looked now proudly at him, "Come." And with it, she carried him princess-style out of the room. When she wanted to open the door, it just crumbled into red pieces. She frowned, "Salyna will not be happy." She went forward and saw Green behind three greenish barriers with which one was corroded and barely held on. She knew those as she saw her husband using this type of energy too often, "I need a healer." Green almost lost it, "ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE, YOU DUMB BITCH! YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!" Marisia slowly walked towards her and suddenly laughed aloud, "Haha, I am sorry that I went overboard, but I need you to heal Alex, please." The lady ignored her insults since she was too happy that Alexander got his skill and everyone survived. Something else interesting happened to her too, ''I leveled somehow up multiple times. Did I reach Tier 3 with my general levels and my [Mystic Skills]?'' Green gritted her teeth while Pierre was sitting on the floor, afraid that he could''ve died because of some insane training, ''They are all mad!'' As Marisia was before the barrier, Green slowly removed them while speaking angrily, "I want more coin!" Marisia nodded, "Done. Something else?" Green, at first, was confused but quickly said, "I want the druid to help me politically with something!" She wanted to have more brats sent his way. The last batch of younglings was already out, and it was going well by the correspondence she received. With this, she could slowly build more connections and a stronger foundation in the circle. Marisia chuckled, "Hehe, done..." She stood before Green and Pierre as the last barrier came down, "I am obviously at fault and apologize, and you will be compensated for this grave danger you found yourself in, but now please do your job, heal Alexander." Green instantly started healing after getting her confirmation, but the body of the little puppy she analyzed was strained but not in too bad condition. Better than what she saw in other situations. Pierre also started healing, ''Hmm, I survived, and the money wouldn''t be too bad.'' Alexander felt better, "Oh man, my jaw killed me..." "Can you walk?" He tried to move slightly but could barely do it, "Not really, honestly..." Even though he was healed, he was heavily fatigued, so his mother carried him all the way to his bedroom. He felt no shame, though, as he enjoyed it to the fullest. When he was in his bed, he opened his window and confirmed it, "[Absolute Mental Control]?" Marisia also saw his system window, "Interesting. This is probably a better version of the skill we wanted to get for you. If you had the same as me, you would probably need more time to get a hold of yourself." She didn''t mention the levels and confirmed that it was the right decision to go through with the demonic baptism, ''Someone with such talent having such a bloodline to this degree is a catastrophe on a continent-wide level. Everything less than that skill wouldn''t hold it back at all.'' Alexander closed the system window and normal one with a wave of his hand, conjuring air contraptions while lying on his bed, "Thanks, Mom." He was genuinely thankful for many reasons, but most importantly, she stood behind him and was always there for him, something he couldn''t experienced before, "I love you." She smiled at him as he was almost asleep, "Love you too, sleep well." As she closed the door, she could hear her son breathing gently, already asleep. ''One problem down. Now, hopefully, Salyna will not try to kill me.'' She sighed and had other problems to resolve before checking her system window. Chapter 32: Salynas Wrath Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Salyna Leonandra (Swan-kin) ... Later that day A wolf-kin and swan-kin woman walked into the basement where the training room was. The swan-kin looked around, and her left eye twitched periodically, "Is Mr. Alexander fine?" Marisia nodded, "Yes, he is now sleeping. He should be ok when he wakes up. The skill he got is very powerful." After she said that everything went well, Salyna didn''t continue the chat but looked around and assessed the damage done while walking a step behind her mistress. Her skills alarmed the head accountant about the damage she saw. This made the veins pop on her forehead more than usual. The private training room was under the main mansion of the estate, and the damage she saw was unimaginable. If someone told her that a wild demon noble was rampaging here, she would believe it immediately. All the walls and structures were reddish-tinted and had cracks everywhere. Salyna could''ve sworn that parts on the wall started crumbling down. They were. Salyna saw it at the right moment as she looked up, and something fell on her head, which she dusted off, ''Calm down.'' She would''ve been terrified by how it barely held itself together if she had had civil engineering skills, unlike someone who saw this needed special analytical skills to see that everything only held barely together through sheer luck. When they stood before the training room with the crumbled-up door, it looked much worse than she imagined. Even Marisia didn''t remember it this bad since she was all happy-go-lucky after the demonic baptism. Salyna said carefully, "Are we alone, my lady?" The lady nodded, "Yes. Nobody here." Salyna turned her head towards her childhood friend and inhaled strongly before it started, "ARE YOU MAD!" Marisia smiled a bit as it was refreshing seeing her best friend and retainer being honest and direct after a long time. A vein popped, then the swan-kin saw that her friend smiled, "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SMILING! HUH?! DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!" Marisia stepped back and held her hands in peace, "Sorry, it was an accident, but it can''t be that bad, right?" "Yeah, sure..." she slightly touched a part of the wall, and it crumbled, "...whatever." Marisia looked around and dared not to touch anything, "Can you use your skill to estimate the damage?" She said almost instantly, "I don''t want to." Marisia was stunned, "Why? Please?!" Salyna said firmly, "No." Marisia knew Salyna''s accountant [Mystic Skills] as they were one of the rarer legacies. She could take the earlier generations'' accumulation and their analyses of the general economy, household finances, and specific situations and use them as cross-references for other skills for estimations. One such skill could analyze specific situations and the possible expense she would need to pay for the damage done here. The more cross-references she had, the closer it came to the actual cost. This also meant if she used it now, it would practically be written down inside the legacy, and when she got another child, it would receive everything she analyzed, and the child could also see who examined it. If Alexander knew about this, he would be fascinated that Salyna had basically a bloodline database that came to fruition through her legacy. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Marisia sighed, "I needed to do it. You know it." Salyna squinted at her, "Did you cheat on that barbarian?" Marisia was confused, "What?! NO! Why would you say something like this?!" Salyna went towards the other half of the four-meter wide double door, which didn''t crumble, and lightly tapped it with her foot. A large part crumbled down to the floor. Salyna looked again at her friend, "You know, if you told me that you had a flick with a demon lord, I would''ve believed you... who else could survive..." She opened her arms, pointing at everything, "...this!" Marisia looked at her first with a frown and then laughed, "Haha, it was not that ba..." she stopped herself and corrected, "...it was bad. Very bad, but I needed to do it... if I waited a month and he enhanced his mental fortitude skills more, I don''t know if I could break down his barriers for the skill at that point." Salyna frowned and tried to walk into the training area but was held back by the shoulder from Marisia, "What?" "The... floor is... you know." Salyna scratched her well-made snow-white hair, "Damn it... so it is worse than I thought." Marisia shook her head, "Worse. I went all out... and I mean it." Salyna rubbed her chin, "Yeah, definitely a demon lord." After a couple of seconds, they both started laughing. After another couple of seconds, Salyna screamed at her, "STOP LAUGHING, YOU MORON!" Marisia flinched, and Salyna went into a tirade, "My father was right. You are fucking insane, like your barbarian of a husband and your children, by the shit ass of a circle. I chose you for your morals, but I didn''t think that your morals also fucking include giving birth to... wait?" Marisia tilted her head, "What?" Salyna looked at her more focused, "Did the little imp (a name for newborn demon) actually learn the skill or something better?" Marisia smiled at her, "Absolutely." Salyna rubbed her chin while analyzing the destruction without using any of her skills, "Huh, at least something. He will be gone in a couple of years anyway." Marisia looked at her sternly, "Don''t say something like this, Saly. But I know that him staying here will only be to his detriment." "Yeah, I hope he will make us some money before he leaves for a MU or directly to one in the free cities first?" Marisia wanted to lean against the wall but decided against it for obvious reasons, "MU, if he goes directly to the free cities..." Salyna nodded, "Yeah, he will meet this bastard, and by all that is inside a circle, nobody would know what would happen." Marisia''s killing intent surged briefly but retracted it as fast as she could, "If he even touches a hair on one of my children, I will personally start a campaign to the free cities." Salyna looked at her and then back at the place she destroyed, "Yeah, kinda believe you..." She sighed, "Damn, I will do it. Give me a second." Salyna opened her eyes wide, and inside her point of view, everything went into color grading, grids, and numbers. She stood still for a couple of minutes, and only then she facepalmed, "Damn it..." Marisia came over and patted her shoulder with a nervous smile, "It can''t be that bad?" Salyna said almost silently, "Fifteen to twenty." This made Marisia happy, "See? Fifteen to twenty thousand average gold coins are quite the chunk but not bad." Salyna said, almost whispering, "Percent." Marisia thought she heard wrong, "Excuse me?" Salyna looked at her angrily, "Fifteen to twenty percent of the treasury." A sweat drop formed on the forehead of the lady, "Which treasury? The current one, right? We already paid quite a bit for the demon run effort... so..." Salyna looked at her more sternly, "The one before, which means around forty percent at least. Estimate with fifty." This stunned the lady, "This... is a lot." Salyna snapped, "NO SHIT, MERLIN! DO YOU HAVE MAYBE MORE GREAT IDEAS LIKE WHY NOT DO THE SAME INSIDE SOMEWHERE WITH A MORE SENSITIVE STRUCTURE!" Salyna stomped on the floor and broke part of it, and almost fell down, only to be held by Marisia, "FUCKING DAMMIT!" Marisia frowned. They wouldn''t go bankrupt but giving at least forty percent of their treasury was an insane amount of their wealth to repair everything. She thought they could only repair the most important parts first and then do it slowly over time, but the demonic energy seeped too deep inside the structures. It needed an overhaul. She wouldn''t do it here if she knew that she needed to go that much overboard. She would go outside to some training place for the soldiers. It was also not a problem even if they lost seventy percent of their treasury. The only problem was the timing. The current demon run was different, and having resources was crucial in a time like this, ''This will be a headache.'' Salyna spoke up, "This... damn it... we need to get our debts back from some families." Marisia looked at her, "This will be a bad idea. You know the game and how they will react." The head accountant knew that the Leonandra household was partly prosperous because they gave out credits in goodwill. If the debtor defaulted, they couldn''t take their land as they were in a unique position, but what they took were special agreements, resources, and more. They had a lot of investments outside of their territory and thus became one of the more prosperous territories with low taxes. So low that even the red light districts paid their due most of the time, as the minuscule financial loss wouldn''t be worth a raid because they evaded taxes. But the situation was critical as the demon run could produce someone dangerous. If this happened, the Leonandra army needed to recruit every mercenary they could get their hands on, and if this happened, they would be lucky to have ten percent of their treasury left. A very dangerously small amount. Marisia looked around and sighed, "Let''s leave and talk with my family. I need more people to discuss it with." Salyna looked the last time around, "Yeah, sure. I bet that your children could help you, haha!" Marisia looked at her, "No, but I need someone to bounce my ideas off, and they can learn something too. You are too emotional right now." Salyna almost screamed at her but caught herself at the last moment, "No shit?! If Alexander doesn''t become an archmage, I will personally charge him for this shit!" Marisia thought momentarily and remembered Merlin''s biography, one of the more important historical figures in the Mal-Gil empire, "Wasn''t every archmage practically broke and on the verge of bankruptcy because of their expensive experiments?" Salyna walked out of the room, "Don''t talk to me! I must calm down if you want to bring some brats into our discussion!" Marisia chuckled inwardly while she followed her best friend. When they were before a more public place, Salyna stopped and straightened herself. The lady passed her, and the head accountant followed her. They were back in their positions. Chapter 33: Bring Your Children To Work Day Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin) Salyna Leonandra (Swan-kin) Noriken Leonandra (Spider-kin) Aro Leonandra (Butterfly-kin) ... The next day, inside the office of the lady All her children were sitting in front of the lady of the Leonandra estate. Alexander included, who felt great after the rough day he went through to get his [Absolute Mental Control] skill. It was a literal cheat with which he could almost perfectly control his emotions as he usually needed much more time to recuperate mentally. He already had a lot of ideas on how to use the skill. One of those was that he wanted to test if it was possible to increase his mental capacity with it so he could conjure contraptions more easily since he was somewhat bound to the basics as he had little resources to spare. While conjuring fireballs and ice spears was fun, he wanted to explore more complex phenomena like electricity, magnetism, radioactive decay, gravity, etc. He already tried at some point to let a feather float up through reversing gravitation. It didn''t go well. Since he was so young, his underdeveloped mental capacity, without the additional energy and attributes, couldn''t handle the load he needed to compute for it to work. The missing information was replaced about the phenomena he wanted to achieve with his mana, and thus, he drained himself to zero and became instantly unconscious from the shock. Luckily nothing else happened except an intense headache after a few hours of sleep. The new skill could open new doors without waiting for his tenth birthday, but this had to wait since a critical meeting was about to start. Nonetheless, he was giddy to try it again. Beside Alexander was Ocilia, who he took with him as she was his disciple and, with it, a retainer of his. He wanted her to experience what a meeting could look like so she could also learn more administrative aspects, which he couldn''t teach since his experience was too far off from what this world''s SOPs were. Furthermore, he could, later on, if he had a job involving such meetings, send her out to those since he hated it deeply. His personal guard Maurice wasn''t here since he was training like a crazy madman. He was highly motivated to improve himself, but increasing his skills and experience without realistic fights took a lot of work. However, if he became active on the battlefield, the level increase would come quickly, like injuries and death. It was a double-edged sword, either surviving and thriving or dying. Alexander looked around some more and also saw some new faces. Salyna brought some young swan-kin boy with her, who would be between fourteen and sixteen, and probably her son, ''Huh, he looks like the epitome of a noble.'' This swan-kin boy stood beside Salyna and looked like an arrogant prick in Alexander''s eyes. His whole demeanor screamed pride and condescension, but he ignored him, not like he cared about everyone in the estate. Alexander''s eyes traced around the room to Lorient calmly sitting and talking with Sarah while Narsiz spoke about something with Aro. Noriken was also there on the side, and like always, he was emotionless and still like a statue. Alexander was brought out of his lazy observations as his mother coughed once. Everyone in the room got silent, and she started talking about yesterday. Everyone looked worried when she spoke about Alexander and how much of her power she needed to use to crack his bloodline. Only Lorient looked at him like she was jealous, ''Yeah, sure you are. Try getting your mental state tortured inwardly and outwardly, then talk to me again.'' Lorient knew that this wasn''t anything like a privilege as Alexander needed to go through this ordeal and not something he decided on just for fun. She also knew that her feeling of jealousy wouldn''t do anything for her as this was too late for her to go through the demonic baptism. But even if she could, she doubted she could come out as someone sane as she already had problems resisting her own corrosive energy. She was, for some reason, irritated to no end the last days, ''Given an option, at least would be nice, tsk.'' When Marisia told about how much damage was done and the costs, Noriken, Aro, and Cross gasped. Almost all the youth looked confused, and Alexander was first to ask, "How much is 50% of our current treasury?" Salyna looked at him like he was the child of a devil and answered him, "Right now, it should be around 700,000 average gold coins, Mr. Alexander." Alexander found it insane but could understand it. The damage was genuinely immense, as the energy corroded the fundament of the main mansion and seeped into the deepest parts. It needed to be repaired quickly. While it was possible to pay over time, it wouldn''t make that much of a difference, especially not in a world where [Mystic Skills], racial traits, and normal skills existed, making work much easier and a lot faster. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Alexander tried to find some resemblance to Earth for apparent reasons. In his opinion, it would be construction machines, but even then, bringing them over was a whole ordeal in itself, like finding the right ones for the right work and so on, while bringing over some workers would make the entire process much more flexible. However, his comparison ended here as he needed to gain more knowledge of civil engineering. Alexander couldn''t even imagine how the beast-kin builder would do it since he was basically imprisoned inside a golden cage and had no contact with commoners except for the servants, who were more than happy to forget their old life and rarely talked about it. He would love to watch other professions at work and ask them about it. While Marisia spoke up again, she pointed at her retainers, "You are here to help me find a solution..." Then she looked at the youth, "...and you are here for educational purposes." Only Janina was left out as she couldn''t understand anything since she was so young. Alexander would generally be, too, but in this case, he was an exception for obvious reasons. Marisia clapped once, "So, who wants to begin? Any ideas? Please feel free to speak up. I want to have as many ideas as possible and encourage the young to contribute." The young swan-kin was the first to speak, "How about raising the taxes?" Aro disagreed, "Young Aurum, we could, but the economy is growing immensely, and we receive more and more subjects daily. Raising taxes would slow our economic growth as the companies would hire less or start to pay less, then the subjects would have less coin to spend, which would also affect our numbers, and the long-term effect would be disastrous." Alexander spoke up, "How about a progressive tax? Could we tax the smaller companies less while concentrating on the bigger ones?" Narsiz shook his head, "No way. With this, the investments from wealthy merchants and businesses would slow down, and our administration would need a lot of re-work since we have a flat tax in the first place." Lorient proposed, "How about thinning out the forests and scratching every possible monster we can find for parts? With this, we can make trade routes more secure and profit from the monster parts?" This time, Ocilia said, "The lord was already on a campaign. There are not many valuable monsters left. Also, the body parts are usually only a little offset for all the campaigns while hunting down monsters and their breeding grounds in the West. We do this mostly because of the long-term taxes gained by merchants, but we need a short-term solution right now." Alexander raised an eyebrow as he was impressed by those girls since he thought they were very disinterested in such topics, ''Oh, who knew Lorient could have ideas.'' However, he was more surprised by his disciple since he barely taught anything outside of STEM, ''Not bad, you will surely make a good replacement in all those boring future meetings!'' For some reason, Ocilia shuddered slightly, not knowing why. Sarah frowned, "Don''t we pay very well? Why not have cut the wages and pay them back the difference later?" Noriken spoke in his deep and neutral voice, "The wage is written down in mana contracts. We would need a new mana contract for everyone to change every one of the hundreds of soldiers, guards, and servants. It would cost too much in the short term." Marisia explained further, "We buy silence and safety with this amount. Nobody would be insane enough to compromise our estate for a couple of gold coins if they could make the same over a few months without compromising their safety." Aurum asked, "How much is our revenue actually?" His mother, Salyna, answered him, "We are barely making a surplus right now. Our radical policies with the debtors we got working in easing our effort in the east burned a good hole." Lorient spoke again, "Apropo debtors, I read somewhere that we have a ton of coin owed by other estates? Why not collect them?" Narsiz answered her, "Rather not, for multiple reasons. We accepted their delayed payments or defaults from credits we issued them, as they gave us resources and favorable policies, generating a nice revenue stream. By getting a chunk now, we would lose out later on, and let''s not talk about what we actually would take? Most of them have no notable treasury." Salyna complimented him, "Well spoken, Mr. Narsiz. I propose a multi-pronged approach and will raise taxes only so slightly that it would make almost no difference with the excuse of the demon run while making cuts in cities where we have more than enough staff without mana contracts. We will also work more closely with the red-light district, and don''t ignore their minimal tax avoidance anymore and..." She listed a lot of micro policies out, which would only target specific groups and bring barely any coin in. Still, if everything went as planned, it would generate enough to barely make around 200 - 300k. Sarah was confused, "Why didn''t we do it earlier if there was this much coin we could get?" Salyna raised an eyebrow as she liked the question and didn''t expect it from her, "Ms. Sarah, it is too much of a headache to fight for every single coin swept away by corruption and tax avoidance. It is fine to let smaller businesses go away with this as the coin, in the end, comes back into our coffers." As Alexander listened to their discussions, he started to feel bad since he thought it was all his fault. He knew all the policies would damage their fief''s economy in the long term as they would try to squeeze out everything they could. This would bring a lot of problems since they would go out of their way to suddenly press every small vendor and business owner for pennies. Afterward, small businesses, which tried to secure away some coins, would try to do it in another way, and the cycle would repeat itself till one party would give up, usually the tax collectors, or the other would leave after they sold everything off, which would be the businesses. There was an unwritten agreement between those parties that it was acceptable to avoid some taxes for various reasons. However, Alexander had an idea that he held back and wanted to present later on, but this moment was perfect. He said, "I actually wanted to wait with this, but I think I can create an item and make money for the estate..." He scratched his head, embarrassed, "...it was kind of my fault in the end, too, hehe." A vein popped on Salyna''s head. She wanted nothing more than to smack him as losing such a massive capital was a catastrophe, and anyone else would be beheaded for it. Still, this puppy was only embarrassed, but to her luck, Narsiz questioned him as she would probably lose it, "What do you want to create? Don''t forget, Alex, we can''t really invest much now." Alexander had many ideas he could make money with, but he wanted to wait till he was older since he was more than just a little busy, and no businessman would take him seriously. But right now, he needed to make an exception, as this whole debacle was his fault. Alexander drew a rectangle in the air, "Paper and no, it costs barely anything, hehe... free coin!" He chose this product as the parchments in this world were terrible to write on, and the target group would be nobles or merchants. They could afford it since he wanted to sell it at a massive price margin. Merchants, business owners, and nobles would kill to have paper documents instead of brittle parchments that had barely any longevity relative to actual paper. Also, he knew that his estate bought parchments from merchants for a not-so-small price. Even if nobody bought them for some inexplicable reason, he could create them for the estate and save costs. Everyone looked confused, and Noriken said, "Not everyone knows what paper is. It is fundamentally a better parchment and very expensive to make. As much as I know, only the royalty of high demons is using them for their family archives. Mr. Alexander, it is too expensive." Alexander argued back, "No, it is not? I know how to make it, and it is very cheap..." He held his hands at the front and tried to get at least a chance, "... ok, how about this? I will make it and present it in... how about in three to four weeks? I only need some pots, barrels, containers, etc." Marisia looked at Noriken, "Is it dangerous to make?" Noriken frowned, "It is a secret, and honestly, I rather doubt Mr. Alexander''s abilities to make it." Alexander protested, almost standing up and staring at his mother, "Three weeks!..." then he looked at Noriken, "...and it is not dangerous!" It was a little dangerous, Alexander added in his mind. Sarah looked at Alexander and shrugged, "Why not? No one of us knows much about alchemy, and I trust him when it comes to such things..." She looked at Ocilia and pointed with a thumb at her, "...well, she knows a bit, but I would guess not to the same extent as Alex." Ocilia''s face flushed a little. Even saying someone could do Alchemy at her age would be fantastical, and they would be regarded as a prodigy. Alchemists were highly respected since they would need to have either exceptional [Mystic Skills] or be sufficiently skilled in their mana skills while also being very knowledgeable. Of course, there existed many who were unskilled and could barely create a subpar small healing potion and thus considered hacks. Still, if the public thought about alchemists, such were not considered part of the caste. Narsiz stroked through his blonde hair, "Well if it only cost us at most four weeks of waiting? Why not, honestly?" Lorient yawned as this meeting bored her, "Huaaam, It''s not like we go bankrupt in four weeks. I am for it." Salyna looked at Alexander and asked, "Let''s say you can actually create a piece of paper..." She looked at Noriken, "...how much do they go for?" Noriken thought momentarily and answered very confidently, "Around two to ten average gold pieces per sheet of paper, depending on the quality." Salyna went into thought again, mumbling something under her breath, and then looked at Alexander again and sighed heavily, "Ok, Mr. Alexander, if you can create one sheet of paper in four weeks, you will have at least a lot of pocket money." Marisia clapped again, "Ok, this works well since we need either way to get an estimate from some builder companies. Everyone, please think about other methods for the next four weeks, and this also applies to the young ones as this is a perfect exercise, and don''t forget, nobody outside this room is privy to this information!" Everyone nodded, and she clapped once again, "Dismissed!" Chapter 34: Paper Making: Preperations For The Preperations Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Aurum (Swan-kin) Important note I will only write down the needed chemicals, how to procure them in Alexander''s environment, and what he does with them. Please, by god all mighty, don''t even attempt to try it! Most of the stuff described here is highly toxic and/or can conclude in a volatile exothermic reaction (explosion)! The same goes for the processes, as most are very sensitive, and for Alexander''s literal planning in bathtub cooking, he would be shitcanned. Also, note that I have not included the reaction equations, how to calculate the weight, the correct apparatuses, etc., as it would become more of a technical manual than a fun fantasy novel. Furthermore, I decided to have a bit more creative freedom in terms of some technical aspects, so everyone with a little knowledge is free to point things out ;) ... Alexander sat in his office later that day after the meeting. He needed a lot of time to write everything down as what he proposed to create was a spontaneous and barely developed idea that he thought would be easy to make. After 20 minutes of going through everything, he realized something important, ''I fucked up.'' He gnashed his teeth as he couldn''t lay down the common sense he had cultivated for years on Earth. It became a headache when he realized that he couldn''t call a distributor and ask them to deliver everything to him, and there were no supply chains for the chemicals he would need, ''Ok, where the fuck do I need to start?!'' He canceled the training with Lorient/Sarah and the lesson with Anastasia, as he needed at first to organize everything he needed for papermaking. Not only where he would get the trees since their estate had a large enough forest or the apparatus since they had multiple blacksmiths working for them and maybe one or two glassmakers. The chemicals were the problem. Alexander had no way to procure them, and the literature/documents in front of him showed it, ''Fuck Saly, she was so giddy as she shot down everything.'' After the meeting concluded, he visited Salyna, and as he listed what he needed in concrete terms, he was denied almost everything. For every chemical he needed, he would need to make them himself, but she was at least nice enough to give him some books and documents on what the region and markets had to offer regarding chemicals. At least, through his [Reading] skill, he could go through them fast, and with his old reading techniques where he jumped over every other word, he was quickly done. He laid down the last book and sighed, "Huuuuh, I am so fucked..." ''I need to start at zero. There are no suppliers for what I need.'' Papermaking in itself was easy. Alexander learned partially about paper making when he volunteered in schools and did fun chemistry projects with the students. When researching fun experiments, he would also look up the industrialized processes as he would give out materials and work through the theory of it. He didn''t emulate the industrialized process for obvious reasons and chose to make paper out of old newspapers with the kids. He could give up and choose another product, but he was stubborn, and as he remembered Salyna''s smug smile, which he wanted to shove up her ass, ''Ok, where do I start then? Let''s think about which process to choose.'' This was his only saving grace. His memory was incredible, and thinking about something from long ago, even from something from his previous life, felt clearer. It felt like he switched from a Pentium III to an I9 PC, ''Come on, dear brain, remember all the shit you researched for the kids!'' He concentrated and started to write everything he remembered down. After an hour, he found the only process which would fit everything he wanted to do. What he absolutely wanted to avoid was doing everything by himself. Besides the products available to him, he also looked at the process itself. Initially, it would be fine to be a one-man factory, but he wanted later to get some workers who could work by themselves, and him only occasionally showing up and inspecting them. That''s it. Alexander chose a chemical process, which was much easier than the alternative: Mechanical ones. They were much more complicated since they used relatively complex machinery. He would need machines that needed much time to be built and tested for the mechanical process. Not like he could call a company and buy it. He could, later on, change the process, but for a start, he would need to consider the local chemical production and what he could procure. They weren''t a hot commodity; thus, barely any supply was available, not to mention the meager amount of variety. However, what he decided on would generate an excellent product even though the byproduct was horrible, ''The smell will be terrible...'' He shrugged inwardly, hoping to learn some spells from Green in the coming days, as she would visit tomorrow and bring more materials for him to learn. Otherwise, he would need to find certain beast-kin with very unique [Mystic Skills] or another way to avoid certain risks and negatives like the byproduct. He could already have the solutions if the world had been a little more STEM-oriented, but this was not the case. Most of the world, or at least where he lived, concentrated on skills, magic, and a bit of alchemy, so in terms of STEM, they were far behind. Another problem was that he only had the books and documents given by Salyna, but if he wanted a better picture of the situation, he would first go out and see everything for himself. In his opinion, discarding treasures as trash was easy if one was unfamiliar with the potential value. Alexander sighed and stretched while his ball of ink was writing everything down perfectly, ''Damn it, this will be a loooooong day.'' While doing some stretching, he thought that this situation he was now in had some positives, though. If he made most of the things in-house, he could monopolize it for much longer than if he just bought everything. Earlier or later, the process would become known, and other products would hit the market, but if everything was made inside the estate and held as hidden as possible, he could hike up the price and milk his buyers, who would mostly be rich either way. When the process was known, he would already have other products ready to hit the market. He returned to the task at hand and started organizing the next step: Chemicals, ''So, what do I need exactly.'' Alexander needed five main ingredients to start making paper: Sodium carbonate was available as it was used for glassmaking and was really cheap, so there was one down. It was called, luckily, almost the same as on Earth: Washing ash, so he found it rather quickly as he saw what it was used for in the records. Two more of them were basic to make: chlorine and lye. For this, Alexander needed to electrolyze saltwater. He already knew how to do it, but this was for later, as he already had an apparatus in mind. Then there was sodium sulfite, which he could produce easily with dirt-cheap mountain salt and sulfuric acid. It was too bad that he needed the acid, which wasn''t cheap and very hard to come by as it was mostly sold in the djinn territory to the southeast on some islands, so he needed to make it himself as he was on a time crunch. Later, he would buy it in bulk, so he wouldn''t need to go through the hassle of creating it first, even if the process would run the danger of getting exposed much faster. This was his MO: Keep it as simple as possible. Alexander had many other ideas, and holding onto some invention and keeping it a secret was nonsensical in his mind for multiple reasons. One, he could fasten the process of science in the world or, specifically, his territory if he showed what methods were possible without magic and alchemy, thus creating a positive feedback loop to discover other inventions. Second, since he was a noble, the territory in which the inventions were made would become a hub for all the talents who were unlucky in their legacy but nonetheless showed determination in their pursuit of knowledge and thus would flock to them and create a gigantic and novel industry. Which would also mean that they would be flooded with taxes. Alexander shook himself awake from all the future plans and went back to his parchments, ''One step at a time.'' He returned to his documents and wrote down the thing he needed to make the acid in the first place: Sulfur. It was relatively easy to get and pretty cheap. It was used as a disinfectant for the poor who could not afford a healer to remedy their wounds. Funny enough, it was also used as a disinfectant on Earth going as far as thousands of years ago. Alexander would only need to burn it and catch the sulfur dioxide (SO_2) gas inside the water. It would become sulfurous acid (H_2SO_3). Sadly, pumping more gas into the sulfurous acid solution wouldn''t make it sulfuric acid (H_2SO_4), as sulfur dioxide was already in an equilibrium reaction with water. Thus, if the air were pumped in, it would just escape. It was possible to do it, but only with UV light, pure oxygen, and a slight temperature increase, but this would be too much of a hassle if he wanted the workers to do it later. Alexander wanted to prepackage everything they needed so they could throw it all together like a cake-ready mix. Alexander closed his eyes and thought about what to do to create sulfuric acid out of sulfurous acid, ''I need a potent oxidizing agent, fuck.'' He couldn''t think of anything he read in the documents Salyna gave him, so his only solution was to go a step back and create a chemical to make another chemical to make a chemical, so he could make paper. Alexander now knew why he hated chemistry and didn''t choose that career path. After an hour of going through every geography book he had ever read at the estate, he decided that he would need to produce potassium permanganate (KMnO_4). Not because it was so good or anything, no, there were much better reagants to get for his papermaking business, like hydrogen peroxide, but for this, he needed to make sulfuric acid first. At this moment, he thanked his old and great chemistry teacher, who really liked to teach the practical uses of chemistry and history. Otherwise, he would''ve needed to figure out where to begin in the first place, ''Though he smelled very much like marijuana... well, I am not judging.'' With the combination of indirect descriptions in the literature he read and the documents Salyna provided, he had decided on a specific ore, which was very cheap since nobody knew what to do with it. Pyrolusite (MnO_2). Pyrolusite was only used to clean glass in restaurants and other establishments. It was only unearthed on the side, and they actually had some of it at the estate. But to create the potassium permanganate, he needed to get potassium hydroxide, and for this, he needed a specific salt, which was luckily available for cheap, potassium chloride (KCl). Creating it was the same as making lye, so there were no problems. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Now with the potassium permanganate, it was possible to produce sulfuric acid and, thus, sodium sulfate. From this, it was easy to produce sodium sulfide as sodium sulfate only needed to be reacted with coal under heat. With this plan, he was, at least theoretically, ready to start making the chemicals for papermaking. Alexander looked proudly at his little schematic plan and the notes beside it. *Notes not included Now he was done with noting down all the that was needed in the chemicals department and what to do with them, but now came the next problem: How to set something up that not only he could work with. It was fine to help here or there, but creating all the chemicals in batches would make it a full-time job for him. After the ordeal of getting his bloodline under control, he wasn''t too hot on working as a factory worker, so he would need to create easy-to-use apparatuses. The apparatus for the electrolysis came first, and it was pretty easy to make. Get something akin to a bathtub, two giant sticks, copper, and zinc. Done. If he wanted to make the chloralkali process as efficient as possible, he also needed a diaphragm, a semi-permeable gate between the two metal sticks made out of asbestos, so as the electrolysis process was going on, chloride ions couldn''t react with other ions and create undesirable molecules. This brought him to a dilemma he didn''t even consider: Was asbestos as toxic to him now as to a human from Earth? He was much more physically robust than ever in his previous life, but would it also mean he was more resistant to certain poisons or substances? He noted it down to be careful as he would never know if it was actually the other way around. Now came the most crucial issue: voltage. How would Alexander create energy without doing it himself by utilizing magic or alchemy? He leaned back in his chair and rubbed a place between his brows, ''I think I chose the wrong product.'' He didn''t think the product was terrible, but all that went into creating it was a lot. All the chemicals and, as someone from Earth with all the products readily available, he needed here to start from zero. Worst case, this whole project would all be trial and error. Even with skills, it would take a lot of work to get it right if luck wasn''t on his side. Alexander sighed, ''Enough whining, so which method should I choose to create voltage?'' Again, he had different possibilities and new ones he found very interesting but wanted to try later after gaining more knowledge about them since there were better ways to die than blowing himself up with an unstable and highly reactive mana stone. ''Even if I wanted to experiment with some mana stones, nobody would give me any.'' As the name suggested, it was a stone with a very high internal mana density found in mana mines. His mother made it clear to everyone in the estate that it was prohibited to give any to him, no matter the reason. She wanted to get him to his tenth birthday before he tried to blow himself up. At that point, she hoped that he had a strong enough body to survive his future experiments. There were also mana gems, which were just gems with high mana density, and other natural resources with the prefix mana, which signaled that they were structurally able to hold mana in them as they absorbed it over time. Mana cores were also a thing. Monsters usually had one, and this was how they differentiated between sapient races like humans, beast-kin, dwarves, draugr, and so on. The core was fundamentally the monster''s heart and had different uses, as the cores also had diverse structures. Again, nobody was allowed to even let him hold a mana core. The same applied to all other natural resources: Mana trees, mana fluids like very small and isolated lakes, mana metals, etc. Alexander decided on something less fun: a battery. He wanted to make a galvanic cell through electrolyzing. Not much was needed: Thin plates of zinc and copper, salt water, and some old fabric. This, he needed to stack on each other, and he could create the old-fashioned voltaic pile. There were obviously better options, but this one was the easiest. Alexander only needed to instruct some people to work on this and make safety features, and he would be done. ''So, what''s next? Right, wood, the most important thing!'' He tried to remember the estate''s layout while looking into Salyna''s documents to see if they had enough of it here. He raised an eyebrow as he found all the information needed, ''At least we have more wood than we want.'' The Leonandra territory had a sweltering and dry climate. Thus, wood was only used sparingly since clay, mud, etc., was much more cost-effective, faster to build, and more pleasant to live in. So it was much more used than stone, bricks, wood, or whatever. Funny enough, trees grew like weeds without any problems. Alexander guessed that mana somehow influenced this phenomenon. Also, he had no idea about civil engineering or agriculture/forestry except for some superficial concepts. Hence, everything he thought about was more or less pure speculation. This is where his otherworldly knowledge stopped, and he would need to catch up heavily, but nonetheless, he could make educated guesses about certain things. Like, the material used for building houses was also heavily used in cities. It thus was built more horizontally rather than vertically, except for notable buildings, which needed other materials for better stability. According to the documents he was reading, Wolfsteeth, for example, thus had no actual center but had multiple ones, as travel through the giant city would become a hassle, ''I need to become older much faster and see everything for myself. Only extrapolating information from written documents is such a hassle.'' Alexander ignored that he would need to wait to go out into the world and noted everything he would need and what to do since this whole situation suited his plans for once, as he needed a fundamental material, wooden chips, to make paper. He would put them in a basic apparatus, a pressure vessel with a metal net in-between, and cook them with all the chemicals together under certain conditions. Alexander wrote everything down and had no idea which size he should instruct the blacksmiths to make for him, ''A little bigger should be ok, I guess?'' The apparatuses would be handmade for him by the estate''s blacksmiths, so he could splurge a little and didn''t need to first make some small prototypes to test them first. With all this, he could make paper, but he wanted to add a bit of quality to it, and for this, he needed to bleach it and get the lignin out. Afterward, he could wash it and bleach it multiple times. For this, he also required numerous containers, but nothing too complicated. Alexander sat and drew for hours more apparatus and described everyone in detail from which material they would be needed to be made and in what dimensions. After he was done, he needed to determine how to specify the quality and quantity of the chemicals. Quality, if it was the chemical and quantity, how much there was. Testing PH was impossible. He didn''t have any Litmus and couldn''t build a PH-meter. So this flew out of the window. He also couldn''t test if the chemicals made were what they were. He required other chemicals and apparatuses, like a burette for titrations, to test them. So, this was gone too. Only the physical observations were left, like color, smell, etc. If his old teachers heard about how he conducted himself here, one would applaud him, but the others would probably smack him till he stopped, as it was hazardous to test everything in such a way. But a new problem appeared absolutely unknown to his previous life: Mana density and how it affected the chemicals and/or material properties. He needed to ignore this, too, since he had no clue how it could affect anything and only built contingencies like having a healer around while he tried to make paper for the first time. The preparations to prepare the chemicals and apparatuses to make paper was ready, and he went to the swan-kin youth, which he saw at the meeting, with this list. It was already evening, though, and he hoped he didn''t sleep. Salyna told him that her son, Aurum, would tend to his every need this month when he made the paper. She had a mischievous grin as she told him that, which meant to Alexander that she was up to something, ''Not like I care as long as he does his job.'' He decided to deliver it himself since he wanted to walk a little. The warm air hit his face as he went out. It was a much warmer climate than the other countries he lived in on Earth, and he loved it. So, while walking, he was enjoying himself. Outside, he walked to another manor where Aurum lived. The estate was gigantic as it had multiple mansions where all of them lived but differed strongly. The villa in which Alexander, Narsiz, and their personal servants lived was small compared to others but beautiful. He looked farther away and found himself a little spoiled, as he considered this small. The apartment he lived in with his siblings was tiny compared to the room he used as an office. ''Well, I live together with Narsiz and my personal servants in there, but it made it not less large.'' It was also evident that it was built in mind that someone would have much more servants. So, most of the time, general servants came over to clean, cook, and so on since both boys had barely any compared to what was needed. Janina, Lorient, and Sarah lived together in his mother''s mansion. Lorient for apparent reasons, as when she went crazy, somebody could stop her and notice it quickly. Janina because she was young and their mother wanted to be close to her. On the other hand, Sarah moved there because she got annoyed in his mansion by all the background noise Alexander produced. Aurum lived with his mother, Salyna, in the mansion specially built for personal servants of the lord and lady. It was also fully packed with higher-ranked soldiers and other high-value estate workers. He came over and nodded to some guards, who nodded back and were obviously bored by their job. This guard position was usually held by newbies, so they would train their discipline, and as a whole, it was useless to even have guards here. Nobody would dare to attack a noble directly. Otherwise, a whole crusade would start. If a third party attacked them, the nobles would start to help each other. If they didn''t, and the attacked party survived the ordeal, they wouldn''t help others and even, out of spite, would help future attackers. A vicious feedback loop would be created. But if they helped, they would be compensated with better trading deals or preferential policies between each other territories. The incentives were much stronger to act as a knit-tight group. But if they attacked each other, others would start to choose sides to get the most benefits. Alexander remembered that he had read about a big event that actually happened some decades ago when some crazy nobles bound together and started attacking their neighbor to the north, the Nine-Fire knightage, which had precious mana stone mines in their territory. First, they started with closed-off operations to sabotage their production and afterward tried to buy it out, which didn''t work. Then they blatantly wanted to blitz rush with their strongest and kill the lord and lady. Later, they wanted someone to inherit the knightage title, which was more friendly to their cause. Too bad they were stopped with the help of the previous lady of the Leonandra estate, who was there for a visit. His grandmother joined the defense, and it resulted in a brutal massacre. Afterward was history since the noble houses who sent their people ceased to exist as did their offspring. In other societies on this continent, they would be taken as slaves. Still, less to say, slavery was a really touching subject for beast-kin, and even debtors, who his mother bought, were not slaves and had a sliver of freedom. It was possible and preferable that they could gain freedom again for multiple reasons. The first one was that an overarching empire law existed that put the debtor into this situation to a maximum sentence of ~50 years. They would be branded by some kind of tattoo which made them work till their debt was cleaned off. The tattoo gave them a massive debuff to skills, attributes and strained their mental psyche with different illnesses. It was a little like an automated curse that could be temporarily turned off so they could work and pay their debt off. If they ran away, the tattoo would activate automatically after some time, and with that, the debuff. Alexander had no idea how it worked but was promised by his mother that he could research it at some point. Alexander didn''t know how to call this, but slavery implied something indefinite without any chance of escaping. This system was at least temporary, even if the time variable was pretty relative. Even though 50 years sounded like a lot to him, this was nothing too much for beast-kin, who could live from ~150 - 500 years. There were obvious other implications like the renewal of the tattoo and multiple sentences, which could make this ordeal much more indefinite, but again, who in their right mind would risk breaking the empire''s law to have some unproductive worker who one would need to feed and provide housing? The risks were too significant for anyone who had anything to lose, while the debtor''s life was pretty much worthless in the first place. However, he heard from servants that some morons risked it, and it didn''t end well for them. He was brought out of his thoughts as he found a servant who instantly bowed after seeing him, "Where is Aurum?" "Please follow me, Mr. Alexander." ... Later, inside Aurum''s room "This is... not a lot, huh." Alexander was sitting on a chair beside Aurum''s desk. His room looked basic: A couple of chairs, a bed, a bookshelf, and all the stuff some servants had in the mansion he lived in. "Yeah, how long do you need to get all the stuff?" Aurum rubbed his chin, thinking, "I guess... four to six days at most. You don''t care if it is not newly made or other things are repurposed, right?" "Repurposing is better. I don''t need something brand new. I want to make it as cheap as possible for my first batch. This comes later after I show you all some miracle." Aurum said reflexively, "If you can do it." Aurum suddenly opened his eyes wide open and wanted to apologize, but Alexander laughed out loud, "Haha! Don''t worry, it will work..." he jumped down from the chair and went towards the door, "...as long as I get what I need." When Alexander left, all he had in mind was going to sleep as he was tired. Aurum, on the other hand, dodged an arrow. He was tired, too, as he discussed with his mother why he should help this brat. He was an accountant with almost the same legacy as his mother, but he wanted to work with someone more inclined to help commoners and poor people. Someone with the same ideals as him. On the other hand, the so-called archmage puppy seemed like an insane mage who would take the poor for experiments. Aurum sighed, ''Let''s get it over with. After he fails or succeeds, I can go to Wolfsteeth and work there.'' He was held back by his mother to wait and observe all children so he could become a retainer, but all he saw was disappointment. Lorient and Sarah weren''t interested in anything related to the ruling of the fief. At the same time, Narsiz, as the only option, was incredibly isolated and needed first to get over his trust issues. Somebody who couldn''t trust his loyal retainers wasn''t an option for him, and he would only look for the best-suited one. Aurum was arrogant, but it had its reasons since he was that talented. Worst case, he would become a wealthy merchant while doing philanthropy. Not as wealthy as if he would work as a retainer for the new lord or lady but rich enough to make a difference. This was the young swan-kin dream. He wanted to make a difference, as what he saw in the past sickened him to the core. The side of his mouth rose in disgust, ''I would rather die than serve some trash.'' For now, though, he would need to help Alexander, heed his mother''s advice, and observe him, as it was the least he could do for her, ''So, where do I find all this?'' Aurum sat at his desk the whole night and cross-referenced prices from vendors with his [Mystic Skills] while writing it down, so he could visit them tomorrow and haggle the price down as much as possible. Chapter 35: Lesson On The System 1 Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Anastasia I. Ramputt (Bunny-kin) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... Anastasia came fresh and happy into one of Alexander''s rooms which he designated as his classroom, "Good morning!" Alexander sat deadbeat at his desk, barely able to keep his eyes open. He was tired from yesterday''s planning for the paper-making. Not only that, but also the fatigue from the demonic baptism, the Redhood play, and the skill test hung over his head. Only physically, though, as his mental state was top-notch because of his new cheat skill, ''I really need a two-week vacation.'' He yawned, "Mornin'' teach." Anastasia held her index before her and said sternly, "Language." Right, Alexander remembered that he talked for the last four weeks in their lessons in Nocir, the night-elvish and nature-dwelleth language. At first, it was hard, but after getting the [Linguistic] skill, it was much easier than learning Spanish during his school time. So, he was already on the level of something between B1/2. However, every time before the lesson, he would need a little warm-up before he could start speaking more freely and correctly, "Ok, will go, beach." Anastasia chuckled and corrected her student, "Not go and not beach, but do and teach." Alexander nodded to her in appreciation and murmured the words under his breath to remember them better. His murmurs were interrupted as Anastasia commented on the notes she read from her student, which he wrote some time ago, "Alex, I read your documents, and they are pretty good, but it shows your lack of information about the system." He nodded in acknowledgment, "Honestly, I kind of knew it, but is that demented of?" Anastasia chuckled, "You meant far. You will sound very off if you don''t pronounce the accents correctly." The accents in Nocir were hell. It was a very melodic language, and the pronunciations showed how high or low the tone should be. At first, it was foreign to him, but after the first week of sounding like a eunuch or chain smoker, luckily, it worked itself out after a lot of practice and at least ten levels in the [Linguistic] skill. If he were, to be honest, it was mostly the skill. Alexander grumbled, "All right, so, what do I have death?" She corrected him, "Not death but wrong, and a lot actually, but what is more important, what do you think of the system?" Alexander wanted to say something about RPG gaming systems but remembered that the system was a part of their life. Saying it was unnatural was only his view. If someone, who never had a sense of smell, suddenly got one, it would probably feel the same. After a good thought, he answered, "Honestly, the system is weird." Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "How so?" Alexander frowned and tried to translate what he wanted to say correctly. Nocir wasn''t hard in itself if he ignored the melodic element, but it also had a ton of cultural influences; thus, it was very illogically built, and therefore, many parts needed to be memorized. After finding the right words, he answered, "I think the system is arbitrary. Why give strength, dexterity, and so on the possibility to increase them through experience but not luck or charm? Or why make the first ten years so important that it decides the rest of one''s life with a non-changeable [Divinity Line]." Anastasia found this answer intriguing. It was nothing new, as scholars discussed the topic widely in many papers she read as a student at KLU. Very non-practical but exciting nonetheless. She asked him, very interested in his answer, "Do you think it is fair?" Alexander almost instantly answered, "No..." Before she could ask him a more pointed question to have him answer it more thoroughly, he continued, "...but nothing in life is fair, an anal fistula: If you don''t eat well as a child, you will develop deficiently, and it will stay your whole life with you. So nothing is fair, and for some things, there is a certain time frame to develop thoroughly." Anastasia started laughing, "Hahaha! Analogy, not anal fistula, but yes, you are right. Life is unfair, so you think the system is unfair, too?" Anastasia patiently waited for Alexander to continue as she was very interested in her little student, who seemed to have a streak toward justice and equality. She saw this mindset often in religious folks who followed strictly after their codex or in some of her colleagues at the free cities who came from poor backgrounds. However, hearing something like this would be a rarity from a noble in Mal-Gil. Her smile widened, ''I will need to teach him that he should not start fights against nobles who are assholes, which he will probably do later on when he joins the social gatherings...'' Her smile widened a little more, ''...how fun will the political scene become?'' As his teacher was in her thoughts, Alexander thought it philosophically through. He needed to bring himself into the position of the one who didn''t come from Earth, where this system didn''t exist and only was known from video games. "The system is nothing more than a mirror to us..." Alexander stopped for a second and continued with an example, "I saw, for example, Ocilia''s system and her last name changed to Leonandra, but she was already my disciple for years. This means that the system mirrors ourselves and how society sees us. If everyone thought my name was... Zidane, for example, my name would possibly change to it even if I knew my name was Alexander." His teacher rubbed her chin and smirked, "Not bad. Yes, you are right, partially. There were tests about cases like the one you described, and they only worked around 50% of the time. It also usually worked only if the person whose name changed accepted the name and the people around them also accepted it..." She crossed her legs and waggled with her index finger while she sat on the desk, "So, you need the personal and societal factors for this to work, and as for Ocilia... maybe she accepted herself as part of your household, or maybe the household accepted her..." she shrugged, "...or both." Alexander leaned back and sighed, "The system is bizarre." His teacher chuckled and decided to stop the philosophical discussion and go into the lesson, "Hehe, you only scratched the iceberg. How about I tell you that the system actually has distinguished parts?" Alexander tilted his head, and his ears twitched slightly, "Hm? Distinguish parts?" She nodded, "Yes, the system is distinguished by different parts: The personal, the divine, the attributes, and the skills. Our name is part of the personal and the only part of the system that adds personal information..." she tapped her chin with her index finger, "...well, it also depends if you consider skills something like personal information, but this is a topic for another time." This surprised Alexander, "It adds more secrets?" "Not secrets but information, but yes, and it''s perfect as we can start with this part first..." Anastasia stood up and started to saunter in front of the blackboard, "After every new Tier you reach, there will be newly added information about yourself. It follows, as much as we know, like this..." She started counting on her hand, "Tier 1 gives you your Name, level, HP, and MP. At Tier 2, your age. At Tier 3, your sex, then at Tier 4, the height and weight, and at Tier 5 come the last one, your specific race." Alexander was stunned and intrigued as his tail slowly waggled, "Why does it stop at Tier 5? Is it the last Tier?" She shook her head with a knowing smile, "Not at all. At Tier 5, the system only stops collecting personal information, and with Tier 6 and the right level of your [Divinity Line] rarity, the first body modification starts." Alexander suddenly got much more interested as this was very new information. Luckily for him, she continued without him asking. "Philosophically, some say that the system only at that point acknowledged you as a person, as it stops adding new information and reforms your body to make it much stronger." "But, I never read anything about this in our literature?" She nodded knowingly, "Ah yes, your family with all of the Guard Dogs and even together with your father as a druid are really the rare exceptions to the rule which doesn''t specifically applies to them..." she frowned slightly, "...also, your estate''s library is trash." Alexander tilted his head in confusion which his teacher found cute, and continued, "So, before I explain the intricacies of your family heritage to you, let me first explain how it is generally, all right?" The puppy nodded and listened carefully while writing down everything she said with his ink contraption. At this point, Anastasia was used to this and would probably become confused if her next student started to write with a feather. "So, lets first start by dividing the system into the two components which are most important for beast-kin if you want to reach the body modification..." she suddenly thought of something and added it, "...also, in other places, it is called reconstruction, cleansing and so on. So don''t let yourself get confused." Alexander was now fully awake, even without the coffee he wanted from his old college days, which tasted like rust but woke him up every time and, most importantly, was cheap. It also made him shiver slightly after the second cup, which was great in winter as it held him warm. ''God, these are pieces of information I never heard about. What the fuck is wrong with our library? Even teach is finding our literature we have are trash.'' The library was relatively small and filled with self-glorifying ancestors who wrote about themselves like they were the hottest shit since sliced bread. Very little had actual information about the system or skills in general. It was a breath of fresh air to actually have a teacher who could teach precisely. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Anastasia continued, "Like I said, it starts when you reach Tier 6, but also, your [Divinity Line] needs to reach the legendary rarity, and for this to happen, your [Mystic Skills] need to reach the legendary rarity." She looked at the very confused puppy and only thought about how confusing the system actually was for the youth. Still, after learning about it, it became very elegant as everything was interconnected. She turned around, and while writing down the rarities, she said, "Let''s start with this first. Six rarities describe our [Divinity Line] and [Mystic Skills]. The rarer one is, the more powerful your [Mystic Skills] and the more explicit they become." On the blackboard +-------------------+ Name of all rarities -Common -Uncommon -Unique -Rare -Epic -Legendary +------------------+ "How do you raise those, actually?" She turned around with a twirl and clapped her hands, "Good question! Let me give you an example..." She turned around again and started to write down more while she explained, "...if you want to increase your [Divinity Line] from common to uncommon, you would need to reach Tier 2 in your General Tier and reach the uncommon rarity in three [Mystic Skills]..." Then she shrugged, "Well, the same goes for higher rarities in your [Divinity Line]. The general Tier and [Mystic Skills] must reach Tier level 6 and the legendary rarity. When you reach with your [Divinity Line], the legendary rarity, the system starts the body modification." She tried to explain the intricacies, "This is a rule of thumb since you can have higher or lower rarities of your [Divinity Line] and [Mystic Skills] from the get-go since your legacy, but this is how it increases and decreases." On the blackboard +---------------------------------------------------------+ Increase Rarity A [Divinity Line] Before -> Rarity B [Divinity Line] After Prerequisite: General Tier B + 3 [Mystic Skills] Rarities B Example increase Common -> Uncommon General Tier 2 + three [Mystic Skills] at Uncommon rarity Uncommon -> Unique General Tier 3 + four [Mystic Skills] at Unique rarity Unique -> Rare General Tier 4 + five [Mystic Skills] at Rare rarity -//- -//- -//- +---------------------------------------------------------+ Alexander asked, "Question: I get that the [Mystic Skills] get stronger and such, but what is the [Divinity Line] doing? Is it just a measure for the body modification kind of?" Anastasia shook her head, "Not at all. The higher your [Divinity Line] rarity is, the stronger and more explicit your [Mystic Skills] become too." Alexander frowned, "Stronger, I get, but what does explicit means in this context?" She turned again toward him, "Well, let me ask you something: What do you think about the rarities and what they mean for us beast-kin?" Alexander looked at her confused, "For us, beast-kin?" Anastasia remembered again that her student was this young and never had suitable research material to work through even though he was very curious, "Well, the [Divinity Line] is something only beast-kin have. Humans have [Divine Classes], djinns have [Divine Acclimation], and so on." Alexander remained silent and thought about it since it was new to him that other races have other kinds of systems, ''This fucking system is surprising me anew... what else? Will there be two windows at some point? Fuck me.'' He scratched his head and answered with a half-assed theory he put on top of this question of what he learned from his previous life, "Maybe we adapted in a way that made the divine part of the system most suitable for survival?" Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Who knew that you would bring such a theory out? Yes, it is if you want to explain the differences between the systems of races, but right now, let''s concentrate on our system. So?" He forgot the question since he heard for the first time that different races had different systems, and probably other kinds of things too, ''This is so much shit, and what does it mean?!'' "Oh right, what was the question again?" "What do you think rarities mean for us, beast-kin?" Alexander didn''t really know since he had never really thought about it seriously, but he remembered his teacher''s words that it would become more explicit with every new increase. Thus it became more or less self-explanatory. "Like you said, it means that the [Divinity Line] and, with it, the [Mystic Skills] become more explicit. With explicit, like the rarity describes, they become less and less similar to each other as, I guess, some are." Anastasia was happy as she laid down the bread crumbs for this answer for her student, "Very good! [Mystic Skills] at the common rarity for warriors, as an example, are very similar even though there are tens of thousands of different [Mystic Skills] in this one category at this rarity." "All right, but what does more explicit means exactly? If you have a mystic skill which made you charge at someone, how does it become more explicit?" "Good question! But if we want to discuss the intricacies, we will sit here till tomorrow morning, but what I can say without going too much into the details, it will be decided in a test after you reach level 100 of the specific mystic skill in a test." Alexander frowned inwardly since he wasn''t so keen on his skill-test teacher as she was overly hyper for his taste. Also, in his last skill test, his teacher''s head was pierced through, so he was curious if she was ok or if he would find her with a hole in her head. He nodded, "Got it, so what does the body modification do?" Anastasia shook her head, "Oh, we will learn it at another time as it will take too long too. Alex, please be patient and take one step after another, ok?" Alexander stretched himself, "Gotcha, you are the teacher, and what do we learn now?" He wanted to know more about it but understood that Anastasia had a structured plan and her reasons for doing it this way. He would follow it as, till now, she was a good teacher. "Yep, it could become more complicated, but we will stop here and quickly go over the exceptions before we end the lesson for today." Alexander sighed, "Yeah, you mentioned the prerequisites, and I find them quite high... mother and father are under Tier 6 and already ~80 years old." Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "Your parents are part of the few exceptions." Now Alexander raised an eyebrow, "What is their exception? I couldn''t even find anything about body modifications in our literature." Anastasia waved her hand in dismissal, "Don''t worry about it. Getting the correct literature is expensive and hard, so..." she winked at her student, "...I am counting on you to fill your library up with good stuff." "Done." Anastasia nodded satisfactorily, "Good, but why is your family''s [Divinity Line] an exception? You are lucky that I was Lorient''s teacher and to another guard dog family for two years or so..." Alexander interrupted her, "Lori''s teacher?!" Anastasia''s face was slightly blank as she remembered Lorient as her student, "Ah, yes. She was very... enthusiastic, let''s end it at that." Alexander nodded and noted it down to ask her later about it as he could make fun of his sister, "Got it. What makes our families [Divinity Line] so special except for being extremely strong." She waggled her finger before her, "Not so fast, little pup. Why do you think it is so strong?" "Because it is a very rare form of energy for sapient races, which is also very destructive." Anastasia sat down on her desk and crossed her legs, "Why is it destructive, though?" "Well..." Alexander stopped himself as he actually had no idea why but tried nonetheless, "...well, because it is affecting the psyche?" Anastasia shook her head, "No, many energy forms affect the mental state." Alexander held his arms up in gesture as he would give up, "Then, I have no paint." "Idea, not paint. If you want to know how your family''s energy works, we would need first to work through how monster function and much more...." Anastasia expected that Alexander already had some more knowledge about this but understood that the lady wouldn''t want to disclose too much to someone this young. She shrugged, "But I will give you the short version: The energy takes part of the experience directly. Every time the user kills someone with it, it strengthens itself, and your father has something close to it but more complicated as druids are... well, complicated." She stopped before she could ramble on, "However, your parents [Divinity Line] is special because it takes experience directly and becomes stronger by itself." Alexander didn''t know this, which sounded extreme to him, "So... the energy is alive?!" Anastasia looked in disbelief at him and burst into laughter after a short moment, "Haha! No, but it is a good question since it brings out more questions like what it means to be alive?" Alexander shrugged and remembered a saying, "Being alive means paying taxes and operating your metabolism." Anastasia chuckled at her student''s definition, "I will agree partly with you, but again..." she looked at her pocket watch, "...we will end it for today as I know that you will see Ms. Green later..." she smiled at her students while packing, "...ready to learn more magic?" Alexander packed all his parchments and utensils into his little bag and stretched, "Well, kind off. Hopefully, she has brought more spells for me to learn as..." he almost instantly constructed and chanted the ignition spell onto his hand, "...conjuring this is getting boring." Anastasia looked at him with a smirk, "I talked to her, and she has more than enough material. Don''t worry, and I know that some of the spells she brought were newbie killers, hehe." "How do you know about it? Are you a mage too?" Anastasia came forward and opened her arms, "Ah yes, I wanted to actually introduce myself at our first lesson... well, I forgot, but I can do it now..." She stood proud, "I skip my full name and go directly towards my credentials: I graduated from the Kilen-Lion University, also known as KLU, one of the best universities for liberal arts where I studied philosophy, history, and politics..." a smirk build on her face, "...I graduated as best of my year, and went further to the free cities, to the best universities, where I studied with all different races and people like mages who I... let''s say was friends with, hehe." Alexander already knew that the free cities were an amalgamation of different races, and their leaders were councils of the strongest, wealthiest, and most influential people there. It was a hot pot of cultures. But he had no idea that they had the best universities? But it made some sense since if you were a scholar and only lived for your research, being at a hotspot where everyone can live without being persecuted despite their race would be like a dream. Alexander wanted to know more about their universities, "They have the best universities?" She nodded, and her student could practically smell her pride, "Yes, there are the most prestigious universities on the entire continent, and it is a zone where merchants, warriors, mages, scholars, and so on come to study... sadly, while the universities, which are also partly ruling over the free cities, tried to establish a base without discrimination it is impossible as our history is ingrained in our bones." Alexander probably knew the answer, "Racism?" Anastasia laughed again so loudly that Alexander, out of surprise, reeled his ears back. She wiped a tear away, "If it were only racism, it would be a utopia, but as children of nobles, royalty, influential merchants, strong warriors, and so on gather to study, assassinations are commonplace." She shrugged, "Why not try to kill off some talented child in a neighboring territory who would otherwise be a thorn in your eye if it came back? You could even then blame it on someone else." She sighed with a slightly saddened face, "You have no idea how many talented students lost their lives because their parents had some bone to pick..." "So sad..." Anastasia noticed the clock from her peripheral view, "...and with this, our lesson today is over! Next time we go through the next part of the system... oh right!" She clapped her hands and almost forgot something, "I have homework for you. Draw a diagram that depicts the increase of the [Divinity Line], [Mystic Skills], and General Tier while also including the possibility that they are either higher in rarity/Tier or lower. Bring it later to me by one of your servants." Alexander nodded toward her, thinking how he would probably cobble something together after the training. He was flooded with training and lessons for the whole day and too tired most of the time for homework, but he did it nonetheless, and it looked, most of the time, rather sloppy. However, he quickly put the thought away as he was too excited that Green was back with new magic. He was already too bored by the ignite spell and couldn''t see it anymore, so he quickly left toward his office, where hopefully Green waited for him. On the other hand, Anastasia glanced at her student leaving and sighed, ''Huh, he will probably give me something faulty again. I can''t blame him, though. Most students with such a strict schedule would not even visit my lessons on a daily basis.'' She shrugged inwardly, packed her notes into her spatial bag, and had only one thought on her mind, bringing a smirk to her face, ''Maybe I look for someone I can spend my mating season with? It should be already time, and everyone in Wolfsteeth is so fidgety, hehe.'' She went out of the room with a hop in her step, already thinking about what kind of guy she would look for to spend time with within a month. It was a time when a lot of beast-kin became a little bit more jumpy and jittery since their fundamental instincts came in full force at this time. Walking down the mansion, she smelled something from someone she knew, ''This is Lorient... oh dear...'' She turned her heel and walked another way. She already knew that her ex-student would most likely go through her first mating season this year, and since she had the wild-demonic energy, Anastasia wanted nothing more than to stay away from her, ''They all get so aggressive...'' She remembered her time in the farther north teaching another youth from a guard dog family, and this teen went through the same situation. Since they wanted the skill they get by enduring it, they would go crazy and would need multiple guards to restrain them, ''I need to stay as far away from her as possible!'' With that, she walked around Lorient as much as possible. ... Evening, Anastasia''s room She was sitting on her chair and reading Alexander''s homework, which one of his servants had brought over. ''He assumed too much, but it''s not bad, though.'' She took her red ink and corrected a mistake he made: What if the grade of the [Divinity Line], [Mystic Skills], and General Tier is lower or higher than each other? The [Divinity Line] rarity will increase if the proportional General Tier is achieved and all the [Mystic Skills], which were received at the before-mentioned General Tier, are at least one rarity over the [Divinity Line] rarity. It doesn''t matter what is higher or in which order they increase. If the goal is the mentioned body modification, one could theoretically climb up to General Tier 7 and, at that point, start to increase the [Mystic Skills], though only if the corresponding [Mystic Skills] of the certain General Tier reached the next rarity, would the [Divinity Line] increase. Teachers note: It doesn''t matter which [Mystic Skills] achieve the next rarity. Even if the [Divinity Line] is common in rarity but one has 8 [Mystic Skills], the [Divinity Line] will also increase to Uncommon if the only [Mystic Skills] at Uncommon rarity would be the ones one received at General Tier 4, 5 and 6, while all others are at Common. The system is much less strict than you think, but good job nonetheless! Chapter 36: Agressive Corrospondence Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) Lizko (II) U. Irim (Dragon-kin) ... 1 - From Green to Lizko Greetings Lizko, I hope you are faring well in your pursuit of knowledge in the cathedral of pestilence. You were always such a bright head that nobody could compare to, especially in your research specialty of wild demons, where you achieved incredible results. I heard that after you graduated from KLU, the magic division, you were taken in by a great mage. Since you are now in the cathedral and a disciple of one of the higher ones, I would like to congratulate you with my best wishes! Thinking about how I worked as an administrator at the Union for Education and was in charge of you brings the good old times back. All the relationships and friends we made were really something to remember. Wasn''t there this cute darling of yours? Laurel L. Love, was her name right? A high-demon succubus, even though she was very young, she had very unorthodox medical methods which were really revolutionary. I hope your wooing went well since everyone could see you followed her like a little chick. As for me? I am doing well and in a position where I lead a temple while building up the territory in the east of Moorgrel and act as a messenger for one of the oracles after graduation. I will stop my gushing about our good old times and come to the point: I am writing to ask you something essential. I have a student who I teach magic because nobody else will, but sadly, as you know, I have no notes to speak of, limited literature, and, regrettably, little knowledge. The one I teach is what I would consider, without a doubt, a little genius wolf-kin puppy from the ruling family. It would be a shame to not let him fully realize his potential because of my lack of resources. But I always knew that you were a hardworking and aspiring mage, so I wanted to ask if you could send me your notes on spells and the literature you outgrew with your talent. My student mostly learns by himself and needs only little guidance from me. With this, copies of your material and literature would be enough to help him and me greatly. I would also be ready to compensate your help financially since I know from friends, who work in the same cathedral as you, that your research, even though vital, never receives the funds it deserves. I will stop my letter here since I know how occupied and hardworking you are in your studies. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. With love, the circle may bless you, Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes ... 2 - From Lizko to Green Greetings, Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes, I would wish you would write my name entirely since we were never this closely acquainted. Even though you helped me in my time of need, and I am very thankful to you, I would like to keep manners at the forefront. As for responding to your gossip about the very respected Ms. Laurel L. Love, I can say that we didn''t come together. It would be very forthcoming of you, Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes, not to mention such an outlandish gossip. If you want more information, please contact her. Write to her family''s estate, Love County, northeast of the high demon territory. Regarding your genius and young student, I advise you not to try to understand magic. I highly respect your administration abilities, as you, like me, graduated from one of the best universities in the empire. But regarding magic, please don''t make outrageous claims about others, as you should know that your talent wasn''t there. For this, I want you to remember your previous university. I will not, in any circumstances, send you my private literature and notes, as you should know how valuable it is, and yes, by this, I also mean copies. Also, I genuinely don''t trust your judgment regarding magic and talents. If you really think he is talented but young, he can wait and then go the same path as any other respectable mage, which I truly doubt he could if you evaluated him. Greetings, Lizko (II) U. Irim ... 3 - From Green to Lizko Hello Lizko, I cut to the chase. I know from rivals and colleagues of yours that you mishandled an experiment in Kratikal and are probably responsible for the current oddity in the demon run, which is happening at this point in time. Why do I mention this? As you didn''t understand in the last letter from which household my current student is, I will try to be more explicit: He is one of the children of the Leonandra family, one of the seven guardian families in the east, and also one of the many families who were at the forefront of the event which transpired around hundred of years ago: Blue Bloody Night. As I remember correctly, your highly regarded Irim family was on the other side. However, even if that is not enough to bring you back from your over-inflated ego, mentioning Laurel L. Love wasn''t gossip. I think you remember well what happened since I was the reason that you actually didn''t get thrown out for harassment and stalking, as I, Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes, mediated between her, you, and the administration of KLU and put it all to rest so no war would start because some horny oversized lizard harassed the first daughter of a marquise, who is a good friend of the crown. As you, what looks like, have his own head inside his rectum, I will be more direct: I can go to the Love family and tell them everything that transpired and/or go to the Leonandras and tell them your direct involvement in the current demon run, which you, so unskillfully, couldn''t hide. Not even your third-class magic talent or your not available social skills could help you if either of them, who I mentioned before, wanted your head. The same goes for your debt-ridden family, which barely holds relevance with their subpar magic if any of the before-mentioned families wanted your blood eradicated. Oh, also, please try and accuse me of slander as I, a messenger and leader of a temple, the main religion in Mal-Gil, would love to see how the Irim family, a simple viscount family, which serves the very religious marquise Kalpoma, will try and protect you. Now, I will directly say what I want, as you ignored my friendliness before. All your notes and literature. I also want you to start copying one book monthly about magic, especially on mana theory, spell-craft, contraptions, and artificing. Furthermore, don''t even think about sending me trash. Otherwise, I will do everything to destroy your sad, pathetic life. The second page is a high-level mana contract, specially made by the circle, that you couldn''t neutralize with your abilities or resources after signing, and as proof for me, you understood that I mean no fun. I will feel it immediately when you sign it, so be quick. Also, the letter is obviously magical in nature, so don''t even try to slander me with this as this is a mind-spell letter, which you probably already found out, but it is also made with high-quality circle material that only an oracle could scratch out of your lizard brain. I await your answer, and I want all your notes and literature to be here in four weeks. Then every four weeks, a copy for the next four years. Also, a little advice: It is better to make friends than enemies and better to be owed a favor than be blackmailed. Greetings, Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes ... 4 - From Lizko to Green Dear Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes, I understand, and the first package with my personal material will come in two weeks by STEED (Speedy Thunder Eagle Express Delivery). with best wishes, Lizko (II) U. Irim Chapter 37: The Awaited Magic Lesson Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) ... After receiving her package from her colleague after some persuasion, she went directly towards the estate. It was already a month, and her student was waiting. Typically, a month would be nothing for a youth learning magic but not in this case. As she walked into the office of her student, what greeted her was indeed a sight to be seen. It would be the weirdest duo of students if they were at any magic university. One was a wolf-kin, one of the best races of scouts and trackers, playing around with the ignition spell and showing off how he could simultaneously create three ignite spells, '' He has learned [Multi-Casting]... this is insane.'' Alexander learned it while waiting for Green. He only wanted to show how his disciple could use her threads to cast multiple spells simultaneously. It was a pleasant surprise for him, but if Green, who watched, knew this, she would give up on her life and start anew to just forget it. [Multi-Casting] was a skill that helped simultaneously build multiple spell constructions. It was usually only learned and used by more advanced mages and only for war. As for other applications, it had little use. At this point, Green ignored his age. If she acknowledged it, her self-esteem would sink to the bottom. Next to him was a spider-kin, a race full of prestigious tailors. She ignited her string with the spell, which burned strong, ''What the fuck is going on?'' She remembered how she, in her college days, sat down for weeks and tried to learn that damned spell with the help of her professors and tutors. Now she had basically two excellent students who were far ahead of her in terms of talent. If any of her old professors knew about them, they would kill to have any of them as their disciples. But most of the time, they wouldn''t believe it like Lizko since mages tend to be overly arrogant. The rivalry among the students was suffocating, too, and she wouldn''t want to wish they would learn in such an environment. But they would. They were talented enough, so there was no question that they would visit a magic university at some point in time and study there. In her mind, it would be a crime if they stayed here, inside a territory with at most a couple of mercenary or adventurer mages that retired and looked for a cheap place to live. After seeing the growth of her students, she nodded toward them as a greeting while they greeted her in a way that didn''t fit their birth and ancestry. "Hey, teach''." "Good day, Ms. Green!" Green was not someone for small-talk and could see how impatient they were, so she grabbed into her spatial bag, designed like an acorn leaf. She took a couple of books out and put them on the desk, "Let''s skip the niceties and start the lesson..." She grabbed and held an old, very used book, "This is about the History of Magic by Lavaran..." She inspected it more thoroughly but shrugged in the end, "The edition is a little old but should be good enough." "However, this is what you waited for..." She pointed at a book with a stupid drawing on it, "Theory of Spell-Crafting for Fools by Merlin..." She looked at Alexander and showed the back of the book, which had a picture of Merlin, "He was a genius since birth and lived two thousand years ago and revolutionized the spell-crafting in the empire. The most prestigious magic university was named after him since he was highly respected and revered... though nobody really liked his naming sense. To this day, everybody feels stupid if they read his for fools books and don''t understand it..." Alexander sat and drooled at all the great stuff Green brought, but the moment he heard the name of the last book, all his alarms went off in his head, and he paled slightly, ''No... there is no fucking way...'' This title was a brand name for tutorial books on the Earth, and if someone lived two-thousand years, something was... Green flew over and waved her hand before him, "Hey? Are you all right... hehe, don''t worry. I know it is a lot, but you can praise me after I show you some spell constructions!" Alexander awoke from his thoughts as his teacher bragged, ''I need to think about it later... even if someone else came here from Earth, it was thousands of years ago.'' For some reason, Alexander didn''t feel weird knowing that a possibility existed that he wasn''t the first one who was brought to this world. He already had some inklings and remembered how he thought that Janina could be someone from Earth and tried to speak with her in four different languages when she was an infant. There was no reason for him to get into crisis mode and panic since it literally wouldn''t change anything. However, it was an interesting question that he could contemplate for hours and then research more about Merlin to get some definitive answers. Regardless, he was dead, and Alexander was alive and needed to concentrate on the treasure before him, ''Rest in peace, pal. Hopefully, you had your cringy harem and all the shebang.'' So he did the most pragmatic thing he could and put the thoughts away for later. Now, he was entirely fixated on the lesson. Green took out some parchments, which were bonded together, and showed them proudly, "This will be the next spell you will learn from the lazy mage category, and it is called the bath spell." In confusion, both students tilted their heads to the side. Ocilia asked, "A water spell?" Alexander nodded in agreement. She flew towards Alexander first, "Nope! This is a cleaning spell which is also very complicated, so it is for our golden pup as for you..." Green tilted her head towards Ocilia and gave her another spell, "This is an illumination spell and would be the next step from the ignition spell." Then she flew back to the desk, "So? How do you want to learn? Want me to explain or learn by yo..." Before she could end her question, the answer already manifested before her as both had already started reading, and she could hear how Alexander had already gotten the pronunciation correct on his first try. She took a book from her bag named Love Knows No Boundary, sat down, "If you have questions, I am here..." and started reading. ... Thirty minutes later The puppy suddenly started to shine, and a whirl of multiple elements swirled around him till he was fully covered by them. After another moment, the lights lightly popped and flew to the sides. They transformed into flakes of grey and black. Alexander looked confused at himself, "What the...?" This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. When Green saw this, she took another spell guide and flew towards him, ''Figures.'' She stopped before him, and her voice sounded only slightly joyous. Not like she expected anything else, "Congratulations, archmage puppy..." She chuckled slightly, "Here you go, your next spell, made by Merlin and called Conjured Bread. This is one of the many spells where you can conjure food..." She shrugged, "...for some reason, the predecessor of all magic of beast-kin somehow was really into making food." Alexander heard her but ignored her since he somehow felt refreshed? He looked at himself and his clothes. They were all clean. Even his teeth felt like he was at a dentist for a regular clean-up. Ocilia was as astounded as her master when she saw him. In her eyes, he looked... cleaner. Much cleaner than usual. He was always sweaty from training or wore clothes from the day before, which was weird from her point of view since even she needed to look after her garderobe and change them daily to not embarrass her master. Even her mother, Melina, complained that he didn''t care about how he presented himself and just put on the first clothes which he saw. At some point, she needed to take away not similar-looking socks and give him ones that fit. This was only part of it, as he also smelled excellent. Ocilia liked it and went quickly back to study her illumination construction. She needed to learn her spells swiftly before going to a more complicated one like the bath spell, which she really wanted to learn. Alexander looked confused at Green, and she answered him, "You are clean now..." She shrugged, "...learn the next spell," and flew back to her chair to read her novel. The puppy didn''t know if he was happy or not having such a not-caring teacher, but the spell he learned was fantastic as he could be much more productive since his bath time always took at least an hour every day. This wasn''t the only positive since taking a bath was always weird. Someone else was always taking a bath with him, siblings, parents, or maids, and they were all naked. It was awkward for someone who wasn''t a big fan of FKK culture, but he also suddenly thought about something else, "Teach, can I use the spell on someone else?" The teacher frowned as she couldn''t read the part on how the centaur would seduce the dryad and looked to her student, remembering her job. She thought momentarily and flew towards the blackboard, "Yes and no. The spell you learned has a 2D construct, and such spells are usually simplified ones from the originals with whom you could clean everything and everyone around you..." She wrote down the ignition spell and to the right of it another one, "For example, the ignition construct is derived from the fireball construct, and that one is from the pyro-ball and so on. It is practically the same as only the potency, and various other aspects change, like the mana drain, size, density, and so on." When she was done, the fireball construct was drawn in different views, as it was a 3D construct. It resembled the ignition construct barely and was a much more complex build. It was a ball full of nodes and lines everywhere. Ocilia didn''t even glance at it as she knew that nothing good would come out of it, but Alexander stared at this and couldn''t make it out how to construct it. A flash of insight hit him, ''Doesn''t this look similar to an organic chemical?!'' It was only partially there, but he could see the resemblance, though his thoughts were interrupted by the stern voice of his teacher. He turned his head to Green, who flew back to her book while talking, "Don''t even try it, and I will also not give you the chants. Learn as many 2D constructs as possible before you try to burn down the whole estate..." She looked at him more sternly, "Don''t take it as a challenge... 3D constructs need much more control than some other spells, and before you try it, I want you to have your whole toolbox at least at level 50." Alexander was confused, "Toolbox?" Green remembered that she talked with an isolated noble child who would need an explanation for everything, "Yes, every mage, alchemist, and so on have a fundamental toolbox of skills like [Mana Sense], [Mana Manipulation], [Mana Emission] and so on." This piqued the puppy''s interest, "So, what more could the toolbox have?" Green pointed at the book by Merlin, "Read it before you ask me more. This book is pretty good in explaining what every apprentice needs to know, but first..." she pointed towards the new spell she laid down on Alexander''s desk, "...train your spell-craft first while I am here. You can read it later after your sister beat you up." Alexander grumbled but followed her instructions as she probably knew better. While Green was at the estate, she wanted to look after him when he learned the constructions, as many things could go haywire, and she could heal him then. Normally, 2D constructs were very safe, and injuries rarely occurred. Most accidents happened because the apprentices knocked themselves out after their mana reached zero. While unconscious, the spell they conjured before would set something ablaze, hurting the apprentice. But even if she tried to explain it to the lady, she was strict and worried a lot about him, so Green gave naturally in and needed to be extra careful. This is why he was only allowed to construct the spells in front of her. After he learned them, there was basically no danger at all. The rest was the theory that he could learn by himself as the worst injury he could get while reading would be some stiff neck. However, she remembered Merlin''s biography and how her little student resembled him. A scene from his biography struck her at how Merlin tried to create a chant by himself and accidentally burned a barn down in the process, ''I will wait in giving him the biography. Better not give him any weird ideas.'' She sighed and hoped for the best as she returned to her story and how the centaur was trying to find the right present for the dryad. ... 40 minutes later A glow invaded Green''s peripheral view. Alexander created a simple piece of bread, "Hey, teach, can I actually eat it?!" For Alexander, it was weird to create food out of thin air. Well, it was made from a chunk of his mana, but his Earth intuition told him it was weird. He thought for a second while looking at the bread, and he found the reason why he found it so weird, ''A piece of bread is more complex... right?'' In his mind, a piece of bread was much more complex than, for example, a fire created by the ignition spell, but again, he was in a world of magic where he was some weird human with wolf ears and a tail. So what was considered strange was really up to interpretation. Alexander needed to shake all the common sense away he brought back from Earth and think much more like someone who lived on this planet, ''Ok, so conjuring food is now common sense, got it - next on the list is Penicillin.'' This was actually the first thought he got after he created the bread. If one could conjure food, one could theoretically also conjure other things like medicine or metals. However, the spell to create some bread had cost him quite the mana, and like always, he would need to wait with his experiments. His teacher interrupted his inner monologue, "Hm, yes, you can eat it, and depending on how well you did it, it will be tasty or disgusting." She flew over, broke off a piece of the bread without a word, and ate it, trying to determine its taste. After a couple of bites, she took another one, "Yummy, good job!" Green threw him another spell, "This is the last one for today, and this one is on the same level as the cleaning construct but much harder to learn, it''s called First Aid, and as the name says, it will heal you... well, it will push your body to regenerate faster, and do you know the problem?" Alexander knew, "It will affect my body directly. Every other spell was only external." His teacher nodded, "Good. Now, I will sit beside you to heal you when you pop a blood vessel while you learn it." But before learning the new spell, he tried a piece of bread. His teacher was right. It was yummy. ... 30 minutes later ''This shit ass construct!'' The construct was simple but needed to be applied to the body. It meant that the spell must be constructed to fit a specific spot on the body, and Alexander couldn''t get the hang of it. It was hard. He laid the construct down on his skin, but it needed to touch it wholly. Otherwise, it struggled briefly, and then only a minuscule effect occurred. Frustratedly, he asked, "Does the whole construct need to touch the skin, or can it be only the nodes? The notes said it should touch it wholly, but..." Green cut him off, "Nodes are enough, but the spell will be significantly weaker. Do you know the reason?" Alexander nodded in frustration, "Yeah, the effect will be weaker as only the mana of the nodes will be used." Green patted him with a smile, "Good job, now keep learning. Usually, you would need at least a month to learn it, so don''t give me such a face." She smiled at him as he looked like a dry fruit. Well, she kind of expected here to be the first stopgap for him as spells outside the body, at least in the beginning, were always easier to learn since there was no need to adjust the construct towards any form. She returned to reading her novel, ''So... how will Layla react that he attacked her parents? I would totally take him. He meant it well since they were abusing her... also, he is cute, hehe.'' On the other hand, Alexander was trying to put the construct on the back of his hand. It went better and better till he came to the corners. It also never stayed down and rolled up like some cellophane when he wanted to wrap leftovers with, ''Fuck this shit, drawing this would... wait.'' With this idea, he started to directly draw on his skin, and after a chant, the spell activated. It was a success! He heard Green''s voice, who looked very carefully at the spell. Then she smirked, "Not bad, you found it out?" Alexander''s eyes opened wide, and he glared at her, "So you knew from the beginning that I needed to draw the construct directly on my skin! Why didn''t you say anything..." He thought for a second and became angrier, "...it definitely wasn''t written in the notes?!" Green laughed, "Hehe, I need somehow foster your creativity, right?" She took a folded piece of parchment and gave it to Alexander with a mischievous smile, "Here you go." He looked at the folded parchment and then back to Green, "You would give it to me if I couldn''t figure it out, right?" She shrugged, "Sooner or later?" and continued, "Listen, magic needs a lot of creativity. We create special chants from different languages, deconstruct constructions from higher form spells so we can use them in different ways..." She flew towards her bag, starting to pack while she continued, "If I only give you instructions, you wouldn''t learn anything and develop to be some construction worker who works by the book." Alexander understood her and wasn''t angry at her, but he didn''t know exactly what she meant by the term she used, "Construction worker?" She nodded, "Someone who only knows how to follow commands or, in the mage''s case: instructions. Be more creative..." she stopped herself from continuing, "... and safe and only while I am around, ok?" He nodded, and with this, the lesson was over. The next class would be in two days, so he had enough time to read a little and ask her further questions. Ocilia also had something to do and work on her illumination spell. This time though, she didn''t get any chant examples and needed to orient herself on the notes, which had the phonetical descriptions written down of the chant. This was her assignment. But before they could leave, someone unexpectedly entered the room. Chapter 38: Maurice Wants Mana Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Maurice Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Cross Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin) ... As Alexander wanted to meet Lorient for the daily dose of trying not to break his neck training, a very unusual person came in. In front of the puppy stood his personal guard, Maurice. Alexander was a little ashamed since he considered him like a stray cat who sometimes came to visit him and beg for food. Well, Maurice begged for pointers on how to get stronger, and he looked like he was successful, ''He got pretty jacked, huh.'' He looked like he grew an inch or two, and not only in height. His muscles bulged out of his linen clothes, and the buttons looked like they would explode any moment and headshot him, ''Note to me, need to tell Melina to get him some clothes which are not 20 sizes too little.'' It was nothing surprising, though, since all he did was train with Larry or Cross and do all the physical training Alexander developed for him while eating, probably a pig a day, ''Well, is he here for something?'' As Maurice came in, Green and Ocilia also looked his way. He came close to Alexander and kneeled, "Mr. Alexander, I need to ask for a favor." Ocilia was the one to answer, "If you need money, I can lend you some." Green decided to not leave and watch what would happen, ''It is always interesting to see how socially inept mages are. Are you the same, Alex? Hehe.'' Alexander shrugged, "I mean, why kneeling because of such a simple matter? Need the coin for a new sword or something?" Maurice wanted to mention that he was actually a mace user but stopped himself as he wanted something different. His face flushed, and he cleared his throat, "Ahem, no... I actually want to learn [Mana Sense]." Alexander raised his eyebrow, "Do you want to kill yourself? Do you know what happened..." he pointed his thumb toward his disciple, "...with Lia?" Green now sat down on a nearby table and watched it with interest. She knew obviously how her other student acquired her mana skills, ''If Alexander can actually reproduce it, I mean to be the teacher of one of the most significant people in all history... hehe, this will push my reputation to something akin to Madilgar, the teacher of Merlin or Karalop, who taught Count Moorgrel in military arts.'' She heard that a reliable method existed to give someone [Mana Sense] and wasn''t as hard as dragon-kin allegedly made it out to be. Still, the process was presumably very destructive and could easily kill someone, but everything could also be false rumors, as Green only heard about it from third parties. Dragon-kin mages were tight-lipped about everything involving magic, especially how to acquire the mana skills. So, if her little student actually agreed to it, and she knew that he would, and succeeded again, a new era of magic would come to be, ''The teacher of the one who discovered how to awaken [Mana Sense], hehe.'' Alexander didn''t notice when her teacher was in her power fantasy world, as he was too baffled by his guard but not against it, "Hm, sure!" Maurice startled a little, surprised by how easy it was to ask for something like this. He actually prepared a long speech about loyalty, power, etc. The dense guard didn''t see the giant smile on his master''s face, but Ocilia did. When she saw her master smiling like a third-rate villain, she sighed and thought of the worst. In her mind, he had a slight madness that always came out when something new and revolutionary could be discovered, never mind the risks. Alexander also didn''t notice when Ocilia took a couple of steps away from him. He was already in his own world and recounted what he wanted to do differently than with his disciple. He absolutely liked to try it again, but he didn''t know how fast he would get a lab rat again. In Maurice''s case, he was strong and had a robust body, so it should be safer than the frail body of his disciple. Alexander rubbed his chin and thought about when to do it, "How about later, around evening, after dinner?" Maurice''s tail swirled wildly, "Yes, Mr. Alexander!" Alexander''s tail swung too from side to side, "Neat. Now go and take a nap and prepare yourself and..." He looked at Green, who answered him, "...I am ok. I will get Pierre, and we will be ready, don''t worry." With a nod, he was ready to go. ... Later evening, in Alexander''s office Alexander and Maurice were surrounded by three healers. But this was not all since more came: The lady, Marisia, was also here, watching like a hawk, together with Salyna, Aro, and Cross. Marisia''s mind raced as she sat and tried to calm down, ''Why always Alexander. Can''t he be a little more like Sarah?'' At this moment, Sarah was somewhere in the garden, sleeping under a tree, digesting her dinner. On the other hand, Alexander was too curious and ambitious about everything. This drove her crazy for the last few years, and even though she couldn''t hold him back or control him when he became ten, Marisia thought it would be nice to know that her son lived a healthy life without blowing himself up before his twentieth birthday. She saw a book peek out of Green''s spatial pouch and immediately identified it by the excentric color. It was the biography of Merlin, a crazy archmage, and she remembered the fairy tales and stories about him, who embodied pure chaos in his childhood. Still, she also remembered her other family members, who were unpredictable, but not to such an extent. With this in mind, she didn''t blame magic or her blood but found another scapegoat for Alexander''s behavior. ''It is Kairo''s fault, 100%.'' When the experiment started, Marisia came out of her thoughts and looked at Alexander, who clapped his hands and stood beside his personal guard with a big smile, "Thanks for coming! Today we will let the fat wolf disappear!" Nobody laughed, and only Maurice looked nervous about what it actually meant, but before he could say anything, Alexander frowned, "Nobody gets good humor... however!" He looked at Maurice, "...I need to know first your [Mystic Skills] and [Divinity Line]." Without further explanation, Maurice started explaining, knowing that it wouldn''t leak with the lady here and that he really didn''t care telling it, "My [Divinity Line] is [Warriors Birthright] and is also known under other names like [Blood and Iron] or [Fighter]. It concentrates heavily on my fighting abilities, and through this, I can also increase my fighting arts much faster." Alexander squinted his eyes and thought of the worst, ''I remember seeing a skill named charge and stomp. Where the hell will I find there the entrance point?!'' He could trigger the [Mana Sense] of Ocilia by having a clear entry point for his mana to insert, which she could feel, but now it became very abstract if he couldn''t insert his mana to any certain point. ''Worst case, I will need longer than a week for this whole ordeal...'' he shrugged inwardly, ''...well, not like I am the lab rat.'' Maurice continued, "My [Mystic Skills] are [Charge] with which I... well, home at others, even if I can''t see them, I am able to follow ''em through the skill." This one was out of the window. No way Alexander could actually find the entrance point on this one. Maurice started to explain more of his [Mystic Skills], "[Stomp] is a skill where I stomp on the ground with destructive force, [Hardening] is where my skin and weapons become incredibly hard, and last, [Through Hell, I live] is a skill which, the more I am injured, the stronger I become." Alexander stood in one place and rubbed his chin, thinking about what to do. [Stomp] and [Hardening], like the one mentioned before, were impossible, but the last could be possible. What if he could... Maurice became nervous and interrupted Alexander''s thoughts, "Mr. Alexander, is something wrong?" Alexander looked at him. A small and vicious smile emerged on his face, "I hope you are ready to suffer." ... 10 Minutes later. "My lady, is this Saruso''s fault?" She shook her head, "I hope not. Otherwise, this time, Kairoso will discipline him..." In front of everyone was Alexander, who, in intervals, burned Maurice''s back. First, he used the ignite spell and afterward used alchemy to cool the wound down while simultaneously trying to inject mana, which didn''t work for the last minutes. "Are you ok?" Maurice nodded. "Hey, did you die? I need an answer!" He clenched his teeth as the pain was unbearable, "Yes, keep going!" "This is what I like to hear! Here comes the next one!" Alexander''s ignite spell was much more condensed this time, and only Ocilia and Green saw how dense the mana was. Green sat close to her student and didn''t know what to think, ''This family is fucking crazy. First, the mother almost killed her child, and now this puppy wants to kill his guardian.'' She understood what her student was trying to do. He had no idea how to inject mana directly but needed to do it through a point where mana could be felt much easier, like in Ocilia''s case, her fingertips. She learned it from Alexander''s explanations before they started. She had to admit that it was a clever idea. He would literally force the mana toward the [Mystic Skills] or natural skills which one could feel naturally. If mana invaded them, they would feel the difference and thus acquire the skill. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Her student now tried to inject it through Maurice''s pain receptors while his skill activated passively, which should be much more challenging than what he did with his disciple. Green got ready as what Alexander did now was going for the extreme. Her student''s ignite spell looked like a hot iron, and he slowly injected it into his guardian''s back while the skin started to burn and sizzle. "ARRGRHHH!" "Stay strong!" He touched it with his other hand and closed his eyes while trying to slowly feel the area with his other hand and [Mana Sense]. After a moment, he got annoyed and wanted to try something reckless. He directly stuck his finger into the burned wound and rooted around like a maniac. "FUCK!" The groans and screams worsened, ''Well, hopefully, his shit-ass skill works now!'' Alexander was also sweating as he was heavily concentrating on not killing his personal guard while trying to inject mana, and his reserves were slowly running low. Maurice''s pain and wound had become worse, so much so that he started to do something a personal guard shouldn''t do, "Fuck you, Alex! Get it done! It feels like I get fucking roasted!" "Fuck you too! Stop talking and try to feel it and keep concentrating!" "Damn it!" Alexander smiled viciously and injected more mana into his ignition spell when he saw Maurice become still. His personal guard was back to concentrating on catching the feeling of mana. The wound started to become slightly black, and he felt his guardian''s skill increase to a massive degree as the muscles bulged heavily. He instantly injected his mana over the black-burned wound and muscles while he started to experience the same feeling as with Ocilia. Like with Ocilia, he felt strange, but now he understood why. His mana was sucked out! He only held for a moment longer and put his hands out, and only then did Maurice shake and fall to the floor. "Go! Heal him!" Two healers rushed towards Maurice, who had a seizure, and instantly started healing him. Green rushed toward Alexander and analyzed him, then became confused, "You are fine. Do you feel somewhere pain or discomfort?" Alexander was sweating heavily and had a headache as he used ~85% of his mana to awaken Maurice''s [Mana Sense]. Usually, the lack of mana would feel like someone was ramming nails into his ears, but now, because of various skills, he could push through. "I am fine, just a headache, as I have barely 10% of my mana left." Green frowned, "You are too young for mana potions... you need normal rest." Yes, mana potions existed, and as Alexander learned about them, he wanted to order a truckload of them but was told they were very toxic for someone without energy. Mana potions did not have 100% purity and would destroy the body without the internal energy cleaning the contaminations up. The cheaper a potion was, the less purity it had and the less effect it had on refilling one''s mana. But there were also expensive potions with high purity. Such potions would cost too much, and the estate didn''t have them since mana wasn''t something anyone was concerned with. Alexander looked at Maurice, who slowly stabilized, ''I hope it worked.'' Maurice, despite what his master thought, was barely holding on. He heard what he called the deity''s call but couldn''t check the system as he needed all of his willpower to not fall unconscious. The pain his master caused was immense, and then something happened. His body started to feel tremendous hunger, not for food but for something else, he couldn''t recognize, and his head felt like it would split in two. He stayed awake only through his resilience, which he developed through years of abusive training. Sometimes his thoughts drifted to the past where he had a passion for baking and cooking but had no talent as neither the right [Divinity Line], ''How easy would my life be if my hardest challenge wouldn''t be staying alive as I get roasted but redoing a lemon cake because I mistook salt for sugar.'' After ten minutes and the intervention of Green, he stabilized fully and heard his master, who wasn''t concerned at all, "So? Show it! Did you get it?" It was a little sad, but he understood the feeling since he was as or even more curious and hoped it worked. He (almost) never waved while being burned to a crisp and concentrated everything he had on feeling something different: Mana. He looked around the room and wondered if he should show his system and did the only pragmatic thing, ''Who cares? Not like I have a hero skill like in those fairy tales.'' ''System, open up!'' "I got it..." Alexander came over and nodded, "Hm, now you only need to find out how to conjure magic, combined with your skills... this will be fun, hehe." Maurice was confused, "What does it mean? Can''t I use magic?" His master shook his head and signaled Ocilia to come over, "Show your ignite spell." Then Ocilia stood before everyone. She proudly puffed her chest up and used her strings to quickly form the construction while chanting. It was flawless as the strings lit up between her hands. Alexander commented, "Ocilia can only use her spells by building the spell construction with her ingrained skills. In short, we need to find out how..." He pointed at Maurice, "...you will construct spells." Everyone was confused except Marisia, who thought about it and laughed inwardly that her son''s protector probably needed to cut the construction into his skin to activate it. Alexander explained, "For a spell, you need a construct..." He used water to mimic the ignite spell, "...and the spell words, which are called chants. Why is not important for now, but what is important is that I forced you to sense mana through your mystic skill, and this means that you can only manipulate mana with your [Mystic Skills], race-specific skills, or whatever I used as an entry point to inject my mana into you. This is at least the case with Ocilia and will probably be with you too." Maurice was shocked that he went through this torture session, only to be denied in the end, "This... was useless?" The whole room was silent till, a second later, a giant wolf-kin in plate armor walked over to Maurice. Cross came over, and before anyone could determine what had happened, he planted his fist into Maurice''s face. As he fell down, he didn''t know why he was hit but became an answer rather quickly, "Shut up, you moron! Do you not understand what happened, or do I need to beat more sense into you?!" Maurice looked around the room and saw Salyna, Aro, and Noriken in thought and smiling. The lady was as cold as always but had a slight smirk that showed how incredible this was, but he couldn''t understand why. "But I can''t use magic..." Cross became much angrier and wanted to keep beating him until Green stopped him, "Stop this barbarism. I don''t think we have enough mana in the universe to patch him up if you want to beat intelligence into him." Cross grunted, and Green looked from above to Maurice while hovering in the air, "You have really worms for brain, huh? Your master gave you a present for which others would murder their whole family with glee, and you can''t understand it?" Maurice couldn''t. He wasn''t the smartest and too young to have any reasonable experience to conclude anything from it, so he just stared at the little fairy. Green sighed, "Listen, pea brain, mana is an energy like [Aura], [Defense], and [Essence] but can be used in combination with them while, if you use [Aura] and [Defense], for example, together, your body will get heavily damaged." It was openly known that if using multiple energies, they would become volatile and attack each other and everything around them, which would be the body, and destroy it. But there was the exception: Mana, which mages could use together with their energy, as mana would strengthen other energies. While it sounded like mages would be very strong through this, they were not. [Aura], [Defense], and [Essence] needed a ton of stamina, while mana was in itself a resource that increased the higher the intelligence attribute was. By this, it meant that they were in contrast to each other on how to increase them. Even though mages could use both, their stamina, which could be used as fuel for different energies than mana, was non-existent. They weren''t the most physically fit caste and didn''t invest much in stats that boosted their physical fitness. Maurice slowly understood it and nodded toward her. "Oh? You got it, huh? Even if you can''t use spells, which we will find out soon enough, you will learn mana skills, use them with your energy, and amplify it to a ridiculous degree. Magic knights do it and are insanely versatile and strong..." She looked at her other student, "...Ocilia, can you?" Ocilia frowned, "I feel like a street artist... give me a second." With one hand, she used [Essence], while with her other hand, she wrapped strings around it and used it in combination with her mana and energy. It became denser and more potent. "See? How beautiful!" Green looked back to Maurice, "...with you, we need to find out how you could use it but... hm..." She smiled maliciously at the lady, "...I guess you will not be the last one, hehe." Marisia was indeed intrigued. Very much so, and since Alexander came out unharmed, they could at least test it once more to verify it. If this could be repeated without any problems for her son, as she didn''t care about others besides her family and close retainers, she would soon probably have an army stronger than Count Moorgrel. Her husband and all her other children would experience an insane power boost, too. She could not imagine what it looked like if she powered her demonic energy up with mana. She nodded, "That is true..." she looked at Alexander, "...are you truly all right?" Alexander sat down and nodded, "Sure thing, I can do it only every two days at most... maybe every three days since I need to use almost all of my mana, but yeah, I need to fine-tune it, and it will be all right." Marisia nodded and looked at Cross, who nodded back grimly, smilingly, "It will be an honor, my lady." She shook her head, "Thank Alexander, as he is the one who will catapult you to new heights. Without him, we wouldn''t even be getting this chance." Cross came over and bowed before Alexander, who was surprised but started to enjoy it somehow. Not really the bowing because of the bowing sakes but more the recognition he received, ''Ok, don''t become an arrogant prick, but enjoying it a little bit is fine, right?'' His skills like [Noble''s Pride] didn''t help as it passively activated every time he acted with anyone, and he needed to suppress it actively. On the other hand, it enabled him to act and endure certain things. Cross spoke, "Mr. Alexander, may I be the next one to receive [Mana Sense]?" Alexander jumped down and needed to tiptoe to clap on his shoulder, "Of course! Give me a list with your [Mystic Skills] and what they do, so I can think of a way to get you the skill, ok?" Cross straightened up and, with a weird smile, nodded toward Alexander, "Of course, Mr. Alexander! You will have it tomorrow morning!" It was weird for Alexander that this world, or his household, had such a hunger for power but also not. It was different, and an analogy he could think was a new weapon. The first time guns appeared, some countries and generals were against the introduction of guns, but as the first wins came rolling, they became a necessity. Mana was, in this case, like changing from a crossbow to a handgun. The power increase was real. The lady''s loud throat clearing brought everyone''s attention to her, "Ahem, I hope that I don''t need to say it, but I don''t want anybody here to talk to anyone about this..." She looked at Alexander, "Alex, I will decide at this point who will receive your... let''s call it a blessing till you are strong enough to defend yourself." The lady didn''t apologize and stated it as a matter of fact. Alexander was fine with it and shrugged, "A''righty, less work for me." ... Later, as everyone left "I am so sorry, Mr. Alexander!" "For fucks sake, calm down!" "No! You gave me such a present for nothing more than that I am your personal guardian, and I spat in your face!" Maurice lifted his head and hit it against the floor with all he had. "Jesu..." Alexander corrected himself, "...by the circle! Stop bashing your head against the floor!" "No! I need to repent! I trained to serve you with my life, and you gave me casually such a blessing, and I couldn''t appreciate it because of my ignorance!" This was going on for the last five minutes, and Alexander wanted to stop him. He knew from conversations that his personal guard wasn''t the sharpest tool, even more sometimes than Larry, but Alexander sincerely didn''t care as long as he did his job. After the confrontation with Cross, Maurice understood what he had done. He cried and wanted to repent. He wasn''t ungrateful. The opposite was true as he trained intensely, more than everyone else, to catch up to his master''s heels. Not that he was weaker, but Maurice knew the moment would come when he would be nothing more than a useless meat shield when his master turned ten and became an absolute monster. Maurice dreamed about serving the Leonandra household, like his father, even though he wanted to do it first through his baking. They gave him an education, training, food, and a place to live. First, he tried many different things, which he always failed until he turned ten and became a mediocre warrior. Only through his mentality and loyalty could he be one of the few selected who could become a personal guard for the children. "I am sorry!" "Shut the fuck up, or I will burn you again!" "Do it!" "No!... I mean, yes! Damn it!" Alexander''s mother left him alone with Maurice, knowing what would happen, so he could learn how to deal with all kinds of people. She didn''t fear he could be hurt, as loyalty was ingrained into Maurice through hard training and education. Alexander exhaled, "Ok, listen for a second and stop destroying the last of your brain cells, ok?" Maurice looked up, confused, "Brain cells?" Alexander shook his head and tried a different approach to get rid of him tonight since he was fatigued and exhausted after such an eventful day. Even his physical fatigue from the demonic baptism wasn''t gone, and now he had a giant child to take care of. "Nevermind. I need you fully healthy since we will develop your mana skills in the next few days..." Alexander stepped forward, concentrating on his [Acting] and [Noble''s Pride] skill, "...I need strong warriors and not whiny wenches. Do you understand me?" For some reason, his new skill [Absolute Mental Control] also activated and gave him a much more convincing boost to his other skills. Maurice felt like he was looked down upon by the lady. A noble aura protruded from Alexander. In the warrior''s mind, he wasn''t a puppy anymore. Alexander laid his hand on Maurice''s wound on his head, and his tone changed into one of a lord, full of dignity and confidence, "I don''t need a moron who just injures himself but one who learns from their mistakes..." The young noble looked down on his personal guard, "Did you understand what you did wrong and what I want?" Maurice nodded. Alexander used the bit of mana he had left and conjured the new spell he had learned: First Aid. The construct was slowly built on and around the wound on Maurice''s head. It slowly started to glow in a greenish light which popped into flashy bubbles. A barely visible transparent mana film was on the wound, supporting the body''s natural healing abilities. ''Well, I used barely any mana. I wonder how fast it would close if I used much more? I need to test it at some point later.'' Maurice felt how the wound slowly closed while it felt like a warm blanket over his injury, dulling the pain. Alexander turned around and said, "Good," as he left his office. Maurice didn''t know what to think but was thoroughly mesmerized by the regality and that he needed to heed the words of his master, ''I need to learn mana skills and become a much better warrior!'' His loyalty increased to another level. ... Inside Alexander''s bedroom After using his new cleaning spell, he plopped onto his bed and murmured, "I was never good with leading others... time to learn this too, I guess... fuck." As he remembered, he never really led anyone, but if he wanted to change the world, he would need to take a leadership position at some point, ''Well, I need to begin somewhere.'' His retainers were three in number, Ocilia, Maurice, and Melina. He didn''t know if the other maids, Francesca and Cloelle, would follow him through hell if the need arose. However, he could start training his leadership skills first, ''Shit, what do I actually need to do to train it?'' After thinking through everything, the easiest thing was to ask his teacher, Anastasia, who could probably teach him some things or give him some clues. There was something else on his mind that he had forgotten, and it wasn''t the homework since he had done it before he started the whole ordeal with Maurice. He couldn''t put his finger on it. His thoughts were foggy as the tiredness invaded him, and he fell asleep with confusing thoughts about his day. Chapter 39: Interlude: Love And War 3 Character Information - Who is who? (For the interlude ''Love and War'') Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Salyna Leonandra (Swan-kin) Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... "By the circle! Mari, you can''t do this!" "Saly, you know me very well and my power. I don''t trust anyone else who could do it other than myself." Marisia had no choice but to go there as quickly as possible and alone for multiple reasons. First, the tactical advantage the humans would have if they started to hold the hundreds of beast-kin as hostages would be massive and demoralize her army in the next battles. Since she found it out recently, she hoped the human side needed more time to be ready to go forth with such a plan. She was informed that all the beast-kin from the village were already shipped away to the human territory to be sold off. So, this new information was surprising, and since the situation changed, all her previous plans became invalid. Second, she cared for the lives of the hostages and wanted to avoid the risk of such an altercation where she needed to decide between the life of the hostages and her mercenaries. Her morals and ideals were not dulled while the battles raged on but became even more solid as she saw how the humans treated even their own folk. She didn''t want to know what they would do to those who they saw as nothing more than objects. Third, her people had a battle some hours ago, and all those with stealth skills and some combat power were dead tired as they tried to ambush the enemy flanks from the side. They couldn''t be used anymore, and she would have to wait until dawn. Salyna opened her wings slightly in distress, "You will get killed! Is it really worth dying for some prisoners?!" "Saly¡­" Marisia looked at her retainer angrily, her words full of wrath. Salyna stepped back while she could see how her old friend and master''s eyes became slightly tinted red. Marisia''s words were full of pride and anger, "¡­ noblesse oblige is what I have sworn, and as a child of a noble, I will uphold it. Thus, if there are our people imprisoned, ready to be shipped as slaves for some dirty humans, I will, if the need arises, go myself." Salyna opened her arms and tried to dissuade her from, in her opinion, an insane plan, "But¡­ you need to think of yourself! Also, there is your energy¡­." Salyna knew that Marisia''s control of her energy was sometimes unpredictable, and she went more than once overboard while training at the estate, injuring multiple soldiers. Marisia''s eyes became normal again as she used her skills to calm down, "Stop. I am much better at controlling it, so don''t¡­." A little rat in the tent suddenly started to speak, interrupting the discussion, "My ladies ¨C if you want to be discreet, you are really too loud¡­." Marisia didn''t even think as she took a cheese knife and threw it at the rat, which the rat caught with his hands. It looked slightly surprised, "Woah there, my dear princess, I could easily lose an eye." "Princess¡­" a frown started to build up on Marisia, "¡­ why is a dirty treehugger spying on me?" A mocking smile emerged on the rat''s face, "Hehe, I need to look out for my people, and since the news broke that we have a couple of people imprisoned, you looked very¡­." He took the cheese knife and scratched his back, "¡­very disturbed¡­ oh yeah, that''s the spot¡­." "You¡­" Salyna took her shoe off and was ready to squash the druid, entirely forgetting that the power of a druid was only reduced but not to a degree where an accountant could crush him with a shoe. Marisia stopped her friend before an actual fight broke out, "Stop..." she looked at the vermin, "...there is a reason you are here, right? You wouldn''t show yourself just to annoy us." "Oh, so you have some of that fox-kin intelligence from your grandmother?" As he scratched, he suddenly hit the spot, "¡­Oh yeah!... Oh right..." he coughed in his free hand out of embarrassment, "...Ahem, I am here to help you, of course." Marisia raised an eyebrow, "Why would you want to help me?" Kairoso shrugged while laying the knife on the floor, "There are many reasons: Pity, money, interest, but the most important reason is: that I would hate to see our little princess get imprisoned and ravaged by a bunch of scum." Kairoso spoke the truth. He wasn''t a monster and would rather help her than see her fail miserably and then be shipped away to other lands. Besides that, he started to like her. Something intrigued him about her. It could be that he was only physically attracted to her, but there was something to her personality, which he liked very much especially her demeanor. Salyna became enraged by such a statement, "You bastard!" Marisia held her arm in front of her friend, who opened her wings fully, "Saly stop¡­" and looked back at the rat, "...fine, we are going tonight, are you ready?" The rat smiled viciously, "I was born ready." ¡­ A little later Marisia and Kairoso sneaked through the night. Marisia used her skills to the best of her ability, and Kairoso sat on her shoulder in his rat form. They came close to the settlement and saw a badly built wall with some wooden poles put hastily into the ground, only held together by a cheap rope, ''I can''t believe I had so many problems against a moron who can''t even fortify his defense.'' Marisia wasn''t wrong that her start in this campaign was horrendous, but she learned and fought well against someone with more soldiers and unethical practices. She was, since the beginning, on the backfoot because she tried to follow the codex of a knight to a tee. But quickly noticed that her opponent, even though a noble, didn''t care at all and used all means he had to win a stupid small war, if she would even call that, on an irrelevant island. Someone more stubborn would have much less success or would even lose. Luckily she was much more honest with herself and took the advice from her people seriously and implemented it. She came out of her thoughts as her excellent nose picked something up. A human was close by. Marisia could sniff him easily out and moved close to the, now identified as a guard patrolling outside. Before Kairo could do something, her demonic [Aura], like a precision knife, was implanted into the patrol''s throat. She took the body, brought it to the bushes to hide it, and continued forward without even thinking twice. Kairoso, who sat on the shoulder, was impressed, ''Oh? Who knew that a little princess was this cold-blooded.'' Little did he know she and her siblings had undergone harsh training since they were little. Even though she showed only average results in most aspects, her mindset was always impeccable, which made her control over the highly chaotic demonic energy precise. Her mindset only became more steeled since she was thrown into this campaign. There was no point in crying, so she needed to choose the most ideal way forward, which agreed with her strong morals. She saw half-baked ditches and short palisades, ''Either they didn''t expect me to come this close, or their general is really an idiot.'' As she sneaked through the outer compound, three more guards were killed by her, and she entered a gap inside the poorly built walls, ''I think it was a great idea to act more hastily. Otherwise, he would''ve probably rebuilt and strengthened the defenses.'' The guards whispered loudly while she sneaked between trees and bushes toward the inner part of the village, trying to sniff out her brethren. Suddenly, her ears stood up as her instincts kicked in, "This is a trap." The vermin on her shoulder reacted surprised, "Oh? How come you knew and went anyways?" She rolled behind a guard''s house and concentrated on any smells nearby, "It''s obvious. They can''t win and thus let us see our people, used some gaps here and there to let us sneak inside." Too few guards and weird patrol routes. Her intuition kicked in and warned her. Marisia already had a small inkling that it was possible, but not like she cared. The rat scratched his chin, "Why did you go inside then?" She smiled from ear to ear, and her voice became much more vicious, "Because I can kill everyone inside, but it gets dangerous if my soldiers are beside me¡­." She didn''t rush inside and slaughter everyone initially because her parents put her into this campaign to develop her leadership abilities. If she just went straight in by herself, there would then be no reason for this whole ordeal, and if her parents found out that she did it by herself, she would''ve been sent to the next campaign, or worse, her sister would be. But now, she needed to act - innocent lives were on the line. She could excuse mercenaries'' deaths since they did it for the coin, but not ordinary villagers. Even if she were punished later on, she wouldn''t care. The rat questioned her, "Ho? Are you not worried about me?" Marisia smirked, "You are basically a cockroach. You will survive." "How mean¡­" Kairoso transformed into a cockroach and melodramatically started to act on her shoulder, "¡­how can my little heart only endure such harsh words." She frowned slightly, trying to strain all her senses to the maximum, "Could you please shut up for a second?" "Fine¡­" he pointed with his antenna towards some building, "¡­your lovers are waiting for you. Good luck, I will help you if you need any..." as he said it, he jumped down and ran towards the shadows. As he went away, Marisia tried to get into the right mind space again, there would be a lot of blood spilled, but she could not go entirely overboard. She would have nightmares if she accidentally killed some innocent beast-kin commoners. She walked towards the plaza and screamed, "Come out, I know it''s a trap!" A man with a thick accent started speaking in beast-kin dialect, "Wha'' do we have ''ere." He came out of one of the houses in an elegant stride. He donned a thin but well-maintained plate armor with a rapier on the side ¨C a very young noble, the same as Marisia. With him together were two dozen guards. Marisia identified them as lowly knights or something of the sort surrounding him, stoic and serious. They all had the same demeanor as the ones she saw at the noble gatherings. This meant that they were this noble''s retainers and probably also pampered, ''Is this bastard here only to collect merits?'' It wasn''t unusual for the children of nobles to go to collect merits so they would have a better chance to be first in line between their siblings to inherit the title, ''Huh, so he likes to seek chaos for a little title?'' Her upper lip contorted in disgust as she answered in his language, "I see a pest that needs to be eradicated." The young noble shook his head in amusement, "Ds ds ds, wha'' are you ''alking ab¡­" but before he could end his sentence, Marisia''s energy exploded. The noble became stunned as he could feel similar energy to a high-demon one but also very different simultaneously. Marisia''s energy felt primitive and chaotic, moving everywhere like snakes crawling toward their prey in unpredictable patterns. Something also manifested behind her. A large fox-tail, made out of [Aura], crimson red with black fluid dots dancing in them, was grown out. He panicked as his instincts kicked in and warned him that she was dangerous, "KILL HER!" With his shout, in human language, four of his retainers charged at her. More soldiers came from other houses but only from one side, where Kairoso didn''t go. Marisia stood there, slightly shaking. The smile on her face bloomed, and her thoughts went wild, ''How long has it been? Two years? Three years?'' As they came closer, the tail became thicker until it felt like it was made of pure maliciousness. Marisia split her tail and shot it toward two of the four guards. They tried to use their energy and skills to block it, but as her energy touched theirs, it became corrupted and corroded in moments like an infection. Her energy quickly slivered through theirs, and as she touched their body, it was basically over. The two, who were attacked, endured it for mere moments and didn''t die instantly, but their skin became red with black spots, and all the blood vessels bloated till they exploded. They fell to their knees, clenching their teeth and trying to circulate their energy to eliminate the invading energy. But that wouldn''t work. Marisia''s invading energy ate away their own till it became much stronger. It was the secret behind wild demonic energy and why it was simultaneously so potent against others and toxic against its own user. It became too much for those young knights, who fell lifelessly. The two others stopped like all the other soldiers who came out from one side and looked at their comrades whose skin was red and bloated. The energy of the corpses didn''t vanish as was commonly seen but suddenly wiggled around and slivered toward the other two, who backed away. Marisia exhaled strongly and felt pure joy, "How delicious, how fun¡­." The others could defend themselves longer and tried to counterattack with success. Marisia''s [Divinity Line] wasn''t omnipotent and could be counteracted with clever defensive measures. The young wolf-kin walked slowly forward while her fox tail made out of her parasitic [Aura] slightly moved behind her, showing their readiness, "Ahhhh... it feels so good to let my frustrations out..." On the other hand, the human noble was perplexed, ''What the hell is this?!'' He wasn''t the most knowledgeable regarding beast-kin or demons, but this was not normal at all, and he couldn''t imagine that someone so strong was this young and sent to this god-forsaken island with nothing more than a couple resources. In anger and fear, he spoke up, "Listen! Whoever brings me her head will be rewarded with one hundred large gold coins! Get her head!" Marisia chuckled and thought of another approach, "Oh, how about I get your head? How much gold would your siblings reward me with?" The human noble suddenly felt a shiver, ''This can''t be, right? Is one of my brothers trying to backstab me?!'' Marisia knew clearly that fights between siblings were common, so why not seed a little doubt and anger into him to throw him off so he would make more bad decisions. It worked. He suddenly felt anger as he thought about all his siblings who tried to sabotage him and screamed, "All! Get Her! Noooooow!" In fear and anger, he forgot her unnatural skills and how she had a parasitic-like ability, ''Perfect...'' she licked her lips, ''...the more, the better.'' (Wild-) demonic energy was so tremendously parasitic, especially her form, because it partly absorbed the victim''s [Experience], making it much stronger while it also replenished the user after every kill. Hers was a particular energy found in specific wild demons in Kratikal. While powerful, it was also hard to control as it could cause chaos and kill many innocents. Someone with this [Divinity Line] was basically a one-man army. However, supporting them was also almost impossible without specific skills to resist such corrosion. As his shout rang out, over hundred different soldiers and ordinary commoners walked cautiously forward. Marisia was already half out of her mind, as she was ready to let loose, so much so that she barely noticed their faces. Frightened. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. She ignored it. Now she wouldn''t be weighing human commoners against their kin. Lucky for her, he didn''t send them out as he probably thought they would be too valuable to be slaughtered or used in a tactical manner like this. The previous display frightened the commoners, who went forward with their pitchforks and broken swords, barely moving an inch with every step. Nobody liked war except the strong or those who knew they could come out alive. Who in their right mind would want to be in mortal danger because of some brat who could command them just because he was lucky enough to be born into a family of aristocrats? Marisia understood this, but at this moment, she ignored it. She surrounded herself with energy till she looked like a hideous monster. A vicious smile graced her face as she jumped into the first crowd of commoners, avoiding the soldiers and ravaging through them like a wolf inside a herd of sheep. Touching most of them was enough to infect them; shortly after that, they died. Her [Aura] rose slightly to new heights with every kill and built a defensive wall around her. Thus, most counterattacks were repelled easily, like arrows imbued with energy, skills, and normally thrown weapons. They would be disintegrated mid-air before they could even touch her skin. But at some point, it sapped too much of her energy away, so she grabbed the corpses with her tail and threw them toward the attacks to block most of them. Simultaneously, she kept slaughtering everyone in her way and absorbing their energy and [Experience] away, making herself stronger with every kill. She jumped to the next if one group was done, and the slaughter started again. Some of the noble retainers tried to engage her. Still, they were slightly more resilient cockroaches to her after she had already absorbed dozens of commoners and a couple soldiers while strengthening herself to a massive degree. Marisia somersaulted over one of the knights, who tried to behead her with almost all his energy and a skill that made his weapon larger. In the air, she grabbed his head, which was now only defended by ordinary steel, and like a ripe apple from a tree, it popped off. Landing again, she took off the helmet of the head she held and grabbed the head on its hair, letting it hang. She held it in front of the normal soldiers and commoners. With her other hand, she moved its mouth, "Oh, hello, my dear humans. Do you want to join me? Hahahahaha!" This was enough for most of them as they panicked and ran away. Even some knights who wanted to engage her had enough. They were clearly not on her level, and their number advantage didn''t work, so they ran away. Their life was more important than this insanity. The young human noble screamed at them, "Come back, you cowards! If you don''t, I will kill all your families after this!" Most ignored him; they would rather take them from the camps in the mines and flee as fast as possible from here and avoid the noble''s territory. Either way, most were driven by fear and would rather risk getting killed later on while running than in a fight with, what they saw, the literal devil. Marisia threw the head to the side and acknowledged that she needed to end it as quickly as possible. Her mindset deteriorated with every kill, and she needed to strain her willpower and skills to the maximum to not go insane and not slaughter her kin if she was done here. She saw the ones who stayed, it was clear that they had nowhere to run to, but at this point in time, she didn''t care about their problems but was rather elated, ''Hm...'' she licked her lips, ''...I think I will need a bit more... sustenance, hehehe.'' She flashed toward the next group, who stayed out of fear because of their families. A moment later, all that was heard were screams for help and blood gurgling. This was the world they all lived in, as one lucky skill could decide that one person could wield the power of hundreds. Was it fair? Maybe. The noble in itself also had fantastic skills and a good [Divine Class] to go with it, but he couldn''t see himself go toe to toe with a beast like this. After the short slaughter, Marisia, soaked with the blood of all the ones she killed, stood beside the corpses and easily defended herself against all the ranged attacks. Her energy was meters high and in the form of a demonic and evil fox in pure crimson-red with black spots while the tail sucked the rest of the energies out of the corpses. After she was done, she looked at the few knights and the noble. She walked slowly and elegantly towards them. Her mind was pure chaos, and only a sliver of reason was left, which held it all together, preventing her with all that she had from going into a state of pure madness. The human panicked after he saw the destruction one crazy beast-kin did, "Stop right here, you monster!" "Kekekeehehe¡­ oh excuse me¡­" as she laughed, some of her salivae dropped out of her mouth out of excitement, "¡­I will end you quickly, so don''t worry too much." She ended her sentence and used [Flash] toward the last group. The noble was lucky as some of his retainers remained and tried to defend him to the best of their abilities. They united their energy, whatever kind it was, and constructed a defensive dome around him. Marisia smirked, "Hehehehe, a little vermin tried to hide in a pot full of water... let''s turn on the fire, shall we?" Her [Aura] slowly slithered toward the dome and tried to invade it. It was at first repelled, but after some moments, a small string could invade it. After more moments, more and more strings invaded the dome till a small layer out of red and black was laid over their protective measure, "Come out! Let''s have fun, little human!" The noble mumbled something, and he alone fled to the opposite side of the doom, letting his knights stand there bewildered. Their face suddenly contorted into one full of fear. This little moment of distraction was enough for her to invade even deeper. With this, the positive feedback loop was created as it would become easier the deeper she penetrated their defensive measure. After seconds, it was done, and she looked for the noble but couldn''t see him. Only the smell of fear of panic remained. Without any more waiting, she pushed her [Aura] out and brute-forced her way through the knights who did everything to defend themselves. But it didn''t work, and she quickly ended their lives. After Marisia killed them, she looked towards the hastily built church and felt elated by the smell, like a wolf who hunts down an injured and frightened little deer, "Ahhh, this feels sooooooooooo fucking good!" Marisia bent her legs slightly and dashed towards where the smell was. After seconds of using her almost unlimited stamina, which she could sap away from the demonic energy, she saw her little prey before the church, wanting to go in. She alternated between [Dashing] and [Flashing] to catch up. Everyone else would be wheezing on the floor and barely holding up after a minute of using the skills as she did. Marisia hated it deep down. It was gruesome for her that the stamina she used for a flash was probably a father, the dash, a daughter; she or her energy ate away. She would later probably lay night after night in bed and think about it but not now. Now she needed to kill the one who brought her into this dilemma. The more she used her energy or replenished her stamina, the more her mind corroded, and her usually suppressed emotions were let loose like a caged beast that was finally set free into the wild, "Buhahahaha! Let''s play!" She saw him and wanted nothing but to cut his head off. The noble wasn''t defenseless, though, and had at least visited a knight academy that refined his intuition and taught him multiple fighting arts. While turning around and pulling his rapier out, he saw what followed him: a monstrosity, ''No wonder we enslave them!'' He swallowed and used all his skills to the best of his abilities. A storm of stabs pierced her [Aura]. Every hole he made instantly closed and tried to surround the rapier. She decided to play with him, or rather the madness which invaded her mind and slowly sapped away every rational thought. Marisia smiled and tried to imitate the skill the noble and his knights had used earlier. She created a dome of pure malicious intent, insanity, and blood lust out of her energy. Before it closed and drove the human into insanity, an arrow of pure white energy pierced through the dome. It came from inside the church and towards Marisia. This bolt of holy energy targeted her heart. She couldn''t avoid it, but as luck had it, at the last moment, a gigantic turtle manifested before her, blocking the arrow which flew against its shell. The shell was surrounded by thick green energy, which gave off a feeling of peace. The bolt exploded, and part of the shell was slightly nicked. The gigantic turtle stood before Mairisia, "Damn¡­ this was strong¡­." Marisia''s dome dissolved, and she looked shocked, coming fully back to herself, ''I would definitely die if he wasn''t here¡­.'' She frowned. Not because of Kairoso but because she made a mistake as she was too far gone to detect another enemy, "Thanks." "Don''t worry, sugar¡­" he pointed toward the church with his head, "¡­do you know this disgusting smell? Guhahaha! Come out, oh holy ravioli!" The human fell down to the floor, frightened out of his mind as he barely escaped death. Behind him, out of the church, walked a holy figure out. Slowly but steadily as holy energy surrounded her whole being. It was a high elf donned with a white robe with a symbol of a triangle with three circles inside of it. She held a staff with a floating crystal on top. The priestess looked at them, slightly disgusted. Marisia saw for the first time a high elf. Pure and clean face, blond hair, blue eyes, and the typical pointy ears. She looked like a puppet made out of porcelain. Her voice sounded stoic, "I would really appreciate not being insulted, dear druid." Kairoso knew priests since they were often used to re-educate beast-kin, which they caught to turn them into harmless little puppets with their holy skills. It looked to him like she was for the same purpose here, but the attack she used made Kairoso treat her more carefully as she was more versed in fighting than other priests he met, as his nicked shell showed. He stood still, trying to analyze the situation thoroughly, ''This bitch is at least as strong as me¡­ there is no way we can kill them without risk.'' Another problem arose from the smell which came from the church. This also registered Marisia, "I can smell my kin." The priestess smiled, "Not for long as they will be after I am done with you, serve the one and true deity and not..." her face distorted to one of disgust again, "...dirt worshipper." Marisia ignored her remark as she didn''t care for religion, only so much so she could hold positive relations to the temple. Instead, she looked to the front and readied herself to attack again but suddenly heard something inside her ear, [Don''t! She is not simple. The only reason she is not attacking is because of the brat behind her.] It surprised her initially, but it wasn''t anything new that druids or the nature-dweller race had weird skills. She didn''t know why, but Kairoso sounded much more warily against this elf, which she had seen for the first time. He smirked in his gigantic turtle form, "So tell me, Mr. Elf, are you here by accident, in this forsaken land, or are you maybe¡­." The priestess frowned, "First, I am a woman and, yes, Mr. Druid¡­." The elf laid her hand on her chest, "¡­I am his bodyguard for this¡­" she looked around, seeing all the corpses, drained out of their lives, "¡­ noble progeny who failed his campaign but nonetheless, the church will devote itself to convert lost lambs, so no. You will not take them with you, even if this..." Her face contorted into pure disdain, "...child failed." The noble stood slowly up and could barely talk, frightened from before, "Wait! The campaign has not failed! I have at least one hundred beast-kin slaves! Do you know what that means?" The priested frowned, "I would recommend not to keep talking¡­." The noble didn''t care, "We can sell them as sex slaves! Cut them to pieces and use their parts for alchemy, or experimental subjects for the magic tower¡­." As he barely ended his sentence, Marisia''s energy exploded again, many times stronger than before, and she was clearly ready to attack. Kairoso wasn''t done analyzing her, and now he needed to improvise because this bastard needed to tell this stuff to emotionally destabilize this girl, ''Fuck....'' He changed into a massive bear, surrounded by green energy, "I am sorry, Mr. Elf." The priestess sighed, "Mrs. and fine, tsk, I really dislike fighting the messengers of nature, but I can''t discard this unfortunately disabled child." Her white energy exploded, and a halo emerged over her head as she started murmuring a chant. She hit her staff against the ground, and multiple little white glowing orbs appeared with circles hovering around them. Kairoso went into his attack stance, [Listen here! I will defend you, and you try to kill the brat! Don''t go for the elf!] Marisia charged the noble. She understood that she should listen to Kairoso despite barely holding onto her sanity. She needed someone with a clear mind since hers was too jumbled up from the previous encounters. She could barely think one step at a time, but Kairoso was so annoying that she could somehow concentrate, [Do the AoE stuff! Pointy can''t defend against me and your energy at the same time! Trap her and me together with the brat!] Marisia listened to him and concentrated on her energy, but the voice came again, [If a hole appears beside you, just throw your energy inside!] She didn''t understand entirely but trusted him enough to follow the plan. At this moment, all she did was to function as everything more would only break her willpower which she held up barely. The druid attacked first and tried to hit the elf from the side, "Hm, weak." With a swing of her staff, a force tried to push the bear away. Roots came out of the ground holding him in place but also grabbing the elf, or instead, her barrier which surrounded her, trying to pierce it with poisonous thorns, "Don''t even think about it." Another push and the roots were flung away together with the druid, who mid-air transformed into a starling and flew over her. At the same time, he could feel Marisia''s malicious energy, ''What kind of energy is this?'' A wave of red and black energy tried to surround him, the priest, and the noble brat. One of the orbs began to light up. It floated towards the ground and expanded till it had all three of them together, and a dome started to build up around them. The red energy crashed against it, but the usual infesting and absorbing started but was considerably slowed down. Even though it worked, it needed minutes to barely infest it, "This is getting annoying, little pets." She was annoyed by their tricks and wanted to end it quickly. Now, on the other hand, she was pushed into a fight with a druid inside the dome while, from the outside, vast energy in a vile form pressed against hers, ''I hope the brat can at least survive. He would die instantly in a confrontation.'' From inside the dome, an irritating voice sounded, "Are you sure, pointy?" She couldn''t make out where it came from. She looked around, readying her orbs to immediately activate. Suddenly the ground trembled slightly, and as she looked down, some weird animal appeared, buried out of the ground. The priestess jumped back and immediately understood what it meant, as she could feel the demonic energy coming from beneath her. She plucked the hole with a small barrier, but before she could secure the whole floor, multiple little holes opened one after another, where the red energy was swirling around, ready to break through. The priestess started to pluck every hole on the ground, but a new one opened every time she plucked one. There was no time to start a large barrier spell since she couldn''t handle multicasting, and letting the energy inside would be her and the noble''s death, ''DAMN IT!'' Her most important task was to protect, she even could drag this youth out if the need arose, but he only sat again on the ground, tired and heavily breathing. She was ready to activate one of her orbs at a moment''s notice to protect him. The priestess clenched her teeth and tried to clear her head. She needed to cast as fast as possible. Suddenly she heard a muffled scream behind her. Turning around, she saw how a snake bit her client in the neck, practically ripping half of it out. The snake hissed arrogantly at her, "Ssssseeeee ya, pointy." Before the priestess could register what actually happened and become angry, the druid went behind his victim and instantly inside one of the holes as fast as possible. The elf started to sweat, ''Not fucking good!'' and brought multiple scrolls out of her robe, which cost her a ton of coins, and threw them on the ground and towards the noble. One instantly produced a massive barrier on the ground to block the druid from coming out and creating more holes. The other disintegrated in many lights and flew towards her client, which had holy healing magic inscribed. She hoped it was enough to delay the venom until the fight ended. Only then could the priestess start healing him thoroughly. The wound in itself was bad, but it had already started to heal very well. The venom was the main problem, and priests needed much more time to cure poisonings. The priestess, in all of her experience, had never heard or seen that druids were this versatile. She only saw them as gigantic animals, trying to be the tank in raids in dungeons, but nothing more. The priest became incredibly angry as the druid kept trying to break her barrier from below as the earth shifted heavily from below, and at some points, a voice appeared inside her mind. [How is it to lose to some dirt worshipper, hehe!] [Why not give up? You would be a nice prostitute, probably even a luxurious one... oh wait, weren''t you a guy? Well, even better, right?!] [Holy Ravioli!] ''I hate pets!'' The worst was that it was a beast-kin and not a nature-dweller. The latter was much more peaceful and easier to find dialogue with. The former, though, were aggressive to no end against her church. Looking through her spatial pouch, she didn''t have any more healing items, only a small red potion, which could heal some scratches but nothing more, and she only had it because it was a present from a very close friend who started out as an alchemist. She looked back to the noble youth, and from what she could see, the scroll worked very slowly, but it worked. She was lucky enough that the moron she needed to protect was trained, had good skills, and had a robust body. Otherwise, he would''ve died. She suddenly felt that the pressure around the dome began to heighten, ''Right, there is this nuisance, too.'' The red energy ate away at her barrier and slowly incorporated it, ''What an annoying skill.'' She knew of similar skills, and a way to deal with them was by one-shooting the user, but this time, it was a highly aggressive young pet and a dirt worshipper who seemed to be her guard. She smirked, ''What a sad race.'' She concentrated on the last orb for a forward AoE attack to incinerate the pest and later take the druid on, who, in her opinion, would probably flee if the girl died. Still, before she started, she looked around and saw nothing as she literally surrounded herself from every side with a secondary barrier. The earth kept moving under her feet, indicating that the druid had problems breaking through, so she could risk it, in her opinion. She disbanded her barriers to heighten her concentration and quicken the holy spell chant and construction to end this more quickly as this situation became more dangerous by the second. She trusted in the barrier she produced with the scroll to give her enough time before the druid could break it and burrow out to attack her. The high-elf could use the orbs she created with her staff, but they were only sub-optimal in strength, but if she tweaked them a little, it was possible to construct a massive spell. However, the tweaking would cost all of her mana, and afterward, even if she succeeded, the druid would have her head. While concentrating, she suddenly felt a stinging feeling on her ankle. The orb could barely activate and started flicking as she kneeled on the floor. The elf''s sight became watery, and she became weak, ''What the...?'' As the priestess tried to identify what bit her. She was surprised to see a tiny spider dancing and posing around on the ground while the ground kept trying to break through the barrier under her feet. The spider''s voice was very high-pitched, "What was the smirk on the face right now? Gahahaha!" Only now did she know what happened. The snake never disappeared inside the ground but hid away while controlling the earth under her to imitate as he was under the barrier, "You¡­ basta¡­." The toxin was strong, so strong that she started convulsing and fell to the floor, full of anger and wrath, ''I will take you with me, you bastard...'' Kairoso instantly used [Nature''s Whisper] to tell Marisia the situation, [Stop your attack, both of them are down but not dead!] The barrier dome and Marisia''s energy slowly disappeared. The young beast-kin noble strolled toward the elf, looking down at her as she laid down, barely moving in disgust, "I can''t believe that even high-elves betray their belief for this." Most races followed a specific belief, which their race practiced for thousands of years, but for some reason, the high-elf in front of her accepted the one from the humans. High elves usually believed in Arcana, the belief of mana being the deity in itself, which also split into different denominations, and humans had the belief of the sanctity of three virtues, but like in every religion, it broke too. Marisia knew that the priest''s denomination with the triangle with three circles was especially active against other races and tried to convert as many as possible to them. By peaceful or forceful means, it didn''t matter. The elf smiled when Marisia said it, and the barely visible orb above her opened up, and a massive amount of energy streamed out. The gigantic ball of light sucked out every bit of the priestess''s vitality and mana. After more than a little moment, the elf became a dried corpse. This was a suicide attack, and she wanted to take at least the guarded pet and all the other beast-kin inside the church with her as she knew that death was unavoidable, ''By all that is glory, take the non-believers life as my repentance!'' A gigantic ball of holy energy rushed towards Marisia, who stood before the church and was heavily fatigued mentally but not physically. As long as she could fight and have enough fodder, she would never tire out physically because of her [Divinity Line]. Still, her mental state was exhausted to a breaking point as she fought against masses of humans and went overboard, losing herself to the corrosion. Now, she could barely perceive anything in time. As the last-ditch attack of the elf rushed toward her, she barely noticed it and was too slow to react. She saw that it also targeted the church behind her, so she didn''t even try to avoid it and wanted to coat herself with her [Aura] but suddenly was pushed away, "Sorry princess, let me take it." Marisia flew a couple of meters away and landed in some rubble. She saw something incredible as she raised her head as she lay in the wreckage. The annoying and uncivilized mercenary saved her life again. He transformed into a gigantic wolf multiple meters in height. All his pitch-black fur was braided, with multiple talismans and accessories knitted on it. The wolf smiled viciously towards the suicide attack of the elf. All the accessories that hung on his braided fur started lightning up, and roots from the deepest of the ground shot outwards, convulsing into a form of pure art, into a monster from legends, Orzus. A gigantic bear made out of roots and plants dashed forward against the suicide attack and crashed. A fight broke out where the wooden Orzus was destroyed and rebuilt again and again and again. Marisia looked at Kairoso and saw him straining under the attack, barely holding up. As she tried to stand up and help him, she fell down immediately, ''It''s over for me...'' she couldn''t coordinate her movements anymore and would need more than a bit of time to even walk again. After a full minute and dozens of reconstructions of Orzus, it ended, and all the accessories destroyed themselves. Kairoso fell down to the ground, transforming back to his usual form. Marisia became the notification of the [Experience] she got from the death of the elf and human. Now that it was all over, she canceled all her skills and remained in the rubble for a further minute to catch her breath. After the break, she stood slowly up and walked to the dirty mercenary, not knowing what to think about him. Annoying. Uncivilized. Vulgar. Wild. Disrespectful. But other thoughts also invaded her mind. Loyal. Self-sacrificing. Trustworthy. Honest. His smell was¡­ honest. He was honest to the end. Never bulging from himself or others. Marisia was partly envious, partly intrigued by him. She didn''t want it to end here. Her face slightly flushed as she stood over him, "Why is he naked?" Chapter 40: A Hidden Fox Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Sarusos Leonandra (Fox-kin) Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) "I really hate this part of Moorgrel." "Nobody likes this forest, but at least we get paid." "Shut up, both of you!" "What is it, boss? Why so annoyed?" A fat cat-kin that road on a war boar beside his workers became enraged, "I hate taking jobs for the damn... never mind." One of the workers who sat in front of the furthest coach of the caravan shrugged, "Just don''t take it? I heard that they don''t pay well either way." The colleague beside him smacked his head, "The pay is not that good, but it is steady, you moron." "I am not a moron!" "You are!" Their boss yelled, annoyed, "Both of you are morons. Now shut up!" His workers were right. The jobs he received from the Leonandra''s were paid ok, steady, and usually safe. Young merchants would kill each other to get a foot into the door, but the jobs were never exceptional and usually only allowed for decent pay. Like now, they were traveling to the borders of Moorgrel and the buffer zone of Kratikal. Usually, to have a higher profit and to cover the expenses like protection, he would take travelers with him who would pay. His caravan could take up to a hundred people with him, and in his younger days, when he traveled from the east to Wolfsteeth, he made massive profits alone from the fee the passengers paid. He also hiked the prices of the food he sold to them or other necessities. But here, only three joined, and there was a reason for this: Nobody in their right mind lived on a border with invading, bloodthirsty demons. There were only military and logistic centers. The only cities that flourished somewhat were south, close to the sea, and further away from the border. Of course, there was also Wolfsteeth, but this city was practically a bulwark, not because of their almost non-existent walls, but because of the mass of soldiers who patrolled all year around. Traveling to the south, by ship, or west was much more lucrative, but the jobs were highly dangerous outside the Leonandra territory. Few cleaned their regions from monsters as well as the guard dogs did since they couldn''t allow supply chain problems when a demon run could occur regularly. He remembered how they played overly safe and even destroyed a dungeon hundreds of years ago, which could be considered a highly profitable source, but they feared a dungeon run, which was rare. However, if it occurred while a demon run was ongoing, it would be a catastrophe. Here came his calculative mind into play since even if the pay was lower, so his expenditure per delivery since he barely needed any protection. One or two low-level mercenaries and his personal guards were more than enough for the occasional monster. Travel was absurdly safe, and nobody in their right mind would attack the goods of a noble. ''This is soooo boring!'' This was his immaturity which he tried to suppress. He wanted action, more adventure, and risk for a much higher reward. Yet, his merchant mind always drove these thoughts away and called him an idiot. With a steady income like this, he could open a business in Wolfsteeth or around the Howl Sea and settle down. All he needed was a bit of time to save up some coin. ''But this is soooo boring!'' This thought was interrupted as a scout from the front came to him from the side, "Boss, there are... bandits." He flinched, "No way? Bandits? Are they insane?" His hawk-kin scout shook his head and said, "I don''t know, but my instincts tell me they are not weak." "Strong ones?! Send someone forward and..." as he said it, another scout came over, "They are coming over!" Before he could decide on negotiation or threats, he already saw around a dozen of bandits coming over. One of his [Mystic Skills] activated, and he started to sweat heavily, ''Damn it! They are strong!'' "Prepare defense! Take every guard and... damn it! Protect the load! Otherwise, it would be either way our heads!" The five guards and the two mercenaries gathered at the front and flanks of their caravan to defend. Even the ten coachers took a weapon and gathered up too. Everybody knew that if part of their delivery was stolen, their heads would roll, or the boss would go bankrupt, and they would lose a steady income. Even though the last option was most likely, they would not risk it and try to defend everything. As the bandits came over, the cat-kin could smell a fellow feline-kin, a tiger-kin, ''What the hell is such a bastard doing here?!'' Tiger-kin were usually D~C-class mercenaries. They had strong, sturdy bodies and good instincts, even without much training. They were perfect for protection missions, so he was perplexed why one was supposedly a leader of a bandit group. The tiger-kin came over. A giant woman of a beast, around two meters tall (~6.6ft), started shouting, "Give me all of your possessions or forfeit your lives!" The cat-kin boss clenched his teeth and shouted back, "This is a delivery from the local noble to his army! If you are not fully insane, back down!" A ravaged laughter boomed, "Hahahaha! Who cares?!..." she took a bastard sword from her back and readied herself, "...you know what! You are right!" She turned to the back and shouted, "You heard what fatty said! Kill all of them so nobody can find out!..." She turned back to the merchant, "...hahaha! You have my thanks, little kitty!" All the other bandits came over, and the merchant''s skill started to go into overdrive since they were too strong for his people to handle. Very much so, and as they were about to attack the guards and mercenaries of the caravan, a dagger, wrapped around with milky-white energy, flew from behind where the passengers were towards one of the bandits. It implanted precisely into the throat of a bandit. Whoever it was, fell to the ground and died. Everyone became stunned, even the bandit leader, who started grimacing heavily. Another shout rang out, "Kill them a..." She stopped mid-sentence as some hooded figure rushed toward the leader like an arrow. As the unknown passenger passed by the fat cat-kin, he could only see a vicious smile under the hood. Almost like, whoever it was, only waited for a chance to fight. Clang! As the hooded figure tried to attack, the tiger-kin barely deflected it with her giant sword. She slipped back as the force was too much to handle. The other bandits were confused but readied themselves instantly and tried to encircle the unknown person. It was apparent to them that whoever it was, it was the strongest fighter in this caravan. As they were in a half-circle, another two throwing knives flew out from under the cloak. One hit directly into the heart of one, but the other was deflected. A bandit archer from the back saw his chance and shot an arrow at whoever was making trouble for them. The arrow was heavily coated with his energy, and he also used every possible skill. Still, as soon as it closed toward the hooded figure, it grabbed the arrow and, with a heel spin, redirected it towards another bandit. A hit, but the bandit leader saw her chance and activated a skill with a massive chunk of her energy. A vertical slash flew toward the hooded figure. The energy exploded mid-air and split into multiple small arrows of blue energy. They all flew into an arc toward the hooded figure. It avoided the first ones, and they hit the ground, creating a giant cloud of dust. The other energy arrows flew into the dust cloud, and she thought that she had hit whoever it was. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Nonetheless, the bandit leader readied herself as she didn''t get the experience prompt and waited if her opponent. But after a moment, only some throwing knives came out and were deflected easily by everyone. Still, after the impact, they exploded into smoke surrounding the bandit group. Nobody panicked as this was a known trick in the underworld, usually used by assassins who were caught but tried nonetheless to finish the job. A moment later, a blood-curdling scream from one of her people was heard, "Careful! Just guard yourself and try to find whoever it is!" This didn''t help, as one after the other died in seconds, and she couldn''t see anything. It was the worst case for her since her mercenary group specialized in open-field battles, but this was too different from what she knew and even less how to handle. As the dust settled, the tiger-kin immediately regretted taking the job, ''Damn it! I knew the pay was too good!'' The job was to rob a merchant working for the local noble with her team. Afterward, they could even take the goods for themselves. High risk, high reward. She even confirmed that all the information she was given was correct through week-long observations. So it should''ve been easy, and even though the caravan had noble crests plastered all over, they could just kill everyone and leave. Nobody would know the better. But this one person was not something she expected. As the dust settled, she saw that her team was dead, either throat slit or the head decapitated. It was a horror scene. It was a true professional who did this. Alone stood the now, not anymore hooded figure, smiling like a psychopath and licking the blood from his hands, "Well, well, well, now, will you tell me who tried to actually attack the property of my lord, or do you want to go through of one of my sessions? I would appreciate the latter." It was a fox-kin with blood-red eyes, blond hair, and fur. He was beautiful, like a painting, but his facial expression told her that he had lost all of his marbles, like some psychotic mass murderer. The tiger-kin readied her energy and stood still, ready to attack, "What do you mean you, psycho?!" Sarusos took out a dagger and played with it while grinning from ear to ear, his tail wildly swinging like he couldn''t contain his joy, "You see, some of my informants in Wolfsteeth told me about a job to target this caravan." He knew. The tiger-kin couldn''t disclose anything as she was under a mana contract, and even if she did and was cursed, she would need to run away as the underworld hated nothing more than a snitch. The best way was to fight and survive, so her energy exploded into a soft but firm blue, and she readied herself to give everything. The fox-kin sighed and shrugged, "Fine by me. But don''t think you will leave dead." Sarusos energy manifested slowly around him, like a mother''s hug. It was first milky-white but gradually turned into a purplish-red. It was soft and peaceful but also gave a feeling of absolute madness. The tiger-kin flashed toward him, and she was already in front of him in a blink of an eye, and a horizontal slash followed. It was aimed a little downward and the ground a little in front of the fox-kin. The land became gashed by her massive power. It didn''t stop there, as the attack replicated itself around the first gash and created many craters. She hoped that one of her replications would hit the fox-kin. Assassin types had relatively weak bodies, and with a well-timed attack, it was possible to kill them directly, even if it was not particularly strong. After the dust settled, only the destroyed ground was seen, no blood or fox-kin. She suddenly felt weird. Her sword became heavier than usual, and an unimaginable pain invaded her right arm a moment later. Looking to the right, she saw it was falling down mid-air. "Aaaaaargh! You bas..." Before she could end the sentence, a blow of unimaginable power came from the other side, around her legs. She lost her balance and fell down. Only a moment later did she register a massive pain. He broke her knee and probably knocked her kneecap out. Another moment later and she felt pain in her neck. She lost consciousness for good. Sarusos stood above her and looked elated, "Ahhh, I love this task... too bad my lord can''t share my happiness..." He looked toward the merchant''s guards, "...what are you looking at? Go and treat her right now!" The guards didn''t even need to look at their boss as this display of power from such a figure was enough for them to listen, and nobody was ready to die because they defied such a simple command. They scuttled around, tried to bandage and heal the bandit leader as well as they could, and understood why he wanted her to stay alive. Sarusos threw his hooded cloak away as he disliked such clothes. Underneath he wore a white dress shirt made of silk and black dress pants, like a butler from an estate. He needed to travel without his blazer as it would become too hot under the hooded cloak. He took out a water bottle, washed his hands, and slowly put on new white gloves. He also checked the rest of his throwing knives, and as he inspected them, he suddenly took one and threw it towards a tree farther away. There was no smell of blood or anything which hurried in fear while sweating. Sarusos tilted his head in confusion, ''Did I imagine it?'' ... Further away in the forest A hooded figure jumped down from the tree where a throwing knife with insane force had just penetrated the place where he sat before, barely avoiding it. Luckily, his instincts kicked in, and he quickly could avoid being detected. He immediately used all his movement and stealth skills to leave the area unseen and as fast as possible. However, he was pissed that his task failed, ''Hm, this fox-kin is problematic but nothing I can''t handle... but not here...'' He stopped for a moment further away and looked around the forest, and his upper lip moved upwards in disgust, ''I am too weak right now, but it doesn''t matter... I hope my little puppet will have fewer problems.'' He ran again for another 20 to 30 minutes, sometimes jumping on a tree and using them to move forward or zig-zagging so that if someone followed him, he would shake them off. He especially wanted to avoid the fox-kin. While he was sure that given the right place, he would win, he would rather not try to fight him here inside the forest. It would be a win where he could see himself dying in the end, ''Can''t risk it. Not now.'' He suddenly stopped at a tree with a specific mark and waited till another hooded figure came over. Someone unexpected came and immediately asked him, "So, how was it, Will?" William sighed and removed his hood, feeling no danger around the other person. He was a stunningly beautiful androgenic wind-djinn, but his facial expressions were full of worries when he saw who the runner was. "Not good. There were unexpected circumstances, but why are you here? Something happened?" He emphasized the you in the sentence. His heart stopped momentarily as he knew his colleague, and he usually came to hand over bad news. This was the last thing he wanted, and a bit of killing intent started to seep out of William. The runner chuckled as he knew of his reputation, "Hehe, I do not only bring bad news, so calm down..." He took a couple of parchments from his side bag and gave them to his brother in arms, "...we found something interesting." William took the parchments and decided to read them later, "So? How does it go on other fronts?" The runner shook his head, "Bad, we need first to stabilize the situation at home... ah yes, your mother is fine and is looked after by multiple people." William nodded happily, "Good! But..." The runner sighed, "Calm down and just do your job. The sooner we can claim a piece of land, the sooner your mother will be fine." William''s mother was not the only one who suffered in Kratikal, as anyone too old or weak to resist the wild demonic energy in the air would slowly wither and die without any special skills. William nodded again, "Good, but I need more time." The runner shrugged, "Everything is fine. Like I said, we need more time to stabilize the situation at home, and I am done here, see ya..." He turned around and sprinted away. William frowned as he watched his colleague run to the next spy, scout, or whoever his next delivery was for. He sat down and thought more thoroughly about what had happened. The situation wasn''t fine at all on his side. The nobles and their retainers were much more powerful than expected, and the information gathering was at a snail''s pace. All beast-kin disliked unofficial foreign races and would rather not have anything to do with them. While William found out they had good relationships with djinns, it was only between wealthy merchants, nobles, and royalty. Commoners were much more careful around other races, and the underworld was much more skeptical around William or others. They saw this as someone trying to get into their turf. Furthermore, he found out that the relationship between beast-kin and other races was flimsy, at best. The only reason beast-kin tried to cooperate at all with others was that humans, dwarves, gnomes, high elves, etc., The Alliance of the First Servants were trying to expand heavily, and beast-kin, djinns, high demons, etc., huddled together to defend against them. There was no natural trust but only necessity. So much William could understand as his little puppet explained this to him, ''The expensive corpse crystal was worth every coin since the knowledge I gained from this was an immense help.'' He took out the parchments and started reading them. A little smile was seen on his face as he murmured, "Lizko, huh?" ... At the encampment in the buffer zone, Leonandra''s territory "You are an idiot!" "I am sorry, my lord! I thought she would survive!" Kairoso looked at his retainer like he had lost his mind, "You say that you thought she would survive?!" Sarusos was exasparated, "Yes!" Kairoso turned around fully and looked into his eyes sternly, "So, you are saying that cutting someone''s arm off and breaking their knees, someone could survive... did you get fully mad?" The fox-kin opened his arms and said, exasperated, "But you survived too!" Bang! Kairoso planted his fist on his retainer''s head, "Yes! With five healers treating my wounds and trying to attach my arm back! Not some third-class guards who try to stop the bleeding with dirty rags!" Sarusos held the top of his head and rubbed where his lord hit him, "Owww, but she was not that badly injured! She should''ve survived if she used her energy!" The lord gritted his teeth and screamed, "She was unconscious! How would anyone stop oneself from dying while asleep!" There were multiple techniques known to mercenaries in which they used their energy to stop excessive bleeding or other injuries. It would burn through their stamina, but what about it if one could survive? Sarusos suddenly became void of any expression, and Kairoso took him by the collar and lifted him up, looking directly into his eyes, "Listen here, you bastard. Someone is trying to sabotage us, and I want to know who. Do you get it?" Sarusos smiled at his lord and nodded while hanging in the air, "Of course, my lord and I, in my heroic de..." His lord interrupted him, "Shut up! You killed everyone who could''ve known about this!" he let him down again and walked around his tent, "...fuck! Who was the fucker who ordered a hit on a damn lord''s property?! Nobody in their right mind would pay so much out." Since Kairoso was a mercenary in his younger days, he somewhat understood the prices one needed to pay for him to attack a caravan of a noble. The cost would be astronomical and much more than what their whole cargo was worth. While Sarusos straightened his clothes, he answered, "I can look for it, but the underworld guilds are a complicated mess if it comes to who gave what job." Kairoso was maddened. He was a noble and a druid. This meant he could mobilize his army or the temple from other branches if he found out who did it and destroy fiefs or whole companies. It happened very rarely that someone was crazy enough to go against him. The underworld, where he also acted, should know that it could come to a purge, and he really wanted to do one right now. But if one happened, a lot of innocent stragglers would be caught in it, and after it was done, a crazy war for power would begin, which could worsen the stability of Wolfsteeth. The last time he destroyed the underground guilds was when his son was poisoned by some of the underworld venoms. He and his retainer went as a duo. They killed hundreds of them, uprooting basically multiple guilds, from the assassin to the black market itself, sowing chaos which, only after a couple of years, came to a conclusion with a more noble friendly leadership. If he did it again, they could go after his children, and he really wanted to avoid placing them under house arrest. There was only one way. His voice sounded serious, "Go to Wolfsteeth and get any information about who targeted us..." Kairoso looked at him sternly, "...use every method possible but do it as secretly as possible." Sarusos''s smile bloomed, and he bowed to his lord, "It would be my pleasure!" Kairoso frowned, ''I can expect an earful from Mari, but it doesn''t matter. Nobody attacks my property and will come out alive.'' Chapter 41: Lesson On The System 2 Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Anastasia I. Ramputt (Bunny-kin) Alexander sat inside one of his rooms, which he unwillingly designated as a classroom. He tried to wake up as he found the night too short for his taste, but before his brain could actually boot up, a jovial bunny-kin hopped inside, "Good morning, my dear student!" Alexander sat there, almost frowning, "Mornin'', can''t we switch it next time to my usual office?" Anastasia laid down her bag and started unpacking her materials, "Not in a hundred years, Alex. Your room always looks like a bomb exploded inside, and after the talk with your lovely servants, I found out that they already clean it up at least two times a day... so, no." Alexander was affronted, "But the room is clean..." But as he thought more about it, he doubted it, "...I guess?" Anastasia smirked at him, "I remember yesterday''s commotion. I wasn''t there, but I heard that someone was beaten up, screaming, growling, and I smelled something burning. If I would go into that room, what would I find?" Alexander needed to admit that it was a good question since he didn''t register anything but could think of a couple of things, ''I guess the blood puddle Maurice left would be something.'' His teacher looked at him as he spaced out, contorting his face into grimaces. She coughed into her fist, "So, let''s start. Shall we, or do you have any questions beforehand?" Alexander came out of his thoughts, thinking that his maids were paid well, so giving them some work was fine. He also remembered yesterday, when he had some problems, "Actually, yes, I want to ask about relationship." Anastasia chuckled, "You probably meant leadership, right? What about it?" Alexander nodded, "Yeah, I want to lead my people better, but I don''t really know how or where to start or... honestly, I don''t have any idea about it at all." His teacher sat on the desk and crossed her legs, "So before we actually start the complex topic of leadership, which kings and queens probably could debate till they are grey, why do you want to lead?" Alexander was confused, "Because..." He wanted to ask how to lead his retainers better, but after a moment of thought, he found a more exciting topic he wanted to discuss. Since his teacher was under a firm mana contract with which she couldn''t disclose anything they talked about or what she saw inside the estate, he decided to concentrate on a different question, somewhat in line with the first. Democracy or liberalization of society. Alexander wanted to show the world how much better and more productive society could be with his system, or rather the ones from Earth but found many problems. He needed someone to discuss it with. His mother was knowledgeable on this topic but was very reserved in her ideals. She wanted to better the current system and dismissed his ideas outright. Narsiz was the same. His other siblings thought it was either food or some monster one could hunt down. But before proposing such insane ideas, he wanted to know if different societies had it implemented and how they worked. The problem was visible and obvious: The difference in power was apparent as his mother alone could obliterate a whole army. So, democracy wasn''t even needed as the ruler was almost always the strongest in the territory or had someone who served them who was. It was a might-makes-right world. However, such a world was, in an economic sense, extremely unproductive and led more or less to stagnation. There were cases in history where it flourished, but they were almost always accompanied by wars or subjugations. A healthy democracy, in whatever form, always crushed, economically, an authoritarian regime as long as the power difference wasn''t too vast apart. Other issues would likely result from wanting to implement it. From what Alexander knew, nobles would rather die than give up their territory and titles. The same went for their retainers, who also stood much higher on the social ladder and, most of the time, hated other commoners climbing it. Thus, he wanted also to know how to lead others and how he could manifest later on with little steps. Even though his inner Earthling wanted to break out and burn down carriages in protest, he could hold himself together. Now, Alexander was visibly confused about how to ask without coming across as crazy, ''Honestly, I have no fucking idea where to actually begin with...'' Like many, he had new grand ideas and plans, but were they genuinely new or grand? In his mind, it was impossible that something like this didn''t exist. He looked at his teacher sternly, "I want to know first, are there democracies?" Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "Democracies? Yes, but there is a lot of variation." Alexander tried to narrow it down, "The ones where commoners chose their leader, representative, or something of the sort." She laughed, "Haha, by the circle, no. There are concepts of this, though, especially propagated by Merlin, but nothing was seen on our continent. The most democratic society you can find is in the free cities, to the far east, where councils exist, and powerful people are able to vote..." She thought briefly and continued, "You could also call our empire a little democratic since the crown has a council too. It was created after we overthrew the previous empress at the Blue Blood Night, and it is made out of eleven high nobles or their representatives and four non-noble representatives like the leader of the mercenary guild, the archmage, and so on." Alexander raised an eyebrow when he heard a particular name, ''Right, I forgot him. Merlin even propagated the same ideas I want to implement in the future. I really need more information about him...'' After a moment, he sighed inwardly, ''Jesus, if he is from Earth, please tell me he didn''t choose the cringe name for himself.'' He threw it to the back of his head and concentrated on the topic, "This is not even close to the democracy I think about." Anastasia shrugged, "Do you really expect commoners, who can barely read and write, to vote for someone competent? They would probably rather take some coppers and vote for whoever they were paid to vote for." Alexander smiled, "I bed to differ. If you educate them and change their environment, you could change their way of looking at things from short to long-term. This is what you are criticizing, right?" Anastasia nodded, "Beg, not bed and partly. You are saying that you want to educate everyone to the level of a noble?..." she shook her head, "This is impossible." Alexander sighed, "Why are you going so far and so fast? It could happen in small increments. First, you educate them in reading and writing. Afterward, add more and more while more teachers would appear naturally." Anastasia looked at her student with interest, "What a bold idea, but this is a timeframe of many hundreds of years, and even then, this wouldn''t work." Alexander felt frustrated, "Why not?" Anastasia looked into the void while counting the reasons on her fingers, "First, for a city or town, it might work somehow out, but out of ten people, six to seven in our empire, if not more, live in villages, far away from anyone who could educate anyone. The only one there who has the skills are the village lord or maybe some merchants or retired mercenaries, and them trying to teach some farmers would be a high ask." She was right, urbanization was a thing, and Alexander forgot that most people live in the boons. He also forgot that someone could not hop into a car or on a train in the morning, teach them, and drive back, ''Shit, am I this spoiled by Earth?'' She put down her second finger, "Then we have the next problem: How? Books and writing material are expensive, and a villager with some cows, pigs, and a small patch of land can maybe sustain his or her dozen children but not buy luxuries..." She looked at him more sternly, "Alex, books, parchments, and the utensils we use are incredibly expensive and are a privilege of nobles and the rich. A farmer would never be able to buy such things." ''Oh right... damn, it... I always think we are actually technologically progressed because I see this damn system window!'' She continued while counting on her third finger, "Third... never talk about it if you don''t want to start a purge, Alex." Alexander raised an eyebrow, and she saw his confused face and explained further, "You are young and intelligent, but nobles don''t take such discussions lightly. Maybe at universities, such things could make for an interesting discourse, but outside, it will lead to more than just ridicule." Alexander looked at her, "Why are you this calm then? Aren''t you a noble too?" She shrugged, "I studied it, learned all the concepts and forms of such systems, and discussed those. It is quite normal for nobles to debate certain topics for fun, but nobody takes them seriously... and you shouldn''t either, Alex." Alexander thought suddenly about his possible brethren, "What about Merlin? Wasn''t he proposing the same?" Anastasia looked at him with a smirk, "Yes, but first, he had the freedom to propose and advocate for it since he only did it after he became an archmage, and let''s say it like this: He wasn''t the brightest candle on a cake when it came to politics. His strengths lay in magic." Alexander sighed. His oh-so-glory revolution needed to wait, and his possible Earthen brethren was a moron regarding politics, ''Well, he also wasn''t an engineer or scientist if he was from Earth. Otherwise, we would have a much stronger technological development.'' He suddenly remembered how reserved Narsiz was when they talked about his grand ideas while he was sick and how his older brother only took the pragmatic solutions for problems to heart, which could better the lives of beast-kin through tweaking and clever implementations of the economic and administrative solutions from Earth but not the idealized ideas or concepts Alexander talked about. He didn''t give up and throw away his ideals, though. Still, he noted inwardly that he needed to solve the problems that blocked his plans from implementing with technology. However, in the end, he needed to think if democracy could exist in such a world or if it was just the thoughts of an idealized moron from another world. Nonetheless, in the first place, Alexander wanted to do it to better people''s lives, which he could also achieve with other things, like technology. He also included magic into the category of technology, which he could make for everyone possible, which he proved could be done. He nodded, and she asked, "So, is this why you want to know about leadership?" Alexander decided to stop this discussion since he needed to think much more about it, but she was an excellent teacher to have such an informative discourse. Being proven wrong would feel terrible for most, but it became enlightening for him since he could think of solutions first and then try to push them to achieve his desired goal. Alexander twirled slightly, "Not really, but I already have retainers, and I wanted to know how to lead them so they become loyal to me." She became confused, "Aren''t they loyal? I remember seeing Ocilia, and she was like a kit (baby bunny), always following you when she could, hehe." Alexander frowned, "But, shouldn''t I somehow lead them? Do something more?" Anastasia became interested, "You are actually the first one I ever taught who thought about this question... how interesting, and why do you want to do more? I know that even your disciple, maids, and personal guard get paid well, and you even teach them and give a lot of other perks." Alexander thought briefly and answered, "This is physical, and while I think it is nice and all, I kind of want to lead them... spiritually? Morally? You know what I mean?" Anastasia was perplexed that her student asked an insanely hard-to-answer question out of nowhere, "Material, not physical. I... I can''t answer you right now. I need first to look it up myself... I know that..." Alexander interrupted her nonchalantly, "Got it, then next lesson, or do you need more time? What is our topic, by the way, now? The system, right?" Anastasia became more confused. Usually, her students expected her to know everything upfront, like a lexicon, but this was impossible, especially for complex topics, "Aren''t you confused why I don''t know it?" Alexander shrugged, "Not really? It''s not like you are a walking library, right?" Anastasia sighed and thought that her student had become weirder by the day. Still, she concentrated on what she wanted to teach today. She decided to research what Alexander asked her more thoroughly over the days, "Let''s start then. In today''s lesson, we continue the system explanation." Alexander spoke, "What exactly?" Anastasia started writing on the blackboard, "Well, today we are learning about attributes. You probably know what they are, right?" Alexander started listing, "Yes, there are standard attributes which can be increased by experience: [Strength], [Dexterity], [Perception], [Intelligence], [Constitution], and [Spirit]." Anastasia urged him to continue, "Go on." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Alexander continued, "Then there are special attributes: [Charisma] and [Luck], which can only be increased by [Free Stat Points] and also conditional ones, which can only be activated if two specific standard attributes reach a sum of 50 and further increase only works with experience if they increase by the sum of 10 of those specific attributes or by the use of [Free Stat Points]." Anastasia asked, "Anything more?" Alexander was confused, "Is there forest?" Anastasia started drawing, "More, not forest, and there is, of course, more. The system is much more complicated than you think." Alexander scratched his head, but before he could say more, Anastasia reprimanded him, "Stop scratching your head like some commoner and let me ask you why we use our [Free Stat Points] only on special and conditional attributes?" Alexander stopped scratching and answered, "Because you have the other possibility to increase the standard attributes with experience while it is not possible or only partly with the others." Anastasia smiled at him, "You did something very interesting. You categorized the attributes by how they could be increased. However, in this case, you forgot something. Do you know what?" Alexander frowned and thought hard but couldn''t think of anything, "No idea." Anastasia smiled cheekily, "Don''t you also have attributes even without any increase?" Alexander suddenly understood, "Do you mean the natural ones? But they fall into those categories, right?" Anastasia nodded, "Yes, they are actually called natural attributes. Now, why do I mention all this? How attributes are increased also follows certain laws...see here..." She started to write on the blackboard, "Our attributes have a so-called priority. Let''s take some normal attribute like [Strength] and divide it like this..." She continued, "As you can see, we have 10 natural, 10 through [Free Stat Points], and 10 through [Experience]. Now, what will happen if I want to increase our [Strength] by 5 more points with our [Free Stat Points]?" "Doesn''t this just stack on top?" Anastasia shook her head, "No, look..." She continued, "This priority I mentioned before comes into play. This means first come the natural attributes, then the [Free Stat Points], and then the increase by [Experience], so what will happen here if we insert our five free stat points?" Alexander tried to make it out and found it on her first drawing when she wrote down the [Experience], "The [Experience] will big, right?" Anastasia smiled widely without turning around, "Absolutely! And increase, not big. Now look..." Anastasia continued, "This is why we recommend in general to never increase the standard attributes with [Free Stat Points], since they will also cost [Experience] from the difference of the increase in the attribute. Thus, you lose practically important [Experience] and a free status point that could be used elsewhere." Alexander nodded, "Ok, that is... interesting?" Anastasia turned around and looked at him with a smile, "So, why is that so? What do you think?" Alexander thought for a moment, and it was clear that the question was partly philosophical, partly scientific as it was probably not explored fully, "I would make a wild guess and say that because the natural attributes are at first priority is because it is more ingrained in us, as it is part of us that will always come first." Anastasia followed up, "And why do the others come next?" Alexander guessed, "I would say that they follow up as the closeness to ourselves increases. [Free Stat Points] come through leveling up, and it seems that leveling is closer to us than gaining Experience through skills or kills." Anastasia smirked, "Not bad. Your hypothesis is actually not so far off from the general scholastic ideas. While the natural attributes make sense, in a common sense way, where lies the difference between [Free Stat Points] and [Experience] increase? Any idea?" Alexander thought again. It was a tricky question, but after a moment, he came to a conclusion, "I would say the [Experience] we receive comes from our ingrained skills or kills, and as such indirectly and a level removed already while [Free Stat Points] come from a level up... no wait... that makes no sense." Anastasia laughed, "Haha, don''t worry, there are no right answers. This question is a nasty one. While we can''t resolve it, we can discuss it..." She sat down on the desk again, crossing her legs, "Honestly, there is a multitude of theories floating around about our soul, mana, and so on which tried to explain it, but there was never explicit proof from a scientific point of view." Alexander frowned, "It''s not like I can manipulate my system window." Anastasia looked confused at her student, "Yes, you can, at least surface-wise." Alexander looked back, "Pardon?!" Anastasia suddenly understood, "Oh right, sorry. I talked to Green, and I totally forgot that you are a little alchemist genius and have only recently started with magic. There are spells which can manipulate your window superficially." Alexander''s eyes became wide-eyed, "No way?!" Anastasia chuckled, "Hehe, yes, way. Magicians can use such spells. However, they work superficially and can be detected by other good magicians." Alexander had a thought, "This means our system window is made out of mana, right?" Anastasia shook her head, "Nope. It is not. The spell is only an overlay made out of mana, but this you should ask Green..." she murmured, "...I guess she can''t even use it." It was such a shame in Anastasia''s mind that there was no good magician to teach her student since he broke all her records and would get wings metaphorically if someone semi-competent would take him on. Still, she also understood magicians/scholars too well. She could write whole books to them about how talented and intelligent Alexander was, but they would never believe it. They would accept it only if they saw her student and his talent with their own eyes. They had too big of an ego to think that a puppy was better than them in magic or alchemy. Alexander asked, "Excuse me?" Anastasia waved her hand, "Nevermind..." She looked at her pocket watch, "...we have little time left, so let''s end this topic with conditional attributes. What do you know about them?" Alexander forgot her mumbling and tried to answer what he knew from the books, which seemed to only give rather superficially information, "[Aura] seems to be an aggressive energy, [Defense] seems to be a defensive energy, and [Essence] is basically a mystic skill in energy form." Anastasia frowned, "Do you have the info from the Leonandra library?" Alexander joined her in the frown, "So bad?" Anastasia sighed and waved her hand in dismissal, "It''s fine for commoners and a knightage, so don''t worry..." Standing up, She punched her chest, "...however, I want you to know much more about the topic, and since I am here, so don''t worry!" Alexander looked at her and cringed inwardly, "Suuuuure." Anastasia coughed in her fist, "You are no fun..." she sat down again, "...like I said, what you know about the conditional attributes is ok to know if you want to be a knight." Alexander asked, "Why so? Isn''t information king?" Anastasia smiled, "I don''t know if you misspoke, but I like this saying... hm, you are right, but knights and their armies are not the ones who command the overall battles. These are the tasks of higher nobles who need to know more about the overall situation and their troops... of course, I am talking about conflicts between countries." Alexander sighed, "This means we are pretty much better soldiers? I thought we were much more important?" Anastasia nodded, "You are and very essential too. High nobles will think twice before they throw their investment to the wolves... hehe." "Good one..." Alexander didn''t really need to think about it too much as he understood why his first thought was wrong. Knights were loyal to whoever gave them the title and also financed them heavily like it was done with his household. It would be disastrous to take them now and throw them as meatshields somewhere on a battlefield without any plan. The one who gave them the title would lose face, an established administrator for the fief, and all the resources they put in. Furthermore, the fief would become chaotic if a new ruler suddenly came, resulting in lower taxes. Likewise, Commoners aren''t stupid, especially those about to receive such titles. They would think twice if the last one ended without a head because the noble/crown made a giant mistake. Then, there was the problem with the noble''s diplomatic relationships. The empire wasn''t as tight-knit as Alexander first thought and was more akin to a giant block of multiple territories ruled by nobles. The connections weren''t as interconnected since different customs could exist in a region like Moorgrel. Thus, other aristocrats would see the title giver as a moron who couldn''t be trusted with leading battles and would refrain from dealing with him/her in any regard. There were some novels of evil and jealous aristocrats who gave impossible tasks to honorable knights who fought through adversity in honor and pride. It was obviously bullshit of the highest caliber. Usually, having capable retainers meant that the noble/crown was also regarded as highly competent. Furthermore, mana contracts ensured that the retainers were bound to be loyal. Anastasia nodded with a smile, "Thanks. However, back to the topic. All the energy''s intrinsic properties, except mana, depend on the person''s [Divinity Line]..." Alexander interrupted her, "How does it make sense? How would you ever know then what the specific energy does, and for our household, it was also very consistent, though?" Anastasia nodded, "Think about who always wrote about it. Weren''t they always the lords and ladies who had your household''s demonic legacy? This would explain the consistency." Alexander tried to remember, and she was right. Everyone who wrote about energies was only the lord or lady, thus making them more or less giving out information only about their specific legacy, which was almost the same. Then Anastasia saw how Alexander frowned, and she chuckled. It was nothing unusual for scholastic minds to get trapped by simple mistakes. Sometimes they would only receive biased information which showed only certain viewpoints. Even though they worked through them as rigorously as possible, the thesis, in the end, was narrow because the data they received was. "So, let me explain what we know about the energies and that they have intrinsic properties like you mentioned before, but they do not work exactly as you said." Alexander hated this lesson, "So, I was somewhat right?" Anastasia shook her index finger, "If you told me that ¦Ð equals three, I would say you are wrong. However, if I told you that it equals 3.14, I would also be wrong, but less. What I will tell you is wrong, but less since energies have an enormous variety and are hard to define." Alexander sighed, "I get it, and while I don''t want to butcher your analogy, are energies irrational?" Anastasia chuckled, "Hehe, yes and no. You see, energies will take different properties, which we put into neat little categories. Energies open up at the same time as you receive your legacy, meaning: They will take all different properties, depending on your [Divinity Line], but as a usual rule of thumb, [Aura] is aggressive and used for... can you guess?" Alexander answered, "Fighting? Especially for archers or those wanting to do the most damage possible?" Anastasia frowned, "Alex, only around 1-5%, if at all, receive a [Divinity Line] with fighting abilities. What about the others?" Alexander suddenly realized that he only thought about video game terms and what was the strongest, but it didn''t mean it made sense for everyone else, ''I really need to overthink my approach somehow.'' He immediately tried that different approach and answered confidently, "A woodworker for better cutting, a mine worker for better picking, a skinner for better... well skinning, and so on. If [Aura] expands the damage done, this means that everyone who needs to destroy anything would need it." Anastasia asked him, "Very well, so what does it mean for [Defense] then?" Alexander elaborated, "Same but different. A surgeon to defend tissues while cutting what he needs, a smith to regulate the heat while protecting the metal specifically, and so on. So to say everyone who needs to protect anything." Anastasia was perplexed as she heard something she didn''t expect. The surgeon occupation was new and came from the high-demon territory from the last years, ''Is it also used here? Do they practice medicine in such a way too? How weird...'' She ignored it for now and tried to explain the last energy, "Very well, now for [Essence], since it is a very tricky energy, in the truest sense..." She chuckled at her joke, "...hehe, this energy has a definitive effect, which you will know after receiving your [Divinity Line], like strengthening oneself or others, being able to heal, and so on..." She thought momentarily about her [Essence], which she considered trash, as it only increased her [Luck] attribute to a massive degree if she used her energy on herself and decreased it on others. In her mind, it was an acceptable property for gamblers and similar professions. Still, it was nothing great for her, a noble from an already wealthy household, and her [Mystic Skills] also followed another path. At least, this was what she thought. She sighed inwardly and continued, "However, every energy type is, to a degree, more destructive or protective. However, only [Essence] uses this intrinsic effect to a high degree, while the previously mentioned properties are strongly reduced. What it will be, you will know by instinct after your legacy." After a moment, she repeated herself but tried to be a little more specific with an example, "Imagine this: You are a blacksmith with all the relevant [Divinity Line] and [Mystic Skills]. Your [Essence], for example, has the ability to control fire wholly. In this case, [Aura] would have an effect, while using it and being more destructive, to increase and decrease the heat to a lower degree than [Essence] of whatever it touches. [Defense], on the other hand, would be protecting you, especially against heat." Alexander was slightly confused, "Wouldn''t it be better to get all three separately?" Anastasia nodded with a smile, "Right you are! It is a death sentence, usually, to use them simultaneously, but you can use them separately. However, it is not advised since we have only so much [Experience] and [Free Stat Points]. Concentrating on one energy, at most two, is much better." Alexander needed to revisit all his old ideas, and while he did it, he mumbled, "It is much more individualistic than I thought." He thought more deeply about it aloud, "If the energies followed after the [Divinity Line] and it followed after the skills, and they followed the individual. Attributes affect the skills in turn, while the skills give out [Experience] and with it, energies can be strengthened while... this is a feedback loop." Anastasia clapped, "Very well! It is indeed a loop which strengthens itself with every iteration." Alexander shook his head, "Not really, right? The skill tests are the stopgap which stops the experience gain." Anastasia nodded, "That is right, and about skill tests, we will discuss them another time..." She looked at her pocket watch, "...right now, it is time for your magic lesson with Green." Alexander stood up, but before he left, Anastasia stopped him, "Oh right, in a couple of days, the mating season starts, so please keep it in mind." Alexander turned slowly around and looked at her weirdly, "Ehm... I am six, almost seven... I don''t know if I can... you know..." A weird silence hung in the air, only disturbed by a sudden hysterical laughter from his teacher, "Hahaha! By the circle!" She held her stomach, and Alexander''s face flushed and waited for her to stop. After a full minute, she got herself together and wiped a tear away, "Alex, you are... hehe cute but... oh by the circle, I didn''t know I would need to teach you this... hihi you have no pheromones to speak off. I only said that so you know that while the mating season is ongoing, you should be more flexible... though, my colleagues will love this story, hehe." Alexander tilted his head in confusion, "I have pheromones?" This was new to him, but... no, this was absolutely new to him. Anastasia looked at him like he was crazy but remembered that he couldn''t possibly study the whole library and was already knowledgeable in history, politics, alchemy, etc. So, she thought he ignored these common-sense topics or had no time to read about them. She coughed in her fist, "You see, if beast-kin go through their first active mating season, their pheromones develop heavily... your family is, in this case, a rather odd case though, but it..." Alexander interrupted her, "What do you mean we are odd cases?" Anastasia tipped at her chin with the index finger while she tried to explain it as sensitively as possible, "You are... very much aggressive... to an extreme degree." Alexander was even more confused, "Aggressive, how so?" Anastasia explained, "Look at your sisters and even your brother. You are all very... domineering. Yep, that is a good description." Alexander tried to defend his siblings, "We aren''t aggressive, and also, isn''t it normal? Wait... is it?" Anastasia sighed, "Well, Green can wait..." she continued, "...the Leonandra, as a household, living on the border of insane wild demons with their specific energy invading the lands while also having your ancestors hunt them down for generations. You being normal would be the only unnatural thing." "So, what does it exactly mean? Are we crazy?" Anastasia shook her head, "Noooo, you are through your ancestry only.... emotional, actually..." she looked out of the window, "...looking at Wolfsteeth, everyone is much more emotional if I think about it." Alexander tried to think about everyone in his family and needed to admit that only his mother was somehow level-headed, which made sense as she had suffered through a long and grueling training her whole life. At the same time, she gained skills to help her cope with the situation but looking at everyone else, he needed to admit that everyone had a much more distinctive personality. He liked the description he gave his loved ones. But he remembered his brother, who was in his mind very level-headed, "Why is then Narsiz very normal?" She looked back at him, confused, "He isn''t, though?" "Huh? What do you mean? He is not even close to any of us." She shook her head, "You only look at his demeanor, but his ideas and ambitions are conveying something different... well, I get why you can''t see it, but he, like your mother, has very unconventional ways or ideas of managing the territory." She was right. Narsiz''s emotional outbursts showed in his ideas. While he was not on the level of Alexander, he was much further than his mother and much more open to new ideas like what Alexander proposed. Alexander went back to the topic at hand, "I get it. However, are you trying to tell me that we need be a bit more flexible because you got a lover?" She shrugged, "Pretty much. You don''t want to see me cranky and..." she smirked at him, "... don''t go near Lorient''s room. I can smell her energy getting crazy even from here." "Yeah, right, there was something. Lorient is doing this celibate thing, right? Aren''t other nobles doing the same thing to get a skill?" She laughed, "Haha, oh no. First, only the guard households and their subjects can hope to get the skill. It works only because you tend to be this much more emotional. Every other noble enjoys their first active mating season... hehe, seeing you ripping apart the estate will be fun." Alexander sighed and turned around, "I will go to my magic lesson. Tell my maids if you come late because of your fling." "Will do and have fun!" This was weird. This open sexuality was nothing for Alexander as he came from a world where it wasn''t unusual to have casual sex, but here it was seen as something usual to get someone while they go through the mating season, ''Damn it. I already dislike it.'' The thought of going through an extreme version of puberty was nothing he liked to look forward to. On Earth, it was a wonder that his hand didn''t fall off, and he had his fiance, so it was fine, but here, he needed to actually resist to get a skill. At least he could barricade himself inside his room and wait it out. Maybe his other skills could help him. ''Thoughts for later. I am too young to think about it.'' Chapter 42: Magic Lesson 2 Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin) Maurice Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) Melina Leonandra (Spider-kin) As Alexander entered his office, he saw a new face, "I guess you are here to learn, huh?" He walked towards his desk with a smirk. Maurice, an almost two-meter (~6.6ft) buff wolf-kin, sat beside Ocilia, a 1.6m (~5.2ft) spider-kin girl. ''What a weird class.'' "Mr. Alexander!" with a smile, he almost screamed, "...yes! I am ready to learn magic and get even stronger!" Alexander sat down and sighed while showing with his hand to be quieter, "Calm down. Did you forget that getting the skills will not be pleasant?" Maurice forgot the night when Green explained how he would be learning them, "I guess? But isn''t learning [Mana Sense] the only hard thing?" Alexander shook his head, "Not at all..." he pointed at Ocilia, "...did you forget? She can only use all the mana skills through her threads, and if I go by her and how difficult it was, it will be much harder since..." Maurice finished his master''s thoughts in shock, "I need to get hurt... I remember..." He wasn''t too deflated from remembering the night, as he could already see himself wielding his energy with more power than everyone else. Nobody could take away from him his overflowing persistence. While Maurice had his delusions of being a magic knight, Alexander shrugged, "Something like this..." he looked at Ocilia, "...how is your progress going?" She didn''t hear him. She was too absorbed in weaving her threads to look like constructs and tried to chant quietly, always changing the tone, pronunciation, etc. Suddenly, something cold and wet invaded her nose. She stopped everything and swatted it away. Looking up, she saw her master and Maurice sitting beside her, "Oh, hello, master!" Ocilia ignored that her master was trying to stick a tiny ball made of ice inside her nose. It wasn''t also the first time it happened. She would become too hyperfocused on things in which she developed a strong interest, like the spells she learned for the last few days. This resulted in her ignoring her surroundings and trying to learn them for hours. Hence, such situations occurred where something was put into her nose to get her attention. However, even if she found it funny, her parents didn''t like when she told them such stories. It was so bad that even at dinner, she stopped telling her parents most of her funnier stories because it mostly ended with her being reprimanded, especially by her father. He didn''t understand that her master was very leger in most things and would slide disrespectful behavior. However, even when she tried to tell him, he became immediately tense since he never liked nobles, especially with his background in the underground of Wolfsteeth. Her father also told her that Alexander was too young to understand what being a noble meant and that her master''s attitude would eventually disappear with age. She didn''t believe it, though. When she looked at her master, who was now cheekily smiling at her, in her mind, he didn''t change in the last years and wouldn''t also probably in the future, even though Aro or other servants bothered him to no end to be more noble-like. "Yeah, good mornin''. Show me your progress, please." She nodded and became giddy because she wanted to demonstrate something to him as she worked day and night without a break. After a short burst of mana, her thread was all over the room. It was intricately woven like some artwork. After the barely audible chant, mana poured into it, which wasn''t little as the whole room lit up. Alexander frowned and readied to take the fire out if she wanted to burn down the whole room, but nothing happened. He looked at the now brownish thread and touched it. It felt Cross and smelled not bad, "The bread spell, huh?" He couldn''t believe it, ''This little scoundrel stole the conjuring bread manual, hehe.'' After a short moment, the bread crumbled and fell to the floor and desk, "Yeah! It''s nice, right? It costs a bit of mana, but I really like this much more than the ones we get from the bakers!" Maurice took a piece of bread that fell on his desk and ate it, "This is magic? I thought I would learn to cast fire and ice, though?" Ocilia turned her head towards him, "Oh, I can do this too!" the threads were woven around her hand, and after another chant, her hand caught fire, "...like this?" Maurice looked at her in surprise, "Isn''t it hot?" She shook her head and explained how spells worked and the difference to alchemy. While she blabbered on and Maurice nodded to it, Alexander was in his own world while waiting for Green. He was in a good mood. His disciple was hardworking and talented, so in his thought, she would have a splendid future. He didn''t know where life would take him and what would happen, but if something happened to him, at least he would know that his retainers would be fine. Ocilia could visit a MU and later become a mage at the Leonandra estate. He wasn''t sure why he started to think like this, but if he wanted loyalty from his people, he thought he should somehow secure their future if something happened to him. This was something on his mind as he revised some of his mother''s tactics on how she led. But he would need much more time to think it through. Alexander was brought out by the smell of his magic teacher, who smelled, for some reason, somewhat similar to all the other females in the estate for the last few days. It reminded him of distress. A cry resounded from the outside, "This whole household is crazy!" it was the fairy. "Ms. Green, I don''t think it is appropriate to speak like this." this was Melina, who sounded very desperate. "I. Don''t. Care!" the door opened, and she flew inside while multiple servants were behind her, "...this stupid mutt wanted to attack me because I talked with a male?! What is wrong with her!" Melina and many other servants came in. Two of them were Francesca and Cloelle, his personal ones, and some lesser servants from the main mansion. They were primarily part-time workers as their spouses were soldiers, guards, or similar. They worked for a bit of extra coin. Behind them were even more servants, primarily male swan-kin, and beautiful, ''Don''t tell me... fuck me...'' Melina was apologetic but stern in her tone, "Ms. Green, you are talking about the daughter of the lady..." She looked toward Alexander and bowed. After her, all his servants did the same, including the lesser servants, with the utmost respect. The swan-kin guys didn''t and only bowed slightly. She continued, "...like I said. It seems her first mating season started, so I hope you will be lenient with her mistake." Melina learned a lot about etiquette from Aro and tried not to piss off Alexander''s teacher while defending the dignity of the household. This didn''t work, though. Alexander''s annoyed voice was heard, "Did the mutt try to attack her out of jealousy while you followed with her servants, so we could trade for the next weeks?" Green flew over to the front desk and threw her bag to the side in an angry manner, "Yes! She is insane!" Alexander looked at her sternly, "She is my sister. If I call her insane or a mutt, it''s okay, but...," he pointed at her lazily, "...not you." Green squinted at her student, but before she could rant on, he continued, "However, looking at you, she didn''t even touch you. So it''s fine..." he turned to the servants, "...now to you. I see a lot of cute swan-kin standing here, and all male. Don''t tell me that Lori had such a thirsty side to her. Please also tell me she has some female servants?" Alexander knew from Anastasia that Lorient''s mating season should start soon, and to all the estate''s luck, she wasn''t as poled as Narsiz. Nonetheless, it seemed to him that she became very aggressive when a male was close by and thus needed to have only female servants. Usually, the servant male/female ratio at the estate was around 40/60, but by the looks of it, Lorient took all the 40% to herself. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room till Green''s giggle interrupted it. Alexander sighed loudly, "So, is this a command from my mom, or did you decide it yourself?" Melina looked apologetic, "We only talked about it between ourselves and wanted to ask for your permission, Mr. Alexander." Alexander''s head maid was tired. Some of the lesser maids under her wanted to woo the swan-kin men and thus saw this as a chance to work more closely with them. Therefore, they pestered her to no end. She already regretted it even if she had, per the agreement they made, less work afterward as they would take most of her chores. She and all his other maids bowed, and only now could he see that they were all female, ''Well, someone is a hypocrite here.'' He stood up and walked toward the Korean boy band with his small but imposing stature, "So, do you know your job?" A young swan-kin man bowed barely toward Alexander and answered condescendingly, "Yeah, sure." This irked Alexander as one of his skills activated: [Noble''s Pride]. This behavior was out of line for everyone who worked as a servant except those who were allowed to, ''So, how to deal with him?'' Alexander smiled at him and tried to first talk to him, "So tell me..." He was immediately interrupted by the swan-kin teen, "Is that all? I have no time to chit chat here..." he looked around the room at all the bread lying around and back at Melina, "...it seems I will not have much work to do if it always looks like this, hehe." A vein popped on Alexander''s forehead, ''Diplomacy is over. Force it is.'' All the swan-kin wanted to leave immediately and saw this as a vacation as they wouldn''t move a single finger, but something restrained them. They looked around and toward their feet, where they saw that threads were holding them in place. They looked around again to where it came from and spotted a spider-kin girl smiling at them. Ocilia didn''t like that someone was disrespectful to her master, and even Maurice was ready to smash them to a pulp as he held his mace while slowly standing up. Even if someone didn''t like a noble, a standard of respect must be given. Alexander didn''t like such conduct but understood that it was necessary to enforce it if he wanted to live in this world as a noble. He smiled as he spoke, "Just so you know, because of Lori, I will not kill you..." his words were full of poison and viciousness, "...although, I can make your life for the next month a living hell. Choose wisely because I can start right now." Almost all of the male servants became instantly frightened. They bowed at a ninety-degree angle, while two didn''t and voiced their opinion, "Why should we, the servants of one who will inherit the estate, bow down to you?! You are only the fourth child who can do some little magic tricks!" Alexander shrugged while his smile went wide, "Alrighty! Your choice." The swan-kin servants who didn''t bow down smirked at what this puppy could do. They knew he started learning magic a month ago, and even the teacher showed up only two times, who was only some fairy. They didn''t believe all the rumors that he was some genius but thought that he was only lucky in acquiring [Mana Sense]. It was ridiculous that he could do something to them in their mind. This changed fast as two icicles were instantly conjured, which bored into their shoulders. Both screamed. "Ahhh! What the fuck?!" "You asshole!" Almost simultaneously, Melina, Ocilia, and others rolled their eyes at their behavior. They were clearly not close servants or even lesser ones who heard about Alexander from their spouses or family. Otherwise, they would know that he had some fighting ability. However, as calm as they appeared, Maurice wanted to rush in and beat them up but decided to only charge at them when his master was in danger. Ocilia was of the same thoughts. Alexander kept smiling while he opened his arms wide, "Come on. I can only do a little magic, right? While you are the proud servants of Lorient. You can probably do more, right?" They used energy to try to stop the freezing effect of the icicle, which bored into their shoulders, but it barely worked. Alexander controlled the freezing effect of his contraptions, which became colder and colder. He wasn''t too keen to let them walk away without having at least a pound of their flesh. All the other servants scurried to the sides while looking at the floor. They were wrong to think this would be a vacation, and the last notions of lazing around went out of the window. Nobody wanted to end like those pierced in front of them. After some seconds, Alexander''s voice was heard again, "I think you read too many stories about nobles and how siblings act toward each other, but know this: If someone of mine did something this disrespectful as you did, I would beat them to the inch of their life while Lori would probably do worse." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The puppy was right. Almost every swan-kin servant here thought that the relationships between siblings of nobles were always on edge and in competition for power. Narsiz and Alexander were the only children who really wanted to inherit it. Lorient, Sarah, and most probably Janina, as much as Alexander saw it, weren''t interested in the slightest. One wanted to fight to her heart''s content, while the other was more fond of clothes than the economic situation of the rural areas, and the last one did nothing but draw and paint the whole day, showing her strong interest already at this young age. Because of these fortunate circumstances, their relationship was excellent. From what Alexander read and talked with others, as long as the lord or lady didn''t have a harem out of various political or economic reasons, there was almost no real rivalry under siblings in that sense. Why should there be? Occurrences of untalented children were common, but almost all of them were educated or trained with a lot of care. With this, they could always go out into the world with their household in the back and archive a lot, even if they only relied on nepotism. Killing off or angering your future allies, which would lead them to more fortune and power was one of the most idiotic ways to fail. ''These servants read too many stupid novels and took them for reality.'' The injured swan-kin servants sweated and clenched their teeth together, but their energy did not stop it. After every moment, it became worse for them, and for some reason, Alexander wasn''t troubled by it, which he solely attributed to his new skill [Absolute Mental Control] and not that they really pissed him off. However, an old, very deep voice rang out behind the servants, "What is going on here?!" Everyone made space for an old swan-kin. He had black hair and wings. His mustache remembered Alexander of a certain American president as his stature. He came over and turned his head multiple times to take in the situation at hand. He frowned heavily and looked at Melina, who was frowning too. She explained to him the whole situation quickly. In between, Alexander heard his name, Franko. After Melina was done, he turned towards the puppy and bowed heavily, "I am very sorry for the impudence of these idiots, Mr. Alexander!" Alexander tilted his head in confusion as he released the icicles and turned them into water, "Who are you exactly?" He stood straight again and introduced himself formally, "I am Franko Leonandra, the main personal butler for Ms. Lorient, and these idiots are my children." Alexander looked to the side as the swan-kin started squinting and asked, "These two idiots?" Franko shook his head, "No, all of them." Now Alexander was baffled, ''Holy shit. He is really at it, huh?'' But didn''t show it. He turned back to Franko and Melina as he addressed them, "So, you will be my temporary servant for the time?" Franko nodded, "Yes, Mr. Alexander." The puppy sighed, "All right, take those idiots out of my sight and educate them. If the others do the same, I will punish them as I see fit." At this point, Alexander was not really annoyed by the servants who didn''t know better but by his sister, who obviously didn''t care who served her as she just took everyone by the looks of it. It could also be that her head butler pushed his sons as servants to her, and she just accepted them. However, this would need to wait until after the mating season, as coming close to her room as a male would be suicide at this point. Franko nodded again, clenching his fists, "Of course, Mr. Alexander, I will educate them thoroughly!" Alexander waved his hand, "Green, please heal these morons." Green sighed but jumped down from the table and got to work. The whole situation went swiftly, and after some talk and threats, Alexander made clear that he didn''t need any annoyance in the next month. It was clear to him that the old swan-kin was a true professional and that he got the jobs for his children as working here as a servant was much more preferential than some other menial jobs on the open market. Too bad he had so little time to educate them since he was occupied with other things. After the spontaneous meeting was over, at last, his magic lesson could start. Green put some parchments down for him, "You should learn this for today... I mean for the next couple of minutes, hehe." Then she went towards Ocilia and her new student, Maurice, who looked ridiculously large beside her as he nodded towards Green as she explained everything. It was a fun sight for Alexander, for sure, and even the exclamations of Green when Ocilia showed her the conjuring bread spell. The little fairy was baffled by the learning speed of the girl. She didn''t expect it at all. It was clear that she would need to press her colleague for more material as her students soaked up knowledge like a nature-dweller who was too long in a desert. However, Alexander didn''t notice that Green looked perturbed. Instead, he concentrated on the spells before him. He felt like he was in a candy shop with all the spells in front of him. Every other mage would look at him like he was crazy, as this was nothing compared to the libraries even third-grade MU''s had, but Alexander had no idea and didn''t care even if he knew. He would need to play with the cards he was dealt with. "A spell to dissolve matter?!" Green turned around and explained before her student started to think of the worst, "It just dissolves matter, which has barely mana or energy. So even dissolving slightly bigger insects would be impossible." The fairy turned back to Maurice while Alexander was a little disappointed, ''What a deceitful name, tsk.'' Nonetheless, he started to learn it immediately since he could think of many situations where such a spell would come in handy, and as he read it, some questions which he had, were answered fully. ''So, the matter will be dissolved by mana into smaller and smaller particles till there is nothing left... huh.'' This spell pamphlet answered Alexander an interesting question he had in mind for a long time. He wondered whether this world knew about the atom theory and that matter was made out of charged particles (and Neutrons) but looking at how it was worded, it seemed not to be the case. He started to build the construct, which was slightly bent, and after a successful chant, he used it on the bread leftovers from Ocilias spell casting earlier in front of him. The bread slowly crumbled into black flakes till it fully dissolved. At this moment, Alexander realized, "Isn''t this the bathe spell?" Green flew over to him, looked at the flakes, and then at him with a smile, "Good job, and yes, this dissolving spell, like the bathe spell, comes from the same family of spells which, well, disintegrate dead matter, aka. Matter without mana or energy." She looked at him more intensely since he learned the relatively complex spell for newbies in only 10 minutes while she needed more than four weeks of sleepless nights. For some reason, she wasn''t perturbed by this sight anymore. No, she saw the long-term prospects of being closely acquainted with this puppy. While Green''s pride was hurt with every lesson she gave, at this point, she saw the possible power this miracle puppy in front of her could produce, and she would be at the forefront of it. She smiled at him, "Any more questions?" Alexander shook his head and took another spell, "No thanks... oh, air shield?" Green ignored him and flew back again. She would need to ask for a raise as her class grew and wouldn''t probably stop any time soon. ... 10 minutes later A shield manifested around Alexander''s head of swirling green-yellowish light. From what he read, the spell air shield was something akin to a protective measure against strong miasma or poisonous gas, ''It''s a gas mask, and it costs barely any mana... fuck me, I really needed it.'' He remembered his skill test and where he controlled masses of contraptions simultaneously like his improvised air shield contraption to protect him from the smoke. The contraption, which worked the same as the spell he learned, was hard to control and dangerous. A wrong calculation, and he would knock himself out if he accidentally cut the air off. Alexander dissolved the construct and took the next spell, "Oh, animal talk... this is a newbie spell?!" Green sighed and flew back to him again, ignoring the confused Maurice, who hardly understood her explanations about magic and how to acquire the [Mana Manipulation] skill. "Yeah, it is, but learn it first and try to talk to any animal after. Then you will see why, even if you learn it, no animal would understand you." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "What?" Green waved her hand in dismissal and flew back, "Just learn it and try it out. Later on, you can think about the intricacies..." She looked around, "...try it, for example, on your insects. You seem to collect..." Insect collecting was not a weird hobby, but what was weird for Green was that they were alive and well. Usually, collectors would kill them very carefully without damaging them and put them into a glass container or something similar for display. However, her [Mana Sense] picked something up as she inspected his student''s three specimens. She flew closer and analyzed them more thoroughly, and suddenly her eyes became like giant saucers. She turned around to Alexander and screamed at him, "Are you insane?! Did you breed mana locusts?! Do you want to bring a new famine?! How do you even do this! No! Don''t say anything!" Through the screaming, he reeled his ears fully back. He experimented on insects to learn more about mana and created insects with a relatively high amount of mana after he had bred them for dozens of generations. Alexander already forgot about them as he had the same thought as Green and thus destroyed them. But he wanted to leave at least three of them as a token, who were now in the terrarium, living happily. He explained this to her. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack as he told her how he did it. Green looked at her pocket watch, "Class dismissed..." She looked at her other two students who already knew about this, "...who else knows about this?!" Maurice didn''t know anything except that his master liked crawlers. He thought it was a boy and age thing since he also enjoyed collecting them when he was little. Ocilia, on the other hand, knew about her master''s experimentations, but all she did was complain to her family about the cleaning she did. Anything more, and they wouldn''t understand her. This they told her. She sighed in relief and looked back at Alexander, "I know you write everything down. Where are your notes?" Alexander nodded at Ocilia, who stood up and looked for the next minutes for them. The silence was eerily, and Alexander had an idea of what this was all about. When she found them, Green grabbed them from Ocilia''s hands and started reading them. After every parchment she went through, she looked more and more distressed. After reviewing ~50 pages of research and observations, she conjured the ignition spell and burned it wholly. Alexander let her as he could remember everything. After Green burned down his research about the mana insects, she looked at him more intensely, "Who else knows about this?" Alexander shrugged, "Nobody, really. Like I said, everyone thought I either just collect or use them to increase my mana skills." Green flew closer to him, grabbed the sides of his head with both of her hands and pressed, "Listen, you little damn mad alchemist, nobody is allowed to even know about this, okay?" Alexander, with his squished face, nodded to her. She continued, "First, let me congratulate you for your exquisite mana skills since doing something like this needs more than a little talent..." Alexander smiled, but she squeezed his face more, "Don''t. Smile. You. Moron...." Her face approached his, "Second, what you discovered is considered against the empire law. No, not even that. If someone else finds out about this, you, your family, and everyone you ever came in contact with and their close ones would be eradicated. Do you understand?" Alexander nodded, and before he could answer, Maurice asked her. He stood before the terrarium and looked at them, scratching his head, "I don''t get it. It is just a locust and two spiders?" Green got almost a heart attack, "Don''t touch them!" She flew immediately to the terrarium and, without saying anything, killed them. A sigh of relief escaped her, "Please tell me you don''t have more of these anywhere?" Alexander shook his head, "No, and I get what you want to say, but is it really that bad?" Green was visibly more relaxed and looked at her student like he was insane, "Yes, and worse. The last time something like this happened was around three to four thousand years ago when some enemy did the same and released them into our territory. A famine and tens of millions dead were the results, so never ever talk with anybody about this, got it?" Alexander was a little perplexed but nodded. He was fine with forgetting that he brought a new species to life, which could bring a massive famine. But, he was very interested in knowing why insects with more internal mana were much more dangerous in this sense, but the answer to such a question needed to wait. Green turned around, sweat from her flew in Alexander''s face, which he wished away, and she pointed toward Ocilia, "You..." and to Maurice, "...and you!" Both looked at her perplexed but also understood what happened. Ocilia understood the intricacies partly, while Maurice only understood that it was something bad and that he should shut up about it. Green looked more intensely at them, "If this leaves the room, I will be the first to rat you out so quickly that the secret forces of the emperor will have your head before dinner if the lady will not get you before them!" Both nodded, and Green nodded back and turned back to Alexander. Sweat hit his face again, which annoyed him a little, "Listen, I will go to the lady and tell her this in secret. So, just forget that you ever did research. You are just a lazy insect collector. Got it?!" Green was nervous. She feared that one of the three would tell this to someone, and she was ready to put them under the most high-level mana contract she had at hand. However, if she did it, her little miracle puppy, or rather his mother, would not be amused by her, so she would risk it in hopes that it would be worth it, and as far as she could see it, it was worth the risk. Alexander nodded again, and she sighed, "Huh, fine. Give me the spells. As per the deal, you will only learn them while I am here so you don''t accidentally create an apocalyptic spell." While she joked, for some reason, she started to believe it. Alexander sadly handed her the other spell pamphlets over and suddenly remembered something, "Don''t you have something different till your next visit? I am very bored waiting for you." He had at most two hours of non-scheduled time a day, but since he was physically recovered and mentally stable, he wanted to fill it out with something new and exciting. Green frowned but decided that she should occupy him with something more complex and something not dangerous. Mana-theory was out of the window, so she thought while mumbling under her breath, "How about artificing? But this kind of work could be under you... so maybe..." Alexander interrupted her, "Under me? Isn''t this just magic engineering, basically?" Green raised an eyebrow, "Yes and no... what an interesting comparison.." she stroked her chin and flew towards her bag, "...but yes, I have a book on artificing with me and how to create mana items." Alexander was hyped up and already forgot his apocalyptic insects of doom. He thought for a long time about creating weapons and household appliances but did not know how to build them. The concepts were easy enough, but that didn''t mean he could go to home depot (hardware store) and buy all he needed. This frustrated him since he also needed to build everything from scratch, like the paper he wanted to create, from the materials to the tools. Magic and alchemy would probably do the trick if he wanted to become an artisan, but what he was aiming for was something akin to industrialization, ''Hm, I have an idea what to build next... but all the tailors would start going for my head, hehe.'' Green slammed the book on the desk and brought Alexander back, "Daydreaming is not healthy, especially not if it leads to insane ideas. However, here you go, an introduction to artificing. Not many mages know the basics as they see this as something lesser, and I also have only the literature about fundamentals right now, but if you find it interesting, I''ll get you more. Now, excuse me. I need to talk with the lady." She actually wanted to read her novel. The centaur needed to go through a trial and collect rare items for his lover to win her back, but on the way, he would find more love interests, which Green liked. But she left quickly and flew out as she had a long talk before her. Maurice and Ocilia already forgot the whole ordeal when Green left and started to discuss how Maurice could manipulate mana through his skill. On the other hand, Alexander had a lot of time, so he opened the book and started reading quickly, hoping to finish it before the training with Sarah began. It wasn''t too complex and explained the fundamentals smoothly, step by step: First, you needed a mana-treated material. Alexander had no idea what it meant since it was not specified. However, it made sense. When learning EE (Electric Engineering), there wouldn''t be any descriptions of how the silica was produced, for example. Next was the quite exciting find as it was described in a half sentence: ''...we will describe mana items with engraved constructs in this literature. For contraptions, please read literature for higher grade alchemists from O. P. Saji...'' This showed him that there was a difference in mana items and that alchemy could be used, but sadly, it was not further described. This thought flew away as Alexander read further at an incredible speed. He needed seconds to read a page while almost memorizing everything. Skills obviously aided him; otherwise, he would need much more time to understand even a fifth. After a while, he found something exciting: Circuits. They were called EC (Engraved Constructs) and were a combination of multiple different constructs engraved on specific mana-conductive material. Other things were also described, such as converters which turned energy into mana since not everyone could use mana. It was interesting that, for example, [Aura] couldn''t activate it, but this book obviously didn''t go into depth. However, it made sense if he took the term energy in the most straightforward form. The standard car engine converted chemical energy from the fuel into kinetic energy. Nobody could take the fuel in its raw form and use it as a ledger to heap something. It needed to be converted first. Next was the EC, which was very different from what he knew. The ignite construct, for example, looked very different, ''Did they integrate the chant?'' Alexander instantly created the construct described in the book, but it didn''t work, ''Maybe the material has something to do with it?'' There was no description since it was a simple introduction book. Alexander scratched his head in annoyance, ''Calm down. You are too hasty. Everything with time...'' He read further till Ocilia interrupted him, "Master? I think you should talk with the lady after Green is done." Alexander looked at her and sighed heavily, closing the book, "You are right." Ocilia smiled at him, "Since you have a couple of hours, it would be perfect, right master?" Talking with his mother after Green told her everything was a good idea. Lorient wouldn''t be available today, and he had the time before he met up with Sarah for his bea... training session. But before that, he looked around and waved at Maurice to come over, which he did. "So, did you learn how to manipulate mana?" Maurice shook his head, "No." Alexander sighed and already had an idea how to do it but wasn''t really keen on doing it, "Take off your shirt." While he did it, Alexander continued, "Alrighty, Maurice, you learned your [Mana Sense] through pain and the damage done. You know what that means, right?" Maurice grumbled a little but answered, "I need to learn to manipulate mana through... pain?" Alexander shrugged, "Pretty much..." He took out a letter opener from the drawer and slowly poked Maurice''s hands. He also, for some reason, didn''t know why he commanded him to take off his shirt as telling him to put it on again would be embarrassing, so he let him be half-naked, "...though, you only need to feel the pain slightly, so try to somehow concentrate your [Mana Sense] where the pain is and grab the mana and move it, okay?" Before Maurice could nod, Alexander was already poking him with the letter opener. He could probably also just try and punch him or use contraptions, but one, it could be too weak to activate Maurice''s skill or too strong so that the pain would come into the way of sensing the mana. After an hour of poking and healing the wound with his first aid spell, it went much better than he thought. Maurice came out of his concentration and yelled, surprising everyone, "I got it!" Alexander stopped, "You got the [Mana Manipulation] skill?" Maurice stood up and proudly presented himself with a disfigured hand, "Yes!" He instantly used his energy on his hand, and after almost a minute, everyone in the room could feel how mana rushed into the energy, and it became denser and more volatile. Alexander clapped, happy that his lab r... personal guardian learned it so quickly, "Good for you! Try now to learn more mana-based skills and increase your power! You should know how." Alexander sounded a bit bored but was truly happy for him. It was just nothing new for him at this point. So he told him more ideas on how to learn other skills and increase them. He looked at his pocket watch, and since he had a couple of hours, he should meet up with his mother. After a while, he arrived in the main mansion and immediately felt the demonic energy around him, ''Holy shit Lori...'' Chapter 43: Bad Thoughts Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) It was silent for the last minutes as the lady sat in her chair, holding her head in her hands while prompting herself up at the desk. The situation, described to her by the little fairy before her, was so ridiculous that she couldn''t believe it. Without looking up, she asked again for the twentieth time, "Are you sure this is true?" Green tried to be as sensitive as possible since the lady looked like she didn''t sleep for the last few days. Going by the demonic energy Lorient was letting out, it was a very realistic guess to assume that her daughter was being overly dramatic. There was also the notion of not pissing off an irritated knight who could snap her neck she wanted to avoid. She smiled at her softly, "Yes, my lady." Marisia leaned back in her chair and looked at Green intensely, "Who knows about this?" Green sighed and repeated who knew this and who didn''t. This was going on for the last two hours, and she was getting tired but wouldn''t say it. It was severe that Alexander tried something so devastating, and if he had someone else as a magic teacher, it would be possible for him to get ratted out. Marisia had the same thoughts, "I understand. What is your opinion as his teacher?" In Green''s mind, he didn''t develop any common sense or know enough about the history of the empire and all the events that transpired. In combination with his talent, this was a time bomb that waited to go off at any moment. So she told her, "I think... he needs to be restricted but in a manner where he could grow. This potential shouldn''t be... no, restricting it would be against nature." Marisia understood Green''s ambitions and wouldn''t be against them as they were very much in line with Alexander''s growth and future. However, she was tired and needed a break. First, Lorient attacked every guard on sight, so she needed someone who could restrict her without hurting her too much, and this could only she, Cross, and two other soldiers do. Today Marisia also decided to put her under strict supervision and close her off inside one of the unused rooms as her aggressions became too much of a problem. The next issue was that she always released all her energy at once and destroyed every room for the last couple of days. Thus she was put into a side wing close to her old office. Second, Alexander. He was, like Green said, a bomb about to go off, so she was very interested in how she could restrict him till he developed enough common sense and was taught enough history to better grasp certain situations. So, why not reroute his talent while not hindering his potential? Marisia would be fine if he could grow like the world tree from Legends. In all actuality, she would truly appreciate it to not worry about her son. She already feared daily that some idiot would give him a mana stone, and he would somehow create a bomb with it. But now came the next problem: He could develop something more devastating out of something much more mundane like insects. She needed a solution. Fast. "What is the restriction we are talking about?" Green smiled at her tiredly and tried to be as sensitive as possible, "An anti-mana collar." Marisia raised an eyebrow, "Pardon?" "Ok, wait. This sounded bad! What I mean is that there are training methods to increase one''s abilities in handling mana, and one of those methods is to put on a low-level anti-mana collar while trying to use the skills through them." Marisia sighed. She forgot all etiquette and rubbed the place between her eyebrows, "So, it is like wearable weight for warriors, right?" Green was elated, "Right! Many mages do this if they are bad at certain mana skills." Marisia looked at her like she was an idiot, "Fine, but what kind of anti-mana collar do we need to put on Alexander? Don''t forget that you told me that he practically did something that only one with exquisite mana skills could do." Green scratched her head in embarrassment, "I totally forgot it... but I guess something akin to what one put one war mages?" Marisia laughed out loud as the ridiculousness of the situation and her tiredness overwhelmed her last sense of conduct, "Hahaha! Are you crazy? We have one such collar, but do you understand what it means if this doesn''t work?" Anti-mana collars worked by interfering with the internal mana when it became active. The stronger the mage was, the stronger the interference needed to be to have any reasonable effect. Usually, it was more than enough to put a low to intermediate-level anti-mana collar on someone. Yet, it wasn''t the mana skills that were the reason for needing more potent collars, but rather the resistances from the mages that would deflect weak interferences. However, if one really hated the mage, they put on a stronger collar on them, disrupting them while they were not using any mana skills. They would become disoriented and would not even know what is up or down anymore at all times. Green frowned and needed to reassure her, "I understand your worries, my lady, but Alexander was almost on the cusp of unleashing a disaster. With this, he can keep growing while not restricting his potential." Marisia waved her hand at her dismissively, "Fine, let''s say that he agreed to it, which he probably would do if we just said that he could become better. How long will he need to overcome the first one?" Green looked baffled as she didn''t think about it. The lady was correct. If he started with a low-level collar, he would probably need no more than a month to use his mana skills like before, but here came the problem. The interference of anti-mana collars was not linear but exponential. If the lowest interference was on a scale, it would be somewhere between 1 to 10. The intermediate one would start at ~60 - 75 and go much farther, depending on the quality. There was nothing in-between. Green looked at the lady and asked, "So... how strong is yours, my lady?" Marisia frowned, "We are a knightage who was in many wars and killed many mages. What do you think? We have only a very weak one for the children of mages or crippled ones, but this one would hold Alexander for a week at most. I also never heard of the possibility of breaking the interference for training''s sake. I thought that other skills mended the effect of the collar?" Green shook her head, "Not break. It is like wearing two pairs of mittens while doing fine crafting like goldsmithing. Eventually, the metaphorical mittens will become thinner until his skills are like before. But don''t worry, my lady, just use the very weak one while I procure a stronger one. Hopefully, it will buy us enough time to educate him on all the important things... maybe we should tell Ana this?" Marisia screamed, "Guard!" A guard from the outside came in, and she commanded him to get the collar. When he left, she looked at Green with a frown, "No, you don''t know her, but there is a reason why she is teaching the crown''s close retainers and subordinates with her ridiculous talent. Having her known this would be disastrous." Green raised an eyebrow, "Why?" Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Marisia shook her head, "It is a secret, and thus, we will let her do her normal lessons while you try to teach him some history about disasters made by mages and scholars. Maybe some law? There should also be enough material for ethics lessons." Green looked at her baffled and answered, already forgetting the little conduct they held to since the beginning, "But I...!" Marisia held her hand up to stop her, "We will obviously pay you much more while also helping you increase your standing in the circle. I heard that the Twin-Acorn branch is gaining more power and allies through my husband, who babysits your colleague''s children while overexaggerating their merits." Green looked surprised and became nervous, "Excuse me?! I didn''t falsify their merits!" She knew she would be dragged before a tribunal if that came out. At the same time, the Leonandra household would at most get a clap on their hands since the lord was a highly prestigious druid because he killed wild demons, the hateful enemies of the nature-dwellers, daily and defended the border from their invasion. More merits could only be achieved if someone somehow reclaimed their old territory from the draugr in the far north. Also, her new allies would become furious if all the merits were annulled, which would disgrace their households. Political isolation would be the least of her problems. Marisia waved her hand lazily in dismissal, "Calm down. I am not blackmailing you. I said it only for you to know that you can increase your standing much more with our help, and the only thing you need to do is to help Alexander, who, as you can see, will help you even more in the future..." Marisia opened her arms and smiled at her, "Why should I or our house throw such a great and trustworthy ally like you away? Let''s thrive together. How about it?" Green''s frown changed to a wide smile. She banged on the table, "Great! I knew that you would be reasonable!" Before Marisia could say more, a knock was heard. It was the guard with a little surprise, "My lady! I bring the collar, and Mr. Alexander is also here!" Marisia sighed, "You may enter!" ... 20 minutes later "So, you want to train me while I wear the collar? After what Green told you about my mana insects? I am not buying the training aspect." Alexander sat in front of his mother while Green was on the side, drinking tea, eating some vegan cookies specially made for her, and listening to how the lady tried to omit some things to Alexander while coaxing him into this unorthodox training they agreed to. Marisia looked at Alexander more intensely, "You are not allowed to say the words mana insects from this point onward. However, you are right. We don''t want to harm your potential while training you long enough until your common sense reaches a point where the crown doesn''t want to eradicate our family because you had the idea to create something insane." Alexander thought about it and found it understandable. There was no reason to lie to him. If his mother wanted him to stop everything research related, she would just do it by force. There were also some thoughts invading him that told him that he would need to change his approach as this world was vastly different from Earth. Mana in itself made everything more complicated, and he was a walking time bomb with ideas that could go very quickly sideways. The insect idea, for example, was one that he held onto because he thought about breeding them in mass to use them as food. Of course, he would first research how mana-infused food affected the body. However, if it worked and he could introduce a nutritional food source, it would''ve eased one of the world''s problems: Hunger. Insect farms were cheap and needed little resources. Alexander also hoped that mana would contribute somehow to better food. On the other hand, he needed to stop now since it could go sideways quickly if his project caused famines that could ravish the territory. He shrugged, "Ok, my bad in creating an apocalyptic resource, but... ok, fine, let me first try the collar. If I can increase my abilities with it, I can pause my research on other things for a couple of years." Marisia raised an eyebrow, "Other things?" Alexander nodded happily, "Oh yeah! I didn''t start it at all, but I have written down all my ideas I wanted to test out after making the paper I promised." Green included herself in the chat, sweating heavily, "What exactly?" Alexander looked at her and happily told her, "For example, I know we have problems with monsters and that father is always away, but I know how to make a powder that explodes! With this, we can equip normal soldiers who can go out independently and do it themselves, hehe." It was silent for a whole minute. The puppy appeared to Green like an insane madman. She knew that the crown had already invented and strictly regulated something like this. It was also used strictly only for larger wars. Marisia asked him with a smile, "Did you have this written down somewhere?" He nodded, "Yeah, in my office. Why?" The lady looked at Green, who nodded back and flew quickly away. Alexander understood but was confused, "Why? Is it illegal too?! But with this, we could exterminate monsters and demons much more quickly!" Marisia broke out in hysterical laughter, "Hahaha! So? What would happen if our enemies got their hands on something like this? A full-out war would begin, and we, a knightage, can''t hold onto such information. Alexander, we can defend against some spies, but everyone more professional could sneak into your office and steal everything. By the circle..." His mother slid the collar to him, "Put this on. We will look at your other ideas later and see if you want to destroy our empire. Right, explosion-dust is now a forbidden word as well." Alexander was perplexed but understood, ''Huh, somebody came before me... was it Merlin? If he came from Earth, even if he had no idea about chemistry, he only needed to give out some ideas that others could try.'' Gunpowder was a simple mix he could also make with what he already had. It would be troublesome but nothing too demanding, and the next project, after the paper-making, he wanted to realize. He sighed and put the anti-mana collar on. He recognized that he couldn''t flood the empire with his ideas immediately but needed to wait, and while doing it, he could put his time into training the weird method Green and his mother recommended. What was apparent to him was that he had absolutely nothing to do. His servants did all his daily chores, and the skills eased the learning processes massively. All the entertainment he was accustomed to from Earth was also unavailable, and the books here were boring. He was also much healthier and had too much energy to spare, even with the mana item, which increased his weight. The training with Lorient and Sarah helped in that aspect, but after some time, it became easier to the point where he could start again writing down his ideas and start researching things that could help the world. However, like now, he was not climatized enough to know enough common sense, thus almost destroying their household if any of his ideas landed in the wrong hands. ''Well, I will not mention the microscope I only designed to research viruses and bacteria. Mom looks like she is one step away from a mental breakdown.'' He needed something to put his energy and mind into, and the training with the anti-mana collar would be perfect. When the collar closed like a magnet around Alexander''s neck, he felt dizzy and almost fell from the chair. He needed a moment to reorient himself. "How do you feel?" He looked at his mother and was confused, "But I wore it when I had the disbalance. Why is it different?!" Marisia smirked at him, "You are using all your mana skills passively, while back then, you weren''t. Remember, even using them made you curl up from the pain you experienced." Alexander remembered and stopped all his skills, and it became immediately better. He sighed, "Ok, it''s good, and I train how exactly with it? The weight-increasing mana items made sense, but how do I train now?" His mother shrugged, "This is a first for me too, however..." she looked at the clock on the wall, "We can find it out later, and right now, we need to go into your office and find more of your insights before it is my turn to keep watch over your sister." Alexander nodded, and they went to his office. On this day, Marisia almost broke down in tears as they found many more ideas heavily outlawed or strictly sanctioned in the empire. From this point, he was only allowed to research/write down his ideas if he presented them beforehand to his mother. ... The title of Alexander''s destroyed research were as follows: Gun Powder and how it can help the general populace! Created and destroyed because of the previously mentioned reasons. Venom against venom, can the venom of mana spiders actually be a more versatile cure for stronger normal ones? +Created because Alexander heard about Narsiz''s incident from the past. -Destroyed because it was actually forbidden to create special venom from animals/monsters who were poisonous and had a large mana/energy concentration. The underworld usually sold such things, and they were massively more potent. Recreational drugs: a positive economic prospect for the fief! +Created because everyone took some kind of drugs besides tobacco and alcohol. Such things could reach new subjects and boost the economy. He wrote down how to make LSD, for example. -Destroyed because drugs were heavily regulated and were an actual revenue for the crown. Nicotine chewing gum, fighting the harmful effects of smoking! +Created because he saw many beast-kin smoking outside his mansion. Alexander assumed it had at least some bad side effects, like with humans on Earth. -Like previously mentioned, destroyed because it was a sanctioned revenue by the crown. Also, many of his political, sociological, and economic ideas were burned down as many things were considered sensitive. Like Anastasia said beforehand, a nice debate topic but nothing one should consider seriously, which Alexander did. A plan to make a republic was such a thing and highly illegal. Alexander wrote down the democracies and their systems from different countries, like the UK, USA, Germany, France, etc., as he feared forgetting them with time. It was before he found out about the miraculousness of his memory. He could remember everything almost perfectly without needing to write it down. Little to say, it was very illegal to plot such systems unto the empire. Even theoretically and especially by a noble. All of Alexander''s notes and ideas he had worked on for the last years went up in flames, ''This sucks...'' This brought him back to reality, and he would need to be much more cautious in the future when he entered the noble circles, ''One step at a time, I guess, huh... how often did I say this already? My [Luck] attribute is really doing overtime.'' He didn''t resent his mother or Green. He could clearly intellectualize that they lived in a system far from what even resembled free speech. Yet, this gave him much more data to figure out the state of the empire, which he couldn''t otherwise or only after a long period. He was enclosed in a golden cage without any chance of interacting with others. This led to him brooding in his own soup of ideas with barely any outside forces like his teacher, who warned him. ''Time to learn the law to use every loophole and start writing my controversial notes in English, I guess?'' Alexander''s next step would be learning the law since he already broke it multiple times. He wanted to avoid anything too serious, but he also knew that even if he never broke the law, if the emperor wanted him to get sentenced, he would be. Alexander needed to calm down before being strong enough to do anything drastic. If all wanted his head, no rule of law would defend him. This empire was built on aristocratic families, the crown, and the most crucial aspect: Might makes right. He tapped his collar and became fascinated, ''At least I have something to do, hehe.'' Chapter 44: Lorients First Mating Season Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Lorient was hurt. Every part of her body screamed. Her muscles, bones, organs, and even her teeth. All of it felt like it was scorched. But especially her female parts felt like they were permanently burning. She cursed herself for going through this for a skill, knowing she could have multiple men at her feet, doing what she wanted. It was already a couple of days since it started, and slowly worsened. Yet, today, after she attacked multiple servants, her mother imprisoned her inside a room. Lorient was, at best, only at the starting line of her first mating season. There was a whole month in front of her, making her desperate. "DAMN IT!" She paired her shout with an explosion. Her demonic energy ripped through the already destroyed room she was staying in. Scraps of wallpaper, or what was left of it, swirled through the empty room and landed on wasted furniture. Only the walls and some old monster hides she had used as her bed were intact. She didn''t go fully ballistic because she knew what would happen if she cracked the fundamental structure. She would get a severe beat down. Why did she do this? She needed to let all her frustration out somehow since masturbation didn''t work. According to her mother, it had something to do with having a partner that would calm the body down with pheromones. Lorient wasn''t sure and didn''t care. The next problem was that it came so abruptly. One day, in the morning, she was fine till it worsened over the following hours. In the evening, she had her first victim: Her old room, which had multiple holes now in the walls and ceiling. It looked like someone had tried to have a fight with her. She changed rooms twice till she was in some abandoned office, which was barely cared for, which also made sense since she destroyed it, this time only superficially, in the first 24 hours. However, the only lucky star she had, was that her demonic energy was much more explosive and destructive, akin to the traditional Leonandra one, unlike her mother, who had the one from the fox-kin household from the north. Otherwise, she would be now in some hole in the garden. Her mother''s energy was much more destructive since it would seep into the fundamental structure, as seen when she did the demonic baptism with Alexander. On the other hand, hers would destroy the surface of whatever it touched much faster but would barely seep into the material or body. She mumbled, "Damn it, even the smells make me crazy..." She could smell her brother from far away, who at this point would be fair game, even though she disliked cute boys and was more into rough men, "...Narsiz, get the fuck out of my range!" ... Somewhere else "...Narsiz, get the fuck out of my range!" "By the circle..." Narsiz was more than a hundred meters (~110 yd.) away and spooked by the incorrigible scream, "I should probably go away... I don''t like the smell..." It smelled similar to the younger maids when they looked at him. It gave him the shivers, and he disliked it. He already produced little pheromones, meaning his first mating season would be in a year or two. While he was interested in romance and having a partner, he strongly detested the animalistic nature they went through while going through the mating season. He quickly turned around and went away, "...damn it, Lorient, I hope this is not revenge for the time I was an asshole to you." After another explosion, he quickened his pace. ... Lorient''s temporary room It was evening, and Lorient was lying on the ground. She was doing some weird exercises, which Alexander sent to her so she could power herself out. It didn''t work, though, "Enough!" All she could think about was sleeping with someone. It was night and the worst time for her. Her senses were excellent, so she could smell and sometimes listen to servants romancing around, ''I can''t anymore...'' Everyone was with someone, enjoying their time while she lived in a destroyed room, slept on hides, and ate gruel. Besides the beatings, the gruel was her punishment for destroying the previous rooms. Lorient''s frustration reached the boiling point where she couldn''t do this anymore. She stood up and walked out of the door, but to her surprise, her mother was there, sitting on a chair and reading a book about some dryad and a centaur, "Well, I kind of knew it." Lorient took a step back, "Mom?! What are you doing here?" Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. She closed the book and looked at her, "Only making sure you don''t rape some of the servants. What else?" Lorient''s energy only slightly flared up but became more normal momentarily, "I am fine, Mom. Now I need to go to the toilet!" She stormed to the toilet, and her mother started walking behind her. She suddenly turned around, face fully flushed, "Don''t you trust me!" Marisia shook her head, "No." "Argh!" she turned back and entered the bathroom. She slammed the door with full force. Marisia waited and sighed. She promised her daughter to help her get through and get the desired skill, ''At least she isn''t as bad as me.'' She remembered her first time when she was much younger. She was thrown into a cell, from which she broke out multiple times, only to get beaten up by her mother or father. ''I kind of deserved it.'' It wasn''t that she only broke out, no. She remembered how she destroyed the whole prison out of spite. The whole cell and part of the prison were corrupted by her energy, and she also almost killed every other prisoner and guard as the building started to collapse. It was normal to be this extreme in this region at this point in time. All beast-kin living in this area were much more emotional. The wild demonic energy which invaded their territory didn''t only affect the Leonandra household but everyone. When the mating season started, every city around or close to the border became insane. This was also one of the reasons why their population was this large and grew much faster than others in Mal-Gil. Many thought the high migration rate was the main reason for their high numbers, but it was nothing more than the catalyst. After living here for at least a decade, they would be shaped by the residual demonic energy and act much more emotionally. Angry? Loving? Sensitive? Horny? Whatever emotion there was, it would amplify, and while the murder rate was also much higher, the demonic energy had its previously mentioned good sides. The environment shaped them, and they shaped the environment. It was always an exciting concept, which, for some reason, her most curious child found rather dull. Alexander would start to talk about genes and evolution when she brought this topic up. Nothing she had ever heard about. However, he was much more interested in too-radical ideas and tried to talk with her all the time about them. At first, she thought that they were only some idealized and rough thought-out structures. No, her son almost gave her a heart attack today when she found out how well thought out they were. She hoped that he would mellow out when he got older. Marisia and her siblings were also more radical in their ideas and idealism than the previous generation, but never to the same degree. She was thankful that Narsiz, with his unfathomable beauty and, not detected, social skills, which she could feel clearly, was more like she was. Marisia was even more thankful that Lorient and Sarah had no interest in politics whatsoever and that left, besides Janina, her two boys. One of which needed to be educated much more thoroughly. This meant there would be no fights for succession, but she didn''t know how many puppies she would have in the future and how many would become interested in ruling the territory. Her thoughts drifted toward her siblings. Except for her brother, they did much better in their first mating season. She shook her head as this memory wasn''t pleasant and returned to the situation, ''Does she think I can''t wait? My [Sleep Resistance] skill is already at the second tier.'' After some more minutes, the door flew open in an arc and crashed against the wall. Out came a fully flushed Lorient, "Why?! Why are you waiting here!" Her mother tilted her head, "Do you think I would let you alone in your hardest time? I was young too, you know." For some reason, all that Lorient could hear was mockery. The next moment, her energy surrounded her, forming what looked like a naked woman. Marisia frowned and laid down her novel, "That is what I thought would happen." ... Somewhere in the garden, outside the main mansion "Your eyes are like the brightest and most beautiful moons that ever existed." "Oh, Ramone, you are so cute! I love you!" "Lucifia, I love you too!" A swan-kin maid and a butterfly-kin butler sat on a bench in the garden, holding hands while looking each other into their eyes. "Oh, Ramone, do you think our parents will accept us?" Ramone slightly caressed her hands, "Oh Lucifia, you read the novel, right? Don''t worry. Our life will be wonderful." Lucifia came a little closer to her lover, "Oh Ramone, you really know me..." she giggled slightly and turned her head a little away to show him her cutest side, "...but will you love me after the mating season." Ramone came closer and took her into his arms, softly touching her chin and turning her head toward him, "Oh Lucifia, I always wanted you to be mine and only mine. This season just gave me the encouragement to ask you out." Lucifia turned toward him and was close to kissing him, "Oh Ramone, I love you so much and always wanted you to talk to me!" Ramone came closer, "Oh Lucifia, I love you forev..." BOOM! Before he could end his sentence, an explosion came from the mansion, which was close to them. It was the one where Lorient resided. They were usually forbidden to be this close to the mansion since the oldest child had her problems during the mating season. Nonetheless, most ignored this rule at night and tried to sneak to the outer premises of the central garden to have a date. What they saw shocked them. A girl clouded in a red aura, flew through the window. Behind her, they could see the lady following her while jumping, using some weird movement skill where she could jump in the air. Marisia grabbed Lorient mid-air, ignoring all the demonic energy, and threw her toward the ground with an elegant swirl. Her daughter crashed toward the ground and produced a crater. BOOM! The ground beneath the servants started to shake. They started running away without much but a slightly shocked expression. They were already forwarned that it could get crazy. Lorient stood slowly up and wobbled a little, holding her head and growling, "Grrrr, Fuck!" Marisia silently landed beside her, "Lori, I am sorry, but I can''t let you go insane." Lorient looked up and saw her. An insane and furious laugh escaped her, "Hahaha! Ok, Mom! Let''s get it on!" She rushed toward her mother, but a moment later, she felt pressure in her stomach and pain slowly after. Looking down, she saw the knee of her mother. Lorient thought of counterattacking, thus using a massive amount of energy to attack her. It didn''t work. The energy bashed against Marisia''s face, but she didn''t even flinch, "Not bad." Next came an elbow toward her back. Lorient tried to turn around and avoid it, but the elbow hit her upper side, "Keugh!" Lorient fell down and rolled to the side, puking her insides out, "Attack me, Lorient, you need to calm do..." Marisia was interrupted by Lorient''s scream, "Shut up! Argh!" Lorient stood quickly up, barely holding herself up. She attacked again, this time using all of her energy. While dashing like a madman at her mother, the energy rushed erratically to the sides, destroying everything in its wake: Ground, trees, and plants. None of her usual elegance and dynamic was seen but just barbaric movements. Her mind was mumbled while her body started to burn. Her mother''s strategy worked. She wanted that her daughter would power herself out and go to sleep. The problem Marisia had was that the demonic energy would push her body till it broke, so she would need to act as a wedge to stop it. She used a little energy, flashed toward her, and clapped her hands over her head. Using energy as a momentous, deafening, and local sound was a nice trick she learned from her husband. Lorient stopped suddenly and didn''t know anymore what was top or bottom. Her energy went chaotic and even more uncontrollable. But it stopped the next moment as she felt something hitting the back of her head. All went black. Before Lorient could fall to the ground, Marisia caught her and threw her over her shoulder like a potato sack, "Hm... at least she is not as spite-driven as I was." As she returned to her mansion, she noticed some servants and told them to get someone to mend the destruction in the garden. She sighed, "Ah, children are really a hassle..." While she walked back, she did everything to not try to chew on her bottom lip. The mating season also made her more sensitive, which she could control, but it wasn''t pleasant, "Damn demons... I really need my husband, tsk." Chapter 45: Mana Training Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Francesca Leonandra (Spider-kin) ... While Marisia was trying to calm Lorient down with her motherly love, Alexander, on the other hand, was having challenging problems controlling his mana. He sat on his bed while trying to recreate the ignition construct. The anti-mana collar was at fault here, and while Green and his mother were talking that he shouldn''t wear it 24/8, he would do it anyway as it was excellent training. The only problem was that using [Mana Sense] felt like vertigo. Thus it meant that he stopped using it passively, which limited his overall senses to a stupid degree, and he only now noticed how dependent he was on it to navigate his environment. If Alexander put some mana toward his eyes, which he did permanently, hoping it wouldn''t damage his eyes, he could, with his sight, see shades of blue that represented the ambient mana. When someone moved through the thin fog of ambient mana, it would also start to move, and he could make out others much faster. However, there was a much easier way to make out others by the brighter pockets of mana, which represented the people, and depending on the [Intelligence] attribute, they differed significantly in size. It was a puzzle to Alexander why everyone had mana at all automatically. He could only attribute it that the mana veins inside the body playing a vital role in the body he received on this new planet. Yet, he had a far-fetched hypothesis that, at some point, everyone developed mana automatically because they used it freely through mana skills. After building social structures, skills got restricted, held as secrets, etc. So it became nothing more than a relic of the past. Alexander was sure to make it possible for everyone to use mana, which would shatter societies, ''I can''t wait to put a torch to society... metaphorically, of course, and in small steps. I am not an anarchist or moron.'' After the short side thought, he returned to thinking through how his senses reacted to the mana. The sense of smell was another thing altogether. It worked the other way around as it killed smell. Nobody in his family could find him if he enveloped himself with mana. It was like a stealth skill against canine-kin. Hearing, touch, and taste, he didn''t test. He would need a lot of time to actually figure out what mana did with the other senses, and it was on his to-do list, which was very long even though it was cut much shorter. Now, because of the anti-mana collar, he needed to push through and slowly adjust his [Mana Sense] to even begin to build a construct. His many analyzing skills reacted to his thoughts and gave him an idea, ''Why does [Mana Sense] connect to my other senses at all?'' It wasn''t like seeing and smelling were overly connected with each other, and only now did he understand something important, ''Did I try to use my [Mana Sense] only indirectly while I could do it directly?'' Alexander forgot about the training in making an ignition construct and threw himself into something more exciting. He wanted to isolate his [Mana Sense] and use it alone. He slowly and carefully pushed the mana away from his senses while feeling like he was on a roller coaster. The feeling was jarring. Besides the anti-mana collar, it wasn''t that tricky. His mana veins and points were filled with mana, slowly radiating to the outside in small increments. The new body and his new organs weren''t isolated but fully integrated. He knew this through testing it over the years. For example, if he depleted his mana, the veins would contract, and a headache would result. He didn''t know the why but only that it happened. So, he needed more than an hour to push the mana inside his veins and isolate them. When he succeeded, he activated his [Mana Sense] and concentrated it on the inner part of his solar plexus. Suddenly the world had become black. He experienced it lighten up a moment later in shades of colors he never saw that whirled crazily and erratically around him. He threw up. After emptying his stomach, he immediately removed the collar and called a maid to change the bedding. While she did it, he sat in the corner, trying to recollect his thoughts and senses. At last, he felt okay again and now tried to remember what happened. The world was full of new colors he didn''t see but felt, altering and moving like erratic bees. So, he tried it again but without the handicap. Now he needed only a mere moment to forcefully push all the mana back into his mana veins, and he sensed the world full of colors again moving the same. He gagged and almost threw up again. "Are you well, Mr. Alexander?!" He heard Francesca from the side and waved his hand in dismissal, "I am fine. Ignore me." She frowned but heeded his words and went back to change the bedding. However, she would need to report it later to the lady. Alexander tried to hypothesize what had happened to him. He had some ideas. However, mana was an enigma to him, even with all the literature he got. It was described as a mysterious and universal energy altering the physical world. On the other hand, he could only smile tiredly at such a statement, ''It is only mysterious till one finds out how it actually works.'' He also thought about the one who wrote it and couldn''t believe how the author exposed himself in his book, ''Merlin, you bastard, I can''t believe you wrote such a moronic statement.'' Alexander read the book by Merlin and was 99% sure that the archmage came from Earth like he did. Why? He distinguished mana heavily from the physical world, which didn''t make sense in the context of this world. Saying that mana wasn''t physical was a very nonsensical thing to say because it was physical, or why would, for some reason, electricity be physical, which Merlin also described and categorized as such in his book. Merlin was apparently someone of great intellect but little to no formal research education, which Alexander had by studying and learning all of them at university. This he could see in how Merlin described certain things like mana. Everything should be interlinked, and in a world with mana, it was just another force or energy that acted in an, for now, unknown way. He heard a ringing sound, and, luckily, Francesca, who was done, excused herself. Alexander opened his system window when she left and saw two new skills: [Mana Theory] and [Mana Seering]. ''Holy moly...'' he got immediately angry, "Excuse me?! I only get now the shit ass [Mana Theory] skill?! What about before... ah... damn!" Alexander became more cognizant of the intricacies of mana now and how it worked by ripping apart Merlin''s statements logically. He became furious that it only happened now, and he genuinely thought there were no theoretical skills for mana like [Physics] or [Biology], ''This shit ass of a system, even after I tested so much, you only give me the skill now?! I can''t believe it...'' However, after a long thought, he scratched his head in annoyance as he understood it more or less the same as Merlin did. He only now started to hypothesize it more clearly after reading his literature. Alexander saw the flaws of his (maybe) brethren and the theorizing of mana he researched and suddenly had an insight. He punched the armchair, "Damn it! I am a dumbass too!" He also understood why this happened to him and Merlin, as they had nobody to bounce ideas off. Merlin came up with new ideas and solutions, while nobody checked them on their merits and accepted them as gospel, ''You moron should''ve brought over the scientific method and peer review.'' Alexander leaned back in the chair, looking out the window at the moons, "It really is another world, and somewhere out there was probably another person who came over... was he stabbed too?" This made Alexander giggle at the thought that everyone who came over here was to be stabbed by the crazy ex of their fianc¨¦. He calmed down and immediately thought about his disciple, ''I need to write something down for her so she can get it too. Maybe questions so she can write down an essay and explore it theoretically? Should be doable.'' He sighed and ignored it after organizing his thoughts. He had other things to do, and reminiscing about whatever took him to this world wouldn''t bring him forward while he needed to remember to create homework for Ocilia. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ... 5 minutes later "Urgh! I am dying... fuck me..." After meditating for a few minutes to get a clear head, he put the collar on and tried to test his other new skill: [Mana Seering]. Alexander could hold it for a second or two before his whole being felt like it was put into a blender at maximum speed with rainbow-colored dragees. It was almost impossible for him to get a grip on the skill. ''Is this how mana is actually?!'' He thought that [Mana Sense] was the actual thing with what he could see mana, but that was apparently not the case as the new skill showed him something absolutely new, ''I need to ask Green how to train this stupid skill.'' Alexander got a little mellowed out and didn''t want to risk it after almost dying multiple times. This was at least what he thought of himself. It was not true, as he was back at trying the skill since he was too curious to wait for his magic teacher to return. So, for the following hours, he almost threw up multiple times while trying to hold onto the sensation as long as possible. The only positive was that the skill leveled substantially to level 6 as he tortured him. But, the other positive effect was that he also controlled the negative impact of the anti-mana collar ever so better. ... Two hours later "I am tired." Alexander was lying in his bed, and when he looked at the clock, it was already 3 am at night. He would get at most a couple of hours of sleep before Anastasia''s lesson started, but he would also need to eat something before, ''First world problems, hehe!'' He wanted to go to sleep while feeling dizzy but suddenly remembered something and was in the mood to be riskier, ''Oh, is this possible?'' Alexander touched his collar since there was no need for a key to open the collar. It was built like a number lock with a fingerprint-like detector. One would need to tap a specific sequence of signs, which were engraved on the collar while using the predefined energy like mana to open it. The moment someone tapped a sequence of four runes while putting energy in, that was the new entry key. It could be programmed when the collar was open. If someone tried to open it when inserting a wrong sequence or energy, an electrical shock would be produced as a penalty. It was a small computer that Alexander wanted to do nothing more than open and inspect it. His mother told him to not do it under any circumstances, ''Well, she didn''t say that I can''t try to inspect it indirectly, hehe.'' His idea was to invade it with [Mana Sense] and inspect it indirectly while wearing it to see how it operated. Usually, he would stop and go to sleep at this point, but because he almost threw up multiple times, he was fully awake and interested in how the collar worked. From the Artificing book he partly read, he knew that the material was conducive to mana, like the signs engraved into the collar, so in his mind, it should be possible. He slowly manipulated his mana to the outside and brought it inside the collar through some cracks. He tried to sense it while metaphorically being thrown around by the collar''s disorienting effect. Only after half an hour was he able to orient himself inside it. But how could he sense the inside of the collar even though it gave no smell, couldn''t see inside while only a little part had barely any mana? Indirect touch. The little amount of mana was inside the entry point where one needed to put their energy inside, and it converted any energy into mana. An exciting concept Alexander made a mental note to research later. After thinking about how to use mana for mapping purposes, he decided on an indirect approach. As Alexander''s mana moved slowly around, the conductive material also reacted a little magnetic, and thus, he could slowly map the whole inner life of the collar out. He knew there was a wall whenever he felt his mana was pulled. He explained that something inside needed to get the energy and thus dragged his mana toward it. Some places inside the collar pulled his mana much more potent than others, which should be the energy source and unlock mechanism for the energy. So he mapped it fully out and found the only tiny box to the side of the collar, which had the strongest pull. The mana slowly and carefully zig-zag around the innards without touching anything while the owner of that mana was in glee about being able to observe the inner living fully, ''Oh bad idea, little crafter, always have at least another insurance if someone like me wants to break into it.'' After some minutes, he decided to look at first, ''So, where the fuck is the thing for the input of the sequence?'' He looked around for a long time till he found a much more straightforward answer, ''Which moron designed it?!'' Since the signs were engraved from the inside and outside, it was hard to make them out, but he could make out his code which was the equivalent of 0000. How? When his mana moved close to the put-in engravings, his chosen sequence, it started to get pulled harder than by the others. ''I need to test it more... could be my imagination.'' He opened the collar while putting a new sequence in and putting it on again. His mana moved even better this time as he zig-zagged around the insides. Now the pull was much weaker and differentiated itself from the other engravings, ''Holy shit, this thing actually is giving out the sequence?!'' The first sign of the sequence was the strongest, while the following ones decreased with their chosen arrangement. Also, they would pull very hard when the code had four similar signs. ''Not even a dummy? Huh.'' From his time working in IT, he knew that some systems would have at least some randomized dummies to trick the one who wanted to hack into it or honey pots, where it would, while staying in this example, have another and more powerful pull to lure the invader to it. Alexander was joyous, ''Tsk tsk, I give the security an F, now, how the fuck do I trick the module which takes in the energy?'' He thought about it while his mana swirled around the collar, looking for another weak point till he suddenly found something distressing, ''This little shit built a master code?!'' He noticed it while going very close to every single engraving. At some point, he felt an extremely weak pull at specific signs. He put the sequence in without giving out any energy. It opened without any energy input. "This fucker!" Some coders intentionally created backdoors or bugs to abuse them later. Still, it was usually rare for more prestigious projects since multiple teams worked on it and used the pair programming principle, where one watched what the other fabricated. While the one who coded needed to explain every single input he did. Alexander fumed since he saw this as a defective and dangerous product. When the mage had enough connections and knew who created the item, he/she could open it with the master code, thus, endangering the ones who took them as a prisoner. He inhaled and exhaled till he calmed down, ''I will tell later, Mom. This shit is too dangerous.'' This concerned him the most as he imagined that she would capture some mage, put a collar on him, and the moment she turned around, she would have a giant fireball in her back, ''Whoever did this is dead meat.'' Even though he was angry, he used a new sequence and put it on again. His goal was not to rely on intentional bugs but rather on the system and its faults to open it. He was again at the beginning, swirling around what he perceived as the energy module and brain of this whole item, ''So, how to crack it? How about a man-in-the-middle attack?'' Alexander pushed more mana inside, filling the collar out to clearly understand what happened while the whole mechanism played out. He activated the sequence with his energy, and it opened as intended while seeing what he needed to see. He put the collar back on with a new sequence and started anew. This time though, he slowly activated it with his mana from the inside and followed how his mana moved through the indentations between the engravings. Every time a new sign was activated, a part of another sign lit up, which looked like two halves of a circle. It was under the energy module, which Alexander thought before was the module. With the correct sequence, one-half of the circle stopped the pulling effect. Alexander immediately stopped his mana from going to the energy module and redirected it to the other half of the circle. He thought that this was something akin to a verifier. He discovered that it wasn''t one and didn''t work, seeing as a moment later he was shocked. "Grrrr fucking assho... argh!" ... Outside Alexander''s bedroom Francesca was sitting on a chair reading a novel her friends recommended when she heard her master screaming obscenities. She turned the page and ignored him, ''Seems like Mr. Alexander failed a skill test again, hm.'' ... Inside Alexander''s room After some shock therapy, he returned to normal, ''Okay, it wasn''t what I thought it was. Well, fuck me.'' A little break later, he was back inside the collar and looking for something, anything, that he didn''t see before. After looking for some time and finding nothing, he decided to go to the source: The module. With his [Mana Sense], he could make out that it was a small rectangular flat box over what he regarded as the authentification circle. Pushing his mana inside would be challenging, and even though the effect of the anti-mana collar became very manageable, it would be a headache. This reminded him of the time when he forgot his key and tried to pry the door open with a credit card and some pins from his sister while it was cold outside. He cursed at the door but, in the end, somehow managed to open it. This was the same; he saw this as a challenge. He conveniently forgot that his siblings were standing behind him all the time and laughed their asses off. Alexander broke the most minor tiny thread of mana away he could and let it sliver inside, which was instantly pulled into something. Luckily, he was prepared as he knew there should be a stronger pull, so he pushed it away and barely managed to find a proper position where the mana would be attracted with the same force from all sides. After excruciating minutes, he had done it, and the mana floated somewhere still and didn''t move, ''Okay, what now, genius?'' He moved it slowly and tried to map the module by reference points. Now, why did he didn''t open it? Because he found it boring, there was no other reason for him other than seeing this as a more complex Rubix cube that was fun to crack. He could destroy the toy to pieces and build it back together with the solution in mind, but where would be the Fun? The other reason was that his mother would probably put him under house arrest. After an hour of swimming around and mapping, he kind of understood it, ''So, if I am correct, there is a register for the energy and something like a... hell knows what.'' He described the part as a register that first recorded the energy signature. He thought that it was also what pulled the strongest since it also needed the energy in the first place. So, he put it to the test, which would be tricky. He would need to split his mana into different parts while controlling them. Outside the module, he would need to put the sequence in, while inside, he would need to somehow interrupt the register and jump over it. He was in the zone, concentrating to an insane degree. All his skills helped him in this endeavor as he wanted to avoid getting shocked again. The sequence was put in, and the energy went to the register through the collar. He stopped it as it was directly before it and let it jump over it. It went inside somewhere else, probably activating the true case, while the false case would stay inside the register. After a short moment, he heard the clicking sound of the collar that opened together with a prompt from his system, and he became instantly euphoric. Alexander jumped from his bed, dancing around and screaming, "Fuck yeah! Who is the sickest dude? I am the sickest dude!" Alexander opened his system window to look for what the notification was for and became a little confused, "[Hacking]? It is also at level 13. What the... urgh." His body suddenly started to ache and felt strained. This usually meant only one thing, ''I need to increase the weight of the weight-increase mana item to 3.5x, or should I go for 4x?'' Alexander learned again to many skills and increased them too fast in a short time. His [Mana Sense] was at level 68, while [Mana Manipulation] went straight to level 55. Some other skills increased, too, which aided his concentration. He had a big smile and couldn''t thank Green enough to recommend this kind of training to him. It was fun and gave fantastic results, ''Let''s first freshen up.'' The first rays of the sunrise broke already through his window. He put the collar back on and started to construct the cleaning spell. He did it fast and precise. There was barely any vertigo left as he adjusted his skills to the mana disturbance he felt before and could as naturally or even better control his mana outside the body. After cleaning himself up and adjusting the weight increase to four times, he went outside to grab a snack and, maybe later on, ask his mother for a new collar. Also, he didn''t forget to tell her about the master code. There was much more to discover about the mana items and energies, as he understood that he had only scratched the surface. Chapter 46: Overwhelming Friend Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... From Marisia S. Leonandra to Cecilia H. Cold-Snout My dear friend of the north, I am writing you a short letter to inform you about something important. My son, Alexander, was training with one of your anti-mana collars you sold to us long ago, which was made by one of your affiliated artificer families, to increase his mana skills. While doing so, he found out that the collar had what he called a master code. This so-called master code is a predefined sequence with which one could open the collar without the previously predefined sequence while ignoring the energy imprint. We further tested it on other collars, like the anti-energy and general ones. Every artificer under you was putting a specific master code into them. I sincerely hope it is only the case with ours, so I will give you the description of their labels with the master code, so you can test it out, too. Pentagon with a hammer with little ant-like feelers on top (All general collars): ...Master code... A crude engraving of the sentence Sundown will come from least (All anti-mana collars): ...Master code... A flowery pattern with vines (All anti-energy collars): ...Master code... I hope that it doesn''t seem like an accusation since it is the last thing I would do to a friend like you, so please be at ease, and I hope to hear that it is only ours that have this problem. With greetings, Marisia S. Leonandra .... From Cecilia H. Cold-Snout to Marisia S. Leonandra Dear Mari, no need for formalities under us, and I am greatly thankful for your and your son''s information about such a grave problem! After investigating the problem, you are absolutely right! We imprisoned the craftsman and their families without further notice and want now to examine the issue of defects and dangerous equipment. I hope that your son can help us in this endeavor? Of course, I know of your situation from previous exchanges and will not ask you to come to us up north, but I will send other items to you for inspection if it is okay. We could compensate him by acquainting him with one of our daughters, roughly the same age. Vanessa is a lovely and sensitive girl who is eight and very interested in everything in terms of etiquette. She is elegant and perfectly fits Alexander, a brilliant young pup. There would never be a situation that she couldn''t handle in future noble circles. Or does he like more feisty ones like your other lovely daughters? Then how about Matilda, who loves nothing more than to sword fight. She is only nine but already learned the art of our house to an intermediate degree! Alexander will indeed have an excellent bodyguard when he goes to war since mages are a little feebly. Not to say that you don''t train him right, but at some point, he will surely stop his physical training and continue his research into magic-related topics. So, I would absolutely recommend Matilda! In our previous exchanges, you once asked for a magic teacher for him. From my knowledge, all mages are a little stoic and analytical in nature, like one of my other daughters, Emma, who is five and started her education. She is showing incredible talent in mathematics, reading, and writing, a perfect administrator in the makings, which could fit your Alexander excellently. I hope you think about them and present their descriptions to Alexander in the most favorable light! Cheers, Cecilia ... Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. From Marisia S. Leonandra to Cecilia H. Cold-Snout Greetings, Cecilia. I would appreciate it if you only send me the equipment since my mother has already arranged a meeting between some of the daughters of the Nine-Fire household and my sons Narsiz and Alexander. However, don''t worry about compensation or anything of the sort. You are a truly great friend who always helped our household in grave times, so us helping you for nothing in return would only be the right thing to do. Please also be at ease for Alexander and his reward since he is very interested in the art of artificing and told me he would love to help your household for free. On that note, I presented your dearest daughters to him, like you asked me, most favorably. However, I think that Alexander hasn''t developed any meaningful attraction toward the opposite sex, as he was perplexed while I talked with him about your wonderful and talented daughters. However, I would appreciate it if you could send me more anti-mana collars with different restraining strengths for his training in mana handling. Cheers Marisia ... From Cecilia H. Cold-Snout to Marisia S. Leonandra Greetings Marisia! They are on the way, and how about we make a little ball for our children then? It is surely very different to meet them firsthand than to read the descriptions I sent you. Furthermore, I didn''t forget Narsiz and have four other excellent daughters that would fit his age and interest! He is a young boy and, at most, two years away from his mating season, so he should be very interested in the opposite sex. Like the cuddly Alice, who is 13 and ready to mingle, she is very interested in the descriptions of Narsiz and how good-looking he is. She is empathetic and would take the load off of Narsiz after a very stressful day administrating whatever office he would lead. I remembered that Narsiz was a very sensitive youth, so having someone similar would be a recipe for a beautiful relationship, don''t you think? Or what about Margaret, who is 15? She is into crafts and arts and could be a great contrast to the bureaucratic talent which is Narsiz. She is also beautiful and developed into a fine lady which he would probably fall in love immediately. Their interests in art and culture would surely make for interesting discussions and bring a bit of harmless friction into a relationship. You should know best that a little bit of spice is always welcome. I can also offer Mabel, who is 12. She would fit perfectly as she shares the same interests as Narsiz and looks like the perfect little administrator. Even their hair and fur color seems to match excellently. Imagine how lovely they would look together walking down your colorful garden? They could work together and share their misery while trying to balance the books out. Wouldn''t that be a funny scene to imagine? However, I also have a stepdaughter from one of my husband''s concubines, a brilliant and timid girl. Her name is Amelia, and she is 14 years of age. She is terrific and very talented in all things considered food. One bite of her strawberry cake and Narsiz would instantly fall in love with her! I bet he never ate something as delicious as she made, and we know the saying: Love goes through the stomach is, to some extent, true. Not to criticize you, my dear, but every time I remember how you tried to make some tea for Kairo while we visited you, and he got poisoned was one of the funniest things that happened. It always brings a smile thinking about it. Back to the topic, maybe Narsiz likes all of them? The more, the merrier! Considering your family''s history, I know of your household''s dislike for harems, but as you can see, it can work with a little spit and arm grease, like in our household. So, please be a sweetheart and at least tell Narsiz about them. I already talked with the girls, and they are already in love with the description of such a fine young man. I hope for your quick answer, Cheers Cecilia ... From Marisia S. Leonandra to Cecilia H. Cold-Snout Dear Cecilia, I would appreciate it if you didn''t bargain for my sons like we are at the fish market in Wolfsteeth. I write to you as a friend and will tell you directly that it was not my idea to invite the Nine-Fire daughters to us for a rendezvous with my sons. You should also know my mother well since she was at your estate a couple of years ago and how she acts. You also know me long enough to assume that I dislike such things and that these things were more or less forced onto me. Also, you know how I educate my children, and if they are interested in having a harem, I will not stand in their way but warn them of the negatives of having one. So please stop writing about your daughters, which I assume are lovely, but I would prefer my sons to go through their first mating season before introducing potential brides to them. However, since I know you wrote this all in good faith, I also acted the same and told Narsiz all about them. He rejected them since he knew we would get a visit from the Nine-Fire household, and he wanted to act fairly and first see them before considering other potential brides. Maybe if that doesn''t work out, we can consider a meeting in the future. Cheers Marisia ... From Cecilia H. Cold-Snout to Marisia S. Leonandra Greetings Marisia. I will take you by your word and send my daughters to you after Narsiz goes through his first mating season in probably a year! I also didn''t forget the puppy, as I will send my younger daughters too! The boys will surely fall in love with them! Cheers Cecilia ... Inside Marisia''s Office, after she read the last letter An eerie aura spread through the office, "This conniving little bitch..." She hated the exchange with the Cold-Snout family, especially since they copulated and bred like there was no tomorrow. This wasn''t the actual problem, though. The problem was that Cecilia, the lady of the house, tried to barter off all her daughters to an insane degree. Since the lord had a harem of possibly half a dozen women and was active to an unimaginable degree, she couldn''t imagine how many more daughters their household had. The worst was that the daughters were not much better and loved the arrangement since they didn''t know better. With this thought, Marisia imagined herself, and that she had to deal with another female who was a concubine, she would instead poison her than accommodate her. Maybe it was her jealous side speaking, but she would like to believe it wasn''t the case. Yet, if she found her husband with another one, she would be ready to drag him out of any temple and do worse things than death, ''I need to stop these thoughts... the mating season is getting the better of me. He is too honest to even do something like this or think.'' However, the Cold-Snout family was very loyal and helped the Leonandra household a lot, so she would suck it up and hope that the ball Cecilia planned wouldn''t be something too overwhelming for her sons. She leaned back in her chair and sighed, "I hate this." Chapter 47: Creating The Chemicals First Authors Note: I will only roughly describe how to build the stuff while taking some creative freedom. If I wanted to write a manual, I would just copy some instructions for ISO/DIN (or whatever it was called). Second Authors Note: I will clearly cut the word children out and use the proper terms now all the time. So please don''t be confused. Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Aurum (Swan-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) ... A puppy looked at all the equipment he was given in one of the storage halls beside the most minor mansion. He almost started salivating over it as he missed using things that came close to modern equipment. Alexander needed to wait quite some time for it, and if he believed what Aurum, Salyna''s son, told him, it was like pulling teeth to get what Alexander needed. Aurum fought with the blacksmiths to build it exactly like what Alexander instructed it to be. However, the craftsman told him it was stupid and that they would rather work on armor or weapons, but it worked after some threats and name droppings. They were a stubborn bunch that solely worked for the estate, so after telling them that Alexander wanted it, they grumbled but got to work immediately. The glassblowers were not better by Aurum''s portrayal as they never made something this weird that Alexander wanted. However, the moment the ISO wizard saw the Erlenmeyer flask, he felt like he was back on Earth, and then he remembered the horrifying and long hours at the laboratory. Memories of all the attestations, protocols, and ridiculous deviations at every experiment came flooding back and made him shiver, ''There goes my nostalgia.'' He started sorting out all the chemicals first and was a little overwhelmed since he had no idea what they should look or smell like. But even without the knowledge, only by looking at it, the chemicals couldn''t reach 80% purity, which was not acceptable by modern standards. Sulfur''s, a yellowish powder, purity was abysmal, even just by looking at it, and he couldn''t imagine what else was actually in there. Some dirt, maybe sand, who knows? He wouldn''t be surprised if an actual raccoon jumped out. The stone salt was cheap, and it looked like it. But it didn''t matter how dirty it was. It wasn''t bought for consumption, so a little dirt was fine, but what was delivered to him was more dirt with salt than the other way around. ''My fault, I guess. Shouldn''t have said to buy the cheapest stuff.'' Pyrolusite was the most problematic since Alexander didn''t know how it should look but hoped that this would create the oxidizer he needed to produce actually sulfuric acid. His only remembrance from the books he read on Earth was hazy, but by the looks of it, it fitted. He hoped. What he was about to do was incredibly dangerous since he didn''t know what contamination the raw materials had. It could easily lead to an exothermic reaction. But for this, he already had a plan. He put everything inside of pots and closed them. Next, he checked the equipment, which was beautifully made... for some inexplicable reason. Engravings with wavy vines, flowers, all the stuff. Alexander looked to the side, to Aurum, who was very proud of himself, ''I said I need it only functional... well, at least it will look lovely if this shit blows up in my face.'' He didn''t want to imagine how much more expensive it was because it looked nicer, but he took it anyway. Not like it mattered in the end. On second thought, it wasn''t expensive at all but just time-consuming since the blacksmiths worked for them. He noted that he should make them busy again later on as he had a new idea for Sarah''s shield. She trained him a lot, so he thought about designing a cool shield he had seen in movies for her. She already had a rough prototype, but she seemed to like it, and all her shield arts worked well with that and her martial arts, too. He concentrated again on what was in front of him and examined it. One apparatus was as big as two bathtubs welded together and a little small for his taste, but for the beginning stages, it was great. On the side, he had multiple other containers with pipes that could be connected to the bathtub to catch the chlorine gas. He sincerely hoped that it wouldn''t leak. He wasn''t too hot on recreating the first world war. The asbestos diaphragm was inside a closed container like he ordered since the last thing he wanted was to find out how highly toxic materials reacted to undeveloped beast-kin bodies. A little fairy flew to the container, wanting to open it, "Oh, what is this? Why not check it?" Alexander swatted her hand away, "Stop! This is highly toxic... I think, so let''s not risk it." His emergency plan showed her hands in peace and flew away to read her novel, "All right, all right!" He looked over everything else, like the voltaic pile parts (battery), and decided that it was time, "Ok if I explode, heal me, got it?" Green nodded solemnly as she read how the centaur tried to fight against an Incubus, ''What a twist... I like it.'' Alexander prayed dearly that she would act and started building his apparatus together. There wasn''t much to do but to put noble and ignoble metal rods inside the bathtub, each on one end. Calculating where the gas would come out to position the tubes correctly wasn''t that important since the opening of each tube was funnel-like and very wide. Almost encasing the only place the gases could flee to. Then he came to the battery, which was most important since he had no other source of electricity. An old-school galvanic cell would be the best choice, but he would need sulfuric acid first for it to work. Nonetheless, the voltaic pile should do the trick initially, so he kept stacking the circular metal plates with beautiful engravings on each other while the rags were inside a little wooden tub full of salt water. He would later pack them in between the metal plates. ... An hour later There stood his first creation, and like his first self-built pc, he prayed that it wouldn''t short and destroy the mainboard. He conjured water into the tub, closed the voltaic pile container, and put the non-insulated copper threads, which were connected to his hill-billy battery, around the cathode and anode. After waiting for some minutes, it started bubbling, "Yes! It works!" He had some thoughts that the laws of physics were significantly different or wouldn''t work the way he knew on Earth, but as long as they were similar, it should work. He hoped. If the laws were different, he would need to do a lot of fundamental research first, which was far more than he could handle. ''Now we wait... I totally forgot how annoying it was.'' Chemistry, for all intents and purposes, was boring, at least the practice of it. There was a lot of waiting time, like a lot. So all he did was sit around while observing the process intently to see if something was about to go haywire because the atoms suddenly decided that mana was an excellent catalyst for explosions. After some time, Alexander stood up, switched out the gas tanks, scratched the lye, and put it into a container. As Alexander worked, Aurum became bored and came closer. His mother told him to stay by Alexander''s side and help him with the project while also seeing if he was the right person to follow. He had no idea why she insisted on it, but he obeyed either way, even if it was annoying, "And this is how you make a better parchment?" Alexander looked at him bored, "Paper and yes. We need all the ingredients in their... let''s call it almost pure form before we can start making the product." Aurum walked around, and as he wanted to touch something, Alexander used an air contraption to stop him, "Don''t! This is incredibly dangerous, and I don''t know if this thing blows up." The swan-kin teen nodded solemnly, "All right..." He thought a bit and wanted to heed his mother''s words but do it in his way by testing Alexander, "...let''s say you can make enough paper, and we sell it for what Noriken suggested. Do you want to pay for the repairs of the main mansion?" Aurum intentionally was disrespectful so he could see Alexander''s reactions and whether the one evening was a fluke. If he chose someone to follow, he wanted to have the same relationship as his mother had with the lady, where she could be honest and tell like it was. Alexander concentrated on the process, but like an old and lost instinct, he also could talk without any issue, "Yeah, it was kind of my fault in the end." Aurum wanted to argue against it but stopped himself. It was unusual for a noble, especially for cygnets (baby swans), to blame themselves for mistakes. Usually, they would blame others even for the most nonsensical reasons, and he experienced it firsthand. He attended a boarding school specializing in administration, trade, and all the good stuff he liked for a few years. He lived with all kinds of cygnets and teenagers of noble descent, and they were arrogant while never accepting that they made any mistakes, even if they were clearly at fault. Since returning two years ago, he forgot the culture practiced here and how the nobles here only wanted a minimum of etiquette and respect. It was refreshing. However, while away, he also learned how this aspect of Moorgrel, especially the guard households, was painted for the central nobility and only strengthened their hatred for them. To them, they were nothing more than barbarians or traitors. His school had a definite slant towards the factions of higher nobles and those who disliked mixing beast-kin blood. When he found this out, he just said, as instructed by his mother, that he was a son of a wealthy merchant, never telling his household name to anyone. Aurum was arrogant and proud but not stupid. The last thing he wanted was to be bullied relentlessly by his peers, who were indoctrinated by their parents against the crown, especially their loyal followers, like Count Moorgrel and his knights, who had giant targets on their backs. In his opinion, he saw this race question as a nuisance. He avoided it as he was more concerned with concrete politics and not some pseudo-intellectualism that was made up to further some ambiguous question of undefinable purity to allow public support from their subjects. He, on the other side, wanted to help the poor. Since he wasn''t a hypocrite who only philosophied about it, he practiced his idealism in his free time. For example, he managed various orphanages in Wolfsteeth, ''All the money could buy so much food, so many clothes... at least it is warm all year round so the cygnets (baby swans) do not need to freeze.'' The orphanages and other charity programs were run by the Leonandra household. They were sufficient, in his opinion. Much better than what he heard from other territories, but much more could be done. Seeing all this waste and potential money, something inside of him wanted to hate this puppy as he was so young and talented. He could potentially bring unheard riches to the estate, "So, what do you want to do with the money after you are done paying off to repair the estate?" Alexander started cleaning the apparatus with his contraptions. He had enough NaOH but now needed to make KOH, a different kind of lye, "I don''t know, honestly, but part of it I will put into our household coffers." Aurum clenched his fists, "And the rest?" Alexander shrugged, "Charity, research, cocaine, all the fun stuff." Aurum ignored the cocaine part, as he didn''t know what this was, but he heard a word he never thought he would hear. So, he prodded for a more definitive answer, "Charity? Don''t you think this is a waste to help the poor?" As Alexander put salt containing potassium into the tub and was really really hoping that the substance earlier was actual lye, he answered nonchalantly, "Nope, economically it makes more sense to spend money on the poor as the return on every coin spend, to a certain point, makes more sense than to spend it on the rich." Aurum was kind of elated, but this puppy was talking like the poor beast-kin were objects. He was very interested in his thoughts, "Could you elaborate, Mr. Alexander." Alexander put water inside the container and almost forgot to change the electrolyte-soaked rags in the voltaic pile. So while changing, he explained almost automatically what he thought as he did it multiple times beforehand to his family, "Let''s say we spend gold coins on the rich through channels like tax decrease or incentives to stay here. They wouldn''t really invest in businesses or new avenues, and they wouldn''t also buy the stuff from the common vendors to increase the economy more wholistically... I think so, at least. I was never in Wolfsteeth and only go by second-hand information." He closed the Voltaic pile after putting the salt-water-soaked cloth between the metal plates. He put the connectors back on the cathode and anode, and a new round of the chloralkali process began. He continued, "However, they wouldn''t definitely expand their business, as they are probably already saturated, and they would probably take the excess money and invest it in other things outside of our territory or hoard it." Alexander didn''t mention that a resource-based economy was detrimental. There would be no inflation at some point but deflation as the resources like gold and silver would dry up, which meant no investing since hoarding the money also works to increase its worth. The economy would crash violently, and innovation would be stifled heavily. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. However, there were many factors he would need to consider if there were actually unlimited gold mines in this world or if it could be made in another reasonable way which was not possible on Earth. This puppy increasingly intrigued Aurum, "What if they leave?" Alexander sat down and looked through his [Mana Sense] inside the apparatus. The second thing he did was to conjure air contraptions, so he could observe the physical properties. He really disliked dying, so he wanted to avoid it again. [Mana Sense] would alert him if the mana inside would, for some reason, go haywire, and the air contraptions were also like an alarm if heat suddenly increased unreasonably. He would immediately notice it if they expanded heavily. As he did it, he answered indifferently, "Fuck them. We have big cities and even more competitors who would cut their arm off to just have a chance to get into the same industry as they are." He also inwardly added that the cost to start a business at this time, with this kind of technological progress and almost no existing regulations, was ridiculously low compared to Earth. All one needed was enough funds to rent a building and buy the materials for whatever they wanted to do. Aurum looked at him in thought and asked, "Then why poor people then? Why not take the money yourself, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander frowned as this conversation turned again into some economic teaching lesson like he had with Narsiz, "Multiple reasons. First, they will spend the coins locally and in establishments which are more likely to invest back into the local vicinity, then the money will come back through taxes." He thought for a bit and continued, "Second, by helping them a little, we increase the chance that they achieve more in their lives, thus have better jobs, thus paying more taxes and decreasing the chance that they start doing something illegal." After a sigh, he continued, "Sorry, I forgot the other points, but there were more." While multitasking and chatting were possible as he concentrated on chemistry, doing an economic analysis was too much for him. Aurum became more and more joyful. Even though he disliked his reasons since they were logical, cold, and rational, like the perfect picture of a calculating noble. He saw a youth of noble descent who wanted to help the poor. It was like finding a needle inside a pile of hay. Even though he liked the ones more who would help purely because they were idealistically wired that way. A philanthropic belief, so to say, but he couldn''t disagree that there was a need for rationality as gold wasn''t unlimited and the budget needed to be balanced. This made him giddier to know more about the puppy''s beliefs, "And how would you help them, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander thought briefly and answered in his monotone I-am-working-and-just-chit-chat-on-the-side tone, "Mandatory education for basic things like reading, writing, and math. Helping them find apprenticeships. Then decent nutrition, clothes and building better orphanages, infrastructure, and so on... honestly, I don''t really know since I don''t have a full picture since I... well, can''t get out of the estate till I am ten." Aurum became a little baffled for a second, ''Right, he is not even ten...'' It was like he talked with some idealistic but calculating colleague. Someone who went through the same hypocrisy as he did and saw others who were incredibly demeaning toward commoners or even worse toward the poor. He wanted to learn more about this rumored genius puppy''s mindset, "Mr. Alexander, don''t you think those poor commoners are a plight to society." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "A thief can become a great spy, a ch¨¦f can become an assassin, and a bad farmer could become the start of the downfall of a fief. If you see everywhere negatives and not the possibilities, you will have much fewer resources for the betterment of the fief and thus the estate." Aurum became more excited, "What do you think about the difference in beast-kin sub-races, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander became annoyed as it was like some oral examen in school, trying to determine how well he could defend his beliefs. Still, with a side glance, he saw a young man who looked interested, ''Well, he is probably in this phase where he is really interested in the opinions of others and how they are different from his, but the questions are a bit... batshit-crazy.'' It was like someone asking what he thought about the differences between ethnicities and if some are inferior because they ate with chopsticks. Nonetheless, he played along and answered honestly, "I don''t care." This was Alexander''s honest answer, as he couldn''t care less, but Aurum was shocked. It was an unheard sentiment from nobility, even if they were on the side of the crown who tried to somehow unite all beast-kin. Everyone held some prejudice against certain sub-races, and it wasn''t uncommon to openly display them from the commoners'' side, but nobles tried to caviar them more but were also much more extreme in their beliefs. "Could you elaborate, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander nodded, "I don''t care... at all." Aurum frowned, but Green answered him beforehand while she read an NSFW scene before he could prope more, "He really doesn''t care. He has even no problem with me as his magic teacher, so why should he care about other beast-kin?" The young swan-kin looked at her and tilted his head back to Alexander as he said something, "Why? Are you poisonous or something?" Green answered while turning the page, "Nah, while beast-kin like the Temple, most dislike nature-dwellers." Alexander nodded, "Because some of you are basically immortals?" Green shook her head, without taking her eyes off the novel and not changing her matter-of-fact tone, "Nope, because we think beast-kin doing affronts against nature like eating animals. Thus, you see us as arrogant or unreasonable if we talk down to you." Alexander answered her, "Huh, but aren''t we allies since the liberation? I also know that we basically rule your territory without many problems, so I would imagine that the nature-dwellers would revolt otherwise." Green licked her finger and went to the next page, answering, "There are many problems, but because we fundamentally rule the Circle of Nature religion, there is balance." Alexander nodded, "Makes sense, and we hate you because you preach stuff most beast-kin don''t agree with, right?" Green nodded solemnly, "You got it." A silence suddenly went through the room, ''What the ...?'' Aurum was clearly confused listening to such a conversation between two individuals who were on the social ladder pretty high up there. In his head, he heard Alexander describe the nature-dwellers as vassals, while beast-kin also intensely disliked their intrinsic belief, which they preach and practice unopposed. On the other hand, Green said that beast-kin can get fucked since they control religion and are disgusted by how beast-kin live. ''If I had such a discussion with one of the temple leaders, my head would fly right off...'' However, this became much more interesting as he thought he could talk much more openly, "Haven''t you both not right now insulted each other?!" Alexander and Green looked at him momentarily before turning their head back and kept doing what they did. But a comment left their lips. "Idiot." "Brat." Aurum became a bit flushed, "Excuse me? Could you explain it?" Green solemnly nodded, "Alexander, explain why we put up with each other." Alexander sighed, "Fine..." he looked solemnly at Aurum, "...nobody gives a single fuck about falling trees or insults if the other possibility is slavery. Here you go." He returned to his work, while Green commented, "Very reductive but on point. We are basically choosing the lesser evil for both of our benefits." Silence reigned again, and Aurum started to sweat a little, ''Do they know what they said?!'' In his mind, they said they hate each other but tolerate it because the other possibilities are worse! It was somehow true, but nobody should say it out loud and not this bluntly. Aurum quickly changed the topic as he felt uncomfortable, "How does the alchemy go, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander stopped and began to remove the water, the KOH, and so on while answering, "Fine, I guess I can finish the preparation today, and after a couple more times, I can get some workers if the finished product is to my liking." Aurum nodded and wanted to know the puppy better, ''Is this why mom sent me to help him since she knew how he was? Damn it, why not just tell me?.'' Aurum wasn''t a noble and was either looking to follow someone with similar ideals, which he felt was improbable, or become a merchant. He could achieve a lot with the Leonandra household and his family in the back, especially with his skills. He became more curious than ever, "Mr. Alexander, do you have any life goals?" Alexander started to frown, but before he could answer, Green laughed out loud, "Haha, look at him testing you if he should follow you or not!" The puppy put down all the chemicals and conjured water to clean up the apparatus while walking to the battery, "I figured it out too, thanks teach." He didn''t know but played it off. Aurum blushed, "Wait! It''s not like that!" Alexander ignored his teenage behavior of being caught trying to be sneaky, "Listen, I am too young to have any grandiose goals..." Alexander lied as he had grandiose goals but wanted to try something new he read about leadership since Green told him he was tested, ''There''s no time like the present, I guess.'' He turned and looked deep into his eyes, "You can do what you want, but from my followers, I want absolute loyalty and that they would do their job correctly. Don''t think you can choose just because you want to. I will be the one who decides." Alexander began to be very interested in having him as a retainer since he heard from Ocilia, which she heard from her mother, which she heard from rumors, that he was very talented like Salyna. Yet, what he told wasn''t fully truthful since he wasn''t too hot on absolute loyalty. However, he thought that it would be much easier to convince him if he stated that he had high standards. He turned around again and started adjusting the apparatus. Now he needed to begin creating Potassium Permanganate, which was pretty easy. Dissolving, heating, and dehydrating were all that he needed to do. Aurum was baffled, ''Was I rejected? Does he want me to prove it to him?'' He shook himself awake. It was like a skill used on him, and he didn''t like it, "Hey, did... Mr. Alexander, did you use a skill on me?" Alexander started the heating process and answered honestly, "Nope, and I really don''t care if you want to follow me. Also, as you can see, I am already at work here. Not like I can do everything at once." Aurum was silent for a time, thinking everything through. It was like he wanted to decide on something, but he wasn''t allowed to. He knew of such tricks, but when he looked at the puppy, all he could see was ambivalence toward him. He only concentrated on the alchemical process and answered his questions nonchalantly. Aurum could always read people like an open book, but his ego was in the way this time since he believed everyone would want him for his talent. He remembered his time at school and how the nobles lined up so he could become their retainer. On the other hand, this very young and inexperienced noble wasn''t even sideglancing him. Alexander was thinking something different, ''Did he bite?'' He read some passages in books on leadership and persuasion tactics. He lied to himself to feel better since he didn''t read any grand literature but some trashy drama/romance novels and how women wanted to attract men. In his mind, it was pretty much the same. He hoped. However, Alexander was unsure about having a snotty brat as a retainer who would also oversee his business dealings. He knew at least he could trust him since his family was solely under the Leonandra banner, but he was a bit too egocentric for his taste. After getting told by Green that Aurum wanted to test him for something more than some teenage debate skills, Alexander understood why Salyna put him here to help him. She saw Alexander as someone her son could follow and stay inside the household. However, his CV wasn''t brilliant. From rumors, he knew that Aurum rejected Salyna''s suggestions to go under any of his siblings for probably the stupidest reasons if Alexander deduced them from the questions he was asked by him. On the other hand, this meant that this teen was very ideologically driven and had pure ambitions. Alexander loved such mindsets, but those people were incredibly hard to control, if at all. He decided, ''I want to gamble.'' Aurum''s talent would allow him to choose to be the retainer of basically anyone, but Alexander wanted that he desired to be under him. Suddenly, Alexander was interrupted by a question, "Mr. Alexander, if I wanted to become your retainer since I have unique skills, loyalty, as seen by my family, and talent, why wouldn''t you take me in?" The puppy smiled viciously. Inwardly, of course, and luckily, Green didn''t say anything, but he could see her smirk in the reflection of the apparatuses, ''Change of tactics: Balls to the walls it is!'' Alexander didn''t turn around and kept pretending to concentrate intensely on the production, "Your family, yes, but I don''t know you. I only want someone who has loyalty toward me. At some point, I will maybe do atrocious things for the greater good, and I don''t need some naive boy who is too idealistic to see the whole picture while standing in my way." Alexander felt he was trying to talk to a girl he liked, ''Was it too much? Did he catch that I outed myself as someone with grand goals? I hope not, but he should also not jump to my side because I am rejecting him, but I also really want him now.'' Even though he sounded a little manipulative, he truly meant it. If he wanted to lead at some point, he needed retainers who weren''t too short-sighted or too idealistic, as they could see everything he would do as an unforgivable act without seeing the whole picture. Aurum was silent for some time. Alexander started to proceed with his chemistry again after storing his oxidizer. Next, he would need to create sulfuric acid. It was much easier as he only needed to burn sulfur, put the gas into water, and oxidize it. After a moment, the young swan-kin nodded, "I understand..." and started monologuing about his life as he thought building trust would be a good starting point. He started telling about most of his school time, how he felt about everything, and how he wanted to help the poor. It sounded sincere. Alexander asked him in the middle of his story while burning sulfur and leading the gas through the metal tube into the water, "Why do you want to help the poor?" Aurum was silent for a moment to think this through and, as he answered, became emotional, "I... can''t really answer it, but if I was forced to answer: Pity." "Pity?" "Yes, pity. I saw the plight of the poor in Yol, where my school stood proud and big. Embellished..." he clenched his fists, "...in massive decadence while the unlucky commoners had..." he clenched his teeth more with every word, "...had barely enough for dry bread and lumps of clothes while I had five different sets of my gold embroidered school uniform and ate only the finest of foods." Only the bubbling of sulfur dioxide was heard, how it went into the water and turned into sulfurous acid. Alexander looked at him and had only one thought, ''Dangerous.'' While Alexander was also somewhat ideologically driven, he tried to grasp the world''s reality and use it to his end and adapt as best as he could. On the other hand, Aurum felt like someone with a sledgehammer holding over his head, looking for the first thing to smash down. Alexander returned to his apparatus and added the oxidizer, "I like you." Aurum looked at the puppy and asked, confused, "Pardon?" Alexander thought he could control this ideologically driven youth if he could give him work in some locality or some charity at first and show that it could work better if one worked inside the system while trying to change it. He would probably lose his edge and become more rational after seeing the machinations of real administrations and politics. He himself was somewhat new to this but understood enough to see the bigger picture. Small steps or a radical reshaping? He had plans for many paths he could take but would only choose the most probable one, which would be a slow one in his mind. Everything needed to be cultivated slowly and carefully. A fief showing, for example, how free public education benefited society would set up a domino effect in other fiefs. "You heard me. I like how you think." Alexander almost added boy to the end of the sentence. Aurum suddenly smiled, "Thanks! So..." "So what?" He opened his arms and wings while leaning forward, "I want to be your aid!" Alexander looked through the now giant glass container with his mana sense and contraptions. He could detect a high concentration of Sulfuric Acid. The fumes it let out that could burn his hair off his head were a good indication. He took half of it, put it into the tub with the cheap salt, closed the battery, and concentrated his mana sense/contraptions on it. Alexander stood up and looked at the swan-kin, "Why?" Aurum was confused, "Why?" "Why do you want to be my retainer? You could earn enough gold by yourself and do as much charity as you want." Aurum looked down toward the floor, "I... I don''t want only to patch the problems up but also change it as a whole... with your, Mr. Alexander, ideals being close to mine and being a noble, there could be change, and we could show what you mentioned before while... helping them." Alexander crossed his arms, "What if my ideas don''t work out, and I abandon the concepts I mentioned before?" Aurum was silent for a moment but then looked Alexander into his big golden eyes, "I will try to persuade you to and at least find a compromise, Mr. Alexander." Alexander looked emotionless at him, "What if I don''t budge?" Aurum answered bluntly, "I will then leave you, Mr. Alexander. I swore to myself that I would not betray my ideals." Alexander smiled and sounded joyous, "Good! This is what I want! Not a mindless object as my retainer but a living being with dreams and ideals! Now, kneel down and swear your loyalty if you want to be my retainer!" While the puppy looked confident and noble, he felt incredibly awkward to say something like this. However, he needed to adapt to such procedures. Aurum looked at first baffled but then smiled too. He thought he had nothing to lose, and as long as this weird noble child would stay loyal to his beliefs and words, he saw no reason to say no and, if not, leave. He kneeled down and put his right hand on his heart, "I swear to never betray you and be loyal to you as long as you don''t betray my dreams and ideals fully!" Alexander laughed, "Great! While I end it for today, write down the problems plaguing Wolfsteeth, and then we can look for solutions which can be mended with coin... after I mended the mansion, of course." Aurum stood up with a proud smile, went to a desk on the side, and started writing, ''How cute.'' Alexander went back and checked how his apparatus went. All he needed to do, was to take half of the sodium sulfate and heat it to create sodium sulfide. So far, so good. After that, he needed to make sure to label everything and store it in a safe place for later when he would start the actual paper-making process. While he did it, he thought through what just happened. He gained another retainer and one with strong ideals. He really liked people who were a bit more on the emotional side. If this paper making made him enough coin, he could take a part of it and invest in a charity he would open. Ultimately, as part of the family who controls the fief, he would get the coin back soon enough, ''Not like I know what to do with this much money anyway.'' He could buy more literature and materials for artificing since Green supplied not enough literature for his taste. But there wasn''t much else Alexander wanted for himself. As the puppy was working and thinking what he should get for the coin he would make, Green was sideglancing this interesting exchange, ''He has some leadership potential... hm, not bad.'' Green and Anastasia talked regularly and exchanged how the teaching was going on. Green couldn''t usually say much since her student was a permanently dry camel who could endlessly drink water like he did with knowledge. All she did was look after him and blackmail her colleague. For the coin alone she got, it was worth it, but now she also built up a relationship with someone like this. Such things couldn''t be weighed in gold. Nonetheless, she turned the next page of her novel, ''Oh, why are centaurs always this possessive... hehe.'' Chapter 48: Lizkos Opportunity Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Lizko (II) U. Irim (Dragon-kin) William (Wind-Djinn) ... In the main cathedral of pestilence in Moorgrel''s capital city Blue-Vermion A dragon-kin was in his laboratory and packing up things for a particular colleague to send it to, ''Is she just playing with me? How can her student even learn so fast?'' He was already sending, together with 2D spells constructions, also easier 3D ones, which would only be learned later in the apprentice''s education. If an apprentice learned a 3D construct, they would be considered a real mage at that point. The education system for magic was very splintered in Mal-Gil. Thus every university or school did its own thing, more or less. Lower MU''s oriented themselves roughly on the curriculum of prestige universities, and those had all different specialties. Some concentrated on war spells, others on lifestyle spells, and others were highly specialized like one that only taught illusion spells for entertainment purposes only. So sending already intermediate spells to some disciple from a flunk-out fairy to a region fully void of any reputable magicians or institutions was mind-boggling to him. He didn''t believe for a second that she had such a talented student and even less since he came from a wolf-kin knightage. It was a surprise for him to receive a letter from her, and he thought it was only a simple and annoying gesture to ask for a little favor, but he didn''t expect that she would go as far as to blackmail him for something like this. The notes a mage made were all very personal and had a lot of worth. Even his material could go for thousands of gold coins on the black market. They were very costly and sought after. Many mages who wanted to retire sold their writings and used the gold as a nest egg. However, the constructions written down by the mages were often wrongly depicted and barely worked. If they did, they were much more inefficient. The same was for the magic languages and their chants. Sometimes magic languages existed as little student projects and were terrible. Still, the students most of the time needed coins, so they sold spells with their chants on the black market, only to be used by hedge mages who had no other way to gain any material. Even his family purchased material from other mages for exorbitant prices for him. However, even if the material was pretty good, he had many problems since his youth: From using mana skills to correctly pronouncing the chants. Still, his family forced him to learn and train without any end in sight since his siblings were unlucky and didn''t acquire any mana skills. So he was the sole hope for his family to somehow become reputable enough so they would gain a standing again. His lizard tail swung widely around, almost knocking some pots from a table, ''So much pressure and plus Green blackmailing me... I just want to research in peace, damn.'' His last project failed; he wasted around two years and would need a new one. But before he could start again, he would need to plan it out and show it to the treasury of his cathedral branch, so they would finance it. He already had a few ideas which could work fine. His planning was interrupted as someone came to his small laboratory and closed the door behind them. Lizko became confused since one usually knocked first, "Who are you?" It was a robed figure with a hood over his head. He took it off and smiled at Lizko, "Good day, Mr. Lizko. May I have a moment of your time?" Lizko looked confused at him since it was a djinn, ''Do we get someone from their territory? Maybe they need me for a project since they also border Kratikal.'' What Lizko lacked in magic talent, he made up with his excellent research about wild demons. Even though it was unpopular, everyone respected him for his findings and the knowledge he acquired. This was also why he had his private laboratory. He stopped packing and nodded slightly toward the djinn, "Good day. May I know your name first?" The djinn answered with a friendly smile, "Oh, where are my manners? My name is William, and I am here with some questions." Lizko nodded, pointing him toward the chairs, "Please follow me." William nodded toward him and followed him. After sitting down and making themselves comfortable, Lizko asked, "May I ask from which branch you are from?" One could find cathedrals all around the continent, and since most were research fanatics, race or class weren''t big issues, at least in the open. In private most who were of noble descent despised other races. Lizko himself was somewhat ambivalent and only acknowledged that some were better at certain things than others. When it came to research and sharing of information, the cathedral was, in this sense, very open and even forced their researchers to share it freely with each other. There was a strong idealistic streak in the leadership, and if someone went against it and wouldn''t share their knowledge or research, it would usually result in cutting their funds. Stolen story; please report. So, Lizko was very open and welcoming to him, especially since William''s smile was very warm and he had a friendly and soft voice. After a short chit-chat, William asked without wavering his friendly smile, "May I be rude and come to the point?" Lizko was surprised since almost all scholars or mages were from prestigious families, commoners, or nobles. Thus manners were most important to them. Nonetheless, there were also a lot of oddballs, so he nodded. William crossed his legs and laid his hands on his knees, "Good, I am here to make a proposition since I know of your little dilemma with a little bug." Lizko was confused and looked at him in distrust, "So, what do you mean exactly?" William''s smile didn''t waver, "Hm? I dislike being explicit, but it is about a flying bug that wants something from you." Lizko squinted at him but didn''t answer. He couldn''t read him at all, and since the situation with Green occurred, he had many sleepless nights, fearing that he could lose all the reputation he built up because some treehugger had a bad day and wanted to make him suffer. There was also the problem with his family, and his success inside the cathedral was needed, so his household would not collapse with him as the head. He would rather kill himself than be the reason they lost their title. An eery silence hung in the laboratory till William broke it with a sigh, "Laurel L. Love." As Lizko wanted to stand up and leave, William''s voice bored into him like a knife, "Sit down." Lizko wasn''t a fighter, but he could assess danger and see that this djinn was dangerous. He was able to snuff him out without any problems. So he sat down again as his life was more important than his pride being hurt because a djinn ordered him. William opened his hands, "I am here for a proposition, not blackmail. A deal between two equals, so to speak, interested?" Lizko asked carefully, "What do you mean?" The djinn pointed towards the package, "I know that there is someone who is an eyesore to you, while we want the one who the bug is teaching. As the saying goes: The enemy of our enemy is our friend." The dragon-kin clenched his hands into fists, "So, you want to get rid of someone? Who would it be?" William chuckled, "Hehe, why the distrust? If I wanted to, I could already rat you out, but I don''t need and want to do this. All I need is the little disappearance of a certain puppy while you could help us a little in this endeavor." The silence returned, and Lizko didn''t want to trust him, but his words made sense. If he wanted to rat him out, he would have already done it, or if there was blackmail, he could also just do it, and he couldn''t do anything, so a deal seemed like a good-faith approach. "All right, talk." William shrugged, never losing his warm smile, "What do you mean? We are already talking, but if you mean about the deal? I already said it." Lizko raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? You only said you wanted to get rid of a certain youth?" William clapped his hands, "Right, and if this person is gone, you have no more problems, but if you are talking about the little bug, this could be arranged too, of course. I need to apologize as it was self-evident in my eyes." Lizko was skeptical, "So, you have no problems going against a high-ranking circle member? Even though it is a somewhat rural temple, it is nonetheless a temple leader." William shrugged, "Who said I would do this? There are certain elements that are more than willing to do unspeakable things for crumbs." Lizko squinted again at him, "How can I trust you, though?" William took a parchment from his side bag and handed it to him, "Read it and check the information yourself. There is a reason why the Leonandra underworld is in turmoil at the moment." Lizko read the information and checked with what he had heard about, "This was you?" William nodded, "Of course. It was a little test to look at their capabilities." Lizko knew this information was hard to come by, and only influential merchants or aristocratic circles had them. Commoners had no idea what the turmoil was about and only knew that some of the underworld guilds started to panic and looked for certain people, ''Now, this is enticing.'' He returned the parchment and asked carefully, "What do you need me for then?" William put the parchment back, answering openly, "When the time comes, we will need your expertise and knowledge of magic and other things." Lizko was confused, "That''s it? Couldn''t you just skimp the black market for this?" William shook his finger at him, "No, no, no, a reliable alchemist, artificer, or mage costs more than a little fortune, and I like to work with people who have the same goals as us." Lizko again understood him very well. A black market hedge mage would probably not care if, for example, a bomb does what it should or not. He received the gold either way, and if it works, it''s fine. If not, it''s also fine since the buyers wouldn''t return for a refund in their full height after trying to assassinate someone. Lizko asked, now less careful, "So, you want me just to build something or supply you with certain magic and spells? That''s it?" William nodded but, halfway through, stopped and thought for a moment before answering, "Yes and no. We might need your presence at some point since you are a reputable noble, and we would need access to certain places, but that''s it." Lizko was unsure, so he asked, "But I wouldn''t need to do anything other than that?" William nodded without hesitation, "Of course!" Lizko stood up and started to walk around, trying to think about it. It was fine for him if what the djinn said was all he needed to do. So he stood still and looked less warily toward his new partner in crime, "When?" William answered confidently, "In around three years, don''t worry though, I will send you a letter so you will be informed about what we need. Also, we will not hurt you if you decide to not accept the proposal. Just know that if you accept the proposal, there will be consequences if you quit, of course." Lizko looked back at him and asked, "What about my part? The bug?" William stood up and walked toward him, explaining, "Well, she will be together with our target, so there should be no problems with this." Lizko raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me? Where should this be?" William looked at him and put his index finger in front of his mouth, "Trade secrets." The dragon-kin frowned but understood that the djinn couldn''t disclose everything before he wasn''t in on it. The refugee camp intelligence bet everything on a certain event and was actually very unsure if their targets would attend it. However, a plan could always be changed, and if Lizko was already a part of their team, he couldn''t escape either way. William stood before him and put his hand on his shoulder. A small, barely noticeable string of energy made its way out of his pinky onto Lizko''s robe, "Like I said before, think about it and be sure of what you want to do. I am not blackmailing or threatening you, and neither do I want to force someone since only sloppy work will be the result. So I need someone who is on it, and if the price is some little fairy, it is easy for us to fulfill this wish, but know this, if you don''t want to help, we will not target her at all since she is not important to us." He turned around, put his hoodie on, and waved him goodbye before the dragon-kin could ask more. ... Hours later Lizko stood in his lab and thought it at least a hundred times through for the last hours and couldn''t see any problems with it. He didn''t threaten him, he made a proposal where his knowledge and noble privilege were needed, so it all made sense since it seemed they had no one who could fulfill this role. They would do all the dirty work, and even if they failed, he would be back to the status quo and only wasted a little time. But something was there he didn''t like. His instinct told him to ignore him, but after seeing the package he had prepared, he suddenly wanted to, even more than usual, get rid of this bug. His anger became more pronounced than usual as he suddenly remembered all the work he had done to get to the point he was now, ''I need to do this...'' Chapter 49: Lesson On The System 3 Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Anastasia I. Ramputt (Bunny-kin) ... "It is so annoying!" "Alex, can you stop scratching? You are not some farmer with lice all around the fur! This behavior is not becoming of a great mind!" Alexander was scratching himself under the new collar he got. It was the lowest version of the advanced version and had a much stronger interference toward his mana skills than the last one. However, even though this one was much stronger, it was much preferable to what his family had, which made him almost puke the instant he put it on. The collar he was now wearing was from the Cold-Snout household. However, they sent not just some of their anti-mana collars to him but also various other products for him to check if there were any master codes or backdoors. They sent a whole caravan full of their stuff and added a lot of presents, including an array of various anti-mana collars. All of them were cool mana items that Alexander wanted to check out. His mother didn''t have any of it and took almost all of them away, fearing he would become reckless and start experimenting. He needed to admit it was a good call since it was precisely what he wanted to do. She would also only allow him to test mana items with some oversight. However, for some weird reason, she also took away some paintings with girls on them they had sent to him. He didn''t care but was nonetheless interested in what it was all about. Yet, his biggest problem right now was something very different. He was told that the collars were of excellent quality, but for some reason, the material scratched his baby''s smooth skin and made him irate, ''I swear, whoever is the damn artificer, I will find him and throw him in a sulfuric acid bath!'' Anastasia frowned and came over, holding Alexander''s hands, "Listen here, Alex! I also need to teach you etiquette, and if one of my students enters the noble society, I don''t want my name to be associated with someone who can''t hold it in!" Alexanders frowned and nodded to her, stopping his scratching. However, he immediately tried to conjure a small ice contraption to cool the itch, ''Is this part of the damn defensive mechanism of the collar, actually? Oh, this would be fucking genius and evil.'' Anastasia returned to her desk and looked sternly at Alexander, who tried to conjure a contraption with difficulties. This she could identify as he lost part of his smell. She said nothing about that since it was fine if he didn''t appear undignified. She decided that it would become part of the lesson today. "Alex, why do you think we look strongly at how we express ourselves?" Alexander looked at her and answered without much thought, "Because we have nothing better to do and want to look better than commoners by creating arbitrary rules." He was obviously not a big fan of this charad¨¦ but understood the need to follow it. However, he was annoyed and became snarky as he couldn''t conjure the ice contraption while the itch annoyed him. Anastasia put one leg over the other and smirked at him, and her bunny ears slightly twitched, "Remember how you talked about leadership, which I am researching, by the way, so wait a bit. However, if you want to lead, you need to show dignity, and what do you think does it mean?" He looked at her and calmed slightly since he now had a small ice cube inside his collar, "I get the whole shebang. I must come over as regal to whom the subjects, or whoever I lead, can revert." She smiled at him, "You are absolutely right, but there are also other points. People of the same class would rather interact with someone who is less competent but looks like they are. We don''t live in a meritocracy, and even the most knowledgable will have many problems if they don''t follow certain decorums, even if they are geniuses." Alexander sighed, knowing this already as it was not much different than on Earth. There were many cases where geniuses were ostracized because they were weird. But there were smaller pockets where it was much more acceptable, like the whole start-up scene, where it only came down to their idea and skills. He knew it because he had a side gig in a start-up and quit after a month as they followed the Silicon Valley style to a tee. Some people there were obnoxious, and he couldn''t work with them. This thought made him much more open to learning the noble''s conduct since he didn''t want to be like that one guy. "Fine, I get it. So, do I now learn some dances?" Anastasia chuckled, "Hehe, not at all. Since we need to go through our next system window lesson, I will include the etiquette part there." "So, we will only talk about [Charisma] today?" She shook her index finger, "Not at all, but what do you think is a noble''s other most important attribute? It is not only [Charisma]." Alexander''s ears started to twitch slightly as it became interesting. However, after some thought, he had no idea what it could be since he never attended a noble ball, but he guessed nonetheless, "[Luck]? This is only a guess, though." Anastasia smiled at him and clapped her hands, "Good! [Luck] is truly a noble''s best friend, but do you know what it does?" Alexander frowned, "I already thought a long time before what the attributes actually do, but there was no real information, and I got only conflicting opinions about them." She nodded, "It is impossible to figure it out exactly. Still, there are whole libraries that tried to pinpoint the exact uses..." She made a so-so gesture, "...they were fine, in my opinion." Alexander''s ears straightened slightly when he heard that whole libraries were only about attributes. He loved nothing more than to go to a university and read through everything, even if the information were slightly off. It would be much better than reading how his seventh grandmother used her [Charisma] attribute to tame a demon. She wrote that the demon became her pet, but by asking his mother, she told him it wasn''t true. The author, his seventh grandmother, beat the shit out of a demon and chained it up at the estate. This, she called taming. Anastasia threw a chalk at Alexander, who was again deep in his thoughts, "Hey! I get paid a ton of gold to teach you! Be a little more attentive!" Alexander woke up and showed his hands in a sign of peace, "ok, sorry, sorry! However, you didn''t tell me about [Luck] and how it works?" She relaxed and nodded toward him, "Sure. So, [Luck] is described as it can change one''s destiny. Maybe you get sick on exactly the day an assassination happens at a ball? [Luck]. Maybe you accidentally pour some wine on the one you love, and she takes it with humor because she is already a little drunk? [Luck]." He looked at her like she was a moron, ''Does she know what she is saying?! This is insane! If I invest everything in [Luck], I will become invincible.'' However, she busted his bubble pretty fast, "This will obviously not make you invincible..." she smirked at him, "...I can read your little malicious face, Alex. It will strengthen you differently." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "How so?" She nodded, "You see, different attribute classes function differently. Special attributes strengthen your natural [Luck] and [Charisma] differently than standard attributes. We already talked about the energies, so there is no need to go through them again." "Gotcha, so what is the difference between special and standard attributes, and how do they actually strengthen one?" Anastasia shrugged, "Well, today we will only talk about the special attributes and how they strengthen your innate aura..." she smirked at him slightly, "...patience is also a great skill to learn, Alex." This made Alexander annoyed. He wished it was more like in his college days when the professors would throw at him half a dozen theory books per semester and tell him to learn them. While he obviously had some problems, he would prefer it to now. Anastasia tried to be more practical in her lessons and combine real-life situations with the system. It was a good method for a teacher and especially for Alexander, which common sense needed to be cultivated more thoroughly. Even though he understood it clearly, he nonetheless disliked going through it more slowly. After a moment in thought, she continued, bringing Alexander back to the real world, "We know that [Charisma] only enhances one''s natural aura. Are you cute? Mad? Authoritative? The more [Free Stat Points] you put into it, the more your natural aura will be enhanced... just look at your brother, and you will see that he is a natural in this case." Alexander listened intently till she said he had a hot brother, which brought him out of his thought process, ''Don''t know what to think about it... should I warn him? I warn him later to be careful around Ana.'' She continued while sauntering before the blackboard, "However, if you suddenly decide to put a lot of points into something like [Strength], which will bulk you up heavily, your aura changes also significantly. If you, let''s say, was a cutie, [Charisma] might now enhance other factors." Alexander raised a question, "So how does one determine and work toward the specific aura you talked about?" She shrugged, "It is complicated since too many variables operate differently. We also have skills that heavily influence our being, and these enhance certain aspects. For example, I heard you found an interesting skill: [Fitness], which strengthens the physique. Thus, [Strength] will, in this case, work as a multiplier or addend and further strengthen you. Thus, your natural aura would change, and through this, [Charisma] may enhance other aspects of your most prominent aura..." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Alexander leaned back, and it reminded him of certain subjects in school, like Geography. One minor change would create a domino effect which could change a whole biome. In this case, skills, attributes, and one''s being were this biome. He looked at her and asked, while his tail waggled in joy, "Ok, is there any information about how it is weighted for [Charisma]?" She stopped and sighed, "No and yes, but rather no. There were a lot of tests with which scholars, myself included, wanted to determine this exact question, but the system seems fickle. At the free cities, my research group had a test subject. It was a human dressed in a cute dress with a strong aura that gave off his cuteness. We tested when it would change when we started training him and increased his physique to get away from the generalized picture of what is considered cute..." She started to show her biceps and do ridiculous poses, "He became buff, hairy, and less cute by the day. However, his aura, even though weakened, never changed. We couldn''t determine how the system weighted it, but what we did find out..." Alexander ended her sentence, knowing how groundbreaking it was, "That the inner feeling of oneself determined which aura one had." Anastasia clapped and smiled at Alexander, "Very good! It was quite the find..." She smiled more condescendingly, "...all the other scholars who didn''t deduce this were really angry, hehe." She waved her hand in dismissal, "However, we did more tests and could reproduce the results. Obviously, it was from race to race and class to class very different." Alexander suddenly remembered her previous statement, "Doesn''t this mean that a being with a strong perception of oneself, nothing could change the aura, and thus [Charisma] would be not so fickle?" She nodded, "Good point, but please do not forget that skills are also an important factor in determining one''s own perception. While it was possible to replicate our findings, the moment someone acquired very contradictory skills to their aura, it reversed. However, those were exceptions to the rule." Anastasia became a little annoyed when she thought about her research, "There were also a lot of other exceptions, like if one was a so-called..." She made air quotes with her hands, "...a normal commoner, it was effortless to change their aura, while others who had already a strong aura, were much harder to change. It seemed that the further away it was from the norm, the harder it was to change the aura." After seconds of thought and many twitches of her bunny ears, she ranted, "But what does norm actually mean? What if the first subject was like everyone else? Would it mean that he would be easier to change then, but this would also mean that the system was not something individual but also oriented itself on the populace of all sentient beings..." She inhaled and became louder, "...and this was all proven! The beast-kin [Divinity Line] and [Mystic Skills] rarities describe exactly that! So, does the system also changes the aura depending on the norm? It is..." Alexander asked her, confused, "Is your aura, not something more intrinsic than skills or attributes in that sense? Like we had the lesson with the stacking of the increase of attributes? Wouldn''t it explain it well?" Bam! Alexander reeled his ears back when Anastasia hit the desk with her open palm and became more exasperated, "You would think so, right?! But no! If this was the case, why would the populace with an aura much more general to their overall being be so much easier to change than the other way around?!" She looked at him sternly and exasperated while Alexander became a little nervous, "Ehm, I don''t know, teach?" Anastasia looked around and chuckled, "Hehe, sorry about that. Got on a little tangent. However, there are more factors, tests, and so on which we did and only find out that someone with an aura that normally wouldn''t fit was much harder to change." Alexander carefully tried to answer, "Maybe if one had from the beginning a certain aura and if society tried to ostracize them because they were weird or so, maybe they became much more determined internally to hold to this identity?..." He became more thoughtful and tried to find examples, "It could also be that the past and the influences the individual went through could be a reason? If you got raped because you looked cute end even got told by the perpetrator, you change almost immediately after such a terrible event. However, changing the individual back to having a cute aura would probably be impossible." Anastasia became silent briefly and smiled toward Alexander, "This sounds like a good hypothesis... I will write my colleagues and ask them if we asked about their past, but I think we didn''t..." It was silent for minutes while Anastasia went through her whole study design in her head. Alexander didn''t want to interrupt her thoughts, so he waited and trained a bit his mana skills. ... 10 minutes later Anastasia suddenly said something bringing Alexander out of his zone while he tried to use a spell, making him fail, "Oh, I am so sorry, Alex! This was actually a good idea! I want to ask you something if it is fine with you?" Alexander nodded toward her, knowing where this would go. "Well..." she came close and sat down on his desk while looking at him lovingly and smiling as softly as she could, "...I need a little favor from you." He didn''t answer but looked at her as she straightened herself and pushed her bosom to the front while licking her lips. His tail stopped waggling immediately, ''Please, Jesus almighty, let her ask me for a questionnaire or some ideas, not what it actually looks like.'' Her voice became more seductive, which was even more amplified since they spoke in Nocir, a much more melodious language, "Would you please write down all your thoughts on this subject? I would truly appreciate it." Alexander sighed in relief, "Sure thing... can you please move? I feel a bit... let''s say pressed." Her breasts were mere centimeters away from him, and he didn''t like it at all. At first, she was a little confused, but after she got what she wanted, she stood up and smiled at him, "Thank you very much! You are like a gust of fresh air; maybe your name will be too on the research!" He nodded, not caring about such things, and asked, "How is it now? Are we done?" She became slightly surprised, forgetting the time, "Oh, don''t worry, Alex. We are almost done..." She looked at her pocket watch and saw that the lesson was almost over, "...with today''s lesson." After the little sidetrack, Alexander thought now more about investing in [Charisma] since having a stronger aura was vital to interpersonal communications and shouldn''t be disregarded just because it made one not stronger. However, with [Luck], he wasn''t so sure since it was a literal roll of the dice. He would need to think more about it and wait for the next system lesson. He shrugged, "Well, I thought [Charisma] or [Luck] was useless. But if it enhances your aura? However, I would rather invest in other attributes like [Intelligence] since mana is my strength." Anastasia clicked her tongue inwardly since they had no time because she lost control and ranted, "I will explain more in the next lesson and show you that investing everything in one attribute isn''t so good. Nonetheless, [Charisma] and [Luck] will be vital for your standing later. If a faux pas happens to you, such skills could prevent worse or play it off as something naturally charming..." She frowned suddenly, "You can''t imagine how many ladies are out there who are not better than pigs on high heels but very popular because of their [Charisma] or avoid repeatedly difficult situations because of their [Luck] attribute." "I understand, but isn''t it counterproductive to put so much into such useless attributes? Not like a charming smile can save someone from an arrow to the head?" Since Alexander was born into this world, his whole family, besides Narsiz, followed a path of more power. He wasn''t also acquainted with how someone with a strong charismatic aura could influence him. Again, his brother was his brother, and the aura he gave off to him seemed charming but nothing more. He knew, though, that many maids looked at him longer than needed. Aura in itself was also weird. On Earth, people were also charismatic and had a certain aura around them, which could give off certain vibes, but in this world, it could become tangible, like his killing intent. Alexander was brought back out of his thoughts when Anastasia laughed loudly at his opinion, "Hahaha, this is exactly what happened!..." She looked at him more and more like he was a little treasure, "...this is why I need your help. You think outside the box and have such great and unorthodox ideas!" Alexander only stared at her and didn''t say anything. On the outside, he seemed a little cold and disinterested, but inwardly he needed to hold back not to blush because of the compliments she gave. She cleared her throat and continued, "Ahem! However, do you have any idea how many vixens are out there? One counts son once avoided getting his head cut off..." she air quoted, "...with his smile toward his mother... well, little to say, he was her favorite in more than one way." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Incest? Wait... please don''t tell me..." Anastasia smiled at him, "What? Do you think your family is an exception? Well..." She thought for a moment to be entirely sure, "...you are different since you are lower nobility and have more leeway, and the best example would be your father, the lord, and a druid at that..." She showed her index finger, "Nonetheless, usually, nobles have only a small pool from which they can choose their husband or wife, especially the females have enormous problems since they make around 60-70% of the nobility as males just get birthed less and it is not only a canine-kin problem." "Isn''t a harem the best answer? I heard the Cold-Snout family to the north is basically a giant orgy." Anastasia chuckled, "Hehe, that is true, but nobody wants a harem. The male will have to deal with opposing factions from his harem, while the females will have to push their children to the top. For example, I am such a case as my mother was my father''s first wife. It was hellish, to say the least." Even though he knew the answer, Alexander asked bluntly, "Was?" Anastasia nodded while leaning on the desk, "She was assassinated, which is the true reality of such things. This is why the ideal is to have one wife. With this, such stupid conflicts will not occur, and if nobody is available, many choose to marry their siblings or cousins." In Alexander''s thought, he already knew this, but it was nonetheless ridiculous to think about. Everything was about power in some way, and it seemed that his mother was a big exception as she somehow made it happen to marry his father. He remembered something, "Wait? What about high demons, certain kinds of nature-dweller, or night elves who are similar to us? Can''t we intermingle with their nobility? We are in an alliance, and such bonds would strengthen us, right?" She shook her head, "Nope, you by ignorance blessed puppy. While beast-kin are very promiscuous, nature-weller are not as they may reproduce once in a century, and the exceptions are..." She shrugged, "...well, exceptions, and since we rule already over their territory, all we could gain would be the temple, which will never leave their control." She continued, "The same goes for night elves who are very tribalistic, and marrying their equivalent to nobility would ostracize them, so there is no way anyone relevant will marry outside." Alexander tapped the table and tried not to scream at them about their stupidity. It was all unreasonable from his perspective, and he couldn''t even imagine what would happen when the opposing forces became neutral. It seemed that night elves were more or less forced into this alliance, while the nature dweller kind of were ambivalent since they had great political power through their religious means. However, he noticed that she had forgotten one race, "What about the high demons? Aren''t we in an alliance too?" She swirled her head slightly from side to side before answering, clearly showing that the situation on their side was much more complicated, "Saying that we are in an alliance with them is a stretch. Their whole territory is littered with hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller kingdoms, formed by the sub-races. The emperor who reigns supreme over them does that by pure force, and even with that, it is chaotic beyond belief as the borders change monthly." "Ok? Are we in an alliance with the imperial family or..." "Yes, and a lot of smaller kingdoms inside the empire. This is also why etiquette and manners are so important since they are mostly the same. This is also the reason why you need to learn them if you want to go outside your fief." Alexander mumbled in frustration, "Yeah, if I leave this golden cage at last." She twitched slightly with her bunny ears, "I heard you..." and waved at him in dismissal, "...just wait for a couple of years." Alexander leaned back while his tone became annoyed, "But a couple of years is too long!" Anastasia rolled her eyes at her student, "Calm down..." She suddenly remembered something, "...by the way, since we are mostly done with the system lessons, and you have become pretty good at speaking Nocir, we will make a hard cut after the next lesson and get into another topic while using another language." Alexander tilted his head, "Yeah... so? Aren''t we jumping pretty much topics already?" She shook her head, "Not really jumping, but aside from learning the human language, Loi, we will also start with law and more concrete politics and put the philosophical, ethical, and historical a little more to the back." Alexander was offended, "Is it because of the little accident? You are all too sensitive." Anastasia raised an eyebrow and had a small smirk on her face, "The lady didn''t tell me why I should teach you that, but looking at that ball of ink and the collar for weaker war mages around your neck makes me think that it wasn''t a small accident and that your mother tries everything to get you occupied so you don''t go around and do your..." she air quoted, "...little accidents." Anastasia would never accept that someone gave her any directions on how to teach her students, but she made an exception since her student was excellent. In her mind, she could go through the rough outline of any relevant laws and regulations in three to four weeks, and it would be enough. Before Alexander could say more in defense, she looked at her pocket watch again, "Nevermind all that. Now have fun with Green..." She smirked slightly, "...she seemed very distressed and happy simultaneously in the last weeks, so be sensitive, hehe." Chapter 50: Magic Lesson With More Students Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Cross Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) ... "Wow, the lady was really sure to restrict you, huh." "Can you please not?" Green looked at his new anti-mana collar and was fascinated by it, "It is not the child version but the one amateurish war mages are wearing, so it seems that the other was one too weak?" From the side came a nervous tone from Ocilia, interrupting the chat between Green and Alexander, "Ms. Green... I don''t think I can teach him..." Without turning away, Green said solemnly, "Just the basics." Ocilia looked to the side and saw Cross, who sat beside her. She immediately looked down as he looked back and nodded toward her. Alexander helped him get [Mana Sense], and now he wanted to learn how to get [Mana Manipulation]. Thus he was here. But there were some problems as he emitted an aura of discipline and strictness, which he tried to suppress in front of the poor spider-kin girl, which twitched every time he moved. He was oppressive, to say the least. Alexander also chimed in, "Don''t worry, Lia. Cross will listen to you. Look how concentrated he is." "Thi... This is the problem..." Cross sat beside her and stared down at her, ready to receive any information he could and start with his training. However, Ocilia wasn''t acquainted with such an attitude. It made her incredibly nervous since all her lessons with her master or Green, were very relaxed. Alexander looked at him and saw the problem, "Listen, Cross, can you relax a bit? You make her nervous... and look at Maurice. He is about to lay an egg." On the other side sat Maurice, sweating heavily. Not a hair on his body dared to move. Cross noticed this too and nodded, straightening himself even more, "Don''t worry, Mr. Alexander and..." he looked at Ocilia and almost yelled at her, "...Lia, you will just teach me the basics, so please relax!" Him being suddenly louder, let her reel back, and her upper eyes changed to blue, representing fear and anxiety, "O... Ok, Mr... I mean Cross." While Ocilia stuttered through her explanation and Maurice didn''t dare to breathe too loudly, Green concentrated on the new collar, "So, why this one? Did something happen to the most basic version?" "Oh yeah, you heard about it, right? We got a ton of mana items from the Cold-Snouts because I cracked one of their collars open." She tilted her head, "You broke it?" Alexander shook his head and became proud as he was about to tell his new skill, "Nah, I tried to invade it with my mana skills while it was around my neck. While doing so, I tried to..." Before he could say more, Green panicked and closed his mouth with her hand, "Stop! Never tell this to anyone! You wanted to tell me you received a skill starting with the letter H, right?" Alexander nodded, and she started to sweat, "This is a skill that was outlawed to secure the intellectual property for the biggest artificer''s unions. They lobbied strongly to the crown to make the skill illegal, and it is only allowed if you receive special consent from the crown or for military purposes." She nervously smiled, "So, let''s just think this has never happened, ok?" Alexander nodded, and she slowly took her hand away. For Green, this student was literally a walking catastrophe, and she sometimes thought if it would be better for him to be born somewhere in a barely populated village where he didn''t have any resources but also no eyes on him as he could do as he wished. However, she hoped he wouldn''t run around and announce his new skill to everyone. The [Hacking] skill was highly sought after in the underworld, and the holders of such a skill would be paid heavily to analyze certain artifacts or just crack them open. Someone who could do it needed to be a mage with great mana skills and an artificer with a lot of knowledge about artifacts and how to disable them. So, this was even more surprising to her how he could disable an anti-mana collar, ''Did my book help? It was about the basics... damn it! Should I bring him picture books now, or will he somehow conclude other things from them?!'' While Green thought about how to steer this living and breathing disaster in a direction that didn''t get everyone eradicated. Alexander, on the other hand, was already at peace and understood that he needed to work on it secretly. He had much more training possibilities with all the new mana items, which he was partly allowed to inspect. However, he wanted to ask her more, "Yeah, so I got another two mana skills, and one of them is really hard to control." Green came out of her thoughts and scrutinized him, fearing the worst again, "What ones?" There were other illegal mana skills that were worse than [Hacking], and she hoped dearly that he didn''t receive any. However, what he said, made her even more confused, "One is [Mana Theory], which is self-explanatory, but the other is [Mana Seering], and I have no idea how to control it since I puke almost the moment I activate it." "Wait... you have the [Mana Seering] skill? How did you get it?!" He thought about it and told her bluntly, "Well, I just pushed all my mana into my mana veins and into the core while using my [Mana Sense] on the core while trying to isolate my other senses with [Meditation]. I kind of wanted to only sense mana..." he shrugged, "...that is how it happened." Green''s eyes bulged, and she quickly grabbed into her bag and threw at Alexander a couple of spell pamphlets while speaking fast, "[Mana Seering] is a skill which people use in dungeons, mana caves or how you want to call them, to find traps, treasures and so on. There are also a lot of other things mages can do with it. However, a mage with such a skill is a true rarity, and now you have exposed their secret and how they learned it. Here, learn this while I test it out." She quickly flew on top of the desk and sat down. After a moment of intense breathing, she closed her eyes and didn''t move. While Green was untalented as a mage and gave up the career path, she was nonetheless interested in receiving rare skills which could boost her reputation to new heights. Maybe she would need a couple of decades to bring the skill to usable levels, but it was just a blink for a race that lived a very long time. After she bombarded him with information, he looked around and saw Cross frowning at him, "Mr. Alexander, such a skill..." However, before he could end his sentence, Ocilia plopped onto the floor, rearranged herself into the lotus position, and started to do the same as Green. She became addicted to growth, and with her master behind her, there was no stopping as he shared his secrets freely. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! She loved this the most as she heard stories from others where one was obliged to first work on menial tasks for years to prove their loyalty before even receiving some training. Her master, on the other hand, just gave it out and expected her to learn it with diligence. Even the menial tasks she did initially were now the servant''s problems as he thought it was a waste of time for her to clean so much. This, in turn, raised her loyalty to him immensely after she understood that he was benevolent beyond belief. The jealousy she received from other apprentices at the estate became a badge of honor for her. After the commotion ended, Cross looked back to Alexander and continued, "Don''t reveal skills so easily, is what I wanted to say before these two nutjobs started whatever they are doing now." Alexander blinked at him and asked in confusion, "Why, though? This skill sounds incredibly helpful and could be a game-changer in campaigns against monsters and dungeons. I want to disclose it either way fully later on." Cross frowned at him even more and needed to hold back his personality formed by decades of being in the military and observing the lady, for he was her personal protector. Also, it was the lady''s son, so he couldn''t even imagine what would happen to him if he started to shout at him, "Mr. Alexander, skills and other things like this should be used for leverage to get more loyal personnel." Alexander thought about what he had said. However, something irked inside of him. It was a feeling that the skill couldn''t develop if only a small group of mages could use it. Yet, such dreams were far into the future, now he thought that he needed to be careful and first become stronger before revealing everything so openly, "You are right. First, I need power, and then I can release all the skills and how to get them." Cross became a little annoyed and wanted nothing more than to smack some sense into him, ''I didn''t mean it like that, you little shithead!'' Alexander continued, "Imagine a magic school where all the knowledge is available for all the students! Research would be a bree..." His speech was interrupted by the puking of Ocilia, "Keugh! Ah! What is this? Urgh!" Her master wasn''t amused and used the disintegration spell on the mess after she emptied her stomach. He approached her as she was lying on the floor and breathing heavily, "You got the skill too?..." He smirked at her, "...wanna try with the collar on? It feels like somebody shaking you like... well, heavily. I have no good analogy." He had some good ones, but they were mostly Earth references she wouldn''t understand. Being inside a blender with rainbow-colored dragees fitted the best. Ocilia tried to catch her breath, "Huuuu, not now, please. I feel terrible." Before he could say something, the next one started too, "Damn it! Urgh! What the hell is this skill?" Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Huh, you didn''t puke? How is the skill? Fun, right?" Green got herself together very fast and smiled at her student, "I need to thank you since this skill is worth a lot... and I mean a lot." He shrugged, "Well, you are welcome, but what do you wanna do with it? Sell? If I get a cut, I am fine with it." Green shook her head, "No, but if I train the skill, I can do missions as a mana seer for the temple and get more influence..." She felt how Cross glared at her, so she needed to mention her student''s advantages too, "...and with it, I can help you much better too." He nodded, "All right, my level is at around 8, and it feels less shaky while the colors are less explosive." Green nodded. She would need years to level it up to level 25 or more so it could be trained without her stomach feeling like it had become a battlefield. She looked at the heavily breathing Ocilia and wondered, "Who was faster?" Alexander pointed with his tail towards his disciple, "She was, but she also puked. So you both won in some way." Green shrugged, not like she cared at this point. As long as there was a giant mountain of talent, every other mountain, even if it was high, would look like nothing more than some hill made out of dirt. She obviously thought about Alexander, who found out how to acquire the skill first and was already at a level, she would reach in maybe a year or two. Maurice asked suddenly and very carefully, "I don''t understand what is happening, but can we continue the lesson?" Alexander agreed, "Sure thing..." He clapped, "...Cross, tell Mom what happened, please. She will love it and..." He licked his lips slightly, "...I have more spells to learn." He walked towards the pamphlets and looked at them more closely, "One spell is an actual attack spell... Earth bullet, huh, and it is a spell Merlin created... how interesting." Green commented while shakingly flying over to her other students, "Don''t know why he called it a bullet, but it is a good attack spell." The spell structure and chant were so easy that Alexander learned it in 15 minutes. A literal bullet look-alike made from hard stone was conjured out of his mana, ''This bastard is truly an Earthling.'' However, he became confused, ''This shit isn''t shooting... it is just floating mid-air... what the?'' Green stopped her teaching as she sideglanced at him, examining why the spell didn''t do anything, and gave him a quick explanation, "Good job, but for it to do something, you need another two spells. Look at the other pamphlets." After dissolving the spell, he grabbed the other two pamphlets, ''Air pressure and targeting... huh.'' They were as easy as the earth bullet spell. Alexander believed that it was an actual, more significant spell that was much more complex, but by dividing it into three parts, a mage could be much more flexible on the battlefield. It was also easier to learn. ''I think the mana efficiency went down by a notch, nonetheless clever... he did the same thing I did with my contraptions while doing the little movie night.'' Alexander remembered how he created and memorized fixed contraptions so he could just conjure them by pure memory, so his brain didn''t fry every time he tried to create a new one and calculate everything from the beginning. ''Right, alchemy is fun, but spells are exciting, too.'' While he liked and trained in alchemy, something about magic just spoke to him. However, he believed that alchemy had a much steeper learning curve and that creating all the fantastical things he could think about would need an insane amount of metaphorical computational power or a lot of mana. Both he didn''t have. Thus he went back to learning Merlin''s spells. After 20 minutes, he learned the new spells and wanted to immediately try them out. He targeted a tree outside through the open window. First, the earth bullet was created and floated before him. Afterward, he marked a tree branch. A little red target showed up on it, which only he could see. This made the puppy smile, ''How considerate.'' Third, he used the air pressure spell, which built up behind the bullet. He put a little extra mana into it, and after a moment of it building up, a giant explosion ensued when he let go. The air pressure was released, bringing chaos to the room as everyone''s parchments flew around. "Whoa!" "Hm!" "Be careful, you moron!" "..." The bullet flew through the open window and directly into the branch, penetrating it, "Hehe, what a nice..." Pack "Ow!" Green flew angrily over and hit him on the back of his head, "Hey! This is not a testing ground! Don''t use war spells inside the classroom, do you understand?!" He rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, got it but to my def..." Pack "Why again?!" Green scolded him more, "No war spells inside closed rooms and especially no tests! Do. You. Understand?!" Alexander nodded while smiling, "Got it, teach..." He looked down at his waist since he felt constricted, "...however, whose energy is this?" A string made out of energy coiled around his hips and firmly held him. Maurice answered him while sweating heavily and visibly in stress, "Mine, I didn''t know what happened, but I wanted to drag you out as quickly as possible." Cross turned toward him and nodded in acknowledgment, sternly as always and almost yelling, "Good job!" Alexander looked at everyone, and only Ocilia was somewhat alright, ''Well, she is used to me.'' He apologized while opening his arms, "Sorry about that. I was too impatient and wanted to try it out immediately. Well, it worked well as far as I can see." Green flew to the window and looked out, "Was your target the branch of the one tree that is far away?" Alexander also came over, "Yeah, as far as I can see, I hit it cleanly." "This you did..." Green squinted her eyes and needed to think about how he could mark a target so far away. The earth bullet spell combination was a great indicator of how good a mage was. The earth bullet needed to be stable, and without a good amount of training in [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Emission], the bullet would break from the air pressure. The marking, on the other hand, showed the [Mana Sense] and how far someone could sense something mana related and put a spell on it. The air pressure, sometimes also called propulsion spell, needed [Mana Manipulation] too, but also a good aptitude in [Mana Emission] since the spell needed the right force while holding it together tightly. Otherwise, if let go, the air pressure would fly in all directions. Additionally, the combination of all three spells working in tandem showed the ability to coordinate the skills. It was a test MU''s did to estimate the talent of apprentice mages who didn''t want to show their system window. She looked at her grinning student, ''Talk about breaking expectations. This spell is actually non-lethal for every apprentice as they can barely hit a target 10m (11 yds) away and maybe put a bruise on someone, but he...'' She looked outside and activated one of her skills, ''~130m (142 yds), and the branch was massive and stable.'' Green was brought out of her thoughts then she heard a rustle. Turning around, she saw that Ocilia was already reading the earth bullet pamphlets, ''This will actually be more interesting.'' She had no idea how the spider-kin girl wanted to replicate such a spell with her threads. Green had some ideas but wanted to let Ocilia try the spells out first so she could build independence. However, she suddenly had an ominous feeling, ''I don''t know if independence is such a good thing for the student of the one who made mana insects in the first place... need to think it through if she also maybe needs an anti-mana collar, as a preventive measure.'' Alexander came over to her, "Need help? I have no more stuff to learn for now and need a break." Ocilia nodded without looking at him while she kept reading. On the other hand, Green flew over to her other students and tried to find a way for them to get the [Mana Manipulation] skill. She didn''t want Alexander to waste his time with this since the concept was clear, and all one needed were creative ideas. But she remembered something, "When do we make the stuff again? Tomorrow or...?" Alexander answered her, "No idea. I will notify you since I need to..." he cringed a little with his following words, "...bless someone the day after tomorrow." It was nice to be acknowledged by others, but it became a burden on his studies since the mana consumption was immense every time he helped to acquire the [Mana Sense] skill for someone. Luckily, with repetition, he could reduce the mana he needed from a whopping 90% to 80%. However, it was still a lot since he needed a whole day to regenerate semi-passively since he always used his [Mana Absorption]. Otherwise, he would need to meditate for six to eight hours. This brought him a lot of headaches which he simply ignored, but he could not ignore that he couldn''t train as well as before. He could stop it but didn''t intend to since it benefited the estate, ''Hope mom will be happy with her skill.'' With this, they all went back to their tasks. Chapter 51: Making Actual Paper Authors note: Like always: I take some creative freedom on this. If I wanted to write a manual, I would do this instead of writing a fantasy novel ;) However, if there are some glaring mistakes, I would appreciate it if someone pointed them out! Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Aurum (Swan-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) ... "Mr. Alexander is there really a need to do alchemy in the open... well, we are in storage, but this one has so many holes, I see barely any difference to being outside." "You will see why we want to be as far as possible from anything expensive and flammable, like the garden with all those expensive flowers from other territories, which Mom likes so much when something happens to..." Aurum interrupted Alexander quickly before his new master would go on one of his long tantrums about doom and gloom, "I got it, Mr. Alexander. The old shack it is." Aurum, Alexander, and Green were in a storage hall near the training ground for his paper-making. This place was guarded by a couple of soldiers since the method of making such a product should be held, as long as possible, a secret. Nobody really believed him in the first place that he could create paper which was presumably expensive and hard to make, especially not with the weird alchemical ingredients and machines he had that looked to anyone else more like the mad dreams of an alchemist. One of those machines was in front of Alexander. A massive pressure pot designed by him and manufactured by the estate blacksmiths. On the side was a smaller, airtight vessel that would be used for the bleaching process. Aurum dragged his index finger across it while asking questioningly and already doing his job as Alexander''s accountant, "I don''t get it, Mr. Alexander. The blacksmiths worked overtime to create this... pressure pot? Should it really be like you said it should be, or was there maybe a way to make it different?" While Aurum was questioningly looking at the apparatus, Alexander checked all the other chemicals and ignored him since he needed to concentrate on the inspection. He made a lot of them since he wasn''t sure how much he would need to start anew because he miscalculated or because the world''s physical structure was so different that, for some reason, it wouldn''t work. He already readied himself to blame the world if he failed. On the other side of the storage hall were barrels full of wood chips. Alexander calculated that he could create thousands of sheets of paper with it. However, while he was not averted to risk, one thing made him worry as he checked them with his [Mana Sense], ''Why is the damn wood full of mana?'' It wasn''t really full of mana but had residue from the little the trees at their estate usually had. Alexander could see whoever made the chips followed his instructions this time and took the cheapest wood. It could be that his mana sense was getting more sensitive since it leveled up or that this wood was in some way special. His new retainer told him it was cheap and would be used for cooking otherwise, but he wasn''t sure about it. However, the existence of mana as an energy or whatever concept it followed was a variable he feared since he couldn''t even find anything scientific about it and only philosophical discussions. From this, he could conclude that it was more of an abstract concept than anything more measurable and predictable. He often tried to somehow predict the movement of mana, but it wasn''t doable for him. Ambient mana moved, in his eyes, in unpredictable ways. Yet, Alexander tried to create a dataset that looked like the mad ramblings of an asylum escapee. There was no logic in there. At some point, he even tried to plot them statistically like it was done with the movement of electrons by using any means possible. By doing so, he found a problem that was a welcoming discovery. Using [Mana Sense], the ambient mana''s movements would change. He found out that as [Mana Sense] leveled quite fast, the direction changed, and by cross-referencing all of his old notes, he concluded that the higher his skill was, the more different the mana moved. He even used Ocilia for the experiments, and it suddenly fitted very well with one of his observations, where he had a much lower [Mana Sense] level. He concluded that [Mana Sense] somehow influenced ambient mana in some way, and this reminded him of a certain drug dealer. Nonetheless, even though he found it intriguing, it threw much more questions to answer: How is [Mana Sense] changing the mana he observed, or is it the skill itself that perceived mana differently suddenly? Why is mana not changing in a way which correlated to him increasing his [Mana Sense] level but randomly? He had a lot of questions for another time since he couldn''t even experiment on ambient mana since it was too hard to control, to say the least. His own mana, he could control perfectly, while the ambient one was like a sturdy building he tried to remove with a spatula. Green was also less willing to answer his questions after the whole insect-of-doom incident. It could also be that she had just no idea. This brought him into the territory he hated: Naturalistic philosophy, which gave him more questions than answers: Is mana a particle? A wave? An elephant riding a bicycle? He didn''t know, nor did the literature he read. While he couldn''t move it through means like [Mana Manupilation], he could use mana to manipulate physical means, as it was possible to control particles and ignore physical law. What does it mean? It could mean everything and nothing. He knew that all the reputable scientists would do cartwheels in their graves if they knew about this. This thought made him smile, and he returned to the real world after solving his inner crisis by ignoring it and putting it for future Alexander to solve. Now he would need to make gold, hopefully, a lot of it. As he checked the ingredients and apparatuses, he opened the pressure pot with a wave of his hand, "Yes, what was your question again?" Aurum frowned but repeated his question, knowing that his master was very often lost in his thoughts, "Was there really a need to make the pressure pot exactly like this? The smiths put a lot of work and time into it." Alexander nodded, "Yeah... the pressure pot..." he had no idea what the correct name was, "...it is there to help me hold the pressure constantly. Otherwise, I would boil my brain... so, I think yes, it needs to be exactly like this if you want to have a master with a brain." Aurum frowned, "I really don''t get alchemy, but if you say so, Mr. Alexander." The young swan-kin discussed since he became a retainer, an array of things with his new master, but every time magic, science, or alchemy became the topic, everything went over his head. He would rather stick to his specialization and only learn what his master was best at roughly so he could assist better. However, he was forwarned by his mother that those types of people are using gold as it was air and don''t care about pesky things like budgets. So he needed to always try and act financially responsible. Yet, how could he do it if his master could just tell him that it was necessary? He would need somehow acquire a rudimentary knowledge of those things over time. As Alexander worked and put everything inside the pressure vessel to their designated places, Aurum tried to steer the conversation, "Why isn''t Ocilia here? Shouldn''t she help her master?" Aurum was clearly irritated since he talked to Maurice and Ocilia, both were nonchalant and very much interested in learning and training, which was fine, but they were, for his taste, not proactive enough. While Alexander calculated the quantity in his head for the first batch, he answered nonchalantly, "She is in Wolfsteeth, visiting her old friends." The swan-kin teen sat beside Green, who read her novel and ignored everything around her, "You are too lenient, Mr. Alexander." With a wave of his hand, Alexander put all the chemicals and wood chips into the pot to their designated places, "Well, she learned a lot and needed a break. Don''t forget the concept we talked about, do you remember?" He did and frowned, "Life work balance? I understand it, but I just never heard of it before and find it very... let''s say, debatable." Alexander closed the pressure pot and started the coal fire while casting the air shield spell on all three in the room. A small film of almost transparent green crept around their mouth and nose. It eliminated smells, was very good against poisonous gas, and had other applications. Green frowned, "Thanks, but you need to ask before you cast a spell on someone, got it?" Alexander scratched his head and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, you were very invested in your novel, so I just did it." Green looked at him sternly but returned to her novel. Now it was time for the centaur to return all the macguffins to his lover, the dryad, and win her back. Green was excited. The puppy returned to his work and answered Aurum, "You need to look at it logically and from a view of productivity in a more holistic sense." Aurum only knew a little about that concept, "Why, though? If, in the end, our approach will give us more... I don''t know, products. Isn''t it better to ignore it?" Alexander concentrated now heavily as his hillbilly pressure vessel started, and with it, pressure started to rise. He would need around 10 bar while the temperature would need to be about 150¡ãC (300¡ãF). There was a need to look at the apparatus more closely as this process could quickly go haywire. With his [Mana Sense] and air contraptions, he also concentrated on the mana and temperature inside, hoping for the best. He noted down to build, at some point, a thermometer. Yet he answered as he could multitask in such cases pretty well, "You look at it short term and not wholistic enough. A blacksmith could work less and decrease his output by some percent, while in his free time, he could open other avenues like making... I don''t know, baskets on the side. This, in turn, would increase the overall economy in the long term." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Aurum crossed his arms and pointed out, "What if they don''t and just laze around?" Alexander smirked while his concentration was fully occupied by the vessel. Until now, it worked fine. He hoped at least, "Perfect, they will search for hobbies or other things to do while they have nothing to do. Hum... beast-kin can''t do nothing. Look at Sarah as an example. Even though she loves to avoid work, she goes shopping or finds exciting things to do. This will open avenues for others to profit from, and in the end, we will profit too." Aurum thought it through for some time and somehow understood it, "Arent you, Mr. Alexander, just sacrificing one thing for the other?" Alexander answered him, "Yes and no. As I said, look at the economy as a whole. Pushing your wor... subjects to concentrate on their work heavily will make it hard for other sectors to thrive. While we can''t too heavily control the people in our domain, we can influence them. A diversified economy is much more stable than one focused only on one aspect and much better equipped to absorb shocks..." Aurum mumbled as he remembered what one of his colleague''s households went through, "Like the Kloepi household who possessed silver mines and concentrated on them. When the price of silver decreased heavily, their estate and fief felt a giant economic shock... I get it." Alexander nodded slightly, "Yep, and there is more. Someone who can concentrate on a hobby and is happy with it will also be happier with the ruler of the fief who made it possible. So, when you look for workers, make the hours more bearable." This whole discussion was a continuation from the day before when Alexander told him to hire workers for the paper making. He mentioned the term work-life balance, which brought confusion, and told him to think it over. Aurum frowned, "Isn''t it better for them to produce more, so we can invest more in other things?" Alexander shook his head, "Live by your principles. I get that you are hot-blooded and want a quick change and betterment for the desperate and forgotten, but if you rush it or become hypocritical, it will look bad on me, and what I want to achieve in the long term will be stifled in the end." Aurum showed his hands in peace, "I get it, I get it..." he put his arms down and crossed them again, "...I just saw someone with similar ideals and much more resources than I do, so I am a bit impatient. Excuse my behavior, Mr. Alexander." Alexander smirked, "Don''t worry. When I have my products, you will sell them and make a ton of gold. You can rip off every noble or rich merchant with this little white gold mine." Aurum started to chuckle, "Got it. So, how is the paper-making look like, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander frowned, "It needs a bit more time, but it looks better than I expected, I think, honestly..." He couldn''t see through the pressure pot, but from what he could conclude with his contraptions and [Mana Sense], the cellulose was much cleaner and purer than he thought possible. Even bleaching it would only slightly better it, ''Is this an effect of the mana or something else?'' Even the trees were new; they were a new sort he never saw or heard about on Earth. So everything needed to be strongly analyzed. Aurum looked confused at his master, "Why the frown, Mr. Alexander? If everything is fine, isn''t this a joyous situation?" "Hm, ignore it. I am a pessimist and brace myself for the worst-case scenario..." He was interrupted by Green''s laughter, "Haha, sure thing! Let''s ignore the suicidal attempts where you bet everything on learning skills like the ones to ignore the [Mana Fear] one." Alexander frowned, "It was my dad. What do you expect? Wait for you to come and teach me and be unable to come close to him for years?" Green waved her hand, "Nevermind, I am sorry. But at least the new magicians..." She made exclamation marks with her hands as she said magicians "...would have no problems since they learned the mental fortitude skills early on." Aurum was confused as he knew about the situation and how his master helped some very loyal veterans learn [Mana Sense] and other mana-specific skills, "Aren''t they magicians, though?" Green shook her head and chuckled, "Not at all. They mostly use their mana skills to increase their innate energy and other skills. The spells they learn are only the lifestyle ones and some survival ones..." she tapped her nose, "...like this one." "And that will not make them magicians?" Green frowned, "Magicians are seen in society as spell slingers who can create chaos and destruction with a simple sentence and some mana. This is a pure definitions game, but if you want to give them a name, it would be mana warriors or something of the sort..." she remembered something, "...well, Ocilia actually uses spells and integrate them into her race-specific skills very well, so I would call her magic... warrior? Something like that." Aurum nodded and understood. They used the magic only secondary to their skills, while mages would use them primarily. Though, his master was an absolute enigma to him. He trained his body very heavily through the mana item and gruesome training with his siblings, much more than any other warrior he saw or heard of, even thinking back to his school time. At the same time, he was also highly talented in magic and alchemy. Aurum heard that he also started to learn a bit of mana artificing but couldn''t really comprehend why he started to learn to be a crafter, ''This is mind-boggling.'' Even Aurum''s mother, Salyna, was more or less confused by the puppy as he was pretty much an allrounder, ''His levels should be insanely high.'' He wanted to ask this question but disregarded it out of conduct. In his mind, Alexander should be on the cusp of Tier 2, while he reached this Tier only a year ago. Aurum always felt superior to everyone else. Be it his idealism or talent. He was that good. However, returning to the estate and seeing everyone, he suddenly became average. He didn''t care, though, as his life goal was suddenly in the hands of a messy puppy sitting on the ground and scratching his butt, ''Life is weird, huh.'' As time went on, Alexander suddenly opened the apparatus. With many air contraptions, he lifted the giant masses of cellulose and put them into the other vessel, where he would bleach it to get the rest of the lignin out. ... Outside of the storage hall "FUCK! What is this terrible smell?!" "By the circle! What is Mr. Alexander doing in there!" It smelled dartingly, and everyone in the perimeter suddenly ran away, especially every smell-sensitive beast-kin like the canine-kin. ... Inside the storage hall As Alexander put down all the cellulose inside another vessel, he opened another container with chlorine gas inside. He let it slowly inside where the cellulose was and closed it afterward, ''Is this how it is done? Hopefully.'' Alexander made a motion where he dusted his hands off, for no reason, and looked at the vessel where the waste was, ''This will be fun now.'' The alkaline lignin and thiol would be excellent materials to work with. Still, it was impossible for Alexander now as he needed to build and plan another more complicated process to work with them. So, he would do the most pragmatic thing: Destroy them. Burning them would make a mess through the smoke and other poisonous chemicals that could escape. However, he learned an excellent spell from Green, specially made for such situations. The disintegration spell, even though it sounded like the best spell for killing enemies ever, was useless since it could only disintegrate things with little to no energy, and the denser they were, the more challenging and more mana intensive it would become. So he built the relatively complex 2D construct and chanted. He concentrated on the waste, and it slowly started to disintegrate into little flakes. After ten minutes, Alexander lost around half of his mana and was sweating heavily, but the waste was gone. Only some blackish flakes were left. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Aurum, "Damn it... find some very loyal workers who are ready to learn magic. You can''t smell it, but this stuff is highly toxic and smells terrible." Green interjected, "We can see it. Your film of the air shield spell is grey since it defended you from it." Alexander frowned and corrected himself, "Some very loyal workers. Since they will need to learn much more spells, otherwise it will become a hassle." Aurum nodded, brought out his notebook from his bag, and noted it down on a parchment with a rough pencil. Alexander looked inside the bleach tank with his contraptions, trying to evaluate the different parameters like temperature, and it looked stable enough. Since it was the case, he sat down on the ground and used his [Mana Absorption] and [Meditation] skills in combination to recover as much mana as possible, "One hour." He fell into a trance and tried to recover as much as possible. Mana-recovery was a bitch since the more he lost, the longer the recovery time was. He didn''t know why though, as all mana veins and points looked fine, but the mana inside his body would move much slower. He would need to plot it out later, too, the correlation. He already noted it down on his to-do list, which became longer by the day. ... Outside the storage "Hm? The smell is gone?" "Oh... you are right. Hopefully, it doesn''t come back... it was awful, and I feel like I was getting poisoned..." "Just go to some healer later. Not like you need to pay or anything." "Nah, but do you wanna go to Wolfsteeth? I know a bar where the beer is cheap, and the boys are cheaper, hehe." The other guard raised an eyebrow, "My wife will kill me if I don''t get a check, and if I go with you again, she will cut off my balls, so a big no from me." The dog-kin guard blew a raspberry, "You are such a boring guy." The other guard shrugged, "Whatever." ... Inside the storage a little later "Mr. Alexander?" Alexander slowly opened his eyes and felt much more refreshed. He regenerated a good chunk of his mana, and his mind calmed down. He stood up and checked the progress instantly, and it was ready. For some reason, the cellulose had barely any lignin left. He thought so, at least, ''Well, should it look like this? I hope so.'' He opened the vessel and repeated what he had done multiple times till all the chemicals were depleted. It went on for at least ten hours which was rather fast. However, he hoped that it was to his advantage and not that he accidentally created radioactive paper somehow. After Alexander was done and drenched in sweat, he told Aurum the next step, being a little giddy, "Ok, time to create the paper, hehe." The raw material looked good, he thought so, at least, and it was a lot. He calculated wrongly and created much more than he thought. Not like he would complain. The miscalculation was that he thought there would be much more mistakes and waste, but it worked too perfectly. For his taste, it was worrying. However, his paranoid side had no chance as he prepared for the next step, which was the easiest. He brought it with the guards to a big hall, similar to where banquets were held, and laid out all the cellulose. Beside him was the last apparatus he requested: A giant roller, which was actually nothing new. He only wanted it to be very smooth. With this, his helpers, the veterans he helped to get [Mana Sense], got to work and flattened it. Afterward, it would only need to dry and cut into appropriate-sized pieces. All the time, Alexander stood on the side and looked incredibly happy, ''This is white gold.'' One thing was a little weird, though. The cellulose had mana. And a lot more than before. It was probably condensed into it while it was processed. This was another indicator of how mana worked, and he would need to look more later on into it. It was more than enough for mana contracts, but he couldn''t create them. There was some kind of enchantment that needed to be put on them. He suddenly looked towards Green, who looked interested in this mass being platted, "Hey teach, you know that you are the most beautiful fairy I ever saw?" Green looked back with a frown, "I am the only fairy you ever saw." Alexander waved his hand, dismissing it, "Potato potato, listen, you couldn''t find some way to get me the enchantment for mana contracts?" Green needed a minute to understand why her student said it, and the moment she did, she suddenly turned her head towards the mass and ran to it, inspecting it more thoroughly. Her eyes almost popped out, "By the circle..." She looked back to her student, and a giant evil smile bloomed on her face, "Done!" Of course, she would wait a bit for the final product to be finished, and if it was really something similar to the temple''s unique mana-imbued leaves, which the member used for their contracts, she would gladly somehow get it through the black market or otherwise. The enchantment was cheap to procure, but another thought struck her, ''Who cares about this?'' The paper her student made was cheap. Insanely cheap. She was ready to propose to him to buy it for a good price, sell it to other temples, and make much more gold. Since it was tiresome, her student shouldn''t be greedy and stupid enough to try and enchant it all. At that time, he could just make more paper or teach others how to make it and concentrate on anything else but stupidly repetitive work. Green prayed inwardly to Obis, the world, that the paper was good and that her student would take a deal. Even ignoring the gold aspect, she could build connections by selling it under the market price, ''Do we really need the enchantment? I could just outright sell the mana paper.'' As she was in her thoughts, thinking about all the opportunities, there was also a short thought about copying the process. However, she wasn''t stupid enough to treat her little golden goose like that. For once, her head would surely roll. For another, this was almost likely not the last invention he made. Cutting herself out from future endeavors because of short-sighted greed would be the dumbest decision she could make. Instead of having a tiny cake for herself, being a partner in a giant cake was the way to go. Alexander also felt elated as he saw his teacher smiling and drooling, ''Shit, it is what I think it is, right?!'' He also went through all the same thoughts as his teacher and came to the only right conclusion for him, ''I... just don''t care, huh?'' Gold was the only thing he wanted, and only so he could use it. He had no wish to be filthy rich and collect it like some famous duck. He would first repair the mansion, then put part of it into the research he was allowed to do, and the rest would be invested into the programs he talked with Aurum about. Both smiled like villains who were ready to sell orphans for some coins. Aurum didn''t understand what was happening as he looked at them, but he used one of his appraisers [Mystic Skills] on the cellulose with the database from previous generations. For some reason, the white mass showed him an insanely high price, and he suddenly understood why they both smiled like they did. His skill, which was akin to a database, was basically ancient. There was some ancestor who presumably recorded something similar. Cross-referencing it with the current market seemed to make the price range enormous, but even the lowest price was one thousand times higher for a little piece of the white-platted mass than what he paid for all the things to create all of it. ''Master was right. It is a fucking gold mine.'' He started to smile like the others too. Chapter 52: Trip To Wolfsteeth Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin) ... While Alexander was making paper "Wait, wait, wait!" A young wolf-kin girl with pastel green hair and fur was running towards a carriage that was about to leave the estate ground. It was the estate''s carriage for commoners who wanted to visit Wolfsteeth or other cities for whatever reason. They had multiple ones and could use them freely and only needed to inform the coachmen beforehand when they wanted to use them. The carriage stopped, and a young spider-kin girl looked out the window, "Ms. Sarah?! What are you doing here?" Sarah opened the door and hopped into the carriage without saying a word. Ocilia was very confused about what was happening, but as soon as Sarah sat down, she smiled at her, "Hey Lia! I want to join you. You are alright with this, right?" Before she could answer her, Sarah knocked to the side of the carriage, "Let''s go to Wolfsteeth!..." She looked back at her, "...you want to Wolfsteeth too, right?" The carriage started to roll even without her answering. The coachman wouldn''t disagree with the lady''s daughter even if Ocilia wanted to drive elsewhere. Ocilia sat on the opposite side, looked at her confused, and remarked something important, ignoring that she rudely intruded into the carriage without asking, "Ms. Sarah, shouldn''t you have some guards?" Sarah blew a raspberry and handwaved it, "Nah, I am incredibly bored, so I decided to follow you and call me Sarah. Not like I care for such things." Ocilia sighed, "M... Sarah, I will visit the red light district to see my old friends. I don..." Sarah interrupted her again with a clap of her hands, "Great! It will be fun!" Ocilia wanted to send her away as this was annoying, but she couldn''t do it openly. Her Mother told her that she should act the most courteously she could toward her master''s siblings and that she was lucky to be in the position she was at all. Day after day, she got told it till she could repeat it in her sleep, but this was a topic for another time. Now she wanted to get away from her master''s sister, especially since she would probably follow her, and it would become awkward. She smiled nervously and tried to somehow explain it, "Sarah, will it not be awkward? You are my master''s older sister and..." She blew a raspberry again, "Don''t worry, for this trip, I am only Sarah, a daughter of some butler. It should be fine, right?" Sarah was incredibly bored. All she did was train, eat, and sleep. None of her siblings had any time for her except Janina, who was too young to roughhouse with, and Alexander, who became, at some point to her, nothing more than a living punching bag. She wanted to travel around, eat exciting food, and buy exotic clothes. But it would be all in vain since she needed a personal guard, but she disliked all of them since they were too weak in her mind. Even if she chose one, she would need time to know them better, which could continue for up to a year. However, not only did she dislike them, but most also didn''t want to serve her. They could choose the Leonandra child they wanted to serve, and she was very disliked because she looked down on anyone weaker than her and let them know this. There were obvious exceptions, like her family or highly talented people in other fields: Cooks, administrators, servants, etc. It didn''t matter what talent, but if one had any, she highly respected them. Everyone else was unimportant and not worth looking at. However, she mellowed out through talks and discussions with Alexander, who tried to explain that not everyone had the same resources and innate talent as her. Sometimes people get dealt a bad hand. She wasn''t stupid and understood very well that others didn''t have the same means she had, but she didn''t care since the moment they became a soldier inside the Leonandra household, they had all the resources they needed. Sarah sparred and trained for hours every day, and everyone knew her because she challenged them and won very often. Every time she won, the look she gave and the words she spoke were on the outside harmless, but the losers would always feel like dirt under her boots. She obviously knew this but didn''t care. For her, a personal guard needed to be more than some meat shield she could throw in front of her to avoid getting hurt. No, she wanted someone on the level of her Father or at least her Mother. Not strength-wise, no. Sarah wanted someone with the same will she had. She was always going, never stopping her training and fighting till she couldn''t move a single muscle. Her little brother changed her in the sense that she now hated the ones who would give up without giving their all. She would gladly take a weak personal guard who had the will she had, but there were none. This was also why she was a little jealous of Alexander, who had Maurice, who was training even more than her and became a respectable warrior even though he was very weak in the beginning. Ocilia was also such a case. She came to her brother, worked her ass off, and took all the chances she got till she became decent. Even though fighting wasn''t her expertise, the times Ocilia trained with the brother/sister duo, she didn''t stop till she puked out of exhaustion. For this effort, Sarah respected her. Her thoughts were interrupted as Ocilia leaned forward, "What about security? It is the red-light district we are talking about." Sarah smirked mischievously, "No problem and..." she showed the sling bag she had and tapped it a couple of times - a metallic sound reverberated, "...these are my new mini arm shields, or whatever Alex called them. We experimented a bit and looked at what the system decided to be a shield..." She grinned at Ocilia, "...this is the outcome, and I quite like it." Ocilia leaned back and sighed in defeat, "You are very exhausting Sar..." She suddenly opened her eyes wide as she said what she thought and wanted to immediately apologize, but she was interrupted by thunderous laughter. "Haha! Oh, this is refreshing. I really hate etiquette and all that stuff. I know that I can be tiring, but don''t worry..." She sincerely smiled at Ocilia, "...I will be a role model." Ocilia remembered something, "Say, did you at least leave a note?" Sarah nodded and punched her chest, "Of course! I am not irresponsible!" ... Later at the estate [Dear mom, I am in Wolfsteeth. Greetings, Sarah] An enormous amount of energy suddenly burst out of the lady''s office. ... Wolfsteeth "Look at this! Isn''t this really cute?!" A very enthusiastic wolf-kin girl was running through the red-light district and looking at every shady business she could find. "Oh, hello, little girl! You have very keen eyes. Do you know what this is made of?" In Sarah''s hand was an obviously poorly made necklace, "No, but tell me?" The goat-kin looked at her more friendly with his vertical slitted pupils and smiled as warmly as possible, "It is pure Akanasian gold, and this here..." He pointed at the gem in the middle, "...is the crown jewel..." Before he could end his blatant sales pitch, Ocilia ran toward her, "Stop it, Jaro! You are obviously selling crap!" The goat-kin didn''t need to look to the side but did it anyways and squinted his eyes at Ocilia, "Lia? You need to know that I am one of the most honest vendors there is!" Ocilia started to drag Sarah away. Luckily she let herself pull away. Otherwise, the scholastic spider-kin girl couldn''t even hope to move her an inch, "Shut up! I know you are trying to scam her. Come, Sarah!" As Sarah was dragged away, she waved, "Sorry, Jaro! Maybe next time!" It was afternoon, and the sales had only started in the red-light district. Every vendor started to open up their stall for the evening. Ocilia knew through the stories and seeing it that they worked together with the sex workers to sell really overpriced trash to drunk or drugged customers. They would then gift it to the sex worker and divide the profit with the vendor afterward. As she dragged her through the streets of various shops and beast-kin, sometimes someone looked condescendingly at her, ''Master wants to help those scum? He will see it differently after he leaves his golden cage.'' This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Since she left together with her family, she already tried to come back regularly, to not lose her touch and not get encased by her master''s overly rational and theoretical teachings. Instead of gratulation and happy wishes, she and her parents got only asked for coins, and when they rejected giving out some of their earnings to help out their so-called friends, all smiles stopped. All they got were disdain, ''Fucking bottom feeders.'' Ocilia didn''t kid herself that she was better. She understood that it was almost pure luck and her Mother''s perseverance that got her into her position. She wouldn''t let others degrade her because she had luck initially. Nonetheless, she worked hard and drained herself out to get to the point she was in now. As Sarah let her drag through the new and exciting environment, she started to pout, "Ohhh Lia, calm down. Why are you like this?" Ocilia quickly moved with her to a side street and stopped there. She looked around and then into Sarah''s heart-shaped pink eyes, "Listen here, I don''t want to come back and get yelled or laughed at by master because you got scammed due to me not looking after you by some shifty vendors." Sarah looked at her, a little confused, then laughed, "Haha, I knew he wanted to scam me, but it is so interesting and new, right?" Ocilia squinted at Sarah, who started to look around in this pest-infested sidestreet as she continued, "By the way, don''t you want to meet some friends of yours?" The spider-kin girl stopped her anger and calmed down, sighing, "Yeah, wanna go with me? Not like I want you wandering here into some... establishments." Sarah nodded and threw her arm over her, "Don''t worry, Lia! You are too tight right now! Alex is really putting you through the wringer, hehe." Ocilia frowned and started walking towards her so-called friends, "Come on, follow me." As they walked out of the side street, they went deeper into the bad parts of the city. The buildings became more run down as the color of the clay buildings became less colorful and more flaky. Even the form of the buildings became more wavery: A sign of bad construction. Almost every building was made from a clay mix since it was much cheaper and faster to produce in these parts of the world. Also, since summer got immensely hot, it was quite nice inside and not as hot as outside. They came to some small, dirty street and walked towards something akin to a bar, which looked like the home of the cockroach emperor. Over the door was a shield, barely visible through the dirt and wear, depicting a rat with a dagger in its mouth. She opened the salon-like doors and came inside, ''Home, I guess?'' The bar was run down but somewhat clean relative to the outside. Tables, chairs, and the counter had all the wear and tear but also many scratches and stabs from knives. Nobody was there, ''Are they at the back?'' She walked to the counter, but before she could call for someone, Sarah did it, "Hello?! Costumers here! I want some good wine!" Ocilia slightly cringed, ''The only wine they have is probably dyed water with rat blood and cheap beer mixed in.'' Suddenly someone came over. A spider-kin man of relatively short height. When he saw Ocilia, he smiled slightly, "Oh hey, what are you doing here, Lia?" Before she could answer, Sarah leaned forward, "Hey, give me some wine!" The spider-kin looked at her, baffled. He looked closer and saw the finely made clothes out of silk. He understood that he could make some coin but couldn''t trick her too much as his head could roll, "We don''t have wine, but I can get you some good ale, my colorful lady." She smiled, showing her white fangs, "Sure!" He brought out a cheap glass and poured it in. After a sip, Sarah started coughing and wiping the spit away from her mouth, "Damn, is this paint thinner?!" The bartender tilted his head in confusion, but before he could ask, Ocilia talked to her, "Stop using master''s words. Nobody understands them..." Looking back at the barkeeper, she said, "...I am here, like always, for my friends. Are they here?" The bartender nodded and called them, "Lizy! Marco! Missi! Peter! Lia is here!" Some noises came out of the back, and then silence. Ocilia knew they wanted to put on something and were probably at it with each other since it was mating season, so she waited patiently. Ocilia was a little stressed because of this time but could ignore it. Also, she went through her first one already, and luckily, it wasn''t dramatic or anything like Lorient''s. She was chaste but didn''t get any skill out of it, only some dull and frustrating nights. Some more beast-kin came in. The bartender was elated. They looked like younger mercenaries who were always strapped for coin and usually wandered to the cheaper parts of Wolfsteeth to get their fill. For some reason, Sarah slightly twitched, and a smile slowly emerged on her reddened face while her tail slowly swung like a pendulum. In Ocilia''s and the bartender''s minds, she was getting a bit too drunk. Everyone who looked at her well-kept hair, fur, and expensive clothes, knew immediately that she was a daughter of a wealthy merchant who looked for a thrill in these parts. Nothing unusual and actually a good source of coin. A gold coin for Sarah was chump change. For the bartender, though, it was feeding his family for a month. After some more minutes came Ocilias old friends, but she looked at them without any emotions, and when they saw her, their faces showed disgust. Forward came a rough spider-kin teenage boy. He wore cheap leather armor with daggers strapped to it, like the usual mercenary greenhorn. His voice was rough and annoyed, "What do you want, Lia?" She looked at Peter and frowned, "This means you don''t have any information about Klepto?" Peter started to frown, "No, we don''t, so come later again..." He smirked at her, "...maybe we will have it then." Ocilia squinted at him, "Do you think you can scam me?" Peter shrugged, and the others started to smirk and chuckle, "So? What do you want..." Suddenly Ocilia''s fingers on her right hand moved weirdly, and an energy-filled thread emerged from nowhere, entangling Peter''s neck. Ocilia''s voice was stern but full of hate, "Listen here, you scum. I kneeled on the ground and begged my master to not kill Klepto even though he wanted to kill me, and now this little piece of shit is gone. If you want to be on my bad side too, go on, I will make sure to make it worthwhile." It became silent inside the bar momentarily, but Peter laughed and showed his arms in peace, "Hehe, fine, calm down Lia, you are always on edge since you are at the bigwig estate. We really don''t have anything. You know how it is." She sighed and wanted to disperse the thread, but Sarah suddenly slurred something as she licked her lips after taking another sip, "The killing intent is real, so don''t." Ocilia looked at her and only now saw the glint in Sarah''s eyes, "Killing intent?" Suddenly a mercenary stood up, and some of Peter''s group started to go for their weapons nervously, ''What is going on?'' Before she could make sense, Sarah stood up, and with a quick turn, she kicked the barstool to the two mercenaries, from whom one swung a sword, which destroyed it. She grabbed her bag, pulled out her new weapons, and slipped her hands into them with one fluent move. Sarah stood before the mercenaries, looking like a hunter with joy in her eyes, seeing delicious prey. Her arms were adorned by steel gloves with two small shields soldered unto them. It looked weird, and the mercenaries started laughing. A dog-kin came forward, "Hehe, listen, little girl, just make it easy on us all, right?" Ocilia was confused, but suddenly her training kicked in as a dagger flew toward her, which she could barely avoid, grazing her cheek. She immediately conjured more threads around her acquaintances, but their energy shielded them as it couldn''t touch them directly. She started to automatically weave a spell into the thread. Sarah, on the other hand, walked forward to the mercenaries. It looked weird, as she had cold steel weapons, a cute and colorful summer dress with a bow around her waist, and mary jane shoes. Her voice was giddy, "Hehe, you take the low lives, and I these scum." Ocilia didn''t turn around but concentrated on her past friends, "So, you become assassins? How lowly do you want to sink?" Peter shrugged, "Pfff, how would you know, little miss scholar..." He pulled two daggers from the side, "...you are dead either way." Ocilia was on the outside calm but inwardly worried as she couldn''t believe her situation. Worst case, she knew she needed to do it, "Fine." As she released a chant, the threads ignited around them a moment later. Her energy and the spell started to burn into her acquaintance''s necks. This shocked them, and they instantly tried to cut them. It wasn''t that dangerous to hold for a second but with more time, their energy subsided around their necks and arms where the thread entangled them and burned intensely. But Ocilia didn''t let them. This time she constructed another spell or rather a combination of spells with three threads. The first bound itself together into something like a spear, and earth started to wrap around it firmly and quickly, while another formed a small circle in front of her eye, and the last was made into a funnel behind the spear. She marked one, and after a short moment and a chant, the funnel produced air pressure. The spear shot towards one of the girls with insane speed, penetrating her shoulder, which stopped her and surprised the others even more, slowing them down. While she constructed another spear, the noise created by Sarah made her remember that there were more, and she would need to be more cautious with her mana and stamina. Why was it so loud? With a smile, Sarah rushed toward the mercenaries and deflected both attacks with her arm shields, "Is that all? Come on!" Both mercenaries were visibly shaken and confused by the wolf-kin girl, so they started using much more energy that surrounded their swords, "Damn it, little pup, you wanted it!" Both were an excellent team, Sarah could see this, and they came at her simultaneously but tried not to kill her as they feared that her probably wealthy parents would put a hit on them. One swang at her legs, which Sarah easily avoided with a jump towards the other attack from the front, which she was ready to deflect, "Is that all? How cute!" The one who attacked her legs tilted her sword, swung upwards, and hit Sarah in the back, cutting through her dress and gashing her back. Sarah lost balance, and the one from the front swung his sword toward her stomach, getting a clean hit. The mercenaries expected a scream from the girl and were ready to pull out some cheap potions to not let her die at least, but what came was a scream from them, "Aaaahhh! Fuck! Who was it?" The one who attacked her stomach scrunched back as his back suddenly started to hurt like hell, and he imagined that he had lost a ton of HP as it was excruciating. He turned around and wanted to see if some guard followed after the girl but was interrupted as he saw his colleague, who was behind the wolf-kin girl, suddenly started to spit massive amounts of blood while holding her stomach. Both stepped quickly back from her, and she laughed like some maniac, "Haha! This is so much fun!" They took another step back, readying their very [Mystic Skills], readying themselves to kill her now since she became suddenly dangerous in their eyes. However, the female mercenary behind Sarah suddenly felt something touching her arms, and before she could react, a thin line of fire was embedding itself into the space of her gloves, and like a snap, it cut off her hand. She screamed heavily and started to try to stop the bleeding with most of her energy, "Ahhhh!" Ocilia tried to help Sarah from the side since the fight with their group was somehow disappointingly easy. They were already draining their lackluster energy reserves, and she had more than enough stamina and mana to spare. A dagger came flying towards Ocilia, which she easily avoided, and out of habit, which she trained through her grueling training, she accidentally jolted her threads around their necks with a massive amount of energy while constricting them. Like a satisfying cut, it went through the last bit of energy, and they lost their heads. Ocilia made a terrible mistake as she wanted to take them alive, "Damn it!" On the other hand, Sarah had a blast even though Ocilia ruined it for her slightly, "Oy oy oy, come one little doggy, show me what you got." The mercenary looked around, and it was a shit show. His killing intent faded, and fear invaded his mind. Everything failed, and he needed to leave the fief as fast as possible. Sarah frowned as her smell picked up that he was frightened, "Booooring!..." She suddenly smiled at him seducingly, "...don''t you want to sacrifice yourself?" She looked deeply into his eyes while hers filled up with energy. His eyes suddenly became pinkish, and he nodded. He took out a small dagger and, without any hesitation, rammed it into his neck. A short moment later, he returned to himself and held his hand over the heavily bleeding wound. He was full of fear as he saw the weird skills this little girl showed. He fell down, and his world slowly darkened. Sarah was sweating heavily, her stamina ran low, and she barely stood straight, but there was a giant smile on her face as it was a blast. Suddenly, someone was vomiting behind her, and as she turned around, she saw four decapitated youths and an on the floor squirming and crying female mercenary with a missing hand and blood around her stomach region while her armor was fully intact. On the side was Ocilia, vomiting her insides out and crying. Sarah was somewhat ok, but she thought training as much as she did for the last months was a good idea. She would probably be dead by now if she didn''t reach Tier 2. The 20% boost she got to her attributes was really worthwhile. She looked around and didn''t see the bartender, ''Probably ran away.'' Sarah shrugged inwardly and approached the mercenary, who started begging, "Please... don''t kill me... it was a task by..." Before she could end the sentence, purplish energy suddenly invaded her. Like a snake, it slithered through her mouth, silencing her and killing her shortly after. Sarah shook her head, "What a moron. She was clearly under a strong contract." She approached the vomiting Ocilia and lightly tapped on her back, "Hey, are you ok?" Ocilia was crying and ralphed occasionally, but nothing came out anymore, "I... I killed... I didn''t inte..." Sarah started to caress her back and talk softly like to a little sister after a nightmare, "Don''t worry Lia, they wanted to kill us from the beginning. You are not at fault." Ocilia started to cry even more while Sarah tried to sniff out if there were any more threats around. However, she felt inwardly very different, ''By the circle... this was fun!'' After some minutes, they looked for some guards to report it and went back home. Chapter 53: Aftermath Of The Wolfsteeth Trip Authors note: If you have problems with child abuse, please do not read this chapter! I have the tag for traumatizing content but nonetheless want to mention it here again as a warning! Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarusos Leonandra (Fox-kin) Klepto (Spider-kin) ... "You are a moron of the highest grade." "I know, Mom." Marisia swung the wooden sword and hit Sarah on the back. A massive wound all around her back was the result. Sarah gritted her teeth as the pain was almost unbearable, only so much that she wouldn''t become unconscious. Marisia looked at her with disdain, "Don''t mom me. Call me by my proper title." Sarah held her tears back and tried to suppress her screams, "Heuk... I am sorry, my lady." Sarah was kneeling before her mother, her arms upwards and her upper body naked. All around her back and sides were wounds from the punishment she received. When they returned, Sarah was yelled at for hours and beaten heavily with a wooden sword. Usually, she could endure such a punishment, but her mother let some energy slip into the wood, making every hit feel like she was pummeled by Cross for hours straight to the bones. Afterward, a sharp pain remained, which she couldn''t even cancel with her skills. Sarah returned, blood smeared all over, with an Ocilia barely standing, crying and shaking. Her dress had noticeable slits from life-threatening attacks with sharp weapons. When Marisia saw this and got told what had occurred, all that went through her mind was that she was too lax with one of her daughters. While Alexander was too young to understand common sense and Lorient just dumb for not investing enough training into her mental fortitude skills, what she heard from Sarah was on another level. Running away and getting into fights in the red light district while also killing off mercenaries and some thugs were several levels too far. Of course, she was old enough to go out, but until she was strong enough, there was no way she would let her go alone because of the situation that did occur, which was not even close to the worst-case scenario. Worse things could happen, like kidnapping and ransom, not only for a massive amount of gold but also for political favors or other things that could put the whole estate in a bind. This meant Sarah risked not only her own safety and future prospects but that of every servant and her siblings. It was unsure if she even would come out whole with her tail and ears attached. Those were excellent alchemical ingredients, and while everything involving this was banned in Mal-Gil, the underworld didn''t care that much since they were highly sought-after ingredients for potions. Marisia wasn''t too keen to have the parts of her daughter become a potion. She walked around Sarah with a look that could kill and sternly asked her, "So, genius, tell me again what exactly happened, and now I don''t want to listen to your idiotic retellings of how heroic you were, but I want to know every little detail. Got it?" Sarah nodded meekly and started the long telling of what happened without any of her childish chimes, how she used her skill perfectly in the exact moments, or how she saved Ocilia from the group of thugs. However, she lied a little to protect Ocilia. After the lengthy retelling, Marisia frowned when she heard who Ocilia was looking for. If what Sarah said was true, it was ok if Alexander''s disciple looked for her brother and wanted to bring him back to receive punishment. The whole situation between Ocilia and Klepto was also ignored because Alexander insisted on not touching her family in any way since they were his responsibility. Marisia, on the other hand, wanted to know precisely how Klepto could flee and if his parents were involved. Ultimately, she spied heavily on them for a year and needed to congratulate Alexander. They became much more loyal since he protected them and, with that, even their son. So, she already forgot about it long ago. Yet, she wouldn''t punish Ocilia since she could leave the estate if Alexander allowed it. Marisia wouldn''t even reprimand her if she didn''t bring Sarah back since her daughter admitted that she forced herself unto her. Nonetheless, something different muddled her mind and made her, besides her daughter, angry. The underworld dared to attack her property, and they knew who they were, "I see. They got too cocky for their own good." Marisia couldn''t care less if Ocilia was hurt by some thugs. She would most likely look for whoever hurt her and punish them accordingly, which she thought before this happened was highly unlikely since nobody in the world be stupid enough to do something like this. But it seemed that she was wrong and would need to change the mindset of the underworld to not go against the ruling class. A meek voice interrupted her thoughts, "I am hungry, Mom... argh!" Marisia hit her side with the wooden sword, "You will be lucky if I allow you to eat at all for the next few days. Do you understand why I am doing this?" Sarah''s eyes became slightly erratic, and her voice distressed, "I... I did something bad and need to be punished..." The worst Sarah was punished until now were the training sessions, which she liked, so she expected nothing too bad. At most, some bruises. However, what she experienced now, was pure torture, and she understood that she had gone too far. Marisia sighed, "Sarah, you endangered everyone in the estate with your childishness. What do you think would''ve happened if someone kidnapped you? We could lose so much if some noble, who hates us, sniffed you out." She started crying slightly, "I... I am sorry... I will never do... something like this again... I promise... heuk..." Marisia stayed stern and shook her head, "I want to hear exactly what could''ve happened. Tell me." Sarah was silent for a whole minute till she answered, unsure, "I could''ve been hurt..." Her mother readied her wooden sword, "That is all?" "I am sorr...Keugh!" Marisia hit her on the shoulder, and Sarah fell down. She grabbed her shoulder as the pain became unbearable. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. "Kneel again. We will do it as long as you understand it so something like this doesn''t happen again. I don''t care if you treat others like trash or slack off while spending a large amount of coin on clothes and accessories. However, I will never allow anyone to endanger our household because they are bored." While Sarah tried to kneel again, Marisia had already planned her next move. Someone presumably put an official hit on Ocilia, their family''s property, which needed action, ''Time for another purge.'' She would need to act fast and strong to deter any more such actions from the underworld or other nobles who dabbled in those places. If she didn''t act, it could give the impression that anyone could attack and kill their people. Such ramifications could be detrimental to acquiring future talents and would also sough fear at the estate. Sarah kneeled again, and Marisia asked, "So, let''s start again. How could you damage, let''s say, your siblings if little miss moron got caught and sold to some noble. Tell me." This ordeal played out for the following hours, far into the night. Screams and tearful pleas were heard all over the main mansion. ... Next day, Wolfsteeth - red light district It was evening and pure chaos as one establishment after another was occupied by the soldiers of the Leonandra estate. They were doing this because thieves, assassins, and other folk of the shadow of the city were fleeing their underground bases. They were there to catch them while they used their escape routes. In one of those bases was the lady in half-plate armor holding the neck of a rat-kin, the leader of one of the most prominent assassin guilds in Wolfsteeth. "So tell me, you vermin, who ordered the hit?" "Khow about kyou whlet me....argh!" Marisia pressed her grip even stronger around the neck of the leader, "Listen, I need names, and if you want to end a head shorter, keep talking nonsense." The rat-kin was visibly shaken. Some stupid broker put a hit on a servant of the estate, and he promised himself that he would get whoever did it himself. He wasn''t stupid since there was a non-spoken agreement between the underworld and the ruler. As long as they don''t get in the way of each other and don''t disturb meaningfully, they would be left alone, ''If I get the moron who did it, I will skin them myself!'' He raised his hands and tried to speak more comfortably, "Hri don''t hknow! Hsome moron dit it!" Marisia looked deep into his eyes, and after a moment of discerning what he was saying was the truth, she let him fall to the ground. He started coughing and rubbing his neck. He wasn''t stupid enough to threaten her, as he was a leader of a middle-sized mercenary guild and only did the assassin business as a side gig. It made much more coin for him, but he wanted to break into a more legitimate business endeavor instead of living a life of an assassin. So he would need to be very cautious. She let him go as the last thing she wanted to do was to create a vacuum for power in the underworld by killing every guild master she saw. This show of force and cutting the heads off some of the more horrid elements should target those who commissioned the job. The assassin leader here was well-known and loyal to the unspoken rules, so she let him live. Marisia went outside and was inside the sewers. This was the underworld, a city basically under the city. She saw her people run around and merchants scream as stolen goods were confiscated. The traders were beaten to an inch of their life left as a warning. She wanted nothing more than to kill everyone here, but it was impossible. It was only one place out of half a dozen around the city. She had already raided three of them, and this was the fourth one, while the other two were invaded by Cross and some of his trusted soldiers. She could imagine that the whole city was partly in chaos since, besides merchants, thieves, and assassins, also simple folk dabbled here for a side income. Yet, she let them go but wasn''t sure about Cross, even though she warned him to do it. The last thing she wanted to do was fill up her prisons with poor carpenters who had stolen some expensive pieces of wood. Suddenly, a familiar smell invaded her nose, and surprisingly Cross came over with a masked and cloaked individual. She could smell his bloodlust, and she became immediately frustrated, ''Damn it, Kairo.'' ... Somewhere more private "It wasn''t long since I beat you till you were half-death. Did you miss it that much?" The individual was kneeling and smiling at her, "It was a long time ago, my lady, but I am here in the name of the lord. You should have got the correspondence, right?" She rubbed the place between her eyes, "I didn''t get any from Kairo, so tell me what happened, Saru." Sarusos started to tell her what happened and how they sniffed out that someone had attacked their supply lines. Afterward, they sent the letter, but it never reached her. "...and now I am here, my lady." A vein popped on Marisia''s head. Every time she had to deal with this guy, all he did was smile, and his bloodlust was overflowing, straining her nerves. "Fine, so how did it go in the underworld?" "After snooping around and looking for my old contacts, it seems there is a new player." Marisia raised an eyebrow, "A new player? Even someone new wouldn''t be dumb enough to attack the ruler and their inner circle." Sarusos shrugged, "There was some hit for a giant sum for an easy kill which was continuously denied..." he sighed, "...I tried to find out more about this since I thought that nobody would be stupid enough to take it, but I was too slow, I am sorry my lady." Marisia waved her hand in dismissal, "It''s fine, so, who is the new vermin?" Sarusos''s smile broke, and he started to frown heavily, "I don''t know... for some reason, they put different hits out, and one of them targeted all the pups and all their personal retainers like Mr. Alexander''s disciple." Marisia looked confused at him, "Do you mean they also target my puppies?" It was unusual to make a hit on a noble or their children, but if it was done quickly and destroyed the whole family, it would be possible to make a go afterward. However, other noble families close to the one killed would hunt them down for all eternity. Only another noble would do something like this and would try to find some idiots who were hungry for coin. However, they would likely fail, but some decent ones would be elated to try something like this if enough coin was on the table or some really bad ones with overinflated egos, which was the case if she went by what Sarah told her. However, going for the retainers was an even more insane proposition since if the noble was alive, he would surely hunt down the assassin and the contractee. "Do you know who exactly?" The fox-kin shrugged, "No, my lady, only that all of us are on the line." Marisia started to frown and tap her foot, ''Someone is trying to mess with us...'' "So, did you find anything suspicious?" Sarusos tried to think as he tapped his chin, "Yes and no. I found a familiar smell while the caravan was attacked, but I don''t know where I know this from." "Nevermind that... go back and tell Kairo to come back soon. My mother will be here in a couple of weeks for a visit, and I need his support. Otherwise, I fear that I will start a fight with her." Sarusos suddenly shivered, but his smile didn''t waver, and he nodded at her, "Done!" "Done what? I don''t want you to kill her, even if that was possible. Just get Kairo here." Sarusos chuckled with a hand before his mouth, "Don''t worry, my lady, I understood it clearly, hehe." ... Somewhere in the shadows A spider-kin looked from a ledger down to the sewers while the soldiers swarmed the area, apprehending everyone who tried to run away, ''Well, that was a bust, tsk.'' When one of his spies informed him that the two girls had left the estate, he instantly tripled the commission and got someone to do the job. Who knew that they could fail against a snobby brat and a bookworm? Klepto miscalculated strongly. He was sitting and thinking about what to do next. In his hand, multiple copies of letters that were intercepted, ''At least we could have another ally on our side... huh?'' But before he could think more about how to get a stupid lizard to his side, he was interrupted by a tapping on his back. He turned around and saw a masked individual. Only his darker blueish skin and pointy ears told him it was a colleague. "It failed?" Klepto frowned but nonetheless nodded. He hated to admit it, but he used up a precious chance, and now the whole underworld was in panic and looking for the moron who commissioned the hit. Klepto was too hot at that moment. He also tried other ways, like omitting who the hit was for, but his sister was very famous, and it was impossible to gloss over her identity. On the other hand, Sarah was more of a surprise and unexpected treasure. He only knew that his sister left the estate regularly while the Leonandra youths were stuck inside the estate. There was also a thought to bring in the night elves, but it was quickly dismissed since they would immediately know who killed or kidnapped them. The lord was a druid and probably had access to an oracle. The moment he would ask it, the camp would be wiped out. The same went for other territories. If something happened and they missed someone, the Leonandra household was the first to get asked for a favor, and most of the time, the lord agreed. The night-elf shrugged, "Well, we expected that much. Don''t forget what we want to do - slowly sough chaos and bring the territory into a civil war situation. So, it was partly a success." Right, Klepto was reminded of what the plan was. Bringing chaos and then using it to usurp a part of the territory. Right now, they focused on finding much more allies who could assist them later on after they took some area for themself. The night-elf continued, "Don''t worry though, we have a nice surprise which will hopefully throw the fief into utter chaos, hehe." Klepto wasn''t informed about everything, so he asked, "What is it?" The night elf shook his finger, "Don''t worry about it and let it come, hehe!" Klepto nodded and asked, with an almost possessive glint in his eyes, "Where is William?" The night-elf stopped and thought for a second before answering, "He is going to the one noble you informed us about. The lizard guy, did you forget?" He did forget. Since he took the corpse crystal, his body and memory worsened by the day. Those were extracted by the experience of different beings so skills and other things could be preserved. The problem was that it was never perfectly preserved, so everyone who took it was plagued by massive issues. It was incredibly illegal to do it, but he did it anyway, and the only thing he could think about was William. Still, all other memories became increasingly unrecognizable, to the point he barely remembered the faces of his parents. He nodded toward the night-elf and started to leave the place since it would become dangerous for him to stay there. As he left and wandered around the streets, everything became more like a lucid dream for him. His only anchor was William, and he wanted to follow him to the end, ''A couple of years and his mother will be saved. Till then, I need to endure...'' Chapter 54: Interlude: Love And War 4 Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Salyna Leonandra (Swan-kin) Kairoso (Wolf-kin) ... "Kairoso, I need to talk to you." "By the circle, can you sort the shit out before putting them inside? How the fuck should I know what we should sell or not?" Marisia came closer and tried to be louder, "Kairos..." Kairoso, on the other hand, screamed at a dolphin-kin before him, "Listen, we need to sell some stuff while the other is for us, get it? I don''t want to sift through all of..." He pointed at the dozens of boxes around him, "...this when we dock. Got it?!" The dolphin-kin was annoyed and showed it by his snarky attitude, "Got it, boss, but I think it is too late, you see..." Kairoso came close and put his hand and some pressure on his shoulder while interrupting him, "You have time while we sail, right? So get it done!" The dolphin-kin nodded, and after his boss let go, he went to work, mumbling under his breath insults. Marisia saw this as her chance and asked louder, "Kairoso!" He turned around, and when he saw her, he smiled widely, "How can I help you, princess?" She frowned briefly before pointing her thumb toward the captain''s cabin, "I need to talk to you. Follow me." He nodded, and they went toward the cabin. However, walking through the masses gathered on Marisia''s ship took time. There was barely any free space left since they took all the refugees with them. After the fight with the priest and the noble, Kairoso and his group ransacked all the resources from the humans and freed their kin. While Marisia saw this initially as a joyous occasion, it was partly too late. The mercenaries found heavily mutilated men without any tails or ears and traumatized women, either raped, mutilated, or sometimes both. For some reason, she couldn''t understand, humans saw the characteristics beast-kin had as beautiful, so if there were an equal pretty face to go with it, no mutilation would happen. Yet, if their fate was better was another question since sex slavery wasn''t much more appealing than hard labor sometimes. It also didn''t matter if they went through their legacy or mating season. All of them went through the most horrendous of experiences. They were literally and mentally scarred. It was to be seen if they could even live a normal life again. Seeing them like this, Kairosos and his troops didn''t take it too well. Marisia needed to hold them back so they wouldn''t go after the commoners who fled. She wanted to prioritize their kin, bring them back first, and ignore the ones who had nothing to do with it. She understood that revenge would feel good, but there were priorities, and she wasn''t too keen to risk another altercation without knowing what else was there on the island. Otherwise, she would also let them stay there, but it would be too dangerous since the fled humans were there too, and she didn''t have the numbers to secure the whole island while using her resources on the victims. The killing spree on which Marisia was on was a big mistake. She went wild on everyone who had even the slightest idea about the overall situation and killed them. Searching for someone with any information would take too long and could be dangerous. She decided to leave and return with a much stronger force later on or let someone else do it since she had all she needed. The campaign for her was practically over. All the property of the noble and priest, like the corpses, were with her. She put them into her spatial bag, holding them fresh until they arrived at the estate. She also didn''t forget the knights properties and bodies. Some she could even identify as the offspring of nobles. How much merits they would bring was unknown to her. Kairoso''s mercenaries, on the other hand, looked through the area they could and ransacked anything with worth. They now had two more ships and a lot of equipment that needed to be sorted out. She didn''t ask if they found the humans, as she spent too much time decoding the letters from the noble and priest, sadly without much success. The whole campaign was a mess, but her achievements should grant her more than enough merits in her mind. It would be unthinkable if she didn''t at least could get the Di (II) Blood and Iron merit from the master of her household, Count Moorgrel. However, right now, she needed to talk privately with the Kairoso. Clank As the door closed to Marisia''s private cabin, she crossed her arms and looked at Kairoso sternly, who in turn became confused, "What is it? If there is something, just say it." She sighed, "Fine. I need you to come back with me to the estate, and don''t worry, I will pay you for your report and all that comes with it." Kairoso only pondered briefly but shrugged, not caring, "Fine by me, but wouldn''t be a written report enough?" Marisia shook her head, "It''s complicated. The whole campaign was a mess, and there could be things that I could forget. Finding you later would take too much time." He scratched his head and shrugged again. Not knowing what to say, obviously accepting such a proposition. However, Marisia clenched her fists and wanted to say more but didn''t. She just nodded back. ... Later evening, Marisia''s cabin "You can''t be serious?!" "I... Saly... not now." Salyna grabbed her childhood friend by the shoulders, "Mari, he is a barbarian! Uncultivated, dumb, dirty, he curses without a break..." Marisia interrupted her, "Stop! You know he is loyal, honest, has great morals, and... he looks good." The swan-kin''s face distorted into disgust, "You are insane! Even if you like him, just wait for two months till mating season and have a fling with him. Should be enough, right?" The young wolf-kin blushed, "I think it is more..." "Please tell me you mean that you want him as a personal guard." Marisia looked down and said nothing, while Salyna became baffled. She started walking around the cabin, thinking loudly, "So, if you want this moron... wait... does he actually want you?" Marisia started to fiddle with her fingers while looking down, "I don''t know." Salyna looked at her sternly, "So..." She looked down, "I really like him, Saly... I don''t know what to do..." Her retainer tapped her chin and nodded, "I have some ideas, so be at ease." Marisia barely heard her. Since the campaign was on break, all her stress disappeared, and more mundane thoughts became more pronounced. One of those was Kairoso. He was annoying beyond belief, but she could smell his honesty and unrestrainedness while he teased her. The roughness he showed would be for every Lady of noble descent, something they despised, but she found it intriguing and attractive. The courage and loyalty he showed while fighting, even though he was barely obliged to protect her, was something she admired him for. A steady will that held firm to the end. While there was no real incentive for a druid to even risk his life for her since he could also let her die while taking protection behind the Temple against her family, it was intoxicating for her to be protected by him. Usually, she was rarely in a situation where she needed anything from anyone, but here, he was like her shield. She didn''t care if he was talented and intelligent. She wanted him to be there for her and give everything as she would. She wanted this dearly from a husband. Marisia suddenly felt a flick on her forehead and looked at who had done it. She saw her confused retainer, "You are so far gone... love really changes someone." Marisia suddenly smirked at her, "Oh really? Remember what happened two years ago?" Salyna looked at her, confused, "What do you mean?" Marisia''s smile became wider, "One word: Xeros." Salyna''s wings opened slightly, and she crossed her arms, "What about my husband?" Marisia opened her arms and looked up like a theater actor, "Oh, Mari! I can''t live without him! He is soooo cute..." She suddenly grabbed the swan-kin''s shoulder and changed her voice like it was a life and death situation, "...Mari! I need your help! I need him, and if not, I will die! I can''t possibly live without him!" Salyna frowned, "It wasn''t that bad..." Marisia made a swirl and held her hands together, "I would cut one of my wings off if I could have him for only myself!..." She looked at her friend in a panic, "...Mari! I can''t sleep, eat or think of anything but him! You need to help me!" Salyna blushed and stomped her foot, "Fine! I was worse and will do everything to help you, so stop this cringe!" Marisia chuckled, "Hehe, don''t worry, since I have a plan." Salyna raised an eyebrow, "Do you want to imprison him or what?" She shook her head while a rare and slight movement of her tail was seen, "No, but I want him to ask out at the estate after telling Mother and Father. I need to follow the etiquette." Salyna frowned, "I don''t think the lady will accept it." Marisia waved her hand in dismissal, "She will. After getting Lisa out, I will be freer, and while I do that, I want Kairoso to be close to me. The last thing I want him to do is to find some bitch in heat." Salyna raised an eyebrow and smirked, "You are quite jealous, huh?" She looked sternly at her friend, "If he even dares to betray me, I will cut his head open even if I need to go against the Temple." Salyna became confused, "Betray? He isn''t even aware of yo..." An aura of maliciousness poured out of Marisia, which interrupted Salyna, "As I said. If he betrays me, I will cut his balls off." ... The dinner hall Kairoso came in and was greeted by his people, who were already drunk or on other drugs. He looked to the side and saw Sarusos, his fox-kin disciple sitting alone on the ground and doing something weird. He went to him and asked, "Hey, little mutt, what are you doing?" Sarusos looked up at him and smiled, "Hello, master! I found this rat and thought how it would move without legs!" Kairoso only now noticed that a rat was between his disciple''s legs, whining and begging for death, while Sarusos held a small dagger in his hands, smeared with blood. It wasn''t the first time he saw him doing weird things. The last time, he slowly decapitated a cat to see when it would die. He wanted him to do more normal things, but Sarusos''s life had no normalcy since the little fox-kin was born. Bandits raided his village, and while they did it, he became a victim of them. Fox-kin were usually much more beautiful from the beginning than most beast-kin, and so was Sarusos. Thus, he was taken with them as a sex slave. He was drugged multiple times, so his pheromones would prematurely flare up, and then raped so many times, he couldn''t recount it anymore to him. He also told him when he killed his first one and how he felt exhilarated by doing so. After months of torture and rape, he was about to go through the same procedure as the day before but could hide a knife and stab the perpetrator while he did the act. Afterward, he fled and lived on the streets of the first town he encountered. However, after months of hunger and coldness, monsters raided his town. It was probably the last nail in the coffin as he lived afterward in rubble and ate vermins while fighting off other scavengers. Sarusos was on the verge of madness and barely alive when Kairoso found him. He was about to commit cannibalism on his kin, an unthinkable crime. However, Kairoso didn''t ask him if he had done it already and ignored it. What was important now was that he somehow brought him back to normalcy, and while what he saw here was strange, it was much more normal when Sarusos showed him his collection of tails and hearts, sorted by size in his hideout after he could calm him down when he found him. Kairoso squatted down and slowly patted him, "Listen, pup, how about you throw this thing away and join the others?" Sarusos pondered momentarily but nodded and stabbed the rat to the floor. He stood up and walked to the others. His master sighed but was happy that the little fox-kin was at least loyal and listened to him. He hoped that he would change with time. He straightened himself and thought about what to do next, but something came to mind, ''Why was she so weird?'' The talk with Marisia was strange, and he had an inkling why, ''Does she want me as a soldier? No way. She should know how much gold I make, but what could...'' From the side came suddenly a hug, "Hey boss! Let''s have some fun, hehe!" It was one of his scouts, a rabbit-kin. She pressed her breasts against his sides while trying to grab his private parts, "You need to apologize to us for running away all alooooone, hehe." Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Usually, Kairoso would give in and have some fun, but somehow, he started to shiver, like someone held a blade at his neck. Such a feeling made his balls shrink. He looked down at her and smiled, "Listen, Brenda, I was almost one with the inner circle and need some rest now. Try to fight a priest with a crazy demonic energy-wielding noble, then talk to me again." Brenda pouted but let go and ran to her next victim while swirling her hips from side to side, "Hey, John! I need some fun, how about you, me and your sister? If you want, I can get my brother, too!" As Brenda went away, he suddenly felt that the feeling was gone. He scratched his head and decided to rest for a few days, ''Must be my imagination, but after some nights, it should be fine.'' ... Two weeks later, at the Leonandra estate Marisia sat together with Kairoso inside the carriage that went to her estate. It was two weeks where she wanted to say what lay in her heart but couldn''t. First, she needed to talk with her mother, and afterward, she would do it. Her feelings became even stronger in the two weeks when she talked with all the other mercenaries who told her their horror stories and how Kairoso saved them. Afterward, he gave them a purpose and a stable job, from victims of undescribable crimes to mass murderers who had an unlucky and violent [Divinity Line] which only could be controlled by him, as he gave them what they thirsted for the most and stopped the endangerment of innocent commoners. She admired him increasingly since he lived by the same ideals as she did, not just out of cold logic but out of his pure heart. Her opinion of him improved as he took responsibility for his people and didn''t care if others considered them worse than trash. She wanted him even more. "We arrived!" The coachman brought her out of her thoughts, and she stood up, not caring to wait for a servant to open the door. But as she went out, she turned to Kairoso, "Wait in one of the guest rooms. Salyna will show you." Before he could say anything, she was already on the way to her parents. She ignored all the servants who bowed down to her as she went to her father''s office. As she opened the door without knocking, the first thing she saw was her brother. In front of her stood an almost 1.8m (5.9ft) jackal-kin with red hair like she had and golden eyes. He wore a nicely sewn suit with a sword strapped to his side. She had no real relationship with him, but they were on good terms. Since he was young, he showed great talent in the sword arts, so their father sent him early on away to the Cold-Snouts before Marisia was born, his side of the family, to learn it more thoroughly. The distance made them unable to build a stronger bond. She wanted to change this practice with her family and not separate her puppies from each other till much later in their life. She saw how great she had a relationship with her sister and wanted them to have one too. However, she was impatient and forgot her manners, "Hello, brother, and what business do you have with Father?" He smiled at her, "Hello to you too, and yes, I am fine..." He became slightly sarcastic, "...it is always so nice to have a caring sister who is happy to see her blood." She frowned and rubbed the place between her temples, "I am sorry. I am just exhausted and need to talk to Father about something important." He chuckled and waved his hand in dismissal, "Don''t worry. I was on some campaigns, too, so I understand you. I am here because I got a letter from Dad to come back and welcome you." Marisia smiled at him, "Thank you very much for coming. However, I recommend you stay as far from me as possible..." She chuckled suddenly, "... hehe, sorry, it shouldn''t sound like a threat, but what I am about to announce to our parents will be a tad problematic." He wanted to say something but stopped and suddenly smelled the air. After contemplating, he looked at his sister and smiled mischievously, "Oh my, I know this smell very well. All my three wives had it, and the worst was from Cecilia. You remember her from our wedding, right?" Marisia frowned but nodded. Her brother was a great swordsman and a great womanizer with a lot of charm. The moment he stepped into the Cold-Snout estate, all their cousins were his. His aura was not overwhelming but showed softness and approachability. Very soothing till he drew his blade and exuded an aura of death. Yet, even though he was a womanizer, she only heard that he was sincere with each of his wives and affairs. He never lied or disregarded any of them, so she had no problems with his personality. Before she could answer, behind her came a rough throat clearing. She turned around and saw her father. Her brother looked the same as he did, except for the brown hair, blue eyes, and two inches or so more in height. He was from the Cold-Snout family and a Jackal-kin. However, what distinguished him from her brother, who was very meticulous in his look, was that instead of a suit or other noble clothing, her father loved wearing a shirt with the upper two buttons open, showing part of his chest. He also had the sleeves rolled up and messy hair. Sometimes she didn''t know if he ever cared about something like his looks. He smiled at her and immediately came for a hug, "Oh, Mari! I missed you so much! How are you?" When he welcomed her, Marisia remembered how strong her father was since he was not on the larger side and that his passionate hugs always hurt her, "Urgh! I am okay, Father!" He let go and held her by the shoulders while smiling, "Look at you! You look as accomplished as ever!" Marisia nodded towards him with a slight smile, "Thank you, Father." He looked over her shoulder to her brother, "Brutus, what are you doing there? Standing and not saying hello! Come here!" Since the Lord came from the Cold-Snout household, he also brought their traditions with him. One of them was the intense closeness between each family member. Brutus came over with a smile and wanted to join the hug session. He also didn''t know it differently since he had lived basically only in the north at the Cold-Snout estate since he was young. Such behavior made their noble conduct, at best, rudimentary and despised by other noble households. However, what they lacked in etiquette, they had in strength, which was on another level, and their contacts. Since they were a highly sociable and approachable household, they had many connections around the empire with influential commoners. A soft female voice came from behind her father before the group hug lasted longer. This voice had elegance but also a certain roughness one heard from soldiers after decades on the battlefield, "Honey, please let her first make herself fresh." Her mother was almost a copy of Marisia, only older: Wolf-kin, golden eyes, and red fur. The name Scarlett she had was almost too perfect for her since her hair was bright and her personality was like that of fire. Sometimes it would warm the poor and downtrodden. Other times, it would burn everything to ashes. The Lord turned to his wife and smiled, "Oh, honey! Why? We are one family, and a hug should be fine, never mind the circumstances, right?..." He turned around to his puppies, "...what do you think, pups?" Marisia liked the closeness, but it was a little weird since she wanted to get it over with what she was about to say and thus looked uncomfortable. Brutus wasn''t much better since he liked cleanliness to an unhealthy degree, and Marisia''s smell was terrible, which she knew. The silence was broken by the Lady, "See?..." She came from behind her heartbroken husband and let her tail hug him around the waist, "...don''t worry. We can repeat it later, right Mari and Brutu?" They both nodded, and the Lord only recovered a little. The Lady clapped her hands, "How about we drink some tea with sweets while you tell us what happened in more detail? You are also probably exhausted from all the dried meat, am I right?" The Lady leaned close to her husband while Marisia nodded, thinking she could make it quick. ... Some hours later "...this was all that happened, and as I have written, their corpses are in one of my space bags." The Lord and Lady were baffled and liked what they heard. It wasn''t exactly what they had planned, but it was great that her daughter went through it. Though, they didn''t expect the priestess and the noble youth, which were eliminated and would later be examined, to conduce the merits she achieved, which should be much more than what they anticipated. On the other hand, Brutus was clearly downtrodden and looked emptily into the space. He told them about his campaign to the east, and they expected their daughter''s campaign to look similar to his. While a demon run was ongoing, it was a very small one, and Brutus had barely anything to do but kill some stronger demons besides the minimal organizing. Even when he told everything, he tried to sound excited, but his parents knew he was bored beyond belief as they also went through their fair share of demon runs. The Lady leaned back while crossing one leg over the other, smiling at her daughter, "So, let''s first talk about rewards and start with you..." She pointed at her daughter, her hand palm showing upwards while pointing at her with her index finger, "...what do you wish for, Mar..." Before ending her sentence, Marisia answered unrestrainedly, "I want Lisa and..." The Lady expected this, but the Lord stared at his wife, not thinking too well about her, and she knew about this as it was no secret. This whole campaign was her idea to train their most talented daughter. Scarlett had often fought with her husband about this, which ended in compromises. Marisia would go to an undangerous campaign with almost unlimited use of their treasury. In the first place, Scarlett wanted her to have barely any funds, so she would learn to handle herself economically, but that was a point he wouldn''t even budge. "...I brought the commander of the mercenary troupe with me. I want him..." Before she could end her sentence, the Lady interrupted her, thinking she knew what this was all about, "Make him your personal protector and future commander? Great idea! Even though he would need some training on decorum, it should be fine." Marisia shook her head, "No. I want him for myself." The Lord suddenly smiled, knowing what this was all about, and had no qualms about it. His household had nothing against commoners, and since he was a druid, they would get a connection into the Temple, which was even better. However, the Lady didn''t understand and looked confused at her daughter, "What do you mean?" Marisia blushed and answered her mother honestly, "I want him to become my lover and future husband." A sudden surge of demonic energy went through the tea room. ... Outside in the garden "And here we have more flowers, not like you really care." "I am a druid, you know? Flowers are my specialty." Salyna looked at him and frowned as if every second was torture, "Yeah, sure, how about we try and end this stupid tour as qui... what is it?" Kairoso turned toward the main mansion and felt incredible bloodlust. He smiled widely, "The little princess is about to have a fight. You should run." Salyna also looked toward the mansion but felt nothing. She turned back to Kairoso and was about to scream at him to stop such jokes. However, before she could do it, the window towards them suddenly exploded, and flying out came Marisia. Kairoso, without a second thought, conjured some vines, which grabbed Salyna and threw her far away into some bushes. He jumped up and turned into a sparling, only to turn back mid-air to catch her and land safely, but the force with which Marisia was flying was so powerful that she crashed into him, and they flew head-on toward the ground. Boom! After the dust settled, Marisia tried to feel what was under her. She looked confused since she felt something wobbly and soft. She looked down and saw a walrus lying under her, who slowly turned to Kairoso, who took the brunt of her fall. Marisia blushed, "Th... thanks, Kairo." Kairoso smiled widely at her, "No problem, but could you stand up?" She nodded and stood up with him, who immediately asked, "How about you tell me why someone th..." Before he could end the sentence, two more incredibly high-dense demonic energy users flew out, but one attacked the other for some reason. This energy was on another level than what Marisia had. "Are you fucking insane, Scarlett?!" "So what?! Does she want to marry some dirty druid after all the work I have done? I will beat sense into her!" "No, you will not!" "Don''t stop me, Roland!" As both jumped out, they already attacked each other mid-air. Scarlett had a vicious demonic energy. With every hit and kick she did, its residue alone destroyed everything that came close to it. At the same time, Roland pulled his sword and, with every swing, deflected his wife''s attacks. Every time he made a move with his sword, he created gigantic craters under him. The energy left on the craters created more gashes and destroyed everything around them. As Kairoso looked at them, his survival instinct was screaming at him to run, ''Two who went at least through the first body modification. I am so dead if I even try to fight them.'' The first body modification was the first threshold to true power. It brought not only strength but also a much longer lifespan with it. If the average lifespan of a beast-kin was around 200 years after the body modification, it would double in the best of cases. Stepping over this threshold of power meant, in turn, that those monsters would become even more powerful over time, and the two in front of him looked very young. It didn''t matter to Kairoso, though, as even someone fresh to their first body modification could pummel the life out of him almost immediately. He knew some druids personally who went through their first or second one, and they were nothing short of in the higher ranks in the circle and could ravage whole cities solo. As they landed, Roland immediately flashed toward Marisia and Kairoso. He stood before them with his sword pulled out, trying to protect them, "Scarlett, you need to calm down..." He suddenly remembered something, "...oh right, nice to meet you, Kairoso. My daughter said that she is in love with you, so worry not. This old hag..." A vein popped on Scarlett''s forehead as she heard it and saw the barbarian her daughter had brought. Her energy went haywire, "No need for introductions. For the next years, her home will be the prison!" She flashed immediately, and in answer, Roland too. The crash of those was like an explosion that rocked the garden. Their clash produced a gigantic crater, and as the demonic energy dispersed in all directions, all plants died immediately, and the ground became infested. Kairoso took Marisia immediately into his arms and bit into one of his dog tags which was also an amulet. The Temple gave him this token that granted him double all his attributes for a short time. He felt he had become much lighter and dashed as fast away as possible. While dashing away, he looked at Marisia in his arms and smirked, thinking it was a stupid joke, "Marry me? Oy, do I have a say in this?" Marisia looked at him while in his arms and, like it was already decided, said with full confidence, even though Kairoso could feel her heart beating like crazy, "I want you, so you are mine." Kairoso looked at her, baffled, and laughed at how ridiculous this situation was, "Guhahahaha! You are really something else!" He stopped somewhere far away and looked at how those two giants were about to demolish the whole estate. Every attack of them produced either craters or gashed the ground. He wanted to let her down, but she held on to him even stronger and didn''t let go. She looked at him seriously, "Why not? I really... love you, and I know from your troupe that you never acted like this to someone else. Tell me, will you really reject me?" Kairoso frowned and was about to do what she said: To reject her as he found it ridiculous to marry a noble. Yet, when he thought about her, he liked her. He couldn''t put it in words or thoughts since he was a man of instinct and never really thought about anything before doing it if it came to relationships. He chose all his troupe and Sarusos because he felt it was right, and his instinct never let him down. Right now, it felt the same. It told him to do it. "Listen, can we talk about this later? Right now, someone is about to kill us." She smiled at him, relieved, and her voice tried to reassure him, "Don''t worry, Mother will become exhausted after a fight with Father. It happens sometimes." He looked back at her parents and saw how his maybe-future in-laws cut a part of the mansion, almost missing his mother in-law, who created something akin to multiple living beasts made out of energy that went wild and attacked everything in sight. "Your family is crazy." Marisia giggled, "Hehe, you didn''t agree, but if you say yes, they will also be your family." He looked at her more directly and saw an insanity he only knew from his people. The ones scarred to no end and looked for a place to be themselves. He was the same and longed just to be whoever he was. After a life with an abusive father, a village that despised him, and the Temple training grounds for druids, he was always told who he could and couldn''t be. Now this wolf-kin girl fell in love with him after seeing the worst of him. Rude, drunk, on drugs, and doing what he knew best: Commanding troops and killing others. A far cry from what a noble lady should want. He became annoyed as thinking about such things was never something he did. So, he gave in to his instincts as they screamed that she was the right one, ''Damn it! I really like her.'' Suddenly someone flashed toward them, and Kairoso took another dog tag into his mouth. Whoever it was, he was dangerous but stopped shortly before them with a smile, "Woah there, big guy! I am Brutus and her brother. Nice to meet''cha!..." He looked at Marisia, "...this is how commoners talk, right? Never had much socialization apart from the servants from balls." She frowned, "He is also a druid, so don''t be so disrespectful..." She turned her head to Kairoso, "...this is Brutus, my brother, and sword prodige¨¦. He is only visiting us as he lives at the Cold-Snout estate." Kairoso nodded to him, "It is nice to meet you... Mr..." Before ending the sentence, Brutus waved his hand in dismissal, interrupting him with a smile, "Stop this. Call me Brutus. Not like we will be strangers for long, right?" "Sure, Brutus, nice to meet you." Kairoso felt like he was a mouse while surrounded by cats. He was the weakest beside Marisia, who was still in his arms. Even though her brother was friendly, his danger sense was nothing short of warning him that he had no chance against him. Brutus rubbed his neck and looked elated, "Well, I hope you don''t take us for barbarians..." He shrugged, "...see it like the typical bar brawl maybe, you commoners should..." He suddenly stopped as Marisia stared daggers at him. He immediately understood and changed the topic, "Mari, you really did something fun, hehe..." He turned to their parents, "...look at them go. It is almost the same as with the time with Lisa." Luckily, they went further away from them, but suddenly a gigantic energy bolt rushed toward them and was about to hit. Brutus took a little step forward and, with a single slash, deflected the bolt. However, even Kairoso could feel the immense energy density and weight from it. The bolt flew to a nearby storage hall and crashed into it. Boom! It was immediately destroyed, and all that was left was an enormous crater. Brutus rubbed his neck again and smiled at them sheepishly, "Well, sorry about that." Marisia shook her head, "Don''t worry, it was only an old shack." Kairoso''s instincts alarmed him suddenly as the fight stopped, "Well, it is over. What now?" Brutus shrugged, "Nothing much... oh right, I got Lisa out, and she is already on the way to Wolfsteeth with my guards, so don''t worry about her." Marisia smiled at him, "Thanks!" Out of the dust cloud came a shadow. As it came closer, the youths could see a smiling lord with his wife thrown over his shoulder, unconscious. As he took one step, he suddenly flashed and stood before them, beaming with a smile, "Sorry about that, hehe." He analyzed all of them, and his smile became more pronounced, "Well, look at this! Like I say, no time like the present!" Marisia blushed and became flustered, "Father, please don''t be like this." Kairoso was the only one who was dumbstruck, ''They are all fucking insane.'' For him, this whole family was beyond over the top. He looked at what they did with their fight, and he couldn''t believe the damage done. There were giant craters and gashes around the estate, and part of the mansion was just gone. Even the demonic energy left could take out greenhorn mercenaries since it was much more potent than what Marisia showed him in her little massacre. ''Why are these morons smiling?'' They were acting like it was the most normal thing on Obis. However, even though it was ridiculous, the moment he looked at Marisia, who was clinging to him in his arms, he put the alarm that went off in his head on hold. He felt he didn''t want to let go of her, ''Damn it... so I am about to get involved with this madness...'' "Hello?" Kairoso came out of his stupor when his new brother-in-law waved his hand in front of him. Brutus looked at Marisia and asked her, "Is he alright? He looks stupified." Marisia chuckled at that, "Give him some time. We are a little weird, hehe." Roland interrupted the talk between youths, "Well, let''s stop this happy reunion and go to our rooms. For now, we will call it a day, ok, pups?..." He looked at his daughter and smiled mischievously, "...hm, I don''t know how far you are in the relationship, but you can have room for yourself. Take the minor mansion..." Before he could end the sentence, a big rock fell from far above and crashed into the minor mansion. He looked toward the building and back at his daughter, "...well, never mind that. Haha! Take the second one." Chapter 55: Scarlett Is Coming Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Scarlett J. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Aro Leonandra (Butterfly-kin) Anastasia I. Ramputt (Bunny-kin) ... Letter from Scarlett J. Leonandra to Marisia S. Leonandra Greetings, dear daughter, I am writing you in a time of great turmoil. As you probably heard, the Silver-Tail fief was in chaos while I was there. Bartholomew, the shadow son, is trying to overthrow the current lord and lady. I dearly hope he succeeds. However, I was asked by the former lord to refrain from putting my nose into their business since he said that he had complete trust in his grandson to bring their fief to old glory. While I find it quite intriguing, I am, of course, aware that this is incredibly irresponsible, but I trust this old monster''s instinct fully. With this, I also informed you of the request of the former lord. However, you can act as you see fit since we shouldn''t intervene in the politics in the East, but if you trust me, sit still and wait. Now to more exhilarating news: I am informing you that I will travel towards the Nine-Fire household and later to you with some great girls! Don''t worry; I will only choose those who will fit my grandsons well, going by the descriptions you sent me in the previous letters. I hope Alexander and Narsiz are doing as well as you described. Also, please apologize in my stead that I couldn''t find any boys for my granddaughters till now since, as you know, there are not as many out there and even less as talented as my wonderful grandsons! Please await my excellent matchmaking skills to find the perfect partners for my talented grandsons, as they deserve nothing less. Cheers, my dear daughter, Your lovely mother ... Leonandra estate, Marisia''s office Marisia laid down the letter she got from her mother after reading it and looked into the void till she was interrupted by Aro, who was about to serve her tea, "Is everything all right, my lady?" Marisia looked at him and sighed, "My mother will be coming in the next weeks." Aro stared at her for a second. His antenna twitched slightly as did his wings. Marisia knew he was as distressed, if not more, as her since such small gestures were his only signs of panic. "Should I call the lord back?" "Yes, Kairo is perfect for this if things go haywire." Aro smiled at her, "The lord surely has a certain charm that can''t be denied." Marisia raised an eyebrow and leaned back, "Just call him rude and wild... however, this is what I need right now. Mother is always a little..." She rubbed the place between her eyebrows, "...how should I call it?" Aro continued for her while serving tea, "Rude? Invasive? Parasitic? Oh, I know..." Marisia stopped Aro, "It''s fine. Let''s call her a typical Leonandra..." She smirked at how she insulted her own household, but it was true that they were eccentric regarding certain things. It barely changed with her and would probably continue with whoever would take her place in some decades after she reached the first body modification. After clearing her throat, she continued, "Ahem, with this announcement, we need to get Narsiz ready for the coming visit, and not even the circle will know how many girls she will bring over from the Nine-Fire." Aro was stoic, as always. However, how he poured tea showed his nervousness. The little shake in between made it very clear. She knew why he was so worried: Scarlett was anything but subtle in her approach to bringing the guard households closer together. She also assumed that her mother somehow facilitated the coup in the Silver-Tail fief and manipulated one of the heirs to overthrow the current rulers, who were strangulating their people metaphorically. "Why only prepare Narsiz, my lady?" Marisia looked at her head butler with a slight smirk, "You want to prepare Alexander? I don''t see any reason to do anything since he is purely interested in what he finds fascinating and will hyperfocus on these things. Whoever my mother brings will be nothing more than a distraction for him, and I truly hope he doesn''t ruin it too hard." After arranging his lady''s plate, Aro straightened up and looked at her solemnly, "I think it is necessary to prepare him. Canine-kin females develop much faster than males, so even if she is one or two years older, it would mean that Mr. Alexander could be overwhelmed by adoration. Please don''t forget that we are also talking about the Nine-Fire household, which is not the most subtle, considering the current head." Marisia waved her hand in dismissal but stopped suddenly, "You are right, Aro... Ori is crazy, and only the endlessness knows who my mother will pick up and bring here." Aro suggested, "My lady, how about I teach Mr. Alexander to be a real gentleman? I think Anastasia..." She knocked on the table once and found the idea fitting, "You both should do it and no need to be discreet. Just call it what it is. Go and tell her that she should teach the law lessons later and concentrate with you on how he should behave, but what to do with Narsiz then..." "How about both of them take the lessons together? I think they can help each other. However, I don''t think Mr. Narsiz will have many problems since he is an introvert and will probably be..." He suddenly shook his head, "... never mind, I fear that he actually could be easier manipulated because he never really got any adoration besides from this family." Marisia nodded, "Go to Anastasia and plan the next lessons till my mother arrives and concentrate on how to avoid certain manipulations they could do..." Suddenly her voice changed to one full of hate, "...if one of the vixens manipulates one of my sons, I will personally crack their head open like a waln..." Aro interrupted her in a hurry, "My lady, please stop. I know you had bad experiences with the former lady, but I don''t think she will choose the worst girls." If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Marisia looked sternly at Aro but sighed after a short thought. If she would give her mother the benefit of the doubt, then she could admit that there was no way that she wanted her grandsons to be unhappy. "Fine, I will try and trust her. However, I want to control the overall situation, so ensure my sons are prepared." Aro nodded and left the room immediately. He left Marisia, and while she looked cold on the outside, her inner self was in turmoil as she remembered what her mother had tried to do to her and her sister. She mumbled, "If this bitch tries something similar with my sons, I will make sure she will regret it... I need Kairo here asap." Kairoso was, even though much weaker in every aspect, from strength to decorum, able to defuse most situations with his nonchalant charm, and even his provocations were sometimes even charming. Somehow her mother and husband, putting the status beside, looked like good friends who teased each other for fun. Marisia immediately started to write an emergency letter to her husband. While she wrote, she remembered her past and why she had issues with her mother. When she was twelve, her uncle became a little too clingy to her, and her mother ignored it not to put him in a weird situation. It only resolved after her father almost cut him down after hearing about it. The feather cracked as she used too much force, ''Damn it. I am too stressed.'' Marisia took another one and kept writing while trying to dismiss her memories, but the cries she heard of her sister even now. After her father put his foot down, her uncle had another target: Her sister. The result was that he raped her while she didn''t even go through her first mating season. This, in turn, resulted in an uproar and a power struggle between her mother and uncle. The whole household was disgraced by that scumbag, who sadly was highly talented and only left after being almost killed by her father. The Leonandra household took a hit and only recovered after years of stitching everything together. However, when her sister became unwell, Marisia was suddenly trained ten times harder as the new heir, but her talent wasn''t even close to her sister''s. There was also the problem that her mother wanted to marry off her sister to someone else, who was, at that point, a nervous wreckage from the failed demonic baptism. Only through her intervention and making a deal with her could she stop the marriage from happening and get her out of the estate. It was hell for her and her sister. Only nature itself knew what went through her mother''s mind. After she married Kairoso, she went silent, and only a lot later did she try to pull something off with Narsiz. ''Why now?'' Marisia wished her mother would come after Alexander''s legacy. Still, she knew that she wanted to try to marry off her sons to other nobles as early as possible. She probably thought that the influence of having a noveau noble, her husband, could push her puppies into the arms of other commoners or make them more appealing. So, she would try and intervene early on. ''This will be stressful.'' ... Later evening at the dining area for higher servants It was a relatively lavishly decorated area where servants of high status dined. They were the ones who lived at the estate but weren''t only the personal ones of the noble youth or the rulers. Usually, everyone with some status could decide where to live if their master or mistress permitted it. For example, Alexander''s personal maid, Melina, chose to live with her master inside his mansion. At the same time, Salyna, the estate''s head accountant, preferred to get some distance from her mistress after a work day. However, there were also temporary guests like the bunny-kin who was flirting with one of the higher in command of the Leonandra military, a falcon-kin, and feeding him some meat. "Say ahh. You will need all the energy tonight, my dear." The falcon-kin opened his mouth while he visibly enjoyed getting fed, especially during the end of the mating season when all the emotions went wild for the last wave, and romantic feelings came like a battering ram without any announcement for everyone. Those who were older just enjoyed the time, and if they found someone they fell in love with while the season was ongoing, their feelings slowly subsided after it, and reality came crashing in. It was common sense to have a partner beforehand with whom one could enjoy the time so they wouldn''t fall out afterward. For the ones who were married or for a long time together, the month was like a break where they could go back to their youth and feel how they did as they met for the first time. However, the youth had other problems, especially when they met their love during the mating season. Both promised each other the world; afterward, only an ugly breakup awaited them when reality came crashing down. So, as Aro walked through the dining room, he almost frowned when he saw dozens of young ones doing precisely that. While the mating season was chaotic inside the estate, where servants couldn''t take their eyes and hands off each other, afterward was much worse. Screams, fights, and a lot of broken tableware were the results. The head butler always organized to have a healer on standby for the time after the season, whom he had to call for the stupidest reasons. Most of the time, it was simple violence, like some broken bones. Other times even stabbings occurred. ''This will be a headache.'' However, he inwardly shook himself awake from the thought and went straight to Anastasia, who he saw and heard even from far away. He needed to clarify all the details with her about Narsiz''s and Alexander''s particular lessons. Standing behind her, he cleared his throat, "Ahem, Ms. Anastasia, do you have a moment?" Her ears and nose twitched while she turned around with a smile, "Aro? Oh! Two men at once? I feel like a student again!" The falcon-kin recognized him immediately and knew he wasn''t here for something so trivial, "Excuse me, Ana, I have something to do." As he stood up and left, the blushed bunny-kin wanted to stop him, "Bernard, wait! Come later to my room! I will do the thing you like so much!" The falcon-kin suddenly stopped when he heard what she said, his wings slightly fluffing, but he kept walking again after a second. Anastasia turned toward Aro while pouting, "If you are the reason why I have a boring night, you will accompany me!" Aro broke the facade as he couldn''t believe how the prestigious teacher acted and frowned, "I need to disappoint you, but I already have a spouse." The clearly horny bunny-kin frowned while in thought but shrugged in the end, "Harem-play is fine. However, I want to be first!" A vein popped on Aro''s forehead, "Enough with this ridiculousness! I came here clearly with intentions other than having intercourse with you!" Everyone in the dining area now noticed him, and with that, they began to whisper to each other. Aro could already assume he needed to prepare his partner for the coming rumors. Anastasia jerked when he screamed and came slowly down from the combinations of too many hormones and alcohol, "Ok, fine, jeez. Can you not scream like some bat-kin who is looking for their kits? What do you want?" Aro sighed and tried to straighten himself. The mating season also sometimes made him lose control of his emotions, "It is about Mr. Alexander and Mr. Narsiz." She propped her head on her hand and looked at him like he was an idiot, "This is why you interrupted me? Are you actually insane?" Aro forced a smile, "It is confidential for now. Please show me your room where we can talk in private." ... 5 minutes later, Anastasia''s room The bunny-kin threw a bottle of wine on the bed and afterward herself, "So, what do you want actually from me? If it is about teaching him law, for this, I need a week to prepare the lessons, or if it is how I talk with him while teaching, I will keep it to my discretion." Aro looked at her sternly and said to himself for the hundredth time that this person, who appeared to be no better than some cheap red district whore, was actually a prestigious and excellent teacher, "We will have some unexpected visitors in due time. I want you, together with me, to teach the caterpillars how to see through manipulations of the young ladies visiting." Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "Who exactly will arrive? Girls? From which family? I know that the guard dogs only mingle with each other, so who will be the lucky one to try and tame Alex, hehe." Aro''s tone became serious, "Scarlett and young ladies from the Nine-Fire family." The bunny-kin tilted her head slightly, "Scarlett? Where did I hear the name?" "It was the previous lady of the estate. Scarlett J. Leonandra." Anastasia''s eyes became as wide as saucers, "Wait?! You mean the crazy bitch who fought the high nobility in the capital city?!" Aro shook his head, "The rumors were exaggerated." Anastasia laughed manically, "Hahaha, exaggerated?! She decapitated a marquis and ripped his only kit''s, who was an infant, head off the shoulders in front of his wife. What about this is wrong?" "He..." Aro closed his eyes and opened them slowly while inhaling, "...the marquis took her husband as a prisoner and blackmailed her into becoming his concubine." Anastasia suddenly remembered, "Wait, her husband was imprisoned? Didn''t a massacre happen at the same time?" Aro shrugged, "He was made drunk and brought to a cell. After he woke up, he became furious." She couldn''t believe what she heard, "Furious?! He killed every single prisoner and hundreds of soldiers and guards. Only the royal knights could stop him because they sacrificed one of them." He sighed, "Roland was always a little emotional regarding family." With this, Anastasia woke up fully from the alcohol and hormone trip she had for the last week, "Ok, Scarlett will arrive, and what does the crazy bitch want? Only marry off the boys to some girls from the Nine-Fire household?" Aro shook his head, "She only wants them to meet each other and know better." She raised an eyebrow, "So?" "The boys are very insulated, especially Mr. Narsiz, who will be susceptible to whoever Scarlett brings. Thus, he could be easily manipulated. Especially since he is very introverted." Anastasia nodded, "Ok, what about Alex?" "I... don''t know exactly, but it would be better also to teach him how they could manipulate him. I think he doesn''t have the emotional maturity that comes with age to see through this." She nodded, "I agree..." She smirked at Aro, "...and you want to teach them with me? How cute." Aro nodded and ignored her sarcastic comment while opening the door to leave, "I will leave now since I informed you. I will see you tomorrow morning since..." His upper lip moved upwards in disgust, "...you are now not in the right state of mind." Anastasia chuckled while holding a hand before her mouth, "Hehe, truly a gentleman. However, before you leave, could you tell me if Scarlett is as crazy as the rumors say? I know I have no hope for retribution if she comes after me since Count Moorgrel looks after you like some cute kits." Aro turned around with a smile, "She mellowed out with age. However, don''t provoke her." The door closed, and Anastasia plopped on her bed, "How reassuring..." Without looking, she tried to find the wine bottle she had brought to the room, "...damn it, what a shit night." Chapter 56: Second Meeting Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Janina M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Cross Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Salyna Leonandra (Swan-kin) Noriken Leonandra (Spider-kin) Aro Leonandra (Butterfly-kin) ... Leonandra Estate meeting room Alexander sat in the meeting room, where he brought forward his paper idea. All of his mother''s close retainers were here like her children. Even, for some reason, Janina. Lorient couldn''t attend, though. As her mating season ended with her getting the skill, she needed to destress herself, which meant having multiple professionals visiting her. He looked at his mother, and she looked slightly pissed. He heard that something had happened, which was why Ocilia wouldn''t come out of her room and wanted to be alone, and why Sarah looked like crap. Alexander wasn''t allowed to talk to his sister, but Ocilia was fine. So he would try to visit and talk with her, but she refused. He had not the slightest idea what could''ve occurred, but he gave her a couple of weeks since it seemed that it was something serious and personal. He guessed it also had something to do with Sarah, who looked like a corpse. She was usually jumpy and happy-go-lucky, but at the moment, she flinched from the slightest movement around her. His training with her also paused for some time, and his new instructor was a pissed-off mother. It wasn''t that he didn''t like to train with her since she actually taught him instead of using him as a punching bag, but the training was also much more demanding. His challenging training regime became a bit of a problem since he was tired the whole day and wished for nothing more than get his hands on some coffee beans. In that sense, he instructed Aurum to find him those or something similar. Usually, if you were tired, a cheap stamina potion would be more than enough to pep you for a couple of hours, but as he had no internal energy, any potion would be poisonous to him. ''I need a break.'' The training with his mother was hard, but it was only a small part of the whole, which made him tired. Furthermore, he trained semi-regularly his muscles more wholly by doing [Fitness] and archery with his brother, who was getting good. On the other hand, Alexander was mediocre at best, as he could barely hit bullseye with the bow made for children. However, the more he did it, the more ideas he got, and one of those was to present a unique bow to his brother that he would gift him after his mating season. Alexander needed experience in every aspect of life for later, so he didn''t want to ignore the things he could do, even though he sucked at them. Yet, he had much more success on the side of production and artificing. Alexander could successfully create paper repeatedly and increased his artificing skills by checking the Cold-Snout mana items they sent. All this busy work also raised his magic/alchemy skills considerably. He also increased them as he continued to give out [Mana Sense] to loyal household members. He waited for the first one to be good enough to do it without him, but this would need time. Alexander did all this while wearing the weight mana items and the collar. It was a vicious cycle. The weight increase was needed since his body started acting up again as his skill levels shot up quickly. He even got the [Stress Resistance] skill that alleviated some of his mental stress together with all the other skills. Yet, he had fun and loved all of this busyness. Especially since he was literally about to change the world with his first invention, and such an achievement was all the motivation he needed to keep going. His mana skills progressed, too, as his precision and control were over the top. Green even tried to get more spells to quickly end his apprentice phase and start with the 3D constructs. She saw no reason any more to have him learn easy spells. Still, she also had little time since she was a temple leader and needed to teach all the others who got [Mana Sense] through him. It went so far that they started visiting her instead of learning it while she taught Alexander. Despite all his busyness, he knew that all would level off in due time when more and more people became proficient in things only he could do for now. If that happened, he would have much more time to relax. There was another motivation, though, which made his mind kindle as he remembered his system window from yesterday: Alexander couldn''t wait to get to his legacy and, at last, boost his attributes to a new level. Also, he wished for nothing more than to at least have his [Divinity Line] with the [Mystic Skills] with the energies. He didn''t care what he would get, thinking he could make everything work. His inner ramblings were interrupted as he heard his mother clearing her throat to stop all the chit-chat around him. "Ahem!" In front of them lay around a hundred pieces of paper on a couch table. Even though Alexander created them, he didn''t like them much, but they were much better than papyrus or the material used for mana contracts. His mother stared at one, then took a feather and wanted to start writing, but Salyna stopped her. It seemed she activated her skill and analyzed it more thoroughly. Salyna turned around towards Alexander with a questioning face, "Why is it worth so much?" She rubbed it between her fingers and glanced at it occasionally. She obviously liked it but couldn''t understand why the price was around ten times higher than their highest estimate beforehand. Alexander leaned back and smirked, "Well, I don''t know why but the paper here has a ton of mana in them and..." Salyna continued for him, "This is contract material... and since it is so expensive, it is around higher middle grade..." She looked back at Alexander and asked nervously, "...how many?" Alexander shrugged, "I don''t know exactly, but around ten thousand?" Eeeek! Salyna made a weird noise, and everyone looked at her weirdly. Even Marisia was confused and took a sheet of paper to observe it more closely, but she laid it back down as she had no idea what it meant and waited for Salyna to continue. After a minute of closing her eyes, she asked Alexander again, "It wasn''t enchanted, right?" Enchantments were like a combination of mana circuits and chants, as the name described it. You would need to create a specific chant, which could be engraved on a material to enchant something. For it to work, you would also need to create circuit-like engravings through which mana could flow. The paper Alexander created had mana in them and thus proved that it could hold enchantments in the first place. Regular papyrus would crumble when you inserted mana into it or, if it were somewhat robust, it would be porous toward mana. He couldn''t find out more since he couldn''t tinker around because his mother became much stricter with him since Sarah presumably fucked up. While he, for example, tried to find mistakes in mana items, there was always a guard and a healer behind him. It was annoying, to say the least. "Nope, Green, together with Aurum, are now trying to find somewhere a manual on how to enchant them, but yes, they are raw." Salyna''s smile didn''t become smaller, and Alexander could smell her greed metaphorically and could swear that she almost started drooling. He understood why: Even selling them raw would significantly fill their treasury. Narsiz asked what everyone had on their mind, "Ok, it is much better than papyrus and obviously has some mana, but I am utterly confused about the worth of this." Alexander ignored that his brother didn''t understand that the mana it had wasn''t the important part but that it could hold mana. Artificing wasn''t something one usually learned as a noble, and going by his experience in the IT sector, he chose to ignore it as there were the same problems. Everyone nodded, and Marisia answered for her head accountant, who daydreamed, "Remember the earlier estimations from the first discussion? If we take it as it is for writing, one sheet should be worth 1-3 gold coins, but if you take the mana into account..." Salyna interrupted her mistress, screaming, "No! Three to five gold coins, as the paper is of exquisite quality, and if we add the mana, it will go up to ca. 25 gold coins..." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. She suddenly added more, "Also, don''t forget the barely existing costs of this..." She looked at Alexander with a smile that made him slightly shiver, "...we gave this little golden goose some pocket money and barely any access to crafters..." She came close to Alexander, who wanted to run away as she stared at him like a giant treasure chest filled with gold coins, "...and he laid a lot of golden eggs for us." Salyna started patting him, which Alexander didn''t like, but he was, for some reason, frightened and endured it. Marisia squinted at her and ignored the unsightly display, "No way? A normal contract costs around fifteen small gold... does it mean that these are so much more expensive?" Salyna stopped her patting and turned to her mistress in confusion, "Mar... My lady, with all respect, we are not talking about small gold coins. I am talking average gold coins." Alexander already learned that one large gold coin was ten average gold coins, and one average one was ten small ones. Silver and copper, on their own, had the same system. It only changed if one wanted to trade between those different noble metals. Eight large silver coins could be worth one small gold coin, sometimes twenty. It all depended on the market and the supply of those metals to mint the coins. Marisia''s eye twitched slightly, "Excuse me? Is it twenty times the worth of our contracts? How can it be?" Salyna didn''t stop to smile and looked at her lady with her stupidly wide smile, "I have no idea. Ask Mr. Alexander." It looked ridiculous that Salyna couldn''t stop smiling like a moron, that even Aro and Noriken looked bewildered at her. Marisia looked back at Alexander and signaled to explain, which he did with glee, "I looked at a normal contract which we normally use and the one I made..." He shrugged like it was no big deal while leaning back arrogantly, obviously loving this moment, "My paper has a higher and better-distributed mana density, and the conductivity is excellent." Janina, who sat beside him, looked at it with a sparkle in her eye and asked, "What is it made of?" Alexander nodded and explained, "I used basically normal tree scraps from a tree called Oyarion." Marisia raised an eyebrow, "This is an ordinary tree species in these parts, nothing special..." She looked toward Noriken, who was more knowledgeable in these things, "...right Noriken?" He didn''t answer and only stared at the paper. A hit to the back and a whisper from Aro brought him back, "Ah yes, Oyarion, I am sorry, my lady. This tree is widespread on the border since they can survive the demonic energy." Narsiz looked at Alexander and asked him, "Did you try it with other trees?" Alexander shook his head, "Nope, but I surely can." Janina asked again, "So, you have ten thousand of this paper?" Alexander answered while patting her, "Oh yeah, and if you want, you can get some to draw on!" Janina rejoiced at this, "Yeah!" The short wholesome moment was interrupted by the lady who started talking to Salyna, "Ten thousand. If we can sell it for the market price, this will be a lot of gold, but who would buy it?" When Alexander saw his mother talking to what looked like a Salyna who was about to climax, she looked for some reason, unsure how to react. Why? His mother tried to relativize the situation by poking holes and finding flaws. For some reason, Alexander liked this kind of behavior since he was trained to do the same while his mother did it naturally. The chit-chat in the room from everyone was interrupted by Alexander exclaiming, "I talked with Green, and she is ready to buy it all out for a discount..." Salyna stopped him instantly, "How much?!" Alexander didn''t expect her to be this aggressive but answered her, hoping she wouldn''t choke him out, "Around 20% under the market price..." Before he could elaborate more, Salyna interrupted him again, forgetting his and her position, "20%?! Alex, did Aurum know about this?!" The moment she screamed at Alexander, he reeled his ears back. He could see her somewhat holding back, obviously waiting for an explanation. So he nodded, "I convinced him, actually... are you ok?" Salyna clenched her fists, and she mumbled something barely audible under her breath, which Alexander could only understand partly, but it was enough to know that Aurum would have a bad time if he didn''t convince her, "...bastard ...beat the... waste of money..." She looked suddenly at Alexander and inhaled and exhaled strongly, asking him in a nice way that was forced, "Could you try to convince me too, Mr. Alexander? I find this rather ridiculous." Alexander chuckled, which brought out a giant vein on her forehead. He tried to explain, "Hehe, I really don''t want to sell it directly and have the hassle with the distribution. Our profit is basically our revenue, and almost everything is in-house. I would rather have someone trusted to buy it than to try and send Aurum on a goose chase to sell it to a consolidated market. Since Green is with the Temple, nobody would even try to go against her..." He shrugged, "...so I see no problem." Narsiz chimed in, "But couldn''t you make more if you sold it yourself through other avenues?" Alexander shrugged again and looked at his brother, "Sure, but I can create around a couple of thousand sheets of paper on the side. Slowly selling them will only halt us since we need first look for buyers, which will take too long..." He wanted to add that he wanted to have one distributor who bought all of his stock off for a reasonable price so he wouldn''t need to hassle himself with it. He had other ideas he already was working on and wanted Green, who he trusted, to gain more power in the Temple while he would also indirectly benefit from it. Alexander continued, "What I want is to bring them out as fast as possible, so I can work on automatizing the paper-making and create more things. Paper is not the only product I can produce, and having Aurum and others run around and sell mana contracts by the dozens to some merchants and nobles will get annoying. Green can buy everything and anonymize our household. So no one would even know where she has it from, and with that, nobody would want our head, too." Usually, on Earth, it mattered little if someone had a great product in terms of security, but here, it could be a death sentence since he put other producers and sellers out of the market. So, he was concerned with safety, at least for now. Salyna looked at Alexander more intensely and nodded at him, "You are right. If you have more ideas for other products, looking for buyers and sellers will cost a lot of time and manpower. On the other hand, selling it in bulk to a distributor like the Temple, we could concentrate on just the production..." She tilted her head slightly, "...however, what do you mean with automatizing, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander looked at Salyna and snipped, "Oh, right! Anyone can make paper. I am working right now on making it so, but I need some of Cross''s people who would learn some easy spells and are ready to work for me in creating it." Cross, who stood at the door, answered him with a rarely seen smile, "Don''t worry, Mr. Alexander, just give us some time to get used to the mana skills and show them what to do, and they will do it in earnest." Alexander honestly didn''t expect less. He created a new and stronger elite every two to three days, whose loyalty toward the estate and him increased heavily. He even forbade them to enter his mansion as they wanted to thank him or send presents since they were genuinely thankful to reach a new height in strength. He was also allowed to give everyone the spells he used, and they loved especially the lifestyle spells. Green seemed not to care what he would do with those spells she gave him. He didn''t know why, but it was well and good since he also archived them openly in the library while giving Ocilia the task of asking everyone who received their mana skills to write down explicitly how they did it so future generations would have some direction. Salyna nodded and stepped back with a giant smile while murmuring, "We will be richer than Moorgrel, damn that old bastard." Everyone heard it, but nobody said anything. Count Moorgrel was their lord and master, but Alexander knew little about him. Anastasia only said that the Count and Moorgrel as a territory was a highly complex topic that she would teach much later. Narsiz asked Alexander, bringing him out of his thoughts, "I want mana skills too. You can do it, right?" Sarah''s eyes twitched, and she looked toward her brother expectantly. He saw that she also wanted those mana skills but was at the moment too frightened to ask with their mother around. Alexander turned to his brother, "Yeah, of course, but I need some time to improve. Give me... a week or two..." He looked at his mother, "...if this is ok, of course." Sarah and Narsiz looked at her expectantly. However, Sarah looked immediately down as she looked back at her but not like her mother would forbid her to become stronger. Marisia leaned back and crossed her legs, "Fine by me, but I want myself to go through first." Janina became elated, "Yeah! I can be a mage!" Everyone looked at her and then at Alexander, who was the expert, and her situation was different, so he answered carefully, "Nope," he tried at least. Janina pouted, "Why?!" Alexander answered her, "I have no idea how to give someone mana skills if they have no [Mystic Skills]... I am sorry, Janina, you will need to wait." Janina wanted to say something, but Alexander continued, "So there is a need for a different way... only I don''t know which one. So there will be a lot of trial and error. Are you ok with this?" The little pup was happy and nodded heavily while her tail waggled heavily. This little exchange was interrupted by Marisia, "Well, I think this problem was solved rather fast, and we will talk later about how much gold you can afford to give for the repairs, Alex. Then there is the next point: My mother will visit us in a couple of weeks." Almost everyone started to growl, and even Aro broke his demeanor as he shivered slightly. Alexander and Janina were the only confused ones looking around. Narsiz saw this and explained, "She is a terrible person only interested in the fief. The last time she came, she wanted me to engage with someone from the Nine-Fire household." Alexander looked confused at him, "You mean the fox-kin guards from the north? What about Lorient or Sarah?" Everyone chuckled a little, and Narsiz tried to explain it, "Fox-kin, Wolf-kin, various dog-kin, basically everyone from the canine-kin variation has a little problem." "Little problem? What problem is there?" Narsiz smirked at him, "Canine-kin have a higher female-to-male ratio. For wolf-kin, it is for every three males, there are seven females, and for fox-kin, it is for one male, there are nine females." Cross added, "Mr. Narsiz is right. Around seventy percent of our wolf-kin soldiers are female." Alexander looked at him, confused, "Wait? Those were female?!" Everyone laughed and chuckled in the room. Only Marisia''s stare could stop them, so Narsiz continued, "Males are an important resource for the fox-kin, but they are pretty happy marrying other canine-kin too." Alexander knew about the weird difference in wolf-kin numbers, so he thought that it would equalize itself through war and other dangerous encounters, but he noticed that he thought in terms of Earth. Females weren''t weaker than males; even if they were, it wouldn''t matter much. With skills, mana, energies, and the [Divinity Line], there was an equalizer. Nothing stopped a female from becoming a soldier, which they apparently did a lot. ''Well, gender equality was achieved by the system, I guess?'' Aro commented, "That is not all. The former lady wants her grandchildren to marry only other noble households, and since Narsiz is also very talented, he has become a true treasure in her eyes." Janina asked, "Hm? I thought Sarah and Lori were much stronger than Narsi?" Salyna answered her question, "Brute strength is not all there is to a ruler. If you have only muscles for brain..." She nodded towards Cross as an apology, obtuse that he popped a vein at such a gesture, "...your fief will become a disaster. Nobody wants to be known as a bad ruler, so talents like Narsiz, who is also a noble, are a hot commodity..." She turned to Alexander with a smirk, "...of course, we are lucky she doesn''t know about our little golden cygnet too much. Otherwise, we would have half a dozen little fox-kin girls trying to woo him." Alexander suddenly started to sweat a little as he finally understood the issue, "Wait?! My grandmother wants to marry me off to some fox-kin?!" Marisia coughed into her fist and explained before it became more uncomfortable, "I am one-fourth fox-kin since my grandmother was one and a half jackal-kin since my father was one. We all exchange with each other, but we never force someone..." Narsiz interrupted her, "Excuse me, Mother, but I remember being almost made to sign a contract for an engagement." Marisia sighed, wanting to defend her at least a little, "My mother is, in that sense, a little bit more extreme as she tries to... let''s say ensure that her grandchildren don''t make the same mistake..." She air quoted mistake, "...as I did." Alexander asked, "What mistake?" Salyna answered for her mistress, "Your father. She disliked him heavily since he was a commoner. Even his status as a druid was nothing of notice to her." Sarah then said something for the first time, "I remember being very little, and she forced me to speak in the right manner for hours, and if I made a mistake, she whacked me with a stick. Papa stopped this, and a fight happened in which he could barely go against her." Suddenly, Janina remembered something, "Isn''t Saru a fox-kin? Can''t he marry one of them?" Another chuckle went through the room, and Aro explained it to her, "He is a rather special case... I don''t think anyone with all their senses in place would marry him... keugh!" Salyna elbowed him and stared him down to stop it before he could continue, but luckily Narsiz was there to ask his mother some questions, changing the topic, "Mother, please tell me father will be at the estate." She nodded, and Sarah and Narsiz sighed in relief. Alexander asked, "She can''t be that terrible, right?" Marisia looked at him with pity but turned to Aro, "Make sure that when she comes, you follow her 24/8, and I need Sarusos to follow Alexander throughout her visit..." She looked at Cross, "...since you will take Kairo''s place in the East while he is here, instruct some of your better guards to follow behind Narsiz. I want to avoid a fight, and having others around my sons will be enough for her not to do anything weird." Narsiz frowned, but Alexander waved his hand in dismissal, "What can happen at worst?" Sarah looked at him with a smirk, "You are a mage and genius, so I would say kidnapping and torturing you till you accept a contract?" This scared Alexander, and Marisia yelled at Sarah, "Stop that!" Alexander ignored Sarah, who almost started crying, and looked at his mother, waiting for an explanation, "She would never torture you, but about the contract... hopefully not..." Aro tried calming Alexander, "Don''t worry, she doesn''t know much about you." This made Alexander even more pale and scared shitless, but Marisia corrected Aro, "She knows... a little more. Her nose is everywhere, and she can sniff it out instantly, so I only mentioned it indirectly in my letters." Alexander looked at his only ally in the room, his big brother, who looked back and laughed, "What are you looking at me? Haha! I am probably weaker than you." ... Hours later After some more talk, it was decided that Alexander and Narsiz would be guarded from all sides when the former lady came to the estate. Sarusos would guard Alexander like a faberg¨¦ egg, and Cross''s best soldiers would be by Narsiz''s side. As the meeting ended, only Janina was perplexed and downtrodden, ''I thought I would marry a beautiful prince or knight, but now I need to think about kidnapping someone so I can marry them?! The novels are all lies!'' Chapter 57: Seducing Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Aro Leonandra (Butterfly-kin) Anastasia I. Ramputt (Bunny-kin) ... Alexander''s classroom "This feels weird, Narsi." "You don''t say. I kind off feel like they are going to teach us how to defeat succubi." Alexander sighed, "By the circle, I am only six, and they want to force me into a marriage? With whom? A four-year-old?!" Narsiz tilted his head slightly in confusion while looking at his younger brother, "Yeah, it could also be a girl in my age range too. Nobody knows what grandmother is up to." "Ok, got it. Grandmother is basically a mustache-twirling villain, but where is Sarah? I get that we are here since we could be manipulated easily, and Lorient doesn''t, as she will probably beat the shit out of her future husband if he looks at her wrongly, but Sarah should also receive some lessons, no?" "First, I don''t get your weird references, but yes, she is a villain, and second, you don''t know? This is new." "Know what?" "Females are... how do I say it nicely..." Anastasia interrupted him, "No need to be nice..." She looked at Alexander, "...in certain noble societies, they are worth less since there is a clear disproportion in sexes like you know, and it would be a big surprise if Scarlett actually brings a fox-kin boy with her, so there is no need for Ms. Sarah to attend. Also, the more talented a male is at certain aspects, the more ladies will throw themselves at you for political power, more than the other way around." Alexander looked to the side at Narsiz and back at Anastasia with a smirk, pointing with a thumb at his brother, "So, why is he here then?" pack "Ow!..." Alexander rubbed the back of his head, "...why did you hit me?!" Narsiz looked at him sternly, "You deserved it, and an older brother needs to educate the younger one." While rubbing, Alexander tried to counter, "Well, this is not what I remember. A couple of ye..." pack "OW! For what now!" Narsiz looked at him, emotionless, "Because you are sometimes too annoying for your own good." Both looked at each other in silence for a couple of seconds till they broke out in laughter. Aro and Anastasia were in front of them and looked at the brothers with genuine delight but also with worry. Anastasia thought, ''So easy, and if I were younger, they wouldn''t be safe.'' She knew of the discrepancies first-hand since the bunny-kin had the same problems. Boys were valued more, and sometimes she wished to be born an ant-kin who had it the other way around, nine males for one female. It wasn''t also the case that she didn''t like other beast-kin subraces as she could choose anyone to be her partner. It was more so that she, even though very open-minded, preferred to have a partner who was more like her, outside of the mating season, of course. She didn''t know why she felt that way, but there were many theories behind such feelings. ''Well, never mind. First, I need to prepare the boys somehow.'' Anastasia talked with Aro the whole morning about what they should teach and decided to look at them more closely and then continue with a specific plan. What the boys showed looked like they needed to start at the beginning and show how easy they were to seduce. It was not an unknown problem in noble society that talented noble kits, depending on the territory, either boys or girls, were used as leverage for deals or power. Since no one knew what their grandmother wanted, as she was unpredictable, it was always better to work from the worst case, which was not easy. The Nine-Fire household was promiscuous, and the fox-kin male-to-female ratio was around 9:1. In Anastasia''s mind, the previous lady could easily bring more than ten young ladies to the estate and overwhelm the boys. However, with such a move, the current lady would just throw them all out since she had a very protective nature towards her kits. But it wasn''t even the worst-case scenario. No, worst-case, there would be a very manipulative and intelligent girl who could wrap either of the boys around her finger, ''Well, learning by doing is always the best.'' She approached Narsiz and sat down on the desk while protruding her ample chest. She looked at him with a seducing smile. Of course, she didn''t use any skills since they were taboo, especially in such situations, and could kill the romance immediately, like the user, if someone found it out. However, she didn''t need to since Narsiz''s face blushed slightly, and he looked shy away. Even though he didn''t go through his first mating season, it didn''t mean he didn''t find others attractive or sought closeness like cuddling. Only after going through it would his actual sexual drive become active. She slightly touched his chin, turned his head towards her, and slowly let her hand glide through his hair. She won, and he looked at her like a helpless kit. Aro interrupted the scene, "Mr. Alexander, if you saw such a scene, which I hope you understand what happens, what would you do?" Alexander looked at Anastasia and frowned. However, this wasn''t the time to congratulate a vixen, so he conjured a contraption, an ice spear, and held it close to her throat. He smiled at her cordially to avoid appearing unmannered, "Back away." This brought Narsiz back to his senses, and he backed away, but Aro frowned at this scene, "Not something this extreme, Mr. Alexander. Something more delicate and defusing without starting a war." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Alexander nodded and dissolved the ice spear. He cleared his throat, "Ms. Anastasia, please move your voluptuous bottom from the desk before it crushes under your weight?" Alexander had no experience being a wingman or going out to nightclubs. He had only a few very uninteresting relationships and only with those who he got to know from his school time. Even his fianc¨¦ was the one who made the first step at his graduation, which was his last relationship. He also had only a few very good friends instead of many colleagues. He saw himself as the epitome of a boring small village guy, ''God, I am boring, am I?'' Narsiz cackled at this, and after being almost pierced, Anastasia nodded at the solution but was visibly not amused. She moved to Alexander, took a chair, and sat beside him. She slowly moved her hand toward his back, and the moment she touched him slightly, Alexander jolted and looked at her in disgust. "Please don''t touch me. I really hate it." Narsiz became confused, "But we cuddled a lot? Did you hate it back then too?" Alexander shook his head, "No, I loved it, but I hate being touched by strangers." This particular quirk was something that he brought back from Earth. He loved the closeness to his loved ones but hated it if someone wanted to come close to him without building any relationship beforehand. This was also why he always avoided huggings and tried to shake hands, which made him a weirdo in the eyes of others while in university, where everyone was more open-minded. Aro raised an eyebrow, "This is unexpected but also excellent." On the other hand, Anastasia was much more confused than her temporary teacher colleague, "This is weird. Beast-kin are usually, by nature, beings with certain general traits. One of those is that others can easily manipulate us through closeness. That is why we teach every kit to be careful around people exactly trying to do what I did." Alexander looked at her similarly confused, "So? Not like everyone is the same..." He turned to Narsiz, "...right?" Narsiz sighed at this, "Don''t look at me like this. I have a reason since I was poisoned and thus have trust issues..." He shrugged, "...I know this, but you are different." Alexander raised an eyebrow, thinking it was ridiculous to judge him because he didn''t like to be touched by strangers. Anastasia saw this and wanted to prove her point. She looked at him with the perfect cute smile, "I am sorry, Alex, but you look so cute today that I couldn''t resist hugging you and stroking your beautiful snow-white fur." Alexander scooched a little away from her, finding it even more disgusting. Narsiz saw this and patted his little brother''s head, "See? But even if you are weird in this case, I love you." Alexander fully understood that the interactions with his family weren''t specific to their closeness but rather a general quirk many beast-kin races did. He couldn''t believe, though, that all subraces were the same. If he could describe it metaphorically, it was like a bubble of intimacy around everyone with two layers. The outer layer was for hugs, cuddling, etc., while the inner was for more sexual interactions, love, etc. His second and first layers were closer to each other and harder to reach for everyone. At the same time, if he took Anastasia at her word, it would mean that beast-kin usually had their second layer much easier to enter than his and were thus seen as more open. He looked back at Narsiz, "I find the lesson incredibly weird since an old hag has been trying to seduce me, a six-year-old. What about you?" Narsiz looked for a moment at Alexander and then laughed out loud, "Hahaha! I can''t disagree with you." Anastasia showed some discomfort but, in the end, nodded at this, "Well, Alex, you obviously don''t need the lesson..." She murmured something barely audible, "...not like my ego is hurt or anything." Aro ignored her mumble but agreed to the rest, "I think Mr. Alexander can leave. Anyone who tries to seduce him would rather bite at steel." Anastasia nodded and stood up while her posture became more pronounced, "I think this too. Alex is weird, and I don''t think the young ladies will stay long enough to bring down his barrier and would rather give up." Alexander felt offended and answered without much thought, "Your tone sounds like I am some weirdo." "..." "You are, Alex." "This is the case, though?" He sighed, acknowledging it, "Fine, so, with this, we will probably not have any lessons till grandma is gone, right?" Anastasia agreed, "Yep, we will put it on hold till I bring Mr. Narsiz to the point where he can hold himself against any seductions from teenage ladies." Alexander smirked and tried to make a joke, "Why not bring Sarah in? She will probably know how to do it, and since she is young, she is more his age group." Aro suddenly gasped, "Oh! Good idea, Mr. Alexander!" "What?! Wait!" They looked at him strangely at his outburst, but even Narsiz agreed with his suggestion, "Why? It is actually a good idea." The former human inside the puppy became suddenly distressed, "Stop! Isn''t it weird to get hit on by his own sister? Isn''t incest bad?" Anastasia understood what he meant, or she thought so, "Incest is bad as it doesn''t grow one''s political or economic power. You are right, but it should be fine since this is a lesson, and we are only simulating how Mr. Narsiz should act." Aro went immediately outside to get Sarah. However, he stopped then Alexander slapped the table, "No! Wait! Doesn''t incest bring problems to the bab... puppy? Like defects or other things?" First, they looked confused at Alexander but changed their sight to Anastasia, who shook her head, "No. Such a thing never happened because someone mated with their family. Where did you read it?" "So, it never happened in, let''s say, the fourth or fifth generation if the siblings were engaged with each other repeatedly?" Anastasia shook her head again, "No, there is even a noble family who only engages with each other for dozens of generations. They are all brilliant and physically fit. About what defects do you speak then?" Alexander plopped again on his chair and lied, "Nevermind. I read a note from one of our ancestors and misunderstood." Aro closed the door and went to get Sarah. At the same time, Anastasia tried to teach them while they waited, "We usually procreate with others outside our families for power, economic reasons, resources, love, and so on. Sometimes, like the family I spoke about before, has a very rare [Divinity Line], and they want to hold unto it with all they have, so they only choose partners inside their circle, even if it is not fully proven that [Divinity Line]s will be inherited." "I get it. However, I find it very... not natural at all." Narsiz looked at Alexander and smiled at him, "Don''t worry, I love you as a brother and nothing more." "Thanks, at least something. Love you too." Suddenly, Anastasia remembered something, "Did you get your hands on Merlin''s theory on familial and societal structures somehow?" Alexander shook his head, and she continued, "He proposed to end incest in the book, but nobody saw his reasoning, and since his worries never manifested, it was dismissed. So, you are at least not alone in this... how weird. Two geniuses are against this... hm." While she was in thought, Alexander was shocked. He first looked at everyone around him, who looked stunningly beautiful. Even though he called his teacher an old hag, she was actually his type through and through. There were no weird defects, only the bunny ears and tail. However, he wanted to know, so he asked, "Teach, are you also from an incestuous relationship?" She came out of her thoughts and nodded, "Yes, my mother was my father''s cousin, and the only outsider was my great-grandfather, that''s it. Why?" ''Ok, so she doesn''t look like a three-eyed monster or has a third arm somewhere... well, she has bunny ears and... wait?'' He suddenly thought of something, "How are humans or other races in this sense?" She raised an eyebrow, "They are practically more incestuous than we are. Why? Listen, Alex, what you are trying to do, is what Merlin tried, and his hypothesis about it wasn''t true." He waved his hands a little in panic, "Ok, ok. What about if someone with a more ge... diverse pool of ancestors? Are they in some way stronger or more intelligent?" Anastasia sighed but thought nonetheless momentarily and answered, "Yes and no. Some prominent noble families build gigantic harems with females from all different beast-kin races. However, their kits are not more or less talented than the ones who had parents who were siblings." Narsiz looked at his brother and frowned, "You are clearly distressed, is everything ok?" Alexander wanted to scream No but stopped himself. While he found, because of his Earth-human self, incest apprehensive, he panicked about something different: Genetics and evolution. He always understood intellectually that the genetic makeup and evolution were different in this world since there were literally other races and an RPG gaming-like window floating in front of his face. Yet, it was somewhat different from having another significant change from his old world. This he could not conceptualize at all. He could understand and live with certain things, but on the level of familial and societal structures, he, even though open, needed a lot of time to come to terms with it. For the first time, he got a real culture shock. He was just baffled and couldn''t say anything. Narsiz slowly patted his little brother''s head, which relaxed him, ''Well, at least he is not into me.'' Alexander suddenly had another question but feared to ask it. He first needed to process the day''s load of information. He looked at Narsiz, "Thanks." Narsiz smiled back, "No worries. Also, don''t worry about it. Mother would probably kill anyone of us if Sarah, Lorient, or I tried to do something to you." "It... weirdly helped a little bit, thanks." He smiled warmly at Alexander, "You are welcome." There were a lot of misunderstandings. Alexander didn''t fear that they would do something to him but about society as a whole. But he found it cute how his brother tried to reassure him. As always, he escaped to his bad jokes to avoid uncomfortable topics, ''There goes my variety of incest jokes.'' The door suddenly opened, and Sarah came in with all her elegance, "So? I just need to seduce Narsiz?" Alexander twitched and stood up, "Well, I will leave now. Good luck." Sarah tried to look at him seductively as he was by the door and winked. His only reaction was a shiver and his falling ears. With this, he left with a ton of thoughts. He thanked the gods that he could relax for the day and think it through more clearly to come to a more thorough understanding since he would need to live in this world. Or at least this was what he wanted to do before putting the whole thing into the back of his head, ''I should take a nap and then do some research.'' Chapter 58: Mana Ink & Expertise Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Aurum (Swan-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) Authors note: I will now do this "creation" more straightforwardly. Also, readers are advised that I use, like before, some of my creative freedom to cut some corners. ... Alexander sat in his office with some guests, which he tried to avoid like the plague. Because the moment they found him, he was forced to do what he hated the most: Budget discussions. For the last few days, he has been thinking and researching beast-kin''s familial and societal structures. So, besides his usual training, he was mainly hiding in the library from them. However, it was not over, as he could change the topic. He could propose a little project for fast results and steer the discussion there before it could begin. "Mana ink." Aurum raised an eyebrow while sitting and looking at his Master in confusion, "All right?" A high-pitched voice came from the other side, "Mana ink? How did you get the receipt from the Draugr?" Green was sitting on the other side. She was with Aurum since she was also part of their team and needed to discuss some things about the paper he sold to her. Alexander shrugged, "I wrote down some ideas beforehand, and mana ink is one of the few that Mom approved. So, that''s what I want to create next." It was a battle for Alexander to convince her that he could sometimes work alone on some things. On the other hand, he knew she wanted nothing more than to have all the healers close to him when he experimented. He found it exaggerated till he remembered that he almost died multiple times. So he took his mother seriously as he understood how she felt and decided to have some restrictions on the more risky inventions of his. While others, like the mana ink project, he was sure that it wasn''t dangerous. He hoped. Alexander looked at his retainer and Green, "Well. It is actually perfect that you are here because I need your excellent expertise!" Aurum sighed in defeat, visibly annoyed, "All right, Master, you want me to use... what do you call it again? Database skill?" Green ignored him and wondered, "You know how to make mana ink?" Alexander nodded happily while his tail flung from one side to the other, "I know how to make ink, and putting mana into the ink shouldn''t be that hard." He was familiar with how ordinary ink was created and could easily recreate it, at least the medieval version of it. Modern ink was too hard to make for now, and he would need much more time. So he wanted to stick first to the recipe he knew and later adjust it slowly. By making the ink from the start, he also wanted to avoid the costs of buying common ink since it was too expensive. In this world, it was costly because nobody bought it since there was no real need as not many could even write or read. What does it mean for the market? Since the merchants and alchemists wanted to make gold, they would produce it in small quantities and sell it with high profits to nobles and other wealthy persons or companies. Alexander liked the thought of disrupting the pap¨¨terie market and giving future students cheap material to write on and with. However, his main goal, for now, was to create mana-infused ink. So, before he started without any plan, he wanted first to ask Green about a couple of things. He smiled at Green, "Well, only you can answer my question since you are the most beautiful..." Green sighed, "Just ask..." Alexander nodded vigorously, "Sure! So, is there anyone who sells mana ink? I heard you talked about the draugr?" Before creating anything, Alexander knew that one must look for existing products on the market. If yes, he could just buy them and replicate everything. If not, he would need to create them from scratch. Green contemplated, and her upper lip rose slightly in disgust, "As I said, Draugr, or rather the undead bitch is producing and selling them." Alexander could feel the hate, and he suddenly remembered a short lesson with Anastasia about them. Draugrs were undead: Skeletons, zombies, ghouls, vampires, etc. They, among others, attacked the nature-dweller in the past and took a not-so-little chunk of their territory. Unlucky for them but lucky for the beast-kin, as this became a giant push factor for nature-dweller to go under the beast-kin umbrella for protection. Alexander thought it was not wise to anger her by making mana ink, so he was about to propose something different, then she suddenly flew up and looked at him full of anger, "Do it! I will buy it from you and flood their customers for cheap! Even if I lose gold, I want this bitch to suffer!" It didn''t stop there. Aurum and Alexander sat and listened to her rant about them while calling them slurs he never heard about. "Around 5300 years ago, we were at peace, but some of their rotting emperors had the stupid idea to attack us, but we crushed those soulless shells under our feet!" There was more behind it since the rant went on for some time. Green told an obviously slanted story about their wars. The reason was somewhat dubious, but it was clear that the draugr attacked them, and in the end, beast-kin helped them out, saving the current part of their territory. It was shortly after the beast-kin liberated themselves from slavery, and since then, they have become strongly allied. However, the story ended quickly when Aurum suddenly stood up and screamed at her, "Shut up! We all know the fucking story of you treehuggers! I heard it thousands of times at the temple ceremonies!" Green became even more agitated and squinted at him, "So what?! Do you..." Before it could escalate, Alexander clapped his hands and used an air contraption to amplify the sound, "Enough!..." He looked at Green, "If you want to fuck them over, don''t rant and tell me if there are any resources I need..." He turned to Aurum, "And you, listen to her and check how expensive they are with your skill." It became silent, and both nodded solemnly, knowing they had overreacted. Both were getting increasingly emotional over the last years, and Alexander knew precisely why. The wild demonic air could wear down anyone. Green was only in central Mal-Gil, and at her birthing place, the Forest of Fallen Wishes. While central Mal-Gil was acceptable, and her home had a soothing aura, the Leonandra territory was like a nail that scratched day in and day out at everyone''s psyche, making them irate. Aurum wasn''t much better since he left Moorgrel when he was young to attend boarding school. After returning a couple of years ago, he suddenly felt the irritation slowly getting to him. The puppy thought both had skills to mitigate this feeling, but it only brought them so far as he could see it. It wasn''t enough to increase them further and decrease the effect, leaving an itch of pure irritation. He knew it because his skills would stay the same if he left them alone. Otherwise, he would have a [Mental Fortitude] skill as an infant. Alexander looked at them again and nodded cheerfully, ignoring their current irritation, "Alrighty!..." Before he wrote down everything he needed with the properties, he twitched slightly and looked at Green, "Wait. If we hate the draugr and stuff, why do they sell mana ink to us, or do we buy it somewhere else?" Green flew down and sat on the top of the back of the chair, explaining, "Not at all. We are at war with them; thus, all dealings are forbidden..." She grabbed into her bag and brought out a beautiful feather made out of metal with fine ingraining, "I know what you think. We don''t use mana ink but mana items which transform our energy into mana and infuse it into the ink." Alexander nodded and tried to inspect the feather further with his [Mana Sense], only to get blocked by Green, who looked at him angrily, "You know, Alex, you should know that trying what you wanted to do, is nothing short of grabbing it from me and breaking it apart. Never do something like this, or you will end in a duel..." Alexander smiled sheepishly at her and stopped analyzing, "Sorry about that, but why do you use it then and not your own mana? I bet the combination of [Mana Emission] and [Mana Manipulation] should do the trick, right?" Green frowned at him, "I thought Ana showed you proper manners? Because I am not good enough for it, obviously." Aurum interjected and nodded at her, "Green is right. Even though you should know the conclusion, such direct questions are not becoming for nobles, Master." Alexander became a little irate himself, "There are obviously more possibilities why it couldn''t work, right? However, why should I research mana ink if we have these mana items?" He would create ordinary ink either way for his subjects, but he somehow didn''t see why to go the extra mile and research mana-infused ink if such items were on the market. Green explained, "First, this feather costs a lot, and second, the efficiency of converting energy into mana is very low..." She started to twirl the feather around while continuing her explanation, "You would need to use a ton of energy even to write one contract, and if it were a multi-paged one, it would go up exponentially since the mana would need to connect to the other pages and thus become much more demanding." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. She shrugged, "Well, since the paper you made barely costs something, it would be worth looking into mana ink. We could sell it for incredible margins if it could be made cheaply. Right?" Alexander fully agreed. It made sense for him to create a cheaper variant of something with which one could write mana contracts, and if there was a way to make mana ink, it meant that all the mana items could be made obsolete, so to say, become garbage in his mind. ''Well, time to destroy multiple industries for the draugr and beast-kin artificers, hehe.'' There was something he found giddy in destroying whole sectors because he invented something. Of course, he ignored that nobody could go against him since he was a noble and had the Temple behind him. If he was a commoner, there would probably be assassination attempts by the artificer union. Alexander nodded and became excited again, seeing as his tail swung widely, "Well, all I need is rather trivial: Water, alcohol, a binder, and pigments. The recipe is straightforward." Alexander wanted to create iron gall ink. It was perfect. He would barely lift a finger since most of the procedure involved throwing stuff together and boiling them afterward. There were little things here and there that he needed to look for, but they were trivial. Green was already in thought. Alexander knew that her old specialization was in agriculture and herbalism. So, pigments and binders should be familiar terms to her. However, Alexander wanted to help and tried to describe oak gall, the primary pigment. It was hard since most terms were very different, and even though many plants resembled the ones from Earth, their properties could be wholly different. Luckily for him, Green knew of something similar, "Well, your [Luck] attribute seems to be very high since something like this is in the north. I think it is called Black Melon and inside the territory of the Feather-Paw household." Aurum quickly noted it down and used his skill to identify the price. He raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure, Master? Black Melon is dirt cheap as the price from ~100 years ago is showing." Green nodded, "I also thought about it. It is seen as a weed since it is the cocoon of monster worms, and after they leave, it can''t even be used as fertilizer." Alexander asked Green, "If you cook it, did the water turn black?" Green crossed her arms and thought for a few seconds, using all her skills. She nodded in the end carefully, "Ye... s. I think so... you want to use this as pigment? I mean, it is cheap by Aurum''s accounts, but there are better pigments which you don''t need to cook first." Aurum chimed in, "It really depends on how good it is. Let''s say it is as good as the Black Water Berry in terms of quality. Then it is worth it. Even though we need to cook it first, as Master said, it would be cheaper in the end, even if we also additionally plan in the cost of coal." Alexander nodded, "Well, can you get it? And is there any other cheap plant that has pigments? I can test them out later." Green and Aurum discussed various plants and their prices for the next half hour. In the end, Aurum noted down around five sorts that were cheap and easily accessible. They couldn''t choose something only cheap if it was on the other side of the empire. It would need to be close to them or inside a very friendly territory like the ones of the guard dogs. Alexander needed to admit that logistics was simultaneously much more complex and easier in this world. Without many regulations and space bags available, it became much easier, but because of the complicated political situations, it was also much harder. They discussed the same for the binder, which would be on Earth Arabic gum. Here he had different sorts to choose from; like with the pigment, he would need to test them out. The Gum Arabic prevents flocculation, makes writing more effortless, and acts as a binding agent. As an emulsifier, it makes the components work better, protects the substrate from the corrosive effects of the acidic components of the ink, and gives it tension and gloss. Alexander groaned inwardly, ''So many plants... I will need to test a lot.'' He added inwardly that it wasn''t that much, but staying in the lab for multiple days, mixing everything together, and taking what would work best was already annoying him. Next was Iron (II) Acetate. Usually, he would use Iron (II) Sulfate, but since Alexander needed all the sulfate he had for the paper, he would make the acetate version instead. Aurum could delegate the work to some poor apprentice who could make the solution in-house, so he informed him about it. First, for what was it used? It was mixed with the oak gall on Earth to enhance the color. If the ink was ready, and you wrote with it, it oxidized slowly from Iron (II) to Iron (III), thus making the fantastic black color seen in medieval writings. All Alexander needed to do to make it was to take any scrap iron, rusted or not, as small and fine as possible. Put it into vinegar for a couple of days. Done, easy peasy. He didn''t know how it would react altogether on Orbis (Planet''s name) but hoped for the best. Worst case, he would test out a lot of combinations. As long as it didn''t explode, everything would be fine. After discussing everything, Green looked at him and asked for the essential ingredient, "Let''s say we have everything for ordinary ink. What will you do for the mana component? For multiple reasons, we can''t use prisoner mages as living cattle to push mana into the water." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Is this what the draugr are doing?" She nodded, "Pretty much. Slavery is allowed in their territory, and since they are undead, they live for a lot longer and can do this task for hundreds of years before crumbling into dust." Alexander smirked at her and used an air contraption to bring over a piece of wood, "No need to do something this stupid since we have this!" Green and Aurum looked at this piece of wood without saying anything. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air till Alexander broke it by clearing his throat, "Ahem! Now, let me demonstrate something!" He used a fire contraption to burn it down quickly while using another contraption to increase the pressure. After some seconds, a charred piece of wood floated before them, and Alexander looked at it proudly. Aurum was confused, but not Green. She smiled as she barely sensed what was inside, "Mana... and how do you..." She was interrupted by Alexander, who floated the piece of charcoal into a water bubble contraption and mixed it well while heating it. After some seconds, the water was blackish and had mana residue. Alexander smiled at them, "This will be our new gold mine! We will use it as a pigment additive inside our ink! I will keep testing it, but it should work out perfectly!" He had already done some experiments since he created the paper to see how the wood retained its mana. He didn''t find out why, but only that it did, and the more harsher the treatment, the more mana it kept. There was an obvious possibility that it wouldn''t translate well into ink, but with this, he already had something as a fundament he could work on. This little experiment he did beforehand was also the sole reason why he saw creating mana ink as a small project since he already figured out the most challenging part. While Alexander put the suspension away and Aurum was writing like a madman, Green had a certain glint in her eyes while she maliciously smiled. Everyone wanted something from this new invention and would also come closer to it. Aurum would make even more gold for his projects, like Alexander, who could accelerate even more his plans. On the other hand, Green could also make even more gold, but her main premise was to chock off the draugr and probably get even more merits inside the Temple. What happened thousands of years ago was a disgrace to her and the nature-dwelleth races, so even a slight hit to the draugr would give her immense satisfaction. However, Green quickly woke up from her grand dreams, remembering why she was there. Since her knowledge was not needed anymore and Alexander''s retainer had all his hands full, she asked, "Since everything is settled, I want to talk about why I actually came here." Alexander tilted his head, smiling innocently, "Because you like me so much?" Green chuckled as she was in a great mood, "Hehe, sure, why not. I am here to deliver your gold." Aurum perked immediately up and quickly pulled a contract from his sling bag. However, Alexander stopped him, "Stop. There is no need for this. If you need her signature, just forge it..." He looked at Green with a sheepish smile, "Well, not like we are strangers. You know terrible things about me, and if you do something to me, your Temple will be nothing more than..." He pointed the charcoal at his desk, "...something like this." Green smiled at this statement. She was already too far gone in her current life from everything the Circle taught her: Bribery, corruption, blackmail, etc. She already broke almost all the essential rules and wouldn''t care about something trivial like forgery, especially not if this weird beast-kin youth was involved. She shrugged, "Try it if you can, but I dou..." She stopped herself before continuing. Her signature was unique and made from the particular nature-like energies nature-dweller usually had. For some reason, a little thought invaded her mind, and even though she knew it was impossible to forge it, she couldn''t take a singularity like Alexander with common sense. Green looked at him sternly, "Don''t do it, and don''t even try it. The last thing I need is to have my branch on the line because you saw this as a..." she air quoted, "...fun challenge." Alexander sighed, understanding it, "Fine. Aurum, bring the transfer contract out." As he did it, Green brought out multiple enormous chests from her bag, which looked ridiculously big beside her. Aurum quickly wrote in normal ink a standard text and looked at Green, "How many gold pieces?" Green thought for a moment and used her [Mathematics] skill, "Well, you gave me 9.000 samples for 15 average gold pieces per piece of paper. So, this chest..." she pointed at the smallest chest, "...should have 171k average gold pieces." Aurum nodded, but Alexander stopped him before he wrote anything down, "Wait, didn''t you want to prepay for the next six months? You know, because of the little accident?" She nodded, "Sure thing. The other two have the gold for ~25.000 pieces of paper... but say, why so little? I know you created 10.000 pieces in two days, and now you are saying that only 1.000 are possible in a week?" Alexander sighed, "You know that I needed two whole days for the process and was out of mana in the end. I can''t do it since I have other things to do, and the workers are new, so I would rather underestimate it." Green shrugged at this, not like she cared. She would make a killing with those 9.000 pieces alone. They were high quality and had a market price of ~25 gold pieces. But she would sell them at her temple colleagues for 20 - 21 gold per piece and get a ton of favors. Usually, they used specially prepared leaves for mana contracts, but even they had an internal price of 22 - 23 gold per piece. So, she would make a killing either way and afterward, when she had enough personal funds, buy it for herself and go to nobles and merchants and sell them for much more. The prepay was a favor to Alexander, and even if he didn''t deliver the same quality, she wouldn''t really care. There were many more important things than gold. For example, she really wanted him to make the mana ink and grow. She saw the paper as nothing more than a little bonus she could get from him. However, the mana ink became a new dream for her. She almost salivated at the thought of all the merits she could get while bringing down the business of a certain draugr who she, and nearly every nature-dweller, hated to the core. Yet, while Green was again in her dream world, Alexander admired the three giant chests full of gold. He made ~650k gold coins with a ridiculous profit margin. However, as fast as he became rich, he would immediately pay 500k for the repairs, which was not enough, but with some of his family''s treasury, it was basically settled. He would also put some into renovating the estate. Usually, he disliked such extravagance but clearly understood that status meant something on Obis and Earth. Seeing a White House, Reichstag, Great Hall of the People, etc., in need of repair would put a significant blemish on the people in power. So, he needed to splurge some. While it sounded rational and logical, it was only a justification he gave not to look like an irresponsible money thrifter, which he was. This old habit came out as soon as he planned out what to do with all the gold, and he remembered it clearly, ''Damn it. I really like to throw money around.'' Alexander wasn''t really frugal in his previous life, and the moment he had any money, it was used for his family. Be it new clothes, technology, or a pleasant caf¨¦ visit. In his mind, money was there to be spent, and it seemed this habit would become more profound with a literal gold mine in his backyard. If he needed more money, he would work more and not save. This thought made him a little jealous of Green. The temples of the Circle of Nature were rich beyond belief for one simple reason: They made a provision in the peace agreement once Mal-Gil took control of their territory. The temple branches could borrow an enormous amount of gold with little to no interest from the Royal Bank. It was a good deal for both sides since the Temple could now act inside their territory with their currency, which they didn''t have beforehand, and the Royal Bank, if there were any interest, received it for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, making a killing over time. The next thing was that nature-dweller really didn''t care about anything monetary. They just played along and saw the gold as a means to an end and as something weird the beast-kin liked. This was also how Green, in the first place, had the funds to buy Alexander''s sheets of paper out for more than half a mil. However, she was only allowed to use it for the Temple. Anything else would be seen as corruption. So, as long as she used most of her funds this way, nobody would bat an eye at her. Alexander assumed that she would take her profits and buy his paper with them and afterward sell them to nobles or merchants through her connections, trying to kill the market before hiking the price up. He recommended this idea, and she liked it a little too much for his liking. They would use their status and manipulate the market unfairly. Something like this wouldn''t fly on Earth, and multiple government organizations would force him to at least price everything accordingly for some time and bring it down slowly, so he couldn''t build a monopoly. He made a mental note for later to build an organization for precisely that. He shook himself awake as Aurum presented him with the contract. He quickly signed it with his ink and tried to infuse some mana into it. It was a first for him, and after Green told him about her energy signature, he wanted to try it too. Puff The contract went in flames. Alexander smiled sheepishly at Aurum, who was about to scream at him, "Hehe, sorry about that. I wanted to try something." Aurum didn''t find it funny but nodded and wrote it again, repeatedly mumbling, "He is giving money to help the poor. He is giving money to help the poor. He is giving money to help the poor. He is giving money to help the poor. He is giving money to help the poor..." Green knew what Alexander''s retainer felt as she worked at her university with talented but eccentric people of many races. She also sometimes needed to suck it since such a thing was nothing unusual and usually even contributed to their creativity. Green smirked at the scene and found it hilarious, but after a moment, a little shiver went through her spine, ''I need to make it to him clear that I don''t want him to copy my damn signature!'' Chapter 59: Mo Money More Problems & Mana Ink 2 Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Aurum (Swan-kin) ... A week later "Don''t annoy me! Fuck! Can''t you see that I am trying to test... whatever the fuck it is." Aurum leaned forward and saw what it was, "It is the Bug Ball, Mr. Alexander." "Aurum, I want you dead right now." "We don''t have time for your jokes, Mr. Alexander. We must discuss some things." Alexander was standing in his makeshift laboratory in some old warehouse and was trying all the combinations to create the ink he wanted for two days. On the side, he had dozens of sheets of paper pinned to the wall with all the written combinations of the material he received. There were also temperature data with many question marks. Since he didn''t have a thermometer, he needed to guess it from hot to cold. The same he did with the pressure but used other parameter declarations like Normal, a lot, and little. His laziness won, and instead of conducting experiments properly, he was working sloppily and slapped everything together by doing ranges and guessing everything. He swore to build some instruments in the following weeks, but now he stubbornly continued his literal bathtub cooking. He was beyond annoyed since the project became worse than the worst case he had imagined. It worked, but it always differed in his results. Be it the mana amount the ink retained or the color''s appearance. Now, one could say that it was perfect since it already worked, but for Alexander, it was the worst case. He had no black-and-white situation at hand but needed to work through everything to determine what worked the best. The only positive thing was that he didn''t need to look at the economic situation since all the ingredients were dirt cheap. It didn''t matter what he chose. He could even decide on something that needed double the cost for a slight increase in the mana retained, as the profits he would make when selling it would be basically his revenue. However, as he was working, his swan-kin retainer annoyed him for half an hour now for the stupidest reason he could imagine. Alexander turned around and looked at him annoyingly, "Listen here, dear retainer, I took you in, so I don''t need to look at shit like finances. Do your job!" Aurum frowned but looked at his master more intensely, "You don''t understand, Mr. Alexander, the gold we have is..." Before he could continue, Alexander returned to his current batch of experiments and asked, "Are we broke already? So wait a little before you start what we discussed, or I can go to Green and get more gold. She looked like butterflies could fly out of her ass every moment for the last days." Alexander already talked with his retainer about the responsibilities and planned everything out to a tee:
  1. He made money.
  2. He would give his retainer a plan and money.
  3. His retainer would spend the money.
Alexander liked the plan since he wouldn''t need to do anything cumbersome. Aurum frowned, "No, but..." Alexander interrupted him again while trying to determine the heat without losing his shit. He was already annoyed by all the combinations he attempted to pre-determine the outcome by cross-referencing similar results. "Clothes, nutritious food, repair on the buildings, and some half-baked teachers who will help them learn reading and writing. For math, we will surely find some poor merchants who gave up on their careers." Aurum became more aggravated, "Alex..." The puppy wasn''t really into listening to his plans again, so he just interrupted him, "If it is the elder and homeless care..." However, before Alexander ended his sentence, Aurum screamed at him, "Shut up!" Alexander stopped his experiments and looked at Aurum, who was red like a tomato and had veins all over his forehead. This brought a smile to his face, which provoked Aurum even more. He threw some paper to Alexander, "Catch and read it! I can''t decide on anything!" Alexander caught the bundle, and after quickly reading through it, he became surprised, "We have too much gold?" Aurum relaxed and nodded, "Yes, we have more than enough to start our training program for social workers, teachers, caregivers, and... kindogardners?" Alexander corrected Aurum, "Kindergartners." Alexander had an absurd amount of gold in his possession. First, he wanted to give orphans, poor elders, widows, and others in similar situations little things such as clothes, better food, etc. Yet, the goals quickly changed when he saw the ginormous treasure chests full of gold coins. Suddenly, he had more than enough for everything and much more, which was why Aurum was here, ''Well, who knew that such a problem actually existed.'' Days before, all Alexander did was say everything he had thought of and relate his ideas to Aurum to figure them out. The ideas were that they could use something other than professional teachers like Anastasia. It was enough to have some failed clerks, scribes, and merchants for primary education. Some spouses whose husbands had decent jobs could take on the job of a part-time caregiver. The same went for Kindergartners or those who cared for orphans and the homeless, i.e., social workers. The training program was that some half-decent professionals, who already did their job for a long time, could teach those they would hire and were new to all of this. There were also other things he wanted: Minimal responsibility jobs. Those would act as helpers to all of those he wanted to train comprehensively. When he would pay them something like what he wished the minimum wage would be and force other businesses to raise their wages. While Aurum loved all this when they talked, he became increasingly cranky over the last few days. Now he had to figure out the average wage and wage one would need to come by in Wolfsteeth. While talking with him a couple of days ago, Alexander could see that he barely slept and only told how it was impossible to figure it out even roughly with all his skills. Even his mother kicked him out for annoying her about statistics saying it wasn''t her problem while laughing at him for having too much gold. It was now an insider joke to greet Aurum by making a cling-clang noise. Even Ocilia couldn''t help him as she was working for Alexander. Doing what Aurum felt and said openly was nonsense. Alexander repeatedly told him he needed to find more people to work for him. Salyna had around forty to fifty lead accountants and bureaucrats who had more under them. He allowed Aurum to hire at least a dozen or so helping hands. This accumulated stress made Aurum overly sensitive and screaming at Alexander. However, he cared little about it, but that didn''t mean Aurum wouldn''t annoy him further, "Yes, I don''t know what to do with all the gold since you also wanted to invest it as quickly as possible." Alexander raised an eyebrow and threw the papers to the ground, not caring, "Just buy some businesses, farms, mines, or whatever the case." Something snapped inside of Aurum, "Shut up, you mutt! Do you think you can just buy anything you want? There are laws!" Alexander leaned back and looked at Aurum, not caring much about his outburst, "Fine, how about..." He twirled his hand around and remembered something, "...I got a letter from the Silver-Tail household and some other families... well, Mom got them, and I asked to take a look so I know how to write them. However, they need gold. How about lending it to them while using their resources they don''t need as interest?" Aurum calmed down and found the idea not bad, but was confused at one aspect, "Resources they don''t need?" Alexander thought for a while and answered confidently, "Well, they should have something I need for alchemy, and I am sure to find it if you can give me some descriptions about their territory." Aurum, without even waiting, declared to his master something, "I need more personal." Alexander shrugged, "Sure, already told you to get some suc... nah, let''s call them suckers." He squinted and said, "I want good ones and need some rooms inside the mansion. Thus I also need some servants." Alexander looked at him, confused, "Okay? Why are you telling me this? You have full authority over the budget. Just give me every quartal a rough overview of what you did with it, and we are fine." "Master..." he took one step closer, "...you need to join the discussions and not just give me full authority. Otherwise, I fear that when you get another retainer, you would be easily lied to by them, or they would embezzle the gold." Alexander waved his hand in dismissal while turning back to his experiments, "For this, we have mana contracts. Now let me... ugh!" Aurum grabbed his master by the collar from behind and dragged him toward his office. He had it for the first time since he started his dream job. First, he was elated to get as much freedom as he could only dream about, but also an almost endless amount of resources from the temple and the trust of a master he always wished for. However, the moment he started, he needed his master for reasons he couldn''t disclose: Aurum was inadequate. He had ideals and wishes but needed to learn how to arrive there. He was ready to work till his eyes bled but didn''t know what to do. His master, on the other hand, had the ideas and creativity he desired. Every time Alexander told him some of his ideas, he found them excellent. Aurum could work with them if he also received a little more guidance. However, he always needed to drag his master away by force for this guidance. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Alexander grabbed the front of his collar so it wouldn''t choke him and let himself drag away, as it was not the first time, "Listen. Why are you like this? Just do whatever you want, not like the temple can get broke, hehe." Aurum said nothing, dragged him back to his office through the garden where everyone saw them, but nobody batted an eye as this sight became routine, and sat him on the couch. He leaned forward and looked deeper into his master''s eyes, "I need help, and it would be nice if my master helped me with that." Alexander squinted at him and then smirked, "Hehe, so you, the oh-so-talented Aurum, have problems?" Aurum became a little flustered and ashamed. He declared himself in front of his master as a talent everyone wanted and one of a kind. Yet, going through his first real administrative work, he became blocked, not knowing what to do. Alexander interrupted his thoughts as he read the documents on the table before him, "I see a lot of unnecessary calculation of food, clothes, and so on..." He threw it to the side, "...just take a rough estimate, increase it by 30% to 50%, and give it to them for three months. After the..." He peeked at the sheet for what the calculation was for and looked back at Aurum, "...widow home gives you their expenditure you can calculate anew, and with multiple ones at your fingertips, you get a rough estimate after a year..." Alexander remembered something, "Ah! Don''t forget to get a detailed list of what they bought from the gold. There could be multiple things we can maybe buy cheaper. It is also a great receipt if they want to steal the gold." Aurum asked, "Wouldn''t it generate a lot of waste? I recommend someone who is trying to assess the situation and would get the needed things for them." Alexander leaned back and looked again at the sheet, "Too stringent. Do a rough overestimation, and then control it later on. However, with this kind of system, you need many people to control our administration for corruption. Did you find some? I mean, you asked me, so you should have some, right?" Aurum nodded slightly, "I sent letters to former colleagues I trust greatly, and they will be a strong addition. However, they cost..." Alexander didn''t care and showed it with a yawn, "Huaaam! Get the talents as long as they are worth it. I will review them in a couple of months anyway. Are we done?" While Alexander wanted to return to his experiments, Aurum held him up in other talks about primary education and kindergarten concepts. He wanted to know what kind of people he needed to look for and how to organize it. Besides his usual responsibilities, he planned everything out for the following weeks, so Aurum and his former colleagues could work efficiently when they arrived. He also prepared much more stringent mana contracts than what Alexander proposed. Aurum was very paranoid that someone would fuck them over, while Alexander didn''t really care about such things but was happy that he had someone who did. After more hours of talk, it slowly ended, and Aurum asked Alexander worryingly, "Master, I find it great that you want to do so much charity and help others. However, the only revenue is from paper-making and mana ink. Shouldn''t we also consider other things where we could make gold in a long-term way? We can''t also just buy out the whole city like you want." Aurum had thought about it for the last few days a lot. His master was a genius but thrifty. He didn''t care about anything and was happy as long as he had enough gold for his research, but Aurum needed to consider the moment his master would have a dry phase and if, at the same time, his products would be copied, they would be in big trouble. This was also the main reason he came to him today, so they could talk about how Aurum could or should invest the gold and in what. Alexander wasn''t the lord and couldn''t make use of the treasury. While Aurum thought it was a blessing since they had much more freedom, at the same time, they couldn''t take any taxes and needed to make gold in other ways. Of course, there were ways to get the money from the lady, but Aurum believed his master was too stubborn to ask for it. He reasoned that if a person tried everything to pay for the damages of the mansion themself, it also meant that such a person wouldn''t take any money from the household. Thus, besides all his great ideas, he wanted to have something more sustainable. Alexander looked bored at him and repeated himself, "Get Green''s ass here, take more gold from her, and besides giving out preferable loans to the guard households, give credits to other nobles. With how much gold we have, it will be easy to blackmail their asses when they can''t pay." Aurum looked baffled at his master, "Wait, you want to do the same the lady is doing?" Alexander was surprised, "Oho, we are already doing it? But yeah, basically. I want the resources they don''t need if they are on friendly terms with us. If not, I want, if necessary, everything from them..." He thought for a second and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, I have no intentions of bankrupting them since... well, who would buy my stuff if they get broke?..." He smiled at Aurum sheepishly, "I need to think this through more thoroughly, so just give loans first to friendly nobles and take the resources they don''t need." Aurum nodded at him, "Well, what do you mean with resources they don''t need exactly then? You already said it, but I don''t quite understand it." Alexander leaned back while throwing one leg over the other. He closed his eyes while trying to remember some business strategies, "Well, territories are not the only thing that controls everything. I want to get the resources, open some businesses through companies that are loyal to us by using those resources, and invest in charity in their fiefs while getting control over the economy and the populace''s opinion... ah right, what do I mean with resources they don''t need exactly?" He rubbed the place between his temple, "This will be your and your assistant''s task to list literally every natural resource the guard households, who require gold, have. I need a comprehensive list of what they use, don''t use, throw away, just everything. Don''t forget also to list what this resource is, does, etc.." Alexander opened his eyes slowly and saw Aurum write everything down, ''Hm, this will be a long-term project, and I need to really plan this out... all I give are rough concepts and ideas.'' He wanted to help every territory on the border first and, with it, get the populace on his side while getting a big chunk of the economy. Why the populace? Even though this world was all about might-makes-right, it wasn''t all that true. If he could get the populace''s opinion on his side, he could, worst case, bleed the fief dry economically if the nobles refused to pay or tried to cut him off in any other way. This overtaking would take, at best, decades, if not longer, but with it, he could secure revenue sources and have a more substantial hand in negotiations for whatever in the future. He didn''t believe for a second that a ruler wanted to rule a failing territory and wasn''t ready to allow him to better their subject''s life. There would, of course, be a lot of indirect influencing in his education program, but nobody would need to know this, and when they did, it would be too late since he had their economy in his hands. Anastasia, Narsiz, and his mother were all against such ideas. Even Aurum saw this skeptically, but Alexander wanted to try it either way. If he could bring the populace to some basic level of education, it would change everything, and later on, he could implement more liberal policies through economic pressure. ''Little by little.'' He also had the perfect test ground for them: The guard households. They were all family. His great-grandmother was from the Nine-Fire family, while his grandfather was a Cold-Snout. There were more combinations, but he knew that the east border of Moorgrel was basically a giant canine-kin orgy. So, before he went to nobles who were neutral or even unfriendly to his household, he wanted to play it on easy mode by trying everything out on the border. Alexander would later write everything down in his mother tongue from Earth so nobody would know his plans in detail. It was something he started after his mother burned down all his ideas. With this, he could be sure that nobody could decipher them. He was done and wanted to return to his experiments but saw how his assistant wrote down his tasks for the next months. Alexander reminded him, "Don''t forget to build up Wolfsteeth and send your goons to the other territories." He stood up and was about to get to work again when Aurum interrupted him, "Master, wait! What about the mana ink? How many workers do w..." Alexander interrupted him, "Don''t know, don''t care. Give it a try and hire more than we need; if we have too much, we can always give them a different job." Aurum frowned heavily as this side of his master annoyed him but nodded in the end. He had his tasks and knew what to do, ''Well, I will meet them in Wolfsteeth... hopefully, they are as they were and didn''t get corrupted by the nobility.'' ... Hours later, back at the laboratory "This looks weird." Alexander had in front of him what was called a Black Melon. It was just an oak gall, only five times bigger, and he shivered, thinking about the monsters who came out of it. Luckily, they were only worms and not wasps. On the side was a piece of paper with all the data meticulously noted down about this plant, ''Well, can''t say that Aurum is lazy... maybe a tad too enthusiastic.'' Alexander ignored his retainer''s unnecessary notes about the workforce one needed to collect and returned to the last ingredient he would test today. Before cooking them, he needed to analyze them in case he accidentally found another gold mine. First came the [Mana Sense]. This was all since his retainer had written everything necessary, ''I love him.'' Alexander was very happy to have such a retainer. Hopefully, his assistants would be as enthusiastic, ''Well, they better be because I will pay them far above what others would pay.'' He followed the Leonandra doctrine on how to get talents: Pay them far above what others would. Alexander liked it but would also look at other factors like work-life balance. He had really good-paying jobs as a student but had barely any life left, as he even slept in the office to meet the ridiculous deadlines. He suddenly frowned as he couldn''t find any mana in the black melon with his [Mana Sense], so he started to look at his next item. Arabic gum, or this world''s version of the ingredient: Slobber. It was basically the same and the one component which worked the best with all the other pigments and charcoal from the tree. It could retain mana the best for some reason, and the color which came out was also the most beautiful. He took the ingredients with a contraption and walked beside a guard who was lazily sitting around and meditating, trying to increase her [Mana Sense]. It was quite the security Aurum ordered to keep everything a secret. However, it would only be the laboratory for the next couple of weeks since his retainer and mother ordered a secret laboratory to be built under Alexander''s mansion, and his mother relocated the paper production toward her private training hall from the shack beside the training ground. The current paper-making production was highly guarded, which made sense since it made so much gold. Alexander could fully understand it and was happy that someone decided for him such things since he wasn''t someone for such planning. He mixed everything in a pot and turned on the temperature and pressure to a degree he had the best results until now. ''Well, I hope Aurum can also find more workers for this... I am not too hot on doing this for too long.'' The work was tedious, and the only positive thing was that he could train his mana skills on the side. ... Two hours later Boom! "Damn it! Out! Out!" "Mr. Alexander?! Are you okay?" Alexander started coughing and quickly conjured the air shield spell around him and the guard, who immediately jumped and was ready to kill everyone in sight, "Yeah, I am fine! But get out and put the damn sword away!" They quickly left his temporary laboratory, which started to manifest a giant black cloud. It had no smell, and looking at the air shield color, it seemed not poisonous. When he was outside, he looked confused at his laboratory and mumbled to himself, "What happened?" The guard looked confused at Alexander, "Did you accidentally use a spell, Mr. Alexander? I heard you sang some weird song. Was it a spell?" Alexander looked at her, deadpanned, "The song wasn''t a spell. It was a classic." The guard stood before Alexander, ready to slice a monster in half. She was visibly tense and looked like she would fight the demon emperor every second now. Alexander saw this and sighed, ''Well, not like you need to be the brightest to swing a sword.'' He ignored her and tried to find out what had happened, ''Well... only one way to find out.'' The smoke stopped, and he walked into the laboratory, "The smoke stopped. Let''s go in!" He ran immediately inside, and the guard followed him with worry on her face. Alexander stopped and stared at his ink, which exploded. He couldn''t believe what he saw and smiled madly, "Jesus fucking Christ, it''s for some reason full of mana..." The guard came closer and looked at the ink, "Mr. Alexander, is this the Jesus you said?" Alexander turned to her and clapped his hands, "No, this is even better! I made mana ink, and if it looks good, I have created something fantastic! Listen here..." He came closer and grabbed her by the armor on her belly since she was too big to be grabbed anywhere higher, "I want you to get Aurum here! I need him to buy tons of those Black Melons! Tons! I also need tons of Slobber!" The guard was confused, and Alexander saw this, letting go of her, "Nevermind, just get Aurum here." The guard nodded and, without hesitation, ran to get the swan-kin. Alexander relaxed and sauntered in front of the pot. He suddenly stopped and conjured a fireball to cook it again, ''I want first to see how good the ink is.'' The ink inside of it had at least ten times the mana content other combinations had and was the best version he had created till now. He stood before his cooking ink and couldn''t stop smiling. Before him was the pot, and he could see with his [Mana Sense] how the mana increased and distributed inside the suspension. It was too perfect for his taste since it was literally one of the easiest recipes he could imagine: Destroy the black melons and throw them into the cooking water. Take the vinegar with the iron, which should now be transformed into iron (II) acetate, and toss it inside the cooking pot. Next was the Slobber, which was also just put inside. Nothing had happened at this point, but the moment he put the charcoal inside, the mana quickly distributed itself around and exploded into the air. Alexander had many ideas on why this happened and would need to do many tests, but first, he would need to create the perfect ink. For some reason, his artistic personality, which he discovered through Janina and her little plays, came out. Everything needed not only to work but must be beautiful. It was like OCD for him. He would need to experiment a lot to find a suitable distribution on how much he would need from what, but this wouldn''t be his problem. The workers who Aurum would hire would cook a couple of hundred samples and present them to him. He would also need a sample from the draugr to compare it, but he believed he was better. He inwardly noted that he should ask Green to get something from the black market. He started to rub his hands, ''God damn, I could retire now and just enjoy my life...'' However, when he thought about it, life became incredibly dull, and his enthusiasm disappeared, ''Well, now what? I need a new idea... hm... Oh right! I totally forgot!'' Alexander quickly conjured his standard ink and wrote on a note what his next project would be, ''Guttenberg... nah, scratch it! Alexander K. Leonandra Press... hehe.'' Chapter 60: William And Artificers Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) William (Wind-Djinn) (Close-)Retainers ... East of the Cold-Snout fief, Bufferzone "How cute. So tell me, where are the artificers? Your colleagues are, as you can see..." He pointed to the gruesome scene around him, "...not very talkable." "I hope you drop kkrrrgah..." He cracked the neck of the last guard, who fell to the ground. William looked around in annoyance at the mess he had created again, "I always hated these prisons. Why do they build them at the buffer zone? Tsk." William was looking for the imprisoned artificers he was informed about by one of his people. However, the search was at a snail''s pace because his manipulation skills failed since the soldiers stationed at the buffer zone had all higher mental fortitude skills than expected, and he couldn''t get any information out of them. The letters they intercepted from the Cold-Snout household implied that he should look for them in the buffer zone, but obviously, it was not specified, so, worst-case, he would need to go through every single prison and look for information on the way. ''I wished we had a better way to collect information.'' Besides buying them, their most reliable way to get information was the interception of the animals who delivered them. This they could only do because of the night elves they had in the camp. Some of them specialized in a very particular type of hunting, which they inherited through their race-specific skills that let them wander through shadows, making them the perfect assassins or thieves. But there were unique variations of this skill, and they had a family who had such a variation. Usually, they could jump from shadow to shadow, but this family could do the reverse. They could bring individuals towards their own shadow when they touched it. This variation had a lot of limits like distance, energy density of the individual, size, etc. It wasn''t omnipotent and also needed a lot of stamina. Nonetheless, this night-elf family intercepted the delivery animals like hawks, pigeons, etc., day and night. With them together were always wind-djinns, who had specific skills in taming so the animal wouldn''t get crazy and kill itself. There were two types of delivery animals. The first type was trained for security. Thus, if caught, it would try everything to commit suicide and take, if possible, the correspondence with it. The second was for speed so fast delivery would be possible. There was also a third type, which had both traits, but they were expensive in these parts of the world. The nobles on the border had both types, and the camp tried to catch all of them and release them back. If they didn''t, the letters would be seen as stolen, and if that happened too often, they would start to get suspicious, and this was something the camp didn''t want at all. They only failed once or twice, so it was within the scope that they wouldn''t get suspicious. When they caught and tamed them temporarily, others would quickly copy the letters and send the delivery animals back on their way like nothing had happened. He came out of his thoughts after looking through a barely manned prison with at most half a dozen prisoners. Every guard was already dead, and he was annoyed beyond belief as he couldn''t even find any information in the prison''s documents. Even though he deemed the prison documents useless, he threw them inside his spatial bag, so maybe his people could conclude something from them, "Damn it, three more to go." The buffer zone wasn''t as empty as many believed. It was actually well populated with many camps and fortifications by the guard families and stationed by inexperienced soldiers who were only here to observe. If something came, they would signal it so help could come from bigger camps between multiple guard posts/prisons. In his opinion, having prisons in the buffer zone was weird but also genius. The prisoners sent here usually worked as servants for some time, assisting the soldiers, and then sent back after some years. He jumped down from the cheaply made tower, whose only purpose was to house a few soldiers. As he landed, his instincts told him to duck, which he did. Zing! Something sharp flew over his head and almost beheaded him. He looked around and saw someone with two short swords slowly walking toward him, ''Is it one of those Cold-Snouts? She looks like a jackal-kin, so she should be, but I need to run. No need for a fight.'' As he was about to turn around and run, the jackal-kin girl flashed toward him, with her energy focused on the blades, "Oh, a cute djinn! Why run away?!" With some targeted slashes, she went for his neck and limbs. William immediately avoided them, but for some reason, they hit nonetheless. He backed away and concentrated on his [Divine Acclimation] skills; luckily, he was inside the buffer zone, so he was at 150% of his power. [Divine Acclimation] boosted or reduced one''s overall power depending on the territory one was in, and he had one that focused heavily on unlivable environments. In contrast, his power was heavily reduced in forests or other areas full of life. William looked at his wounds. He had multiple scratches on his arms and a small scratch on his neck, ''She wants to have a go, huh?'' He observed her. It was a relatively young girl, about 1.6m (5.3 ft), with brown hair and golden eyes. Before he could analyze her more, she replied joyfully, "Hehe, call me Alice. I am from the Cold-Snout knightage, and we usually don''t like having our people murdered. So, how about you stop resisting and come with me before I get serious?" William squinted his eyes and tried to examine his opponent. He heard how weird the energy of the knightages around the border was and how they could go toe to toe with higher leveled ones because of their specific [Divinity Line], which was coupled with their specialty. The Cold-Snout household was famous for their sword arts, while their demonic [Divinity Line] was almost a perfect fit. However, what he needed to do was to fight and run. An altercation was nothing that he wanted. He got two daggers out of his robe and flashed at her. On the other hand, Alice relaxed her shoulders and felt ecstatic, "Hm, good choice, boy." When William appeared behind her, she already knew where he was, and he expected it. He used a skill that brought her deepest fears to light. He saw how she suddenly stood in shock, and her body shivered, ''Let''s end it quickly.'' William aimed at her neck, but her eyes became blood red suddenly when the dagger blade was moments before her, and her wild demonic energy exploded. He immediately avoided it and saw from his peripheral view how it cut the ground meters deep around her. This wasn''t something he expected, so he immediately jumped back and tried to attack her from the side. Yet, he couldn''t see how he could come close as she stood still while her energy went wild and attacked everything around her in unpredictable patterns. He made a decision, ''Perfect time to flee.'' William flashed to the side, but the moment he did, all his instincts alarmed him, and he ducked. A massive amount of energy came flying for his head. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The next words he heard made his neck hair stand up, "Oh no, kehehehehe, I missed. Now tell me, you little shit, do you think confusing a Cold-Snout who was playing with you is a good idea? Let''s see if you actually dare to use that skill again after I cut you into pieces." After Alice said it, she disappeared and appeared a moment later before William, who smirked at her. The energy on her weapon made them vibrate, almost breaking them. He, in turn, gambled and used his [Divine Acclimation] skill, which made his energy target her like an arrow, which made Alice redirect her attack towards it. Boom! A gigantic explosion occurred, and both flew to opposite sides. However, Alice made a somersault mid-air, concentrated her energy on her swords, and swung. Two slashes of devastating energy flew toward where the explosion occurred, into a gigantic cloud of dust, and hit where she assumed he was. However, after seconds, nothing happened. The dust cloud cleared up, and she saw that the djinn had fled, "Damn... he was a tough nut... ow!" She looked to her side where the pain was coming from and saw how part of her muscles degraded, and the smell told her that it was about to start to rot, "Shit, this will mean a month of healing, at least." Alice readied herself after drinking multiple healing potions and ran as fast as possible to the next military camp to report and get healed. She had not the slightest clue why a djinn wanted to attack some guards inside the buffer zone and even less why he was so strong since their strength increased only inside natural habitats and not zones of pure death like Kratikal. ... Multiple kilometres ( 1.7 km = 1 mile) away William stopped and looked around worryingly. After a moment of observing everything around him, he sighed in relief. But his demeanor was quickly broken when the pain in his leg came after the adrenaline rush stopped. When he looked at it, he saw how it had deep cuts which were infected with the wild-demonic energy. He pulled a dagger and cut the infected flesh out, "Tsk, I hope she dies... this was a gigantic failure." William thought that he had done the right thing. He wasn''t a fighter and specialized in manipulation. He was also an excellent scout, only if it didn''t involve fighting. He had some strength, especially inside the wild demonic area, but in a one-on-one confrontation, he would always be overwhelmed by foes of the same level. After cutting the flesh away, he opened his system window to look for his HP. The low amount surprised him, and he immediately started checking himself but couldn''t find any more injuries; however, he felt terrible, ''Those damn mutts are really dangerous.'' Before the operation started and all the agents went to conduct their tasks, he thought that if he even met one of those guard dogs with their weird energy, he could just go against them easily. Still, it didn''t seem that way even though he had the perfect [Divine Acclimation] for this area. But he knew, after some testing and asking around with his puppet, that the [Divinity Line] from beast-kin was much more dangerous and potent than first thought. They were specialized to an insane degree, and if their race fitted the skill set they received at their legacy, it was even worse. The jackal-kin who almost got him was the perfect example. Even though she was dangerous enough with the [Sword Arts] and [Divinity Line], she had her racial traits to sniff him out, which made her even more challenging to fight against. William brought out multiple healing potions to drink and pour on his wound. He sat down to relax briefly and wait until his HPs were half-full. Otherwise, if he ran into danger again, it would spell his death, and with him dying, his nightmare would come true, ''I hope mom is fine.'' She was the only reason he did what he did now and for the last years. Running around and trying to get even one more ally to their side so that when they attacked, they could hold onto a small territory for themselves so his mother could get better. Everything else was not important to him. Day by day, he wandered through sewers or the unliveable wild to reach even one more grumbling soldier who could become their ally. Be it torture or fornication, he did it with everyone who could even be considered a source of information, but the only thing on his mind was how time was slowly running out. Every following step he took needed to be more efficient to make the operation more successful. Suppose he could get one more person to help them by the time frame he and his colleagues were given. His mother never wanted to leave the tribe and was loyal. She always reprimanded him when he suggested going and living in the wild. His anger surged like his energy at the memory of his mother lying half dead in their tent and smiling at him, telling him how important their people were, ''This stupid bitch doesn''t know better...'' He calmed quickly down and stood up, even without having half of his HP regenerated. He needed to be faster and look for the imprisoned artificers brought to the buffer zone to die, ''Hm, what would I do with the prisoners who deceived me?'' William closed his eyes and tried to use multiple skills at once while putting himself into the position of a noble. Betrayal, lies, rationality, cold logic, wrath, revenge. He opened his eyes again abruptly, ''The mining area to get the most out of them before they die a dog''s death.'' He turned to where the biggest prisoner town was and ran there with all he had. Prisoner towns were nothing more than where those went who were judged to a death sentence. Usually, nobles didn''t kill someone outright for egregious crimes but tried to get the most out of them beforehand. This meant sending them to some area where they would die while laboring in atrocious conditions. This was also the only thing that was considered slavery to some extent. Still, it was heartily accepted by the populace since the people sent to such areas were murderers, traitors, and saboteurs. They were branded as the worst and, thus, seen as a detriment to the empire by nobles and commoners alike. ... Days later It was night when William sneaked through the town, which was nothing more than a giant prison. William''s refugee camp initially had the idea to free all of them to seek chaos this way, but it was rejected after finding some things out. All prisoners had a strong curse, which was very costly to remove. It reduced their attributes by at least 90% while their energy usage was permanently drained away. They could hardly cause chaos if children could kill them with a big stick. He sneaked into some barracks past some bored guards, ''Who were they again? Dragon-kin and monkey-kin, right? Where are they?'' This was the third night he looked through the place, and he was cautious since he wanted to avoid making more commotion as he had done with the Cold-Snout girl. William hoped that they would believe that he was someone from the islands from the South and was a fugitive or something of the sort. The last thing he wanted was to put eyes on their camp. However, he was brought out of his thoughts when he saw some beast-kin lying around, barely breathing and beat up into a bloody pulp. He looked closer at them, ''Dragon-kin and Monkey-kin, got them.'' They looked pissed and arrogant, which was surprising. William felt with his skills how proudful they were even while sleeping, but this was undermined by their pathetic state: Malnourished, dirty, and cursed with something more potent than what he saw from other death row prisoners, which could be explained by the grudge the Cold-Snout household held against them. Even though they got the information early on, it was impossible not to notice how three artificer families were dragged to the estate and questioned for weeks. All his informants said it had something to do with them building backdoors into their equipment. Usually, such things were fine, but not in one case: Military equipment. It was a big taboo since they were under the protection of the Cold-Snouts and even got preferential treatment. William could only frown at their stupidity to do something like this. The Cold-Snouts avoided a crisis. If their trusted artificers sold a collar to another noble and it was found to be rigged to some degree, then war breaking out was a real possibility. So, the prominent artificers, the leaders of the companies, were thrown away so that others could survive inside the organization, which barely held together after the disaster since the Cold-Snouts cut their deals with them and looked for new ones, ''Three should be sufficient.'' He came closer, knocked them out for good, and dragged them away while they were unconscious. ... Hours later, somewhere in the buffer zone "Urgh, what happened?" "Shut up, you damn lizard, and let me sleep." "Fuck off, you forsaken ape... wait, where are we?" A soft, calming voice brought their attention to a man before them, "Good morning, honorable artificers." William sat on a boulder with three potions in his hand, which had a nightmarish black color - clinking them against each other slightly to put the artificer''s attention on them. The leader of the company that made the anti-mana collars, the dragon-kin lady, was the first to recognize the potions and speak up, "Aren''t those curse blockers..." She looked around, "...and where are we?!" The monkey-kin lady, who made the anti-energy collars, was staring at the potions with greed in her eyes. Going by her next words, it seemed she had already guessed what it was all about, "Tell me, what do you want? You don''t need to be a genius to guess what is happening." The dragon-kin man was the last one to recognize the potions. He had a certain desperation in his eyes and looked the worst of all three. William assumed he wanted them the most but had no strength to say anything, which was perfect for him. ''The more desperate, the better.'' William smiled and knew that he already had them in his hands. Even better was that the potions had only a temporary effect of removing the curse, so they would have no choice but to stay with the camp if they didn''t want to end like this again. He slightly clinked the bottles against each other again, "What is going on? I saved you and want to propose a deal which would give you... well, let me be honest, partial freedom but also what you probably seek the most: Revenge, my honorable artificers." They stared at him more intensely, and he continued, "You see, I know for a fact who brought you into this situation. I think we can make a deal that would suit us all, don''t you think?" The monkey-kin woman was the first to reply, "You are not from the underworld and even less from Peerless Night since they would never be this stupid to go against the ruler. Tell me first who you are..." After a moment, she suddenly didn''t care as rage invaded her when thinking about who found their backdoor, "... never mind, if you give me freedom and my revenge, I will do whatever you want." The dragon-kin man asked in his raspy and barely audible voice, "Just say what you want and stop pretending to be all altruistic. You have our balls in a clinch, you bastard... hehe... I would rather be part of what you are than die as some miserable death prisoner." The last one to answer was the dragon-kin woman burning with rage, "Tell me the name of the bastard who put me in this situation, and I will sell you my family!" William was softly smiling at them on the outside, but inwardly, he was ecstatic, ''It''s easier than I thought.'' "Don''t worry, as we are only a little rag-tag group of people who want nothing more than freedom, but for this, we need chaos, and the person who found your exploit was none other than the person we also want to disappear. Otherwise, why would we even get you? The enemy of the enemy is my friend, right?" All three of them distrusted him visibly, but they had no choice. They realized this quickly, and the monkey-kin woman was the first to speak up, "Fine, what do you want exactly?" He brought the potions forward and smiled genuinely, "First take it, eat something, and then we talk about it while walking back. We have time." Chapter 61: Finding An Ally Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Klepto (Spider-kin) (Close-)Retainers ... Walking through the Foxteeth, he quickly maneuvered through crowds of people who seemed to have a fun time. Drunken men and women threw themselves at each other while their hormones went insane. Nothing mattered since everyone was more or less relaxed during mating season. Even the guards were much looser and got more leeway to engage with others who didn''t mind. "How long? I think we have at most two hours left." "It''s fine. Just follow me. However, be ready to act at a moment''s notice. I don''t know how he will react." The night-elf behind Klepto squinted at his back, "Got it, but are you sure about the information... I trust your good intentions, but I doubt some trash will help us." Klepto smirked, "Don''t worry, just follow me." What Klepto wanted to do was to find a particular noble: The hatchling of the rulers of the Nine-Fire household. He was a wreck and ostracized by his family because he dabbled in the underworld and was already busted multiple times for unspeakable things. Usually, it was rare that a noble needed to go to the underworld to do certain things since their family gave them everything they needed. From drugs to professionals, even gambling was acceptable if they didn''t overdo it with their debts. Yet, Klepto discovered from his research that this individual was doing far worse things for the stupidest reasons. Since he was little, his family pampered him. Thus, he was bored and looked for kicks: Be it assassinations or thievery, he had even the glorious reputation of a lady killer, and this nickname wasn''t meant in the metaphorical sense. Klepto and his guard walked with cloaks and hoods on through a whole sludge of establishments with one goal in mind: Get him to join their side. After some minutes, they arrived at an abandoned well behind a rundown bar. Without hesitation, they jumped quickly down and landed inside the sewers. The night-elf wanted to hold his nose but only bumped against the mask, forgetting he was wearing one, "I hate your underworld. I don''t understand why you always build it in the sewers." Klepto ignored his guard and kept walking forward through dozens of junctions, always looking at the signs on the wall that showed him where he needed to go to arrive at the red-light district part of the underworld. Prostitution wasn''t illegal, but some things were when certain customers had particular tastes. The underworld was there to provide for such exceptional needs for a similar exceptional price. The existence of such a black market was also how the asylum camp could finance its operations. The new leadership sold their people to establishments that were more than happy to buy and use them for things people would pay a lot of gold for. Since many were from the wind-djinn and night-elf race, who looked beautiful and aged much slower than beast-kin, it was easy to pick some elders who looked good enough and were about to die because of their living conditions to sell them to the underworld. It was a great deal for the camp: They had one less drag to feed while getting money. Klepto cared little about this but knew the camp was on edge because of this practice. The only thing that held them all together was the hope that the new leadership could bring them into a new territory, which they would then defend with some help from other nobles. After some more minutes, he found the right entrance, which looked like a wall but was actually a mana item that produced a magical illusion. Without hesitation, he walked into the wall and arrived at a tunnel. For some reason, his night-elf partner arrived only after some time beside Klepto from his shadow, ''Probably hesitated to enter, tsk. I hope he will not fail me in the end.'' Klepto ignored him and didn''t even twitch when the night-elf appeared beside him and just kept walking. He was heavily annoyed that his last hit didn''t work and that the whole of Wolfsteeth''s underworld looked for him. He was dead meat when someone found out who he was, and his head would probably be presented to the Leonandra''s on a silver plate as an apology. For any underworld to operate inside a big city, they would need implied consent from the fief lord or lady. Otherwise, they would be raided day and night by the soldiers and would also try to replace the rulers by all means necessary. Thus, a symbiotic relationship was needed where the underworld would control itself to some degree, and the rulers wouldn''t go too much against them. Therefore, the underworld of Wolfsteeth put a hit for an enormous sum of gold out on anyone who had information on Klepto and the broker who put the deal to the public. He had, at most, a couple of hours before a letter arrived in Foxteeth with the same hit on him. Thus, he was heavily strapped for time and needed to hurry. After some minutes of walking, he heard people partying and talking. The noises made him twitch slightly, his movements became more erratic, and his upper eyes changed repeatedly between shades of red. Something inside him boiled when he heard and saw all the people further away. He took out a potion and quickly gulped it down. After drinking it, he exhaled red mist. From behind came the voice from his guard, "Listen, if you don''t feel well, we can always come another time. Not like..." Klepto''s energy exploded, and he concentrated a blood-reddish aura like that of a monster toward the guard. His voice was solemn, but his eyes showed that he wanted to rip him apart, "No need. Will is waiting for me, so let''s end it quickly." The night-elf heavily sweated while looking down and nodded without saying anything. After seeing this, Klepto turned around and began to walk again. As he walked out of the tunnel, he saw a giant open plaza with multiple houses around it, like the central area of a village. All over the place were women and men half naked, standing around, chatting, drinking, or doing other things. It was chaotic and full of beast-kin of every subrace. Klepto arrived at the underworld red-light district where the ones with weird tastes come to enjoy themselves, and he despised every one of them. However, even if he wanted to do nothing more than to set the whole place ablaze, he saw a lot of guards around the site, and his new skills told him that they were not weak. He opened a little piece of parchment and mumbled the name of an establishment, "The Happy Whip... well, the name says it all." While walking through a group of masked beast-kin, he noticed the smell was very monotone but always slightly different. They all used unique perfumes to cover up their smell so nobody could identify them. Even though Klepto was a spider-kin, he also had, by nature, a great sense of smell. Not only canine-kin had it under the beast-kin races, but they just had the best, while almost every other subrace also had a great perception in this department compared to humans, dwarves, etc. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Of course, other subraces sometimes had better senses than other departments. It always depended. So this was why he tried not to get wild in this slush of smells, which he found utterly disgusting. Yet, not only was his nose assaulted, but also his eyes. Some beast-kin held leashes with various races restrained to them: Goblins, dwarves, humans, gnomes, etc. He even saw something very rare. A giant was used as a riding animal for some weirdos. Some skills became active as he found this sight one of disgrace. He only glanced at them shortly and searched for the Happy Whip, trying to ignore his skills acting up, ''Where is the... ah! Here we go." He saw a building that looked inconspicuous. However, he could smell that this was actually a slaughterhouse, ''Blood, and a lot.'' He activated his energy and went inside with his night-elf guard, who was looking left and right in nervousness. This behavior irritated Klepto, but he would vent off his stress in but a moment. ... Inside The Happy Whip, a private room A fox-kin stood before a gnome girl and boy, holding a small dagger that looked very special. It was very thin, small, and sharp, with a rounded and blunt tip. He specially imported it from the high-demon territory, where this unique medicine tool became a hot commodity. "Hm, you scream too little for my taste." He slowly was about to cut under the eye of the gnome girl while the boy watched, frightened. He couldn''t turn his head away as an apparatus firmly held his head in place and his eyes glued open and sometimes moisturized by the servant who stood beside the fox-kin. Both gnomes already had no fingernails and broken teeth. All they wanted was to die as this was Helvede for them, their version of the Outer Circle for beast-kin. The fox-kin knew all this and enjoyed himself thoroughly for the last hours. Even though he looked stoic on the outside, inwardly, he was elated. Something about doing things like this while the mating season was going on had a certain stimulating effect on him. He didn''t know if it was because it was highly illegal or if it had something to do with his sadistic side. He couldn''t decide. Yet, his private time was cut short as the door suddenly opened before he could snip the lower eyelid, and a spider-kin came in nonchalantly. The servant tried to stop him, but the moment she tried to grab him, he grabbed her head instead, and his almost seemingly infinite energy flooded her. After some seconds of struggle, she became limp and died. Klepto let her fall to the floor, and the fox-kin became suddenly alarmed, knowing he had no chance in a fight and wanted to flee immediately. However, when he tried to move, an arrow grazed his arm slightly, "Don''t move." Another person held his bow up and was ready to shoot another arrow. Klepto came forward with the same elegance as a noble and started talking softly, "My my, no need to be frightened..." He turned to his partner, "...and aggressive." When the person put his bow down, the spider-kin looked the fox-kin deeply into his eyes, "Don''t worry, Mr. Fiorello. We are here for a deal you can decline, and nothing will happen to you. Do you want to hear us at least out..." He suddenly chuckled and held a hand before his mouth, "Hehe, I am sorry for the very rude entrance, but we are a bit in a rush, so it was necessary to act this aggressively. My name is, by the way, Klepto, and as I said, I apologize again for the aggressiveness." Fiorello squinted his eyes and nodded. However, before he listened to him, he first killed the gnomes with a quick slash around their throats and sighed inwardly, ''They were expensive.'' Fiorello looked back at Klepto, "Okay, what is the exact deal, and how can I, one of the most untalented pups of the Nine-Fire household, help you?" He intentionally made himself look bad so those two madmen would leave quickly again. He wasn''t untalented, just a disgrace to his family because of his accumulated reputation over time. He wasn''t too keen on working with them as such people would only drag him into some problem where he would need his family to buy him out. It was something he especially didn''t want. He also activated numerous ridiculously high-level and rare social skills. Worst case, he could hypnotize them for a moment and flee till the guards caught those madmen. The red-light district in the underworld was highly secure, so such things couldn''t happen. Therefore, their entrance surprised him as there were usually very skilled guards stationed inside and outside the building. Klepto smiled at these words, "You know, I was also like you: Untalented and despised by my family till I broke free with the help of someone..." However, he stopped momentarily and looked at him in surprise while wobbling, "Oh, I see you are really talented. Such a strong aura which can be barely felt..." Klepto shook his head, "Well, if it makes you feel safer, please use it as freely as you see fit, Mr. Fiorello." Fiorello was baffled that the spider-kin could feel him out immediately and even more surprised that it barely worked. However, he could see that his guard was much more affected by him as he became very lax in his posture, ''By the circle, who are they?!'' Klepto continued, "What I wanted to say was that I want to propose a deal. I want to give you the freedom you want, you desire. You will be detached from any responsibility that comes with your name and will have all the funds to do what you want without anyone trying to bind you to anyone or anything." When Fiorello heard this, he immediately became interested. He wanted to be free and far away from his household, which put shackles on him. Expecting him to follow a certain conduct day in and day out. In the beginning, it was maybe fun to seduce younger girls at the balls he visited, but after some time, it was boring. He wanted more. He had a terrible side. No, terrible would be a too noble word to describe his desires, which he couldn''t live out freely in the underworld and always needed to hide like a rat, fearing his family would find out. Luckily, all they found was that he dabbled in some more minor illegal things like thievery and assassinations against spouses who cheated. When he got caught one time, all he got was a year-long house arrest. This was also the time rumors spread about him in the territory. However, Fiorello wanted excitement, but it was impossible to take that path as he was bound to his household, and he always feared that they would force him back. His mind became mumbled as he thought about it more. The desire inside him, which rested like a snowball, suddenly became like the sun. He wanted more. Much more. So, he listened exactly to what the Spider-kin in front of him said since he had no reason to. If he wanted to blackmail him, he wouldn''t try to make a deal. If he wanted to kill him, he could do it too. It''s not like he couldn''t flee quickly and make a getaway before they even found him in these parts of Foxteeth. Klepto continued, "...I want to help you stage your death and pay you a considerable amount of gold if you do like we say and help us eliminate some pests." Fiorella raised an eyebrow, "I am no assassin and have barely any talent when it comes to fighting." He lied again to be on the saver side, but there was a kernel of truth. He wasn''t a fighter and could only kill when his victim didn''t expect it, so to say an assassin. Klepto shook his head and explained his plan to him in all detail while not caring why his new partner in crime even lied. In between, they needed to flee the establishment and talk till morning while haggling the price of what Fiorello would get¡ªending it with a handshake and a new appointment where they would sign a more thorough contract, together with a trusted underworld broker who would hold the gold till the contract was fulfilled. ... Many hours later, outside of Foxteeth Klepto leaned against the wall and breathed heavily while smiling at the success of the negotiations. The night elf guard was already gone for his next task and left him alone after getting the reassurance that he was fine. He could see that Fiorello''s skills were excellent, but his were a notch above. So he manipulated him like a marionette without him even knowing. First, get in and show that he was more of a fighter than a manipulator, and slowly let his desire flare up while acting as if he got affected by his skills. Of course, there were more things he did, but they were already like child''s play to him. Klepto''s manipulation skills were excellent as he could precisely deduce what Fiorello wanted and who he was after seeing him. Plus, he was nothing more than an open book with all the information gathered. A ridiculously beautiful young fox-kin with a talent for socializing was somewhere in the underworld doing unspeakable things while looking overly bored. It was like he screamed to give him something interesting to do while saving him from his household, which chained him to a certain conduct he was expected to follow. An open book, nothing more. His solar plexus suddenly started hurting, "Argh!" Klepto''s thoughts were interrupted as enormous pain invaded him. He had, at best, a couple of years left before he broke. What did it mean? Everyone who took corpse crystals became unstable and a monster, and it wasn''t meant metaphorically but literally. He opened his system window to see the progress of his degradation: The window became worse and slowly crumbled into pieces while glitching out. Only sapient races were honored to receive a system window, and everyone who violated certain taboos became cursed. Klepto didn''t believe these fairy tales and knew the real reason: It was that the corpse crystal''s skills, experience, and knowledge were violently inserted, thus damaging the personhood as it merged with the one from whom the crystals were processed. Another problem was that most of them were impure as they were processed sloppily, accelerating his already damaged mental state. What did the damage look like besides the broken system window? He became a monster. Like wild demons, they had no system window, slowly losing their reason, which was the minimum requirement needed to be seen as a member of a sapient race. Rarely were corpse crystals without any negative consequences, like when the one who took it was very high leveled, around the second body modification, and the corpse crystal barely Tier 1. In those cases, the personhood one took in was nothing more than a drop inside an ocean. However, he wasn''t one of the elite, and he took multiple corpse crystals, at first from a noble and later from warriors and con artists. ''Two or three years, at best.'' Klepto gave himself this timeframe before going entirely crazy, where even the expensive potions wouldn''t help him anymore. He slowly deteriorated, and at such moment, he thought of his family and how he missed them. He imagined eating at the dirty table at their old apartment over the filthy bar. They did not have much but each other. The little reason left in him brought him to tears, but only for a moment, quickly interrupted by other voices screaming at him. He was going crazy, and his only wish welled up: To serve his only love, which never would leave him. William said so to him, and he believed it without any doubt in mind. "I can hold on..." He took another potion out and downed it. It was the only moment where he could relax for more than a minute before all his thoughts came rushing back. Klepto leaned back and hugged himself, hoping that a good night''s sleep would give him the peace he desired in such moments. Chapter 62: Nine-Fire Visit 1: Welcoming Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Janina M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Scarlett J. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Fiorello P. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers ... A carriage arrived at the estate. It was embellished with beautiful red and gold vines, which sparkled as the sun shone on them. It gave an air of elegance and sophistication to what Alexander thought a carriage of aristocrats would look like. An engraved symbol showed a fox with nine tails that held demons who looked like they screamed for help. It differed significantly from Leonandra''s bland carriage design but looked much less robust. It was clearly made for visits and other occasions. It was pulled by white horses, a relatively rare occurrence since war boars were much cheaper and more powerful. However, they were also much harder to tame, and since the carriage was much lighter than what Alexander knew, those animals were a perfect fit. Another more bland carriage drove from behind, and a servant, a butterfly-kin, stepped out and strode toward the beautiful carriage, opening it. Out came an older wolf-kin lady in an exquisite dress. From the puppy''s point of view, she looked no older than 40, but he knew that her actual age was between 150 and 200. The aura she emitted told him that she was a pure-blood noble lady as she came out with every step as silent and elegant as it could be possible. Behind her followed two fox-kin girls and one boy. One girl was young, not even having a legacy, while the other was already in her later teens, Alexander assumed. Both were in equally beautiful dresses, but more designed to represent their age. The younger fox-kin had a flowery dress, a bow tie around her waist, and doll shoes. The older one had a white dress with high heels. A colorful flower in her hair complemented her overall style. Both had black hair and fur while their eyes were red, two utterly beautiful girls in Alexander''s eyes. However, they both fail if he puts the teenage fox-kin boy on the same stage beside them. His suit was simple, so much so that it only accentuated his face, which looked like god personally made it out of marmor. He had clear green eyes, black hair, and fur, ''Holy moly. He is on the same level as Narsiz.'' Alexander was fully aware of how beautiful his brother was. While he also had charisma and looked well, compared to Narsiz, he was like a dumpster beside a beautiful flower garden, ''There goes my self-esteem, I guess... actually, if I think like this, what do they think about me?'' He stood at the entrance with all his siblings and parents in the front. Looking at them, they were wearing beautiful dresses. Even Lorient, whom Alexander only saw wearing training clothes. He looked down at himself, ''Well, the four hours of playing dress up make sense now.'' He was never someone who liked to dress well. If he could go somewhere in sweatpants, he would do it. He looked a little more around and saw how his sisters suddenly became much more seductive, if he could call it that since they started throwing lovely eyes at the fox-kin teenage boy, ''Well, good luck, whoever you are. If you do something wrong, they will probably beat the living shit out of you.'' Narsiz, on the other hand, was sweating a little and was probably overly nervous. Alexander guessed that the lessons with Anastasia and Aro made all the girls look like hungry hyenas to him. Alexander looked back at the guests, and it seemed he was the only one who didn''t care about anything. It went so far that he needed to suppress a yawn, ''So, two weeks at most, and they are gone... urgh.'' Alexander had no time at all. He tried to direct all the repetitive work to others, like the paper production, which was in the hands of his mother, who gave it to Noriken, for whom Alexander wrote a thorough manual. He needed to help here and there initially, but he wasn''t needed anymore after some time. The mana ink was also in Noriken''s hands, who got some people who tested all possible combinations to achieve the best result. Alexander would visit them every few days and look at the mana density to decide which had the highest. This job he gave to Ocilia in the beginning, but she went off with Aurum for something different. Aurum was at the moment already in Wolfsteeth, meeting up with some former classmates and starting the charities. Alexander expected not much. Aurum did everything slowly and carefully. So the moment he returned, he would, at most, propped up a couple of orphanages or widow homes. However, Alexander didn''t really care what he did. The moment he gave all authority to Aurum, he lost almost all interest and went to his next project, on which the blacksmiths were working at the moment. But why did Alexander have no time even though he redirected some of his work to others? He kept giving mana skills to everyone close to him and even started experimenting with how Janina could get it. It was not even dangerous this time since he merely had the mana move around her while she meditated. He hoped to find a way to give everyone the real deal and, if it was possible, with someone younger. He also trained a lot, from acrobatics with Lorient to being a punching bag with Sarah. This was why he had barely any time. It was back to his old schedule. Even with the little time he had, everything went well for him, and everyone he was close to was also happy-go-lucky. Especially Green, who, after seeing the ink, was elated and brought even more spells and theory books with her, besides giving him more gold as an investment. While he talked privately with her, she mentioned how the Twin-Acorn branch was growing and that the temple in Wolfsteeth would get more personal. Funny enough, she also thanked Alexander for the advice he gave. He just mentioned that she shouldn''t try to promote her temple, close to Kratikal, as safe and wonderful but as a challenge for those who want to promote the Circle of Nature. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. With a lot of fluff and artistic descriptions, some dwellers now saw the region as something that needed the most help, and she got a lot of transfers, too. Alexander was brought back as he accidentally sensed Sarusos behind him. He was commanded to be their shadow throughout this visit. His mother wasn''t too trusting and wanted to ensure her talented boys wouldn''t be overwhelmed. There were multiple reasons for this, and one was that their grandmother wanted to marry them off to some noble households before their mother''s genes took over, and they would find themselves in a marriage with commoners. He heard the story and the fallout from her announcing that she wanted to marry a commoner, so this time, his grandmother probably tried to get them early. Why not his sister''s, though? The most important reason was that their grandmother barely cared about them in her letters. Why? Talent. Everyone understood that strength was undoubtedly most important in such a world. However, what do you think if the household was full of strong family members who came short on other aspects like politics, economy, etc.? Those traits became more desirable compared to strength. Thus, she tried marrying off Narsiz and Alexander to some who showed talent in combat-related specialties. It was no different from Earth. Supply and demand were a thing. Now, Narsiz was the hottest commodity. Metaphorically and literally, since his beauty and natural charisma would give him a giant leg up in noble circles, pairing it with his talent and interests, he was a golden goose that couldn''t be wasted as a Christmas dish. However, he couldn''t really place himself anywhere. He was rare, but most things he did were secretive, so he expected just some girl with whom he would play tag for a week or two. Even though magic was great, nobody knew outside of his family if he was even talented, so he guessed that they would mostly wait and see before bartering their most gifted children off. He emerged from his thoughts as some servants approached the former lady and helped her with her luggage. Naturally, the former lady gave out some commands and came with their group of overly beautiful fox-kin youth to them, "Good to see you, Mari!" Marisia answered neutrally, not showing any emotion, "Good to see you, Mother." She turned to Kairoso, who smiled snarkily, "Hey Scarlett, I didn''t know wild demons were allowed to walk beside us?" She smiled the same way at him, "Not like you would know while living in some hole, right?" It was tense, only broken by Lorient, "Hello, grandmother!" Luckily, she went through her first mating season without any problem, except for some broken bones, and was calmer than usual before the season. She told everyone proudly at the dinner a couple of days ago that she got the skill. Funny enough, she ignored the part where she thrashed multiple rooms and fought almost every night with someone while screaming all around the place and frightening every servant. It was an open secret, though, so everybody knew but didn''t say anything. Scarlett greeted all of Alexander''s sisters very casually, but when she came to Narsiz, she became suddenly overly happy, "Oh, hello, Narsiz, you became such a beautiful young man!" Narsiz smiled nervously, "Thanks, grandmother, you look good too." She then came over to Alexander, who nobly greeted her, "Hello, grandmother." A giant smile bloomed on her face, "Oh, if it is not the archmage puppy? Can you really do magic? All the rumors were just too interesting!" Alexander instantly conjured multiple contraptions of fireballs around him, "Of course, grandmother..." and smiled at her while thinking something else, ''This... reminds me so much of the family meet-ups when I had my parents. At that point, I was nothing more than some circus animal to show off.'' At this moment, Scarlett had already forgotten all the others and was much more interested in Alexander, "I see, a great little mage!" But Alexander pushed Janina forward instead of taking the compliment, "Grandmother, you should probably greet my little sister too." Alexander could see how she almost frowned but nonetheless did it. After a small talk with everyone, well, mostly Narsiz and Alexander, she introduced the fox-kin youth. First came the oldest one and greeted with a textbook bow, "Good day, my name is Linuel O. Nine-Fire. I hope for a blooming friendship..." While doing the bow, Alexander saw how she looked at Narsiz like a hunter towards their prey, analyzing him thoroughly. He could feel it visibly, too, since he shuddered slightly. Next was the little one who came over and looked at Alexander up and down. He was confused and asked, "Can I help you?" She nodded and said with all the vigor she had, "Yes! I want you to be my husband!" It was silent till Alexander broke it accidentally by blurring something unmannered out, "Yeah, all right, kid." She stomped her feet, "I am not a child!..." She beat her non-existing chest, "...My name is Patricia O. Nine-Fire!" Alexander wanted to tease her even more, "Good for you, Patri..." Before he could say it, Sarusos stepped a little closer from behind. His menacing aura was like a knife targeting Patricia, who backed away, "What a cute little girl. I am Sarusos Leonandra, his personal guard for your short visit..." He looked with a menacing smile towards the former lady, "...Scarlett should know me very well." It was silent, and Alexander could''ve sworn he could cut the air with a knife. Luckily, the last one came forward to interrupt the intense atmosphere. It was like someone pushed a button. His grace came in full force as he mainly looked at all of Alexander''s sisters as he said his greeting, "My name is Fiorello P. Nine-Fire, and it is my honor to meet such beautiful and refined ladies." Fiorello looked at Sarah, Lorient, and Janina more intensely with a charming prince smile. Sarah became elated while Lorient looked at him like those professionals Alexander saw once leaving the estate. Janina, on the other hand, blushed. The whole greeting was weird for Alexander, and he got an insight that let him understand the aristocratic dating scene much better. They couldn''t date commoners and had only each other, so such a visit was one of those few chances where they could find a partner for life or a fling. What Lorient did for the last weeks was an exception and usually only allowed for the first mating season. Afterward, it would not be kindly seen in noble circles to have something with commoners. This is best seen by Linuel, who stared at Narsiz like, if she could, she would rip his clothes right here, right now, from him. He turned to Fiorello. He had a glint in his eyes, which Alexander knew from one of his friends who went after every girl he could find, ''Good luck, buddy. If you break my sisters hearts, I wouldn''t even get the chance to beat you up. They would rip you apart themselves.'' The last one was Patricia, who looked at him angrily, but he could''ve sworn that he saw her propping her chest up, ''This is weird... too weird.'' Then he remembered how Janina was overly interested in romance and all that stuff and understood it was slightly different from modern Earth. So, he already tried to put himself in the right mood so he could play along for the time, ''Well, I also pretended to be my sister''s date at a school ball on Earth to make her ex jealous once. So, this is more or less the same, I guess.'' Marisia broke the weird atmosphere with a clap, "All right! Let''s not stand here..." She approached the fox-kin youth, "Please make yourself at home since the Nine-Fire household is practically family." ... In the guest room of the former lady Scarlett and her servants were unpacking while she walked around the room with a giant smile. Linuel sat at the desk and asked her in an annoyed tone, leaning on her fist, "This Narsiz is beautiful and all that, but he hasn''t even gone through his first mating season. I don''t think he is even interested in girls, but looked instead frightened." Scarlett looked at her and waved her hand in dismissal, "He will in a year or two. If you can build a relationship, he will surely fall in love with you. Don''t forget to visit him regularly and be as lovely as possible. I heard that he is a sensitive boy." Linuel sighed, "Fine..." She looked at Patricia, sitting on the bed and pouting, "... what''s wrong with you? Someone got your tail?" She suddenly turned around, visibly angry, "Alex is dumb! He called me kid! He is a kid!" Scarlett chuckled, "Hehe, don''t worry. Marisia probably told only the most horrible stories about me. If he knows you better, he will like you very much." Patricia jumped down and showed her fangs at them, "He is cocky! I am from Nine-Fire and a prodigy! How can he be so dumb? I was told he should be a genius and can''t even see another genius like me!" Before Scarlett could try to calm her down, Linuel advised her, "Be careful. He is incredibly dangerous." Scarlett looked at her and frowned, "Yeah, this Saru is a maniac, but..." Linuel interrupted her, "Not him, I mean Alexander. My skills were warning me to be careful around him." Patricia answered, full of pride this time, "I am stronger than he is! These stupid fireballs are nothing but fireflies." Linuel smirked and shrugged her shoulders, "Suit yourself, but be careful since what he did in an instant was something only advanced mages could do." Scarlett frowned and looked at Linuel more intensely, "How can he be dangerous? He is not even seven, let alone went through his legacy." She was oblivious at the greeting since her daughter was staring at her intensely, so she wouldn''t try and help the kids out. It was also annoying that Sarusos was there, staring at her with his typical flair of an asylum escapee on a killing spree. Linuel pointed at her nose, "Smell him. He went through the demonic baptism." Scarlett was perplexed, "How?! We did it only shortly before the legacy. How could he survive this? Is Mari insane?!" Linuel shrugged again, "I don''t know, but not even that. Did you see the green bracelets around his arms and legs? Also, the collar he was wearing?" Patricia commented, "He has no fashion sense. They were ugly!" Scarlett knew what the fox-kin teen wanted to say but had no idea about mana items. Her training methods were ancient but effective, and barely anything magical was involved. She looked at Linuel questioningly till she answered, "Huh, this is a mana item that increases body weight. I saw them being gifted toward Ms. Anastasia at some ball. It seems she gifted them to the pup." Scarlett was now fully confused, "What... what can a young one like him do with such a mana item?" She smirked at her, "He was also wearing an anti-mana collar used for beginning war mages. Since he could cast so fast and without any problems..." She looked at Patricia with an even bigger smirk, "...I would guess he is more than a little talented." Scarlett was even more confused than before. In the letter from her daughter, she said that her grandson was talented and could do magic. However, like many others on the border, she knew how to kill a magic user but had no idea about the intricacies of magic. So, this information shocked her, ''Why did Mari didn''t write me anything more specific... urgh.'' Scarlett knew they didn''t have the best relationship, but omitting information was unusual since she praised her daughters. Thus, there should be a reason for this. So, she put her judgment away for later after hearing her daughter out. Linuel stood up and walked to the door, saying, "Don''t ask me. I can tell by your confused expression that you are about to do so. However, I can tell you that he had four times his body weight on him after I saw them. As I said, he is not only a genius..." As she walked beside Patricia, she tried to pat her but got her hand swatted away, "...he is a little monster." Patricia ran behind Scarlett while Linuel left, "See you later at dinner, Scarlett. I need to look and hope that Fio didn''t run around and impregnate the servants." As the door closed, Scarlett became more confused. She was very family-oriented and wanted only the best, at least so much as no danger would befall them, and thought Marisia was the same but too soft since she stopped many dangerous training methods and the baptism. Yet, it looked like she had become worse, and she didn''t know if it was for the better or worse. ''I need to talk with her later... urgently...'' ... Alexanders room "She looks good, a little aggressive, though." "Patricia or Linuel?" "I am talking about the one who analyzed us like we were meat." Narsiz let himself fall on a couch, "I am already tired, and worse, she has the lineage." Alexander went to Narsiz and leaned at him, waiting to be patted, "Why is it worse? Was it not something you wanted? She looks only strong and has no interest in administration, so you could do whatever you like." Narsiz frowned and patted his little brother, "Alex, since she is older and has the lineage, she will probably be looking for someone who will be her husband and, if not lord, an administrator of a bigger city. I am not ready for something like this... it''s like... I don''t know. I want to do things myself before committing to something like this." Alexander shrugged, "Suit yourself, not like someone can force you to, and I have your back. Don''t forget. I am practically richer than all our estate... in maybe a decade or so... if the economy is not changing too much... I think." He looked at Narsiz, "...don''t judge me, as the economy is a fickle beast." Narsiz chuckled, "Hehe, you are right, thank you, but what about you and Patricia? She seemed very..." He paused and couldn''t find a good word to describe her, but Alexander could, "Annoying? Pain in the ass? Arrogant bitch?" Narsiz laughed, "Haha, come on, she is a puppy... well, you too, but..." Alexander turned around again, "But what?" Narsiz answered him honestly, "I never saw you like a smaller brother but as someone my age or older... so I can somehow understand your irritation." Alexander turned back, a little blushed, "Damn, can you be a bit more discreet? But yes, in my eyes, she is a puppy, and I don''t know what I can do with her." Narsiz shrugged, "Learn more about her? Maybe she will grow into a fine lady?" Alexander chuckled, "Hehe, do you want me to groom her?" Narsiz looked confused at him, "Yeah, why not?" Alexander forgot that grooming someone wasn''t seen as something bad in this world, especially when someone older wanted to groom a child to be their future spouse. Yet, his moral compass bashed repeatedly against his head when a thought about grooming her appeared. Alexander asked, "Hm, let''s ignore this and look for the happier things in life. Aight?" Narsiz asked, confused, "You mean family?" Alexander smiled at him, "Nah, that they will be gone in a week or two." Both started to laugh. ... Leonandra Estate, somewhere in the second biggest mansion "You look really good, you know?" "Hm, you are welcome, and your wild side accentuates your unquestionable beauty." Lorient and Fiorello were flirting in the kitchen. She was surprised as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started hitting on her. She liked it since her mating season stressed her out a lot, and even the professionals who came could barely bring her down. However, she didn''t want to do something against the conduct she roughly studied, yet she slowly felt more aroused around him while she started to like him more and more for no apparent reason. Her mind blanked a little. She smirked while leaning at him, "I see you are one of those, but don''t worry. I don''t care even if you shut up and just look nice." Fiorello raised an eyebrow and smiled at her, "Lorient, how about we look for a nice and silent room first, and then I will show you why the red-light district in our city calls me a tongue artist." Every word Fiorello said became increasingly seductive even though it didn''t sound like it. Lorient didn''t want to do anything, but something inside her mind was louder, and the voice said it was fine while pushing her other thoughts away. As he was about to lean forward, a familiar voice came from the side, "Here you are! What do you think you are doing?" Lorient suddenly came out of her stupor and was slightly confused. She saw Linuel, who came from the side and thoroughly analyzed the scene before her. She suddenly remembered all the rumors about Fiorello, who only played with girls. While it would be nice to have a boy toy while the mating season was ongoing, she was looking for someone who was loyal and honest like her father. So she had no interest in him from the beginning, but this situation made her even more confused at why she was doing what she did, ''What the fuck happened?'' Fiorello stopped and smiled at his sister, "Lin, how are you? I am a bit busy, as you can see, so..." She flash-stepped toward him and took his ear, dragging him immediately out, "Not now! I can''t believe you didn''t lose your juvenile mind after all the years! Come with me!" He struggled to resist but, in the end, was forced to follow her, "Ow ow ow! All right, don''t drag me, Lin... ow!" Linuel stopped shortly and turned towards Lorient, "Sorry about that." Lorient nodded at her, and when they left, she stood for a couple of minutes in the kitchen and suddenly became angry, ''This fucker used skills on me!'' She stormed out to warn her sisters, ''If he does this one more time, I will rip his head off!'' Chapter 63: Nine-Fire Visit 2: Dinner & Heartfelt Talk Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Janina M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Scarlett J. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Fiorello P. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers Linuel O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers Patricia O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers ... At the dinner hall After the greeting and unpacking, all Leonandras and Nine-Fires sat down to dine and talk. The lady, Alexander''s mother, sat at the end of the dining table while his father sat on the other side with Janina on his lap. The Leonandra youth sat randomly on one side, while the Nine-Fire youth sat on the other with Scarlett. In noble society, there was a clear sitting arrangement where only one could sit on the end, who was the true ruler of the fief, while on the side would be the children in an arrangement by importance, not age. Here, though, it was more leger¨¦, and only a minimum of decorum was followed, which was also seen in how they ate. The enormous dining table was crammed with food of every variety. They ate in French style (service ¨¤ la fran?aise) while more than a dozen servants tried to accommodate them by bringing them the food since the table was too large to reach most delicacies themselves. Usually, in noble societies, the Russian style (service ¨¤ la russe) was followed, where the food came in courses. Alexander thought about it but didn''t mention it as it could come over as condescending since they always dined casually. However, one part was followed meticulously and differed greatly from his usual eating experience: Everyone changed their clothes to fit the image of nobility. The girls wore fine dresses fitting their age, and the boys wore suits. Everyone wore accessories that looked, in Alexander''s eyes, very expensive. His were the collar and mana item for training. If he chose to wear more, it would look goofy. Alexander looked around and saw how everyone was a little on edge. The atmosphere was charged by what happened only a couple of hours ago. His sisters all looked at Fiorello like he was anti-Christ himself. Narsiz couldn''t make eye contact with Linuel since it was apparent that he was into her in how he acted, and Patricia glanced at him, full of hate. ''Fun times. All that is left is the forty-something uncle who brings a barely legal teen as his new wife to the family gathering, and I feel like home.'' Luckily, his grandmother tried to break the ice by talking about mundane things, "Marisia, did you renovate? It looks so lovely." "Thanks, Mother, we did do some things." They not only repaired but also renovated the whole main mansion fully. Alexander insisted on it, and Aurum had a fit at him afterward. However, it resolved quickly, establishing that gold was barely a problem. Alexander was already creating much more paper than he thought. Instead of the planned 1,000 pieces per week, he made 3,000. Thus, he got even more funds from Green without being forced to make any promises. It was like she only waited for him to do anything so she could throw gold at him. It was obvious why she did it since she knew he already successfully created the mana ink but told her he needed more time to find the correct mixing ratio, which wasn''t true. His actual reason for the delay was very petty: Alexander wanted and demanded that the color was to his liking, making all his new workers crazy. The mana distribution and density, on the other hand, were already close to perfect. He didn''t know why, but he had some weird streak in him that developed slowly and made him look at things very differently. For example, he loved that his clothes had a suitable color composition, like light brown shoes with a marine blue suit. It was like a nail scratching his mind when he saw a terrible ink coloration, or at least what he perceived as such. All he wanted was to throw it away even though the batches he found unusable would be worth thousands of gold. He had no idea why this was the case with him but attributed it to genetics since he had literally a new body. Sometimes, he wanted to force himself to be lazy in his appearance, like he was before, but it slowly eroded. It became, for some reason, worse for the last weeks, but if it were the only problem he had, he would take it. Other things were bothering him and were much more pressing, such as the production of paper, which gave him a big headache. The workers were very different from Earth, creating new problems. How different were they? Through skills, energy, and naturally better physical fitness, they could do everything they needed in half the time while following the safety measures he implemented to a tee. This was also why he created much more paper than expected. So, where was the problem? Alexander was the problem since he was the part that couldn''t get enough resources to them, which would change slowly with them hiring more merchants. Buying sulfur and all the other chemicals was annoying since there was no established supply chain. So everything needed to be done, at the moment, through Salyna since Aurum was in Wolfsteeth, trying to get the projects to start and hire some more people. He suddenly lost his thought when Scarlett asked Narsiz, "You are very much interested in politics, right? What do you think about the sudden influx of gold in all the charities and orphanages? Is it some new wealthy philanthropist?" Alexander almost choked at his food and needed to beat his chest while his siblings chuckled. He gave Aurum a task to act aggressively and not care about anything regarding the proper procedure. Ultimately, he wanted to act as quickly as possible and tune the process when they had more data. Otherwise, it would become too cumbersome. It was also the SOP for tech start-ups with novel ideas to monopolize the market nich¨¦ so new competitors or copycats couldn''t come in and sweep their potential user base away, for example. While it was costly, such a strategy was also unbureaucratic. By listening to Scarlett, it seemed that Alexander''s prediction that Aurum would act frugally was wrong, ''He actually listened to me, huh.'' If Aurum followed Alexander''s advice, he would go around in his name with Maurice and, hopefully, his new goons to inspect, talk, hire, spend, etc. He didn''t expect that his grandmother would find out. Not that it was wrong since he didn''t think she would stop him, but that she found it out was surprising to him. Scarlett was confused about the reactions, and Marisia enlightened her, "Alexander... let''s say, made a lot of gold through some invention and decided to spend a big part of his wealth on the poor and disadvantaged." The fox-kin youth looked, or rather stared, confused at Alexander, and Scarlett asked him, also clearly confused, "Alex, what did you invent?" Marisia wanted to stop her, but Alexander waved his hand while quickly chanting a spell to clean his clothes, where the soup spilled on, and explained, "I need to apologize, grandmother. This topic is very sensitive, but I can tell you in detail if you let those three sign a contract..." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He turned toward them, "Sorry, nothing against you." Linuel shrugged, "It''s fine, I understand." Patricia was perplexed by something else, "Was this another spell?" Alexander nodded, "Yes, you can clean yourselves with it." She suddenly glanced at him more intensely with a hint of jealousy, making him uncomfortable, ''Holy, she has some intense stare.'' Fiorello looked bored and a little high-stringed at Patricia and tried to explain the spell to her, "It is a spell usually used by more experienced apprentice mages..." He looked at Lorient with a seductive smile, "...however, it kills the smell, and this is boring, am I right?" Lorient looked at him and frowned, but before she could say something, Scarlett asked Marisia, being very interested in Alexander, "Is what Alexander said true that the information is too sensitive?" Marisia nodded, "I am sorry, Mother, but he is even underplaying it." Kairoso chuckled from the other end of the table, "Hehe if you only knew!" On his lap was Janina, sitting and screaming like her father, "If you would know!" Such conduct was unheard of for nobles, but Kairoso didn''t care as he rarely stayed at the estate for the last few years and wanted to bond as much as possible with his puppies before returning to the frontline. It was no secret since Alexander''s father was always like this when he returned to the estate. However, it became somewhat cumbersome in the last days before he left, as he was around them all day. He told them some days ago that the wild demons at the border to Kratikal came in weak waves periodically but became stronger. It was weird behavior for the blood demons who appeared, but nothing unusual. So this visit could be the last one for the next years before the waves became too strong and thus needed him to be there. So, he became even more clingy. Scarlett ignored this behavior and was even more perplexed by Alexander, "Marisia, we need to talk... this all sounds strange." Marisia frowned, "Fine. After dinner, the puppies can go out and enjoy themselves..." She stopped momentarily and smiled at Patricia, "...Alex has a lesson. Patricia, do you want to join him? Anastasia will be delighted to have two brilliant students learning from her." Patricia became elated, "Sure! It would be great!" Scarlett looked at Patricia and back at Marisia, "Did you say, Anastasia? The bunny-kin from the Ramputt household?" Alexander chimed in, "Yeah, the one who came smelling like a whole bar to my lessons when the mating season was in full swing." Marisia rebutted her son, "Alex, don''t talk about her like that. The mating season is for different beast-kin..." Narsiz interrupted her, "He is right, though. She smelled like every soldier mixed with cheap booze." Before Marisia could rebuke her sons, as often before, because they shouldn''t talk like that about someone reputable and well-known as a great teacher, Scarlett wanted to stay on topic, "How did you get her again? I remember she was gone after a year of teaching Lorient, and I could only get hold of her through some connections to the crown." Every wolf-kin youth took a wild guess as it became more rowdy, making the atmosphere at the dinner much more easy-going. Lorient drank some wine and answered confidently, "She was probably bored with all those losers from the central region." Sarah was already drunk, as she was only now allowed to drink alcohol after months of house arrest, and blurted out what came to her mind, "Our men are better! Those wussies from anywhere else only know how to push papers..." She looked at Narsiz apologetically, "...sorry, hehe..." Narsiz rolled his eyes and sighed. He wiped some alcohol from his face with a serviette and answered, "Food and men, for sure..." He also mumbled something barely audible, "...there go our manners." Janina became more vigorous, almost screaming, "It was obviously because of Big Brother! Did you see the great plays he did?" Alexander waved his hand in dismissal after gulping down a cup of some tea he found weirdly delicious, "It was obviously because of gold!..." He became strangely more relaxed, slamming the cup down, "...it rules the world, and we paid her an insane amount!" The fox-kin youth also chimed in after seeing the fun discussion and relaxed atmosphere. After gulping down a giant piece of steak, Linuel looked at Lorient and agreed, "You don''t even know. I was once in central Mal-Gil, and all those young nobles were pathetic losers, only blurting out their family name to impress me like it meant something." Fiorello was the only one besides Narsiz, minding his manners and smiling at their descriptions, "Hm, where is her room? I have some philosophical questions I want to discuss, hehe." Patricia looked around in confusion, "She is a bad teacher?!" Marisia tried to answer some of them while they talked happily and rudely with each other, already forgetting their manners, "She is a good teacher, and she came because of Alexander and a giant bag of gold." Scarlett looked at her daughter more intensely, "Hm, let''s talk after dinner, then." Alexander saw how his mother looked at his grandmother and remembered that they had some problems, but there was fundamental trust between each other. His mother told him that when it came to certain things, his whole family would stand together, never mind the differences. ''Well, at least I know that she wouldn''t fuck me over, but this is always in the eyes of the beholder.'' Alexander understood what his mother meant, but the differences were a little extreme for his taste. She would force him to marry someone she deemed worthy if she could, so she wasn''t that trustworthy in his eyes. ''I bet all my money that, if she could, she would send me to the Nine-Fire household or any other, so I get surrounded by girls all day till I fall in love with some kiddo so I wouldn''t marry some commoner in my future... great shit.'' Alexander was obviously against something like this and would rebel, but he also knew that he was very lucky since some families didn''t even ask and just forced their children to marry others. He couldn''t even imagine what to do if something like this happened to him. He looked around at the relaxed atmosphere and how all talked freely with each other, which brought a smile to his face. He took another gulp and was confused about why the tea was this delicious. The dinner ended with a relaxed atmosphere and a lot of small talk. After that, Narsiz showed Linuel the estate with a couple of guards, while Alexander went with Patricia to his lesson with Sarusos. Lorient and Sarah went together with Fiorello toward the garden with some guards. On the other hand, Janina was sent to her room by Lorient. She pouted and protested at first but, in the end, went to rest. Everybody could see where the priorities were by which guards were sent and with whom. The soldiers sent with Sarah and Lorient were only there for decorum since they were rather weak. Marisia had clear priorities for who she expected could be a victim of her mother''s manipulation. However, while Marisia unevenly distributed the protection between the Leonandra youth, it didn''t affect the accommodation. A barrage of servants from the Leonandra and Nine-fire households followed them so they could be helpful if the need arose. ... Marisia''s Office Scarlett was sitting and listening to her daughter about what had happened since she visited the last time. Kairoso was also in the room, looking as proud as possible. Every time her daughter brought up something new, something inside her, which she thought had been buried, came out slowly. She needed to suppress it actively, ''He is a monster!'' Producing better training methods/schedules for soldiers. Inventing a technique for acquiring mana skills. Making mana paper and selling it for a ridiculous amount of coin to the temple while being exceptionally strong at such a young age. She now understood all the weirdness around her grandson. It was very unusual for a puppy like Alexander to acquire an amount of wealth that could rival the poorer noble households. Only the descendants of higher nobles had pocket money that eclipsed anything reasonable. They usually acted similarly to Alexander but started unlawfully buying out businesses for fun instead of putting the gold into charity. She also understood now why Alexander needed to wear the mana item and anti-mana collar, as he could only cope with the increased experience by training his body diligently with every method they had at hand. The other thing that surprised her was that he underwent the demonic baptism. It was necessary since he inherited the treehugger''s ancient bloodline and couldn''t cope with the blood lust when it came out, resulting in a destroyed foundation of the main mansion. She knew that her daughter was somewhat powerful when it came to her [Divinity Line] and had exceptional control over it. It was a first for her to hear that she could barely crack her grandson with full force. Usually, the problem was that their previous ancestors overshot and damaged the psyche, but here was the puppy resisting. She couldn''t even blame her for doing it in the lord''s and lady''s training hall since nobody could predict something like that could happen. Scarlett smiled as the greed she had controlled till now invaded her thoughts. In her mind, even marrying her grandson to a princess who would become the empress would sell him short, ''He really could take one of the four seats beside the high nobles!'' Mal-Gil had a council with eleven seats for higher nobles and four for commoners, who could also be nobles who were exceptionally talented, strong, and firmly influenced the empire. It was built after the last coup to control the Emperor better since more than Count Moorgrel alone was needed as a control instance. She had already started to think of a way for Alexander to reach his full potential, but it became suddenly complicated to think everything through as she needed to confirm some more things. However, she already started with a rough outline. ''It''s getting weirdly complex...'' Because of his birth, coming from a druid, and a noble lineage, which was Moorgrelian nobility, there was no way for him to climb to a position of higher nobility through merits. So, if she wanted him to rise to a fitting position, it only would be one of the four seats. The first one belonged to the leader of all mercenaries and adventurers. Those groups differed heavily as one specialized in wars or protection, while the other specialized in killing monsters. Yet, there was only one at the top: The leader of the Union for Combatants. He was powerful, and if push came to shove, his top people could rival the army of a dukedom. The second was the leader of the Healer Union, who worked closely with the Union for Combatants for apparent reasons. They also had very close relationships with many other nobles, as they were basically the lifeblood of any group or household. The third was the Trade Union, which had incredible wealth under them. They were a council in itself, and only one represented them. They could bankrupt kingdoms while having half the council of the higher nobles in their pockets. Last but not least was the Union of Wizardry and Artificing. This group was where Scarlett saw her grandson becoming the next archmage. With such a talent, everything short of getting the seat would be a waste in her eyes. Her thoughts were interrupted by Marisia, "Well, and now you are here. Want to learn mana skills, too?" Marisia smiled at her while Scarlett didn''t say anything and was in her own world. She tried to remember all the connections to mages she had made, but they were weak, and she would need to work extra hard for the following years to try and connect her grandson with mages in higher positions. ''I know of some individuals... they could be actually much better for him, but I need test him first to even to determine his true potential.'' After a moment of silence, Kairoso answered her, "I think we broke her?" Marisia sighed at what her husband said, "Please don''t use the same phrases Alexander uses. It sounds degrading." Kairoso shrugged at this while his mother-in-law looked at him and waved her hand in dismissal, "Shut up, you big oaf. I need to process somehow what you and Mari told me." Marisia looked at Kairoso, who stepped back with a big smile. She turned to her mother and became serious, "Mother, the situation with Alexander is very sensitive, so please don''t do anything overly rash..." She frowned a little, "...while you are at it. Also, don''t do the same things to Narsiz, too." Scarlett felt attacked, "What? It sounds like I am trying to assassinate them while only trying to introduce some nice girls to them?" In her mind, Alexander needed a good girl he could trust with his life, and what better choice was there than to have him marry someone from the guard households? At this point, she didn''t even care about nobility since her grandson wouldn''t even need it with so much talent, but he would need someone who could maneuver through the social circles of nobility. A commoner couldn''t do it and would only damage Alexander''s reputation. Also, because the guard households were heavily interconnected, there was no way that any backstabbing could happen, so this was preferable to her to every other girl with higher status. Marisia frowned, "Listen, I know what you tried the last time with Narsiz, and I don''t want something like that to happen again." Scarlett frowned in the same way as Marisia. Kairoso chuckled a little at the sight, only to be glared at by the mother-daughter duo. He stepped back one more time and smiled at them happily. She ignored him and answered her daughter, "It was obviously not my plan. The little squirt I brought here had, for some reason, a mana contract and really liked Narsiz." Marisia sighed, "Fine, let''s just say it is as you say it is. There was another thing that happened, can you remember? I don''t want my puppies, no matter who, to be punished in a way you see fit." Scarlett squinted at her daughter, becoming angry, and exactly knew what she was talking about, "How I see fit? You are talking like I beat up Sarah..." She stared her daughter into her eyes, "...I only spanked her since someone couldn''t teach her not to call her grandmother an old hag, and you..." She turned to Kairoso, "...needed to escalate the situation. So much for being a peaceful druid." Kairoso took another step back with a joyful smile on his face. For some reason, this made Scarlett pop a vein, ''Alexander already showed a similar attitude to Patricia like this bastard of being relaxed while provoking... I just want to beat him till he crawls around and begs me to stop. I need to teach proper manners to Alexander before he becomes like the treehugger.'' Marisia stood up and leaned against the table forward, clearly angry even though appearing solemn, obviously letting all her emotions out, "You think what you did was only spanking?! She needed a healer afterward!..." Marasia''s glare intensified, "...you did the same with Lisa all her life till she broke..." Her grip ripped a part of the table out, "...all you did was torture her, thinking it would strengthen her, and what happened in the end? She crumbled because of your greed!" Scarlett stood up, too, looking her daughter in her eyes, "It was my mistake. How much do I need to apologize? She was not ready for the baptism, and I failed to recognize it!" Marisia became angry and showed her fangs, "Really?! I remember you torturing her even after she failed! All her life, all the time she was in this damned estate, she was only doing what you wanted because of your so-called grandiose goals! Even after she became miserable, you wanted to marry her to some bastard!" Scarlett let out a little bloodlust, "Do you think she is happy living somewhere in the woods like some animal with a damn dirty farmer?! I wanted the best for her even after she failed...." Scarlett felt sadness at the moment, "...she had so much potential, so much talent and unwavering will..." She bit her lower lip, "...it was truly my mistake." Marisia''s bloodlust exploded, interrupting her mother, "She failed?! You fucking bitch..." She fletched her fangs at her, "...do you listen to yourself?! You destroyed all that made her, her! Her friendliness, her openness, her unwavering goodwill. What did you expect with training that I barely survived when I went through it when I was much older!" Scarlett wanted to interrupt her daughter but suddenly felt intense killing intent toward her, and the following words of her daughter sounded like pure poison, "I always thought that it was for our own good to be strong and if something terrible happened, you would be there..." Her eyes slowly reddened, "... tell me, what did you do after she got raped?" She didn''t say anything and stared at her daughter, feeling ready to teach her a lesson but couldn''t. She knew she had failed on many fronts, so she tried her best to stay calm and let her tantrum end. Marisia, on the other hand, became angrier, and Scarlett could feel it, "You didn''t do anything! The least you should''ve done was to kill him, but no! You tried to sweep it under the rug like the fucking good mother you are! Everyone would crumble if not even the family stood behind one?! Tell me, how did you feel after she lay and cried in front of you after getting violated by your fucking loser of a brother." Something snapped inside Scarlett, she couldn''t hold it in any longer, and her bloodlust exploded the same way, hearing her daughter''s accusation, "Do you want me to damage the damn family, you moron?! I wanted to send him away before anything happened, but you needed to tell your father what happened, right? He cut his arm off and damaged our reputation for no damn reason!" Marisia opened her eyes wide, which became fully red, filled with demonic energy, "No reason?! This broke Lisa entirely! She trusted you and thought you would help her! After your betrayal, she became nothing more than a shadow of the happy girl I knew! Anything less than having his head on a pike was the disgrace!" Scarlett squinted at her daughter, trying to calm down before the whole argument escalated into something more, "You are too emotional like your father. Maybe it was a bad..." Kairoso stepped forward and banged the table. Both women turned with their bloodlust toward him. Scarlett could feel the annoying energy of nature he emitted, which relaxed her slightly. She also saw how her daughter became much more relaxed. Kairoso shivered slightly, but his voice sounded sincere and soothing, "Ladies! We are all family! There is no need to become like this! What happened, happened! Please think of what is important at the moment!" He slowly walked beside her daughter, "We have very talented puppies and will need your help, but we want to decide what kind of help we will need while also listening sincerely to your opinion..." He smiled at Scarlett, "Scarlett, you are a great and ambitious knight without question, but understand that we have some things to work out because of the past..." He turned to Marisia, "Mari, you should know that your mother never did something bad on purpose, and this was just bad luck or misjudgment..." He touched her shoulder, "...she apologized already and admitted her mistake..." He turned to Scarlett, "...but this doesn''t mean everything is fine. I know of Lisa and met her. She is wonderful, so please understand that those scars can''t heal that fast. Please, give Mari more time." Scarlett looked at Marisia, who became relaxed and sat down again. She could feel her bloodlust also subside. Then she looked at the smiling moron who stood behind her daughter, rubbing her shoulders, ''Like Roland... I can''t believe we find the same type of men attractive... how can he be even this sensitive as a former mercenary?'' She decided to talk it out again and even apologize as often as needed since she wanted to bury the problem. There were much more important things to discuss, like Alexander''s future. What happened with Lisa was clearly a misjudgment from her as she didn''t see the signs of her slow decline, but every time she met with Marisia, she barely trusted her with her puppies, thinking she would do the same. Scarlett thought she had changed, but the moment she heard about Alexander and all his achievements, it was like all her old ambitions came out again. Now, she was ready even to admit everything her daughter wanted as long as she could realize her grandson''s potential, ''Slow. I can''t be the same as in the past. I need to somehow make Alex show interest in what is best for him... for us. Then, Marisia can''t say anything against it if he wants to go through my training by his own will.'' However, before she could sit down, Aro barged into the office, "My lady, we have some problems..." Chapter 64: Nine-Fire Visit 3: Rendezvous Part 1: Narsiz x Linuel & Fiorello x Sarah/Lorient Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Linuel O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Fiorello P. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers ... At the estate''s art room "You really have a room purely for art, huh?" "I am sure the Nine-Fox estate has one, too, Ms. Linuel." Linuel looked around the room. Calling it like this was disingenuous since they were multiple rooms connected through wide floors with each other. Every wall in every room had multiple art pieces on it, and sometimes, a whole wall with a plague full of text was dedicated to one single art piece of some wolf-kin¡ªan evident dedication to former lords and ladies who achieved something meaningful. There were also some art pieces like beautiful and delicate sculptures standing on pedestals. A whole corner was also dedicated to a statue out of wood, which gave off the typical energy nature-dwellers did. It looked funny to her as it was obviously some kind of canine but heavily distorted. She decided not to comment on this since it was clearly a gift from the temple to the current lord. Everything looked beautiful, but she also felt like she saw this already. It looked eerily similar to their art room at the Nine-Fire estate, but their paintings were much smaller, while some of Leonandra''s ones sometimes took the whole wall. She turned to Narsiz with a smile, "Please call me Lin. Not like we are that much different in age or status." After saying this, Linuel could see how Narsiz forced a smile. She just blurted that out to relax him, but she could see his juvenile behavior after saying it, as he acted a little unsure of what to do. She knew the age gap was around five years, which wasn''t large, but it was substantial since he hadn''t gone through his first mating season. Yet, besides his unsure behavior toward her, he seemed much more refined and adult-like than she was, especially while they dined. She needed to force herself to mirror him so she would not come across as some commoner, as he followed the etiquette to a tee. This weird dichotomy made it harder for her to treat him more appropriately. However, the last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable. He smiled at her, "Okay, Lin, call me Narsi then." Linuel turned around while her face blushed, ''Calm down, Lin! Damn it!... He looks so cute, though.'' Luckily for her, it seemed that Narsiz didn''t notice it and thought she was looking at the art pieces, "This is an interesting artwork by an artist who created the art form Creativism." Linuel only now noticed that she looked away at an artwork that looked like nothing to her, "Well, it looks unique." She cared for art as much as a commoner. She only saw some colors sprayed onto the canvas without much thought. However, because she had a date, she wanted to pretend at least to be interested in the art of primarily dead painters. Narsiz walked beside her and explained, "It shows the expressions and feelings of the artist. He drew it while being poor and barely able to eat. What a shame." Linuel looked at him and couldn''t take her eyes away, ''He is really adorable...'' When Scarlett was at the Nine-Fire estate, she talked a lot with her mother and afterward with all her sisters. She told how beautiful and refined Narsiz was but somehow made a mistake by underselling him massively, especially his beauty. Some were interested in him, but in the end, Linuel decided to give it another try and could convince her sisters to let her go alone. She had problems finding a husband on the last rendezvous arranged for her and thought that the guard households were her best bet. She visited mostly the noble societies in the west and attended one or two in central Mal-Gil. She had multiple reasons not to start in the east of Moorgrel, which had more to do with how she hated the northern households and the southern had practically no males in her age bracket at that time. The western and central noble youths were all delighted by her, yet after a little more time, they saw that she was nothing more than a good fighter and pretty much useless in every other position at the estate. This brought a lot of problems since the competition was intense for able husbands who didn''t want to have harems. It didn''t make it easier for Linuel as she also wanted to have a fulfilling relationship. So, a commoner would actually be her next best bet, but she had obligations to fulfill, and for this, she needed a husband from a noble household. Narsiz was perfect in that sense since he complimented her perfectly. He was highly sophisticated in every aspect she wasn''t, like administration, while she could take the military part¡ªa perfect splitting of responsibilities. The next thing she liked was that his father was an uncultured druid and former mercenary. While it sounded terrible, she liked it since he would have no prejudices against muscle brains as she was one. Last but not least, she wanted to find out if he was actually nice. Her only brother was a womanizer in the worst sense, and she heavily disliked such a trait. She wanted to have her husband for herself. She was too jealous to imagine having her loved one share with another woman. She would rather kill her rival and castrate her spouse before allowing something like this to happen. In her mind, she built a list of attributes that her husband needed to be and have. She would even cut out the talented thing if he was somewhat competent. She made a list when she was young, and many points changed significantly over time. Now, she would be fine if he didn''t run the territory into bankruptcy or chaos. After a moment, she caught herself out of her thoughts and asked, "Why is it a shame?" He didn''t take his eyes off the painting while she stared at him, "It is a shame that hunger and pain could be this beautiful." She turned back toward the painting and frowned. All she could see were splashes and blobs of color, but she didn''t utter it. However, her mind wandered again somewhere else, only to be interrupted by Narsiz as he saw her facial expression, "You don''t understand it, right?" Linuel looked at him back and sighed, "I am sorry. I am not the type to appreciate such things." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. It was too much out there. Linuel loved to have a trail of an animal and hunt it down leisurely. Hunting was her favorite pastime, and her actual dream was to live somewhere in the forest in a hut while doing nothing but hunting. The wolf-kin boy smiled at her, "Follow me. I think I have something for you." Linuel followed him, and while strolling, they talked about the places they lived and how they differed. However, her mind was already somewhere else. Her instinct had already told her he was a good catch. He was friendly, while most nobles at the balls Linuel visited were rude and arrogant toward her. Even though he was a little stiff, he was also very comforting at the same time. It made her like him even more, thinking how he would be if he could open up more to her. She followed the smiling and talking wolf-kin while thinking about how to win him over because she had already started to like him. Her intuition was excellent, and she could feel he was the right person, but she had no idea if he thought the same about her. Thus, her old habits came out as she analyzed him like her game. She saw he had two smaller crossbows and some throwing daggers hidden away, but this didn''t mean he was an actual fighter. It could be for a last-resort attack when cornered. So inviting him to a hunt was something she decided against. While dining, he talked with Scarlett about politics, administration, and everything she hated. In her mind, he probably wanted to become a politician or marry the head of the household to administrate a territory. If she were right about his ambitions, it would be perfect for her, but the moment she saw his sisters and brother, she knew they had no interest in such things, so he had all the freedom to decide who to marry since he would probably become the new lord and would need a competent lady. She was talented but not like her older sister and would probably end up as a mercenary if she didn''t find someone who was a competent bureaucrat soon, ''Damn it...'' While she became a little restless, he wasn''t. He asked her little things here and there to relax her, which she appreciated, "You seem to really like wildflowers..." He looked at her bracelet, which she decorated with flowers only found in the wild, which were also hard to cultivate, "... are you maybe into hunting? Lorient really loves the outdoors, too." She nodded while walking beside him, "You have sharp eyes. I do love hunting, but not so much..." He chuckled slightly, "Hehe, don''t worry. Alex already told me how you analyzed us like we were prey. I would guess that those were the eyes of a hunter." She sighed, "I am sorry, it was ru..." He shook his head and smiled at her, "I like it. It means you want someone not only for marriage. I also look for something like what my parents have." Linuel smiled back at him and almost screamed, "This is exactly what I look for!..." She held her hand in front of her mouth in shock,"...sorry for..." Narsiz interrupted her while laughing, "Haha! Like I said, don''t worry. My siblings are much more rowdy, and you look like the perfect noble beside them." She started to chuckle, too, "Hehe, sorry. I am a little on edge since I really don''t want to come over as rude." He shook his head, "Let me tell you something funny and what is considered rude at this estate. Some time ago, Lorient went through her first mating season and traded all her servants, who were men, with Alexander''s without asking. So..." While he told the insane story of how his little brother almost pierced his sister''s servants for being rude, she looked at him more closely. She didn''t know why, but his calm demeanor was something she loved, like a still lake inside a forest surrounded by bloodthirsty beasts. She really wanted to know him better, ''Should I ask him to go for a hunt? Maybe he is actually good at archery. I should show him my good sides and how capable I am.'' She sighed inwardly as something told her he wasn''t the type who liked to camp outside and hunt monsters for fun. However, she would ask him at some point when they knew each other. Even though he was open-minded toward her, she wanted nonetheless not to put all of herself in the open in front of him from the beginning. While they talked, Narsiz stopped before an artwork of a wolf-kin killing a demon lord, and while doing so, he had his arm cut off simultaneously, "What do you see?" Linuel looked at the painting, "He fucked up..." She turned around and wanted to apologize but saw that Narsiz was chuckling. Narsiz looked at her with an honest smile, "Sorry, it is quite refreshing that we could forget the etiquette for a moment. So, he fucked up? That''s all?" Linuel became more relaxed, and it felt like another boulder fell from her shoulders. Cursing was seen as something terrible and highly unmannered for nobles, never mind the ranking. So, him not caring about such things made her feel more at ease. "Yeah, he lost his arm while fighting those bastards." Narsiz smiled, "But what about the demon?" Linuel started to look at the demon, "What about him?" "How do you think he feels?" Linuel tilted her head in confusion, "What do you mean how he could feel?" "Every monster, animal, or demon you kill has emotions, wishes, or instincts it follows. So, what does this demon think?" Loriel crossed her arms, "I guess..." ... Hours Later The talk went on till night broke and ended in a lovely rendezvous. Linuel left with her servants to her room and felt that he liked her but was careful as he was probably told that Scarlett could bring some vixen to the estate and seduce him, ''Scarlett told me a lot of shit how her family respects her. I would call it fear.'' She was also cautious regarding her behavior. Even though she slipped up several times and was even calmed down, it felt a little embarrassing to be comforted by someone so much younger, but it was also somewhat exciting for her. Such a trait was undoubtedly one she loved and found attractive. However, she tried her best till the end to avoid ruining the situation because she was usually too straightforward. While he was fine with some slip-ups here and there, she wasn''t so sure if he was that relaxed if she showed her true self. She licked her lips even thinking about him but became immediately frustrated since he wasn''t through his first mating season. She could already smell his pheromones, which was a good sign that she would need to wait a year at most, making her more giddy. Then, she would show her wild side. There were a lot of rumors inside noble circles where women or men manipulated much younger nobles who weren''t through their mating season and slept with them. Usually, it was impossible since they had no pheromones and wouldn''t even be aroused to the extent that they could mate. However, there were a lot of alchemical solutions for such situations where one could force it out. Something like this scarred the premature beast-kin mentally, and she wanted to avoid even giving him the assumption that she would do something like this. It was a weird situation for her. Both were cautious but also tried to accommodate the other one. For Linuel, it was the best rendezvous she had, even though it started a little rough. ... Leonandra Estate, Main Garden A fox-kin strolled together with two beautiful wolf-kin girls through the main garden beside the major mansion where the lord and lady resided while trying to make small talk. Lorient wasn''t big into artificially making the garden beautiful and liked it more wild and unruly. However, right now, she couldn''t think what her backyard would look like since an annoying voice interrupted her thoughts. "So, how are my most beautiful flowers doing? What interests do you have besides being so adorable?" She already understood what he wanted to do. The situation before showed her his true colors, so she adjusted herself to be as conscious of any skills as possible. She already told this to Sarah and didn''t allow Janina to join them. While Sarah was surprised, she became cautious now. On the other hand, Janina didn''t understand the situation and wanted either way to follow them. Only by throwing her into her room and posting a guard there could she hold her far away from, what she considered, the scumbag. Lorient didn''t know Sarah''s thoughts, but both would need to suck it up and be as cordial as possible while counting the seconds to his leave. Yet, she would need to find out if he was just somewhat slimy and annoying while accidentally using a skill or if he intentionally used the skill to have a go with her. If the latter one was the case, she would rip him apart. If the former, she would just see it as a lousy match-up and endure it. After her first mating season, which she considered Outer Circle, she thought she had become much more composed and immune to such effects, even more so after getting rid of her frustrations. However, it wasn''t the case, as she could see how someone manipulated her. ''I hope for him that it was a one-time use and only in the spur of the moment.'' Everyone saw skill usage to manipulate others as a taboo, especially in noble circles, and when found out, a challenge to a duel to death wouldn''t be unreasonable. Such a dislike was a remnant from history, where the church manipulated beast-kin into slaves. So, covertly using such skills against unsuspecting victims was seen as nothing short of a challenge to get their heads chopped off. There were obvious exceptions, like the natural charisma one exuded or the transparent use of skills, like intimidation skills. These were seen as acceptable and even positive if one could coerce others with their charm rather than skills. She answered him with a fake smile, wanting to appear at least somewhat friendly, "I love going out for a hunt. What about you, Sarah?" Sarah acted apprehensive but forced a smile nonetheless, "Not much. I like shopping and good food." He leaned forward and looked Sarah into her eyes, "Well, you surely look gorgeous and have a perfect sense for fashion." Sarah blushed but suddenly got angry, "Did you use skills on me?!" He tried to play it off as he sighed and looked apologetic, "Sorry, but no. My [Charisma] attribute is very high, and with my naturally strong charismatic aura, many think I use skills, but..." He smiled sheepishly and scratched his cheek slightly, "I am very untalented when it comes to such stuff... sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable." Lorient came from behind and grabbed his shoulder, putting pressure on it, "My brother is, in that sense, more than enough for us to notice something like this. How about you stop lying?" Fiorello turned around and showed his hands in a sign of peace, "But I am not lying? See? The effect is just that high?" Sarah smiled at him viciously, "I would stop if I were you. I have [Mystic Skills], which are even more potent than your little charisma enhancement, and I can feel it too now through it. It doesn''t stay still but fluctuates a little. Natural charisma does not do this." Lorient knew of her sister''s [Mystic Skills]. It could bring the opponent to do what she wanted. However, she needed very high [Charisma] to use it, and her opponent would need a low [Spirit] attribute. General skills also played a vital role, but fighters rarely cared for mental fortitude skills, so it was easy for her to manipulate anyone at their estate. Lorient often asked Sarah to use the skill on her to develop her mental fortitude skills, which she had neglected in the past. It worked, and by doing so, they also found out that Sarah was highly sensitive to any manipulation skills used on her. Lorient was the typical fighter and barely sensed any manipulation skills used on her. However, her intuition was excellent, and she could feel it when someone used something at her. The best example was Alexander when they trained, and he got exhausted, huffing and puffing, wanting a break. He usually used [Charm] to manipulate her, a cute trick she ignored since the situation allowed it. Yet, she would push him even more after he used it on her as punishment. Behind them came the personal guard of Fiorello, a cat-kin maid, and out of her oozed an aura that told them to back off, "Excuse me, my ladies, but this little play ends here. If my master said, he didn''t do it then he didn''t." Lorient smiled and let go, "Fine by me..." She turned toward the cat-kin, "...how does it feel to serve such a scumbag? I would rather kill myself than..." Before she could end the sentence, Fiorello held a dagger at her neck, "I would stop if I were you. While I am nice enough to admit I have weird natural charisma, you are too stupid to understand. I will not be insulted in front of my retainer." Sarah and the cat-kin readied themselves for a confrontation. This intense stand-off was interrupted by a deep laugh, "Muhahaha! What is going on here?" Lorient looked to the side and saw Larry walking toward them with his mace out and ready to attack. His following words sounded like a threat, "I would say that we deescalate it now and forget what happened. Otherwise, we will have a situation at hand that may not be solvable." His mistress became surprised and then angry, "You can actually talk just fine?! On our travels, you were mostly mute! What is going on?!" She ignored the dagger and walked toward Larry. She also returned to her senses before anything worse could happen, and something told her that Fiorello provoked her on purpose and used a skill again. She wanted to avoid an escalation and tell her mother before a war between households could start. Sarah relaxed too and saw how Fiorello frowned but quickly changed it to a smile. He approached his maid and looked back at Sarah, who suddenly shivered slightly, "Well, not like I expected..." Before he could end the sentence, something snapped inside of Sarah. Her heart-shaped eyes glowed pink, and her following sentence came with an immense increase of her aura, "Why don''t you just shut up and kill yourself?" Without a word, he took his knife and was about to ram it in his neck, only to stop an inch before. He was sweating and became angry outwardly, "Are you crazy in using a skill against me?!" Sarah pointed at herself in surprise and became playfully furious, "Me? No way! I think..." She took a few steps forward and gleefully bowed while looking up at him, "...I just think you saw the ways of your wrongdoings and wanted to repent. By the way, I fully agree with your decision." She turned her heel and walked away while the cat-kin guard became agitated and was ready to attack. Fiorello needed to hold her back. Chapter 65: Nine-Fire Visit 4: Rendezvous Part 2: Alexander x Patricia Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Patricia O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers Anastasia I. Ramputt (Bunny-kin) (Close-)Retainers ... At the same time, Leonandra Estate, Alexander''s (General) Classroom "Take a seat somewhere. Anastasia usually comes a few minutes later, and hopefully, she doesn''t smell this time like twenty guys." Patricia entered the classroom, which was nothing more than an office room with some desks and chairs. The blackboard was the only thing she could identify, which showed that it was a classroom. She was not impressed, to say the least, and even confused about how anyone could learn in such an environment. Special personnel designed her room for lessons to create an atmosphere where she could relax and learn much better. It was fitted with many things, like toys, paintings, accessories, etc., to make her learning much easier and more fun. So, seeing this barebone and the chaotically fitted classroom was unexpected, which made her quite disappointed. However, she didn''t say it aloud as she thought there should be some reason for this and that maybe the teacher wasn''t the one they talked about and just someone lazy and inexperienced. "Really? Are you sure it is Anastasia I. Ramputt? You know our family tried to get her to come to us, but she refused every time." Alexander casually planted his butt on the chair, "Well, she is a fickle personality. You will see once..." The door opened, and behind them came Anastasia inside with a hop in her step, "What will who see? Oh, hello there! A cute little fox-kin..." She stopped and looked at her, "...you must be from the Nine-Fire household..." She smiled at her, "...do I steal your precious time with Alex?" Patricia immediately did the typical noble greeting, "N... No, it is fine! My name is Patricia O. Nine-Fire, and it is my utmost pleasure to meet you!" Alexander blurted out nonchalantly and unrespectfully, "Stop your smirking. Not like anyone would buy that you are actually in some way noble." She shrugged at Alexander''s comment and introduced herself while going to the teacher''s desk, "Nice to meet you, Patricia. My name is Anastasia I. Ramputt. You should relax, and Alex, be nicer. Otherwise, you will end like all the grumpy scholars, hehe." Patricia relaxed and could feel the nobility oozing out from her. Even though she was relaxed and didn''t follow any decorum, she had an aura of dignity around her, which only nobles in high positions had. However, what baffled her was that Alexander was highly disrespectful to her and talked with her openly like commoners would do with each other. Patricia quickly sat down and remembered why she was here in the first place: She wanted to show Alexander her intelligence and that she was not just a little puppy. After his comments at the greeting, she wanted to make him regret saying what he said. However, it all felt bizarre. For some reason, she saw that Alexander was actually much more mature but also more puppyish at the same time than her. It was a weird contrast. While dining, he got so drunk that the servant took away his beverages. He became a little grumpy, but luckily, he only had some relaxing tea, which effect was short. It was a very immature behavior she witnessed. However, when Alexander talked with Scarlett, he became overly composed and didn''t even brag about his achievements, only mentioning that she should talk with the lady. On the way here, it was the same. She thought he would act puppyish toward her but only tried to make appropriate conversations and even rebuked his fox-kin retainer to stop threatening her with his crazy aura. Now, he became again overly casual, but not in the puppyish sense. Her thoughts were interrupted when Anastasia put her bag down on the desk. She turned around and thought briefly before asking in Loi (human language), "How well do you speak other languages?" Patricia was baffled as she couldn''t understand anything and looked at Alexander, who answered casually in beast-kin dialect, "We are speaking in our lessons in different languages so I can learn them. We are now at Loi and already done with Nocir. It is fine if you don''t know. We can just speak Nocir if you are learning it now." Patricia became nervous and didn''t want to say she hadn''t started learning other languages. Luckily, Anastasia saved her, "I totally forgot that most only learn languages at the start of their legacy and mostly one or two..." She smiled at Patricia, "...don''t worry. We will just talk in beast-kin dialect." Patricia looked at Alexander, who shrugged, not caring at all. This gesture made her self-esteem drop even more since he didn''t see her as a rival or someone he wanted to impress. He just didn''t care. After what her sister said about Alexander, she thought it was just some stupid joke to tease her, but looking at him, how he welcomed her, and how he used magic at dinner, she thought it was maybe true. Yet, there was a sliver of hope that it wasn''t true. She didn''t want to acknowledge that someone much younger than her, while being so rude, was much more talented. After another moment, she let the current situation sink in and became more nervous as she couldn''t believe that Alexander already spoke different languages. Still, she quickly found a probable reason for this, ''Maybe he is talented in languages? I heard that languages have a lot of similarities to magic, so maybe they are his strengths..." She straightened herself more, ''...I am good too in other things; I just need to show it!'' Anastasia started to write Law on the blackboard and looked back at her students, "Today we will talk about the law and how it works in Mal-Gil. However, it will be a little complicated since there are a lot of intricacies. Do any of you have questions beforehand?" Patricia was confused and thought they would discuss some poem or a story and then write something about it, but she didn''t expect they would go directly into something like this. Alexander spoke bluntly, "This is what I don''t get from what I heard beforehand. Isn''t the law, in this sense, incredibly unfair? The nobility is basically the executive, legislative, and judiciary. So whatever decision they make is law, right?" Anastasia looked at her student with a smile, "Good point. However, while I know of your liberal thoughts, how would you do it then?" Alexander thought momentarily and answered, being slightly unsure, "How about making the noble an instance in itself, above all else, but making all the three branches separate to ensure something like fairness? The noble would only act if cases of corruption appeared. He would be the overseeing instance in this sense." Anastasia nodded and looked at Patricia, "Patricia, do you have any opinion on this?" Patricia became baffled, not even knowing the terms they used, ''How can this be a lesson? Isn''t Alexander younger than me? Is he actually much older?'' Patricia looked at Anastasia but quickly averted her eyes while clenching her fists. She was feeling ashamed for not knowing what to say. Usually, even if there were questions she couldn''t answer, there was a way to try it somehow. But here, it was impossible for her. Anastasia smiled and tried to be as approachable as possible while walking behind Alexander, "Don''t worry, Alexander and I already had some subjects which were close to this topic, so this is why he knows all this, so don''t worry if you don''t know it." Patricia became more relaxed, "Oh, I understand!" However, Alexander looked confused behind him at her, "We did? Ouch!" Anastasia looked weirdly at him, grabbing his shoulder. Alexander thought for a second and remembered, "Oh, right! The thing with the history of law and such." Anastasia nodded while patting Alexander a little too hard, "See? Even geniuses forget some things." Alexander clenched and opened his hands repeatedly while smiling nervously, "Of course, teach!" In Patricia''s eyes, he became a little nervous, and she thought he felt ashamed that he had forgotten her lessons, ''Hehe, so he has his moments too!'' So she nodded happily and in grace, wanting not to shame Alexander in any way. She wanted to have the moral high ground and show him her most noble side, ''He is much younger and only dabbled in magic... hm... never mind, he looks cute and talented in things I don''t understand. I need only to show him that there are always bigger mountains.'' Anastasia returned to the desk and looked at her temporary student, "All right, what did you learn, or are you learning right now? Maybe we can do some lessons in this subject." She quickly told all of her subjects and what she learned, like basic mathematics, reading poems of significant poets, and writing about their meaning and what one felt while reading. She sometimes sideglanced and saw how Alexander frowned increasingly, ''If he wants to become my future husband, he should at least be versed in fine arts! The last thing I want is to have some uncultured bum as my spouse!'' Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Patricia was very interested and versed in the fine arts. She loved playing the piano, writing poems herself, and painting. It was essential for her to find out if Alexander was as interested as her so she would know if she needed to groom him. After she ended the retelling of her lesson plan, Patricia puffed her chest out in pride at how much she had learned, but she suddenly got second thoughts on overdoing it and if she should''ve said less, ''I hope he learned at least half of it. The last thing I want is to embarrass him...'' Anastasia ignored that puppyish display from Patricia, took a book from her spatial bag, and started writing down a short poem on the blackboard, "Okay, let''s do a little poem today. Patricia, you didn''t have poem structures, right? This we will learn today and how the syllable structure affects the rhythm and sound of the poem." Patricia smiled immediately and straightened herself. She already learned it but lied not to know to appear more knowledgeable. She took the new parchment the Leonandras provided, which she liked very much, and her feather and ink. She looked to the side and saw something bizarre: Alexander was sitting lazy, and in front of him floated a ball of ink from which came a string and wrote for him. She thought he cheated, "Alexander is using a mana item!" Anastasia turned to him, and he turned to Patricia and looked lazily at her, "This is called a contraption, and this is an alchemist''s magic, basically." Alexander looked at her like he was bored and tapped his collar several times, "The only mana items I use restrict me." Anastasia tried to assure her to ignore this, "This is fine, Patricia. If you can write like this with your skills, you should use them. However, you are right: Mana items are absolutely forbidden." Patricia looked at Anastasia and back to Alexander, who already started to ignore her and went back to waiting for the teacher to continue. She did the same but found it unfair that someone could easily write like this while she needed to do it by hand. Yet, after a moment, she relaxed and smiled inwardly, ''I will show him that the world is not all about magic!'' Anastasia continued, "Well, the poem is a little special since it was written in a time of turmoil between Moorgrel and the central Mal-Gil empire. It is showing how the divide is affecting us as an empire." Without waiting for Anastasia to finish, Alexander blurted out, "I am pretty sure that we have a way through the sea, right?" Anastasia frowned and looked at Alexander, "I am obviously not talking about the literal sense but about the poetic one." "Well, in that sense, Moorgrel could be regarded as an island like the ones south of us. I would say the poem is about the divide itself, not that we are divided." Anastasia thought briefly and smiled, "Patricia, do you think it too?" Patricia became suddenly nervous again and asked meekly, "What... is the question again?" Alexander answered her, "Teach is saying that the poem is about how we are divided from the empire. However, I say that it is about the divide in itself. I used the islands to the south as an analogy and said there is no real difference between the central region and Moorgrel, like the islands, which are equally divided from the empire as Moorgrel is. So, it makes only sense that it is describing the divide which occurred." Anastasia pointed at a part of the poem, "Here. It is obviously about that we are divided, not about the divide. You can''t get more on the nose in analyzing the poem." Alexander raised an eyebrow and pointed with his ink contraption at another part, "Look at this part. It clearly implies that it talked about having our child separated from us. It says indirectly that the divide in itself is dividing our soul. Besides the moronic statement, I would say that the divide in itself is the theme, not that we were divided in the first place." Anastasia became agitated, "Do you really think that the divide or being divided is such a big difference? One is the conclusion of the other, and it does not make a big difference." While they discussed it, Patricia looked between them and was confused, ''Are they always this unmannered, screaming at each other? Why is she even staying here if it is like this?'' Anastasia was like a born aristocrat. Her gestures, mimic, and her refined dialect showed it. However, the moment she talked with Alexander, something changed immediately, and it was like she had forgotten everything, transforming into a rude merchant barging for one more coin for his eggs. The discussion continued, and Patricia became more confused by their statements, especially Alexander''s, "There is, though. It is the difference between shock and the lingering pain of being apart. If I lose my arm, it will be a sudden shock, but if I already lost it and live without it, it is a different kind of pain." Anastasia thought momentarily about it and asked Patricia, "What do you think?" She looked between both and was a little overwhelmed, "I... I thought we were studying the rhythm and syllable structure..." Anastasia glared at Alexander, who smiled sheepishly since he derailed the topic and held his hands in a sign of peace, "My bad! It is just a bad habit of mine!..." He turned to Patricia, "...I apologize." Anastasia sighed and returned to the blackboard to start the actual lesson. She marked down all the syllables and described the rhythm. After half an hour, Alexander was visibly bored, sometimes closing his eyes for too long while sitting upright. Patricia saw this and wanted to teach him to pay attention, "Ms. Anastasia! Alexander is not paying attention!" She stopped and looked, a little annoyed at her, and then Alexander, "Alex, please pay attention as such things could be topics in the noble circles." Alexander straightened up, and before he could say something, Patricia got an idea, "Ms. Anastasia! How about we write a test to see how far we came? My teacher does that sometimes." Anastasia murmured, barely audible, "Of course he does. Hacks who can''t teach always need tests to confirm someone''s knowledge..." She stopped herself and shrugged, "We can do it for today. However, I dislike tests, so this will be a one-off." Alexander looked at her and smirked, trying to get revenge for her scolding, "Explains your lack of levels, hehe." She came over, and both smiled at each other. Pack! "Oooww!" Anastasia hit him with a rolled-up pamphlet. Alexander looked at her like she betrayed him while he rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, teach, couldn''t resist, hehe." While the duo was fooling around, Patricia tried frantically to remember what she learned beforehand and now to try and show off. There was also a thought that Anastasia would choose her if she could show she was more capable than Alexander. She liked her a lot since she could explain everything in such simple terms that it was easy to remember, and Patricia could see what a great teacher she was. Yet, she wouldn''t take her as a teacher alone and would let even Alexander come with her if he was nice enough to her so they could learn together, ''Hehe, I will not let you beg, but be graceful enough to allow it.'' After a few minutes, Anastasia wrote a new poem on the blackboard and started the test, "30 minutes should be enough, begin." ... 5 minutes later "Done. Here you go." Anastasia saw how Alexander''s voice brought Patricia out of her zone. She smirked while peeking at him shortly and returned to her test. Anastasia ignored this kitish behavior, took Alexander''s analysis, and sighed while reading it. He had 100%, as expected. However, he also repeatedly wrote a statement in different languages she highly disliked: I am bored, just kill me. She understood that her student was bored, and while the lesson was more age-appropriate for him, he clearly only went through it because of Patricia to the best of his abilities, even though he was as sensitive as a stone sometimes. Throughout the lesson, she was incredibly bored, too, and needed to remember that Alexander was a particular case repeatedly. Their usual classes were primarily suitable for those who already had most of the secondary scholastic skills and knew how to use them, so to say, mostly university students in their later years. But accommodating the young fox-kin was like whiplash to her since she was back to her average student. If she was honest, Patricia was talented, but after teaching Alexander for so long, primary education seemed to bore her out of her mind. ''I remembered again why I refused most of them.'' Anastasia only took two kinds of students: Terrible and genius ones. She loved challenges, and both gave her exactly what she desired. However, the students who were called talented or intelligent were most of the time average, and an ordinary teacher was more than enough for them. After Patricia told her what she was taught, she needed to suppress a frown because it was standard education without creativity or individualism. The thing she wanted to avoid more than anything as it became repetitive after the third time teaching it. Examplewise, poetry was a favorite under teachers for young students, and she hated it. She even cringed inwardly when she told Alexander it was necessary in noble circles. It wasn''t. Such things would only come up in literature departments, and even then, it would be discussions like the philosophical implications of putting a poem into rigorous structures. While Anastasia loved literature, she couldn''t stand all the basics one needed to learn for this topic. Yet, she clearly understood that they were necessary so a student could grasp the concept of analyzing certain aspects while formulating them into an understandable medium. Still, she found there were more straightforward and better ways to do this, depending on the student. Despite the disdain she felt throughout the lesson, there was a great thing from all of this: She found the golden pup''s first subject he was awful at. Alexander clearly didn''t understand poetry, and she found it fascinating. However, she wouldn''t reprimand him for his stupid conclusions and would discuss them with her student, encouraging him to think further and trying to challenge his thoughts. She only became slightly agitated by Alexander''s personality, which sometimes screamed pure arrogance. Thus, she began to be incredibly argumentative. It didn''t matter so much to her that her student had a particular point of view that was, in her opinion, clearly wrong. All she wanted was to try to guide him to learn to analyze and think creatively through debating, making him see more points of view. Another great thing was that as long as Patricia wrote the test, she could work on the plan for Alexander''s law lessons, ''Is this why all the hacks write tests? Tsk.'' ... 25 minutes later ''Can someone not end it all? Damn it, this was a stupid idea.'' From the beginning, he heavily overestimated Patricia and even fell into his old spiel of discussing things with Anastasia. It was because he didn''t know what other noble children learned, and through the discussions with his siblings, he thought they were the standard. It wasn''t true, and his assumption was also totally skewed, which he only understood now. Best example: Janina. She was curious and intelligent, but only if it came to art, anything else, and she would get a headache. Yet, Alexander only saw the positives without reflecting on the whole. So he somehow embarrassed Patricia without wanting it and only because he made stupid assumptions. It began with languages, which was his obvious blunder as he thought it was the same as on Earth, where students started to learn very early. However, he also knew that even Sarah, the laziest person he knew when it came to studying, knew some sentences in Nocir, so he assumed that Patricia would at least be more knowledgeable on this subject. Then, there was his blunder with the poems. He hated and despised them to the core as he found them boring. This lesson brought back not-so-fun memories from his discussions with his old teachers. He got bad grades for his analysis and tried everything to push them up. Thus, he was less sensitive when it came to Patricia and automatically went into stupid discussions where she obviously couldn''t join in. Next came the silly ink ball incident where he just went automatically with it, but it looked like he wanted to brag how cool he was, ''This was cringe.'' Yet, he didn''t want to be an asshole and tried accommodating her. But it seemed it didn''t work too well. It was like he would drag his younger siblings, who were intelligent, into a lecture on a topic they never learned about. Everyone would feel like a moron afterward. ''Urgh, I was never good with kids.'' He became very fast an adult and wasn''t too much around children except his siblings. Funnily enough, the same one could say about his current life as his only contact with other youth besides family was Ocilia. However, Alexander hoped Patricia would be fine as he had already thought of some things where she could feel better. He wanted to skip the lessons and take her around the estate, ''She likes poems, so maybe art too?'' It wasn''t that he tried to woo her, but since he needed to spend time with her, he wanted to let her, at least, feel well, too, ''What would I give to play a round of football or tag.'' Alexander was brought out of his thoughts when Patricia exclaimed loudly, "Done!" Anastasia quickly looked through it and nodded satisfactorily, "Good job, 94%!" The fox-kin girl''s eyes twitched, and her tail swung more vigorously. She then looked at Alexander, "What is your score?" Alexander looked at her with a nervous smile, ''Shit, I should''ve failed, and now I look like I bully little kids.'' He turned to Anastasia, who answered her, "100%." Patricia stood suddenly up, aggravated, "This can''t be! He was done after five minutes!" Alexander reeled his ears back, not expecting such an outburst, "Sorry?" He looked at Anastasia with a look that said: "Why did you tell her my score? Just say 50% or something!" Anastasia sighed, ignored her student, and turned to Patricia while staring her down, "Ms. Patricia, you should learn some humility. There will always be someone better than you." So she was about to give Alexander''s test to her but felt an air contraption coming her way, which she blocked with her energy easily since it wasn''t anything substantial. She looked at Alexander, who stared daggers at her, "Don''t!" He wrote some things down that he understood could hurt Patricia and clearly didn''t want her to read. He also had no idea that she would read his test. Otherwise, he wouldn''t write it. Anastasia smiled at him and understood him immediately but didn''t care. She activated one of her [Mystic Skills], and a small bubble of light slowly floated towards Patricia, "Look for yourself." Alexander wanted to stop it but suddenly failed his contraption as he didn''t get used to the new anti-mana collar, ''Damn it!'' The bubble invaded Patricia''s head, and she suddenly saw Alexander''s test fully and became stunned. After a moment, she suddenly had tears in her eyes. "This... this heuk... is not fair!" She stood up and stormed out of the classroom, only to scream out of frustration, "Alexander is stupid and dumb!" Alexander looked at Anastasia in anger, "Damnit! Why?!" Anastasia sighed and shrugged, "This is a lesson for you and her. She should learn some modesty while you may learn to think a couple of steps ahead and how your actions affect others. However, go after her." Alexander stood up and, while going out, screamed at her, "Steps ahead, my ass!" He ran after her, and the moment he caught up, he tried to make her stop by holding her by the shoulder. However, the moment he did, a fist came flying his way in full force. Chapter 66: Nine-Fire Visit 5: Gossip Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Melina Leonandra (Spider-kin) (Close-)Retainers Francesca Leonandra (Spider-kin) (Close-)Retainers ... Servants were essential for a good functioning estate. They not only helped with many tiresome things that only stole time from their masters, but they were sometimes friends, comrades, and more who stood with them through their most difficult times. However, they were also the sole reason for other, more unpleasant things. "Did you see how cute Narsi and Lin looked? It was adorable!" "I know, right? Even their fur is so fitting. The black is really making her more mysterious, while Narsi looks so regal with his golden blond. It reminds me of the one story... what was it again?" "Haha! You really started reading non-stop since you learned it. Is it really that fun?" "Yes, and I think it was called The Lust and Sorrow. I wish my husband would be a little more like Reginald in the story... or Narsi." "Oh please, not every noble is mannered. Look at what happened to Alex!" "Oh my, I heard of that, but..." Melina overheard the conversation while walking through the dining area. Today, she would eat with other servants since she had no time to eat anything. She could only cook for her hatchlings something quick. Usually, her husband would cook, but it wasn''t possible anymore since he was part of Alexander''s workforce and produced the paper now, which made enormous amounts of gold. She found it quite funny how baffled he became when their master told him he would be responsible for something that made millions of gold a year. First, he wanted to decline, but after seeing the wage, he couldn''t not do it. The gold he made was now similar to hers, and if they were a little frugal, they could be considered rich after some years. If they also calculated their daughter''s wage into their household income, they would be immediately considered wealthy commoners since Ocilia''s wealth was already substantial. However, all she did with it was to put it into some chest inside her room and forget about it. They all decided to put the gold to good use for their youngest if they couldn''t be of service to Alexander. They would pay some other artisan or merchant to take them as apprentices or send them to a boarding school. Besides her chaotic family life, she was Alexander''s headmaid and was responsible for many things. One of those was planning the servants'' shifts, and she always did it meticulously weeks beforehand, but the moment the Nine-Fire youth appeared, it was all thrown overboard. Their servants swarmed them and tried to be helpful, but it only became chaotic. The worst was that they were similar to the usual Leonandra estate servants. Only Alexander''s and the Lady''s were much more serious and ignored most gossip since they had too much work to even care about such things. Melina didn''t know how Aro managed the ladies'' mansion, but she was overwhelmed even though Aurum, their new head accountant, gave her more than enough funds. It was mostly a problem of finding enough trustworthy personnel to handle their workload. From cleaning up their master''s working stations to cooking eight times daily for him. She was also instructed to look after Alexander''s brother and be as courteous as possible to him. The workload was a lot to deal with, and she needed to work overtime, which was a funny term for her, so that the mansion would function properly. The other servants were in the same situation and had to work their asses off. However, nobody complained because the position came with many perks and high pay. Thus, most were much more serious with their work. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Not from other mansions, though. Melina slightly smirked when she walked through the dining area to get something for her and saw how excited most servants were to get to know each other and asked the new ones out about their masters and mistresses. "Is Lin always this on edge?" "No, she is just really careful since she had some bad experiences." "Oh, tell me!" "Ok! But first, I really want to know why Narsi, who is this regal and beautiful, is at the same time so shy. I need to say he is too cute!" "I know, right? You see..." The moment she entered the large kitchen, it was overcrowded and chaotic. The moment the servants were alone without nobles, they would start getting messy and barely cleaning up after themselves. Even though Aro made a plan for them, they barely followed it. Usually, the low servants would clean up, but they seemed unusually lazy. After some observing and cooking, Melina saw that Francesca was talking with a dog-kin maid from the Nine-Fires who had floppy ears. She accidentally overheard what she was talking about and decided to step in before her colleague''s head rolled. "You see, Alex is cute and all, but he really comes after his father." "The lord? Isn''t he a noble too?" "No! He is a druid and former mercenary. So, Alex is behaving more like a co..." Before Francesca could end her sentence, Melina stood behind her, grabbing her shoulder, "Excuse me, Francy, but this kind of topic is not something we should discuss." The spider-kin turned around in shock, and her eyes widened even more while the color changed to a deep blue, "Me... Melina, what are you doing here?!" Melina smiled at her, but her following words were like a knife, holding against Francesca''s throat, "I would rather ask you what you are doing here. What I was about to hear wasn''t something I expected from you." The dog-kin maid wanted to interject, "Excuse me..." But Melina shushed her and waved her hand to dismiss her, "...Psch! Not your problem, go away." She looked at the frightened young girl again and this time became more serious, "I don''t want ever see that you gossip about master, do you understand?" Francesca tried to explain herself, "I am sorry! I was just... It will not happen again, I promise!" Melina nodded at her, "Fine, follow me. We need to have a long talk." While Francesca bit her lower lip and let her head hang, Melina was a little on edge. She was Alexander''s head maid and responsible for every servant doing their job. Besides the work, a requirement to join his mansion was that no information would leave. There was a simple reason: Alexander asked her to do it, which would be enough reason, but there was also a good explanation. He had a lot of very secretive projects, and he feared that any minor detail leaking could bring problems. Through explaining, she understood that the servants barely understood what he did, and by them talking about details about the happenings in the mansion, they could think that they would be minor, but in truth, they could be something substantial. If a lower servant or someone less trustworthy had the information, they would sell it to the underworld, and who knows what would happen then. So, a general rule was established that nobody talked about anything that happened inside the manor. Everyone understood it and held onto that rule like their life depended on it: Alexander and anything that occurred inside the minor mansion was a forbidden topic to talk about. Usually, if someone asked about their master, they would refer them to Melina, and she would tell them that it was none of their business. Her behavior was also why she was so disliked by other servants, but not like she cared much. Her stomach grumbled, and she became annoyed, ''Damn it, maybe my hatchlings have left some scraps for me.'' When she and Francesca turned around, she suddenly felt something wet around her face. Someone threw some cheap wine at her. It was one of those swan-kin butlers who were under Lorient. After their little stunt, they were demoted to the lowest position in the estate. They needed to live outside the walls with all other lower servants as punishment and had all privileges stripped from them. Another punishment was a very severe mana contract they needed to sign, as Alexander didn''t trust them. The moment they broke them and uttered any information that they learned of inside the minor mansion, they would die immediately. Noriken personally countersigned it for it to have such a strong effect. Melina wiped the wine from her face and looked at the smirking swan-kin youth. She was boiling inside but appeared stoic on the outside, looking at him like he was just an annoying vermin. He opened his arms wide, and his tone became sarcastic while being clearly drunk and full of anger, "Oh, excuse me! I accidentally slipped up, but what can you expect of lower servants like myself?" Melina tilted her head and smirked herself. She opened her hand and out came threads that wrapped around herself roughly. She chanted something, and lights began to surround her. After a moment, the light faded, and black flakes slowly floated down from her. She was fully clean again. She smiled at him but didn''t say anything, as this display was more than enough to show she was far above him. It was no secret that Alexander was a mage like his disciple, who also was her daughter, Ocilia, but seeing his maid casting magic surprised everyone. The kitchen, full of servants, took a step back and looked at her like an exotic animal. Melina understood it too well as she felt much more terrified and happy at the same time the moment she acquired [Mana Sense]. Her master gave her and her husband this gift for their birthday with some instructions from Ocilia on how to get [Mana Manipulation] and some easy lifestyle spells. She needed months to learn the cleaning spell, but it was all worth it. She never bathed again and even cleaned her hatchlings with it, which was much easier than going into the bathhouse. Other maids inside the minor mansion knew of this and waited for their turn to receive the blessing. Their master didn''t like the name and always made faces when someone said it, but she couldn''t call it differently. It was a blessing, giving her much more time to do other things and substantially easing her life. She even recommended to Alexander to bring it up as a loyalty perk to other servants, which he readily accepted and gave her the authority to choose a maid once a month to receive it. With this, the morale inside their mansion became high, and after Cloelle received it, too, others desired it and worked like their life depended on it to be the next one. She turned back and walked out together while hearing hushed whispers, which made her smile proudly. "Was this magic?!" "Yes... I didn''t know that even Alex''s servants learned it..." "Do you think..." "I know what you wanna say, and I am thinking the same." The night ended with Melina reprimanding Francesca for hours and punishing her with extra work and a pay cut. She was ready to discipline her much more harshly, but her master forbade physical punishments. Chapter 67: Nine-Fire Visit 6: First impressions: Nine-Fires Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Scarlett J. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) (Close-)Retainers Fiorello P. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers Linuel O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers Patricia O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) (Close-)Retainers ... Linuel''s guest room "Why are you smiling like a moron?!" Linuel was lying on the bed, hugging a pillow and having the time of her life. With a smirk, she looked at the annoyed Patricia and snorted at her, which enraged her even more, "Stop it! You can''t possibly like one of those arrogant bastards!" She looked around and stomped, "By the way, where is Fio? I didn''t see him after the rendezvous?" Linuel turned around, rolling to one side, and leisurely said, "Well, he is right now getting reprimanded by Scarlett. In the end, she is the one who took responsibility for us..." She turned back and looked at her little sister with a smirk, "...well, you will be next." Patricia walked around the room, waving her arms in annoyance, "But I didn''t do anything he didn''t deserve!" Linuel chuckled, "Hehe, well, he beat you in the test, and as revenge, you sucker-punched him. I wouldn''t say that he deserved it, to be honest." Patricia stopped and squinted at her sister, "Who knew he was that weak?!" When Linuel first heard that they got into a fight, she thought that the next time she saw her little sister, she would be a mangled-up mess, but to her surprise, the wolf-kin puppy restrained himself. She sat upright on the bed and looked earnestly at her little sister, wanting to take the self-esteem boost she got from punching Alexander away. The last thing she wanted was that she would get violent, and at this point, she wouldn''t know what would happen. "Alexander could kill you immediately if he wants to. Do not start under any circumstances a serious fight with him. Do you understand?" Patricia felt even more humiliated, "What do you mean? He couldn''t even defend himself!" Linuel tapped the bed so Patricia would come, which she did, and was getting patted. Linuel wanted her to relax and explain why she shouldn''t get too big of a head from this fluke. She would lose if she did something foolish, like challenging Alexander to a fight, but this did not worry her. Alexander was young and probably heavily trained by his sisters, who were strong for their age, which meant he had zero awareness of what someone his age could or couldn''t do. A little too strong spell and her little sister''s head would fly right off. She softly said, "Promise me not to challenge him. I can smell dangerous beings, and Alexander gave off a weird smell I can''t describe. It felt like that of someone who was barely holding themselves together and could explode every moment, doing incredible harm to anyone." Patricia frowned and cuddled deeper toward her sister, "I don''t like him. He is arrogant and mean." Linuel hummed, "Then just endure the week or two, and you don''t need to see him anymore. No need to go apart on bad terms, right?" Patricia frowned even more and looked at her sister, "How was Narsiz? You seem overly happy." Linuel became overly jitty and started to tousle Patricia''s hair, which she endured, and started to tell about what they did and talked about. Linuel talked like it was a wonderful dream. He was friendly and forthcoming as he tried his best to let her feel not stupid at what they did. She understood that all they did was accommodate her as he chose only the topics she could discuss and find interesting. Even though they had little in common, she loved his aura, which was hard to describe. At first, she thought it was an aura akin to a still lake surrounded by monsters, but after she spent hours with him, it was like the lake became bottomless. It was fascinating to her. From all the young nobles she met at all the gatherings, Narsiz was a genuine aristocrat. All others were like commoners who tried to be noble but came across as arrogant and prideful. He was like the ones she knew from the picture books. He didn''t look down on anyone, which was also shown how he interacted with their servants. He always appeared nice but firm while having authority, which oozed out softly. She couldn''t get enough of him. He also reminded her of her oldest sister, who had the same personality but was much more stoic, ''Probably should''ve let my sister come. They would truly be a great couple... too bad! Hehe, he is mine now!'' "He sounds nice." Linuel thought aloud, wanting to share her experience, "He was reserved, though. I blame Scarlett and Clara, who wanted to force him years ago. However, I could feel it, and I could feel that he felt it too." Patricia nodded and remembered something, "Isn''t he very introverted? I heard it from Scarlett while she tried to sell him to us." Linuel agreed, "Yeah, he is, or rather was. I don''t blame him, though, as he was apparently poisoned as a pup by his close servant and barely survived." Patricia''s voice became slightly more rough, "That''s sad..." However, she suddenly became a little confused, "...aren''t you a social butterfly? I remember you walking around at social gatherings and talking to everyone you could find. How can you like him?" Linuel cringed as she remembered all those gatherings, "I hated every second I was there. All those lies and untruths were so disgusting. Narsi, on the other hand, is just careful but honest." Patricia sighed, "Why even use the skill in the first place if you only get annoyed?" She shrugged, "I like to be in control. By the way, you know what was weird?" "What?" Linuel waggled her tail a little, "He was sometimes overly focused on..." Clank Before she could end the sentence, the door opened, and Scarlett came in, annoyed and looking out for blood. She stood still and banged the door closed while looking at Patricia with a menacing gaze, "You know, if you were my puppy, I would put you through hellish training till your legacy to get all the stupidity out of you." Patricia shivered slightly and wanted to defend herself, but Linuel put her hand over her sister''s mouth, feeling that what Scarlett said was the very mild version of what she actually wanted to say. Scarlett nodded toward Linuel, "Good choice..." She walked toward a chair and sat down, putting one leg over the other, "...tell me, you little... scoundrel. Why did you punch my grandson? I want to know your side of the story." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ... 20 minutes later Scarlett constantly looked at her while she talked and could decipher by pure experience when she tried to fluff things out and when she told the truth. She respected that Patricia told everything truthfully, even though it made her look bad. This behavior made her more sympathetic, and Scarlett considered her even more fitting to be Alexander''s partner. Yet, by the end of Patricia''s story, Scarlett read between the lines of why the fox-kin puppy did what she did, ''Alexander is too talented for her? This is a first for me.'' Usually, the problem in noble circles was that someone had too little talent or ambitions to be considered a spouse. This time, Patricia broke her common sense by sucker-punching her grandson because he was too talented, which hurt her ego. First, Scarlett was elated that Alexander didn''t just scorch her after listening to her daughter''s and Linuel''s analysis of his fighting prowess. Second, she saw that this little moron liked Alexander but had an inflated ego which she probably got by getting told day and night how talented she was, ''Was it Ori or Peter?'' To say it nicely, the Lady and Lord of the Nine-Fire estate were insane. However, they were also very doting parents, and Patricia was a perfect example of their education. All their puppies were either spoiled brats without any sense of responsibility like Fiorello or were groomed well, like the oldest daughter, Nila. It was a weird dichotomy. Patricia was also a great talent but the youngest, which meant she was most pampered. There was also the problem that the rulers of the Nine-Fire household didn''t decide on an heir, even though the Count had already pressured them for some time. They waited for the perfect pup, so they put a lot of resources into Patricia as their last chance, which inflated her ego even more. However, she liked her as she could be groomed for Alexander, but for this, she needed to be brutally honest with her, "Do you like Alexander?" Patricia blushed a little and wanted to rebuke it, but Linuel answered for her, "She does." Scarlett nodded and became stern, "Listen here, Alexander probably has now a grudge against you, so..." She held two fingers up, "...two possibilities: Either you stay and try to somehow salvage the situation by being the most perfect and forthcoming little lady he ever saw, or you just relax for the next two weeks while Linuel and Narsiz bond with each other." Scarlett was at least elated that it worked out well with Linuel and Narsiz. Otherwise, if everything became a catastrophe on the first day, she would send them back home immediately and call it a failure. Patricia became nervous, "You... are fine with me just relaxing? I thought you wanted to find for your grandsons someone who is similarly... talented and ambitious." She shook her head, "You are partly right since I also want my grandsons to be happy. While Narsiz found someone in Linuel, hopefully..." She nodded at Linuel and looked back at Patricia, "... Alexander is very young and is so ridiculously skilled that I am even fine if he finds someone mediocre who at least would be able to maneuver through the noble circles so he wouldn''t get embarrassed." Scarlett was intentionally mean and provocative to get her more riled up. She wanted to have Patricia much more motivated as she saw her already as a perfect fit. She would bring her back to her place and groom her if it worked with her grandson. Patricia argued back, "What do you mean?! Shouldn''t spouses be on the same level? Isn''t it like cutting his arm off if he marries someone lowly?!" An uncomfortable silence went through the room till Linuel broke it, "What Scarlett wants to say is... well, even if he marries a prostitute, he would probably just kill anyone who says something in the wrong tone about her..." She turned to Scarlett, and her voice showed that she was slightly unsure, "...am I right?" Scarlett sighed and nodded, "Yes, and by the way, your analysis was on point after hearing from my daughter about Alex." While Scarlett cringed inwardly, even imagining that her grandson could marry someone so lowly as a whore, Linuel was right. He could find a beggar and marry her. Anyone who would be against him because of his spouse wouldn''t matter when he took one of the four seats at the council, which she imagined would be a given already. She remembered such a case: Merlin. There was no council then, but he was highly regarded even though he built a weird harem out of nobles, princesses, thieves, orphans, etc. Nobody even dared to say anything to him as he could bring the Outer Circle upon them. Scarlett was brought out of her thoughts when Patricia suddenly started to sob and tried to wipe away her tears quickly. This action made Linuel realize something, "Wait? You really like him?!" She nodded while crying, unable to speak a word. Scarlett observed her silently while thinking through if she truly wanted to have her groomed for Alexander, as her reaction was too immature for her taste. The concept of love was new to Patricia, and there was a chance it would be over after some time, which happened a lot with young beast-kin. The last thing she wanted to do was to bring her grandson a wife who would reject him after some years. ''It will be a lot of work to find out if it is true love or something fleeting.'' She also thought about grooming her grandson, but from what she heard, it would be impossible. He was apparently incredibly stubborn and even almost killed himself because he couldn''t wait for a couple of years to be close to her son-in-law. She also remembered all his achievements and visions for the future she was told about. Someone with such grand ideas was barely malleable, especially not for something he would probably consider trivial, like a relationship. Worse, he had a good example of a working and loving marriage by looking at her daughter and Kairoso, a commoner. She feared he would assume that a loving relationship was only possible with commoners after what Patricia did. She decided to risk it since the last thing she wanted was for her grandson to marry some commoner. If nothing worked, he could have at least some good memories that noble ladies could be as lovingly as commoners, and that would open more doors to other possible spouses she could imagine for him. Scarlett sighed, "Stop crying, and if you want him to start liking you, we need a plan." For the following hours, she sat down with the girls and tried to help them, but mostly Patricia since Linuel had her prize in the bag. While they talked, she started to like Patricia more and more, not only because of her origin but also because she was a diligent young puppy. She saw a little of herself in her and knew she would be highly loyal and treat her grandson excellently if her feelings weren''t just momentarily. ... Fiorello''s room before Scarlett visited Patricia & Linuel Fiorello was tense because of what happened in the garden. On the one hand, it was a great success as he could find weaknesses, but on the other one, he went too far too quickly. He walked in circles in his room, thinking, ''What a mess.'' First, the whole estate had already talked about his little fiasco, and now they had, even more, to gossip about after the altercation he had in their garden. So, his next steps needed to be well thought out. Usually, his natural aura, which exuded a potent charm, was enough to make him appear friendly and manipulate others. Yet, it was almost impossible for him to do his usual spiel, as the Leonandra youth were like the Nine-Fire ones. For their age, they had exceptional mental fortitude skills like the [Lust Control] one, which was almost mandatory for every pup inside the guard households. Thus, he was forced to use skills, and with this came his next problem: Like some of his sisters, Lorient had good instincts and could feel them out after the first use. Then there was Sarah, who had, what looked to him, very dangerous [Mystic Skills] which were similar to his and, therefore, could quickly notice anything he would do. ''I hope my spontaneous idea is working by telling them that I have problems controlling a mystic skill.'' He sighed since it didn''t matter anymore as he was already done with his part of the scheme and would get the reward from the broker. On the other hand, he wanted the additional bonus he would get if he finished some other tasks. He found it highly addicting to know that he would be free after this, without any responsibilities weighing him down. It was also pretty risk-free since he had a trump card, so he was ready to leave his safety zone and, therefore, ready to gamble. Yet, if he made a little mistake, any of his victims could knock him out, thus making his escape impossible, as he needed to be at least conscious. There were also his danger-sensing skills, always warning him from them, telling him they were dangerous, especially Alexander, for some reason. He thought the skills warned him rather about the insane-looking fox-kin butler than the puppy and that they extended his dangerousness to whom he protected. ''Let''s test the waters a little more. Either way, they think I am a wus and will probably not attack me. They also most likely think that I am some gigolo without much talent, hehe.'' Socializing skills were often disregarded by many who were younger and saw only true strength as something they should strive for. It was a big mistake, as he had repeatedly proved it to many muscle-brained individuals. Yet, seeing that the Leonandra girls had a brother with at least the same intensity of an aura as his, he couldn''t rely on them dropping their guard too much as they should know the dangerous aspect of those skills. ''Well, there is also Sarah, who was strong and had such a skill... can''t believe this idiot has such sophisticated skills.'' He wanted to plan more, but when he thought about what had happened more thoroughly, he became angry and needed to calm down. His ego was in the way. Something snapped inside Fiorello as he hated to be ridiculed in front of his servants by others. When this happened, he forgot momentarily about his deal with the spider-kin, as his pride was much more important¡ªa dumb mistake on his part. He came out of his thoughts when the door suddenly opened, revealing Scarlett, who looked out for blood, ''Well, now I need to bring out my best smile. Should be enough.'' ... One minute later Bang! Scarlett slammed Fiorello toward the wall, "Do you really think I can''t feel your skills? I was the one who resisted Marquise Lopon, the one who could make everyone into his little puppet. Your skills, on the other hand, are nothing more than sleight of hand." Fiorello slowly stood up and watched the scene with a grimace. Scarlett held his personal guard by the neck like a toy, and it looked like she could break her neck with a little bit more pressure. He smiled and tried to be approachable, "As I said, Ms. Scarlett, this is a faulty skill, which I can barely control. However, it would be a shame if my mother found out what you did here, right? So p..." Before he could end the sentence, an enormous amount of killing intent invaded him, like beasts that encircled him and salivated at the thought of ripping him to shreds, "I would be careful, Fio, what you are about to say. Ori is my cousin, and I know that you are nothing but a drag on the whole household. I am sure she would cut you to pieces when she found out what you tried to do to the girls." Fiorello grimaced internally, barely able to stay awake as the fierce killing intent invaded his every pore. Only his high-level mental fortitude skills made him stay sane, ''Well, it will surely not be Scarlett who I will use as a pivot point. That much is clear.'' He was confused since he thought Scarlett would be much more approachable, especially since they were family. His parents always tried to protect him, but it seemed to be not the case with this household. He smiled at her even though he could barely stand straight, "Ms. Scarlett, how can I show my sincerity and show that it was nothing more than a misunderstanding?" She threw the cat-kin like a rag doll in his direction. She flew past him and crashed against the wall with full force. Bang! She strolled toward him, intensifying her killing intent, "You want to show sincerity? Fine. By tomorrow, you and my granddaughters will join Lin and my grandson. While I don''t trust you, I trust them." He opened his arms and wanted to thank her, but the moment he did, he became unconscious as the last wave of killing intent knocked him fully out. ... One minute later Scarlett walked over to Patricia to listen to her explanation and hoped she wouldn''t need to do the same to her as to Fiorello. She sighed, ''This could actually be a problem.'' Fiorello came to her and almost begged to take him with her so he could find someone. He told her he wanted to find someone and that his escapades were nothing but cries for help. At that moment, he didn''t use any skills but had an incredible aura around him, only found in the younger folk from higher noble circles who trained theirs to the extremes. Her greed immediately flared up at such a sight. Even though Fiorello had a shady past, having someone like this would be like a treasure. She now regretted it but would try it and hoped he didn''t lie when telling this to her. All of her deception and lie-detection skills flared up, though. Yet, they always acted up when he talked, but they also flared up when someone told white lies or didn''t want to say something too specific. They were, like always, something she couldn''t count on when assessing others, and she could only take them with a grain of salt. There were excellent lie detection skills, but they were mostly [Mystic Skills], which she didn''t have but wished at the moment to have. She thought about bringing him to the archivist, who had such skills, but if one had exceptionally high deception skills, one could even muddle them. Socializing was nothing less than a war; one needed to train hard to succeed. She turned around and went away, her killing intent only momentarily flared up again, ''I hope the little bitch had a good reason to punch my grandson.'' Chapter 68: Nine-Fire Visit 7: First impressions: Leonandras Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Janina M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... Alexander''s Bedroom Alexander sat with a black eye on his bed while being patted by Sarah. He was grumpy, "This little bitch!" Lorient sat on the couch and laughed her ass off, "Hahaha! Did she really get you? Why didn''t you attack her back? I thought you would be the last one who could hold back." Narsiz chuckled, too, "Hehe, what should he do? Burn her to smithereens? He was probably too arrogant for his own good and deserved it." Alexander defended himself, "No, I wasn''t! This moron was too prideful because her shitty teacher made her finger paint for the last years, and she thought she was the hottest shit since sliced bread!" Janina leaned on Narsiz and looked at him askingly, "I am confused." Sarah answered her, "Nobody gets him when he''s angry. Just let him rant." Alexander looked up at her and smirked as he remembered some rumors he had heard, "Heh, how about you tell us how you almost killed Fio because he was a little sassy." Narsiz laughed and looked at Janina, "Haha, your brother is petty. The moment he gets slighted even a little, he goes to the extremes. So if he ever tells you something mean, ignore him. He will apologize afterward." Alexander wanted to argue but knew that his brother was right. Every time someone made him angry, something snapped in him. He was usually very calm, but since coming to this world, all his emotions were upped to eleven, and he could only control them through his skills. He leaned deeper toward Sarah, trying to calm down, "Please scratch behind my ear... I am annoyed." Sarah chuckled at the quick change, "Hehe, don''t worry, Alex..." She started slightly scratching behind his ear, "...Grandma is furious, and I bet she will have a talk with her. However, you are right about one thing: Fio was an asshole, and I kinda wish that I made my skill much stronger, ending his little miserable life." Alexander raised an eyebrow but didn''t say anything, ''I didn''t say he was an asshole, though.'' He only heard gossip from some servants that Fiorello was apparently innocent. So he was interested in what could''ve happened that Sarah was this enraged, wishing him death, even though she appeared on the outside calm. Lorient clicked her tongue, "Tsk, he pointed a dagger at me. Luckily, I held back. Otherwise, I would rip him a new one." Narsiz was slowly petting Janina and thinking about what happened to his sisters aloud, "I don''t get it. Usually, something like this should be exceptionally rare. Every time I heard about all those gatherings, they were mostly boring, in a good sense, and now we have two cases where we are fortunate enough that none of you snapped and injured or killed them..." Narsiz looked at Alexander with a smirk, "...I know about Alexander and Patricia because he was loudly exclaiming for the last hour, before you visited us, how he would kill her... in many creative ways while throwing his spells around in our mansion, almost hitting some servants..." Alexander frowned at his brother but didn''t say anything. He was outraged since he couldn''t attack Patricia as she was only a little girl, but nonetheless had some pent-up stress because she sucker-punched him. So the moment she left, and he was left alone, he let loose in his training room: The room was fully destroyed, and he almost set the whole mansion ablaze in his rage as he caught fire, casting contraptions and throwing them around like a maniac. The moment Alexander''s brother came back, he laughed hysterically at him. This somehow calmed him down and showed how petty he was. However, it didn''t mean that he wouldn''t rant about her. Narsiz turned to his sisters, "...but what about you both?" Lorient tried to explain, "He was, for some reason, very provocative and used his skills all the time. I don''t get it. If he wanted just to have some fun, there are more than enough brothels in Wolfsteeth where he can have as many whores as he wants." Sarah said, "His skills were so obnoxious. Luckily, Lori told me otherwise, I wouldn''t even notice them..." She put a little too much force in her scratch, making Alexander squirm, "...what is wrong with him?!" Alexander wanted to move away, but Sarah held him firmly in place. Luckily for him, she began to scratch more softly again. He focused on the topic and asked, "I also don''t understand why he came here. He was obviously not forced since grandma isn''t fucked in the head to bring someone like him willingly with her." Janina looked around at how everyone was frustrated or angry, but Narsiz, "Big brother, how was your rendezvous?" He smiled sheepishly, "It was good... I really like Lin." Everyone looked at him in silence before commenting: You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Alexander was the first to comment, "She got''em." Sarah showed her little pinky and twirled it like there was some thread she tied around it, "She totally has him." Lorient was the opposite as she looked frustrated at him, "I hate you." Janina wanted to defend Narsiz, "Why are you like this? Shouldn''t we be happy for Big Brother? He seems to be very happy." Alexander shook his head, "Nah, I want to be petty." Sarah smiled honestly at Janina, "Not in a hundred years. He is the only one out of us with no problems, while he was also the only one we thought would have the most issues." Lorient tapped her chin, "Well..." Everyone looked at Lorient, who thought aloud, "Linuel is cool, and my gut feeling tells me we could be good friends." Alexander nodded in agreement, "True. She is the same brainless huntress as..." Lorient interrupted him, "Is one black eye not enough? I can give you another just for symmetry, you know." Alexander smirked at her, "Bring it..." The fight was interrupted by Narsiz, "Stop it! I like her, and she seems to be a little rough around the edges, but I can feel that she is a really nice person." Alexander looked more closely at his brother, tried to remember her, and had an insight. He smiled mischievously at him, and his pettiness came out in full force, "Which part?" Narsiz looked at him in confusion, "Which part what?" Alexander''s smile widened, "She has kinda big breasts and good hips, but I don''t think you are the type for this... do you like the fluffy tail? Is that your thing? While Ana tried to seduce you, you weren''t into her as much while she has around the same proportions." Narsiz blushed like a red tomato and looked down. Lorient looked at him more intensely and smiled, "He likes the tail, incredible." Janina was perplexed and asked, "What is going on?" Sarah enlightened her, "They are talking about what Narsi finds attractive, though I think it is more of a bonus for him than the sole reason he likes her. Well..." Narsiz suddenly yelled, "Of course, I don''t just like the tail! Lin has a great personality!" Lorient tried to calm him down, "We are just joking. Calm down, hehe. I am happy you like her, and I hope everything will be fine with both of you." Sarah also reassured him, "Don''t worry. We are all with you and wish you all the luck." Alexander was a little perplexed because he saw a problem in his siblings being like the typical teen with pink glasses. Normally, he would ignore it since there was not much at stake except some broken hearts, but here they would literally be the next leaders, and their spouses would hold no little power with them together. He couldn''t imagine what would happen when it didn''t work and they needed a divorce. Actually, he didn''t even know if divorces were a thing here. So, before their cities would be divided in half, he interjected, wanting to remind them to be more cautious, "I don''t want to be a downer, but isn''t it too early to tell? They had one date, and while I wish it works out in the future..." He looked sincerely at Narsiz, "...please be more careful." While Alexander wished his brother nothing but happiness, he knew that young love was fickle. He had more than enough colleagues or friends who sat on his couch and cried about how all women were whores. The worst was the one who stabbed him. He always had some problems and came every week, crying to him about how nothing worked out in his life. Janina was confused and looked at Alexander, not really understanding what he meant, till Sarah explained, "Oh, you don''t know, I guess..." She looked at Janina in thought, "...do you think the same as Alex?" Janina shook her head, "Not really... I have this feeling that the moment I see someone, I would know if he is the right person... is this wrong?" Narsiz sighed and became serious, "No, this is normal. When we spend some time with someone, we immediately know if it is the right person..." He corrected himself, "However, Alexander is right that one should be cautious for multiple reasons. Skills are such a reason as they could manipulate you to like someone intrinsically, but what he means is probably that I am young and that love can wane quickly. Still, it usually only happens around the mating season and if love is confused with lust." Lorient also commented, "Yeah, I remember last year and how I had a crush on..." She shivered slightly, "...Sarusos. However, it was just a phase as I was about a year away from my first season, so Alex is right that you should be careful. You will probably have yours in a year or so, and everything feels now weird for you." Narsiz nodded, blushing a little, "I know, but I am truly trying to get to know Lin slowly. However, even if we like each other, we wouldn''t get together if our plans don''t fit, which is another factor to consider." Janina happily nodded while Alexander had an ominous feeling and an insight, ''Holy shit, I totally inherited my human self...'' On Earth, this stupid thing they described was called love at first sight, and he was never someone who went full in after seeing someone for the first time. However, here, it seemed to be the norm when other factors were ignored, which were previously mentioned. There was some feeling inside of him which pressed on his chest, feeling alineation because he was not from this world. It was maybe only love now, but there could be more things that would make him different from his family. He hated this feeling. Narsiz looked at Alexander and continued, interrupting his inner crisis, "Alex, I know you didn''t mean to be cautious in the same sense I explained. You probably don''t understand the feeling I have, right? It is the same problem you had during our lesson with Anastasia and Aro." Alexander looked at his brother and didn''t like what he said. Yet, before he could make a stupid joke about interventions to play it off, Sarah was the first to speak up worryingly, "Well, you are kind of weird in all the ways." Lorient lazily leaned deeper into the couch while putting one leg over the other and exclaimed her opinion, "Yeah, you are too intelligent and have weird common sense even though you are so young." Alexander started to sweat and became nervous. His emotions intensified even more as he feared the worst as thousands of thoughts rushed through his head, and one became the most prominent, ''Please don''t tell me there are records about people from other worlds...'' Panic sipped inside him, which was only held back by his magnitudes of skills. Otherwise, he would probably break down as he had such emotions since the whole incest debate when he truly understood that he was very different. However, he hoped that no moron actually announced themselves as Earthlings and recorded it vigorously. Merlin came to his mind, ''I hope he didn''t do it...'' If the populace knew that there could be someone from another world, there would be many consequences. Everyone who was very irregular from birth on could be scrutinized or worse. The last thing Alexander wanted was to be cast out from his family because he occupied the body of the true Alexander, which was a terrible thought he loved to ignore. However, Narsiz quickly deescalated Alexander''s thoughts, which went in the worst possible direction, "We love you, Alex, but I somehow fear that your personality will be seen as something... let''s say negative." Lorient waved her hand in dismissal, "He can stomach it..." She looked at Alexander, "...you are weird, very much so. If you don''t change, everyone will see you as someone unsocial." Alexander tilted his head in confusion, "Is that all?" Narsiz chuckled at this, "Hehe, figures you would say this, but this will not bode well if I think about your plans to change our fief, especially when you deal with others." Alexander shrugged and wanted first to dismiss it but found it actually cute how his siblings worried about him and wanted to thank them. He smiled sincerely, which was a rarity for the cynical wolf-kin puppy, "Thank you for your worries, but as long as I have my family who loves me, I will be fine... as long as Patricia doesn''t kill me, of course, hehe." Sarah ruffled his hair, "Hehe, you will be fine. I pummeled you much worse in our training sessions." The talks continued deep into the night, and for some reason, Alexander appreciated it a lot since all he had done for the last years was to work as much as he could on himself since he had this idealism in the back of his head that scratched against his mind like a nail. However, nothing was as comforting as a bonding session where they were there for each other and just talked honestly. There was also the obvious perk that he could freely rant about Patricia. ... Much later, the Lord and Lady''s bedroom, Leonandra''s estate "Guhahaha! Did he get punched? What a wild girl! I told him that women are like the weather. Sometimes, you need to wear warmer clothes." Marisia stared at her husband until he stopped laughing and smiled sheepishly. She just sighed and couldn''t believe what happened. At first, she thought Alexander had gone overboard with his eccentric personality and deserved it. Still, after listening to all accounts, she immediately changed her presumption: It was all Patricia''s fault, and she now had a decision to make on how to react. She wanted first to talk to both of them, but it seemed all fine after what her mother, Narsiz, and Anastasia told her. Alexander ranted to his heart''s content toward his siblings, and Patricia wanted to change. All solved, mostly. While she was happy that Narsiz and Linuel came along just fine and slowly like she wanted. There was also Fiorello, who made her almost put him down after what she had heard about his little tricks. She wasn''t too keen on letting him stay, but her mother assured her she had a plan if something weird should happen, so she just hoped for the best and trusted her fully in such situations. However, she would make sure to bring more guards to look after them. She was stressed and wasn''t in the mood for a talk or to think about anything else. Because of her puppies, she was under much pressure for the last weeks as they were exceptionally hard to control. Only now did she understand why some parents would send their puppies to boarding schools. Lorient had her first mating season, and looking after her became nothing but annoying after the first week when she found it cute how she tried to sneak out. After the tenth time or so, it became annoying that she accidentally broke her arm. Yet, it was nothing too serious as it could be healed quickly. Sarah had some escapades, but after punishing her heavily, she calmed down. However, she needed to be looked after, and Marisia did it by training with her. She made sure to show her what the Outer Circle may feel like so she wouldn''t repeat her irresponsible actions again. Then there was Alexander, who was highly unpredictable and needed to be constantly watched while being checked on his research. Luckily, most who watched him did it voluntarily and were competent, as he was a great help to the estate even while being so young. Marisia was genuinely grateful for Narsiz and Janina being the least problematic and rather tame. However, only time would tell how they would become, ''They can''t become worse than Alex... hopefully...'' There was also the whole fight with her mother. It all went better than expected, but she had some nagging feeling that she went back to her old ways, ''She probably wants to train Alex... hehe, good luck, Mom.'' It was actually not bad for her since she could trust Alexander in one department: He was incredibly stubborn. For example, even though she forbade him to write down any of his illegal ideas about other governance systems, Aro found some documents that were written in an unknown language. She assumed he invented it so nobody would know his utopian thoughts. So, while her mother would break her fangs on Alexander, trying to force him to do things he didn''t want, Narsiz had become almost invisible to her. Of course, she needed to look after Alexander to ensure that her mother wouldn''t go wild, but she trusted her to have at least changed so that she didn''t become more violent. Also, her warnings should be enough to force her to try to educate someone without force. Otherwise, she would kick her out for good. She threw everything to the back of her head and needed to let off some steam, "Take off your clot... why are you naked already?!" Kairoso strolled toward her, smiling, "Like I don''t know, my little flower. Whenever you are like this, you need first me to take off your stress, am I right?" He understood her like the back of his hand. Every time she waggled her tail too much while being with him, it meant that she was under too much pressure. He was luckily more relaxed and cool-headed in such situations. Like this, he was a wedge for his wife, who sometimes became too involved in everything. When he was at the estate, he would drag her away from problems she shouldn''t care about in the first place and let them play out instead of involving herself too much or, like now, just being there for her. Many thought Kairoso was always terrible regarding management, but this wasn''t true. He led a successful mercenary group in the past and now was solely responsible for the whole military outside the estate. It just looked like he didn''t care, as he delegated all the work where he wasn''t needed to others so he could concentrate on the things where he was needed. His wife was the complete opposite. She was very controlling and wanted to micro-manage every little minutia. Her personality was also one of the reasons why he decided to take on every campaign, as she would be too ineffective and need too much time. The other reason was that he needed an outlet for his bloodline, as he sometimes snapped. He saw how Marisia slowly took off her clothes, and he came out of his thoughts. He would have a sleepless night without much talking. Chapter 69 (nice): Nine-Fire Visit 8: A Week Full of Annoyances Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Patricia O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Linuel O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) Fiorello P. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... Leonandra Estate, In front of the Lavatory Alexander was confused. Since morning, Patricia bugged him to no end, "Hey, where are you going?! Can I come with you?" After leaving the only private place he had for himself since morning, he saw a visibly blushed and flustered fox-kin girl who was way too nice and clingy after what happened yesterday. Gone was the emboldened girl who declared him her husband the first time they met. Her behavior made him anxious, and he thought she got reprimanded so much that his grandmother forced her to behave this way, ''I really hope that the old hag didn''t beat the shit out of her.'' Alexander saw how restless she was, probably wanting to be the active and annoying squirt like before, which he actually was more comfortable with instead of whatever she was now. His sisters weren''t different, so this apparently lovely girl was a new one for him. He felt terrible for her but was also incredibly annoyed. Since waking up, she stood before his door, catching him off guard and immediately wanting to do stuff with him. First, he thought that she wanted some kind of match or spar a little, something which he thought was in line with her competitive nature, but no. She tried to hug him, which he reluctantly did, but now it seemed she wanted to do it again. The first hug was quick as he excused himself to do his daily routine and left her alone for an hour. But now he couldn''t run away anymore. Well, he could and wanted to, but she would stay with them for another two weeks, at least. Avoiding her in that sense wasn''t really feasible. There was also that the aristocratic decorum forced him to accommodate her to the best of his abilities. If he actually did what he wanted, he would never learn how to socialize and alienate her, thus souring their relationship. Inwardly, he wanted to push her away, but he used every skill he could to just push through it. He really disliked closeness to strangers, but since the talk with his siblings, he decided to at least work on it. So, this was actually a perfect opportunity. She threw herself at him, and he raised his arms up, not knowing what to do. Only slowly did he return her hug, unsure what his grandma did to her, "Okay? Is everything alright? Did the old hag do something bad to you?" She stopped hugging and took a step back, clearly embarrassed. She shook her head, "No, we just talked, and I wanted to apologize about what happened yesterday... I was a little... I am sorry, Alex." Alexander looked at her with worry but, in the end, decided to observe her a little more. He had some pressing feeling that she was beaten down and was forced to be like this. So he tried to reassure her, "It''s okay. I understand my comments hurt you, and I deserved it..." He mumbled, barely audible, "...that''s at least what my siblings told me." He smiled at her, "However, you don''t need to be like..." He gestured to her, "...like this." Patricia looked at him a little confused, but after another moment, she started to cry and apologize more for an unknown reason to Alexander, "I... heuk... sorry... if I... heuk made you..." Alexander immediately patted her back while trying to reassure her, "Sorry! Hey, I am fine, see? I accept your apology, okay?" She nodded while wiping her tears away. Alexander gave her a handkerchief to do so, "I am sorry..." Alexander forced a smile as best and reassuringly as possible, "Everything is fine! Let''s do some fun things today, okay?" She nodded and smiled at him, "Okay, do you... want to learn? I know that you are brilliant and study a lot..." Alexander screamed inwardly, ''Hell no!'' But on the outside, he remained calm while trying to lie so they wouldn''t study, "I only learn because I am bored, but since you are here, we can do more fun things. Is this fine with you?" She nodded reluctantly and asked, "What do you want to do?" Alexander smiled at her as reassuringly as he could, "Follow me..." While they walked, he tried to tell her some fun stories, "...You know Sarah? She once tried 20 new hairstyles in a month! After I laughed at some and as retaliation, she beat me up so badly that I needed two healers to patch me up together." Patricia nodded and looked around, not really into a story about him being beaten to a pulp, "Oh, okay... where are we going?" "Do you like to draw?" Patricia nodded and became elated. Alexander saw this and smiled back, happy that he found something he could occupy her with, "Well, let me show you something much more fun!" ... Five minutes later, inside Alexander''s hobby room Patricia experienced something fantastic she couldn''t believe could be done with magic or alchemy. In front of her was a body made out of color paste while colorful light shone beautifully on it. She saw Sarah with bangs that didn''t fit her at all, which looked funny, but she quickly ignored it as she saw all the little details that Alexander had made. The rainbow-colored floor, how she moved, how her skirt moved with her, and so much more. She never thought something like this was possible and wanted to look at it for hours. "Beautiful." Yet, she quickly came out of her thoughts when Alexander commented, "I think she looks stupid with this hairstyle." This comment made her relax heavily, and she started to laugh, even tearing up, "Haha, I didn''t mean it like this, dummy!" ... A week later, Leonandra''s estate, the main garden Alexander was strolling with Patricia through the garden and wasn''t so thrilled about what he had to endure for another week. He offered his arm out of courtesy, and she took it happily. He knew they looked like a romance in the making from the gossip. He was always on his best behavior and looked as energetic as never before, but inwardly, he was tired. Just tired. ''I can''t believe she is harder to satisfy than my sister from Earth.'' The time with Patricia brought back memories of how he played with his sister Princess for months when she got into that phase. Movies, tea time, conventions, and more. He remembered every single second and prayed to any god, didn''t matter which one, to end him. This time, though, it was worse. The day appeared longer, and the fox-kin girl had three times his sister''s energy. It was never enough, no matter what they did. He showed her a play, but she wanted to watch another one as it ended. Ultimately, he showed her multiple ones and even made her direct the actors he created so she could create her own. Day after day, they did something different: Cooking, backing, or sewing puppets to make a show with them. She was all happy-go-lucky, and the activities sounded like a breeze. However, alchemy and magic were always involved in some way or another. So, the moment he touched his pillow, he fell asleep immediately with a block of ice on his head since his head was burning up from the constant use of sophisticated alchemy. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Then, there was hell. Well, it was the game Tag, and she bested him. He needed to agree that she was swift and agile since she could do flips he could only dream about. They also played other games like red/green, dodgeball, basketball, etc. While it sounded all fun, they were kids with superhuman physical prowess, so certain things became more than a little extreme. Such days, he had ended with calling for a healer secretly and healing his muscle aches. It was truly hell and even worse than training with his sisters since the squirt was especially competitive at the beginning of the game, only to slow down to the end as she began to enjoy it. However, he got one good thing out of it: Level-ups, and many of them. He even learned new skills like [Baking], [Cooking], [Sewing], etc. But he got the most satisfaction from a smiling, happy little girl who had fun. This was what he was at least trying to tell himself, as, in truth, he wanted nothing more than for her to leave so he could take a break from this bundle of endless energy. There was, however, something he could deduce with surety, and he thought for the first time that he wasn''t the one odd out. Patricia wasn''t looking for something like a spouse but a friend she could hang out with and have fun. Alexander was sure that his crazy grandmother, or whoever her cousin, Patricia''s mother, was in his incestuous family equation, talked the little fox-kin girl into trying to woo him. Still, since she was young, she would have no understanding of what it actually meant to go into a long-lasting relationship, like every child or teenager on Earth who swore each other everlasting love after the second date. ''Well, at least I don''t need to worry about breaking her heart since she is like every teen I knew of. We can have fun, and after a couple of years, she would forget whatever the crazy adults tried to talk her into. Hehe, I also made my first noble connection. What a win!'' Besides the ocean of tiredness, he was floating in and trying not to drown, there were sometimes moments of giddiness. He needed connections and good friends, so Patricia was perfect, as she was talented and had a bright future ahead. After her leave in a week, she would quickly forget all the indoctrinated puppy love she was told to feel toward him. All she would remember was a fun time and a good friend. There was another aspect of why he was so sure about it: She was much older. So the moment she got through her legacy, she would surely join the noble circles much earlier than he would. On the other hand, Alexander was imprisoned in his golden cage with no way out. So, in his mind, many others would quickly try to woo her. ''I bet she will cringe hard at her behavior when she gets older... I as heck will remind her, hehe.'' She interrupted his thoughts as she commented about the weather, "It is so much hotter in your fief." Alexander nodded, "Hm, can''t really say much about it. This is the only weather I know of." She pressed herself closer to him while smiling, and he could feel how her tail went haywire, "Then, you should visit us!" ''Hehe, it''s like wanting to show me her favorite toys.'' He nodded and smiled toward her, "Sure thing. When I get older, this will be the first thing I will do, is visit you, all right?" She smiled happily and nodded at this, "Hm!" Yet, while going through the garden, the comments of others made him creep out inwardly again: "Oh, look how cute they are! The little lord and lady." "They would look so beautiful together when they grow up." "I rarely saw Mr. Alexander this well-behaved. Do you think he is in love with something other than magic?" It was a rather common occurrence. The moment their servants followed them, they started to talk about love, marriage, etc., and he got the creeps, almost feeling like some pervert. Yet, there was his saving grace, who walked behind him all the time and let out his murderous intent creep into everyone who made the comments. Sarusos was silent, and the only thing he did was follow the puppies while smiling. However, Alexander could see that he was observing Patricia, ''Doesn''t she feel his penetrating gaze? Every time the dude looks at me, I get the shivers.'' Nonetheless, she seemed to ignore it and stare at Alexander''s face like he was an exotic animal, "Is something on my face?" She blushed and looked away, pointing her free arm toward some flowers, "Hey, what are those?" Alexander looked at the weirdly shaped mushrooms and found they did not fit the whole arrangement. However, he turned around for help and saw behind Sarusos some servants, all from the Nine-Fire household, which they had brought with them. They were mainly some kind of bird-kin with colorful wings and bird tails. Alexander clicked his tongue inwardly since he hoped some of the butterfly-kin were here since they were exceptionally well-versed in gardening and knew the names of all the plants. He turned toward Patricia and apologized, "I am sorry, I have no idea, and it seems there are no butterfly-kin around to tell." Patricia nodded and said with a cheery tone, "It is all right! You know so much more! Knowing some plant species isn''t a big deal!" Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Thanks... I guess?" While Alexander was slightly confused at her weird behavior, Patricia clicked her tongue inwardly. Scarlett told her how to make men, or in Alexander''s case, boys, fall for them. First, she needed them to show off, which was also why she asked him a lot in the last week. She remembered what Scarlett said: Every male, young or old, has an inflated ego, and one needs to scratch it. Just ask him easy enough questions he should know about, and he will happily explain it to you while you listen, nod, and smile. Yet, when he explained something, sometimes he asked her in return exciting questions, and she automatically told him stories for hours. Only after she was done did she remember what her goals were. It was like he was doing the same as her, but only to entertain her, not to come close to her. This she could also see as she followed another advice: Be close to him. I heard that he likes to cuddle with his siblings. So, he should love it if you try to imitate them. She tried this to the best of her abilities for the last week they were together while being as endearing as possible, but it only worked sometimes, and when it did, she could feel how reluctantly he returned it. Other times, he followed noble etiquette, like now when she wanted to hold hands, which annoyed her, ''Why are you like this!'' He was at their lesson nonchalantly with Anastasia but a perfect gentleman when he was with her. This whole situation made her sometimes angry, but she suppressed her anger as the prize was Alexander. To get the prize, she followed every possible advice Scarlett gave her: Everyone likes to show off their knowledge and skills. You are in luck since my grandson is talented in many things, so just find some and sit there and look like you are amazed. Throughout the week, he showed her his talents, and she became amazed without playing it up. The most fascinating she found was his alchemy and magic. The things he could create enchanted her. It either made her cry or laughed so hard she had a stomachache. Every play he created for her was a cacophony of fantasies coming true. He even put her into the plays, making the memories like a treasure she would hold onto till the day she died. Yet, it wasn''t all. Alexander invented fun sports they could play, and she felt like all her worries just dissolved. She only needed to be a little less competitive since he was younger, so less developed and thus less physically fit than her. He also wore those ugly mana items for some reason. Nobody told her why he wore them while they were together, but she could conclude that it wasn''t only for training. However, she ignored them after some time. Sometimes, she just forgot it all and gave her all while they played around since it was so much fun, only to see how Alexander struggled to keep up with her. She found him even cuter than usual at such moments as he obviously tried to keep up with her. She memorized all the games they played and even wrote them down at the end of the day so she could bring them back to her fief and play them with her sisters. Then there were other activities when she clearly had no idea what to do but had fun nonetheless. She never imagined cooking and backing would be so much fun while doing it with someone she adored. Sometimes, it tasted good, but it was usually terrible. Nonetheless, Alexander always ate her pastry and cooking, telling her how delicious it was. After she tasted it herself, she almost puked, but it also made her somehow happy. They did a lot more things, and she loved all of it. She even forgot what Scarlett told her and just enjoyed herself. In the evenings, though, she became more solemn and tried to replay the day to see if she had done something wrong, but she couldn''t find anything. This gave her time to actually think about why she liked him and have deep talks with Linuel, which wasn''t easy. Over the week, her sister became increasingly frustrated and complained non-stop because she now needed to endure the company of their brother. It wasn''t going particularly well, as she was ready to rip Fiorello in two parts. Patricia even needed to stop her from going over to him and beating him till he barely breathed. However, because she could talk about it openly and think a lot, Patricia became more sure that Alexander was the right one. It seemed he was the only one she could see as an actual fit for her while having the time of her life with him. It was perfect. Even though she liked others in the Cold-Snout and Feather-Paw households, no one came close to her. All were very childish and had no ambitions, even the much older ones. She dismissed her visit to the Iron-Fang household as it was a catastrophe. All they did was to talk through their fists. So the moment she heard about Alexander from Scarlett, it was like a dream come true. With him as a spouse, she could become a lady and rule her fief. Even though her oldest sister was the most talented, she had no husband to speak of, so there was no way she would become an heir without one. She thought she would arrive here and impress him while he would give his all to do the same with her. However, it was the other way around: She couldn''t even reach his shadow. With everything they did for the last week, her self-esteem became smaller and smaller. The only thing she had to show was her fitness, which made her even feel worse. It was like the roles were changed; she was now an Iron-Fang¡ªa disgusting feeling. It became so bad that she stared at nights at her system window and screamed inwardly to grow faster. She even got another skill test cleared up a couple of days ago through her efforts and remembered it proudly. However, she became more annoyed when she remembered the skill test, ''Who needs [Persistence]! Damn! I would trade this damn skill immediately for a skill that makes Alexander like me!'' It was weird for her as she couldn''t imagine his level or attributes. From what her teacher told her, before one reached their legacy, an attribute of 10 was seen as average, and 15 was talented. However, 20 or more was on the level of a prodigy. She had an [Intelligence] attribute of 28 and was considered a genius. She couldn''t picture what his [Intelligence] attribute could even be. Alexander brought her out of her chaotic thoughts, asking her, "Say, what are your favorite flowers? I see that you like the color white like your dresses and accessories. Are maybe Lisops (Orchids alike) your favorites?" Patricia nodded happily, "Yes! I love Lisops and the color white! But do you know what I want to see the most?" Alexander shook his head, "No, tell me?" She nodded, and her tail moved excitedly from side to side, "I want to travel around the world and see snowy mountains and deserts and draw all of them!" Alexander looked interestingly at her, "Oh, I see. Do you paint a lot?" Her voice became even more enthusiastic, "Yes! I love painting, and if I don''t have any classes or training, all I do is paint." Alexander smiled slightly at her, "What do you like to paint the most?" She pointed towards the faraway to some mountains and said excitedly, "Landscapes! I love landscapes and how they became what they are now. They tell a story, and I want to feel and record it! Don''t you..." Patricia was interrupted as she was suddenly pushed down. From her sideglance, she could see that Alexander had his face fully immersed in dirt. An arrow flew over their head. She could feel Sarusos''s intense killing intent as his words dripped with pure venom, "Oh, a little cockroach tries to bite us?" ... Leonandra Estate, Artifact Gallery ''I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.'' "Is everything fine, Lin?" Linuel turned her head toward Narsiz and smiled lovely at him, "Yes, everything is fine! I just find it a little... let''s say awkward." Narsiz looked around and nodded toward her, "You are right... it is kind of awkward." Behind them were three disgruntled teens walking around in a room dedicated to presenting important art pieces and articles of historical value. All they did was argue. "You look lovely, Lori." Lorient looked at him like she was about to wring him out like a chicken, "Stop your stupid skills! Damn it! It is so annoying!" Fiorello acted surprised, "I am really sorry. You are just too beautiful to..." Sarah interrupted him and acted out, "We know, we know. Please stop this too! If I hear again how my eyes represent my soul, which is made out of purest and most valuable gems, I am gonna puke!" Fiorello turned around and activated his skills so thoroughly that even Linuel could feel them, "Oh? You are right! You are much more..." Sarah stomped her foot, "Stop it!" Linuel hated it. She had such a pleasant time with Narsiz on the first day, and the moment his sisters and her brother joined them, all went down the drain. They tried to be romantic, but it was barely possible since all their siblings did was fight with each other. There was even a moment when she wanted to kill her brother and his sisters just to get more privacy. Even though she barely interacted with Fiorello after he went through his legacy, as he was hardly at the estate, she couldn''t believe how he acted. ''Is Ni trying to fuck with me and paid him to do this? No way...'' At first, Nila wanted to meet with Narsiz, her oldest sister, but after Linuel bargained and talked with Scarlett, she got the place. While it sounded like a deal in her mind, more begging than bargaining was involved. At first, Linuel and Nila tried to compromise and come together to the Leonandra estate. However, this was quickly rejected when Scarlett told how her daughter, the current lady, was. Ultimately, they would all go back the instant she saw the numbers. Now Linuel was paranoid that it was some stupid joke her sister had arranged, ''If she did it, I will... well, nothing... she is stronger. Damn it!'' Then there was Patricia, who had much more private time with Alexander than she had while having fun. She even saw how he entertained her with games and weird magic paintings, ''I want this!'' She actually didn''t care much for all the stuff Alexander did, but it was the principle that they couldn''t even have ten minutes for themselves. It became so bad that she almost beat up her sister yesterday when she told how they baked while making it sound lovely and romantic. However, she tried her best to salvage the situation and even thought about staying much longer, never mind whether Narsiz wanted it. At this point, she was so frustrated that she would even abduct him into some hut inside a faraway forest just to talk with him in peace. Her frustrations worsened the more she saw him interact with everyone and how he treated her, trying to calm her down and making the little moments they had for themselves worth. She became more enamored with him. All she wished for was some private time. Yet, even if she ignored their siblings, they had a whole entourage following them around, and they weren''t particularly considerate toward them. "They are so cute together, don''t you think?" "Yes! They will probably have the cutest chicks!" ''Are you kidding me?! Should I just go for it and put my [Free Stat Points] into [Luck], hoping for some miracle to happen? Maybe some demon invades and kills Fio... this will be worth it.'' This wasn''t even the worst. Lorient''s guard, Larry, walked side by side with Fiorello''s guard, Strawberry, and the tension was tenable. The other guards and soldiers were the same. Luckily, Linuel''s guard helped the Leonandra''s out in their demon run since she was strong enough to defend herself. Otherwise, he would actually be a big problem. Besides the annoying comments, the servants were sometimes very silent. Yet, the reason wasn''t one she wished for: For the last week, fights broke out almost multiple times every time they went out together, and she got tired of this. She even begged her brother to stop, but he had his stupid excuse that he couldn''t apparently control the skill, which was untrue and confirmed multiple times by them. She looked at Narsiz and came close to him, risking it, whispering, "I know we shouldn''t do it, but how about later at night, I come over, and we just cud..." Her instincts suddenly became crazy, and she took Narsiz and rammed him to the floor with full force. The moment she did, she saw a weird-looking dagger flying over his head. She let all her bottled-up frustrations out in one go as something snapped inside her. Her killing intent exploded, "Whoever it was, I hope you are ready to die!" Chapter 70: Nine-Fire Visit 9: Assault Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Sarusos Leonandra (Fox-kin) Patricia O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Narsiz K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Linuel O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) Fiorello P. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin) Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Larry Leonandra (Ox-kin) ... Leonandra Estate, Main Garden Sarusos straightened up and looked around while taking out two daggers, "We have seven little rats here..." Without looking back, he asked the puppies he pushed into the dirt, "...are you both okay?" Alexander pulled his head out of the dirt and helped Patricia to stand up. He could see how shaken and frightened she was, ''Damn it, so it is all me and Saru.'' Something inside his head clicked the moment he was attacked. His military instincts kicked in like a wrecking ball. The black box inside his brain was activated, filled to the brim with life-and-death situations and gruesome training he experienced in his last life. Alexander was frightened but had experienced such situations too many times and could push through it without much problems. All useless thoughts about the motivation and the ifs were quickly abandoned. Nothing mattered now, but survival and the best way to achieve it was to work together and stay calm. Alexander first analyzed the situation at hand to get a fuller picture. He saw the three servants who followed them draw their daggers, barely changing their facial expressions and readying themselves for an attack. Alexander used his [Mana Sense] to its full extent to discover that Sarusos was right and four more were around them in the garden, ''Seven assassins vs. two children and a psychotic butler. Oh, joy.'' He wanted to communicate their positions thoroughly in a way similar to Earth. At the same time, he made sure that Sarusos could pinpoint their position in case he could only roughly feel their presence, "12''o clock Frem¨¢zar (big trees with pink roses on them), two at six, one at four, and the last one at ten." Sarusos energy slowly surrounded him, and the insane murderous intent from it was like a knife inside everyone''s mind, stabbing and frightening them. Alexander understood that he couldn''t hold back since lives were on the line, but the aura his energy produced was basically a sure way to friendly fire everyone around him. Alexander could hold against it since he had more than enough skills to counteract the residue of his craziness. On the other hand, Patricia was frightened by Sarusos and the situation, almost falling unconscious. She wanted to step back, but Alexander took her hand and shoved her behind him, "Stay close to me. There are some more bastards." He suddenly also remembered the mana items and collar he wore. He quickly took them off, and the moment they fell to the ground, he felt as light as a feather while his mana skills became more pronounced, ''This could be a horrible idea.'' Alexander felt lighter, and his mana control became beyond good as he wore those 24/8 to restrict himself and train. However, now that he became free, he had problems controlling his body and mana skills since every movement became much broader, physical, and magical. He easily overshot when he tried to move or use his [Mana Manipulation]. There was little time to test his newfound power as more energy-filled arrows flew toward them, especially targeting Patricia. Sarusos deflected all of them with a wave of his hand. Like a surgeon, he easily vaporized them with his energy mid-air. However, Alexander could see that it was more or less a test to see how they would react. Their attack was weak and too slow to be considered dangerous. With Sarusos defending them, everyone could see they were in a terrible pinch. Alexander knew that the moment Sarusos attacked, the other assassins would swarm them, and nobody knew how strong they were. He looked slightly to the back, to Patricia, ''Well, fuck me.'' While he knew that he could somehow survive, it was impossible without a sacrifice, ''Who knew that I had such a side?'' Alexander readied himself to take Patricia and run as fast as possible away. However, his thoughts were interrupted by Sarusos, "Mr. Alexander, how about using some spells?" Alexander frowned but trusted this bastard to have a plan. He immediately started to move pockets of particles while simultaneously building up constructs. He got the hang of his skills slowly and felt how his mana flew at insane speeds, zig-zagging and building the constructs in record time. At the same time, he conjured multiple water balls and earth-shield contraptions around him and Patricia, "On it!" He marked all seven attackers instantly and constructed multiple earth bullets. All seven assassins felt it as they shivered slightly, but they probably didn''t take it seriously as they did nothing. They only readied themselves for the next attack. Bang! Yet, when they heard a loud bang, three died from a shot to the head, falling and lying around lifelessly. The others quickly threw away their disguise skills and could barely deflect them using their energy and skills. The moment they lost all disguise, Sarusos wanted to go for an attack, but when he saw who they were, he frowned heavily and decided to stay on defense. The enemy Sarusos saw before him wasn''t much of a threat to him, but this wasn''t the case with the puppies. He needed to ensure they stayed alive, and he could now understand why they didn''t attack in full force in the first place, ''What a mess.'' He deduced in parts of a second that someone who could impersonate servants without getting detected by him meant they had excellent skills in deception. He would also bet that they had some assassination skills. So, he feared that the moment he went for an attack, some of them would target the puppies. While Alexander did his part in attacking them, Sarusos couldn''t analyze them properly, as the attacks from the pup were highly irregular, but he had less to worry about since three were dead. He was for a short moment in joy as his master''s son was this strong, ''Who know that Alex would be this healthy without those restrictions, hehe.'' However, he quickly went back to what was important: Protection. First, he needed to test them to see how good they were. If they are not that skilled, he would make an opening for Alexander and Patricia to run away. There was a problem; he couldn''t attack them recklessly, but there were many other ways to identify their power, "What do we have here? Night elves..." He licked his lips and talked in Nocir, "...how long has it been since I tortured your pups? Their screams were like a lullaby, and how they prayed to your moon bitches while I slowly cut their ears off while taking their sight..." His smile widened into one of pure sadism as he remembered a particular campaign, "I bet if I take yours, I could get some good potions out of them... or should I rather force you to breed so I can have an infinite supply of it?" What he remembered wasn''t what their mercenary troupe did but what they found after they raided a village that dwarves occupied. It was a tragic sight when they liberated them, but the assassins didn''t need to know this fact as he tried to provoke them purposively. Luckily for him, one enemy reacted. The last one who was further away felt immediately provoked and attacked. When Sarusos saw this, he could directly analyze their experience, ''The four were amateurs while three are much more experienced. This is doable.'' The elf jumped forward with his daggers drawn. Sarusos stood relaxed around, expecting a clumsy attack, but the night elf suddenly disappeared. Sarusos clicked his tongue inwardly, knowing it was that kind of subrace. He had enough experience with them and knew exactly who they were and their usual tactics. He quickly took out three throwing knives while loading them with his energy. Without hesitation, he threw them toward his and the puppy''s shadows. Suddenly, out of his shadow came a scream, and the night-elf appeared behind him with the dagger in his heart. Sarusos raised an eyebrow, "Amateurs." However, while he attacked, the others suddenly disappeared, and that was exactly what he feared. Now, he had to deal with night-elves who could jump shadows, which was a very annoying skill to deal with. While they couldn''t protect themselves inside the shadows, finding them would be hard, and he needed to do a lot of guesswork. Though there was a slight moment when they disappeared where one could kill them, he missed it since he didn''t think they had this racial skill. The killing intent surged from Sarusos, and he tried to provoke them again, hoping some moron would jump out again, "What was it again? Children of the night, you suffered enough, so I give you the protection you so desire? Didn''t work out for your youth, though. Otherwise, why would you crawl to us, beast-kin, for protection? Hehe." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Night-Elves had a different religion from nature dwellers and beast-kin. They believed in moon deities, which corresponded heavily with their equivalent to [Mystic Skills]. Their faith was also intrinsically political and was the basis for their ruling system. Most of them were usually very religious, so such a provocation should usually rattle them, as the moment they came under the Mal-Gil empire was a humiliating moment to them and considered taboo to even talk about. Yet, they neither jumped, foamed, nor became angry. With this, Sarusos had another idea of how good they were, ''Well, not everything can be that easy.'' While Sarusos tried to determine where they were, Alexander tried to see them with his mana skills and the marking he did beforehand. It was barely possible, and the position changed periodically, so he needed to concentrate heavily on them to avoid losing them. ''Damn it, my brain is getting fried, and I can''t fucking target them!'' Green told him that [Mana Sense] and the marking spell weren''t strong enough to target those who had battle experience against mages. Other skills or items could disable his [Mana Sense] and the marking spell, but it did seem that he had a high enough level to find them but not to lock on precisely. Alexander wanted to try again and shoot the moment he had at least one of them bullseye. He quickly did his routine again and conjured more contraptions for protection and earth bullet constructs, "Get ready!" Luckily for Alexander, Sarusos listened to him as he readied multiple throwing knives with substantial energy loaded onto them, so much so that they almost broke as they vibrated heavily. A loud bang later, all three suddenly appeared, wanting to avoid the enormously fast earth bullets. Two looked surprised as the bullets didn''t even target their shadow but something else. Sarusos quickly threw the knives and got one directly into the heart, the one who needed to deflect the earth bullet. However, before the assassin died, they saw that the elf had taken out a potion, and it suddenly disappeared from his hand and appeared behind Patricia. Alexander''s mana skills registered it since he had every inch around him and the fox-kin girl covered so that he could detect any anomaly immediately. Without turning around and still watching how the other night elves were about to attack, he immediately cast dozens of contraptions in record time around the flask, almost frying his mind. He had a good reason for this. The flask was expanding, and the mana inside of it became volatile. This phenomenon he could see with his [Mana Sense] and panicked as his instinct told him that it was dangerous and he could guess what it was. ''That''s just fucking great! Shadow assassins with magical grenades! What''s next? Demon ants who control gravity?!'' Alexander thought about Patricia and how she was dead weight, but he wouldn''t let her die. No, he wanted to save her now more than ever. Was it love? Nope. It was pure stubbornness since he started to protect her. He wouldn''t stop halfway through. He suddenly got an insight, ''What better place than the battlefield to improvise.'' Alexander grabbed her. His mana started to crawl on her skin, building an earth contraption on her belly, and he constructed a propulsion spell on it. He couldn''t risk the explosion the flask would produce being much stronger than expected, so he would rather try another way while building more contraptions for protection. ''Please don''t die!'' It was a much weaker propulsion spell he had conjured than usual. After a loud bang, Patricia shot away from him and Sarusos, away from the battlefield and the assassins. Yet, he decided to stay, ''Time to kill some fuckers!'' Something inside him got angry, wanting to skin those attackers alive. It wasn''t pure wrath like what he had in his skill test. Some rationale was left, making him think of every move he was about to make. Alexander screamed while building more contraptions around the potion and before him, "Kill them! I am fine!" In a fraction of a second, Sarusos surrounded himself with energy fully. He vanished, immediately decapitating the ones left, but a moment before he did it, they also took out a potion, which disappeared and appeared where Patricia was flying to. Boom! An explosion occurred where Alexander was, but the moment it happened, he flew like a ragdoll out, having cast another, much more potent, propulsion spell on him and toward Patricia. He saw how the flasks appeared around her, so he positioned himself at the last moment to use the propulsion spell and the explosion''s shockwave to fly at high speed toward her. However, he miscalculated one thing: The explosion wasn''t little, and he felt how the spell and pressure pushed his innards into directions where they shouldn''t be. He barely saw anything and only relied on his [Mana Sense] as he flew toward her. Yet, he cast another, much more potent propulsion spell on him to reach her as fast as possible. Luckily for him, she slowed down. Not so lucky for her: The potions were too close to her. Alexander''s mind was burning up, and his body became a mess. He didn''t notice that the explosion heavily injured him; the adrenaline kick made the pain disappear. He only saw Patricia and decided to risk everything he had. He didn''t know what it was but decided it was his old characteristic of being a petty bastard, not giving in to others who wanted to fuck him over even a minuscule chance to win or get something out of him. Sarusos also saw this and was stunned that they all had explosives with them. Usually, such one-use items were horrendously expensive and only used in campaigns against strong monsters or demons. After the first flask vanished, he thought it was some mist potion to paralyze or put the puppies to sleep. Worst case, it was some poison they could cure easily with Green and the Temple behind them. Never had he expected such an explosion to occur, ''I shouldn''t have trusted Alex, damn it!'' As he was about to flash toward them to protect them, the headless suddenly attacked him, which he could barely avoid, ''Fuck! They were suicide assassins!'' Suicide assassins could automatically use a skill after death and choose a target before they die with the last bit of energy to get the job done. While he avoided their first attack, their second came faster and stronger. He needed to avoid it but ignored it and flashed toward Alexander and Patricia, only to be stopped by all the other corpses who came at him, trying to stop him. He wouldn''t make it, and he knew it, mainly when they surrounded him and started to bloat like the flasks. They almost immediately exploded around Sarusos. Boom! Boom! Boom! Thunderous explosions were heard from where Sarusos was, which Alexander ignored as he had the price in front of him. The flasks around Patricia expanded, but shortly before they exploded, Alexander flew and grabbed her while casting another more potent propulsion spell on him. His head suddenly felt like someone rammed nails inside, ''Shit, barely mana left!'' While he grabbed her, he ignored the pain and conjured with all he had more contraptions in front of the flasks. He hoped for the best. The flasks exploded violently. Boom! Boom! Boom! The massive explosion hit only Alexander since he had Patricia in front of him, and the blast was behind him. The shockwave was even more potent, scorching his back so much that he could feel how his body burned from behind, and splinters from his contraptions catapulted into his back, making it a nasty combination. Alexander was barely awake as the blast catapulted him and Patricia with enormous velocity towards some trees. He quickly used the last bit of mana to cast two weak propulsion spells to turn him around so he could get the brunt of the damage if they crashed into something. He suddenly could feel his mana veins cramping, almost ripping apart as he cast the last spell. However, he used every drop left to turn him around with Patricia. Bang! "Keugh! "Ahhh!" He crashed full force into a tree while still holding Patricia in front of him. He fell to the ground, barely able to feel or see anything. All he could think was how he couldn''t move anymore as he wanted to stand up and quickly run away with the squirt. His thoughts became chaotic, and he could barely grab them as they went all over the place. However, the last thought he had was of joy, ''Hehe, now I need only to survive, and I won... fucking bastards...'' Before everything went black, he saw how Patricia cried and screamed. He didn''t know what she said since he only heard a loud ringing. He became unconscious. ... Leonandra Estate, Exhibition room Narsiz and Linuel looked behind them where the attack was coming from and saw how Fiorello tried to stab Lorient, only to be blocked by Sarah. His maid suddenly attacked Larry while all the other servants disappeared. "Stay behind..." Before Linuel could end her sentence, Narsiz used his new way to fight. He quickly took a piece of black chalk from his breast pocket and wrote something into the air while saying a strange chant. Small pieces of the chalk broke up, and his mana surrounded him, building the construct. It was his way to use [Mana Manipulation] with the fourth mystic skill he got after reaching Tier 2: [Masterfull Writing]. It was a skill with which he could convey everything he thought about in writing. The higher his [Charisma] attribute was, the better the writing became from every point of view. If he used almost all his stamina with his [Essence] to write a letter, it would act like other manipulation skills to the reader. He used the marking spell on one of the assassins he felt through his [Mana Sense]. A small smile emerged when he saw where they were exactly. ''I really need to thank Alexander again. What a great idea to utilize my [Masterfull Writing]!'' Since Alexander began to help acquire everyone [Mana Sense], at some point, the trial phase ended when he helped Cross to acquire the skill. It became ridiculously easy for him at some point, except in the mana department, which Narsiz was sure to listen to his puppyish complaints. His siblings naturally came next but almost only used it to strengthen their energy, like Lorient and Sarah. However, Narsiz was an exception since he also started to learn a little bit of magic, especially the spells that were helpful for his [Throwing Arts] and [Archery Arts]. The moment he marked a shadow in a corner, he put a lot of energy into a throwing dagger, activated his [Rabit Foot] mystic skill to increase his [Luck] in the throw to a ridiculous degree, and threw it. A scream came from the corner, but instead of a corpse, a giant explosion rattled the room. Luckily, they were far away, so no damage came to them. Linuel dragged Narsiz farther away, ignoring whatever he did from where the explosion occurred, and looked around, being very cautious of the assassins, "Surround yourself with energy!" As she said it, her red parasitic demonic energy slowly surrounded her, feeling eerily like his mother''s. Narsiz also surrounded himself with his energy, which was snow-white and golden-colored. It gave off a feeling of closeness and friendliness. Linuel only peeked shortly at him and commented, "Damn it, even your energy is beautiful." His [Essence] increased his [Luck] and [Charisma] while he surrounded himself with it. Still, depending on his will, it also could decrease or increase those attributes to others, so he slowly covered part of Linuel to increase her [Luck], "Allow me, my lady." She smirked, not finding it funny to flirt while being surrounded by weird assassins, "No time for..." Her sentence got stuck in her throat when suddenly Fiorello flew like a ragdoll past them and crashed into an exhibition of armors. Crash! Linuel ignored him and saw how Sarah and Lorient fought against what she knew only from books, night-Elves, ''What the...?'' The servants were gone, and now they were a dozen night-elves who were relatively skilled compared to their guards. However, what astounded her the most was the giant Ox-kin named Larry. He charged at one of the elves who jumped out of the shadow, about to ambush Lorient, but with one hit, the elf became a pancake. Sarah screamed at Linuel and Narsiz while trying to go toe to toe with two highly skilled elves, "Hey, we need help!" Two daggers were about to hit her neck from different positions, but she stood still and didn''t move. Linuel was frightened as they slit her throat, but in the next moment, nothing happened, ''What is...?'' After the elves went with a successful attack and back into the shadow, they suddenly appeared again a moment later with their neck slit apart. Sarah wobbled to Lorient, saying in a tired voice, "This is too much..." Narsiz looked at her like she was a moron. He knew one of her [Mystic Skills] could deflect attacks toward others. However, the stronger the attack was, the more stamina she needed to use, and the attack he saw was nothing to scoff at as the radiated energy was enormous, thus her sudden tiredness. Another shadow came from the back to attack Sarah, but Lorient caught them off-guard and rammed her energy-filled fist in the face of the elf. Her energy was massively condensed, and the moment she hit, the elf''s head suddenly exploded. She looked for the next one and became more aggressive, "I need to thank Alex again later. I love using mana, hehe!" Narsiz was relieved they could cope with the attack, so he concentrated on himself and Linuel. They started moving slowly towards them, but on the way, two other elves appeared from the side. Linuel became overwhelmed as she wanted to protect Narsiz, but she was in a pinch since they came from both sides. Her strength lies in AOE''s (Area of Effect), but they were usually slow and needed to be built up over time, so as she was about to throw herself in front of Narsiz, he did something weird from her point of view. He activated his aura and said, smiling like a knight from a fairy tale, "Hello, my cuties!" They suddenly stopped and looked weirdly at him. Linuel used the situation and grabbed an elf''s head, pumping her energy into him till he was a walking demonic energy container for her. Before she could take the other one, Narsiz had already pulled out his small hidden crossbow and shot an arrow into the elf''s head, with little to no energy put into it. It was a perfect hit, and the elf fell down, dead. While Linuel sucked out the residue of her demonic energy, she looked weirdly at Narsiz, who was confused, "Is everything all right?" She shook her head, "Nothing. Everything is fine." For once, she was happy that Narsiz was much stronger than he seemed to her as he weirdly used his skills, but on the other hand, she was a little saddened since she wanted to protect him and show how strong she was, ''Well, maybe next time... what am I actually thinking?!'' She shook herself awake from such weird thoughts and wanted to continue walking to the others who already killed the elves, except for one who she could see was only unconscious. As she did her next step, the corpses from in front and behind them suddenly came to life and jumped at them much faster and stronger. She suddenly remembered something, ''Suicide assassins, shit!'' She heard about it once from a veteran who lost an arm because of them. She looked towards the others, and they were already preparing for a fight. Linuel fully encased herself with her energy and saw how all the others were doing the same and running before the Leonandra youth to protect them since they were exhausted. The best tactic against them was only to defend or run away. Never try to fight them, as they would stop their attack after a minute at best. The worst was to fight them seriously. So, the passive approach was the best one. However, when she looked to the side, she saw that Narsiz was also exhausted and could barely encase himself with hardly any energy. She used part of her energy to cover up the places he couldn''t and felt terrible. She saw how her energy hurt him and ate at his clothes and skin. If one didn''t go through at least the demonic baptism, the resilience against such energy was barely there. Of course, those who lived in the east of Moorgrel had much more defense against the energy than others, but not by much, and mostly mentally. Her energy wasn''t infinite, so she thinned herself out to fully protect Narsiz. She also jumped before him, dragging him away to a position where they could only attack from one side while trying to cover all other fronts as her energy materialized up shields to the left and right of him, which hovered in the air. She was ready to rip them in half when they approached them at full speed, only to be surprised that they suddenly bloated up heavily while throwing themselves at them. Her instincts and skills screamed mortal danger. ''Damn it!'' She turned around, showing her back to them, and hugged Narsiz while encasing him more. She hoped he also reacted to them, bringing out the last drops of his energy, but he only became confused. However, he did the same and encased her with the last of his energy, ''Fuck! Encase yourself!'' She didn''t know what was about to happen but prepared for the worst, ''Please, nothing bad!'' Boom! The whole hall rattled as explosions occurred everywhere. It was a shit show, and the worst was that the room had many weapons and armor pieces, which meant that after the explosions, all the exhibitions flew around the hall and partially hit them. Lorient and Larry defended Sarah, as she had barely any stamina left, while the guards defended them all. On their side, it went rather well since Sarah, Larry, and Lorient killed all of them while the guards only secured their flanks and had all their energy left to protect them, and they used it till the last drop. After the explosions ended and they were protected, they looked around and suddenly heard Narsiz screaming, "Damn it! Get a healer asap!" After Larry couldn''t sense any night-elf anymore except the unconscious one, he instantly ran out of the room to get someone. Narsiz, on the other hand, was over Linuel, who was barely conscious. Her back burned to smithereens like her tail, which was nothing more than a stick at this point. He even saw some of her bones and burnt muscles poking through. He quickly took his charcoal and carefully drew a construct inside her wound while chanting. He used all his mana to conjure the other spell he had learned: First Aid. After the chant, a greenish film surrounded her back, and he immediately felt what it meant to have barely 1% of mana. He had the worst headache of his lifetime, and it was even worse than the time he was poisoned. However, as he got his shit together after a second, he immediately pulled out a mana and stamina potion and gulped them down in one shot. He put his charcoal on Linuel''s wound again, trying to concentrate on the construct and chant. He suddenly heard Linuel but ignored her, concentrating on using his skill and his spell as his vision blurred and his body started to scream in pain at him. "Hey, Narsi... nice date, huh." He chanted, and another more potent film integrated into the one that already was on her and became less transparent. Narsiz tried to manipulate the spell to where the wounds were more severe while his head felt like it was splitting apart. He saw that his nose, ears, and eyes started to bleed, but he pushed through. "Narsi?" He became angry, "Shut up! I try to concentrate on this shitty spell!" Linuel suddenly started blabbering. It was barely coherent, but Narsiz could hear something he didn''t like to hear in such a situation, "...hey, I love you, you know that? It somehow..." Narsiz screamed at her as he took out multiple healing potions, pouring over her wound, "Shut up! You can tell me this later! Fuck!" He realized a mistake that he should first pour the healing potions and afterward use the first-aid spell. He clenched his teeth together and pulled out another stamina and mana potion, gulping them together in one go again. "Hehe, don''t worry... I survived Nila, so I can... sleepy..." She went unconscious. He used the spell for the third time, only to feel how his headache became worse and how his muscles spasmed out. Luckily, after he was done, a healer came running to them only a moment later. When Narsiz saw him, he pointed at her and showed Lorient to come over quickly, which she did. She looked worried, "Are you okay, Narsi?! You..." He put a finger on her mouth to stop her from talking and whispered, "First, Lin. If they heal me before her, I will personally kill you, do you understand?" Before Lorient could say anything, he became unconscious himself, and Lorient could barely catch him in her arms. Chapter 71: Nine-Fire Visit 10: Immediate Aftermath Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Scarlett J. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) ... Shortly after the assassination attempt Marisia was walking through her office and could barely hold her anger back. It needed a lot to push her skills to the limits, which kept her emotional state in check. Her puppies and the guests were attacked while one went missing. She assumed that he was the culprit behind the assassination attempt. However, even though she wanted to go on a rampage, she couldn''t since they were night-elves who disguised themselves as servants from the Nine-Fire family. This meant that she had to follow specific procedures laid down by Count Moorgrel. They were there to handle how nobles under him could act toward each other. So, at the moment, she tried her best to relax to send a coherent message to the Nine-Fire household, informing them and making it clear that she wanted the head of whoever the culprit was. Yet, Marisia wasn''t the most infuriated since Kairoso was in the same office and was about to order a purge from the main branches of the Temple. She needed to calm him and stop him from contacting the executive branch of the Temple. Otherwise, they would invade the Nine-Fire territory, and pure chaos would break out. Druids had a lot of privileges, and one of those was when their family was attacked, they had the right to mobilize whole branches of the Circle. It was important for the Circle of Nature to keep everyone happy and bring the ones outside of the Nature-Dweller races toward them when they had a unique [Divinity Line] or something similar that would make them a druid or shaman. They did it by guaranteeing them to go scorch earth should their family be attacked. It rarely happened for two reasons: There were few druids outside the nature dweller''s race, and those had no real concept of family. The second was the precedents they created: They actually took their promises seriously and attacked nobles, basically eradicating whole families who went against the puppies of beast-kin druids. Nobody in their right mind would even think about doing something so stupid. It also depended greatly on the status of the druid/shaman, but the least they could expect was revenge and protection. The most was a whole eradication of a fief. While Kairoso wasn''t the strongest inside the Circle of Nature, not even close to the top brass, his merits of defending against wild demons and helping build branches, like the Twin-Acorn branch, in places where their religion was barely present, made him one of the more prestigious ones. This meant they would keep their promise and do more to satisfy him. It was the last resort, but nothing more would make her happier than telling her husband to contact the Temple and ask for revenge, especially since he had a special status as a druid and didn''t need to follow any procedures as he wouldn''t use any resources like their soldiers which belonged theoretically to the Count. Yet, she held back and waited. She tried to calm herself down by repeatedly saying to herself that all her puppies were alive and wouldn''t have any lasting damage except for some ugly scars. This was what at least Green said to her. There were also many other problems to solve. One of those was that she couldn''t determine where the attack originated. The moment she would find out about it, she would go herself and bring judgment upon them. There were only three possibilities: One was, obviously, the night-elven territory, but they were very isolated from Mal-Gil and the nature-dweller domain. So this would be exceptional if they actually knew about their knightage at all. Next was the asylum camp to the East, but they were also isolated. Moorgrel strictly forbade the guard households from having anything to do with them since they were the ones who betrayed them and their races. It wasn''t even the Count''s choice, but he was instead pressured not to execute them immediately so the emperor could show the populace his kind heart. Who was this populace? Mostly nature-dweller, but beast-kin also saw this as something positive. It showed that the imperial Leo family was benevolent even in front of traitors. During a campaign, it was a political stunt to regain the territory between Moorgrel and the central Mal-Gil occupied by humans. While the emperor at the time tried, there were atrocities, and the nature-dwellers, who were usually very peace-loving, saw this as pure savagery. To show his goodwill, he sent the prisoners of war to Moorgrel and the Count towards Kratikal, promising not to kill them. There, they could die, far away from the populace''s eyes. Most nobles knew of this spiel and ignored it. Most probably thought they were already dead and it was a thing from the past to be ignored. Marisia ignored them since they were basically decimated to a small camp, barely surviving, and would not make any problems except for the casual fights with them at the buffer zones. They were nothing more than a nuisance. However, even if the asylum camp did attack them, the Leonandra household needed first the allowance of either the emperor or their master, Count Moorgrel, to counterattack, as the parties were bound by promises she couldn''t break as a knight. Otherwise, Marisia would have invaded and killed them. She found it quite disturbing to have such people at her border but also didn''t lose any sleep because of them. Last but not least was Fiorello, a son of the Nine-Fire household who suddenly disappeared and tried to kill one of her daughters in the assassination attempt. This was the most probable culprit behind all this. However, nobody knew why he did it at all. She had her letter already roughly written and waited for at least Linuel to wake up so she could confirm what her daughters said. In all of this, her mother, Scarlett, was more petrified than all of them. Since she brought the fox-kin teens and servants from the Nine-Fire estate, she blamed herself for not being careful enough. She apologized to Marisia repeatedly and told her that she could instantly sniff out any assassination attempt if she was younger. Marsia understood her as such things on this scale were rare. Nobody was stupid enough to go against them. There could be assassination attempts like poisonings, which Narsiz survived, but what happened with her son was the first try after a hundred years. Her mother, even though she said she could sniff them out, nothing like this happened even once while she reigned. Even the whole reason was absolutely unknown to them: Political reasons? For what exactly? They were a knight family under the Count who mostly dabbled in the East. Territory? Also no. Their borders were enshrined by imperial and Moorgrel''s law. They couldn''t lose anything but also didn''t gain. Enemies? Yes, but there were no rewards, only petty revenge. She couldn''t believe someone would risk their whole fief and household for such things. She also thought it was someone with some power, which they could also lose easily. Otherwise, she couldn''t explain the explosives and night-elf assassins, who, for some reason, also exploded. For this, she needed Alexander, but he was in terrible condition and unconscious. Otherwise, she would drag him to the prisoner and search him with his [Mana Sense]. This reminded Marisia of something. She looked at her husband and asked again for the hundredth time, "How long?" Kairoso looked back at her and shook his head, "Don''t be hasty. Saru needs time since they are professionals. In a couple of days, they will sing, and don''t forget that he also barely survived the attack... well, he was pretty jumpy the moment he heard that we got one of them alive." Scarlett looked at Marisia and bowed down, "I am sorry, Mari, I really didn''t know." Marisia ignored her apology, "I don''t care, and I know you well enough that you wouldn''t do such a thing... so stop apologizing before I start taking out my frustrations on you." She suddenly felt her husband''s energy surrounding her. She became immediately more relaxed. When she looked into the mirror, a highly dense film of his energy was all around her, ''I don''t want to know how I would react without him.'' Kairoso asked Scarlett, obviously trying to change the topic, "How is Linuel doing?" You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Scarlett sighed, "Bad. The healer will need a few weeks to heal her fully, but a scar will remain. However, she survived all thanks to Narsi. Otherwise, she would''ve probably died." Kairoso nodded, "Narsi was also in pretty bad health. I got told that he used too much mana and got something called mana cramps. He will have the worst headache of his life for the next couple of days. Thus, the healer put him on strong drugs..." Kairoso scratched his three-day beard, "I need to thank Linuel when she wakes up for saving my brat." Scarlett smiled slightly and looked out the window, "It is somewhat cute to have at least gained something in this tragedy, right?" Kairoso frowned and was visibly seething, barely holding back, "Yeah, they will be a cute couple. Two morons side by side. One a show-off and the other too stupid to just run away with the show-off..." Marisia interrupted his rant, "Enough, they are young and made mistakes. Don''t think everyone has had the same experience as you." They heard what happened and needed to admit they had acted stupidly in such a dangerous situation. However, it was well done if they took their age and experience, which only one had, and only against monsters or demons, into account. Her husband sometimes only looked from his perspective and thought everyone had the same experience as he had. So, the moment she said it, he smiled proudly, "Not what I heard about Alex. Even though he acted recklessly, his decisions, not knowing what to expect, were excellent." Scarlett interrupted him this time, "Stop it already. We all heard Saru''s side of the story and how he praised him to the core (heaven) and blamed himself. I never expected to see such an ecstatic smile on the face of this maniac." Kairoso leaned back and sighed, "It was rough, and they all survived in such an all-out assassination attempt. What can I do except praise him?" The atmosphere became a little tense, "Hopefully, Alexander will wake up soon so I can praise him directly. Green told me he would need a couple of days of intense healing plus weeks, if not months, of recovery..." He sighed and smiled even more proudly, "He even saved Patricia, risking his life. Who knew we had such a heroic pup, guhahaha!" Marisia commented while chewing her thumb, ignoring all etiquette, "He survived, that is the most important part, but I can''t believe that he actually... was this mangled up." Scarlett explained, "Patricia told me everything she saw. I barely understood her because she cried and could barely breathe from all the stress..." She rubbed her temples as she got visibly annoyed, "...after the talk, she ran to his room, wanting to stay beside him." Marisia raised an eyebrow, "Isn''t she in her room sleeping?" Scarlett shook her head and chuckled, "The moment I told her he was in his room, she ran to him. I easily caught her, but she started biting me, so I knocked her out for good and ordered some guards not to let her out of her room." Marisia smiled at this, "Young love is always a little extreme, hehe..." She suddenly remembered something, "...he is really like the one crazy little knight from this fairy tale. What was it called again?" Kairoso smirked, "Yeah, The Adventures of Sir Flame and Squire Wet..." He looked down and started playing with his giant hands, "...I have very weird feelings about this. I am too proud of him while really wanting to beat the stupidity out of him. While he was heroic, I would rather have a healthy son." Scarlett chuckled, "Hehe, spanking a hero would be such a disgrace, so rather not. But I worry about Patricia." Marisia perked up and frowned since Patricia was the one who was attacked heavily from all sides and needed to be rescued, "What is to worry about her? She is a little stressed. She will get over it." Scarlett shook her head, "Frightened beyond belief, and I think it is good for her and Alex to allow her to visit him. She could sleep on the couch in the room. I find this a cute beginning of a romance, don''t you think?" Marisia waved her hand in dismissal, "No to her visiting him, and there will be no romance. I already told all the guards, Sarah and Lorient, who guard Alex now, that no one can enter besides Green and her group of healers. She will have to wait." Scarlett put one leg over the other, looking at her strangely, "Mari, please stop. I know you are a loving mother, but there is no way you wouldn''t support them, right? Would you really forbid them to see each other because Alex got injured while saving her?" Marisia sat down and copied her mother on how she sat. She welcomed the distraction to a different topic as the waiting made her slowly go crazy, "This is not it. Alex is too different and has certain problems, so I think we shouldn''t put much hope into that..." She then told her what Aro and Anastasia discovered about how he acted around others and his strange ways. It was weird after she heard it and suddenly knew why he was so distant toward his disciple, her family, and others he employed or had a particular relationship with. After she was done with telling, Scarlett looked at her like she was an idiot, "This you couldn''t tell me in a letter before I bring someone for him to rendezvous?" Marisia tiredly smirked at her, "Would you believe me?" Scarlett waved her hand in dismissal, "Probably not." Kairoso suddenly stood up and smiled at them, "I need a drink. Someone with me? Let''s wait for Saru to finish his work and Linuel to wake up so we can write the letter..." He opened his arms wide and smiled, "While this was all terrible, our pups survived! This needs to be celebrated! We need a clear head for this, all right, my pretty ladies?" Marisia frowned but went out first with Scarlett behind her, who answered him, "I thought you would never ask. A lady never asks for a drink, know this." Kairoso followed them with a tired smile, "Got it, got it." ... Alexander''s dream, the same night His eyes opened, and he saw that he was in a bar. He immediately remembered it from one of his favorite sitcoms, ''Really? What about all the heaven and stuff? If this is hell, I am curious what I must do for all eternity... maybe getting rejected by chicks, hehe.'' The stupid joke made him chuckle as he remembered every bit of what happened. Everything was like it happened a second ago, so this change of scenery was comical to him. He walked forward and looked to a certain table from the sitcom and to a corner, ''Huh, he is not here. What would I give to see him doing the scuba diver for all eternity, hehe.'' This thought made him laugh even more, as the situation was bizarre. He just enjoyed it and hoped it was some dream while he was unconscious. He walked to the counter and frowned when he saw a boy. He looked young but was rather tall for his age. He had a fluffy tail and wolf ears and drank what looked like cheap scotch. "Figures. Am I dead again?" He looked around again; there was nobody beside them and a faceless barman with a bad toupee who cleaned some glasses. He sat beside the boy and only now noticed that he had hands he hadn''t seen for years, ''This is weird.'' He looked at himself more closely and noticed that he had his old clothes right the moment before he died. His white shirt had even a stabbing mark, ''Well, this is more weird.'' He heard the boy from beside him, "Can you stop looking at the stabbing wound? It is weird, and no, you didn''t die... well, maybe. However, the move where you almost pressed your guts out wasn''t the smartest, y''know?" Alexander gulped the whole glass down and knocked a couple of times on the counter to get another fill-up. While the barman did his job, he looked the wolf-kin into his eyes and saw how condescendingly he looked at him, "First, this shirt was expensive. Second, I hope that I at least looked cool. However, are you some kind of soul thingy that survived after I took over?" Alexander smirked, "You watched too many movies for your own good. I am you." He shrugged, "I watched them only because of Laura. You should know that since you are me, right?" Alexander sighed, "First, her name is Ang¨¦lique, and second, stop testing me and just enjoy the time." He raised an eyebrow, "Y''know, I am in a world full of magic and weird shit. I can''t even trust my dream self after almost dying to some crazy Taliban elves." Alexander smiled, "Zidane, you were almost killed in a coup d''etat as a child and later when some real terrorists attacked you while doing reconnaissance. Good enough?" Zidane looked at him weirdly and smirked. He then looked at the barkeeper and nodded toward him, "Hey, barkeep, y''know that this brat is not even 16? Do you want to let him drink this shit?" The barkeeper looked at him even though he had no face and took a cherry, putting it into Alexander''s glass. Zidane cringed at that, but Alexander was laughing, "Haha! You are some petty asshole, as always! Zidane waved his hand in dismissal, "Urgh, just shut up." Alexander took the cherry out and started eating it while talking, "So, why are you like this? You see who I am and see that I know what you know. Where is the problem?" Zidane took Alexander''s scotch glass and gulped it down before answering, "Yeah, what is weird about it? Figure it out yourself. By the way, you really aren''t some weird ghost stuff, right? I would like to hear how my siblings are doing and how you can drink this shit? It literally tastes like industrial ethanol with food coloring." Alexander shrugged, "What do you mean? Isabelle is probably kicking ass in uni... at least better than you since she is actually attending instead of working. Philippe is just... well, hopefully, he didn''t impregnate anyone, but he should fiiiine. By the way..." He tapped the bar counter for another fill and continued, "This is what we mixed and sold to bums so we could have money for their stupid clothes and phones. So be proud. This is what we created!" Zidane chuckled and nodded, feeling at least 50% alcohol slowly going to his head, "Hehe, the best was that they didn''t care and liked it..." He looked down, feeling sad talking about them, "...I miss them." Alexander looked weirdly at him, "First we and second, what was all this crap about your new family n'' shit then? I remember at least hundreds of those calendar sayings you told yourself day in and day out." Zidane looked at him weirdly, "Can''t I miss them even though I have a new family?" Alexander shrugged, "You tell me. We feel like crap whenever we call the ones whose ancestors assumably bred with wolves mom and dad." Zidane sighed, "What do you expect me to do? Let go of all my past just because I have a new future? I wish sometimes that my memories were mostly cleaned up because of this... it would be so much easier." Alexander gulped down another glass of scotch, cringing at the taste, "Stop bitching. I also can''t stand your weekly crying session before going to sleep." Zidane smirked, "Our weekly crying session." Alexander''s tail waggled strongly, "Now you got it. Just accept who we are and where we are, not like anythin'' changes." Zidane nodded, "Right you are. By the way, did I really talk like a damn hillbilly?" Alexander nodded, "Depends, why? Like we could survive in the military with how Angie fucking talked, all snobby n'' shit." Zidane tilted his head, "Huh, but I remember talking normally, unlike someone with a potato in his mouth." Alexander nodded, "Yeah, we are perfect for adapting to situations. School, military, college, or her rich-ass parents who initially hated us. You are like a fucking cockroach. Barely able to die... I guess we would survive and thrive even inside a dumpster fire." Zidane smirked at that, "Don''t call our country like this, hehe. By the way, I remember talking with her for the first time. She really barely understood me." Alexander straightened up again and looked confused at Zidane, "It wasn''t because of your dialect. It was because she had no idea about physics and math. She wasn''t the brightest candle on the cake, y''know? Not like we cared." Zidane raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? She studied medicine and was more than just excellent in her residency. I think she became later on a plastic surgeon or something." Alexander looked dead straight at Zidane, "So?" After a moment of silence, both started to laugh: "Hahaha!" "Hehehe." Zidane became a little melancholic, "Well, now I need to date a fucking nine-year-old, apparently." Alexander smirked at him, "Just wait till she gets older. Look at those underdeveloped..." Zidane rolled his eyes and interrupted him, "Dude, this is so creepy. There is no way I think like that." Alexander laughed, "Haha, nah, but we like to make really bad jokes, and most of the time, they are as black as... well, after the little explosion, I would guess as your whole ass." "Our ass. Hehe, we are a team, isn''t it right, partner?" Alexander tilted his head to the side, "Our? Oh..." He started pointing between both of them and making a stupidly high voice, "...oh my god! You got it, genius. Now I will cry because you see that I am you and part of it and that we are a team, uuuuhhhhhh." Zidane cringed, "Wow, I am really an asshole, or you are just the worst of me." Alexander smirked at him, "We are even worse. Don''t forget the time overseas when you were so incredibly racist that..." Zidane interrupted him while asking for a drink by tapping, "Got it! Man, what do you wanna do? If you are with fucking school drop-outs who think that hummus means pussy in Arabic, you need to adapt." Alexander laughed at that, "Haha! Remember that fuckin'' asshole who got almost killed by the skank? God, how stupid can one be." Zidane smirked at that, "Damn, man. The military was something." Alexander looked at him like he was an idiot, "It was like, what? It was terrible. We slept with a bunch of parasites and STD-riddled morons in the tightest spaces, and in the day, all we did was repairin'' ''n doin'' com''. Zidane shook his head, "Not true. Remember the child I killed?" Alexander scratched his head in annoyance, "She wanted to blow up and take other men with her. Wanna have their deaths on our plate ''cause of some weird ethical dilemma? Be our guest, but the sons of bitches were at fault who talked her into doin'' it." Zidane looked down, "Damn, you are right, but at least I could leave shortly after and go studying." Alexander smiled at him, "See? You are like a fucking cockroach. You always go forward and thrive everywhere, even though we should''ve stopped the self-harm ea..." Zidane looked more intensely at his new self and interrupted him, "Stop. I worked on it, didn''t I? I am fine." Alexander shook his head, "I am you, right? I know wha'' you think, so don'' give me that shit." Zidane scratched his head, "I know, but I am fine, and the skills are helping me immensely. So stop talking about it. I stopped a long time ago." Alexander looked more intensely at him, "Yeah, bu'' you are thinkin'' tha'' shit. Always! Even now, you are feelin'' bad for those fuckers who attack''d you and that little inbred fox girl." Zidane groaned in annoyance, "God damn, man! I am fine! I can intellectually rationalize that shit and work through it. The skills are also a damn godsend, so I am fine." Alexander shrugged and suddenly twitched, "Well, whateva'' you say, and by the way. Good luck. You will need it." Zidane braced for the worst, thinking it was some kind of dream assassin, "What? Why?" Alexander chuckled, "Hehe, you are abou'' to wake up, and how fucked up you were, you are in for a treat. Hope they have morphin'', or you will suffer like a bitch." Zidane suddenly remembered all his injuries and wanted to scream at his possibly worst representation, but instead woke up. He suddenly felt enormous pain and heard his system suddenly pinging at him multiple times, ''Fuck you, Alexander, you little bitch!'' Chapter 72: Nine-Fire Visit 11: Laughing is not always the best medicine Character Information - Who is who? Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven''t. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!) Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin) Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy) ... Alexander''s bedroom, the night after the attack "I need fucking painkillers, you bugwhore!" "Shut up! You don''t get any. Just try to resist it!" "The system is pinging me like crazy! I bet my balls, if they don''t have blown away already, that it is the [Pain Resistance] skill, argh!" "For the last time, no!..." Green turned around to all her other healers, whom she brought from the Temple, and threatened them, "...if you have any energy left after we are done healing Alex and don''t use everything, I will personally throw you into Kratikal for the next five-hundred years, so go!" All five fairies around her screamed back, "Yes, leader!" Green returned her attention fully to Alexander and immediately used every mental fortitude skill she had again to heal without panicking. There was a simple reason for this: His whole body was the most gruesome thing she had ever seen. He was lying down on his stomach since his back was wide open to the point where she could easily see the spine, which was, at this moment, nothing more than a soup made out of broken pieces of bones, flesh, and blood. If it was only the spine or other bones, it wouldn''t be much of a problem besides the time she would need to invest in restoring them, but there were also the muscles and tissues that were either ripped, burned, pierced, or just loose and not attached to anything. The whole bodily structure was compromised so that nothing could be handled with just some healing. The organs weren''t much better. They were the first thing she started healing since they were heavily damaged. Nothing was how it should''ve been, from pierced kidneys to ripped-apart lungs. There were a multitude of problems: First, objects like wood, stone, and bone splinters pierced basically everything and sometimes stuck in tissue, organs, muscles, or other bones. Even though Green immediately tossed them out because of the second problem, the burns, she couldn''t even identify what was what. So she just threw out half of his spleen, unattached muscles, etc., so she wouldn''t waste her healing power in recovering relatively unimportant body parts that could be restored later, even though it would take a lot of time. Third was the trauma he experienced, which cracked almost all his bones. They splintered or broke and stuck in places they shouldn''t, making her whole healing much more challenging than it should be. Green started healing again towards the general direction of his heart, and while healing, she couldn''t but not almost throw up at the sight of Alexander''s body. It looked the same as a pig, which was taken apart by an apprentice butcher who did it for the first time. It was a pool of blood with meat and bones swimming in it, ''What a mess.'' She came immediately after getting the emergency message. However, when she took over and released the estate healer plus another fairy who stayed here for emergencies, they started throwing up and became unconscious. She couldn''t understand it at first, but now she could. They drank so many potions to replenish their stamina to keep on healing that they poisoned themselves. So, some servants dragged them away with some of the cleaning solutions she gave them. She also commanded the servants to take their asses back here when they woke up. She would give them more elixirs to fight the poisoning while they healed. She needed everyone, even the ones who could only cast first-aid. Luckily for her, she was one of the few nature-dwellers who was paranoid and always prepared for the worst-case scenarios, especially after some dwarves almost kidnapped her. So, she had more than enough potions to provide at least nine healers who would heal non-stop for a whole day. Alexander always told her how dangerous the experiments were, so she was extra safe. She filled her spatial bag to the brim with potions of different kinds, more than thirty talismans with various effects, and some mana items in case something like this happened. Green herself already drank multiple special elixirs to restore her stamina and mana so she could keep healing at full efficiency, but it barely helped. She used a skill to see his HP, and they were going up, but after a moment, they slowed down and decreased very fast. It was like pushing a boulder up a hill, and the moment she thought he was stabilized, another boulder crashed from up top and pushed her down again. Even though she and the five fairies weren''t the top brass regarding healing, they would be enough to save anyone who got stabbed multiple times without any problem, but apparently not Alexander, who wasn''t stabilizing. He was profusely bleeding, and they needed to use most of their healing to recover the blood, which slowed them down even more. Besides her fairies, three other non-healer servants she got from the estate stood beside him and used talismans to either heal him or help the healers in their stamina regeneration. Luckily for her, two maids actually could use a first aid spell, which helped a little. They would come every hour and use their full mana to cast it. Afterward, they would meditate and drink some mana potions till they were ready again. Green''s HP detection skill suddenly signaled her that Alexander''s HP went down again drastically. She, in turn, concentrated heavily on her healing skills, using them exhaustively, and became slowly frustrated, ''Why won''t you stabilize!'' Healing wasn''t perfect and usually only accelerated the natural healing process. The nature-dwellers were very different, though. If they got divine skills that could heal, they would be worth at least a hundred times what an average beast-kin healer would take. They were this good. Their divine healing skills, together with their very particular energy, could restore and regrow parts of the body. Green could even restore lost limbs, but she would need decades for one arm or leg for such an endeavor. The effects strongly increased if she ever reached the first blooming. Healing essentially was a fight against time to stop the body from dying. However, Green''s and her team''s healing ability was barely enough to keep Alexander alive, but this was also her plan. Get Alexander stabilized even though she would need to ignore many injuries and later on heal him more thoroughly over time till he was healthy again. However, she became more worried over the last hour as the healing was too slow. The injuries were too massive, something she had never seen before. Yet, she told Kairoso they had everything under control so he could go to the Lady. Still, as her HP detection skill showed her, it was far from the truth. But, the moment she wanted the druid to join her, she remembered that he was no healer and would only annoy her, like someone else who was now yelling at her. "Listen, you shopping mall quack! It feels like a thousand knives are penetrating my body! I am about to go into shock if you don''t give me a... argh!" Green became angry, "I have no fucking idea what this means! Just shut up before I cut your tongue out!" When they took over, Alexander was unconscious, but the moment he woke up, around an hour ago, it was not only hard to heal him but also more annoying than ever. "Fine! I know how... argh..." he suddenly clenched his teeth from the obvious pain, "...your shitty healing works, so cut my damn spine till I don''t feel anything anymore! You can restore it later!" She glanced at his spine momentarily, which was already a mess and needed to be, either way, almost fully restored. She said without care while trying to concentrate her healing on the region where the heart was, "Your spine is already fully broken." Alexander clenched his teeth even stronger and glanced at her, full of hate, "Fuck this world! Then, concentrate your heals first on the pa... argh fuck me! The parts which bleed and work your way towards everything else!" She looked at his back and frowned, angrily grabbing another elixir from her space bag, "It bleeds everywhere." It was a miracle that he was alive and even more incredible that he woke up so quickly. However, even after trying to sort out this mess for hours, his status only improved slightly. The blood, which flew out of him like a slow-moving river, already drowned the mattress and flew down the floor. It looked like someone slaughtered a whole household in the room and wrung them dry. Usually, if someone bled so much, it would stop quickly after healing for some time. The reason was that their healing was never too concentrated. The residue of their skill would spread through the whole body and patch any more minor injuries that caused bleeding. Little to say, it didn''t work. Alexander''s voice made her almost choke at the elixir she was drinking, "What''s your [Medicine] level?!" After gulping it down, she didn''t care about anything anymore and just blurted it out, "Tier 2, [Intermediate Medicine] level 14." After dropping out of a third-rate Magic University, she worked as a healer for the Circle, using primarily her divine healing skills, before joining another university where she studied administration with a lot of success. So, her level as a hedge healer was alright, all things considered. However, Alexander apparently had another opinion, "Oh great, a nurse is opera.... argh! Damn it! Can you concentrate your healing?" Green didn''t know where it was going, but letting him talk was preferred to him screaming profanities at them or begging for pain relief drugs, which were highly poisonous to anyone without energy, "Partly." She saw Alexander close his eyes while clenching his teeth from the pain. He visibly thought momentarily before answering, "Can you imagine something with your skill and point it to a certain point?" Green didn''t like what he was about to say or command her to do, but she answered truthfully, "Yes, something like this." She had a skill with which she could see his organs and direct her healing towards them. However, it wasn''t perfect, and much healing radiated towards everything around the target. For Alexander, though, it barely mattered since the blood needed to be restored everywhere, and for this job, she had three healers doing an all-around healing. The puppy smiled grimly and tried to explain something she thought she wouldn''t hear outside of universities, "Before anything, is my heart, lungs, and... urfff! Liver healed? Do you even know what they are?!" Green popped a vein, but before she could say anything, another fairy answered him, "They are not as important as the muscles! They hold everything together!" She knew the fairy was new to all this and only around a hundred years old. So she immediately screamed at him since he was responsible for concentrated healing, "No, you moron! Heal the heart, lungs, and liver first, damn it!" The fairy who spouted the bullshit and another one with the same job closed their eyes, and suddenly it became much more manageable for Green to heal, ''I will hear about it till I fucking die! They seriously healed the muscles first, while the heart looks like a half-way inverted cactus, fuck!'' If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Even though she worked in a Temple as a healer, she wasn''t versed in such critical situations and even less in acting as a healing leader. She thought they had at least the basics down. However, this seems not to be the case, and now, after they healed Alexander, she would put them through the wringer and force them to study till their skill reached the next Tier, ''Their life will be the Outer Circle after we are done here.'' Her thoughts were interrupted by the crackling laughter of her almost-dying patient, "Haha, argh! This is just great! Listen here, you imbeciles, are there any foreign objects in those organs?" Green was the first to answer, "Yes, but..." Alexander yelled at her, "What are you doing?! Pull them out!" She argued back, "Our heal will disintegrate them!" Alexander laughed at her, "Are you fucking dumb? Haha! Just pull them out, and the healing will be..." He shook slightly and clenched his jaw even tighter, as the pain probably became more severe, "...fruck, mree! The healing will be more efficient." Green clenched her teeth and slowly flew over him, warning him, "It will hurt even more, and I''ve never done this! You could die!" She also thought about it, but touching the organs was incredibly dangerous and rarely done by any healer since a small mistake could worsen the situation or lead to instant death. What if she, for example, broke a splinter and pushed it deeper into his heart? It would become much more dangerous since she would need to heal the organs more extensively to remove the object from inside the organ. What if the splinter then severed multiple arteries? That meant more healing while disintegrating the fragment. However, the moment she heard Alexander suggest something this unorthodox, she was ready to go forth. Yet, it was a first for her, and the fear of killing Alexander by making a mistake was weighing on her mind like a mountain. It paralyzed her so much that her skills barely helped. Why? There was a big difference between killing someone and letting someone die. Her career as a healer was very unspectacular as she, at most, acted as a subordinate without any responsibilities. So, the decision she was about to make was probably the most nerve-wracking she ever made in her life. For some reason, she hoped that Alexander would decide otherwise, knowing what a stupid idea it was, but all that came was a condescending smirk filled with pain and cold logic, "I heard you tried to argh... heal me for the last two to three hours. Do you think I will survive this? If you don''t hav... ufff army of healers behind this door, it will be impossible, you dumbass." He was right. If Green continued as before, he could survive only with a lot of luck, but only when she healed him for the next two days, non-stop. She needed to risk it, so she pushed every one of her mental fortitude skills to the maximum, even if it cost her a lot of stamina. Green nodded while hovering over him. She looked at his wound and pushed a skill to the maximum to ascertain the situation more clearly. She started to scan every vital organ meticulously to get a clear picture of the most damaged ones. Even though she knew that the heart was pierced by foreign objects that were also stuck in it, she wanted to first quickly see if there was something else with the other vital organs. For some reason, she felt like it was the right thing to do as her [Medicine] skill guided her to do this. Before she decided to go forth with this madness, she was afraid to use too much stamina or mana, so she only made a quick sweep with her scanning skill. After that, she targeted the rough area with her healing and concentrated on it. Now, she needed to act much more directly, as she would need to have a much clearer picture and prioritize specific organs over others depending on their damage. ''This looks not so bad... all things considered.'' She would need first to treat the heart as it was heavily damaged, as sensed before. The lungs were already perfectly restored since they were only pierced and thus could heal quickly. The same was true for the kidneys and liver, as they were mainly fine. They only had some holes, as seen by the scars now, which were easily healed. The problem was indeed the heart, ''All or nothing...'' Green yelled, "I will slowly hover him up and then turn him around, so be careful! I want you to slow down a little and wait for me to tell you where to concentrate your healing!" Everyone affirmed her command, "Yes!" She pulled out a talisman, putting it into her mouth and biting it. The talisman created a bed of wind under Alexander. She adjusted the energy on it and slowly let him float up. After that, she used it to turn him around very slowly. It was hard for her to concentrate since Alexander talked, "Woah! Look at... argh! This is some high-end shit!" She didn''t understand him and ignored him either way. After two minutes of being very careful, she was done and let him slowly down. But because of his fully open wound on the back, she let him slightly float as putting too much pressure on it could worsen the other injuries, making the healing more difficult overall. Also, the bed, made out of wind, surprisingly acted as a barrier to close the back if she concentrated her energy more intensely on it. Yet, allowing him to float while concentrating on the healing quickly became exhausting. Green looked at one of the servants, who stood on the side and ordered them to her, "Come ''ere." A maid quickly ran to her, "Take the talisman out of my mouth and use the same amount of energy on it as I do right now. Don''t increase or decrease it! Do you understand?" The maid nodded nervously and grabbed the talisman from her mouth. However, Green didn''t let it go and tried to coordinate the exchange, "I will slowly reduce my energy, and you will try and put the same amount in it, ok? Don''t, under any circumstances, change where the energy is and let it absorb the same amount at the exact spots it is absorbing now, got it?" The maid nodded nervously and concentrated her energy on Green''s. It slowly went over hers, and the moment she reduced her energy, it allowed the maid to take her place. She also tried to coordinate their exchange whenever she would reduce it, "3... 2... 1... now. 3... 2... 1... now." After two minutes, they were done, and the maid carefully walked to the side while holding and concentrating on the talisman as if her life depended on it, "Don''t forget to hold it steadily and don''t change anything. Also, if you are out of stamina, ask another servant for a stamina potion." The maid nodded, and Green could concentrate back on Alexander only to find a big problem as she looked at his chest, "It... is not open..." However, she already knew what to do, and Alexander confirmed her worst assumptions, "Just open my fucking chest, break the bones and pull the shit out!" Green became frightened at the thought. Healing was never this vicious and only involved her using stamina or mana to close wounds. The most she did was to adjust some broken bones beforehand to make the process faster, but that was it. Producing an injury to this degree to see the heart was an insane proposition. Even her people let her know that this was a crazy idea. "You can''t do this! This will kill him!" "He is clearly in delirium! I bet he is just hallucinating!" However, Alexander immediately fired back, "Oh yeah? How about the peanut gallery shut up? If I could... fuuuuck! Use alchemy, I would pull the shit myself out!" Green didn''t know what to do, only to be again screamed at by Alexander, "Do it, you stupid bitch! Argh... trust me, the last thing I want is to die at the hands of a bunch of moronic bugs!" She gulped her saliva down and pulled a dagger out of her spatial bag. It looked normal in her hands but was actually tiny. She had it as a last resort defense measure but now felt like a murder as she looked where the best spot was to cut Alexander open without damaging other organs. She felt all the gazes penetrated her, making her more nervous. She used her mental fortitude skills to the full extent and slowly surrounded the dagger with her [Aura] to open Alexander''s chest while peeking at him. He was in extreme pain, but she couldn''t believe how much willpower he had. Everyone else would be already unconscious again, but he stayed awake and hopefully had a clear head since she would follow his command. For her, it seemed the most logical action but also one that was filled with insanity. She hoped the golden pup knew as much about medicine as alchemy so he could lead her, ''All or nothing...'' Green inhaled and exhaled deeply. She surrounded her knife with [Aura] and made her first rough cut through the chest. After it was done, she looked with horror at the result, ''It isn''t deep enough...'' She needed to cut again but deeper. However, after the cut, the system suddenly called her, and it sounded like she received a skill. She heard the system calling her non-stop the whole time, but there was a distinctive difference between all the kinds of calls, ''This barbarism is worth a skill...'' She started again, and the system began to call her again, but this time, it sounded wild as it repeatedly did so. Every time she heard the call, cutting him became easier to a ridiculous degree. Suddenly, she could imagine the anatomy much better, and her three-dimensional imagination was enhanced to an insane degree. Her hand movements became more fluid, a stark difference from before when she could barely hold the dagger straight. Her mind started to calm down significantly, so much so that she started to ignore everything around her and felt that she was the only one in the world with only a body lying before her, which needed to be fixed. At this moment, she knew that Alexander was right. If a skill like this existed, which led her to cut somebody while not killing them or trying to cause more pain, it meant that it was a medical-related skill that helped with healing. Yet, she couldn''t comprehend how the system did not consider opening someone up wasn''t a fighting skill, ''This is madness. I can''t believe it.'' After she was done, she sighed in relief. She wouldn''t need to do much more, like cutting away the sturdiest chest bone as it was already in pieces. She threw the broken bone pieces to the side. The restoring process afterward would hurt a lot, but it was better than dying, in her opinion. Usually, she could''ve aimed the pieces where they were broken apart and put them back with her healing, but, for some reason, she didn''t care and only took them out and threw them to the ground as they annoyed her, blocking her view. Then she saw the heart. Even though she could see a rough outline before with her skill, her view was much clearer now, and the heart looked terrible. Many objects, like bone pieces, wood splinters, and stone fragments, were stuck in it. They had already deteriorated through their healing, but some pieces were so thick she couldn''t imagine them deteriorating in less than 72 hours of constant healing. The healing skills of nature-dwellers were miraculous as they not only increased the natural recovery and restored missing parts but also destroyed every foreign object deemed as harmful inside the body. This was the reason why nature-dweller healers were sought strongly everywhere, as they were the only race with such abilities. Of course, there were always exemptions, but they would also have the natural energy that made it possible in the first place. Nobody knew why their energy made it possible, and nobody truly wanted to find out. Nature-dwellers weren''t the most curious when it came to fundamental research. After clearing her view thoroughly, Green smiled as she now had full access to the heart before her. However, she stood before another problem now, "How..." Her mumbling was interrupted by Alexander, who clenched his already broken teeth. The pressure he put on them broke some and most probably damaged his jaw heavily. He looked at the ceiling and almost foamed from the pain as he spoke through his clenched teeth, "What? How?! Just fucking pull them out!" She nodded and slowly held onto some pieces while commanding her healing squad, "Heal the part where I pull them out immediately." It was fascinating to her. She could feel the weak heartbeat and see how it lost massive amounts of blood every moment when parts of the fragments disintegrated. It felt exhilarating. Her mind calmed, and her hands became steadier as her skill levels rose by the second. She now saw things very differently and understood the connections between the parts of the body much better. Even though she couldn''t put it in words, an intrinsic feeling told her roughly how they were connected to each other. Without hesitation, she started to pull them out one by one. She knew the exact angle and what kind of pressure she needed to use. Even which one she needed to pull out first appeared obvious to her. The new skill was like a miracle. She trusted Alexander now fully, as even the system acknowledged that there was a skill that was helping her do what she did. It had at least called her over fifty times, making this more manageable every time she pulled something out of the heart while directing the healing to the holes that were left. Her hands became nimble, and every pull was nothing like the one before, and after a minute of complete focus, she was done. Green closely listened to the heart to find out if something was inside but couldn''t determine it. So she started her healing, too, with all she had, and after no more than thirty minutes, the heart was fully restored. It was heavily scarred but functioned without losing blood. She quickly looked at Alexander''s HP with her skill and could sense that they were regenerating slowly but were sometimes dropping. However, the decrease was now many times weaker than before. What she did was already far above what she learned in her introductory lessons at the Temple before she was allowed to even start as a healer. The new skill or skills, though, told her that there was something she needed to look at, but she had no idea what. She threw away her pride and asked, "You are losing HP. Where else?" Alexander was barely awake and in anguish but somehow remained rational throughout the process, "Repeat! I can''t hear you over the fucking system! It pinged at me so often like I tried to ghost it!" Green frowned, not because she didn''t understand what he partly said but because she knew why his system was going crazy. It was obvious that [Pain Resistance] and a multitude of mental fortitude skills were significantly increasing while he tried not to fall unconscious. She couldn''t comprehend the amount of [Experience] he would get from this terrible incident. While she felt sympathy, she needed to know what to do next so he could stay alive. Something like pure stoicism invaded her personality, and she started to care less about what he felt and more about how to heal him, "Where next, you are losing HP." He spoke through his clenched teeth, "Intestines, you moronic imbe... argh!" Green nodded, not even wasting a thought on his insults. She took her small dagger and slowly opened up his stomach without any trembling in her hands. It was like breathing for her now. She knew at which angle she should cut to avoid injuring the intestines and even found the dagger she had a bad choice. For some reason, she wanted to have one with a rounded tip. With a sideglance, she saw her healers looking in horror at her at how she opened up the body. Many emotions invaded her: One was pride, and another was mysticism as she discovered a new world. Maybe it was already somewhere discovered and held secret, but with such a skill, healing would become a breeze, ''So, for what should I give my skill away?'' While she knew Alexander was ready to share all his secrets for free, she wasn''t that dumb. She would take compensation for teaching it, and it wouldn''t be little. Political favors or power were the only things she would take as gold became more or less useless to her. While greed welled up and how she could use this fantastic discovery, an old memory suddenly surged about a weird mix-bred succubus who meant to revolutionize healing. However, Green quickly shook the thought away, ''Probably not, and I need to concentrate now. Otherwise, I need to find a way to reattach my head.'' Besides Alexander, who visibly reached his limit, she wasn''t much better and only functioned like an apparatus. It was weird for her. She felt no empathy or sympathy. Only the urge to patch him together was driving her every movement. She cut his stomach open, and as some skill told her, she grabbed carefully but firmly the intestines and saw how Alexander tried to hold his shaking back. She became slightly annoyed by it but ignored him again and inspected his innards slowly. After some minutes she found the problem: Foreign objects were sticking inside them. This injury led to excrement coming out, slowly dirtying his body. She didn''t know why, but dirtying sounded wrong, and something told her that Alexander knew what it was called, but she held back her curiosity and started to pull them out. After more than 45 minutes, and after every pull, she commanded her team to heal the place she pulled the objects out. Her commands were calm but firm. It was like she became another person. The healers on the other side started to heal it, and she could see how their hands shook in horror at what they were witnessing. She no longer cared and looked again at his HP, which were gradually climbing up. They were also no longer decreasing too much. It was enough to heal him slowly over a couple of hours so he would stabilize fully. She watched them for ten minutes and concluded that he was now mostly out of danger. Afterward, the restoration phase would begin, but it would only be a matter of time until he was completely healthy again. Worst case, he would need some months even with six healers restoring his body on a daily basis. However, she would also get some healers from the frontlines back to speed up the process. "Done. Close him up and start the overall healing now..." She suddenly became weirded out as the words came out of her automatically, ''...what a weird skill.'' Green looked at Alexander, who smiled while slowly closing his eyes. Before he became unconscious, he said a last thing to her, "Good job..." She sighed and looked around her as it became silent. She was hovering over Alexander while everyone looked at her like she was a monster, ''I understand why he has such an enormous ego... I quite like it, too.'' Chapter 73: Nine-Fire Visit 12: Golden Squirrel ... Somewhere in the Nature-Dweller territory Inside a big golden shimmering tree were two golden-colored squirrels with black tribal tattoos on their fur happily jumping around, hugging, and squeaking in joy. One squirrel looked exhausted but also overly happy while hugging her brother, "Today is the day!" The other squirrel, who was much younger, looked almost like he was crying while hugging his older sister. He, too, was exhausted but looked less battered up, "Yeah! You did it, and I am so sorry again!" The older sister stopped and made a proud pose, "Don''t worry, I wanted to be ready for my first blooming and..." She showed her biceps, "...after 20 years of slow torture, I got what I wanted! With this, I will..." She radiated her aura, pure joy, and peacefulness, "...get the [Talent] I want!" The brother looked at her, full of happiness, "Yeah! With this, you can join the trunks! They are already waiting for you!" The sister looked more proudly and posed again, "Yeah, Father will be proud! I stopped my progress for so long only for those skills to advance." However, her brother suddenly looked at her worriedly, "Do you think you can do it so suddenly? Aren''t you too exhausted?" She waved her hand in dismissal, "Easy! Now go. After I wake up, we will celebrate it, and I will then help you with your spells till you leave." Her brother jumped at her in happiness, rubbed his nose at hers, and left while looking proud at her, "May nature lead you to fortune and peacefulness!" She smiled back at him while he left but didn''t say anything herself. After her brother was gone, she quickly curled on her bed, made out of different colored leaves, and anxiously awaited her [Pain Resistance] Tier test. Leveling resistance skills was always torture, in the literal sense. Poisoning herself, trying to endure curses or weird sicknesses for which she needed first weaken herself heavily, all for a particular [Talent] that only nature-dwellers got. However, she pushed through it while only lamenting why she didn''t do it much earlier. There was another much faster way to receive such a [Talent], which required her to have multiple near-death experiences. She was unwilling to do this, even if it was the only way. One little mistake and she would die. What weighed on her mind, too, was that she was considered a genius in her branch, and everyone thought she would reach her blooming much faster than anyone else. Yet, she halted her progress to train the skills, which brought nothing but pain. There were even times when she thought about stopping it altogether when she heard how some of her friends had already bloomed and joined the fight against their adversaries or went out to support the Temple in other ways. However, it always motivated her when they cheered her on as she tried to achieve her perfect blooming. Their support was the only reason she even continued with her foolish goal. Yet, she reached it and was ready. After the Tier test, she would pick the right talent and go immediately to the battlefield where all her friends were. She would be a fortress against their enemies and defend them with all she had. However, before that, she would need to sleep, and by doing so, she would enter the challenge realm and have a contest with someone else who was also going through the Tier test. However, as with her other Tier tests, she knew she was better than whoever was there. She pitied the losers as they couldn''t attempt another Tier test for at least another month, yet she quickly hyped herself up again, ''No worries, they will have just to wait a little longer!'' If one wanted to advance in a skill after reaching level 100, they would have a Tier test. They would challenge others who were also trying to progress towards intermediate advancement. For now, it was easy to find someone, but when skills got higher in Tiers, it became improbable to find anyone. When they couldn''t find anyone for at least a month, the system itself would challenge her, and the trial would be much more demanding. So she hoped someone somewhere was also advancing at the same time since she didn''t want to wait a month. She slowly fell asleep while mumbling to herself, "This will be as easy as remembering where my nuts are..." ... Challenge Realm She woke up and looked around at the strange scenery. It looked like she had landed inside some classroom. Everything was new to her and looked extremely weird. Books, mechanical objects, and weirdly designed furniture made of unknown materials were everywhere. It was bizarre, but luckily, many of her things from her realm were also here, bringing a natural aura to the sterile place, like plants that grew on the machinery, moss that invaded the books, or vines that slung around the desks and chairs. She smiled with glee, ''It is 100% a dwarf.'' From her experience, dwarves were, besides gnomes, the only race that loved cold and dead objects. Yet, the books only made sense if it was a gnome since they were seen as a more intellectual race, ''Maybe a mixed breed?'' The room she was inside was an unmistakable place of learning because of the blackboard at the front, even though it was somewhat glassy and white with weird ropes hanging out of it. The other apparent clues were how the furniture was organized inside the classroom and how some desks had weird parchments and feathers on them. She heard that humans loved to learn in such rooms with many others. So, she couldn''t decide who the one was who would challenge her, but whoever it was from the three races, she would crush them entirely. Even though she loved peace and would work toward it as a devoted member of the Circle of Nature, it was a fact that dwarves, gnomes, and humans were their enemies who did everything they could to undermine them or worse. So, having them have a bad dream was exciting to her and a great talk piece at breakfast. However, suddenly a boy appeared beside her, which astounded her at first and then made her frown, ''A beast-kin, damn.'' They were in an alliance and on amicable terms, so she quickly threw away her glee. Even though she would crush the boy in their match, she wanted to come over as friendly as possible. Many inside the Temple believed that beast-kin were savages and barbarians who didn''t respect nature and her beauty. Like many of her younger peers, she had a different opinion. Beast-kin were in constant war against the First Servants and, while fighting for their lives, protected the nature-dwellers and even took on their religion voluntarily. Even if they were much more secular in their belief, it didn''t matter much for her. They were friends who fought with them against evil, and this alone was something that needed to be respected. She tip-toed toward him while looking up at him and thought about how to introduce herself. It was impossible to hear names in this realm, and faces were heavily distorted, like many other features. At the moment, she could look for him very differently: Instead of having her beautiful golden fur, she could have a silver one, while her tribal tattoos would also be changed into something nonsensical by the realm. However, the moment she looked at him more closely, he appeared to be young. She couldn''t really discern the age of beast-kin, but from her interactions with them, he was not over 50 years old, which surprised her. She also determined that he was a feline-kin with his black furry ears and tail. She decided to be informal even though it could be an aristocrat. She deduced it since he was so young for a test like this. Even though casual, she wanted to come over as friendly and approachable as possible. She jumped onto a chair and waved at him, "Hello, my young friend!" He, however, only stared into the space. She came a little closer, only to be pulled up by someone by her tail. She also heard a weird voice she had never heard before, "Give him a minute." She turned around and saw a weird guide who walked back while holding onto her tail. After some steps, she was put down again. The guide was wearing strange clothes, which were grey. She wore a skirt and a dull, formal uniform she had never seen before. Looking to the side, she saw that the guide had a squirrel tail but no other features of what a squirrel-kin would have, so to say, her race''s younger siblings. However, the moment she looked at her face, she immediately disliked her smile as it was full of excitement and maliciousness. There was also something else bizarre about her, ''She has no aura.'' Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. It was like staring at a blank piece of parchment. She was either nothing more than a puppet or so much more powerful that she could have no way to discern her, but she believed in the former since guides were relatively weak, and from talking, she knew that the one she had was already one that led the elite like her. She asked her in confusion, "What do..." She suddenly heard how the boy started to breathe heavily. She turned around and saw him falling to his knees. He sweated heavily, and his breathing became more rugged as he could barely get any air. After a moment, when she wanted to help him, he screamed, "Ahhhhhhh! Argh!" It was so loud that she took a couple of steps back. The boy screamed for a full minute while crying and shaking. The scream told her a story of terror, pain, and horror. She now understood what was happening, ''A victim of torture?'' As a member of the Temple, it was unforgivable to torture someone so young and to such a degree that he would have a Tier test for [Pain Resistance]. She became furious as he started to cry while clenching his shoulders so hard that they began to bleed, ''Whoever did it, I will find and kill you...'' She cursed inwardly at the system for not allowing her to identify anyone in this realm. So, finding and saving the beast-kin boy would be almost impossible. She dearly wished he wouldn''t live inside Mal-Gil but inside their territory. With this, she could deduce his whereabouts after he calmed down. There was also a high possibility that he was an actual slave inside their adversary''s territory. It would be almost impossible to save him immediately, but with some information, they would get a rough location of the evildoers and, sooner or later, liberate him. Her thoughts were interrupted as an enormous amount of bloodlust suddenly made her shake, ''What...'' It came from the boy but also suddenly stopped as a barrier manifested around her. Their guide said, "Tsk, give him more than a minute..." She shrugged while smiling, "...I guess." This nonchalant behavior from her made the golden squirrel furious, "What kind of guide are you?! Don''t you feel ashamed of yourself?!" Her wrath intensified as she could hear the whimpers and screams from the boy. Since it wasn''t her guide but very likely the one of the boy, it was like he was tortured and mocked in every realm, ''Such a pitiful existence.'' The guide looked at her in surprise and chuckled while holding her hand before her mouth, "Hehe, oh, dear. I don''t know you, but I am also only dealing with those who have at least a drop of talent, so how about you just wait and let him rage through his little moment, okay, my little furry friend?" Something inside of her snapped. She started to use her skills and became larger and larger, so much so that she doubled the guide''s height. Her muscles bulged, and sharp claws grew out of her hands. She looked like the nightmare incarnate. Out of her mouth dropped corroding saliva, which melted the floor underneath her, and her teeth became tattoed, which emitted a stink that could melt away steel. A vicious amount of killing intent invaded the guide, who stood still and smiled at her. She wanted to rip her apart. Her voice became much more profound and full of wrath, "I know you are immortal, but I can make your stay here worthwhile by showing what he experienced so you learn your ways." The guide''s smile widened, which made her even angrier. However, she suddenly suspended the barrier and looked beside her at the boy. She became immediately much smaller and ran toward him, full of worries, "My friend! Are you okay?" The boy looked at her and the guide. His eyes showed a tiredness she only knew from the most vicious soldiers who served for decades on the battlefield, "What is going on? Do I need to catch rats now?" She was initially a little surprised but then shook herself awake. Her heart felt like someone put it into a wringer, ''It is probably his first Tier test... I can''t believe it.'' The guide came over, swirled her tail, and smiled joyfully, "Be a little more happy, my little pup. I put a tail on, extra for this special occasion..." She turned left and right to look slightly at her behind, "...I think it suits me quite well, don''t you think?" This comment made the squirrel want to kill her even more. Yet, she wouldn''t allow to show the boy that the world was only pain and violence, so she looked up at him and smiled, trying to explain, "Don''t listen to this bad person. This is a Tier test for [Pain Resistance], and we are here to challenge each other..." He looked confused at her, "Tier test? [Pain Resistance]? I know my skills can increase in Tiers, but that skill wasn''t even close to level 100." She became confused till the guide explained, "This happens..." She shrugged and explained, "...the skill will increase, even jumping over skill tests if it is without a break in between. It is rare, but it happens..." She started to look proud, "...the system is nice, right? It would be nonsensical to stop it at level 25 even though you could go far beyond that." The squirrel initially became confused, but after a moment, she felt like it was insanity. She couldn''t believe the boy was tortured in one go, so much so that he reached level 100 with this skill. She asked him, barely holding her tears back, "If you want, we can talk and take a break. In this space, nobody will ever hurt you." He looked at her at first but then laughed hysterically, "Haha! Nobody hurting me? Tell her this!" The squirrel turned only to see how the guide held her hands up in peace, "I didn''t do anything..." She tilted her head and smirked slightly, "...well, it was a skill test, hehe..." She shrugged again, "...don''t blame me since I am only your dear teach, right?" The golden squirrel needed every skill to hold herself together, not to bite the guide''s head off. She never experienced someone so terrible and unsympathetic. She often saw other guides in Tier tests, but this one was the worst in how she conducted herself. Some were friendly, heavily sexualized, competitive, or outright bizarre, but never had she seen someone like this. Before she could say anything, the boy stood up again and stretched. While he was shaking a little and looked like he needed a warm bed and good food for the next hundred years, his following words sounded to her like he didn''t want the break, "Thanks, my little rat friend, but let''s get it over with, shall we?" Even though she didn''t like the first part, he was nice enough to thank her. This broke her heart. She wanted to stop him as he was obviously not even close to ready. The guide came over and clapped her hands once, "Fantastic! I like the attitude, but let''s see who will take the trophy..." She glanced at him briefly and shrugged, "...well, I know who will win either way, so this here is only a formality." The squirrel looked at her and wanted to say things even her parents would see as Efron to the Circle, but not in front of someone so young. It was frustrating since she wanted to ask the boy so much more. There were specific questions one could ask that would not be distorted by the realm, and with the answers, one could get a rough estimation of their whereabouts. Yet, he wanted to go forward and quickly lose the contest, which saddened her. She already saw such victims in her youth when she saved them from slavers and gave them freedom. Even though they were tortured and abused, they were frightened to leave, and if they did, they had massive problems adapting themselves. Ultimately, they were so heavily scarred that suicide was their only way out. The Temple couldn''t help much and had massive problems adapting their behavior toward them, especially the old folks who were literally happy if they could live in a forest and enjoy the tranquility. Yet, for the victims who needed help, it was a fight for survival when they got thrown into such a place. Fortunately, some branches started to specialize in helping them, and the suicide rate decreased. It made her only angry that it came from the human domain and was invented by the Church''s current hero. However, they would use every method that helped the victims, and she needed to admit that it worked very well even though she didn''t understand it fully as she only saw the results. It had something to do with the skill [Psychology] and trying to give the victims what they needed the most, like a suitable environment where they could live. It was a little too much for her to understand since she specialized in fighting. Still, she always tried to learn about newer procedures to broaden her horizon, ''Maybe I can, while we challenge each other, ask him a couple of things, and after I find him, I can give him to one of those branches?'' Her thoughts were interrupted when the guide continued, "It''s easy, you both will..." A weird box appeared in front of the squirrel with a button, "...alternate in sharing your most excruciating experience regarding pain with the push of a button. The one who gives up first loses. The experience will extend more and more after every round, easy, right?" The squirrel snapped and screamed at her, "You deserve nothing less than the Outer Circle!..." She turned around only to see the boy curiously looking at the box she held, "...my friend, just stay here and give up after you''ve had enough rest, okay? I want to ask you some things and help you." He looked at her and sighed, "Just press the damn button." She almost started crying and knew it was impossible to talk to him. Thus, she accepted his wish and pressed the button. She dearly hoped that his experience of whatever he had gone through was over and he would be in a nice place without pain. Tack She saw how the boy squirmed but stood nonetheless. He at most clenched his teeth and was almost okay, ''What is happening...'' After a minute, it was over, and the box appeared in the boy''s hand while it disappeared in hers. He looked at her and said something strange, "Please give up. What I experienced is magnitudes harsher than what you did." She was shocked but shook herself awake. It was impossible. Even though she was slowly leveling her skill, it was nonetheless terrible what she needed to experience to reach this point. Every time she went through the training, the day was over for her, and she only slept and ate, trying to forget her pain. After a moment of thought, she understood that it was probably also heightened in intensity, not only in time, so she looked at him in pity and smiled, "Just press it, my friend. I will be fine." He sighed, "Suit yourself." He pressed it. Everything became black. ... Somewhere in the Nature-Dweller territory "Ahhhh!" She woke up and started shaking as she even sweated through her fur. She never experienced such horrible pain and couldn''t even imagine something like that existed. She mumbled what she truly felt for the seconds she experienced what the boy probably lived with, "True Outer Circle." It was only seen in the writings of the higher-ups who described the Outer Circle, and she couldn''t believe it existed on Obis. She thought the stories were only there to scare their lazy trainees or secular believers to work on themselves and follow the doctrine. Yet, it was real, and she had only experienced a tiny portion of it. She stood slowly up while shaking heavily. She could barely stand upright, ''I am done for today... damn, I have a meeting, though.'' She needed to meet some dryad from the Forest of Fallen Wishes. She was the representative of some Temple branch called Twin-Ancorn or something and sold cheap material for contracts that were apparently much better than what they used. So, she needed to go and bargain with her, ''I waited for the representative for months...'' Every other branch she knew of praised this material since it was so cheap and of excellent quality, so it was sold almost immediately, and now she got the chance to buy them in bulk, but she needed to be in the right mindset to haggle the price down even more. She decided, ''I will get my little brother to meet her.'' The golden squirrel slowly and shakily moved out of her home, trying to forget the terror she experienced, but every time the thought about the Tier test appeared, she almost started crying as she pitied the boy who went through all this. Chapter 74: Nine-Fire Visit 13: Kiss ... A week later, after the attack The atmosphere inside a room at the Leonandra estate was tense, not because of a fight but because of how heavily two teenagers flirted with each other for hours. The pheromones they produced made everyone''s sense of smell go haywire when they entered the room. It wasn''t unusual, but because one of them couldn''t leave because of her injuries, they were stuck inside, making the cloud made out of pheromones what it was now: Equivalent to a mating season. The boy inside this cloud looked at the girl lovingly while feeding her some vegetable mush with honey. On the other hand, she didn''t let him feed her but tried to move closer to him. She looked at him the same way as he at her, not wanting the vegetable mush but something different. However, Narsiz was new to this, so her sudden movement made him worry about her injury as he oversaw the obvious clues she gave, "Don''t move! If you need something, just tell me, okay?" She looked at him lovingly with her ruby-red eyes while her disheveled charcoal-black hair covered part of her face, "No, I just wanted to come closer to you... is that okay?" Narsiz blushed and turned his head away. However, he also moved toward her. He removed his shoes and lay beside her as carefully as possible while being as close as possible. His heart started to beat faster as he slowly caressed her hand. The silence around them made the endearing moment feel like it would never end, and he dearly hoped so. Even though the moment was one he didn''t want to end, other thoughts invaded him, and he started to feel worse. She was heavily injured, trying to protect him, but fortunately was healing quickly. It was sad that the Temple healer barely even looked at her, but it was necessary since his brother was in a much more critical condition. He wasn''t much better as every healer wholly ignored him. After the assassination attack, he fell unconscious, but as luck wanted it, he woke up after two days and felt incredible pain. Yet, all he could think about was Linuel. She saved him even though he acted like an idiot and showed too much off without thinking further. It made him feel a little ashamed since the first thing he should consider was if his other siblings were fine. So, when he heard about Alexander, he immediately visited him after checking on Linuel. However, his little brother was his usual self and looked at him like he was a moron. He clearly remembered what he said: What the fuck are you doing here? Go to Linuel. I am not dead, so everything is A-OK. See you later. Narsiz wanted to stay, but he got thrown out by Sarah and Lorient while Alexander made fun of him. It felt a little isolating, but he understood what they tried to do and was genuinely thankful for it, even though his little brother''s comments were a little hurtful as he made fun of him loving her. Yet, he knew how his little brother was, and with the injuries added, he ignored the jabs against him. When he remembered Alexander''s terrible wounds and how he got them in the first place, he started to look more closely at Linuel''s. Of course, he blamed himself for what happened to her. His guilt worsened when he remembered how she was in mortal danger, so he tried to tend to her needs to the best of his abilities. The little gesture by his siblings became, over time for him, something he truly appreciated. Because of this, he could now spend the whole day with her. They talked for hours, and he tried to entertain her since she could do nothing but lay around. However, even though he felt terrible about what happened, it wasn''t the main reason he spent all day with her. He found her incredible: Her personality and beauty. There was nothing that wasn''t perfect about her. Even how she ate the gross vegetable mush he made for her made her look adorable. It was evident to him what happened. He fell in love with her but couldn''t confess. It was like there was something inside his throat that pushed down his words toward the chest, unable to utter them. He wanted to say it but feared rejection, especially since he was premature and not versed in such things. There was always a thought that told him that she could''ve done everything till now only to accommodate him as Alexander did with Patricia. His anxiety rose from day to day as he couldn''t say it, but he wanted to endure it since their time together was a blessing for him. He didn''t want it to end because of another stupid mistake he made. He came out of his thoughts when he heard her dry voice, "Narsi..." He was about to jump up to get her some water, "Yeah?" "I love you." The moment she said it, he felt elated. It was like the world was his to grab and rule. Nothing could ever stop him, so he got the courage to confess his true feelings, too. He looked into her beautiful eyes, "I love you, too," her face was so close to his that he could feel her breath as he said it. There was a smell she gave off he ingrained fully, never to forget. Linuel wanted to say something as she moved her lips slightly but didn''t. Narsiz noticed it and asked, "Is everything fine, Lin?" Stuttering and nervous, she blushed and asked him, "You... do you ever k... kissed someone?" He felt like he could crush the world with his pinky, and his usual shy nature was gone after Linuel told him her true feelings. Without waiting, he came close to her face and kissed her. She accepted him and kissed him back while softly patting his cheek with her hand with which she could reach him. Narsiz had never kissed someone, so it all felt strange, but Linuel took the lead. However, after the first seconds of trying to sense what he was doing, he just started to enjoy it. It felt fantastic like he became one with her. He wanted to be as close as possible to her but didn''t know how or why, but kissing her made the feeling bearable. Nothing but them mattered anymore. Time stood still, and smells invaded his nose, which started to intensify. It was like he knew who she was the moment their tongues touched. From the food she ate days ago to which servants were attending to her. It felt like Core (heaven) to him getting to know her like that without any talking. It felt natural. However, after an unknown amount of time, a familiar smell invaded his nostrils. Too familiar, and soon he found out why he got weirded out as a rough voice woke him up from his dream-like state, "I see that my boy is trying to ravage the heroic maiden?" He immediately stopped and accidentally scratched his tongue at Linuel''s fangs, "Ouch!" Linuel also moved too quickly and suddenly squirmed, hurting herself, "Argh, damn it!" Narsiz then fell from the bed, "Oof!" He quickly stood up and looked around at where the voice came from, only to see a rat with many tribal tattoos sitting on the window silt and smiling at him, "Sorry about that, but I couldn''t wait for hours till your little romance ended for today." Linuel also looked at the rat and became confused, but only momentarily, until she caught up with who it was. Only then did she suddenly panicked, "Kair... lord?! I am so sorry! I will never..." Kairoso interrupted her while laughing, "Guhahaha! Calm down, squirt. It''s not like you started it, but you are quite the manipulator..." Then he imitated her voice but made her sound some octaves higher while acting like he was in a theatre, "...oh Narsi! Did you ever kiss? My plumb lips are yearning for a knight who can..." Linuel blushed heavily while Narsiz angrily threw a cup at him, yelling, "Did you spy on us?!" The rat caught it easily while some of the tea inside spilled, "Wow, you are really like your mother, only less aggressive and no. I was already here when you had your little declaration of love. Still, I waited and moved my mana around me to kill the smell since I didn''t want to disturb..." The rat''s smile became even wider, "...your little moment." Kairoso then shrugged, "I even tried to come close to you while stopping the mana from killing my smell so you could sense me. Nothing helped to bring you both out of your little moment, my bad." Narsiz looked daggers at his father and wanted nothing more than to squash him with his shoe, but he quickly calmed down, "So, and then you decided to stay and spy on us?" The rat looked baffled at him but then laughed, "Guhahaha! Calm down. Everybody knew about this, and the servants even started to bet when it would happen....." He jumped down from the window silt and ran towards the door, "...follow me, I need to talk with you...." He became more serious, "...from man to man." Narsiz frowned and decided to follow him, but before he did, he came to Linuel and kissed her on her cheek, "I will come later, Lin." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. She nodded, but before she could answer, Kairoso corrected his son, "He will not for reasons he can tell you tomorrow." Narsiz glared at his father and said nothing. He didn''t know what was happening but obeyed his orders, not thinking that what they did was outrageous. While Linuel''s behavior could be seen as manipulative, he would vehemently defend her since he was the one who kissed her first. However, he was ready to have a long and arduous discussion. ... 5 minutes later, Alexander''s mansion, training hall "Wow, he really gives 100% while training, huh." Alexander''s training hall looked like an army went through. Everything was either burned or crushed. Yet, it was clean, ''At least one brat found someone reliable.'' Every one of Kairoso''s puppies had some kind of problem in recruiting people. So, he was relieved that Alexander had at least no issues in this aspect and was also the only one with a host of retainers and subordinates who did their job well. After Alexander was well again, he decided to introduce an artisan to him since he truly needed someone who could repair his facilities with how destructive training with magic was. ''Well, now I must teach my other brat... this will be annoying.'' Kairoso wasn''t annoyed because he didn''t like to teach his son, but that his son was almost a mirror image of his mother, only less aggressive and more versed in discussing his problems to death, which wasn''t something he liked to do. When the door closed, his son stood still and angrily asked, "Father, what do you want? If it is about my relationship with Li..." Kairoso turned back into his beast-kin body and looked at his son seriously, interrupting him, "I don''t care about Lin. What I care about is you." Narsiz looked suspicious at him, "She didn''t force me." Kairoso came closer, and slight bloodlust escaped him, "I don''t care about this either. Wanna have another guess?" Now Narsiz looked confused at him and became more relaxed, "What is it then?" Kairoso stood before him, looking down at him, "Did you get fully healed?" Narsiz nodded, and Kairoso smiled fiercely, "Clench your teeth..." he reeled back and punched him full force into his stomach. His son fell to his knees and almost threw up. Kairoso grabbed his hair and pulled him up, "You know, wanting to show off while some assassins want to kill you is not really the most brilliant idea." Kairoso was incredibly angry and barely held back his intent to teach his son a good lesson. He could''ve risked much less and come out much less injured, but his ego was much bigger than his rationale, and he needed to show off. For Linuel, though, he was genuinely thankful to her since she saved this dumbass''s life while risking her own. So, he had no qualms with her at all. He was, in fact, so thankful that even before leaving Linuel''s room with his son, he told his wife what happened but made clear that he wanted her not to be punished for kissing their son since she saved his brat''s ass. Marisia waited outside to talk with Linuel and thank her, but now he hoped that his wife wouldn''t break her neck. Narsiz didn''t know this, but he would if the girl told him everything, which he heavily doubted since he assessed Linuel as one who wouldn''t do something this stupid, ''Mari will probably not touch her but made her stance clear.'' Kairoso came out of his thoughts when Narsiz barely could get a word out while looking at him with one eye open, "What do you mean?" He frowned and slightly threw him up into the air only to reel his arm quickly back and grab his face. He pushed him against the ground, which cracked and produced a small crater. Narsiz was pushed into the ground and spit out saliva while trying to grapple his arm. However, the difference in strength and skills was too apparent, as his son couldn''t do anything. "Argh!" Kairoso let go of him, straightened back up again, and looked at his son, who tried to stand up again. His voice became solemn, "Lori was punished by us because she was too stupid to listen to us and went haywire with her [Divinity Line], almost injuring you seriously. So we imprisoned her inside the estate until she got the hang of it." Narsiz suddenly pulled out a throwing knife and aimed at his father''s head, only for him to catch it effortlessly, "Sarah was punished because she is arrogant beyond anything reasonable, endangering our family in a fit of adventure seeking. She needed to learn to be humble and more careful, especially with the [Mystic Skills] she has, so your mother is training her till she starts to act not like a moron." He looked at his son and smirked, opening his arms, "Now you. Do you want to play the hero in front of your little girl? Feel free, but before you try to kill both of you simultaneously, I must ensure that at least you survive..." He came closer and looked at him with a menacing smile, "...I thought you would be a great paper-pusher and would just walk around with enough guards to invade whole cities, but it seemed my boy found out, even though late, that you have the blood of a warrior." After Narsiz stood up, he wobbled slightly back, glaring at his father, "You want to train me?" He shook his head and pointed with his thumb to the side, "Not only me but also someone else." From the side came a menacing aura, "Master, I think I can get him to be a great kil... warrior, excuse me, hehe." Narsiz looked at him and back at his father, "You want this psycho to train me, too?!" Kairosos''s smile widened, "So what? He is a genius when it comes to [Throwing Arts], and he also has a knack in [Archery Arts] even though he rarely uses it." Sarusos shook his head, "Too impersonal for me, but I know a couple of things." Narsiz shivered slightly and became even angrier as he suddenly remembered something, "I understand that you want to train me since I made mistakes like my sisters, but what about Alex?" Sarusos''s suddenly became more joyful, "Training him? I would love to, but he is already so brilliant! Sadly, he is also a mage, and your sisters are already training him well. He has no time for my special training even though he would probably be a true genius..." Sarusos suddenly smiled so genuinely it weirded Kairoso and his son visibly out, "Everything he did was impeccable, even without any experience! Every decision he made was for the sake of the little fox-kin girl, never mind his stubbornness to stay and fight with me, which he did well..." He frowned suddenly, "...I failed, not he. I am the one with the experience, but I listened to his last command as I trusted him. I should''ve known better what dangers could be there." Narsiz looked back at his father, who only shrugged, "You forgot one thing: He is not even through his legacy, and once he is, I don''t know what I can teach him. He is already training in everything he can get his fingers on and excelling in it. What should I do? Deprive him of sleep and teach him the doctrines of the Temple?" His son relaxed and nodded while pulling out a small throwing knife, "Fine, I agree with you. I need to be stronger, but it doesn''t mean you can beat me to a pulp!" He smiled at him, "My training methods are a little rough, but you will survive them." Kairoso watched how his son positioned himself so he could grab the other hidden throwing knives while his energy surrounded him rather clumsily. However, his stand was solid, and the basics were present, ''I should''ve trained him even though he loved and showed so much talent in other things...'' He started to walk toward him, ''...it doesn''t mean I can''t make it good afterward.'' Kairoso showed him to attack him, "Bring it on." Narsiz cringed, "Please... don''t use Alex''s vocabulary. It is not fitting of your standing." He suddenly laughed, "Guhahaha! Even though you are about to get beat up, you are trying to hold on to the right conduct. You are truly Mari''s son..." His smile became vicious, "...this means, though, you can endure more than I first thought." Narsiz suddenly shivered but smiled back, even though a little frightened, "It was such a nice day till now." ... Linuel''s room A wolf-kin woman stood before Linuel and looked at her stoically while crossing her arms. It was like her gaze could kill her when she blinked, ''I didn''t know Marisia was this scary.'' When Narsiz left with Kairoso, Marisia suddenly visited her a minute later. However, although Linuel didn''t know how, the lady knew what was going on for some reason, as evidently seen how she looked at her, ready to rip her head off. At first, Linuel thought she was a mediocre combatant and great administrator since their fief prospered after Scarlett''s stagnant phase. Yet, her whole demeanor showed that she could smoothly kill her even if she were in excellent health. Linuel smiled at Narsiz''s mother, "M... My lady, nice to see you." Marisia didn''t move and was as stoic as ever, "Hello, Linuel. I am here to talk to you. Do you have time?" Linuel smiled and answered as friendly as possible, "Of course, my lady." Inwardly, though, she tried to hold back her anxiety, ''What other answer can I give without getting killed?!'' She suddenly thought that it was a terrible mistake to kiss Narsiz. While it was nothing special for commoners to kiss premature beast-kin as adults, for nobles, it was a big taboo. It was seen as highly manipulative because it was regarded as not really something sexual but something at the cusp of it. So, an adult kissing someone premature who experienced it for the first time was a sure way to bind the premature beast-kin toward them, primarily when the adult built a friendly or loving relationship beforehand, ''I am so fucked.'' Marisia''s voice was stoic, but Linuel could''ve sworn that every word felt like a knife pressed against her throat, "How do you feel?" Linuel maybe imagined it, but her danger-sensing skills rang like crazy at her, "I feel fantastic! All thanks to the great healer you provided. Thank you for asking, my lady." Marisia nodded, "That is good to hear, and you are welcome as you are part of the Nine-Fire household, who are family to us. Now that we had our chit-chat, how about you tell me what you were doing with my son?" Linuel''s smile vanished, ''So straightforward!'' She decided that being honest was the best way to do it. While lying on her stomach, she bowed her head to seek forgiveness, "I am in love with Narsi, and it was a mistake I made! I apologize for my dumb behavior!" Silence invaded the room for minutes. She could''ve sworn that she could cut the air with a knife so thick was it. However, there was no bloodlust, killing intent, or any other malicious aura¡ªonly silence. After what felt like an eternity for Linuel, Marisia broke the silence, and her following words felt like a whole mountain was lifted from her shoulders, "My husband is fine with how you conducted yourself and is emphasizing that because you saved Narsiz, he has no problem at all what you did..." However, the knife was again at her throat, "I am not, though. The moment you mistreat my son in any way, be it cheating, violence, coercion, or anything else I disagree with, I will personally hunt you down. Do I make myself clear?" Without raising her head, she answered, "Yes, my lady!" Marisia nodded and left, but before she closed the door, she looked the last time at Linuel. Even though she couldn''t see it, she felt enormous wrath coming her way. It was like someone was about to step on her, squashing her like a bug. Linuel sweat like never before and ingrained the following sentence into her soul, "I am allowing you both to continue but anything more than this, and I make sure to make my warning come true." Clack Linuel didn''t raise her head for the next hour as she was frightened out of her mind. She never experienced such fear before. She knew the moment she would fuck up, her head would roll. So she made sure not to forget the warning, ''Narsi... your whole family is fucking crazy.'' While Linuel''s parents were somewhat on the protective side, when it came to their puppies, what Marisia did was far above what her parents would ever do. She knew it since her sister, Clara, was premature, and her fianc¨¦ was at least ten years older. However, even though they kissed, her parents only ensured nothing more would happen by putting servants by their side so they would observe them all day when he visited. On the other hand, Marisia felt like she would genuinely cripple her if Kairoso wasn''t there to give his okay. It was scary, but she also gave them much more freedom to enjoy themselves, which made Linuel shudder, ''I think she truly meant what she said...'' While freedom was great, one mistake on her side and something terrible would happen, probably involving a sparring session and an unforeseeable accident, ''One year is doable... please, Narsi, don''t take more time than this!'' Chapter 75: Nine-Fire Visit 14: Chaotic Emotions ... Some days later, In front of Alexander''s room Patricia was before Alexander''s room and waited for the fairies to come out. Nobody was ever allowed to enter while they healed him. It was a direct command from the Lady and lord after they observed the process and decided that her son''s dignity needed to be preserved since the whole process was too gruesome. So, she had to wait, but it didn''t matter since she had already done so for two weeks, which was torture. At first, she wasn''t allowed to visit him, but after begging, crying, and sometimes cursing, they granted her the wish to see him. Patricia was told he was heavily injured and needed a lot of sleep. She understood it as she slept on the same floor in another room and heard his screams when he woke up for the first time. It was so terrifying that she started crying and couldn''t find rest for the following days. Little to say, she was sleep-deprived since the assassination attempt. Not because she almost died but because Alexander risked everything to save her, willingly putting his life on the line, which gnarled her conscience. At first, she thought he would be okay after some healing, but this wasn''t the case, as evident by all the screams of pain and suffering she listened to every time he woke up or got healed. Patricia had the option to change the mansion but decided against it. She wanted to hear Alexander. She somehow felt she would share his pain if she were as close as possible. It was maybe nonsense, but it made the whole situation somewhat more bearable. This was why she tried to visit him after he stabilized immediately, but they didn''t let her in. She, though, saw through the opened door how the room looked. It was a slaughterhouse, and Alexander''s body was something nightmares were made of. After seeing him like that, she thought that he was dead. Only through his screams of distress was she sure that he was alive. She understood what he went through was because of her. Now, she mainly stayed beside his room and only left to argue with the lord and Lady, ''I need to see him...'' All she could think about were the last two weeks and the assassination attempt. She constantly replayed them and became more ashamed of herself through every iteration. Not even her inaction while they were attacked made her feel terrible. No, the thoughts afterward made her truly feel disgusted of herself. After getting some sleep after days of restlessness after the assassination attempt, she tried to rationalize the whole situation on different levels to calm herself down. However, she now understood that it had been only a wish of hers since she didn''t want to take responsibility for her inaction and awful thoughts afterward. All she wanted was a clear conscience. At first, it was Alexander''s health. She thought he would be well again, even after seeing the gruesome scene since he was alive. Her mind repeatedly told her that. However, the last bit of delusion she had about his well-being was blown away the moment a fairy named Green talked to her. The fairy was stoic and had no manners, but what she told her was cold and detailed in her explanation of how she stabilized Alexander. It was for her a horror story that made her unable to sleep for days again. At that point, her mind became fragile, far from her past self. Before, she would fight every soldier she could find to train herself. She had no fear. Yet, now, the moment she saw a shadow move weirdly, she threw objects at them and panicked. Other times, she started to cry without any reason and became frightened. She was an emotional wreck and didn''t know what to do. It didn''t make it better as nobody forced her to do anything and accommodated her excellently while not blaming her. Inwardly, though, she wanted to be punished. She clenched her fists, ''It is all my fault...'' One thing she couldn''t rationalize was her inaction, no matter how she turned or tweaked the situation. While they were attacked, she was frozen and couldn''t do anything. Alexander, on the other hand, acted immediately and did everything to save her, even going so far as risking his life. It was like the assassins tried their best to get her, but he was always there for her. She thought nonstop about it, and after many sleepless nights, it became more apparent. He did something nobody else would do. She couldn''t imagine that someone would protect her so madly while she was nothing but dead weight. He was not family, and nobody forced him to do what he did like a guard. He had no loyalty towards her or admiration. He had nothing to gain by saving her as he was a genius who could have somebody much better than her. Nobody would blame him if he ignored her and let her die. She couldn''t comprehend what made him act in such a way, but her chaotic thoughts changed at some point, and every negative feeling became pure determination: She couldn''t think of anything else but him. Now, she wanted him. No, she needed him as he was her hero and her true love. It was so apparent to her the moment she reached clarity. Even the thoughts she had had afterward, she took it as a lesson of her juvenile self, not to be repeated. She would fully accept the responsibility for her mistakes now. For this, she swore absolute loyalty and love to Alexander, who was ready to throw his life away to save hers, and she would do the same. However, something was always amiss when she tried to imagine them being together. After much thought, she understood the problem, ''I am not enough.'' It was like she looked at someone so far above her that even jealousy was useless. Now, even Alexander''s personality, which she found decent before the assassination, became unreachable. She needed to change and become better¡ªsomeone who could stand beside him and be worthy. Before marrying him and becoming one, she knew what she needed to do. Even if it would hurt him to be away from each other, she needed to do this for them. Clack The door opened, and she came out of her thoughts. Out came six fairies. The one in the front looked annoyed, but the ones behind her could barely walk straight. "I can''t anymore... it''s like... how many damn pieces are there?!" The fairy she knew as Green glared back, "You don''t like healing bones? How about when we come back, you try to remember them better and what they are made of? This will ease the whole procedure..." She looked at him more viciously, "...don''t worry though. I will quiz you before the day is over." The other fairies shivered, and the one who commented became as white as a bedsheet, "No... wait! I am too tired!" Green turned back and walked forward while talking, "Fine, so I will send a letter to your forest, and we will see how it will go." The other fairy ran forward and apologized, "I am sorry! I will do it!" Green ignored her visibly and saw Patricia in front of her, "Go in..." She smirked slightly at her, "...he is though in a bad mood, hehe." From the room came an angry voice, "You bitch rearranged my bones while annoying me with your dumbass questions! Let me do the same, and we will see how happy-go-lucky you will be!" Green laughed, "Haha, till tomorrow..." and left. Patricia stood before the open door and wanted to go in but couldn''t. However, before she could go into her terrible thoughts once again, his voice, which sounded so cheery it made her almost cry again, if she thought what he went through, brought her back, "Hey, I know you cursed a storm out there for the last few days, so just come in, hehe." She gulped her saliva down and went in, only to see something more terrible than she could''ve imagined. She wanted to cry but held back her tears and took in the scene while her mind became chaotic again, ''He did it for me while it was all my fault. I did nothing to deserve this...'' Alexander was lying on his stomach, so his back was free. His tail was entirely burned and more of a stick than anything else. Even Linuel''s was far from this terrible in condition. Only tiny hairs were seen on it as they started to grow again. His back was fully closed, but there were so many scars it looked horrendous. Looking at his face, he didn''t have any, but as Patricia looked lower, his arms, the part of his chest she could see, everything was scarred heavily. Some were circles, some were slashes, and some were just enormous ones, which she couldn''t see the end of as he lay on his stomach. She always found boys with certain noble features attractive: Fair skin, no scars or impurities. They needed to be perfect. Initially, she found Alexander acceptable, only his attire was a little sloppy, but overall, he was not too bad-looking. It wasn''t that important to her since she was never interested in his looks but in his personality and talents. However, the moment she saw the scars, he looked like the most beautiful boy she had ever seen, ''This is all because of me... they are so beautiful... I want to touch them.'' Everything around him emitted the energy of nature. Two dozen talismans were hanging from his princess bed, which she could feel very clearly. They immediately stopped the headache she had for the last week, even while being meters away from them. She now also understood his pain much better, ''Terrible.'' She was again perplexed and frightened, but his voice brought her back again, "Hey Patricia! If you want to play a round of tag, I guess a sack of potatoes would be a better partner than me, hehe." Listening to him being like he was before made her incredibly happy. There was no blame thrown at her. No insults as he did with the healers¡ªonly his usual self as before when he tried to accommodate her by joking stupidly. At first, she found them funny, other times not, and sometimes inappropriate; at other times, she couldn''t understand them. Yet, now they were like a sad but happy ballad to her ears. It was beautiful to hear him in such a condition, being like he was before to her, ''I love you...'' You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. She wanted to say it, but she couldn''t do it. She wasn''t even close to what she considered qualified to say such a thing to him, ''Not now...'' She didn''t answer him and came close to him without saying anything. As she was at his bed, she removed her Mary Jane shoes and crawled onto the bed without saying anything, cuddling as close to Alexander as possible. Her tail wrapped around his, and she just lay there. She wanted to be as close as possible to him. She wanted to smell him and feel his warmth. She also wanted him to have her smell on him as much as possible, and something inside of her feared that he would die if she didn''t hold him close enough to her, ''I want you.'' She heard Alexander''s confused voice, "That''s..." However, she quickly interrupted him, "...don''t. None of your jokes. Please be silent." Patricia had barely slept since the assassination, but it was soothing when she smelled Alexander and felt him. His breathing was like a calming lullaby. She immediately fell asleep. ... Scarlett''s room Scarlett sat on a chair beside the window and looked at the moons while drinking scotch directly from the bottle. It looked sad, yet her thoughts weren''t, ''Who do I need to kill?'' All she wanted to do was to start a war as she barely held her rage back. For this, she respected her daughter, who was as on the book as possible in such situations. Even though they had a little fight, it was personal and had nothing to do with their fief. When it came to their territory, her daughter was far better equipped than she ever was, ''Hm, after which ancestor did she come? We have too many maniacs who overshadowed the competent ones.'' The Leonandra household, or rather every guard household, had a blood-filled history. Fights against nobles, monsters, demons, their subjects, etc. There was barely a period when it wasn''t about killing¡ªso having someone who could actually think more than who to murder next was a nice change of pace. It was also obviously seen by how well she administrated. Even though it was Scarlett who implemented some of the current policies that led to prosperity, it was undoubtedly the execution that mattered. So, she was incredibly proud in that sense. Scarlett already copied some of what her daughter did for their other territory north of Moorgrel, where she defended against the dwarves and gnomes. Their household also had a tiny fief in the West where her parents were fighting against the humans. The guard households had their name for a reason, as they guarded all four sides of Moorgrel. There was a reason why most guard household rulers were knights with an apparent slight towards combat. They would fight almost all their life and needed to go through a whole process to become a knight in the first place. It didn''t end there, though. Their ox ride (political career term) continued when they became more powerful or developed other more outstanding abilities. First, one needed a proper spouse and experience in administration by going to some smaller city. They would then manage it together with the local Earl. The probable heir would need years to go through this. If they were lucky enough, their spouse would have the experience, and the heir could skip the whole annoying process. This was also why her husband, Roland, never went through the whole process. He would rather fight the Count than do any bookkeeping, so she did all the administrative work even though she was, at best, mediocre. Next, one would need to wait for the current rulers to undergo their first body modification and leave for the North or the South. Only then would the heir actually be able to administer the fief in the East, which, in her honest opinion, was a coin flip. The territory besides Kratikal was less steady than in the north or south. Usually, the rulers could relax and fight weaker demons while sharpening their fangs, but since Marisia took over, they had one giant demon run after the other. It was unfortunate. However, it didn''t end there. The rulers would need to have heirs themselves who could take over the fief. It was an arduous process, which made it much more complicated. However, Scarlett''s position wasn''t the end of all things as she went through her first BM long ago and aimed for the second one. After reaching the second one like her parents, would she join the West, the most dangerous region of all battlefields. They were the elite of Moorgrel and the ones who survived the numerous battlefields while prospering. While it all sounded very linear, asterisks were attached around every case: What if the rulers had no heir? What if their puppies weren''t fit to be the heir or didn''t want to? What if someone born in the North wanted to take the title in the East? There were a lot of what-ifs with massive books that tried to clarify the law they needed to follow if any of those cases happened. This thought brought her back to Alexander, who was a giant asterisk. She wanted him not to take the title and avoid going through the process since it would only hinder his potential and future prospects. At first, she was a little bit careful about him since she wasn''t sure where his talents and ambitions were. Still, after the assassination attempt, he had only one way: Alexander must take the position inside the Council of Talents. She regarded the ability to fight as the most important one should have. There were options, but it always became a question of loyalty if his retainers would not back off if he would be attacked by someone influential and rather endure the penalty of a contract. So, the moment she heard the account from Sarusos and how he fought, she wholly ignored the route where he would become a knight. It was a waste of time. However, her grandson had obligations as he was privileged from birth, and everyone needed to do certain things like Noblesse Oblige. In central Mal-Gil, only one heir was required to do this for the whole household, but in Moorgrel, they needed to be more proactive, and everyone needed to do their part because of the unique situation at their borders. She needed to think more thoroughly through how she could make Alexander avoid it, as he would need to put twenty years of his time on the line, even as a non-heir. A time in which his potential would considerably be slowed down. Scarlett shuddered slightly and contorted her face in disgust as she thought about the only person who could help her, ''Urgh, I need to talk to Anastasia then...'' Anastasia had a very troubling past, which Scarlett didn''t want to think further about. As a teacher, though, she was, without any question, excellent. So she was happy for Alexander to have her. She was also extraordinary in politics and law, so not consulting her would be idiotic. However, when she thought about Alexander again, it made her joyful. It was a prospect that could change their whole situation in Moorgrel. So, she was expectant to see what legacy he would get and how far his ambitions would push him. She would, though, direct them a little bit in a direction that would be more fitting to him. Her delightfulness quickly changed when she remembered how he lay on the bed when she visited him. He was full of scars, which even the most hardened warrior wouldn''t have. She hoped he would find someone who would love his appearance since the trend for noble girls these days didn''t look favorably on someone who looked this rough. A strong killing intent filled the room, ''Whose head do I need?'' Her aura immediately intensified when she thought about their first interaction, ''He is such a lively boy...'' It hurt her a lot on every possible level. First, she feared such an attack would traumatize him like her daughter, destroying everything he had before him. But she wasn''t a monster; something maternal made her almost snap at the thought of having her grandson become someone like Elisabeth. Her aura heightened again to the point where red droplets were seen on the window, slowly condensing, destroying the glass as cracks appeared on them, "Who..." Even though she was cold-blooded and had enormous greed, it didn''t mean she wouldn''t care about her family. Her grandson was attacked. How could she not be enraged? He was young and went through something akin to torture that Scarlett only now knew was possible. She remembered the talk with the fairy and what they needed to do to stabilize him. Then, the restoration phase would be slow and incredibly painful as he lost a good chunk of his bones and muscles. She had already sent a letter to her personal healer to visit her so she could hasten the process. Yet, even though he was alive, she needed to hold back, not run to Foxteeth and just go on a rampage. But even then, she didn''t know who to aim for since she couldn''t believe that trash like Fiorello could have such contacts. She wanted the one behind him. Her killing intent amplified to the point where the window broke, and she became filled with rage as she thought about how her grandson asked her daughter almost immediately after being stabilized if his siblings and the Nine-Fire youth were okay and survived. "Who..." The moment she opened her mouth, she could feel her fangs and teeth were entirely covered with her aura, which became liquid. One drop fell on the floor, which immediately cracked, producing a small crater. Knock Knock Knock She suddenly came out of her murderous thoughts as she heard three barely audible knocks. She immediately retracted her murderous aura while asking, "Who is there?" Full of fright, a small voice came from the other side of the door, "Pa... Patricia." She sighed and said, "Five minutes, or else you will be in danger, so wait." ... Five minutes later In front of Scarlett sat Patricia, who looked as determined as ever while also shivering. It was obviously the effect of the residue of her killing intent. However, she wasn''t in the mood to care, "What do you want? If it is about Alex, just come tomorrow again... as you can see, I am not in the best of moods to discuss romance between puppies." Patricia looked deeply into her eyes while clenching her dress, "I want you to train me!" Scarlett became baffled and frowned, "Like I said, visit me tomorrow after..." However, she was interrupted by her, "No romantic advice! I want to go through your special training!" Scarlett became surprised and looked at her more intensely and knew that something happened with Alexander. As much as she could remember, she was allowed to visit him today. She put one leg over the other and asked her, expecting something interesting, "So, you don''t want to have my grandson as your husband?" Patricia looked her dead in the eye, and her voice intensified like she found it ridiculous what Scarlett said, "Don''t joke with me. I want strength so something like what happened before never happened again..." She jumped down from the bed and stood before her. An aura came from her, which Scarlett admired dearly. It was the aura of a determined knight ready to die for whatever cause they wished to. It was regal and prideful but also reeked of arrogance and an unwavering confidence. She loved such puppies. Scarlett smirked at her, "So, you want to undergo my training? You know what that means, right?" As for the answer, Patricia nodded as determined as ever. Scarlett was inwardly getting more giddy as she probably found the perfect wife for Alexander. Someone wanting to undergo her outrageous and well-known training inside their little guard household circle was perfect for someone who would soon shake the world. Patricia''s stare intensified, and her shaking stopped, "I need to be able to protect Alex... no, I need to protect Alex." Scarlett wanted to laugh loudly but obviously held it in. She now had a little disciple she could groom to become, worst case, a fantastic asset and friend to the household. She couldn''t determine Alexander''s decision if he would take her and would need to observe him for longer and talk with him more directly, but this could wait. She thought for a moment while tapping her chin with the index finger. She needed a timetable for everything to work out. After some more time, she got an insight. Scarlett looked at her and smiled friendly, "Fine..." She held three fingers up, "...in three years, there is a ball for the noble youth of Mal-Gil. Everyone is invited who is at least a second-generation noble..." She held her hand before her mouth and chuckled, "...hehe, well, this is obvious." Patricia looked at her, confused, "I know about that, but don''t we have one in Moorgrel simultaneously? I remember my sisters telling me that they went there." Scarlett nodded, "Yes, but the old mutt decided to make it special this time by joining the others..." She suddenly started to laugh, "...haha! Can you imagine Moorgrelian noble youth forged with steel and fire together with those wusses from the central region?" Patricia asked again, even more confused, ignoring her comments, "Okay? But I was too young then and now would be too old to go there again. I have my legacy in around a year." Scarlett waved her hand in dismissal, "The central region was always different. They have three balls at the same time. One for the ones before their legacy, which Alexander will be at the time, one for everyone before the age of 50, so to say: Teens, and another one for the Lord and Ladies. If I remember correctly, the youth would at some point join each other and have a get-together..." She pointed at Patricia, "...this is where you will have your chance to impress Alex." She looked at first happy but immediately started to frown, "I don''t think Alex wants to attend such a gathering." Scarlett leaned back and looked at her with a smile, "He will. He is much more ambitious than you think..." She also mumbled something barely audible, "...even though he obviously dislikes nobility and helps trash." For some reason, she couldn''t find out why Alexander was bent on helping the disadvantaged. She didn''t know why, but this indicated that he was very ambitious. So, Alexander going to the ball was a given. If not, she would make it tasty for him to overthink his previous decision. Patricia nodded, "Fine, when do we start?" Scarlett looked outside the broken window at the moons, "I guess after we leave. Enjoy your time and bond with him..." She turned back and could strongly smell the mix of nature''s energy and Alexander on her, "...it seems it works well already, right?" Chapter: 76: Nine-Fire Visit 15: Bad Role Model ... Weeks later, Linuel''s room "Aren''t you bored?" "Never! I get pampered by a cute, nice boy who is not as boring as a copper plate. What else is there to ask from life?" Patricia frowned at her, "But doesn''t it get boring?" She turned around on her bed and smiled at her like some old pervert, "Not at all!" Patricia moved uncomfortably on the bed while sitting, "I never understood you. Didn''t you say you want someone strong? As much as I can see, Narsiz is not the type." Linuel blew a raspberry, "Pfft, it was years ago, and I said I want someone strong but not stronger than me! I don''t need a meathead as a husband. Otherwise, we will die from dumbness at some point..." She remembered the last days, "...well, he has been training quite a lot for the last few days and visiting me after it..." She suddenly blushed and mumbled, "...I wish he wouldn''t use the cleaning spell, though." Patricia looked at her in disgust, "You really have problems." Linuel looked back at her and shrugged, "So what?" Her little sister sighed and looked down in slight distress, "Sorry, I just... Alexander is..." She started to shiver again. Linuel moved slightly toward her, as much as she could with her injuries, trying to pet her, "I am sorry. He at least woke up the same night and was alive and well, right?" Patricia buried her head into the pillow she held, "Don''t touch me! He was not well! I heard him screaming even from my room..." She suddenly turned around and looked at her with teary eyes, "...you heard him too. I know this because everyone did in this forsaken mansion!" Linuel knew what she was talking about. It was already over three weeks since Alexander woke up and screamed so loud that everyone gossiped about it. Worst, he wasn''t even close to being healed, while she would need at most a couple more days for her bones and some muscles to recover. She luckily didn''t remember anything since she was unconscious, but it was hard not to imagine since the gossip reached her the moment she woke up. After listening to what happened, she wasn''t even angry at Patricia, who didn''t visit her even once for the three weeks. This was her first visit after the assassination, which he knew about. Apparently, she came once when she was unconscious. Linuel looked to the side where the night commode was, and on it were multiple flasks of different elixirs and potions, which reduced her pain significantly. They were all empty. She thought about how he could''ve gone through it without anything, but his skills were unbelievable to her. Even though she was much less injured, the healing was incredibly painful for her, and she always needed to gulp down an elixir to reduce the pain before the healing session started. After the first week, she got a schedule from the fairies, who would visit her twice a week and heal her for two to three hours. The estate healers didn''t even touch her anymore and were mainly on standby. She was fine with it since it was truly painful to regenerate muscles and bones. So, it was even more baffling when she heard from Narsiz how long the golden pup was going through recovery: Eight hours every day and without any potions. However, she knew he had at least two dozen talismans to reduce the pain. From experience, she knew that they were strong and gave a great buzz, So, it was natural to see Patricia in distress, who loved Alexander. Linuel wouldn''t know what she would do if Narsiz went through something like this, but she tried nonetheless to comfort her and empathize. "You are there for Alexander, right?" Patricia turned around and glared at her sister, "Of course!" Linuel smiled at her, "See? Do what you can do, and don''t try to beat yourself up about what happened. Nobody is even blaming you..." She started to mumble, barely audible, with a sad smile, "...not like Narsi. Everyone blames him for my current injuries." Patricia calmed down visibly, "Yeah, I heard it from everyone already, but I am over it and working on something..." She changed the topic, "...what is happening with you and Narsiz? I heard that there was some kind of scuffle because you kissed him. That''s not true, right?" Linuel saw the abrupt change of topic and didn''t want to probe more into it. She could see how her little sister was already becoming more adult-like after the assault and her breakdown, which she also only heard about from gossip. So, she trusted her to decide when she would need her help and when she could handle it herself. It seemed now that she wanted to manage her emotions by herself. Yet, she believed that Alexander tried to help her and that she, as an older sister, was not needed anymore. It made sense to her since she visited him daily and bonded very openly, not caring about anyone else. Through a maid, she heard Patricia would stay with him all night and sleep together. She wished she could see this cute scene. Now, Patricia wanted to know more about her relationship, which was a little more complicated, especially after interacting with Narsiz''s mother. Linuel blushed slightly, ignoring that the Lady almost killed her, "Well..." Suddenly, Patricia became overly emotional, "You can''t be serious?!" Linuel understood her outburst and where it came from, but it didn''t matter since she would never force Narsiz to do such things. She would immediately stop if he felt uncomfortable in any way. However, she reacted casually since she had a clear conscience and shrugged, "So what?" Linuel clearly didn''t care at this point. Even though his mother gave her a stark warning, she also implicitly allowed it. So, she saw no problem doing what she did and would keep doing it. Of course, as long as Narsiz also wanted it. Patricia looked at her dumbfounded, stood up, and became even more outraged, "You are a moron! Let''s forget that you actually disrupt his pheromones and try to manipulate him only to love you. What about your standing?! What did the Lord and Lady say... wait, what did Scarlett say? Since you are alive and not crippled, it means you stopped, right?" Something inside her understood the problem, but she also trusted herself fully to take full responsibility for Narsiz. So she looked at Patricia and shrugged again since she couldn''t gesture much otherwise while injured, "Well, we had a nice chat, and she said that it''s okay as long as I am serious, and by the way, the thing with the pheromones is a myth... I think." Patricia calmed down a little, and it was silent for some time until she suddenly asked her something weird, "Did you ever kiss someone while being premature or a puppy?" Linuel was a little confused about the question, but after some thought, it made sense to ask something like this. In her mind, Patricia worried about her and tried to prevent her from doing stupid things. By appealing to her experience, she wanted her to remember them so she would stop doing it, probably thinking it felt terrible when she kissed while being young, ''Wow, she is really clever... and I need to thank Narsi for Alexander''s pamphlets about psychology. I wouldn''t understand what she was doing without them.'' Because she was so bored, Narsiz brought her a lot of reading material. After he got her many drama and romance novels, which she didn''t like, he gave her Alexander''s notes about skills, alchemy, etc. Of course, it was with his permission, and they were great, especially the one about how to interpret someone''s mental status. It was a step-by-step logical deduction of the most common behaviors and how they could influence a person''s actions with many examples. After reading it and understanding some of them scholastically, she got the [Psychology] skill and some levels to boot. However, there were a lot of notes scribbled she couldn''t understand, like about snakes, knives, and young boys visiting the big city. She nodded and smiled, "Yes, remember the parrot-kin... what was his name again?" Patricia''s eyes opened wide, "You mean Max?! You actually kissed, Max?! Wait..." She suddenly distorted her face, "...I know he left two years ago because of his sick mother... this means..." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Linuel shook her head, preventing her from thinking the worst, "Don''t worry. We were both young... I think I was nine or eight or something. Can''t remember really." Patricia stared baffled again at her and asked, "So, it didn''t feel good, right?" She became a little thoughtful, "It depends, really. It was weird the first time. I felt really close to him, which weirded me out in the end since I only wanted to test it out..." She smiled again like a pervert, "My next one was Joseph, and I actually had a small crush on him..." Patricia interrupted her, "Okay, Max was around your age, but Joseph was actually... wasn''t he a great-grandfather?!" She shrugged, "I had a phase where I found older ones attractive. I think it was because of a novel I read..." She stopped herself from telling any more embarrassing details, "...however! Don''t tell Narsi, but while kissing Joseph, it felt fantastic, not as good as him, but since I liked him, it felt good to be as close as possible to him." Patricia looked at her like she was stupid, "You know that they were all Nila''s servants?" Linuel started to laugh, "Hahaha! So what? Like I would actually start something with mine." Her little sister became even more baffled, and her eyes suddenly twitched while her upper lip went up in disgust, "You didn''t force them, right?" Linuel scratched her cheek slightly, "Well..." She could understand her little sister as servants rarely started something since, if they got rejected, a firing was usually the next step, as having a servant who was in love with their mistress or master was a sure way for a disaster to happen. Patricia suddenly showed her fangs and yelled, "This is even worse! You forced a servant to..." Linuel shushed her immediately, "Shut up! Don''t fucking yell! Every damn servant here loves to gossip as if their lives depend on it!" Her little sister looked at her intensely for an answer, and Linuel became much quieter, "I keep talking, but do not tell this Narsi under any circumstances or any of his siblings, okay?" Patricia''s face only contorted into more disgust, which Linuel took as a yes, "I didn''t really force them. I only somehow commanded them to do me a little favor... that''s all..." It was silent, and both didn''t move one bit. Linuel smiled like it was a stupid joke she did while Patricia was looking at her sternly. After a good moment, Linuel agreed with her, "Fine! I was stupid, and they deserved better. However, I did it only those two times and stopped after that, okay? I also apologized to Max before he left." Linuel knew that it was terrible what she did. It was even worse with Max since he moved away after telling her, years later, how he fell in love with her, and she rejected him coldly. For Joseph, though, he fortunately died a year later. She knew about other premature nobles who forced their servants to engage in such and other things for fun, not regarding age, relationship status, or if they had even any interest in the first place. Most were fine with it for a certain reason: They resigned shortly after with some gold as a farewell gift, like Max. Even though she knew she had done wrong, there was some anger toward him, ''This little shit cost me 100 average gold coins, all my savings, for a damn kiss.'' She remembered how much he cried and how depressed he was till she gave him the gold and asked him nicely to leave. If anyone found out what she did, her mother would beat the living shit out of her, and her sister, whose servant it was, would probably break every bone in her body. She would take this part of the story to her grave, though. It was too embarrassing to get blackmailed by a servant. Patricia looked at her like she was the biggest moron on Obis and tried to change the topic again, bringing Linuel out of her thought about past mistakes, "Fine, I will not say it to anyone..." She sat down on a chair in the most unladylike way possible and groaned, "...Urgh..." Suddenly, she remembered, "...do you know anything about Fio?" Linuel suddenly felt even more angry, "I don''t want to hear this name... as far as I know, he is dead. It would be a wonder if he could see the next Veoc (new year, beast-kin calendar)." Patricia clenched the armchairs and became overly emotional again, "I will kill him! I swear on my name that I will find him and kill him!" Linuel wasn''t better as strong killing intent surged out of her, "He is dead meat either way. For all I know, Mom is already on a killing spree in Foxteeth, and the underworld in Wolfsteeth, as far as I heard, is again in turmoil and looking for him." Patricia became confused, "How would you know this? The Leonandra''s hadn''t got any letters, though?" Linuel smirked at her as she was sure, "Well, let''s say that you will see. Dad is also probably already hitting up every single underworld organization for information. For Fio to escape, he would need a miracle." Patricia nodded and yawned, being overwhelmingly tired, "Huaaaw! I will believe you..." She looked at her sister and sighed as if she had given up on her, "...I will go and sleep." Linuel smirked at her, "Let me guess, with Alexander?" Patricia blushed a little but only nodded and left the room, but before she left entirely, she turned around and smirked back, "Greet Narsi when he comes to you, but don''t do anything... you know..." and left. Linuel looked at her, closing the door, but didn''t mind her puppyish comment, ''Well, let''s get dressed...'' She looked at herself and wanted to crawl out of her bed and change into something a little more revealing but suddenly shuddered and decided against it, ''...get yourself together! Damn it!'' She was told that having a relationship with someone premature was more than a little challenging as an adult. She needed to try and suppress her desire for him actively. She knew that he didn''t have the same kind of wish to be close to her as she had. So, she hoped he would only need a year and not more to enter maturity. It was challenging since he already gave off potent pheromones, which bombarded her nose every second he was with her. After the attack, they spent every second with each other, which she liked a lot, but it was also unbearable. So now she was actually happy that he used a cleaning spell on him. Otherwise, it would be a lot harder for her. She already needed to use every skill she had to suppress her desire. Even [Lust Control] leveled up multiple times. Linuel now understood a young noble she met once at a ball. It was a man around twenty-five, and he had a fianc¨¦ who was fourteen. The moment they were alone, and he got drunk, all he did was complain about how he wanted to do nothing more than... well, he told a lot of things she found at the time quite disturbing but now understood. She looked frustrated and moved quite a bit around to only look at her right hand, ''Well, you will be my only grace for the next months, partner. Get ready.'' She suddenly looked around and blushed visibly, ''Where are his clothes... there should be some... Oh, right!'' Linuel slowly stood up and grabbed the brush, ''Hehe, I know why you like to brush my tail... it is nothing manipulative, right?'' She shrugged, thinking he liked it, but she was rather ambivalent towards it and only enjoyed that he cared for her. She slowly limped to the commode, "So, where is his pajama?" ... Alexander Estate, General Patricia was walking toward Alexander''s room and thought deeply about what her sister said. She also wanted to be closer to the one she loved. Something inside her desired to be one with him, but something also felt weirdly out of place. She knew about such feelings since her mother educated her about them. It was when someone was too young to have any sexual drive, but the emotions pushed her to be closer to the particular person. There were some missing parts, and she told her to be cautious around someone who was much older and tried to manipulate her. Yet, she now became the older person in the relationship and probably much more emotionally mature than the one she loved. But there was no way she would act the same disgusting way as her older sister, who broke multiple taboos just out of fun¡ªeven remembering what she said irritated her. For some reason, she put Alexander into the role of Max and wanted nothing more than to rip Linuel apart for what she did. ''At least she apologized and had remorse for her mistake.'' Even though her sister was much older, Patricia saw herself as much more mature and superior to her. So, she would never force or manipulate Alexander to do something he didn''t want. However, remembering what her sister told her how it felt, she started to touch her lips, ''It can''t be bad... right?'' She tried to imagine it and suddenly blushed, ''It probably feels great.'' Yet, after a second, she stopped the thought very quickly and needed to also think about what Alexander wanted. He was in terrible condition, to the point where he couldn''t move except for his head and tail. So she needed to be careful about trying it since she didn''t want to force him and be like her older sister, which she saw now very negatively. She was disgusted by her. Nonetheless, it made her blush even more for some reason, thinking how she could do whatever she wanted to him, and he couldn''t do anything. He was at her mercy. Pack! She slapped herself and tried to get the thoughts out of her mind. Since she could sleep together with her loved one, it should be enough. Yet, a multitude of strange ideas invaded her, making her imagine very bizarre things that she could understand were terrible but also something she was fond of. It all started after she was allowed to visit him for the first time, and something inside her found it great that he was at her mercy after he overshadowed her in every aspect over the time she was here. She regained her ego and confidence again. Other thoughts were normal, in her opinion. That they loved each other and that they would marry after meeting again. There was no question in her mind that it wouldn''t happen. But when she was close to him, her mind became empty, and she wanted to act by instinct, almost giving into things that maybe Alexander was too young to understand, like kissing. Ultimately, she knew he was around two years and three months younger than her, and since he was basically imprisoned at this estate, he had no real experience besides his magic and alchemy. She shook her head, ''No, what he showed was true love. He just doesn''t know it now, but... maybe he knows and is only shy.'' She tried to remember how she felt at six, and there was not even close to someone who she, besides her family, would treat like Alexander treated her. So, whatever the case it was with him, what he showed to her was, consciously or subconsciously, true love. There was no doubt in her mind. Her mind went again in many different directions, not knowing what to do. Ultimately, she decided, ''He loves me, and I love him, so it should be fine to at least probe, right?'' Before, she would shame herself to even think about kissing him, but now, with her sister confirming that it felt fantastic and beautiful, she wanted it even more. There was, of course, the possibility that he was too young even to understand what a kiss was, but if he did, she could try it. In her mind, it would be perfect to bond before she left so no other pests would even try to invade her territory since he already had the experience with her, and they would make memories together he wouldn''t forget. She sighed in relief that he didn''t really have any sisters or cousins living with him who were the same age. Janina was too young, and Sarah or Lorient were too old. There was also a warm feeling toward the Lady who wouldn''t allow him to leave and visit smaller balls, so this worry was also gone. She could suddenly smell him again and saw the door to his room, ''A try... only a little probe...'' Chapter 77: Nine-Fire Visit 16: Suffocating ... Alexander''s (makeshift ICU) Room "You look disgusting." "You are disgusting." "Boys are disgusting!" Three wolf-kin girls sat on a couch while Narsiz, who was all happy-go-lucky in the last days, lay beside Alexander and patted him carefully. If stares could kill, they would. Narsiz was the envy of his sisters since it was not that usual to find a partner whom they were in love with while being noble, especially since it was his first arranged rendezvous. Usually, it would take much more time to find someone. In the best of cases, it was someone acceptable, and they would learn to love each other over time like their Grandmother did with their Grandfather. Only after five to ten years they became truly close to each other. However, Alexander didn''t care about this childish dispute since he was primarily a couple of organs stitched together with pieces of bones and muscles around them that didn''t function. Fortunately, he could at least follow the conversation without screaming at them to leave him alone because Green had turned his massive bed into an ICU. Otherwise, he would be in too much pain. Everything around him was some kind of special item directly from the Temple. The mattress, pillows, and bedding gave off some natural energy, which comforted him and reduced the pain. However, they were also exceptionally comfortable since he couldn''t move at all. This, in turn, brought some embarrassing situations to his mind where he would need to wear linen diapers, also made out of special cloth, specially brought from the Temple. Alexander didn''t know how to feel about it, but what could he do? Even the water he was cleaned with was something from a spring, which was apparently good against scars. However, when he saw his Frankenstein-like body, he wasn''t so sure about how well it would work. His Grandmother demanded it since the noble society was highly superficial, and such scars were a sure way to end up with a subpar partner. Last but not least, he got some Talismans around his bed, which encircled him and gave out some aura, which reduced his pain even more, but he felt a little bit groggy from them. It wasn''t so bad since he was bored to no end, and being constantly high at the right amount was a nice change of pace. Every day, his father came over to recharge them, and while he did, he tried his best to entertain his son. To tell the truth, though, the stories he told him were about his time as a mercenary and highly inappropriate for a six-year-old. Yet, one time, he became serious and asked him something weird: Why did you do this? Do you want to be a hero? Alexander told him the truth and why he acted as he did: Fuck them. That''s why. All I wanted was so they wouldn''t get shit out of me. His father laughed so hard after hearing it that it became scary. However, it was the last time he talked about this. After that were only his stories about killing bandits and saving his Mother from evil elves or his escapades with some other women he should never tell his Mother about. Yet, the moment he heard what happened from Alexander when he woke up wasn''t funny. He told his father every detail he could remember, which made him visibly proud at some point, but at others, he emitted bloodlust, which was far more potent than what Alexander ever could produce. It went so far that he couldn''t breathe for a second or two. Luckily, he quickly stopped and apologized too many times afterward. Alexander could fully understand him. While he had no children, he had siblings, and if they ended up like him, he would take up a gun and be on a hunt for whoever did this. Especially now, after he experienced the hell he was in after waking up. The pain he experienced was something Dante''s version of hell couldn''t compete with. Green''s operation was the main reason since she was like a homeless guy rummaging through trash, looking for coins, only that it was his body instead of garbage. The only positive was that he didn''t die, and she got new skills out of this, which she wanted to discuss with him at every moment they were together: [Surgery], [Anatomy], [Steady Hands], and [Cold Mind]. He couldn''t tell her much about them since he wasn''t versed in anything related to medicine and could mostly think of the shows he watched. So his advice was rudimentary at best, like that she would need to learn stitching, and it seemed to help. Not only Green was doing stuff. Narsiz and all the others were training and having fun, while Alexander could not move and was high 24/8. If this was all, he could somehow cope with it since it was temporary, but no, he also had constant pain. Even now, he was enduring an amount that drove dozens of skills to level up frequently. The pain he usually felt through the excessive leveling up was, at this point, nothing more than some ache. However, through the pain, his thoughts centered only on one thing: Love. The love of modern drugs, ''I need morphine... they can''t be serious, saying that they have no painkillers for juveniles. This is ridiculous.'' Even though the talismans had pain-reducing properties and acted somewhat like drugs, they barely worked. It was like he was shot into his stomach and given some Ibuprofen. Every part of his body was hurting, and even his skill [Intermediate Pain Resistance] was already at level 38, making him go through another test that was like children''s play for him. Furthermore, other skills also jumped immensely in levels like [Absolute Mental Control], which was already 55. The constant pinging he heard while some university dropout butchered him was quite the experience in the truest of senses, and he had not one calm night since the assassination attempt as he had one skill test after the other. The healing he experienced from the dropout wasn''t much better. Everyone said to him how the healing of nature-dwellers was the hottest shit. He was of another opinion, though. Every time he got healed, he felt how his bones slowly reconstructed and moved to their positions and how his muscles were broken down and rebuilt again. It was pure agony, but nothing came close the moment some dumbass bug tried to heal his mana veins. For some reason, all of his mana veins were done, just broken, ripped to pieces, and healing them made him remember the old good times of Green opening his heart with something that felt like a cheap chainsaw bought from Walmart. He couldn''t cast or use any mana skills in that sense since his mana veins and core were nothing more than pieces at the moment. They would heal themselves automatically, but this needed time and a lot of it. He would need to wait years for them to recover naturally, but with healing, he would be done in a couple of months. The negative for him was that it felt like he got invaded by millions of drunken ants with little chainsaws. No biggie. Other than the constant hellish pain he needed to endure, it was all Honkey Dorey. Except there was another thing: His family stayed with him all day and night, watching and entertaining him. This was why his sibling''s new hangout spot was his room, where they all discussed their stuff, and he didn''t know if he was that much of a fan of this. Alexander became frustrated by all the arguing, "Listen, can''t you let it go?" Lorient turned around to him, "Wanna thrashing?" Alexander smirked, "Listen, I killed four assassins, so I can probably take on... Janina, if she doesn''t move too much, so be nice to your little brother. I barely escaped the cold hands of death, hehe." Janina planted her face on Sarah''s lap and muffled, "I hate it. Why are you the ones who have a nice time with girls while we need to go out of our way to get scumbags who want to assassinate us!" Initially, they were extremely worried about Alexander with all the shebang: Crying and revenge swearing. Still, after around three weeks of him slowly recovering, it was all back to gossip and typical topics like romance. He didn''t mind, though, since it became boring after listening to Lorient describing her favorite ways to dismember Fiorello for the hundredth time. Narsiz raised an eyebrow and answered, "Can''t you see what happened to Alex? I don''t think he has such a great time." Alexander affirmed it with a tail nod. Yet, Janina apparently had another opinion, "This is only tempro... tampor..." Sarah helped her, "Temporary." Janina nodded as a thank you at her and continued, "After some time, you are healthy again, but the love is eternal with Patricia!" Something snapped inside Alexander since his mental capacity for bullshit was strongly reduced, and he was about to throw some serious insults at his little sister since she thought going through hell was worth it if some girl was waiting on the other end, which wasn''t even the case for him. Still, Lorient was first, "You are an idiot." Janina looked at her, baffled, "Why?!" Lorient continued, "Stop reading those stupid fairy tales about glorious heroes and knights. Reality is far different..." She pointed toward Alexander, "...first, wanna know what kind of pain he felt?" Janina became confused but nodded slightly. Sarah sighed, took her into her arms, and went to Alexander, slightly touching his foot, "Janina, are you sure? We all tried to feel his pain with my new mystic skill. I can feel what others are feeling and transfer it to you." She nodded and became determined, so Sarah looked at Alexander and nodded towards him, "Excuse me..." Her eyes began to glow as she looked deep into his eyes, "...I command you to remember and recreate the most severe pain you ever felt." Alexander''s mind went blank, and he was forced to imagine his pain while Green went through his innards like a raccoon through garbage. However, he didn''t feel anything. Janina did, though, as she suddenly grabbed Sarah''s arm, wanting to rip it apart, and screamed, "Stop it! Ahhhhhhh! Stop, please stop it! No!" After two seconds, it was all over. Janina was crying and shivering in Sarah''s arms. It was her new mystic skill called [Empath]. With it, she could take the emotions and feelings of others and experience them instead. Little to say, it was an insane skill to quickly level up specific skills without having long-lasting damage. She already did this by coming to Alexander twice a day and trying to endure his pain as much as possible. By her accounts, the [Pain Resistance] skill was already at level 41. What made Alexander even more jealous was that her mystic skill [Pain is my Lover] was a passive skill with which she could increase or decrease the effects of any kind of pain. But, another great thing about it was that with [Force of Partiality], she could deflect it to someone else or back to the person, but to a different place. She could, for example, hit someone on the left arm, but through the combination of those skills, the person could be confused by feeling the pain on the right arm. It was an incredible cheat: Senses, emotions, pain, etc. She could redirect everything with enough training and make the lives of her enemies pure hell. With unlimited stamina, she would be unbeatable since she could now deflect everything. Before that, it was only possible with physical attacks, but she now had a mental defense and attack skill because of the new mystic skill. However, because they were teens and bored, Alexander suggested at one point whether they wanted to try out what he felt, and this was also when it all started. He then explained his theory of how she could use [Are You Trying To Sacrifice Yourself?] with which she could bring out emotions and not only command others. With [Empath], she could get the emotion, feeling, or whatever, and with [Force of Partiality], she could redirect it to someone else. Little to say, it worked very well, and Alexander''s moronic siblings had a contest who could hold it the longest. Sarah won, by the way, with around ~20 seconds. Alexander looked at the idiots, "You know, you are idiots. You could''ve just given her what I feel now to make her understand. No need to be unusually cruel." Sarah shrugged while patting Janina lovingly, who was curled up into a ball in her arms, "She needs to learn that things are never that easy. If she can learn through this to act more rationally, it is fine..." Sarah sat down again and looked at everyone with slight worry, "...don''t tell Mama, please, okay?" Narsiz chuckled slightly, "Hehe, don''t worry, but now you need to look after her for the next weeks." Sarah shrugged and smiled lovingly at the curled-up furball in her arms, "I am fine with it." Lorient also shrugged, "Yeah, her mindset needed to be..." Janina suddenly interrupted her, her voice sounding frightened, "Sorry..." Alexander waggled his stick, formerly known as tail, at her, "No worries. This whole fairy tale stuff with knights and heroes is all nonsense. You saw how Patricia was, and now look at me. Not so much fun." Janina nodded but carefully asked, trying to hang obviously on her fantasy, "So, the knight novels you read to me were all lies?" Alexander was confused since he didn''t understand clearly, "What do you mean?" Janina momentarily thought and elaborated, "In the stories, all the knights and heroes want to win the favor of the princesses and ladies by protecting them from evil humans. In the end, they sometimes sacrifice themselves for their true love..." her voice became much more timid, "...I find it beautiful." Alexander understood, "Oh yeah, that''s a tragedy for everyone. Look at Patricia. Do you think she is happy with how it all went even though she is healthy and has a..." He tried to imitate air quotes with his tail, "...hero? She cries every night in her dreams while apologizing. She feels terrible because she was frozen in place and couldn''t do anything." Janina wanted to argue back, "But... aren''t you much closer now?" Alexander shook his tail from side to side, "No. I am in constant pain, while Patricia is probably depressed and doesn''t know how to cope. We are..." He thought about how he should explain it since he needed to stay as cordial as possible and didn''t want to destroy Janina''s dream, but he also knew that whatever he said here, someone would talk, and Patricia would know about it later. He had already learned his lesson with Anastasia, so the last thing he needed was an even more depressed fox-kin girl. However, he also didn''t want to give some weird statement that could be interpreted that he was in love and make everything weirder. Some rhetoric trickery was needed, "...not closer. We are farther away since this tragedy is between us. We would be much happier and closer if not for the assassins." Janina was silent for some time, clearly thinking what Alexander said. He wanted her to be not a dumb damsel in distress, which wasn''t even a gendered thing. There were also fairy tales about how princes got saved by strong and beautiful female knights or heroines. Since the system basically eliminated all sex differences, this kind of genre was somewhat popular with boys from noble households. Still, his sister clearly didn''t want to be the knight but the princess. However, for the guard households, it was rather rare to see who was really into it since they were knights who fought with their lives on the line. This romanticism usually was only exhibited as much as Alexander could trust his teacher, by central nobility, who weren''t under constant attacks from four sides. Janina brought him out of his thoughts by repeating her question carefully, "So... fairy tales about honorable knights are all lies?" Lorient groaned as she was clearly annoyed by such a topic, "Urgh!..." She leaned towards her and looked intensely into her eyes, "...we are a knight family! Mom is one, and Grandmother! What do you think a knight should have?" Janina immediately counted all the typical traits, "Honor, loyalty, elegance..." She was interrupted as all her siblings started chuckling, "...what is so funny?" Lorient said what was primarily valid for all the guard dogs, "Strength, luck, and a spouse which complements you. What you said are only fancy words. We are fighting with monsters, demons, and other sapient races. There is no place for honor or elegance. The most elegant thing you can expect is decapitating an assassin without spilling tea." Janina looked around while everyone nodded toward her, except Alexander, who nodded with his tail. She started sulking into Sarah''s lap while getting patted, "You are too young to worry about such things. Give yourself a little more time and then think this through again, okay? Narsiz, for example, wasn''t even aware that he liked girls before his legacy, hehe." Narsiz suddenly turned to Alexander, "You told them this?" He raised in turn his eyebrow, "Tell what? I didn''t say shit!..." He turned to Sarah, "...what are you spouting?" This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. She, in turn, chuckled, "Hehe, it was so obvious, though. You visited Alex when he was sick and then tried all your skills on his maids. It was kind of cute how you asked them stiffly if they were okay if you could use a skill to seduce them, haha!" Alexander chuckled at him, "Hehe, see? You are the... Ow!" Narsiz nodded stoically after grabbing Alexander''s tail and slightly pressing it, "Got it. Can we change the topic?" Lorient was the first to shrug since she cared little about embarrassing stuff, while all the others looked at him funnily. She looked at Narsiz and Alexander with pity, "Scarlett, though, treat you both like a piece of meat for sale. Are you fine with that?" They all looked at Narsiz and his stupid happy-go-lucky smile, even though they had teased him a moment ago. Lorient revised her statement, "Are you fine with that, Alexander?" Alexander waggled with his stick, formerly known as tail, "Scarlett can swallow a big one for all I care. I am rich and have unlimited talent, so I do what I want!" Janina looked back at Alexander, "But, I think that she brought Patricia was nice of her, though. Don''t she come over every night and try to comfort you even if she feels terrible, like you said?" Alexander frowned. He couldn''t address it without coming over as some kind of asshole. In his mind, she was clearly distressed from the assassination attack and thought it was all her fault. She apologized to him very often while snugging herself onto him, and in her sleep, she often had nightmares and mumbled his name or even cried. So he needed to be the adult while living through hell and comfort her. Patricia was only a little girl to him, like a sister. There was no possible way for him to kick her out while she was clearly traumatized. Sometimes, he found it not so bad, though, since she was a great help against his boredom. She loved to talk a lot. However, she sometimes crawled into his bed without saying anything and slept. They all looked at Janina, and Sarah was the first to laugh, "Haha! Is she nice, though? Remember how she tried to visit Alex even though he was heavily injured? She started multiple fights with the guards, and then she even cursed Mama, who didn''t allow her to enter in the first week... oh right then there was the thing with Papa..." Janina interrupted her, "Stop it! We all got it!" Sarah nodded toward Janina as a sign of apology, "Sorry. However, she is a real pain in the ass who can''t accept a no. We tried to tell her hundreds of times that she needed to wait, but she never accepted a no." Alexander waggled with his stick and chuckled at those statements. There was a lot of commotion whenever she wanted to enter, but everyone was against it until they brought out some safety measures. He now had some talisman glued under his tongue. The moment it got scratched or blood got on it, it would immediately activate, and a bubble would surround him, protecting him from anything akin to the explosion he experienced. The sad thing was that it was powerful. Thus, it was only active for 24 hours and needed a constant recharge with natural energy. Otherwise, he would love to have something like this as a trump card. There was another way everyone proposed to safeguard Alexander, which he opposed vehemently: A mana contract. He knew she wasn''t at fault, so he would not make her sign anything so that she would feel much worse. If everyone around her thought of her as a danger, she would probably start to spiral into something much worse than what she was going through at the moment. So this was also why he now had a cool artifact in his mouth. ''It has some perks being sick since I can always invoke pity, hehe. Otherwise, those dumbasses would probably even send her back.'' Even though Alexander went through hell, he always said to himself that at some point, it would end, and he would be back to doing his routine. All he needed to do was to bite his tongue and wait. The same went for Patricia since he didn''t want to let out his frustrations on her. Janina started to sulk, "Sorry, I really want to have the same what Alex and Narsi have and meet others..." Alexander made a snide remark, "Yeah, let me contact the underworld first so you get the full experience." Lorient rolled her eyes at his comment and remembered something, "In three years is a ball for the noble youth. How about you go with Alex there?" This time, Narsiz came out of his lovey-dovey commata and commented, "I doubt Alex is going there... otherwise, I prophesize that it will be a slaughter, and the first time was already bad." Lorient glared at him, "Wasn''t that bad." Janina knew about their story but didn''t care and looked at her brother with big sparkling eyes, "Big brother! You really want to go and take your poor little sister with you, right?" Alexander hated that his youngest sister romanticized that mindset and was all for the aristocratic way of socializing, even after trying to lower her enthusiasm for it. He hoped that she would grow out of it. Yet the ball was a great learning opportunity for him. At some point, he would need to learn how to network. It was a possibility he wouldn''t get so quickly again. Since it was a ball for aristocratic youth, he imagined it was far more casual than the one for adults, like training wheels for his poor social skills. There were also probably many young people who wanted to make many friends. However, after another moment, he remembered who he was, ''Well, I need to get my shit together beforehand so I don''t go on a killing spree.'' Alexander wasn''t stupid and knew he could roast the living shit out of every other child or even lower guards, so he would need to be careful and sensitive when joining those circles. It''s not like he was all for creating wars for his family because he froze a toddler into a popsicle. He sighed, "Fine, I wanted, either way, to go there, but I am not at fault for what will happen, so you know!" She cheered, "Yeah!" Alexander looked around the room and got slightly annoyed, "By the way, isn''t it time to leave me alone for a change?!" Lorient was the first to answer, "You have the biggest room, and I wanted to hang out." Alexander answered her immediately, "Because you destroyed yours!" Lorient shrugged, not caring, as she was put in a shed for punishment, "So? Just let me sleep in one of your rooms." Alexander sighed, "Aren''t you doing this either way? Melina told me that you have lived in my mansion since your mating season ended." Lorient smiled at him cheekily, "Well, I want to protect my lovely little brother." Alexander stopped the discussion and ignored that she also brought her servants with her, who were immediately thrown out, creating a dispute between their people. He didn''t care, though, and it was funny how sometimes Melina ranted about them wanting to enter only to be rejected. Alexander waggled his tail and pointed at Sarah, "What about you? I thought you got house arrest or something?" Sarah shivered slightly but smiled in the end, "Mama forgot it, so..." She held the index finger before her mouth, "...sssshhhh. Just let me hang out. I came alone, you know?" He frowned, knowing that she leeched off him like his other sister, "You also live here, don''t you?" She nodded with a genuine smile, "Protecting my family was always my priority, you know?" Now, four out of five siblings lived in his mansion besides Linuel and Patricia. He could imagine how little space everyone had. He noted down inwardly to talk later with Melina to figure out what it looked like on her end and if she would need more people. Narsiz also lived here with him, but Alexander invited him since he looked like he was rather lonely. However, with him getting closer to Linuel, he would throw him out at some point. Alexander remembered some fun gossip as he thought about his brother, "Hey Narsiz, how is it to be called archmage, hehe." Narsiz laughed at that, "Haha, please, because I know three spells. Calling me like that is a little too much." Sarah commented, "Well, you learned them pretty fast. Even Green was astounded by your progress and got depressed." Alexander became more giddy, "Well, just ask her for more pamphlets and..." Narsiz immediately interrupted him, "Nope. I will not get more spells, so just you can have them." Lorient chuckled, "Hehe, I should also start with magic. I found some interesting spells I want to learn." Alexander waggled his stick at Narsiz, "See?! It is for the greater good!" Janina became incredibly annoyed, "Why am I again the only one left out?!" Alexander answered her, "Because I was trying to give you [Mana Sense], but we need time... well, Green needs to rearrange my body into its right positions and replace some important stuff, but after it is done, we can continue." She pouted, "I don''t understand why it takes so long. How did you learn [Mana Sense]?" Sarah commented, "I don''t think Alex actually knows how..." Alexander interrupted her, "I know how." Everyone looked at him astounded, and Sarah was the first to ask, "Excuse me? I remember you told me you were not older than one year old when you got it." Alexander tried to mimic his head movements with the stick and nodded at this, "Yeah, but it was pure luck. I somehow felt that the world around me had something obscure. It was like being submerged in something I didn''t know before." Narsiz asked, "So, how does your training for Janina look like?" "I move with my mana, the ambient mana around Nina while she mediates. Well... I try since moving ambient mana is hard." Narsiz raised an eyebrow, "Why not move the mana away and let her be in a place without for some time only to enter a place with much more mana? Wouldn''t it align with your experience much better and how you got the skill?" The room suddenly went silent, only to hear a mad laughing from Alexander a moment later, "Muhahaha! This idea is actually genius!" Janina groaned at this, "Urgh! All the training for nothing!" Lorient rebuked her, "Not really. Through this, we learned how to do it..." She mumbled slightly, "...if it will work at all." Sarah tapped her cheek with her index finger and thought out loud, "Wouldn''t the ones who got the mana skills through [Mystic Skills] or racial skills get annoyed that we now know a better way to do it to get the real thing? I mean, I don''t really care, but I am sure that others would like Lia." Narsiz shook his head, "I don''t think so, and I can''t imagine that the dragon-kin households didn''t find out the method I proposed. If it were the case, every one of them would have mana skills, which is not the case. It will probably work partly, and if not, the old method will be their plan B." Alexander waggled with his tail furiously, "Who cares?! We actually found many ways to transform others into mages! Now, try the second! Put Nina...ow!" Narsiz weakly grabbed Alexander''s tail and reprimanded him, "Yeah, sure. How about you calm down first? We have more than ten healers at our estate, including Green and her friends, and they are almost always out of stamina or mana. There is no way we would do your crazy experiments with them being tired." Alexander understood him and agreed, "Got it! But we can at least think about how we would do it, right? Get Green and Anastasia here... ow!..." he looked at his brother as if he had betrayed him, "...Why?!" Sarah chuckled at this, "Hehe, listen, Alex. First, you need to recover, and then we will plan it all out slowly. It''s not like there is a need to rush things, right?..." She looked at Janina while patting her with more force, which everyone could see, "...I think Nina can wait for a few more months, right?" Janina nodded or tried at least while her eyelids were pulled back, "Yeeeeaaaah... I can wait." Lorient laughed at how obvious they were, "Hehe, you both are really subtle..." She looked at Alexander, "...there is a reason why we are here and only gossip about stupid stuff. When we let you alone, you start to do something stupid, so we are also very happy that Patricia is visiting you at night, keeping your unpredictableness at bay." Narsiz nodded and started to pet him slowly, "We love you and want only the best for you. So stay calm for a couple more months, okay?" Sarah smiled lovingly at him, "Just wait a little bit, Alex. After you are healthy, we can do whatever you want again." For some reason, Alexander felt suddenly an immense pressure on his chest. He didn''t know why, but all his emotions got crazy. Something he pressed down got triggered by the love of his siblings they were showing him. He suddenly cried. It became silent the moment he started to cry. He was confused and didn''t know why as it came so abruptly. No, he knew. It was the same as he came out of the operation directly into the Tier test. He felt desperation. He didn''t know why, but it felt like the world did everything it could to crush him. The willpower he exuded to withstand the last weeks slowly dried up. He needed to be strong. Otherwise, he would just crumble under the pressure he put himself under. It was something he did to himself. Nobody forced him not to seek support. He let everything out. Sobbing while his brother patted him. But there was something inside of him that told him it was wrong. He was alive, and everyone did their best to comfort him, so how could he dare to cry and break down? Everyone overextended themselves to make him feel better and comfort him in his worst state. To cry and break down felt like spitting in their faces. Was he irrational? Yes. Somehow, he wanted to be more like Patricia, who could just show her emotions without a care in the world. He had something like a mental barrier, though, which made it much more challenging, and he didn''t know that he needed first the support of his siblings and weeks of torture and suffering to bring the barrier down slowly. He said the first thing that came to his mind, without any jokes, sarcasm, or pettiness, "I was frightened. I don''t want to die, and I don''t want to feel this pain... heuk." He was frightened to no end. Even though he acted and did what he thought was right, it was not like he could swallow everything afterward and let it go. It worsened since he couldn''t distract himself, which seemed to be why he broke now. There was another situation that gave him nightmares, which he couldn''t disclose even though he wanted to. Before waking up from the pain, the dream he had was like a nightmare, where he was his old self with the stabbing wound and Alexander in front of him like his old self, drinking and suppressing his emotions. Alexander wanted to change it and be more honest with himself, but for some reason, he felt shame in front of his family. Even now, it felt wrong to him to be like this, "Heuk...it was terrible." Janina also started crying, "Heuk... I thought you were dead after I saw you..." Her face turned reddish, and her voice was full of anger, almost screaming, "...why did you not... ow!" Sarah pinched her, but Alexander knew what she wanted to ask, "Hehe... sorry." Lorient smirked at him and tried to change the topic. Everyone knew she wasn''t the best regarding emotional stuff, "Well, someone hungry? The chief here can make a really good steak. Want me to get you some?" Sarah sighed, "What Lori wanted to say was that we are all happy that you are alive and... let''s stay alive since you are not so well..." She suddenly chuckled but stopped immediately, "...heh..." Alexander knew that besides her insane personality and love for fights, she was empathetic and had a strong maternal side. However, he chuckled at that, "Hehe, it''s fine. I am a moron and deserve to be yelled at." Narsiz tried to be more positive, "Don''t worry, there is a positive thing in all of this madness." Janina groaned and mimicked his voice, "Urgh, nobody wants to listen to you anymore at how lovely and great and honest and..." She inhaled strongly, but Sarah stopped this rant by pocking her into her side, "...eek!" Sarah called her out, "Calm down, Alex, number two. You can insult each other for hours when Alex number one gets better." Janina rammed out of annoyance her head into Sarah, only to what Alexander assumed felt like pure steel. The veterans she pummeled to a pulp weren''t losing on purpose, and her training regime was on the high end. Even his fitness studio could barely support her strength anymore. So, he felt a little pity for Janina. But only a little. Narsiz tried to steer the topic back, "Well, I wasn''t about to talk about Lin but that Alex is now owed a big one by the Nine-Fire, so for your plans to expand the charity or your businesses, it should help heavily, however..." He smirked at him, "...you are also much more desirable, so the moment Patricia returns to their estate and tells everything that happened, I expect many more visits from other girls." He wanted to answer him, but the door suddenly opened, and Patricia came inside the room angrily, "Like I will tell anyone about Alex!" Sarah looked around at the weird silence and stood up, grabbing Janina with her, "Well, time for bed." Narsiz stood up while scratching Alex behind his ear, "Well, good night, little hero, hehe." Lorient also stood up and nodded toward Alexander, "Till tomorrow..." She suddenly remembered something, "...Mom will also come again tomorrow, so be ready." Alexander didn''t like that his Mother was visiting. She was clingy toward him, and he knew she hated that he disregarded his life while saving Patricia. How did he know this? She told him this directly. When she had time, she would visit him and discuss how he should act more selfishly. It was like she wanted to educate him by bombarding him with reasonable arguments. However, it was a problem for future Alexander, and now that all his siblings had left, only Patricia was here, who, like always, took her Mary Jane shoes off and crawled into the bed after turning off the candlelight. There was no talking or anything. She cuddled against him as close as possible and breathed slowly, ''It''s one of those nigh...'' He couldn''t end his thought because she interrupted him by being weird, "You cried." Alexander looked at her, and she stared back with her big red ruby eyes, trying to pierce into his soul. It gave him the shivers, and he attempted to change the topic, "Try to go through a talk with Lori without crying or raging." She slowly moved toward him, "Liar." Alexander became suddenly perplexed, "Excu..." She came too close for his taste, where he could even feel her breathing on his face, "Woah, hold your..." Patricia interrupted him, "Shut up." Alexander was ready to activate his talisman but felt no killing intent or danger. However, she suddenly stuck her tongue out slightly, ''No fucking way! After getting almost murdered, I am about to get sexually assaulted?!'' He readied himself to activate the talisman, but she went suddenly for his cheek and licked him, "Salty." After licking him, she propped herself up on her elbow, looking down at him, "Alex." Alexander was confused and couldn''t think what that meant. However, he answered her, fearing what this crazy fox girl would do, ''I need to talk to her more thoroughly. Otherwise, she will do something crazy. I don''t think she can cope with her trauma.'' His voice cracked as he answered, "Yeah?" Patricia was hairsbreadths away from his face and stared at him for a minute. He suddenly got a deja vu and knew what she was about to do. How did he know? He knew the stare. It was too familiar to him, ''She is the same as Angie...'' She had the same insane stare as his ex-fianc¨¦. At their prom, she told him her feelings. The eyes were the same, full of obsessiveness which showed that she wanted him and would never accept a no, ''I am royally fucked...'' Alexander readied himself to reject her as softly as possible while holding his tongue against his teeth to scratch it immediately if she did something insane. She suddenly shook her head and mumbled something he couldn''t hear. He was inwardly delighted not to get proposed by her, but this brought other thoughts out, ''Did I misinterpret her?'' In all his lives, Alexander wasn''t the sharpest tool when it came to emotional stuff. He tried his best, but most of the time, it was a miss, especially when it came to love, which he couldn''t interpret even if someone choked him with it, ''Yeah, what did I think? She is nine and not even close to knowing what love is... hehe, I am truly a moron.'' She smiled at him suddenly, "Your heart is beating very fast. Is everything alright?" He nodded and smiled back, "Kind of... I am only a little nervous." She chuckled and took him as carefully as possible in her arms, "Hehe, don''t worry. While I am here, nothing will happen to you. You saved my life while risking yours. So, will I." Alexander was outwardly very calm but inwardly not, ''Well, she is a little crazy, but what would one expect after such a traumatic experience?'' In his mind, she was very different from what he experienced when they had their little rendezvous, which was to be expected. No nine-year-old could think clearly after something like a life-and-death situation. Even he broke down in tears before his siblings, even though he regarded himself as very resilient. She probably felt horrible for what happened and tried to overcompensate in her care for him, ''If she truly was like Angie, I would be truly fucked.'' Alexander remembered how she was after they moved in together and shivered inwardly. He loved her, but her love was crushing him at every moment they were together, ''Well, the sex was exciting...'' For some reason, he really shivered slightly as another thought occurred to him, ''...if Angie ever would find me like this...'' He came out of his thoughts when Patricia suddenly became solemn, "Alex?" "Yeah? Sorry, I just feel a little cold." She gently petted him and put the blanket over him, "Better?" He nodded, "Thanks." She smiled, "By the way, will you visit the noble ball for youths in three years? The big one?" He became elated as it was back to small talk, "Hm, I will, together with Janina. Will you come too?" Her voice sounded much more joyful, "Yes, and I will wait for you, okay?" He suddenly sighed inwardly in relief since if she was genuinely interested, she wouldn''t ask something like this, implicating that they wouldn''t see each other for a long time, ''I am truly a moron. She probably sees me as a good friend and not some love interest...'' He started to reprimand himself, ''...what were you thinking?'' Alexander smiled back and tried to accommodate her, thinking they could truly be good friends after she got older, "Do you want to leave? It''s sad, but I will, of course, see you there!" She got even closer, pressing herself against him, "I will train with your grandmother so..." She suddenly stopped, and he could feel her heart beating faster. She said nervously, "...three years, okay?" He answered her softly, "You can bet. I will probably be surprised how strong you will get." Alexander could hear genuine happiness in her voice, "Thank you..." It became silent, and she quickly went to sleep. However, Alexander stayed awake for a bit and reprimanded himself for being a fool. He felt ashamed for even thinking such things like she would be in love with him, but on the bright side, he didn''t make himself look like an idiot, so everything was fine, and the misunderstanding he almost created was quickly resolved. ''Well, I don''t think we can go for a drink when we are this young, but later for sure.'' However, something was bugging him. A feeling that he might be correct with his previous assumption, ''I guess asking Mom should be fine, but I will look like a dumbass if I am wrong...'' He shook himself inwardly from such thoughts, ''I need to change slowly, so such a thing should be fine, trusting my Mother with my worries.'' Chapter 78: Nine-Fire Visit 17: Contradictions ... Letter from Ori L. Nine-Fire to Marisia S. Leonandra Dear Mari, I am writing you back in regret of what you and your family experienced. I know no words could calm you down, especially since the threat came from us. The last thing I or my household want is to endanger your puppies in any way. With this said, as your first cousin once removed, I swear that I will wash away the dishonor with the blood of any traitor I get my hands on and send their heads as an apology to you. For Fiorello, though, I want to skin this unthankful bastard myself! What is left of him, I will naturally send to you so you can put it as a trophy anywhere it fits. You don''t need to worry about anything since the moment I read your letter, I immediately started sending out my girls with our army and the command to get anyone who even spoke with Fiorello in the last years. Of course, the Foxteeth underworld, who took the hit to assassinate your and mine puppies, will be in shambles the next time you visit me. I will fill the sewers with the blood and guts of those who associated with him so the rats can have their fill! There will be no guild left that dared to associate with anyone even accused of being in contact with Fiorello. I promise this to you! Also, I want to thank you, and especially Alexander, for risking his life to protect my little Patricia. A thank-you would never be enough to show my gratefulness, so please ask Alexander what he wants, and I will get it! Even if it is the Dean of the Moorgrelian Cathedral branch, I will kidnap him personally so he will teach Alexander. Just say the word. Peter is also incredibly thankful and can''t believe what happened. He already set out his people to contact every underworld on Moorgrel to put a hit on Fiorello. With his connections, it would be impossible to flee for the little rat. He also said that it should be natural that our daughter, Linuel, saved your son, Narsiz. I am grateful for your thank-you and gratefulness. We would like to have the great parchment you acquired as a present. Peter was especially very fond of it as the letters you used it for looked beautiful. You know how he is, full of vigor when it comes to his art. While I am on the point of our puppies, how is the bonding going on? From what I understood in the last letter, Narsiz, and Linuel are in love, which is great! Since Narsiz is the one who will administer the fief, he can and should obviously stay at your territory while, hopefully, Linuel can help him with his ambitions. However, I would want to have the wedding at my estate since Peter is always too lazy to travel. Regardless, I hope for a more conclusive answer in your next letter on Narsiz and Linuel. I also understand that because of Alexander''s well-being, writing about the bonding between puppies is a bit tasteless. However, if possible, please keep me informed on how they are doing. You also mentioned that night-elves attacked them, but sadly, I have no idea, less Peter, who it could be. But please be sure that when we find someone in the underworld, we will question them and then write a letter with their blood on their skin about all the information they gave us. I will excuse myself for the very sloppily written letter since Peter usually does it, but since he is out hunting down vermin, I was forced to write it, and you know how untalented I am in that aspect. With Greeting and a lot of love, Ori L. Nine-Fire ... Days later (weeks after the assassination), Marisia''s office "So this is what he said, my lord and lady." Sarusos was standing before Kairoso, Marisia, and Scarlett. He recounted everything he could get out of the assassin, which wasn''t much, even after weeks of torture. It was a lower Tier 2 assassin bound by a robust mana contract, so Sarusos''s information gathering was slow, and the results were cryptic. Marisia knew his method for such cases: For every question he asked, he was given an answer that didn''t say much, but in the end, they could puzzle every answer together and get at least something abstract. It was the only way to bypass contracts besides unique skills or spells that they didn''t have, and hiring someone with such abilities would take too long. The first answer she wanted to have answered was how they bypassed their skills and senses since the prisoner wasn''t particularly powerful. The answer was relatively trivial: They had special skills in changing into others if they drank their blood. It was a weird skill that only worked when they did this ritual at specific intervals. Otherwise, they would turn back. With this, they could copy other''s bodies and thus trick their close ones with their smell, looks, etc. ''So they were pressed on time because they had little blood left. Otherwise, the abrupt attack made little to no sense.'' While it sounded like an exciting topic while having cake, it was mostly useless. Such skills weren''t scarce, and the underworld brokers would probably not know anything specific about them. At most, they could get hundreds of pages with rough descriptions of individuals with similar skills. Marisia walked around the office while thinking aloud, "So... the skills are a dead end. What about the pay? Can we get something out of that? It is a given that it was probably an enormous sum, but was it cash or a banknote?" Sarusos frowned, "Cash, and they used multiple brokers for smaller sums who dabble in vastly different areas, so it was surprising to hear some particular names..." Sarusos suddenly smiled at her, "...don''t worry, my lady, I will visit them and get some answers. However, I know that some are only the middlemen for hits or jobs given out from Foxteeth." Marisia wanted to continue, but the moment she heard that there was a possibility that a hit came from Foxteeth, she frowned, "Foxteeth, you say?" Sarusos nodded and understood, "I understand what you are thinking about, my lady, but it could also be that since they sent their hit through multiple brokers, Foxteeth could be just one city in a series of many major hubs to obfuscate their traces more thoroughly..." He stopped and sighed, "...and we don''t even know if there are smaller towns involved." Kairoso interrupted him, "Give me the name list. I will see if there is a name I know. I know some shady brokers who dabble in Jackteeth, Dogteeth, and some smaller towns." Sarusos nodded and gave him the list. All the while, Marisia wasn''t too happy about the outcome. If the hit came from Foxteeth, it meant that Ori, the lady of the territory, was obliterating the whole underworld and, with this, their evidence. Fortune wasn''t on her side when her husband, after a quick glance, strengthened her worst assumptions, "I only recognize the ones from Foxteeth. This means..." Marisia continued for him, "Let''s hope that Peter stops Ori. Otherwise, it would be hard to interrogate dead brokers." Scarlett tried to relax her, "Don''t worry, she is not that crazy." Marisia turned to her and raised an eyebrow, "Didn''t I show you the letter from before?..." She turned to her husband, "...Ah, right, you didn''t read it. She also asks for paper for her husband''s novel. So please ask Alex if he could give her a couple of samples when you visit him today, and also, please ask him what he wants since she wants to reward him for saving Patricia, okay?" Kairoso was confused, "Is she crazy? Her daughters were attacked, and she asks for paper?" Both women answered him confidently and nonchalantly. "Yes." "Very much so." He tilted his head in bewilderment till Scarlett explained, "It is for her husband, who also wrote the novel everyone read in the estate. He is not only a good commander on the battlefield but, for some reason, likes to write trash for commoners." Marisia waved her hand in dismissal, wanting to continue, "I will give you the letter later to read..." She turned to Sarusos, "...Let''s hurry up. I need to write a letter before Ori burns down her city. Tell me the name of the assassin. Maybe we can conclude something from it." Sarusos shook his head, "They are blanks." She rubbed between her eyebrows and felt that a migraine was coming. Being a blank meant that they forgot their names through various means, and nobody knew them, too, so their system deleted them as there was nobody who knew what they were named. It was a highly illegal practice used by nobles for the information networks they built in the past. For this, they would try to find impoverished pregnant women, catch them, and wait till they gave birth, only to kill them afterward so the newborn was as clear as possible from anyone or anything. Other than that, there were other methods, but they were usually more expensive to turn someone blank. A blank was a perfect agent since the blank name of their system indicates that they had nobody who knew them or didn''t even know who they were. So, they had no past and, with it, no baggage. They would and could change their names multiple times without any problems, depending on whatever they were doing, even going so far as impersonating nobles. She didn''t know much about it as they had never practiced such a thing, only that they were great agents and some minor details. ''I can''t believe that they had actually such expensive but weak assassins... what is going on?'' Usually, one would try and train their blanks as much as possible since they were an expensive resource. However, the one Sarusos interrogated was far from what the usual higher nobility had. She looked at Sarusos and asked, expecting not much, "Territory?" He suddenly smiled, "Well, by their smell alone, they are part of the East of Moorgrel, and since birth." She nodded since it was a good beginning. If someone''s sense of smell was strong enough, and this was especially for canine-kin the case, they could, through various means, determine where they lived since birth. It was sometimes rather vague, but with Moorgrelians, it was easy since the stench of the wild-demonic aura was strong in the east and easy to determine since it would also depose inside the body and would increase depending on where one lived and for how long. Again, it was a rough estimate, but better than nothing. However, this made the situation even weirder. The assassins were night elves, so she predicted the worst, ''Is some noble actually stealing them from the refugee camp?'' If her assumption was true, the noble was dead meat. The camp was not to be attacked under any circumstances. Whoever did this would get killed, no matter under whom they were, ''This is impossible to determine.'' She looked at Sarusos, "Can you determine if they got stolen from the refuge camp?" Scarlett interrupted her, clearly surprised, "They are still alive? How surprising. I thought that they all died already." Marisia shook her head, "No, they are alive but barely, and there could be a possibility that someone bought or stole them and turned them into blanks." Sarusos frowned, and his tone became a little strained, "It''s impossible to determine if nobles are at play who could, in the first place, do what they did. However, since they got paid, it..." He stopped and scratched his head out of stress, a rare sight, before continuing, "...it makes no sense why they took even a hit or placed one in the first place. This whole attack makes no sense." Kairoso said, with barely a care in the world, "Well, you know our little friends, and they know what it means to go against us, so..." Marisia immediately interrupted her husband, "No purges! The last thing I need is for the vacuum we created to get even bigger. They are careful and try to control themselves. The last thing I need is the underworld going against us." Kairoso sighed, "Fine..." He looked back at Sarusos, "...be careful then, and do nothing outrageous." Sarusos became a little discouraged but nodded, "Of course, master..." He turned to Marisia, "...anything else? If not, I have written everything down." Marisia shook her head, "No, wait. First, I want you to tell me everything you know, and then you can run around like a maniac in the underworld." Sarusos put his hand over his heart and looked playfully shocked, "I would nev..." Marisia quickly interrupted him, "Enough. What about the explosions? I heard of suicide assassins attacking after death, but exploding is new." Sarusos stopped his act and opened his arms, sounding excited, "This was the most fascinating thing I found out! It was not a skill but a magic potion!" She raised an eyebrow, "A potion?" He nodded expectingly, "Yes! The prisoner had a potion inside his stomach, from which the contents were non-magical, but the flask itself was enchanted. However, I think the enchantment of our prisoner was damaged. Thus, she couldn''t explode." Marisia nodded, "Give this to..." She shook her head as she wanted to give it to Alexander to inspect, but that would be impossible now, "...store it somewhere secure till Alex recovers." Sarusos nodded, "Anything else?" Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. She ignored his conduct that he wanted to leave and bring mayhem to the underworld and just continued, "Is the prisoner still alive?" The fox-kin frowned slightly, "Barely... she is trying to kill herself at every possibility, so I give her a week till the poisonings of the healing potions get too strong." "What about healing, or do they activate a contract clause?" He nodded, "Sadly, yes. They get overly jittery, and their body gets destroyed the moment they feel like they are getting healed. It seems to be a contract on a very high level." Marisia truly disliked the information they got since they were all, if taken by themselves, inside the norm but, put together, contradicted themselves heavily. Nothing made sense. Comparably weak blanks with exploding potions inside of them who also had suicide skills weren''t something anyone could afford. It was bizarre, especially after she heard about the potions. They weren''t cheap either, putting them inside someone who could become a great assassin after some decades, especially with such strong appearance-changing skills. It made no sense to her. It didn''t stop there. Why attack them? The only ones who would be vulnerable against them would have been the puppies, but trying to assassinate someone so young, like Patricia, while putting so much out there was insane. Nobody in their right mind would do it since they would become the enemy of the Count and all his Knightages once found out. Even worse, the only one who could do something like this in Moorgrel would be a Viscount, but there were only three, and they would never put so many resources into a useless suicide attack for a pup to die. There was another point she couldn''t understand. It could be possible to point a finger at them if they attacked Alexander, who had tremendous potential, and if they somehow found this out. But they tried to kill Patricia almost maniacally, who was talented but not to such a degree that propagated assassination attempts. It was mind-boggling to her. Nothing made sense. ''Did Ori do something to them to get such hate?'' The only possibility to her was that Ori somehow angered a Viscount, but that wasn''t hard. The guard households weren''t exactly on good terms with the other nobilities since they extorted gold from them to protect the border. Marisia and some others were exceptions for rather boring reasons. She could''ve done the same and just got the gold for the demon run, but such practices usually led to a long-term economic slump for everyone. She visibly sighed and decided to ask her this in a letter, ''Did she really blackmail a Viscount?'' She noted it down inwardly and went to the next problem, which was much more glooming and practical in nature. They needed to find the brokers quickly and get them before Ori killed them, ''I can''t believe that the hit came from Foxteeth... if it is true, that means they somehow are insane enough to... but again... damn it!'' Marisia was angry since they needed the information from everyone they could get their hands on, and if everything came from Foxteeth, she would be lucky if she could find some half-dead information brokers. Nonetheless, the underworld over there made the same mistake theirs did in Wolfteeth. They attacked their ruler, and Marisia knew that Ori wasn''t as forgiving as her. Ultimately, she killed around 20 to 30% of their underworld guilds, which specialized in assassinations, protection, and more, to not create a power vacuum inside her territory. Still, she knew that Ori would do the opposite and probably purge the whole underworld. Soon, there would be nothing left if she didn''t start already out of rage. ''I hope Peter can stop her somehow. The last thing I need is having their underworld flee to ours.'' There was a possibility that news was traveling fast enough and that many would just flee before a purge would start, and the closest places would be either Jackteeth or Wolfsteeth, ''I can''t believe they did this actually in Foxteeth.'' The underworlds were actually very well controlled inwardly, and they would quickly kill their own delinquents who didn''t follow their rules. It was especially the case in Foxteeth since their nobles were always on the extreme side in how they reacted to aggression. The most urgent information she needed was why there was a hit in the first place. Putting a hit out there for blanks to accept made no sense and would go against her theory of a Viscount being behind the whole ordeal. Nothing made sense to her, and the brokers would at least have some idea of who could be behind it. Yet, she had one more thing she needed to know. The whereabouts and involvement of a certain individual, "What about Fiorello? How were the assassins connected to him?" Sarusos shook his head, "Barely. They only knew that they should follow him and act according to their roles around him, but he was not a target, that''s it." She nodded, "Fine. That was enough." They had already sent dozens of people into their underworld to look for him, but there were no traces. She speculated that he somehow could flee through magical means since they also could purchase explosives. It wasn''t far off for him to have a teleportation scroll. As the name suggested, a teleportation scroll was a magical item that teleported the user kilometers away. The distance could easily increase to a dozen kilometers or much more, depending on the strength. However, the side effects were that his attributes, stamina, and strength in general would decrease drastically for some time, which relied again on how far he teleported. It was a gamble if he even survived and didn''t land in some forest where wild animals or monsters would rip him apart. Marisia became stressed as the situation wasn''t something she could even see through. Everything contradicted each other, and she had no way of understanding what was happening while the Nine-Fire household acted like a hornet''s nest being poked with a stick, ''What a mess.'' Sarusos bowed and left her office quickly. On the other hand, she promptly sat down and needed to get her message over to Ori quickly, ''I need to make at least sure that she doesn''t torch the whole city.'' Marisia quickly pulled out some paper and started to write everything down. She commanded one of the servants to get one of their specially bred falcons so she could deliver it as quickly as possible after she was done. Kairoso asked as he looked at Marisia in confusion, "Why the haste? One hour, more or less, doesn''t really matter. As long as we get a hit on him, he will not be safe in Moorgrel." Without looking up, Marisia answered him, "It''s not about Fiorello. It''s because of Ori that I need to be quick. You don''t know her as well as I do and didn''t read the letter..." She opened another drawer and gave her husband the letter, "...you will see." Kairoso raised an eyebrow after quickly reading it, "She is really crazy... first the nonsense with the paper and then stuff with the blood. Does she have mood swings?" Scarlett nodded at this, "Sounds about right. She was always a little on the extreme side." Marisia ignored the chat her mother and husband had. Now, she needed to hurry and quickly write everything necessary down, and later on, she would send a more thorough response regarding all the other things she asked about. She also noted down to remember the paper for her. Otherwise, Ori would annoy her. She came suddenly out of her thoughts when Kairoso said something she thought about but didn''t want to ask, "Since Ori is having a go at the underworld, I will ask Green to contact the oracle." Marisia looked at him suddenly, "The oracle? Are you sure?" He nodded solemnly, "It''s fine. Worst case, she doesn''t find anything, but the debt she owes me would barely make a dent." Marisia nodded and suddenly remembered the other part of the letter, "By the way, she wants to know how the girls bond with Narsi and Alex. I will include it in the next letter, but from what I see, Narsi and that bitc..." She quickly corrected herself, "...Linuel are bonding well while Patricia and Alex are coming closer, but I don''t see anything that tells me he is in love with her. Do you know more, Mother?" Scarlett tilted her head in confusion, "I agree mostly, but did something happen with Linuel?" Marisia answered her stoically, "I would rather skin this vixen, but I will let it go for now. Bonding is one thing, but kissing? She is lucky that Kairo was lenient and convinced me not to sterilize her." Kairoso shrugged, "Where I come from, kissing is not a big deal. Premature commoners do it all the time, so who cares?" Scarlett nodded as a thank you at Kairoso, "Thanks..." She then turned to Marisia, "...I recommend that you send him away after his first mating season for his practice as administrator together with Linuel. Since he has no personal guard, having her by his side would be perfect. So I would say she should stay here." Marisia nodded but warned her mother, "I trust your judgment and hope you won''t try to trick me again. If she does anything more to my son, I will have her head, so you know." Scarlett frowned, clearly not caring about Linuel, "I thought we closed this chapter?" Marisia looked at her mother sternly, "We close it when my sister is healthy again," and went back to writing. Scarlett didn''t say anything but became visibly angry. Marisia cared little for her emotional well-being and was ready for another fight. She even wished for one to let her frustrations out. She was under a lot of pressure at the moment as everything was out of her control, and she hated it. First, it was because she decided against her initial judgment, immediately returning Linuel back to Foxteeth. The vixen would stay here like the parasite she was. Still, with Kairoso and her Mother seeing no problem in what she did, Marisia decided to listen to them. Ultimately, even though she disliked the fox girl whore, if her son was happy, her thoughts should matter little. Second, it was because Ori was about to slaughter the Foxteeth underworld, and they wouldn''t get any information. Third, it was because Alexander was in constant pain, and through Sarah, she found out a couple of days ago how bad it was actually. All she could do was watch him and try to be a good Mother. She hated it. She would rather have a healthy but fearful son and a dead Patricia, but what was done was done. Because of everything, she wished for nothing more than a punching bag now, ''First, I will spar later with some guards, and later, I will need Kairo...'' She rubbed her head as the pain got to her, "...the damn migraine is getting stronger.'' Kairoso saw how both acted and tried to change the topic, "What about Alex? Patricia should love him, right? She sleeps every night with him since we allowed her to visit him, and I think Alex is starting to like her, too. I mean, he protested strongly for her not to sign a contract." Scarlett nodded like nothing happened, saying, "I think so too, but Patricia will have some training to do, so don''t worry about her. She will not stay at the estate for too long." Marisia smirked, "You don''t know what Alex thinks. Just talk to him, and you will find out why he sees her just as a friend..." She looked at her husband and smiled, showing anger, "While we are discussing Alex. My dear husband, I would prefer if you don''t tell our son, who is not older than my leather armor, about your adventures with those whores and trash you called subordinates..." Kairoso smiled back and held his hands up in peace, "Got it, no more whores, but my subordinates were great people." Marisia frowned and ignored that her husband was making it look like it was fun living in a giant tent with a bunch of barbarians who only drank, had intercourse, or did both simultaneously. Still, she hoped he would make his stories more appropriate, ''I will talk to him later again about this topic... after I get rid of the migraine.'' She looked toward her mother, "By the way, what do you mean with training?" Scarlett waved her hand in dismissal, "Nothing, she wants me to train her." The room became suddenly silent, and Marisia stopped writing, looking at her mother like she was crazy. Her training was Outer Circle, and even though she went through it after her first campaign at 19 and gained incredible strength, it was nonetheless barely doable. Marisia shivered as she remembered how she was on the brink of suicide. Eventually, her mind became empty, and she just mindlessly trained till she dropped unconscious every night. She could clearly remember how it felt: Her body broke down and was reconstructed multiple times a day for years, only to become what she was now¡ªa living weapon. ''I can''t believe she is doing with Patricia the same she did with Lisa, even at an earlier age at that.'' She looked at her mother and asked her seriously, "You really want to start a war?" Scarlett was very casual in her response, "Don''t worry about that. Patricia came to me and almost begged me to train her..." She smiled joyfully, "...so she could be a fitting spouse for Alex. With such ambitions, she should be perfect, right?" Marisia ignored the comment about becoming a spouse since it wasn''t essential and asked, "Does she even know what it means to go through your training? If I remember correctly, the last time you took some disciples in, only Bartholomew from the Silver-Tail household could do it without quitting, and he was at that point around 15." Scarlett put one leg over the other and looked proud, "Who doesn''t know it? The Iron-Claw training method is for the mediocre ones, but if you want true strength, you need me, and as you can see, it worked perfectly..." She looked proudly at Marisia, not like she was a living being, but like a sword she forged, "...you are the strongest at your age bracket, even if they are one or two Tiers above you." The training was well known by the guard households but only used for the most talented or, rather, most resilient ones. It only mattered little if one was a genius regarding her mother''s training. One needed a will made of iron to endure it. The training regime would involve sleeplessness, pain, poisonings, curses, over-extensions, and much more while simultaneously training in combat and strength. At the same time, the body was healed and reconstructed through either one of her personal healers or potions. This was the mild part of the training since skills could be developed, and the trainee would become more powerful and develop the needed resistance. However, all her trainees would be cursed with a unique slave tattoo, which inhibited their ability to increase their skill levels. Through this, only the body would be trained, and the system wouldn''t try to compensate with more level-ups. The degree to which the body alone was strengthened was absurd, like the amount of skills that were obtained. However, Marisia wasn''t too happy about it, "I think Patricia is too young." Scarlett nodded, "That is true. I will train her slowly over the three years..." She sighed, "...I also think the time frame is too short but enough to give her some good foundations." Marisia glared at her mother, "I know." Scarlett glared back but suddenly got an insight, "Okay, how about this? I want to change, so let me ask you, what would you do? She really wants to do it, and I already said I would begin slowly and only go into the harsher regime after her legacy, like the breaking and rebuilding." Marisia was confused but smirked afterward, "You want me to deny her this chance? I don''t care much about her as a person, but I care about our dear neighbor. So, please ask Ori and Peter first. If they give their okay, do whatever you want. If you want, you can even put her through 20 years of torture like you did with me." Scarlett shrugged and smiled happily at her daughter, "Then it is settled. My dear cousin will agree, and I need some good arguments for Peter, but he will too, after I talk about how ideal Alex as a husband would be." Marisia stopped her writing entirely and needed to clarify something important with her mother, "Mother, I think you underestimate Alex. He sees in Patricia, only a friend." She remembered her talk with him a day ago, and it was bizarre, in her opinion. He showed slight distress and unsureness about how Patricia acted around him. She tried to understand him but couldn''t since she found it cute and innocent how the little fox-girl was toward him, from all his retellings. So she needed to comfort and tell him that the constant bonding was nothing serious. Even the licking of his tears was a rather cute gesture since puppies usually didn''t know how to act toward each other when they loved the other one. Yet, she didn''t tell him that she loved him since he would probably get even more distressed at the thought of someone else, besides family, being fond of him, ''He was adorable, though how he couldn''t believe that someone so young was this weird.'' She also had no problems with Patricia since she was a puppy and acted only a little inappropriately. Still, if Marisia considered all circumstances, it was innocent love, not like the whore. So she told him a white lie so he could bond with her further and maybe also develop something like love. If she told him the truth, he would probably only distance himself immediately for no reason. She didn''t see any negatives in this, especially since she became quite fond of her. She was hot-headed but was ready to sign anything, only to be closer to Alexander. She liked this mindset. Through this, she understood that Alexander was too young to understand love and that he would need much more time and socializing to catch up to someone more mature. It was worse in the case of Patricia since she was three years older, and canine-kin girls usually matured faster than boys. It was best seen how Janina already talked about marriage and her perfect husband, while Alexander had problems even considering love. Scarlett frowned at that statement but insisted, "Mari, I know you are very protective towards your puppies, but think about their future. Giving them much more time and pushing them a little will work out perfectly and..." Marisia interrupted her mother, "No pushing, but I am giving them the space and the time they need. I want it to happen naturally, especially for the sake of Alexander." Scarlett became confused but nodded joyfully. However, Kairoso injected himself into the talk, derailing it somewhat, "His future? Alex will probably be richer than all the guard dogs put together, and the thing with the mana skills alone will catapult him to the top, even if he did nothing else anymore, which I highly doubt." Marisia nodded, "I agree with my husband. Alex has a great future ahead of him and will probably be the heir if he decides to take up the title." Scarlett looked at her much more sternly, "You want to make him an heir if he wants to? Please tell me you are not this stupid..." She suddenly stood up, "...we need to have a serious talk, Mari." Marisia stopped and looked at her mother, perplexed, but frowned at the end, "Not now. I need to write the letter and send it as quickly as possible to Ori and Peter. Can we talk about it in some hours?" Scarlett wanted to argue, but Kairoso stood up and clapped his hands, "Good choice! Concentrate on the letter while I try to get Green..." He turned to his mother-in-law and roughly bowed, obviously trying to provoke her and pull her attention from her to him, "...if it is okay, Madame Scarlett? It worked as she stared at her husband angrily, "Nobody says Sire or Madame in Moorgrel, you treehugger..." Her mother looked at her and nodded, "...I will be back in two hours..." She turned around and left, mumbling, "...I need scotch." Chapter 79: Nine-Fire Visit 18: Proposal ... Ruler''s Bar, Leonandra Estate, Hours Later Inside the main mansion, there was a bar. The furniture, counter, and every other accessory looked beautiful as it was made out of rare wood, which had the hardness of true steel but was carved beautifully and elegantly to look like everlasting cherry wood. But the furnishing wasn''t the only thing that was made out of extraordinary material: The glasses were made out of so-called crystalline ice, a material that cooled down every liquid it came into contact with. It was a highly sophisticated place with expensive paintings and maps that showed Moorgrel over time. However, on the walls hung also the heads of the most formidable monsters and demons the previous rulers fought and killed. Besides them was a cabinet filled to the brim with a random assortment of artifacts, weapons, jewelry, and so on. They were all keep-sake of the previous ruler''s battles with other nobles from their own or different races. Besides the obvious gruesomeness of the history of the Leonandra''s, the room also showed a kind of coziness. It could be the warm light from the mana artifacts or the fireplace, which burned indefinitely through various means. In this bar, where only the nobles of this estate could enter, sat a lone wolf-kin lady at the counter. She held a scotch glass from which a severe cold was emitted. She looked slightly depressed and gulped the scotch down in one shot. She took the overly expensive scotch bottle she had opened and got another fill-up, "Can''t believe what she said..." Scarlett was heavily annoyed by what her daughter said about Alexander, "If he wants the title, he can have it? Sure, why not just cut his legs off if we are at it... what a ridiculous proposition." Behind her, she heard the annoying laughter she hated more than anything, "Guhahaha! I would rather give him the title than cut his legs off, though." Her dear daughter''s voice followed, "We waited, but you didn''t come, so we decided to look for you. May I know what you wanted to fight about?" Scarlett smirked and turned around on the barstool while putting one leg over the other and leaning with one elbow on the counter. She suddenly felt a little dizzy. She looked to the side and saw the empty bottle, ''Can''t believe I need to use skills to kill my buzz.'' She used her energy and quickly cleaned her body up from any poisons, and after a moment, she was as fresh as ever. However, she took a sip from her glass and said solemnly, "I need to talk about Alexander''s future." Marisia frowned at her, not hiding her feelings, "He will not go to a boarding school in the capital, Mother." Scarlett chuckled, "Hehe, this would be truly a waste of time while Anastasia is here." Marisia tilted her head in confusion and crossed her arms, "What do you want to do then? I saw the glint in your eyes and already thought when you would make any outrageous suggestions." Scarlett''s smile widened, "I want to free him from the noble system." The whole bar became silent for a minute. Marisia stared at her mother like she was crazy, and Kairoso was confused, but he started to laugh either way, "Guhahaha! The age caught up to you!" Scarlett stood up and strolled to her daughter, ignoring Kairoso. She became serious as this was a chance she wouldn''t get in her lifetime again, "Do you understand what kind of talent Alex has? His future being chained to a knight title will halt him for at least a hundred years. His potential is in line with Cerberus, Fenrir, and Huxian. I will not stand by and let him serve for decades inside a territory where he fights off some demons, dwarves, gnomes, and humans." Marisia was enraged when Scarlett looked into her eyes, but her daughter could control her emotions, "You really got insane, Mother. The only way to cut him off from nobility is for us to relinquish his name, and I will never do something this terrible as you might know what comes with it." Both women stood face to face. The tension was tenable, but Scarlett broke it with her laughter, "Haha! What a truly insane idea, but you misunderstood me.." She waggled her index finger before her, "...the noble system, not nobility." Marisia and Kairoso looked confused at her, so she decided first to present her premise. She turned around and walked to a map on the wall representing Moorgrel. She hated this map as it brought back memories she tried to forget. "See this? This is nothing but a burden placed on us to defend while the oh-so-glory central nobles or even the damned Emp..." Marisia stopped her, "This is enough, Mother! I know that you had your problems, but..." Scarlett turned back and looked at her daughter, full of wrath, which wasn''t pointed at her. The killing intent she let out was almost tenable. The words she spoke were full of poison, "Problems? Do you find it fair to pay taxes and follow the laws of the crown while getting some pittance from him because some of his knights, our ancestors, thousands of years ago, were sent here to die but could actually defend and gain a massive amount of territory?" Her energy surged, "The Count is complacent, but I am not!" She stomped her foot in wrath, cracking the floor, "Alex will rott here and never gain anything worthwhile while serving some noble who follows the rotten crown to the end!" Kairoso approached her carefully before it could escalate, "Scarlett, I think this is enough. While I care little about all this crap, you should know how dangerous it is to talk about such things." Scarlett smiled at him, "You should know best, dear Druid, how hard it is to escape one''s birth. What was it called again when you lived like a dirty animal?" Kairoso answered her with a frown, "Becoming one with Orbis, but this was training which helped me to increase my strength drastically..." Scarlett interrupted him, "What was the price again? You were actually one of the few lucky ones who didn''t need to fight the draugr since you suggested fighting the demons in our territory. Isn''t this right?" Kairoso nodded but didn''t say anything. His mother-in-law knew precisely that the Temple was rigid, and even though they had no currency before the beast-kin allied with them, they were trading favors and time. Now Scarlett''s son-in-law, even though powerful for his Tier and age, which he achieved by the Temple''s special training, was forced to build up the Temple branches, fight demons, and so on. Usually, all shamans and druids who underwent the training would be sent to the nature-dweller territory to fight the undead. Still, Kairoso struck a deal with an oracle and indebted himself heavily, which he had already paid off. Usually, he would be free only after another 100 years of fighting on the border at Kratikal. However, Scarlett knew that her son-in-law could already be entirely free if he traded all his merits in, but if he did that, he would lose protection from the Temple. But at the rate he and her grandson were gathering favors and merits, he could also be free in another 20 years without losing anything. In Scarlett''s eyes, the proposition he engaged in was not bad at all. He was together with her daughter, and it fitted perfectly into their plans, so even though the deal was one year of training for ten years of defense against wild demons was outrageous, it didn''t matter much. He wanted either way to build up the Circle in their territory. It was a win-win. So, she wanted to do the same with Alexander and use some loopholes she and Anastasia found. She continued, "I have a solution where I can give Alex the wings he deserves and, with him, have someone who can actually influence the rotten politics of central Mal-Gil while also lifting the nonsensical burden of the Moorgrelian knightages." Marisia sat down and leaned back, putting one leg over the other, "Fine, I will listen. However, Alex will not become your pawn because of..." Scarlett interrupted her, chuckling, putting a hand over her mouth, "Hehe, oh dear, I already got my revenge, but I will never forget the disgust in the eyes of those nobles whom I looked for help. Too bad..." Her smile became savage, "...their looks changed into fear the moment I showed why we can''t be toyed with." Marisia sighed and showed with a hand gesture to get to the point, "Please." Scarlett nodded at this and became overly happy. Even though her daughter was unreasonably overprotective, she knew of the apparent problems between the different factions inside their empire. So, Scarlett thought that making Alexander play the noble system was also something she would agree with. While strutting around, she explained excitedly, "At first, I thought that he could go through the usual route and, after 200 years or so, take the title of the Count himself by marrying into their household. Afterward, he could join the Council of Talents and cut off our already perfectly self-sufficient territory from the parasites, the central nobility, but do you think they would let him even become this powerful? There is a reason why they fear someone like Merlin to appear again." Since Merlin, every individual who at least showed a kernel of what the former archmage was capable of would be brought immediately under a harsh contract to become nobility and/or serve under them. If someone like Alexander entered central Mal-Gil, the nobles there would immediately start planning how to force him into their households. They usually did it by noblesse oblige. When Alexander needed to do his due diligence as a noble, they would put him for 20 years into some position where he would stagnate or be in serious danger so he would die off. Scarlett wanted to avoid this under all circumstances, and she first thought bringing him under the Count would work better, but with this, he would stagnate more even though it would be much safer. Marisia looked at her mother expectantly, "What do you have in mind then? He will have either way do his noblesse oblige and, with this, become chained to some position for an uncertain amount of time if he doesn''t take the title. Worst case, it would be 20 years in the central region." Luckily, Scarlett looked together with Anastasia for a fitting solution. She smiled at her daughter, "This I thought about a lot and have an idea. There are many exceptions, and one of them is to do a voluntary noblesse oblige before they enter their first mating season. It was actually a loophole in the law for the cowards in central Mal-Gil, but it would also work for Alex." Marisia tilted her head in confusion, "I never heard of such a law, and I would guess you don''t want to send my son to a war region or the east while he is premature." Scarlett shook her head, "Oh please, Mari, who do you think I am?" Marisia frowned and gestured to continue. Scarlett knew what her daughter thought of her, but it didn''t matter. Her past misjudgments were one thing, but she wouldn''t touch Alexander this time. He was already perfect in her mind, and all she wanted to do was pave the ideal path he would walk on. Of course, she would also need to talk to him when he became older and convince him what was better for Moorgrel and their household, but this was almost a given since even her daughter mostly agreed with her. She opened her arms, "As I said, he can do voluntary Noblesse Oblige while he is younger, and since the positions are clearly written in the law, where do you think I want to put him?" Marisia frowned, not clearly knowing what her mother was talking about. Scarlett understood it since Noblesse Oblige was usually a way for the crown to force nobles into their war efforts. Higher nobility could also send others in their stead by council since they had the same power as the crown. This was what Scarlett feared the most: That they would send her grandson to the most dangerous regions with barely any resources. Of course, they couldn''t be too blatant about it. Otherwise, the Count would step in, and a war would begin. However, if they were lawful, his reasoning to start a conflict would be less justified, and he would get less support from other factions like the nature-dwellers or the Cathedral, etc. Marisia shook her head, "I have no idea, but I guess you will tell me this." This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Scarlett nodded and became more exasperated, "The imperial law clearly states that voluntary Noblesse Oblige is not that young nobles can avoid the normal process, but if they are talented, they can do it earlier. In this case, their efforts will be heavily rewarded by counting at least one year as ten..." She sighed, "...this is obviously a way for the royalty and others to avoid the process..." She explained further, "Nonetheless! One could take many non-dangerous positions in the normal process, like logistics, but these are not mentioned. Still, others are for which only the crown and the higher nobles have the resources to train their puppies early on. Can you guess?" Marisia thought about it but couldn''t think of any and just shrugged. Scarlett nodded and answered her happily, "I want to make Alexander a judge for two years only!" Scarlett saw how her daughter wanted to argue against it but didn''t say anything, ''There is no good argument against it!'' From what she heard from Anastasia about Alexander, he could do it easily. By imperial law, a judge needed to have the skill [Law] at level 26 to be sworn in temporarily. While he would only be at the court for lower criminal affairs, it didn''t matter since the law especially mentioned that it was of no concern which court one would oversee. Marisia looked at her mother with a smirk and then at her husband, "I need Saru to stay here." Scarlett also threw her another bonbon to make her more relaxed and trust her more, "Don''t worry, I will also get one of my people to come here and look after him." Her daughter had a clear choice: Either have her talented son be subject to the insanity of other nobles or be proactive and let him avoid the issue once and for all. Marisia nodded with a more casual smile, "Thank you, Mother." Scarlett came close to her and touched her shoulder, trying to reassure her even more, "Also, don''t worry. He will do it only once a week and decide only on some smaller cases. With Saru and Lili, even Ori can''t touch him." Marisia raised her eyebrow and looked at her mother skeptically, "You want Lili to protect Alex?" Before Scarlett could further explain, her son-in-law brought up a weird point, "So it''s decided? I am fine with this, but will Alex, though?" Marisia nodded, "He will, and if not, I will make him..." She stood up and went to the bar to get a scotch bottle, "...I would rather have him for two years deciding the punishment for a fish thief than going haywire on a battlefield..." She shuddered, "...he will be court-martialed when he gets one of his crazy ideas and injures some wuss." Scarlett clapped her hands, "That is my daughter!" Kairoso shrugged, "Fine with me." Marisia nodded but smiled mischievously while looking at her mother, "You will bring this great news to Alex and try to convince him. How about it?" Scarlett nodded expectantly, "Don''t worry, my dear daughter, he will agree the moment I tell him!" She went to get her glass and have a small celebration with her daughter since they actually decided on something without starting a fight again, ''This will be easy. He is a puppy. How hard can it be?'' ... Some days later "I would rather have the dropout perform a lobotomy on me." Scarlett sat inside Alexander''s room. Her grandson was lying on his stomach while Patricia patted him. She told him what a great idea they had. It was perfect for someone like him, but he only looked at her with annoyance and spouted some nonsense she couldn''t understand, but from his tone, it was clear that he didn''t want to do it, ''What is wrong with him?'' She forced a smile, "Would you like to explain Alex?" Alexander waggled with his stick, formerly known as tail, and was casual in his answer, "Well, let''s say I am on the fence and need a little bit of motivation if you catch my drift. You need to understand, my dear and lovely grandmother, that I need to put my frail and little body out there against the criminal gazes of..." He stopped his annoying tail waggling, "...which court was it again?" Scarlett frowned but already knew what he wanted to say in his overly condescending way, ''In my time, he wouldn''t even dare to be like this. Mari was too lenient with him.'' However, if she was frank, what can one take away from him as punishment without hindering his potential? Usually, one took away what they cared most about but wouldn''t hinder talent or potential, like good food, luxuries, pocket money, etc., till they accepted their duties and did them diligently. Her daughter, for example, was very fond of good food. Scarlett punished her when she was little by taking it away and giving her some disgusting gruel till she gave up. On the other hand, Alexander clearly didn''t care about luxuries. Before the assassination, she asked around and gathered as much information as possible about him. She now knew that there was no way to punish him seriously. His meals were, at best, subpar, and most of the time, he just slept anywhere he could without a care in the world. He had the gold to buy what he wanted, so she thought about restricting his access, but she quickly found out that he didn''t spend it on himself. He put most of his gold into the estate, the charities he tried to build, or other things with which he could make more gold. With this came the next problem, which she only now saw: He was arrogant, prideful, stubborn, and condescending, which would drive anyone to the brink of beating him up. However, all those traits came from him inwardly since he knew he was a genius. There was barely any humbleness left in him. If he wanted something, he didn''t ask for it. He just took it or made it himself. She loved that he had such a personality, fitting of a noble, but it also made it much harder to force him into submission. Through more information, she also tried to inquire if he was treated much more gently while training, but even this was not the case. His usual training was so harsh that the healer already came automatically on certain days to heal him. After hearing it, she started to adore him much more, but when thinking about his personality now and what she wanted from him, it became a problem. The only reasonable way to punish him was to beat him up, which could make him more insufferable. So, she decided clearly against it. There was another reason why she decided against violence. From Anastasia, Scarlett knew that he hated violence, so doing it through such means would only mean he would escalate. Combined with his personality, he would make the lives of everyone around him Outer Circle. Worst case, he could just run away. With the gold he had at hand, he would be fine either way. But the moment he would enter a giant city, he would probably send it ablaze and would have all eyes on him, which would endanger him¡ªsomething she didn''t want at all costs. She had truly no idea how to correct his personality besides imprisonment and torture. Still, even with this method, it would be impossible as he could already crack rather sophisticated anti-mana collars, and then it was back to him running away. For her, one who trained a lot of youths, he was the worst case one could encounter, ''At least he knows what he wants... let''s play his game and bargain.'' She forced a smile, "The lower court. The most dangerous beings you could encounter are thieves who are Tier 1 scum." Alexander suddenly became exasperated, obviously acting out, "Thieves?..." He turned toward Patricia, who was beside him and confused, "...can you believe it? They will probably do unspeakable things to me!" Patricia was baffled and didn''t understand the situation, "Ehm..." Alexander looked back at Scarlett, "See? Even she has no words for what unspeakable things could befall my poor soul!" Scarlett couldn''t believe what was happening and had enough before he started to act out a whole play. However, she stayed calm, "Enough. Just say what you want." Alexander''s smile became more vicious, "Freedom!" Scarlett shook her head, "No." It became suddenly silent till Alexander broke it with an exasperated exclamation, "Oh! My poor little hea..." Something snapped inside Scarlett. She stood up and yelled, "Shut up! I can''t obviously give you any freedom for you to run around Wolfsteeth, doing your crazy things!" Alexander looked perplexed at her but suddenly smirked like he was making fun of her. Scarlett popped a vein, and her mental fortitude skills could barely hold her back from beating the little condescending shit up. Yet, he made his following proposal calmly, which irritated her even more, "Fine, give me stuff." She thought momentarily and answered, drawing clear lines about what she could and could not do, "I can''t give you any dangerous alchemical materials or mana artifacts, not to mention any high-level magic tomes." Alexander just shrugged with his tail, "Who cares about that trash? I can probably create better stuff the moment I am out here..." He nodded toward Patricia, "...I want what she has, but only the method." Scarlett became confused and looked at Patricia, who did not know what was happening, then back at Alexander, "What do you mean?" Alexander said, without any shame, "I want your training method." Scarlett didn''t know what to make of it, but she liked it. All her irritation was blown away, ''Oh my! He comes after me!'' While all her siblings and colleagues her age at that time dreaded the training from the Iron-Claw household, she loved it. Even if it was more torture than anything, her foundations at that time became incredibly strong. Afterward, as a Tier 3, she could kill Tier 4''s without breaking a sweat. Thus, she created her training method based on the Iron-Claw one, which was much more challenging but gave incredible results to even the most mediocre fighters like her daughter, who could, as a Tier 2, kill Tier 4''s without many problems. She smiled more honestly at him now, "Fine, I will train you after your legacy! This will be easy to arrange." Alexander shook his head, "Nope. I want your method written down with every detail explained." Scarlett''s smile turned immediately into a frown as she understood what her grandson wanted to do, "It will be too dangerous for you to dabble in such things." Alexander suddenly smiled condescendingly, "I think I can create a much more efficient method." Something inside Scarlett snapped fully as her pride was hurt. Her bloodlust invaded the room, "I don''t think a little shit like you has the qual..." However, the moment her bloodlust invaded the room, she could see how there was another aura coming from Alexander. His bloodlust was suddenly coming off from him, rivaling hers initially, ''Fascinating.'' She heard he inherited the ancient bloodline, which meant nothing but suicide since one could only control the enormous amount after at least a hundred years of being on the battlefield. Even though the amount she emitted was relatively low, it was impressive that he could go against it. Alexander''s voice became more arrogant as he looked down on her even though he lay down on his stomach and couldn''t move, "I created the current training method for the average soldier and increased the efficiency of their training by manifold. Don''t have the qualifications? I can turn your subpar and barbaric method into something great so every soldier can become even stronger!" Scarlett looked at him and couldn''t believe what she heard. However, her bloodlust subsided, and she smiled again, ''He is a true noble... and an arrogant mutt at that.'' The specific pride and arrogance she felt from him was a rare occurrence, which only true nobles or the crown showed. However, she also got an insight and understood why he acted how he did: Everything was for his subjects and retainers, ''Got your weak point.'' However, she wouldn''t threaten him with it yet but instead tried to see his point. In her opinion, he created a perfectly fitting training manual with well-designed apparatuses for Tier 1 and lower Tier 2 soldiers while adjusting their nutrition well, ''It should be fine if he uses my method to experiment on our soldiers.'' This thought made her giddy, and she saw him in a new light, "Fine, but under one condition." Alexander''s bloodlust resided, and Patricia stopped her shaking slowly and looked baffled at him. He asked, confused, "Well, I will play the judge for two years. Wasn''t this the deal?" Scarlett shook her head, "Yes and no. I need you alive. For this, my personal healer will arrive in a couple of weeks so you can recover faster. She will also stay with you so you don''t kill yourself..." She air quoted, "...by accidentally trying my method, and like her, one of my maids will be your shadow." Alexander frowned, "I get the healer thing, but why the maid? Is it some weird assassin maid who will act as a guard?" Scarlett clapped once in joy, "Clever boy, and yes! I don''t trust Saru since... look at yourself. So, I agree to give my full and detailed method if both stay here and help you, of course." Alexander nodded, "Fine, let''s get the details in a row about our deal. No need for the contract since... well..." He looked at her like he didn''t care, but his words sounded severe, "...you could kill me either way easily if I don''t obey." Mana contracts sometimes had, for a reason, a judge to facilitate a deal. If the two parties were too different when it came to power, the effect on the stronger party was severely weakened, and they could even break the contract if the discrepancy were enormous, like between her and her grandson. She nodded happily, "That''s a good boy!" ... Two hours later, Alexander''s room "Alex, do you hate her?" "Because of how I talked? Not really. Her idea was great, but I really needed some things for something I got an idea for. Well, she agreed, and we are all happy." In all actuality, he hated her since he also heard about his aunt. There was also the obvious thing that she treated him like a piece of meat first and now, after seeing him, wanted him as a puppet for whatever reason, ''If you think I will come under your boot, you are surely misjudging me.'' He couldn''t openly oppose her crazy ways since she was an elite who could thrash him into particles. So, he wanted at least to annoy her and get something out of her for playing the judge, which he also found insane, ''I am six... I can probably get [Law] to 26 in a week or two, and this is enough to be a fucking judge?'' At first, it sounded ridiculous, but if he thought further, most of his subjects couldn''t read or write. They had no idea what a fair legal system could look like. So, him being a judge and actually trying to be fair could be a nice change of pace by showing how the legal system could work. Of course, another positive was that he could at last leave the estate. Patricia suddenly came much closer to Alexander, and he came out of his thoughts and started to sweat, "Patricia?!" She looked at him much more intensely, "The bloodlust... can you control it?" Alexander tried to move back but forgot that he couldn''t move at all. She suddenly held his head with her hands. He became frightened, "Y... Yeah?" Since he was bored when he was alone and couldn''t do many practical things like magic, alchemy, or physical training, all that was left to him was training and controlling his aura. Everyone had a gland, organ, or something akin to it that could produce an aura depending on their emotions. It was hooked to the mana and energy veins but could also work without them. Yet, with them, it would be much stronger. It wasn''t something he studied or learned about since biology was of little interest to him. However, he knew that for beast-kin and other races, it also secreted their pheromones and acted as a receiver for them as it extended more firmly into their senses. It was basically a new organ and one of the few that wasn''t ripped to pieces, in Alexander''s case. Training his aura was weird since it was a new feeling and something he couldn''t control at all in the past. At most, he could only suppress it. But after the assault, it became very manageable for two reasons: The mental fortitude skills increased immensely in their levels while the amplifier, his mana veins, were shredded to pieces. Now, though, he had the chance to train it for the first time without going berserk as the emotion of the bloodlust he sometimes felt became very weak to the point he could control it and, thus, train it in various ways. Be it control, increase, decrease, etc. However, he did it in secret since he didn''t know what his family would do when they found out that his only pastime while being alone was to train the emotion his mother tried desperately to suppress through the demonic baptism. Yet, he was sure that everything would be fine in the end and that his family always worried too much. She pressed him against her chest, "Incredible... can you use it sometimes?" Alexander became freaked out again, "I... I guess." She started to pat him and sounded cheery, "Thanks." Alexander was distressed but tried to sound calm, "Y... Yeah, no problemo." ''Mom said what she does is normal between friends. Somehow, I don''t believe her.'' Fortunately, the door opened and interrupted his uncomfortable situation since he didn''t really like being handled like a doll by Patricia. Melina came in, his savior, "Mr. Alexander, Ocilia is back with new..." She tried to catch her breath and, after a moment, continued to recount what her daughter told her. Patricia became angry and jumped down from the bed, immediately running towards where his disciple was while Alexander laughed his ass off. Chapter 80: Nine-Fire Visit 19: Trap I ... Underworld, Foxteeth Rats as large as cats, cockroaches with the length of a loaf of bread with dozens of legs, spiders who could kill puppies with a jump at speeds barely they could see, and many other oversized and dangerous vermin ran through the sewers as one fox-kin and two coyote-kin girls with two dozen soldiers marched through their territory, making the native population hide in fright. In the beginning, they had more than fifty soldiers with them, but after multiple intersections, they split up for a more thorough search, like they were about to do again. They walked onto a stone bridge that connected two junctions. Under them flew a literal river made out of thinned-out excrements. Nobody found it pleasant there, especially the canine-kin, whose sense of smell became their most annoying attribute. Thus, many used different kinds of creams and oils to kill their sense of smell by rubbing them on their noses frequently while being down in the sewers. Otherwise, some would start to get sick. The one at the front suddenly halted and turned towards the soldiers, who immediately straightened up. She directed them, "You six go to the mercenary guild Set Sail To Fail..." She needed to suppress a cringe after saying the name. After a quick moment, she pointed at the other group, "...you go in the opposite direction to the small auction house Doris Daunting Dresses while we go to where the assassin guild named Dark Mouse was situated. We meet in eight hours, here again. Like always, if someone is uncooperative, execute them, understood?" They saluted and confirmed, "Yes, Ms. Nila!" After that, they quickly dispersed to their designated directions. When they were gone, Nila turned to her sisters and nodded towards them to follow her. They weren''t exactly motivated, but she didn''t care and started walking towards their destination with them following. Even though she acted as professionally as possible, she was as unmotivated as her sisters. Her stress became too much over the last few days, which could be seen by everyone how she dressed and acted. At the beginning of the operation, Nila wore her usual equipment, ready for battle because she thought she could end it quickly. She would then proudly offer her brother''s head to her parents while dressed in her best attire, looking like she took the order seriously. Her approach was not superficial, though, as she took the command earnestly and directed hundreds of soldiers as efficiently as possible through the underworld, which needed stringent coordination as it was built like a maze. Nila did all this to impress her parents with the achievements she imagined she could attain. Now, though, besides not wearing her leather armor made out of resistant monster skin, which could endure her demonic energy, or her yellow mithril rapier, which wouldn''t crumble to pieces when she used her energy or skills, she looked like a mercenary greenhorn¡ªadorned with a simple leather armor that looked cheap even for newbies and a rapier made out of cheap pig iron, which she usually used for training. Besides her sloppy attire, her command also suffered massively. Earlier today, she threw a soldier into the sewage water for asking a dumb question. Thus, they all looked much happier when they left, as the atmosphere around her was also heavy and restrictive, which she understood. She had an excellent reason for this: It was a literal shit show trying to find her brother, Fiorello. After the letter from the Leonandra household arrived, they immediately raided the underworld, with her taking the role of the commander. Her Mother advised her to execute everyone and ask later. She decided against it, thinking a gentle and reasonable approach would bear better results. Information in the underworld was scarce, and many were tight-lipped, so she hoped that her method would show them that they weren''t out for blood and that there was a way for everyone to be happy. The underworld answered in a way she couldn''t comprehend: They tried to assassinate or disrupt them at every step. Some days ago, Nila snapped after being bombarded with bags full of fecal matter because they went into a particular district known for privacy. After that debacle, she started following her Mother''s advice, going scorched-earth on everyone. After that, she only wore clothes that could be dirtied, as it broke her heart to see her favorite armor smeared in feces. However, the other approach also didn''t help, as all that happened was that the underworld became increasingly empty by the day. Every broker or guild leader, the one with the information she needed, tried to flee as fast as possible after her command to kill everyone unwilling to cooperate. After every day with no results, the pressure slowly piled up. Nila was the oldest of her siblings and the most likely heir, besides Patricia, who showed tremendous potential. So she hoped that the success here would reinforce her position as her parents were too skittish to decide on someone. However, this was not all that tugged her nerves day in and day out as little things started to annoy her from weeks ago, even though she thought that she was over them. First, her other sister begged Scarlett and her to visit the Leonandra household. Both agreed. At first, she didn''t know why Linuel asked her to withdraw. Still, after some investigation, she found out that it was the one boy whom Clara was bent on marrying in the past because he was incredibly charismatic, friendly, beautiful, and talented. Apparently, her sisters talked with each other, and now she felt betrayed by Linuel. Regardless, should Linuel return, Nila would be ready to mutilate the little vixen for her underhandedness and immediately visit the boy and find out if what Clara said was true, maybe trying to woo him if he was to her liking. Second, after her outburst and hundreds of dead crooks, she got reliable information that their brother was in Foxteeth. While it was something she was happy about, it also meant that she would need to look for him and could only stop after dissembling every corner of the underworld or if information came out that he left. While Nila wanted to scream in frustration at the long road ahead, she held herself together on the outside. Her sisters, though, who were following her, were very different. Yvonne was dressed as her, in her training attire, and looked bored out of her mind. She was only here because their Mother commanded it. Thus, she walked behind her while twirling her spear around. In Nila''s mind, she wanted to be as annoying as possible, but she had a challenging competition. In the middle of both of them was her other sister, Clara, who dressed in her best half-plate armor but also wore her accessories, which were impractical at best and dangerous at worst. Clara walked carefully, not trying to step into anything that looked like it came from behind an animal or person, "I can''t believe that I need to search for this pest inside the sewers..." Suddenly, an enormous rat ran beside them and hissed as if saying they should leave their territory, only to run away after threatening them. This scared Clara, "Ahhhh!" Clara suddenly stopped and stomped her foot, "I hate it! This is all stupid!..." She glared at Nila, "...why did you drag me to..." Before she could ramble on, Nila snapped, "Shut up!..." She walked slowly toward her, "...if you keep rambling on, I will pierce your damn throat with one of your hair needles! Do you get me?!" Like Yvonne, Clara was also forced to follow her. However, she wasn''t a fighter even though she had excellent [Mystic Skills], so all she did was nag and annoy everyone to let her leave. At first, Nila could endure it, but now it became too much for her to tolerate such behavior. Clara stepped back and became frightened. However, Yvonne came from behind and wrapped her arm around her scared sister. She obviously tried to de-escalate the situation, but it irritated Nila more for some reason, "What is the big deal, Ni? It''s not like we have anything to do with him. Wasn''t he anyway..." If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Yvonne stopped speaking as Clara''s nose suddenly started to lighten up slightly. Nila also stopped and became expectant, "Did you get something, Clara?" Clara nodded while scrunching her face. Nila knew of her [Mystic Skills] as they were rare and powerful. She had skills that increased her senses, especially her sense of smell, to insane degrees. At the estate, as a test, she could smell out anyone at a maximum of one kilometer (~0.6 miles) if she used a lot of stamina. However, while down here, all Clara got was the disgusting smell. She could barely smell Fiorello, so much so that Nila almost sent her back. She thought the skills weren''t strong enough since her sister hadn''t trained them, but it seemed not to be the case entirely. Since it worked, Nila patted herself on the back for the excellent decision to ask her Mother to send her down here. Clara looked towards the front at a particular wall. Nila and Yvonne followed her gaze and saw that the wall seemed slightly different. After examining it, it became more evident that someone had dug a space inside the wall and concealed it with some mana artifact that could produce an illusion. It was actually a forbidden practice as it could come to collapses and other catastrophes since most of those spaces weren''t structurally secure. However, it didn''t mean that they wouldn''t do it. There were hundreds of such secret areas around Foxteeth, and every time they found one, they would try and persecute the main culprit, but that was impossible in most cases. Diggers usually excavated some space free and sold it as fast as possible, only to disappear afterward, impossible to track. However, after discovering such areas, her parents didn''t fill those places up again. They would send someone to spy on the group occupying the space and the location itself. If no notorious underworld guild inhabited the area and it was structurally secure, they would let them alone, only to remember the spot should they need to look for the specific group. Usually, only some harmless black markets were inside with nothing much to worry about. Going through every secret space and arresting every poor commoner who stole some goods would be a waste of time for multiple reasons. First, the costs were too much for such minimal offenses, and second, after a week at most, new spaces would be dug, endangering Foxteeth''s structure even more. To avoid such scenarios, letting the current markets alone was more manageable. Regardless, such areas were usually riddled with traps, so Nila wanted to check for it. Yet, before she could do it, Yvonne dashed into the wall and disappeared, yelling joyfully, "The faster I get his head, the faster I will be far away from this shit place! Good luck!" Nila angrily dashed after her, screaming, "Damn it, Yvonne!" After going through the enchanted wall, she appeared in some kind of hall. It was spacious, but everything was barebone and probably freshly dug. Before she could analyze it more, she saw how Yvonne was flying toward her. Nila couldn''t avoid it and got hit by her with a lot of force, only to be thrown out by her sister''s flying body, ''This stupid bitch!'' Splash! Nila landed squarely inside the sewer''s water. She immediately tried to stand up and pulled her moronic sister out too. After throwing her on the stony path where it was dry, she jumped out, too. She looked around angrily and moved toward the enchanted entrance again, ''I swear, whoever this was, I will kill them!'' Clara held her nose and tucked her tail between her legs. When she wanted to say something, Nila was already shushing her, "Don''t. Just shut up and wait here." She was ready to kill the one who threw her sister out. Yvonne was also standing up and looking at herself in disgust. She started to curse, "Fuck it all! Wait for me, Ni!" Nila ignored her and only looked at the wall. However, before she entered, she suddenly stopped as some of her skills warned her, ''A trap?'' She turned around and looked at Yvonne, asking, "Hey, what did push you o... uuugh!" Nila suddenly felt pressure, and something was ramming her. Luckily, this time, she was much more ready to take anything on so she wouldn''t fly away again. Turning to the front, she saw a giant monster goat ramming his head against her stomach and chest. However, she was having none of it. She pressed her feet into the ground and bent her knees. The stone pathway started cracking, "Come here, puppy, today I will have good meat!" Nila took it by the horns, and as it started to press further, she heaved it up and held it over her head. Her muscles bulged heavily, and she smirked when she looked the abomination into its eyes, "Do you look at that! A corrupted bastard turned monster, how fun!" Abominations were animals that couldn''t endure the miasma from the east, thus turning partly into wild demons. It happened very rarely but was a common occurrence in the times of their ancestors when they settled in this region. Now, most had developed a resistance to it. Before she could see what fun way there was to kill it, from the side came something like a shadow with a spear. It was Yvonne who pierced the goat abomination from the side. Piercing was the wrong way to describe it, as she only poked it. However, the little wound turned and twisted where she hit it, becoming more significant. After a moment, it was half a meter in size, exploding through the goat''s body, spattering blood and innards to the other side, painting the stony pathway in a blackish red. Nila lost her balance and smashed the abomination to the side. After its death throes, it stopped screaming and died. Clara came from the side, "Is it dead? It smells really funny... I don''t know why... wait, what is that?" Clara pointed at the engravings on the horns. Nila came closer to inspect it while Yvonne strolled around, kicking pebbles out of boredom. She only peeked sometimes at the enchanted entrance to the secret area as she probably understood not to rush into everything head first. Nila ignored her after seeing that she learned from her mistakes and started inspecting the horns. She had trouble reading them since they were weirdly engraved, but after deciphering the writing, she suddenly became angry. She stomped on the head of the abomination to hold it in place, ripping both horns out, "This damn bastard!" Crack Confused, her sisters looked at her, waiting for an answer, which she did after calming down, "The engraving says: This is Nila O. Nine-Fire. If found, please feed it and bring it back to the estate. Signed Fio." Her tone became increasingly angrier, and her fantasies about skinning him alive started to delight her. Yvonne chuckled, "Hehe, Fio is truly a dead man." However, Clara looked at the goat in worry and said, "Sis, I think we need to leave quickly..." Nila looked at her back and yelled, "Shut up! I am not in the fucking mood for discussions! I don''t care if you hate it here! Everyone hates it here! Deal with it!" Clara flinched and tried to point at the goat, "But..." Nila became more enraged, "No buts! Get yourself together, and this is just a dead goat..." She rammed the horns back into the body and turned to Clara, "...if you don''t want me to put your damn head into the sewage water, just shut..." Her danger senses suddenly warned her. She pulled out her rapier but couldn''t sense anyone, "What is happening?..." She looked at Clara, who stared at the goat. She turned toward it, too. It suddenly started to bloat and became overly hot, almost burning. She reacted immediately, "Run!" Nila flashed toward Clara, taking her in her arms and surrounding her with her energy, "Hold tight!" She immediately tried to flash away, but it was too late. Boom! An enormous explosion occurred. It rattled the part of the sewers they were in and destroyed some columns and walls, bringing almost the whole part down. ... An Hour Later After the structure collapsed, the part of the sewers where the three Nine-Fire sisters were had become still, almost eerily silent. Yet, after what seemed an eternity, the rubble, which piled up in some places into small mountains, began to rumble ever so slightly. The vibration became stronger after every moment till a hand exploded out of it and a scream, full of hate, followed by an aura of killing intent which would even frighten hardened thugs, "Fio! You are fucking dead!" The wild demonic energy typical for the guard households followed after the scream and increased the killing intent to another level, giving it an aura of revolting disgust. Demonic energy was malicious and nasty, but Nila''s was especially wrenching. She had mainly the Feather-Paw one, her Father''s [Divinity Line], with the parasitic effect of the Nine-Fire, her Mother''s. It was incredibly versatile but made it impossible for anyone not attuned to it to be close to her without vomiting their heart out. As the energy invaded the rubble slowly through the parasitic effect, it also started to decay, almost like it was a living being. After some moments, it slowly crumbled, and an unimaginable stank protruded through the area¡ªan aura of death and disease. Nila slowly climbed out, disheveled and full of rage. After pushing herself out, she grabbed Clara and pulled her out of the rubble. Her sister was unconscious but alive. She was lucky as she was barely training her body or combat abilities, which meant she had no resilience to the explosion or all the falling debris. So, Nila needed to protect her, costing her almost all of her stamina. Nila threw Clara casually down on the giant pile of rubble and looked around, "Yvonne? Hey, are you alive?" A strained voice came from the side, under a more massive mountain of stone rubble, "Nila! Get me out!" Nila wanted to say that she should just use her energy to break through but remembered that Yvonne was an internal energy user. It meant she couldn''t bring any of her energy outwards but could only strengthen her body internally. Such a [Divinity Line] had many negatives, like now when she couldn''t break down structures when pressured down, but on the other hand, her physical prowess and stamina were many times higher than even Nila''s. Nila slowly walked towards the mountain and assured her, "Yeah, give me a minute." From the rubble came a distressed voice, "I can''t barely hold on!" Nila clicked her tongue, took some potions from her spatial pouch, and immediately gulped them down. She stood before the mountain and frowned at the work she would have to do, "Damn it, are you in the center?" Yvonne''s voice became angrier, "How should I know?!" "Fine, give me five minutes," She concentrated her energy and slowly started to break down the rubble from the top. Chapter 81: Nine-Fire Visit 20: Trap II ... An Hour Later Inside the sewers, three messy-looking girls sat on a mountain of rubble, trying to catch a breath. They were tired and wanted nothing more than to leave this place after the explosion and subsequently collapse, which almost killed at least two of them. While Nila and Yvonne were fine except for their fatigue and some non-life-threatening injuries, Clara was immensely stressed. She woke up only some minutes ago and panicked initially but became calmer after being told to shut up. She quickly understood that she needed to rely on her sisters as she had no survival skills or strength to speak of. All she did till now was learn the etiquette of being a lady and fine arts so she would not be an embarrassment inside social circles. Fortunately for her, her fianc¨¦ was decent in administration and combat, so she wouldn''t need to do anything besides be there for him if he needed her and maybe entertain him with her excellent music skills. She had no grand ambitions like her oldest sister and wanted only a decent life. Even her fianc¨¦ was the same as her. He was average if looked at the current generation of noble youth under fifty. So, they planned out their life to be as easy-going as possible. What she envisioned was that they would do their noblesse oblige in some logistics center, something she needed to convince him of at first. Before they had their heated discussion, he wanted to be active on the battlefield, but this was a line for her that shouldn''t be crossed. She wouldn''t allow him to fight for some minuscule merits, which were long-term, absolutely useless. If he were somewhat talented and had ambitions, it would make sense, and she would have nothing against it, but as average as he was, she didn''t want him to risk it. Fortunately, he agreed. So, nothing stood in the way of living in some small town where they would have much time for each other. The worst that could happen was pups trying to steal from the bakery. It was a perfect plan, but a problem appeared, ruining their dreams: Her legacy. She hoped for an average [Divinity Line] with [Mystic Skills], strengthening her charisma, health, or luck. It was typical for commoners, and she fantasized about never being sick again or how her aura would be enhanced slightly, making her fianc¨¦ more jealous when they were at a ball. It was a great dream, shattered though, when she saw her rare variations of various scout skills that supported each other heavily to reach an almost ridiculous efficiency. She could literally sniff out anything from hundreds of meters away, even without training them. Thus, she was dragged to this Outer Circle. Besides almost dying, she was on the cusp of wanting to stab her nose, killing her sense of smell, as she was frequently overwhelmed by disgusting smells whose origin she didn''t want to know. Clara hated it and wanted to clarify, as the thoughts of her happy days made her almost cry, "I want to go home." Nila glanced at her and back to the empty space in the front, "Give me an hour to get my stamina going." Clara looked to her side and saw the reason why she would need every drop of stamina she could get. Yvonne was injured. Luckily, she wasn''t in any life-threatening condition, only some broken bones. However, her legs were thoroughly crushed and pointed in directions they shouldn''t naturally, "Are you fine?" Yvonne looked back at her and laughed, "Haha, do I look fine?!" Clara shrugged, "Don''t know. Just trying to make conversation." Nila stood up suddenly and took out a high-grade stamina potion, "Okay, that''s enough. Let''s forget emergencies. If I listen for one more hour to how Clara tries to make small talk or yammer, I will cover everyone here with rubble..." She gulped down the potion in one go, and her eye twitched, probably being slightly poisoned as she already had multiple ones, "Urgh... however, it will take some time since we need to take a detour, and you..." She pointed her chin towards Clara, "...must carry your own weight." Clara shrugged again and stood up, wobbling, "Fine... all I want is a nice warm bath." Nila ignored her and approached Yvonne, lifting her up princess-style, "Woah, you are heavy." Yvonne looked at her dumbfounded, "Yeah, thanks, at least I have muscles not like your enormous fat ass and ti... ah!" She let go of her, letting her fall. Yvonne clenched her teeth and looked at her older sister, "Fine, I will shut up. Just get me out of here." Nila nodded at her with a smirk and lifted her up again. She turned to Clara and looked at her expectingly, waiting for something. However, she only became confused, "What? I think you both have a nice body." Yvonne started to chuckle, "Hehe, this will be fun." Nila cracked her neck visibly in annoyance and said, "Use your nose and show me where to go." For everyone without specific skills, they could only see piles of stone. However, Clara could sense, even without using any skills, the air moving around them in particular ways that intertwined with each other, building a combination of diverse, primarily disgusting smells, which meant that there could be an exit. She nodded and immediately used all her [Mystic Skills] to pinpoint the exit. She sniffed once and could smell the place around her: Every little stone, every dust cloud, and frightened or dead vermin. With a second sniff, she knew the way out. However, with the third sniff, she suddenly stopped, and cold sweat started to run down her back. Nila saw this and asked, "Everything fine? Did you find a way?" Suddenly, Clara began to cry, "Heuk! I smell the same thing inside... heuk... the goat... we are trapped." Nila raised an eyebrow, "Only on one way?" Clara shook her head and forced herself to calm down, "The smell is all around us. Be it on the routes I sniffed out or on the walls. Now that I know... heuk, how it smells, I can find it... I don''t want this anymore..." She wiped away her tears with her dirty hands and suddenly got dirt in her eye, "...damn it! I want to go home! Home!" Nila yelled at her, "Shut up!" Clara suddenly felt killing intent and how it was aimed at her and became frightened. She looked toward her sister, who was staring at her. She didn''t say anything anymore and stopped crying purely out of fear. Nila nodded and retracted her killing intent, clicking her tongue, "Okay, this will be annoying, but I guess I can find my way back and get help." Clara immediately tried to stop her, even though in fear, "But what about the traps?!" Nila waved her hand in dismissal, "I alone can avoid or defend against them. The problem is you guys. I can''t really defend myself if I need to look after you." Clara nodded and used her skill again, telling her a direction where she could only sense three of those traps, "Okay!..." She gestured where to go, "...go there! This is the least dangerous path!" Nila nodded at her and looked back at Yvonne, who was still in her arms, "Yvonne, you wait here with Clara while I get help, got it?" Yvonne sighed and shrugged, "Yeah, I get it, but..." Nila tilted her head in confusion, waiting for the sentence to end. Clara could see how Yvonne was frightened since she patted her oldest sister''s arm and clenched it sometimes, ''At least I am not the only one with a survival instinct.'' Nila sighed, laid her down carefully, and patted her weirdly, obviously being as exhausted as everyone else, "Don''t worry, I will be back quickly." Yvonne nodded back and lay down beside Clara in the rubble. Nila looked at them and nodded, "Wait here," after she said it, she was gone. Clara sat beside her, smiled, and gestured by closing her fist firmly, "Don''t worry, we can do it! Nila will surely be back soon!" Yvonne looked at her and sighed, "Sure, can you give me my spear?" Clara nodded happily, "Sure!" Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ... An Hour Later ''She is really boring...'' After Nila left, Clara got Yvonne her spear and tried to talk with her, but she only answered in her typical barbaric way. More than a yeah or sure wouldn''t come out of her. This caused her to think a lot about the things she yearned for. She missed her fianc¨¦, who was on a campaign on one of the islands in the south, collecting merits by helping organize building a settlement, and by his letters, it all went according to his planning, ''Henry was always too meticulous, so much so, that it is blocking him sometimes.'' Clara met him at a ball organized by the Heart-Fire household. She was initially not interested as he had a stoic personality, while she loved being more playful and open. However, while the ball went on, and after a lot of alcohol, his outer shell slowly melted away. What was left was a humorous and clever guy who loved to brag about his boring insect collection. For some reason, she found it cute and fascinating. She immediately fell in love with him and told him this on the balcony on the same night. It was beautiful, at least for the first few minutes, until he vomited over the scaffolding since he drank too much. The next day, though, he apologized and told her he was also interested in her and only drank at balls since he was too nervous in social settings. It was adorable. Over time, they bonded strongly, even though they had half a dozen nannies observing them since she was premature. Yet, it didn''t dampen their love, ''I hope he comes back next year, when my first mating season will be, huh.'' Clara sighed and looked to the side at Yvonne, thinking about her sister''s love life, too. She had assumably no partner, but gossip told a different story. According to rumors, she was in love with a blacksmith apprentice who lived outside the estate. Her name was Gertrud or something, and she was apparently a rising star in her craft. It was also an open secret that she was into girls, as seen by the mating seasons she went through. Only women and young girls visited her, which didn''t happen in the last one as only her girlfriend came and even stayed overnight. Their parents were fine with it since she had no chance to become an heir, with Nila and Patricia being as talented as they were, so if she married a commoner or someone of the same sex, it mattered little. ''I can talk with her about her little girlfriend, I guess? Maybe time will fly faster then.'' She smiled at her and asked as warmly as possible, "How is your girlfriend, Gertrud? I heard she is really good at..." Only now did she remember that she had no idea about lowly work, "...hammering and burning things." Yvonne looked back at her and raised an eyebrow, "Really? We almost died, and you want to talk about our love life?" Clara nodded and became confused, "Of course? What else is there to desire in the face of death besides the regret that you can''t spend more time with your family or lover? Aren''t those the most important people in your life?..." She looked to the front, away from Yvonne, and smiled sadly, "...I don''t care about the riches I enjoyed only by myself. If I could have my family and Henry around me, I would be the happiest and most fortunate girl on Orbis." Yvonne nodded, "You are right. When I return, I will drag her out of the damn smithy and..." She suddenly realized something, making her voice crack slightly, "...by... the way, you know it?" Clara held a hand before her mouth and chuckled, "Hehe, who doesn''t? Do you think bringing her into the estate every night was some secret? We are only waiting for who will propose to whom first..." She thought about something funny, "...well, since the man should be the first to propose... no, wait, in our household, the woman needs to propose first..." She tapped her cheek with her index finger thoughtfully, "...but who of you is the woman, though?" Yvonne blushed slightly, "You really talk a lot of nonsense..." She looked down and smiled, "...I think we need more time before we go as far." Clara stood up and wiped the dust off her armor, "You are usually such a hot head. I thought you would immediately propose the mo..." However, before she could end the sentence, the blunt end of Yvonne''s spear hit her side and knocked the air out. She flew full force towards some ruble, yet, when she looked toward her sister, why she hit her, a throwing knife, filled to the brim with energy, suddenly flew in a trajectory where her head was before. Boom! She crashed into the rubble and smelled a stink. She recognized it immediately, ''A night-elf?!'' The night-elf suddenly jumped out of a shadow and was about to attack Yvonne. Yet, the moment they came out, a blur of pure killing intent and the specific demonic energy from the Feather-Paw household came like lightning and pierced the night-elf''s head, killing them immediately. It was Nila, and before Clara knew what was going on, her sister flashed toward the night-elf and kicked mid-air the corpse as far away as possible¡ªlanding on her feet as elegantly afterward. Nila looked first at Yvonne and nodded at her, then towards Clara, "Smell if there any of them in the shadows." Clara nodded and immediately tried to sniff them out. She tried to differentiate and remember the smell of the elf when they was in the shadow. However, nothing came out, but she found something odd about the corpse and remembered immediately, "The elf has the same smell on them as the goat!" Nila clicked her tongue, aimed her rapier at it, and thrust forward. Demonic energy came out like wild and angry bees flying towards it in unpredictable patterns, hitting the elf at different body parts. Nothing happened at first, and Clara already knew what the disgusting demonic legacy of the Feather-Paw did, notably her sister''s, which acted much faster and was more intense. Before she could turn around to avoid the disgusting sight, the corpse bloated slightly at different body parts. Shortly after, pus started to pour out of the corpse''s orifices, slowly and continuously. The stench of disease invaded her nose immediately. The smell was something she couldn''t stand, and the sight was as bad, making it far worse for her. The pus was purplish-red and looked like it pulsated when it came out. It was too much for Clara. She puked, "Urgh!" Nila came over and patted her back, "Can you smell if what the elf had is gone?" Full of snot and tears, Clara turned around, "I urgh... don''t know... how can I smell it out if there is such a disgusting scent out here." Nila shrugged and nodded toward her, "Fine. However, you must confirm if more night-elves are in the shadows nearby." Clara nodded and used all her skills but almost immediately started to wrench, "Urgh!..." After a moment, she looked at her sister, holding her nose shut, "...I can''t!" Nila rubbed the place between her eyes and turned to Yvonne, "Is there someone else?" Yvonne shrugged, "How should I know?" Nila sighed, "Fine, let''s just be extra careful on our way out. They seem to be weak enough for me to react quickly enough, and it looks like I can destroy the traps." After Clara used every mental fortitude skill she had, she looked at her sisters and said, astounded, "How did you know there was an elf?!" Nila shrugged, "Elf? No idea..." She pointed toward Yvonne, "...she just told me that the shadows were moving weirdly and that there could be someone here to clean up." "When?!" Nila tapped her arm several times in different ways and patterns, "Tap language from the mole- and worm-kin. It really is helpful." Clara suddenly remembered how Yvonne grabbed her arm weirdly and became enlightened but also a little embarrassed, ''Was I the only one who was so frightened? Maybe I should train a little, just for self-defense.'' Nila brought her out of her thoughts, "We will leave together. I can probably kill whatever they were with the stamina I have left..." She walked toward Yvonne, lifting her up again, "...Clara, I need you to sniff out the traps. We will avoid the traps as much as we can and destroy them if not. I leave it to you to guide us." Clara nodded and stood up again from the rubble, "Okay... I want to leave this Outer Circle as fast as possible." On the way back, she vomited another five times, trying to force her skills through the stank. She swore never to revisit the sewers, never mind what her Mother said. ... Many Hours Later, Nine-Fire estate, Ori''s Office "They dare!" An incredible blood lust and killing intent filled the room. Nila stood before her Mother and told everything that happened calmly, but she reacted as usual, "Please cal..." Ori clenched her fists and fangs, making her intense blood lust go haywire, "I will kill every single night-elf I will find!" Nila gestured even more strongly for her Mother to calm down, "Mom, please calm down. We don''t even know who is behind the attack." Ori looked at her daughter in wrath, "Shush! Get Perry. I want the underworld eradicated and every leader''s head by noon. I want them all hung in the plaza!" Nila suddenly panicked as it was the worst thing her Mother could do, "What about the Leonandra''s? Aren''t they also looking for clues? You can''t start killing them! Also, think of Dad! He is leading the whole operation outside. If we go haywire, it will disrupt his progress heavily!" Ori took her fan and immediately broke it, surprising Nila. It was also her weapon and made out of a metal that could deflect magic, which meant that it was extremely robust, "Fuck them! Fuck Mari, Fuck Scarlett! Also, Peter is..." Ori clenched her fangs, and her killing intent slowly subsided. Nila knew that the moment she mentioned her Father, it would persuade her to act more calmly and not do her crazy act. Nila''s Father was the one who helped her Mother bring the fief into order after her Grandparents mismanaged it heavily. So, she always listened to him outside of combat-related topics. However, it didn''t mean she would calm down, "I want to find and skin the little bastard alive! He is the one who started everything!" Before Nila could try to persuade her not to act rashly, a delivery falcon arrived. Her Mother ignored it, but she went to the window silt and took the letter. While quickly skimping over it, she also fed the poor bird some meat as it shivered from all the bloodlust in the air. It was a present from the Leonandra household, who developed a knack for animal taming, especially for delivery birds. She knew the reason was the Lord, who was also a druid. Otherwise, only highly skilled individuals could tame the animals with which they sent their letters, and they had no such servant. After skimping through, Nila smiled firmly, "You should read it." Ori turned around, "What? Is it Mari?! Did Alex decide on anything? Just give it to someone so they could bring it to him..." She suddenly smiled mischievously, ignoring the letter, "...Peter only said that I shouldn''t bring chaos to Foxteeth, but he didn''t say I couldn''t go out myself and look for the little pest." Nila held the letter before her, "Read it, trust me." Ori begrudgingly took the letter and suddenly became joyful but, after another second, seethed in anger, "Damn it!" Nila looked at her, "So, should we continue searching?" Ori rubbed her place between her eyebrows, "Don''t stop it. I want you to go through the underworld and ensure that the ones associated with that traitor are found. Make our position clear." Nila nodded, "Of course." She quickly left as the bloodlust was also affecting her, making her breathing more rugged the longer she stayed with her Mother. Clank Yet, the moment the door closed, an incredible amount of bloodlust invaded the whole floor, magnitudes stronger than before. Fortunately, no servants were on the floor. The last thing she wanted to do was to drag them away as they would undoubtedly become unconscious, ''Does she think she is Scarlett? She could accidentally kill some puppy with this amount.'' Nila shrugged and was either way happy. All she had to do now was to make an example, and this would, at most, cost her a couple more weeks, and the best thing about it was she wouldn''t need her annoying sisters for this. Chapter 82: Nine-Fire Visit 21: On the way to Wolfsteeth ... Shortly before The Arrival of the Nine-Fire Youth, Inside a Carriage on the way to Wolfsteeth "Are you really fine?" Ocilia lifted her head and looked annoyed at where the voice came from, "Urgh, Aurum, for the last time, I am fine." Aurum held his hands up in peace before Ocilia and chuckled, "All right, only wanted to make sure. No need to look at me so threatening, hehe." Maurice chimed in to mediate between the two, "Listen, we are here for Mr. Alexander, so please cooperate as well as possible." Three of Alexander''s retainers sat in the carriage toward Wolfsteeth and were ready to spend the gold they had to help their Master reach his goals in one way or another. While Aurum was visibly excited, Ocilia wasn''t since she needed to do something she wasn''t keen on doing. However, she wanted to be helpful to her Master since she barely did anything, in her opinion, and, thus, was readying herself for the following weeks to live like a rat. Ocilia looked with large bags under her eyes toward Maurice, "I am fine..." she rubbed her eyes with her hand palms, letting them slowly slide down, "...I just hoped for a bit more downtime." After what happened in Wolfsteeth, Ocilia barricaded herself in her room for weeks, crying, weeping, and getting angry at everything around her. She didn''t want to talk to her Master or anyone else about what happened. In her view, it was inappropriate to burden him or her parents with such a minuscule problem. She killed her old friends in self-defense without provoking them. It was a clear-cut case, so her mind should be calm, but it was far from it. Her old friends, she wasn''t even sure if she could call them like this, betrayed her for coins¡ªa notion she couldn''t even imagine doing. It felt terrible. She felt like they saw her as a pest, only to be eradicated for gold. After moving into the estate, they didn''t talk much and weren''t on the best of terms, but didn''t friendship mean something, or even the help she provided over the years? Sure, she didn''t like them much after they cut contact with her when she decided to stop lending them coins and only talked with her again when she had a job for them. Still, it was nonetheless heartbreaking to her that they decided to choose a path this horrendous in the end. However, it was also a liberation for her. All her old connections to her past were either dead or didn''t want to have anything to do with her except borrowing coins. She was, as her Master described it once to her, a blank sheet of paper, ready to choose her colors how she liked, not bound by any previous drawings or coloration. She didn''t like his metaphors usually, but this one spoke to her. Instead of seeing everything as overly negative, she saw it now more like a new beginning. Yet, her philosophical contemplation ended when she left the room. Her conscience crushed her like a mountain when she heard that Aurum wanted to go to Wolfsteeth for her Master''s charity project, at last starting it. She felt terrible for not doing anything for a long time, so she joined him, even though her Master told her she could relax much longer, but it didn''t feel right to her, so she proposed something to him, to which he readily agreed under the promise that she should be safe and have some fun while at it so she could recover from her visible mental fatigue, ''Fun, huh?'' Ocilia hated the city and loved the estate. Even though there was gossip, it was mostly harmless, and all they were interested in was some useless crap like who slept with whom. On the other hand, Wolfsteeth, where she had lived, was like a trash bin for all the pests to gather in and around. She couldn''t relax and have fun in a city full of cockroaches, but she didn''t say this as her Master was very sensitive to commoners, like he was with her when she became his apprentice, for which she was thankful. Before further pondering her apparent hypocrisy, she felt Aurum looking at her worryingly. She decided to converse a bit before he would run to their Master and tattle about her, "So, on what do we need to spend the..." She pointed to the back of the carriage where the chests with the gold were, "...thousands of gold coins." Aurum cleared his throat and smiled, explaining, "Ahem, we have around 250 thousand average gold coins. With this, we can stay for a couple of weeks and start the charity we planned for so long while supporting other institutions in the southern and northern districts. I will also meet beforehand some friends who will support me." Maurice shook his head, "I can''t believe that we sold those white parchments for so much." Aurum smirked at him, "So much? I only got 40 or so percent with us, and part of it goes to other things, too." Maurice looked at him perplexed, "Other things?" Ocilia looked at Aurum and opened her hand, waiting for her spatial pouch, "I am the other thing, and I need around ten thousand." Aurum casually took a small but very finely made pouch from his side pocket and threw it to Ocilia while continuing, "Mr. Alexander gave her the task to sniff out some black markets." Maurice raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean with sniff out? Do we need to start killing thieves?" Ocilia side glanced at him and sighed, "First, I volunteered for this, and second, Master wants manuals, spells, and other..." She air-quoted what he said, "...fun stuff." After hearing it, Aurum brought out a folded paper and gave it to her. She touched and smelled it. It was excellent quality and many times more robust than the first version of the paper they made, ''I can''t believe this little thing brought us so much coin.'' Her Father now worked for Alexander and was part of the team that created the paper; as such, news about the gold mine they had quickly made it to her. After every new batch they made, the process became not only faster but also the product, the paper, became better. Sometimes not so much or worse, but overall, it became better, ''Hopefully, Master will sell it for more to Green as it is excellent.'' She opened it and read the content. She immediately creased her eyebrows, "What the fuck is this? It just states that Master wants anything he doesn''t have?! Does he want me to buy out the underworld?!" She looked at Aurum in disbelief since it was his task to ask their Master for more precise instructions on what to buy. Aurum shrugged, "You have not ten but twenty thousand gold coins to play with because of this, so just buy anything you can get your hands on, but do not buy any mana items since the Lady didn''t allow it." Ocilia frowned, "Fine..." It was usual for her Master to give cryptic tasks, so this wasn''t the first time she had to deal with it. Sometimes, he even gave her the homework of finding the topic herself and analyzing it so he could grade it. She hated it. She moved slightly to put the pouch around her waist and continued, "I will be gone at night, so it will most likely be that we don''t see each other much. However, I will leave you a note of what I bought the night before every morning. If there is no note, contact the guards immediately and look for me. Who knows what kind of trash is down there." Aurum looked at her sternly, "Don''t call those people trash. They didn''t choose to become like this." Ocilia raised her eyebrow, "Oh, the one who never lived with those vermins has some empathy? Don''t worry. When you have to deal with the northern district, all you want to do is to burn..." Aurum raised his voice angrily, "Stop! I will not allow you to talk like this!" After hanging the pouch, she leaned forward and looked Aurum deep into his eyes, "Listen here, you joke of an accountant. While Master has never been outside his golden cage, he will see it like I do when he is allowed to leave..." She leaned back and pointed at him with her hand palm upwards, "...you, on the other hand, should know better." Aurum clenched his teeth and spoke through them angrily, "Lia..." She immediately interrupted him, "Don''t call me by my nickname. I don''t like you and even less trust you not to jump the moment Master does something you disagree with. You are obviously someone with no loyalty." Aurum became much more stoic, ignoring her provocations, "Ocilia, I think you are the result of your environment. You think like this now is only because you saw the worst and experienced it as such. The people deserve a chance for a better life, and even if you disagree with helping adults, what about cygnets?" She looked at him and suddenly smirked, "I think that trash comes from trash..." but sighed immediately afterward, "...however, hatchlings are truly not responsible for their situation, so when it comes to orphanages, you have my full support." Maurice looked at both of them interchangingly and smiled happily, "See? We can all go along just fine, right?" Ocilia looked at him and smirked, "Be careful in the South. There are a lot of little creeps trying to pickpocket you..." She shrugged, "...I know some of my previous friends made a living out of it." Maurice sighed, "Killing made you an asshole, Lia." Aurum also interjected, "If you are tired or in any way not on top, just go back and relax. The last thing I want to do is to explain to Mr. Alexander why you are suddenly without eyes while there are eight great recovery potions on sale in the underworld." She dismissed both of them, "I am just tired. I will sleep when we get to the hotel since my time to shine is the night." Aurum shrugged, clearly not caring, "Fine with me, just don''t forget the memo, though, because I will act and send out the city guards down there." She nodded, "Good." There was some silence for a couple of minutes till Maurice broke it, "Well, are you hungry? Want to go together to a restaurant? I know one that makes the best dumplings you ever had..." Aurum interrupted him, "You really don''t like silence, huh?" The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Ocilia agreed with him, "He doesn''t. He always tries to chat with everyone..." She suddenly remembered how he had acted some years ago. She smirked at him, "...after becoming Master''s personal guard, he walked all proudly through the estate and flirted with every girl he could find while chatting up a storm at them. Many stopped greeting him in fear that he would try again to talk with them for hours, hehe." Maurice wanted to defend himself, but Aurum asked Ocilia before that, "Did he have success, though?" Ocilia laughed, "Haha, oh no. Personal guards are maniacs who train for the whole day and, in the evening, fall dead tired into their bed. Who wants to have such a husband? Every servant who works for a bit at the estate knows this..." She nodded toward Aurum, "...look at yourself, me, or any other personal helper of Master. Nobody has any time for stupid stuff like romance." Maurice quickly interjected before anyone could say more, becoming red in his face, "I have a girlfriend, and I have time for her!" Ocilia was the first to laugh, "Haha! Which hatchling could you convince?" Before Maurice could defend himself, Aurum patted his shoulder, "Hehe, don''t worry, this will quickly change when Mr. Alexander gets more soldiers to which..." He playfully viciously smiled at him, "...you will lead and train them. There will be no time for whoever is now your loved one, no matter how young she is." Maurice became exasperated, "First, she is older than me, and Mr. Alexander talked about how he wants us to have a life?! What was it called again?" Ocilia remembered what her Master said, "Work-Life balance and how do you want to have any private life with how fast Master moves? I prophecize that the moment he turns ten and gets out of the estate, you will have to follow him all the time because of how dangerous it will be." Maurice shook his head, "I think he will be much stronger than me, so he will not need any protection. It kind of defeats my purpose, which is sad, but I am thankful that he is that strong, honestly." Aurum chuckled slightly, "Hehe, she doesn''t mean it like this." Ocilia explained, "Do you remember how he threw a fireball at you because he got so annoyed? Or how he almost froze the swan-kin servants? Or how he almost turned Anastasia into a shashlik? Or..." Maurice interrupted her, obviously understanding her point, "Got it! I will have to protect the others and not Mr. Alexander!" At most events, she was there. Others, though, she only heard about and knew it wasn''t exaggerated. Her Master was touchy and also liked to provoke. Being around others who weren''t his family or servants was a disaster in the making. Aurum shrugged, "Find some people who can serve him under you. Otherwise, you will burn out at some point..." He put one leg over the other and pointed his chin towards Ocilia, "...look at Ocilia and how terrible she looks. She is his only disciple and has no one under her. She is doing all the menial work for Mr. Alexander and organizes his research, which, as much as I know, a lot." She shook her head, "Wrong. The moment I have more time, I will ask Master to get some more disciples, and I have already some in mind." Aurum raised an eyebrow, "Who?" She smirked, leaned back, and crossed her arms, "My siblings will be some good serva... disciples." Aurum thought momentarily and nodded, "I actually like the idea. He can trust your siblings..." He tilted his head to one side, "...well, most of your siblings, but since you are trustworthy and loyal, he will also obviously trust your little brother and sister." Ocilia didn''t look at him and only closed her eyes, "Thanks. I don''t like you either way, though. Aurum audible sighed, "This is based on reciprocity." After some silence, Maurice tried to talk again, "Sooo... dumplings, yes or ..." Both interrupted him: "Just shut up." "Shush." ... The Little Forest (Restaurant) inside the Wintersleep Hotel, Wolfsteeth "Like I said, they have the best dumplings!" Ocilia grabbed one from Maurice''s plate and took a bite, "Hm, you are right. Not bad." On the other hand, Aurum only had some tea with sweet pastries while writing his notes, "So, how do we do it now?" While Ocilia dumbed dumplings into some sauce, she asked, "What do you mean? I will work at night while you do your stuff during the day." He nodded, "Fine, how can I contact you then if something comes up?" Ocilia first took a giant bite while thinking. She wasn''t too keen on working with Aurum, but since he was her Master''s accountant, there was no avoiding it. She decided to be at least somewhat cordial and not work against him. After swallowing down, she looked at Aurum, "Even though I will sleep while you do your charity stuff, you can wake me up..." She looked at her greasy hands and quickly used the cleaning spell on them while continuing, "...but if you need me at night, this will be tricky..." After the spell was done, she shook her hands slightly so the greyish-black flakes could fall down to the ground and continued, "We can do it like this: We can try and coordinate with each other, depending on what you have to do, deal? I need to stay probably longer here, though." Aurum looked around him, and half a dozen people were looking at Ocilia while whispering. He frowned, "First, don''t use magic in the open. Second, I am fine with that arrangement even if I don''t understand why you would need more time." Ocilia looked around her. She shrugged as she didn''t care for the others, "Ignore them. If going by Master''s wish, they will also learn how to do magic in the foreseeable future, and I need to..." She took another dumpling from Maurice''s plate while he looked slightly distressed, "...orient me first. It''s not like they will suddenly give me all I want because I have gold." Aurum leaned back and took the tea, "Sure, I trust you not to besmirch his name." She stopped dumping the dumpling in sauce and looked sternly at Aurum, not liking at all what he said on so many levels, "Listen here, posh-boy..." Aurum interrupted her angrily, "Posh-boy?! I am the son of an accountant and potter. Not some noble!" She smirked at him, "Accountant? Potter? You are the son of Salyna, and as much as I know, she is so filthy rich that she sent you to one of the more expensive boarding schools to learn things you could as easily learn from a failed merchant..." Her smile widened, "...this speaks more about you than you know." He suddenly stood up and became overly flustered, opening his wings wide. However, as he was about to scream at her, Maurice banged his hand on the table, "Shut up! Both of you!" Both looked at him how he emitted slight bloodlust at them. Ocilia barely saw Maurice this serious or angry, as he typically had a warm personality. This was one of the reasons she liked him quite a lot, as he always encouraged her to do her best when she was down. The other was that he was, like she, loyal and would give his life for their Master without questions asked. Yet, his following words sounded like he was about to bash them with his mace, "I''ve had enough of your fighting! If you don''t shut up immediately and try not to fight like puppies, I will drag you back and tell Master that you were uncooperative!" Aurum stared at him momentarily but sat down silently without saying anything, even though his feathers were pretty ruffled. Ocilia, on the other hand, tried to grab another dumpling. However, as she was about to take it, he swatted her hand away, "This is my food! Get yours!" Maurice sat down again, and silence invaded the table till Aurum broke it after gulping down the tea in one go, "Fine..." He looked at Maurice, "...I apologize to you and..." he turned to Ocilia, "...and to you too." Ocilia nodded at both as an apology and said, "I am sorry too." Aurum nodded back, "By the way, do you have the Leonandra name?" She raised an eyebrow and asked, irritated again, "Why do you need to know this? Do you think I don''t see myself as part of the household and am not loyal?" He chuckled while wiping away the tea on his lips with a serviette, "You are jumping to stupid conclusions. I need to do some administrative work and need your fully recognized name." She sighed, feeling a little stupid as she jumped to such conclusions, "Ocilia Leonandra." A worker approached their table before he could continue. It was a very nervous owl-kin who was sweating buckets, "E... Excuse me, my dear guests, bu... but could you..." Before he could continue, though, Maurice took out the Leonandra household emblem and threw it on the table. It emitted a potent demonic aura, the only discernible thing about the ugly-looking plaque. It looked roughly made, but the metal it was made of was relatively rare and robust as everything else corrupted the moment the demonic energy directly touched and even faster if it should hold the energy and emit a specific aura. From talking with some senior blacksmiths, it was almost impossible to work with the metal. Ocilia didn''t know why, but making a plaque, which also looked good, needed highly skilled blacksmiths, which they didn''t have. Only those close to the household had it, a typical sign of close retainers. Even Ocilia had one, but she never used it, thinking it would come over as rude, using her Master''s household name for unimportant things. The owl-kin opened his already big eyes even wider while the feathers on his wings began to ruffle out of stress. Maurice looked at him like he was ready to kill him the moment he said something wrong, "Tell the other guests to fuck off. I have no urge to change the hotel because some bastards think that having a passionate discussion is too much for their small brains." The owl-kin bowed down and immediately apologized, "My deepest apology!" He went away without saying a word. Everyone around them started to gossip and whisper. Some even immediately left. Such a reaction was typical, and the gossip would quickly spread. Since the Leonandra household ruled this fief, their retainers were practically their extensions, and their behavior represented their Masters. The positives were that they could act much more freely. Yet, when Ocilia''s parents learned what happened, her Mother would scream and reprimand her. At the same time, her Master would laugh at her for acting as she did, even though she didn''t do anything. Regardless of her behavior, being associated with a group was the same as approving such conduct, so she would need to look out for it. However, her current group wasn''t something she could choose. The others weren''t better off. Ocilia knew Maurice would get beat up by Cross if he ever found out about this, and Salyna would probably also reprimand Aurum heavily. It was only outside the guard household circle where nobles and their retainers could behave like thugs in their territory without worry. However, the Lord, and especially the Lady, was stringent regarding their conduct. For example, if Ocilia stole goods, she could expect to pay compensation should this ever come out. Much worse would happen if she dared to threaten the one she stole from. She could expect to get beaten up and then punished. Yet, nobody needed to know about Maurice''s cute outburst. She smirked at him, "Small brains?" Maurice shrugged, putting the plaque back into his pocket, "I am not a pro in insulting others. Cut me some slack." Aurum laughed out loud, "Haha! This will be fun." Ocilia looked at him and back at Maurice, "Is he going crazy?" Maurice looked at her while Aurum tried to get air as he laughed too much. He solemnly said, "Huh, we are here for Master''s dealings and need to make a good impression somehow, but I guess we already failed, so..." Aurum interrupted him after calming down, "Good impression? Why? You are right, fuck them. Ocilia will crawl through sewers, and I am about to work with what..." He opened his arms wide and looked at all the wealthy people around him, "...they see as the lowest of the low. We have gold and status, so everything they say, we can ignore fully." Ocilia stood up and looked at Aurum, "Now I like you more. The arrogance is something Master''s servants should show..." She turned around and was about to walk away to her room, but turned back, "...now if you excuse me, posh-boy, I need some sleep before I crawl through shit water so I can buy badly made manuals for a Master who will use it, to blow himself up with." As she was leaving the restaurant and towards her room, she heard what Aurum said, "I fucking hate her..." However, she could hear the smile in his voice. There was something her Master was able to do, and it was to bring the worst out of everyone. There was barely any conduct for his close ones: Cursing, fighting, insulting, everything was not only okay, but her Master even wished for it as he was exemplary of such behavior. Till now, even though Aurum was straightforward to their Master, it wasn''t the case for others. So, coming out of his shell and insulting a whole restaurant of wealthy merchants and even minor nobles was a sign that he slowly became a genuine servant of their Master. Arrogance and pride. Even her parents slowly changed and started to look down on others. Even knowing the other personal maids, they were the same and flaunted the same attitude when they visited Wolfsteeth or even at the estate. Others knew they were Alexander''s servants, and the rumors about them weren''t flattering. The bad reputation built slowly up, but nobody cared as they felt superior to everyone else. Not because of status or wealth, no. It was because they got more powerful, more competent, and better at what they were doing. Their Master shared everything with them: Magic, training methods, tricks to successfully go through skill tests, and much more. There were no secrets. When they became closer to their Master, they developed a drive to improve. Their levels increased faster, tests became more straightforward, and new passions were discovered, which they followed with delight: They changed and saw themselves as more sophisticated in comparison to those who lazed around all day. It was an incredible high, which only got faster the more their Master discovered things to share with. Being less than proud of their accomplishments would be an insult to him. Chapter 83: Nine-Fire Visit 22: Banking I ... In front of the Hotel Wintersleep, Wolfsteeth After what he would describe as an eventful dinner with Ocilia, Aurum went to his carriage with Maurice to do some errands before meeting with some old friends the next day, ''Can''t believe that she riled me that much up.'' There was something about Ocilia that he particularly didn''t like. It wasn''t her low birth or lack of education in etiquette but that she slowly became like Alexander. Something about her, the arrogance she emitted, irked him the wrong way, as if she thought she was far above him. However, from the standpoint of classes, she was. As the first disciple of Alexander, she would always be much more important than he was since her position was very particular and couldn''t be easily changed. There was also the fact that if something happened and she made a terrible mistake, Alexander would need to take full responsibility, while with him, it could go either way. He shook himself awake from the thoughts and climbed into the carriage with Maurice. Sitting down, he knocked a couple of times at the wall inside the carriage, "To the Golden Feather Bank." The carriage began to drive, and he had time to kill, "So, we didn''t talk much?" Maurice was sitting on the opposite side of him and looked opposing from his physical build alone. His muscles bulged out of his half-plate leather armor, and he could even see that the armor needed to be changed, cut, or bent on some ends, as it probably became too little. However, his face and how he looked at Aurum was that of a gentle and curious boy, ''What a weird guy.'' Aurum never had much to do with him and barely saw him, as the training ground wasn''t his usual hangout spot. However, he heard things about Alexander''s personal guard and how he became better by the day, almost torturing himself to reach the next level and thus becoming more powerful. This alone did win his respect. There were also rumors that he was very forthcoming and friendly. Apparently, he stood fully behind Alexander''s ideals and voluntarily trained the cygnets of servants who worked at the estate. In Aurum''s opinion, talking with him should be fruitful as it could open up a new perspective. Even better, he also now knew that Maurice likes to chit-chat, so it should go smoothly. Maurice tilted his head in confusion, "Not really, but why should we? I mean, we are responsible for very different things, or am I wrong?" Aurum shrugged and leaned back, "Well, just trying to do some small talk since we will have to do a lot with each other. Tell me, what are your hobbies, wishes, and aspirations for the future?" Maurice smiled at him, "Sure. I like to cook and bake. At the moment, I am trying to make a lemon cake with cinnamon, but the taste is always somewhat weird. I think it''s because..." Aurum didn''t interrupt him but listened to him simply go on and on about the specifics of baking a lemon cake and how the ratio of sugar and cinnamon was essential for the taste not to be overwhelming, ''It was a big mistake.'' For some reason, Aurum expected Maurice to have some interesting theories about things he was interested in, but it seemed to be not the case. Sometimes, people who had the same ideals as he or Alexander wouldn''t have the theoretical understanding. They would act and do things because they find it right, which was probably the case with the big guy. It was not bad, and most of the time, people with such intuitions were more faithful to their ideals than those who studied them, so not talking about anything intellectually was fine. However, it didn''t mean he was pleased to listen to the art of lemon peeling, ''Why didn''t he become a baker?'' ... 30 Minutes Later, Late Afternoon, Bank of the Golden Feather, Wolfsteeth "Wait here. I will be back in a couple of hours." Clack Aurum left the carriage, closed the door, and walked towards the bank. He would need to create multiple accounts for Alexander and every other retainer he had. Plus, for the ones who would soon join them. Banks were essential for larger businesses and made everything much more manageable. For example, while Alexander gave wages to his servants every three months as a sum in coins, the estate gave bank notes every five months. Lower servants could redeem the notes without hassle at any bank the Leonandra household had made an account. It was primarily for convenience, as counting and putting the coins into a pouch for hundreds of workers like soldiers, servants, artisans, and simple laborers was too much of a hassle. However, the household gave the ones with higher status their own account and transferred their wages frequently to them. The reason was quite stupid: Most with higher status barely left the estate and would only collect their notes. However, when they decided to go to Wolfsteeth, most of the notes would expire, or they would just lose them. Then, it would be another hassle to find out which notes were redeemed and which not, how much they paid them, etc. It was far easier to open them an account. While it sounded then like a great idea to open everyone an account to reduce the workload even more, it would be too expensive as the main account holder would have to pay for every subsequent account, and this would become too expensive. Aurum wanted to do something close to this: Open a main account, multiple pivot accounts, and many more sub-accounts. However, the problem was that Alexander had barely anyone of lower status working for him, as only those trusted and loyal would be granted entrance to his mansion because of the mana paper-making production and mana ink experiments he did. Then there would be the charity. He already had a plan on how to administer the estate, Alexander''s part, and the charity he was now responsible for efficiently, and for this, he would need to open dozens, if not hundreds, of accounts. He slightly touched his spatial pouch where all his current diagrams for the accounting structure were, remembering the mess he needed to entangle. Authors note: It is enormously simplified with one easy example to show the structure visually. While main-accounts acted as treasury and were fully independent in their functions, pivot- and sub-accounts weren''t. Pivot accounts, like the name suggested, could only transfer coins toward the sub-accounts linked to them while only receiving gold from the main account and issuing a limited amount of banknotes in their name. Sub-accounts would then act as little treasuries for their people. It was all for easier bookkeeping. If he started to open only main-accounts, different branches of the estate and charities could transfer their gold between each other, and it would become a giant mess. To avoid such a bureaucratic monster, he readied himself to pay a lot of gold for what he needed to work as efficiently as possible. Usually, many nobles didn''t do it, as it was too expensive for them. They also didn''t treat their servants fairly or pay as much, so giving them a pouch with some copper or silver coins was generally more straightforward. The guard households were always a little weird, though. They had a deal with the Golden Feather Bank, which had thousands of branches around the continent. The Knightages would respect their autonomy to some extent, and in return, the fees they paid were minimal. What was that autonomy? If, for example, a human walks into the bank inside their territory and has an account from another branch from another region, they couldn''t touch them if they didn''t commit any serious crimes, which they had written down and agreed on before. Banks basically bought the status of an embassy. The crimes the bank accepted were also written down and contained things like murder, tax evasion, etc. They wholly ignored other laws, like insulting the ruler of the fief, as such laws could be interpreted very widely. There were cases in Mal-Gil when a noble became enraged by some high-demons who apparently could barely speak the beast-kin dialect and were accusingly insulting the ruler. The bank harbored them, but the noble didn''t accept it and confiscated their branch, killing the director and workers of the bank. The end of the story was that the main branches sanctioned the noble''s territory till it went bankrupt through various means. Something like this only worked with lower nobility, as for higher nobility, the banks had their merchant''s guild, which was part of the council, and they basically forced the acceptance of such regulations onto everyone through economic pressure. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. However, if there was an accusation of a broken law, which they agreed beforehand, a costly mana contract would be brought out, making the accused tell the truth. Depending on the investigation, the Golden Feather Bank would either decline the noble''s request or give in. While it all sounded highly convoluted and one-sided, it also gave the noble beast-kin, who were often nothing more than slaves in other territories, a chance to hide inside the bank by paying exorbitant fees for their stay should they be kidnapped but then escape. However, there was also blatant corruption and other trickery where the nobles of the territory where the bank was located paid them off to declare them criminals. Yet, it rarely happened with the bank he was about to visit. Nonetheless, the branches weren''t also omnipotent. When the director made a mistake or was caught breaking the law red-handed, the regional director would step in, and heads would roll, while the payouts would be enormous toward the victims, like in corruption cases. Banks, not only the Golden Feather one, were built on reputation and trust. If they failed to hold onto a high standard, they wouldn''t get any customers. They would fail sooner or later as the costs of having a continental bank were enormous. The tricky thing was that they needed to walk a very tight line between kingdoms and localities to foster an amiable relationship for themselves. The banks cared little for conflicts between kingdoms but only had interest if the new ruler would respect their autonomy like the last one. It was a whole bureaucratic and political mess he learned at his school and how to navigate it. He went through an entire course where he only learned about the biggest banks and how they operated so he could make sense of them later on. Aurum also asked himself multiple times if he should choose a local one instead of the Bahamut, which was the Golden Feather, but he quickly decided against it. If the charity project grew, besides Alexander''s business ventures, he would need a financial institute with branches all around Mal-Gil. Choosing only the local ones would only bring headaches. There was also the fact that the Golden Feather Bank had an excellent reputation. However, if a noble wanted to have more than the basics covered up, they would need to pay a horrendous amount of gold annually. But for him, it was chump change. If he wanted the project to work and be as big as envisioned by him and Alexander, he needed to do everything right from the beginning. The Golden Feather Bank he was now before looked as their reputation suggested. Around the bank, the whole plaza, from the buildings to the streets, was plastered with costly white stone, which became pinkish, a usual occurrence in Moorgrel as it soaked in the demonic miasma around them. Nonetheless, it looked exquisite, and the pink made it look even better if he was honest. The massive compound and buildings, comparable to Alexander''s mansion, were also fully pinkish with golden accents here and there. It looked much more luxurious, with fine engravings and four statues of the founders around it, than any of the mansions in the estate, as they were primarily built to protect from sudden attacks. So, a comparison was impossible, but it didn''t mean he wasn''t in awe, ''How much coin did they put into this branch?!'' He saw multiple branches on his travels and, while in school, of different banks. This, though, was the most massive building he had seen and a show that Wolfsteeth was massively profitable, ''The Lady did a really good job.'' Through old accounts and recounting of his Mother, he knew that the current Lady needed to scrap many policies away from the previous rulers and overhaul the whole territory. It was whiplash for many merchants and minor nobles as they got rich through the old system and thus protested strongly. Yet, she stood firm and administrated how he saw fit, and it showed. For the last decades, the territory boomed. He would like to know more about how she did it, but every time he asked his Mother, she ranted about how she wanted nothing more than to behead every earl, major, etc. It was a touchy subject as his Mother stood in the forefront and led most discussions. Little to say, he needed to find it all out himself through indirect means like reading reports, analyses from newer and older administrators, or using his [Mystic Skills]. There were too many policies to recount, but the most important were about taxing, trade, zoning, and fighting corruption. Some worked well, others not so much, and sometimes they would work but only in some parts of their fief. Aurum understood little since he wasn''t specialized in managing a territory. His maxim was the administration of businesses and finances, so everything fief related to him was learning by doing, ''Thoughts for another time.'' He walked beside the guards stationed around the main building entrance, opening the door nonchalantly. When he came in, cold air flew at his face, a nice change to the hotness of the outside. The interior was as extensive and luxury-looking as the outside. An enormous arc went through the whole main hall while nice-looking pillars decorated the place, giving the already high ceiling an even more expansive look. The arch was finely decorated with local tribalistic patterns, which were also seen on other, more traditional houses and clothes¡ªa remnant from ancient times. In the past, it was used for many things, like tattoos, to show the merits of warriors. Now, it has become stylish to decorate everything with them. As part of a noble household, he also learned their history, which had such tribal tattoos thousands of years ago. He knew also what they meant. So, seeing some of them on the arc made him cringe, ''Blood shall wash away the... honorable dumplings. Urgh, which moron painted them on?'' The first part was a burial tattoo, which warriors got after an honorable death, while the dumpling part was literally a joke one for cygnets. It was mostly painted on at events to the winner of small competitions. Later, they could easily wash it away. So, seeing it here with the combination of the burial one was quite a stupid mistake. However, he ignored it quickly and looked first around to orient himself. There were multiple counters with workers who wore exquisite suits. They were all of different races, not even beast-kin subraces, but also some high-demons, fire- and earth-djinns, and a nature-dweller centaur woman who flirted with a horse-kin from the estate who managed the draft animals. The Golden Feather Bank and other similar financial institutions with broad reach were exceptional when it came to accepting other races and working together for one good reason: Gold. Nobody cared if gold was to be made. Making a profit was their ideal, and something petty like politics, cultural differences, and appearance would only get in the way. He smirked slightly as this mindset reminded him of someone, ''Alexander would probably like it here.'' Aurum looked to the side, and there were open rooms for cygnets with toys. It was obviously a room for servants or, in general, parents who came with little ones to attend to some business quickly. To avoid getting annoyed by the cygnets, they would throw them into the playroom and later take them back. Parents or servants who needed to look after them wouldn''t like to let them run around alone in Wolfsteeth while attending business, so proposing such a place was a great idea, ''The worker attending the little ones looks really stressed out, though.'' The door only opened for a second, and he saw how a worker was pulled on his clothes and got thrown stuff at while the cygnets ran around him, screaming, ''He fucked probably up and needs now as punishment look after them.'' He ignored the poor soul quickly and looked to the top, what he was most interested in, and found it, ''Why is the damn price for wool so high? What are the damn sheep-kin doing?'' Far to the side on a wall was a massive table of the monthly exchange rates of dozens of commodities like gold, silver, iron, wool, steel, certain leather types, pig meat, certain fruits, vegetables, wheat, and much more. They took an average copper coin and one kilogram (~2.2 pounds) as a base. The Golden Feather Bank also traded with merchants or, on certain days, they would open their space up for markets for which one could only build a stand if they paid one large silver coin as a fee. It was apparent that they wanted to avoid dealing with small merchants who would only take space away and, all the while, make a lot of gold. He was once or twice at so-called golden pig markets at other banks, and it was as, if not more, rowdy as at the normal ones outside. They would scream at each other, throw insults, and haggle so loudly and rudely that sometimes fights broke out. Aurum walked toward a counter after acclimating himself to the interior and putting fun memories from the past away. On the way, he saw a dozen other servants or soldiers who were here to withdraw their wages from the banknotes they brought with them. It was impossible not to see them since they were pretty loud, yet he greeted them with a friendly wave and nod. Before Aurum could find the counter with the shortest line, a worker came over. She looked well-dressed and beautiful. It was a fire-djinn, as seen by the slightly longer ears, androgynetic body, and somewhat reddish skin and hair color. She also had the typical smell of burning wood around her, which was natural. His old tick of analyzing everyone when trading kicked in, and he looked at her as unnoticeable as possible while trying to perceive with whom he would be dealing. He could see immediately through her smile. She looked annoyed and didn''t like working here much. She had the same blueish suit with a delicate golden feather sewn on her chest as everyone else. Still, she looked like she came from a wealthy family, as she wore a bracelet made of blue gold with tiny diamonds arranged in a very meticulous but cute pattern, representing a smiling flame. He didn''t need to use any skills to know that it would cost at least 2,000 gold, ''And Ocilia called me posh-boy.'' Through simple deductions and experience, her background became obvious. Her family sent her to other territories so she could learn the language, culture, and how different systems worked. It was familiar to him as he also had foreign exchange students at his boarding school, who were always from either nobility or wealth. The same was also the other way around, as many alumni went outside the empire for their apprenticeship, work, or studying. She smiled at him, and her voice sounded welcoming, "Hello, how may I help you?" Aurum nodded at her and immediately discerned her accent, but there was something that indicated her background. Not nobility but the typical dialect wealthy youth had from good households, "Hello, I am a servant of Alexander K. Leonandra. I am here to open multiple accounts." While he was talking, he felt like she was analyzing his clothes, stand, and speech to find out if he was a waste of time or if she would take him to some colleague who would do the annoying work for her. Only now did he become aware of his rather lax clothing. It was nonetheless an expensive suit but one which was tailored to be more comfortable than good-looking, as many, even the expensive ones, were poorly tailored, constricting his wings, ''I should''ve brought my better garderobe with me.'' He casually pulled out the Leonandra household''s plaque without waiting for her answer. Her facial expression immediately changed into one of surprise and into a more honest smile, ''Now we are talking.'' There were probably many who would come here and present themselves as some servant of some noble. So, only an identification like a plaque would help discard doubt. "May I see the plaque, Mister?" He nodded and gave it to her, "As I said, I am not a noble, so call me just Aurum." After some seconds of observing it, she took it and smiled happily, "Please follow me, Aurum." He followed while having flashbacks of his school time, studying the intricacies of the banking system, ''I fucking hate it already... urgh, hopefully, I will be done today.'' Chapter 84: Nine-Fire Visit 23: Banking II Aurum followed her to the second floor and what looked like her office. It was small and meticulously decorated with many exotic plants, with some talismans from the Temple around them, probably to protect against the miasma. On the wall was a painting of what looked like either her Father or Mother, ''I always have problems discerning the gender of djinns.'' To Aurum, because they were androgynous, they all looked like younger teen boys. Their genders rarely discerned themselves, so he feared that when he would talk to a djinn noble, he wouldn''t know what to use: Mr or Mrs, but this was a topic for another time. She sat down and laid the plaque on the side of her desk where he would sit, "Please sit down Aurum. I would like to know more what you desire." He raised an eyebrow as her word choice was quite weird, but he shrugged inwardly since she was of a different race and probably relatively fresh here, as also seen by her thick accent. Aurum sat down, and she visibly remembered something as she asked him politely, "Do you want any river?" Aurum chuckled slightly, "Hehe, you probably mean refreshments? No, but thank you very much. I am only here for business..." He tilted his head, "...excuse me, but what was your name again?" She blushed, "My sorries..." She straightened herself, becoming more confident, "...my name is Lila Laleiva Merida Irida." The bombardment of names initially surprised Aurum till he quickly remembered that the naming sense of djinns was quite different to beast-kin. While beast-kin were pretty simple in their approach to having one name, and maybe if someone was wealthy, they would have a second one, while nobility would have additionally a middle name of their Father or Mother to signal that they were a true noble. Djinns, though, would take the first name of their ancestors and add it to their name, becoming their full name. The higher they were hierarchical in their society, the more names they had. The only thing he could remember from his culture classes was that they also had a similar structure to beast-kin, but he had already forgotten the finer details. So, he would simply call her by her first name. He also decided not to ask where she came from since djinns were in a permanent state of war with each other, and the last thing he wanted was for her to talk in broken beast-kin dialect about how her sub-race was much superior to others. He smiled at her, "Nice to meet you, Lila. Can we start talking business?" Lila returned the smile, "Of course, you wanted to create an account, is that good?" He nodded, "A main account with around a dozen pivot accounts and about a hundred sub-accounts. I also need a lot more placeholder accounts. Everything will run on the name of my Master, Alexander K. Leonandra." She pulled out a parchment and started writing, "I mean no transgression, but the Lord should then..." He interrupted her while chuckling, "Hehe, he is the son of the Lord and Lady. You should learn learn your local names." She blushed slightly, "Excuse me, I have only been here for a month, so I didn''t brush up on the provincial rulers, my sorries." He waved his hand in dismissal, "No worries. For being a month here, your beast-kin dialect is great, and not knowing everything is fine." She nodded and returned her seller smile, but this time it was a little more honest, "Thank you very much, Aurum. As I said, even if your Master is a noble of the household of the Lord and Lady, you will have to pay quite a lot of fees, even with the steal we give." He shrugged, "How much is it?" She shook her head, "First, I need to know how much you want to deposit in general. There are certain fees for the amount..." She looked at him again and visibly analyzed him, "...however, I don''t want to come over as brusque, but it starts at 10,000 average silver coins deposit. Do you have that much?" After hearing her say that, he pulled out a spatial pouch. It could hold an enormous amount of coins and even had a safety feature as it would only open with an energy signature and a code, like a collar. It was a present from the Cold-Snout household to Alexander, which the Lady immediately took away out of safety concerns and gave to Aurum after Alexander had pestered her for hours. Aurum had this and half a dozen other spatial pouches, which were with Maurice. This was where all their gold was. The crates on the carriage had only false gold coins, which were, in truth, copper ones. It was a little safety measure against thieves and robbers. Aurum entered the code as he followed a specific pattern and put his energy into it, "This will be no problem. I have, at the moment, only 100,000 average gold coins with me. However, it should increase to more than a million in the next months." Lila looked at him dumbfounded. She turned to the open pouch, and he could see how she activated a skill, probably one, to count the coins. She turned her head back to Aurum and asked again, "I am sorry, my beast-kin dialect is not so good. Did you say your deposits could go up to a million?" He wanted to nod but stopped himself, "Rather multiple millions, I would say. Is there a problem with this?" After what he said, she stood up, "Please forgive me, Aurum, I need to get the director." She went outside, and Aurum already knew she would need a director to approve every sum over 1,000 small gold coins to be deposited. He could''ve gone directly to him, but this would have been much more annoying as probably nobody would believe him, and showing this much gold in the open would make him an excellent target for elements who scouted the bank frequently for people like him. Afterward, they would sell the information to a broker, and he would become a target. So, he just followed the procedure as if he didn''t know what to do. After a few minutes, she returned with what looked like a bear-kin in a suit he would regard as expensive as a year''s pay. He was over 2.1m (~7ft) tall, and the moment he came into her tiny office, he immediately smiled, "Black feathered swan-kin, accountant and from the Leonandra household. Let me guess, Salyna''s son?" Aurum smiled back and stood up, shaking his hand, "Yes, my name is Aurum. Nice to meet you, director." His smile widened, and he took his hand while tapping his shoulder, "Call me Nathan, boy. I am not one for etiquette when it comes to friends..." He turned towards the nervous fire-djinn behind him, "...you need to learn the regional Lords and their personnel. Regarding localities, it doesn''t mean jack-shit if you know which tea the Count likes to drink." Lila bowed down, "I am sorry! I didn''t know..." Nathan let go of Aurum and grabbed her head with his enormous hand while she became visibly nervous. However, he only ruffled her hair briefly, "Calm down, kiddo, this is Moorgrel, and we like to be more casual around here, got it?" Looking back at him, she was visibly flustered and tried to fix her hair quickly, "Yes, director!" He shook his head and sighed, "Well, will you look at that..." He turned to Aurum and gestured to sit down, which he did while Nathan walked over to the other side and grabbed an enormous chair from the side of the office, "...you see, her old man wanted her to learn more about all the different territories in Mal-Gil, but for some reason, he sent her to Moorgrel first, where she would get the most shocked by the culture, haha!" Nathan sat down and gestured toward Lila to sit beside him, which she did, while he continued, "You see, her old man is a director in some small locality, but she showed twice his talent. So, he did everything in his power to get her the best education n'' stuff, but what worth is it when she can''t even adapt properly?" Aurum put one leg over the other and shrugged, "Beats me. My Mother sent me to central Mal-Gil, but in the end, I am back and probably as shocked as her, hehe." Nathan looked to the sides for a parchment till he found one, "Well, let''s talk coin. I don''t have all day time for Salyna''s brat..." He smirked at him, "...nothing against you." Aurum waved his hand in dismissal, "I am fine with it. I need a main account, multiple pivot accounts, and many more subaccounts, and some of them should be placeholders like I already said to her." Nathan nodded while writing down, "Uhu, who do you serve now? Ms. Lorient or Ms. Sarah?" He smiled, "Mr. Alexander." Nathan raised an eyebrow, "What? The archmage puppy..." He turned toward the Lila, "...Mr. Alexander is the fourth child of the Leonandra household and has apparently a knack for magic, which is very unusual for beast-kin, besides dragon-kin, thus the nickname." Lila nodded and wrote down everything he said. It looked to Aurum as if she was thrown into the cold water because she showed no banking experience, ''What a nice dad. He could''ve at least let her work in their charities.'' Usually, even if the Golden Feather Bank existed all around the continent, most banks were used by the local people like merchants, artisans, etc. To build up a good reputation, they would do charity events like giving food to the poor or giving seminars about banking to the cygnets of more wealthy people. They wanted to be seen by everyone as a positive factor. Aurum nodded, "Pretty much. He has many servants, and paying them cash is annoying, to say the least." Nathan nodded, "Fine by me. How much do you want to deposit? While I can give you a good discount, I can''t really go against the rules, you know? She said you had 100,000 average silver coins?" Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Aurum shook his head and pointed to the pouch, still lying on the table, "100,000 average gold coins now, and later on, I will have multiple millions." Nathan stopped writing and looked at him more sternly, "Listen, joker, this is not a charity here. When you really deposit so much, you will get a good deal, but the moment you don''t reach the amount, I will need to charge you normally without the discount." Aurum frowned, "Nathan, I am here not for fun, so just deposit the initial sum and give me the correct discount." Nathan straightened up and looked thoughtfully at him, "Are you serious?" Aurum nodded while leaning back. He already expected that nobody would believe him. Even he could barely believe it, but he had a massive amount of gold without any end in sight. When Alexander would finish the mana ink, which was already practically finalized, the gold they would receive would quickly go to the millions. In the last weeks, he has already begun to have problems thinking more in terms of copper or silver when it comes to accounting. With such giant sums at his disposal, most costs he tried to calculate felt more like rounding errors. Nathan''s voice sounded severe, "Does the coin come from illegal activities that are against the local or imperial law?..." He turned toward Lila, "...we need to ask this so we are not liable the moment the imperial intelligence finds out that it comes from sources which are against the law. He will also need to sign a contract for this, but no mana contract. We don''t do it here." Lila nodded solemnly and wrote everything down. Aurum looked at him, "Nope, everything is legal." "From what? You said Mr. Alexander was your Master, and you want him to make the main owner of the accounts, right?" Aurum nodded and pointed at the plaque at the table, "Yes, and it is a secret, obviously." He nodded and wrote down while talking to Lila, "If they don''t want to disclose the source of their assets, it''s fine since we will have their signature that it isn''t illegal so that we are on the safe side..." He looked at him and was back at writing, "...usually we would also ask if they want to pay taxes through us as service, but the Moorgrelian Knightages under the Count are a bit special in this case, more than other nobles, and we don''t do it, so you know." Aurum raised an eyebrow, "You really are trying to sell everything you can, huh?" Nathan shrugged, "What can I say? Till now, I didn''t learn how to conjure gold out of nothing with magic, haha..." He was done writing and gave it to Aurum, "...It looks like this, boy. If you truly speak the truth, you need to pay ~10,000 small gold coins per year, with all the deductions for us to hold from 100k to 10 million large gold coins, and with it, you can open thousands of accounts. This should do it, right?" Aurum shook his head, "I get that you want to sell me on the basic stuff, but I need the..." He tapped his chin slightly, "...Gold Package? Can''t remember the name, but I need the thing with which we can deal outside our territory fluidly, and by territory, I mean outside Mal-Gil." This part was mainly for building supply chains to import the alchemical ingredients much more smoothly. At this moment, his Mother was in charge of it, but he knew that she would at most do so for another year, and if he had nothing to show after that, she would probably kick him out of Alexander''s business ventures. Alexander probably wouldn''t care, but Aurum did. There was no practicality but pride. Getting kicked out as a head accountant of his Master''s business dealings would be shameful. Nathan raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure it''s nothing illegal? You know I must report it to the Count if someone opens such an account in his territory." Aurum nodded and became a little irritated, "Yes, for the last time, this is nothing illegal, and it doesn''t matter if the Count knows about this since it is in the name of my Master, the son of the Lord and Lady." Nathan looked at him sternly but sighed in the end, "Fine with me. I just wanted to make sure that Salyna would not come over..." He started to mumble under his breath, "...the last thing I need is some crazy swan-kin screaming at me for hours, wanting my head." Aurum smirked at him, "Don''t worry about such things. So, how much?" "10,000 small gold coins bi-annualy, but..." Aurum interrupted him while pushing the pouch toward Nathan, "It needs to be paid for two years in advance. Take 50,000, and I want your insurance, which you sell to the higher nobles." Nathan, till now, ignored the pouch mostly but now looked at it more intensely; his eyes started to lighten up as he likely used a skill. After another short moment, he was done and looked at Aurum, but this time with a big smile, "Boy, you really want to go all out, huh? You know you will be the third one at this branch with the all-around package? Are you really sure?" He nodded, "I am. We will have a lot of stuff to do in the future, so I need the most now before I run into some weird bottlenecks." The director looked at him more sternly, "So, you can''t say what it is, but seeing that you came prepared means that you know that your business will take off, huh?" Aurum smiled at him, "It already did." Nathan leaned forward, "How about this? Do you need some investors?" Aurum shook his head, "Not gonna happen, and my Master listens to me, so don''t even force me to tell him what you want." Being a servant to someone influential had many perks and some negatives. One of the negatives was that he was actually forced to bring back to Alexander serious-sounding proposals from others, even if it was to the detriment of the business. Nobles occasionally accepted them even if their retainers strongly advised against it, so he hoped Nathan wouldn''t offer something. Aurum had no idea how Alexander would react to something like this, as he was too unpredictable. Nathan sighed and leaned back, "Fine..." He turned to Lila, "...remember his face and name. Today, he will be one of the branch''s most important customers. Got it?" She nodded vigorously, and he turned back to Aurum while pointing with a thumb at her. "You want her as a direct assistant?" He shrugged, "Fine with me. I don''t have anything against djinns." She corrected him, "Fire-djinns. Aurum, I don''t like being confused..." Her tone suddenly became more degrading while she raised her lip slightly in disgust, "...with those others." The topic came slightly up, which he wanted to avoid at all costs. He understood that beast-kins weren''t the only ones with problems between their sub-races. That they were united in the first place was more of a necessity than by choice, as otherwise, they probably couldn''t build an empire in the first place. However, it was also done mainly by force by the crown, and as his time at the boarding school showed, many were against it. Almost all noble youth had a significant slant toward the separation or even exclusion of certain beast-kin subraces that they saw as lesser. They were also mostly part of households that were much more loyal to the higher nobles than the crown, at least at his school, which was in central Mal-Gil. Djinns were similar but much less united. Some saw their specific subrace as superior to others and did what certain factions in Mal-Gil worked toward. He didn''t know much about their inner politics, and to most beast-kin, all djinns were the same. They differed in their funny skin colors and weird smells, that''s it. Aurum nodded as an apology, "I apologize. As a beast-kin, I lack cultural sensitivity for your race." Lila nodded back with a genuine smile and also apologized, "Excuse if I came over as rude. I always forget that I am not in my territory and that such things are mostly incognito here." Fortunately, Nathan interrupted both of them before the strange chat could go on, "Haha! Who cares? We are talking gold, my little cubs! Whatever race one has, we don''t care!" Everyone smiled as if they were on one wavelength. It was business, and race never mattered for such things. Aurum turned toward the director, "So, let''s get it done. I have not all day time." ... Hours later, Late Evening Aurum trotted out of the bank, all exhausted. Ultimately, he paid five percent for the fees and deposited eighty percent of the gold he had at hand. Then, he needed to manage around two to three dozen contracts and appointed himself as a temporary owner and co-owner until Alexander registered personally. If Alexander wants to take out anything, he must first undergo some procedure. One of those was that he would need a Bank Identification Card. The BIC would be imprinted with his mana, a drop of blood and energy. However, there were ways for him to get access with only his blood and mana since he had no energy. Even with only his mana, it was possible and mostly foolproof, as every kind of energy, regardless if mana, [Aura], [Defense], or [Essence], had a unique property, depending on the person. There were ways to identify one through it perfectly, and it was usually also used by slavers in other territories to find runaways. The energy imprints were individual from person to person. He had no idea how it worked and only knew that it worked. At first, he thought that he would have to bring Alexander somehow over so he would get his access. However, fortunately, Lila said that she would come for a visit with some other workers and do it herself. He also didn''t fear one bit that she would fuck them over since it was a reputable bank, and if they did try something like this, it would result in losing their heads and the destruction of not only one branch. The guard households were, in this aspect, brutal in their retaliation. However, for now, Aurum got an account, which was practically on the same level as the owner''s but temporary. Once he switched with Alexander, he would become the owner, while Aurum would become the co-owner. It was a bureaucratic mess, ''I don''t know how I will do the fucking books with the mess going on.'' While going through everything, he remembered that he needed to try to figure out how he would choose what was to be taxed and not. While they had a flat tax rate, they also exempted charities from paying taxes as they were considered highly beneficial. However, when one normally paid taxes, one part would go to the Leonandra household, which he could ignore, and another part would need to go to the Count, and this was where the problem would start. Aurum talked a lot with Alexander, and he ultimately decided to do like the puppy said and put first a shit-ton of gold into the orphanages and other facilities which they wanted to sponsor, much more than they needed, only to determine afterward how much they indeed required to avoid wasting time. Yet, how could he explain this to the Count if he got questioned why he sponsored, for example, an orphanage with three times the gold they actually need? Such behavior was highly suspicious, ''I am so fucked. I totally forgot about this.'' Aurum threw it to the back of his head, as he would later think about this topic as he was too tired for it now. Instead, he touched his pouch as he walked to the carriage, thinking about the multiple mana artifacts he got, with which he could now write the banknotes that were attuned to his energy. Now, he would need to learn how to write with the expensive feather and on the special parchment they used for banknotes. He could write down any sum he wanted with his energy, and the feather would imprint it into the parchment. Afterward, he would stamp it, which was also a mana item attuned to him. It was so secure that he was baffled. Usually, he learned how it was at high-end banks, but the Golden Feather was in another league. Yet, it could also be that he got the most expensive mana items as he was among the few highest-paying customers. He luckily remembered to tell Lila when she would come to the estate to bring many more banknotes and mana items with her. He would need to register Melina, Maurice, and Ocilia, too, as they would need to issue banknotes to who was under them or would be in the future. Regardless of the mess, he also got something else that surprised him: Banknotes made out of the paper they made, and they were much better than what his Mother used. At first, he thought that Green fucked them over and sold them not to the Temple branches but to the bank. Yet, he quickly dismissed the thought as she wouldn''t be so dumb to do something like that for a little bit more gold, ''I need to talk to her later and tell her that some asshole resold it to a bank.'' He arrived at the carriage and went inside only to see Maurice sleeping while a pouch peeked out from the side of him with part of their gold inside, ''Yeah, safer place for our other gold, my ass.'' Aurum ignored him as he was dead tired and plopped on the seat. He knocked a couple of times at the carriage walls, "Wintersleep Hotel, " and the carriage started to move after some minutes. He would immediately go to sleep when he arrived since his old colleagues would visit him tomorrow. He knew of two who would surely work for him as they were commoners, but he wasn''t so sure about the other ones as they were nobility and from central Mal-Gil. However, he wouldn''t compromise on anything. He wrote in his letters what he would pay, which could be negotiated, and that there would be a harsh mana contract, which was non-negotiable. So, everyone who would arrive would already know. Yet, there was some fun exchange as they were shocked to know that he was from Moorgrel and even a retainer inside a guard household, ''Hehe, should give me the protection, should they try to fuck with me.'' He feared that they would try and extort him. This was why he mentioned it in the first place. Only those truly interested would visit him, and he was already giddy about it. He was so close to starting what he had dreamed about for years. He would not only change the lives of a couple of people, but he was about to change the system and help those who needed it the most. He smiled and felt like a cygnet again who was about to see the Lord and Lady for the first time, ''So close.'' Chapter 85: Nine-Fire Visit 24: To the Sewers ... Evening, Central district, Wolfsteeth ''This will take quite a bit.'' Ocilia was leaving the hotel and had a long way ahead. She needed to go through the central region to the north till she reached the red-light district in the northern section of Wolfsteeth. So her pace was swift. She was cloaked and hid the lower part of her face with a mask. Her whole attire was tailored by herself, and even the materials were bought from the estate''s tailor. The reason was simple: She wanted to avoid anyone tracking her should she lose her clothes for some reason. That was also why she decided against a carriage. Why did she go through all this? She wanted to avoid her parents finding out what she was about to do at all costs. Her Father warned her all the time about going to the underworld, with her Mother agreeing strongly. Would they find out, she would get her ass beaten up and never be allowed to leave the estate in the following years. Fortunately, her Master didn''t know about this. Otherwise, he would not give her the task in the first place, as peace inside her family was important to him, which she could already see in how he protected them when the thing happened with her brother. Yet, the nay-sayers were put quickly into the back of her mind as her long walk through Wolfsteeth distracted her from her worsening conscience of what felt like betraying her parent''s trust in her, as the nostalgia she felt made it relatively easy to ignore. When she walked from one of the wealthiest parts of the city to one of the most dangerous and impoverished, it was quite the whiplash and brought out the memory of the emotions she felt when she moved to the estate for the first time. Ocilia started where her hotel was located. Clean streets with pedestrians who wore ugly but expensive clothes made of the finest materials, houses painted in dull colors, and businesses that would only sell to the richest, like boutiques where one hat would cost Ocilia one-tenth her wage. There were also offices of accountants, notaries, pharmacies, artificers, and healers who would not even lift a finger without a hefty compensation. However, she quickly forgot about all the boring stuff when she walked beside an alchemy shop. The potions she saw on display were clean, but through the display window, she could see an alchemist mixing something in front of a customer. Ocilia used her [Mana Sense] and tried to see how others used their [Mana Manipulation] skills, but what she saw baffled her. Her Master''s mana control felt natural as he guided all the elements into a contraption. Even when he showed her while slowing down, it was like a fine calculation so the elements would come together as fast as possible while looking elegant. The alchemist she was looking at, though, was terrible. Just awful. The alchemist used the mana to force the elements to turn into a ball of water, which was building up slowly. It was too slow for her taste since she saw what was possible. Yet, speed wasn''t even the important part, as one usually used alchemy to conjure water because they needed it pure, without anything else in it. This one, though, was already dirtied as the alchemist couldn''t control their mana and pushed some dirt into their contraption. Ocilia herself wasn''t much of an alchemist and mostly used magic. Still, even she learned how to conjure essential contraptions like water and fire at much faster speeds and finer controls than what the hedge mixer was doing, ''Are my standards too high?'' Suddenly, the alchemist dissolved the contraption and stared at Ocilia through a window. She was obviously angry as Ocilia observed her, but instead of diverting her eyes, she pulled her mask down and said silently so the alchemist could read her lips, However, before something happened, Ocilia quickly walked past the shop, ''I have stuff to do. Can''t have some stupid argument with a lizard who can''t even control a simple ball of water without burning their mind to smithereens.'' As she walked for some more time, the city slowly changed to what she would describe as worker''s quarters. These parts were all over Wolfsteeth and usually close to the more wealthy neighborhoods, like where her hotel was located. Primarily, apprentices, workers, ordinary artisans, simple merchants, mercenaries, etc., lived here, and their houses were also mainly where they worked at the same time. Either they were an apprentice with nowhere to live, or it was just the shop of an artisan or merchant. Mercenaries or adventurers usually worked as guards for free lodging when they weren''t out there. The streets she walked through were much more dirty, littered with bottles, cups, and more, while the reason for the littering was frequently trying to grab her ass. Since it was evening, many would walk around here and party their heart out. It was quite a lively atmosphere. Every bar and restaurant was open and mostly filled to the brim. Street vendors had long lines of youth with their partners in arms, obviously from the recent mating season. Sometimes, she could identify the ones from the wealthier parts in how they acted and how reluctant they were sometimes to try out the food or drinks, ''Hm, would Master actually eat the stuff here?'' Ocilia put the thoughts away as she saw a specific street vendor: Her only true love since she was little. It was a dolphin-kin who sold an unidentifiable and suspicious-looking shashlik. Yet, it was one of the tastiest things she had ever had, and the smell alone made her almost immediately salivate, ''I can get some tomorrow... is he using a new sauce?! It smells so good.'' She very slowly walked past the stand on purpose and returned to Orbis only after she was out of range of the smell. She liked the worker''s quarters around Wolfsteeth much more than the posh neighborhoods. However, she wouldn''t want to live here as it was always loud, and some of the apprentices were basically like her Master. Thus, many explosions, poisonings, or worse, happened there. Even now, she could see how pharmacy or alchemy apprentices tried to sell self-made drugs to others, making some extra coin, and with a lot of luck, the buyers wouldn''t die from them. After another two hours of fast walking, she could see her old neighborhood. The streets were broken and dirty, usually due to some cave-ins, as the underworld spaces were built mainly in the north and some in the south. So, the earl stopped maintaining these parts at some point as it was too expensive having functioning sidewalks and streets if they ran the danger of frequently breaking down because of some morons. Thus, they were only roughly rebuilt. The moment she entered the northern red-light district, the smell of potent aphrodisiacs and cheap drugs invaded her nostrils, making her cringe, ''I really hate it here.'' The houses here were cheap-looking. Even though some tried to make it more appealing by painting on them, it was terrible nonetheless. Even the place she liked to look at when she was little, which had a giant sunflower painted on it, was built so badly that the drawing made the crooked and bulged walls only slightly better. It was as lively as at the worker''s quarters but looked much more miserable. Orphans, homeless, thugs: It was the dirt of Wolfsteeth, and she hated almost all of them. It wasn''t even that many of them couldn''t find anything else to work and needed to live like this, but they chose to. Many thugs could become okay-ish adventurers or mercenaries, and thieves could be great scouts or spies. She felt disgusted and apprehensive toward such people who would hurt others for one more copper coin, especially after what happened with her former friends. The moment she walked beside an alley, she glimpsed at how some older youth tried to harass some hatchling, one of the few groups of people she didn''t hate, and hoped that her Master could help them get out of this Outer Circle, ''Till then, I will gladly help.'' She became enraged. In her opinion, it could be such a great place without the vermin. All those who chose to stay and destroy the hopes of others, dragging them into this hole and making it much harder to live a peaceful and honorable life. Mana flowed into her hand, and threads suddenly wrapped around the thugs who harrassed the hatchling. After another moment, her rage reached a peak she barely felt before. They started to burn, and the hatchling ran immediately away in fear. She quickly walked away, ignoring their screams, as she didn''t care for such trash but also wouldn''t kill them. It was only a tiny lesson so that they would become more humble. If it worked in making the thugs think through their life choices, besides helping the hatchling, she would be joyful, but she doubted that they would change. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Regardless, there was something else that quickly switched her attention away from the misery she witnessed and back to what truly captivated her, and this was how fast she could conjure her spell, ''My threads are getting more flexible, huh.'' Besides her [Mystic Skills], which were perfect for making constructs with threads, she also had her [Essence], which was even better. Everything her mana or energy touched, threads could be conjured out of there, so with some tricks, she could now build the constructs extremely fast and use them as if she were a mage. However, her conjuring style had some apparent drawbacks, as she wasn''t able to manipulate mana items or conjure her threads where other energy was blocking them from appearing. A test with her Master showed that if someone surrounded her with mana, it would be impossible to cast her threads without brute forcing it, but even in such a situation, there were certain things she could do to avoid it. Before she could further contemplate how to build more efficient constructs, she almost bumped into the sex workers who were running around, trying to earn their wage, ''Okay, not the time to daydream.'' Fortunately, they ignored her. Usually, they would try to grab her arm and woo her. It was obviously because of her clothing, which made her look suspicious, ''Okay, where to go... ah, here!'' She entered a side alley and went deeper into the district, ''First, I need to find the broker.'' Broker was a general term for middlemen who would profilate the deals between two parties. Reputation was everything, and if one didn''t have any, they wouldn''t get any customers. Luckily for her, she knew of one from when she lived here. After twists and turns, she exited the rat-infested side alley and looked around to orient herself. It was a small, relatively empty plaza with shabby bars and establishments. Far from the buzzing and partying, it seemed somewhat sad, which was also the goal, as this place had another purpose in mind than to get customers. She walked to a bar called the Toxic Fox, which was also a brothel. It was easy to see as women and men smoked half-naked, taking their breaks on the balcony on the second and third floors. Without hesitation, she entered the bar and saw a sad sight. People without any goals were sitting and drinking. Most of them looked depressed and on the brink of suicide. They gave up on their lives and were waiting for their death, trying to live another day without hanging themselves. This made her suddenly think of her Master and how he wanted to help them. She suddenly felt sympathy toward them, too, ''Damn it, I guess helping them, besides the hatchlings, would be fine, too.'' Most of them were ordinary workers who were here because they lost something in life. Be it the death of their hatchling, spouse, or something else entirely. All they needed was a helping hand and a new goal, but she knew many wouldn''t recover and would most likely drive deeper into the abyss till nothing was left, ''I should get going before I get depressed myself.'' Ocilia walked past the depressive scene, which reminded her of one of her Master''s plays, only much less happy, to the bar counter and sat down. The bar was a shithole, as seen by the poor souls who visited it. However, it was also a front for an entrance. Such places were not uncommon in the north, but they also did something else: They would be there to bring illegal coins into the economy. She knew merchants, brokers, and other folk who dabbled heavily in the underworld had a problem when they made a tremendous amount of gold through illegal means: They couldn''t spend it. It was highly suspicious if someone suddenly bought a house in the better parts without any wealthy family, education, or sought-after trade and invested other amounts of immense wealth in legit businesses. Nobody would let them buy properties or invest in businesses without a clear history. If it came out that, for example, an investor in a business was a broker for assassination hits, the Leonandra household would confiscate everything, not caring about the business''s owner, practically ruining them. Thus, many were very careful in this aspect and would rather not risk it without a lot of assurance, like a notary note saying that all their wealth was legit and that they did their due diligence in inspecting the potential investor. So, what would the people with illegal or suspiciously acquired coins do? They would open up bars, restaurants, shops, etc., bringing the illegally obtained coins through the businesses inside the economy. Such places were easy to spot as they had barely any customers but ran for years without any problems, making immense profits in their books. They aimed to pay taxes on legit earnings to use the coins as they wanted. Otherwise, it could primarily only be used in the underworld. The rulers were mostly in the known and were okay with such an arrangement for apparent reasons. Ocilia saw how the bartender, a cockroach-kin, came over. She immediately straightened up and tried acting as professionally as possible so they would think she was new here but just from a different city. Yet, from all the smirks she got while sitting at the counter, it wasn''t working. The bartender asked her, "What do you want?" Ocilia started to do sign language with her gloved hands, Through her Father, she knew that most shady business was done through sign language, as hiding their intentions would be easier. Sign language was much more obtuse; one sign could mean many different things, much more than a word. So, even if caught, she could trick some lie-detection skills through this. It was no trick that worked 100%, but it was part of many more she would use to obscure her intentions should she ever be caught. However, she was somewhat known and would probably be immediately returned to the estate, only to be beaten up by her parents and punished by the Lady. There was some line not to be crossed, and dabbling in the underworld while getting the Lady''s son dangerous manuals was one. The bartender came closer, "Listen, missy, I can see that you are a bit too young, so go and play somewhere els..." Before he could end the sentence, thin threads restricted the bartender from moving, "What the..." He struggled to move but had no chance, so she tried again, The bartender started to sweat and nodded at her. With that, she released the threads and held only some in place in case he would try something. The bartender massaged his neck and signaled her rather nervously, This was a code and a little test for everyone who wanted to enter, The bartender smiled at her, <5.> She threw ten small gold coins on the counter without even blinking. With the funds she had, she would be fine paying a little more so he could be of help later on, He quickly swiped the coins and showed her the way, "Martin, tend to the counter. I have a special guest!" He walked to the backroom with Ocilia behind him. She was somewhat tense but also calm. After killing and getting partially over it, she became much more aggressive but could also somehow stay more clear-headed in situations like this. Before, she relied only on her instincts should something happen, but now, her actions were more purposeful and thought-out. While following the cockroach-kin, besides being on edge, she also felt some disgust when she saw the backrooms. Many people were there, enjoying drugs, sex, and gambling. She was immediately reminded of the charity, and she would rather kill them before her Master could give them even a loaf of bread. Helping hatchlings and the genuinely desperate ones? Fine. But helping these scum who would rob even their parents to have another cheap drink? She would instead set them ablaze. After what happened with Sarah, Ocilia thought she would never return to this shithole. But because her Master needed many manuals, she was willing to do it and come back. He did too much for her and her family, even though they basically betrayed him. He always helped her in every way possible while she did, at most, some errands or work which also servants could do perfectly. So, her being of use was the most important to her, even going as far as returning to this rat''s nest. However, even though she loved to be helpful, something inside her also dreaded what she was doing. She had dreams of being akin to a knight for her Master, but now she would crawl through drainage water and endure the presence of scum. She told herself repeatedly that it was for the greater good, ''Endure it. With the manuals, we can create so many great things.'' Fortunately, at some point, there were no people anymore. They arrived at a storage room full of nasty and rotten produce. She wanted to cast the anti-gas spell but decided against it as it was a dead giveaway for others who she was. There were not many who weren''t dragon-kins and could do magic, especially in Wolfsteeth. Instead, she needed to control herself not to hurl at the smell. He pushed away some of the crates full of rotten food and opened a trap door. He pointed there and smirked at her, She nodded and walked forward. As long as no crazy strong assassins were looking for her, she could at least ensure her escape route, ''Tier 2 came just in time.'' After killing her former friends, she became Tier 2 and got a fascinating [Mystic Skill]. However, it also pushed her away from anything like direct combat, where she could earn honor and pride, which was even now her goal as she walked through the door, past rotten produce, cheap beer, colorful flowers used to seduce customers, and tobacco which had visibly mixed in hard drugs and ordinary twigs. The moment she exited the floor that led from the bar''s storage room to the sewers, she immediately used the anti-gas spell since the smell was something she couldn''t stand. After casting it, it became bearable, ''It''s all for Master and our research.'' She hated it here even though she only arrived. Yet, she took her first step into the underworld, ''The Lady also raided the underworld and killed hundreds of assassins, so it should be at least somewhat honorable... I think.'' If she wouldn''t try to find reasons to be here, she wouldn''t know if she could stay at such a place. Even trying to compare herself to the Lady barely helped anymore. After taking a couple of steps, her apprehension of this place reached a new height when a rat, as large as an average cat, jumped into the sewage water before her, only to swim against the flow to the other side and onto the opposite stone path, running inside some nook which was in the wall, ''I don''t think using the cleaning spell only once will be enough after today...'' Chapter 86: Nine-Fire Visit 25: Through the Sewers ... Two Hours Later, Sewers, Wolfsteeth ''Where is it?! How can anyone find anything in this fucking place?!'' Ocilia was walking through small and wide pathways, over bridges and other more or less sensible constructions to look for what her Father had told her about. Whenever he drank a little too much, he would start recounting exciting stories from his time working here, making himself look like he was the Lord of the underworld. After experiencing it for the first time and seeing the reality, she was of another opinion, ''Exciting my ass! This place is nothing more than a shit-filled maze!'' Fortunately, after hours, something caught her eye, and her mood immediately improved, so she quickened her pace towards it, ''At last!'' She found symbols painted on the wall that were barely visible, describing what and how she would find the spaces nearby. This was the only way to navigate through the underworld, as nobody had a fully sketched-out map since different groups with conflicting interests existed down here. Even though they were somewhat self-controlling regarding the legitimate economy, this didn''t mean the same internally. They fought with each other heavily. Assassins tried to get a larger share by killing their competitors, and merchants sabotaged their rivals'' wares to increase their prices by decreasing supply. It was a very dangerous world. Thus, the moment Ocilia''s Mother got the job as a servant in the Leonandra estate, her Father immediately left the underworld and paid a heavy price. Yet, he was never more happy, despite losing his voice. So, for Ocilia, making her first step as she arrived at the wall and becoming complicit as part of the underworld was quite nerve-wracking. She tried to ignore all the implications of her behavior, which only now invaded her mind, which made her concentrate on the symbols on the wall even more, trying to distract her from all those moralistic and ethical thoughts. However, even though she decided to be part of the underworld for the greater good, it wasn''t easy. The codes depicted on the wall had some big problems, beginning with what they represented. Brokers were shown with a circle, while what was inside symbolized their references or specializations. A cross was for mercenaries; if one needed an assassin, they would need to trial and error every specific mercenary broker to find one as it was apparent that they wouldn''t promote themselves this openly. Merchants used lines parallel to each other with dots under them. There could be up to five lines, and the more they had, the more expensive the goods were. The dots represented the danger level of the stolen goods. The more dots, the more hot the goods were. It was obviously murky since many clowns would put up three lines even though their goods would be crap, worth half a line. The other way around was the same: Nobody wanted to advertise their goods as overly costly, and dots were practically non-existent for apparent reasons. Also, the circle didn''t mean that there was an actual broker. Sometimes, there would be only some merchants who would buy stolen goods and resell them. Strictly speaking, it was not a broker, but it was not like the underworld was enthusiastic to hold onto the system. This was best seen as she inspected the wall more closely. Only circles with three lines were drawn with some mercenaries sprinkled in between, ''Why does the damn system exist if everybody does how they see fit?!'' Furthermore, various graffiti symbolized more prominent guilds, auction houses, and services only provided by the underworld. Yet, this was all small fish stuff, which was more or less legitimate. The genuine rotten elements would never announce themselves like this and could only be found through invitations. After some searching, she found a circle with three lines. It had a tiny symbol beside it of a witch hat, ''I will feel so stupid if they sell useless crap.'' The lines were not vertical but pointed to where she would need to go, with another horizontal one under them to avoid confusion in finding the merchant or broker. However, before she walked in that direction, she suddenly got an idea, ''They wouldn''t, right?'' She extended her [Mana Sense] and saw how another circle was drawn with mana, which had the same hat symbol, pointing in the opposite direction, ''Urgh, it would be so much easier to just buy the stuff in an official shop or auction house.'' With a quick turn, she walked in the opposite direction, towards the broker. All she wanted to do was go back to Wolfsteeth and legitimately buy the stuff. Yet, many universities and artificers forbid it through mana contracts. The only way to sell things like manuals, magic languages, receipts, etc., was through brokers by using the loopholes in the contracts and doing it discreetly so nobody would find out. Even if they allowed it, the prices would shoot up to sums even her Master wasn''t ready to pay. By buying them, they would also insist on not disclosing the information further through mana contracts, which, going by her Master, he would rather burn down the seller than not openly display the bought information immediately. However, in the following days, she wanted to get a first taste by looking for smaller magic-related brokers herself. Later, she would go to an auction house or an open black market. Before coming here, she was ready to go there immediately, but now she wanted to acclimate as she wasn''t sure how to act. She started walking faster. After some time, the stank turned her spell from green to grey again for the third time. It was unthinkable for her how anyone could be here for hours without getting poisoned or sick, and she couldn''t imagine how her Father had worked here for years. On the way, she came out of her thoughts when a shadowy dark figure flew toward her from the front. Whoever it was, was followed by two rough-looking tiger-kin, "Get this bitch!" Ocilia made way to let her run past her. However, as the shadowy figure passed her, she turned around and threw a throwing knife at her, filled with little energy. She caught it quickly with the threads which were around her at all times, ''Please let it be a mistake and that the bastard aimed at the cats...'' It was the opposite of what she had hoped for. The tiger-kins immediately pulled out their cheap club and sword, screaming at her, "Give me your gold!" She frowned under the mask and signaled them in sign language, However, all they did was laugh, and one of the tiger-kin immediately charged at her while screaming, "Haha! She is loaded!" Ocilia didn''t know why they thought this, but her stress got the better of her because she was running around for hours, trying to find some shady merchant. She raised her hands slightly, moved her threads with her mana, and energy filled them. In less than a second, she caught the tiger-kins without any problems while stopping another attack from behind her, ''Weak?'' The tiger-kins stopped and immediately enveloped themselves and their weapons sloppily with too much energy. The one with the sword could cut through the threads and, when he was freed, used some weird [Mystic Skills] and charged at her full speed. Yet, as he came close, he suddenly fell. Ocilia looked coldly at him, "What the fuck?!" However, as he wanted to stand up again, he couldn''t, and only after a moment did he notice that his feet were cut off, "Argh! Get her quickly! She is dangerous!" The tiger-kin behind him already readied whatever skill he had, but she didn''t give him the time. An almost invisible thread wrapped around his neck, suddenly igniting. He immediately pulled his energy toward it to defend against it. ''Morons...'' It was a distraction, and another thread immediately wrapped around his arm. Other energies stopped her [Essence] specific perk of her threads appearing where her mana or energy was. Now that there was no energy, she could let it appear there, and with him also having no defense anymore, the arm flew right off. She was using her fingers to coordinate her threads, holding both tiger-kin down while securing her rear, which became more challenging since, through her [Essence], the threads she conjured needed to tighten to become effective, and her only anchor point was the energy or mana she used from where they appeared. Also, as she moved them, she could designate another anchor point, which would either transport the other end of the thread back to her hand or fix it in place. The denser it was, the more she could tighten them without ripping the point from which they materialized, or fixed, apart. Even though the control appeared seamless, there was some disconnection because they basically teleported through space. She felt her head slowly heat up. The calculations she was doing parallelly to get the proper angles and force were slowly getting to her. Ocilia suddenly felt the air move behind her. Without even thinking, she used her new [Mystic Skill] and ducked. While down, she looked slightly behind and saw how the third person stabbed her neck with two daggers brimming with energy. However, what looked like her was only a slim layer she created through [I, Puppet]. It allowed her to duplicate parts of herself out of her threads. It was a true lifesaver, and the rarity of this [Mystic Skill] was legendary, which made her incredibly proud. Still, this weak skill usage also immediately cost half her stamina, making her feel dizzy. The moment the daggers went through her creation, she instantly controlled the threads loosening up from her puppet. They wiggled around the masked person, then suddenly straightened and slammed her to the wall while creating new anchor points, which almost depleted the rest of her stamina, making her wobbly, but the assassin-like figure was fully restrained. Ocilia immediately conjured more threads to hold them in place. After all three were disabled, she quickly took out a high-end stamina and mana potion, gulping them down in one shot. She felt like puking as she could feel the combination was somewhat reactive to each other, but she held back. Ocilia straightened up and turned towards the one pinned to the wall, now speaking normally while holding everyone in place, "So, there are multiple possibilities for what is going on. Either you are waiting here for newbies to go through, or you saw me somewhere and followed me, or you got a tip. What is it?" A tiger-kin suddenly yelled at her, "Fuck off, you stup..." Before he could end the sentence, she cut his head off with the threads she already had around his neck. Ocilia looked calm and stern on the outside, but inwardly, she was about to puke, ''I hate this...'' While it was pleasing to burn the ones who bullied the hatchling, it was only a tiny fire and wouldn''t kill them while helping someone. Here, though, she already knew what she had to do and didn''t like it at all. She tilted her head, "I ask again, what is it?" The assassin-like person said while growling through her teeth, "Argh! Fine, just let me live!" Ocilia nodded, and she immediately confessed, "The bartender gave us the tip. The barte..." Before she could say anything more, Ocilia clenched her hands together and straightened every thread she had left, pushing her mana into them till she experienced a headache. The remaining tiger-kin, lying on the floor, had his head fly off. The woman who was pinned to the wall started to convulse heavily. She tried to resist by using all her energy, "Argh! I swear..." Ocilia interrupted her by using more energy in combination with her mana, tightening her threads around her even more, "Just shut up. Dirt like you need no life." After some struggle, the energy slowly dimmed, and the threads cut into her. After another moment, the woman''s energy was entirely gone. The threads squeezed her like smoked pork and cut through her till Ocilia felt the bones. After killing the last one, Ocilia became angry, and slight killing intent seeped out of her, ''This little fucker...'' She quickly calmed down, though, remembering what she had to do in the first place, ''...later.'' She took another stamina and mana potion out, gulping them down, this time one after another. After doing so, she threw the empty flasks into the sewage water and looked at the corpses and mess she had created, ''I wish I had enough mana and knew that dissolution spell.'' Cold stoicism and apathy overtook her, an emotional state she forced herself into. Otherwise, she would feel angry and frightened. While killing became easier, it still felt unnatural, like her being was besmirched as the thugs forced her to spill blood. She wished she could entirely remove the corpses from the world, forgetting that they even existed, so she could return to the point where she would only learn the whole day without a worry in the world besides avoiding her Master''s juvenile mischief like putting ice cubes into her nose. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. With a hand swirl, she took the corpses with her threads and threw them into the sewage water. She sighed, trying to bring her mind into a space where she felt more comfortable. Looking at the bodies and how they floated away, she distracted herself willingly about her progress, ''I really got strong, huh.'' What surprised her after she went with Sarah to her old place was how strong she became. She trained her body through the fitness center while regularly joining her Master when he trained with Sarah or Lorient. Looking at the wolf-kin girls, she was weak, but she was on another level compared to others in her age range who weren''t battle maniacs and descendants of knights. There was also something else that she did subconsciously and only now noticed after her head cooled down. When she conjured her threads through [Essence], all the skills, she learned and thought of as purely academic, like [Physics] or [Mathematics], helped immensely in the fight. Force, pressure, angles, everything was needed, making her whole fighting style much more potent, ''Damn it... Master was right.'' Her Master told her that scholastic subjects would always help in fights, even if they were only there to sharpen one''s mind beforehand. He was right, as they helped her kill some thugs, and now she would need to study them much more. She actually hoped to stop studying them after going through her first skill test in some of those subjects, which she had already done partly, but now it seemed they were necessary, and she couldn''t only keep studying magic. Now, she would need to ask him for specific homework, which could help her get even more powerful, ''He will probably be ecstatic and say that I told you so, urgh.'' While she respected him highly, she also knew that he was a giant pain in the ass when he was right. She clicked her tongue and walked forward again, noting down a couple of things for later to revisit. She continued her walk for another half an hour while looking for directions with her [Mana Sense]. Through many left and right turns, she at last saw the symbol from before turned upwards. This meant that it was the entrance. She looked for how to get in but couldn''t find anything. She frowned when she saw the sewage water, ''Damn it.'' Through stories from her Father, she knew what and where to look for and didn''t like it at all. She got her hand inside, hoping to find some lever on the downside of the jetty, but couldn''t find anything even after minutes of looking and trying to feel it out. A sudden chuckle came from the side, "Hehe, looking how to get inside Greenhorn?" She took her hand out and looked at a masked and cloaked individual, who smirked at her. She panicked a little as she couldn''t feel any presence at all. He, though, just shrugged, pushed the bricks over and under the oval symbol, and moved the wall to the side. Before entering, he smiled condescendingly at her. Ocilia was irritated, but at least the person wasn''t aggressive and even helped her indirectly, ''Well, not like I don''t deserve the mockery.'' She quickly used the cleaning spell and entered inside without much thought. She had no information on how this merchant acted and would only know when she saw them. From stories, it could be a peaceful and well-protected place or a trap for newbies, but with the symbols drawn in something one could only see with mana, it seemed legitimate. Nobody would be dumb enough to try their luck with mages. As she walked for another two minutes through a long and narrow tunnel, she came to a small plaza with only a little hut in the middle. Some people, also cloaked like her, were talking outside the house in sign language, which looked relatively peaceful, except for how they insulted each other. He showed the sign to wait and continued after looking at a parchment, <...Johannes the Masterful...> He scratched his head, <...forget the obnoxious name. However, this language is not bad!> Ocilia only listened to them for a bit but quickly stopped, as it was bad manners to observe others, especially in the underworld. Instead, she renewed her anti-gas spell in front of the others, who only glanced at her but quickly returned to their haggling. Doing magic seemed normal here since they also had the same spell around their mouth and nose. She looked around a little more and couldn''t see the other masked person who opened the entrance till she suddenly remembered her Father''s first job. He was a guard for a broker and waited hidden on the outside for newbies who would try to enter. He observed them and decided if they were trustworthy enough to let them enter, ''I don''t know why I come over as some greenhorn...'' She went to the hut and asked the guard at the door, The guard smirked at her, nodded, and pointed inside with his thumb, so she went inside, always on guard and her threads around her swirling, trying to catch anything in her blind spot. Even though it looked peaceful, she was still on edge after the attack. Inside looked like a simple shop, and a clerk reading the same damn novel as everyone else in the estate, ''Is it really that good?'' She ignored it and knocked on the counter to get the shopkeeper''s attention, who looked up lazily and gestured to her what she wanted. The rat-kin smiled at her, The rat-kin raised an eyebrow, Ocilia smiled under the mask and revealed a plaque she had stolen from her Father. It was a smooth piece of metal without any engravings, oval in form, and enriched with a specific kind of energy that gave out a dark and ominous feeling. The rat-kin saw it, immediately took out a parchment, and started writing down what she needed. Ocilia put the plaque back in and thanked inwardly her Father. This was an official plaque of a specific guild in the underworld, which vouched for their members and was highly reputable inside the continent. It was called Peerless Night, and if they ever found her with the symbol, she would get into many problems. However, she only wanted to use it initially until she found some trusted brokers and merchants. There was no way she would run with it around, showing it off the whole time. After some minutes, the rat-kin showed a list and the prices. For Ocilia, this was chump change. She first thought that she needed to pay much more. However, after some more thought, it was pretty expensive, as her whole view was skewed by how much wealth she had. Yet, she wouldn''t haggle as after killing the thugs, she had no mind for it, even though the most expensive item, a recipe to create an advanced health potion, would cost 400 small gold coins. The rat-kin smiled at her and brought out some books, pamphlets, etc. After a minute, the whole counter was filled to the brim with things that would make her Master salivate, ''The plaque is really a blessing.'' Typically, the seller wouldn''t bring out more than one piece, and going through everything would be an arduous ordeal. The plaque immediately made her trustworthy as the Peerless Night had an excellent reputation while holding its members accountable should they do something against their own rules, which were liked by the underworld as they conducted themselves professionally. How they would find out if someone broke the rules, she didn''t know, though. Ocilia pointed and asked if she could read it; the rat-kin nodded. Again, the plaque was like a charming spell, making her immediately more trustworthy. Usually, the merchant would only show partly the receipts or manuals and, other times, not even that. They would then tell the customer to buy it or not, ''I guess this little pendant is really worth a lot.'' She looked through everything and was positively surprised. Everything was pleasing, as much as she could tell. Artisans wrote some of the manuals, so it was a little chaotic but made sense to her. Other things were clearly the work of amateurs who just copied their Master, far away from how she or her Master wrote things down, but enough to work with it. So she took out her spatial bag and put out ten percent more than the written down price, And put the books inside the pouch. The rat-kin counted the gold coins full of glee and said happily, "I love the Peerless Night guild. They are always very precious to me, so don''t worry, little girl!..." The rat-kin suddenly smirked at her, "...call me Fear-Breath and listen, I don''t want to come over rude, but does your Mom or Dad know what you are doing?" Ocilia suddenly twitched and panicked, Fear-Breath chuckled, "Hehe, it''s obvious that you are from good standing and that you borrowed the plaque..." The rat-kin suddenly felt killing intent and put her hands up in peace, becoming less playful, "...listen, I will not say anything. I want only to make some gold here, and with such a great customer gone, all that would happen would be me losing coin, hehe. However, if you want to be taken seriously, you should..." Fire-Breath looked at her more intensely and smiled slightly, "...you know." Ocilia retracted her killing intent and looked confused at her, Fear-Breath laughed out loud and pointed at her attire, "Haha! Are you serious? Your clothes are made out of legacy wings! Even your mask is made out of the finest silk. It is a wonder that you didn''t get robbed!" ''I think she is right...'' Her cloak was made out of legacy wings from butterfly-kin. While going through the legacy, they would lose their wings, which usually had a more juvenile pattern, and new ones would grow with a new, more adult pattern, which represented their [Divinity Line]. However, legacy wings were very expensive but an extraordinary material. It was also used for the Lady''s leather armor and was more robust than steel and flexible like silk. Ocilia bought them for safety reasons and used the mana ink her Master made to color them. Now, her cloak was highly mana-infused and could defend even better against energy or spells. Her mask was only partly made out of them, and another part was demonic bones. They could absorb poisonous gases really well, a safety measure, should she forget to use the anti-gas spell. Ocilia blushed as she thought her whole attire was probably worth a pretty coin. She nodded toward her and quickly left. But she heard how the rat-kin was laughing her ass off on the way out, "Haha! Hey, you are welcome again! I will have more stuff in a week or so!" After stepping out, she decided first to go back and buy cheaper clothes and put them over her attire. Even though it would be a little warm, she wanted to hold onto them as they were an excellent protection. However, even though embarrassed, she tried to calm down and remember the way to the merchant as she looked for an exit through the symbols, ''No time to feel stupid.'' On the way out, she tried to find more symbols that pointed to other black markets, brokers, and sellers. While she could ask Fear-Breath, it was improbable that the rat-kin would tell her for obvious reasons. Regardless, after the next visit, she would tell Fear-Breath to meet up somewhere else as running through the damn sewers was getting annoying, ''I really hope she will agree. I will even pay more as long as I don''t need to return.'' It was also apparent that the merchant was small and only started out. So Ocilia didn''t fear that she would rat her out to the Peerless Night guild. Even then, she decided to hide the plaque somewhere and never use it again. The moment Fear-Breath pointed out that it wasn''t hers, she panicked. While it was unlikely that someone would kill her as she was the disciple of a noble, there would be at least some warning, and in the end, her parents would find out, ''This was an idiotic idea.'' The biggest guilds existed and flourished for a reason, as they strictly followed their code not to piss off nobles who became, because of this arrangement, amiable toward them. This was also why Ocilia didn''t fear any severe retaliation. The bigger ones, like the Peerless Night, were a general guild dealing primarily with information and stolen goods. At the same time, there were also many others like Shadow Stalkers, an assassin guild, or Nihilum, a somewhat legit guild for protection that also lent their people as mercenaries. All of them were highly self-controlling, as reputation was everything down here. There were far more trusted and reputable guilds sprinkled here and there, which were small but overly specialized, and she even knew one: The Little Carps. They specialized in everything underwater, and her Father hated them for some reason. She had little idea what they did, but they were apparently quite the catch, ''Hehe...'' After telling herself a stupid joke, she looked at her pocket watch and frowned, ''This will be a long night.'' She hastened her pace as she felt like she was inside a labyrinth, and finding an exit would be quite the task. ... Hours later, Before Sunrise, Toxic Fox Ocilia wasn''t in the best of moods. Only after hours did she find her way out, emerging somewhere on the east side. At least she now knew of another entrance. She was tired and wanted nothing more than sleep. She would also need to take a break for more than a day since she would need new clothes that looked cheap and wouldn''t make it obvious that she wore a treasure around her shoulders, which made her happy as she wouldn''t need to go back to this Outer Circlish place immediately on the next day. She walked into the bar where she entered first and immediately went to the counter where the barkeeper was. She saw him close up, ''Here you are, you little bastard.'' Anger went through her as she remembered how he was the reason for the deaths of the three vermins, but worse, he forced her to kill them. Without much thought, her fingers moved, and her threads took the alcohol bottles behind him, destroying them and pouring them over him. "What the fuck?!" He looked around angrily while being soaked in cheap and high percentage-beverages. When they made eye contact, he suddenly panicked, and his pupils shook. Her fingers moved quickly, knitting a beautiful pattern over her threads. They ignited around him. Boom! He went up in flames, and the bottles exploded around him. Though some glass splinters flew at her, they didn''t even scratch her cloak. Without thinking much, she immediately left the bar while it burned down, and screams full of panic emerged from those sleeping on the upper floors. As she walked out of the plaza, where the bar was located, she cleaned herself up quickly and put the cloak and mask back into her spatial pouch, leaving the place as fast as possible. However, a guard spotted her in the alleyway, stopping her, "Hey, wait there, little girl!" Without thinking much, she pulled out her Leonandra Plaque, showing it to the guard, "Fuck off." The guard immediately recognized it and nodded toward her, "My apology!" Ocilia, though, didn''t like to make enemies with the guards and threw a large gold coin toward the cow-kin, which she caught, making her eyes go wide, "You never saw me, understood?" The guard immediately nodded, "Of course!" and then ran to the burning bar in the background. After the guard was further away, Ocilia continued to walk to the district''s central plaza to catch a carriage and drive back to the hotel. While inside the carriage, she suddenly smiled as she got a system ring indicating her kill. ... Little later, at Wintersleep Hotel, Ocilia''s room "Heuk..." She was lying in bed, crying. Even though she acted tough, the moment she was alone and could relax, it felt terrible what she did. Her hate and anger towards others did not make it better, and even though she said thousands of times that it was self-defense, it wasn''t the case with the bartender. It was revenge. Cold-blooded revenge and she didn''t know why she did it, as there were other possibilities to fuck him up without murder. However, while she first thought it was an emotional and faulty response on her end, there was something else now that she had the time to think it more through after calming down. Killing the one who slighted her felt good. Really good, ''Am I trash?'' She never wanted to return where she came from and hated everyone she needed to talk to. When she spoke with them, she was pulled away from her peaceful life with people who would respect her talents and intelligence back to the terrible world of crimes and backstabbing. Emotions flooded her, making everything worse: Relief, self-doubt, self-hate, disgust, pride, etc. Every feeling conflicted with the other, making no sense to her. She curled up in her bed and tried to ignore everything. Like this, she fell asleep, trying to forget everything she did, and, in the end, found an acceptable solution for herself, which she also held onto as she traversed the underworld in the night, ''I do this for Master... right... for Master... I am different than that trash... for the greater good. This is how I can get honor.'' Chapter 87: Nine-Fire Visit 26: Disappointment I ... The Next Day, The Little Forest Restaurant, Wintersleep Hotel, Wolfsteeth "So, Lia is having a break today?" Aurum shrugged while putting her note away, "Yep, I think it was a mistake to go to the northern district. I heard that they are the most ruthless up there. She probably ran into problems." Maurice frowned, clearly worrying about her, "Should I go with her the next time?" Aurum nodded, "When asked, do so, please. I will just go to the guard post and get some protection there then." Before they could talk some more, the door to the restaurant opened, and multiple young men and women came in. Aurum immediately could identify them as his alumni who came all the way from central Mal-Gil. They looked exhausted as the journey was probably too long for them, even though they took the most comfortable route. After they agreed to come, Aurum immediately went to Green and asked if she could use her connections to open up a portal in a Temple from central Mal-Gil to the Temple in Blue-Vermillion city in Moorgrel. Temples had teleportation gates, which were only situated in the most important cities, as they were hard to maintain and thus expensive. However, they could cut down the time for travel by a lot and thus were very important to the upper classes. Regardless, even if you were ready to donate a pretty coin to go through them, they would immediately decline you if you weren''t a strong supporter of the Circle. So, using Green to bring them through the gates was beyond extravagant and was only reserved for either Temple folk or higher nobility. The usual route one would otherwise take, which he did when traveling back after graduation, was by boat. It took him around a month, which wasn''t pleasant, even though he paid a lot for the best traveling conditions. As such, he wanted them not to go through the same as they probably wouldn''t even come here in the first place then. Fortunately, Green was all ears after saying it was all for Alexander, probably wanting to strengthen their relationship. Aurum smiled when he saw them and stood up, walking toward them while opening his arms, "My my! If you are not my cute little friends!" He booked the restaurant today only to serve them. It was expensive, but it was worth it if Aurum wanted to get the noble youth on his side. There was a reason for him pampering them. They had too much pride to say they had problems and needed help. Everyone was reasonably capable but no genius, so all of them were far down the line to be the heir, as they had siblings far more talented than they were. There were also those with a parent who was a concubine and were damned to some low-paying administration position, even if they had talent. So, giving them a chance to make a lot of coin while being treated with respect should, in his opinion, make them more amiable to accept his job offer. Besides two, they were all nobility of central Mal-Gil, and there was a giant difference in how nobility there educated their cygnets in their households compared to Moorgrel nobility. From the beginning, most of his colleagues were handled like frail cygnets their whole lives and barely got any pushback. Be it at home or the boarding school - they were always treated with utmost courtesy. There was also the problem that because they showed no discernible talent, nobody in their household would invest in them, so they also had little to no pressure or were rarely punished if they misconduct themselves as nobody cared about them. Here, on the other hand, a lot of resources were invested in the youth, no matter how average they were. Even Narsiz, who was especially talented in administration, was trained rudimentarily in fighting, which was unthinkable for all his alumni. Then, should they make some mistakes, punishment would be expected, and sometimes it became severe, like with Sarah, Lorient, or Alexander, who was indirectly forced into an anti-mana collar so he wouldn''t go rogue. Only Narsiz seemed to be following the conduct and was rational, which made him much more likable to Aurum than his sisters. Regardless of the situation in the Leonandra household, his colleagues had developed enormous egos that wouldn''t allow them to work for someone who wasn''t another noble of higher standing. Yet, they were here, showing him that they were truly desperate. He wrote the letters saying they would save the poor and underprivileged with their talents and higher intellect. It was obviously bullshit, but a little ego-scratching would always help. Once they got the massive pay and could live in luxury again while getting adored and bowed by everyone they helped, they would never want to leave again. They would get gold, prestige, and the respect they looked for. Aurum planned everything meticulously to get them to agree. He wanted to have people he knew about, even though maybe Moorgrel had better ones. He believed working with someone he knew was always better, even though the person wouldn''t be the best. For this job, though, he wouldn''t need the best but someone adequate and someone he could trust. Most of his reasoning was based on emotions since what he was about to do with the charity was that he needed people he could trust. It was a little irrational, but hiring unknown ones, he would always fear something would happen and, if the mana contract wasn''t harsh enough, bring him sleepless nights. However, the first to greet him wasn''t one of the nobles but a rabbit-kin, a good friend and commoner. He came forward and smiled at him, "Oh shit! You look like you didn''t sleep for months, haha!" Aurum smiled back, "Good to see you, Quill, and even better that no girl killed you till now. I had a bet against you, you know? Hehe." Quill was a womanizer, but more importantly, he came from a humble background. He lived as an orphan on the streets, fighting for every breadcrumb he could get. Fortunately, a broker took an interest in him, or rather his intelligence, making him his apprentice. Afterward, he got into the school through a scholarship. They became almost immediately friends as Quill had a carefree personality, which made him easily approachable. However, before they could continue their chat, a panther-kin guard pushed Quill to the side while a reindeer-kin interjected, sounding annoyed, "Damn it, can''t believe you were part of the royalty faction. Why didn''t you say so before? Not like we would skin you." Aurum smirked at him, "Yeah, sure. Why not tell this to her..." He pointed his chin toward a small girl in the back, a Lizard-kin. She swirled her tail slightly in distress and smiled at Aurum, "I... I was fine, thanks to you, Aurum." Ariana was the daughter of a scribe and made it into their school through a scholarship like Quill. However, because her Father was a lowly scribe of the healer union, which was partial towards the Crown and their ideals, which were also Moorgrel''s, she was treated as if her Father had some say there. It was ridiculous. Aurum and Quill often stood up for her when others bullied her because of her parent''s position. It became worse by the day, and at some point, Aurum had enough. He went to the principal to have a conversation to show his perspective, as he wanted to create a school where everyone could study in peace. It didn''t work. So, he threatened her by using his household name. He made sure to make it clear that he would write to his Mother and bring their household guards into the school to protect Ariana. It was an obvious bluff, but Moorgrelians had a somewhat nasty reputation regarding confrontations, so something like an altercation could easily lead to a beheaded noble youth and, with that, smearing the reputation of the school. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. After the talk, the principal officially announced that the discussion with Aurum opened her eyes to the importance of treating commoners much more friendly, as it was the noble''s duty to treat their subjects well. The bullying immediately died down, leaving only some juvenile insults. He came back from his joyful memories as the rest came inside. Another two guards pushed forward, and behind them, three youths looked and sounded like they had stepped into sewage water. "Pardon, but why does the air feel like someone is trying to murder me?!" "Urgh, I get now why you all are so pissed. The heat is killing me." "I need some wine... can''t believe you can survive out here." Aurum understood that they were uncomfortable as the east of Moorgrel was because of the miasma from Kratikal, which was hostile to everyone who wasn''t acclimated to it. He also saw how they became easily irritated through it, ''Moorgrel really changes one.'' After the first greetings, everyone sat down and chatted with each other. It was a pleasant atmosphere even though the nobles isolated Quill and Ariana, barely looking at them. The same happened to Aurum as they were very cold or indifferent toward him, seeing him as someone lesser. This behavior irked him, but regardless of how they acted now, he knew they would change with time, ''Calm down, not like acting like my Mother would make anything better.'' The servers came in shortly after and served the food and alcohol. It was a pleasant atmosphere, but he could also see how all of them, except Quill and Ariana, needed to force themselves to act noble-like. Some small mistakes here and there in their etiquette were sporadic at first but became more frequent as time went on till one of them became fully relaxed, not caring anymore. It was, again, because of the miasma, making them easily forget their conduct, making the atmosphere more open, little by little. They enjoyed the costly food and drinks while also being treated hand and foot to their every need. Everything worked as planned, and they even acted according to their status, not trying to use it for anything weird, as being nobility from central Mal-Gil, they had no power in Moorgrel. Yet, as they consumed more alcohol, the first problems began. A moron began to harass the restaurant workers, "Hey, you Moorgrelian trash! Next time, do serve wine from the right side!" Aurum immediately tried to squash some of that, "Hey Fran?ois, how about you calm down a little? We are here all happy. What''s the hate? Just enjoy the gathering, all right?" It didn''t work, though. Fran?ois, the reindeer-kin, looked at him in disgust, "What? Having problems with me how I treat some dirty commoners..." He looked back at the frightened server and sneered, "...an avian-kin no less. What do you expect?" Aurum raised an eyebrow and was confused. He thought Fran?ois would become more humble after finishing school, but the opposite happened: He became much more arrogant. He didn''t understand why, as he had nothing anymore and would either be married off as a concubine or work for his siblings with whom he was in a clinch. Before he could try to calm Fran?ois down, a snarky remark from a cat-kin girl came from the side, "It''s obvious that Aurum doesn''t like to be Moorgrelian himself. Otherwise, he would tell us in the beginning, and now, seeing how the workers even have no manners towards nobility, I can understand it, hehe." Fran?ois agreed, "That''s right, Ilusia! The wor..." Clap! Something snapped inside Aurum. He stood up and clapped to get their attention, "That''s enough!" He looked around and cleared his throat, becoming irritated himself, "Ahem, not to step on your toes, but you acting like nobility here is the funniest thing I''ve seen for a long time..." He looked around at his alumni and the mostly stressed-out workers serving them, "...you probably forgot, but your titles mean nothing here. You are the same as every worker here, my dear colleagues." It became silent, and everyone stared with hate at Aurum, who only smirked arrogantly at them. Moorgrel was different, and the nobility in central Mal-Gil hated it, bringing much friction to the empire. In the past, nobles from central Mal-Gil had the same privileges in Moorgrel as the local nobility, but then a clusterfuck of accidents happened, which changed everything. The first frictions began after one of the former emperors and his supporters were overthrown, mainly by Moorgrel and his Knightages. After the coup, the supporters who were left didn''t relent directly, as they lost a lot and were pressed against the wall. It was even fortunate that they retained their status as nobility. However, it didn''t mean that they wouldn''t try to take revenge in other ways. Their first petty act of taking revenge was after the council was created: They kicked the Count out. The Count mostly ignored it as Moorgrel had their own internal politics and system. Then there was the fact that the council, in the beginning, was a somewhat toothless animal, barely able to touch the Count. Afterward, seeing that Moorgrel disregarded them and simply acted unilaterally at that point, they turned up the heat by trying to revoke his title entirely. Still, since it was received from the Crown, only they could annul it. They didn''t, for obvious reasons, as it would split up their empire and lead to more severe problems. This, in turn, led to the Count declaring their status worthless while being in his territory in retaliation. Yet, whenever something happened to his knights in other fiefs, he would personally step in to enact either revenge or get them out of trouble. Regardless of the Count''s loyalty to his retainers, if serious crimes were involved, he wouldn''t be too easy-going on them, to say it nicely. In retribution, the council petitioned that the Count allow the Crown to give away part of his territory to meritious people so that they could become nobles. The Crown agreed to this, even though the goal of the higher nobility was to send their people into Moorgrel to try to invade the political scene. Yet, it never worked. Going against the guard households was like a death sentence since they didn''t care about the higher nobility. The results were that the lower nobility, who received titles from the higher nobility and were put into Moorgrel, were cannibalized, extorted, or worse, by the Count''s Knightages. It was a colossal shit show which led to enormous schisms inside the empire. Ultimately, only the Crown won as the nobles fought with each other while they could build up their power again. However, on occasions like the one with the Silver-Tail Knightage, they tried to marry someone inside their household and cut them off from their dealings with other Knightages. They succeeded till Bartholomew, the son of the rulers, gathered everyone he could together and killed his parents, taking back the fief and was now trying to restore relations. The silence broke when Ilusia stood up and spoke with disgust at Aurum, "I don''t think Moorgrelian trash has any right even to exist..." She straightened up and looked at Aurum more intensely, "...do you truly think that the dirt you call Moorgrel can even survive without our help? What gives you the right to act as if you stay over us, the rightful nobility..." She sneered, "...especially as an avian-kin and commoner." Aurum smirked at her, ignoring her provocations fully as he knew it was not different from his time in school, "Good point!..." However, he stopped before entering a dialogue full of insults and instead looked around, analyzing the strange occurrences that caught his eye. All workers were frightened, but the guards were strangely tense, holding onto their weapons, ''Would you look at that?'' His intuition kicked in, and he suddenly understood they were not here for the job offer. Insulting commoners and beast-kin races was one thing, but insulting the fief was like spitting into the face of the Count. Nobody in their right mind would do this if they were ready to stay here. They would only do so if they were only here for something else and leave immediately afterward. Aurum smiled but, inwardly, was boiling with anger, "So? Looking at your guards and behavior, you are here for another reason. Why not cut to the chase and tell me, or do you want to act like cygnets?" Fran?ois stood up and gestured to his guard to come over, "Cygnets? You are really a Moorgrelian. You even held onto the barbaric manner to call children by your race''s bound animal..." He looked to his back, to the leopard-kin, another noble, "...don''t you find it disgusting, too, Greg?" Greg also stood up with his sister, who was sitting close by. They both drew their swords, and he looked at Aurum as if he were filth, "Listen, Aurum, it''s nothing against you, but we know who your Mother is and that she is wealthy enough to pay a good ransom for her son. Why work if we can simply catch you and then ransom you back to your parents and household? I bet even Moorgrel wouldn''t care about some retainer from the fourth child being kidnapped, so be so nice and just give up..." He smiled at his sister, "...isn''t that right, Mary?" Mary continued, her smile full of vicious intent, "I know that Moorgrelians have a great reputation for being warriors, but I don''t think your single guard would be able to protect you..." Her voice became cuter but also sinister, "...we just want to drag you away to central Mal-Gil and then sell you back. Be nice and follow us." Something inside Aurum cracked. It was like he was dumbstruck, ''I can''t believe they are this stupid?'' However, worse was that he told his Master he had great colleagues he could trust and that they would be great servants. Yet, all he felt was disappointment, not toward them but himself. He failed again, like when trying to build the concepts for the charity. A dread inside of him grew as all he wanted to do was to help others. Not even that, he thought his plan worked in bringing them here and promising a great life, ''Why?'' Mary looked at him and chuckled, "Hehe, he gave up. Get him. It was a nice..." However, Aurum''s killing intent, the little he had, surged. He interrupted her, "Maurice, inside of Moorgrel, they are nothing but thugs. Kill them all." Chapter 88: Nine-Fire Visit 27: Disappointment II "...Kill them all." As if Maurice waited for this, he charged at Fran?ois. Energy loaded onto his mace. Before he could come close to his target, though, two guards intercepted him. Maurice stood before them and held his mace horizontally, ready to hit, but as he was about to smash his first victim, who cladded himself fully in metal and energy, he suddenly swung past him and jumped up, holding the mace far above his head. The energy became more violent and destructive as even cracks in the mace appeared. Maurice suddenly flung himself down, as if pulled by a string, to hit vertically against the guard''s head. The panther-kin, enveloped in metal, brought his sword over his head, holding the sword with one hand on the grip and the other the blade to protect himself. Smirking toward Maurice, he probably thought that there was no way to break through. However, when Maurice hit, the blade bent momentarily and immediately snapped. Panic was seen on the guard''s face, but only for less than a second as the mace landed fully on the head, forcing itself inwardly into the body. He died. When Maurice landed, the floor cracked, creating a small crater and making the other guard lose balance. He immediately used the momentum to attack the other guard, too. He swang horizontally, with much less force, and this time, he got blocked when the guard intercepted with his sword, which was cladded in water, damping Maurice''s already weaker hit. However, Maurice immediately stepped back and charged, only to again get easily blocked. The guard smirked at him, "What''s wrong, big guy, hehe." Maurice sneered and pushed an enormous amount of energy and mana into his leg, lifting it up slightly while chanting. The leg started to bleed, and the violent energy ripped apart the pant leg. When he was done with the spell, he stomped, and the guard readied himself to regain balance quickly while ready to counterattack, obviously not knowing what was going on. Yet, the floor was fine, and she looked confused at Maurice and wanted to laugh. But after another moment, a giant spike broke through the floor behind her and pushed against her left Achilles heel, injuring her and making her fall forward. Maurice instantly aimed at her head, using another vertical hit, loaded with energy to the brim. Through the surprise spell, the guard did not have enough time to protect herself fully. It hit, and the little water surrounding the head became red until it dissolved. The guard''s head was bashed in, and she was clearly dead. Maurice stepped back, looking at the noble youths, ready for another round, but Aurum could see how exhausted he was. He could barely get any air, and the mace looked much heavier in his hands, barely fully functional as cracks were appearing on it. On the other side, Fran?ois and Ilusia panicked. They slowly stepped back while the leopard-kin siblings only found it amusing. Greg stepped forward, "I guess our guards were weak..." He shrugged, "... never mind, after I kill the mut, I will then cut off some of you..." Everyone suddenly flinched as an almost pungent aura of madness invaded their senses. It came from behind Greg, and Aurum saw his old friend, Quill, flashing and cutting the leopard-kin noble in half at the waste. His energy surrounded his dagger almost perfectly, creating a much longer blade. Aurum and Maurice immediately recognized such an aura, ''It''s like Sarusos''s just less crazy.'' After cutting him in half, he went immediately toward Mary, who could barely block him with her rapier. A maddened voice filled everyone with dread, "Sorry, sugar cheeks, I owe Aurum quite a bi'' and also hate you. Can''t really say wha'' is more enjoyable fo'' me, tho, hehe." Mary looked at him full of hate, "You disgusting trash!" Before the fight could go on further, Aurum suddenly felt cold metal at his neck, "Stop it immediately!" Everyone looked toward Aurum, and he looked slightly to the side. The third guard sneaked beside him. Fran?ois also saw this and became emboldened, "Like I said, trash. Thro..." Before ending the sentence, the guard suddenly convulsed weirdly and was thrown into the air. He hung there, and multiple threads started appearing around him, squeezing him. A sudden surge of killing intent came from the entrance to the restaurant. It was Ocilia in her cute pajamas and slippers, with her arms crossed over her chest, holding onto threads. She looked around, with enormous bags under her eyes, and, in the end, focused on Aurum, her voice tired and full of annoyance, "Kill?" He only nodded, and only a moment later, there was a sudden surge of energy, and the threads caught fire, cutting through the guard and his energy like a hot knife through butter. After another moment, limbs and head all fell, separated from the body. Ocilia looked around again at everyone as nobody did anything, suddenly screaming at Maurice, "Don''t just stand around, you moron! Kill whatever they are!" Maurice clicked his tongue, "Fine." Aurum wanted to stop him, as every guard was dead. Yet, Maurice had barely any stamina but charged nonetheless at Fran?ois and, without much force, struck his head horizontally. He also didn''t need any, as Aurum could clearly hear the skull cracking and an enormous wound appearing. Fran?ois also died immediately. At the same time, he saw how Quill stabbed Greg''s sister in the stomach with a hidden throwing knife, "Huh? I thought you woul'' be stronger, hehe. It seems tha'' you had too goo'' of a life, sugar." She looked surprised, not believing what happened, "Do you think argh!..." Quill walked slightly back while putting his dagger back into the inner pocket of his suit. Mary, on the other hand, suddenly smirked at him, "...do you want to flee? I will survive this little scratch and..." Mary held onto the dagger, which was inside her stomach, and was ready for another round. Quill raised an eyebrow and sounded relaxed, "You ar'' mistak''n, suga'' cheeks. Not the knife will kill ya, but the venom on it, hehe." She sneered at him, not taking it seriously, but as she was about to say something, blood gushed out of her mouth like a waterfall. Her eyes turned inside out, and she fell, convulsing and bleeding out of every orifice, only stopping after a giant puddle of blood and other fluids was under her, the venom probably draining her. Quill turned her around with his foot and clicked his tongue, "Damn shame. She look''d pretty, " pulling his throwing knife nonchalantly out. Aurum screamed to end this madness, "Stop! No killing anymore!" Quill turned to him in confusion, only to laugh shortly after, "Haha! Look around you! Who is even left to kill? That bitch Ilusia?" He then walked to her, smirking and analyzing her much more closely, "Oho, wha'' do you wanna do with her?" Ocilia walked beside him, "Don''t talk like a thug if you want the job." He chuckled, "Hehe, sorry, my bad. It''s hard to stay sane with this stench around me. Don''t know how you can do it." While Ocilia and Quill bickered, Aurum suddenly remembered that there was someone else. He looked for Ariana and found her after a bit. He walked toward a curtain and saw a lizardy tail sticking out of it, "Hey, are you fine, Ara?" Without any forewarning, she started to cry, "Heuk... ahhh! I am sorry, please don''t kill me!" Aurum frowned and ignored her for now. He understood that she was in a lot of distress but didn''t care much at the moment. He had something else to do with Ilusia, to which he walked and spoke confidently, "So, you tried to kidnap me and get some ransom. Let me welcome you to Moorgrel. We are all a bit crazy, I guess?" Even though Maurice, Quill, and Ocilia surrounded her, she started yelling at him, "You fucking waste! I can''t believe I tolerated an avian-kin who was, in the end, even a Moorgrelian and no less someone from such a disgusting household! You deserve nothing less than being hanged for what you are!" Aurum frowned. It was evident that many to whom he sent the letter wouldn''t take it well when they learned that he was actually a member of the Leonandra household. Almost all of them didn''t answer back; others sent him death threats, and some promised to do everything in their power to revoke the credentials he got from the school. He cared little for them and thought the ones who showed interest didn''t care for the petty fights the nobility had¡ªa view he now deemed naive. Aurum crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, "Aha, nice point of view. However..." He looked at all the corpses and back at her, "...all Moorgrelians are fine..." He smirked at her, "...you though, the central nobility, are dead. Not so sure though what to do with you." She smiled at him viciously, "I would be careful what you say next. While they were only from Baron households, I am the daughter of a Viscount. If you even touch me, I can promise you that you will not survive the night!" Aurum opened his eyes and started laughing hysterically, "Hahaha!" "You think playing crazy will bring you out? Don''t forget that my household serves the honorable Marquise Lopon. If you beg and give me all..." Aurum wiped a tear away and tried to catch air, "I can''t believe you are this stupid, hehe." Ilusia''s face became fully red, "Repeat it, you vermin..." Aurum stared at her, not believing what was happening, "Then what?!..." He came over while picking up a sword from the floor, "...tell me, you little shit? Do you want to compare status? My Master is the son of a meritious druid and the current Lady of the Leonandra household, while my Mother is the head accountant. You..." He pressed the sword against her neck while killing intent escaped him, "...are nothing but the daughter of a failed Viscount and the third one at that..." He suddenly realized something and wanted to confirm if it was actually true. It was an out-there idea, but how they acted, it was possible, "Lopon, you said? Wasn''t there one guy, the previous Lord of your household, whom Scarlett J. Leonandra ripped to shreds together with the firstborn and his wife?" Ilusia clenched her teeth and didn''t answer. However, now that Aurum had confirmed it, he suddenly better understood why everything happened, "Wait? It wasn''t about ransom..." His smile widened, "...you wanted to have a better position by fucking over a Leonandra household member and thus get on the good graces of the Marquise, so your loser of a Father would have to merit you something..." He turned around and looked at the corpses, "Wait..." He tried to remember everyone''s household and to which higher noble they were connected. Something clicked inside his mind, "...you are all Lopon nobles? I can''t believe it." He was dumbfounded. Ilusia was visibly afraid, but her ego and pride were unbreakable, "So? Did you now realize your situation? Get..." Aurum interrupted her, not caring what stupid shit she was about to say, "I can''t believe that I tried to hire some morons." Ilusia became full of rage, screaming, "An avian-kin, one of the lowest beast-kin subraces, tries to insult my intelligence! Did the air of this rotten place..." Aurum had enough. Without warning, he stabbed her leg, "Argh!" She screamed out of pain, looking at him. This time, no pride or arrogance was seen¡ªonly the loathe of his very being. He didn''t know why he tried to ignore this side of his alumni, but they always detested him for being a swan-kin. They truly hated him and saw him as something lesser, something that needed to crawl in front of their feet. For some reason, he thought after telling them that he was someone of relatively high standing that they would be more cordial toward him. He was wrong on so many levels, beginning from the race, toward their hate for Moorgrel and his mistake in believing that they changed because of their low position inside their households, a miserable future, and partly his belief that they were too juvenile while being students, to understand the implications of their conduct. Then it clicked in his mind, and he started to feel what pure horror meant. Were all the death threats in the letters actually meaningful? Was the hate pointed towards him other than some floundering? It was not out of fear, no. It was that he saw the future rulers and felt dread for Mal-Gil. Aurum couldn''t accept that they thought like this as it implicated that the future rulers were something he didn''t want to imagine. He dearly hoped that Ilusia would show even now remorse. His voice became filled with desperation and frustration, trying to persuade her, "You only needed to work honestly, make a massive amount of gold, and..." He turned the sword as he got overly emotional. She clenched her leg as the pain got to her, "...not to get overwhelmed by the ambitions, which are minuscule compared to what I was ready to give you, didn''t you know better?" The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Ilusia looked at him maliciously, speaking through clenched teeth, "You bastard... after learning with us, I can''t believe you dare go against our household. What we did for you at school, protecting dirty commoners and Moorgrelians¡ªwe could''ve slaughtered all of you immediately but decided against it out of our goodwill..." Her eyes slowly became reddish. He could feel her aura full of hostility and disgust, "...hiring me? Don''t make me laugh. You deserve nothing more than being a slave, you son..." Without waiting for her to finish the sentence, he had enough, putting his rather weak and rough energy into the blade and stabbing through, cutting the bone, "Ahhhh! You damn barbarian!" Aurum looked at her, finding it comically, almost maddened by her delusion, "Let''s ignore your insults since they mean nothing and focus on what you did for us, the dirty, dirty diiiirty commoners." He looked to the side, "Ariana!..." She flinched behind the curtain, and her aura almost begged not to touch her. She was frightened beyond belief, "...tell me honestly, did you enjoy being harassed in every way possible by them?" She shook her tail in distress, and a barely audible "No." was heard. Aurum looked deep into her eyes and saw what Ocilia described as a vermin, understanding her better, "You bullied the only three commoners to no end and only stopped after I talked with the principal, threatening our little shitty school to kill every one of you should it not stop..." He turned the blade, making her fall, and while falling, the blade ripped through part of her leg, making her scream in agony. He ignored her and became slowly more despaired as it slowly dawned on him what the implications meant that there was truly noble youth like this, ready to take the reign. Yet, even after all this, there was hope inside of him. Hope that he could reach her and she would see her mistakes as he couldn''t believe what he witnessed, "Forget Moorgrel. Forget the fucking nobility. As mentioned in the letters, you could have wealth and respect if you just worked in central Mal-Gil with the charity later on. So, this means that your juvenile plan to kidnap me only to get into the good graces of a failed Marquise stems from something else. I can''t believe this is because I am a swan-kin, commoner, or Moorgrelian..." He became hopeless and put one hand over his chest, "...just tell me. What is it that truly forced you into this? Was it your parents? Siblings? What?!" Ilusia smiled at him through her clenched teeth and laughed, "Hehe, your little bird brain can''t comprehend this. Helping the poor? Eradicating the hunger? Educating the masses? Don''t make me laugh..." She turned her head, looking at Ariana, frightened and shivering, "...why should I invest my valuable time to help trash like her achieve something she doesn''t deserve and..." She turned back and looked down at Aurum, even though lying on the floor, "...why should I degrade myself to work for vermin like you?" She didn''t sound mad or insane; it was her true rationale, which he could feel. It was full of hate and disgust, but it was her honest opinion. Aurum looked at Ariana, and he heard her crying almost silently. He felt true misery, his mind becoming foggy. Could he change Ilusia''s mind with an emotional appeal? It was impossible, seeing what she did to Ariana in the past. Was she like a corrupt noble who wanted to be bribed so he could help commoners? There was no selfishness or greed. Otherwise, she would take the job offer and become immensely wealthy. Was it the right to rule? Also, not really. She didn''t lead or command Ariana, Quill, or him at school. All she did was degrade them. What about logic? Also, no. The moment she accepted that she was something better and that every commoner should be happy to serve her while it was under her to help anyone, there was a disconnection. It was a rationale not built on the same foundation as how he saw the world. All Aurum could see in Ilusia was pure and unadulterated pride of her birth, which she used to make her see as something better. Something no commoner should reach - straight delusion. She was out of reach for him, and her ideals were poison to his. He felt suddenly enlightened and knew what to do. Aurum pulled out the sword, making Ilusia concentrate her energy on the wound, trying to close it. He looked at her, now entirely emotionless, "I got it. You are all waste that doesn''t deserve to live." Aurum heaved the sword over his head and stabbed down at her. However, it stopped when he was about to hit her head. Threads curled around the blade, and he came out of his episode, hearing Quill, "Good job, sugar!" Aurum looked back and saw how Ocilia rolled her eyes, "Shut up..." She walked toward Aurum, "...first, calm down. We can kill her later if you want, but now we can get her for... what was the crime called again? Master once told me about this." A barely audible voice came from where Ariana was. She stood up and walked slowly toward them, shivering, "Co... Conspiracy... inside Moorgrel, they can''t get their privilege of being nobility, and if they try what they did... did... now, execution is the outcome." Quill came over to Ilusia, who emitted animosity till the end. However, she now also shivered as she barely escaped death. He looked at her and scratched his head, "I think killing her would be easier, no?" Maurice nodded, "Agree." Quill looked at him and winked, "My man!" As the discussion continued, Aurum didn''t know what to think anymore. Everything made no sense as his thoughts went from chaotic to lunacy, almost killing Ilusia. This thought alone made his heart beat faster. Panic and resignation seeped in. He wanted a better world, and she stood in his way. Wasn''t a world where everyone could live better lives much more preferable? Shouldn''t he kill her for a better world for everyone? She had the mindset that poisoned the world, infecting it with its dastardly ideals. Worst, she was like him. Her ideals were pure. In his mind, though, they were also evil that needed to be pulled out. He looked at her eyes, ignoring the squabble around him. Something inside of him saw her now as what she was: A pest. He wanted to help every impoverished soul, giving them a hand to better themselves, but she would push them back into the mud so they could lie under her feet and beg for crumbs. ''To eradicate such scum, ideals will not of help.'' He straightened up, his panic slowly subsiding as he thought of his Master. He gradually understood his coldness and calculativeness toward commoners. There was no other way if he wanted to reach a certain point. He needed to think further, forgetting his juvenile plans and optimistic assumptions. Everything needed to be planned out and far away from his emotions, which led him, in the first place, to the mistakes he made, ''I understand now.'' Aurum heard his system but ignored it entirely, ''I need to speak.'' Aurum released the sword, approached Ariana, and held his hand toward her, "Come..." He nodded towards Quill, "...follow me too." She took his hand, and they walked toward the small stage he prepared for a speech to convince the noble youth. He went up and looked down at the disaster he created through his misjudgment. Aurum needed to talk, even though only corpses and a noble filled with contempt towards everything he believed in listened. There were also his colleagues, but they knew how he thought. But there was something inside of him he needed to say, even if only one person listened. He opened his arms and wings, and something inside of him, like stoicism, seeped through his body, making every following word or gesture much more thoughtful than before. He mostly talked through his heart, but now it became like he was a new person, seeing every action he wanted to take, a reaction to it. "Now, tell me, what do you see? Misery? Stupidity?..." He smiled, but his eyes became teary, "...all I wanted was to help the deprived! The ones which we, as the privileged, should help to bring on our level... but no!" He stomped his foot, and tears started to run down his cheeks. "All I got was some stupid conspiracy, and now, out of six educated youths, three died, and two were the only ones who wanted to help truly! What a waste! What a shame! Did you truly believe that, even if your plan worked, it would be worth it? Instead of following the path of what a true noble is, you choose one of greed!" He looked Ilusia deeply into her eyes, and some emotion he had never experienced before befell him, even pushing through the stoicism he was experiencing, "I almost killed you, dirtying my hands with the blood of nothing more than a shadow of a noble whose only accomplishment was to be born!" Aurum beat his chest where his heart was and became overly emotional, but something else made it much more calculative, like he knew what to do instead of just doing what he felt, "Are you truly someone who is fit to rule? Someone who has compassion and loyalty toward their ideals, ready to die for their subjects? You..." He opened his arms and wings wider, and it was like he not only talked to Ilusia but saw through her all the nobles who would never see his point of view and would rather rule impoverished and unfortunate subjects, "...are nothing more than filth, which will at some point die, leaving a legacy of tyranny..." He shook his head inwardly, knowing he would go too far if he continued. He turned to Ariana and Quill, "However, while they are nothing more than fakes, trying to suck the blood of commoners to live better lives, I serve someone who is a true noble. Someone who would do all this even without me and someone who would go to great lengths to achieve his ideals! Our ideals!" He reached his hand toward them, "Do you want to serve with me together, Alexander K. Leonandra, a true noble, and make the world a better place for everyone?" Quill nodded at him and smiled. He was the first to answer, "If not, I wouldn''t be here, but..." He looked at the corpses and back at Aurum, rubbing his thumb on his middle and index finger, "...I want more, you know, since the competition is practically gone." Aurum smiled at him, "You get double since it looks like finding people who are not morons is hard today." Quill grabbed his hand with a cheeky smile, "Deal." He shook his hand and looked at Ariana, "What about you? Do you wish to dabble in a world where you do nothing but cower in fear in front of nobility who does nothing but speak empty words, or do you want to do something meaningful, something much more!" Ariana looked to the side and mumbled, "Triple and I find your concept... not good." He started to laugh, "Haha! I can''t believe all I needed to do was get the commoners..." He turned to her and shook her hand, "...fine with me, and if you have better ideas, we can talk with my Master later. For now, it is what it is." She nodded but was visibly frightened, "G... good." Aurum turned to Maurice, "Get the damn guards here and say clearly who we are. If our little Ilusia thinks she has power, we will see when the Earl arrives." ... 30 Minutes Later Aurum stood before the captain of the guards and the current Earl of Wolfsteeth, explaining what had happened, "That''s pretty much it." The Earl rubbed his chin and sighed, "Well, by law, they are at fault, and nothing will happen as long as you don''t enter the central region, but we are not allowed to hang them even though they conspired." Maurice came from the side, "Just killing them would be easier." The Earl, a dog-kin (Terrier), frowned, but before he could reprimand him, the guard captain, Barry, an Ox-kin, nodded, "He is right, but there are imperial laws we need to follow. We need first to send a ransom notice to their household, and if they pay, they will be sent back." Aurum frowned, "What if not?" Barry drew a line with his thumb over his throat, "That''s pretty much it..." He shrugged, "...yet, they usually pay as it would be seen as an embarrassment if we hanged them, especially for crimes like conspiracy." Aurum nodded, "I want to put them through a lie detection test, and I want someone to interrogate them. I want every little piece of information documented." The Earl sighed, "This will be done either way..." He rubbed his temple, "...can''t believe Mr. Alexander''s retainers would be like this." "What do you mean..." However, Aurum heard a slap from the side before he could end the sentence. He turned around and saw how Ocilia slapped Quill and walked away. Quill only smiled, and he could hear his mumble, "Hehe, I love feisty girls..." He walked behind her, "...hey wait! Can you do some other things with those threads of yours? You know what I mean." Without turning around, Ocilia responded angrily, "What? Cut your throat?" Quill only laughed at this and kept on following her, "Haha! I like funny girls!" Aurum, though, thought she truly meant it, ''He really has no experience with Moorgrelian girls. Hope he survives.'' Aurum suddenly wondered if hiring him was the right decision. Yet, he was loyal, even while getting attacked by those fake nobles. There was also something else: They talked about their dreams, and Quill shared his vision even though he didn''t believe they could change anything, but he also knew that his old friend wouldn''t stay if he didn''t get compensated well. Aurum understood it as he came from poverty, and securing himself was more important to Quill than helping others. He wanted to continue talking to the Earl and guard captain, but they had already walked further away, speaking with each other, ''Well, how do I explain this to Mother? That is the bigger question. Master would probably only say that I should''ve... what would he say, actually?'' From the side came a soft voice, interrupting his thoughts, "Ehm, Aurum? Sir?" He turned around and saw Ariana flinching, "Calm down... sir? We are here in Moorgrel, and I am not a knight. I can barely hold a sword straight, hehe..." He tried to smile at her more softly, "...I also thought we were friends. Please, be more casual, okay?" She nodded and became slightly flustered, "Of course we are friends!..." But somehow, her own outburst frightened her, and she flinched again, "...O... Okay... I am just... frightened. I am not acquainted with such..." She looked at the dastardly scene, "...practices." He nodded and understood her. She needed time to calm down, "So, what do you want to ask? Please do so freely." Ariana nodded, "I read the contract, and I am fine with it, but is there a reason why it is so harsh?" Aurum nodded back, "We will talk tomorrow about it. For now, just read through it, and don''t forget to read the plan of what our charity wants to do." Her eyes suddenly sparkled, her fear almost entirely gone, "Yes! About that, I think it would be much better to open up something like a branch and centralize..." He interrupted her, "Tomorrow..." and pointed with his chin toward the pile of corpses, "...as you can see, I have some stuff to do. However, room, food, and pocket coins are there for you. So simply relax for now. In the end, you will stay here either way, and we have more than enough time to discuss everything you want." She didn''t even look at the corpses but at the contract and became much more giddy, "Aurum, who is this, Mr. Alexander? Is he a peer?..." She suddenly blushed, "...he is truly a noble who... you know." He knew her too well. Like Quill, she also wished for the same as him. However, like Quill, she didn''t believe that a noble existed who would actually do it, ''Well, she will be a little surprised the moment she sees Master...'' He smiled at her, "You will see him at some point, and yes... about being a peer and true noble..." he was interrupted by the Earl, "...Aurum, I need some of your time, and we also need to interrogate your friends as well..." Looking around, he couldn''t find Quill, "...all of you." Aurum shrugged, "Fine with me, but so you know..." He looked at Ariana, who seemed fine with it, but also couldn''t find Quill, "...they are with me, Mr. Alexander''s servants, so treat them like you treat me." The Earl nodded, and they talked for a few minutes when the interrogation would be. They didn''t fear that any of them would actually run away as Aurum gave his word, knowing he wouldn''t be wrong again after all that happened. They went through so much that they wouldn''t run away, especially since he would protect them and, if the need arose, ask his Master to help him. When they talked, Ilusia limped beside him in chains, a collar, and two Wolfsteeth guards bringing her to jail. Yet, her hateful gaze felt refreshing. For some reason, he started to love it. He increasingly understood his Master and why he always became more prideful and arrogant when someone hated him, as was the case with Lorient''s former servants. He couldn''t describe why it was like this, but there was a unique feeling of satisfaction he experienced. He began to like it. As she limped beside him, she said, "Moorgrelian trash." Bang! Before he could answer, though, he heard a bang, and Quill broke through the wall from where the hotel was, crashing into the ground and sliding a few meters through the hall. To him, it looked like the air pressure spell. He heard Ocilia''s voice and felt slight killing intent, "If you touch me again, I will cut your balls off!" Aurum looked at Quill, who licked his lips while lying on the ground, smirking, "How feisty..." He looked then at Aurum, "...hey, I need a healer. She broke some ribs." He sighed and rubbed his temple, ''This will be exhausting.'' Fortunately, he saw Ariana quickly running to him while taking out a healing potion from her sling bag, ''Oh, she is responsible and...'' Before he could end his thought, she tripped and fell, breaking the cheap flask and cutting her hand, "Ah! I need a healer, too!" Aurum frowned, ''Too good to be true.'' Chapter 89: Nine-Fire Visit 28: Aftermath If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Chapter 90: Nine-Fire visit: 30 Starting Problems I Author''s note: I forgot to write it in the last chapter. But this is a little holiday present. Have fun reading :) I will post a chapter every day till Thursday. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Chapter 91: Nine-Fire visit: 31 Starting Problems II ... Wolfsteeth, Southern District, The Writing Cloud, Scribe shop Ding Dong Aurum walked inside a scribe shop with a guard whom he had brought over from the main headquarters in Wolfsteeth since Maurice was with Ariana. She sounded very nervous going to a more dangerous district than what she was acquainted with, so giving her the big guy should''ve relaxed her. Aurum had, more or less, the same job but a little different. Because of his Master, he couldn''t join his workers in finding orphanages, widow homes, etc., but needed to find teachers. Even though he thought it was a little too much to give, besides the gold for food, clothing, and housing, his Master also wanted to educate everyone. So, Aurum would also obviously follow his command since his Master funded the whole charity in the first place. Through lengthy discussions, they decided that at the beginning, it was enough to recruit some scribes, merchants, and so on to teach them basic reading, writing, and arithmetics skills, which was already an enormous privilege. With this in mind, he looked for dilapidated scribe shops and merchant offices around the city till he quickly found one. He thought that someone with such a shop, which ran poorly, would love to make some extra coin. The first shop he found looked horrible from the outside. It needed overall repairs, from straightening the walls to having a new paint job. However, the moment he went inside, it wasn''t so bad. It was chaotic, with parchments, ink, and so on lying around without any system, but the overall look was decent. The furniture was old, yes, but not in a too-bad state. He immediately frowned as a doubt sneaked into his mind, ''Who would actually want to teach? The scribe probably makes more than enough coin and...'' Before thinking further, he was already interrupted, "Hello, my good sir!" It was an ape-kin with some weird glasses, which was a rarity since most would simply go to the Temple and fix their eyes for some small coin. However, Aurum smiled and readied himself, "Yes, hello. My name is Aurum Leonandra, and I am here in the name of my Master, Alexander K. Leonandra." The ape-kin became immediately giddy, "Oh, is the little archmage in need of parchment or ink? I can sell you as much as you want!" He inwardly laughed, thinking it was the last thing they needed at the moment, and sold it for sums the ape-kin couldn''t even imagine. He shook his head, "You see, my Master opened a charity, and we require teachers, which we will also pay well. Do you have maybe any interest..." Before he could even say more, the ape-kin bashed his hand on the counter, "I am in! How much?" Aurum raised an eyebrow, "Well, you will be teaching orphans in groups..." He tapped his chin, thinking if he should bargain, but in the end, decided against it, wanting to use what his Master suggested for untrained teachers, "...how about one small silver coin..." Before he could end his sentence, the ape-kin nodded enthusiastically, "One small silver coin per day! Deal!" Aurum raised his eyebrow and looked at him like he was insane. However, before he could say more, the ape-kin already tried to haggle, "Okay! This is too much! I teach reading, writing, and a little mathematics, so three days of teaching; one small silver coin!" Aurum thought about how much they paid Anastasia and heavily overthought how much teachers, which his Master suggested, would cost. Even the cost for his school for one semester, with lodging and food, was the pay for Anastasia for two months. He only now became aware of his crooked view of how much education costs as he only thought about his experience. Aurum shook his head, and this time, before the ape-kin could say anything, he replied immediately, stopping this nonsense, "One small silver coin per hour, but you would need to do it 40 hours a week." The ape-kin suddenly stood still and didn''t move, obviously thinking, looking at Aurum like he was insane. Aurum understood it, ''Well, he has a shop with services and other stuff, I don''t think..." He was immediately interrupted, "Deal! My name is Otto, and I have the [Teaching] skill since I had multiple apprentices, and my writing is not bad, right?..." He shoved some scripts into his face, "...I also have..." Before it could go on, he interrupted Otto, "Wait! Isn''t this too much work for you? I see that you have a scribe shop, so customers should come to you for all their necessities and services like writing protocols or documentation. Even though it looks a little worn down and needs a bit of love, you should have customers, right?" Otto looked at him and then loudly laughed after a moment, "Haha! Are you kidding me? I am barely making ends meet! Most companies have their internal scribes for decades now, and only the small shops and companies come to me, but even they can barely pay." He walked from behind the counter. Aurum could see in his walk and posture the decades of work he went through, ''I think he is at least experienced.'' Otto stood before him, "Listen, Aurum, do you mean it seriously that you would pay me that much for teaching? However, I will not buy the supplies for my students!" Aurum shook his head with a smile, "We have a deal then, and don''t worry. However, we will have some things to discuss about how to teach, right? Like no violence, and you can''t just throw students out because they don''t understand things, okay?" Aurum''s Master wanted to standardize education and teaching to some degree. So, things like homework, regular tests, etc., needed to be implemented as teaching for lower classes was more or less only telling someone how to do it, and that''s it. However, such things were mostly plans for the future, as their primary goal was to get teachers in the first place so the cygnets could learn at least basic skills. Otto tilted his head, "What?! Impossible!" However, Aurum only said the magic word, bringing his index finger before him, "One small silver coin per hour." Like he was charmed, he nodded vigorously, "Of course! Violence is bad, and even worse, if they don''t understand something! I will bea..." He cleared his throat and corrected himself, "... Ahem! I will try to be the most amiable teacher there is!" Aurum smiled at him, "Good, let''s talk details." ... Two hours later Aurum came out of the shop, tired but happy. He took out his small booklet and wrote down the information. He would come in a week again and give him the orphanages where he would need to go, ''Master was right... again.'' At first, he thought that hiring a couple of teachers for some orphanages would be enough. Still, now he understood that actually buying a building and making it into a school for the public was a much more efficient way, ''Urgh, I need to throw away all the plans I made and look for a building, ...and I need more people... fuck!'' Aurum was annoyed. Everything was as it should be. He got teachers for cheap who should be somewhat well versed, yet it could be much better. However, to do it like his Master wanted, he would need literally a dozen more workers, and finding trustworthy people wouldn''t be easy. He looked at the guard and threw him a small gold coin, "You will follow me." He vigorously nodded while Aurum asked, "Is there a small and failing bookkeeper?" The guard nodded, "Follow me, Mr. Aurum! I know such trash around here!" ''This is easier than I thought.'' ... Late evening, Wintersleep Hotel, Aurum''s room Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Three teens sat around a table filled with food, drinks, and their notes and documents. All looked tired and had bags under their eyes. "I got four, but I could''ve done more if they wouldn''t have such a mistrust." "All orphanages?" Quill shook his head, "Nah, three of them though, but one was a widow home." Aurum nodded, "Great, I have three teachers. One poor scribe, one lousy bookkeeper, and a pharmacist who tends to poison his customers. They can teach reading, writing, and mathematics." Quill looked at Ariana, "What about you?" Ariana was hanging her head low, "Zero." Quill asked again with a smirk on his face, "What did you say?" She suddenly snapped, "I have zero, you stupid thug! Zero! Zero! Zero!" Quill started laughing while Aurum asked her, "Everything fine?" She turned toward him furiously, "Obviously not! They don''t trust me even if I threw the gold in their faces!" Aurum nodded and started writing it down, but suddenly, the piece of paper got ripped out of his hands, "Don''t write it down!" and tore it in two parts. He looked at her baffled and smirked, "We sell this parchment, which we call paper, to the Temple for about 20 average gold per piece." Quill laughed even louder, "Buhahaha! Can''t believe Ariana is the same as before!" Aurum nodded with a tired smile. Ariana was highly talented but also a perfectionist. So the moment she failed, she started to get furious. However, she immediately apologized, "I am so sorry, Aurum! Here! We can use it... no, I will use it! Wait, I can stitch it, right?" Aurum chuckled, "Hehe, calm down. It costs us a couple of coppers to make it." Quill whistled, "Wow, you have a great margin, and you said Mr. Alexander invented it?" He nodded, "Yep, and much more. You will see when the time is ripe, but most stuff we sell directly to the Temple, so it is rather unimportant for now." Quill nodded back and took out a cigarette, "Gotcha." Aurum turned to Ariana, "Listen, try it some more times, and if it doesn''t work out..." She stood suddenly up, making the table shake and almost throwing over their drinks, "No! I don''t want to lose my job! I can do it!" Aurum frowned, his tone becoming more serious, gesturing to her, "Sit down." She became much more subtle and flustered, sitting down again. He cleared his throat, "Ahem! After today, I had multiple realizations after hearing Quill and going out myself..." He held one finger up, "We need many more people. We need someone who can coordinate us, do bookkeeping, and many other things. So the moment you cannot do the job, I will give you just another, okay?" She nodded and became much more relaxed. He continued, holding a second finger up, "Second problem: Gold." Quill raised an eyebrow, "We are already out of gold?" Aurum shook his head, "The opposite, we have too much, and we can''t spend it fast enough as Mr. Alexander wanted it." It was silent for a couple of seconds until Ariana and Quill laughed. "Buhahaha! Too much gold?! If my old Master would hear this, he would roll in his grave!" "Hehe, I never studied such a problem. Is this even possible?" Aurum frowned and tried to explain the problem, "Let me explain with an example: Let''s say we can get five places a day that need help. After a month, we would have ~150. We pay now 100 average gold pieces per three months, which is probably four times the gold they need, and with 450 social stato... sati..." He took out his booklet and looked up the word his Master used, "...social stations, we will pay around 15,000 a month. Even if we include 100 teachers, for which we pay one small silver coin per hour, and they do 40 hours a week, plus materials which we make ourselves for coppers, it will only be what? If we go by the current exchange rate, three to six average gold coins or so?" Quill raised an eyebrow, "Wait, how many social things are there?" Ariana suddenly understood, "We are too slow... this is a city of around four to five million, with all the surroundings included." Quill looked at her like she was insane, "Four to five million?! How the fuck are there so many people here?!" Ariana tried to explain, "The so-called Teeth cities in the east of Moorgrel have a lot of pull factors: Low taxes, freedom, and high security. The North, South, and West are more or less the same, so commoners usually choose the one with more promise at any given time." Quill raised an eyebrow, "Commoners? I mean, I get that no sane noble from central Mal-Gil would come here, but shouldn''t cities be oriented toward nobles? I remember this from a lesson or so." Ariana nodded while biting her fingernail, "This only applies if you want to pull as many nobles, wealthy commoners, and rich artisans to you as possible since they pay the most taxes. However, Teeth cities are weird..." Quill interrupted her, visibly noticing something, "Yeah! There is no real separation between districts! I found it always bizarre how I could go anywhere I wanted but couldn''t put my finger on it. So, they pull intentionally commoners in?" Ariana nodded and continued, sounding excited, "You are right! However, even though the city area income is probably not as high as it could be with more nobles, yet..." Aurum interrupted her, "It is." She now raised her eyebrow, confused, "No, it isn''t? In theory, the masses couldn''t make up the loss of wealthy individuals." Aurum nodded, "True, but that only applies in theory and in an idealistic scenario where everyone pays up, but this is not the case..." He remembered how he rummaged through his ancestral [Mystic Skill] called [Familiar Analyzing], which gave him the numbers of hundreds of years of the finances of the city, "...since nobles try to avoid taxes in every way possible. Through direct bribes, hiding, etc. Somewhat wealthy commoners usually don''t have the same means and only hide a smaller percentage." Ariana took the ripped paper and a piece of charcoal she had in her blouse pocket, writing it immediately down without saying anything. However, Quill continued, mentioning something Aurum hadn''t considered: "You forgot as another pull factor: the missing nobles. There aren''t any parties or factions here who fight for every piece of the market as only the Leonandra household dominates it, right?" Aurum was about to answer, yet Ariana answered faster while still writing, "Yes and no. While the Leonandra''s can''t pull any guilds, businesses, etc., who thrive in already dominated and regulated markets, the Teeth environment is more a free-for-all. While there are certain things which are highly controlled, it is not to the extent like in High-Town." The market in High-Town was not something one could call a real market. The dominating businesses bribed the nobles so strongly that it was, for example, impossible to open a little shop without any support of a noble, guild, or anything of the sort. Otherwise, it would be quickly visited by some administrators who would find faults and close it down the day after it opened. While Wolfsteeth was far more chaotic and prone to failure, it also exemplified what he would call fairness. Even far away from a picture book example, it was better than what he saw in central Mal-Gil. After a short silence where everyone was thinking it through more thoroughly, trying to grasp the environment, Quill broke the silence by returning to the topic at hand, "So... how many social stuffs do we have?" Ariana nodded, also returning back to business and putting her notes into a spatial pouch, "Depends. We have an overflow of commoners who are also the most prone to live in such facilities. I think..." She turned to Aurum, curiously looking at him, "...our boss knows." Both looked at him, waiting for an answer, but Aurum only shrugged, "Who knows? Nobody cares in this fief. As long as they pay their land taxes, they can do whatever they want in their home." Quill asked, visibly frustrated, "Fine with me, but how do we then find out?" Ariana suddenly became joyful, "Centralizing!" Both boys looked at her, and she explained, "I wanted to talk about it, and now it seems perfect. How about making an organization where they could come to us? We can, of course, first start to look for Orpha... I meant social stations, and by word of mouth, they would come to us then." Aurum nodded, "Well, here you go..." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pouch and gave it to her. She looked at it, and suddenly her eyes sparkled, "What a beautiful handwriting! Is this Mr. Alexander''s idea?" Aurum nodded, "Pretty much. I was initially against it since I didn''t know it would work so fast, but now we need someone to build it up. Want to do it?" Ariana nodded vigorously, "Yes! The name is also great!" Quill looked over and raised an eyebrow, "Helping Paw?" Aurum shrugged, "Who cares about the name..." But was immediately interrupted by Ariana, "Mr. Alexander cares, obviously! So, we should take it!" Both boys nodded, and Aurum thought that the sparkle in her eyes became a little too much for her own good, ''Just wait till you meet him...'' He heard her murmuring, "Whoever writes like this must be a real noble and sire... no wonder he has such a big heart..." He remembered Alexander''s cursing, casual kind and how he just threw ideas and tasks at him till he exploded in rage, needing to drag him to his office every time to explain what he meant and what he wanted, ''Well, let''s not kill her fantasy too fast.'' He decided, "Ariana, you will do it then? Buy some building and look at the right place and..." She interrupted him, "This will be easy! Trust me! I will create a great headquarters for us! Mr. Alexander will be proud of me!" He turned to Quill, who nodded at him, "Yeah, yeah, I will go out and try to get some more." Aurum nodded, "Fine, then it''s done; any more questions?" Quill took another cigarette while Ariana was already writing down everything she would need to do in the next few days, ''At least they are good... I need to find more people like them somehow ASAP.'' ... 30 minutes later, in front of Quill''s room "Quill, wait!" The rabbit-kin turned around and looked at Ariana, "Wha''?" The meeting was over, and everyone had their tasks, yet Ariana needed to talk earnestly with him, stopping him before his room, "I need to have a word." He raised an eyebrow and waved his hand in dismissal, "Listen, if it is about the tax code, I am about to study it, so calm down." She shook her head and became slightly nervous, "No, it''s about Ocilia." He tilted his head in confusion, "What ''bout her? Is she free tonight? Damn... I really like her figure and how..." Ariana interrupted him, getting a little agitated and remembering how he was. He had a very casual and rude attitude, but she also trusted him fully since he was a very loyal friend. This is also why she spoke openly and honestly with him, "I really... like her, you know? Can you not..." Quill raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Hehe, so, you want me to stop hunting for her?" Ariana nodded carefully, as it was the first time she had asked something like this of him. However, he only shrugged, "Fine by me." He went into his room and closed the door before her nose. However, she was slightly perplexed, ''It was that easy?'' At first, she thought she would need to give something back, but even though it was a bit cold, such a reaction made her feel warm, remembering his attitude from the past. He would always do things unconditionally if asked, like a true friend. After that little moment, she turned around and jumped happily toward Ocilia, ''Hehe! What do we talk about today?'' Chapter 92: Nine-Fire visit: 32: Stupid Responsibility Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Chapter 93: Nine-Fire visit: 33: Unlucky But Lucky ... The Golden Goose Plaza, Wolfsteeth (Underworld) Ocilia followed Quill and only now remembered why she was here after the talk about Ariana, ''Right. Retribution...'' After hearing the news that her Master could be one of those attacked, she wanted nothing more than to find the maniac who did it and shred him to pieces. Why? Her Master was the one variable in her life that gave her purpose. Anything less than seeking revenge for attacking him or his family was a point when she needed to act. The last weeks even cemented her conviction and loyalty to a more severe level. If he had not been there, she would never have met Ariana, found her first romance, or even been able to survive her former friends. She also suddenly got much more respect from others through her status, strength, and skills. All was given to her without any expectations. Yet, she held herself to a higher standard, not wanting to take anything for granted and show that she was worthy of everything given to her. This was why the moment she heard that her Master could''ve died, her world almost crumbled. A thought that was impossible to her. All his projects, ideals, and knowledge: Everything would be gone and, like that, a better world. While spending some nights with Ariana, she told Ocilia that she also admired him for being like this, as every other noble would just take the gold and try to build up their power with it. On the other hand, they spend the gold on the impoverished to help them. Orphans wouldn''t go to sleep hungry, widows would have another chance and first try to overcome their grief, and all the while educating all of them. Only then did she understand that he was not only great in her mind but actually something that needed to be protected, and her thoughts from the last weeks, when she cried into her sleep, trying to envision an imaginary greater good, became slowly a reality. It was like a call to her to keep going, bringing the knowledge he needed to enhance the world further, and with it, she felt proud. Like a knight, she was furthering her Master''s goals step by step. Now, though, someone attacked them, and she was outraged, barely thinking straight, and wanted nothing more than to take revenge. Fortunately, Quill, who she thought was an egoistic asshole, actually helped her. He became instantly much more sympathetic to her. He even showed her around, which she was first skeptical about and didn''t trust him, but after more thought, if he wanted to kill her, he would''ve already done so. He could''ve knocked her out and sold her if he wanted to since what she witnessed when he suddenly flashed to her, holding his blade at her throat, was far above her combat abilities. [Flash] in itself was a skill only performed by much more experienced warriors, and the energy she felt was something far beyond what she could produce. So having him with her was reassuring, especially after he stopped pestering her after the first couple of days after she got together with Ariana, which she only now noticed, ''I am an airhead, huh?'' "Hey, don''t daydream." She was brought back from her thoughts when she heard him, "Huh?" Quill turned slightly, looking at her in disappointment, "Listen, don''t act like a moron and follow me. Don''t say anything." Ocilia nodded and followed him through a narrow tunnel. After a minute, they arrived at the end of the grayish-pink tunnel, and what she saw astounded her. There was a door, finely made with adornments, and before it stood two guards, heavily armed. Quill stopped before them and showed two small gold coins, smiling charismatically, "Should be enough, right, my dear guards?" They stayed stoic, and the one on the right shook his head. Quill frowned and was about to say something, but she came forward, pulling out two large gold coins and giving them to the guards while saying, "Wolfsteeth is a bit more expensive than High-Town, I guess?" However, instead of the expected tease, he sounded worried, "I don''t like it at all. It shouldn''t cost so much." She didn''t understand him, thinking he was a little stingy. The guards opened the door, and she walked through with Quill, ''This...'' What she saw amazed her. The whole ground was plastered with expensive white stone akin to the most expensive sections in central Wolfsteeth. There were buildings beautifully made, trees, and exotic flower patches. Furthermore, Restaurants, Caf¨¦s, and two enormous buildings, presumably the auction house and what looked like a copy of their hotel, only smaller, without the restaurant and bar, were built around the open plaza. Guards were stationed everywhere and gave an aura of no-nonsense from them. The people here were not much different from those from the wealthy districts, but with masks on of various animals and accompanied by multiple guards, ''This is unreal.'' She couldn''t imagine that there was actually a copy of where they resided, only smaller, ''Where was I then if such a thing existed?!'' She remembered all the problems she had finding even two to three merchants for her Master''s goods. She roamed through the horrendous parts of the underworld, where she was continuously attacked by elements worse than vermin and probably tricked out of her gold. She felt immensely frustrated for not immediately going to Quill and asking him to show her around. From the side came a mocking voice, "Close your mouth. Otherwise, flies will fly in, hehe." He walked forward. She came out of her thoughts and followed him, "Is this really the underworld?!" "Yeah, now calm down, or else everyone will think we are weirdos, also..." He grabbed into his pouch and pulled out two masks, both a simplified version of a bunny, giving one of them to her, "...put this on, and if someone asks you something weird, just don''t answer." Ocilia pulled the hoody down and put the mask on. While tying up the mask string behind her head, she asked, "What weird questions?" "The animal masks usually have a meaning. Bunnies are guests with no services to offer, foxes are merchants, and bears are mercenaries. However, bunny also means something else at other establishments." She tilted her head, "What?" "For red-light districts, it means that you are free to have and ready for some fun stuff, hehe. Some morons always think it is the same here, so just ignore them, alright?" She frowned but nodded nonetheless, not liking the situation, ''Sorry, Ariana, but I need to find the asshole who dared to attack my household.'' "Want to grab something to eat? The auction only starts in two hours, and I need to talk to some people about the Fio guy." Hearing that, she nodded immediately, "Yes... do so, please." ... Steven''s Seafood Specials Restaurant "So?" Quill returned to their table and shrugged, saying, "No idea. There is nobody who knows anything about the guy." She saw how he talked to some waitress for ten minutes, occasionally flirting, only for her to shake her head. While observing him, she also tried to listen to other conversations, but they mostly gossiped about the psycho roaming around. So the moment he came and said that there was no information, she was about to stand up without finishing her food and leave. However, Quill gestured to sit down again, "Calm down. It was only one new friend who didn''t know anything. Later, I will have someone who maybe knows something at the auction house." Ocilia relaxed again but felt tense. She would rather be more proactive, but, in this case, she trusted Quill''s judgment more as he was obviously better acquainted with the underworld, ''The sitting still irks me nonetheless.'' ''I need to calm down.'' In one sense, Quill was right that a systematic approach was much better than going from place to place and threatening everyone for information. She looked around, seeing the pleasant ambiance, and sighed, returning back to her food, ''Let''s eat first.'' While cutting her fish, she suddenly heard something interesting, "Did you hear? Someone booked the Shining Moon floor at the Sundown Hotel." "So? Isn''t there always some noble wanting more privacy?" "Sure, but there are currently only Earls in Wolfsteeth. Nobody else, weird, isn''t it?" "Couldn''t it be just some rich guy?" "Not really. The Shining Moon floor is exclusively for nobles, right?" "I guess, but if someone came with enough gold, wouldn''t it be enough for an exception?" ''It could be...'' She suddenly stood up, but before she could lose herself again, she heard Quill''s stern voice, "Can you fucking calm down..." She looked at him, and he was visibly annoyed, "...listen here, there are tons of other nobles who want to do crazy stuff with whole floors and stay anonymous, so simply relax for now, okay?" This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. She nodded but nonetheless replied surely, "Even if it is unlikely, I need to see if it is him." Ocilia knew what she wanted was ridiculous but needed to look at least who it was. It would hunt her till death if they didn''t catch the perpetrator, and she didn''t look through every nook and cranny, ''I will go even if Quill doesn''t want to.'' What surprised her, though, he sighed, standing up, "Let''s go..." However, as he pushed the chair back, he visibly remembered something, gesturing her to give him something, "...I need gold, at least ten large gold coins..." He then sheepishly scratched his cheek, "...also, please pay for the food. I am kind of broke. Girls are sometimes expensive, hehe." Ocilia was first baffled but then laughed, breaking her tension, "Haha! I know what you mean. Ariana is too expensive." ... 30 minutes later "So, how do you want to go inside?" Quill shrugged, "How else? Just follow me." She followed him as he walked into the hotel, which looked like an exact copy of theirs, even from the inside, directly to the receptionist. He leaned at the counter, smiling charmingly at her, "Hello, sugar..." His words were less subtle, "...I need to know something, y''know?" While saying this, he took out a large gold coin, putting it on the counter while holding it down with his middle finger. The receptionist, who was some kind of djinn, raised an eyebrow at first, but after seeing the gold coin, she began to smile, "Of course, Mr, what do you want to know?" Quill''s smile became more honest, "You see, my friend here..." He pointed with a thumb at Ocilia, "...was bought by the guy who rented the whole floor, the good-looking fox-kin, so I want to bring her up and make sure she is delivered..." He leaned a little forward, almost whispering at her, "...however, he wanted to make sure it would be as secretive as possible..." He pushed the gold coin forward, "...can you arrange it, sweety?" The djinn looked to the left and right, seeing nobody. She also started to analyze Ocilia, who felt immediately naked, ''I... don''t like where this is going.'' After some seconds, the djinn nodded towards Quill, "Fine with me, just needed to check her..." She put her hand over Quill''s, slowly pushing the coin toward her while he pulled his hand away, smiling, "...please follow me, Mr." Quill nodded toward Ocilia, who was confused but followed nonetheless, although overly suspicious of his actions. After the djinn showed them the back entrance and how they would get up through the servant''s stairwell, they were left alone as it was apparently the most discreet way to the floor. While they were walking up the stairs, she whispered toward him, slight killing intent leaking out, "You knew that he was here?" Quill frowned, "No, and I obviously bluffed, thinking she would just take the coin and say there is no fox-kin." Ocilia retracted her killing intent fully and was only confused since he didn''t attack or become angry or flustered, only frustrated for some reason. She asked, "How did you know then that he was beautiful?" He sighed, "First, most fox-kin are at least somewhat beautiful, and next, beauty is relative. You are probably into flat chests, seeing how you are together with Ara, while I like ''em bigger. It''s in the eye of the beholder." Ocilia blushed slightly, "It''s not like I like them little. It''s just..." Quill interrupted her, sounding annoyed, "Yeah, yeah. You love her personality ''n shit." "Love?! It''s too..." Quill suddenly pulled his dagger out, "Shut up and concentrate. We arrived..." He looked fully concentrated, like a hunter looking for prey, "...if it is truly him, we can''t catch him. We need to assassinate him." She frowned, reprimanding herself, as she was pretty absent. The last weeks were hard on her with all the killing. Even though she slowly came to terms with it, a distraction like Ariana was like the Core, keeping her mind away from all the bloodshed. Ocilia was usually alone with her own thoughts, and now, with Quill, who she found more sympathetic, it was like she found someone else she could distract herself with, ''I need to concentrate...'' She was again fully concentrated but confused as to why they would need to kill him, "Fine, but why not catch him if it is him?" Quill walked slowly forward, trying to listen through the servant''s entrance, whispering, "Sweety, this guy attacked the Leonandra household, could flee, and is alive. I bet even if he is not dangerous, the ones around him are. Now concentrate and kill everyone you see; it doesn''t matter who. I would rather have the lives of some innocent servants on my mind than get brewed into a potion." Ocilia frowned, "Isn''t it unhonorable?" He chuckled, "Hehe, who the fuck actually cares? Do you think a battlefield is much more honorable than what we are doing right now? It''s kill or be killed, and I would rather be the former than the latter." "You don''t understand. It is about the pride of being..." Before she could end the sentence, he took her head and pushed it down, screaming, "Down!" Bang! Her head crashed toward the floor, bashing the ground, but as she peeked upwards slightly while being pressed, she saw how a spear pierced the wall where she stood before, still flying and drilling into the wall on the other side of the stairwell. "Fuck, I guess, whoever it is, they don''t want us here!" An eery voice come from the pierced hole, "Kekeke, good point..." A red light bursted out of the hole toward the spear. The light collected itself on the spear, which stuck in the wall, forming a being, "...how strange..." The being scratched his head, "...can''t remember seeing you, well ho..." Before he could end the sentence, a sudden killing intent almost penetrated her mind, making her absence for a moment. She saw how Quill was behind the individual. His dagger cladded with energy, perfectly surrounding like another alloy. His usually pink eyes were glowing, and she saw him fully serious for the first time. Yet, as he swung toward the neck, he missed. The weird being with reddish skin and yellow scales ducked down, avoiding the critical hit, "Oho, not bad!" Ocilia came out of her stupor and immediately started using her threads. They conjured around the being but were immediately snuffed out by an enormous amount of energy he emitted. He looked at her with a smirk, but only briefly because Quill kept attacking it. After the missed slash, Quill pulled a throwing knife out of his sleeve, using it as a second dagger, attacking him immediately with it. The being turned around, grabbing the blade and snuffing out the energy. His hand bled profusely, but he only viciously smiled while staring at Quill, "How cute." After saying it, he tried to grab Quill, who, as a counterattack, stepped on the being''s chest to kick himself away. He turned mid-air with a summersault and landed with his feet on the wall. The being and his spear turned into reddish energy, immediately flying towards Quill. Ocilia tried again to use her threads, but as before, the conjure points were extinguished almost immediately by the violent and destructive energy of the individual, even though she put much more energy into them, ''This can''t be.'' Panic slowly seeped into her, only interrupted by the unknown person appearing in front of Quill, menacingly smiling. He punched at him with an immensely destructive force. Yet, Quill bent his body in weird ways to avoid it while the energy on his feet was used to glue himself to the wall as a foothold. While avoiding it, he rotated elegantly once and landed a kick at the being''s head, making it fall. He immediately jumped down at him while screaming, "Go! The fucker is most probably there!" As Quill vanished from her view, flying down, she was only confused for a moment, but after coming out of it, she immediately went to the door. While doing so, she heard how the fight went haywire down there and people screaming, ''I really hope it is him!'' Ocilia immediately opened the door to the floor where the spear came from and was surprised that besides the outline, even the decoration was exactly the same as at their hotel. This was perfect since she could easily find the main suite. She quickly strained her [Mana Sense] out as she was cautious of more enemies, already making plans for the worst. She was anxious for more individuals like the one Quill was fighting, who could easily crush her. However, she calmed herself down and became excited from just the thought of getting the one who attacked their estate, ''Please be here.'' As her [Mana Sense] flooded the room, she noticed some weird fluctuations in one of the shadows further away. Without much thought, she conjured her threads inside the shadow, or rather where the mana was, trying to constrict the mass of mana. Ocilia caught something and was confused but wouldn''t risk anything at this point, so she treated it as an enemy, constricting it with full force. After some seconds, the mana mass dimmed and popped out of the shadow, cutting her threads away. She looked carefully at a corpse with a cut-off head, ''What the...?'' The system rang her consistently, but she ignored it for now as the weird race she saw before her wasn''t something she knew, but the darker bluish skin, pointy ears, and three pupilled eyes pointed towards only one conclusion, ''A night-elf?'' She remembered that her Father told her how diverse the underworld was. Till now, though, she had only seen beast-kin her whole life and maybe some djinns and nature-dwellers, but that was it. She shook herself awake, thinking it didn''t matter who it was, and moved forward very carefully, step by step, while trying to spread her [Mana Sense] into every corner, ''It needs to be him.'' It would be the first time she would do something great if she could catch Fiorello, who attacked their household. It would be merit-worthy but also a first step to repaying her debt, which couldn''t even be paid back with her life. It suddenly became what she had truly wanted to do since she could remember: honor and pride. With this, she could indeed be someone who would be able to show loyalty and protect the only people who actually gave a fuck about her besides her family. After some time, she took a right turn and saw an enormous door with two masses of mana inside the shadows, which were thrown by the statues on the side, ''Night-elves hiding in shadows... this is a new one for me.'' Without much thought, she used her threads again inside the shadows. This time, it was harder to pinpoint the position as they moved a little more erratically, but it was still doable. After some moments, her threads constricted around them, and she killed another two, popping out in pieces. Afterward, she took out a mana and stamina potion, gulping them down. After the short stomachache from drinking them simultaneously, she took a deep breath, relaxing herself. She started moving forward again, her threads around her while having almost a spell readied in case someone tried to ambush her. After opening the big double door, she saw a fox-kin sitting on the couch, sipping wine while reading some literature. He looked pale and thin. She immediately noticed that he was weak, as even holding the book was too much for him, seeing how his arm shook slightly from overextension. However, she didn''t take it for granted that he was weak and became wary. She moved forward while spreading her [Mana Sense] into every corner. After taking some steps, she stopped when he turned to her, smiling, "Oh my, and who are you?" ''How do you figure out if it is him, actually?'' Killing him and presenting the head from someone different would greatly embarrass her, so she would need first to find out. Yet, Ocilia suddenly felt much more amiable toward him and found him rather friendly. However, she also noticed that he used a skill. It was weak in potency but felt hardly like that as it manipulated her sophistically even though she trained her mind daily, "I am Ocilia." "I see. May I ask what you want?" His smile and use of skills never stopped. However, she felt it and could fight against it mentally. At most, it became annoying. She answered stoically, trying to suppress a smile, "I came to collect the head of someone called Fiorello." He tapped his chin with his index finger, "I don''t know who it is, though?" Ocilia smiled at him menacingly, and her threads slowly manifested around him, "I guess Master was right. The most guilty ones will try to act as normal as possible without considering their circumstances. You not freaking out and throwing a tantrum is actually quite the moronic move, you know? I know you are Fiorello, so just come with me." What she said was a lie. Her Master told her that but also mentioned that everyone was very different in all kinds of situations, as there were no absolutes. However, after observing Quill, she wanted to try out what Quill did with the receptionist, bluffing her way to the truth, and it seemed to work. Fiorello shrugged, chuckling, "Hehe, you got me, but do you want some strawberry cake before we go?" Chapter 94: Nine-Fire visit 34: Fighting and Heartfelt Talks Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Chapter 95: Nine-Fire visit: 35: Merits, Rewards, and Betting This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Chapter 96: Nine-Fire visit: 36: Following Weeks Part 1 Authors note: This and the next chapter are a little bit different. I need to go through many perspectives of many characters. However, before I put every little event into an entire chapter and fill it with useless fluff, I decided to go through them in two chapters. The changing perspectives could be a little annoying, but I think you will like it. Just see it as many little chapters. The following events happened in the weeks following Ocilia''s visit with Alexander. ... General Training Grounds, Leonandra Estate "Come on, stand up." Lorient was lying on the ground, feeling a sense of peace. The training grounds around her looked horrendous and emitted enough demonic miasma to poison greenhorn soldiers. This was why it was empty since they used it. However, as she heard her Mother speaking, she slowly stood up, covered in dust and dirt. She was battered and wheezing, barely able to catch any air. Yet, she never ceased to stare at her Mother before her, who stood as always, stoically, staring her down. She immediately used her energy and slowly enveloped her hands and feet with it. For her, it looked beautiful when it spread over her skin, becoming a layer, like gloves and shoes, far from what she had done before, which was clumsy at best. For the last months, her whole training was getting the hang of her demonic energy by training her mind, as otherwise, control would be impossible. When she commanded it to do what she wanted, it became unruly, like a rebellious puppy not wanting to eat vegetables, always trying to break out into something much more destructive. When done and looking proudly at her work, her Mother immediately crushed her ego, "Too slow. The Leonandra [Divinity Line] is one of instant destruction. However, the strength is that your ancestors could quickly bring forward this destruction and control it." Lorient looked at her, annoyed, "Mom, you have the Nine-Fire [Divinity Line]. Do you know how hard it is to control mine?!" From the side came a chuckle, "Oh my. How interesting..." Looking where it came from, she immediately gulped, seeing that it was her Grandmother, "...you see, she maybe doesn''t know it, but I do." After saying it, her Grandmother immediately let her energy escape, transforming into a cute little bunny before her, jumping around. Yet, it felt murderous, and every time it landed after a hop, the ground cracked, creating a small crater. The moment it turned its head toward Lorient, she flinched, feeling how it could easily kill her. Lorient took a step back, "Sure..." The bunny slowly hoped toward Lorient, and her fear increased dramatically. Yet another energy came from the side, decapitating the cute and murderous ball of energy. Her Mother sounded annoyed, "Stop this nonsense. I hated it when you did it to me, and it never helped my training." Her Grandmother looked at her Mother and smirked, "I beg to differ, Mari. You were always so joyful when training with it." Her Mother frowned, "I wouldn''t call it joyful when I had nightmares because of how it felt." Lorient raised an eyebrow and immediately found it intriguing. She wanted the same extensive training as her siblings or parents at their time, but it was impossible since she first needed to train her mind, which was overly tedious, ''A chance to escape it!'' She cleared her throat, trying to calm down, "Ahem! I want to try this training method." Her Mother frowned and said nothing, but her Grandmother became ecstatic, "Great! But don''t be too frightened, Lori!" Out of nowhere, multiple bunnies made out of energy appeared around her. The energy control was excellent, and they looked like living beings, even mimicking their breathing and nose movements. Yet, the illusion was quickly destroyed when they started to hop slowly toward her, their eyes glowing with an intent akin to a hunter, ''I think it was a mistake...'' "Evasion or hunting?" She looked towards her Grandmother, who gave her at least the option to choose. This was what she thought at first, at least. Before she could choose, her Grandmother shook her head, "You know what? You are old enough for combat simulation. This game is only something for little pups." Lorient was confused and only brought back by her Mother, sounding suddenly interested, "I would be careful, Lori. You can only destroy them with your energy. Don''t even try to hit or defend against them without..." She sighed, "...it is not a bad training method, though." Lorient didn''t understand what to do till one of the bunnies jumped at high speeds at her. She immediately, by instinct, attacked it, crushing it. However, it wasn''t the only one as another jumped at her sides, pushing all the air out of her lungs, "Urgh!" BANG! The force was incredible, and she flew to the side into some crates, crashing. After a moment, she thought that her bones broke, but she was okay, at most a bruise, ''What the...'' There was little time to check herself as she heard the ground cracking. Looking from the debris, she saw how the bunnies slowly hoped toward her, ''Not good...'' Even though she was scared shitless, it suddenly made her giddy, ''This is what I wanted!'' Standing up, she readied herself, smiling and enjoying it. As they came closer, she could hear her Mother and Grandmother talking with each other. "She is different, much more daring than you, hehe." "Every one of my pups is more daring than me." "Oh, why do you think it is the case?" "It''s obviously my husband''s fault." This was the last thing she heard as they jumped at her from all angles and at speeds she could barely keep up. Yet, she had incredible fun while training. ... Alexander''s training room, Leonandra Estate "You use too many of your skills for this, Mr. Narsiz." "Saru, what do you mean with it?!" Narsiz was staying, entirely covered in sweat, before his Father''s retainer, with a bow in his hand and quiver strapped to the side. The arrows sticking out looked amateurish, which was also what it should be since they were made out of wood for training purposes. They chose the training place of his little brother for multiple reasons. One was obviously convenience, and the other was that the site was wrecked, with the ground destroyed in certain places, spikes sticking out, or hills made out of dirt rendered it impossible to walk normally while puddles of water were everywhere. It was perfect for his archery and movement training. Yet, even though he gave his all, somehow he couldn''t land a single hit on Sarusos, who increasingly became more annoying, "Never follow the skills projection, but use it as a suggestion." Narsiz was frustrated. For the last few days, all he did was shoot at Sarusos while trying to avoid his throwing knives. Even using all his luck-based skills, it was impossible to hit him. Now, Sarusos apparently found his problem and wanted to correct it, yet he didn''t understand what he meant. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked tiredly, "I don''t know what you mean by that I shouldn''t follow the skill''s projection." Sarusos nodded and took a wooden knife, specially made for training, saying, "Use your [Dodging] skill to not get hit, Mr. Narsiz." Narsiz was confused as to why he should do it. Yet, the moment he threw it at him without announcing, he obviously tried to use the skill and dodge it. It didn''t work, and his shoulder got hit, although he should''ve avoided it since it was slow enough. He looked at Sarusos dumbfounded, who only chuckled, "Hehe. It''s easy, Mr. Narsiz. Skills are predictable, but if you work slightly against them, they wouldn''t lead you anymore but only suggest what to do..." Sarusos came to a rack and took a couple more training knives, "You see, if you try to aim at something, you use your skills and follow their lead. The ones who know how they work can avoid it if you also don''t use other ones, which could also predict your opponent''s mindset." Narsiz frowned, slightly understanding him, "But this would drain my stamina too quickly. Thus, I need to work slightly against the skills and use my intuition, but how do I work against them?" Sarusos cheekily smiled at him, "Well, Mr. Narsiz, if I go by what I saw with your siblings and how they broke the flow..." He readied himself, "...it was by brute forcing it, so please get ready." Narsiz drew his bow and readied himself to dodge Sarusos''s attacks, "Fine by me." Days later ''Damn it!'' Narsiz stood full of bruises and out of stamina before Sarusos, who didn''t even have a droplet of sweat on his forehead, ''This is bullshit! How do I break the flow?!'' If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He slowly understood what Sarusos told him about a couple of days ago. Whenever he used the bow, the skill [Archery Arts] activated almost automatically and controlled his actions. Going against it felt wrong, almost dreadful. So he could only do it fully or not. There was no in-between for him. Sarusos came over, smiling, "Well, are you ready for another round, Mr. Narsiz?" He nodded and readied the training arrow into the bow, drawing it. Yet, he had barely any stamina left. So, the moment he pulled back, the skill activated. However, his concentration became unfixed, almost like he was in a trance as he fought against the pain he had from all the muscle aches. The skill told him to aim in a specific direction, but because he wasn''t fully there, he chose another one, close to the suggestion, that he found instinctively more promising. He let go and saw Sarusos throwing his knife at him while trying to avoid the arrow. He immediately used another skill, but again, he was too tired, and the skill usage became unfixed, only telling him a rough direction instead of the exact point it would hit. To avoid it, he used his intuition together with the skill. For some reason, he could avoid the knife and heard a bumping sound, like hitting someone. He looked where Sarusos was and saw how he had a dusty spot on his thigh, ''I did it?!'' Sarusos looked back and smiled at him, "Perfect! We reached the point where the true training can start!" Narsiz thought he didn''t hear correctly, "Real training? I can barely stand..." Yet Sarusos readied himself, sounding pleased, "Of course, Mr. Narsiz! Now you have reached the point where you use the skills in a better way, and we can''t stop at such a precious time!" Narsiz understood and readied his bow, not losing a single thought to anything else, as he was too tired for this. His only focus was to hit Sarusos while avoiding his dreaded knives, ''Let''s go.'' For some reason, nothing happened, and Sarusos started to chuckle after some seconds, "Hehe. This also happened to Lorient. She stopped talking and couldn''t distinguish her thoughts from speaking anymore..." His smile became more vicious, "...like I said, it is the perfect moment." Narsiz felt his neck hair standing up, "I fucking hate this bastard." "Hehe, this was your outer voice, Mr. Narsiz." "I know." ... Fitness Center, Leonandra Estate "More weight!" "Ms. Sarah, if we put more on, the bar will break!" "Damn it!" She put the bar down and stood up from the bench press, stretching. She was slowly getting frustrated as she couldn''t train her body as well for a couple of days. While she loved the fitness center her little brother created with all the apparatuses, which focused her muscles precisely, it became too easy for her now. The muscle aches she enjoyed were no more. The weights were too light, but she needed to train her body to get stronger because she wanted to be the frontline, never wavering and always staying. Besides that, her attributes increased after every one of her twelve-hour intensive training sessions, and she could barely walk the day after. However, with a bit of healing, she became fully fit and ready for another round, becoming stronger by the day. While stretching, she thought intensely, ''I need Alex''s help... damn.'' Sarah didn''t want to stress him out, as she could feel his pain, which was horrendous, something that brought nightmares to her the days after. However, if she wanted to protect her family and household, she needed to get stronger, ''I hope it''s some minuscule problem, and he won''t need to work on it for weeks.'' Little later, Alexander''s room "Yeah, no shit, it''s breaking. Putting half a ton on the bar is fucking insane in the first place." Alexander was lying in bed and smirking, obviously making fun of her, ''He was much cuter a couple of years ago.'' Sarah remembered how unsure he always was and that he didn''t know what and how to say something. It all changed over time, though. He became bold and probably let out his true personality, which reminded her of their Grandmother, only much ruder and less sophisticated. However, he was also much more intelligent than her and obsessed with fixing everything. For now, she wouldn''t tease him for his uncute behavior, as she needed him, "So? Can you do something?" Alexander shook his tail, "Nope. As long as you don''t get much better metals, it is impossible..." She sighed and was about to think of another training method to increase her strength when he suggested, "... so, just go to Aurum, ask him for gold, and buy the better materials." Sarah tilted her head, "Wouldn''t it be too expensive? I heard that a kg (2.2 lbs) of something like blue orachilum costs more than 100 large gold coins." Alexander tilted his tail, "That''s actually the least of our problems. Who would smith it is another question, so you would need to find some really good smithies, and they also cost a pretty coin." Sarah crossed her arms and was about to think how to get more gold, yet again, her little brother interrupted her, "What are you thinking about? Just take all the gold you need and go on a shopping tour. Ask Ocilia for the plans of my apparatuses and give them to the blacksmith union and say that their ass will be on the line if they don''t get to it." After hearing it, she was again happy, "Thanks, little brother!..." However, she was a little worried because Alexander''s attitude was harsher than usual, "...is everything okay? You sound distressed." Alexander suddenly laughed hysterically, "Haha! Are you kidding me? Of course, I am distressed. I can''t move for weeks, and my mana is broken. What do you expect from me?! Be fucking happy-go-lucky all the time?!" Sarah frowned, not knowing what to do. She would visit him for an hour every day, trying to cheer him up, but it became visibly worse. She couldn''t even imagine how crazy she would get if she would ever be unable to move for months. She asked, genuinely concerned and ignoring his understandable outburst, "Can I do something for you?" Alexander opened his mouth, about to become angry again, but suddenly stopped, only to sigh, "Just stay longer, please, okay?" She smiled and approached him, patting his head, "Sure thing." ''He is cute again.'' "By the way, can you go to the crazy old hag and get the training method where one apparently gets tortured? She always forgets to bring it over and doesn''t want to give it to anyone outside the family." ''Never mind.'' ... Janina''s Room, Leonandra Estate "Woah! How do you do this?" "Hehe, just beat the brush real good, but..." Janina tilted her head, confused, "But what?" Patricia twirled the brush a little in her hand and examined it more closely, "This is high quality. Did the Lord or Lady buy this for you? I bet it was the Lord, right? My Father always pampers me, too, hehe." Janina shook her head, almost letting her oversized barett fall down, which she held down quickly, "No, Alex bought it." She remembered how he bought the most exquisite set of painting tools and colors he could find for her birthday. From rumors, she discovered that Salyna had looked for it since Alexander had pestered her to no end, always annoying and making his servants follow her until they had a screaming match. She suddenly noticed that her brother always pampered her. As she looked around, her whole room was full of things: Utensils for painting and drawing, different kinds of toys and board games he made for her and clothing. She suddenly felt a little worried, ''It was probably expensive.'' Patricia interrupted her thoughts, nodding and smiling, "What a nice brother..." Yet, when she said it, she slightly clenched her hand, almost breaking the brush she held, but stopped quickly, looking at Janina apologetically, "...sorry, I really can''t get over what my brother had done." Janina also knew about what had transpired and was slightly perplexed at first since she couldn''t understand how siblings could attack each other. For research purposes, she started reading more drama novels instead of romance ones and discovered that such fights were more common. There was always an evil-doer who wanted more power and thus poisoned the whole family or tried worse for their goals. She couldn''t imagine it ever happening to her family. Janina looked at her apologetically, "I am sorry." Patricia shook her head while looking at the canvas she was painting on, "Don''t worry. I am somewhat over that, thanks to Alex." Janina nodded, "I see." It was silent again, and she observed how Patricia painted sadness or what felt like it. The art style was creativism, something she couldn''t really grasp the concept of but could feel through the forms and colors what it meant, "Are you sad?" Looking at Patricia, she suddenly smirked, "Not at all. I am frustrated." "Why?" "Ones with no power are always frustrated." "But aren''t you strong and talented?" She smiled sadly, "Does it matter?" Janina became confused, "I don''t understand?" Patricia didn''t stop painting and just explained casually, "Is a talented mouse truly stronger than the average cat?" Janina nodded, "Of course, right?" "I don''t think so..." Her strokes suddenly became softer, "...it depends on the perspective one has..." her smile became sadder suddenly, "...you know, I talk with Alex a lot, and he told me a very important thing." Janina immediately frowned, ''He did it again.'' For some reason, her brother was talented in making others think about their common sense and question it. She remembered how he told her months ago about outer space. The moons in the night sky she found romantically at first were simply giant rocks that reflected the light from the sun, and what she saw wasn''t how they looked at the moment but what they looked like some time ago since light traveled. Furthermore, the stars were from a long time ago, so the light they saw was millions of years ago. He told her about many more things, but she fortunately forgot most or misremembered them. These talks pushed her into an existential crisis that only resolved after weeks of trying to forget it. Still, even though she could somehow ignore it, he destroyed the beauty of the night sky for her, and every time she looked at it, she felt little, almost inconsequential. Janina looked at Patricia, "Don''t listen to him. He sometimes spouts nonsense." Patricia chuckled, "Hehe, that''s true, but he was right in at least one thing: Everything depends on one''s perspective." Janina furrowed her eyebrows, "I don''t understand." "Hm, of course. The concept of something being absolute and relative is hard to grasp, and I cannot even explain it well. However, what I understood was that I am not strong enough." It was silent for some time until Janina interrupted it, "This is stupid. Alex is stupid." "Hehe, by the way. Why didn''t you visit him more often? I am with him at night, but he is really lonely all day and would be happy to see you." Janina flinched slightly and immediately felt terrible. In the last weeks, she was only visiting him together with one of her other siblings, and there was a good reason for it, "I... can''t look at him..." Patricia blushed slightly, "But he is beautiful, isn''t he? What do you mean?" She shook her head, "No, I didn''t mean it like that. It''s just... I felt what he endured, and it was... I just can''t..." The moment she felt it, it was horrible. From then on, every time she saw him, she remembered that feeling and couldn''t pat or cuddle anymore since she feared hurting him. She felt increasingly more horrible every day for letting him suffer alone, and it became harder to visit him from then on. Patricia nodded, "I also felt it through Sarah, and I could barely hold on for some seconds and even leveled up some skills. However, you want to become a Lady, right?" Janina nodded, not understanding why she had asked such a thing, "Of course." "Hm, I have a sister called Clara, and she only learned fine arts and how to socialize, never even wanting to hold a weapon. Your goal is visiting balls, painting, making music, and finding a great spouse, right?" Janina nodded again but more carefully now, "Yes?" "You know that such people like her are much stronger when it comes to looking after others? She doesn''t drink or do drugs to control herself. She merely tries to collect herself and act as properly as possible at all times..." Patricia suddenly smirked, "...well, as long as she doesn''t need to fight, that is." Before Janina could ask more, Patricia continued, sounding more harshly, "If you want to become like this, you need to suck it up and care for your loved ones, ignoring your own feelings." Janina became silent. She understood it, but that was it. She couldn''t overcome it. However, before she could fall into sadness, she felt a flick on her forehead, "Ow!" Looking up, she saw Patricia grinning, "Come today and stay overnight with us. Alexander already endures the pain much better without too many talismans, so it should be fine, and even though you get a little groggy, enjoy it. How about it?" Janina nodded carefully, sounding unsure, "Okay..." Patricia nodded back and looked again at the painting, "Good. You love him, and he loves you. You are all family, so you should be there for each other, all right?..." It became silent, and her strokes were much harsher suddenly, "...I wish I had such a brother." The painting became increasingly sadder for Janina, almost depressing. However, feeling the atmosphere around here and seeing the color slowly taking up the empty space on the canvas, something clicked. It was beautiful in its own way. So, she asked herself when thinking about her brother: Why can''t pain be beautiful? Such thoughts made her feel terrible again, but now she tried to endure them and started to cry silently. On this day, her eyes were opened to something new, something much more than just pretty colors and funny, comical figures. She couldn''t understand it, but she didn''t need to. She decided only to feel it. Chapter 97: Nine-Fire visit: 37: Following Weeks II Author''s note: The next five chapters will be released in 2 weeks :) (~21.01.24) ... Marisia''s Office, Leonandra Estate "My... Lady." "Yes? Did you read it?" Linuel was sitting inside Marisia''s office and read a letter that made her neck hair stand up. Nila, her sister, wrote that she would visit them in a couple of months, "Yes, thank you for informing me." Marisia nodded, not looking up from whatever she was writing, "Of course. I will not forget my manners since you will live here as my son''s partner." Linuel and Narsiz had a very short discussion about the decision where they wanted to live for the next year or two till Narsiz went through the mating season. Afterward, they would leave for whatever territory he wanted to have his internship in as an administrator. The decision wasn''t hard, and there wasn''t even any wiggle room. Her head would fly if she told the Lady she would take her premature son to the Nine-Fire estate. Linuel nodded, "Thank you, my Lady..." She stood up and immediately left. While going to her room, her high from the last days, when she saw Fiorello''s head, was slowly replaced by nervousness. She didn''t like her sister Nila, and she thought the next time they would see each other would be at her wedding. Yet, she was about to visit them to bring presents for Alexander, Ocilia, and someone named Quill while also taking the head of their brother they now preserved back to their estate, "I am so dead." From the side came suddenly a rough voice, "You look pretty alive to me." She turned around, only to see the Lord coming out of a bedroom, which emitted a strong nature''s aura and energy. The residue was enough to calm her down. She smiled at him, "Hello, my Lord." He was one of the few she truly liked since he argued for her when the Lady wanted to cripple her for kissing Narsiz. He was also the only one who thought like her¡ªbeing much more casual than anyone else. While Lorient, Sarah, and Alexander weren''t really ones who one would see as nobles, they had their ticks, and Linuel was on friendly terms with them but nothing more. There was no friendship, and they mostly reminded her of Nila since they were all very ambitious in whatever they did. Kairoso looked at the letter in her hands, "The Nine-Fire estate? What''s that about?" She slumped her shoulders, "You see, my sister wants to visit us and bring presents with her." He raised an eyebrow, "That''s bad? Did I miss something, or is this some noble nonsense I don''t get again?" She shook her head, "Nah, it''s just my sister is a little bit... let''s say, extreme." He suddenly slapped her back, almost making her fall forward, "Ah, calm down. It''s not like she will kill you, right?" She smiled sadly, "Well, you see..." She told him her problem. It was about how Linuel tricked Nila into going alone to the Leonandra estate by talking beforehand with Clara without informing her. While others may see this as harmless trickery, for them, it was severe. For some reason, the current generation of boys under fifty was either very average, not fitting for Nila, or highly talented but overly specialized, lacking strongly in other fields, like Narsiz, who would barely fit her standards. However, there were some fitting candidates like some from the Iron-Claw household, which nobody wanted to touch even with a kilometer-long (0.6 miles) pole because of their traditions, the current quasi-Lord Bartholomew from the Silver-Tail household, whose least problems were romance at the moment, and basically Alexander, whom Patricia guarded like a treasure. So, for Linuel, snatching up one of the few acceptable picks was highly problematic, and Nila found it out if one looked at the wording of the letter she sent. While telling Kairoso everything, her fear increased with every sentence, but what he said after she finished didn''t help. He laughed, "Guhahaha! You are dead, and honestly, you deserve it." She slumped her shoulders again, "I know... but... all that Clara described about Narsi sounded so great, I just wanted..." He waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, yeah, you were greedy, but what do you want to do now?" She shrugged, "Get a healer to follow me all day when she arrives?" Kairoso chuckled, "Hehe, sure, that''s a possibility, but there are probably other ways." Her ears perked slightly up, "Other ways?" He opened his arms while sounding profound, "Everyone has dreams, ambitions, or a goal they are working toward. Try and find something for her. Something which makes her happy and brings her closer to what she wants." She rubbed her chin, "Hm, I guess?" He nodded, turning to the left while she needed to go in the other direction, "Talk to others. No reason to solve it by yourself..." He turned around, pointing in another direction with his thumb, "...I recommend Alex. He is the cleverest and usually finds a solution, doesn''t matter how crazy it is. See ya." When he walked away, he waved at her, and she waved back even though he couldn''t see her, "Thanks!..." When he was gone, she stood in place, thinking, but after a moment, scratched her head, ''Damn it! I really have no idea!" She turned around and walked to Alexander''s room, ''Hopefully, he has an idea to calm the walking talking disease bringer down.'' Half an hour later, Alexander''s room "So?" "So what?" "Do you have any suggestions?" "Yeah, write your will. You are dead." Linuel frowned. After telling Alexander everything, she expected him to give her a great solution, but all she got were insults. However, before she could leave, he continued, "Well, I know of a way to help her though, but it''s not really easy." She raised her eyebrow and looked at Patricia, not trusting him since he liked to tease others. Her little sister only shrugged, "What do you look at me for? I agree with him. You need a thorough testament before Nila arrives." Linuel''s frown became more extensive, and she looked at Alexander, who only rolled his eyes, "She wants power, right? She wants to become the heir, while you both don''t care as much as I can conclude it, right?" He waited for them to say something, but they didn''t, which surprised Linuel. While she had no desire to rule a fief, she always thought that her little sister wanted it, but looking at her, she only nodded and came closer to Alexander, ''Huh, her priorities changed.'' Before coming here, Patricia wanted to become better than Nila and get the title, but now it seemed she didn''t care anymore, ''Does she think Alex will become the heir? Makes sense, though. She can marry him and would not need to compete with Nila.'' Linuel knew of Alexander''s feats after living here long enough. His talent and potential eclipsed all others, so there was no question of who would rule the Leonandra fief in the future. Even though she knew of Narsiz''s past ambitions since he told her, competing with that little monster was impossible. She understood why he gave up very quickly, instead changing his priorities into wanting to support his little brother. Alexander continued, "Great. So no one will assassinate me when I try to help Nala..." Linuel smirked as he misremembered her name, ''This will be fun when they meet.'' Alexander stopped to think and waggled his tail more extensively, "To help her, you need to talk to Aurum at some point. We have a charity and some other plans in the oven. If we can help her prop up the Nine-Fire fief with her in the forefront, it would make everything easier for us to expand, make her more loved by the populace, thus solidifying her position as an heir for your parents and with you connecting her with me, you will have probably her gratitude..." Linuel stood up and thanked him, finding the idea great, "Thanks, Alex!..." Yet, he continued, interrupting her, "...which means that she will only beat you a couple of times up, but nothing serious, I guess..." He looked at Patricia, "...about right?" Patricia nodded, smiling at him, "I also think so..." She turned to Linuel, "...this is a great idea, right Lin?" Linuel frowned but was thankful to him nonetheless, ''Well, at least this is a solid idea.'' Linuel stayed for another couple of hours, discussing more thoroughly what she would need to do to get it to work out. She knew that only connecting Alexander with Nila was too little, so she would need to prepare a couple of things beforehand so everything would go smoothly. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. While discussing, she noticed something interesting. Alexander was as casual as his Father, only a bit meaner, but it was expected considering his situation. This made him more sympathetic, yet the moment she smiled more honestly at him or laughed at something, her little sister started glaring at her like she wanted to steal her prize. ''Her priorities really changed, huh.'' She decided to talk to Patricia later to calm her down, as she already loved Narsiz and wouldn''t do anything to Alexander. Next day "I don''t care if you aren''t interested. You will only visit him when I am there, do you understand?!" Linuel nodded while looking at her furious little sister, "Got it. Anything else?" Patricia stomped, glaring more maliciously at her, "Good!" And left Linuel''s room, banging the door behind her. "Jelauosy is really poisonous." ... Temple, Wolfsteeth "I will kill them! I will rip whoever did it their throat out and stick it into their asshole!" "Sure..." Aurum was astounded by her reaction when he showed her the bank notes made from their paper. He found it out after getting some of them after registering at the Golden Feather Bank. It even had their little pushed-in sigil on some of them, which was a paw. However, besides that, Aurum was also curious why Green became bolder, almost like his Master, ''His personality is really contagious.'' Yet, Green wasn''t just angry. She was furious, "You say the bank director of the Golden Feather bank gave it to you?! Was it that giant bastard named Nathan?" Aurum nodded carefully at her. However, she yelled at him before he could say anything, "I want to know who resold them! I can''t believe that someone broke the contract!" She opened her desk drawers and looked through a stack of documents in frustration. Aurum knew what she was doing as a mana contract would become ripped in some places when someone broke it, but it seemed whoever sold the paper found a loophole. After a minute of rummaging around, she stopped and glared at Aurum, who flinched slightly, ''Can''t believe that she is that aggressive.'' "Get Nathan here immediately!" Hours later "Listen here fuckface, I want to know who sold it!" "Huh? How about you go fuck yourself, you tree-hugging bug." Aurum watched the funny but also not-so-funny scene in front of him. The Temple and bigger banks had status inside their Empire. However, they also rarely had anything to do with each other where it could come to problems since their area of where they operated was very different. Even though the Temple loaned gold, it was mostly from the Royal Bank, which was the property of the Crown. On the other hand, the Golden Feather Bank was a private institution that had nothing to do with the Crown or any nobility in the narrowest sense. However, the two giants were now crossing each other in the business area because of Green''s very unusual method of leading her Temple branch and doing business with his Master, which led to massive problems that were mostly unprecedented. Usually, if something like this happened, the parties would try to find some middle ground, as such fights were bad for business. Still, there was no trust between them since there was rarely any contact beforehand or similar precedence between these two players. Yet, their stands were equally understandable. Nathan wanted to protect his source for the paper, while Green wished to snuff out the one who sold it in the first place, as her main goal was to build up more power inside the Temple by monopolizing the product. Selling it through third parties would heavily undermine her. Aurum watched them both insult each other and frowned, ''Time to step in and try out the new skill. Sadly, I need both of them.'' "You giant mutt of a..." Aurum interrupted Green, wanting to try to find a compromise, "... okay, wait a second! I have an idea to resolve all of this mess!" Green and Nathan glared at him. "Shut up!" "Boy, just be silent." He frowned inwardly but became calmer and didn''t scream at them, even though he wanted to. He looked at Green, smiling, "Listen here. How about we start selling it to the banks but only in Moorgrel and only to Golden Feather?..." He turned to Nathan, "...this could be a great perk for you, too, right?" Aurum stood up and walked around, gesturing and trying to sell the idea, trying to sound as convincing and amiable as possible, "Green, you know that the paper isn''t the end of all of Master''s inventions and since it hit the market, we can''t push the cat back into the bag. The paper was sold, and since there is a breach, there will probably be more in due time..." He turned to Nathan, "...and Nathan, you could save a lot of gold by buying it through us and not some third parties, and..." He opened his arms, sounding more confident, "...maybe you could resell it to other Golden Feather banks and, with this, build up more wealth, connections, and power, right?" Aurum''s first step was to show Nathan the strong potential of working together and tell Green that controlling an already broken situation was impossible while reminding her that the paper was just one of many products that would follow, especially with the mana ink almost done. Green looked at him more relaxed and nodded, "Fine, but I need the name." Nathan rubbed his chin and turned from Aurum to Green, suddenly smiling after some contemplation, "Let''s assume I am ready to tell you who it was. Are you ready to sell me this parchment?" Before Green could say anything, Aurum came behind Nathan, grabbing and pressing his shoulders, "Not so fast..." He bent forward, coming close to his face, becoming more confident, "...I am the main accountant from the one who invented and made it in the first place. So, if you want a deal, not only do you need to convince Green, but also me." Nathan swatted him away and grinned, "You really are greedy, boy." Aurum shrugged, grinning himself, "So? I just think we all should be happy, right? We all need something, and there is no reason not to cooperate..." He turned to Green, "...you are with the Temple..." He put his hand on Nathan''s shoulder again, "...this guy is with one of the biggest banks and..." He put his other hand on his chest, smiling widely, "...I am with Mr. Alexander. There is no competition here. We all can work together to achieve something far greater than alone." Green leaned back, "I need a name first, and then you will get what you want." Before Nathan said anything, Aurum interjected again, "He will. I will vouch for him and take the responsibility..." He visibly pressed his hand on his shoulder for everyone to see, "...if he doesn''t, I will get my Mother or the Lord to come here. Who knows who else? Many people have Mr. Alexander''s well-being in mind and don''t care about a director more or less, right Nathan?" He turned to Aurum, his smile becoming more vicious, "Was that a threat?" Aurum stepped back, holding his hands in peace, acting all surprised, "Oh my, not in the least! However..." He leaned slightly forward, "...friendships are made with trust, and how can we trust someone who is not forward coming." Nathan smirked at him, "Do you give me the insurance that you will sell to me more than enough of this paper then?" Before Green said anything, he again interjected, wanting to control the flow of the discussion, "Of course!..." He walked around the table to Green, who glared at him, "...let''s say it like this: I can make everyone''s life Outer Circle for not working reasonably together." Green and Nathan now both glared at Aurum till the director broke out in laughter, "Haha! Fine! I was always one to gamble..." He leaned back, almost cracking the chair with his weight, "...let''s say it was a little squirrel." Green immediately became angry, "This little asshole! I will..." Aurum interrupted her, "Green, how about first ending this meeting in good faith before going on a rampage?" She nodded and looked at Nathan, "We will later make a contract, but you get the same price as the Temple..." She pulled the price list out of the drawer and gave it to Nathan, who smiled widely, "...however, we will first only sell thousands of pieces per month, deal?" He looked at Aurum, then to Green, and became much more friendly, "Of course, Green." Aurum sat down on the desk, putting one leg over the other, becoming much more relaxed and gesturing with his hands their cooperation, "See? We all can work together!" Like this, hours of discussion followed about to whom he was allowed to resell it or how to use it. Over the weeks, they would write contracts until a definitive agreement was reached. Hours later, Aurum''s room "I can''t." He was lying on his bed, exhausted, because he used his new skill to the fullest today. It was like he puppeteered himself toward two people, trying to find an agreement and get something out of it simultaneously. While what he won in this arrangement wasn''t something one could see immediately, he already had a good idea of how to use them to further his goal. ''This will be easy.'' ... Rainbow Park, Wolfsteeth "Everything I want?" "Within reason and possibility, of course." "Lia, don''t joke around." Quill walked side by side with Ocilia through a park close to their hotel. Since it was night, only some couples were there and engaged in unruly behavior, as they probably thought nobody saw them. Still, it was so apparent that it became somewhat funny, while others were more open in their affection, not caring about others. Besides the couples, it was somewhat beautiful in its own way. The moons shone beautifully on all the hideous plants that survived this terrible climate of extreme heat and miasma. Some looked like spider legs, others like ordinary trees, yet the leaves were blood red with their underside glowing and pulsating in the dark, and many more ugly plants. However, most disturbing was that they emitted the darn miasma themselves. So, the park became a place where one could easily lose oneself. Regardless of the ugly flora, his attention was on Ocilia, who told him the craziest thing a minute ago. Alexander gave her the right to reward him for the achievement of saving her fat ass and bringing back the head of some moron. Even though her face was earnest, he thought it was a stupid joke the moment she also told him that he should wish for something, "So, if I wish for..." He scratched his head, thinking of something ridiculous, "...1000 large gold coins, it would be fine?" Yet, after saying such a number, Ocilia tilted her head, confused, "Only? If you need gold, just wish for 10.000 large gold coins." It was silent, only broken by his loud laughter, "Haha! Fuck me, man, hehe. Are you all crazy?" 10.000 large gold coins were an immense amount of wealth. Even with half of this, buying a title of nobility from some poor Baron in the countryside was possible. So, her saying this so casually meant that it was probably true, and knowing their finances, he could probably wish for double, and it would only take a year or two till he would get it. Ocilia frowned, obviously not liking his reaction, "So?" He shook his head, "Lia, I know you mean well, but what do you think will happen if I get this crazy amount of gold? I could retire the next day and live my life out with a harem of big-titted girls." "Would you, though?" Quill needed a cigarette before continuing this insane conversation, "Give me a second." He pulled out something called Ziese. It was an expensive cigarette brand only smoked by nobles or wealthy merchants, which he bought a couple of days ago after recovering. It was exquisite in their taste and did not have such a strong buzz as when he rolled the stuff himself. While looking at it, he thought, ''Do I really need more gold?'' Even if he kept working for Aurum for dozens of years, he could comfortably retire while doing some side hustle. This was his ideal, but somehow, even though it was right before him, the idea of doing nothing for the next 200 years made him almost shudder. The current job was fun. Quill was doing something great and helping others without any strings attached while making enough gold to do everything he wanted. It was perfect, ''Now, that sucks.'' All his life was a fight to get to a point where he could comfortably retire, but for some reason, he actually found a much better goal. He decided to give his worthless life a little bit more meaning, ''Damn, if Master knew what I was about to do, he would strangle me.'' Quill ignited the cigarette and took a powerful puff to get a clear head, "Fuuuu, okay. No gold, but are you serious about everything I want within possibility and reason?" Ocilia nodded and became somewhat frustrated, "Yes, for the last Time! What do you want?! You can also tell me later if you want." Quill grinned at her, "Well, I will tell you after a chat with Mr. Alexander. Sounds good?" Chapter 98: Nine-Fire visit: 38: Following Weeks III (System Lesson 4) ... Alexander''s room "You can''t be serious?" Anastasia looked at him, bewildered. "Why not? Not like you have much to do and..." Alexander''s tail waggled wildly, "...I am pretty much chained to the bed and booooored." After Ocilia''s visit, weeks passed. Alexander was now in a situation where he was bored out of his mind. Even with Patricia, family, and servants still visiting him, their stays increasingly shortened, except for Patricia, who became his permanent night visitor. Even Green shortened her stays as she became slowly poisoned by all the elixirs she took, and none of their subordinates were better. So, he would simply kick them out after a few hours of treatment. He also did it because he knew that his Grandmother''s personal healer, who was also apparently a notch above Green when it came to healing, would soon arrive. However, Alexander wasn''t sad about them decreasing their stay since they had their own life. Furthermore, his injuries weren''t critical anymore and only temporary; thus, he would be healthy again sooner or later, with only some scars left behind. Yet, the talismans were not gone. When Green tried to lower their effect, Alexander''s pain increased significantly. There was an apparent reason for this: His levels were too high and rising, even without him doing much, which resulted in overwhelming pain, while his senses went into overdrive, making him continuously feel as if he was on a roller coaster after eating a full meal. He concluded together with Green that he was royally fucked the moment he recovered. The talismans and the injury, which also dulled his senses, were the only reasons he could cope with his current predicament. Thus, she used the time he gave her to set up a room with training equipment to increase his body strength and talismans surrounding him, which would be his prison till his legacy. Little to say, it fucking sucked. However, for this problem, he already had an adequate solution in mind and only needed to wait for his sister, Sarah, to bring it to him so he could confirm if he was truly fucked or not for the following years. Now, though, the boredom killed him. Anastasia sighed, bringing him out of his thoughts, "Are you sure? You look... not really well." Alexander nodded with his tail, "I am fine and will even learn those cringy poems if you want." She chuckled slightly and waved her hand in dismissal, "Don''t worry. I don''t like them either..." She walked to the side to grab a chair and brought it to the bed, "...however, even though I don''t like seeing such a gruesome scene, let''s have a lesson." Alexander waddled his stick tail for a moment and was confused, expecting some great topics, "What? Culture, history, politics, law..." Anastasia sat down, crossing her legs, "All right, calm down..." She started to speak Jumble (djinn language), "...I would say..." She thought momentarily, tapping her cheek, "...how about the system? We stopped because of the special lessons, but now we can resume. Are you fine with it?" Alexander tilted his tail, confused, "Aren''t we done? What is there to talk about? Body modifications?" For some reason, Anastasia didn''t answer immediately but started to clench her hands repeatedly as her eyes became increasingly sluggish. Alexander saw this and smirked, "What''s wrong? Not fresh? Was there a party yesterday? Hehe." She stared at Alexander and asked, "How strong are the talismans? I only get the residue of them and feel like I get drugged. Should I get someone to lower the effects?" Alexander looked at her and then laughed, "Haha, lowering? Are you kidding me? My [Intermediate Pain Resistance] skill is already over level 50 and climbing happily! If you lower them, I will immediately feel the results of my high-level skills without a break..." He grinned at her, "...or should I say Nature''s Break, hehe." Anastasia rolled her eyes and almost fell from the chair, "Damn it!..." However, after straightening up, she looked at him in confusion, "...this high of a level?... Wait, you had a Tier test?" Alexander looked at her, confused, "Yeah, why?" She sighed, "Well, you don''t need an explanation then..." Afterward, she mumbled something barely audible while looking a little sad. However, she quickly changed the topic, ignoring his Tier test, "Right now, do you have the ability to do magic?" He shook his tail, "Nope. I can''t even sense mana." She suddenly burst out in laughter, "Haha! Of course, you don''t sense anything!..." She gestured toward his bed, "...this whole area is like someone being..." She almost fell again from the chair, "...damn!" Alexander was confused by her weird behavior and asked, "Patricia isn''t really affected by it or others, though?..." Yet, he also remembered how groggy Janina had been when she stayed overnight, which was funny. Anastasia stood angrily up and moved, while wobbling, to the couch, further away, "Alex, I am fragile and didn''t train once in my life, while Patricia is groomed to be a knight. Figure it out yourself." He suddenly remembered something, "Wait?! What about Green, then? She..." Anastasia immediately interrupted him while plopping on the couch and sighing in relief, "...much better and no. Fairies have a weird natural resistance to drugs, potions, etc. Alchemists and Pharmacists research them quite heavily because of their weird traits." Alexander wanted to ask further, but she interjected before he could say anything, probably seeing his tail wildly swinging, "Please don''t ask me about it as I have no idea about it besides this fact and that they use special elixirs instead of potions, which are made by themselves, and don''t ask how they are made. I obviously don''t know this, too." Alexander didn''t dig further, as this wasn''t Anastasia''s wheelhouse. Her specializations were clearly other subjects. However, he returned to the previous topic, "Why ask me then about mana after I told you about my Tier test? Is there some correlation?" Anastasia nodded, "Yes and no. The evidence is somewhat inconclusive, but through experimentation, we could conclude that many couldn''t do their tests, be it skill or Tier tests, if their mana organs were fully removed." Alexander looked at her askingly, "What about damaging them but not removing them? Like it is with me." She motioned a so-so gesture with her hand, "Removing them meant that 30% couldn''t do any tests anymore. For injuries, it was around 5%. It is a mystery why it is like this, but it also comes with many asterisks. For some reason, you can keep leveling up your skills until you reach level 100 while skipping all the skill tests, but Tier tests would become impossible." Alexander raised an eyebrow as he heard something akin to a cheat code, "So..." Anastasia waved her hand in dismissal and continued for him, "Why does not everyone who is stuck at a skill test just break their mana organs to skip it? Easy, it is incredibly dangerous, which could lead to death if you don''t have a great healer and..." She looked at him more closely, "...you should know how much it hurts. It''s the same as asking why not everyone has an incredibly high [Pain Resistance] level; all you need to do is to get injured, right?" Alexander nodded with his tail in understanding, "Yeah, and it is not guaranteed to work." She nodded, "Exactly. Some madmen do this, but almost everyone else would instead simply try the skill tests a week later than risk their lives on such a dumb endeavor..." She smirked, "...also if they don''t reach level 100 but, let''s say, 90 from 25, they would need to go through their tests. Only by getting to level 100 would they skip the skill tests." He quickly threw the idea away as it was unnecessary. He had barely any problems with skill tests anyway and would, at most, retake them a couple of times if they were really hard. So, his initial enthusiasm was quickly dampened since one could only truly skip them if one reached outright level 100. Also, there were much better solutions if one had problems with skill tests, like exchanging probable solutions by writing down his experiences, how he got through them, and putting them into the library for everyone to read. He heard it was a great help for many, especially regarding mana skills. He also heavily encouraged others to do the same, which they did, but mostly only for basic skills. There was still some mistrust for rarer skills, though this didn''t matter to him as they slowly became more open in sharing their experiences, which led to discussions and arguments on a better way to complete skill tests successfully. One came especially to his mind: Level 50 [Cleaning]. Many of his servants fought each other on how to get through it since half of them got stuck, but in the end, they all did complete it and saw how beneficial it was to work together instead of doing it in isolation. Thus, he wouldn''t need to even care about trying to cheat through skill tests with such a dangerous method as removing mana organs. He suddenly remembered something and changed the topic, "By the way, is this the reason why everyone has mana even though almost nobody needs it?" Anastasia raised an eyebrow, sounding surprised, "I can''t believe that you can deduce so well even while under the influence of so many talismans, but yes. Every sapient being has mana and is accepted as such by the system. Without any intelligence, there is no mana and thus no system." Alexander became confused, "I know that there are monsters who have mana, so they should have intelligence, right?" Anastasia nodded with a tiring smile, "Tell me about it. This is one of those things we didn''t find out. Why do some monsters have mana but aren''t accepted by the system while we are." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. She started to stretch as the effects of the mana items had made her a little sleepy, "There are a lot of hypotheses. This whole field is all over the place. So, it makes no sense for us to even talk about it. However, you can study it later should you visit a more research-friendly place." Every time he talked with Anastasia about fundamental questions, he needed to suck it up. Like on Earth, Orbis had barely scratched the surface of the universe. Yet, what frustrated him the most was that he couldn''t use his knowledge as mana was a new variable that changed everything. Fortunately, the world was similar enough for his ideas to be applied in a more practical sense, even though they needed some tweaks. Anastasia looked at Alexander, who was in thought, and clapped her hands, bringing him back, "Okay, enough! Let''s start the lesson, and this will also be the last one about the system basics. We will rush it a bit since the Lady asked me after you called to be taught that I concentrate on the law lessons so you are ready to be a judge." Alexander looked at her, frowning, "Fine, but I would rather keep discussing mana theory." She shrugged, "Trust me, you will like it, hm..." She tapped her chin, thinking, "...tell me, how do you think the increase of, for example, [Strength] would work? Let''s start with a hypothetical scenario. We have..." She showed two fingers, "...two people. Both ox-kin have ten points in [Strength], but one is much smaller and less muscular. Can both lift the same amount? Of course, we ignore skills and such...." She suddenly stopped and qualified her statement more, "...we also, of course, ignore here that [Attributes] are somewhat vague in their uses, too." This was a question Alexander always asked himself, too. Now, they weren''t talking about the qualitative aspects of [Attributes] but their quantitative nature. However, since they were vague in their uses, he predicted that how they strengthened one was similarly opaque. Her question now was apparently to show him something, "I would say not." She nodded, "Absolutely right. Let''s now say that the bigger ones can lift 20kg and the smaller ones can lift 10kg, as an example. However, now we increase their [Strength] by ten points, how much can they lift?" Alexander frowned, "I would say not double, right?" Anastasia shook her finger, "Wrong and right. If we take the ideal scenario with the ox-kins and say that they are basically the same except for those mentioned things, their increase should be proportional, meaning they would double their lift strength." Alexander raised an eyebrow, confused, "Why did you then say wrong and right, though?" Anastasia smirked slightly, "This is an ideal scenario, and reality is much more messy. In our case, there is a possibility that the smaller ox-kin would be able to lift much more than the bigger ox-kin. Can you guess where we can find a pretty good indication for the increase?" Alexander thought momentarily and remembered one of his previous lessons, "Maybe natural attributes?" Anastasia winked at him, "Absolutely right! The natural attributes are an indicator of how well the increase works. The higher they are, the more substantial the increase. For our Ox-kins, it could be that the bigger and more muscular one already had put points into [Strength], while for the smaller one, all of his [Strength] was natural." For Alexander, this topic was like a godsend. He now had a great indicator on what to increase and asked immediately the obvious, "Wait? What if I, let''s say, have 10 [Strength] as natural attributes and put another 10 into, but increase over time my natural ones? Does it mean..." She continued for him with a smirk, "Yep. You increase everything. In your example, if your natural attribute [Strength] was 10, with which you could lift 10kg, and every subsequent point you put into through [Experience] gave you 1kg extra lifting power. When you increase your natural attribute to 11, every point will give you 1.1kg, even those which you already put in." Alexander was baffled, as this meant that a min-max built was the answer while really honing in on one attribute, which also made him frown, "Damn..." Anastasia tilted her head, confused, "What''s wrong?" "I just... you know. I am a mage and somewhat like to combat melee style, so I always thought that I could put my points in a rather balanced way into my attributes and train more diversely, but it seems like I need to really focus on only one attribute." He already had a plan, but it was more of a balanced one he wanted. However, going by what Anastasia said, he should train only, for example, [Intelligence] or [Strength] to be as effective as possible and chose maybe another [Attribute] which was close to them like [Dexterity] or [Spirit]. She waved her hand in dismissal, "Not true, and you can see for yourself as..." She smiled proudly and straightened up, "...there are certain patterns I found out..." She used the skill he saw her using with Patricia. A radiant ball of light floated toward him, entering his mind. Before he could even say anything, she was already continuing, not letting Alexander ask anything, "Today we will, as I said, rush a bit, so excuse me for using such skills to dampen your development and not working the topic through in a more comprehensive way..." She sighed, clearly annoyed as she was forced to finish her topic rather quickly, "As you can see, the increase depends heavily on your [General Level] or [Free Stat Points]. It doesn''t matter what you choose as a parameter. However, the increase is limited, and it happens when your natural attribute reaches ~30% of your [General Level]. At that point, it doesn''t matter anymore if, let''s say, are level 100 with 30 [Strength] or 50 [Strength], as every subsequent increase with [Experience] will practically be the same. In that sense, you don''t need to hyperfocus and can actually choose, especially with your talent, three to four attributes you really want to focus on." Alexander looked at it more closely and was delighted to see it. Through the Tier multiplier of 20% with every subsequent Tier, he could actually have a very balanced distribution to use all his strengths. The last thing he wanted was to be some wizard who could be killed by a child with a stick if he ran out of mana or a Knight, purely focused on strength since he was pretty good when it came to magic. He frowned inwardly, trying to make sense of the calculations and wishing for something much more straightforward. However, he put it on the back burner to plan everything out for fun later. Now, though, he remembered what Anastasia had said before and was interested in that, "Wait, you found it out?" He could smell her pride, "Of course. I did research in the Free Cities and found this out." Alexander, though, guessed how the research was done and smirked at her, "So, how many, and what was your position in the team?" Anastasia smiled back, "Bragging in front of you is really hard, but I need to disappoint you..." Her smile widened while she looked arrogantly at Alexander, "...I led the research with more than one hundred people under me." Alexander opened his eyes wider, sounding surprised, "Wow, so young, and you led a team?" She stopped being proud and waved her hand in dismissal, "I am far from being young and wasn''t at that time too, Alex." This new phenomenon was always weird in his eyes. His Grandmother looked no older than in the mid-thirties while being around 150 or so, and for Anastasia, who looked like a fresh graduate from College, he kind of got an idea about her age, which should be more than 100, ''I can''t get used to this damn age differences.'' He ignored his thoughts and complimented his teacher, as such research was fantastic and essential, "Well, I think what you find out is really great! I understood it well." Anastasia nodded, looking much more joyful, "Great, now we can start with the law lessons..." Alexander interrupted her, "Wait! What about the implications? Any homework or philosophical questions, etc?" While he wasn''t a big fan of such a thing, it would be great to think about it for the following weeks while he couldn''t do anything else. Anastasia looked at him with a frown, putting one leg over the other and sounding annoyed, "Listen, Alex, if you just said that you wanted to ask me something, we could''ve calmly done all this, but because you couldn''t think a couple of steps ahead, your Mother, pressured me to begin the law lessons as fast as possible." ''Oh, right. There was something.'' He asked a couple of people, among them his Mother, to get Anastasia''s fat ass to him so she could start to teach again. It looked like his Mother decided for him, leaving no room to argue, and while he found it overly annoying, he could understand why she did it. She wanted him to avoid the Noblesse Oblige at all costs and wasn''t willing to wait any longer than needed with the law lessons. Alexander sighed, "Fuck it. Let''s start our law lessons then." Anastasia chuckled, "Good boy. No need to go against someone while you could be mistaken for a sack of potatoes, hehe." Alexander wanted to use his aura, showing that a sack of potatoes couldn''t do such a thing, but decided against it, noticing that he got too sensitive if someone tried to control him, especially at such a time when he was at the mercy of others. She continued, bringing him out of his thoughts, "However, I would like also to rush the law lessons a bit." He became confused, "Why so? I already have a high enough skill level, and I assume we would only learn for a week or so and go back to the usual stuff, right?" She looked at him with a gaze that challenged him, "Do you truly want to judge only small fish thieves?" He raised an eyebrow, his tail becoming still, "What do you mean?" She held her palm upward, pointing at him, "You see, if you can reach the intermediate level, you would be able to judge murders, tax evaders, etc. Do you want to try or..." Alexander interrupted her, his tail going wild, "Is there any need to ask? I would rather have the next two to three years some fun instead of boring myself out!" Anastasia''s smile widened, "Well, if it isn''t my golden pup? So..." However, Alexander interrupted her, "While it''s all fun, why do you want to cut into your teaching plan and make me increase my level to such a point?" She shrugged, "I have no reason, really, but I am quite interested in how you will decide on certain cases with your particular ideology..." Her smile became much darker, "...something like this will surely be a fun observation." Alexander wanted to shiver as he saw her smile like this, remembering that he basically knew nothing about her and decided to use her advice, not saying anything that came immediately to his mind, "I see..." It held for a cool second, "...I don''t like your smile, but if you tell me the truth, I will surely be willing to achieve the intermediate level in record time." She raised an eyebrow, "Bargaining? I see, but sadly..." She sighed, "...I can''t tell you anything. You need to talk with your Mother or Grandmother if you want to know more. I am silenced through a contract, you see." Alexander tried to deduce all his information about her quickly but had nothing. The only thing was that she apparently switched professions from being a researcher to a teacher. However, such a thing was nothing unusual even on Earth. If one wanted to have a more stable job with more free time, this was usually the case, while the earnings stayed more or less the same. In the case of Orbis, teaching was probably more prestigious for her since all her students were somewhat related to the Crown through loyalty pledges or blood while making an ungodly amount of gold. His tail became unruly since he wanted to bypass the contract, "All right, but should I ask my Mother?" She shook her head, "I would recommend against it." "Let''s ask differently. When did you decide to rush me through the law lessons?" She smirked, "Clever boy. Let''s say that there are quite a lot of people who think greatly, but the moment they get some sense of power, they quickly forget what their ideals are. So, seeing how much gold you push into a ridiculous charity just to come close to the ideas you told me about, even though I advised strongly against them, piqued my interest." Alexander opened his eyes wide, not believing what he heard. While her ideals could be somewhat deduced from what she said, it didn''t mean much. She could be a full-blown revolutionary or someone who just wanted to change the system while holding to the aristocracy, which was already somewhat radical for this world, ''I should just shut up and get Aurum to investigate what the fuck she did in the past.'' He smiled back after getting over the shock and, for once, shut up, waiting for more information, "Fine, let''s start, I would say." She chuckled, glaring at him strangely, making him inwardly shiver, "Good boy, let''s start." Alexander didn''t like it as his Grandmother, and now Anastasia had some agenda, with him feeling more like a puppet hanging on strings. However, this was also probably the reason why he got so much support from them. For example, Anastasia could be much lazier and continue her lessons leisurely, bringing him over the first skill test in [Law] and be done with it. Still, she decided to support him more while observing what he would do over time, probably trying to ascertain his mindset more thoroughly and see if his actions aligned with it. Alexander felt somewhat uncomfortable since it felt manipulative, but on the other hand, he wouldn''t decline as such opportunities didn''t come often, and there was also an inkling of hope in him that she was more like him, which brought him to another idea, which realization was still far in the future. Chapter 99: Nine-Fire visit: 39: Marisias Dilemma ... Alexander''s room, days later "Next page, please." "Of course, Mr. Alexander." Beside Alexander was Cloelle, who turned the pages of the treasure his Grandmother gave him. It was four books made out of good parchment stitched together, describing her training method. "Next page, please." If Alexander needed one word to describe it, it would be madness. It was filled with content, with the goal to gamble with the reaper at every moment. He loved it. Every page was filled with information, meticulously documented, which weighed up all the negatives and positives to squeeze out the maximum of natural attributes, more powerful skills, and, in general, a more robust body. "Next page, please." Alexander didn''t want to give her any credit out of spite, but his Grandmother created something incredible. He couldn''t do it better if he was born into this world without prior knowledge from Earth and even less without the exquisite education he was receiving. "Next page, please." However, the training method was brutal, and Alexander wondered throughout reading it how his Mother survived it. So, he worried about Patricia as she wanted to go through the same hell. He asked his Mother for more information, who told him one needed not talent but a will made out of steel, which made sense to him as he read through the blueprint of his Mother''s strength for the third time. "Next page, please." It consisted of pumping the trainee full of curses, poisons, hexes, and much more weird abnormalities, basically anything that his Grandmother could find while putting a slave curse on them, which would make them unable to level up any skills. "Next page, please." While they were barely alive, she trained them until they got sore muscles and healed them immediately afterward. Yet, while healing, she would let her demonic energy invade their body, breaking them down at the same time¡ªbones, organs, blood vessels, mana & energy organs, the brain, etc. Everything would marinade inside the potent demonic energy. "Next page, please." The continuous injection of demonic energy was also used by the Iron-Claw household, where the original training method came from, as a way to increase the resistance toward their own demonic energy so the trainees would better cope with their [Divinity Line] later on when it became more powerful and, thus, more challenging to control their sanity when it slowly deteriorated the mind. There were some differences depending on the kind of demonic energy one should receive, which they discovered through trial and error, depending on what they inherited. It was also described as a group exercise where they would need to inject each other with demonic energy while trying to control it. "Next page, please." While the Iron-Claw household used it sparingly because of the dangers it brought, his Grandmother discovered through an accident when she went through their training regime in her youth that there was a better way. It happened when her colleague accidentally overloaded her with demonic energy, almost killing her. She barely escaped death, damaging her body greatly, and only through intensive healing for days by a nature-dweller could she recover. However, after recuperating, she experienced increased strength. Even though it was little, it was also enough to pique her interest; she immediately wrote it down, and through trial and error later, she learned the strengthening method Alexander was now reading. For some reason, Alexander found the mindset respectable. Even after nearly dying, she immediately wrote down her experience of what changed with her body, as her main goal at the time was to get stronger in any way possible. "Next page, please." Since it destroyed the body, which was also weakened through continuous harsh training and harmful substances, it was rebuilt much stronger through nature-dwellers'' healing. It was a grueling and torturous process, which his Grandmother described, funnily enough, as uncomfortable, ''And being on fire is tempered or what?'' Besides her rather conservative description of what Alexander thought would be hell, she was relatively precise in describing the outcome and the process. There were notes, drawings, statistics, etc. Everything was there. He couldn''t wish for a better guide to become stronger himself and find a solution to his current problem, which he also gambled on. "Next page, please." Usually, when one gets healed with nature-dweller energy, the body will try to mend itself back to what seemed normal and functioning. However, his Grandmother discovered something groundbreaking but also entirely insane. If the body was perpetually in a state of weakness and destruction, strong enough natural healing energy would try to strengthen it to get the body into a new normal state so it would withstand the continuous destruction it was experiencing. "Next page, please." Furthermore, the demonic energy she marinaded the body with would be used by nature''s energy and saved inside the body. Usually, it happened in minuscule amounts through the air as the miasma was all around them, but with his Grandmother''s training method, it would happen in ridiculous amounts. Thus, the body would become much more resistant to the demonic energy. "Next page, please." At first, Alexander was confused as to why they would need the physical training in the first place, but it was stated that the effects were much better through this and that the trainees learned better versions of skills much faster while being in a weakened state. There was also the effect that damaging sore muscles further and simultaneously healing would increase the strengthening effect. "Next page, please." Fundamentally, there was nothing to this training method. It was literal torture to get the most out of a person by breaking down the body and building it back up. This was also the point when Alexander could see the reason why the guard households were stronger in general than others. If all the household went through the Iron-Claw method for generations, the bodies would drastically change at some point, ''They literally forced an evolution onto us, but...'' Alexander wasn''t too versed in genetics and evolution. Still, it seemed that effects were much less gradual and more instantaneous, which also explained how his insects had much more mana after only dozens of generations, ''...damn it. I need to study more biology and stuff. Fuck me.'' "Next page, please." He quickly ignored what he would need to study in the future and concentrated back on the manual itself. This was when he felt incredible pride toward his Mother since she and some guy from the Silver-Tail fief were the only ones who could endure his Grandmother''s training regime. Everyone else dropped out after half a year, and most suffered mental issues, being unable to continue their strive for knighthood or any other reasonably prestigious position. Funny enough, Alexander could deduce through some comments of his Grandmother how she acquired an infamous reputation as she described all her trainees as weaklings who constantly broke down in tears, ''Yeah, no shit, they would become mentally unstable with such a training regime.'' "Next page, please." Through this, he also understood why his Mother didn''t mention it to Lorient or Sarah and let them train normally. If someone didn''t have an exceptional will, there was a big chance that this could mentally scar them for good¡ªespecially Lorient, who already had problems controlling her [Divinity Line]. "Show me the back of the book, please." When he was done reading the last pages, he decided to go for it since it would solve his current problem, "Cloelle, get Mom and that crazy ol'' bitch." Cloelle frowned but nodded and left. Alexander was left alone and smiled manically, ''I know this is a great fucking idea!'' ... An hour later "No." "Come on!" "Yes, Mom. Listen to granny. C''mon!" After listening to her sons''s idea, Marisia immediately rejected it as ridiculous. He told her for the last ten minutes how she could pump him full with her demonic energy since she was the most exceptional when it came to controlling hers, and all the while, he would be healed through the whole ordeal by one of her Mother''s personal healers. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Even though she was against it, her Mother fully supported it, and only now could Marisia see the resemblance between them. Both had ambitions and grandiose goals while also being incredibly risk-friendly, with their particular style of playfulness. The difference was clearly what their goals were, which were almost opposite of each other. "But Moooooom! There will be a fairy who went through something crazy who can bring back the dead!" Scarlett chuckled slightly and corrected him, "First, Ipe is a dryad, and second, he can''t revive the dead..." Her Mother turned to her, overly joyful, "...Mari, his plan sounds quite fu... reasonable." Marisa raised an eyebrow and decided not to budge on this point, even though her Mother got Ipe to come, who also healed her through her training at that time. She glared at her Mother and clearly understood what she said before correcting herself, "You think pumping my son with my demonic energy and healing at the same time sounds like fun?" Her son''s idea was basically doing the soft version of the method she went through. It sounded like a logical plan since he was already heavily injured, but she wouldn''t let him do it. The dangers were too apparent for her for a little boost to his already ridiculous strength. Yet, his arguments were something to consider as he tried to argue with her relentlessly, "But Mom, think about it! I have a big problem with Nature''s Break, even so much that I probably need to live for months inside a special room after I have recovered. So..." His voice became sadder, but she could see that he did his obvious pathetic puppy spiel, "...I wouldn''t need to suffer so much since it would strengthen my body. You also know how fast I level up." From a glance, she could see how her Mother needed to hold back her laughter, immediately knowing that Alexander would pester her till the end of time, even declining his current healing, should not everything go his way. However, she would never budge, risking his well-being, no matter how annoyed she was. Yet, she was a little unsure, ''He actually has a good point, besides all the nonsense.'' After Ocilia brought the news and the head of Fiorello, who was barely recognizable, she visited her son much more often. She only now had a clearer mind to understand his precarious situation. However, even though he would live with pain and be inside a room for the following years, it was preferable than to gamble on his life again. He had more than enough time after his legacy when the problem would resolve itself. Then he could do what he wanted, but he had only one life, which was already endangered multiple times. This was quite the pain point for Marisia. She did everything to keep her puppies healthy and alive, but for some reason, they tried to run into danger head-on, whether adventure-seeking, ignoring her advice, or just having some stupid hero complex. After the assassination, she barely held back her mind from breaking, wanting nothing more than to go on a manic spree. She could stay rational only because of her husband''s permanent relaxation sessions and mainly concentrating on work. So, she decided already, no matter the arguments. She knew that the talismans, at this point, were mainly only there to drug him against Nature''s Break effects as his body couldn''t handle the overwhelming [Experience], and even though it was sad, it would only be temporary. At the same time, a small mistake in her Mother''s training method could lead to death, which was permanent. She was already thinking about what and whom to organize for her son to keep his isolation as comfortable as possible. So, before she could calm him down and convince him that it was safer to simply do it slowly, he made an argument she didn''t consider, "If I am imprisoned for at least a year or longer inside a room and can''t go out, I can''t also become a judge." Marisia''s Mother immediately chimed in, sounding more serious, her playfulness gone, "This is actually a good point..." After looking at Alexander while thinking deeply, she turned to her daughter, sounding severe, "...Mari, I don''t know how fast he levels, but looking at him, it would seem like he would live for the next two to three years in a single room, not able to do his Noblesse Oblige before becoming ten, which would be dangerous." She nodded, understanding the situation. After thinking for some minutes in silence, her opinion changed. She was now wholly for it and would support the plan for one simple reason: She would rather do it herself before giving control over her son to others. There was something inside her that didn''t trust others but also the absolute conviction that, with her doing it, it would be safer, like with the demonic baptism. However, other methods in her mind could also work, like giving Alexander a slave mark to stop the level-ups for a year, trying to let his body catch up. Still, such a thing was far more dangerous to someone before they entered their legacy as it could stay forever. Some collars had the same effect, but they were crackable, and with Alexander''s personality, it would hold, at best, a week. Before he got injured, she tried her best to get more high-level ones since her son opened them like a jar of jam after weeks. Luckily, Cecilia and her brother were pleased to provide everything she needed. Marisia also thought about fitting out the court, where he would reside as a judge, with talismans, but such a thing was too dangerous as it was a clear weakness everyone could use to kidnap him without any problems while he would be in pain. On the other hand, while being healthy, he could at least run away or defend himself. Again, she wouldn''t put too much trust in his guards to protect him well enough and instead take the risk by going through her Mother''s training method. She bit her fingernail while her nervousness and anxiety increased, ''I need Kairo later.'' Marisia went through her horrendous training regime and remembered that the methods her Mother employed were also a little more extreme than just pumping someone full of demonic energy, "There is also the question of the poisons, hexes, etc. I remember that they are also necessary to strengthen the body." Scarlett waved her hand in dismissal, "Oh please, Mari, I will just get the weakest ones. I mean Alex..." She looked at him and smiled but suddenly frowned, "...no, that is actually a good point. We don''t know his resistance and attributes. I didn''t think my method would ever be used on someone this young." Before discussing it further, Alexander said, confused, "Do you need to see my system window so your method doesn''t kill me?" Marisia shook her head, but her Mother nodded, saying, "It would be better, but..." Her Mother sounded cautious, "...only if you truly..." Before Marisia could say something against it or Scarlett could continue, Alexander opened his system window freely, sounding annoyed, "Who cares? Here you go, figure out what you need to poison me efficiently." Marisia stood there, even though she didn''t want her son showing his system; it was fantastic, ''His level is almost higher than mine...'' However, after further contemplation, she also saw the apparent problem, ''...his body is too weak.'' Her son had exceptionally high [Intelligence] and [Spirit] attributes, which was to be expected, but all others were only above average. He could be considered highly talented, but it was too little for all the [Experience] he had. Nature''s Break wasn''t a widely understood topic, but from what she got told after Sarah went through it, it happened when the body couldn''t contain the [Experience] inside the body anymore, with pain signaling to stop. After going through the legacy, it would stop for reasons she wouldn''t know, but she thought it had something to do with the fact that they could increase their attributes with [Experience]. Right now, though, her son was like a bloated vessel with the [Experience] nowhere to put in while also having no energy to strengthen the body. ''This is dangerous.'' She looked toward her Mother, who was smiling from ear to ear like someone crazy, ''This is even more dangerous.'' Her smile was full of greed and ambitions. Even more than what she had with Elisabeth, "Mother, stop it. Concentrate on Alex''s condition." Scarlett shook herself awake, "Oh, my bad!..." However, she smiled at Alexander while squatting down, "...don''t worry, Alex, we will strengthen your body more than enough so you can keep training unimpeached!" Alexander raised an eyebrow at her, "I would shiver if I could... I don''t like your smile." Marisia walked to her son, sitting down on the bed and patting him, "Don''t worry, Alex. I will always be there, and nothing will happen without me agreeing to it..." She turned to her Mother, "...isn''t that right, Mother?" Scarlett straightened herself up and nodded, "Of course, now, if you excuse me. I will have to try to research some things." Immediately leaving the room enthusiastically. Clack After the door closed, Marisia could hear her Mother chuckle and mumble about her son being an unprecedented prodigy, ''I really would prefer Alex only being average.'' Talent was a blessing and a curse at the same time. While she considered herself slightly above average, she was not even close to her sister or Alexander. Even her other son, Narsiz, and daughter, Sarah, or her brother, Brutus, were above her when it came to talent, but it never helped anyone in the end. Only Lorient was somewhat like she was but mentally more unstable. Because of a deal with her Mother, she worked her ass off through three decades of grueling training so that she could be together with Kairoso. She became stronger than Brutus and everyone else in her generation. It was all because of her only talent, a will made out of steel to always keep going and never waver if faced with unimaginable hardships. Now, her son had the talent and a will, probably much more robust than hers, but anxiety from what happened in the past with her sister haunted her. It wasn''t a decision anymore that she could wait out. It was either sending Alexander for Noblesse Oblige, wasting 20 years and most likely his life, or betting on something she had in her hands, controlling her son''s destiny. She looked at her hands, ''I need to train my energy control.'' While she was exceptional when it came to control, even better than her Mother, almost on the same level as her Father, she needed to improve. Marisia frowned and looked at her son worryingly, "Listen, Alex, everything will be fine, but you have a serious problem, and if we don''t do something about it, it can worsen. I thought at first you were Tier 2, but you are much more advanced, and without a strong body, this will worsen." Her son frowned, "Got it, but she doesn''t need to be this creepy?!" Marisia wanted him to take his situation more seriously, but it seemed he was already bent on going through, knowing the risks, which she didn''t like at all. She wished for him to be at least a little more anxious, showing he regarded his life more. Yet, maybe it was her jumbled-up mind, which was filled with anxiety, which projected unto her son all her fear, ''Calm down, I will talk later with Kairo and get a clearer head.'' She came out of her thoughts, trying to answer her son''s question, "She is a little..." Marisia wanted to trust her Mother since she seemed to change slightly, listening to her when it came to her puppies. However, it didn''t mean she would allow her to do what she wanted, "...enthusiastic. Don''t worry about it, as I will be there, okay?" Alexander nodded with his tail, "Fine, so, she is gonna really have a go at me, right?" Marisia nodded, "Your Grandmother needs to use much more potent poisons, hexes, etc., on you now than expected since we need extreme solutions to strengthen your body enough for your current and future levels." Alexander smiled at her, "Great! Can you ask Aunty Cecilia if she can get me some better mana items in the meantime? I will probably need them later." Marisia raised an eyebrow, "You really plan multiple steps ahead?" Alexander''s smile saddened, "I... I really don''t like being bedridden, you know?" Marisia could now see the real side of her son''s sadness, not the playful one where he acted his heart out. It was probably unimaginable and mentally taxing, not moving for months while being at the mercy of others. She knew how he was, always lively and ready to discover the world, ''I am a bad Mother.'' She knew deep down that she was selfish and wanted to have healthy puppies at every cost, even by restricting their freedom and making them unhappy in the process. She was always trying to rationalize her actions, and only through her husband could she be somewhat swayed to allow them much more, ''Not the time to think about yourself.'' She lay beside her son and patted him, "Don''t worry. Just endure it for a little bit longer, okay?" Alexander closed his eyes and started to breathe much more shallowly and slowly, "Okay..." Chapter 100: Nine-Fire visit: 40: Body Strengthening ... Two Weeks later, Alexander''s room "Hello, Mrs. Mari... Oh, excuse me. You are now the Lady of this estate, so I should call you Mrs. Leonandra." "Don''t worry, Ipe. We have known each other for so long; call me Marisia, okay?" The dryad nodded, turning to Kairoso and bowing down, "It is an honor to meet the meritious Druid who brought peace and tranquility to the east of Moorgrel." Kairoso frowned when he looked at Ipe, "First blooming, but is there a reason why you didn''t serve the Temple..." Green interrupted him, "...who cares about stupid politics when we are about to cut open Alexander again?..." She looked at Scarlett, who sat beside the bed, looking over everything with a satisfying smile, "...don''t worry, little fairy. He is legit." From the bed came, however, a confused voice as Alexander looked at the picture book of a dryad, ignoring all the squabble. Greenish-tanned skin and hair, glowing green eyes, and the scent of nature, which was the same as his Father''s but weaker, "He?! Why does He then have..." Alexander stared visibly at his enormous breasts and the summer dress he was wearing. Ipe turned to Alexander, smiling at him, "...You must be the little treasure Mistress talked about?" The dryad walked toward him while everyone was relatively relaxed. To Alexander, it seemed that Ipe was very trusted as even his Mother, who usually barely trusted anyone, wasn''t tense around him. He stopped before the bed and looked at Alexander''s body, his eyes glowing, "I see. It is truly a wonder that you are alive..." Ipe looked into Alexander''s eyes, smiling, "...yes, about the sex thing or where you were glancing." He chuckled but held quickly a hand before his mouth, stopping himself. "...heh." He immediately cleared his throat, becoming a little embarrassed, "Ahem, I apologize. It''s been a long time since I had contact with children, but to answer your question, all dryads look like what you consider females, but there is a certain way we procreate. If you are truly interested, I have no qualms in educating you in this aspect..." His smile became more honest, "...who knew that beast-kin boys so young were this curious." Alexander raised an eyebrow, finding him weird, but after a moment of contemplation, he himself wasn''t better as he stared at his assets, "Yeah, sure..." He decided to ignore the sex issue as it was beside the point, only something he uselessly blabbed out, "...regardless of your hot and sweaty nights, can you truly heal me?" Today was when he would be healed and, at the same time, his body strengthened. However, there wasn''t much trust between all parties, as the best proof for this was Green, her fairies, and his Father, all being here with multiple pouches around their waist, which were probably filled to the brim with all sorts of talismans and elixirs. A week ago, when it was decided to go through the ordeal, he was visited by Green and his Father, who made sure that he really wanted to go through this since this whole procedure would go on for weeks till he didn''t feel any more pain from his Nature Break. Little to say, even his Father disliked the situation, but Alexander was absolutely sure that it was the right way for multiple reasons. One reason, and probably the most important for him, was that everyone had some stake in him becoming well. Besides his parents, whom he unequivocally trusted that they had his well-being in mind, there was also his Grandmother, who was someone he wouldn''t usually trust with anything. However, in the end, his rationale for trusting her was rather cold and logical since she should have his well-being on an opportunistic basis in mind, as he was about to get voluntarily poisoned by her. However, he wouldn''t let them all decide by themselves what would happen to him. So, he developed a plan himself for how the whole thing should go and talked with his Grandmother and Mother about some changes to the method. They were at first very skeptical, but all he wanted was that they shouldn''t concentrate on the body as a whole but focus on specific parts that his Mother would focus on with her demonic energy. Organs, blood vessels, bones, etc. Even his brain would be singled out, but only as a whole. Even though he wanted them to try and focus on specific regions, they immediately rejected such a thing as it would be too dangerous to sift through the brain, as to only cover it superficially with a thin layer of energy. The theoretical upside would be that the strengthening effect would increase. The practical downside was that he would experience excruciating pain. Unfortunately, the poisons his Grandmother wanted to use weren''t something that she could focus on specific parts. Yet, for everything to work out perfectly, he needed a great healer, not just some third-rate dropout like Green. While he was thankful to her for saving his ass, what he was about to go through, was far above her abilities. Alexander was brought back from his thoughts when his Father interjected before Ipe could say anything, his eyes glowing greenish when staring at him, "He can..." He relaxed slightly by rotating his shoulders, "...his skills are the real deal." Marisia tried to comfort him, too, "Don''t worry, Alex. He is, when it comes to healing, more than good." Green also interjected, trying to reassure him, "No worries. I will also be there..." However, suddenly, Ipe looked disgusted at Green, sounding like she wasn''t even worth his attention, "No need..." He turned to Alexander with an honest smile, his attitude changing drastically, "...you know. Your Grandmother saved me while my kin ignored me. So, if I weren''t up to this task, I would say so, but from what I got told, I can do it. Does this reassure you?" These little interactions made Alexander sigh in relief as he feared that Ipe was someone not loyal to their household and wouldn''t give 100% if problems arose, ''This motherfucker is the real deal and overly loyal to our household? Grandma really hit the jackpot.'' From what Anastasia told him, getting nature-dwellers as retainers took a lot of work. They were usually very zealous in their belief, with exemptions like Green in between. Thus, they usually didn''t participate in politics or were part of households, as it could become messy with the politics of the Temple and Mal-Gil crossing each other. Yet, they became invaluable assets when they had nothing to do with the Temple and became loyal household members. Alexander looked at him more intensely for a moment but then smiled and relaxed, trusting his family in this case, which made Ipe blush a little, "Of course, Ipe..." Before he could talk further, the door opened, a dog coming in, ''What the...?'' He looked at the dog walking toward his Mother, who looked like a husky but with pastel reddish fur and purplish eyes, "Whose doggy is this?" The dog raised an eyebrow and turned to Alexander''s Mother, "Marisia, your son is really something." Alexander''s tail waggled under him as he lay on his back again after a long time, "The dog can talk? Hey, can you give me a paw or play dead?" His Mother approached the dog and patted her head, "First of all, this is Lili, who will be your guard for the next few years. Please be respectful, Alex. She is one of the personal guards of your Grandmother and a very loyal member of our household. She is also here to ensure your safety while we treat you." Lili straightened up and looked proud but not smug at Alexander, waiting for him to praise her, "Oh, my bad, Lili, I apologize for my behavior. Nobody told me my new guard would be... well, you are probably not a husky, right?" She looked at him briefly, then chuckled, panting slightly, "Mr. Alexander, I don''t know what a husky is, but my race is called faunen." Alexander was perplexed for multiple reasons. First, she sounded like a lovely older lady with a soft voice that was slightly high-pitched. Furthermore, when she spoke, he immediately thought it was his former teacher whom he really liked, so his mood was immediately heightened, "I am sorry, but I never heard about faunen, and my maps never showed any territories you held..." He looked at his Mother, "...are the maps maybe wrong or too old?" Before his Mother could speak, his Grandmother interjected, "Your maps are fine. The faunen race has no territories, and most live under beast-kin, nature-dwellers, or spirit-beasts." Kairoso looked at her, almost staring, while Lili only smiled back at him, letting her tongue hang out, panting. He sounded annoyed, "You didn''t go through the first body modification, neither a blooming, but my skills tell me that you are strong. I guess you went through guidance, meaning you come from the spirit-beast territory." Lili nodded and smiled at him, sounding relaxed, "You are right, Mr. Druid. I come indeed from this territory, but I was only a tiny puppy when Scarlett saved me from slavers in the human territory. It was..." Before she could continue her story, Ipe interrupted her, sounding a little annoyed, "Enough, Lili, we are here for more important business than your sad life story..." He turned back to Alexander, smiling, "...so, do you have any more questions, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander smiled back, "No, I think I can trust you fully..." which made Ipe brighten up even more, ''What a weird but nice guy, huh.'' Looking around, it seemed that everyone trusted him. Even his Grandmother looked smug at him, probably proud to show off some of her retainers, who, even Alexander couldn''t deny, looked incredible and gave off an aura only the truly strong had. However, Alexander wasted enough time. He looked at his Mother with a nervous smile, "...since I will become a recurring customer, do I get a coupon or stamp card?" A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Marisia frowned and moved toward the bed, "Don''t joke around, Alex. I want you to take it seriously since we will do this for at least two weeks till your body is strong enough to withstand your massive levels. I need you to stay strong like with the baptism." His Father also came forward, sounding reassuring, "Alex, I know you can do it. I saw it in your eyes when you fought against [Mana Fear]. Those were the eyes of someone who would never give up. If I wouldn''t trust you that you couldn''t do it, I would throw everyone out immediately and try to find another solution." Scarlett also stood up, grabbed into her space pouch, and pulled out some flasks that looked like they could kill gods, "My my, what lovely encouraging words. However, we have a little change of plan, too." Ipe tilted his head, "A change of plan?" Marisia and Kairoso stared at her with something Alexander would describe as mistrust, but if he wanted to be precise, they were about to rip her a new one should she do something they didn''t agree to. Alexander quickly explained this before it could come to a fight, "My mana veins are destroyed. However, while it will hurt like Outer Circle, I want you, Mom, to only concentrate your energy on them first, and you, Ipe, can surely heal and strengthen them, right?" It was an idea he got just yesterday, which he only told his Grandmother as his Mother was training her energy control. He wanted first to confirm if something like this was possible and tried before. Fortunately, it could be done, but there was a lot of risk involved since nobody had done such a thing to their knowledge. Usually, it wasn''t done since the training method was only for those with the demonic energy legacy, and it would make little sense. Now, though, it was reasonable. Since Alexander was about to get strengthened, he could at least try some new things either way. It would be a new discovery if he could improve his mana organs like this, and his Grandmother found the idea brilliant. His Mother became nervous, "I don''t think it is a good idea." Ipe nodded while looking more intensely at Alexander, "I can recover them even if they are fully destroyed, so that isn''t a problem. However, the pain will be on another level. Are you sure you want to go through this, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander smiled tiredly, "Do it." Marisia nodded toward Kairoso, who pulled out multiple talismans and activated them, hanging around the bed. They worked in a way that gave out an aura that would add up, but sadly, only to a certain point. After thirty of them, the aura wouldn''t stack to a reasonable degree anymore, and the effect would become too minuscule. After his Father was done, he stepped toward the bed''s end, activating his energy, which gave off an aura of relaxation, making everyone calmer. All the while, all the fairies were on edge, ready to step in, should something about to happen. Green looked the grimmest, biting her lips, probably trying to calm down after the condescending tone of Ipe. His Mother exhaled and inhaled a couple of times, closing her eyes and concentrating her energy. It was silent, and everyone saw how a ball of highly focused energy slowly materialized over him. From there, a little thread, thinner than Ocilia''s, came out toward Alexander, stopping before his chest. She opened her eyes and nodded toward Ipe, who walked to the other side of the bed and readied himself, emitting an incredibly soothing energy. The residue was enough to heal him on the same level as one of Green''s fairies. After another moment, an almost transparent tree appeared behind him, with rakes made out of energy slowly moving toward Alexander. Ipe said, entirely concentrated, "Ready." His Mother nodded at him, "Good..." and looked at Alexander, "...do you truly want me to start with your mana veins?" Alexander smiled cheekily, "Yeah, let''s get it over with." From the bed''s end came a burst of booming laughter and an incredible amount of aura, calming everyone even more down, "Guhahaha! That''s my boy!" However, he suddenly saw his Grandmother walking beside Ipe, popping the first flask and making his face crease as the smell terrified him. Only through the aura of Ipe and his Father could he avoid getting into shock from the scent, "This is what I would call a true Leonandra, haha!..." She looked at the flask first and then at Alexander, "...so, I need your mouth to stay open at all times since I will drip minuscule amounts into it. Got it?" Alexander suddenly had doubts, ''Come one, buddy, you will only be poisoned by something which looks like hell...'' He answered, barely audible, "...sure." He opened his mouth slightly, which made his Grandmother smile, making her pull something out like a gag with an opening, "Alex, while I trust that you can endure it, I am not so sure that your body will not spasm out, so be a good boy and say ah." Alexander widened his mouth more and let the gag, made out of some firm material, be put on him. After his Grandmother secured it, she patted him, "Good boy, now you can bite as much as you want. Okay?" Alexander couldn''t voice much except some affirming sounds, "Aha." After the preparations were done, his Mother nodded and looked sternly at him, "This will hurt, but so you know, we all love you." Before he could voice anything, the thread, made out of demonic energy, descended toward his chest, and the moment it touched him, all he wished was for death. His Mother tried to force it through his chest into his mana veins, destroying them further. However, before he could concentrate on his skills, trying to ignore the pain, he heard his Grandmother say, "First drop, Feuerblood poison for heat resistance. Be ready, Ipe." Alexander saw how his Grandmother put a drop into a small glass water bottle, making it reddened, only to shove the bottle into his mouth, making him drink it. He felt hot. Incredible heat invaded his body, making him sweat and feel like his innards were burning up while thousands of insects dissected his mana veins, ''Fucking hell! Bad idea, Alex! You fucking moron!'' Alexander bit with everything he had into the gag, closing his eyes, not caring if he would jam his jaw. Yet, in the next moment, he suddenly felt much better, like being tucked into a soft and warm blanket while it was freezing cold outside. It was comfy, but only for a moment, till the pain from recovering his innards and mana veins felt like thousands of needles trying to stitch everything back in record time. It was only the beginning, but it was already too much for him, making him break one of his fangs as he pushed his teeth and fangs into the gag even further. After a moment, the cycle started anew. Alexander felt some liquid pushed down his throat, which brought a multitude of effects with it¡ªHotness, coldness, desperation, pain, etc. All the while, his mana veins were destroyed over and over again. It iterated thoroughly, only giving him a short moment to breathe in between. He tried to distract himself with thoughts about many things, but they were too chaotic, always returning to the torture he chose. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. Pain, healing, recovery. After what felt like an eternity, everything slid into numbness, far away from the world of pain and torture. He suddenly felt as if everything around him had become nothing. Only the pain and his thoughts were there. The skill usage became natural, his pain became more numb by the moment, and his mind descended into a void, trying to block out what his body felt. Alexander wanted this. He didn''t only want to recover again but also become more powerful. He was scared when he almost died, and the only way to avoid such a scenario again or defend his loved ones from such a destiny was only through sheer strength, by any means necessary. Before that event, he took it somewhat seriously but also not, as he couldn''t believe someone would be that stupid to attack him. So he trained not only to become more powerful but also to kill his boredom. However, the fun was over, and he wouldn''t count on lady luck again to save his sorry ass. Inside the void of his mind, the only voice that gave him the determination not to stop, squeal, and beg for release was that he never wanted to lose anyone again, like on Earth. The pain he felt in losing his parents was far worse back then than what he was exposed to now. If he could have one more day with them, he would endure such torture for decades. Alexander was ready to use every possibility, never mind what he needed to endure, to get stronger, more intelligent, more prosperous, and build more connections without scruples. However, he had a moral compass that he didn''t want to lose and become someone unhinged. His plans never changed to better the world so it could become more like Earth. Alexander wanted everything while not losing anything. He knew it was stupid and idealistic, but so was his death and being reborn in another world. Why not go all in and bet on a single hand? Moronic, idiotic, insane was what he would call himself, but so what? He was all those things and much more. He didn''t want to lose any of those traits while taking everything he would need to achieve his ideal. "... ex..." Alexander came out of his thoughts hearing someone speak. He opened his eyes slowly and saw the artificial light of a mana item. He looked around, seeing his Mother, thoroughly drenched in sweat and huffing, barely able to catch a breath, "Are you alright?" He looked to the other side, seeing Ipe, who leaned against the wall, barely able to stand. The dryad only nodded toward him and closed his eyes, trying to relax. His Father sat on a chair further away, gesturing that he was fine, even though he looked like someone had poured buckets of water over him, exhausted and breathing heavily. Everyone else was also there, not having left the room. His Grandmother smiled from ear to ear while patting Lili. The fairies were in the corner, just waiting and, by the literature they had around them, probably learning, which was a good sign to him since it was boring enough for them to ignore him, and boring also meant that everything went as it should. Alexander felt that he wasn''t wearing the gag anymore and tried to say something, "Whaff..." His Mother stopped him, "...wait, your teeth, fangs, and jaw broke..." She looked towards Ipe, "...do you have enough stamina to heal him so he can speak?" Ipe nodded and stood up, wobbling toward Alexander, "Of course..." When he came close, he put Alexander''s head between his hands, and after no more than some seconds and some excruciating pain, he could talk again, "Argh, thanks Ipe." He nodded and walked back to the wall, sitting down, probably meditating. Alexander looked around, though, trying to use his stiff jaw and doing some mouth movements, "What happened?..." He looked out the window, seeing the moons, "...is it over?" His Mother nodded, "For today. What can you remember?" Alexander thought about it and tried to tell, "It was bizarre. I felt excruciating pain and tried to concentrate on other things while enduring it." His Mother nodded, "You blacked out many times and woke up shortly after. However, you did well, but..." She bit her fingernail, "...we need much longer." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Why?" This time, his Grandmother said ecstatically, "Because you are a little genius, that''s why, haha!" Before he could ask more, his Mother wanted to explain, "It''s..." However, his Father interrupted her and explained instead, "Relax, my little flower, and let me..." His Mother nodded, and he continued, "...Ipe and your Mother only tried to strengthen your mana veins, and usually they would be done today, but after more than ten hours, they weren''t even close to being finished." Alexander looked in shock, but before he could say anything, his Father continued, "Don''t worry. Your body is fine... more than fine. We don''t know what it is, but your body is as robust as someone who underwent decades of training. Even after using potions with poison, hexes, and curses, it broke down much slower than expected." Green interjected, "It could be either your training, the [Experience] you accumulated, or something else entirely. This is not important, though..." He raised an eyebrow, "I am confused. What does it now mean?" Scarlett stood up and walked to him, her enthusiasm never dampened, "We want to give you a choice..." She shook her head, "...sorry, I meant they want to do it while I know your answer to the question if you want to continue..." She stood before him, a smile full of greed and pride showing, "...you will go through this and worse for the next month. The pain will increase to something far beyond your imagination while this was only the first taste of what is to come..." She leaned slightly forward, "...so, do you want to continue? If not, we will do the minimum in breaking down your body and just patch you up so you can endure your duties as a judge." Alexander smirked at her, "I don''t like how dramatic you are..." he looked from side to side, "...I want to, but can Mom and Ipe actually go through this?" His Mother exhaled strongly and nodded, "No problem." Ipe, on the other hand, was already dozing off, breathing shallowly. So Scarlett answered for him, shrugging, "He can and will." Alexander sounded enthusiastic, but his smile was far from joyful, as he felt unimaginable dread to go through this much longer than needed. However, he was determined, "Well, I guess I will see you tomorrow?" Chapter 101: Nine-Fire visit: 41: Testing The New body ... Alexander''s training grounds, ~two months later "Oh my, you really are jumpy, aren''t you?" "After months of torture, I am recovered and stronger than ever! I am bursting with energy!" Scarlett stood before Alexander as the little bundle of energy jumped around, about to try his new body for the first time in a serious manner, ''You should be happy, as this was quite the investment.'' The last months were anything but easygoing. Ipe, her daughter, and her son-in-law fell after every session dead-tired into their bed and slept, only to wake up and do the same thing again. Many projects and administrative duties came to a halt since most energy and time was put into Alexander. Her grandson, on the other hand, was a tenacious little beast. After undergoing the body-strengthening procedure, Anastasia visited him and started his lesson. Such a mindset alone won her respect. However, besides creating a monster, the others who worked on him also improved. She remembered how Ipe told her there was no better training than what he had done for the last month. Her daughter didn''t mention anything, but even she became increasingly better at controlling her energy, which was already her fort¨¦. Scarlett also invested quite a lot of time into him by trying to find ever so more potent potions to give the little monster increasingly more robust resistance against them. After a week, the potions she needed were only available at the black markets and would cost quite a coin, but nothing was too much for her dear grandson. Besides trying to procure potions that could quickly kill Tier 2 warriors, she also gained quite a lot as she documented Alexander''s changes to her method. They weren''t that different: He was hyper-focused on specific parts with every session, while hers was an overall body treatment. She liked his more as it was much more systematic, and the strengthening became more substantial. However, it also needed much more time since every body part needed to be augmented independently to the highest degree. There were even points where he wanted them to concentrate only on specific organs for the whole day. Besides that, one would also need someone with exceptional energy control, like her daughter, but such people were rather rare. Whatever the case was, a seven-year-old monster stood in front of her. A new weapon in her lineage that had everything she could wish for. From overwhelming talent to the iron will of her daughter. It was perfect, except for one thing: Combat sense. Without any sense for combat, he would become, at best, great, far below her expectations. For her, combat sense was something natural with which one was born. It was how one acted on the battlefield: Would he panic if something unexpected happened, or was he someone cold-blooded, trying to ascertain his next steps while being on the verge of death? She needed to test him and see for herself how well his instincts were, ''Well, let''s see.'' She came forward, the lower part of her dress and high heels covered in a thin, almost transparent film of energy so they wouldn''t become dirty, and said, while smiling, "I would say you attack first..." She looked to the sidelines, seeing her daughter, Kairoso, Ipe, and Lili staying there and observing, "...don''t disappoint the audience, Alex." Alexander stood still and opened his arms, smiling joyfully, "Don''t worry, I am pretty good, I would say..." without wasting any more time, he began to cast. Scarlett immediately felt the annoying mage''s spell on her, which would automatically let their spells aim at her, ''Hm, I never saw him cast spells. Let''s see what you can do.'' All she saw from him were a couple of fireballs, which were, what she later learned, called contraptions and things alchemists used. There were also cases when she saw a play he did for Patricia and Janina, but that was all. She was curious to find out what kind of attack spells he learned. In front of him appeared multiple earth bullets that spun ever so quickly around, which made Scarlett raise an eyebrow, ''Well, he is seven, so I didn''t expect much in the first place when it came to magic.'' Magicians were strong, but only so with time. However, younger ones would never even come close to a battlefield. They would only study day in and day out in some dusty library till they had a reasonable repertoire of spells that they could use efficiently. Yet, she cared little about the concerns of magicians, only how to quickly kill them, so she only knew a little about how they became powerful. However, she often heard that the older a mage became, the more powerful he would be, while warriors reached their apex earlier and, with age, became weaker. It was partly true since she knew of some knight fossils that could crush her to dust, but usually, the saying had some truth to it. However, she prepared herself to have some boring sparring match since her grandson was a mage, from whom she couldn''t expect much. After another moment, she heard a loud bang, and the earth bullets flew at her with tremendous speed. This surprised her, but without using her energy, she deflected them easily by using her hand. She looked confused at her hand, ''It hurts...'' Hurting her was almost impossible as one of her three body modification talents was highly focused on extensive body strengthening. However, there was something else she felt and couldn''t believe something like this was possible: She felt a demonic aura inside the earth bullet, and analyzing Alexander more closely, she suddenly also could feel the same from the targeting spell and Alexander as he probably moved his mana around him. There was only one explanation for this: Her daughter''s miasma from her energy deposited inside his mana veins, and now his spells have the stench of a true guard dog, ''Fascinating.'' She decided to remember it for later as she was testing her grandson for now. However, before praising him for the great spell, she needed to keep observing him, hoping he didn''t use all of his mana on one attack, which would be disappointing. To her surprise, Alexander dashed toward her with tremendous speed for someone his age, which made her frown, ''Bad choice. Just attack from afar...'' Him approaching her without using more possibilities was stupid, ''...Hm, let it be a lesson for him.'' He punched forward, which she avoided easily, followed by a spin-kick, which she blocked with her arms while smiling, "Oh, what no..." Her words stuck in her throat when suddenly two fireballs flew in her face from the side, exploding around her head. She felt how he jumped back and was about to cast another spell for up-close. She clicked her tongue, creating a shockwave that blew away the fire and smoke around her, only to hear a bang and see how a much stronger earth bullet hit her forehead, making her head jerk slightly backward. She smiled, ''Pain.'' She suddenly felt how a little blood flew down toward her lips, licking it and looking at her grandson with a smirk, not out of spite but hoping he could show her much more. However, Alexander was surprised, only to be followed by him screaming in frustration, "This is bullshit! I headshot you, and you have only a scratch!" She heard her daughter''s voice from the side, "Don''t worry, Alex. Your injuring her is already a great feat." Yes, it was a remarkable feat. Even though she didn''t use any energy, other trainees couldn''t hurt her this easily. But now, her grandson did. She congratulated him, becoming a little ecstatic, "This is beyond great! Now, defend!" Alexander sounded surprised, "Wha..." Before he could end the sentence, she appeared before him, ''Now let me see what you can do.'' She pushed toward him with her hand. Not too fast so he couldn''t see, but fast enough to test him. He immediately conjured one shield after the other: water, air, earth, and fire. All were easily destroyed, but this wasn''t the point of her attack; it was to see his reaction. After she went through five shields, he leaned back and jumped away from her, ''Good!'' She jumped after him but suddenly felt something under her moving, and she already knew what he was doing, ''Oh, good choice!'' Using all the space around one was always easier said than done. Many newer soldiers had problems getting their heads around the concept of an up and down on a battlefield, as they only attacked directly, ignoring the space above or under them. Yet, her seven-year-old grandson was already at this point, where he used all the space around him, which made her happy. In the next moment, a spike made out of earth appeared before her, almost hitting her head. She flicked against it, destroying it, only to feel how her senses warned her, ''Oh? Back to attacking? Nice choice!'' She congratulated him on quickly returning to an offensive position since many also had problems with this after they started defending. They would either stay defensive or force their way into the offensive, which was also a bad idea since they risked a counterattack. The best course of action was what Alexander did: Avoid, distract, and attack. Multiple ice spears flew at her, which she easily deflected by snapping her finger, creating an airwave. Yet, when they were destroyed, smoke came out, ''A feint? Yes!'' Creating a feint sounded easy enough, but it was actually hard to think multiple steps ahead while fighting. Something like this needed a lot of experience. Yet, her grandson''s counterattack was also, at the same time, a feint, which made her incredibly proud, already seeing that he, again, overwhelmed her expectations with an exceptional battle sense. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The smoke surrounded her, which would make everyone blind, but she could see perfectly fine through what her grandson was doing. With a clap of her hands, she blew it away, "Oh m..." Bang! She heard another bang, and another earth bullet hit her head, which she allowed to do, ''I can''t block everything. Otherwise, he gets too frustrated.'' She needed to calm down a bit and allow some attacks to get through. From experience, she knew that younger warriors got more quickly frustrated when all their attacks were destroyed. Giving them small wins here and there for intelligent actions would reward them by letting them through, while bad ones would be punished by her counterattacking. However, before she could continue, she saw how multiple fireballs flew in her direction and how he conjured more earth bullets, ''Let''s change the pace a little bit.'' It was time to test how he would react when someone tried to disrupt the flow in stressful situations. She flashed away and appeared behind him. She saw how he smiled while the ground under her became muddy, ''Oho! He thinks multiple steps ahead.'' However, she quickly jumped to the side, not wanting to use any skills against her cute grandson. Yet, as she jumped, she saw how another ten bullets flew at her, ''Cute, but you can''t use the same trick all over again, and overdoing it is not good.'' As she thought it, she also reprimanded herself for it. He didn''t have a large repertoire of spells he could use, ''I should get him some spells, hm.'' Yet, as she was about to smack them away, she missed, and they flew to the sides. They circled the training area at grandiose speeds, and only now did she notice that the targeting spell was all around her, cast onto columns, walls, and the ceiling, ''Oh? What a genius idea!'' It was obvious what he did. He targeted the targets one after the other, making them fly around her, only to target her again when she couldn''t defend herself. They flew around and came at great angles at her, ''Nice, but I really like this dress.'' She stepped a little bit to the side, avoiding all of them, using her speed and flexibility. After evading them, she was about to stop the fight, but she felt her grandson dashing toward her with what looked like a spear, which was purely made out of metal. She only raised an eyebrow but didn''t underestimate him or his creativity anymore. She was rather curious about what he was about to do. Before the tip of the spear reached her, she caught it between two fingers, feeling that it was weirdly soft, "Nice try." He smiled back, "Bad choice." He jumped backward, letting go of the spear, making Scarlett raise an eyebrow, anticipating what trickery her grandson had up his sleeve, ''Oho, is this spear somehow different?'' The spear was suddenly cut into many pieces and surrounded by water, which abruptly heated up. Scarlett knew what was coming, as she had already seen such things multiple times on the battlefield. Boom! It exploded before her, hurting her and ruining her dress. She felt elated, almost to a fanatical degree, ''I can''t believe Alex can actually use explosions without having any black powder!'' Explosions weren''t illegal, but what one used to create them was in some cases. Black powder was such a thing and usually regulated by the Crown, but there were a lot of other ways to create similar effects, but those were usually much more expensive and harder to make. Thus, they were somewhat permitted. After the dust settled and the smoke vanished, she joyfully looked at her grandson, "This is exquisite!" She opened her arms, becoming more vicious as she wanted to see more, "Now, was it all?" He opened his mouth and looked at her dumbfounded, only to become angry, "This is bullshit! It''s like throwing an egg against a fucking mountain!" This made her laugh, "Haha! Of course! I''ve fought for more than 120 years, and my whole body is more robust than you can imagine..." She licked her thumb and went over the little scratch on her forehead, "...my dear, what you did was only damaging my skin..." She suddenly thought, "...however, if you can really hurt me, I will give you a present! Anything you want!" It was perfect. Alexander was everything she wanted, and she would already want to take him away from her daughter and train him by herself, but she wouldn''t do it for obvious reasons. Yet, the more he surprised her, the more she became fond of him, even wishing to adopt him and get him into the north to her Estate. There was also another thought that she suppressed heavily, and it was that she was getting aroused by talented warriors like her husband. She was loyal and would never cheat, but she imagined if she were a hundred years younger and Alexander twenty to thirty years older, she would court him, even forcing him if he didn''t want to, ''Ah, I need to calm down and quickly get back to Roland.'' She was brought back out of her thoughts by Alexander agreeing to her deal, which surprised her, "Deal!" He brought his hands together, and a wave of strong energy, mana, which she sensed instinctively, was created, creating a wind, blowing towards her, ''Oh? How interesting, what is he...'' She stopped the thought when an annoying and high-pitched sound suddenly distracted her. It became louder by the moment, and when looking to the side, Lili, her daughter, and her son-in-law started to use a small amount of their energy to block it out. Yet, Ipe was fine, looking confused at them. She looked back at Alexander, who had something around his ears, which surrounded him like an air barrier, ''Nice trick, but it is only useful in combination with other things.'' She was rather impressed that he used sound for an attack like some of the dwarves did in the north. Still, it usually was only effective if it was an attack that was momentarily and came in undefined patterns one couldn''t predict. The sound became increasingly louder and started to annoy her, but she also felt the pain from it, ''Cute, but it''s not enough.'' She clapped a little stronger once, and an enormous shockwave went through the training place, interrupting her grandson, who looked at her astounded, "Are you kidding me?! This was almost 140db!" She chuckled, "I don''t know what it means, but it was cute. It would be best to use it as a momentary attack, thrice as loud. Then it would be a great choice." Alexander frowned at first but sighed after glaring at her in annoyance, "Fine, I have another trump card..." He started to stretch, "...however, I am not sure how well it works, and I need Ipe to be ready." Scarlett raised an eyebrow and looked to the side, especially her daughter, who should decide. Otherwise, a fight would start again. Marisia contemplated it shortly but nodded, looking at Ipe, "I am counting on you." He bowed slightly toward her and then toward Alexander, "Don''t worry, Mr. Alexander, I will immediately heal you should something unexpected happen." He nodded and gestured to him a thank you. He turned toward Scarlett and positioned himself in a martial arts stance, "Okay, this is something I learned a long time ago..." He smiled excitedly, "...but now I guess I can use it." Scarlett raised an eyebrow and could feel how his body slowly heated up; his eyes became blueish, his heartbeat became faster, and his muscles bulged slightly, ''Interesting skill...'' She saw something like this very often. Those [Mystic Skills] usually involved martial artists pushing themselves into something they called a berserker status. Their physical abilities would be heightened to great degrees, and they would lose their reasoning. After some time, it would end, and they would become useless. She didn''t like that her grandson used something like this, but it seemed to be an extraordinary skill that had positives with some decreased effects and no negatives. Without waiting for her, he dashed at her and started with a punch, which she could easily block. However, a slight shockwave was created, and she felt little pain, ''Interesting...'' Alexander started his combination of punches and kicks while breathing erratically. Every consecutive hit became more vigorous, slowly increasing the pace. She didn''t do anything but block, wanting to see the power her little treasure was slowly showing, making her smile even more intensely, ''Fabulous! Magnificent!'' He was on a level she couldn''t imagine, shattering her expectations repeatedly as he could also simultaneously conjure fireballs and ice spears to attack her while not stopping his onslaught of attacks. She was about to stop the sparring session, seeing how his nose bled, but around his elbow suddenly was air pressure, making his punch faster and stronger, hitting her stomach, and creating a very unfocused but brutal shockwave, ''This is it... he actually can do it!'' It was unsophisticated, rough, and amateurish. However, looking at the context of a seven-year-old, it was magnificent, as he used spells to increase his strength, ''I can''t believe that my daughter gave birth to such a monster!'' Another side-kick came, which she blocked. However, he immediately jumped backward with a Summersault, standing there and looking at her with hate. Not the one she saw from enemies she slaughtered by the thousands but those of rivals who were ready to do everything to overcome her. Such a sight made her almost blush, ''This is it... if you want, take me as your goal; I will gladly be your first stepping stone.'' He stood in place, clenching his teeth, and she could feel how he used more spells on his body, which was heating up to ridiculous degrees. He growled through his clenched teeth, "Get ready..." He went back into his martial stance, exhaling steam out of his mouth, and bent slightly forward to dash at her. Yet, as he was about to approach her, he suddenly flashed, appearing far to the side of her. He looked confused, "What the..." unexpectedly tripping and misusing a spell, making him do an arc, crashing with his face against the ground, and knocking himself out. It was somewhat silent till Scarlett broke out in laughter, "Hahaha! I can''t believe he learned [Flash]!" It was a skill that was a must for everyone who wanted to be called a true warrior. To have this skill, one needed to create a quick burst of speed, which was impossible with a weak body. However, her grandson did just that through other skills and spells. Ipe immediately ran toward him, turning him around and starting to heal him, holding his laughter back, "Mr. Alexander is fine; he just knocked himself out, hehe..." He stopped himself by biting into the inner check, clearing his throat, "...Ahem, I apologize." Scarlett, though, didn''t laugh. She looked at her grandson lying on the ground, barely containing her greed for taking him away, ''I want him.'' Alexander had everything she ever wished for a progeny and more: Overwhelming intelligence, administrative knowledge, a sense for socializing, physical strength, exceptional magic talent, and being risk-friendly, not shying away from trying new things to edge out even a slight win. Sadly, though, her daughter birthed such a person, not her. Otherwise, she would''ve directed him to the Outer Circle only to bring back someone akin to the three Great Knights. Fortunately for her, her grandson had all the ambitions to work on himself even without her help, but she wouldn''t let him. She needed him to reach his unlimited potential as best as possible. For this, she would even risk her life, ''I need to think through how to support him better.'' She walked toward her daughter, past Ipe, "Ipe, you will stay here till his legacy, do you understand..." He frowned but nodded nonetheless, "...I understand, Mistress." "Good..." As she stood before her daughter and Lili, she looked her loyal personal guard in the eyes, making her flinch slightly. Without even saying something, Lili nodded, "I will, of course, stay too and defend him with my life." Scarlett also nodded toward Lili and looked at her daughter, who stoically stared her down. She now needed to act as amiable as possible while trying to bypass her daughter''s protectiveness, "Mari, I couldn''t be more proud of Alex and you, who educated him. I will not interfere but send all the artifacts I can procure through you so you can decide if it is necessary to use them since you already did such a splendid job." Her daughter glared at her but sighed in the end, "Of course, Mother. Thank you for the compliment..." She walked past her toward Alexander, saying, "...by the way, I see the greed in your eyes, and I will not subject him to anything he doesn''t want to." Scarlett tried to control her facial expression but couldn''t. It had been such a long time since she thought about her ambitions and ideals. Now, with her grandson and maybe another 50 to 100 years, she could actually reach it, "...don''t worry, Mari. I am just happy to have such a talented grandson." She needed to control herself, not to take Alexander for herself with every fiber of her body. Yet, her daughter''s answer was cold, "Of course, whatever you say, Mother." It was a little icy between them, but it didn''t matter. Soon she would take her little grandson and train him after the legacy, making him a true weapon she could hold against the scum of central Mal-Gil. Chapter 102: Nine-Fire visit: 42: Assessing the Situation ... Days later, Alexander''s room "Jesus, the scars are heavy." A young wolf-kin stood in his room, with a height of around 1.60 m (~5.25 ft) before his mirror, fully naked, and looked at his body, trying to process how much he had changed over the months. For one, he was scarred massively. Almost every part of his body, besides, fortunately, his face, was either deformed with scars, discolored, or roughed out. He touched his tail slightly, which made him frown. The fur did grow fully back, but when he felt the skin underneath it, it was much less sensitive, as the skin on his tail was fully scarred. Even though Ipe''s healing helped a lot to either bring back some skin instead of scar tissue or make them fade, it was nonetheless something he couldn''t resolve. For him to get his normal skin, he would need something akin to a nature-dweller healer who went through at least the second blooming, which was a rarity and highly cherished by the temple. Alexander was promised that if he wanted to regain his old looks, he could visit the nature-dweller territory where some of those healers resided. They were rather amiable toward the family members of druids and would heal him. However, he never had any problems with his body image, on Earth or here. It was far from what he would describe as beautiful, but he also saw the good points in it, "I bet chicks dig the rough guy look, right?" However, looking more closely at himself, he also noticed that his face had become more feminine and that the fur on his tail and ears had become more fluffy and delicate, almost like Janina''s, "Is this some weird side-effect?..." Yet, looking at his private region, which was also scarred, everything was still there, "...hm, maybe it will go away after I am older? Who cares, honestly." Beside his very childish looks, his body, in contrast, was very well developed. Muscles were more significant than what he imagined a typical 7-year-old had but also much more defined, so it didn''t look weird. He found himself quite charismatic as he did some alluring poses in front of the mirror, "Who is the man?..." He winked and snapped at himself, making finger pistols, "...you are the man, pew, pew!" After some minutes of inspecting his body, he sighed, "Well, at least I am not dead..." The scars reminded him of the torture he went through for the last months: From not being able to move at all because of an assassination to the despair he experienced to get well again. Some days ago, he even had a sparring session with his Grandmother and gave his all. Even though the ending was quite anti-climatic since he suddenly received a skill, [Flash], and subconsciously used it while misconstructing the propulsion spell wrongly, which made him trip, crashing his head against the ground, knocking him out for good, he nonetheless, felt much stronger, which also showed in his skills and attributes. He opened his system window. He learned a spell yesterday with which he could change the design of his system window, as his usual one was too cluttered for his taste. However, he only changed the color, tried to sort the skills into categories, etc. He made it only more pleasant to look at and didn''t change anything else, as the spell was only cosmetical. The spell was made out of two parts. The first put a thin mana layer over his window, which would then analyze the different parts, dividing them automatically into their appropriate components. Afterward, the second part of the spell was built like a website builder. He could change colors, sizes, and so on by changing some nodes, lines, etc., here and there, which were allowed according to the manual. While it sounded relatively simple and rather useless for others, for Alexander, it was the opposite. It was a spell that would be a game-changer for the future, especially in data gathering and other fields. Sadly, when it comes to creating and changing the spells, he had zero experience and would need years before he could start creating something new and unbelievable. He quickly put the thoughts away, as he was too far away from even trying it out, and looked at his system window, filling him with unimaginable pride, ''This should be one of the highest levels in history before going through legacy, right?'' In Alexander''s mind, he was obviously cheating his way to this level since he was reborn with knowledge from his previous life while having an incredible family who supported him in almost every endeavor he put his mind to. Even though they were a little crazy, he would never attribute any of his success to only himself, but this didn''t mean that he didn''t work his ass off to achieve such heights. However, many more things happened besides the meteoric rise in attributes, which more than doubled partly. One of them was his new skills. For one, he got an array of resistance-focused skills which came probably from the potions he was fed, like [Hex Resistance], [Heat Resistance], [Cold Resistance], [Curse Resistance], [Disease Resistance], [Major Abnormal Status Resistance], etc. All of them were also at a high level, giving him not a single night where he could sleep through as he had one skill test after the other. Even his teacher got annoyed seeing him, sometimes giving him the clear without him doing his test, which he found weird. He always thought she represented the system window, but there seemed to be much more behind it. Though, he ignored it, not even wanting to go into such philosophical questions, as he had more than enough other things to worry about. Other than that, he got a multitude of other mental fortitude skills like [Unbreakable Will], while some other skills just changed, like [Intermediate Pain Resistance] to [Major Intermediate Pain Resistance]. Furthermore, his mana got weird. He could feel a demonic aura, like that of his Mother, coming of it. Looking into himself, he saw how his mana veins and core were all reddish and had deposits on the inner walls, which he couldn''t remove with Ipe''s help. It was incredibly damaging since his mana now smelled, which was not the case before. Its attribute was that it thoroughly killed any scent. Alexander conjured a new construct he had learned. A ball made out of water appeared before him, which made him frown, ''The smell is fucking annoying.'' He used his alchemy and conjured a contraption beside it, a ball made out of water, which, fortunately, didn''t smell. He dispelled his contraption and construct and didn''t know if concentrating on his mana veins was such a good idea, but what was done was done, and the positives outweighed the smell. His veins widened, making his mana output faster. He could now drain himself in seconds if he conjured dozens of spells simultaneously. Next, the better body wasn''t there only for show. Alexander could now use the skill that almost killed him when he was little: [Body Overload (Mana)]. The name was a little deceptive, but it worked by pushing mana through his veins at high speed, affecting all his other organs and body parts, making him almost burn up, and increasing his physical prowess to incredible degrees. After the little spar with his Grandmother, which killed his confidence since he could barely scratch her, he tested the skill more often, with Ipe always looking over him. Little to say, it was a great skill that he wanted to teach every other soldier since it was only a combination of [Mana Sense], [Mana Absorption], and [Mana Emission], so to say, easy to learn. But that also meant that he needed to somehow teach them the [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission] skills through easy and straightforward ways, but he already had an idea how to do it, and his first victim would be Lorient. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Besides all that, the most significant change came after his Mother used her demonic energy on his brain. She didn''t initially concentrate on specific parts like he wanted and only surrounded his head with it. By his Grandmother''s accounts, most would die immediately the moment someone made even a little mistake while rummaging inside someone''s brain with basically a scalpel, so his Mother wouldn''t even think about doing this, as it was too dangerous. However, the effects he got from only some superficial treatment were substantial. His emotional state felt more robust, and his mind worked even faster. However, his senses had the same weird side effect as his mana since he always smelled a pungent stench of miasma. He liked it, though, and it didn''t disturb his ability to sense others. Nonetheless, while he had many positive changes, the negatives were on his ass again: Minor aches were still there, and he was back at counteracting them but in a much more significant way. He was wearing a new mana artifact, which increased his weight by eight times, which was not even close to what he needed to feel any strain. The same went for the mana collar around his neck, which was an intermediate version, but even though it had a somewhat more sophisticated mechanism, he could crack it in seconds by brute-forcing his way. All he did was conjure a water contraption around it and just iterate the code. The electric shocks the collar gave off couldn''t penetrate the demineralized water, and he cracked it after the two hundred-something try. He needed better things, so he asked his Mother to write to his uncle early on. The answer came pretty fast, with his aunt answering and now demanding, besides his services in testing their items, to send some girls to him for a couple of rendezvous, which he agreed to. After becoming friends with Patricia, he would do just the same with the others. Besides that, he was more or less inclined to think that, going by what his Grandmother told him, they wouldn''t be interested in him because of his looks. The trend for younger nobles at the moment was fair skin and a more androgynous look, so he had no chance in this case, which actually played very well into his goals since he wanted to make friends and connections, not getting a harem made out of underaged canine-kin girls. For good or worse, he needed the Cold-Snout household to allow him to operate in their territory, and by being friendly to some girls, he figured that it could work out. However, he wouldn''t bet on it since they were children. Still, every little positive thing would accumulate over time, making it easier to develop the projects he wanted to make into reality. Then there was also Nila from the Nine-Fire household on the way here, who he needed to sponsor if he wanted to have a much easier time in their territory with his charity. Besides, he was also doing Narsiz a favor as Linuel had some weird problems with her sister. Besides the girls, he also forced his way into a loan inquiry from the Silver-Tail household, wanting to write a separate letter to the new Lord named Bartholomew, wanting to give him a preferential deal for something else, which he would then discuss with him when he arrived in the following weeks or months. Regardless of his great changes and meetings, it came at a significant cost. All his projects have been lying on ice for the last few months, and with everything on his plate now, this wouldn''t change so fast. The only project somewhat on track was the one he instructed Ocilia with, but even for that, he had no real hope that it was ready for his finetuning. However, with some luck, his other ones were finished as he gave well-thought-out instructions before getting injured, and all they needed was some finetuning. He went to the wardrobe, choosing his clothes for the day, "Quite the crunch." It wasn''t only a selfish desire that drove him now to expedite much faster but also that he was incredibly thankful to everyone who was there for him for the last months. Time was costly, and he knew it. So, anything less than using all his knowledge to bring technology and, with it, prosperity into this world and to their fiefs was the minimum he could do. Unfortunately, it didn''t make him feel any better because, even though he filled their treasury up to the brim, brought Green more prestige, and tried to help everyone around him in every way possible, it also benefited him. Alexander only saw paying back the favors he was given if he needed to sacrifice something, but everything he gave felt more like a trade he wouldn''t lose on, making his conscience not feel any less heavy. Patricia was one of the people he owed a lot. When he went through his body-strengthening process, after every session, at night, she was always there for him, trying to relax him when he was on the brink of a breakdown. Little to say, he cried like a baby most of the time, as he could barely cope with what he went through. While his siblings were also there for him, it was the case that she was there for him the most, which made him immensely grateful. So, before she would leave in a couple of days, he wanted to give her all the fundamental mana skills and the [Body Overload (Mana)] skill. He would also finance her endeavors to get stronger, which he had already talked with his Grandmother about. Everything she bought for Patricia, he would pay to get the most out of it. For some reason, his Grandmother agreed quickly, not even thinking twice after he told her that he would also give her the mana skills. However, he was also truly thankful to the old hag. Even though she had some weird plans for him, it didn''t mean he was ungrateful for her helping him massively, especially with Ipe and Lili staying with him. He took first his undergarments, putting them on while deciding what his plans were for the day. He would first finish the mana ink and then visit the carpenter and smith for his Guttenberg press. Afterward, he would go to Ocilia and pray that the mana rooms were mostly done. Afterward, he had a short meeting with Green, discussing hopefully the ready-and-done mana ink. She was ecstatic learning that he was done, and Alexander knew that gold, at this point, wouldn''t be even a thought he would care about. She would probably throw the gold at him like there was no tomorrow. Next, he would need to have a lesson with Anastasia since he didn''t reach the intermediate Tier in [Law], for which he would need a couple more months, at most, and would then start with his judge duties, ''I need more people.'' After putting undergarments on, he chose some more casual clothes made out of linen and some loafers. His mind slowly was filled with dread, ''This is gonna be a long fucking day.'' He had too little time to do anything substantial and needed at least half a dozen people assisting him if he wanted to start his more grandiose projects without hindering his lessons and training. So, he was ready to get Ocilia''s siblings up to speed as fast as possible while trying to get more people from Salyna. If every day was like today, he would have only around four to five hours to train his movement skills, physical prowess, magic, and alchemy together. It was too little time. Besides that, he also needed much more time for his next project, which he was most excited about, and the main reason he would need all the cooperation he could get from other territories: Trains. He wanted to build a more efficient way to trade and move between cities in the east. But such a project needed a ton of requirements, like making an efficient refinery for steel, opening up the routes by flattening the land, and so on. Then, there was obviously the mechanical aspect of trains, but their principle was relatively straightforward from what he remembered. In rough terms, a train was nothing more than a giant metal block on wheels with a steam machine inside, acting as a motor. However, Alexander also needed to talk with his Mother later about experimenting with mana stones, which were used as an energy source in mana items. He wanted to use them instead of coal or other natural resources, but first, he needed to see how efficient mana stones were in terms of energy and, most importantly, how much they would cost. If they were too expensive and inefficient, he would need to think about ways to reduce the environmental damage he would create by burning coal en mass, but since magic was a thing, he was sure there was a suitable solution. It was his dream to connect the whole east of Moorgrel. Trade would become a breeze; people could move faster and more safely between cities, transforming it into something extraordinary, far outside everyone''s imagination. Before that, though, he would bet that there was something like that already out there in other territories. He needed those blueprints before he reinvented the wheel. Instead, He would try to improve already existing concepts if they were good enough. Regardless of the more grand projects he was far away from, he also needed to develop more miscellaneous stuff like modern writing ware, like pencils, fountain pens, pens in general, etc. Especially for the students and since, in his honest opinion, it sucked to write with feathers. It was relatively easy to develop and would increase productivity if everyone had better and cheaper writing utensils. There was a drive in him. Something called him to change the world, and it would be a crime if he wouldn''t use every drop of his knowledge not to do it. However, it was also exciting to him to see how he could affect it, even with little things. So, he was eager to see how more grand projects would shape society. He looked around the room and went to a commode, opening it and choosing a pocket watch, "You look nice..." He picked a silver one, which looked the roughest but also something he could just throw around, and it would still work. Alexander looked the last time into the mirror, trying to ascertain his looks, but gave up halfway through as he was never the guy who cared a lot about it as long as he looked somewhat acceptable. He went out of the door with a smile, finishing up his old projects and starting some new ones. Author''s Post Chapter: As you can see, the System Window is much more organized, and I forgot some skills, like [Poetry], in the previous chapters. So, if you think some unreasonable skills shouldn''t be there or I forgot some that should be there, please feel free to suggest since I can easily make some mistakes. However, I think overall, it''s fine. Chapter 103: Nine-Fire visit: 43: Finishing projects I ... Laboratory (Basement), Alexander''s Mansion "Good morning, my dear worker!" "G... good morning, Mr. Alexander!" Alexander came joyfully into his basement, where the development and production of the mana ink was happening. It was somewhat chaotic with one poor guy standing there, all surprised to see him coming inside unannounced. Since Alexander wanted to finish up all of his older projects after becoming well again, his first choice was obviously the one that lay on ice for quite some time: Mana Ink. Ultimately, the mana ink was practically finished. Still, Alexander, who discovered his inner pedantic artist years ago, wanted something he was happy with, which resulted in a lot of menial work of combining the ingredients quantitatively and qualitatively to create different kinds of black tones. It was a petty endeavor, which he acknowledged but went through nonetheless. Fortunately, though, he instructed Aurum to find someone loyal from the estate who would do this work for him before he got injured. This someone was a pelican-kin who stood nervously before him. Alexander smiled at him, trying to joke to calm him down, "Why so nervous? Had a long enough break?" It seemed not to work as the pelican-kin became more tense, fluffing his wings and stammering heavily, "N... No, Mr. Alexander! I wouldn''t d... dare!" Alexander stopped his attempts, being an amiable boss, and concentrated on the project at hand. He asked him more directly while gesturing to calm down, "Okay, fine, I believe you. Where are the color samples?" The nervous pelican-kin walked slightly to the side and pointed to a wall with hundreds of prepared samples pinned onto it with all kinds of black tones. Alexander immediately walked towards it and looked at every sample meticulously. The ink was used on his made paper and dried for some time, which was perfect since it showed its color after being fully oxidized. The combinations were many and distinguished a lot, which was terrific since he had many options to choose from. After over an hour, he found his favorite coloration and pointed at the sample, far to the side, "Number 38, I want this one." The skittish pelican-kin came closer while holding half a dozen pamphlets, "Y... yes, it was..." Alexander turned his head slightly to the pelican-kin and was confused about why he was so anxious, "Everything alright?" The pelican-kin hesitantly nodded, "I... yes and no." Alexander raised an eyebrow, being confused, "Explain." The pelican-kin started to shuffle through dozens of pages, and out of nervousness, he let them fall as he became overly flustered, "Ah!" However, Alexander quickly used an air contraption to catch them in mid-air. Not only that, but he also sorted them and gave him the pages back by letting them float into his hands softly, "Calm down... what''s your name?" The pelican-kin stuttered, "Ca... Carl." Alexander gestured for him to calm down more while trying to smile as amiably as possible, ''Why is he so nervous around me? However, all the other servants, who had little contact with me, were also somewhat timid...'' When he went for a stroll through the estate some days ago, he remembered that the lower servants or soldiers were highly respectful toward him, even though they had barely any contact with him. From gossip, he knew his personal servants were quite talkative and loved exaggerating everything he did, like the fight with his Grandmother, ''I will ask later, Francesca. She usually brags and gossips the most.'' While it was somewhat heartwarming that his people were always trying to put him on a pedestal, it could lead to problems where others would become fearful of him. His goal was to build a reputation like that of his Father, who was respected but also had a somewhat casual streak, where people could come to him openly. Yet, it looked like he was about to build something akin to his Mother, who was respected, too, but also much more unapproachable. Alexander''s reasoning was quite simple as to why he wanted to be more like his Father: He liked such bosses much more and disliked the ones who were too far out there, with whom he couldn''t have a beer and some casual chat. After a minute, where Carl relaxed a little, he tried again, "Okay, Carl. What is the problem?" Carl quickly looked up the right page and started reading, "Well... Mr. Alexander, sample 38 is something I made just for fun in my free time and... I am so sorry!..." He quickly bowed down and was about to kneel. However, Alexander got annoyed by this behavior, pushing him upwards with his air contraptions, "Okay, calm down. It''s fine if you made it. You can probably make it again, right?" "Yeah... but..." Now, he needed to force himself not to bash Carl against the floor, "But what? Can you talk normally for once?!" Even though Alexander would generally entertain the idea of getting to know his people better, letting them have much more time to acclimate around him, he was in a time crunch right now. He wanted to visit the smithy, the carpenter, and the mana chambers Ocilia was working on. He had no idea how far they had come and if he would need to put some time into finishing them. While it was fine if the carpenter and blacksmith required more time, he readied himself for some sleepless nights for the mana chamber project to get done. The reason was simple: Since Patricia and Scarlett would leave in a few days, he wanted to prepare presents for them. As such, he needed to be a little bit more pushy than usual but also couldn''t overdo it, as servants were rather skittish and fearful if he became annoyed. After what felt like an eternity for Alexander, Carl answered carefully, "I made it, but it is more expensive, and it is a combination of multiple products..." Alexander took the list out of his hands, without any reservation, and read it. After a moment, he returned the sheet and looked at him sternly, which made Carl flinch. However, Alexander smiled at him and opened his arms, "Well, Carl, you are now my ink guy, and I want you to make some batches of number 38." Carl smiled slightly and nodded, becoming more flustered. However, he looked around the workplace, but before he could say more, Alexander already understood the problem, waving his hand in dismissal, "Don''t worry. You will get some more workers. I will talk to Mom and send them here. You will also get a new contract with a wage raise. Are we done?" Carl nodded, and before he could kneel, Alexander was already walking away, "We will talk later¡ªone thousand bottles of mana ink and normal ink. You can begin calculating and planning out how we can produce it more efficiently. See ya later." However, as he almost walked out of the door, he could hear how he kneeled nonetheless, "Thank you for the chance, Mr. Alexander!" Alexander turned around, "Be at ease..." He then looked Carl in the eyes when he raised his head stoically, "...I don''t care about etiquette or manners. I need only loyalty and skill. Do you understand?" Carl started to shiver and only nodded at him. After seeing this, Alexander smiled at him, "Good! Till later or tomorrow." ... Outer parts of the estate, on the way to the smithy "Do you know who it was? Is it truly a good idea to give him such responsibility?" "If you want to talk, show yourself first." Lili appeared beside him, like out of nowhere, "I don''t know why you don''t like me being invisible, Mr. Alexander." Alexander shrugged, "I don''t want to look like I am crazy, talking to myself." Lili chuckled, "From what I saw, I thought you wouldn''t care about what others think." Alexander smirked, "I need to learn to care, sadly, but let''s not dig into this topic." Lili nodded, "Okay, Mr. Alexander. So, why do you trust the pelican-kin with such a massive task even without him signing a more thorough contract first?" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "Carl." Lili tilted her head slightly in confusion, "Pardon?" "His name is not Pelican-kin but Carl." Lili thought it visibly through, and going by her facial expression and how she pronounced his name, she didn''t like it, "Why do you trust Carl with such a massive task even without letting him sign a more thorough contract beforehand?" Alexander looked at her and didn''t say anything about her manners, but it was clear that she was highly degrading towards everyone who was not part of their family or close to them, like their retainers. In his mind, she probably saw this as an exclusive club that not everyone could enter. The same was true for Ipe, who looked at Green and all other nature-dwellers with disgust but also at everyone outside their household. He knew that his Grandmother was someone who looked down on all commoners heavily, even regarding them as trash. Only through a lot of work and sacrifices could even his Father become a part of their household, but if he were not a druid and maybe only some simple warrior, there would probably be no chance in hell that she would accept him into their family. Lili and Ipe, his two babysitters, had visibly the same mindset and saw everyone who wasn''t at least part of the guard households as lesser, which heavily collided with Alexander''s ideals, ''This will be fun.'' He quickly ignored his thoughts since such a mindset couldn''t be changed by debating one out of it. He shrugged at Lili''s question, "I don''t think he would steal the recipe." Lili tilted her head, askingly, "Why do you think so, Mr. Alexander?" "He could''ve already done so and be gone. The alchemical formula is a really simple one. I even bet that the current contract has more than enough loopholes to allow him some wiggle room in describing the ingredients without any problems. Also, Mom or Salyna probably put him in this position after Aurum asked for a worker for me. I trust they judged him well enough, so I don''t need to worry." "So, it is pure cynicism, hm..." "Partly." "Partly?" Alexander sighed as he basically repeated himself again, for what he felt like the hundredth time, "If you reward people for hard work with chances to grow, who in their right mind would risk something stupid like abandoning a safe future to become a fugitive." Lili visibly thought about it but didn''t say anything, only to become invisible again, "I hope you are right, Mr. Alexander." He smirked and looked arrogantly down at the air where the mana moved weirdly, "I am." Alexander, of course, understood what he thought was very idealized, but it worked most of the time if done right. In his opinion, loyalty shouldn''t come from anywhere and should precede him doing something. Be it like his Grandmother, saving the lives of Ipe and Lili, or like Ocilia, who was exceptionally devoted to him because he built her up without any expectations. Again, it was idealized, but there was also some cold cynicism, like Lili said. He was a noble, the absolute government in their fief, with exceptions. His trust getting betrayed meant betraying their system, which meant he could get rid of anyone like that in a heartbeat, and it would be morally right in this society. So, someone actually going against him was far more unlikely than someone on Earth selling company secrets and afterward fuck off to some country so as not to get canned by the law for corporate espionage or something similar. Besides that, there were also more fail safes in this world that he had already thought about, which he wanted to implement, but he would let Aurum handle such things. ... Outer Leonandra Estate, Smithy "Hello? Anywhere here... ugh, so fucking hot." "Who da fuck is ''ere? Of course, it''s hot, you moron! This is a darn smithy!" Alexander stood in the front part of what looked like a warehouse, filled to the brim with weapons, armor, and other miscellaneous stuff. He could see that deeper inside was some kind of smithy from which he heard metal clanging and felt how the heat flew out of there. "Hey, Ore! Go see who it is!" A grunt escaped someone who sounded young, "On it! Damn it, I was almost in the zone!" Alexander heard a bang, followed by, "Ow! Wha'' tha'' fo''?" A more bassy and rough voice sounded annoyed, "Zone? Com'' again in a hundred years with you'' shi''! Now move! There is a reaso'' I call you Ore!" Alexander heard someone hurrying toward him while cursing up a storm, ''Huh, this will be fun.'' While waiting, he inspected the storage room and took a sword made of relatively cheap iron, ''No wonder there is only one guard outside, barely staying awake.'' There were multiple smithies around the Outer part of the estate and one inside. They were segregated by how important they were. The one on the inside had blacksmiths who could be counted as experts or masters. In contrast, the ones on the outside were far less important with, at most, decent blacksmiths who would do work that was non-military related, or if it was, their made equipment was mainly used for either training purposes or meat shields, so to say, convicts judged with heinous crimes and sent to the front to die. However, Alexander was kept from pushing his projects onto the blacksmiths inside the estate as they had their hands full with supplying the East with armor, weapons, and other miscellaneous metalware. So, Aurum, before he was gone, gave Alexander''s blueprint to this smithy, and by looking at the ware, Alexander wasn''t so sure if the essential part of his book press was here in good hands. He came out of his thoughts when he sensed someone coming to greet him at last. It was a young bear-kin, swearing and frowning, "Which idiot is annoying Mast..." However, when they made eye contact, he suddenly opened his eyes wide and was visibly shocked, "...h... h... hello." Alexander smiled back while slowly patting the sword he inspected beforehand, "Well, hello there. How are you?" The bear-kin nodded, not even daring to move, "Am fine, Mr. Alexander, and... you, my highness?" Alexander came slowly forward, wanting to be a little childish, "You see, I had a really good day until I entered..." He stopped before the far bigger bear-kin, not stopping the patting of the blade, "...so, how about you get your Master to come out before my day becomes a bad one? Sounds good?" The young bear-kin nodded, suddenly drenching in sweat and walking backward while awkwardly bowing down, "Of course, Mr. Alexander..." He suddenly turned around and ran back to where he came from. Alexander though could hear him how he suddenly tripped, cursing, "Fuckin'' shi''!" This made him chuckle, ''I should probably stop playing the asshole, but it''s fun nonetheless.'' From inside the smithy, he heard how, who was probably the young bear-kin''s Master, screaming, "What the fuck is goin'' on?! What..." He suddenly became silent, and Alexander heard how they whispered and, afterward, how someone walked toward him. After a moment, another bear-kin came, as big as his Father, but to the contrary of his apprentice, was somewhat casual, "Mr. Alexander! Why didn''t you say you were here? Haha!" Alexander smiled back at the enormous bear-kin, "Well, yeah. How''s life up there?" The smith first looked confused but then laughed out loud, "Hahaha! Fine, like always!..." However, he then looked confused again at Alexander, "...so, this is Mr. Alexander..." He rubbed his chin, thinking aloud, "...a little on the meager side, not like the Lord..." After another moment, though, he nodded, crossing his arms, "...how ma'' I help?" Alexander ignored the comments and even liked that someone was this casual to him, "My assistant gave you a task, and I wanted to know how it''s going?" The blacksmith nodded, turning around, "Follow me. I worked with the carpenter, and we finished your weird apparatus, but I have no idea what it does or how to test it." Alexander was joyfully surprised that he did not need to visit the carpenter, which would save time. He was thankful to Aurum for making it clear to the artisans that they should work together, not separately. Sadly, though, it was now a crab shot if the apparatus worked since the artisans didn''t know what it was for. The smith walked to the side, to another door, and into a smaller storage room. Arrived, he took a blanket that lay over a giant machine and pulled it away, revealing the first step to Alexander''s dream of spreading information, "I dunno wha'' it is but is fine like it is?" Alexander walked closely and inspected it, smiling, ''Yes, this is the shit!'' The first things that he gazed at were the multiple sets of blocks made out of metal with slits on the side and behind it. On top, they had the letters of the beast-kin dialect alphabet protruding out. One of the more revolutionary things about a book press was that one could rearrange the layout to create whatever one wanted to write. Afterward, the arrangement of letters would be coated with ink and pressed onto a paper. From history at school, he knew that the Guttenberg press wasn''t first invented in Europe but in China. Yet, since they didn''t have the alphabet, which could be rearranged how one wanted, it was relatively unproductive and not used to the extent as in Europe. He took one letter block and analyzed it more closely, ''Good work.'' It was finely made and looked like what he had described and drawn in the instructions. One thing which he was the most worried about was the font and if the blacksmith wouldn''t make it how he wanted. It was actually one of the things he worked the longest on, as he tried to make it as commoner-friendly as possible while having some inkling of nobility with a bit of cursive. His reason was that too many writings looked very artistic and beautiful, but reading them was a pain in the ass. Sometimes, they were so curly that it was impossible to decipher what letter it was supposed to be without any context. So, his choice was a combination of Times New Roman and Arial. Later, he would create many more fonts for different circumstances, but one was more than enough for now. He put it back, looked at the press itself, and saw the genius of Johann Gutenberg, made out of metal and wood, ''Beautiful.'' He walked around it and inspected it more thoroughly. The principle was basic but elegant, a stroke of genius. First, you arrange the page you want to print by putting the single letters into a metal tablet and spreading ink over them. Then, you lay down the piece of paper on a moving conveyor belt and push it forward to the exact position where the tablet would press down. The last thing was just a simple lever. You pull it, and a force of multiple hundreds of pounds will be pressed on the paper. Pushing it away, it would rise again, and you will have your first print. Alexander was walking around it, trying the book press out by imagining and replicating the process. It worked perfectly, ''I can''t believe it.'' Even though it was far from any modern press, with only being able to print one page at a time, he couldn''t believe that the world would soon experience what it meant to distribute information more efficiently. It was captivating and the first step to educating the whole world, ''I know what the first book will be.'' Alexander was enchanted, patting the future slowly, "Yes..." "Mr. Alexander? Ar'' you alright?" He came out of his thoughts and looked surprised at the smith, ''Right, I have shit to do...'' He cleared his throat, "Ahem, bring this to my mansion, and give it to others and say they should bring it into the ink room, and tell them to be very careful with it and..." He opened his arms wide, "...if this works as it should, I will obviously reward you greatly!" The blacksmith scratched his head and nodded, obviously not knowing what kind of wonder he had actually created, not taking the young noble seriously about the reward, "Sur'', Mr. Alexander." ... Outside the state, on the way to Ocilia "The colors are much more vivid, don''t you think so, Lili?" Beside him appeared the husky-looking guard, "Mr. Alexander, is everything alright?" Alexander walked to a flower, sniffing it, "Ah..." He straightened up and smiled at Lili, "...yes. It is more than alright. In the next months, you will see something fantastic, and if you live long enough, you will see the world change to something..." He opened his arms wide, wanting to hug the whole world, "...incredible!" Some servants from his mansion walked beside him and only became surprised as he became louder, but ignored him quickly, knowing he was prone to act out sometimes. However, Lili only frowned, "I understand, Mr. Alexander, but I don''t have the foresight to see how some pieces of wood with metal letters will change the world." Alexander nodded and began to walk again towards Ocilia, "You will see..." After months of torture, he was again so joyful, like when he created the process for the papermaking, "...everyone will see!" Lili only raised an eyebrow, sounding very unsure how she should share his joy, "Sure, Mr. Alexander..." Chapter 104: Nine-Fire visit: 44: Finishing projects II ... Alexander''s mansion, Attic "Wow... you really are fast, huh?" "Master! I didn''t expect you!" Alexander wandered for the first time into the attic of his mansion, where he designated the space for Ocilia to build the chambers for his [Mana Sense] experiment. The sun shone through the roof windows, and the giant house spiders moved erratically around, feeling apparently disturbed as someone visited them without announcement. There were also dozens of wooden crates stored here, some equipment and other ware, all with a thick layer of dust. This place was nothing more than the beginning of a horror film and, by looking closer, wasn''t considered for cleaning duties for some time. He wanted to find his maids immediately and reprimand them, till he remembered Melina, who had bags under her eyes, almost begging him to get more servants as cleaning after six kids was quite hard work. He decided against it and just ignored the cleanliness of this place for now. However, besides the erratic and annoyed spiders, the mana chambers were much more interesting to look at. They seemed finished, even though they looked a little rough. The reason for it to be so quickly finished was lying all around the attic: dozens of empty stamina and mana flasks, and when he looked at her, she had giant bags under all of her eyes, ''Wow, it really reminds me of my time at university.'' Yet, even though he pitied her, he was eager to examine the first chamber before him more closely. She hastily but solidly constructed it at around 5 square meters (~54 sq ft) in size and 2 meters (~6.6 ft) in height. It had a triple wall made out of a lime and adobe mixture. Between the walls was the isolation, a cheap metal, roughly smithed only to be somewhat flat to fit between the walls. The metal was called Manullium. The name already told everything one needed to know what it did: Man was the shortened version of mana, while null meant nullifying, and -ium, a suffix for a metal. It was a cheap metal used as a part of alloys to create armor or swords, which were effective against magical means in either defending or cutting through shields made out of mana. It was very soft and could barely withstand heat while becoming brittle in cold. It was a shitty metal with barely any uses, and even though it was somewhat effective against spells, it also quickly deteriorated under slightly extreme circumstances. Thus, when mixed with other metals to alloys, its proportions were never higher than 1% since it deteriorated quickly, damaging the whole object. From what Alexander knew, they had a manullium mine, which barely had any use and only made minimal revenue. Even though he wanted to use it for something, he had no idea for what. However, he didn''t believe it was wholly useless, just that it had some practical property, which he simply didn''t find out. So, Ocilia using it en mass for their experiment was actually a clever choice, ''I only said that she should use something mana repellent-ish... huh. Good job.'' Ignoring Ocilia''s nervousness, he stepped inside and meticulously observed the first chamber. The walls, floor, and ceiling were adorned with mana gems and stones. It was not a flat surface, though, as they were protruding out in rough pyramid shapes. In the middle was the only flat place where one could sit. While everything looked fine, the time constraint was showing here and there as there were many gaps between the stones where the metal was showing. However, all in all, it was fine. Yet, he needed to minimize his mana sense as the whole space was massively filled with mana, making him feel a little uncomfortable, ''Holy shit, I feel as if I jumped into a mountain of snow, just that everything is blue instead of white.'' He walked carefully around, inspecting it while talking, "So, the stones and gems give off mana by themselves? I only saw this partly on some mana items, but this much?" As Alexander inspected many mana items for his Uncle and Aunt, some had an embedded mana gem, which acted as an energy source. It was a weird mechanism where one put energy into some spot, and a transformation-like mechanism would jolt the mana gem, activating the item. By observing them, he knew some gave off little mana while others, especially the stones, emitted this much. There was a clear difference between gems and stones, and it was how much mana they held and gave out. Gems, in general, for some reason, stored mana much better, and as he tried to sense into them, they were much denser while giving out much less. Stones, however, could hold, in general, much less but emit much more. Alexander didn''t know why it was the case but speculated that it had something to do with how dense the material was and that it somehow held the mana inside much tighter. However, experimenting on it was forbidden for him, and he only knew about mana stones or gems because he observed them secretly in mana items, not telling his Mother that they had some inside. He was only allowed to build this chamber because he promised to let Ocilia do everything and not experiment with anything even remotely dangerous. He had no reason to say no and had more than enough other things to study. Also, he wanted to maintain his Mother''s trust in him, which he painstakingly built up. Ocilia sounded a little nervous, bringing him out of his thoughts, "Is this too much?" He looked at her and frowned, "I... don''t know. I guess there is surely some maximum mana density air can hold, and we should reach it, but..." Ocilia finished for him, knowing that it was a question her Master had been researching for years, not finding a satisfying answer, "We don''t know how to measure mana, I know, Master." Alexander didn''t like mana''s properties. It was a somewhat abstract concept with natural components like his mana organs, which existed physically. It was like studying the fourth dimension but the other way around. He could practically use it, see, observe, and so on, but he had no idea how to research it theoretically. Ultimately, he was an engineer by trade and had only a basic understanding of everything theoretical, as he never intended to become a scientist. He quickly changed back to the practicalities, ignoring all the theory, hoping that over time, he could find out much more or build up the education system enough so others would do it for him, "Never mind..." He looked through the room, seeing another entrance, "...is this the door to the corridor?" Ocilia nodded, "Yes, Master. There is a corridor for the mana density to slowly to subside, but I don''t know if it is enough..." Alexander interrupted her, "Let me see." Feeling a little claustrophobic, he walked through the mana-dense room and opened the door to the next section before him, which was the mentioned corridor. It was short, around 5m (16.4ft) in length and 2m (6.6ft) wide. He started to smirk as it genuinely looked like a first-semester project, which a student would barely make in two nights, significantly underestimating the scope of the task given. Flat pieces of manullium were hanging all around on strings through the whole floor. He needed to zig-zag around them to go through, seeing that she had an excellent idea to repel the mana coming from the mana-dense room. It was basically a jungle, but instead of lianes, pieces of roughly made metal on strings were hanging around, ruining and ripping his clothes apart as they were smithed with sharp edges. However, it worked. As he walked through, the mana continuously decreased as it flew against the manullium pieces, scattering and not going any further. Alexander opened the door to the next room and immediately felt weirded out. There was barely mana, only a wisp or two. He walked inside with Ocilia behind him, who was trying to explain herself, probably thinking that because he was silent, he was somewhat disappointed. She was wrong. He actually loved what she had created, "I tried my best to move the ambient mana, but it was..." Alexander continued for her while using mana absorption to get rid of the ambient mana, creating more of a vacuum, "...no need to move ambient mana, just absorb it." Bang! The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Alexander got scared and suddenly flinched, turning around only to see how Ocilia facepalmed, "What the fuck? Why are you doing this?!" She mumbled, barely audible, through clenched teeth, "I needed hours to move the ambient mana out of the room, never even losing a thought about simply absorbing it..." Alexander shrugged and walked around, trying to get even the smallest mana particle absorbed, but he couldn''t sense them at some point anymore. After some thought, he turned around and smiled at Ocilia, "Good job! Choose a reward, however, I think..." She interrupted him, now much more relaxed, "...I know what I want, Master." He raised an eyebrow, seeing how serious she was and that she actually jumped on this opportunity while the last time, she had no idea what she wanted, "Yeah? What is it?" She clenched her hands and became overly nervous, but after some time, she answered, "I want you to allow Ariana and Quill to visit you and..." She suddenly stopped, making Alexander more curious, "And?" After another moment of probably getting all her courage for whatever request she wanted to make, she answered. Her upper eyes went wild, and her voice slightly cracked, "And I want you to give Ariana a chance to become your retainer!" Alexander tilted his head slightly to the side, confused, "Aha? Do you have a reason for that?" Ocilia nodded, "I... I think it is a dumb reason but important to me." He rolled his eyes, annoyed by this juvenile teenage behavior, "Just tell me already." She blushed slightly, "I ride every evening for two hours to Wolfsteeth to be together with her and come back to the estate in the morning. It is really stressful." After a moment of blanking out, Alexander suddenly laughed, "Haha! You want her to be my retainer because you want to bang her more often and don''t have the stress of commuting anymore?!" Her face turned red like a tomato, "But you said I could take any reward I wanted! I love her and want to be with her together as much as possible!" Alexander waved his hand in dismissal and tried to relax from the laughter, "Oh man, I can''t believe it..." He wiped a tear away and cleared his throat, "...ahem, yeah. Bring her to the estate, and I can talk to her first before deciding. However, I will not count it as a reward. This is just too fucking stupid." Ocilia became even redder and looked down at her feet in shame. However, Alexander also saw how she smiled, ''Holy shit. A teen is a teen in the end.'' Alexander needed to be careful since Ocilia was relatively inexperienced when discussing relationships. It was her first girlfriend, and she was heavily in love with Ariana. He dearly hoped that her rumored half had a clearer head and wasn''t as dense. He suddenly noticed that Ocilia didn''t mention something important, "Did she actually know what you are doing right now? Trying to bring her to my side?" She flinched and tried to explain herself immediately, stumbling over her words, "N... no, but I think she... I mean, she respects you a lot, Master, and by giving her this opportunity, I think that she can... become..." She suddenly stopped and sighed, slumping her shoulders, "...I didn''t tell her." Alexander patted her back and smirked, finding it quite amusing, even though a little bit annoying, to have to deal again with something nonsensical instead of wondering out of boredom if he could kill himself with his own aura, "Well, you have a lot to talk with her and Aurum." She raised an eyebrow, "Aurum?..." She suddenly understood, or at least she thought so, "...no Master, you see, she is together with me, and girls can love other girls even without a boy in-between. Aurum has nothing to do with it." Alexander laughed again, finding it cute how she misunderstood him, "Haha, I know what a lesbian is, Lia..." After saying it, she looked more confused at him, so he explained further, "...she is Aurum''s worker, and you are trying to poach her. He will go mad the moment he hears it." She waved her hand in dismissal, "It''s fine. He has found quite the people now and has over a dozen new workers. Ariana being there or not will not make a difference." Alexander shrugged, "Suit yourself but talk with her and Aurum first about it. The last thing I need is some weird quarrel between my people." Ocilia nodded with a smile, "Of course, Mas..." Her sentence was interrupted by a dog appearing on the other side of the room, making Ocilia flinch and immediately attack the fauner with her threads. However, when they touched her, they just got ripped apart, with Lili sounding pleasantly surprised, "Good reaction!" Making Ocilia stand in front of Alexander and preparing more threads. Alexander sighed, annoyed by such childish behavior, "Don''t worry. This is Lili, my Grandmother''s guard, and it seems like she likes to prank others." Lili waddled her tail and panted happily, "Oh please, Mr. Alexander. I just wanted to see how your disciple will react, and I am pleased." Ocilia relaxed slightly but glared nonetheless at Lili, "Nice to meet you, Lili." The fauner walked toward Ocilia, increasing her aura on her, which felt oppressing, from what Alexander saw, and immediately stopped the nonsense, "Stop!" He walked to Lili, glaring her down, "You are here to protect me and not to test my retainers, do you get it?" Lili, though, didn''t back down and looked back at him innocently, "Mr. Alexander, by all respect, if I see her as a threat or nuisance..." The moment she said it, he immediately pointed his killing intent toward her, like a blade held at her throat. There was no need to imagine someone else, as his anger toward her was real. However, it only made her flinch once, and shortly after, she looked relaxed, which made him even angrier, "Listen here, you damn mutt. I don''t give a fuck about you, and the moment you become annoying, I will have you thrown out. You will not threaten my people, do you understand me?" The killing intent increased, but Lili was still relaxed. After another moment of pressuring silence, she nodded, smiling at him, "You really are like Mistress..." Her eyes became more sinister, "...at least I don''t need to worry that you are too soft." It was silent till she chuckled, making Alexander pop a vein, "I need to apologize for my behavior. Your Grandmother instructed me to test your people to see if there are some rats, so excuse me and..." She bowed down to Alexander and looked at Ocilia, who was also glaring at Lili with hate, bowing down to her, too, "...I also want to apologize to Ocilia for coming over as rude." Before Alexander could say anything, Ocilia bowed to her, too, "No need, Lili. I understand what you did and appreciate your worries." For some reason, this made Alexander angry, and he tried to intellectualize it somewhat, but it was hard to get over the fact that the people he chose got tested. However, after a moment of thought, while Ocilia and Lili exchanged pleasantries, he remembered that he was a damn child. Alexander sometimes overlooked that he was now only seven years old, so having him decide who was allowed to come close to him, especially as a noble, was an insane proposition. So, he calmed down slightly, but because of his pettiness, he wouldn''t apologize, ''Fuck that shit.'' However, he got another idea, clapping his hands, interrupting the conversation, "I like that you understand each other so well. However, I need Lili actually to test something for me." Lili looked at him, tilting her head, "Oh, how may I be of help, Mr. Alexander?" He shrugged, "Well, I need someone to test the mana rooms and if you can get the [Mana Sense] skill." She nodded, sounding joyful, "Oh, it will be an honor!" Ocilia also looked happily at Alexander, "That will be great to test it right away!" Alexander nodded, calming down more and talking to Lili more amiably, "Great, so all you need to do is..." ... An hour later, Outside the mana rooms After explaining to her what she had to do, he went outside. There was little to it since it was at an experimental stage. Lili would first stay inside the room without mana for an hour and meditate, trying to feel the atmosphere. Afterward, she would go to the room filled with mana and try to sense the difference. He wanted to replicate his experience in what he felt when coming to this world and how it felt vastly different. With this, he hoped to give his people the legit [Mana Sense] while streamlining the process without his involvement. "Ehm, Master?" His thoughts were interrupted by Ocilia, who sounded a little nervous. "Yeah?" She opened her arms, sounding severe, "I think what Lili did was good, and you shouldn''t be harsh to her." He raised an eyebrow, noticing that Ocilia was a little nervous. He wanted to disagree with her immediately but reconsidered it at the last moment, thinking he should at least hear her out and encourage her to say her thoughts out loud, "Why do you think so?" Ocilia relaxed a little, "What she did was for your sake, and while you don''t like it that she is questioning your authority in choosing the people you think are trustworthy, I need to say..." Alexander starred at her, not liking at all what he heard, while Ocilia saw this and gulped, trying to bring out all her courage, "...Master, you gave too many people too many chances, going only by your gut feeling, and I fear that this will at some point become a poisoned dagger." Alexander couldn''t disagree with her. He was impulsive and tried to retroactively explain his decisions by how well they worked rather than looking at the situation at the time. It was quite a big problem of his, trusting at some point his instinct to immense degrees when it came to people. One needed first to analyze the facts of the matter and make decisions based on it, but he, for some reason, didn''t like it. Seeing Ocilia now and how she was before, he wouldn''t take her in if he thought like that. After a moment of reflection, while rubbing his chin, he knew why it was the case, ''I just don''t fucking care and don''t want to go over it.'' With this, he got an idea of how to build an excellent failsafe rather than change, "Fine. After this project, I will have another one for you." Ocilia gulped, probably thinking he would punish her, "Yes, Master? What will it be?" "I want to have a Noriken who will test everyone on their truthfulness and background. Go to Aurum, and you both can decide who it will be and how to get someone like that to my side. Feel free to offer whatever you both see fit. How does it sound?" After a short moment, Ocilia beamed with a smile, "Yes! That sounds great, Master!" He waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, yeah, it was your idea, though, so be proud and take responsibility in looking for one. Tell Aurum it is a priority since I need someone to quickly evaluate a mass of newer people starting in a week or so. I guess Salyna or Mom will stop me at some point from poaching their workers." She was about to say something. However, the door opened, and Lili came out, beaming with a smile, panting, "I can sense mana..." She looked around in confusion, probably having problems adapting to her new sense, rubbing her nose with a paw, "This is weird..." Alexander smiled at her, opening his arms, "Well, welcome to the world of magic." Chapter 105: Nine-Fire visit: 45: Negotiations (Mana Ink) ... Shortly after giving Lili [Mana Sense], Alexander''s office "This mana ink is fantastic..." "I guessed you would like it, so..." "So..." Before Alexander could say anything, Green interrupted him, not even trying to hide her greedy smile, "...just say a number, and I will give you the gold." After Lili successfully got her [Mana Sense] skill, instead of putting her through the training of getting all the other ones, he immediately went to Anastasia for a law lesson, which he was already tired of learning. Still, with his skill being level 73, he would need, at most, another month. Afterward, instead of training his magic or alchemy or doing something more physical, he needed to meet up with Green, presenting her at last with the finished mana ink. Even though he wanted to create some batches beforehand, it was the right time to show it to her now and make a deal while at it. The reason was that she visited him more rarely, only to give him pamphlets or books with spells and sometimes theories. With Ipe basically glued to his ass when he trained, there was no need for her to observe his lessons anymore. There were also no educational reasons since he had already eclipsed her in that sense. For now, she was nothing more than a supplier for spells and magic theory and a middleman for the wares he would produce. So, he readied himself for some serious bargaining. Yet, after testing the ink, she suddenly didn''t care about the finances anymore. However, he wasn''t too keen on getting one over his partner and aimed more for a long-term relationship where both could benefit. Ultimately, she was his entrance into the Temple and their market, his sole buyer, making things much more manageable. The last thing he wanted was to look for new buyers who could never buy his current or future wares in bulk. Another reason was that he was already remarkably rich, and including the mana ink in place, he probably could reach half the yearly tax income they made through Wolfsteeth. Making a little more or less because of greed was too shortsighted. He wanted something else, something very specific, but before asking for it, Alexander decided to be more casual and talk honestly about what the price could look like, "For how much will you sell it? We can try and negotiate a good deal." She didn''t listen to him and only answered, "Sounds good." "I will have a hot threesome with the Oracle and my Dad, you know?" "Fantastic, just write it down so I don''t forget it." Alexander rolled his eyes and flicked her forehead, "Ow!" She suddenly looked at him, annoyed, "What?! I said I will pay you the price!" He frowned, "I want to know how much you will sell it for so we can adjust everything together accordingly." She raised an eyebrow, "Do you fear I will get one over you?" He leaned slightly back in his chair and shrugged, "Not really. You are not that stupid, and you have goals other than getting wealthy." "Why do you ask me then? Just give me ten times the amount of coin it costs to make it. Isn''t it a great margin?" Alexander smirked at her, "Then it would mean I would sell you this little bottle..." He pointed at the ink bottle before her, which she held like a newborn chick, "...for around one small silver coin, and this would truly be too little." She tilted her head, surprised, "Wait, is this as cheap as the mana paper to make?" Alexander nodded, "Around the same, and I can create it actually much faster." "How many ink bottles can you create per month?" Alexander showed a so-so gesture, "Right now? Around 10.000 bottles, and like with the mana paper, we can do much more over time when we get the production on track. I would say..." Green smiled widely, interrupting him, "You are too conservative, which means that in a month, you can easily double or triple the production." He was always very conservative in his assurances. He would rather underpromise to surprise her positively than overpromise and not deliver. In business, the most important thing was that one could plan for the future, and while there were a lot of risk-takers, he saw no need to go that way. He would instead take the slow road while focusing on his political and societal projects. He shrugged, "Depends, really. The resources are there, renewable, and nobody uses them except for compost. Still, for emergency cases, I can quickly create something similar out of very different resources, and all that will change will be the color. I think I will implement something like thi..." She interrupted him, "Nobody cares, and this is your problem. Thirty average gold coins per bottle." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "You want to sell a bottle for 30 average gold coins?" She shook her head, "Nooooo. I want to buy it from you and sell it for 35 or 40." Alexander was genuinely confused about the price as he predicted ten large silver coins at most, "Isn''t it too expensive?" "Haha, of course not! Mana artifacts for contract writing are very costly to maintain, repair, and replace. Besides, one needs a lot of time to write a substantial contract..." She slowly patted the ink bottle, weirding Alexander out, "...instead, this little wonder will save me a lot of time and gold." Alexander ignored her behavior and calculated in his head that with 10.000 bottles per month, he would get around 30.000 large gold coins, an insane sum. Even more so because there were almost no expenses after taxes, which he paid voluntarily, he would have around 24.000 large gold coins left, ''Now I get why having too much money is fucking annoying.'' It was too much already. He had no way to spend it quickly as his other revenue stream, the mana paper, was already bringing in massive amounts of gold. Even Aurum, in his letters, was slowly getting annoyed that he had no way of spending it efficiently and asked for ideas. All he did was bring most of the gold to the bank. Alexander was also worried about this, as inflation was real, even though gold seemed to be a finite resource. Yet, with enormous and replenishable mines inside of dungeons, real alchemy, and magic, gold was brought into the economy continuously. The only hindrance was energy and time. So, the precious metals were inflating and losing value. As such, having a large portion saved up in the bank while it was losing value was a waste. Such a situation would be golden for anyone who was not the per se government of the region and could just buy out every business. However, for him, buying out companies could become a problem in the long run as he would stifle competition and, with it, the local economy. Alexander, however, decided to invest only in sectors that seemed to others a waste of gold but had a long-term gain, like education, poverty prevention, etc. Now, though, after some thought, he decided to also go for technologies since it was a relatively novel thing in this region, having his new grandiose idea in mind, "I don''t need so much gold." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. She looked away from the mana ink bottle and at him, confused, "What do you want then? You know our branch isn''t the largest, and while we increased heavily in size, prestige, and other factors, we can''t really do much." She was right in this aspect. From all the reports and talks with his Father, the Twin-Acorn branch was growing tremendously, bringing more and more people in who wanted to prove themselves and get as many merits as possible by volunteering here against one of their most hated folks of the Temple, the wild demons. They even opened another two smaller branches in the Cold-Snout and Nine-Fire territory to the north, which brought a ton of goodwill to his Father, who made sure to increase his reputation with the Temple, who saw their efforts in widening their religious and ideological influence in hostile environments as essential but not something they want to put their people in forcefully. The border to Kratikal was on the same level as the conflict point where humans, dwarves/gnomes, and nature-dweller territory met. There was a whole history to that, but the short version was that the draugr captured a giant chunk of the nature-dweller territory and afterward were captured by the humans and dwarves/gnomes. Even though the wild demons didn''t do such a thing, they hated them nonetheless as they destroyed their natural habitats and, not only that, also made them uninhabitable for generations to come, which was apparently a sacrilege for the Temple. However, there were good reasons for concentrating on their borders rather than here. For one, not many could stay here for long as most went insane as nature-dwellers were very sensitive to their environment. Only those like Green, who were already on a more secular side, could survive here long term. Also, it was much harder for them to clean the Kratikal region from the miasma, so they mostly left the region for good, leaving it to the hands of volunteering branches. Regardless of their inner politics, most beast-kin loved the Temple as it did a lot of good work around here and gave his subjects some peace of mind. Even though Alexander was mainly non-religious, besides the typical agnostic mindset, he understood that many needed traditions, rituals, and other religious events to ease their mind. Be it funerals, weddings, or something else entirely, it was always soothing to know that they weren''t only some carbons patched together with luck and spit floating around in space. With that, the folk became much more amiable and calm, making also the rulers happy and, thus, more friendly towards them. However, now he needed the Temple as what he wanted was almost likely not anywhere in the black market, "I need something particular, and I am ready to take a substantial cut to 20 average gold coins per bottle." She raised her eyebrow and laughed out loud, "Haha! How gracious of you. Now, you don''t make a whole baron amount of wealth but only one-third less." Alexander waved his hand in dismissal, "You want me to jack up the price? Don''t you want to cut out the royal draugr household? Do it by lowering the price even further..." He rubbed his chin and thought, shrugging, "...fine. 10 average gold pieces per bottle." She leaned back and looked at him more seriously, "Sounds great, but what do you want?" Alexander smiled and became more serious, "You know what a train is?" She tilted her head, saying, slightly confused, "Aren''t trains those giant mechanical machines in the dwarf and gnome territory?" "I mean..." He wondered if they meant the same, "...maybe, but they look like this..." He moved the earth from a nearby plant pot, using his mana, creating a replica of a train and some tracks, "...does it look like this?" She nodded, "Yeah? How do you know? It looks slightly different, but I get what you mean, and you want a train?" He shook his head, "I need those blueprints." She shook her head, "Imposs..." He interrupted her, "...5 average gold pieces, and you can sell it for 10, making the draugr bleed out in weeks or months. The merit you will get will probably be enough to..." He actually had no idea what they used it for in the Temple, "...get a lot of stuff and because it is so cheap, you can even undercut them in their territory, selling it through the black market as they probably have a monopoly on their stuff." It was silent, and she stared toward the train for a whole minute before turning to Alexander, becoming severe, "I get why you want it, but aren''t you a genius? Can''t you build it yourself?" He shook his head, "Yes and no. Yes, I can design, build, and create it, but it will take at least some years. Still, with functioning blueprints, I could have something ready and would need only to better the model and design..." He snapped his finger, "...oh yeah, I also obviously need how one creates the motor, the fuel, and a blueprint for how to make steel efficiently." While he was knowledgeable, certain things were just too cumbersome and time-consuming to design from the fundamental level. Steel was such an example. While he knew how to make it, which was a straightforward process of separating iron from oxygen and then adding some carbon to it, it would streamline the process if he could get his hands on a functioning process and simply finetune it, like with the train as a whole. Green looked at him, baffled, "Excuse me, I think I didn''t hear right. You said years but probably meant tens of years, right?" Alexander remembered that technology developed much slower here on Orbis than on Earth. Even though Earth needed a lot of time to create everything, the time scales here were much longer. Through historical records, he found out that, for example, the numbers system was only developed thousands of years ago. If he went by his assumptions, it was brought over by an Earthling as it was too eerily similar. The reason was apparent: Old mindsets persisted much longer since the lifespan was also immensely longer. Together with body modifications, which increased their lifespan every time by half and generally more vital bodies, change was on a much different scale. There was also the problem with skills, levels, and so on. While they were beneficial, many would concentrate on already discovered ones instead of trying novel approaches, wasting years of their time. Anastasia and the researchers in the free cities were, in that sense, a novelty, but even they were tied up in their conservative approaches because of funding. He shook his head and leaned forward, smiling, "Years, and if I have the darn blueprints, I can quicken everything to a year or two, making even the logistics of the Temple branches a breeze. How does it sound?" She looked at him but frowned, obviously wanting to decline, "No..." He interrupted her again, "...3 average gold pieces, and you sell it for 5. Also, I will immediately hire more workers and concentrate my efforts on making 30.000 to 40.000 bottles in two to three months per month. By the end of the year, the draugr royal family who creates it will go bankrupt, and you..." He knocked on the table, smiling at her, "...will drown in honor and praises for achieving this." Green clenched her hands repeatedly, her smile changing into a frown and back, but Alexander saw her greed slowly flaring up. He was ready to take an enormous hit to his margins if he could expedite the whole technological process. He could make much more money and develop closer ties to other territories by getting the logistics on track. The tax revenue alone through trading would triple or more. All he needed was the full knowledge of everything related to the train system the dwarves and gnomes used. After almost five minutes of silence, Green looked at him, nodding, "Fine, but I need to contact my oracle." Alexander stood up excitedly, "Great! Let''s transform this barren land into something fantastic, making your Temple branch one of the most important, and all the while fuck over some undead!" Green, though, wasn''t as excited, "I... will try my best..." ... Cave of Life An enormous and colorful flower glistened as a giant stalactite, which hung on the ceiling, emitted relaxing light. From the tip of the stalactite, a single drop fell down onto the flower. As the droplet touched the flower, it became suddenly much bigger, as if going through years of growing. Hours passed, and another drop fell, making the flower even bigger. Like this, it grew and grew. However, when the flower became big enough to touch the stalactite, it suddenly withered, turning in minutes into compost. Hours passed, and another drop fell from the stalactite toward the small patch of earth where the flower previously stood. A bud slowly opened, and the process of life and death began anew- a circle and symbol of the Temple. This peaceful process was interrupted when a light brown-reddish flame appeared beside the flower. The small and barely moving flame looked calm, but if one looked closely at it, it was deep and slumbering emotions no one wanted to bring out. On the other side, a bright purple flame appeared, erratically moving around. It looked honest and barely able to contain itself, but there was also some stubbornness that even the coldest winter couldn''t make it go extinct, "What?! By the Outer Circle, why do you call me into a meeting!" The small brown-reddish flame never moved too much, almost standing still, "Hello, my dear oracle of the Earthly Sisterhood, how are you?" The purple flame became more massive, "Didn''t you contact me because it was something serious? Why are we chit-chatting?! You know where my Temples are, are you not?! I have no time for something this stupid!" The brown-reddish flame barely moved, "I understand your aggressiveness, but I thought some casual exchange was in order before talking about the important things?" The purple flame grew, almost towering over the brown-reddish one, "You..." However, the brown-reddish one suddenly became hotter, almost snuffing out the purplish one, "...careful Kalia. Just because I am nice doesn''t mean I can''t snuff you out. Never think I will take anyone''s aggression because of the size of my branch. There is a reason why we survived as one of the oldest branches." The purple flame moved again erratically but wouldn''t dare to become larger, "Fine! I fucking hate your branch..." It calmed considerably down, "...so, what do you want?" The brownish flame sounded solemn, "My messenger has another offer for you." The purple flame calmed now fully down, also barely moving, "Do you want to sell me more mana paper? I will take it gladly, of course, if the price is the same." The brown-reddish flame created space inside itself, forming a vicious smile, "Mana paper? No, something much more exciting, something you would love to have." The purple flame suddenly became erratic again, "Oh? What is it?" The smile expanded, "However, I also need something from you..." The purple flame suddenly shivered, feeling the madness the brown-reddish flame showed for a moment, "...you see..." Chapter 106: Nine-Fire visit: 46: Good Bye Gifts ... Some days later, Alexander''s Mansion, Attic "Welcome! Today, we will write history!" With this announcement, spiders gathered around the ceiling in the attic, watching how a young wolfkin stood before a crowd. Some were fascinated, others less, taking their flies and mosquitoes as snacks, but nonetheless, all watched with interest. Before Alexander, there was a small group of people. All of them were either family, friends, or close retainers. Everyone here was about to receive a gift, yet emotions varied. However, in his mind, this would quickly change. Furthermore, if everything worked out, he would have successfully proven that the distribution of mana skills could be handled efficiently without his interference. Thus, the path to creating a society where magic could be taught to first graders would open up. Such a thought excited him, making him imagine utopian scenarios. He could massively decrease hunger, eradicate diseases, increase everyone''s quality of life, and more. It was a shortcut solution for so many problems, and he couldn''t imagine what else it could bring. Of course, there would be some negatives, but the positive points were overwhelming in his mind. Yet, before he could implement magic lessons in kindergarten, he would need to develop a new chant language and tweak some spells to make it much safer. The last thing he wanted was to explain why little Jenny turned into a living bomb while playing with plasticine, and Frederic suddenly drowned in his orange juice. However, now he wanted his loved ones to receive it first, as they always stood by his side. Some looked annoyed, like Patricia and Linuel, but others, like his Grandmother and Janina, were excited, and Ipe was smiling cutely into some empty space, probably imagining the death of his kin. Alexander opened his arms, gesturing toward the weirdly built chambers inside the attic, "This is the mana chamber! With this, you can get [Mana Sense], which brings you a step closer to being a full-blown mage like me..." Alexander slightly changed what Ocilia built, trying to put more mana in or out of the specific spaces, making them either more filled or empty. This didn''t mean, though, that it looked better. A test with one of his newer maids showed that it worked after the change, too, even though she needed more than five hours and multiple attempts. "Now you have a choice! You can have one of two types of mana skills..." He showed two fingers, making it all dramatic, "...one, you will become like me, a pure mage, who will be able to cast spells as flexible as possible, or second, you will choose a racial trait, mystic skill, or whatever, and we will be able to specialize you in this sense like..." He started explaining the upsides and downsides, which he tested with Ocilia and Lili and came to some serious conclusions. At first, he thought that he doomed his close ones to be second-class mages by using their [Mystic Skills] or racial skills to activate their mana skills, putting them in a more unfavorable position. However, this wasn''t the case, as there were upsides and downsides to both ways. Ocilia, for example, had almost no problems manipulating her threads and creating a robust construct right off the bat after Alexander found a way for her to do so. At first, he thought that her speed, control, and robustness of the constructs she created were the norm since they were somewhat similar to his when he started. Since Ocilia was also his first disciple to whom he seriously taught magic, it was an easy mistake he oversaw. Why mistake? His control group, Lili, had immense problems creating constructs after she learned [Mana Manipulation]. It was so challenging for her that at some point, he wrote to Green to ask if this was normal, and it seemed to be the case. Even inserting her mana into her energy was ridiculously hard for her. By talking to Ocilia, his brother, and many more, he found out that one had an innate feeling if one controlled mana with [Mystic Skills] or racial skills, which, in turn, made the learning and application process much easier and straightforward. There were also some more perks, but they depended on the skill. Ocilia, for example, could use her mana skills inter-dimensionally after telling him how she invaded and killed some night-elves in their shadows, also getting a new skill all the while. His Mother was the same. With her mana, she could increase her demonic energy''s power and infection rate, which was already over the top and much faster than the typical Nine-Fire [Divinity Line]. His Father could use it through his tattoos, which were apparently changeable if he put his specific natural energy into them, easily turning them into constructs on his body. This was also why he got Sarusos to scout the black market for enchantment spells for the body, as his tattoos were nothing more than an equivalent to enchantments. His Father was able to double or triple whatever he chose to strengthen if he combined constructs and his druid buffs. Then, there were more creative approaches, like that of Narsiz. He could create constructs and conjure them through a writing skill. By going through a series of tests, Alexander concluded that his brother was a natural enchanter who could efficiently emit his mana into materials. Lorient, Sarah, Sarusos, etc., used it like his Mother, only to strengthen their already excellent skills and energy. For spells, they would mostly use lifestyle spells like the cleaning spell, as anything more complicated than 2D constructs was not worth their time. This was also something he overlooked. Much studying was needed to be a mage efficiently, but not everyone was ready to throw their precious time into this. So most, after talking and apologizing to them, only laughed, saying that they wouldn''t want to study like he did, for hours on end, trying to perfect spell after spell. While Alexander explained to them the benefits of having their mana skills linked to one another, he also explained the benefits of being a true mage. They had great flexibility, and with little training, they could become at least as strong as he was now. His earth bullet was proof enough that even lesser spells could become significantly powerful. But looking at their faces, he saw only two who truly wanted to be a mage. The rest were rather bored at the idea of starting anew, learning another field they weren''t acquainted with. After ten to twenty minutes of explaining the upsides and downsides of everything, everyone without mana skills stood there thinking. However, Patricia was the first to come forward, "I want it like you." Alexander nodded, thinking it was natural for her to want the skills the way he had since he couldn''t imagine gifting it to her any other way. Also, she was young and intelligent, so she would probably get the hang of it fast, "Great! Come with me!" He opened the door to the room filled with mana, telling her everything she needed to know while she listened to him attentively, ''She is really tense.'' After explaining, he hugged and patted her, trying to calm her, "Don''t worry. I am sure that you can do it, but if not, we will just try again. All of this is experimental; don''t forget it, okay?" When he let go of her, she had a reddish face, which made him worry if she was sick, "Are you unwell? Is everything okay?" She only nodded slightly, "I... am fine..." and walked into the room, closing the door behind her, ''Well, maybe she is just nervous? I would be too if someone sent me into an attic and then into some weird chamber.'' He turned around and saw how his Grandmother was thinking, clearly undecided. Fortunately, Ipe came forward, making the process much smoother, "I want to specialize. Since you explained it so well, Mr. Alexander, I already know which skill I want to be strengthened." He clapped his hands, "Great!" Like this, hours went on. Everyone besides Patricia and Janina decided to specialize, making his previous assumptions more valid. They were young and could quickly get into certain topics without losing much. Even if they had little success with magic, they should then have more than enough training to boost their other skills easily and flexibly. However, Alexander was confused. Everything went well, like perfect. Everyone got their [Mana Sense] skill, even Janina, which he didn''t expect she would get on the first try. He even readied himself to repeat the same process in the following days. There was also a funny side to all the ordeal. After receiving the skill, Alexander''s close ones were confused as this was a new sense they had developed, initially making them somewhat disoriented. Besides the slight disorientation, everyone looked psyched, especially his Grandmother, who always strived to become stronger. Now, though, after some hours of supporting everyone in developing the skill, he also ordered some servants to bring everyone else from his family besides Lorient and some retainers to join them. Why not Lorient? Because he had already tested later parts of his gift with her, and it worked smoothly. So, all she did for now was train and test it out. When everyone else arrived, it became a little chaotic, which weirded Alexander out, ''I feel like some manager at a Christmas party, trying to get everyone to play some stupid game.'' The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He raised his voice, using an air contraption to sound even louder, "Now we will learn how to manipulate mana! While I gave you the most important mana skill, which acts as a fundament, I will also give you the next one to manipulate mana!" Alexander went to everyone who already learned it, asking them to help the ones who hadn''t, while he tried to instruct Janina and Patricia, the only true mages. His Mother helped his Grandmother, and his Father helped Ipe while Narsiz and Sarah went over to Linuel. Sarusos and some others were waiting, making Alexander feel bad for them as to why he called them at all, ''Well, fuck it.'' Fortunately, they listened to him without any problems, making coordinating the whole ordeal much more straightforward. He would need a couple of days to teach everyone individually. Even though it was rough and rushed, they could deepen their understanding afterward by reading dozens of notes and explanations from others, which he put into their public estate library. Like that, hours went by again, and the afternoon sun stood high up, cooking the attic to uncomfortable degrees. Even though he didn''t feel the heat, the air became much heavier and more uncomfortable for Janina, ''Time to switch locations.'' "Okay, did everyone get it? Janina and Patricia did..." He looked around and only now saw how most of them were comfortably chatting and waiting for the younglings to finish, which surprised Alexander positively, "...great! Let''s move toward the training ground..." He looked at Janina, who was heavily sweating and breathing uncomfortably, "...I feel a little uncomfortable here." The first to answer was his Mother, who quickly glanced at Janina, too, "Good idea, Alex. I also feel that the air got stale here..." She turned around, looking at everyone else, "...let''s go." ... 10 minutes later, Training ground, Alexander''s mansion As they went toward his training area, a lot of chatting was going on, and by observing everyone, it seemed that they were very considerate of their youngest, who was also physically the weakest, not even showing some annoyance, ''I really like this family.'' It was unusual to have such a strong, bonded family, which he loved. Still, it was also challenging to enter this circle, as seen by Linuel, who was flirting with his brother but was also scrutinized by his Mother, ''Well, at least she is not starting a fight.'' Regardless, he became uneasy as they entered his training grounds since it always looked like a battlefield. Alexander''s training mainly consisted of exercising control over his spells by following the family tradition, which was more complicated than he had thought. As such, some mistakes happened when he, for example, tried to create a metal bullet, which, when shot, would explode when it hit something, then turn into a fragmentation grenade, demolishing the training area and almost killing him. A slightly disappointed voice came from the side, "Boy, you really need to keep your house in order." "Dad, not now. I have already so much shi..." He was suddenly hit on the back of the head by his Father, "...ow! Why?!" He shook his head, "Your Mother told me your cursing is my fault and scolded me. So don''t." Alexander mumbled, barely audible, "First my freedom and now my speech, what is this? A prison?" His Father laughed out loud, "Guhahaha! Would a prison feed you so well? Now shut up. Everyone is waiting for you." Alexander looked around and saw how everyone was slightly staring at him, while some smiled at the exchange, making him embarrassed, "Okay, fine..." He clapped once, "...now we come to the juicy part of today''s lesson!" The next part was teaching [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission]. This was somewhat tricky for him since he needed to remember how he had learned it, which took time and effort. "So, [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission] are pretty easy to learn. For this, please sit down..." After a moment, he saw how most wore good clothes and dresses, so he quickly conjured chairs out of stone, from all the debris around them, into existence beside everyone so they would not get too dirty and continued, "...close your eyes, and do exactly as I say. We will start with [Mana Emission]..." The principle was easy. One would need to roughly sense the mana inside oneself, which moves all the time, and breathe out the moment when clumps of mana are close to the lungs. There were, though, a couple of problems with this method. First, it was somewhat nonsensical for those who already had too much mana, which meant there was no reasonable difference in its movement. However, the logic behind this action was that one needed to expel mana purposefully to get the skill. Doing it passively, as he tried with Lorient first, would lead to nowhere. The second problem was a theoretical one. He feared someone could accidentally get the [Mana Seering] skill, should they strain their senses too much and, thus, throw up since the procurement of that skill was somewhat similar. Regardless of his fears, most got it almost immediately, which surprised him since he needed hours as an infant. This was cracking his ego a bit, ''Be happy for them, Alex. Nobody cares that you needed hours to learn the skill as a toddler.'' The next skill was [Mana Absorption], and it was the same, just the other way around. One needed to sense the mana around and try to breathe in the moment it came close without using any other skills. Again, this meant purposely trying to get mana inside of you to get the skill. In general, this was the conclusion he reached when acquiring skills. There must be a purpose one wants to achieve to get a skill. While achieving it passively or indirectly was possible, one would also need much more time. The same was true for how one wants to level them up. Passively leveling them up will cost much more time than just concentrating on them, and it seems that his siblings also understood it as they always sparred with some goal in mind and not just for more ambiguous purposes like getting better. After no more than an hour, everyone got the skills, and Alexander felt proud. For some reason, when everyone learned all the basic mana skills, he imagined a classroom where students would learn them by the hundreds. It was a step closer to his ideal society. Regardless of his ideals, which he threw to the back of his mind and concentrated on the next part, which he felt the most excited about and which was also the actual present for most of them, "Great! You all got it, and now, let''s learn the fun part!..." He stopped and looked at Janina sadly, "...sorry, not you. This skill almost killed me when I was little, and you are too young to learn it." She didn''t react well at first, contorting her face from anger to sadness, but after a moment, she nodded, with her ears hanging, "Fine..." Even though not quite accepting, she understood that something was up with the next skill he wanted to teach, ''I will later talk to her and make clear why it is so dangerous.'' With this in mind, he concentrated back on everyone else still sitting on the ground, "The skill is called [Body Overload (Mana)] and will boost your physical abilities to a new level while straining the body to immense degrees..." He started to direct them through every single step, "... close your eyes and first sense the mana flowing inside your body. From the mana core through your veins as it travels around. It is a circle to continuously supply mana to even the smallest part of your body..." While the mana core was where the solar plexus was, the mana veins were the same as blood veins, only much more extensive. They were everywhere and supplied the body with mana while circling it around if one looked close enough inside themselves. Was the mana recycling? Was it somehow used and brought back to the core? What was the mana actually doing inside the body? For these and many more questions, he had zero clue. Little to say, he could barely explain what blood did on an elementary school level, so describing the intricate processes of how mana interacted with the body was too much for him. However, there was some hope that some medical genius would, at some point, step up and try to explore it. Yet, now was not the time to deliberate such questions. As such, Alexander used [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission] simultaneously, "Now absorb mana through the air and, at the same time, emit it to the outside to create an equilibrium. Both need to be in balance. The emitted and absorbed amount of mana needs to be the same. You can''t have too much or too little mana on either side..." It was actually not necessary to do it like this. Still, it was a great help as one could easily transition to the next part, which was the most challenging one, "...now you need to emit your mana inside of you toward the natural flow and absorb it on the other side, all inside the current flow, to create a faster stream. Use [Mana Manipulation] if you have problems in redirecting it..." He was interrupted suddenly by his Mother, "Got it." He looked at her as her body was seething while her mana, which was linked to her energy, rushed at insane speeds through her body, much faster than Alexander was able to do, ''This is kinda unfair...'' "Let me try..." She stood up, flashed multiple times, and smiled while doing it, "...great." ''Yeah, Grandma talked shit...'' What was it again? His Mother was only slightly above average when it came to talent, or so everybody said, but looking at her, it was far from the truth. When fighting his Grandmother, he needed a lot of concentration to avoid overheating and bursting his mana veins. On the other hand, his Mother could do it immediately and without any problems. Even her control was excellent, much better than his. Next was his Grandmother, "Ugh, what an annoying but great skill..." She smiled and looked at herself. The mana and energy inside her body went haywire, much less controlled than what he or his Mother was doing. However, it was at speeds he couldn''t perceive anymore. He now understood much better how robust her body was when it could endure such a thing. She looked at him and smiled much more honestly, "Now I understand the skill. It truly is a great..." She stood up and looked at his Mother, "...fancy for a spar?" Marisia nodded, "One moment..." She went to Alexander, smiling and patting him, "...it is truly a great gift. Thank you, Alex." She turned around and pointed to the door with her thumb, "Let''s go to my training area so as not to disturb everyone else." His Grandmother nodded, and as they walked outside, she suddenly stopped by his side and looked at him, "Alex, what you gifted me today is something beyond my imagination. So, if you ever need something, simply say a word, and you will have it." She continued walking outside while chatting with his Mother, ''Well, this was already my thank-you gift for what you did for me, though?'' He looked back to his group of students, and slowly but surely, all of them acquired the [Body Overload (Mana)] skill one after another. The last one to do so was Patricia. It wasn''t because she wasn''t talented enough, but because she had the same problems as Alexander. The moment she was about to use the skill for the first time, her body spasmed out as the strain wasn''t little, making her even puke blood as her innards started to get grilled by it. The only way to combat it was to fine-tune the different skills for a weak boost that an undeveloped body could handle. This was also why Ipe stayed with them till the end. After hours and almost biting the dust multiple times, she got it and looked elated, "Finally..." She stood up and, after some wobbling around, got it together. She started to look at him weirdly, "Alex, I don''t know how I can thank you?" Her tone dripped with sentiment, making Alexander cringe a little. However, he only smiled at her, trying to fight his insensitivity and be thankful to have a friend who truly appreciated his gift. Because of that, his following words were also sincere, as he wanted to make sure to let her know that it was a thank-you gift, "Don''t worry. You were there for me while I was in pain..." He shook his head, "...there is no need to thank me; rather, I need to thank you for all your time spent with me. Maybe you don''t believe me, but I can''t be thankful enough for you to be with me." Patricia came closer to him, her eyes almost teary, "Alex..." Alexander only smiled back, finding the moment great too, finally getting over his old self, "Yes?" However, from the side came an audible sobbing and a sniffled-up voice, "How beautiful and precious youth is." Alexander turned around and saw Ipe crying while looking at them, "I am sorry, Mr. Alexander and Ms. Patricia. I was fully immersed while observing you both... so beautiful." Alexander only raised an eyebrow and didn''t think much about it, but as he turned to Patricia, she stared at him furiously, ''Well, who wouldn''t be embarrassed?'' He walked over to her and grabbed her hand, "Let''s eat something, all right?" She looked back at him and was somewhat sad, only to sigh, "Fine, I am hungry too." As they walked away, he looked back and saw how Ipe was creating two trees that looked like them at the training ground, ''What a weird guy.'' Chapter 107: Nine-Fire visit: 47 (end): Good Bye ... Some days later, Alexander''s mansion, Main Kitchen "I need to ask you for a favor." "Wfat dwo..." "Can you first chew before speaking?" Patricia was annoyed. There was only one reason for this, and it was not the starving raccoon she considered her sister, who was rummaging through their coldbox in front of her. It was solely Alexander''s fault. Since he had become well again, he had started running around without her knowing what he was doing or where he was. Even though she was happy for him and wouldn''t wish him any harm, an unspeakable sadness also invaded her mind for some reason. She wanted to know where he was, what he was doing, and with whom he was acquainting himself. She felt dread of not having him helpless before her, which constantly nagged at her. Yet, there were some things that she didn''t allow to change. After Alexander recovered, he wanted to sleep alone again. She didn''t have any of it and argued with him, surprisingly only for less than a minute, making her stand clear that she would not go anywhere, which he accepted. In her mind, he probably thought she had been in a bad mood for the last few weeks because she was about to leave, so he accepted her whims. Such a situation was perfect for her since she wanted to do so many more things with him, and with Alexander being much more accommodating, she already had many more ideas. However, her mind only relaxed when she was close to him, knowing no other pests would try to mark him. Yet, she needed to leave for her training, and the only person she could rely on to keep the bitches away was her sister. Linuel gulped the food down and looked at her little sister, "Yeah? What do you need?" Patricia squinted her eyes and decided to trust her older sister. Since she was in love with Narsiz, which was apparent since she risked basically her life to kiss him, she could help. Also, she wouldn''t need to worry because her older sister showed no interest in Alexander and was even somewhat indifferent. She relaxed slightly, "I need you to keep whores away from Alex." Linuel raised an eyebrow while taking a large jar of yogurt, and while she looked for a spoon, she asked, "Well, I think I can do this favor for you since he is helping me, but what about his disciple? What was her name again? Oberiana or something? She looks quite good and listened intensely to every word he says." Patricia crossed her arms, shaking her head, "Ocilia is fine. She is into girls and has a fianc¨¦ or something, so she would also be okay to visit him..." She frowned, "...what I am worrying about are the bitches from the Cold-Snout household." This was what she was most worried about - Rendezvous. She heard all of Alexander''s crazy and ambitious ideas. He wanted to better the world and create something beautiful where everyone could prosper, whether commoner or noble. While she agreed with him on the outside, inwardly, she didn''t give one single fuck about commoners besides her retainers. Regardless of her opinion, he needed every guard household on his side to spread his ideals. As such, the usual practice for establishing oneself while not being engaged was to at least meet up with probable partners to show goodwill. Should Alexander persist with his projects, he would undoubtedly become the number one gossip topic in Moorgrel in less than a year, and with that, he would have to engage in such social interactions. As he already had the goodwill of their household, he was about to do the same with the Cold-Snout for multiple reasons. While he sounded annoyed at the prospect of meeting other girls, he also mostly ignored Patricia''s assertions that the Cold-Snouts were much more aggressive, giving her nonsensical arguments that because they were young, they wouldn''t be interested in things like marriage. Patricia knew them differently from some noble balls for the youth. They were like locusts who would take every half-decent boy if he had a pulse. For some weird reason, they didn''t like to get engaged with each other and always looked outwards. As such, the girls, who made up a great majority of the Cold-Snout offspring, acted very nonchalantly, or what for Patricia looked like, whorelike. The boys, though, were not better, as they chased after any somewhat beautiful girl, trying to make them part of their future harem. Linuel found a spoon and sat down on a table, starting to eat, "Well..." She tapped the spoon slightly at her chin, "...yeah. Let me ask you beforehand something." "What?" Linuel smirked at her slightly, "What do you think about being part of a harem." Patricia raised an eyebrow and looked more sternly at her sister, "No. I want him for me and only me. I don''t even want him to touch any other girl as long as I am gone." Patricia needed to be honest with herself. She was jealous and possessive, but she also thought that she was more than enough for him since she would give her life immediately to him. She would never trust anyone else to do the same. He was hers, and she was his - There was no compromise. This was also why she tried her best to get Alexander''s family to like her, so they would only talk positively about her should her name come up when they spoke with him and she wasn''t there. Securing her position inside his household was essential if she wanted to marry him. From trying to bond with his siblings, who slowly warmed up to her, to his parents, to whom she tried to show her best side, which worked partly. Marisia seemed fond of her, but Kairoso saw immediately through her, just saying that he didn''t care who his son wanted to be together with as long as he was happy. There was also the positive point that she was his cousin once removed, which meant that she was already basically family, which should have somewhat played in her favor. However, by looking at her older sister, who was almost beheaded, it seemed not the case that Marisia cared about such things. Linuel slowly pulled the spoon out of her mouth and pointed it at her, "Fine. I just wanted to be sure..." She whipped slightly the yogurt, "...I try my best to keep them away. Is this enough?" Patricia nodded, "Thank you..." She took out her pocket watch, looking at the time, "...I want to get my scent on Alex as much as possible before I leave tomorrow, so I need to go." Linuel raised an eyebrow, "You are weird, you know?" Patricia looked at her, not really caring what she thought. She loved Alexander and didn''t want to leave his side, but it was impossible. If she wanted to be able to stay by his side, she must get stronger when they met again and then make him hers by proposing. Then she would take him with her, and they would train together. Fortunately, Alexander implied that he wanted to train under Scarlett, which would be perfect. Since she would have already trained for some time, she fantasized that she would again look after him when he was weak and unable to keep up with her. Even the thought of him being so helpless again made her blush. However, for now, they wouldn''t be able to see each other for ~two years, a time she would need to do her best to get more than enough head start against him. She looked at Linuel, "So? At least I didn''t force him to do anything, even though I could." Linuel smirked at her, "I know those eyes. You are like me and were almost..." Patricia interrupted her, "Just do me a favor and kill every whore who tries to touch him..." She turned around, "...I need to go." However, as she left, she heard Linuel saying, "Weirdo." ... Main Garden, Leonandra Estate "It is such a lovely day, right Alex?" "Sure, but you are very clingy today. Is everything all right?" They were taking a stroll in the garden, enjoying the great weather. Patricia was holding Alexander''s hand and trying to be as close as possible to him. However, she could see he was slightly annoyed after they almost fell down because of her as she tried to hug his tail with hers. Her tactic of quickly changing the topic also didn''t seem to work. "I..." She bit her lip, not wanting to ruin the nice get-together. However, her inner self pushed itself out, "...Alex, can you promise me one thing?" He nodded, "Sure? What is it?" She looked deep into his eyes, and before she said something stupid, she caught herself from going further, "Please be careful, okay?" She needed to be tactful. She already had Alexander in her hands, being there for him and nurturing and entertaining him for hours on end. All she needed to do was wait for him to mature in the next few years and then rail him in for good since making him fall for her would be easy. She had already groomed him, and there was no way that he would suddenly fall for someone else. It was evident to her since he opened up to her over time, showing his most vulnerable side and even crying in her arms when he went through the torturous body-modifying process. The more time she spent with Alexander, the more she discovered that he had a very soft side to him, far from the boisterous, prideful, and arrogant one he often showed. This was a sign to her that he had already fallen for her, and as he matured, he would sooner or later become more conscious of his feelings, ''Just wait. There is no need to rush.'' Alexander raised an eyebrow, smiling at her, "Of course. With Lili now around me, I am practically a bulwark." She nodded, "Hm..." and got closer to him, not wanting to disturb their last day together, "...let''s enjoy ourselves, okay?" Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Alexander patted her head, smiling, "Of course." ... Marisia''s Office "Why such a face, my dear? Everything is as well as it could be." Marisia looked at her Mother and couldn''t oversee the absurd look she had. While her sister, Elisabeth, brought her ambitions to the forefront, Alexander accelerated them, making her almost ecstatic. Unfortunately, Alexander had even gifted her the skills he worked for so long, making her even more obsessed with him. On that note, the skills were excellent, especially [Body Overload (Mana)], which was a very creative way to boost one''s physical prowess. She also understood why Alexander almost died when he was very little, as this skill strained the body immensely. As such, such a skill could, at best, be useful for mages, who used mana skills to compensate for their weak bodies for a short time. Yet, it was like a blessing for knights. However, knights having mana skills in the first place was ridiculous, but now they had and would have in the future. Using such a skill could permanently boost their physical prowess, with some finetuning, by over one-tenth. For a burst of power, though, she could triple her power for at least ten minutes without suffering any repercussions. It was truly a miracle skill for the guard dogs, but she needed to stop Alexander from freely giving away all his knowledge. While ordinary skills were fine, the [Body Overload (Mana)] was too dangerous to distribute freely, ''He was such a hot head...'' After lengthy discussions during which he screamed about his liberty as a person and other ridiculous things, they concluded that he should wait before giving it out, with her promising him something in exchange, ''Matter for another time.'' With this in mind, Marisia was more than happy that her Mother would leave tomorrow since looking after Alexander while pulling her Mother away from him was becoming tedious, "Nothing, Mother, I just think you should concentrate on Patricia since she will be maybe Alex''s fianc¨¦ in the future." She raised her eyebrow, "Oh, why do you think so? I mean, I would love to have them engage, but you are usually so protective?" She shrugged, "Nothing. Someone told me something, and I think Alex is slowly developing feelings while Patricia is already in love." Ipe told her what happened after her son taught them the skills, and while she wouldn''t believe her Mother, Ipe was too honest of a person to lie about such things. Even remembering how he encouraged her through the training she went through warms her heart to this day. Regardless, Alexander was slowly developing feelings, and even though he didn''t know this now, he would with time. Yet, in the following months, Alexander would have more rendezvous, which made her worry as she liked Patricia and wouldn''t have any problems having her as a daughter-in-law, ''Hm, the Cold-Snouts will arrive in a couple of months or so...'' Even though she adored Patricia, Marisia also wanted to see how Alexander would react to others and if he was like her brother, Brutus, who had the typical Cold-Snout blood as he built up a harem made out of eight wives. This, though, would be impossible with Patricia. To be part of a harem, one needed to have a great ability to communicate and socialize while not having any thoughts about jealousy and the likes. Besides that, the Lord would need to have an exceptional sexual drive, ''Poor brother.'' Her Mother interrupted her thoughts, "Oh my, Mari. Should I take good care of Patricia or make her someone worthy?" Marisia thought about it but nodded in the end, "Alexander needs someone who is worthy, but be careful about her personality." Her Mother tilted her head in confusion while about to take another hazelnut cookie, "Oh? What do you mean?" "Your training broke others or changed them drastically. If you don''t want Alex to curse you after meeting a fully changed Patricia, try a different approach to avoid breaking her." She suddenly stopped her hand before grabbing the cookie, "You are right..." Alexander obviously liked Patricia, but if she came after training with a changed personality but in love, it would hurt both of them and cause Alexander''s goodwill to dissipate toward her Mother. At the same time, Patricia would stop altogether as the training she was doing was because she loved him, wanting to somewhat catch up to his ridiculous talent. Even though she didn''t like helping her Mother get on the good side of her son, it would be a shame if he lost his first love because of something stupid like this. Marisia leaned back in the chair, "Let''s talk about it, Mother." Her Mother looked annoyed at her, "You really sound arrogant, my dear." Marisia smirked arrogantly, "I am one of two people who went fully through the torture you call training, so I am the best person to evaluate it now." Her Mother popped a vein, "This will be a long day, huh?" ... Next Day, Entrance to the main mansion of the Leonandra Estate The large chunk of the Leonandra household stood at the entrance to the main mansion to see Patricia and Scarlett off. Besides them were around a dozen servants and guards from the Leonandra estate who would follow them since the previous ones were obviously unavailable. Everyone was talking with their family members since the trip would last for at least a month. Some were aloof and asked for souvenirs from the other city, and others were crying as if they would be away for years. One of those crying was Patricia, who didn''t dare to move too far away from Alexander, "I will miss you." "Yes, I will miss you too." "No, I will really miss you!" ''God fucking damn it! How many times do you want to say it?!'' Alexander hugged her again, softly patting her back, which usually calmed her down, "Don''t worry. We will see each other again in two years, right?" For the last few days, Patricia has been clingy. No, calling her clingy was an understatement. After he was mostly done with some old business, she started following him everywhere, and at night, he felt as if a boa constrictor was hugging him, not giving him any space at all. It went so far that she wanted to bathe with him, which he reluctantly agreed to. It was no big deal since when he bathed, there were at least some naked maids or butlers with him, tending to his needs. Being naked around other naked people became nothing special to him. However, she wanted to go as far as to wash each other, which his former human self found weird. Still, he agreed after Patricia brought up some good points. It was a cultural thing that most beast-kin didn''t feel any shame at being naked and usually were okay with their body. Be it chubby, petite, tall, skinny, etc. This probably came from the fact that they were too diverse to care at all due to their already very various secondary animalistic characteristics. Washing each other was also very common among family members, close friends, and lovers as it built trust. Even now, when he wanted to enjoy a bath, someone from his family was always joining him. As such, he saw no reason not to indulge her wishes. Such thoughts were thrown to the back of his mind as he saw that she was in distress, probably because she was about to leave a safe haven and travel again into a world where dangers lurked. So he tried to reassure her, "We will see each other again. Everything will be fine, okay?" She pressed herself firmer against him, "Hm." "Say it will be fine." She sounded distressed, "I... really don''t want to go... I miss you already." His voice became softer, trying to calm her, "Patricia..." She grabbed his clothes more firmly, "No... promise me just one thing." "What?" She looked into his eyes, "I..." She suddenly stopped, not saying anything, only to continue after staring at him for some time, "...be safe, please. Don''t endanger yourself, and please also have Linuel look after you, okay? I talked to her, and she promised me that she will be your retainer, at least as long as Narsiz is here." Alexander smiled at her, feeling warmth, "I will, I promise..." He wanted to say that she should also stay safe but decided against it since she should fight against her anxiety. So he tried the next best thing, "...please have fun and enjoy yourself. You being happy is important to me." He liked her. She was a truly great friend, and Alexander hoped to make more like her along the way. Even if he had only one or two, it would be enough if they were like Patricia, who was truly worried about him. Even on Earth, he had at most two to three true friends who were always there for him, and he felt incredibly fortunate to make his first one in this world. She stopped hugging and slowly walked into the carriage, continuously looking back at him, ''I am truly fortunate, huh?'' A loving family, great friends, and no care in the world about finances or status. This motivated him even more to move faster with his new projects and expedite his charity. He felt guilty for not using all his newfound resources to better the world so everyone could live as carefree as he did. In his opinion, privilege came with responsibility, especially in a society where one was explicitly granted a higher status from the get-go. While his shoulder felt heavy, with all the self-inflicted burden, it was nonetheless a great feeling. Was it his ego? Yes. Were there arrogance and pride involved that he could do a better job than almost everyone else? Absolutely. Saying that he did it only out of purely philanthropic feelings would be a lie. If he were a commoner from a poor family, he would probably not even lose a single thought toward others outside his circle before not building up himself. However, his pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the hissing of a venomous snake, "How endearing." He looked to the side, seeing his Grandmother coming over to him after she was done talking to his Mother, "Youth is truly something beautiful." Alexander forced a smile, and something about her irked him the wrong way, "Yeah, for someone like you, who hasn''t experienced it for at least hundreds of years, that''s true." She, though, didn''t react to his insult and only looked confused at him, "Hundreds of years?..." She chuckled slightly, holding her hand before her mouth, "...that''s a little too much since I am only 173 years old." ''Right, there was something.'' Alexander forgot that the age insults didn''t really work. Most just didn''t give a fuck, after their first mating season, how old someone was. If someone were physically fit, their looks would hold until a decade before death. This was also the reason why his Grandmother looked no day older than mid-thirties. He cleared his throat, trying to be amiable even though her presence annoyed him, "Ahem, right. However, I wish you a nice travel, and don''t forget our deal." She raised an eyebrow and looked back at how Patricia was staring out of the carriage window at them, "You really like her, do you?" The deal was that he would pay for all her expenses and that his Grandmother shouldn''t be stingy about all the potions, equipment, etc. It was something he only later found out, but the potions he drank weren''t cheap. Altogether, his torture, besides the immense manpower, cost his Grandmother more than 10.000 large gold coins, and he wanted to make sure that Patricia would get the same efficient treatment. Otherwise, if his Grandmother would choose cheaper ones, she would suffer more and longer, something he wanted to avoid. In return, he would send his Grandmother all of the wares he invented, like paper, ink, etc., while also providing information on skills he researched and other things. It looked like he lost on this, but there were two good reasons he felt otherwise. First, the time and resources, besides gold, his Grandmother needed to invest to acquire better potions were valuable. Second, Patricia became important to him, and he would not be stingy to sponsor a great friend who stood by his side. Alexander glared at his Grandmother, "Yeah, so?" She looked back at him and shrugged, "Nothing, I just find it cute." Before Alexander could continue the relatively tense chat, his Mother came from the side, "I think it''s about time, Mother. If you want to reach the next town before sundown, you should leave now." His Grandmother sighed and straightened up while looking at Alexander, which made him shiver, "You heard your Mother. I need to leave, and I will see you in a couple of years, hopefully..." Her smile became sinister, "...even stronger." Alexander nodded toward her, feeling how his neck hair suddenly stood up, "Sure, Grandma. Have nice travels." She turned around and entered the carriage while all the servants and guards went into others, making Alexander look at Patricia, ''Such a weird time.'' While she was here, so many things happened, and even though they were terrible, he wouldn''t want to change it. A friend was a precious thing to him and more worth than months of torture. He came out of his thoughts when they started driving away and how Patricia leaned out of the window, screaming, "Alex! I l... ugh!" She was suddenly forcefully pulled away by her Grandmother inside the carriage and audibly reprimanded, ''Well, she is now her trainee, and probably it is not ladylike to scream out of the window, I guess?'' His Mother sighed, which made him look at her. She worriedly looked at them, "Patience is truly a blessing that the youth isn''t gifted with." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "What does it mean?" She shook her head, "Nothing..." She turned around and went inside, "...let''s have some tea and cake." Alexander walked behind her enthusiastically, "Oh, I want strawberry... no! I want the weird one with the tea flavor!" She smiled back at him, "Sure." ... Later that night, Alexander''s room ''Damn it, I can''t sleep!'' After sleeping with Patricia for months and cuddling, he now understood how great it felt to feel someone he could trust close to him. The warmth alone soothed his mind, and now, it seemed, there was no going back. On Earth, there was always some kind of shame and other emotions involved if he wanted to feel closeness, but here, beast-kin just didn''t give a fuck. Only by having a fianc¨¦ did he feel it for the first time, which he mostly forgot until Patricia forced herself into his life. Before that, there were some cuddle sessions here and there, but not as extreme as with her. He turned and turned around for hours till he stood up on the bed, ''Fuck it!'' He jumped down and went to Lorient''s room, ''Time to pay rent, you freeloader!'' Chapter 108: Ilusia ... Outside of Wolfsteeth A luxurious carriage, sky-blue in color, drove through the Leonandra territory toward a port in the South as the sun stood high in the sky. It was beautifully adorned with a crest that was divided into four compartments, two of which showed thorny roses and a feather with a red-filled bottle of ink. Inside the other two were written words in the olden beast-kin dialect, which would be impossible to translate rightfully into this era, but basically said that care and punishment go hand in hand. Inside said carriage, Ilusia sat nervously before one of her estate''s knights, who was continuously emitting an oppressive aura toward her. It was not so strong that she would shudder in fear but just enough that she would feel on edge the whole time, which, in combination with the demonic miasma in the air, made her use all her skills so she could endure it. The Knight looked at her stoically, "I am disappointed." She flinched the moment he said it. It was only now that he started to talk for the first time after entering the carriage and driving for hours, "I am very sorry. I promise to pay everything back." "Do you think I am disappointed because of the gold?" Illusia shook her head, not daring to look up, "No, Sire." The aura lessened slightly, "What do you think the reason is then?" Ilusia clenched her dress, "The humiliation." The Knight nodded, withdrawing his aura entirely, "Ms. Illusia, what you did was beyond inappropriate. You know this, right?" She nodded, looking slowly up, seeing Patrick, their family''s Knight, whose eyes showed pity toward her, which felt terrible. It wasn''t enough that Ilusia was tortured and humiliated inside the prison by lower beings. Even her Mother''s Knight saw her misery, thus stopping his punishment only after a few hours, probably thinking she couldn''t endure it. It was degrading to be treated as if she couldn''t handle it. "I know this, Sire. It was juvenile and brought a lot of problems to my household." Patrick sighed, "It''s fine. The Viscountess is happy that you made it out alive at all." She looked deep into Patrick''s brown eyes, hoping to hear something else, but it didn''t come, so she asked, bringing out all her courage, "What about the Viscount? Did he say anything?" Patrick shook his head, "Ms. Illusia, don''t misunderstand the Viscount''s intentions, but you are fortunate that he didn''t let you stew in..." His upper lip rose in disgust, "...Moorgrel." She could relate to his feelings too well. Moorgrel, and especially the east, was dastardly. The temperatures reached what felt like boiling points, which was beyond anything she had ever felt before, while the air felt like a knife held at her throat, which made her more irritated the longer she stayed here. Besides that, the subjects differed significantly from her household''s territory, as they were primarily vermins led by fake nobility. She saw a lot of insect- and avian-kin, who probably migrated to Moorgrel. While it annoyed her somewhat that the vermin tried to avoid their proper place by going to the mutts, it was much better than them staying in their territory and becoming parasites to their society. She came out of her thoughts when he started to talk about an unpleasant topic, "The other households are not happy, too." Ilusia raised an eyebrow, "So?" While she worried at first that the households of her colleagues could cause problems, after contemplating a lot about it, she decided to ignore them as they were of far lower status than her. It didn''t seem that Patrick agreed, as the aura was back, pressuring her, making her gasp slightly, "Ms. Ilusia, while I understand your sentiment that the youth of the other households are far below ours in status, you should also consider that all of us are under Marquise Lopon." Even though she wanted to argue back, she somehow understood what he meant. After what they tried, she was the lone survivor, so she would be scrutinized by the other households heavily, which would probably put pressure on the Marquise, who would, in turn, make them pay compensation either in monetary value or political power. While the Marquise could shut them up easily, she also knew that a peaceful lower nobility was essential for the stability of the fief of the higher nobility, which would only happen once debts were paid. Even though her colleagues were, at best, average when it came to talent, they were nonetheless assets that could be married away or sent to higher nobility as servants. Dying here like dogs was not only a disgrace but also an economic loss. "I understand, Sir Patrick...." She nodded and understood their sentiments too well, but nonetheless, her anger rose even at the thought that some local bumpkin Lords were trying to undermine their household. He dissipated his aura again, lifting the pressure, "Are you angry, Ms. Ilusia?" She glared at him and tried to smile so she could come over as amiably as possible, "Of course not, S..." He interrupted her, "...you should be." She raised an eyebrow, becoming slightly confused, "Why?" "Use the anger and get revenge on those who deserve it. Never let it dissipate, and look forward. However, you should also know if they truly deserve your hate." She tilted her head in confusion, "Pard¨®n?" "If someone is trying to use the death of their child out of pure greed, thinking they could extort our household, remember their name, and at some point, when you have enough power, pay them back..." He leaned slightly back and looked at her with a tint of sadness, "However, if someone is truly showing grief and wants revenge by any means necessary, don''t do anything to them." She became more confused, "Why? Isn''t it unbecoming of nobility to act like that?" He shook his head, "No, the grief they are showing are not the emotions of a noble but that of a parent. Never forget that, even though we are nobles, we also have other roles to fulfill, and someone who acts not out of malice but emotionally is dangerous." She continued for him, understanding it slightly, "If they only want revenge and I escalate the situation, they would do everything in their means to try and take me down, even if it brings their downfall. Is that what you mean, Sir Patrick?" He nodded, showing a rare smile, "Yes, and this is especially true for the lowest nobility, who have barely anything to their name in the first place. Never escalate something you were at fault for in the first place with someone who is ready to sacrifice themselves just to scratch you." Ilusia smiled and nodded. Patrick, even though only a Knight, was always like a mentor. He advised her through many problems in her life, but it all sadly ended when she went to a boarding school, where she wouldn''t have anyone she could ask for help as even the teacher were of noble descent and had their own agenda in mind at all times. He was basically the Father she had never had, which brought her thoughts in a dangerous direction again. She clenched her fists and wanted to risk asking about him again, now wanting a more thorough answer, "Thank you, but can you tell me how the Viscount feels? Please don''t change the topic again." Patrick sighed, "Ms. Illusia, I don''t think it is a good idea..." She interrupted him, becoming more emotional as the stress over the last months came out, "...no, please tell me! What did my Father say?" Patrick looked at her for some time, only to nod, "Fine. He was wrathful and was ready to let you die for your misconduct." Illusia''s eyes became watery, "But why then..." Patrick continued for her, "...why did he not do it? Honor and pride, Ms. Ilusia. Letting you die in such a place would be disgraceful to our household''s name." "I understand..." Her Father was cold-blooded¡ªsomeone who didn''t care about his children but the most talented. Everyone else was to become a puppet for his political machinations. However, she wanted nothing more than his acknowledgment. It was pathetic and the reason she started this whole ordeal in the first place. Yet, she couldn''t blame him as he never encouraged her to do anything or even talked to her after her legacy. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Why put too much resources into someone who wouldn''t become the heir? Why even waste his time on her? It was at this moment that she didn''t want to go back. It was a cold and ruthless estate where everyone would spread rumors about her when she returned, as she was indeed a failure. Like that, they drove together with their entourage for the following hours till the sun was about to set. Fortunately, they arrived at a small town and booked themself an inn. Her thoughts didn''t lessen the whole time, and as she was lying in bed, hugging a cheap pillow, all she hoped for was that her whimpers and cries would not be heard outside the room. However, something inside of her wanted to be heard. She wanted to be comforted and said that it wasn''t her fault. ''Pathetic.'' She wanted to be like all the other nobles who ruled over their fiefs with an iron fist, yet she also wanted nothing more than support from someone to whom she could open herself. A notion which was impossible as there was nobody to trust for her. Everything she would say, in her honesty, would be used against her. It was cruel, and she did things like that herself when trusted friends came to her and confined their deepest emotions, only for her to think about how to use them later on. Did she deserve what happened to her? Did her desire for recognition go too far? Even though her rationale screamed a resounding yes, for some reason, she didn''t think so. Ultimately, she was born as something better. Some simple commoners from a cursed territory dared to go against her, and now some lowly nobility wanted compensation, which made her enraged and helpless since she had no real power to speak. After contemplating for hours while lying in bed, feeling powerless, exhaustion slowly overwhelmed her, and she fell asleep. However, a sound woke her up and made her quickly sit up to see who it was. Yet, as she looked around in the darkness, straining her racial trait, which made her see almost perfectly at night, she only saw the window, which opened as the wind became stronger. She sighed, rubbing her temple, "Can''t believe I am this agitated..." Yet, as she said it and was about to lay down again, she sensed a familiar feeling of cold steel on her neck and a whisper that sounded like poisonous honey, "Oh, my little girl, please don''t scream. Otherwise, one could lose a head easily." There was no killing intent or blood lust, and she wasn''t also immediately killed, which meant that someone wanted her to know when she was about to die by whom or something worse, like blackmail. She became still, not moving, and her emotions tucked away as she had more than enough such encounters, "What do you want? Coin? There is a pouch with enough gold that even your grandchildren could live in luxury in the commode. Take it and leave." "Oh my, if I wanted gold, I would just get your head and present it to some people who would be ready to pay me much more than whatever you have in your little pouch." She clenched her teeth, not liking the situation, but her pride overwhelmed her rationality as she said something stupid, "You know if I would scream you..." She suddenly felt how energy invaded her body, a horrid one that paralyzed her. It forced itself inside her, and she immediately felt disgusted, like the time her older sister raped her. The next moment, Ilusia fell down on the bed as her body became fully numb. She couldn''t even say anything anymore. She was paralyzed but conscious, ''Is it rape again? Urgh, I hope that the bastard is at least fast.'' However, nothing of the sort happened, and the person walked around the room toward the commode and her pouch, which she could barely see as she lay in a weird position on the bed. While lying down, she could not do anything, but her senses were still working; she could identify that it was a djinn through his smell, but, as if a fog was in her mind, she couldn''t hold onto the scent and remember for later. When he suddenly found and took her pouch, the following words made her panic, "You know, I really dislike puppets with faulty strings..." He took out a pamphlet, glued together of parchments which she was allowed to write on as a diary to kill her time while in prison. He looked through it while she contemplated her worst scenario, "You see, a puppet has no emotions, no will. All a puppet does is to do what the puppeteer wants..." He walked to her, squatting down and glaring at her through his dirty fox mask, ''...he looks beautiful.'' When he smiled, she blushed suddenly, her mind becoming overly chaotic, "...you, my dear noblewoman, have two choices..." He showed two fingers up, "...either you help me bring death and chaos to the east or..." Ilusia became more agitated than usual when she heard something she thought she needed to forget and live in disgrace. Her ambitions flared up, and hate surged from her core, ''I want Aurum dead...'' He humiliated her and brought her into a position worse than death, one with which she would need to live for the rest of her life. Yet, she got another chance out of nowhere. A chance to redeem herself and become important to Marquise Lopon, and with it, she could decide her fate herself. All the thoughts she had before and the desperation she felt were blown away. As long as they were people ready to work with her to crush the Moorgrelian East and humiliate them, she could get merits and escape her destiny. Something inside her surged, and she didn''t care if it was a skill or anything of the sort that brought it forward since they were genuine emotions she always felt. She must cling to even the slightest of chances to not end in the Outer Circle. Should she care that he called her a puppet? No. She was already one, and when she didn''t change anything, she would be married off to some scumbag for political power as a concubine, where she would live the rest of her life as nothing more than some sex toy. She could see the djinn''s smile under his fox mask widen, "Oh my..." he closed the booklet, "...no need for the second choice..." His glare intensified, almost looking into her soul, "...I need chaos and death, but you only want death, isn''t that right?" Her eyes almost pierced him, saying yes. She wanted not only Aurum dead but especially his Master, the so-called Archmage Puppy. She wanted to see him suffer. She wanted to see him kneel and cry in agony. Something inside of her flared up, becoming stronger and stronger. Her mind became less clouded, and she suddenly had only one goal in mind: Killing the Moorgrelian mutt. He chuckled while putting a letter into her diary, "Here is all the information you need, my dear Ms. Ilusia. Without much persuasion, I see that you even want more from life. Just read it after you have recovered from the skill and write me a name and put it under the matrice..." He stood up and put her diary on the desk, "...read first the letter, and you will see that we have similar goals and that with me, you will have whatever you realistically want." After saying it, he almost instantly disappeared, with Ilusia lying there for the next minutes, staring at her diary and trying first to conclude who it was exactly. She didn''t care about his standing since he wasn''t even of her race, but all that was important was that he could grant her wish. However, Patrick''s words suddenly appeared in her mind, and she felt them now. She was the one with nothing to lose. Even though he didn''t mean it like that, she knew better that he only accommodated her, ''I want to scratch Moorgrel.'' Ilusia''s eyes glared at the diary, and her will suddenly returned like a fire that almost went out. She could have everything by risking all. It was crazy, but so what? She must do it to avoid her fate. However, she also felt unimaginable hatred, making her feelings for revenge flare up more by the second, ''Alexander and Aurum. Both will die...'' When she could barely move, she crawled toward the desk, taking the letter out of the diary and reading it. She barely supported herself to sit on the chair and started reading it. She became elated, as it wasn''t just some thug but someone with connections and a coherent plan. Though, the more she read it, the more confused she became, ''Louis J. Ros¨¦? The Ros¨¦ household? Aren''t they under the Duchess Zarmanas?'' The Zarmanas household was an ancient and prestigious family that focused on military might. However, they also chose hundreds of smaller baron families to increase their reach, so being under them wasn''t that noticeable. However, the Ros¨¦ household resided in Moorgrel, which meant that they had at least some importance, as getting a foothold in this region for the central nobility was tremendously hard. Their staying here and being somewhat okay meant they had enough support while showing their worth. It could even be said that their household could be considered much more important than Ilusia''s. Since it was also a Duchess, compared to their lower-ranked Marquise Lopon, it meant that Ilusia was now much lower in status inside this new group than inside the group she gathered before. While Ilusia didn''t like that she would be obligated to follow their calls if she decided to join them, what was important was that she could reach her goals much easier than just through the trash she had assembled before. Reading further, the djinn''s group had another young noble in their midst, who was, again, far above her in status, ''Hm... oh? A dragon-kin?'' Next was someone she didn''t expect. It was the heir of the Irim household, Lizko the second. It was a sizeable household under Marquess Kalpoma, who was a zealot. She worships the Temple''s teachings fanatically, thus having a great relationship with them. Therefore, many tried to become her followers as her support toward her vassals'' fiefs was always excellent, as she followed certain doctrines that dictated one should support their subordinates. So, reading that the somewhat sizeable Viscount household Irim under Kalpoma would support such a venture was quite strange. Fortunately, after rereading the letter multiple times, she deduced Lizko''s motivation: Revenge, which confused Ilusia even more, ''Why would he even care?'' Lizko was already someone with a bright future ahead, so it didn''t make sense to her why he would go against a Guard Household in the first place. It was a clear-cut case for Louis: He wanted merits like she wanted to become an heir. She sat there for an hour, coming to different conclusions that were not satisfying, but before she contacted them, she needed to know their rationale. Without such crucial information, she would fear that it was only some fleeting emotion, and in the end, Lizko would let them alone, ''Hm...'' She knew that the Leonandra Lord was a druid, which would explain a probable conflict. Sadly, she had little to no theological knowledge, and her household also cared little about religion besides the typical formalities, ''So, why want revenge on his son?'' She suddenly remembered the words of the djinn, ''Chaos, huh.'' While she didn''t know much, killing the children of a beast-kin druid or shaman affiliated with the Temple was a sure way to destroy their household. The Temple was especially protective of their beast-kin since they built a bridge toward their race and could propagate their religion much easier. It also showed that they genuinely didn''t care about race, giving commoners a better state of mind. As she reread the plan, it was stated that their role was primarily supportive because of their status. So, even if the druid''s son died, it would not fall back on them, ''How intriguing? Didn''t know the Temple had such feuds? Well, that''s enough for me.'' While it was not really satisfactory, she could identify his motivation somehow. As such, she knew that he was someone who joined them for ideological reasons, which made him a trustworthy partner. Ilusia sighed while destroying the letter with her energy, ''I need to write them and find out if they truly work together, and if they are...'' Her smile widened, ''...I will have everything I want.'' Chapter 109: Lizkos & Louiss plan Author''s note: I suggest to read the cheat sheet beforehand because there will be characters which appeared a long time ago. ... Correspondence from Ilusia V. Chaf¨®n to Lizko (II) L. Irim Hello, my dear friend, My name is Ilusia V. Chaf¨®n, and I am one of the direct descendants of my household, which serves the grandiose Marquise Lopon. I am writing you, my honorable Lizko (II) L. Irim, to find out if you were also contacted by someone who had the race of a djinn. He was quite the charming but forceful gentleman who asked me something interesting while mentioning your name. While he told me a lot, which was appealing to me, I was also quite confused and wanted to know if it was indeed the truth. As such, I will be direct: Someone wronged me, and I am seeking retribution for the person who exuded such behavior. I need allies for such an endeavor. Since he also made quite an intriguing proposal while mentioning that you accepted it, a partnership between us could become fruitful, as we have a similar goal. I am intrigued and torn by his offer. However, if what he said is true and you were to be one of the few who accepted such a proposal, I would join the endeavor and, besides providing resources, try to get more people onto our side. While I hope you didn''t go through the same humiliating experience as me, I can''t possibly imagine why someone would otherwise take such a proposition. However, I almost immediately felt a certain kinship towards you on a fundamental level when I heard that I wasn''t the only one. As such, I will try to look for many more victims since we can''t be the only ones, and if it is possible, I would love to use your name as one of my allies to persuade many more who suffered the same fate. So, please write back to me as fast as possible, as I will then start gathering more people after receiving your answer. Were my words understandable to you? If so, I hope to continue a cordial correspondence with you. If not, please ignore my letter as a harmless confusion from my side since I was then apparently tricked by the antics of the djinn. With all due respect, Ilusia V. Chaf¨®n ... Private Quarters, The Main headquarters in Moorgrel of the Cathedral of Pestilence The Cathedral was an eerie place, especially the faculty, whose scholars experimented on horrendous convicts, animals, monsters, and wild demons. Screams resounded through the day, and cries of desperation and hopelessness were heard at night. However, even between the laboratories that emitted such despair, there were living spaces for younger talents and seniors who lived their lives rather casually, as the cries became nothing more than white noise to them. Such a dragon-kin lived in one of the rooms. Lizko was sitting at his desk, leaning back while reading a letter. The more he read it, the more pressure he unconsciously put on the parchment, ''Interesting.'' It was correspondence from someone under the Lopon household banner who was writing to find out if a djinn also contacted him, ''She probably means William.'' He scratched his head and thought through who exactly Marquise Lopon was, as he couldn''t remember the unimportant ones when one talked about higher nobility. While it sounded presumptuous that the son of a Viscount calls a Marquise household insignificant, it was very true that the council, which had eleven higher nobility households, more than half of them were not worth mentioning. Eight had the Marquise title, and three were Dukes. While all the Dukes held some importance, only two Marquise could somehow rival them, and he was under such a household. The remaining Marquis''s households were nothing but trash, like Lopon, who could be regarded to have the same strength as a competent Viscount under a Duke. He rubbed his temple as he tried to remember all the factions but became increasingly annoyed with the system they had. The naming sense was inaccurate and archaic since it was a copy from the humans, dwarves, and draugr. It wouldn''t be too bad if it stayed like it was and didn''t go through thousands of years of infighting in Mal-Gil and get shaped into the mess it is now. Because of that, many things didn''t make sense. For example, the Knightages, under the Count, would be considered to have the same military strength as half the council put together. However, calling such powerhouses Knightages was an affront in itself and gave a wrong sense of their actual power, ''There was a reason how they invaded central Mal-Gil and slaughtered half the nobles hundreds of years ago.'' Lizko usually wasn''t one to care about such things as statuses. If he could, he would like to ignore them for as long as possible, but as the heir of the Irim household, he was obligated to care. Besides knowing the convoluted structures, he was also bound by other unwritten practices. One of those was that he couldn''t become compromised. It would end terribly if he took over and Green continued with her extortion. It was especially dire since Kalpoma, from whom his household got their land and title, was basically a zealot and didn''t tolerate critique toward the Temple. As such, Green''s blackmail could compromise his future ruling heavily, and if he acted against her, there was no way he could survive it. He needed a solution, and William gave him one, which he took gladly. Nonetheless, to say that he wasn''t excited that others, like him, were wronged by the Leonandra household and their allies would be a lie. The more people he could work with, the better since he also started thinking about becoming more proactive in their scheme. Why now? Over the last few years, Green''s demands increased; she wanted more spells and more theory, even from fields he did not know about, to the point where he needed to copy books from the library and send them to her. He was sure about one thing: She was playing with him as there was no way some brat could learn that fast, ''Does she think she is teaching Merlin?!'' It was ridiculous, and he was not someone to take it and be blackmailed for the rest of his life. Even the thought made his anger surge to degrees he didn''t know would be possible. She was humiliating him. He was usually composed, but now, he was in wrath, wanting to kill the little bug, but before that, he wanted to see who this Alexander was. While he had nothing against her apparent student and wouldn''t like to kill him, he had no choice. If he wanted Green to be killed, he needed him dead, as agreed with William''s group. He pulled out a parchment and started writing back, ''Ilusia, huh? Some useless Viscount brat but better than nothing.'' Some days ago, William also wrote to him about some youth from the Ros¨¦ household, which was under the Duchess Zarmanas, which was much more promising. Yet, as he tried to remember who Louis was, he couldn''t think of anyone, ''I think it''s just some child from a concubine.'' While he would''ve preferred to have help from someone different, who was part of the higher nobility directly, it was fine like this, too. While they weren''t compelling, they could be used as tools so he could reach his goal. As Lizko condemned others, he knew his household wasn''t strong either. It had declined over the last few years and could only hold onto some sense of dignity through Kalpoma. Their strength came from their magic. Sadly, besides him, only his Father was born with [Mana Sense], the prerequisite to becoming a mage. As vassals to Kalpoma, it was necessary to maintain a certain minimum in strength and talent, as the only reason they were under her and granted a fief was that she needed mages. From rumors, he knew that there was a superior duke household specialized in magic and alchemy, which had a way of instilling [Mana Sense] into their progenies. Still, it was also apparently very dangerous as sometimes, many of their children were never seen again, probably because they died by whatever method they used. However, he would never dare to voice his opinion on this matter, even though he found it cruel. It was the household that Merlin created, and there was no way he could, as a mage, go against the founder of their magic. Regardless of the cruel methods, his involvement in the Cathedral and the research on the weaknesses of wild demons was favorable. The Temple also saw wild demons as sacrilege to nature itself, and with it came much more support from Kalpoma. As such, he had more time to do his research while supporting his household, but it would also end sooner or later. Till then, he would need to dispose of the bug. He now needed to decide on how far he was ready to go. Would he want to only assist in certain things or directly intervene? The former would guarantee his safety, but the latter would increase his chance of ending this charade for good. After he wrote the letter to Ilusia, he sat in his office and thought about all the probabilities as his anger slowly rose to immense degrees, and a smile graced his face when he thought about how the annoying bug would suffer and die. Yet, his task wasn''t taking her down, but only helping in taking down the boy for whatever reason. While he didn''t understand the group''s motives, it was fine for him as long as they were trustworthy and competent, which they showed by sending a detailed prediction about what would happen in Wolfsteeth and Foxteeth. Even though it was somewhat off, they achieved something great, and he decided to dedicate himself fully to their deal. So, his target was now the boy, and if he died, he trusted the group to hold up their part of the deal by killing the insect. However, even though he was sure that he could kill the boy, the problem was that he would be immediately eridacated if the Leonandra household found this out. Worse, they would probably also raid the Irim household and wipe it from existence together with other Guard Households. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Even though their primary residence was in central Mal-Gil, Moorgrel cared little about it. With the Count standing behind them, they could act as boldly as they liked, as seen by their actions towards central nobility inside their territory. As he looked around for inspiration on being more proactive, he suddenly got an idea. He remembered a fairy tale of a stubborn girl who wanted everything. She inherited the title of nobility, fell in love with all the boys she met, and married them, but shortly became bored, repeating the cycle while collecting men like trophies. At some point, she was killed by one of her concubines out of jealousy. When her sister took over, she needed to accept all the men. She acted the same, but after she got bored, she killed them one after another. Yet, she was quickly assassinated by the third man before she could kill him. It was obviously out of protection. The third sister, though, was clever. When she took over, she slept with them but, after she got bored, poisoned them secretly while giving them love and care, never leaving their side as they died. At some point, all the concubines died slowly off. It was a cautionary tale for the children of nobles and taught that they should act cautiously. Even though they were selfish and ready to backstab for their own greed, they should always appear as if they were a saint. Lizko stood up and walked to the bookshelf with dozens of books about alchemy and pharmacy. He started skiming through them while thinking about what he would exactly do. Since the Leonandra youth would visit the ball in some years, it also meant that he had a chance to meet him. As such, he could concoct some potion to slowly kill him over time, without even being a suspect. While an assassination attempt sounded great, it was too harsh, and a too-strong poison would immediately make him the suspect. So, something slow and strong was needed, but he couldn''t find anything after looking through his books. The problem was that the boy was too young and probably had no [Poison Resistance]. As such, any poison would most likely kill him immediately. Yet, as he turned around, he saw his little demons in jars and smiled viciously, ''Why not?'' It was perfect. Since he lived in Moorgrel, especially in the east, Lizko could poison him with something native to this area. Because they had all the foul smell around them, he judged they also had some natural resistance to demonic energy. With some little tricks, it would be possible to poison the boy slowly, and no one would be the wiser. ... Somewhere else, Ros¨¦ estate, Training Grounds A dirty training area stood close to a small and debilitated mansion where one of the sons of the Ros¨¦ estate resided. From the garden to the mansion itself, everything looked unkempt. It was as if nobody cared about it and just let it be¡ªa disgrace to everyone who would call themselves an aristocrat. On said training field, there was an ongoing sparring match where two youths, very different in age, were giving their all. One of those was Louis, a relatively young jaguar-kin who fought with everything he had. While he showed overwhelming talent, the difference in experience and age was impossible to overcome against his brother. His rapier was fast and precise, but it was no use. One clumsy block and counter overwhelmed the young feline-kin as he slowly depleted his stamina, which led to such mistakes. Louis fell to the dirty ground, hoping he didn''t break any bones. As he lay down on the floor full of bruises and cuts, his older brother came over and looked at him in disgust, "Trash will always be trash. Even my spit would enrich your sad and pathetic life." He sheathed his sword and walked out of the training area, followed by two of his servants who looked at Louis as if he wasn''t worth their attention. Louis ignored them, lying there and thinking about how it came to this. Months ago, he started to train more until one of their guard captains suggested that one of his siblings, a half-brother, spar with him sometimes. To call it sparing was a stretch since all his brother did was beat Louis to a pulp and afterward abuse him; it wasn''t nice, but this was all he got. Even his mother couldn''t bring someone into the mansion to train him, as it was forbidden. So, he needed to endure it and get the most out of it. If he went by the rumors, it was the first wife of his Father who made the rule to block any entry of strangers to him, obviously to strangle all of Louis''s efforts to get stronger. Even this little training session was only an act of humiliation to break his will. He stood up and limped towards the broken rack with his barely functioning training swords, putting his rapier away. Afterward, he walked back to his mansion to clean himself up. As he limped back, everyone who looked at him, even in his own home, showed disgust and a reprehensive demeanor. He knew why: All his servants were from the first wife''s side to spy on him so he wouldn''t do something stupid. All this was going on for years, the moment when the battle for succession began. It would last at least another five years, and this time would be the hardest, not only for him but also for his other siblings who were from other wives than the main one. He could drop out and become a retainer to one of his brothers, but his spite toward his siblings and Father held him on point. He hated every moment of it and wished nothing more than to poison every single person in this mansion and sometimes, including his parents, who let it happen. Yes, he was never hungry or cold and received a decent education in all walks of life, but was this worth it? For him, it wasn''t. Thus, he sometimes imagined how he would live if he were born a commoner, making him regret his previously held assumptions. Even though he saw commoners and especially certain races as lesser, these sentiments softened heavily over the years. He wanted love and affection¡ªsomeone who cared for him unconditionally. Something he barely received and which turned to abuse as his position became worse than that of someone of lower birth. No nice and encouraging words anymore, but pure contempt was shown toward him. While limping through the mansion toward the bathhouse and in thought, he saw through the window the main mansion far away where his Father and mother resided. Hate. It didn''t matter who it was. Father, Mother, servants, siblings. He hated all of them for what they made him endure. As quickly as such thoughts came, as promptly did he ignore them. It was useless to think about things he couldn''t have, be it love or vengeance. All that would happen if he continued his thoughts would be that he became more depressed. He kept walking and entered his bath, dirty and left alone by the servants, obviously to tease him. The worst was that he couldn''t kill them as they worked for the Lady, and one mistake would cost him everything. It was apparent that they wanted him to make such a grave mistake or switch sides. All of them were quite keen on disposing of him in some way or another. He had talent, much more than his siblings. Yet, what good was it if he didn''t get the help he needed to develop it? Even his mother, who should''ve been his number-one advocate inside the harem, didn''t care. It was depressing that he had fallen so far down just because his bitch of a mother opened her legs for a miserable Father while shoving her constant disappointment in his face because she wouldn''t accept any fault of herself. As he washed himself clean, his thoughts momentarily stopped as he looked into the bathwater and saw himself crying, ''Again, huh.'' He was on the edge of a breakdown, and the bath was his only sanctuary for a few minutes daily. He would empty his mind and just let every problem he had fly away, hoping that it would be better next time. He sat still, only looking at his own face, and as minutes went by, he came suddenly out of his trance and rinsed himself out and dried with some older towels, ''I really need to strangle the servants with those.'' As he returned to the office, he saw his last and only loyal servant, Sherly, waiting at the door, obviously not letting anyone inside as this place was where he had all his plans written down in a self-developed language. He greeted her, and even she could see how miserable he looked, showing pity. She greeted him with the utmost respect, waited for him to enter, and followed him. He sat down in his chair and inhaled and exhaled strongly. Sherly tried to be more attentive before going to the business of the day, as always, "I hope you could cut that bastard this time, Mr. Louis?" Louis smirked at her and waved his hand in dismissal, "How could I? He used a mana sword and an item while I was in training gear." Sherly sighed, "OK, Mr. Louis, but I think I have good news..." She took two letters out of her cleavage and laid them down on the desk. The envelopes couldn''t look different. One looked rough, as if some slum dweller wrote it, while the other was extravagant, typical for nobility. He looked at her confused but accepted it and started to read the rough one first. With every word he read, his smile and vigor returned more and more back to him. It was a letter from the group from where the spider-kin was from who visited him the last time and should be proof to show how capable their group was. The spider-kin wrote about all the chaos in Wolfsteeth and Foxteeth, which Louis already knew about, but there were bits and pieces in between that were unknown to the public, so they seemed to be legit. After finishing, he started to read the elegant one. While reading, he began to shake his head slightly. It was from a noble from central Mal-Gil, some cat-kin girl with barely any power, who was far below him in status. Yet, going by her wording, she wanted to make sure he was part of the group, who seemingly also contacted her. After finishing, he closed his eyes and leaned back, trying to think it through. He now had multiple choices. First, he could betray the ominous group and run over to the Leonandra or Nine-Fire household. However, if he did so, he would probably have a considerable hit on his head as he would anger the suspicious group and his family since supporting the Guard Dogs was heavily frowned upon. The second option was that he could give everything he had to get some merits by killing some Guard Dog kitten and risking his life and that of his family. While he now cared little about his family, this thought of them dying cruelly under the might of the Guard Dogs made him joyful, ''Interesting...'' Louis stopped at that idea and decided on a slightly modified plan that would seem treacherous, but it was perfect for him. He opened his eyes again. He had a new vigor as if all vitality returned, "This is excellent news." Sherly smiled at him, "Are we going to do it?" He looked into her eyes and nodded, "Something like that, and for that plan to work, I need you to do a couple of things." She bowed down, sounding like a soldier ready to die for her Lord, "How may I be of use?" Louis smiled at that, thinking that she was indeed the only real friend inside the estate, which was nothing but Outer Circle, "I want you to take as much gold as you can and hide it outside the estate. Sell everything you get your hands on. Don''t worry. You can even steal jewelry or artifacts." She straightened up and looked at him, confused, "I don''t understand. Mr. Louis, do you want to flee?" He shrugged, "The estate''s inner politics are too messy and convoluted. Even if I become, by some miracle, the new Lord, I would need to kill my whole family to get rid of every possible enemy..." He sighed, leaning back again and looking up, "...I am done, Sherly." After a moment of silence, she answered, as sure as always, "How much time do we have?" He smirked, "A couple of years till the great ball for the youth, at which I will participate and give my family my last present..." He suddenly snapped his fingers, "...right, I almost forgot!..." Louis smiled at her amiably, "...if I don''t make it, the gold will be my last present to you then. Take it and live a great life." Sherly wanted to kneel and thank him, but he stopped her, "Don''t. Right now, I am too tired of this nonsense. Instead, go to Theodore and say that I want to talk to him..." He stood up and stretched, "...want to make me your retainer even after I went through so much humiliation? I will show you how good of an aide I can be." She smiled like a little kitten at him, "Of course, Mr. Louis! I will be right back!" She went out, and as the door closed, he looked the last time at the letters and disintegrated them with his energy, ''Well, it''s time to prepare.'' Louis wanted to escape this madness while his family would be beheaded for his future assassination attempt. If he fled without getting rid of them, this would mean that they would try to find and kill him, as he would obviously create danger for the new Lord. He wanted to fake his death at the ball and flee the moment he was sure that they had implicated him. At that point, Sherly would have amassed more than enough gold so they could live a leisurely life in the Guard Dog territory, far away from the Duchess''s influence and spies. It was an attractive thought which, by the second, made him want to do it more. Even imagining that he could live a lazy and easygoing life, far from this insanity of nobility with Sherly, brought a smile to his face. However, now he needed to kneel and play the role of a loyal and broken retainer while swearing his loyalty. Afterward, he would send a letter to the weird group and Ilusia, disguised as a love letter, ''I really am ending this madness, huh?'' For some reason, after deciding his next actions, he became as light as a feather. As if the title of nobility was not something he was cut out for. Only after suffering for so long did he know what he appreciated: A leisurely life with his friend and, later on, maybe with a family, which he would treat better than the failure he called Father. Chapter 110: Another Good Bye Stolen novel; please report. Chapter 111: New Retainers I ... Minor Garden, Greenhouse, Leonandra Estate Inside a greenhouse, beside the minor mansion, a white-haired wolf-kin boy was working inside, planting seeds. He had a small booklet floating around and a ball made of ink. After he planted a seed, a string separated itself from the ink ball, writing down a weird combination of numbers and letters and some notes underneath it. When he did this, a small wooden sign floated toward him, pushing itself beside the seed into the ground. The wood suddenly went up in flames and just as quickly extinguished, showing some combination of letters and numbers. ''Okay, C26 is done, next one.'' This was Alexander''s next project: He was genuinely planting seeds. They were ordinary, but he emitted different amounts of mana into them before planting them. Some had little, others more, and the last group was filled to the breaking point. His target was obvious: To create mana plants. Why? For one, he wanted to see if vegetables filled with mana had any effect if eaten. If he could develop gherkins with the same effect as mana potions, this would truly revolutionize his future society of mages. However, he also had another reason: The mana trees called Oyarion, which he used to create mana paper and ink, were limited, and even though they were growing somewhat fast, he wasn''t betting on his luck. He would want to be sustainable and try to recreate something similar artificially so as not to run into weird problems where some fungus or parasite destroyed them and, with it, his revenue stream. Another reason was that he wanted to create more tree species with more mana density to make even better paper. Still, as a precaution, he decided to first work with vegetables inside an isolated environment, the greenhouse. Even though he didn''t need one, as the temperature outside was always warm while the sun shone for what felt like 18 hours a day, he needed to isolate them as well as possible. So, building a greenhouse for the crafters was weird, but they did it nonetheless. For this experiment, he also created other areas. One such area was where he buried mana gems and stones around the seeds without filling them up with mana before. Of course, he would also have another area where he would do both things and a control group of seeds where nothing happened. However, to secure their integrity as best as possible, he also had plates of manullium placed around the areas, isolating them from each other. Most of what he was doing was also not new to him since he reused many of his findings when he bred mana insects, which was apparently an imperial crime. In his mind, they were a bunch of scaredy cats who forbade it, but not like he could start a petition or appeal to the Crown. However, it was truly a tragedy that happened when explicitly bred locusts, which turned into higher-level monsters, ate through their farms. Yet, it also showed the potential of breeding animals and monsters, which was already happening, but not insects. He wanted to design them for many things, from cheaper and easier available food sources to animals who would eat their waste for hygienic purposes. These thoughts tortured him while he worked on this gardening project till he thought: Why animals and not plants? Was there a reason to use animals for such things? Couldn''t plants do the same? Was it possible to create a species with so much protein and fat that it could be compared to meat? Could he actually create meat as a plant? He may be able to do it with mana, but before he could go that far, he first needed to get the fundamentals straight. Even thinking about it made Alexander giddy and brought many new ideas to the forefront that he needed to suppress while working on this project for the last few days. Alexander was almost repeatedly seduced to take a mana gem or stone so he could research the new probable energy source. Still, he resisted and decided only to do this with his parents'' permission. Besides that, Lili was permanently watching over him, and Ipe was outside the greenhouse, ready to intervene immediately. Alexander needed to accept that he was a child, one that didn''t have the body to survive massive explosions or worse. His, what Patricia and his Mother often described as suicidal curiosity and heroism weren''t things that were exactly encouraged, even though he found through them excellent skills. This behavior showed him they cared a lot, even though it was very controlling. Again, he needed to get in his head that he was a child for them, and such behavior, even though unacceptable for an adult, was quite normal for a child. However, his fingers itched when he could work with the mana stones and gems, as he wanted to test so much, like throwing them into acids and bases, overloading them with mana, straight up burning them, etc., but he resisted. He had time and wanted to avoid violating his family''s trust. Fortunately, his Mother most likely understood him and almost immediately greenlighted the new project, only making him promise not to eat the mana greens. He knew why she did it, and even though it annoyed him slightly, he accepted her carrot-and-stick approach. If he behaved, she would allow more; if not, he would be punished by not being allowed to do anything. However, it was good that she allowed this project because he became bored over the last two months as he waited for his blueprints for the train. At first, he thought that it would be impossible to bring all his ideas into reality, but he forgot that he now had the full cooperation of Salyna, their estate''s head accountant, who supported him since he was also the one who became one of the wealthier people in their fief who actually paid their taxes fully. Because of that, she ordered many artisans at the estate to cooperate fully with him and just do what he wanted. It seems ridiculous, but she just gave them the command to accommodate his whims to a certain degree, which he liked very much. Little to say, it was weird as suddenly, the carpenters and smiths took his projects very seriously and worked on them immediately the moment they got their hands on them. So, all he needed to do was design them as well and thoroughly as possible and later review them after they were made. Because of this, he started creating miscellaneous writing ware and things for better organizing while giving them out as presents to everyone at the estate and his workers at the charity. The reason was straightforward: He needed to increase efficiency and productivity. His only bottleneck was manpower, especially the skilled ones. While he could get a thousand people to join him immediately on his projects, he needed ones with knowledge and skills¡ªartisans, administrators, alchemists, etc. For this, his schools couldn''t be built fast enough. While Alexander planted the last seed group, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard multiple people walking toward him, ''Huh, he is here?'' Alexander was told that the guy who saved Ocilia''s ass wanted to meet him, and he agreed to it, also saying he should come directly to the greenhouse as he didn''t want to run around the estate. Multiple people suddenly hid the sun, throwing shadows at him, which were probably some guards and the savior. Without looking at them, Alexander asked, "You are Quill?" "Yes... I am, and it is my honor to meet you, Mr. Alexander." He sounded sincere but also calculative, as if trying to grasp his personality. Alexander kept planting and felt the guards would disturb an honest conversation should they stay, "Jack, Max, Leave us alone." They both bowed down and left, knowing that Alexander had someone much more dangerous protecting him at all times. As they left, Quill asked, a little stunned, "May I speak more openly, Mr. Alexander?" "Sure. I like openness." "Why are you planting... are those tomato seeds with magic?" Alexander looked to his back, at Quill, and back to his little garden. He was as depicted by Ocilia. He looked good but also didn''t emit anything like Aurum, arrogance, or pride. Instead, Alexander felt as if Quill tried to make himself as invisible as possible. His breathing was shallow, and his movements were as minimal as possible, ''Interesting.'' Alexander sounded stoic as he answered Quill, "Let''s say it is a hobby of mine, this much you are allowed to know. However, Lia told me that you wanted to meet me. I hope you didn''t use the merits I gave you on something as nonsensical as discussing the challenge of planting with magic. By the way, you would''ve met me either way as you are an exceptional worker, which Aurum told me about." Quill sounded slightly flustered, "Ye... Yes, thank you, Mr. Alexander. I actually wanted to meet you to decide my future course in life." Alexander smirked. He knew what kind of guy Quill was and decided to fuck around a little, "Clever. Wanting to make sure I am not some moron, so you could analyze me first before following or fuck off with a mountain of gold." If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Quill suddenly twitched and became nervous, "M... Mr. Alexander, that is not true! I just wanted to see who the noble person was who invested so much into the charity!" After planting the last seeds, he closed the book and put the ink back inside a flask, plugging it up. He stood up and used a cleaning spell while putting the booklet and flask inside his non-enchanted pouch, which floated beside him. He then looked Quill into his eyes, smirking slightly, "I see. Too bad, though. I really like the idea of someone not being fully clueless and knowing their options." Quill only stood there, pupils shaking and obviously panicking. Alexander smiled at him, finding the situation quite funny. While he had nothing against the rabbit boy, it was clear that he had a lot of distrust toward nobility and wanted to make sure that the Archmage Puppy wasn''t some moronic puppet of anyone else who just did what was he got told. Alexander agreed with him 100% but didn''t like it. Ultimately, he was a noble who put a tremendous amount of gold into charity and other projects, which benefited society for the better. His action should be reason enough for him to believe he was not some ordinary brat. Even though he seemed to distrust nobles and thus needed to see everything for himself, he was probably also pretty immature, which was a given since he was also somewhat young. With his mindset, the correct way to cope with such a situation would be to wait for Ocilia''s girlfriend to visit him and then question her afterward, which Alexander expected since he seemed from descriptions to be socially conscious. However, Alexander''s action probably made him doubt his experience, thus making him visit much earlier as his curiosity killed him, ''If my assumption is true, this is quite the pickle he is in.'' However, while Alexander empathized with him, it also irked him the wrong way. He felt unworthy as his actions seemed not to be enough. He also had an ego and didn''t like to be judged by his personality regarding his skills and ideals. Yet, he wouldn''t be too petty toward the rabbit boy since he understood him, but a little punishment was necessary, even if it was only for Alexander''s amusement. Alexander showed two fingers while glaring at him, "So, you have a choice. Either you lied to me by trying to make yourself look amiable to me, but at the same time, you would look intelligent, or you were telling the truth, which makes you a moron, someone I don''t need. What is it?" Quill opened and closed his mouth multiple times without saying anything. However, after some time, he bowed, while sweat ran down his forehead, "I..." Alexander interrupted him, laughing intensely, "Haha! Sorry..." He patted the frightened rabbit-kin on the shoulder, "...I am just fucking with you." Quill looked at him slightly up, confused, so Alexander clarified, trying not to laugh, "Sorry, buddy. You saved Ocilia, so I don''t care even if you lied to me, but of course..." Alexander stared him down with an ice-cold glare, "...I don''t really know how to feel about you." He put his hand away and was about to leave the greenhouse and go toward his mansion, "Follow me." Quill straightened up and followed him, "Of course, Mr. Alexander..." While walking toward his mansion, Alexander asked, "Tell me, is what you saw to your expectations? Be free to answer honestly." After a moment of probably thinking everything through, he answered, and Alexander could smell his fear, "No and yes." Alexander raised an eyebrow, being interested, "Oh, would you like to elaborate?" "I expected you, by no means do I mean this as an insult, to be more chil... kit like, but the moment I saw you, I knew I made a mistake with my previous assumption..." He gulped down, "...looking at Ocilia, your disciple, I should''ve known that you are not some ordinary noble youth, and testing you would be nonsensical, yet I wanted to make sure about your personality and if I would want truly to follow such a person... should I ever get a chance." Alexander smiled and decided to be a little nicer, "Ocilia? Forget her. If you saw how she was years ago when I took her..." He waved his hand in dismissal, "...forget it. Weren''t my projects good enough to indicate who I am and what I stand for? Why want to know my personality? It''s not like me being nice to maids would change anything." Quill also calmed down a bit more, probably because Alexander''s tone became much more casual, "May I be honest?" "Sure. I like honesty." His tone became more serious, "I was with Aurum in a school full of nobles whom I couldn''t stand. To survive there, I needed to analyze them. The only decent way was to do it personally. I don''t trust actions or hearsay. I only trust my instinct." "Oh? I heard that you were some thug, right? Is it some remnant from that time?" He flinched hearing that, obviously a little scared, "Did Ocilia tell that?" Alexander shrugged, "Don''t misunderstand me, I don''t really give a fuck where you come from. From all I know, Lia''s Father was one too. All I care about is your talent and loyalty if you want to become my retainer, but..." He turned to look at Quill, who was staring holes into the back of his head, "...you seem not to have decided. Am I that hard to read?" Quill answered, almost stoically, "You are unpredictable, Mr. Alexander, and I have no idea what you will do next." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "That''s bad?" Quill shook his head, "I don''t know." Alexander suddenly stood still in the middle of the estate, crossing his arms, "So, before we continue this talk, which is the least I can give you since you saved the moron I call my disciple, I want you to be honest with me. What do you want in life?" "Pard¨®n?" "You heard me right. What do you want in life? If you want wealth, just ask me, and I give you this as a gift for your great merit. You will never lift a finger in your life, and even your family will live for five generations with a silver spoon in their mouth, but since you are here, you probably want more, am I right?" Quill solemnly answered only after minutes of contemplation, "Yes, Mr. Alexander. I want more." Alexander smiled, "Why?" Quill sounded sincere, "I saw what you are doing and want to be a part of it." "Is that so? Go on." He became silent, and Alexander could guess what he wanted to say, "Just talk openly. I promise you by my name that nothing will happen to you even if you insult me." Quill nodded, "I never liked nobles and less the young ones. They were arrogant, spoiled, and talentless. However, when I saw your charity and how much she changed the life of the ones like me, I wanted to be a part of it..." He clenched his fist, "...I know that there are nobles who give out bread and water to appease the less fortunate somewhat. Still, you went far beyond that and didn''t expect anything back. Education, good food, clothes, and so much more which you just give out..." He chuckled, "...even Aurum is annoyed as he isn''t fast enough with distributing the wealth you gave to him. As such, I want to be a part of something like this and make a change, too..." For the first time, he showed what Alexander would consider an honest smile, "...much more than what I do now." Alexander smiled, sounding joyful, "It is nice to help others, right?" Quill became far more open in his tone, "At first, I felt annoyed, but after revisiting the orphanages and seeing the change, something inside me wanted more, and my previous feeble intention to become your retainer became stronger..." Alexander continued for him, "You want to see others helped who are as unfortunate as you were. You have a much easier life now since you know the hardships and challenges, which all could be eased with a little bit of gold and manpower." It was silent for some time till Quill answered, almost cracking his voice, audibly being happy, "A... Absolutely." Alexander nodded and turned around, walking to his mansion while gesturing for him to follow, "Sure, I already have an idea what you could do, but I don''t know if you will like it." "What is it, Mr. Alexander?" "I need someone inside the underworld." Quill''s voice cracked slightly, and Alexander could hear disappointment, "I see..." However, Alexander continued, "Listen first before imagining yourself as some master assassin. For such positions, I could find better people..." He chuckled slightly, "...I need you down there for stuff I need to buy. As you may have seen, Ocilia isn''t fit for this job. Still, to realize my projects, I need many things, which, in my opinion, should be freely accessible in the first place..." He started counting on his hand, trying to convince Quill that even such a job would significantly and positively impact society, "...blueprints for technologies and mana artifacts, alchemical recipes, magic tomes, and so on. All the things I need to create even better living conditions for commoners..." For some reason, Alexander became angry as he listed the things he needed, clenching his fangs, "I could create so many great things, share the knowledge so much easier, and make the world so much better..." He suddenly became enraged as it was a pain point for him, "...but no!..." He turned around and stared at Quill, who flinched and walked slightly backward, "...do you know how stupid it is to hide knowledge for non-dangerous things like healing potions? Huh?!" Quill showed his hands in peace and studdered while sweating heavily, "N... No, Mr. Alexander?" Alexander stomped his foot on the ground, using magic to create a crater, which visibly frightened Quill, "I paid around four large gold coins for a stupid recipe which can save the fucking life of my subjects!..." He became louder, emitting a massive amount of killing intent around him, which scared away some passerby servants, who ran away quickly, "...do you fucking know how frustrating it is to send my people down there, into the gutter to get things which should be just there, in the fucking library for everyone to see, learn, and create! So they could live a fucking good life without worries!" Quill was silent and staring, almost in terror, at Alexander, "I..." He couldn''t say anything, and Alexander only now realized that he had gone overboard as the situation indeed stressed him. He needed so many things, but for this, he would need to get his retainers to visit the fucking underworld first, which would cost so much time and resources which could be used for better things. Alexander sighed, immediately stopping the emission of his aura, "Sorry about that. I get really riled up about such things." Quill didn''t move and stood there almost as if he was frozen, "D... don''t worry, Mr. Alexander." Alexander smiled slightly at him, "Need a minute?" Quill only nodded, and Alexander let him stay there and relax slowly for as long as he needed. For some reason, even though he could now control his killing intent much better, specific topics, especially when it came to his subjects, riled him incredibly up. Even though Alexander became more realistic over the years, he also never lost his idealism, and now that he could give everyone mana skills, he came so close to his dream that he could smell it. Still, at the same time, he would need to go through all the convoluted bullshit on which the society was built up over thousands of years. While he intellectually understood why, for example, health potion recipes were guarded by alchemists, it was nonetheless frustrating. He had no shortcuts, and he needed to invest a lot to get what he wanted. Quill calmed down and nodded toward Alexander, "I think I am fine again, Mr. Alexander." Alexander nodded and gestured to follow him while sounding relaxed, "Are you in? I want you to be my retainer and work part-time for Aurum. Otherwise, he would flood me with spam... I mean letters since you are that great. You would only be my purchaser for the things I describe. You decide as I will not force you..." Alexander shrugged, "...and you can immediately stop should I want something you deem unethical. Should this happen, I will give you another position, more in line with what you wish for." After minutes of contemplation and silence, Quill answered carefully but joyfully, "I like it, and thank you for your gracious offer, Mr. Alexander, but we need to do something before that." "I will triple your wage, and you get bonuses for successful buys and information. How does it sound?" Quill chuckled, "You are really unpredictable, Mr. Alexander, but I am in." Alexander nodded, smiling at him, "Tell me about you while we walk to my office. I like to know where my people come from, especially since they are from so far away." Chapter 112: New Retainers II ... At the same time, Alexander''s (new) office Two young women were walking inside an office. One of them looked around curiously and nervously, while the other was a little unkempt and had bags under her eyes. Ocilia, who was at the front, was casually dressed in short linen pants that went to her calves, simple slippers, and a wide-open linen shirt. While it was too casual to wear it around the estate, she had only woken up around ten minutes ago, oversleeping the appointment because she had trained a new spell for half a night. So, when her Mother told her that Ariana had arrived at the estate, she quickly got up, used the cleaning spell, and met her. Ariana, who was behind her, looked like she would go to a ball. She wore her best suit, which she specially tailored for this occasion, and bought the most expensive cravat she could. Her accessories, like cufflinks, earrings, and hair bow, were either silver and intricately crafted or tailored and woven with fine silk. Ocilia told her that her Master didn''t care about such things, but she insisted and made some artisans very happy. Even her bow alone was more costly than her whole attire, excluding the cloak she made for the underworld. "Is this Mr. Alexander''s office?" "Yeah, but it''s new, though." "How come?" "Let''s say Master has a lot of needs..." Ariana looked curiously around the office, especially at his desk, which was full of new things that were really helpful in organizing paperwork; at least, this was what Ocilia was told. There were some weirdly bent metal strings, a smaller file cabinet-like thing where one could sort papers, many smaller and colorful papers that were sticky on one side, many colorful and weird pencils, and much more. Such things fascinated Ariana, but when Ocilia looked around, she became somewhat annoyed. When they moved to this larger mansion some time ago, she was forced to reorganize her Master''s office, and she could tell why he never cared about her messy workplace: He wasn''t much better. It was pure chaos; she needed days to sort through documents, research, blueprints, etc., and then rewrite and sort them accordingly. Yes, they moved mansions, and Ocilia remembered vividly the shitshow that led to them moving. The short explanation was that it was getting cramped. The longer explanation was that Ocilia''s Master and Mother had a massive fight, which went on for hours. They screamed at each other until her Master went to the Lady and argued for a bigger mansion, which he got the next day. Ocilia agreed with her Mother, though. Since her Master lived with his siblings and his two new temporary retainers, they all needed servants, and those required a space where they could live. Usually, the Lady designated a special mansion for those, but her Master liked to have them around for the weird reason that he could become better acquainted with them. However, while it sounded lovely, this quirk brought many more problems. Since Ocilia''s Mother, who was also the head maid, liked to hire servants with families as they were usually much more loyal and diligent, they also needed more space. As such, they moved into the new mansion, which was slowly getting fuller. How did Ocilia know this? Her Mother was annoying her day and night with the problems she needed to manage. Worse, it would get fuller in some months when Janina would move to them, and she would also require new servants who would tend to her needs. Fortunately, Lorient was gone with the Lord, so not much would change. The smaller mansion, however, became her Master''s giant laboratory and production site. Going inside without permission was almost impossible as it was guarded 24/8 inside and outside, with her Lady slowly shifting the paper production back there and starting to want to expand the estate with newer buildings that would tend to Alexander''s needs. For Ocilia, it sounded as if she would spoil him, but no. It was actually Salyna who argued with the Lady about this since her Master brought them a ton of tax revenue, and she wanted to accommodate the golden puppy as well as possible. This whole management problem made her realize that She would never want to work as a maid, as this sounded like Outer Circle to her. All the management problems were too pedantic for her to care. Ocilia''s thoughts were interrupted when Ariana leaned slightly against the massive desk, looking annoyed at her. This made Ocilia flinch slightly, ''Urgh, please, not again.'' When Ocilia returned to Wolfsteeth and told Ariana the excellent news that she had gotten her an appointment with her Master, where she would be introduced as a probable retainer, Ocilia''s very own Outer Circle started. Her girlfriend became angry and fought with her because she abhorred nepotism, and Aurum screamed at her because she tried to poach the more competent worker away. It was a literal shit show, as all of her Master''s warnings had happened. "So, Mr. Alexander is talking with Quill right now?" Ocilia nodded, "Yeah, Quill wished to first see Master for himself before deciding if he wanted to take more responsibility by becoming his retainer." "Oh, I heard that he had a choice in this matter, right?" Ocilia nodded, "Yeah..." but suddenly stopped, seeing that this was again going to lead to a fight, "...but not really. He is talented, so Master would poach him at some point either way." Ariana patted the mahogany table and looked to the side, "It''s nice to be acknowledged, right?" Ocilia popped a vein, "Ari, enough with this nonsense! Do you know what I did for you to get you here?" Ariana looked bored at Ocilia, raising an eyebrow, "Oh, should I thank you now? For bringing me to Mr. Alexander through your merits? I will be nothing more than a paper pusher, not taken seriously." Ocilia smirked at her, her anger disappearing, "If you think that, talk to me after Master drowns you in work." Ariana''s tone became more sarcastic, "Yeah, who doesn''t love a job without fulfillment, just to sit in some office and never ever change anything, as long as one is drowning in work, right?" Ocilia sighed, "With your talent? Not gonna happen." Ariana almost dripped with sarcasm, "Oh yeah? How does Mr. Alexander discover my talent if he pushes me into some dead-end position through nepotism then? Will you use your oh-so-great merits again?" Ocilia frowned, "Can you just wait and see? I swear that you don''t need to choose anything. It will even be all right if you decline all his offers after the meeting and return to Aurum." Ariana walked around the table, glaring at her lover, "Aurum? You mean the retainer who worked his ass off to get into the position he is now?" Ocilia shook her head, "He is the son of the head accountant. If there would be a perfect description of nepotism, he would be it." For some reason, Ariana became visibly irritated but didn''t say anything, "I see." It was silent for some minutes, very awkward, till Ocilia broke it as she couldn''t stand it, "Are you all right, Ari? You know you can tell me everything you are worried about, and I will try to solve it. Even if you are uncomfortable, we can cancel the meeting, and I take the blame on myself. Nothing will happen to you." Ariana sighed, rubbing her temple, "Lia, I love you, but you are a control freak, and since you already made an appointment to meet Mr. Alexander, I must do so." Ocilia raised an eyebrow, "No, you don''t, and who are you calling a control freak? Aren''t you the one who sorts socks alphabetically by color?" Ariana popped a vein, "This means I am organizing things..." She glared at her, "...not like you understand it. You even ruined Mr. Alexander''s present, the beautiful fountain pen I received, by using it to mix..." her voice became louder, "...your damn tea with honey!" Ocilia held her hands up in peace and looked behind her, hoping her Master wouldn''t be behind the door, "Ari, please calm down and don''t scream. The pen isn''t..." She shut up, cleverly, knowing that her following words would be wrongly understood. So she tried to de-escalate the situation, "...I am sorry, okay? Can we stop fighting?" Ariana calmed down, "I am sorry, it''s just..." Ocilia turned back to her and smiled nervously, "I know, but trust me when I say you will get so much responsibility that you will drown in it." Ariana rubbed her forehead, "Okay, fine, let''s just see what will happen..." She looked around curiously, "...I like it here." Ocilia nodded, now more relaxed, and came closer to Ariana, "You know, when we were in the previous mansion, Master taught me in his old office for hours every day for years, and when I came home, I was so exhausted, I just slept without eating till my parents forced food into me..." She chuckled, "...I felt like a goose who was fattening for some..." She gestured that she forgot how the food was called, looking at Ariana for help, who sighed and told her, "...foie gras." Ocilia had zero clue about what rich people eat. She would be happy with the shashlick with the unidentified meat her favorite street vendor made. Yet, Ariana forced her to wear pretty clothes and visit well-established restaurants to eat things she couldn''t pronounce or remember. It was also always a drag for her to behave appropriately. While it was somewhat taught to her by her Mother and Master, there was always a premise: She should only use it when needed. However, she never needed it. Her Master didn''t care, while his siblings were mostly the same and liked a casual but respectful tone. The Lady and Lord also cared little, and the only one who cared was Aro, the head butler of the estate, whom she saw only once every couple of months. As such, Ocilia mostly forgot all the weird names, rules, and gestures she learned in what she would now call a crash course. Fortunately, nobody in Wolfsteeth looked at her weirdly since she was a member of the Leonandra household and a mage at that. For some reason, when the words mage or alchemist came up, a lot of her behavior was excused from the get-go, as they were usually a weird bunch, apparently. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Ariana interrupted Ocilia''s thoughts, "Good. I already like Mr. Alexander..." She looked Ocilia up and down much more closely, "...the last thing I want from you is to lose your curves." Ocilia smiled at the compliment. She always knew that she was attractive, but it was one thing getting complimented by someone she didn''t like and another by someone she loved and respected. "Thanks, I also love your..." The problem, though, was that she couldn''t compliment, "...hair?" Ariana looked at Ocilia dumbfounded and chuckled, "Was it a question?" Ocilia blushed and became flustered, rubbing the back of her head, "Sorry, I try to be more romantic. I just don''t know how to do this." Ariana smiled back and came close, kissing her cheek, "Don''t worry, don''t change. I like the dense Lia who only knows how to do science and magic." ... Sometime later, Alexander''s office "So, Quill is in, but he left to clarify something with Aurum. Let''s see..." Alexander looked at a nervous lizard girl sitting on the couch opposite of him, with the tea table in between, which had some untouched pastries and tea on it, "...you are Ariana, am I right?" She was very nervous, "Y... Yes Mr Alexander!" He looked at Ocilia, "Is she always this nervous? Not like I am seen as some evil overlord, right?" Ocilia sighed, "No, Master, she simply respects you greatly." Alexander looked back at Ariana and needed to be much more sensitive to her than with Quill. While it was fun to fuck around, Alexander had correctly identified that the former thug could endure a little prank. At the same time, Ariana was so nervous that Ocilia needed to stay beside her for emotional support. Alexander tried to be more amiable toward her as he feared she would cry the moment he said something wrong, "So..." He was interrupted by her, "Yes, Mr. Alexander?!" He smirked, finding it quite cute, "How is Wolfsteeth? I heard that you came from some city called High-Town like Quill." She fiddled with her fingers, trying to look into his eyes, but they wandered down to her hands or anywhere else, "I love it here, Mr. Alexander." He leaned back and thought that easing her in with some small talk would be ideal so she could relax, "Hm, that''s good. What is life like? Did you already rent or buy a house somewhere with Lia?" She suddenly looked in panic towards Ocilia, who only sighed, sounding a little tired, "Ariana is not comfortable talking about our relationship because of her previous circumstances, Master." Alexander nodded, "Well, I understand..." He looked at Ariana, whose pupils shook slightly. He shrugged, "...I don''t care what you do in your private life; just do a good job, and we are all good." He really didn''t care, but since relationships were always a good topic for some casual small talk, he at least tried. Yet, since Ariana was from somewhere where homosexuality was seen as a negative, she was clearly distressed to even talk about it, even though in Moorgrel, nobody gave a fuck about such things if you were a commoner. In Alexander''s opinion, this was because Moorgrel was under constant and more severe threats than central Mal-Gil at their borders. As such, the Count and his Knightages mostly ignored discriminatory behavior, which was tried to push onto them from central Mal-Gil nobility. However, they needed talent and loyalty more than anything else so they could push against their enemies. Fortunately, the Count identified that getting more people, never mind their private circumstances, was highly beneficial. Ariana nodded, smiling slightly, "Thank you, Mr. Alexander." Since small talk didn''t work, he switched to the main topic and why she visited him, "So, I heard that you are an exceptional worker." She nodded carefully, "Ye...s. However, I don''t know if Ocilia really knows of my work and told you correctly, Mr. Alexander." He shook his head, "Don''t worry. Aurum wrote me an exceptionally long letter trying to tell me how Ocilia''s behavior was unprofessional and that he begged me not to take you away, and the same is true for Quill, by the way." What he described was the nice version. In truth, Aurum told him that he wanted Ocilia punished and thrown into prison. It was a multi-paged rant at how she should go fuck herself and die in a ditch for poaching his workers, ''Indeed, I have a functioning workforce.'' He thought so sarcastically. After replying and assuring him that Alexander could find a way to make everyone happy, an even longer letter reached him, trying to argue that he couldn''t let go of her. After that came another, and after that, even without Alexander replying, half a dozen more, which showed to him how great of a talent Ariana was. However, Alexander warned Ocilia first to talk it out thoroughly, but she didn''t, and now he wanted to punish her for it but had no idea how. While he understood that she only wanted to be close to Ariana, she did it forcefully without knowing the structure, bringing friction between his people. Fortunately, he compromised with Aurum in the end. Ariana slightly blushed while Ocilia glared at him, "Aurum said so, huh?" Alexander looked at her, supporting his chin, "Remember what I told you? Don''t try to forcefully poach someone, as it can create friction and, in the end, problems for everyone. You will be punished for this since you didn''t listen to me and created conflict between my people..." He pointed with his head toward Ariana, "...look at her. She is clearly not ready to meet me, but you forced her because of your private regions." Ariana flushed and became red like a tomato, "Mr. Ale..." Ocilia and Alexander interrupted her immediately, without even looking at her, "Silence." "Don''t." Ocilia sounded exasperated, "I understand that I was in the wrong, but it can''t be that hard to replace her, no?!" Alexander, though, smirked at her and turned toward Ariana, who stared daggers at Ocilia, "Excuse me?! Do you think I am that easily replaceable?! Do you have any idea how hard my work is?! For what do I even tell you what I did at work if you don''t even take it seriously!" Ocilia flinched and also looked at Ariana, "Wha... I mean..." She didn''t know what to say and, from Alexander''s experience, fucked up big time. Ariana, though, suddenly remembered where she was and looked at Alexander. Panic was seen on her face, and tears started well up in her eyes. She started crying after a moment when she tried to hold them back, "I am... heuk... so sorry, Mr. Ale... heuk." Alexander stood up, which made Ariana panic, but he gestured to calm down and sat beside her, pulling out a handkerchief and offering it to her, "Here you go, Ariana." Ariana nodded, smiling slightly with her face full of snot, taking it, "Fank fou." She then cleaned her face with it. Ocilia was about to say something, but Alexander gestured for her to stop, "Don''t, let me..." She stopped, and Alexander turned to Ariana, "...listen, you are a great administrator, and Lia has no idea about such things. For her, probably everyone under Aurum is the same, but it is my fault since I only taught her magic, alchemy, and science, so I apologize..." Ariana immediately interrupted him, "Mr. Alexander, don''t! This is unbeco..." He though glared at her to be silent, which she did after looking into his eyes. Alexander smiled at her and continued, "But you don''t need Lia''s recognition for your work. She may know that you are great but doesn''t understand it truly, like how you don''t understand what makes a mage great or different in that sense, right?" Ariana nodded and calmed slightly down, "I... understand, Mr. Alexander." Alexander leaned slightly back, putting one leg over the other, "Alrighty, let me be a little more direct to avoid misunderstandings: I want you to work for me directly, part-time and part-time for Aurum, continuing your job, but only under one condition." She nodded carefully, slightly afraid, which showed she wasn''t made for such interactions but was apparently a genius behind the desk, coordinating and making everything work, ''I need her.'' He knew some great people on Earth who just couldn''t socialize well or have a good conversation, but their skills were true. Sometimes, managers or the relevant authority in the army would decide well on the position of such workers, seeing their weaknesses and trying to find a suitable position for them. Still, others sometimes wouldn''t accept such shortcomings, putting them in leading positions, thinking that being good at one thing translated as easily into others. What happened was usually discontent in teams and sometimes worse. Alexander wanted to show her first that she didn''t need to be frightened about him and be more open about her problems, "If anything, it doesn''t matter what concerns you. I want you to come immediately to me, and we will find a solution. Please don''t be frightened and tell me how it is, okay?" She nodded, now smiling widely, "I will, and thank you, Mr. Alexander!" Ocilia also tried to say something, clearly not seeing that a better decision was just to shut up, "See? Everything is fine." Ariana turned around and glared at Ocilia, full of hate, which made her flinch slightly. Alexander turned to Ocilia and spoke honestly, "About the problems you created, I don''t want you to fight with Aurum and escalate the situation. Just accept that you made a mistake and do better next time..." He turned back to Ariana, ignoring his moron of a disciple who looked down at her feet in shame, "You will work two days a week here with Anastasia, whom you will meet at some point. Through Aurum, I learned that you are already looking for a place to build a school and trying to work it out, so I want you both to work together and bring this project to life. Does that sound good?" She smiled and bowed slightly down while sitting, "Thank you, Mr. Alexander!" Alexander smiled back, but inwardly, he was angry and wanted to strangle Ocilia. Ariana was a great worker, which he loved to have, but Aurum clearly needed her, and it was too early to get her to the estate. Even though Alexander had dozens of projects Ariana could work on, they all needed some refining and planning time. The day was only so long, and because it was a different world, copy-pasting his ideal solutions from Earth was impossible. Now, he needed to rush some things somehow to include her efficiently. Telling her that she should come in half a year or so would only demoralize her and make him look bad since he had promised his disciple that he would take her on account of her merits. So, for him to find a middle way, he would need to talk with Anastasia later and somehow bring her to his side, which he already predicted would be annoying. Education was a big part of his charity, so he could somehow make everyone happy with this solution. She would still work in the charity while just being at the estate. Quill was, in that case, someone who decided by himself. Thus, there was barely any pushback from Aurum, and the situation didn''t escalate. "Good, I triple your wage, and you..." He looked at Ocilia, who flinched as she looked back at him, "...I will think of something. However, I need you to write me an essay on what you did wrong, got it? 20 pages." Ocilia bowed down, "Of course, Master, and let me apologize again for my selfish behavior." Alexander looked at her while rubbing his chin and suddenly got an idea, which made him smile, "Well, I know what your punishment will be." ... Later that night, Servant''s mansion, Bar, Leonandra Estate Ocilia sat inside the bar, especially for servants, located in the mansion where most of the higher-ranked ones resided. She was drinking and looked annoyed, "I fucking hate it." The barkeeper asked her, sounding surprised, "Why are you here in the first place?" She glared at the barkeeper but only sighed in the end, "I fucked up big time and am now not allowed to see my girl, but worse, apparently, a seven-year-old, for some reason, has better skills to talk to women than me." After the meeting ended, her Master forbade her to meet Ariana at night for the next month as punishment. While it annoyed her, she was happy it was only this light of a punishment. She actually thought that her Master would think of something worse. While Ocilia was happy, she also thought that Ariana was over it, but she showed her the cold shoulder. It was depressing, and while she was a little jealous of her Master since he could miraculously understand her, which Ocilia couldn''t, he gave her a small to-do list of what she needed to do to make Ariana happy. For the next month, Ocilia needed to buy presents, write cringe-worthy love poems, ask her to talk about their emotions, and truly have a conversation. She usually saw their talks as pointless most of the time, but apparently, they were somewhat important. She never did such things since all she learned from her parents was to shut up and listen to her Master, and he told her to learn science, magic, and alchemy. Sometimes, they studied something else, but it was relatively rare. Now, he would teach her how to lead a happy relationship, which made her somewhat happy if she was honest. While her Master was never really cold to her, he felt distant. Yet, they would now meet often and not just talk about all the research but about her emotions and how she should act. It was heartwarming. Even though it was punishment, she liked the outcome to some extent. The only problem was that when the sun began to set, she became restless without Ariana by her side. It was awful because she knew her girlfriend was only some minutes away in another room, ''This fucking sucks.'' Worse, this was one topic she couldn''t talk about with her Master, and ask for some advice since he didn''t know what it meant to have sex or feel horny. He was literally a hatchling who, should she bring the topic up, would only look at her dumbfounded. She took a giant gulp of what felt like poison and felt slightly drunk, ''Not enough.'' However, Ocilia learned her lesson. She was selfish and wouldn''t even argue against it. Her Master somehow performed a miracle by pleasing Aurum and Ariana. She was especially thankful that he found a way to give Ariana a great project, but he now needed to get Anastasia on his side somehow so it could start as quickly as possible. So, his anger was understandable, but he was nonetheless there for her, which gave her a warm feeling. She promised herself that she would never act like that again. Was it horniness or just her desire to be as close as possible to a loved one? Probably this and that, but all could be resolved if she just waited a little bit longer and discussed it through, ''I am such a dumbass.'' Ocilia knocked on the counter, "Give me a bottle of this poison. I want to go to my room and get knocked out." Chapter 113: Deal with Anastasia ... Garden, Leonandra Estate In a garden next to a grand mansion stood a beautifully crafted pavilion, bursting with life. Seated inside was a youthful woman with bunny ears and a premature boy with wolf ears, who, despite his young age, had already reached the woman''s height. They sat and talked for hours, and even though some servants came close to them to listen, they didn''t understand anything. The topic was too convoluted, exceeding their given education. Sometimes, they argued loudly at each other, but most of the time, they drily laughed when discussing. All the while, particular objects magically floated around them. It would be a wondrous sight for everyone else in the region but ordinary at the estate, so much so that nobody batted an eye at that. However, the unique get-together between those two ended at some point, "Okay, for today, we are done! Good job, Alex, even though you were much less motivated." Alexander sighed in exhaustion while his tail waggled joyfully, "I can''t... I am already at level 98, and the last levels felt like I was chewing on leather." Anastasia cocked her head slightly, being confused, "Why, though?" Alexander leaned casually back and closed his eyes, tilting his head upwards, "Oh, I don''t know? Maybe, just maybe, you tried to shove how Moorgrel''s judiciary was structured into me for the last week." Learning law was fun for Alexander, to a certain point. At the same time, it was pretty helpful to understand the structure of legal sovereignty and how it worked, from localities as theirs to the highest Moorgrelian court and then, in some cases, depending on the specific crime, the Imperial court. However, the details of how the law worked, including all the exceptions and how to interpret it, were not crucial for the random thief who sold stolen fish to a random commoner within said fief. Still, if the thief stole something from one noble and sold it to another in a fief that wasn''t administered by either of them, it became convoluted. Yet, more annoying was that many laws changed every hundred-odd years without removing the older ones, making the whole judiciary an incomprehensible mess. As such, many fiefs had literally hundreds of books full of laws, thousands of years old, which contradicted the newer ones. However, while Alexander found it ludicrous that they didn''t do their work as rulers, he agreed that getting rid of older laws wasn''t straightforward. The Guard Households and other nobilities inside Moorgrel needed to write to the Moorgrelian highest advisory court and explain what they got rid of and why. If the highest court found it unacceptable, a long and arduous discussion through letters would start. For example, there was a book on duels at their estate and a description of the five pillars around them. Challenges, acceptance, time, weapon of choice, and outcome were all regulated heavily. However, duels were forbidden for hundreds of years in Moorgrel since many Knightages legally killed the ones from central Mal-Gil after challenging them inside Moorgrel. Yet duel laws were still on the books because many didn''t know how to get rid of them. Here comes the imperial court in place. They made a deal with Moorgrel and mandated that such a law must be established between all nobles under the empire. Now, what to do? Easy: Don''t duel. In Moorgrel, all nobility tacitly understood that no duel must be held inside their territory. It was an agreement between them, not written down in law. As such, besides laws, he also needed to learn about those agreements since, even though not binding by law, they were by the word of nobility, which was equally important. In short, laws were an accumulation of tradition, culture, and noble whims put into a library where they would collect dust. Even though Alexander dismissed most of those, they were actually used by wealthy commoners who could go through the system and fight what they assumed was an injustice. Little to say, most of the time, it was easier to pay a hefty fine to the Ruler and be let off the hook for non-serious crimes even though they were innocent. Yet, most seemingly accepted it. There were obviously many more practical implications of how their system was structured, like that commoner without any wealth wouldn''t be able to fight unjust rulings or how local laws broke the ones that superseded them, but without bringing them in front of those higher courts, they would never be assessed. Anastasia chuckled, holding a hand before her mouth, "What were you thinking? Law isn''t about remembering all the laws but learning and applying the theories, methodology, and structure behind them. Otherwise, it would be impossible to be a lawyer or judge." Alexander actually didn''t know. He really thought that it was mostly remembering stuff and discussing who was right by looking at the wording. He felt like a moron. He sounded defeated, "I understand, but at least I need only two more levels and a Tier test. Then I am done." "Oh, no, no, no..." She sounded joyful, evidently mockingly so, "...you need to learn the correct procedure before you can even begin your two years as a judge. There is a right way how it is done here in the East of Moorgrel, and if you don''t follow it, your colleagues will criticize you, and the Lady will put you into the lower courts." He jerked his head to the front, looking at her, annoyed, "Pardon? I thought I was a damn noble? Where is my right to have whims?" She shook her head and sighed, "Alex, if you wanted to judge over simple things like thievery, you could''ve done so with level 50, but..." She looked thoughtfully at him, "...you wanted to judge more serious cases where a conviction could punish the guilty party to a hundred or more years of forceful work in the camps, and such procedures need to be followed seriously since someone innocently put to work is nothing else than slavery and the Count''s reviewer will judge your decisions..." Her glare intensified, "...did you decide otherwise?" Alexander waved his hand in dismissal, sighing, "I am fine, and this is just me blowing off steam because I am a little frustrated." Massive localities like Wolfsteeth were taken seriously by the higher revisionary courts, who reviewed their judgments occasionally, especially when the punishment was sending someone to the work camps in the East for a long time. If he were to make a similar judgment in the future, he must submit an analysis to the Count''s revisionary court. The court would review his analysis to check whether he made a mistake. If any mistake were found, he would be penalized and relegated to the lower courts. However, there were ways to appeal their decision. Alexander thought at first it was somewhat whimsical in a way how he could decide and be creative. Still, after learning the structures, he regretted that he agreed to Anastasia''s proposal to do his Noblesse Oblige inside the higher Wolfsteeth courts. This whole structure came from the beast-kin''s past sentiments when they were enslaved and unjustly slaughtered, so parts of them could be used for alchemical recipes. As such, specific punishments were taken very seriously, at least in Moorgrel. How central Mal-Gil ran their stuff, he had yet to learn. Anastasia suddenly lifted him from his thoughts and became joyful again, as if a switch had been turned on, clapping, "Hm, I understand, but don''t worry. You will take the smaller cases for the first couple of months to familiarize yourself." "Well..." Alexander sighed, tired from the lesson, "...let''s end the talk about the law here. I need a break. The last three hours were Outer Circle for me." "Fine, so tell me, how are you? I heard that your charity..." She chuckled, "...The Helping Paw bought some buildings and wants to open up schools in every district. Is that true?" He suddenly smiled at her as amiably as possible, "About that, I wanted to ask you something." She raised her eyebrow and leaned back, "Oh? Let me guess. You want your disciple to attend my lessons, too? I am fine with it, but she will have a lot to catch up on." Alexander shook his head, "Please, something entirely different..." He looked into her eyes, almost staring, "...I want you." She looked baffled at him and then started to laugh, "Haha, I feel flattered, but you are too young for me, Alex. I like my men more like..." He immediately frowned, interrupting her, "No, I don''t mean I wanna have you as your body. I mean, with you as your skills, you horny bunny." She gasped, obviously overplaying, "I never..." Alexander interrupted her, "...just shut up and listen." Alexander leaned forward, putting his hands together into a Merkel-Raute, and became more serious, "I want you to teach me part-time, and the other part will be building up a school with a very competent assistant who will do everything you asked her to do." Anastasia smiled at him cheekily, putting one leg over the other, "Hm, tell me more." Alexander was surprised. He thought it would be a challenging negotiation and with something along the lines where he would need to pay her an insane amount of money just to move her ass to the table, but she was, for some reason, very interested. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "I need you to help me better my concepts, implement them, and teach the teachers how to..." He smirked, "...well, teach in the right way." She touched her chin slightly with her index finger, thinking aloud, "You want to give me so much responsibility..." He interrupted her, "...I will triple your..." She, though, interrupted him, too, "...gold? Sure, I need a lot." "Fine, how much? I obviously need your expertise." Alexander needed her knowledge about creating a school system in this world since it was too vastly different from Earth, while all the fundamental questions remained. On Earth, one of those philosophical questions about education was, for example, whether to create a system where one would learn fundamental things, like philosophy, mathematics, history, and science, or go full industrialization and try to get as many workers as fast as possible. It was an elemental question that also applied to this world and whose answer would shape the future of his fief for the next hundred years. He couldn''t let his subjects become mindless drones or only concentrate on the fundamental aspects, which would ignore the realities of society after finishing their education. He needed to find the golden mean. For this, he found Earth''s educational system actually okay and wanted to copy-paste it. It would save him time, and if it worked out poorly, he could model it into something in line with his needs, but this would be hard. Everything became much more complex because of skills, attributes, [Divinity Line], and mana skills. So, how would he implement a public school where one learned about philosophy, science, their specific [Divinity Line], which would represent their practical aspect, magic, and much more, ''It is a fucking shit show.'' He already had some ideas and a highly complex plan written down, taking Earth''s educational system as its foundation. This plan involved the first six years of education, starting from the age of four, so he could ignore the [Divinity Line] problem for now. It was a 200-page document Alexander had created. He wrote down ideas, lesson plans, and more, but since he only lived at the estate and never saw a school from the inside, he had no idea how things were run here and if his plan was even realistic. He couldn''t even take the estate''s internal education of servants as an example since it was too casual, only with some seniors teaching juniors in their free time. However, Alexander needed an expert to review it and work with him. He also wanted someone who could work mostly alone, with him sometimes reviewing the work since he had too many other things to work on. Because of that, he must get Anastasia on board while Ariana assists her. She smiled at him, "Do you only want to build a school?" Alexander raised an eyebrow, confused at the strange question, "What do you mean? Obviously, not only one." She shook her head, "I don''t mean it like this, dummy..." She straightened up and smiled at him greedily, "...if you can fund my research and build a university, which we can discuss beforehand, I will gladly accept your position as your aide for the education system you envision." He squinted at her and saw that money had become a problem for the first time. While he had an unimaginable amount of gold coins, like a particular duck who swam in them, he also knew that universities were not cheap. He envisioned those, but only twenty years down the line after educating most younger people. However, after some thought, he had a realistic compromise, "Not a university, but how about an institute? You will take the most exceptional students from the schools and train them. Then, if the population got much more educated, we will open not only one university." An institute, even though also expensive, would be much cheaper. On Earth, they were often integrated into universities, but there were also the ones who only worked closely with them but were primarily independent. They mainly did research and conducted experiments while having, in some cases, a minor educational role. Regardless, with this, she could have a couple of research facilities and some competent workers. He could also support her a little more, depending on the research she wanted to do. This would cost a lot, but if Alexander bugged his Mother enough, she could maybe provide some property tax breaks on education and research facilities, ''The next days will be stressful.'' She nodded almost immediately, "I like the idea, but do you have 10.000 large gold coins? It is not pocket coins, and don''t forget all the maintenance costs." Alexander leaned back and looked at her seriously, crossing his arms, "I have, and we will have a long and thorough talk later about what kind of institute it should be and what research you will be doing..." He sighed, "...don''t worry, I will not dictate anything to you, but we need some ground rules, like no experimentation on sapient beings." She looked at him and laughed loudly, "Haha! Of course! I never even considered something this crazy, but I like your imagination." Alexander wasn''t so sure about that. She often talked about her olden days in the Free Cities, which were apparently filled to the brim with crazy fuckers, and he wanted to avoid something like this at least. Having hundreds of loose Frankenstein''s Monsters running around Wolfsteeth wasn''t a fantasy of his. However, before he agreed to give her a truckload of gold, he wanted to know her beliefs. Was she on the same page as him or someone who needed a leash? If he wanted her to manage the education system generally, there were a lot of questions to be answered. Alexander glared at her, becoming serious, "Are you ready to answer my questions? I have some which may be quite personal." Anastasia nodded at him, becoming intrigued, "An interview, huh? Didn''t have one of those in a very long time, but ask away..." She shrugged, "...if you are ready to finance me an institute and my research, I will obviously make a lot of concessions as long as it does not cross my ethical lines too much." "Why do you suddenly agree to my deal? I thought you were highly opposed to educating commoners. So you know, my schools will be open for everyone." Anastasia chuckled, "What lesson was this? A month after we started? Of course, I wouldn''t play into the little delusions of a kit when you had no power, but now..." She opened her arms wide, "...you can make your dream come true, and I find it quite fun." "Fun?" She smiled at him, "Yes, fun. I choose projects and students because I find them interesting, and you want to create, what I assume, a school for everyone is making me curious." Alexander didn''t like what he heard but also understood her. She was probably bored out of her mind and looked for excitement. He himself would probably only do the charity and education system half-assedly if it was as annoying as the law lessons. So, an important question emerged, "What if it becomes boring after five to ten years?" "If you could actually cobble whatever you imagine together in ten years, why would you need my expertise at that point? Don''t you need me to help you to start it? Also, as long as my institute stays, I will obviously attend to my administrative duties to the best of my abilities." Alexander actually agreed with Anastasia. There was no reason for her to put everything into it and have a similar ideological slant, which brought him to his next question, "Are truly you fine with nobles, the higher commoner class and basically the lowest of the low, studying together? I heard from a retainer of mine that she was heavily discriminated against in school, and I will not have my students be subjected to such a treatment." Anastasia rolled her eyes, sounding annoyed, "Alex, I know of your inclinations. Don''t worry. They will be studying together and will be fairly assessed throughout. The last thing I want to do is put talented commoners down for stupid reasons..." However, she suddenly became much more interested, as if something clicked inside her mind, "...I understand you, and let''s ignore the unimportant parts for a moment as you shouldn''t care how I view commoners or whatever as long as I do my job..." She put one leg over the other, "...then tell me, Alex. What do you want to teach in the first place?..." She looked prideful and arrogantly at him like she was holding the world in her hands, "...I can make everything happen, but I need a clear goal. Should it be just two to three years of simple reading, writing, and math? Do you want to create a school for future warriors or mages? Do you want to teach philosophy, languages, and different cultures, or should it be more practical, like woodworking, blacksmithing, and tailoring?" Alexander smirked at her, "I want all of them..." He let a book with at least 200 pages float out of his ordinary pouch, throwing it on the table in the middle, "...I want to build a school that will even make the ones for nobles look like trash..." Author''s note: This is a rough outline of Alexander''s first six-year lesson plan so you can better imagine it :) He conjured multiple contraptions, showing all the lessons he wanted the students to learn, "I want my future subjects to become educated and strong. I want to... no, I will make this city the new capital for research and education and this..." He pointed at the booklet he made, "...will be the first six years." Anastasia looked at him much more intensely, "Interesting..." ... Later that day, Anastasia''s room Anastasia sat on her bed, leaning against the bed end. The magical lamp lit up the whole room, but on her nightstand were some candles as the light was not bright enough for her. She went through every page, looking at them for, at most, a few seconds and only occasionally stopping when she saw a diagram or some concept she had never heard about before. After an hour or so, she was done, sighing after laying down her student''s proposal for a new school, rubbing her eyes, "What a mess." It was incredible that her student somehow managed to cobble together a decent plan, but it was over the top. Alexander''s school would have various classes, and he planned to pay for everything from start to finish, ''He really didn''t joke around when talking about it being free.'' However, Alexander wasn''t delusional. He made a basic cost analysis on a per-student basis, and it was possible to do it. A student would cost around two to five small gold coins per year¡ªmeals, decent uniforms, maintenance, books, teaching personnel, etc., all included. However, the plan she saw for what they should learn was pure luxury, even for some lower nobility. Many would kill if they could decide, for example, what kind of fine arts they wanted to study every year, but again, Alexander didn''t want to get the best professionals one could like most schools did. He instead focused on individuals who could teach the best, even though their skills in the particular subjects were subpar. It was a new and exciting concept that she needed to comprehend slowly. Even though her student''s analysis was sloppy, it made sense. Someone who would teach a kit how to draw didn''t need to be a renowned artist, and even if it was one, it was questionable if said artist could even teach well, ''Being good at something doesn''t mean that one is also a good teacher, huh?'' While everything sounded great, though unrefined, she found herself in a weird position, ''Shouldn''t have bragged, damn it.'' Anastasia promised him basically to make his wish come true, but she didn''t expect him to have something like this ready to go. Yet, for some reason, her smile never ceased when she read and internalized his concept. After being kicked out of the Free Cities, Anastasia only wanted to live a joyful life. Yet, this little furball made her rethink her life choices. It was fun thinking about how such a school, free for everyone and with explicit rules that forbade discrimination, could develop. Her smile became broader and more ferocious, as if she planned for revenge, ''If Alex''s conviction stays, we could develop a base for knowledge never seen before.'' She knew that commoners could be taught who would then become as intelligent and talented as nobles, but there were many problems with this. One, who would finance it? This question became obsolete with the golden pup. Two, where? It needed to be a giant city with enough talent which they could recruit. Wolfsteeth was perfect for this. The more she thought about this, the more motivated she became. After a moment, she stood up and went to her desk, trying to improve some things in Alexander''s concept, ''Good job, little pup, but we need to change quite a bit.'' She sat for hours, writing notes and comments on her student''s proposal. She had long forgotten how working on something that could significantly change the world felt. An ecstasy filled her, which she only felt when working in the Free Cities. Anastasia thought it was over, and she would just live leisurely, putting her ambitions away, but who knew her student would have an even crazier drive than she? Motivations flared, her mind worked tirelessly, and her smile never ceased. Chapter 114: Tier Test [Law] I If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Chapter 115: Tier Test [Law] II Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Chapter 116: Tier Test [Law] III ... After the Tier Test, Alexander''s bedroom "Woah!" Alexander woke up feeling like he had just emerged from a feverish nightmare. He was shivering and covered in sweat, which was blurring his vision. In an attempt to cool down, he quickly kicked off the drenched blanket with his legs. While quickly sitting up, he felt like he didn''t sleep for a second. The stress and exhaustion overwhelmed him, and for unknown reasons, he breathed heavily while his heart beat like crazy. He tried to calm down, fearing the worst, ''What happened?!'' However, after some time, he looked around, remembering that he wasn''t alone, ''Well, Sarah is gone.'' Since Lorient left, he slept with Sarah or Janina. He sometimes tried to visit Narsiz, but his big brother was always uncomfortable agreeing to it, mainly because he wanted to sleep with Linuel, enjoying his first love. So, Alexander just ignored him for now, only sometimes asking him so that he wouldn''t feel as if he was ignored, purely out of courtesy, since his big brother was somewhat sensitive to such things. Regardless, after slowly calming down and going through more mundane things, he remembered the Tier Test piece by piece after orienting himself. The first thing he did was shudder when he puzzled everything together. It was surreal, and he couldn''t believe what he did. It was almost as if something inside him screamed to charge forward and just do it. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity opened up, and he took it by force. Yet, he pushed all his worries to the back of his mind first and immediately used an air contraption to get some paper and ink, writing everything down he could remember. From the robot''s architecture to the code he saw. Everything needed to be preserved as a reference point for future research. ... After spending over an hour in his room, Alexander''s space became littered with papers. He filled hundreds of pages with drawings, schematics, notes, and codes, writing everything down he could think of. When the last ink sipped into the paper, he pushed it to the side to dry, leaning against the bed end to relax, ''At last.'' Later, he would sort them, but for now, he noted everything down he could but suddenly remembered something else, which made him smile joyfully, ''Hehe, now to my skills.'' He opened his system window, and as he saw his skills, he became perplexed as it was too good, ''Oh Uh.'' First of all, he now had the skill [Absolute Intermediate Law], which was for some reason at level 31, ''Not good...'' He wanted only the next Tier, but for some unknown reason, he also got many level-ups and the best version of the skill. The prefixes of skills declared how good they were, and he got the best prefix one knew: Absolute. There were others like Major, Greater, etc., and they usually had better efficiency and gave out more knowledge, but at the same time, they were much more challenging to level up. A slight panic invaded him, ''I didn''t bug my system window out, right? There is no way.'' There have been instances where the system windows malfunctioned, and a glitch occurred, usually accompanied by graphical issues. These cases occurred when someone tried to extract memories and skills directly from another person. However, this never yielded positive results, and the individual''s system window would begin to deteriorate gradually, depending on the severity of the attempted extraction. So, even looking closely at his standard system window, everything seemed fine, ''I made a mistake... a big one.'' Alexander suddenly thought about the repercussion fucking around in his Tier Test and decided to talk with Teach'' in the following skill test, which he would hopefully have this night. He fucked around, and hopefully, it would not end with him losing his system window, which would also mean him losing the privilege of being a sapient being, which further meant that he would be declared a monster. Regardless of his panic, he also suddenly saw other skills change and jump to ridiculous levels. Three of them were [Major Mana Manipulation], [Major Mana Emission], and [Major Mana Absorption], which were now at levels 89, 59, and 64, respectively, ''This doesn''t count as cheating, right?'' While the [Absolute Intermediate Law] skill was obtained through cheating, these were not. He probably got them because he manipulated the code while moving his mana through the claustrophobic MC Escher painting, which was the robot''s internal life. He immediately looked for other skills and found a new one, which was [Coding] at level 3, which made sense since he didn''t code at all. All he did was crash the whole thing into oblivion and somehow rig the shit by deleting a part from a function. Since Alexander already had [Hacking], which became [Greater Hacking], he also wanted the corresponding [Coding] skill. He thought that through [Coding], he could manipulate mana items much easier, not knowing that there was actual code he could write, ''Well, I need to test it later, but for now...'' This made Alexander think how absurdly easy it was to hack the robot, even though, if he were honest, he almost died trying it, and only through pure luck did he succeed in the end. Nonetheless, he couldn''t be the first one. It had an anti-virus and weird pressure inside the hard drive, but the security overall seemed too lackluster. However, when Alexander thought about it more, he couldn''t really describe what he did as hacking. If he was also honest, he was like a child with a stick trying to extract something by bashing a PC. As such, he only relied on his robust body, but someone with better skills could surely overwhelm the robot quickly. This thought raised many other questions. Why did a sapient robot have code that others could read? On what kind of OS-like (operating system) did the code run? How was it saved? And, much more importantly, how could he start coding, as he wanted to bring his subjects into a new era? Sadly, he had no idea where to begin. This cluelessness frustrated him, so he started looking at whether he had other new skills or prefixes since he heard the particular pinging too often while in the Tier Test. After looking through the system window, he was not too thrilled. The new skill was [Parallel Thinking]. It was kind of self-explanatory, which could probably help him multitask efficiently. It was something he wouldn''t need now, so he wasn''t too surprised or happy. Alexander''s mind was already at capacity when he did the Tier Test. As such, putting more load on his brain, which he needed to work through, wouldn''t really help. However, it could make everything more efficient. Still, he could also quickly go overboard when straining his already castigated brain, and he saw what happened for the first time when he overloaded it: All his senses got shut down, and he died. ''I need Ipe to test its potential.'' Another skill that jumped in levels and got a new prefix was [Mana (Organs) Reinforcement], which was now named [Major Mana (Organs) Reinforcement] and was at level 52 probably because he suffered horrible pushback by crashing and rigging the code, which also attacked his mana organs. This brought him to an interesting thought, ''Can you attack other people''s mana?'' It wasn''t too wild to imagine that it was possible. Still, Alexander only did it with external mana with Green and only by trying to move it, never directly crashing it into the organs, which he imagined would be much more difficult. He quickly wrote it down so he would remember to try at some point with some monster or animal. Other than that, other skills increased too, and not by little, especially the ones that strengthened his mental fortitude. Other mana skills jumped in levels, but that was about it. As such, his happiness vanished, and he went back to panicking, ''I need to survive the day somehow and beg Teach.'' He hoped there were no consequences but was ready to annul everything should there be some negatives. The last thing he wanted to have was a bugged system window because his ambitions got the better of him. However, it was fine as long as he had written everything down. The skills he could get again since he now had an idea how. He slapped his face, ''Okay! Nothing you can do about it!'' With it, he jumped out of his bed and started his day. Yet as he tried to take the first step, his body started aching, ''Urgh! The Cold-Snouts should hurry up, damn!'' Yet again, Alexander felt the pain of his body''s inability to handle his extremely high levels, but it had been like that for some time. This was also why the Cold-Snouts were on the way to him with some great mana items that would help him, and all he needed to do was date a couple of girls. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. He stretched slightly, ''Okay, let''s make today a gym day.'' ... ???, after the Tier Test A lone robot sat on its throne, making peeping noises constantly. It let out an aura that bent everything around it into balls or pressured it into flat surfaces. It lit up after what felt like an eternity, and an enormous amount of killing intent leaked out. Its digitized voice sounded many octaves deeper, and it went crazy, "Kill!" "Oh my, you should calm down." The robot turned around its head, seeing an ordinary woman in a grey dress appear beside him. She was sitting on the throne rest, with one leg over the other and propping up her head casually with her fist. At first, he got angrier but calmed down quickly. The reason was that she looked different from her usual self. She had snow-white wolf ears and a tail that waddled joyfully under her skirt. She smiled mischiefly, which showed that she apparently watched the Tier Test and was amused. Yet the robot sounded clearly distressed, ignoring that she mocked it with her looks, "Mistress, the little boy cheated! I need to annul the result immediately!" She chuckled, "Don''t worry..." She held her laughter back, as she found it quite funny, "...It is quite interesting, don''t you think so?" It immediately increased its aura, "I can''t accept it! He invaded me and cheated! Let me oversee his next tests! Something like him should not be allowed to act without proper overview!" She, however, only raised an eyebrow, "The Tier Test didn''t say that he couldn''t use other skills to succeed, though?" The robot became increasingly frustrated, hightening its voice, "But..." She shook her head, interrupting, "My my, you are such a sore loser. Aren''t you forgetting how it was a long time ago? They always tried to manipulate us and succeeded in the beginning until I gave you the necessary defense against it..." Her smile widened, and she glared at the robot, "...except you. I remember when you were quite the cute stone golem on which manipulation skills never worked, and you always gloated at the others for being manipulated into rather weird situations, remember?" The aura of the robot decreased significantly, "I... understand." "Don''t worry. You were tricked for the first time, and now we will increase your defense so it will not happen again. However..." She glared at him, which decreased his aura entirely, "...I condemn unfairness. If we don''t block outright other skills, they can use them. It was your fault for not thinking ahead..." She shrugged, calming down, "...but we now also found a weak point, and all we paid for was a small intermediate-tier test. Pretty good deal, right?" The Roboter sounded frustrated, changing his digitized voice into a very high-pitched one, "What about the other challenger?" The woman in grey nodded, "You are right..." and shrugged, "...not our problem. She will have another test soon enough." "But mistress..." His voice became slow and barely audible, "...will the gods not be displeased with such a behavior?" She raised an eyebrow, "Gods? Do you mean the Divine Hall those losers created? Aren''t they..." The space suddenly started to shake till she let out an enormous amount of energy to stabilize it while looking up, "...huh? If you try this again, I will extinguish your little realm..." Her voice suddenly exploded with rage, "...do you understand me?!" Like that, it became silent, and she sighed, "I really can''t stand those divine beings always trying to get involved in my world." "Mistress, with your world, you mean you." She shrugged, "My world, me, the concept of space, who cares? I decide what happens..." The robot interrupted her, meekly, "...not really, though..." She smiled cheekily at him, "Oh my, tin-can has a lot of opinions, I see? Let those losers be my problem. While they think they control me, I am not some mortal like they are..." She leaped from the armrest and landed gracefully in the center of the hall. Her energy surged and filled the entire space with a feeling that was pure, playful, and innocent. The energy then converged at a single point before her, creating a void that appeared to be filled with everlasting darkness. However, just a moment later, the void erupted with a colorful light that radiated countless auras, ranging from peaceful to repulsive. "Leave tin-can." The robot sounded downtrodden, "Please don''t call me like this, Mistress." And then it was gone. She sighed while scratching her wolf ear, "Sorry, I somehow really like his insults." As the portal grew, she licked her lips, "Let''s see, who dared to attack me... got cha''." She Grabbed inside the portal and pulled someone out on their neck, "Oho, hello, little boy." She held a dwarf on his neck, letting him hang mid-air, "Aren''t you the one who created those little toys that brought war for more than a millennium?" The dwarf attempted to break free from her restraint by emitting energy that felt like standing inside a volcano. The whole hall heated up to massive degrees when it touched the air, but it quickly dissipated. The mere aura emanating from the woman in the grey dress was so powerful that the dwarf felt like he was sinking into the deepest parts of the ocean. However, he could muster the strength to speak through pure will, "You dam'' bastard! I created legendary weapons and armor! How can you treat me like that!" The woman in the gray dress''s smile turned into pure viciousness, "Oh dear little boy. Do you think because I don''t intervene in the world, it also means that I approve of your moronic behavior?..." She raised her lip in utter disgust, throwing the dwarf to the side, "...now tell me. Why did you dare to attack me? Wasn''t my last warning not enough?" The dwarf coughed and looked at the woman in panic, but then hatred graced his face, "He cheated that animal! You can''t..." The woman in the grey dress increased her pressure even more, making the dwarf bleed out of his ears so he would stop speaking. Even though strongly injured, he clenched his teeth and looked enraged at her. The woman in the grey dress looked down at him and smiled, "I can. I am a natural phenomenon, what you consider a true god, while you are nothing but a meat sack who died and was prayed to..." Her pressure increased even more, making the dwarf bleed out of every orifice, "...I am Orbis, and I rule this place! I will not allow anyone to interfere in nature because you hate a race! For me..." The dwarf suddenly was forced into a small ball, "...you are all the same! If you try this ever again, I will find you and disintegrate your little soul." Before the dwarf was pressed into a ball, the hatred slowly disappeared and was exchanged with fear, making the woman in the grey dress feel joyful. Crunch "Tsk, boring..." However, instead of dying, the dwarf just disintegrated and floated away, back into the portal, "...can''t believe that those gods have so much ego." She closed the portal and felt how all the auras vanished, "I can''t believe they don''t know what I am doing here." After being done, she looked around, feeling her mouth since it felt somewhat strange, "Oh my, how long has it been since I had actual fun? Everyone else is such a boring soul." Like that, she was gone, too, making the room slowly dissolve. ... Later that night (skill test), ??? "Hey, ho Teach! Listen, I have a question." "Oh hey there, little pup! You look not so good?" Inside the classroom, which was his usual skill test setting, Alexander, immediately after appearing there, went to Teach to ask what bugged him the whole day. "Yeah, about that... you see, there was some problem which happened in a Tier Test a day prior, so..." She sat down on the desk, looking mischievously at him, "Oh, I remember it. A colleague of mine was really surprised." Alexander started to sweat, "Listen..." She interrupted him while chuckling, "Don''t worry. It was its fault, and what you may consider cheating is fully allowed. Even killing me is allowed, as you already should''ve guessed." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Wait... this means..." She nodded, "Of course..." She leaned slightly forward, whispering to him, "...do me a favor though. Don''t go around talking about this..." Hearing this, Alexander panicked but was also happy, as he had already said goodbye to his skills. Yet her following sentence made little sense to him, "However, if you find more ways to cheat, go for it. It is allowed and even wished for..." Alexander looked at her, shocked, "I am your bug tester?!" She looked confused at him and laughed, "Haha! Basically, but why not? Oh, there is one more thing." Alexander became a little confused and nodded, "Yeah?" Her smile became more vicious, as if he looked directly at evil incarnate, making him shiver slightly, "Something happened that doesn''t involve you at all, but when you do another Tier Test with a dwarf or gnome..." He suddenly felt an incredibly malicious aura, making all his skills and instincts go haywire, ".. I want you to destroy them. Do you understand me?" Her voice felt as if an enormous snake slowly coiled around him. Alexander gulped and nodded, tucking his tail between his legs. The aura he felt was far from the wild and dominating one his family released. Hers was like pure evil invaded him. All his fears came out instantly, making his stomach turn in ways he didn''t know were possible. He stared at her, full of fear and on the brink of crying, as she chuckled and patted him, which made him flinch, "Don''t worry. There was a little dispute, and I promise you nothing will happen whether you accept my proposal or not." Alexander blurred the first thing that came to his mind since it felt like all his skills were disabled, his voice full of fear and anxiety, "Yeah... are you... the devil?" After a short moment, she burst out in laughter, "Haha!" She wiped a tear away after she laughed heartily, which felt very different to Alexander, akin to vicious laughter, imagining how she would probably skin puppies for fun alive. She, though, waved her hand in dismissal, "Dear, you are truly one of a kind, but no. I am nothing more than you think I am, but surely not something as insignificant as a devil." "I... I see, so... wait, what?! Insignificant?!" She stood up and looked around, "Hm, this test is nonsense, so let''s end it for today. I congratulate you on succeeding..." Before Alexander could say anything, everything became black. ... After the skill test, Alexander''s room "What the fuck just happened?!" After waking up, he immediately straightened up. All his instincts were heightened as adrenaline ran through him, which felt worse than he was fighting the assassins. He looked around and felt cold sweat all over his body, even his tail, while shivering heavily. Everything was blurry since his eyes were wet with sweat and tears. Alexander tried his best to relax, using every skill possible, but the fear he remembered made it hard even to concentrate on something other than those eyes that showed him true evil. Something so vile that even trying to remember this feeling made him almost cry. He looked slowly around, only to see Sarah tiredly looking at him, "What happened?" He gulped and decided not to talk about it to anyone. His instincts, which became sharper as he aged, screamed at him to do what Teach said. There was no ambiguity and no other choices for him. He lay down again and stared at the ceiling, "I... am fine..." For the first time, he felt pure fear, ''I feel so powerless.'' It was a weird feeling since he always thought that the aura his family possessed brought fear into others'' hearts. It was odd to be proud of it, but he didn''t care, and now, he felt something much worse, something that would bring him nightmares in the following days. It was a horror he had never felt before. It was indescribable, as if something clenched his heart and brought everything out that he ever feared, from monsters in the closet to the existential crisis of death, and amplified them. Alexander snuggled on Sarah and slowly closed his eyes again, ''Okay, let''s try to do what she wanted and never tell anyone about it... ever...'' Chapter 117: Taxes, Taxes, Taxes ... Leonandra Estate, On the way to Salyna''s office A young woman with a lizard tail and occasional patches of dotted reptile scales on her skin was strolling through the estate. The weather was too hot for her, so she switched her usual black suit into a white summer dress. However, she felt bizarre wearing it, as, in her opinion, her attire should match her position as basically a retainer in the makings. Yet, when looking around her, almost everyone at the estate wore very open and airy clothing. Even the servants had uniforms that were relatively liberal in their cut. There was one exception: the uniforms for men, but they were allowed not to wear blazers. Ariana''s observations made her realize that the fashion sense here was strange but also understandable. The moment she arrived at the Leonandra fief, it was hot to a degree she had never felt before. With the miasma in the air, one became even more irritated by the heat. Yet, sometimes, they were a little too liberal in their fashion choices, but this was only her point of view and an apparent clash of cultures since she was used to a much colder climate. However, her new Master, who walked beside her, wore a full-on suit and didn''t even sweat, ''Is this because of his blood, but shouldn''t I have been better accustomed to such hot weather?'' This was another weirdness. At her school, the teachers preached how one''s subrace determined specific characteristics, like being accustomed to certain climates. So, her being a Gecko-kin should make her much more comfortable than Alexander, a canine-kin. However, it seemed that because the Leonandra family had lived here for a long time, they had adapted to this insane climate, overcoming their subrace. "Here''s the deal: I will supervise you today a bit since you are new." Alexander interrupted her rather mundane thoughts by continuing his new plan to include her in the estate''s workings more easily. His ways of handling things were generally very unconventional. For example, he gave her a piece of paper with names of persons on it, like his head maid, the lead workers in his old mansion, and other personnel who had the highest status, like Aro, the head butler of the estate- in short, all with whom he had any dealings. She needed to introduce herself to them and have a chat. He let her freely decide what she would disclose, whether work-related or more. At first, Ariana thought Alexander wanted to bully her, as it was customary where she was employed before to do this to newer workers, but it never happened here. It felt weird since she had never done something like this before. Still, it was an excellent way to get to know everyone else while also orienting herself inside the enormous estate. Many were confused but became more talkative the moment she mentioned her Master''s name, and others dismissed her immediately, only acknowledging her as a new retainer of Alexander. Due to his ideas, she gained a newfound admiration for Alexander. Although some would have considered it a waste of time at first, it would ultimately increase her productivity in the long run, as she now knew who to turn to and where to go if any issues arose. Furthermore, it allowed others to know what she was responsible for and that they could come directly to her if they had any questions or issues instead of going through others, wasting everyone''s time. It was a great management strategy. Yet, for some reason, he was accompanying her now, "Mr. Alexander, may I be honest?" "Go on." Ariana sighed, looking slightly troubled, "Do you think I can''t do my job?" He shook his head, "You don''t know who Salyna is." She nodded, though, "I know, Mr. Alexander. She is the head accountant and a very good friend of the Lady. She is also known for her rude personality and outbursts. There are even rumors where she beat one of her workers with an Abacus almost to death because he accepted a bribe." Alexander smiled slightly, finding the story funny, "Well, it is a baseless rumor." Ariana nodded, also finding it quite extreme, "That''s true. Such rumors will only ruin a person''s reputation." He smirked, "Yeah, the story is not true. Salyna is not someone who does things half-assed. She would''ve definitely killed her worker." Ariana wanted to say it was ridiculous, but she remembered her last months quickly, making her not say anything. This was another strange thing she needed to adapt to inside this territory. Everyone was far more unrestricted and easily roused by the most minor things than she was accustomed to. She remembered strolling through the Worker''s Quarters with Ocilia in the evenings, and even though it wasn''t mating season, she could swear that she was never so much hit on when here. While it definitely helped her relatively low self-esteem when someone flirted with her, constantly getting her ass grabbed, not so much. There were other cases or altercations in which people just began screaming at each other over the most minuscule things, only to get into a brawl shortly after. When the guards arrived, it calmed down, and everyone went their way. In comparison, the people at the estate were far more strict in their behavior, but this was far from what she saw from nobles and their retainers in central Mal-Gil. For example, all of the Leonandra youth, except Narsiz, were far more prone to emotional outbursts. So, the rumors surrounding Salyna sounded as if she was framed, but not here. At the estate, it was seen as rather amusing. It was a madhouse. Yet she couldn''t blame them. The constant pressure she felt from the heat and miasma also made her much more emotionally unstable. At times, it just came out under stress, making her scream at Ocilia when they argued. While flustered, Ocilia only tried to calm her down. At the same time, it wasn''t bad, and Ariana would go so far as to say that it was freeing since she could be more like herself. It was as if her deepest inner self always tried to free itself and show it to the world. Alexander continued, bringing her out of her thoughts again, "Well, we also need to discuss something, so it''s a good way to introduce you to her and let you acclimate." Ariana smiled, finding it better and better working here. Even though she was held by her hand, feeling like a child sometimes, she found it pleasant that her Master dedicated so much time to ensure she could work to the best of her abilities. In High-Town, when she started to work, she was immediately thrown into business, and with some luck, sometimes a senior would help her out, but those were rare moments. "What will we be discussing, Mr. Alexander?" He sighed, "I need tax exemptions." ... Little Later, at Salyna''s Office "I need tax exemptions." "I would rather rip my wings out before giving you any." Ariana was shocked by Salyna''s straightforwardness, dominance, and rudeness. Even though she heard that the head accountant was eccentric, she couldn''t believe it was also aimed at the nobles she served. They both sat in front of Salyna''s desk while she looked at them in disdain, making Ariana concentrate on the office since they were bickering. The office was bleak, almost minimalistic, only with a desk and half a dozen pieces of her Master''s furniture, which he designed for offices. There were no paintings or plants¡ªan administrative worker''s miserable nightmare. However, Ariana knew many of her colleagues who arranged their office weirdly, but this usually reflected their personality. Here, it was the exact opposite, ''What a weird person.'' Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Ariana looked at Alexander as it became silent, who nodded at her, the cue for her to negotiate, ''Great... now I can jump into the maul of the dragon after he provoked her.'' What were the negotiations about? It was all about tax exemptions for Alexander''s charity. From what he told Ariana, it seemed he needed to save up some gold, which she didn''t understand. They already had over 70,000 large gold coins in their vast reserves. Yet, more was needed since he had some costly projects in the makings and thus needed more. If this were any other noble, she would think that he lied to her so he could hoard the gold, but when she watched Aurum trying to throw those reserves at everyone he could, it appeared to be the truth. She immediately felt more motivated since it was for another project to help the impoverished. Ariana cleared her throat and straightened up, "Salyna, I assume there..." Salyna interrupted her, "...don''t assume. It''s easy, right? You don''t get any exemptions and by the way..." She looked at Alexander, "Aren''t you the archmage puppy? Just invent something new and make more gold." Alexander smirked at her, "Do you think I can pull those out of my ass? Salyna, just listen to me, okay?" "Do you want tax exemptions in the end?" "Yeah?" "Then fuck off." ''If a commoner would act like that toward any nobility in High-Town, they would be immediately beheaded.'' Alexander popped a vein, and Ariana couldn''t believe the tone used here. Actually, she believed it since she had been told multiple times but always thought it was exaggerated. She also somewhat understood now why her Master wanted her with him. Through observation alone, she could somehow prepare herself when she needed to visit her the next time. Alexander calmed visibly down, exhaling strongly, "Listen, you oversized fat fucking bird..." or at least tried to. Salyna stood up in anger, "How do you call me, you little condescending shit?!" Alexander also stood up, and his tone became indeed condescending, "Fat. Fucking. Bird!" Salyna''s tone became more righteous, almost as if she was standing in front of an army, "I will not make any exemptions for you! Do you know that the moment your Mother became the Lady, she tried her best to drain all corruption from this shitty fief? Giving you any exemptions for your products is the definition of corruption!" Ariana also now stood up, understanding the problem, "Both of you, silence!" However, when she said it, they glared at her. She instantly felt like two wild beasts surrounded her, ready to pounce, ''This is unreal. How can one actually prepare for this insanity?'' She gestured for them to calm down while taking the little courage she had left to navigate this stirring conversation. The worst that could happen was that Salyna would kick them out, and afterward, it would become an internal conflict, which Ariana wanted to avoid. "I think there is a misunderstanding..." She looked at Salyna amiably but strictly, "...Mr. Alexander only wants exemptions for his charities and schools, which are also part of the charity." Salyna smirked at her, "Oh yeah? I also want to have a threesome with the Emperor and my husband. Life sucks, darling." Ariana ignored what Salyna said because it was practically worthy of execution, returning to the topic. She had already considered some loopholes in the tax code that were ambiguous enough to help Alexander, "What about the Temple?" Salyna sat down now and glared at Ariana, visibly interested, "What about them?..." she turned to Alexander, smirking at him, "...sit down, you little shit." Alexander sat down while looking at her as if he wanted to rip her apart, but Ariana ignored him for now and sat down again, too, while trying to retain her calm demeanor, "I mean to say that they are exempt from property taxes, isn''t that right?" Salyna nodded, "I get what you want to say. Since your charity and the Temple are helping my Mistress''s subjects, you want to expand the tax code in a way that would also include you, right?" More than half of the taxes came from property. Usually, the amount depended heavily on size and function, but not in Wolfsteeth. Only size was considered here since nobody knew how many businesses this city had, and nobody cared to find out. The Helping Paw also had no idea how many social stations were in the city since nobody needed to register them. While it sounded like an administrative misstep, it was rather a necessary evil. Wolfsteeth was constantly expanding outwards through the constant influx of new subjects, from whom a part would promptly open their own workshops or businesses. As such, to use the former method, they would need to increase their administration into a bureaucratic monster. Thus, the tax law became quite unique since it prioritized ridiculous efficiency over everything else to streamline the whole taxing process. However, Ariana also saw many problems with such a regulation. For one, how most adobe houses were built was ridiculous. They were small and obviously trying to hide any further space beneath the ground so they wouldn''t pay additional taxes. She even heard someone bought a house and buried the basement to avoid paying more taxes. Still, Wolfsteeth''s situation was so unique that she couldn''t disagree with such a solution. But considering Alexander''s relatively benevolent ideals, it became a problem since all the charity''s property would be taxed heavily, as those new buildings wouldn''t be small. The same would be true for all the social stations, which basically operated as their tails. As such, she argued that a specific code written to exempt the Temple could also be applied to them, as the implications were basically the same. The code stated that if the Temple didn''t want to pay taxes, they needed to act gratuitously toward the betterment of the subjects of Wolfsteeth. Even though it was explicitly written for the Temple, in spirit, their charity should also fall under the same parameters. "That''s right. The Helping Paw is acting even stronger per the code, and it is not right to only exempt the Temple, which also has other functions that do not help the subjects." "I see..." Salyna looked at Alexander, "...good worker you have here." Alexander leaned back, satisfied, "Well, I do my best." Ariana looked at the cute exchange and thought Alexander was much more soft than he acted around others. Before going inside, he told her it was vital for him to ensure that everything would run smoothly even without him being there. She had already thought of something for this, but before she tried and looked for a way to implement it, she wanted to hear Salyna''s opinion first so she would appear in good faith. "I have another question. We need to have a sustained circle where the school and charity stay open, no matter what happens. So, we need a way to finance..." She stopped momentarily, trying to remember all the pamphlets she had received from Alexander about the positive effects the city would experience with their charity''s successful expansion, which already showed a considerable impact in areas they invested in for the short time they operated. Pickpocketing and crime, in general, were reduced, while the number of beggars, especially children, seen on the street also declined. Ariana cleared her throat and opened her arms, finding it awkward, but tried to mirror more closely the customs in this fief, "Ahem, this will evidently benefit the fief massively since the students with higher education, when the schools open up, and orphans who will grow up well will significantly increase the tax revenue, reduce the crime rates, and thus help develop Wolfsteeth into a healthier city..." She tried to raise her voice, "...in comparison, without our institution, crime would rise again in certain areas, and thus, the costs will begin to increase for guards and..." Her voice suddenly cracked, "...YoU dO... ahem want... Ahem!... excuse me... where was I?" Salyna rolled her eyes, interrupting the flustering Ariana, "I got it, darling. My son flooded me with useless updates about how much the charity helps..." She turned to Alexander, "Just tell your descendants to finance your charity then?" Alexander shook his head, "I don''t trust them. I need this to stay as independent as possible so no moronic puppy of mine will ruin it." Salyna smirked, "You are right. I also don''t trust your descendants with you as a Father." Alexander popped a vein, "I see..." but relaxed, "...this at least means you see worth in it, so does your pea brain have a solution?" Ariana interrupted their chat to give her solution, "There is one. It is from a city in the human territory which was founded tens of thousands of years ago by the first hero and..." Salyna interrupted her, "...get to the point." Ariana blushed slightly, "Sorry. However, there, the property taxes finance the schools in close proximity." "I get you..." Salyna sighed, "...good job. So because you help the bums out, and they increase the tax revenue, you want a little chunk of it to pay for the schools and charity? I have nothing against it." Alexander shook his head, "What Ariana mentioned will create disparity. How about putting it all in one pot, and I will make a nice formula for how it should be distributed?" Salyna nodded, "All good and well, but..." She glared at Alexander, making Ariana flinch slightly, "...tell me, do you really want to have the schools free of any cost? You are giving street rats the same luxury that even lower nobles could barely afford..." Salyna was immediately interrupted by Ariana, who stared at her with hate, "Excuse me? Am I such a street rat? Do you know how quickly one can become like this? One unfortunate monster attack, and you need to fight for your life! Because you are fortunate enough that your parents were some fat accountants never leaving the estate, you think you can assume..." Ariana was angry, and for once, something inside of her exploded. She always hated others who looked down on commoners, thinking they were better because they had the fortunate to be born as nobility without doing anything for it. She was suddenly interrupted by Salyna''s laughter, "Haha! I already like you..." She wiped a tear away, "...listen, little girl. I don''t give a rat''s ass about nobility, orphans, or whatever. My job is ensuring the fief runs as smoothly as it was under my Father and Grandmother. So, you can stop your idealistic bullshit, Alexander 2.0." Ariana''s face flushed as the heat and miasma got the better of her, but Alexander butted in, "That''s enough..." He looked bored at Salyna, "...obviously, it will stay free for everyone. You can even write a new law declaring as such. Any more questions?" Salyna shook her head and leaned back, "Not really. All that is left is writing down the details and how to implement it exactly, but for this work..." She turned to Ariana and smirked at her, "...I will have this salamander here." Ariana wanted to scream at her that she was actually a Gecko-kin but bit her tongue, instead imagining that she would have to deal with this terrible person from now on, ''I should''ve taken five times my previous wage.'' However, Salyna continued, "I need to say, though. I like your free school idea very much." Alexander tilted his head, "Why so?" She smiled viciously, "My damn accountants got too cocky and cost too much." Chapter 117.5 Valentines Special 2024: Charcoal and Lisop Author''s note: This chapter doesn''t follow the timeline of the regular chapters but is nonetheless part of the story, a little in the future. I just wanted to publish a chapter on valentines day, and this is what I came up with :) It could be a little more messy because I wrote it while being with family and on a small tablet. Then, after I wrote and published it, I wanted to let it stay a Patreon-only chapter but saw that it had much more world-building and more critical information than I thought. As such, I publish it, which also means that there are 11 advanced chapters now on Patreon :) ... North of Moorgrel, Dwarven Territory Fearful screams, pleas of despair, and cries of anger were audibly heard from a forsaken remote village with at most fifty souls living there. Yet, they slowly died down as a young black-haired fox-kin girl sprinted through rows of desperate farmers who tried to defend themselves with their farming tools, only to experience a quick and merciless death, with the last thing they saw were reddish eyes gleaming in the dark. Patricia dashed toward a dwarf cowering in fear, her spear readied. As she was about to cut its head off, an explosion resounded. Her instincts yelled at her, and she listened, jumping up only to see how a cannonball barely missed her feet but crashed into the house behind her. As Patricia landed, she spun around once, gracefully swinging her spear in an arc that went through the dwarf''s neck. When she saw that nobody was close to her, she put her feet down and stopped herself, focusing on her mana and making a construct. After her chant, her mana tightened up, creating a fireball before her, which flared up and roared aggressively toward where the cannonball came from. She jumped behind a tree without hesitation, only to hear an enormous explosion a moment later. Boom! A giant explosion resounded, blowing everything away. Pieces of metal, wood, and stone flew all around her, some even hitting the tree but luckily not penetrating it. After it died down, she came out from behind the tree and cautiously walked around the small village, trying to sniff out anyone hiding. After half an hour of rummaging through the village, her nervousness slowly transformed into annoyance and then to boredom. Patricia frowned, still tense because it was her first real fight against other sapient beings. Usually, she fought monsters and wild demons, but sapient beings felt differently to her when she cut through their bodies and sapped their experience with her demonic energy. It felt disgusting, but it could also be because they were mainly civilians she killed. More bizarrely, she didn''t feel too bad as those dwarves and gnomes seemed to have a military or fighting background since they had a cannon. It could also be that they built it themselves since they had a knack for crafting such things. As such, she was trying to sniff out the black powder, fearing that they stored it somewhere to ambush them with it. Her future Grandmother-in-law as she came from behind, visibly bored, yawning, "Huam! Good job. Now to the boring part." "Boring part? What do you mean?" Scarlett walked into a hut, ripped the door out, and looked inside, being stoic, "Pups. They all like to hide them, but we need to kill them." Suddenly, Patricia could also smell them and the disgusting herb, which was apparently used by many races to overwhelm her kin''s sense of smell. However, Patricia could only think what Scarlett said, making her stomach turn, "I... don''t want to kill them..." Even though she hated dwarves and gnomes, killing their puppies was something she couldn''t do. This also saw Scarlett, who sighed, "Well, follow me then. It is also a bit early for you..." She created five dog-sized spiders made out of her bloodlust aura and tyrannical energy, sending them into the hut. When Patricia followed her away from the hut, she suddenly heard screams and pleas, only for them to stop shortly after as cracking and munching sounds were heard. She clenched her fists and was, for the first time after the assassination attack, genuinely disturbed. Killing sapient races was very different for her, but she guessed there was a reason why they were suddenly raiding some remote village. It was a little over a year when Patricia left the Leonandra estate with Scarlett as her teacher. At first, her training was what Alexander experienced. Her body was crushed and rebuilt, starting even before her legacy. After she got the slave crest, she could not even receive any experience or increase her levels. The only thing she could do was to gain new skills and improve their power. Fortunately, Scarlett used Alexander''s body modification methods, making her training last longer, but it was much more endurable- but not by much. She woke up, and a new part of her body was destroyed, only to have a study or training session. Sometimes, she would go to a battlefield and fight against monsters, wild demons, or, like now, sapient races. In the evening, the same body part was destroyed and reconstructed again. Her battlefields were mostly forests and other remote areas, where she helped out to clean them out. Because she was in the North, she could not visit Kratikal, but Scarlett''s people caught some wild demons and brought them to her estate. Yet, they were much closer to enemy territory and, with that, to other sapient races she could fight against, at most a day or two away from their border. However, when she looked around and saw the massacre she made, it was heartbreaking. Even though she hated dwarves and gnomes, it wasn''t as if some poor farmers had anything to do with the whole war. This made her remember Alexander''s long and arduous lectures on how commoners had nothing to do with the nobility and their politicking. Most of the time, they were collateral damage, and she couldn''t understand why they would even care about such a village. Patricia frowned, "Is there a reason we need to raid this remote village with a couple dozen dwarves? I thought we were going to some small fort or something." Scarlett shrugged, "This is my training, and you will know soon enough." Patricia raised an eyebrow, "What is there to know? Is this some secret village of the Vulcanic Forge?" Scarlett chuckled, "Oh, please..." But suddenly stopped before a house, "...the reason is in inside, go on." Patricia sighed, not sensing anything, either by mana or smell from the outside. However, the moment she opened it, all her instincts rose to a massive degree. Without hesitation, she sprinted through the small house and into the basement. The moment she opened the floor door, a rancid smell almost overwhelmed her, yet, between all this, she could smell something else. Jumping down, she walked around in excrement and urine, not caring about it, only to find something that shook her awake, "Why..." Two of her kin were chained to the wall- a feline and rodent-kin, without tails and ears. They were cut off and sloppily bandaged. Dread slowly siffed into her mind, ''Why are they doing this?'' However, her instinct suddenly screamed at her, which made her duck, only to avoid what she would describe as a gnome who tried to cut her throat with a dagger. She gained some distance and saw the fear on his face, but as she looked behind her, seeing her kin, barely alive and mutilated, her killing intent surged out, which made the gnome back away. "##### ####, # ### ###!" Patricia didn''t know their language and didn''t care. She dashed toward him, and even though he tried to defend himself, she sliced him quickly in two. After that, she quickly turned around and ran toward her kin in chains. Fortunately, those were simple chains made of cheap metal, which she easily cracked open using only physical strength. "Hey, are you all right?!" After helping free the first one, she tried to pat them, but they didn''t react. They were dead. Not literally, but they lost their will to live, sitting there, waiting for death. This sight broke her. How could someone do something like this? Even after cutting their tail and ears off, there was no reason to let them suffer, "Why..." From behind came a voice, full of stoicism, "You asked me why I brought you into this small village? This is why." Patricia continued to break the chains of the other while answering, "What do you mean? We are here to save them?" Scarlett sighed, "No, but many young soldiers and my trainees don''t know the horror inside this territory. Beast-kin are nothing more than objects to be broken and thrown away." After Patricia broke the last free, she immediately took the first and walked upwards to the house, with Scarlett helping and continuing to talk, "Beast-kin are too kind-hearted by nature even though we have a wild and bloodthirsty side to us. We would never believe that another sapient being, which feels love, builds families and..." Distressed and shocked, Patricia interrupted her after they brought them to what seemed to be the living room and laid them on the floor, "Shut up! Help me clean them first and then give them first aid!" Patricia immediately used the cleaning spell, and after they were clean, she smelled something she couldn''t believe as their hormones slowly came through, "Puppies?" While they were relatively small, they also looked malnourished and dehydrated, so she thought this was the reason for their height. Yet her nose was quickly invaded with a specific smell, a very fruity one. It smelled like unripe apples that were growing in the sun. Only puppies born outside of East Moorgrel had such a smell, which indicated that they had not even reached the age of ten. Patricia started to clench her fangs as killing intent escaped her. It was too much. Even thinking that they would do something like this made her wrathful. It was unfathomable to her. Scarlett audibly frowned while looking for healing potions in her spatial pouch, "Calm down." Patricia ignored her emotions and concentrated on their injuries. She immediately started healing them with the first aid spell. However, Scarlett keeps lecturing, making her more uncomfortable. "This is enslavement. An action only acted upon those whom they deemed unworthy of even the simplest of dignities- death. Instead of killing and harvesting us for materials, they chose to keep humiliating us and treat us worse than cattle. Did you see that their cows or chickens were treated the s..." Patricia had problems using the first aid spell because she didn''t train the construct much, thus interrupting her lesson, "Can you not help me?! I don''t need a lecture now!" Scarlett sighed while opening a healing potion, pouring over the rodent-kin, "You are lucky that my grandson sponsors and likes you." Patricia ignored her quips. Scarlett was, besides her brutal nature, an actually good person. Her subjects, retainers, and army loved her. While sometimes aggressive in pushing everyone''s potential, she never threw them away, always trying to find a position fitting their abilities. However, she was sometimes persistent, ignoring what others went through, only wanting to clarify her point, "Let me be clear on something: What you see here, in a remote village, is not even close to what horrors I saw inside their cities..." Her tone became ice-cold, "...do you still think they are innocent?" This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Patricia knew what she meant and even more what she tried to do. It was to make her feel less empathy toward them, and it worked. It was brutal what they did, and if this was truly the norm, she couldn''t imagine how many others of her kin were enslaved like that. She started murmuring, her voice shaky while still healing, "Where is the honor? Dignity? Why not just kill them instead of all this humiliation... they can''t even move anymore... how... why..." Scarlett said nothing more and only moved over to the one Patricia was healing, pouring another healing potion on them. Yet, as she stopped, only sitting and staring at the feline-kin she tried to aid, what she should do became increasingly more complex to figure out. However, Scarlett quickly interrupted her thoughts and looked down at her, "Done. Even though they are a bit poisoned, they will survive." Patricia looked up at her while sitting on the floor and slowly patting the feline-kin, who stared blankly into nothingness, "What do we do with them?" Scarlett sighed, "We bring them back, and with some luck, they will not kill themselves." Patricia clenched her hands, "Alex." Scarlett raised an eyebrow, "What?" "Send them to Alex. He has a charity which helps those who need it the most." Scarlett was about to argue but stopped suddenly, sniffing the air, "Go down there and look around. There could be something else." Patricia ran down the stairs again without hesitation while Scarlett lifted the rodent-kin up, bringing them toward the bed in the next room while murmuring angrily. When Patricia went down, she looked around this disgusting place but couldn''t find anything. However, after more searching, she noticed a middle-sized wooden box with some holes in it close to a pile of excrement. She immediately opened it in panic, ''You can''t be serious!'' Even though she imagined far worse, what she witnessed was terrible enough. Inside, she saw a wolf puppy with white fur and a fox puppy with black fur, barely alive and cuddling at each other. Malnourished and clearly on the brink of death. This scene reminded her of something that almost broke her heart. She carefully took them in her hands, noticing that they barely weighed anything, which made her bite her lower lip. At this moment, something inside her cracked as this became too much, but she didn''t emit any killing intent or become angry. She only accepted it and knew which direction her life would go. She went upstairs to treat them, only to get some weird glances from Scarlett, but Patricia didn''t care. She immediately drank a mana potion so she could use more spells. At first, she cleaned them thoroughly as they were full of their own excrement and urine. Next, she conjured some bread and water. She mixed them together and fed them slowly wet bread, as they were too weak to eat something more solid. Healing potions were also impossible as the poison would be too much for them. They sounded weak but joyful as they, probably after a long time, ate for the first time. "Wooo..." "Kuuu..." Scarlett squatted down beside Patricia, looking at them, "This is so lovely..." She turned to Patricia, smirking at her, "...it is so obvious why you saved them..." She suddenly tilted her head back to the fox and wolf, "...do you feel it?" Patricia, though, didn''t care. She kept holding them in her hands and slowly feeding them the wet bread. Though clearly anxious, they tried to cuddle closer to her while sometimes ignoring the food. "Woo..." "Kuu..." Patricia patted them while trying to give them more food, "Don''t worry, Mama is here to care for you." Scarlett rolled her eyes, "Do you really not feel it?" Patricia sighed, annoyed, "What? They are cute puppies." Scarlett smirked, "They are puppy monsters, my dear." Patricia looked first at Scarlett, who was still smirking, and then back at them, only now noticing that they had a slightly bitter smell, indicating that they were indeed monsters. There was a distinctive difference between Monsters and Animals. Animals couldn''t have energy, while monsters did, in most cases, when they grew up. This brought a smile to her face, "It''s perfect..."She didn''t turn around and only kept feeding and patting them, "...but how are the other ones?" Scarlett straightened up and looked behind her as they lay side by side on the bed, clearly awake but not moving, "Both of them are dead, at least only on the inside, and what I found else is rather disturbing, too. Fancy to know?" Patricia shook her head, "No... I can imagine what Outer Circle they went through." Scarlett sighed, "Listen, you can kill them and end their miserable life. You don''t need to always think about Alex and how he would see you." She shook her head, "I... I don''t do this only because of him." "Did you get soft too?" Patricia rolled her eyes, "I don''t like his idealism, but this doesn''t mean I hate it fully. Without him, I would be dead or, if alive by some miracle, suffering alone..." She sighed, "...I can''t save everyone and heal them, but I can give them to Alex, who will give them another chance." "Don''t you burden him a little too much?" She shook her head, "He will obviously not directly help them but his retainers." Scarlett wanted to say something but gave up, "Never mind, let me help you out a bit since his charity is doing great in my territory..." She went over to both of them while taking a chair with her. She sat down beside the bed and started talking in a language Patricia couldn''t understand. After some minutes, the void in their eyes slowly subsided, replaced with a little sparkle. After more time, they suddenly started crying and hugging each other. When Scarlett gave him some bread and water, she returned but didn''t tell Patricia what she had said. It was apparently a secret, but she said that it was a promise she had made. Hours passed as Scarlett prepped up the feline- and rodent-kin while Patricia only looked after the wolf and fox puppy monsters. While it was a weird coincidence, it was one that she couldn''t be happier about for many reasons, even though tragic. In addition to the apparent reason, she could tame and bind them to her since she got a rare [Divinity Line]. Fortunately, she also got demonic energy, but it was one of the weakest when it came to potency. The Nine-Fire household didn''t have anyone with such a [Divinity Line], but Leonandra had one or two. Scarlett told her that the last records from who had such a [Divinity Line] were from hundreds of years ago when an ancestor tried to tame a Tier 5 demonic beast but never succeeded. One would need to catch a young one and train them gradually. As such, having two was great, but Patricia only wanted one. The other would be a gift, ''Will Alexander like it?'' After she fed them, they became closer to her. She looked at them amiably, sensing that a bond was created between them, even though it was small. Patricia looked at the snow-white wolf puppy, "Your name will be Lisop, as your fur is so pure and white like my favorite flowers..." After hearing that, both their ears moved back, and they looked at Patricia in confusion. Through the weak bond, she could sense their confusion, but they could somewhat understand her. "That''s right. I am your Mama. Lisop will stay with me..." saying that made the Fox panic a little, cuddling even closer, but Patricia tried to calm it down, "... don''t worry. I am your Mama, too, but you will become big and strong enough to protect Papa. Your name will be Charcoal, as you have almost the same fur as me." They were both confused, but the bond which was created between them slowly strengthened. It was as if she slowly felt what they thought. Sadly, their household didn''t have much information about taming, and the Temple couldn''t help either since their ways differed. As such, she would need to figure everything out herself slowly. Before finding them, she wanted to buy a monster or wild demon through a black market, but what she held in her hands was fate. She couldn''t ask for a greater sign. ... Hours Later They slowly left the house while the pups followed Patricia, and the former slaves were behind Scarlett, who frowned all the time, obviously not liking the situation. It was weird overall since she was rather lenient with her, which probably came from all the letters Alexander sent them, with information, gold, and many other things. They even expanded their charity into Scarlett''s territory, which was doing very well. Sadly, Patricia had no time to look at Wolfstail, the capital in the northern Leonandra territory, as she was constantly training. However, because of that, Scarlett was much more lenient with Patricia, probably not wanting to sour the relationship with Alexander. But her goodwill only extended so far as to tolerate Patricia''s quirks and backtalk. Her training was as stringent as possible, and she wouldn''t accept anything less. Soon enough, Alexander would also join her as another trainee, being her junior, which made her blush a little, ''Well, he will listen to me, right? I am, in the end, his senior... hm...'' With such thoughts, with which she could ignore the horror she saw before, they walked from the village to their carriage and some servants, who waited a little farther away. Yet, it shouldn''t be peaceful, as Scarlett suddenly turned her head toward the direction of a small mountain, smiling viciously. Patricia, without hesitation, knew what was there and dashed in that direction while screaming, "Char, Liso, stay with Grandma. I will be right back!" As she dashed through the forest for a minute, she suddenly could smell them, too. After another minute, she arrived at a small cave entrance. She casually walked forward and saw how gnomes and dwarves were on the lookout, armed with bows and arrows. Yet, the smell came not only from them but also from inside the cave. They spotted her and immediately shot at her. Patricia, however, easily avoided the arrows and dashed toward them. Yet, her sense of danger irked her again, making her jump immediately against a tree, only to see how a cannonball flew where she was previously, ''How many cannons can such a small village produce?!'' Cannons were nothing unusual but barely used by beast-kin as they were too weak to do anything with them and too expensive to make. The Moorgrelian territory was plagued with giant monsters that could easily shrug them off, while some soldier newbies or mercenaries dispatched smaller monsters quickly. Even though black powder was illegal to make, other substances could also produce an explosion strong enough to propel a cannonball. However, as she landed horizontally on the tree trunks, she immediately pushed herself off, like a thunder flying toward the first archer, impaling him easily. Patricia then ripped her spear out of the archer and dashed toward the next, who panicked and missed the shot. She, though, swung her spear precisely, cutting his head off. After dispatching those two, she looked around, not sensing anyone else around, only to look confused inside the cave, ''They really fired from inside there.'' At first, she wanted to run inside but decided otherwise, as she always needed to remember that she had a better way to attack from afar against stationary targets. She started to conjure a massive fireball one meter in diameter. After her chant, she heard panic from within the cave, but it was too late. The fireball was already rushing toward them. Boom! Another moment later, she heard an explosion, too big to be her fireball, which confused her a bit. Yet, she ignored it for now and saw how all the gnomes and dwarves were flown out, or rather parts of them. Some, though, survived with minor injuries, walking outside while being visibly confused and coughing. Patricia dashed toward them, always considering what she saw in the basement. Clenching her spear, she now also used her energy, which was part of the Leonandra household. The moment the energy conjured on the tip of her spear, she felt difficulty controlling the energy as it was too volatile, even going as far as slowly destroying her weapon. Yet, when she swung it toward the dwarf and it touched them, their skin started to rip apart. As she continued, she tore apart the dwarf by slicing him. They screamed and pleaded, which she couldn''t understand, but she didn''t care anymore as she swung her spear, killing one person, no, one monster with every swing. She couldn''t see such beings as sapients anymore. They were monsters. How much did her kin, who were humiliated and tortured inside the basement, scream and beg? What she was doing, in comparison, was merciful¡ªkilling them without them losing their dignity. Everything that she learned from Alexander was broken. There was not a smidge of compassion or goodness inside them, which every sapient being should have. There was even no rationality. It was just cruel, as her kin were treated worse than cattle. She swung her spear beautifully, with every hit killing either puppies, parents, friends, or lovers. It didn''t matter anymore as they were monsters, part of the crime that made her kin suffer. After she slaughtered all of them, she saw a single gnome pup crying over a corpse, probably his Mother, which had a giant hole in her chest. He suddenly looked at her, with a sparkle in his eyes, which she knew too well, "You monster! Why did you do this?!" Patricia tilted her head, confused as she suddenly understood him, "What do you mean?" The gnome looked around in horror and screamed at her while crying, "Can''t you see how you killed us?! Why?!" Patricia looked at him coldly, "What do you mean by why? Do you think we didn''t find our kin in a basement, barely alive, mutilated, living in their excrement? What I did was merciful compared to what they lived through." She was hypocritical since they attacked the village without even knowing this, but did it matter? Scarlett picked a random village to show her why they were fighting, as they didn''t even see them as people. So, why should she do the same? The gnome looked at her fearfully, only to get angrier, "You want to punish all of us because of some bad people?!" She became more confused, "Punishment?" "Jesus Christ, yes! What do you think it is what you are doing?! Are you just some mercenary sent to destroy villages?!" She shook her head, ignoring the beginning since she didn''t understand it, which was probably a problem with him not speaking correctly. However, she answered him stoically, "Punishments means that I want you to better yourselves, but I am only an exterminating pest that is against my kin, trying to kill us and use us as objects." The gnome''s fear intensified, seeing that she didn''t care, only for him to smirk, "Okay, fine! Let''s bet!" She tilted her head, confused, "What can some pest give me who lives in a remote village?" He became boisterous, "I have knowledge you can''t even imagine! All I want is a chance to survive! If you can pinpoint where my head starts..." He suddenly stopped, being unsure, "...at the exact position, I will tell you wonders you wouldn''t believe, and if not, you let me run away!" Patricia smirked suddenly, knowing the story that Merlin once told to confuse his enemies and buy time, "Merlin''s wager, huh? We can try." When the gnome heard it, his face suddenly became pale white, only for Patricia to dash at him, cutting his head off for good. She went over, picking it up, to look at it more closely, only to frown as the cut was too low, "I guess you won..." she threw the head toward the body, "...you may run." As Patricia stood between all the corpses, trying to find any survivor, her mind was confused. She thought what Alexander told her was true since everything he said was logical and rational. Yet, when she saw the horror, she knew it was only academic blabbering, an ideal not true for everyone. ''I need to change him.'' Patricia wanted to be perfect for Alexander since he appeared to be someone no one could reach. Now she saw his flaws better, ''He is too kind-hearted.'' She would describe him as a saint trying to better everyone''s life while using his academic knowledge to see the best in a person. She needed to change this. He needed to know the horror she saw and act accordingly; otherwise, he would die. It was her duty as his future wife to help him see the truth and change him into someone who wouldn''t hesitate to eradicate this scum, ''I need to change him.'' Chapter 118: Silver-Tail I Author''s note: So, this is a bit weird. The next ten to eleven chapters might be a bit more chaotic and messy, with more mistakes, since I wrote them while working in the laboratory and having an exam phase. As such, you were warned, and I apologize in advance. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Chapter 119: Silver-Tail II ... Marisia''s Office, Leonandra Estate Inside the office of the Lady of the Leonandra estate were sitting what Moorgrelians would describe as the most fierce and talented in their generation. They were called prodigies by everyone inside their noble circles and simultaneously feared by outside circles for their ridiculous strength and, especially, their potential. Both were rulers of their territory, but this was where the difference began. One had a healthy fief that had developed under excellent leadership for the last decades. At the same time, the other one inherited a mess recently, trying everything in his power to make up for the mistakes of the earlier rulers. As such, they have been discussing a deal for the last few hours. However, it gradually became unpleasant since one party''s proposal was unmovable, and they were not even considering negotiating. "This is as much as I can give you, and the terms are very favorable if we look at the overall situation. I understand you want to haggle, but you should understand that the current demon run is fully ongoing and much larger than usual. We can''t spare too much even though we want to help you." For Bartholomew, it was the best deal he received, but also one he couldn''t negotiate since Marisia seemed to have already given him the most favorable one without putting herself into a bad situation. It was 150.000 average gold coins with an interest rate of 0.05%, which he could start paying back in ten years while having no interest in those years. Knowing how gold fluctuated in price, it was basically a gift. Even allowing her to mine in his copper mines for ten years made the deal worth it. However, it was too little, and he couldn''t haggle for more since she was like back then: So stoic and unmoving that one could put coal in her ass, only for it to come out as a diamond. As such, it was rather strange that she was Scarlett''s daughter. Nonetheless, it also made sense since one needed such a mindset to survive Scarlett''s training and her as a parent in everyday life. Bartholomew himself experienced her and her training, but he had another way of dealing with things, which was breaking down every couple of days but getting back up and trying to kill the so-called Slaughterer, only to get the shit beat out of him. Bartholomew shook himself awake, thinking he could talk about the good old times later and first needed to try and pursue her otherwise, but he suddenly remembered something, "Fine, let''s forget it for now. There is something else important." She slightly smiled at him, "What else? Did you get into a fight with Ori, and are you now wanted?" Bartholomew chuckled and shook his head, "Nah, but this is important, too..." He cleared his throat and became more serious, "...ahem, do you know that I got a letter from your son Alexander and that he was ready to give me a loan, too, for a far more favorable rate?" She tilted her head, acting as if confused, but he saw her smile widening, "So?" He was confused, "I wanted to inform you that maybe your son is using your treasury somehow without your knowledge." Her smile grew, "Thank you for your consideration, Bart, but my son is using his own funds. If he wants to support you, so be it." He creased his eyebrows, "I don''t understand. Is he not like seven or eight?" She nodded, "He is. However, if you are interested, you can visit him, discuss it, and then decide on an offer. Of course, there will be no privacy because he is young, and a guard will be present for his protection." He shrugged, "I understand. I don''t want to look like I would do something atrocious, like scamming him. As such, I will appreciate your presence." Marisia chuckled, holding her hand before her mouth, "Oh no, it will be Lili..." Bartholomew suddenly stood up, looking behind him, as his anxiety increased heavily, "...where is she?! Where is this demonic Lord?! Is she somewhere skinning puppies alive?!" Marisia laughed out loud, "Haha! Don''t worry, my Mother is not here and only left Lili for Alexander''s protection." Bartholomew looked at her, astounded, "You don''t let Alexander talk with Scarlett, right? Does he still have his soul?!" Marisia didn''t stop laughing, "Haha, stop it! She isn''t that bad..." She wiped a tear away, "...she only had some..." She showed a so-so gesture, "...some bad moments, but I think she changed slightly." Bartholomew carefully sat down again and smirked at her, "Bad moments? After getting rid of a whole town, she almost killed us because we were too slow..." He glared at her, "...I remember her damn methods, and my Grandfather almost started a fight with her because of this." Marisia relaxed a little and waved her hand in dismissal, "Calm down. She left months ago, so even if she was close, you could smell the corpses of millions of demons and scum immediately while hearing them scream in agony at her presence." Bartholomew smirked back, thinking that their inside jokes were a little exaggerated. Still, it was true that Scarlett had a particular reputation inside their noble circles, which he would know the best since he had followed her as a trainee for three decades. While on the battlefield, she was like a walking nightmare, bringing fear and destruction. Bartholomew even remembered how she brought them along to the North, where they raided small towns daily, eradicating more than a hundred before the Vulcanic Forge army arrived, trying to stop them. They could easily flee, but after that, he could barely sleep for weeks as he woke up in terror every night, remembering what atrocities they performed. He shuddered slightly and tried to forget it quickly, "However, when will Alex join us?" She raised an eyebrow, "I meant what I said. Alex doesn''t need me as those are his funds, so don''t worry about it, but know that Lili is there for his protection." He looked confused at her but, in the end, shrugged, letting himself be surprised by what was to come, "Well, whatever. Can you get a servant to show me to him?" Marisia pushed a plate with pastries toward him, "You need to wait around two hours for him to meet you. So relax, and let''s just talk about the past." Bartholomew tilted his head, confused, "Pardon?" Marisia shrugged, "He has lessons right now." He sat there dumbfounded, ''He is really a puppy.'' ... Later, Alexander''s Office "Oh, you are the one who beheaded your Dad and smashed your Mom to mush, right? I heard it from rumors, though. So, I''m not really sure if they are true." Bartholomew looked at him and immediately saw someone he knew too well, ''This is 100% Kairo''s blood.'' Alexander sat and looked at him without a worry in the world, with a calm demeanor puppies wouldn''t usually have in front of him. Others saw Bartholomew as a monster because his [Divinity Line] produced a slight aura akin to wild demons, so most would shake in fear. However, it could also be that Alexander was so confident since he wasn''t alone. Inside the office, an aura was floating around, constantly warning him to do nothing stupid, ''Urgh, I hate Lili.'' Lili had an annoying way of making everyone wary of her. While invisible, she constantly leaked a bit of her aura throughout the room as she walked around, which irritated him. Bartholomew sighed, trying to ignore her and Alexander''s lack of etiquette. The most crucial question was whether he could even give him a loan before they discussed anything. With Marisia answering it indirectly and positively, he had nothing against being more casual since the puppy was the leading party in their negotiations, which set the tone. "The gossip you heard is true, but I came here to discuss the offer you made me." Alexander''s tail moved from side to side, while his ears twitched when he talked, a sign of immature behavior, ''This will be a weird negotiation.'' Bartholomew never dealt with such young ones who wanted to make a deal with him, but there were weirder things he saw. So, his first goal was to see what intentions Alexander had. "Yeah, so, do you accept? You could''ve just sent me a letter, though. Not like it changes anything." Bartholomew shrugged, "I wanted to see face-to-face with whom I deal since many rumors float around about you, Mr. Saint." Alexander tilted his head slightly, "Saint? Where does this come from?" Bartholomew''s assistant had an incredible [Divinity Line] with which she could listen to others talk even hundreds of meters (1 m = ~1.1 yards) away while filtering information out. Sometimes, it was even possible for her to discern information from another territory altogether, but this would only work at most a second, if at all. Veronica would then need to wait a week before using it again as such skill usage was too taxing. So the moment they came to their fief, she was trying to get as much information as possible. For one, Alexander was a mage, which no one took really seriously, but the more important thing was that he was called a saint by the orphans and other less fortunate, and they took it very seriously. The other nicknames, like the Unfortunate One, came from the fact that he was almost assassinated, but those weren''t important. However, Alexander seemed to be mostly associated with his charity, which did not come from nowhere. He was apparently helping many of them, which Bartholomew respected even though it was weird for such a young pup to invest so much gold into such endeavors. With this, Bartholomew could guess why Alexander wanted to help him. While traveling through Foxteeth, Veronica often used her [Divinity Line] and discovered that Alexander''s charity opened there some days ago. As such, he guessed that the puppy also wanted to operate inside the Silver-Tail fief. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Why though? He had some theories he quickly cobbled together, ''The loan was probably mostly bait.'' Bartholomew was very cautious in his approach, especially when dealing with exceptional individuals. While Alexander was young, he nonetheless earned Marisia''s trust, which meant a lot. As such, there were many possibilities for why the puppy wanted to make such a deal. The most plausible explanation to him was that it was a deal where Alexander would put the charity inside the Silver-Tail fief only for Bartholomew to pay the costs, plus some charges, with mostly the loan. He would never accept it if something like this were written inside the contract in later negotiations. Yet, as long as it was not brought up, he would also not do it. Bartholomew smirked slightly, "Just heard it here and there, why?" Alexander waved his hand in dismissal while smiling, "Ignore it¡ªjust another stupid nickname for me. However, you are here and saw me. So?" Bartholomew raised an eyebrow, ''Arrogant, huh? Well, if you put so much coin into the poor, some ego should be involved.'' He straightened up and first wanted to talk about the weird minerals Alexander wanted to mine, "About the offer, I don''t exactly know what the minerals are you mentioned. For example, what is calcium? It would be helpful if you could explain what it is and what you want to use it for." This unexpected request surprised Alexander, making him surprisingly joyful, "Right!" With a flick of his finger, wind conjured beside the shelves, and a glass container floated to the desk. This action surprised Bartholomew, and he was almost ready to go for the offensive but could hold back on time, ''I am so jumpy fuck!'' Because of Lili''s continuous aura around him, he was on edge, thus always using his skills to calm down, but they helped little as she fucked around with him, sometimes increasing and decreasing the intensity. However, his attention switched quickly as the glass container with some white powder inside floated to the desk. He was fascinated and also understood the other nickname, ''So young and such skills in magic already?'' Bartholomew saw some mercenary mages here and there, so he knew a little about magic besides how to kill the users. Most of them told him they needed to study for over twenty years before they could even fight Tier 2 monsters. For Alexander to be not even ten and seemingly using magic just this smoothly spoke for his skills. The container landed before him, and Alexander signaled him to open it. Yet, Bartholomew was a little apprehensive since he had heard too many weird stories from those mage acquaintances about how their colleagues did bizarre experiments. For example, there was someone who accidentally changed their sex by mixing something up wrongly. As such, he was careful. Alexander saw this and said, "Don''t worry, it''s safe. Look..." A slight wind turned the lid, and it popped right off, with some white powder floating into the air. This sudden release of an unknown alchemical ingredient frightened Bartholomew, and he scooched a little back but, after a moment, recognized what it was, "Chalk?" Alexander clapped his hands together, "Yes! With this, I can make something incredible! I want you to use it and build what I ask you to while we do the same on this side!" This overwhelmed the hardened Knight, who looked at this puppy in disbelief. He tried to understand him but couldn''t, and since the meeting was very casual, he just asked, not fearing coming off as dumb, "I don''t get it. What exactly do you want to make with..." he pointed at the container full of chalk, "...this." Alexander nodded in understanding, "Cement." Bartholomew became even more confused, "But we already know how to make it?" Alexander shook his head, "No, no, no. What we use now is too hard to make, too complex, and inconvenient for large-scale projects. I want access to your mines for chalk and some other things, which you find probably useless." He looked at the little noble, who was excited and suddenly noticed something, "Wait, you said you wanted me to use it? Do you want me to buy you this cement?" If this was true, then the whole thing made sense and was something he had already expected. While maybe not fully cold-hearted, he would be shrewd. After receiving the gold, Alexander probably wanted him to buy the new cement. Bartholomew would never agree to something like this, no matter how desperate. However, what Alexander said next baffled Bartholomew, "Nah, I will give you the recipe and the method to make it. I only want you to connect villages of a certain size as you lay them down for street building! Imagine the interconnectivity! I also want you to spread it and build up north to the Feather-Paw fief while we build it towards you. This project will..." Bartholomew interrupted him, "Wait! Let me digest it first." Alexander was about to start his explanation, but Bartholomew suddenly interrupted him, wanting to be more open and honest since it was the puppy of his senior, "You can''t be serious, right? Besides the exceptional loan, you want to give me an alchemical recipe for better street building while you..." He leaned forward, pointing at him, "...only want me to better my fief and have some access to cheap ingredients? Is this a joke? If I take it, I will basically scam you." Bartholomew followed the Silver-Tail tradition: peace and prosperity. They never scammed anyone till his Mother came along, and for him to build up his lost connections, he would need to start with it again. It was all about trust, and he wanted everyone to trust him. Alexander smirked at him, showing his arrogance, which irked Bartholomew, "Pffff, calm down. You don''t know this since you are green behind your ears, but better streets mean better interconnectivity, which means better and faster trade and more taxes for both of us! It''s a win-win. Who would be so stupid to make it a secret? Either way, I would give you the recipe and buy it, even if you only take my loan." Bartholomew looked back at him and was now baffled to no end, ''Did I get told off by a puppy?!'' Bartholomew rubbed the place between his eyes and then looked at Alexander, not feeling as if he wanted to scam someone, "Got it, but why not just buy the ingredients for cheap while building the infrastructure out? Why the loan? The last thing I want to do is to make more enemies." Alexander''s smirk widened as he straightened up, looking down at Bartholomew, "I don''t need some failing fief in my vicinity. A trade goes both ways and if I have more prosperous partners, we can trade more and better." Bartholomew looked at him, becoming angry, "Listen, pup..." Alexander stood and looked intensely into Bartholomew''s eyes, "Don''t call me pup! It is my gold, and I want to invest in your damn failing fief while building up a better future for everyone! Are you too stupid to understand?! Do you want me to draw you the plan with finger paintings?! Can you even count?! Trade plus better infrastructure equals more gold for everyone!" A vein popped on Bartholomew''s forehead, and he suddenly stood up, screaming, "My fief didn''t fail!" Alexander stared at him without any fear in his eyes, "It did. It did. It. Did!" Bartholomew looked at him more severely, and his tone became deeper, almost threatening, while Lili''s aura increased, "Don''t say it ever again..." Alexander smirked at him, "Or what? Will you have my head, or will I become mush?" It was silent until Bartholomew fell into the chair, almost cracking it with his enormous build. He held his forehead while laughing out loud, "Hahaha! By the circle, okay, fine!" Alexander walked around the desk, shaking his head, "It is not enough. I want more, much more." Bartholomew became suspicious, glaring at him through his fingers, "Oh? What is it now? Servitude or some weird trade rights?" Alexander stopped, raised an eyebrow, and looked at him as if he was a moron, "Wow, Mom was right. You really are stupid, huh?" Bartholomew, though, didn''t like what he heard, ''Mari and Alex are really the fucking same.'' In the past, Marisia was incredibly arrogant to him. Every time they studied, she would look down on him, and her son probably looked it up from her. While coming over as benevolent, she only accepted the talented and regarded everyone else as not worth her time. There were obvious exceptions, like her family, but she didn''t see others as more than some dumb cattle only for her to use. Alexander continued slowly walking towards him, "I need my charity, The Helping Paw, to be as autonomous as possible inside your fief so it can help to the best of their abilities..." He suddenly snapped his fingers, "...there is also the train thing I want to create in the future and will need help with, and I need to build a Temple branch there." It was silent, and Bartholomew didn''t know what to say. On the one hand, Alexander was an arrogant little brat who needed a really good beating. On the other hand, he would help him massively, especially his subjects, to endure their crisis. ''I can''t do this. This isn''t even a deal but sponsoring.'' All of Alexander''s proposals were perks that would help Bartholomew. At this point, he wanted to avoid screwing him over not only because of political implications but because there was a familial trust between the Guardian Households that they would act in good faith toward each other. There were some exceptions, like if there were internal fights as the Silver-Tail household had, but otherwise, they were very close with each other and did almost everything in goodwill. Bartholomew wanted to continue this tradition and rebuild trust in his household, "Listen, Alex, all you told me are positives, and I don''t know what a train is in the first place. If I agree to such a deal, you will lose heavily." Alexander came behind him, grabbing his shoulders, "I knew it." Bartholomew raised an eyebrow, "Knew what?" Alexander leaned forward, close to his ears, as his smile widened, becoming more vicious, whispering, "You are a giant pussy." A vein popped, but before he could answer, Alexander continued, walking back to his chair, "You are too soft and a good guy. This is why you got fucked over for so long by your trash Mother..." He sat down again, putting one leg over the other, "...I mean no offense..." He shook his head, "...no, it is obviously insulting, but you are too nice for your own good." Bartholomew also leaned back, "So, what does it mean?" Alexander shrugged, "I like you and will thus increase the loan by 20%, and if you ask me why I am doing this, it''s easy. I want our fiefs to be prosperous. I want to bring education and better living standards to the poor..." His tone became serious, "...I want to better these damn fiefs, which were ravaged by wild demons and others for thousands of years, helping my subjects." Bartholomew saw not Kairoso anymore. Not even Marisia, but he saw the same ambition and greed as what Scarlett exuded, only that he wanted to help the impoverished instead of getting stronger himself, ''This whole family is fucking crazy.'' He remembered Scarlett too well as she tortured him for thirty years. She never budged if she had a goal and expected nothing less from her allies and friends¡ªthe same he could see in Alexander. The puppy had the same greedy eyes that made Scarlett into the monster she was. After some minutes of silent contemplation, he decided, "I will take the deal, but we need to have a thorough mana contract, and you need to tell me beforehand what a train, sulfur, and magnesium are." Alexander showed his hand for a handshake, "Deal!" Bartholomew grabbed Alexander''s hand and shook on the deal. ... Later, Bartholomew''s guest room "What happened?" "My Lord, you accepted an excellent deal. Why are you worried?" Bartholomew lay on his bed, with one hand over his eyes, "I have a multitude of skills that control my emotions, but for some reason, Alex riled me so much up that I wanted to beat the shit out of him." Veronica shook her head, "Not true, my Lord. If you had an inkling of killing intent, Lili would''ve killed you in a second." He chuckled, "Thanks for the reassurance." Veronica sighed, obviously not understanding what was happening in their discussion, which was in Bartholomew''s opinion for the better. Otherwise, she would yell at him as to why he didn''t take an even better deal. What irked Bartholomew the most was that Alexander was open and honest about everything. He talked about every ingredient he wanted and made sure to explain to him what he would use it for, except magnesium. He only said it would become necessary, and he worked on how to utilize it. Yet, there was something. Like a nail scratching Bartholomew''s mind, he couldn''t figure out what irritated him about the deal. However, after a lot of thought, he knew the problem. Alexander had ambitions, and while they were exactly the same as his, to better the lives of his subjects, it would also mean that the puppy would expect a lot from him. While the details of the contract would be talked about in the next few days, it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that the loan would bind him to those goals. If Bartholomew wanted to stay in the good graces with Alexander, he would need to fulfill those expectations. ''What am I even thinking? He is only a pup, but... he will surely become the heir in a couple of years... damn it.'' Veronica sounded unsure, interrupting his thoughts, "I am confused, my Lord. All you told me about what he said made sense in the long term. Even implicitly, our end of the deal would also be to owe him a favor and bind ourselves to him, which would be nice since you both have the same goals and ideals." "Tsk, It''s just... I need to clear my head about what happened. This discussion was too ridiculous, and I understand, but doesn''t one want to only get the most out of oneself? Is he betting that I am someone honest and don''t later stab him in his back?" Veronica shrugged, "Do you want to backstab him?" Bartholomew became angry while straightening up from the lying position, "No! Obviously not!..." he punched the bed, which felt bad for some reason, "Damn it! Urgh." He lay down again and looked at the ceiling, "I... I need to see what the next days will bring." Veronica sighed, "My Lord, please go to sleep and think it over tomorrow with a clear mind..." She remembered something, "...ah right. Do you want to have something to eat? You didn''t have much." ... "My lord?" She came closer and saw that he was already sleeping. Chapter 120: Nila O. Nine-Fires Problems ... A not-remarkable carriage drove through Wolfsteeth on its way to Leonandra''s estate. It was made of medium-grade wood, painted dull, without any crest or symbol, and pulled by simple hog monsters. It was so standardized that if one looked for a specific carriage because of a fugitive, they would immediately be drawn to it as it was too bland to be authentic. However, the person inside could only be described as noteworthy¡ªNila O. Nine-Fire. She was wearing a casual dress, with her hair made into a dud, while reading some notes she made while reading Linuel''s letters. Yet, she couldn''t concentrate well as puppies were playing around outside, which made her smile since it was adorable to listen to. "I will use my power of fire, burning you for eternity!" "No! I will summon my blade, made out of thousands of tornadoes, to slice your fire!" "Argh!" "Muhahaha! See this? This is the power of magic I learned under Archmage Alexander! Now die!" "Nooooooo." To Nila, it was cute but also important information. If the youth started to ignore their ancestors and took others as role models for their little role-playing, it meant that the person became one of the more prominent ones in a given city, town, or village. Nonetheless, such information could also be misleading as it was enough to be unique like Alexander, who was probably the first ever mage inside their Guard Households. However, what was probably more important was because of the charity he started. As such, the goodwill of Wolfsteeth''s lower populace was immense toward him. A dream scenario for every noble. While it was straightforward here toward whom the goodwill was pointing, it was odd in Foxteeth, where the charity started some time ago. The charity inside Foxteeth made a secret out of who was responsible for their appearance, but Nila knew that it was obviously her little sister, with the help of Scarlett, who both talked with her parents to make it happen. Nila was confused about why this was the case but had a good guess. However, before she could follow the thought, her fellow traveler interrupted her, "Mrs. Nila, do you want some refreshments?" Nila shook her head, "No need, but thank you..." She looked away from her notes and towards a small bee-kin girl across from her, "Are you excited to meet your mistress again? I guess we will arrive there in the evening." The bee-kin girl''s antennas slightly twitched while she nodded vigorously, smiling, "Yes, and I''d really love to meet her fiance, but I..." Nila interrupted her, suddenly irritated when she heard the word fianc¨¦, "Shut up, Honey..." she glared at Linuel''s personal guard. Nila was very upset that her sister stole her man. Yet Linuel had enough decency to at least write her a letter apologizing for such behavior and offering considerable help without specifying anything. This was also why she traveled toward the Leonandra estate, and her guess as to why nobody took the credit for the charity in Foxteeth. It was too obvious, and depending on how Narsiz was, she would either accept the apology or not. Regardless of Linuel''s invitation, if Nila''s next social gathering ended up empty again, she would revisit her sister by herself, making her pay for what she did, no matter if Narsiz was worth it or not. After the purge in the underworld, life continued, with Nila visiting two balls to find a fitting husband. However, all of them were inadequate for her taste. While it sounded like they were worthless, it wasn''t the case as such since she had particular standards. Her husband needed to be talented in two things: Socializing and administration, supplementing her talents, which were largely battle- and military-related. Yet, all the ones Nila found were average or insane, like the Iron-Claws. She needed to admit that her standards were too high, probably because she compared everyone to her Father. While he was even weaker than her, even though he underwent the first body modification, he was nonetheless brilliant and charming¡ªthe perfect complement to her Mother, who had enormous talent when it came to fighting. Nila wanted the same and thought that Narsiz was such a person. However, while she was somewhat calm now after the apology, she was not before it. She was ready to kill Linuel and take him away should he fit her expectations. There was nothing worse than getting a man stolen who would''ve been a perfect fit. "Mrs. Nila, please calm down." She looked at Honey and sighed, "Sorry, I am just a little perturbed by your Mistress." Honey shook her head while smiling, "I understand, but so you know, should you attack her with killing intent, I will try my best to kill you, Mrs. Nila." Nila raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Where do you get the courage?" Honey''s smile widened, "Oh, let''s see..." She wanted to count on her hand but suddenly stopped, surprised, "...actually, it''s none of your business." Nila''s killing intent leaked out, "I guess I should get rid of you now?" Honey shook her head, "While it sounds nice, you forgot that my Mistress has an offer for you, and if you kill me, you will also lose any good faith with Mr. Narsiz and his brother, Mr. Alexander." Nila raised an eyebrow, stopping her killing intent, ''I can''t win, huh?'' It was true. Should Nila become unhinged, any good future relations would become impossible since Alexander would evidently become Leonandra''s next Lord. Worse, from what Patricia said, when she was at the estate, the brothers had a good and intimate relationship. However, it was worse only for Nila since she wanted to twist Linuel''s neck like that of a chicken. Nila sighed, "Never mind, I can kill you later... should Lin try something." Honey nodded happily, "I also think this is the right decision, Mrs. Nila." ... Little Later, Leonandra Estate Nila walked out of the carriage, and the first thing she saw made her almost leak out her killing intent unintentionally. It was Linuel, and while she wanted nothing more than to pounce at her and strangle her till all life left her eyes, she stayed calm and walked to her, forcing a smile, "Hello, Lin. How are you?" Beside her was who she probably assumed was Narsiz. He was beautiful, charming, and exuded a particular intellect she loved, ''This fucking whore. If he is talented, I will kill her.'' However, to her surprise, there was someone else, too. A snow-white-haired puppy stood beside Linuel on the other side, trying to smile charmingly. However, he gave off a dangerous aura, so much so that all her neck hair stood up, ''This should be Alexander.'' Patricia told her multiple times that it was her future husband, and going by her threats, it was probably better not to groom him, even though Nila was interested, especially since he was overwhelmingly talented, ''Better not touch the men of psychos.'' Even though Alexander would be her perfect husband in every aspect, even going by what Patricia told her, it seemed that her little sister already groomed him for months. As such, he was already taken. Linuel came forward, smiling slightly but was clearly nervous, "Hello, big sister, how was the trip?''" Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Nila smiled back, "Good enough..." yet her smile widened viciously, making Linuel flinch, "...I was always thinking about you." It suddenly became dead silent, and nobody moved or did anything for a whole minute until she heard Alexander''s sigh, "Ok, amazing story. I am Alexander, so can we not kill each other and talk about a couple of things? I need Linuel alive for later." Nila looked at him, tilting her head, "Oh? Why so?" He shrugged, "She is my brother''s fianc¨¦, and he would be quiet..." Alexander was interrupted when Narsiz spoke, exuding an incredible natural charisma, "...Alex shut up for a minute..." He looked at Nila and smiled charmingly at her, "...my name is Narsiz, and I would like to continue the business talk for later. How about we first show your room and discuss this while having tea and cake? We can also eat something heartier if you are very hungry." Nila became incredibly annoyed, ''Charming, reserved, nice, and diplomatic. She will definitely pay.'' However, Alexander interrupted him, sounding sarcastic, "Look at her. She is about to rip Linuel apart. Do you think some cake and tea will calm her down?" While Alexander was right, Nila wasn''t a bloodthirsty beast, "Exc..." She couldn''t even get a word through as they began to fight with each other. "Alex, have some manners. We are all here, adu... never mind. Let her first settle down." Alexander shrugged while looking between Nila and Linuel, "Whaddya mean? Just let''s get it over with. No need to wait..." He turned to Nila and was as direct as someone could be, "...I will give you power and gold. Develop your city, but for this, I also need Linuel alive." Nila stood dumbfounded there and didn''t know what was going on, but before she could reorganize her thoughts, from behind came Honey, "Mistress!" Linuel smiled at her and opened her arms, "Hey! How are you?" Honey ran to her and hugged her. Nila''s rage was there but considerably exchanged with confusion, ''I fucking hate the Leonandra''s.'' She only met up with them once, years ago, at a ball when their eldest daughter and Narsiz visited it. However, she was timid back then and mostly stood in the corner, sipping some tea. Fortunately, she didn''t participate much since the evening wasn''t very pleasant. Their eldest daughter suddenly started a fight with some noble who was a vassal of the higher nobility of central Mal-Gil. After beating the youth up almost to a pulp, a guard tried to apprehend her, but she stole their shield and beat them then up with it. The Leonandra household wasn''t the best when it came to manners, to say it lightly, but when Nila remembered her family, it wasn''t much better. There was a reason why other noble circles wanted to have as little interaction with the Guard Households as possible. Nila sighed, not liking the chaos, and decided to introduce herself to the Lady first and have some tea and cake. Then, she could see for herself what Alexander and Linuel were talking about, "Show me to the Lady first..." She glared at Linuel, who smiled nervously, "...and then we can have a nice chat." ... Evening, Tea Room Inside the beautiful tea room were sitting four youths, with their cups in their hands, silently sipping their tea. The arrangement of pastries was exquisite, as was the calming herbal tea. In comparison, the atmosphere was dreadful and heavy, as if someone had died. However, one puppy threw a cookie in his mouth and drank the herbal tea in one go. After he was done with such an unsightly behavior, he spoke casually to Nila, "So, you want to kill Linuel?" Nila raised an eyebrow, as this brash puppy was so much like his Father, which was ridiculous. She knew the Druid from some happenstances when they were together on either a cleaning mission or in the east. He was far from what one would expect from a Lord and much more like some mercenary. Nila couldn''t understand how the Lady, Marisia, could fall in love with such a barbarian. Yet, after seeing him fight, command, and motivate his soldiers, she understood that he was much more capable than most nobles. After that, she felt ashamed for her premature judgments and decided first to see if one was competent enough before judging them by their behavior. Nila took a sip and leaned back. She raised her longer, more airy skirt a little, putting one leg over the other, and answered Alexander honestly, "No." Alexander shrugged while looking at Linuel, "See? She doesn''t want to kill you..." He turned back to Nila, "...all right, let''s talk about..." Linuel interrupted him, "Can you not rush things?..." She looked at her older sister, "Nila, we need to talk things out." Nila, though, didn''t want it since it felt as if her sister wanted to rub it into her face. Funnily enough, Alexander noticed it and made fun of it, "Yeah, let''s talk openly about how you fucked her over and stole Narsi. Good job, genius." "Alex, please don''t be..." Nila''s laughter interrupted Narsiz, and she waved her hand in dismissal, "You are all so cute..." She suddenly became serious, leaking killing intent, "...if I wanted her dead, she would be a corpse already." Narsiz used his aura, which was pleasant, like a warm spring day, blocking Nila''s since Linuel was slightly trembling, clearly in fear. This display of Narsiz made her though even angrier, ''I can''t believe I lost such a man to this moron.'' He was clearly weaker than Linuel but much more courageous, trying to defend her even though Nila could kill him easily. Even better, he was relatively young and could be groomed into a perfect husband for her, but no. He fell in love with a moron. Narsiz smiled at her, but it was not one that she would consider friendly, "I would say we put our intentions away so we don''t start something that we would regret later on." "Is this a threat..." Nila increased her killing intent, not liking what she heard. However, the situation suddenly escalated as she felt a massive amount of killing intent coming from where Alexander was. Looking at him, he suddenly stood up, and the amount increased tenfold, making her concentrate to defend against it. The air became reddish, and she could see the same glare that her Mother or Scarlett had, but her thoughts went in a different direction than fear as she licked her lips, ''Can''t believe the Leonandra''s birthed such great men.'' Yet her thoughts were as quickly interrupted by Alexander screaming, clearly irritated, "Everyone, stop! I can''t believe that you overreact like this!" Nila put her killing intent back like Alexander, who glared at her, obviously not understanding her situation. As such, she decided to be more honest and try to explain it to him, "Alex, may I call you like this?" Alexander nodded while sitting down again. She continued, "Great, so let me be honest. Let''s say you will help me with your charity..." She smirked at him, "...which only means probably putting my name out there that I was the reason your charity could be established. Yet, this doesn''t help me get the position of the Lady." Alexander raised an eyebrow, clearly confused, "What do you mean? I will build schools, and we can create concepts and help you let your fief prosper and..." He opened his arms widely, "...I also know that you are, besides Patricia, the only one who is a probable heir! Patricia and I will serve you the title on a silver platter together with the goodwill of your subjects!" It was silent for a moment till Nila started to chuckle while glaring shortly at Linuel and back at Alexander, "You don''t know this maybe, but I need a husband to become the Lady, and I do want to also rule later in the North and West. Because of this, I also need a talented one." Alexander frowned, "Is this actually a rule? I thought it was more of a suggestion, and what about the North and West?" Narsiz shook his head, "No. It is a rule made by the Count that only someone with a spouse can rule over a fief..." He shrugged, "...there are obvious exceptions, but none of those apply to Nila." Nila continued, "If you want to rule the North, you and your spouse need to go through the first body modification, while the West is for the one who went through the second." After hearing it, Alexander''s face contorted into different grimaces, but in the end, he leaned forward, looking at Linuel, dumbfounded, "You are literally a moron, huh?" Before Linuel could say something or Narsiz defend her, Nila laughed out loud, "Haha! I like you already!" Alexander looked at Narsiz and Linuel interchangeably and became serious, "Leave, both of you." Narsiz wanted to say something, but Linuel grabbed his shoulder and nodded, signaling that they should leave. After he sighed, they stood up and left the tea room. Now alone, Nila became quite interested in why Alexander wanted them to be alone. The answer came quickly, with him rubbing his temple and speaking while stressed, "I need to apologize for Linuel." Nila raised an eyebrow, being interested, "Why so? You didn''t do anything wrong, and she is not someone from your household." Alexander leaned back and sounded defeated, "Well, she will be, and since I love my brother and he loves her, I need to do something so we can have an amicable relationship..." He smiled at her tiredly, "...right?" Nila was close. She was so close to grooming Alexander after seeing what he was all capable of. Only her pride and honor, which Linuel didn''t have, made her step back and not stay here and groom Alexander into an even better husband. However, he suddenly sighed, "Fine, let me ask you: Are you ready to, let''s say, if you find a proper husband, let my charity and other projects act autonomously inside your fief?" She raised an eyebrow, "Sure, it depends on what, really, but I see no problem if they have the same goal as the ones you have in Wolfsteeth. From what I saw already, it seems fine." He nodded and continued, "Will you be ready to adjust tax breaks and other things so they can sustain themselves without my influence after they show their worth?" She shrugged, "As I said, I have no problem with your idealistic goals since they would obviously benefit me too, and changing the tax code to make them more independent sounds fine too, as long as they, as you said, show their worth." Alexander inhaled and exhaled strongly through his nose while looking into some empty space, only to nod, "Good, we will finalize the deal letter, and I will give you your present when it''s all over, but..." She interrupted him, "Alex, may I ask you something?" He nodded, even though looking confused, "Sure." "Let''s forget the whore for a moment. I want you to tell me why you are going to such extremes for lowly commoners. It is obvious that you would make a deal with anyone as long as you would get your way, am I right?" Alexander smirked suddenly, "Because I can and want to." After a moment of silence, she laughed out loud, "Haha! Fine..." She stood up, looking down at him, "...however, all our agreements will be useless as long as I don''t have a suitable husband, and I will never accept someone who is only average." Alexander also stood up, "Well, for this problem, I also have an idea..." His smile became more mischievous, "...trust me. I only need to read something through!" Chapter 121: Blind Date If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Chapter 122: Cold-Snouts I Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Chapter 123: Cold-Snouts II This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Chapter 124: Cold-Snouts III Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Chapter 125: Sisterly Evening Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 126: Chaotic Morning If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 127: Monster Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 128: Inner Sanctum This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Chapter 129: Romantic Mess Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Chapter 130: Fixing It Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Chapter 131: Farewell I (Cold-Snout) If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Chapter 132: Farewell II (Bartholomew and Nila) Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Chapter 132.5: Lovely Correspondence I Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Chapter 133: Freedom! (Partly) This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Chapter 134: Shopping ... Wolfsteeth, One of the Eastern Markets ''My life is a lie...'' Alexander walked around the marketplace; even though looking dignified and warm on the outside, on the inside, he felt as if someone had stabbed him multiple times with a feces-covered dagger. ''No chocolate... my whole life...'' He found out that he couldn''t eat chocolate because it was nothing more than poison to him, which reminded him of the first body strengthening and why some solutions tasted like chocolate milkshakes, thinking it was just his imagination playing a prank on him because of the stress at that time. ''I... why...'' After that, he tried to remember what else was toxic to dogs or canines from Earth, realizing why the estate didn''t have all those ingredients. His Mother would not even allow servants to have those foods, as her puppies could''ve eaten them, which would have been the case with Alexander without any question. Regardless of what he could or couldn''t eat, it was better to concentrate on the current situation and address the food problem later, ''Note to myself, either make canine-kin immune to poison or develop a chocolate substitute.'' With this, Alexander sighed slightly, concentrating back on the market. He immediately felt terrible for the cow-kin vendor he had left suddenly without saying anything. It was just too much of a shock to him. ''Well, whatever... at least I can eat sugar.'' With that solace in mind, he shook himself awake and looked to his sides for another stand, seeing that the two soldiers who escorted him from his peripheral view were visibly nervous. ''Oh man, what is everyone thinking I would do?!'' Both were Tier 3 retirees who lived in the outer parts of the estate, enjoying their lives and were probably dragged back by Cross, the commander of their estate, to accompany Alexander. However, while Alexander didn''t like that they saw him this negatively, he couldn''t blame them. Being reincarnated and, thus, a puppy, his mindset somehow reverted, with his risk tolerance sinking to the bottom while having all the knowledge from his previous life. He was a ticking time bomb since everything he did was somehow a coin flip of being a great success or blowing phenomenally up in his face, sometimes both simultaneously. Now, though, he strained every mental fortitude skill to the maximum to avoid running around like an insane person, talking to everyone. Besides that, he also had a plan for now: He needed to buy a couple of simple things, at least, to show his more casual side to the commoners, making himself more approachable to them. Like on cue, his nose caught something interesting, ''Hm, this smells acceptable.'' He walked casually to a stand that sold meat in potatoes. Potatoes were like on Earth, but only some types, which were, from what he guessed while walking through the market, far too expensive for commoners as they were only available in small quantities and barely bought. The potatoes the fast food vendor sold were the variant commoners ate. They were much bigger and stayed relatively hard, even after boiling them for hours. They were eaten mainly by the poor, who substituted bread or rice with them, which was much more expensive, too. However, the vendor seemed to boil them in water first, cut them open like a bun, and fry them in cheap oil, making them seem edible while adding some overly greasy monster meat, which Alexander could identify by how much mana it had left after frying it, too. Alexander looked at the vendor while taking out an average gold coin, "One." The red-skinned djinn seller looked baffled at him, "Excuse me, but I think I can''t sell it to Mr. Alexander." Alexander raised an eyebrow, becoming annoyed, "What now? Are the damn potatoes also poisonous to me?!" The djinn bowed, sounding nervous, "No, it''s just..." He didn''t say anything, which annoyed Alexander even more, "What?! Just tell me..." He became a little too honest, blowing a fuse, "...I already can''t eat chocolate. What else is there to crush my will to live? The oil?!" The djinn didn''t look up, becoming quite nervous from Alexander''s rant, "I... it''s too much... I don''t have enough change... so please let me gift it to the honorable Mr. Alexander!" Alexander tilted his head in confusion, "Wait? How much does a... what do you call it..." He looked to see what the dish was called from the shield above the stand, which was just a childish drawing of a monster inside a potato, "...let''s call it meat in potato." The djinn still bowed, not daring to look into his eyes, which was considered rude, "Two iron coins." Alexander raised his eyebrow, trying to remember the current conversation rate, ''8.74 large silver coins are one small gold coin... but what were copper and iron coins again?!'' Alexander got every month a report of the fluctuating prices of silver, gold, and other materials from Aurum but not about iron and copper coins since they were too cheap for him to care, ''Okay, how do I make me not look like an out-of-touch asshole?'' Alexander looked around, noticing that he held a large gold coin, not an average one, and decided it was too late for him to look relatable. Observing everyone around him and how they looked, it was doomed the second they saw him. His clothes were made out of legacy wings and the finest and most resistant silk there was inside their territory. His outfit was probably worth more than all the stands combined. As such, he doubted his looking more out of touch was even possible. However, what surprised Alexander was that this vendor actually got it right how to talk to him since there were very distinctive ways they were allowed to talk to nobility in Moorgrel. At the estate, servants were allowed to speak to him directly but needed to mention his name with the Mr, which was an abbreviation of Master, which was meant in a more general sense than what Ocilia, his disciple, called him. However, the commoners outside the estate weren''t even allowed to talk to him personally and could only mention him when speaking in a third-person perspective. Yet Alexander liked them to make some more mistakes so he could show his more friendly and forgiving side. He didn''t care about etiquette as long as they were respectful. He tried to think of something until he noticed some of the commoners looked quite tired and hungry, thus getting an idea. He smiled at the seller, "All right, how much do you have at your stand? How many could you make today? Would two average gold coins be enough to buy everything?" The djinn became slightly astounded and quickly looked around his stand, leaving his bowing pose. He started calculating the amount he could make by counting all the food he had at hand, only to nod back, "One small gold coin would be more than enough!" Alexander pulled an average gold coin out of his pouch, snipping it to him, which the djinn nervously caught, "I want you to make that meat in potato for free the whole day or until your stock is depleted. Now give me mine and..." He looked to the side, seeing multiple containers, " I want mine with the purplish sauce." After seconds of the djinn staring blankly at him, he bowed again, "I thank Mr. Alexander!" Alexander smiled at him, trying to gesture for him to calm down, "It''s fine. I am a bit hungry..." The djinn screamed, interrupting him, "Of course! Please wait!" When the djinn started making the sandwich, Alexander tried to sense his surroundings without looking around. He found that most readied themselves to get something to eat since they heard there was free food. However, others looked at him astounded, whispering between themselves, ''Okay, time to spy.'' Alexander conjured a spell called Tempest''s Whisper, a three-dimensional construct that was pretty hard to learn but very helpful. It increased his hearing sensitivity while using wind, conjured with mana, to control it in a specified area, making him listen to everything in that area. It was a magic enhancement, a spell that increased a person''s or sometimes even an object''s abilities. However, this spell was a little unique and not a pure enhancement since it also let him control the conjured wind outwardly. Regardless, it was defined as such. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Those spells were complicated for Alexander to learn because they needed to be cast on the person directly, and the pamphlets Green gave him described only how to cast it on a dragon-kin. Even though a wolf-kin and dragon-kin body weren''t too different, they were when it came to ears and tails, and Tempest''s whisper needed to be cast on the ears. As such, Alexander needed to change the spell before he could cast it on himself, making enhancements constructs incredibly annoying to learn. However, after an almost silent chant and putting the jerry-rigged magic enhancement on and in his ear, he could now hear much better and even distinguish those further away from him through his conjured wind which he could control with his [Mana Manipulation] skill, ''Okay, what do they talk about?'' From further away, he heard two puppyish girls talking with each other. "Is this Mr. Alexander? He looks..." "I know, right? He is so cute! Is he so big because of the Lord?" "Hm... I dunno, but do you think he takes concubines? I would..." Alexander stopped it immediately, trying to listen to others, and switched his sense and spell to a more mature couple, those being some colorful bird-kin. "I dun unnerstan'' ho'' cu'' som'' cul'' be?" "Dus'' i'' twiik'' in'' ya'' croatch''?" Alexander again stopped, trying to find someone he could understand and wanted to understand, ''This can''t be. There should be someone interesting here.'' After a moment, he found a boy barely old enough to wear the dagger he had strapped to him, probably been through his legacy some months ago, looking like an adventurer, and his friend, who looked like the typical blacksmith apprentice. "Do cha'' think we willya become lik'' him?" "I wish... isn''t cha a wizar''?" "Spells''n shi''?" "Ya. Isn''t he open cha a schoo''? For free''n shi''?" "Will ya cha go?" "Dunno... isn'' cha disci'' also from tha rat distric'' an'' learn'' all tha stuff?" "Dunno, bu'' is'' free, so why cha no?" "Dunno." Alexander decided to stop before his brain got fried, ''Note to myself, get them some linguistic teachers... I can''t listen to this shi'' cha.'' He looked to the side, the seller having his potato meat ready, which he took. He wanted to say thanks but decided against it at the last second, as he couldn''t do it according to how nobles should behave toward commoners. Alexander bit into it and nodded toward the vendor, "It''s good. Great job." Walking away, he could still hear the vendor yelling, "I thank Mr. Alexander with all my gratitudeness!" Alexander cringed but decided to embrace it since he had no other choice. Also, the vendor was probably really happy since he would not need to worry for some time as what he received as pay would be enough for a couple of months. However, the potato meat was pretty good, even though it was a little too salty, spicy, and overly greasy. While enjoying the fast food, Alexander became slightly annoyed as the fat dripped on his hand, dirtying his suit. Fortunately, he had the cleaning spell, which was better than the fox who wanted to sell him laundry detergent in the past. ''Hm, what else.'' As he walked away, many people immediately tried to get their free share of food, which freed some other more exciting stands up. After another moment of strolling through the marketplace, he saw, or rather sensed, something to the side with his mana, ''Artifacts?'' It was a small stand with a donkey-kin woman sitting on a dirty linen blanket. Before her, there was mostly garbage for sale, except for one thing, ''I sense very little mana.'' Alexander gave the soldier his potato meat, which she took only reluctantly. He used the cleaning spell on his hands and squatted before the donkey-kin. She looked into his eyes, which were filled with dread and devoid of life. She was probably trying to sell everything she could to make some little coin. He could see that she was going through some hard times, as her dress was pretty dirty but not old or cheap. She probably had some rough months or weeks. "Hello there..." He pointed at a little wooden box, ugly and somewhat broken, with scratches and dents, "...can you tell me what this is?" She looked at the box and back to him, "This is my husband''s last work..." she clenched her hands, "...before he died." Alexander looked more closely at her, seeing her hands, which had never seen a hard day of work in their life, "Say before I give you some coin for this, aren''t you in a widow''s home which my charity sponsors?" She looked to the side, not caring, "I don''t want to." The soldier on his side wanted to intervene quickly, but Alexander stopped her. He looked at the donkey-kin woman and frowned, ''I can only do so much.'' It was obvious that while he could provide material help, he had no experience when it came to mental support. All his life, he broke down and rebuilt himself, looking for people who could hold him in their arms while it happened or afterward, but what if he didn''t have anyone? He never liked such thoughts to begin with, acknowledging that he was, in that sense, lucky to have understanding people around him. On Earth, it was a different story, with him trying his hardest to get through tough times by swallowing every negative emotion he had. So, he knew how it felt. Was Alexander a little out of touch, trying to compare his living situation on Earth with hers on Orbis? No, he didn''t think so. He gave people like her a support structure, which she could take and concentrate on her mental health but didn''t want to because of reasons he didn''t know and had no time to find out. Alexander sighed, thinking that he couldn''t save everyone. If there were some kind of mental health therapist, he could probably finance them and train others so more could exist, but such a thing was usually unknown here; barely anyone researched such things. Alexander sighed, "What was your husband''s line of work?" "He was..." She smiled sadly, "...you wouldn''t believe me either way. He did something with magic I never understood." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "A dragon-kin?" She shook her head, "No, he was the same as me, but he had a very specific legacy that allowed him to craft..." She looked at the rough box, "...such things, but they weren''t popular..." She looked down again, still empty of emotion, "...it was hopeless." Alexander pointed at the box, "May I?" She nodded, and he used a wind contraption to let it flow into his hands. The woman looked confused at him but didn''t say anything while Alexander straightened up and observed the little box in his hands. He looked casual on the outside, but his thoughts were going crazy. ''What is this?!'' While the box was shabby on the outside, the inside was not. There was a splinter of a mana gem, barely bigger than a cut fingernail, with engraved conduits going from it to the outside. Yet, this wasn''t the biggest surprise, as he had seen this more than enough times, but there was a weirdly jerry-rigged entrance where one could put something inside. ''An adapter?'' Alexander concentrated his [Mana Sense] on the gem, immediately frowning as it had only little residue mana left, which he had sensed before. Alexander couldn''t immediately use it and would need to rebuild it in its entirety or replace the mana splinter, for which he had no skills. He could hack and break shit, but building was another matter altogether. However, this box, seemingly having an entrance for probably another artifact, was something he hadn''t seen before on mana artifacts. Usually, they were built as one single entity without any interchangeability besides the mana gem. Even the robot inside the [Law] Tier test could be considered a single entity as everything was very much welded, making this cheap wooden box a literal treasure. He looked at her, "Say, what is this cute little cube doing?" She shook her head, "I don''t know. My husband only said this is his life''s work." Alexander looked at her stand again, not finding anything else exciting, mostly crap she probably got together, hoping to sell for some irons. He squatted again, taking out two large gold coins, "Listen, I will give you one large gold coin for the box..." She opened her eyes wide and interrupted him, which made the soldiers bear their fangs at her, "Why?!" Alexander smiled amiably at her, "Your husband was a genius, and this..." He let the box float before her, "...can only be useful for someone like me..." His smile widened, "...a mage." She looked at him, baffled, as he held the large gold coin before him, "Is this enough?" She nodded, and he gave her the coin and showed the second, "So, I have another request to make. Are you interested?" She nodded again, sometimes looking down at her large gold coin, slowly having her life restored in her eyes, "I bet your husband had notes or writings, whatever the case. Even more weird of his gadgets and other things, so..." He smiled at her amiably, "...if you can find them, I will pay you well for them." Her voice became happy but sad, barely audible, "Ludwig." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "The name of your husband?" "Yes..." Alexander sighed, snipping the other large gold coin into her hands, standing up, "Go to the Aurum, Ariana, or Maurice¡ªThe Helping Paw in general¡ªand find them after you get everything. They will pay you, don''t worry." Her smile widened, "But... can Mr. Alexander do me a favor?" While Alexander was calm, seeing how much in distress she was, the soldiers were about to take out their weapons and cut her down. He needed to calm them down by gesturing. Asking a noble for a favor was highly discourteous and deserved severe punishment. Still, sensing Alexander''s surroundings, he could see others watching him with interest, making them look at him differently than in the beginning. Alexander nodded, "Depends, but I allow you to say what is on your mind." "I... want my husband''s name to be recorded..." Alexander chuckled hearing that, making her clench her fist, but his following words made her almost instantly cry, "This is normal. Of course, your husband''s name will be mentioned by me and forever recorded. Isn''t this a noble''s duty to recognize greatness when seen in their subjects?..." He became a little too cocky, though, "...what a stupid question. Everyone who works hard and achieves something worthwhile will be acknowledged." She smiled while crying as if relieved of her stress, "Hik... Thank you..." Alexander walked away while saying his last words to her, "Don''t forget what I want from you..." He gestured to a soldier when he was further away from the donkey-kin woman, "Listen, look that she didn''t get robbed or so. Follow her and don''t intimidate her, got it?" The soldier nodded and walked away. While Alexander was somewhat naiv¨¦, he nonetheless noticed the people around him, who were staring at the donkey-kin woman, probably seeing a walking treasure, ''Damn it...'' He gestured to another soldier from farther away, whispering to her, "Listen, go to Aurum and tell him that I expect someone with important information and that he should, if he can, help her out and pay her well. Got it?" The soldier nodded, running immediately away toward what he expected was their charity''s central hub, ''Urgh, so much shit to do.'' Alexander wanted to actually fuck off already, but seeing all the vendors watching him with bated breath, he at least needed to walk around the marketplace, showing himself to them, maybe buying stuff here and there. It was simple PR. Even though he could leave immediately, he had time to walk around and buy some things while developing his image of someone they would admire. Sure, he didn''t need to, but it was always better to create positive rumors than negative or neutral ones if the chance presented itself. As such, he started walking around again, mostly finding everything more or less boring or not noteworthy. The most he did was pay some fast food vendors to serve free food for the day while getting his share of mediocre fatty and salty food, which he actually liked, if he was honest. It was so greasy that he became quite full. After an hour or so of strolling around, he came to a vegetable vendor, some kind of mix of insect-kin, looking like a locust, which didn''t escape Alexander''s sense of irony. However, when he looked around, finding nothing special, and was about to leave, the vendor bowed down, almost hitting his head against his own shabby stand. "M... Mr. Alexander! I greet you to my humble stand!" Chapter 135: Soapbox Speech ... Wolfsteeth, A Marketplace in the Eastern Parts "M... Mr. Alexander! I greet you to my humble stand!" Alexander raised an eyebrow, becoming confused by this overzealous vendor, but didn''t overreact since this wasn''t the first time commoners had acted weirdly around him. However, he couldn''t blame them. Since their territory had multiple ports and lacked substantial migration policies, it was the first choice of entry into Moorgrel for many, where they also stayed with their customs, experiences, and views on nobility from where they came. Besides that, they changed their rulers every 100 years or so, resulting in backlash and a change of culture, as it was with his Mother and Grandmother, who had vastly different ruling styles. As such, nobody truly knew how to act correctly around nobility, like Alexander, who only followed the most basic etiquette, "Yes, hello there. You are quite the energetic vendor?..." He smiled mischievously, "...do you really intend to sell me your vegetables with such vigor?" The vendor suddenly screamed, almost deafening Alexander, who still had the Tempest''s Whisper active, "No! I am just really thankful for Mr. Alexander''s glorious help!" After flinching slightly at the volume change, he looked more closely at the locust-kin. His clothes seemed relatively new, like the wood of the stand, with the paint still vibrant, spelling out Freysh Vegatable''s. Alexander mused while rubbing his chin, finding it actually quite interesting. Looking at his situation, he had an inkling of why the seller was this enthusiastic but decided to be sure and follow up with a question, "Tell me, how did I help you?" The vegetable vendor didn''t move, still bowing at an almost 90-degree angle, "I... your great charity helped me!" ''I was right, hm... but what program did help him?'' While Alexander was sure it was the case, he had no clue which part of his charity helped the vendor, but this would be impossible as he also had no idea about the inner machinations of his charity. Alexander was mostly hands-off regarding his charity, giving Aurum all the freedom to do what he wished. At most, he gave his retainer only ideas and suggestions about what he hoped the charity would do, but that''s it. As long as they operated for the betterment of the people, it was perfect. Aurum often sent him letters about the charity, which he mostly perused quickly, looking for a sentence that said it was okay or not, and, if Alexander got some ideas about how it could also help even more, write him those down quickly and send back. Was Alexander''s approach lazy? Yes, undoubtedly so, but it was also because he had just learned what his fief looked like, so he would obviously not muddle around with specific ideas and their implementations. Besides that, he had too much else to do. From magic research to his projects, agriculture experiments, and the preparation for the train to more social occasions where he would now also meet with others, delegating his work was a must. His top priority at this point was to find more people so he could delegate all his other half-finished and started projects to them and try to free up as much time as possible to work on himself. However, before Alexander, this vendor seemed to receive help from his aide, which made him interested in listening to his experiences regarding the charity, "How exactly did it help you?" The vendor suddenly began to cry, which surprised Alexander and made him uncomfortable. Everyone around them started to look at them, baffled, and slowly stepped away, not daring to look in his direction, obviously fearing that he would do the same to them as he did to the vegetable seller. ''What the fuck is happening?!'' However, after a moment, the vendor stopped crying and sobbed, with snot flying out of his nose, making Alexander flinch again, "I was a widower, and you took me in, educated me, and gave me a loan for this business..." He straightened up and came forward, making the soldiers around Alexander nervous. However, Alexander gestured for them to stop and signaled that if they did something drastic, he personally would punish them. Regardless of what the soldiers thought, the vegetable seller only kneeled down, still screaming, probably thinking it was how one showed gratitude, "I am forever thankful!" Before Alexander could say anything, finding the situation rather embarrassing but perfect for his public image, more people came toward him, pushing themself forward through the masses surrounding him and watching the scene with a certain sparkle in their eyes. Looking at them, they were visibly the ones his charity tried to help: young ones, old ones, and some who, while looking somewhat okay-ish, had clearly had a hard time. He recognized them by their pretty new clothing, while the other commoner''s clothing looked more used but not worse. When the first puppy started kneeling, the others followed with either bowing or some weird mix of both while almost screaming, clearly imitating the cute but annoying vegetable vendor. "Thank you, Mr. Alexander!" "You saved me from hunger!" "I can''t be grateful enough!" Alexander was positively surprised, even though it was a little weird, ''This escalated quickly.'' There weren''t many, but enough that everyone started looking at them and him. However, Alexander felt odd, but in a positive way. After some embarrassment, he started to shake the feeling away, slowly beginning to enjoy this situation thoroughly. It made him feel joyful, almost ecstatic, that his charity showed such results. It was slightly over half a year since he started the charity by giving Aurum the command to quickly and brutally throw gold and help at the people in need, ''It worked.'' He could barely hold himself together, using every skill to suppress the blush he almost had. In addition to the gratitude from all those he helped, which felt like a warm but heavy blanket lying over him, he finally saw the results of his work. Alexander loved helping his loved ones and making mountains of gold, but this was different. He now felt what it truly felt like to help his subjects and change their lives, which heightened his pride to the point where he heard multiple pings from a particular skill leveling up he knew too well. ''Okay, it''s time.'' Alexander raised his hand, clenching it into a fist, and used a contraption to blow a semi-strong wind through the masses, wanting their attention, ''Okay, calm down... do it as trained before the mirror.'' There was not a week when Alexander didn''t think about such a moment, wishing it was similar to this, but what he felt now was better than he could''ve imagined. As such, he trained his oral skills before the mirror on how he would speak to the masses and influence them. Alexander cleared his throat and opened his arms wide, not finding it embarrassing. His loud voice boomed around the marketplace as he used an amplification spell and his mana skills to boost it. He used all his skills to emerge as charismatic as possible, straining his mind. "Stand up, everyone! I am thankful for your gratitude that my charity helped so many of my subjects, but you all don''t need to be thankful only to me!" Alexander smiled at them as they slowly straightened up and looked at him. Some were afraid, but most admired him, "My charity workers did the most work while my Mother, the Lady, allowed and helped the operation, but what is most important..." He turned from the onlookers, walking toward the vegetable seller, patting him on the shoulder while turning back to the masses, "You all are the reason! You have the intelligence and power to help yourself! All you need are only some resources! My charity will help you so you can help yourself! Don''t make yourself smaller. What you all archived, be it opening a business, learning how to read and write, or even some great skill, is all of your own doing!" This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. He looked at his subjects, who were staring at him, fear gone, listening intently. Those who had cried before had their chest out, feeling proud, ''That''s it.'' He needed to emancipate them so they stopped relying too heavily on the nobility, which was commonly seen. Nobility played itself up too much, especially in central Mal-Gil, thinking commoners were mainly headless chickens without them, and their subjects believed it since most never even got the chance to educate themselves. For Alexander, such a mindset was poison, but if he emancipated them and gave them all the chances to grow, there were still worries he would need to eliminate. One of them was called brain drain but on a much smaller scale. While Alexander had no qualms about losing some talented subjects to family, so to say, other Guard Households with whom he was friendly, it would hurt him to let talents leave to nobles in central Mal-Gil who would throw massive amounts of gold at them after he educated them. This would then be a lost investment. ''Wait, why not actually?'' Suddenly, when thinking about it, he got an idea. He could instill something relatively unknown in this world, something that could build up pride and loyalty to stay and better this Outer Circle of a fief. Alexander felt giddy, wanting to know how they would react, partly throwing his previously practiced speech away, "My charity is only helping you achieve your true potential! Be proud and don''t crawl, but know that you can only achieve such a feat inside Moorgrel and the Leonandra fief! Be a proud subject of our fief and achieve more greatness!" Alexander''s quickly improvised speech could have been better, but it targeted two things. First, he needed his populace to strive for greater things by themselves. All he did was give them some support, like the vegetable seller and those younglings who would later have better chances. Second, he needed loyalty. Besides avoiding the feared brain drain on a smaller scale, Alexander also feared a little what they could become. While the commoners were now overly amiable to him, he knew how fickle a group of people was, especially while giving them metaphorically guns into their hands through magic and education, leveling them up to reach new heights. Thus, he needed to ingrain loyalty into them, not toward him directly but toward the territory as a whole. Similar loyalty already existed here, but it was more in line with races like humans, elves, beast-kin, their religions, etc. It became a perfect test to see how they would react and if such a thing could work here, but what did Alexander want exactly? What was he trying to achieve? He needed patriotism¡ªa certain feeling of belonging and pride toward his fief. Alexander knew one thing from history: if a populace was instilled with pride in their nation or region, they were like unkillable cockroaches in wartime and ingrained with pride and loyalty in peacetime. The best and worst cases were obvious; there was no need to elaborate. However, it was also a very modern concept, which he didn''t truly internalize and would need to figure out on the fly, "Be a proud Leonandrian! A proud Moorgrelian! Achieve more, climb higher while not forgetting your morals!" Also, while ingraining his patriotic ideas into the populace, he needed to empathize with the Leonandra fief but not forget the Moorgrel as a whole. It was mandatory if he didn''t want to get a head shorter. He looked around him as they stared at him, baffled, but he could see the small kernel of pride slowly blooming. Now, he would need one small thing to nail it by stealing a concept of another country, seeing some similarities to their fief because of his subjects, who had vastly different cultures and came from various fiefs. Though, it was a little sloppy. "I know that many of you came fleeing from central Mal-Gil as they discriminate against our own kind! Our own people! They act the same as the ones who once made us nothing more than property because of greed and hubris! Do you know the difference between them..." He pointed at the far outside, "...and us?!" He beat his chest. He looked at their reaction as the growing crowd listened to him, anticipating what he would say, their eyes glistering, slowly changing as Alexander turned them to what he desired. "We accept you! No matter the race, be it any kind of beast-kin, nature-dweller, or djinn! You are all welcome!" Now, his word choice needed to be elegant, almost not pointing toward the hypocrisy that there existed a giant class difference, not giving them, for now at least, any ideas, as he couldn''t take the consequences for this. It was a fine line he needed to walk on. Alexander was no Lord and even less someone who could go against Moorgrel as a whole. So, many things were forbidden, but being proud of their fief and themselves? It was allowed, even desired, but usually mostly unseen. "We will not discriminate against you and even give you a chance to achieve freedom from the shackles of intolerance and poverty! Where but here would you get such a chance? Inside Moorgrel, inside Leonandra!" He opened his arms wide, sweating a little as he stood in the middle of the marketplace. On the outside, it was a fiery speech, trying to instill pride and self-determination into commoners, but truly, it was cold and calculative. It was a speech crafted to make them more of what he needed. After some more words, he ended it, making himself exhausted. However, it worked. When the first one started to clap, it slowly turned into a storm, making Alexander even more excited. ''Yes! This is it!'' From the side, he could see how some puppies ran to him through the crowd, probably trying to get a glimpse of him. He smiled inwardly, wanting to show a side of him while also testing how a populace would react to something he got another idea for. As one girl pushed through the crowd, Alexander started creating a few small, barely seen wind contraptions, ''Okay, be my little lab rat for the greater good... should stop thinking like that, though.'' The man, whom a small cat-kin girl pushed away, suddenly fell as the conjured wind made him do so. Another contraption pushed his hand towards the girl, who, while moving forward, also experienced a much stronger push from behind from another wind contraption. She stumbled forward, taking bigger steps than usual, as wind contraptions pushed slightly from behind. Her legs widened, making her take longer steps. After some steps, she fell right in front of Alexander. ''Great!'' She looked up and saw soldiers come forward, immediately pointing their swords at her. Still, Alexander immediately stopped them by using a flashy spell, a combination of an ordinary wind contraption and a candle spell. The spell conjured light to let the wind sparkle, making it all more dazzling, while gesturing to the soldier to stop. "Stop this nonsense!" The sparkly wind, combining contraptions and constructs, pushed the soldiers slightly back, with Alexander walking confidently toward the cat-kin girl. He could sense her nervousness and fear, but Alexander wasn''t better, inwardly hoping that Lili wouldn''t appear, making this act to naught. While there were only some dozens of people watching, through rumors, it would quickly become gossip, making him, his charity, and everything else he did and was part of appear much more noble and benevolent in their eyes. "Are you okay, little girl?" He smiled amiably at her while holding his hand out, which she instinctively took as he used the skill [Charm] so she would take it in the first place, not fearing the consequences. Alexander helped her up, asking her warmly, "Are you okay? What is your name?" She looked baffled, blushing slightly, only to nod and barely audibly say her name, "Na... Naza..." Alexander analyzed her thoroughly, trying to find out if she was an orphan, as he wanted to ask her something in front of others. His voice became soft, almost saint-like, as he tried to turn down his arrogance, which he was very much aware of. "I see, what a beautiful name. Why did you try to push through the crowd so hastily?" She looked down, not letting go of Alexander''s hand, stuttering, "I... I am really thankful and wanted to know who you were." Alexander felt elated, ''Holy shit, I hit the jackpot!'' He tried to tease her cutely, hoping it would come across as innocent in others'' eyes. He cocked his head a little, trying to look into her eyes, which made her blush even more, "I see, but why are you thankful? May I know the reason?" "I... I... I am from an orphanage, and you helped us a lot!" After a barely audible stutter, Naza screamed, almost making Alexander flinch. She slowly let go of his hand and went on one knee, as she probably didn''t know it was the knight''s greeting, "I want to thank you! I learned to read, write, and do mathematics because of you! Thank you so much!" Alexander could see how she cried, which made him feel terrible since he had forced this situation, but it was needed. Her feelings were true, and all he did was show them to the small gathering. Alexander helped her up again, patting her shoulder to stop her crying while he wiped a tear away. Now, he was trying to combine what he had said before with her situation, making it stand out even more to everyone. "Please straighten up. It doesn''t matter who you are; you are a Moorgrelian and Leonandrian..." As she straightened up and looked into his eyes, he became firmer in his tone, "...stay proud and work toward your dream, achieve your goals, and help everyone else who is working as hard as you to help them! We are all together in this and must stay together for a better future, no matter who we are!" When she nodded, Alexander sensed everyone else, who was poor or what he would describe as lower class, looking at him with a sparkle in their eyes, ''Success.'' Though, the wealthier ones weren''t too giddy about what he said. However, they were probably much more applicable to the patriotic message, as it would make them much more proud without making them put themselves down or increasing everyone else''s status. ''Okay, let''s keep going.'' Alexander continued his speech, talking about the beauty of the Leonandra fief and Moorgrel, the wonderful, open, and tolerant people, etc. He tried to find anything he could that made the Leonandra fief and Moorgrel special. If Alexander wanted to create cohesion, he needed to do it like this. Moorgrel was too diverse to develop a beast-kin-only pride thing, with djinns, nature-dwellers, and the occasional high-demon strolling around. Such a thing would bite him quickly into his behind. Besides that, with the territorial and liberal tolerance approach, he could also bring all the wealthier ones on board, making them feel superior to central Mal-Gil ones, even if they were nobles, and indirectly thrashing them. After some minutes, Alexander ended his speech and let go of Naza, who stood beside him until now, "I hope you achieve greatness." Naza blushed, "T... thank you!" Bowing down and slowly returning to the crowd, she did not want to look into anyone''s eyes since she seemed a little embarrassed. ''Perfect... urgh!'' Alexander suddenly felt a slight headache from using all his skills too much. With this, he waved at them and slowly went to the carriage. It was his first speech and, thus, also his first impression on the populace. Was it a bit extreme? Of course, but did it fit Alexander''s style? Absolutely. Chapter 136: Distrust ... 30 minutes later, inside the carriage Alexander sat inside the carriage, leaning against the curtains, his face pressed against the soft fabric. He looked blankly through a small gap outside, trying to regain all the stamina he had drained after having his first appearance in Wolfsteeth. However, even though mentally tired, he couldn''t stop thinking about what had happened, making him mumble, "What did I do?" Lili, who sat before him, looked at him with a certain glint in her eyes akin to his Grandmother''s, sounding quite prideful, "Mr. Alexander, you gave a cold and calculative speech, trying to usurp our household''s subjects in a very decisive and manipulative way." "Manipulative? Huh, you saw my mana?" "Rather sensed it, and it was genius..." Lili''s smile widened, making her usually dummy, husky-like face more naughty, "...my Mistress will be joyful when she hears about it." Alexander waved his hand lazily in dismissal, uninterested in what she would think, "Grandma, huh? She sure will be happy to hear about it, but I need some relaxation before I visit the courthouse..." He sighed heavily, exhausted, "...I overused my skills a bit." "Of course, Mr. Alexander." Alexander needed to calm down. He used too many skills, which became strenuous over time. Blocking the smells was ridiculously arduous since they never went away, continuously assaulting him. He couldn''t think of another way but to get exposed to them over time, slowly adjusting. However, for this, he would need months. A process he already felt dread going through. Looking over to Lili, lying down and closing her eyes, she probably thought Alexander had problems with the speech, but it was the opposite. The speech was easy to hold, almost natural. Even the improvised parts that came to his mind while doing so were quickly incorporated without many problems. Even though exhausted, Alexander felt genuinely happy. He loved the attention and admiration he received from all his subjects, which fueled his motivation. However, it was also poisonous, making him want to become more drastic and faster. It was as if he could listen to their wishes and dreams, becoming captured by their adoration for him. It was precarious. Of course, Alexander wanted to immediately scream for democracy, liberalism, and a parliament, infecting their mindset with his wishes, hopes, and ideals, but doing so would not only imprison him by his parents but also bring his family into danger. Punishment was never dealt to individuals but to the whole household, especially when he held rebellious speeches and gave his subjects metaphorical guns by raising their level much faster than was usually the case through education and giving them mana skills so they could use magic, which could be easily interpreted that Alexander would try a coup d''etat by raising his army. However, perspective-wise, such an assumption was nonsensical. Seeing the whole picture and taking an objective approach to it would make it impossible for most of them to reach heights akin to, for example, Ocilia, who was personally taught by him and allowed to train with his siblings. Furthermore, even if they did get more powerful, everyone couldn''t become a fighter like it was on Earth. Knowing how to use a gun didn''t mean the person could use it on another human being. Even making the most insane the hypothetical, saying they would become as strong as Ocilia, wouldn''t necessarily make them a substantial threat enough to remove any Guard Household. Their strength was on another level altogether with unique [Divinity Line]s, specialized training, and the immense amount of time they invested in combat. Only after years of seeing the results of training multiple people did he realize how big the difference was. It wasn''t just that his Mother or Father was as strong as ten or hundreds; they could decimate thousands simultaneously without any problems. Regardless of the realistic analysis, perception was obviously a key to why he couldn''t do such a thing, screaming his romantic ideas into the world. As such, he needed to walk a fine line, strengthening them in any way possible while showing that he used blatant propaganda to instill a particular pride into them, which even other nobles would love to have in their territory, with his speech being a first try. Thus, Alexander decided to forego anything too radical, making it a slow process by bettering the lives of all his subjects, doing the propaganda, and slowly liberalizing their system by, if he could, later implementing smaller democratized systems here and there in the name of efficiency and a more positive economic outcome. How exactly he could implement the last point was for him to figure out. However, he also had already prepared pragmatic answers as to why he wanted to have stronger and better-educated commoners, which other weaker or more distrustful nobles, those mostly from central Mal-Gil, could see as a threat. While they could kick rocks even if Alexander didn''t answer their questions, it was always better to have something prepared as he wanted to lift everyone in their territory. Sadly, societal change never came immediately. It happened slowly over time, and he would need to wait years for the first shift in mindset and increase in education, thus in power. This disappointed him a little since he wanted immediate change, but one couldn''t have everything. Alexander ran his hand through his hair, feeling the slight sweat, ''This will be fun, huh?'' He looked out of the window, trying to concentrate on his upcoming duties as a judge after he cleared his thoughts about the speech he held. At first, it seemed like another obvious way to change the societal perception of him, but he would need to wait for this for some time. For Alexander, it was now just a job he needed, like when he worked at a fast-food restaurant. After a long talk with Noriken, the estate''s archivist and overseer of their judicial system, and his Mother, he couldn''t bring his values to the table as blatantly. He could stretch and bend the laws as much as possible in some ways, but making rulings purely on idealism was impossible. Otherwise, his Mother would impeach him, making him only take nonsense cases to make his Noblesse Oblige count. It was a warning that while he was given freedom, he shouldn''t overstep what his Mother had set up after decades of hard work. Like Salyna, Noriken was strict in serving his Mother, following everything to a tee, which meant he would look at Alexander''s behavior as a judge very closely. For Alexander, it was actually funny to see how they tried to bend themselves into pretzels so he wouldn''t go rogue, and honestly, it did work. Without all those little freedoms, he would probably run away on the third or fourth day, trying to mix himself under the masses and play Peter the Great, only without the head-chopping when he got found out, which was obviously often. ''Well, at least I will not run away when it smells so bad. Should I actually do something about it?'' His thoughts were interrupted when the coachman shouted, "We will soon arrive, Mr. Alexander!" "Gotcha''." Alexander looked out of the carriage, ignoring all the onlookers, and focused only on the northern courthouse, also called Copper House because its color resembled copper, obviously. It was used to prosecute those who committed lower offenses, like minor thievery and bodily harm. Alexander was sent there for a couple of months to learn all the procedures and other administrative aspects of being a judge. Also, he needed to familiarize himself with the system before ruling more severe cases, as a mistake there was far more fatal, while here, those could sometimes be ignored. It looked shabby from the outside. It was made out of a mix of cement, adobe, and some wood. It was three stories in height and had only some lower guards standing in front of it, who looked very young, which made sense. The criminals sent here were either Tier 1s, or, if they were at a higher level, they wouldn''t protest or do anything stupid; they simply paid some fine and were free. Since minor offenses were also not really expensive, they had no reason to fuck around, thus the lax security. ''This will be some boring months.'' Alexander wasn''t too keen on sitting through this time, but it was necessary. He was even lucky that they could organize someone to look after him and teach him. Otherwise, he would need at least a year or more to learn the basics. Yet, he was nonetheless quite excited, as it meant at least meeting new people, helping the poor ones, and much more. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ... Wolfsteeth, Copper Courthouse, Conference Room Ten judges sat at a big table inside a conference, looking grim. Some were older, some younger, and one was barely alive, clutching to his duty with the bit of time he had left. All of them wore suits, all different and tailored to their personal taste, but to identify them as judges, they had a necktie with a specific sigil, a shield. It was divided into four parts, with Leonandra''s sigil on the upper left and lower right. In one of the spaces was a flower, a Lisop, representing innocence and peace, while on the other was a detached bloody head of a human. The color and pattern of the necktie indicated the wearer''s courthouse and status. As such, everyone''s necktie had copper-colored stripes, but the other stripes were all differently colored. A young fox-kin woman wearing a yellow-striped necktie looked to the side at a gorilla-kin, who looked like he was sleeping, "Hey, is Hans still alive?" The gorilla-kin named Hans, the oldest in the room and wearing a black-striped necktie, swatted her away without opening his eyes, "I am still alive, you brat!" A beetle-kin laughed slightly from the side, wearing a green-striped necktie, warning the fox-kin woman, "Doris, please calm down. If Hans is about to die, I am the next in line to get his office." Still not opening his eyes, Hans sounded angrily, "Silence, you whippersnappers! In my days, we had respect for the old! I remember..." He was immediately interrupted by a squirrel-kin, sitting at the end of the table, wearing a tie without any pattern, purely copper colored, "Okay, that''s enough. We don''t have time to listen to your stories about how great it was when Wolfsteeth was filled with murder, rape, and chaos..." He looked around the table, ignoring Hans''s nonsensical and barely audible mumbling, "We have something much more serious to deal with than Hans''s never-ending stories..." Hans interrupted, "You...!" The whole table chuckled slightly. The squirrel-kin waved his hand in dismissal, "Nobody cares. Now, Mr. Alexander will arrive in about an hour." The beetle-kin leaned back, annoyed, "Don''t tell me this... now we need to babysit a br... Mr. Alexander?" A small dog-kin with floppy ears, wearing an orange-patterned necktie, voiced her frustration, "However, he showed and proved to Noriken that he has the [Intermediate Law] skill. Can you actually believe it?" Doris voiced her frustrations, "Who would actually? I needed fifty years to reach level 50 in the basic [Law] skill, but he is not even through his legacy." The squirrel-kin listened to what he would describe as slander against the nobility, but it was true. His colleagues were even more or less nice, not speaking out their inner thoughts. Alexander was a brat who would need constant babysitting, and even though his skills were higher than those of his colleagues, it didn''t mean much. Many procedures must be followed and learned, as, without them, the whole process could lead to a negative sentiment among the populace toward them, the opposite of what the Lord and Lady wanted. Even though it was confusing to many, especially other nobles, why their rulers wanted to ensure such a thing since they held absolute power over their subjects, the implications of positive perceptions that showed fairness were more valuable than one could imagine. If their court ensured a certain fairness, guaranteed by the Lord and Lady, even against the lowest of the low, they would tend to cooperate more with guards, be less tempted to commit crimes, be more likely to report criminals, etc. This resulted in tremendous success, drying out the former underworld that built up under the former Lady. However, they sought revenge and tried to poison their firstborn son. This led to total retaliation, and they were hunted down for months and executed in public by the dozens every day. It was a brutal time, which was fortunately behind them. With their new leadership, the underworld was now more amiable toward the administration, and they controlled themselves much harsher. Their city administration and surroundings ran smoothly, with everyone trusting them much more than in other territories, making it a Core for commoners. It was only possible through the leadership of the Lady and Lord and the blood and sweat of their retainers who worked their hardest, him included. They pushed through, making the city worthwhile. The squirrel-kin became visibly annoyed, even thinking about what they had achieved and what disaster could come from this, ''What a mess...'' Still, now, an inexperienced brat would join their courthouse. While giving out more or less punishments on whims was acceptable, a norm, nonetheless, needed to be followed by every judge and learned what the current Lord and Lady established after they took over. Otherwise, all their hard-earned success could disappear. A lousy judge was one thing; even though bad for their perception, they could be delegated to some desk, doing some nonsensical work, or thrown out altogether, but a noble kit badly ruling was another catastrophe altogether. They couldn''t delegate him anywhere as he needed to rule at least a case a week. His thoughts were interrupted when Doris mentioned what he thought about, "Seriously, can''t we just sit him somewhere down and let him do administrative work?" The beetle-kin waved his hand in dismissal, "Do you want to check every couple minutes if he had made any mistakes? Going through revisions is such a pain in the ass, and isn''t his Noblesse Oblige? What the fuck is he doing here then?!" He looked around the table, speaking loudly, making them shut up, as what they said slowly became insulting. He wouldn''t deny any of it if asked, getting them thrown out almost immediately, which he wanted to avoid, "Silence!" They all looked toward him, surprised at his harsh tone, as he was usually much more friendly. However, he needed to stop them before they lost their head. If Alexander was really that eccentric, as talked about, he imagined the worst. He cleared his throat, "We don''t know much about Mr. Alexander, only that he is very eccentric and a mage, which actually fits the notion of those people..." He was interrupted by a colleague, a dragon-kin who looked angry at him, his necktie brown striped, "Lucas, I would appreciate it if you stopped such slander." Lucas nodded back apologetically, "I apologize, Dennis. I had many things on my mind. However..." He looked around the table solemnly, "...we are to educate Mr. Alexander on how the court works and prepare him for the Star House..." He looked again around the table, frowning heavily, "...who wants to volunteer? You will get fewer cases at the time and a substantial wage increase." Nobody raised their hand and looked away, obviously trying to avoid the responsibility. Having a true noble here made everything much more complicated, as his status, especially with the law skill acknowledged, superseded all of Lucas''s colleagues, making it overly bizarre to teach him. Lucas also had an [Intermediate Law] skill and was an Earl, the kit from one of the distant Leonandra family branches, who decided to give up their rights as heirs and marry his Grandmother. His parents still had the second name as proof, but because they were only Earls in the second generation, they had no right to give away their first name. Thus, Lucas would be automatically the last-born noble in his family line, while his kits would become commoners and would need to work to get the Leonandra household name. It was quite a complicated system, but it meant that nobility could not last forever and that all the family members needed to be slowly sorted out over the generations. Otherwise, the Leonandra household would implode from all the infighting on the lowest levels. Alexander, though, was true nobility and, even worse, the son of a Druid. This combination made him basically untouchable, as it gave him a political and religious status. It was a nightmare to deal with if he was arrogant and started throwing his status around. He frowned inwardly, not wanting to show his worries to his subordinates, ''Why is this so complicated.'' The worst part was that nobody knew how to treat someone like this. A brat and in their case, an apprentice judge, not even through legacy, to become a judge with higher skills and status? Pure Outer Circle. If they didn''t teach him well and sent them away clueless, Noriken would handle their asses, and the Star Courthouse would also try to retaliate against them. ''Urgh.'' Therefore, he thought about which colleague he could sacrifice to the boy, thinking of their oldest one who was also on the death''s door and without any family to speak of, ''Okay, Hans, it is... oh?'' However, after a moment, a colleague in the back raised his hand, a pig-kin with orange-colored stripes, "I will do the honors then, if it''s right, Lucas." Lucas nodded toward him, "You have my thanks, Otto." Otto Melodia was what one would call a slimy asslicker. He came from central Mal-Gil and was an actual noble but a fallen one. His family came from a Knightage, which was burned down due to some internal conflict of some Viscount household, making him and his family run away toward Moorgrel, where they sought asylum. It worked, and since then, his Father had been a so-called free Knight without any real noble title, joining mercenary groups. In contrast, Otto joined the court, making a name for himself since he was very young. Being only 40 years of age, he could easily become a great judge in higher courts given enough time. ''He has too much ambition...'' Looking closer at Otto, Lucas saw the sparkle in his eyes. He was greedy and willing to do anything to join the noble circles again, trying to increase his status back to what it was. Becoming a Knight was obviously impossible under the Count, as one needed absolute loyalty, immeasurable strength, and merits, which would make anyone else into a Marquise in central Mal-Gil. As such, he probably decided to become a retainer of a Moorgrelian Knight, which, depending on the region, was the same status as being a Baron or Viscount in central Mal-Gil, just without the territory. Why target Alexander, though? The boy was the best choice for the next Lord, without question, and he probably wanted to suck up to him, becoming his retainer by any means possible. ''I hate politics.'' The Copper House was usually far from any power struggles, making it more or less a stepping stone for many, which Lucas was fine with. Most of their higher judges learned their craft here and took it to the next level, which gave him an enormous responsibility as the leader and pride in seeing how his apprentices were doing. Now, depending on Alexander''s and Otto''s interaction, it could all become very complicated, making his next months a disaster or Core. Doris asked him worryingly, "Lucas, are you okay?" He came out of his thoughts, sounding slightly worried, and looked at Otto, "Are you really sure about this?..." He sighed, "...Let''s not beat around the bush. We know what you want, but risking everything to become a retainer is quite risky, you know?" Otto shook his head, putting his hands together, "I disagree, dear leader. What Alexander did..." He was interrupted by a colleague, a monkey-kin with orange-colored stripes, "... arguably." Otto shook his head again, "You want to tell me that the boy who could bring Anastasia to teach him for years is one to be manipulated? You know of her work, right?" The monkey-kin sighed, "Sorry, continue where I interrupted you." Otto opened his arms slightly, addressing everyone, "I will not hide what I want. Mr. Alexander has quite an ideologically driven side, as seen by what he did, and I quite like it. My ideals, though, are quite flexible, and this he will see soon enough, do not worry." Clank Before Lucas could say anything, his secretary came into the room, "Excuse me, but Mr. Alexander''s carriage stopped before the Copho. He arrived earlier." Lucas nodded toward her, "Thanks, Jenny..." He looked toward Otto worryingly, "...good luck, I guess." Chapter 137: Nightmare ... Inside the Copper House, the entrance "Hello..." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "...there?" The moment he entered the courthouse, he was overwhelmed by its underwhelmness, an impression he didn''t know existed. Even though the appearance from the outside was as basic as possible, the inside was even more so. This experience reminded him of the recursiveness of blandness, but this changed quickly the closer he looked around. Walking through a simple wooden double door, he was inside the entrance hall. He saw a plain reception, with some flowers, mostly Lisops, inside not-so-bland lime vases modeled after the head of a human. This gruesome sight perturbed Alexander, ''Well, I saw wor...'' He almost flinched when looking away, ''...woah!'' Looking to the side, Alexander noticed a giant wall painting. It was a little pale, so it evaded his sight initially, but focusing on it, he wished it was still invisible to him since it was quite the statement. Beast-kin were standing hand in hand on a sea of corpses of humans, high-elves, dwarves, and gnomes. What was bizarre was that it wasn''t too realistic but a little puppyish, starkly contrasting the theme. Besides that, multiple sigils of the Copper House were painted on different pieces of furniture, such as the reception area. Looking closer, Alexander now understood the bizarre contrast between those beautiful and fragile flowers and the gruesome painting, ''We really hate humans, huh.'' To the right of the reception, on the visitor''s side, was a 2m (~6ft) high and a 6m (~18ft) wide separate wall that had pinned hundreds of papers and parchments with bounties. There were descriptions of who to catch, with the typical dead or alive written on it. However, most of them had Alive crossed out, ''Well, I would say they are pretty efficient.'' Other than that, it had everything a courthouse needed: tables, chairs, a giant chandelier, and the most indispensable resource: people, or what he would call them now, co-workers. All the clerks wore either a suit, sometimes more colorful than the standard black, or a dress, which was also more classic in design and black in color. They also wore some kind of copper-colored necktie with different patterns, showing they were part of the Copper House. The guards, who had an apparent hangover, suddenly stood straight when they saw Alexander and the soldier strutting inside. They obviously feared consequences from their seniors, who looked at them sternly. While there was a direct promotional path from guard to soldier, it was one of the few things Merlin created that only partly worked. He intended to create an inner and external safety system to divide power and create the Earth equivalent of police and military. However, being a soldier was considered more prestigious than being a guard. For many, being a guard was just a stepping stone to becoming a soldier when they needed more time to train and wanted something close to it when they applied to the military. Other than that, it was a job one did if one had some strength but had no desire to put one''s life on the line. Depending on the place of one''s duty, it was pretty safe, like seemingly the Copper House. The exceptions were quite apparent, like guard leaders, who were on par with some officers and lieutenants in the military, or personal guards, who were even outside of the control of the Lord and Lady, only serving to protect their Master or Mistress. So, in some sense, Merlin made separation possible, which Alexander respected. Since nothing was perfect and his predecessor was commonly known as incompetent when it came to administration and politics, it was a job done well. However, the funniest thing was how the prisoners in the background suddenly looked at him and became almost immediately frightened, ''Nobility is really feared, huh?'' Their behavior was not all that changed. All clerks appeared to work harder, trying their best to make a good impression before him, which, funnily enough, left him ignored as he went to the reception and waited there for someone to talk to him. Yet, it gave him some time to peruse everyone and everything a bit more, trying to ascertain how things were run at the copper house. This caused him to look more intensely at some criminals who became white as ghosts, which Alexander ignored conveniently, thinking it was a good lesson for them. Those criminals also looked relatively weak compared to what he usually saw at the estate. However, even without his experience, he could''ve ascertained this easily since they wore only some weak anti-energy collars and no slave tattoos, which made sense, as they were costly and only reserved for the most egregious criminals. ''Wow, there is really no danger, huh... makes sense, though.'' After minutes of waiting, with clerks, guards, and thieves getting sweatier by the moment, as nervousness spread through the hall, someone finally came confidently toward him. A pig-kin with a broad smile, one he knew too well, slick blond hair, and three hoop earrings on the left side of his piglish ear, but there was also something disconcerting about him, ''He is fucking jacked.'' Alexander had to agree that his family had very defined muscles, as most of them trained day and night, but the pig-kin here looked a bit like a bodybuilder. Still, he quickly remembered that pig-kin had also naturally much more muscle mass for some reason, making most of them look like this, ''So bizarre.'' Standing before Alexander, he bowed down, showing perfect etiquette, "I am honored to greet the esteemed Mr. Alexander; my name is Otto Melodias." Alexander only nodded, surprised that some lower judge had a second name, which was not Leonandra. Still, it didn''t matter to him as those could be bought from a noble with some wealth, and looking at Otto, who looked and sounded very young for a judge, it was most likely the case. "Nice to meet you, Otto. Please speak more directly. Can you tell me what the weird mood is all about?" Otto straightened up, showing that Alexander should follow him, still smiling, "This way, please. I will explain on the way to your office, Mr. Alexander." Alexander nodded toward him, "Lead the way..." He turned around toward his guards, "...stay outside. I don''t need any of you here." While sensing how a barely discernible blob of mana moved beside him, ''...she is getting better, huh?'' After giving all the guards instructions, some went out, and others stayed inside, with the courthouse guards probably cursing their lives as they would need to do their job now. Like that, Alexander and Otto went behind the reception and walked upstairs. While strolling through a rather dull hallway with bland furnishing, gruesome sigils, and paintings, he talked with the typical ass-kissing tone. However, Alexander had nothing against such types as long as they were loyal, competent, and not yes-man, "Mr. Alexander, how do you like it here? I heard that this was your first visit to this beautiful city." Alexander rumped his nose slightly, still trying to suppress his urge to puke, "It''s... certainly different." "Oh? How so?" Alexander didn''t know what to expect, but the little speech at the marketplace, looking at all his subjects, made him realize something important. It was not as glamorous as he imagined. He wasn''t a nerd by any standard but enjoyed some fantasy novels, movies, or animes. So, coming to this world and only seeing the estate, he somehow imagined it was like what was described in those creative works. In those, the other world was always described as somewhat underdeveloped but nonetheless had some kind of charm. It was very Westernized, with basically only without some luxuries. Yet, what he saw wasn''t even close to this. Many were badly nurtured, seeing how they looked, others sickly, with clothing too inadequate to call it rags. There were no fun buff mercenaries with giant axes or little witches with giant hats who joyed around. Reality hit him hard, and he was even happier that he started the charity. He expected something like this but wished it wasn''t as bad. The worst was that it was a somewhat upper-middle-class district with many artisans and merchants living there, so he couldn''t imagine what others looked like, ''Aurum, we need to fasten our project.'' This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. However, there was one positive thing: the profits. Bringing a more prosperous society up to speed would get his household a lower increase in taxes. The development would also be slower due to already existing functioning systems, but blossoming a more desperate one, at least how he would describe it, would equally create more wealth for everyone and systems could be set up much easier. It was a chance he accidentally took by creating the charity and slowly implementing mandatory education. Soon, Wolfsteeth and all other territories would experience a golden age, with him on the helm taking charge. If he could build the necessary foundation for faster acceleration and catalyze it, he could create so much more with so many unused resources, together with magic, an unimaginable deep well opened up, filled to the brim with hopes and dreams. Although inwardly restless, Alexander looked at Otto solemnly, shaking his head, "It''s fine..." He smiled nervously, "...How could I have imagined a city if I were never in one? I only know it from numbers and tellings, but I would rather talk about something different." Otto looked at him, astounded, "Mr. Alexander is truly wise, and I will answer you everything I can." Alexander became a little irritated, frowning, "Why is everyone so nervous?" Otto''s face barely moved, still smiling, "Mr. Alexander, you are just that great that..." Alexander interrupted him, "...I don''t care about brown-nosing. I need a real answer." After a moment of silence, Otto sighed, "Mr. Alexander may not know this, but this place isn''t the most efficient workplace, and they fear being thrown out by a noble." Alexander raised an eyebrow, "No, I know..." He smirked, "...it''s pretty obvious." Otto tilted his head in surprise, "How did Mr. Alexander find out?" Alexander waved his hand in dismissal, "I said comfortable talking, no need for third perspective, and it''s obvious, isn''t it?..." He put his hand forward and started counting on it, starting with his thumb, "...the guards were dozing off, still smelling of alcohol from the last night, the clerks had a strong herbal smell, the one which made the purplish smoke and calmed them down as if they had some hours ago, the thieves were making small talk with some of the workers while laughing..." Alexander stopped, smirking at Otto, who looked quite perturbed toward the ground, "Should I continue?" Otto shook his head, his smile lost, "I see..." His frown increased, making his face crease, "...I shall report this matter." Alexander laughed heartily, "Haha, nah, you don''t..." He waved his hand in dismissal, "...this is actually quite funny, and I would rather fix some things than have everyone fired." Otto tilted his head in surprise, "Because it will return to how it was?" Alexander nodded while chuckling, "Yeah, and if I dare to fire them, Noriken and my Mom will have my ass." Even though he could change quite a bit if he discussed enough and even put a substantial amount of gold on the line, he was not here to improve efficiency but to learn. Yet, somehow, his finger itched a little, wanting to create something better, but such a thing needed to wait. Otto tried not to chuckle, holding his facial muscles back as much as possible, "Mr. Alexander, you are truly a golden star in the darkened sky, which...!" Alexander raised an eyebrow, interrupting him, but he didn''t dislike it too much, "That''s enough... however, where do we go?" He looked around as they walked through a hallway with offices to the side and many people doing their jobs. However, they weren''t unhappy or anything of the sort. They looked joyful, making him realize another thing, ''I guess sitting inside an office is better than fighting monsters, demons, or farming.'' While on modern Earth, office jobs were somewhat looked at in an unfavorable light, being boring and monotonous, here it was obvious that people loved jobs with some decent pay, regulated work time, and security, ''I need to bash into my head that this is a different world.'' Of course, he had imagined that many would love to fight, get stronger, and experience the kick of being on the battlefield, as the popular media had shown him. Still, it was far from glorious, and many hated it. Most who fought for gold did it because they had no other option, trying to utilize their skills to the best of their ability. People hated risking their lives and mainly wanted just to have a family, some kids, and a decent life. Being a mercenary, adventurer, or soldier would make it harder. Besides, not everyone had the same resources as he did with the excellent training he went through. Most of them would need to learn by risking their lives. Other than that, artistry was also heavily reduced to practicality, with most of them unable to buy even the accessories to create what they wanted. It was basically a job only a few could do, most of them nobility or overwhelmingly wealthy before they even started. The contrast was best seen through his siblings and the populace as a whole. He and his siblings went through a lot, educating themselves and training at every possibility, thus becoming much more reckless and dreaming of much more intangible things like honor, pride, and excitement. At the same time, almost every lowly commoner dreamed of learning the basics, like reading and writing, so they could sit in a room and work by rewriting things and not being out there under the smoldering sun, breaking their back. He was brought out of his thoughts, "To your office, Mr. Alexander." Alexander became a little confused, fearing the worst, "How about you show me around first? Like, where I will rule and stuff?" Alexander could see Otto holding back a smile, "Not today. You, Mr. Alexander, need to learn the procedure first." He kept walking and could barely keep himself from flinching or doing something differently undignified. It was his worst nightmare: Bureaucracy. What seemed to others as a dream was a nightmare for Alexander. Nonetheless, he tried to bargain, "Don''t I need a case for this to learn as efficiently as possible?" Otto shook his head, "Yes..." Alexander''s hope suddenly went up, only to crash down the next moment, "...for this, we take older cases and act them out first." Alexander nodded, "I see... are you sure real cases are not better." Otto bit visibly in his inner cheek so as not to laugh, "I am very sure, Mr. Alexander." "But it is not mandatory, right? We can switch things up a bit, right?" "I am sad to say that it is impossible, at least not in the first month. We have a very strong responsibility for the commoners who come here. It was the Lord who started it and..." Otto talked about the history of the Copper House, which was founded after his Father made some suggestions that his Mother found good. She implemented the Copper House and tried it for some time, which brought great results. As such, a more complicated multilayered judicial system was born. It was actually genius, the idea and implementation of which only existed in another form in Feather-Paw territory. Until now, Nine-Fire, Cold-Snout, and Heart-Fire households happily copied it, making it quite new and fresh for many. Before that, what they now call low-level criminals would never be prosecuted. It meant that a judge would never look at the case, but the guards would decide on the fine, which, looking back, was a catastrophe. They were too unqualified to determine such things, plummeting public trust in them while increasing corruption and decreasing public safety. It was a bad system. After Otto''s retellings, they ended with only an office in sight by the end of the hallway, with a shiny copper plate with Alexander''s name engraved on it, ''I am in Outer Circle...'' Otto hopped joyfully and opened the door, showing Alexander the office, "Here we are! We have extra vacated one of the senior judges of the Copper house for you so you can have the best office, Mr. Alexander." Alexander looked into the office, feeling an incredible dread coming. It was large but looked cramped, with cabins on one side, with even more files and a bookshelf on the other, with legal texts. The desk was big, but paper and parchments were stacked into towers, filling one side up. He walked inside, trying not to flip out, and only now saw how there was an indent on the chair, symbolizing his death, ''I...'' He looked behind the chair. There was at least a window, but the natural light it brought into the room was rather ominous. Since the window was turned away from the sun, it looked a bit shadowy and gloomy, ''...I will die here, and nobody will know.'' From behind came Otto, sounding happy, "Oh, Mr. Alexander, you look baffled! As you see, we look after you, Mr. Alexander, as well as possible!" Alexander looked at him, forcing a smile as he could see that they were at least sincere in their accommodations, "Yeah, thanks..." but inwardly, it was different, ''...when I kill myself, I will take you with me, you fucking walking talking bacon strip.'' He meant it. While Alexander had his office and worked in it for hours every day, it was all voluntary. Now, though, he would need to force himself to sit down and do the actual work he hated. Usually, he just gave it away to Ocilia, Aurum, and all others so he could concentrate on things he considered fun, but this ended now. Besides that, he couldn''t suddenly stop it and do other things, taking a break for a week or so. This whole training phase would continue for at least a month or two. This meant he would need to drive back and forth every day, commuting for hours, which was another nightmare coming true. Why commute, though, and not stay in a hotel? His Mother would move the estate toward Wolfsteeth instead of letting him stay there. She was still overprotective, and he couldn''t change it. ''I can''t believe I need to do this for a whole month.'' He consciously took the least period of time he would need to endure this nightmare. After much discussion with Noriken, who was surprised by his skill progress, they decided to change their plan so Alexander could start faster in the more prestigious courthouses. It was also perfectly timed, with him receiving guests to do the typical rendezvous routine in two to three months. They were from the Feather-Paw and Heart-fire fief since Nila''s Father was nice enough to arrange something for him. Fortunately, Feather-Paws were the most conservative and much less excentric than the southern guards. As such, it was perfect timing to get it over with, as he would later have less time. Heart-Fires, though, were from listening to others, the ones who brought the Cathedral of Pestilence into Moorgrel, making them look insane to others. Both had their specialties and, because they were canine-kin, had an inevitable overflow of girls, with the Heart-Fire being the most interested in getting Alexander married into their household. At least, that was what he understood from the Nine-Fire''s Lord''s letters. They were Alexander''s last households he needed to go through in the East, besides the Iron-Claws, but those were going through some kind of demon run and border fight, and they did not want to visit at all, ''I should send them some gold as a helping hand hm...'' He was brought back from his thoughts, "Mr. Alexander, is everything alright?" Alexander looked at Otto, being brought out by his worried voice, only to shake it, "It''s fine." Otto smiled and nodded joyfully at him, "Shall we start then?" Alexander nodded lightly back, "We shall." Chapter 137.5: Lovely Correspondence II Author''s Note: Extra chapters with a .5 are posted beside the standard chapters. For RR, they are posted as normal ones. I write this so no confusion comes up :) I need those .5 chapters to clear out some side stories, like this one on the side, so as not to make Supersum even longer than it is. Want to read more and faster? Join my Patreon ;) ... Correspondence: From Emma I. Cold-Snout to Patricia O. Nine-Fire Dear Patty, I may call you like this, right? Since we may be Alex''s wives in the future, but real, not metaphorical, though, like you mentioned. It should be fine, and you may call me Em''s! I always wanted to have a nickname, but sadly, my name is kind of too short. But I like Em''s. Do you like it, too? However, let''s ignore the nicknames for now and concentrate on what you wrote, which is concerning, but you don''t need to worry. Alex never said that he didn''t want a harem and only rejected us because he said he loved someone else and needed to get over it. My Mothers told me that this is actually normal for younger boys as they are more sensitive and usually need time to get used to multiple girls. My Father also had only the Lady as his first wife and only wife for the first five years, slowly acclimating to our household. Other than that, Alexander never even mentioned being uncomfortable having multiple wives, especially since he rendezvoused or, like he sometimes said, dated all three of us at the same time and sometimes on the same day! Dating. What a funny word, right? I also learned what cool and chill meant and much more! However, I hope we can also become closer friends since I write to Alex a lot, like a lot, a lot! However, my sisters decided to stop pursuing him. Nessa stopped because of his ambitions. She wants a slow and tranquil life. On the other hand, Tilda stopped because of his love for someone else. So, she decided to look for another boy at other balls. I, however, like him, and even though I don''t know what will happen when I ask him in some years, I will surely have it in mind when I meet him at the grand ball in central Mal-Gil. His personality is just enchanting, and I can''t! You know? However, I respect his choice and feelings, so I will keep on dating and look for someone in the meantime so as not to pressure him. Yet, I still have an interest in him. Is this weird? Not really, since he is really cute, right? Whatever the case, I am sure he can get over it, and we would then stay together, but such a thing is a maybe and far in the future. Nonetheless, it would be great! Oh yeah, about the love thing. I don''t know anything about it, only that it is someone dead or something. So, don''t worry about this! I am sure he will quickly forget whoever it was, and if not, we can invite her and make her feel comfortable with us. While leaving, it felt sad because of the whole drama, but he is usually so funny, right? Sometimes, he is also quite chaotic, which makes him so cute, but I don''t know about those scars. I like them, but he became overly conscious of his body when we went bathing! Right now, I am trying to find some way to remove them since they seem to be a bad memory altogether! There was also some uncomfortableness between us when I washed his tail, feeling his scars under the fur. It was really, really sad! You wouldn''t ask Scarlett for something to make Alex feel better, right? Ultimately, even though he may not be interested in us, we should somehow help each other, right? We can still be all friends in the end! With love, Em''s ... Northern Leonandra Estate, Patricia''s (temporary) room "This stupid whore!" Bang! Patricia stood up from her chair, grabbed it, and threw it against the wall, destroying it, "I will kill her!" The chair splintered into thousands of parts, with Patricia staying still, seething in rage and glaring at the dent in the wall. Something cracked inside her when she read the letter. Not only because Alexander was bathing with some idiot but also because this idiot described the signs of their love and heroism as disturbing. Emma was a moron, with her letter being chaotic, full of nonsense and barely decipherable penmanship. Still, she seemed lovely and friendly, the typical untalented young Lady whore Patricia saw dozens of times at balls, which many boys encircled because of their charm and pleasant demeanor. Yet, this confused Patricia even more, ''What does she see in Alex?!'' Did Patricia love Alexander? Of course, but would she like him to change, too? Without any doubt. She could think of twenty things, right off the top of her head, that she would like him to change instantly¡ªbeginning from his manners, which were not even close to fitting nobility, to his stupid love for commoners. However, she never mentioned it and wouldn''t do so in the following years. There was a good reason for this: She wanted to ensure nobody would want Alexander, and it was perfect. Even ignoring his non-existent manners and etiquette, he was thoroughly scarred, far from the current beauty standard, and had a petty personality, especially when irritated. While some of those things annoyed her, she could live with them, at least for now, and later change them when he became more mature and ready to become more noble-like. She knew his authentic self and wanted to ensure that nobody got to know his true personality, which was that of someone sensitive, forthcoming, and heroic. There were many other negative points, like his massive ambitions, which almost no one could match, the ridiculous ideals he followed, which were practically against the nobility, and the frustrating way he held stubbornly onto them. Everything was strongly contradictory, directly dismissing him as a partner for every ambitious and casual young noble Lady. ''What is wrong with her?!'' As such, Patricia could not understand why Emma was interested in him. Their personalities couldn''t be further apart, which actually meant that something had happened, much worse than an assassination attack: The dumb and untalented whore fell in love¡ªblind love, irrational and foolish. It was impossible to intervene if Patricia wanted Alexander to hold her in high regard. Should she do or say something to Emma, the skunk would immediately run to him and cry him a river, making everything worse. Patricia clicked her tongue, ''This is something I can''t change...'' Emma was now hands-off, at least when it came to more direct approaches. She could not go against such girls, as they were too honest and selfish and did not understand the bigger picture. Therefore, seeing the unfavorable situation unfolding before her, Patricia needed to decide if she was okay with a harem because it was a possible path she could take and work together with Emma to make Alexander theirs. She walked around the room in circles as the pressure inside her chest slowly became heavier the more she imagined her future with Alexander and other women. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ''I can''t... I just can''t...'' Even imagining Alexander being in love with Emma made her anxious, almost panicking, ''No...'' She suddenly stood still, crying as everything became too much for her, ''...why now.'' Patricia was too emotional and couldn''t reason; this much she knew. The training was barely doable, making her almost crack daily. Her body was hurting all the time while her mind became a soup of desperation, love, and hope. "Heuk..." Patricia shook those thoughts away quickly. It was no use thinking about anything that she didn''t agree with because it wouldn''t be allowed. She saw her parents, Alexander''s parents, Scarlett, and her husband. They all fought for the love they had, and she would do the same. ''Forget it. I will take Alex with me, no matter what.'' Ultimately, he was the reason she was alive. Her life was his, and she would protect him from dangerous and poisonous people like Emma, who would never stay by his side as Patricia did. Day and night, cleaning him, changing clothes, talking, entertaining, cuddling, laughing, crying, sharing their sorrows and hopes. Fundamentally, they bond to such a degree that they could already call themselves husband and wife. ''What to do though...'' What Patricia wanted to do with Alexander was decided, but another question lingered without any definitive answer. Looking back at the desk, glaring with hate, she stared at Emma''s letter, ''He was in love with someone else... huh.'' It was hurtful, and Patricia needed to know precisely about whom she was talking, ''If this bastard is loving someone else...'' Her energy went haywire in a short burst, making the room a mess. After calming down, she looked around, frowning, ''...I should write him before making assumptions.'' Alexander was many things, but he was never untruthful. He always said what he thought, which was bizarre to Patricia since Emma mentioned something this surprising. She slowly calmed down and thought logically, using her mental fortitude skills, trying to find other, more realistic explanations. Yet, suddenly, while still staring at the letter, her wrath and energy exploded again, as something came to her mind, ''Is this bitch actually manipulating me...'' She ran out of the room, banging the door open, "...Coco! Quick!" She screamed for her personal maid with the following in mind, ''First, write to Alex and find out who Emma is actually.'' Patricia trusted Alexander and knew how he was, yet she didn''t know Emma. All she knew was that he rejected her because he loved someone else, ''I can''t believe I was this stupid.'' She suddenly remembered the last weeks, as she was an emotional wreck because of the letter, only worsened by the training. She couldn''t think further ahead, just trusting some written words without investigating them further, being still too naive and good faith to some stranger¡ªa big mistake on her part. ''Let''s see who you are.'' ... Correspondence: From Emma I. Cold-Snout to Alexander K. Leonandra Hello Alex, I hope you are doing well. I am learning a lot from your great books, and I even wrote Patricia so we could get to know each other and exchange our knowledge and experience regarding magic. Your dream of allowing everyone to do magic is a great goal. As such, I fully support you and want to build a community for this and exchange experience and knowledge with everyone who also received this great gift from you. However, because you are too talented in these things and don''t understand our problems¡ªthe ones who actually need more than five minutes to learn a spell¡ªI decided to circumvent you in this case. It may seem insulting to you since you always want to help us, but like with your overcomplicated books, I sometimes don''t understand your hour-long ramblings, ending in me wanting to toss you out of the window. As such, I wrote to Janina, Patricia, and everyone who uses the first version of mana skills to get to know each other before exchanging ideas, like a little circle or gathering. However, while I wrote Patricia, I wanted to start with some small talk, mentioning what happened roughly when Vanessa, Matilda, and I visited you. As such, I want to apologize beforehand, as there could have been some misunderstandings since she seemed very angry during our exchange. Thus, this hastily written letter. The following letter is already on its way, and I am still interested in the discussion about words, their meanings, and why cursing is bad. I don''t think your arguments made sense, but you will read this in the coming days. I hope you are doing well and that we can better the current magic system! Cheers, Emma ... Correspondence: From Patricia O. Nine-Fire to Alexander K. Leonandra Hey Alex! Thank you for your lovely letters. I am genuinely fascinated by everything you sent me, and Scarlett also loves your ideas on her body-strengthening method! However, I am writing to you with something in mind: Emma wrote to me and mentioned that you had your heart broken. If this is true, why didn''t you tell me? I thought we were friends and I could be there for you! It sounded so terrible finding it out through her letters! Please don''t have such secrets if they bother you. You know you can tell me or write to me anything, right? I just wrote this short letter as quickly as possible to let you know I am there for you. I have another more comprehensive letter on the way, in which I will continue our earlier discussions, so please don''t be confused! I genuinely worry about you, so please don''t try to solve this problem alone! Remember, you have your family and me. We are all there for you and love to help you. Cheers, Patricia ... Garden beside the minor mansion, Leonandra Estate "Urgh... good job, Alex." Alexander lay on the grass, reading letters, enjoying the sun, and trying to get a slight tan, which never worked. However, this also meant no skin cancer, so he sometimes just lay outside, enjoying getting burnt by the sun, which also felt only slightly warm because of his [Heat Resistance], which activated automatically. Yet, his enjoyment wasn''t there this time since he got some confusing letters from Emma and Patricia, making him frown non-stop, ''Shit hit the fan, huh.'' Patricia found out about his lingering feelings, which made her feel understandably betrayed since he told her at some point that he wasn''t in love with anyone and would also have no secrets from her because they were best friends. It was a cute pact, which Alexander loved. However, he broke her trust, making him feel terrible, ''I think a present wouldn''t be enough as an apology.'' While Alexander felt somewhat terrible, he also felt annoyed at himself. He didn''t tell her because he wanted to keep those emotions a secret from her, but because he only confronted them when his cousins pressured him. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be any wiser. As such, it was a no-win situation for everyone. Patricia felt crossed, and he felt bent over by fate since he couldn''t tell her that he had in his last life a fianc¨¦ to whom he still had remnants of love lying around in him. Worse, after those emotions appeared, he initially wanted to work on this problem alone, not wanting anyone else to meddle in his matters. He had experienced being heartbroken and knew how to handle it. Still, remembering Patricia and how she was there for him, he wanted to be honest, but it wouldn''t work. He needed to tell a white lie, as his reincarnation was something he would take to his grave. It was also somewhat unfortunate that Emma told Patricia, which Alexander hadn''t thought about such a situation occurring at all, ''Damn it...'' He scratched his head in annoyance, but after a moment of trying who to blame, he sighed, thinking it was all his fault since it would also be the easiest way to solve then, ''...fuck it. Let''s work it somehow out.'' With this in mind, what kind of white lie could he tell Patricia, still remembering that all those girls now wrote with each other, basically having an old-school group chat. After a moment, he decided, ''Let''s just put someone else into the position of my Angie.'' With whom could he fall in love? After a moment, he had multiple ideas. One was to tell her he fell in love with some imaginary character. Since he was a puppy, it would be believable. Yet, it also irked him to write something like this, as he actually never liked those to such an extent, ''Don''t lie too much... just bend the truth a little.'' Next, he could invent someone who worked at the estate but died. However, it would become weird when Patricia asked someone here, as nobody would know the person. However, there was one thing he could tell, which was quite normal for this world and even seen as ordinary. Alexander stood up and walked into the library with that person in mind. Alexander wanted to choose a family member he truly respected and admired, creating an obvious situation where others could see that he confused love with something else entirely. It needed to be obvious, and only a few fit such a profile. He usually admired some for their strength, like his Grandmother, or ingenuity and steadfast will, like his Mother. Still, he couldn''t choose them as they would bring him into a much weirder situation. Siblings? If this were to happen and Lorient, Sarah, or Janina find out, it could very well come true that they fell in love with him, blowing this whole situation into something much worse. Yet, there was someone alive, impossible for him to meet, and who he thought was a genius while listening to many stories about her, ''I guess it works out.'' Alexander even read her diary, which was in the library. It was poetic and full of dread, death, and desperation, like 90% of Russian novels. However, she was also the only one he wasn''t allowed to meet, as she was an outcast because of her failed demonic baptism and the resulting emotional instability she suffered. If he was honest, he could somehow relate to her, as he suffered similarly but came out on top. Because of that, he could use her struggle with her mental instability as a leading factor for his reason for his love for her, making it apparent to others that he confused it with something else entirely. ''It''s perfect.'' The person had everything, and he could explain those feelings easily by choosing her as a target. Before that, he would need to read a little more about her, so his letter to Patricia worked out. As he entered the library, he immediately looked for the diaries and notes she had written in her days at the estate, "E... El... ah! Here we go, Elisabeth!" Chapter 138: First Case I You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Chapter 139: First Case II Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Chapter 140: First Case III This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Chapter 141: First Case IV You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Chapter 142: First Case V ... Inside An Alley in the Northern District Inside an alley, the sound of metal crashing into brittle adobe walls, cracking them, resounded as splinters flew around, hitting the participants of their stand-off. The alley was dirty and packed with crates and boxes used as trash cans and compost containers by the locality. However, the fight between the three individuals around the place frightened the smaller local population, making them flee in all directions. An arrow flew over Quill''s head, which he barely avoided while leaning forward, readying himself for a counterattack. The target was the night-elf he pursued from the brothel, marked with a spell and visibly tired. It would be easy to catch them, but a problem stood on the roof, using him as targeting practice. Quill avoided having a hole in his head by observing physical and mana movements in the vicinity, trying to predict every attack, basically estimating the most probable outcome and subsequent actions in the next seconds. His mind burned up as the calculations became increasingly challenging, but he found the result with the highest success rate, using at least a third of his stamina. The night-elf before him was slowly turning away from the shadowy existence into something more regular, a sign of fatigue and the chance Quill needed to catch them. He flashed in their direction. The one before him, most likely crucial for the current mission given by his Master, was also a key to the current oddness inside the underworld. The number of night-elves increased, and while their presence was neither good nor bad, Quill needed to know what they were doing here, as their stay was simply bizarre. Like nature-dwellers, they usually hated uninhabitable and harsh places like Moorgrel, especially the East. While the latter group became more common in the city due to Green, the Lord, and Alexander trying their best to get them through schemes and incentives to make them stay here, the former group differed. Night-elves were isolating themselves as much as possible, only being in the alliance with Mal-Gil due to protection, mainly dealing with central Mal-Gil. There was no reason for them to stay in this Outer Circle. However, Quill now had a good chance to catch one and ask them what they were doing here besides accomplishing his primary mission, ''Hm... should''ve brought more poison...'' He pulled out his dagger as he appeared behind the already tired night-elf, who was barely able to breathe steadily, ''...gruesome, but amputating their feet should be a good substitute.'' As he stood behind them for less than a second, another arrow suddenly strived his face, with him barely avoiding it, bending his back slightly, "Urgh! Not nice!" With him in a weird position, he analyzed thousands of possible moves and outcomes, concluding a dozen results where he would avoid becoming a shashlik and counterattacking successfully. He chose a path again, sacrificing another good chunk of his stamina. Quill threw a knife laced with a thin layer of energy and mana at the night-elf before him, who was about to turn around, trying to avoid the predictable counterattack. However, the elf was too slow to dodge, as the knife was right before his shoulder. Fortunately, his friend was quick on the uptake, shooting at the knife, which flew against the wall and bounced up. ''Yes, that''s it!'' Quill''s smile widened. He expected this to happen exactly like that, even though it was very slightly off. Since he had learned magic, all the possibilities while fighting became overwhelming, so he needed to change how he approached his heuristical skill, which told him the possibility of the actions he imagined he could do. As such, when he learned his first spells, he couldn''t believe how much utility they gave. Even though he didn''t have the power output like his Master, he decided to become versatile, combining them with his close combat abilities. While not as strong as Maurice, since they had very different fighting styles, the spells and capacity with which he could do the calculations to create the constructs were far above average. The best demonstration of his creativity with the spells was his current fight. As the knife bounced away, the mana suddenly lit up, activating a time-delayed spell that made air slowly conjugate at the end of the hilt. It was the propulsion spell. Usually, when mana was distributed too unevenly on the construct, only partly filling the nodes while overloading the connectivity lines between them, the mana would, when the construct was simple enough, regulate itself after a certain amount of time, basically making the faulty construct work. This had apparent drawbacks since the mana became less, with the power output decreasing every moment as it dispersed into the air. Sure, one could control their mana and create a construct from far away, but it was mostly only possible for Alexander. On the other hand, Quill''s mind began to burn like a thousand suns when he tried it. Holding his mana together further away became massively strenuous after some meters (1m ~ 3.2ft). Regardless of the drawbacks, his explicit intention was to create a much weaker but time-delayed spell. As the spell fully activated on the knife, as Quill calculated, it flew toward the elf''s ankle, drilling itself inside and getting stuck there. She screamed, losing the skill that had made her disguise her voice and letting the shadowy mist around her disperse fully, "Argh! The Animal got me!" Seeing this, Quill straightened up and jumped immediately on the wall, building a construct on the sole of his shoes. It was a spell called glue that, like the name suggested, would let two distinctive parts of the construct stick together through the mana. Like before, he made it activate only for a moment so he could stand on the wall steadfastly, flash, land again, and repeat. He would get stuck on the wall if he let it stay activated. He felt tremendous excitement when he took his first step on the wall, flashing forward and standing again. Magic was like a puzzle piece that he didn''t know he needed in his life. It complemented him so greatly; it was ridiculous to him why dragon-kin, the ones who usually used magic, weren''t like him, also training their body. Looking upwards toward his other opponent, ignoring the injured one since she wouldn''t be able to flee from him, he heard something he wasn''t expecting, ruining his plan, "Whaz goin'' on ''ere?!" Someone came out of the back entrance from one of the shops, looked around, and screamed at them, probably thinking they were some kits doing dumb stuff. Quill didn''t look back, only hoping nobody of them would attack the innocent passerby, ''Come on. Attack me...'' Even before he could hope for a miracle, the injured night-elf used her weird shadowy energy, or what was left, to shoot toward the unexpected passerby. It was weak since she was tired and had barely any stamina left, but it was enough to injure a non-fighter seriously or even kill them. Usually, Quill would ignore it and go for the night-elf on the roof. Seeing into their eyes, he was close to getting them. With fear and tension filling their every move, he was sure to get them. Yet, his Master would never sacrifice someone innocent, and as such, he shouldn''t either, "Fuck!" He dissolved all the constructs, pressing himself against the wall and jumping in the line of the flying energy. Using flash, he appeared almost instantly before it, blocking it. Standing before the shopkeeper who fell on his ass, screaming profanities, being obviously in shock, Quill tried to orient himself. With his plan gone and him jumping off and wasting a good chunk of his stamina and mana, the risk increased for him to continue, but his answer to stop came shortly. His instinct was screaming at him, loudly and profoundly, making him use his [Mystic Skill], which delayed the injury, making him experience it over a week, with overall more damage. Looking to the side, he saw a giant mass of energy in an arrow shape right before his face. It was a death sentence if he didn''t have his life-saving skills. The moment it touched him, it disappeared, with Quill counting down the seconds when the pain would start, ''This little bitch...'' Looking toward the roof, he could see the night-elf clearly shocked, quickly turning around and disappearing from his sight and [Mana Sense] in a matter of seconds. Quill frowned, feeling that his fighting style needed to change if he wanted to successfully fight opponents from far away. Usually, typical [Mystic Skills] for assassin fighters were quite helpful in such situations. They could appear right behind their victim or run through shadows like those night-elves. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. However, Quill was a great all-rounder with extreme versatility regarding single opponents. If more variables appeared, his mind would burn down as the calculations would be too much, making him no better than any other decent fighter. He sighed, scratching his head, and walked toward the night-elf, ignoring the shopkeeper, ''I better get some break and bonus after this.'' Looking at her sitting on the ground, the hate in her eyes was saying a lot, and combining it with the slur she used before; it became apparent that she didn''t like his race a lot. Besides that, she lost a good amount of blood, barely able to stay awake, as seen by the giant red puddle under her. Standing before her, she was about to say something, but Quill kicked her solar plexus, making her fall to the side, barely breathing. With another kick against her head, he knocked her out for good, ''Time to do some work...'' Quill pulled out multiple healing potions and his dagger, ''Her feet should be fine for now...'' Like that, the gruesome scene started, with the shopkeeper watching it and adding to the pungent smell inside the alley. However, he didn''t know that half the potions were for the rabbit boy who was about to experience a lot of pain in some seconds, ''...two weeks... I need two weeks of vacati...'' His thoughts were interrupted as his [Mystic Skill] aftermath showed itself, turning his insides upside down and giving him a thunderclap headache, ''...urgh... four weeks...'' ... An Hour later, On The Way To The Prison, Copper House "I won the bet, haha!" "Mr. Alexander, we don''t know if it is serious. It could be just some passerby trying to rob Quill." While walking, Alexander looked at Otto weirdly, "Are you serious? We are talking about night-elf assassins..." The clerk who notified them, showing them the way, cleared her throat, "...Ahem! By all respect, I said suspicious night-elf." Alexander looked at her blankly and back at Otto, pointing at her, "See? What occupation is suspicious? Assassins are, and when do they kill others? At night, when night-elves are out and about! So, night-elf assassin is quite fitting, right?" Otto looked at Alexander dumbfounded, only to barely hold his laughter, "Mr. Alexander...hmpf..." Barely holding it back, "...you know that night-elves are called like that not because they are creatures of the night, right?" Alexander looked blankly at him, confused, "Right... they are called night-elves because..." It was weirdly silent until Otto answered him, sounding cheeky, "...because they have darker skin and worship the moo..." Alexander interrupted him, finishing the sentence, "...worshiping the moon. I know this..." Waving at him in dismissal, "...obviously!" "Moons, Mr. Alexander." "Yeah... that''s what I said... moons." "Of course, Mr. Alexander." While they were walking, it was eerily silent until Alexander broke it, giving up his charade, "Okay! I have no idea about other races... I only know their languages." Otto chuckled, "I know, the clerk knows, and your guardian also knows, and I guess your honorable teacher knows this too well..." He started to speak more quietly, "...may I ask how well your [Culture] knowledge is?" Alexander rolled his eyes, "You know that I have a verified [Absolute Intermediate Law] skill? Do you really think my other skills are so low?" Otto asked him again, "So? Around level 20, I would say?" Alexander gestured half and half, "Give or take." Otto nodded, "Mr. Alexander, you should really brush up on your cultural and race-based knowledge." Alexander nodded, "Yeah, maybe after I worked out all the hundreds of other projects I have been running on the side and my societal obligations, then maybe I looked into why djinns are divided into dozens of stupid groups and why night-elves have a taint even though they come out only at night." Otto chuckled but stopped quickly, not wanting to be rude, "Night-elves are not creatures of the night, as I mentioned before..." The clerk cleared her throat, looking back at them, visibly annoyed but still respectful, interrupting them, "...my dear and honorable judges, I would appreciate it if you didn''t talk like that about my race." Alexander tilted his head, "Are you a night-elf? You look quite reddish, though." Otto laughed out loud while the clerk forced a smile, "I am a fire-djinn, Mr. Alexander." Alexander looked at her, interested, "Oh, and what is the difference between a fire-djinn and those others? I only know about the differences for beast-kin... somewhat." Beast-kin were too diverse, so learning about them was already challenging enough. As such, he ignored all other races altogether. Alexander needed to remember most sub-racial traits and flavors of sub-societal structures since most groups had their own way of living. If he wanted to rule a fief in the future, which was as diverse as theirs, he needed to know all of them. Because of this embarrassing knowledge gap, he was happy to listen to a djinn who was not born in Moorgrel and learn about their culture, sub-races, societal structure, etc. He only knew they had some skirmishes in the south with specific groups of djinns on some islands. The clerk nodded, looking more happily, "Oh, of course, I would love to explain this to you, Mr. Alexander, but it really comes down to only one thing if we talk about the differences between us djinns." Alexander tilted his head, confused, "And what is it?" Her smile widened, "Fire-djinns are simply superior to other djinns." Alexander raised his eyebrows, nodding, "I... see..." He wanted her to end the rather racist rant before it began, knowing exactly where it would go as he listened to those too many times on Earth. However, he stopped himself, thinking he should rather listen and analyze how other races feel about their own kin. While not immediately valuable, he could get some worthwhile information from it. She continued, becoming more excited as he looked at her, interested, "Mr. Alexander, you need to know that fire-djinns have a natural resistance against the harshest environments, and that''s why we are naturally allied with you, dear Moorgrelians or..." She smiled at him cheekily, "... as you said in one of your speeches, we are better than those weaklings from central Mal-Gil..." She chuckled, "...I quite like listening to you, and I really look forward to the next time." Alexander smiled at her, slightly nervous, "Oh... that''s great..." The clerk continued joyfully, "However, there are many other djinn races, and while some are quite acceptable to deal with, like earth, magma, and our other younger siblings, there are also those like..." She sounded disgusted, "...like water, ice, or... well, wind, too, but they found their place." "What does that mean they found their place?" The clerk nodded happily, "You see, hundreds or so years ago, they were betrayed by an even more inferior kin and sent to Kratikal to rot..." She chuckled, gesturing like she waved a fly away, "...hopefully, they died off, as nobody needed them in the first place." Alexander was baffled by the hatred toward her race but calmed quickly down, ignoring the wind-djinn''s fate since it was nothing new. Many sapient races went extinct in history, with only stories left of them. Be it war, famine, being bred away, or natural disasters. This world was far more ruthless than Earth, and caring for every sub-race perishing would be too much and a waste of time, especially for someone who had no real power in the first place. "I understand..." He tapped his chin, having more questions, "...Did you have any fights with those other djinn races in our territory?" The clerk chuckled, shaking her head, "Of course not! As you may not know, we are allied with the honorable Count and both in war against those lessers." Alexander nodded, "I see... and we obviously don''t let them into our territory like humans and other folks." The clerk clapped her hands, "Yes! Fortunately, they didn''t understand how great it was to ally with you; they only wanted to fight for some petty islands." Alexander tilted his head slightly, askingly, "Hm, you say with the Count and us, but what about central Mal-Gil?" She shook her head, sounding somber, "We don''t have any dealings with them..." shrugging, "...and why should we, though? They are too far away in the first place and strategically irrelevant." "I see..." He smiled at her, wanting to know the difference between her territory and his family''s fief, "...say, do you like Moorgrel? Be honest." The clerk smiled at Alexander joyfully, "Hm, Mr. Alexander, Moorgrel is really a great place for everyone to come and become what they strive for, overcoming the harshest of environments. As you said in one of your speeches, we are all Leonandrians as long we live here, and I feel proud to be a fire-djinn while being called one of your subjects..." Alexander interrupted her, panicking a little, "One second! What about your territory? I obviously accept you and feel great to have such a fantastic person here, whatever the race, but isn''t it a betrayal?" She shook her head, looking a little crushed, "Sadly not, Mr. Alexander. Where I come from, we don''t have the same sense of belonging you try to create so greatly..." However, she became suddenly incredibly proud, straightening up, "...let me please say that it is an honor to share the knowledge of my race with such an intelligent child of the honorable Lord and Lady. So..." Alexander was first confused as to why she stopped but suddenly saw a door in front of him, with her walking a little quicker, opening it for him, "Mr. Alexander..." She looked at Otto, "...my honorable judge Otto M. Melodias." He looked at her amicably, trying to fake it; even though he was a little uncomfortable with how she thought, having a first insight was helpful into how fire-djinns think. He only needed to check later with others to see if this was the general opinion in their territory. As such, he thanked her, "I am grateful for sharing your knowledge and experience with me..." He tilted his head, confused, "...may I know your name?" She nodded happily, "I am Helena Ilsa Irida, and my half-sister works here at the Golden Feater Bank. We both decided to live here to experience other cultures, learn languages, and see how other territories function." Alexander nodded at her, "I see..." he rubbed his chin, thinking that he would need her to explain a couple of things to him, "...are you interested in having dinner together and telling me a little more about the cultures of your race?" It was necessary for him to learn about other races, and since no internet or good literature existed about them, he thought about asking her. Of course, he knew that she would distort many facts, but it would nonetheless be helpful. On the other hand, he couldn''t care less about the misinformation since the Moorgrelians were apparently at war with some djinns and allied with the fire ones. As such, he could ignore her diminishing those others and trying to read between the lines. Also, since Anastasia had no time because she tried to coordinate the teachers, first school buildings, and the lesson plan, they had lessons, at most, thrice a week, mainly focusing on politics. Still, he would send her a summary of Helena''s information, which she could confirm or reject. She bowed excitedly, "Of course, Mr. Alexander! Nothing would make me happier than telling you about my people and culture while warning you of those lessers!" Alexander looked at her nervously, forcing a smile, "Sure..." Chapter 143: First Case VI ... Prison, Copper House, Wolfsteeth After saying goodbye to Helena, the proud fire-djinn, Alexander had much to digest. What was race, and how should he, as someone from Earth and a highly liberal society, react to such illiberal conduct from an ethical and practical perspective? From an ethical standpoint, he didn''t need to, and it even fit. Fortunately, because he was a canine-kin, his stance, and confusion were seen as more normal since his particular kin was far more accepting of others than other races or subraces. Other than that, he was a noble, far above racial boundaries, ruling over everyone equally. Furthermore, he would also need to tackle it practically if he wanted to mold society to his ideals as closely as possible. In that sense, he would need to do it educationally, and for this, he had an excellent solution: Give it to Anastasia and let her handle it. She had a good idea of how Alexander thought and what he wanted while also knowing the intricacies of all the races and subraces. All Alexander wanted to do was learn about other races'' divine skills, traits, and specific abilities, as this genuinely interested him. Other than that, he didn''t care about all the cultures, ethics, and traditions. Those bored him to no end. Was his conduct ignorant? Yes. Did he care? No. With one task out of the way, he could now concentrate on what was around him, which made him slightly confused. Otto saw this and asked, "Everything okay, Mr. Alexander?" "Sure..." He looked around as he walked through the prison corridors, "...it''s just that I can smell fear." As Alexander walked through the prison toward where the imprisoned night-elf was, to the left and right were prison cells, with numerous offenders populating them. Only weak iron bars kept them from breaking out, needing only a little energy to destroy them. This rather lax security did not amuse him, but he didn''t need to worry. When they saw him, all the prisoners immediately looked away and tried to hide in some corner as far away as possible. Otto chuckled, "Don''t worry, Mr. Alexander. They can''t touch you." Alexander sighed, overthinking too much, "I can see it." Those prisoners just wanted to get a fine, leave, and later pay it off. This was the lowest courthouse, and most wanted to avoid getting any attention. As such, seeing a young wolf-kin wearing a copper-colored necktie, which judges wore, meant only one thing, which even the dumbest could conclude. Even if not, nobody wanted to try their luck, whether they were right or wrong. However, Alexander couldn''t look away, as the sight amused him, ''This is basically a festival campsite.'' The cells looked like camps, with extinguished fire spots and dirty cooking utensils lying around them. Cheap, straw-filled mattresses lay all around, with ominous stains. At every corner was a spot, a hole, with much more ominous stains around it. Alexander didn''t want to come close to those. Walking further, sometimes the cells ended as paths opened up, to the left and right, to more private rooms for the more dangerous or prestigious prisoners, who could use their privilege for at least this much. Otto interrupted his thoughts as he observed everything with interest, making all the prisoners nervous, "Mr. Alexander, do you think you will be fine when we visit the night-elf?" Alexander raised an eyebrow, confused, "I... will be fine, I guess? Why are you asking?" Otto became a little tense, "I mean no offense, but weren''t those assassins that attacked you of the same race?" Alexander smiled viciously, emitting killing intent when he remembered the attack, which made even Otto shudder, "Oh, they were..." He glared at the much bigger pig-kin, who flinched slightly, "...I killed four of them, and trust me, I couldn''t care less about their race. I wouldn''t hesitate if they were any different." Otto''s concern was cute to Alexander, but he had no problem with getting targeted or killing others. He had already popped his cherry on Earth and gone through a mental breakdown, feeling all sorts of emotions. On Orbis, it was even easier with all the skills aiding him. Alexander''s only worry was that he became too cold toward death, seeing it as nothing more than some [Experience] he acquired. For some reason, besides the apparent self-defense, he saw those attackers as not even living beings, making killing it feel more like squashing insects than anything else. Yet, this wasn''t a problem he was ready to fix. It helped him immensely control his mental state, which felt like he was pulled into every possible direction by his former human self, all the different skills, and his new body, trying to dictate the right course of action. Looking at Otto, who nodded carefully with a slightly frightened smile, it was clear that Alexander needed to dial down his killing intent, making it disperse immediately, "Of course, Mr. Alexander..." Arriving before the door to the cell with the night-elf, he opened it for him, "...shall we?" It was a single room, the most secure one in the prison inside the Copper House. Usually, such dangerous individuals would need to be sent to other courthouses, which were better equipped to deal with them. Still, because of certain circumstances, Alexander denied a relocation, enacting his noble privilege to hold the elf here. The night-elf before him sat on the floor, chained to the wall behind her. She wore an advanced anti-energy collar and had cut-off feet and broken arms. It was brutal, and many thought Alexander overreacted because it was his first case. However, they also assumed he wanted to finish his case by himself without giving it away. It was immature but fitting given his age, nothing unusual, and thus, they all just tolerated it, wanting later to use it as a lesson, letting him know all the unnecessary procedures he did. However, the situation was far more problematic. Alexander kept certain information to himself, not letting it leak because it could bring chaos into his fief. Alexander strolled inside, seeing the elf chained to the wall, looking at him, tired, probably not wanting to talk, and readied to receive torture. However, seeing her, he already devised a plan for how to handle her. Still, first, he greeted her, beginning to speak Nocir, a language officially spoken by nature-dwellers and night-elves. "Hello there, my good friend..." He sounded calm, but the aura he suddenly emitted told another story. His killing intent exploded, with the guards behind him, who were still outside the cell, flinching and panicking, backing unconsciously away. At the same time, all other prisoners backed as far away as possible as the mist of murderous intent slowly dispersed itself into the whole prison, making everyone feel as if they stood before a bloodthirsty beast that looked down at them. Alexander snapped his fingers, creating a thin vacuum wall between him and Otto and another wall of heat and water to distort him and his lip movements. He did not want to risk anything. No one should hear his following words besides his most loyal retainers and those he could trust. He walked forward while continuing to speak night-elfish, "You see, you made quite the mistake..." Full of brutality and arrogance, the red mist thickened inside the cell, "...creating a love potion inside my fief is pretty cheeky, don''t you think? Copying the First Servants'' methods to enslave my kin is never a good choice." What was a love potion? It was made by humans, dwarves, gnomes, and high-elves, the so-called First Servants, to manipulate Alexander''s kin into slavery. It was a secondary way if there was no Church, which could do it without any potions but through ceremonies. After being given multiple times, his kin would be ready to cut off their tails, ears, and glands, maxing out the alchemical or pharmaceutical properties so others could use it for other products and still serve their enslavers, as long as they received the love potion. Most of the time, though, they received a slave tattoo and were sent to work and die in the mines or brothels. It was easy to guess that such a thing was highly illegal everywhere in Mal-Gil for historical reasons, even though it could have practical applications. From commoners to nobles and even royalty, nobody wanted to see it used inside their territory, even though it was still common elsewhere. As such, what would happen if it was discovered inside their territory, and worse, what if it was made there? Theoretically, in Moorgrel, it would bring forward the Count''s court and intelligence unit, with them trying their best to find out who made or sold it. They would sniff around, making the local rulers'' lives a living Outer Circle. Was it necessary? Sadly, yes. Rumors spread quickly, even more so if the local ruler or Higher Nobility did nothing. If not reacted quickly and brutally, it would encourage other bad actors to try the same thing. It was an obvious way to deter others from doing the same thing, be it local nobility, the underworld, or just commoners. The mist thickened as Alexander wanted nothing more than to kill the moron who brought, or worse, made, a love potion inside his territory, "This is really annoying me, and whoever did it needs to feel the Red Moon." While this situation was somewhat risky, Alexander didn''t tell anyone about it except the usuals. A potion made by some foreign races inside a vital territory would become quite problematic if such news came out, with too many people starting to look at his family''s territory more closely. While Alexander loved nothing more than to chat with the retainers of his Master and Mistress, he also worked on too many projects, like public education and charity, which were only known rudimentarily to those outside his territory. Sure, he would love to show it off, but there were other things he liked to avoid being found out about: the paper and ink he created. For now, he couldn''t afford for them to become public. He needed to fund all sorts of projects and show that they would be a worthwhile investment so he wouldn''t need those income sources in the future. Others sniffing around would make them ask many questions, seeing those projects up close, and the first would be how he pays for them. From far away, many thought Alexander got some failing merchants and scribes, paid them peanuts, and let them teach some commoners in some huts. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Even seeing how Anastasia was now unofficially his retainer, basically responsible for education, would make many skeptical. Because of that, he wanted to hold onto the secret of how he made an enormous amount of gold. Regardless of his monetary situation, another problem was the mana skills he gave out like candy. While still rumors, it was equivalent to saying that Alexander could turn shit into gold. Nobody believed that he could do it. Their finding out would barely have consequences for Alexander, or rather, he wouldn''t care too much. At most, he would be forced by the Count or Countess to give his methods to every noble, which would reduce the future leverage and goodwill he could have by giving them personally, but nothing too tragic. Furthermore, Alexander felt that there would be no way that the Count would restrict those skills only to nobles, crushing his dream of creating a society of mages. First, getting mana skills was incredibly easy, so he would forcibly spread them either way, creating an unstoppable cycle. Other than that, the Count and his Knightages were highly arrogant¡ªjustly so. They were far stronger and more intelligent than the common populace due to the education and training they received since they were puppies. The resources used on them were insane, and it showed. As such, they would also educate all of them in magic and alchemy while the populace would probably try to establish themselves in other ways. There would be other minor problems, which he could ignore, like assassination attempts, that could bother his daily life because it was becoming more known that he could create mages like that. Still, with Lili around, they would need to send an army to kill him. Fortunately, Quill gave him this information in private, as a coded letter. Nobody needed to know this, even less Otto, who was still bound by a mana contract toward his duties. Afterward, when he would maybe become a retainer, sure, but now, it was dangerous to reveal it before knowing more. Other than that, Lili couldn''t care less. She reported to his Grandmother, who would probably tell him to kill the night-elf and, before that, torture her to spit out all other names and then kill them¡ªadditional points for their family and friends. For now, his invisible guard was on his side. Usually, he would need to report it immediately to his Master or Mistress, the Count or Countess, who would investigate it, ignoring their local procedures and probably unearthing all the secrets he wanted to keep as such. However, Alexander wouldn''t do it that way. Even thinking that they would stick their fingers into his future fief made him furious. While thinking about how others would start sniffing around, his aura became so severe that it forced Otto to shield himself with energy, ''Okay, let''s try and trick her.'' Standing before the night-elf and seeing the panic in her eyes, like the fate she resigned to, probably thinking that he would torture her. Yet, he had another plan. Alexander calmed down, dispersing his aura since he needed to think now more tactically than anything else. Torturing someone professional might not bring out the information he needed and less just by rewarding her. He needed a carrot and a stick, which slowly came to him as he looked at the subconsciously shivering elf before him. It was serious. Alexander needed to know if this was just some poor pharmacist being forced to make the love potion because they had a disease and, thus, debt, someone trying to flood the market, or something else entirely, like some household trying to bring his family in trouble. However, his plan was quite childish and also based on rumors and gossip about him being a mage and mages in general. Since they were relatively rare, creating the worst kind of gossip about him was easy, and he would use it now to his advantage. Alexander''s smile became pure evil as he used all his acting and deceiving skills, squatting one meter (~3.2ft) before the elf and starting his Wolfywood career, he thought nervously. "Let me introduce myself, even though you probably know me. I am Alexander K. Leonandra, fourth puppy of the Leonandra household and known for being a genius mage and alchemist..." He conjured a couple of small fireballs, letting them dance on his palm, "...you may know this already, but there are many things less known about me." She looked first at the fireballs but then at Alexander, confused. He sighed, extinguishing the fireballs and creating a water contraption of a little person with a core made of light floating inside, a lightning orb spell, also called candlelight. While doing so, he said softly but strictly, "I apologize. Sadly, we may have a communication problem, but let me try to be clearer..." The person made out of the water, with a shining light in its chest, stood finished before the night-elf, waving at her while smiling crookedly. She looked at it, becoming more confused, obviously expecting torture rather than this bizarre sight. However, Alexander continued, sounding relaxed, "This is a representation of a sapient person. A beast-kin, a night-elf, a human, whatever you want, and the little ball of light..." He smiled at her more amiably, tilting his head slightly, "...you know what this is?" She didn''t respond, becoming visibly bored, but Alexander wanted this, trying to bring her emotions through a rollercoaster. He continued while gesturing, suggesting he was a typical noble who wasn''t fond of fighting, "You see. I don''t like violence and less all the blood. Because of this, alchemists and mages have tried to perfect certain torture methods over the millennia..." She raised an eyebrow, looking confused but with anticipation and fear this time, "...which are not brutal, but it really depends, right?" He opened his arms as if asking. From beside the person out of water rose a person out of the earth, and while it slowly formed, looking nightmarish, just sitting there with an open mouth, he continued while sounding excited. "For torture, I use the soul transmission method, which is quite ancient but still good, in my opinion, but it is better to demonstrate to you what I really want to do with you..." He licked his lips as if wanting her to be still silent. When the earthly person finished, the light inside the water person slowly started to leave, and when it was outside, the water splashed on the ground, dissolving. The elf looked at it, slowly realizing what was happening, but Alexander continued joyfully as if he were playing with his toys. "This method is quite dangerous..." He chuckled, "...well, for you, honestly, since I need to extract your soul and put it carefully..." The ball of light moved toward the earthly body "...into a fitting puppet." It was one of the less-known rumors and gossip about mages and alchemists, saying they could steal the soul. In all honesty, Alexander believed somewhat that a soul existed or something with his thoughts, ideas, and memories since he woke up as a puppy after being used in a real-life version of the board game where you stab the barrel with swords. However, Alexander didn''t know what the soul was, how to locate it, or anything else. He betted on the elf, knowing even less about sound alchemy, mages, and souls, and it worked. Her panic slowly rose, her eyes opening widely, her pupils shaking. From the beginning, his idea was to threaten her with something that everyone feared: Eternal torture. Seeing her slowly breaking down, Alexander sighed, sounding slightly annoyed but still joyful, scratching his head, "It''s quite the work I need to do, but if I do everything right, your mind or soul will be inside the puppet for all eternity, Keke..." He held his hand before his mouth when he chuckled like a crazy person, acting surprised, "...whoops. I am sorry, but I always wanted to see what happened to a soul after ten, fifty, hundred, and thousand years without any stimulus, meaning you will not feel, see, hear, smell, etc. You will only be able to think..." His smile widened, looking at her as if she was about to be devoured, "...slowly going insane!" Alexander touched the puppet made from earth, the light now fully inside, while glaring like a crazy person into the elf''s eyes, who suddenly started to sweat, slightly pressing herself against the wall, trying to escape instinctively from him. "Isn''t it great? You will slowly go crazy without being able to kill yourself, hehe..." He approached the earthen puppet while looking at the elf, pressing against the head, "...and even better. When I am gone, the puppet with your soul will still exist..." His smile widened even more, "...for all eternity." He crushed the earthen person''s head. She broke, tears slowly coming out. As she was about to say something, her neck and mouth shaking, Alexander interrupted her, wanting to give her a chance. He shrugged, "Well, while I love to experiment on you, a night-elf''s soul..." He sighed, disappointed, "...I sadly have my noble''s duty to find out who was behind the love potion." He destroyed the earthen person, still acting disappointed but trying to sound more joyful, "It''s obvious that you are not the one behind this love potion. Still, if you tell me everything, you know..." The earth of the earthen puppet transformed into a treasure chest with light glistering, looking like gold, "...I will reward you handsomely since I need that information more than your soul..." He sighed more heavily, "...sadly." The night-elf closed her eyes, sweating, but opening her mouth slightly, barely audibly muttering, "Please stop..." This was the first time she spoke. Even Quill couldn''t bring her to talk, so if her following words wouldn''t be a go fuck yourself, it would be a win. However, Alexander had to act. He rolled his eyes and sighed, sounding exhausted, "I feel a little insulted, honestly. I am not a monster, you know? Besides my infamous side as mage and alchemist, I am also known to be very gracious, helping the poor and troubled. A saint, which title I take seriously." She opened her eyes slowly, still panicking but more relaxed. Alexander smiled at her more amiably, using every skill he could, "If you tell me everything, not only will I give you enough gold to live comfortably for three of your lifetimes, but I will also send you to some village nobody knows about, and..." She tried to say something, her voice full of anxiety, "I..." Alexander waved at her in dismissal, wanting to come over as excentric, still playing his role, "Psht, let me talk... where was I? Right!..." He clapped his hands as if he forgot, "...and I will also help your close ones, depending, of course, on the situation as a whole, obvious, right?" He dispersed the treasure chest made out of earth and lightning orb, straightened up, and stretched, "Urgh!..." After he was done, he looked down at her, "...so? What''s your answer? I am honestly happy with whatever choice you make." She looked down, visibly thinking it through, and then became silent again, not answering at all. After some minutes of her not saying anything, Alexander sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Fine by me. Let me get the ingredients and a fitting puppet..." He turned around, acting as if wanting to leave, only to get stopped by her, her voice shaking, talking with a weird Nocir dialect, "Please wait! I will tell, but..." Alexander turned around, looking confused, "But what?" She looked down, biting her lower lip, sounding distressed, "We just want to live... please..." Alexander raised an eyebrow, sounding annoyed, "Listen, tell me everything you know, and I will give you a life of pure bliss in some nice and isolated area. If it works out, your family will also be safe. I simply need the one who made the potion or who directed you to make it." She looked into his eyes. Anxiety and unsureness overwhelmed her, "I... but..." Alexander, seeing her like this, needed to give her insurance. Otherwise, she would only tell him half-truths. He, however, meant what he said. He had no interest in punishing some foot soldiers and would rather find the root of their operation and rip it out entirely. As such, he said something he shouldn''t, with him still acting, shrugging, "I get it. How can you trust me, right? What if I promise you, though? Do you know how valuable a noble''s promise is?" She nodded, surprised, with her doubts slowly disappearing, "I... know..." Alexander nodded, squatting again before her, "Other than that, is my reputation not fitting? A mage, an alchemist, and a saint?" He couldn''t make a mana contract; he needed to send her away without leaving too much on the record. Sure, he could destroy it afterward, but before that, he needed to make it, write it, etc. It would cost too much time. Giving her a noble''s promise was much faster and better anyway, as a noble''s word had, paradoxically, even without leverage, more worth. Nobles were proud beings, and they staked their reputations by promising something. Even if only close retainers saw them lie or not follow through with what they promised, it would heavily damage their relationships. Why should one believe in his promises when he lied before? As such, his word was worth a lot. She nodded again, and Alexander continued, "You see, I love to help people, never mind the race, age, gender, or whatever they are, and I can help you..." Alexander bopped her nose. She flinched slightly, looking to the side, frightened. Alexander had her, with her visibly wanting to speak but needed a little time, ''Now, who actually made the damn potion, and who do I need to burn on a stake.'' However, she suddenly started crying, contorting her face, "Heuk... my people are dying." Alexander tilted his head, "Your people?" "I... I will tell you everything, but please... heuk safe, my people..." She looked at him hopelessly, "...I don''t care about gold... You are a saint, and I know of those rumors about you." Tears started running down her cheeks, and he saw how she had bet everything on him, and her following words made more sense as to why, " I... I also listened to your speeches... heuk... I am a Leonandrian, too! I was born on this damned Red Moon like everyone else! Please! Safe us!" She bowed forward as much as she could, her chain tightened, "I will do everything! My people need protection! Aren''t we all the same?! Trying to survive this torture... heuk!" Alexander raised an eyebrow, sitting on the floor before her, leaning backward while creating a backrest contraption out of earth, "Start and the least I can promise you, by my name, that I will listen to you, and if they deserve saving, I will do my best." Chapter 143.5: Lovely Corrospendence III This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Chapter 144: Special Operation I Author''s note: I''m sorry I haven''t answered your comments yet. I''m a bit in a time crunch because of the semester and have barely time, but I still read them and will answer at some point ;) Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Chapter 145: Special Operation II This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Chapter 146: Special Operation III ... Private Lounge, Wintersleep Hotel, Wolfsteeth Seeing all of Alexander''s guests starting to read his plan, he waved his hand, letting a chair float toward him. While he didn''t need to use such a gesture, it was feedback others required so that they wouldn''t be too disturbed by the alchemy or magic appearing around them. As the chair floated toward him, he took his blazer off, letting it float toward Cloelle, one of his maids, who was surprised by having a blazer gliding toward her, which she caught, though not happy about it as she glared at Alexander while putting it on a coat hanger. When the chair stopped directly under his buttox, he plopped down casually, putting one leg over the other, relaxing, and falling into thoughts. Unconsciously, he loosened his copper-colored neck tie and rolled up his sleeves, looking like the son of some third-rate bookie who managed second-rate mercenaries. However, he became a little bored waiting for his guests to finish reading and join his conspiracy, he thought so jokingly. While it sounded risky, in truth, even if everything went wrong for his guests, should they decide to join, the losses would be negligible. Alexander was the only one with any chance of getting beheaded, but the possibility was the same as winning the jackpot¡ªlittle to none. The most likely scenario would involve him incurring some financial loss should something go wrong, but even with that, he would get his money''s worth. As such, what was left to worry about? As Rousseau once said on Twitter, Those people who treat politics and morality separately will never understand either of them. Alexander would agree with that, even seeing it on Orbis. Morals were dictated mainly by the rulers, who governed with sheer force, enacting their preferences into law. While there was a limit to how much one could force one''s morals before it had an adverse political effect like brain drain or economic loss in general, they were usually much more bendable than on Earth. However, if politicking meant controlling a fief from an isolated point of view, it would become children''s play. Many ruled a territory, and they were as strong and had more resources or friends. Here came the point where all morals bent due to cooperation. Sure, starting a war was always an option, but if everyone would do this, Orbis would be in constant turmoil, more than it was already. However, this situation Alexander was trying to fix was the perfect example of how one''s morals fucked someone else over, which was the Temple that created this whole mess. The standard procedure would''ve been to eradicate the enemies, but their moral compass stopped them, putting Moorgrel, especially his fief, into this weird position. To resolve it, he would need to bend his morals, trying to slither through loopholes written between three parties hundreds of years ago. While feeling a little disgusted as he wanted to act very differently, it was the best he could do. He had his morals but would gladly be hypocritical when improving his fief and the subjects living here. When such thoughts entered his mind, his gaze became ice-cold, and he remembered his Mother when she dealt with her administrative duties, ''Tsk, I get her now.'' Alexander''s moralistic views were far from what his actions said, but he needed to play the game and slowly change it with little things here and there. In comparison, he could trick the refugees into attacking him using djinns from the Essence Alliance. If the camp signed into a deal with them, he could destroy them for good. Such an action was the standard for this world, and his trying to give them even a chance was highly abnormal and could even seen as saint-like. This was also the reason for this hefty document he produced. He needed to justify his benevolence strongly, trying to find every favorable angle he could so his retainers wouldn''t just scream him down, as most cared little about the camp. The same applied to the fire-djinn half-sisters, who would gladly even pay to set the camp up in flames, together with the wind-djinns. ''What a mess...'' It had everything he hated about politics, reminding him of a minesweeper game. Morals came from the religious side, which acted hypocritically, making it much harder to act sensibly without pissing off the treehugger. The wider populace hated the camp because they attacked, robbed, and pillaged in the past. Folk tales about their past actions were widespread, and counteracting them would be a massive endeavor in itself. Thus, integrating them would be impossible in the foreseeable future. Anything less than them paying half a pound of flesh and showing considerable results against his kin''s enemies would only end in massive discrimination or worse. Furthermore, his Master passed commands down to let them die off naturally. If Alexander wanted this to end, he would first need to find out what the Count got for taking them and most likely double it since breaking contracts wasn''t seen favorably by Mal-Gil''s Higher Nobility. He was not ready to make such a sacrifice, putting his fief and Moorgrel in general into a worse position for future negotiations. Alexander hated everything about it, which made him seeth. While thinking he may not have the loveliest allies, he didn''t forget whose fault it was in the first place, ''Essence Alliance huh... I bet I can make it fun with a couple more inventions.'' However, he hated one thing the most: He was forced into this position. For example, like with the paper making and their financial problems, when he saw a problem, he needed to solve it. It was like a compulsion that forced him to act as fast as possible. So, seeing that there was a ticking time bomb on their borders, he needed to resolve it somehow. Sure, they were relatively peaceful, but that could change very quickly, as seen with the love potion they made by buying a recipe on the black market. He needed to act promptly and ruthlessly while trying to hold on to his morals as much as possible for his own sake. Such a risk was not allowed to stay. The Essence Alliance and others putting him into this position made Alexander even madder, with his tail puffed out. The air around him became tense, ''I swear, I will put so much coin into them and make sure...'' His thoughts were suddenly interrupted before he could manifest his emotional outburst into something more tangible. Helena folded over the last page, asking, "How much of that trash is there?" As thought, Helena and Lila weren''t fond of the wind-djinns, seeing them as nothing more than some vermin. However, while not liking their sentiment, it was more or less typical in the Eros Alliance. Alexander shrugged, "The whole camp is ca..." He was interrupted by a distressed Lila, who glared in Helena''s direction, "Excuse me?! You deciding this without asking the patriarch is irresponsible!" Helena leaned back, gliding with her hand through her lengthy and rosy hair, "Who cares? We have literally nothing to lose. In the best case, we can take over some islands using them and give them some useless pieces of sand so they don''t rebel and be happy. Worst case, we can use them to pressure Essence..." She pointed at Alexander, with her open palm upwards, smiling mischievously, "...Mr. Alexander will invest in this endeavor by buying certain products at slightly higher costs and subsidizing those vermins. We will use part of the profits and buy the stuff we need from their artisans for the trash. I see no negatives except that we might lose some time and get diseases when interacting with them." Lila frowned, "Really? What if they get all the weapons and territory and go against us?" Alexander shook his head, sighing, "Really? Would they go against the one who is propping them up? Other than that, should they go against us, under the banner of Essence or by themself, it means that we can eradicate them since they will be classified differently..." He pointed at them, faking a smile, "...which would make you profit, too." Lila looked at Alexander, skeptical, pondering how to question what he had just stated as fact. However, Aurum was faster, asking much more bluntly, "How does it profit them actually to increase the numbers of their enemies besides straining our relationships?" Alexander looked at the half-sisters since they were the party that needed convincing, "Let''s hypothetically say they attack my kin or yours, whatever the case..." He let another bundle of papers float toward him, with one piece of paper coming out right before him, "...in case of any backstabbing, I ensure great financial help and will even pay some mercenaries who will help you. Other than that..." His smile widened, "...I think you being able to eradicate the last wind-djinns will be seen as something great, right? Even though, somewhat losing out, you ensured that such a risk wouldn''t later on join the Essence alliance in secret and become a more substantial force." Aurum frowned, nodded, and started to note something down. Ultimately, it would only be a financial loss for Alexander. While it was tragic for the mercenaries, they were sellswords and ready to die, and if he wanted to make it for the half-sisters as risk-free as possible, he would contribute well to paying for some poor bastards to die for some coin, should something go wrong. Besides covering the risk, it was also a test for relationship building, especially for someone like Alexander, who was new to all of this without having any worth to his name. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. What was considered worth? Trust. It was all about trust, and the best way to build it, even though paradoxically, was by making deals that could terribly go wrong and seeing how the parties acted in the worst-case scenario. It wasn''t abnormal to miscalculate and cause an error, but what happened afterward was important. Were they good faith and amicable, trying to work out a way to make up for their mistakes, or would they ambush the other, trying to cause even more damage to offset the costs? Both would love to see how the other party would act. Not only were Lila and Helena curious about Alexander, but he also wanted to know if he could trust them. Fail or not, it would be perfect either way. However, Helena seemed to have another opinion, asking lazily, "Wouldn''t it be better if they would join Essence and we kill them off that way quickly?" Lila looked at her incredulously, "Excuse me?! Are you now against us?!" Helena shrugged and smiled mischievously at her half-sister, "What? It''s not like Mr. Alexander doesn''t know. This plan..." She tapped on the masses of papers, "...are not something you do in an afternoon with cake and tea..." She turned to Alexander, smiling full of fascination, "...I am just interested in why this way, and not just tricking them and eradicating them for good. It sounds like sooo much work for..." She raised her lip in disgust slightly, "...those." Alexander shrugged, expecting such a suggestion, but not from Helena, "I am an idealist and love helping those who can''t, like with my charity." The best answer was the easiest¡ªjust because. Sometimes, stating one''s irrational emotions was enough. Helena smiled slightly, analyzing Alexander thoroughly, "Is sending them toward the battlefield helping, though? I see..." She folded her hands and propped her head on them, her smile becoming playful, "...I would like to know what Mr. Alexander thinks about this?" Seeing her like this, Alexander frowned inwardly. He understood that she was the politically competent one among the half-sisters, even though she gave off the feeling that everything was a game, taking nothing too seriously. However, her questions were undoubtedly reasonable, making it a bizarre contrast. Helena''s reason for asking those questions was something he couldn''t comprehend, but it wasn''t important for now. Alexander had no secrets in this regard, as the wider populace widely knew his ideals through his charity. She clearly tested him on something, probably to see how honest he was. As such, he decided to be honest. There was no need to lie or be stubborn. "Nobody said I was not a realist, either. Ultimately, they are a resource I can also use while deepening our relationship with your clans and helping them with some land. Everyone wins, right? My conscience will be fine, too..." Alexander leaned back, "...of course, a battlefield is dangerous, but don''t you think staying still in Kratikal is more so? It''s always a question of one''s perspective." Helena and Alexander looked at each other, faking their smiles in a rather uncomfortable exchange. "Isn''t Mr. Alexander too hypocritical? Couldn''t you just put them on some island even further away? I would guess it would be easy for them to take over any outpost far out there and survive." "Helena is truly clever, a clever girl..." Her facade broke slightly, "...but there is a reason why I feed those unfortunate ones nutritious food, not just bread and water. It is an investment into something more, not survival." "Does that mean Mr. Alexander''s worry ends if they are useless anymore or..." She looked more closely at him, "...rather can''t be used anymore? Like cows not able to give any more milk?" "Useless? Please, I don''t think this primitively..." She popped a vein, still holding onto her playful demeanor, "...I call it emancipated. It will become a massive plus for us when they start to participate in politics while we control them." "It didn''t answer my question, though, Mr. Alexander." "Oh, what was that again?" "Aren''t you a little too hypocritical? You want to help just because, don''t you? This sounds more like a cold-blooded politician, not the fun and idealistically-eyed noble child..." Her tone became, for Alexander, like nails on a blackboard, lengthening his name, "...Mr. Alexander." "Is that all?" Alexander tilted his head in confusion. "Oh? Now, even I am confused as to what you didn''t understand, Mr. Alexander." She also tilted her head in confusion. Alexander chuckled, shaking his head, "Oh, sorry, I understood you clearly, but this here..." He opened his arms widely, "...is not a puppyish game of clear winners and losers. I can''t come to you all wanting 100% while giving you as a benefit some greater good that you may not even believe in. Isn''t it normal to balance those out and benefit one''s allies so they receive the most amount they can while I can follow my romantic nature as well as I can without damaging my fief and even letting it prosper?..." He shrugged, "...it''s all a balancing act." Helena continued for him, her smile gone, though she looked relieved, "Balancing real politics with one''s morals bla bla bla..." She gestured to continue, apparently done with her questioning, "...I heard this too much already from Mother..." She smiled slightly at Alexander, "...but I thank you for answering my questions honestly, and I am certainly in." While they had the quick exchange, everyone else was more or less unconcerned by it. It was apparently so common for them to see even worse discussions, but not for Lila, who frowned constantly, not liking what she heard. She cleared her throat, "Ahem! I don''t think I can be part of this operation." Before Alexander could ask her why, Helena looked at her lazily, asking quickly, "You know that your branch is already declining, right? This opportunity will be something you could only hope for. Better still, isn''t your branch close to Prelms and Koya? Wouldn''t it be a boon to get those?" Prelms and Koya were islands in the southeast, close to those occupied by the Essence alliance. They were useless to beast-kin but apparently had some value to djinns, as there were unique dungeons with particular trials, mostly made for them. Usually, dungeons were, in very rough terms, caves with monsters living in them. They had a core made of energy or mana to create those monsters and numerous resources. They fed on ambient mana or energy, and they became larger the more adventurers or stray monsters died inside them. It was an incredible resource for every territory, but it was also similarly dangerous. Dungeon monsters were able to flee and attack nearby towns and cities, and worse, they could hide in forests or other natural habitats, multiply, and become a danger to the sapient beings. This was also believed to be where all monsters came from, now roaming around the world. It was an incredible opportunity, but if the dungeon became enormous, the monsters that could escape sometimes destroyed whole cities. Thus, it was always a risk/cost factor if one really wanted to let such a ticking time bomb stay in their territory. Some dungeons occasionally became overly specific and useless for almost everyone. For example, the one on those islands contained something that augmented djinn''s divine skills, making it useless for beast-kin. As such, he was surprised that Helena mentioned it by herself since Alexander wanted to make that point, as the dungeon was even useless for the Essence alliance. Apparently, only fire-djinns and some versions of them could benefit from it. While it was apparent that it was insignificant to them since they didn''t try to take it over with full force, it would nonetheless be a boon. Other than that, the Leonandra fief also once had a dungeon. However, it only produced demonium and monsters that could be found in Kratikal en masse. It was useless and, worse, dangerous because it could become uncontrollably strong, and wild demon-like monsters could escape. Because of this, his Mother raided it alone, destroying the core for good. Back to the discussion, it took Alexander a moment to understand why Lila didn''t mention this, as she probably wanted to get more benefits, acting casually. She glared at Helena, slightly annoyed, "Why do you even mention that..." She glanced at Alexander, who smirked at them but knew about this dungeon. Lila smiled nervously, trying to appear more competent, "...I mean, we would obviously be doing you a favor by taking it off..." Helena rolled her eyes, interrupting her sister, "Oh, by the Circle, can we not play this stupid game? Mr. Alexander came to us in good faith and even answered all my questions honestly, without the typical yammering aristocrats do..." She leaned toward her rather tense sister, "...just take the damn deal, profit, and don''t try aunties stupid negotiation tactics. This here is not the market." Lila opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but quickly stopped. She turned to Alexander and nodded, "I apologize. I will think about it over a few days, but I am very positive about this." Alexander smiled at them, "That would be great, and what about anyone else?" Helena raised her hand playfully, "Me, teacher!" Alexander broke, laughing at her, "Haha, sure, what''s up?" "I would like you to reconsider what you could buy, like..." Alexander interrupted her, "You want me to buy your Dad''s mana items?" After some research, he confirmed Helena''s identity. Her parents were quite wealthy, though they had little influence on politics. They were mana item merchants and were influential, mostly selling luxurious products. Helena tried to follow in their footsteps and build up her connections as much as possible. According to Quill, she wasn''t a stranger to the underworld. She was often there, dealing in their family business, usually by networking and entering auctions, being an excellent source for mana items. Lila was the complete opposite. She was less interested in networking outside the Golden Feather Bank. While doing her job well, she did little to connect with others, did not like risks, and never back-talked authority figures. She was clearly uncomfortable leading, which was fine, but she was a great support, working from behind and helping. Nathan praised her often for her work ethic, but she crumbled fast regarding communication outside of work. Alexander shrugged, smiling at her, "My goal was to buy alchemical ingredients, but it''s not like I don''t need mana items. Just give me your catalog with all items, and we will surely find one or the other I can take off your hand." Helena clapped her hands, blushing, making her rather rosy skin even more so, "Great! I knew from the beginning that Mr. Alexander is a great partner!" "Sure..." he ignored her, looking around, "Any more questions?" Other than the discussions with those half-sisters, all his retainers started discussing him, ranging from Ocilia finding it better to just kill them off to Aurum not wanting to waste resources on them, etc. However, in the end, they understood the benefits. While it would be nonsensical to do something like this for someone who was only wealthy and without a nobility title, he had one, and everyone already saw him as the heir, not even questioning it. His improving the fief with such a complicated operation made sense to everyone. However, it was only the start of the planning. They wouldn''t take the documents with them and would come again tomorrow evening, trying to work out all those points they wanted to change. Only after talking everything through could Alexander think of some way to contact the refugees one way or another, proposing a definitive deal. When the day ended, he stood up, throwing his blazer over his shoulder, "Like said before, no leaking. If you have questions or need to ask your clan, do so, but ask me before how to ask, etc. The last thing I need is for you to reveal my name to your patriarch, and then they will write to my parents." However, before he left, Helena quickly ran over to him, "Mr. Alexander! I may need to remind you of something!" Tired of the lengthy discussions, Alexander looked at her, barely holding back a yawn, "Yeah? Can we not talk about it tomorrow? It''s not like the refugees are running away." She shook her head, "No, no, it is about something else you might have forgotten about!" Alexander raised an eyebrow, finding it quite weird since he had a great memory, "What exactly? Which page?" She shook her head again, "Not the documents, Mr. Alexander." "What then?" "Well... you forgot the offenders." Alexander raised an eyebrow, confused, "What offenders?" Chapter 146.5: Social Work I This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 147: Everything begins in a bar with a letter and a masked person The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 148: Preparations, Observations, and Alexander turning up the heat I Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Chapter 149: Preparations, Observations, and Alexander turning the heat up II Author''s note: I will take my slight creative freedom pass on this one. There are some mistakes, but I don''t think someone can figure them out. -> Cut to some chemist who is actually working at a water treatment plant writing an extensive comment. This I would actually love. Also, beginning in July, I will post only on Thursday and Sunday for the next months because of my semester exams and lab I need to do! Don''t worry, though, I will post the coming Sunday :* ... Wolfsteeth, Canalization What was the most unpleasant place for canine-kin in the whole of Wolfsteeth? The canalization, undoubtedly. So, why would a very young canine-kin, wearing aristocratic attire, with his tail stuck into his pant legs after accidentally touching the walls, visit it with many soldiers and guards surrounding him from all sides? It was because he needed something, something he could only find here. As Alexander walked in a seemingly endless tunnel, with his anti-gas spell needing to be replaced every five minutes, he was deeply in thought while observing a place he wished he never needed to enter. This vigor, which vanished now but led him to this place, started with a letter he received from Aurum explaining their plan in such a vague manner that it could mean everything from starting a coup to wanting another suite in the hotel. However, when Alexander visited them inside the dump they called a room, he became fascinated by their idea. First, with his current finances being drained from him, like the sewage water draining all the excrement, he was forced to be a little more proactive in his endeavor to gain more gold. Besides schools and his charity projects, he tried something else entirely after the love potion debacle. He wanted to reform prisoners and drug abusers, creating a more sustainable way for low-level offenders to rejoin society. However, the reason was less his love to help but a cold and calculative move than anything else. Reformed people like this were far more productive and valuable to society than those who only visited drug dens and committed crimes. If this and the other projects showed that the fief made more gold and became safer, his Mother would fund it by herself, but it was too early to show any definitive conclusions. Until then, though, he would need to sponsor those projects himself. However, because someone made a foolish decision, primarily and only Lila, whom he called lovingly braindead now, he was in a precarious position, forcing him to think about his finances, which had been stable until now. Did Alexander want to know why she did what she did? Yes. Would it change anything? Not really. The operation would continue because he needed to move the camp away from the border, as he was in contact with them. As such, Lila''s quintupling his costs was annoying, but he wasn''t the only one who suffered. Helena, her half-sister, was also somewhat forced into the situation. Sure, from her tellings, she could withdraw her branch from the merit bet, but it would lose a lot of trust and gold¡ªsomething Alexander didn''t want to happen to trusted allies. Would it mean that Alexander had to cut Lila loose? Not at all. He just commanded her to sit still and learn. While incompetent, he trusted his gut feeling that she was skilled in other fields and was just tricked by someone who appealed to her hubris. Other than that, when life gave him lemons, he would need to make lemonade somehow. Thanks to Ariana, who saw a golden opportunity in this disaster, she really squeezed them dry. She reacted quickly by suggesting they could partly make gunpowder in their territory, ship it over to the fire-djinns, finish it, and sell it to others. As such, they already made a rough draft for their contract, with Alexander having immense profit margins. After this, he started to love the petite chameleon girl for having such a great idea, as she slowly lost herself in the craziness that was Moorgrel. Weirdly enough, many didn''t know the formula for gunpowder, but Alexander did. Also, Merlin did it, too. Thus, he advocated banning it during his time for many reasons. Fortunately, after checking through most laws regarding alchemy and weapons, while it wasn''t allowed to be made in Mal-Gil, Alexander could still theoretically sell it to other Kingdoms or Empires. Of course, the Emperor or Count, finding out, would have his head either way, whatever a dusty law book said. Yet, they were nonetheless bound by it and would try to follow the law as best as possible. The Council of Commoners, the Count, Higher Nobles, and the Crown all restrained each other as strictly as possible to follow the laws put in place by all parties. Ignoring the law would make one untrustworthy, bringing much more negative consequences than it was worth to act outside of the law. However, Alexander believed little that he would have any way to mobilize others should he be found out. Instead, he would be executed on the spot. Thus, he needed as many friends and allies as possible, even foreigners, which was sometimes even better as they would connect through him with the Empire. Regardless of the worst-case scenario, it was more probable that he would be just fine, especially since he built so many safeguards that it would be impossible to track him down or accuse him of anything. Before he could think more about it, as he had nothing else to do while he wandered through the canalization, a giant rat jumped him from through the wall. However, barely anyone moved, with Alexander catching it while it hissed at him. He also immediately saw how dirty it was, throwing it into the sewage water, as he found it disgusting to hold. The rat hissed and screamed while arching mid-air, landing in the water with a plop. However, seeing how the rat presumably cursed him while trying not to drown, he looked to the side where it came from, through the wall, "Is this..." A guard approached him, trying to explain, "This is a closed area in the underworld. Inside are either a black market, a clan for illegal dealings, or something else entirely and most likely illegal." Alexander looked at the guard, who looked bored while explaining the concealed areas in the underworld, ''Well, who knew that crime was that boring to a guard.'' He already knew the most important facts about the underworld and wouldn''t want to get involved directly because of some literal vermin. As long as they let him alone, he was fine. The same was true for all the guards and soldiers around him who weren''t here to look for a fight. They had a goal and didn''t care about any hidden spaces. At most, he saw how someone tried to remember the place, probably informing others about it later. When Alexander started to walk again, he cleaned his hand, using a spell, with which he caught the rat, falling into thought again and thinking of the best way to sell the gunpowder, noticing the irony that he was basically in the underworld where all kinds of illegal dealing were made. However, he would act much more carefully and intelligently than some small-time thieves as he would not sell gunpowder directly. Alexander would make part of the gunpowder in his fief while using it for other products to create plausible deniability for himself should someone figure out that those chemicals were used for gunpowder. He even told his Mother that he wanted a better ingredient for the paper making, probably found in the canalization, which wasn''t untrue. Later, he would siphon part of it away to produce gunpowder, which he would then sell to the fire-djinns. They would process it further and sell it to someone else, maybe with a profit. It was as easy as that. Other than that, the guards and soldiers around him believed that Alexander just wanted to understand the sewage system better, thus coming down here to protect him, but most knew that he didn''t need any help. Therefore, they were pretty relaxed when a local vermin vigorously greeted him. After cleaning his hand up and shaking the greyish flakes away, he suddenly was grabbed by his collar and pulled back, "Keugh... what the fuck?!" As Alexander turned around angrily, rubbing his neck, he saw one of the guards apologize, bowing down, "I apologize, Mr. Alexander, but we are here." Alexander looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Here where?" Some of the soldiers and guards chuckled, knowing Alexander too well, which made the guard, who pulled him back, barely hold her laughter, "At the... please just look behind you, Mr. Alexander." Alexander frowned, turning around, and only now noticed that he almost fell down into a giant whirlpool of shit, "Fuck me... that''s big." All the dirty sewage water from the central district of the city flew down through this canalization from all sorts of water tunnels, falling down a giant waterfall, at least fifty meters (~55yd) in height, into a massive sea of shit. Alexander already knew somewhat how it worked here, similar to Earth, but it was not by chance since he had read about it a lot before coming here, even getting a quick lecture from Anastasia. When learning about it, the most exciting thing was that a name appeared in his research: Zhuge Xiao, who revolutionized the sanitary foundations of every Empire and Kingdom, revolutionizing the sewage system for this world, making it much better than before. A name so ridiculously different from anything else at that time that it was apparent who it actually was. Zhuge Xiao was dead, and nobody knew her real age because she was older than the beast-kin and human calendar. Yet her tomb was inside the spirit guardian territory where most furries and fauners lived. Over the years, it transformed into a dungeon, with all her archived documents still inside it. Anastasia found it exciting since Alexander''s obvious predecessor had apparently documents written in a language nobody could read. Many thought it was some kind of code, but Alexander knew what the moron did write it in her language, maybe even waiting for someone like him who also reincarnated to read them. However, there was a reason he thought of her as a moron in this case. Alexander didn''t believe he could read her stuff. From her name, she was most likely from an East-Asian country, and going by his dealings with them on Earth, 90% of those couldn''t speak a second language, even worse for older generations, and while he could speak four Earthen languages, two good and two okay-ish, he had no idea about Chinese, Japanese, etc. Ignoring her probable inheritance, Zhuge Xiao was still remarkable, creating the same sewage system as on Earth with the spicy Orbis twist. What was it? Those were swimming inside the sea of diseases, trash, and worse. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Alexander strolled to the edge, looking at this enormous swimming pool and being dumbfounded, "I can''t believe that there is basically a biodome down here." Before him, inside the ridiculously disease-riddled water, were organisms of all kinds, swimming around happily, eating and being fat bastards. No other organism would survive in this environment, making them true winners, whoever could live and flourish here. With those thoughts, an example showed itself: a fish-like being jumping up into the air, scooping basically waste with its sive-like mouth, and diving back down, ''Hm... not a picky eater, but this is definitely a no-go.'' The fish-like being wasn''t the only monster down here. There were ones with dozens of tentacles and small mouths instead of suction cups, eating to their heart''s content, transparent dolphins swimming and enjoying themselves, small and thin multiple meter-long snakes slivering through waste, and much more. What was more impressive was that Zhuge Xiao domesticated all of those, and what he was seeing were slightly altered versions. What did they do? They ate those excrements, filtered the waste, and excreted relatively harmless things. It was a perfect symbiotic relationship. However, it wasn''t enough. While the organisms could filter through most of the water, it would still need to undergo the typical filtration treatment. The water would sink through the ground, going through many layers of stone, sand, and other sediments, landing back into the groundwater, and then spreading toward multiple wells. While not perfect, it was okay to drink it. However, while immensely interesting, Alexander''s attention was stolen by a monster sliding down on the wall. It was the true star of all those monsters and for what Zhuge Xiao was most known for: She discovered the actual value of slimes. Upon focusing on it, Alexander smiled, seeing that using this giant-looking bacteria was a stroke of genius, "Look at you... you really fit the name." Little to say, it wasn''t appealing in the slightest. It looked like a greenish-yellow jello with a brown ring around its core, which looked like a tiny brain. From there, small and thin nervelike strings connected to every part of its slimy body. From what Alexander read, it was clear that the monster had no sense other than touch, for which the nervelike strings were there. It was relatively harmless, at least the domesticated version, and could reproduce itself ridiculously fast through duplication. It could also be changed into different versions, making them process or digest other things than excrement. Seeing its exact anatomy, Alexander licked his lips in excitement, finding what he was looking for, ''It has it to be.'' Alexander gestured for everyone to stay back and for someone else to take various small and big containers from a spatial pouch. After everything was ready, he marked a slime relatively close to him and used an air contraption to let it flow toward him. The slime wiggled and wobbled, not because it was distressed, but because Alexander could barely lift it, with the thing being hefty, ''Why is it so fat?!'' After less than a minute, he put it inside a relatively big metallic container. He scooped some fresh sewage water out, filled the container with it, and tried to grab another slime, bringing it to him and into another container. After Alexander was done, even though he didn''t touch them, he already felt dirty but didn''t say it, wanting to appear as uncaring as the others and not like some spoiled brat, which he was, "Okay, let''s start the experimenting..." He held his hand toward a soldier, "...I need the container, which has the number one painted on it." The soldiers gave him a glass container with a liquid inside it. Alexander opened it by removing the glass cork and squatting down before the slime, who was not inside the sewage water, "I already hate this..." Alexander let the container float beside him, took off the blazer, threw it to a soldier, and rolled up his shirt sleeves. After inhaling and exhaling strongly, he took a small tea tong, usually used to brew a cup of tea so as not to waste much, and put it inside the slime, ''Urgh... is this how my doctor felt?'' It was squishy and disgusting, stinging only a little on his skin. Alexander grabbed with his tea tongs a part of its jello body beside the brown ring around the core, which made the slime jiggle slightly, and pulled out a good chunk of it, ''I hate my fucking life.'' Alexander let the container with the painted one on it float toward him, putting the scooped stuff into it. After some seconds of letting the container swirl around, a brown ring manifested, like the one around the core of the slime, ''I fucking knew it.'' So, what was he doing inside the sewer? To create gunpowder, he needed potassium nitrate (KNO3), and while he had potassium from the potassium chloride (KCl) he imported, he didn''t have any way to get nitrate (NO3-). Usually, he could find some kind of mine full of salt or ore, which had some type of nitrogen and oxide combination, but it was easier said than done. Since nobody had tested the resources for their components and didn''t know how to do it, it would all be guesswork for him. In short, it would be a giant waste of time, and he would need a lot of luck. As such, Alexander looked for other possibilities. The first thing that came to mind, and also the most reasonable, was to create the apparatuses for the Ostwald process. With that process, he could transform ammonia (NH3) into nitrate (NO3-). So, why didn''t Alexander be more reasonable and create a standardized technical process? The technical process would require weeks or months of fine-tuning to create what he needed. Besides, if he didn''t want to do it himself for weeks on end, he needed workers who would need to learn magic, and he already had been stealing loyal workers from his Mother. Fortunately, she let him do it since it brought an immense amount of gold. While the paper-making process was far more complicated because he began at zero, creating nitrate (NO3-) wasn''t much better, even though he had a much better fundament. Because of all the new processes and little manpower, he would have to sacrifice too much time, which he didn''t have. Alexander knew he should''ve started it far earlier as there was a need for nitrate besides gunpowder, and it wouldn''t have killed him, but he didn''t. He concentrated on many other projects, putting too many things to the back of his mind, and this bit him into his ass since he now needed the nitrate as fast as possible. Because the meet-up would be in a few days, plus however long they would need to discuss it, he needed a fast way to ensure enough nitrate to create explosives so the refugees could operate smoothly and successfully start when they began their attack. As such, he looked for other possibilities and accidentally came across Zhuge Xiao and her work. Were there other faster ways? With alchemy, he could whip out nitrate made out of urine like a machine. However, he had so much to do that he couldn''t sit down and do this for weeks. Other than that, he also could use another method: nitrification. He could use specific bacteria to oxidize the ammonia. However, he had no idea what those bacteria were and how to find them. He had a solid and fundamental basis in engineering, with basic college-level chemistry knowledge, but he was a moron when it came to biology and medicine. Fortunately, he came across canalizations and the work of Zhuge Xiao and her slimes. With their descriptions and Anastasia''s explanations, he figured something out: The brown ring around their core was nitrate, which bonded to iron. Scooping some out, he tested it as he put it inside an iron(II)sulfate (FeSO4) solution, which reduced the nitrate to nitric oxide (NO) and oxidized the iron (II) to iron (III). As such, he guessed that the ball of slime had nitrate inside, but it was relatively uninteresting and only an indicator of something else, which he was about to test. He looked at the other container with the slime and sewage water inside. The mostly now clean water intrigued him as it was relatively fast. However, his fascination could wait. He pulled the slime out with his air contraption, almost squeezing it like a sponge by instinct, and threw it into another container. Alexander walked closely to the container and looked at the excrement of the slime. He took one, analyzing it more closely. It was like a brittle greyish stone, ''In a world of magic, as a noble, I am analyzing the shit of monsters... what a life worth living.'' With that sarcastic thought, he let a ceramic bowl float to him, putting the slime excrement inside and conjuring a fire underneath it, wanting to evaporate all the water. While the water vaporized, he looked around, finding it amusing that his escorts were bored to death and did not understand what he was doing. Also, while yucky, when Alexander looked at the canalization, it was beautiful. It was an elegant cycle developed to create sanitary conditions so others could drink water without becoming sick. Even more impressive was that someone thought of domesticating slimes, making this progress as close to a modern water treatment plant as possible. Of course, there were some imperfections here and there, like the fact that the monsters living here needed to be exterminated occasionally. The environment was perfect for them, so they multiplied quickly. Yet, they were usually simply taken out and brought away to some village or town, used for the local lavatories there. When he suddenly thought about it, he panicked, ''Wait... I could have used the monsters at the estate...'' Feeling embarrassed, he ignored it quickly as he also wanted to see the canalization either way or at least this was what he told himself. Alexander looked at the ceramic container to divert his attention from his dumbness. The suspension had turned into a greyish powder, which he tested similarly to the scooped-out part of the slime. After putting it inside the container with a two painted on it, he swirled it a couple of times, and after a moment, a brownish ring appeared, proving to Alexander that his massive [Luck] attribute wasn''t just for show. Alexander turned toward the slimes, smiling widely, ''Yes... let''s use you, my little gold-shitting gooses.'' ... The same day, Alexander''s training room How was gunpowder created? It was straightforward if one had all the ingredients: potassium nitrate (KNO3), sulfur (S), and charcoal powder. Mix them in a specific ratio together, add some heat, and create the weapon that makes stone walls an obsolete way to defend themselves. Boom! "Fuck yeah!" Standing quite a distance away, Alexander used a fireball contraption to heat the gunpowder, making it explode. He felt exhilarating, almost blushing, as he always did when he created something new that could change the world. Was it important to him that it would help the world? He wasn''t naive. Leaders always used science and inventions in some way or another for war or other atrocities. Some were more straightforward than others, but none were exempt. Did Alfred Nobel''s dynamite kill others? Yes. Did it also ease the lives of many more people or even save others? Also yes. As such, did Alexander''s morals plague him? Not in the slightest. Orbis was too different from Earth to consider gunpowder even to be a problem. Alexander knew it best: He shot his grandmother with a hardened earthen bullet into her head, whose impact was practically similar to a high-caliber sniper rifle. Without using any energy or skills, all she got was a scratch. The same was true for Barthomolew, who at least used his skills to defend himself against a metallic bullet. Introducing gunpowder would, at most, give commoners a better way to defend themselves against low-tier monsters, not that he could sell it either way in their territory. However, with him giving it to his allies was also preferable. While there was no way they could kill higher-tiered individuals with it, it could be used to spread panic and kill all lower-tier soldiers, ambush supply chains, and more. His first and most important goal was to let the refugees win with as little help from the outside as possible. If they used mercenary platoons made out of beast-kin and the Eros alliance races, it would become a weird situation, which could result in them seeing the refugees as what they were: a weapon others used. However, if they could act mainly by themselves, at least initially, introducing mercenaries later would be more reasonable. The other problem was that Lila and Helena had this weird merit bet ongoing, and Alexander didn''t want to lose them as allies. As such, he would need to balance the use of mercenaries and concentrate primarily on making as much gunpowder as possible so that every side would be happy. Walking forward and looking at the area where it exploded, it was about what he expected. He would later create some neat weapons with gunpowder, though they wouldn''t be guns, as manufacturing them was too much for him. As such, he wanted to make one-time-useable items like bombs or splinter grenades. However, before that, Alexander wanted to test something else. He carefully pulled a one-kilogram sack (~2.2 pounds) out of his spatial pouch, laying it carefully on the ground, barely breathing, ''Okay, it worked with paper and ink. Does it here, too?'' It was gunpowder, but instead of the ordinary charcoal powder, it was the one from the tree with a massive amount of mana, which he used for paper and ink. He also focused on cultivating the species which had the most mana. Walking back very far, almost 30m (33yd), he created a fireball contraption and threw it at the mountain of explosive powder. While he didn''t believe something would happen, he promised his Mother to take his safety seriously, and fortunately, he did. BOOM! When the fireball touched the powder, it exploded, creating a massive shockwave and pushing Alexander from his feet, ''Fuck me!'' Alexander was pushed away, knocked away from his feet, fell down, and was barely able to orient himself as his ears ringed massively, ''What the fuck happened?!'' Looking where the explosion was, he saw Lili staying before him in her giant form, shielding him with her energy without a scratch herself. However, when Alexander looked beside her, he saw a crater where the explosion had occurred, and he couldn''t stop smiling, ''This is amazing.'' Chapter 150: Preparations, Observations, and Alexander turning the heat up III Author''s Note: Don''t forget! From now on, the posting schedule will be Thursday and Sunday! Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Chapter 151: Whoops You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Chapter 152: +1 Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Chapter 153: Voyeur If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Jpeg if SVG doesn''t work Chapter 154: Stand Off Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Chapter 155: Narsizs First Entrance

Warning! Warning! Warning! I describe an abhorrent scene here, so be forewarned! If you can''t read things like rape, etc., or worse!

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Chapter 156: Little Treasure This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 157: Good Faith will be rewarded (?) The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 158: Dungeons and the next steps I This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Chapter 159: Dungeons and the next steps II If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter 160: Dungeons and the next steps III If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter 160.5: Social Work II The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Chapter 161: Squirreling around If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 161.5: Social Work III This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Chapter 162: A Pig, A Rat, and Thomas Potter Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Chapter 162.5: Social Work IV The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Chapter 163: Artificing If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Chapter 164: Artificing II (& some religion) Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Chapter 165: Artificing III (Ideas and First steps) ... Place: Leonandra Estate, Entrance Hall Time: After Alexander went to the entrance hall, frightening his maids Alexander stood in the middle of the entrance hall, in his slippers and a colorful pajama, waving his arms as if he stood before an orchestra. However, instead of musicians playing a beautiful ballad, wooden and metallic pieces flew around him, bent, flattened, and assembled into what he envisioned. Multiple light spheres, like moons, orbited him, creating a cozy atmosphere that contrasted with the breaking and banging of wood and metal. After minutes of violence and throwing dirt around the whole place, Alexander stood before his creation with a broad smile. "I still suck at those." It was a simple wooden box through which he rammed two sticks, representing the axes, putting a wheel each on the end. Little to say, Alexander was embarrassed, as he was never good at creating something like a technical model. All he was able to do was to make them look artistically beautiful. However, having something detailed and looking like a train was optional. For now, Alexander only wanted to work out the overall concept, and the model supported his imagination, even though poorly. Whatever he would design later would be the problem of the blacksmiths. As such, when Alexander looked at the train(?) model he successfully created, he wondered how to make it move without first building a complicated physical engine. ''A rocket.'' The first idea was the stupidest and easiest: He would engrave a piece of metal with the propulsion spell and glue it to the back of the cart, creating basically a jet engine. ''Axis rotation.'' The next idea was something more standardized with trains than strapping a jet engine to a trolley, which was also more commonly used on Earth. By cleverly positioning the propulsion enchantment, Alexander could make the axes spin, bringing the wheels in motion and moving the vehicle forward. Alexander made the train(?) model float before him, looking at it more closely and frowning. He did not like the axis engine. For one, he didn''t even know if trains commonly used them. His ignorance on this subject was surprising, and he only now realized that he knew nothing. As such, he needed to decide on something: try something very new or take the safe route and improve on the schematics he received. Not even five seconds later, he knew what he wanted to do, ''It''s time to gamble, baby!'' Alexander had a gut feeling that there was something far greater and more straightforward than whatever was written down in the schematics. Was this mindset a mixture of the arrogance of being somewhat competent when it comes to a subject that had the word engineering in it and ignorance about mechanical engineering, thinking it wasn''t that hard? To both, yes, but there was another, much more important reason he had: It was another world with far more possibilities, so limiting his thoughts to proven research standardized by Earthlings over hundreds of years, which worked perfectly, seemed dumb, he thought so sarcastically. Of course, if he had a decent supply chain for mana stones and enough blacksmiths with the skills of dwarves and gnomes, he would just take the schematics, give it to them, and call it a day, but he didn''t, and there was a possibility that many other Guard Households neither. Ultimately, he didn''t need a functioning transit system only in his fief. Alexander''s explicit goal was that everyone should work together to make this project come true. Anything too complicated would prolong it unnecessarily. As such, why not think outside the box first? It was another world with magic. The last thing he needed was something crude. Ultimately, should he fail, he could always just simplify and correct the schematics and work with them. ''Are there more possibilities... are there more useful spells? Let''s do it from behind!'' Before envisioning a train design, which he couldn''t do either way, and then looking for fitting spells for its enchantments, why not do it the other way around? The train in the schematics had reduced air resistance as an enchantment, but this was an add-on. What if Alexander first chose the spells and had the train, the physical object, become the add-on? ''What spells are there, though?'' First and foremost, he would need to find some great spells with the potential to increase effectiveness as much as possible. ''Propulsion is an obvious one.'' One spell was mandatory, which was the air propulsion spell. It would suck in the air and blow it out, creating a reaction engine effect. By changing the construct, Alexander could regulate the strength and make it continuous instead of using the momentaneous thrust. At least for him, making an enchantment was far more manageable than a whole steam engine. Alexander was ultimately far more knowledgeable about constructs, contraptions, and mana than any physical machinery. As such, changing them accordingly when something went wrong or wouldn''t function would also be much more straightforward. Besides that, the propulsion spell was a jet engine, and he already had many great ideas about making it more usable and efficient than a physical steam engine. ''Also, having a train with a jet engine is just cool.'' Besides his puppyish thoughts, he continued trying to find more spells, going through a list of every spell he had. He tried to imagine every spell''s usefulness and mumbled them under his breath. "Fireball, no. Ice lance, no. Animal talk, maybe forcing them to run on wheels? Sharpening, no. Tornado, just a too-violent propulsion spell. Breeze, not violent enough propulsion spell. Hard at all times, when I am 18... fuck, what could I use?!" As Alexander strolled around the entrance hall, he tried to find anything new but couldn''t. Every time he tried, his experiences from Earth influenced him, making him always think of the functioning and reliable train, something he clearly didn''t want. Suddenly, he stepped on a wooden board, slipping slightly. Out of anger, he kicked it away, observing how it slid on the floor, remembering a spell he never used. "Grease? Grease!" It was a low-level spell used to show how to create a three-dimensional spell. One would need a chicken and a lot of patience, trying to use the spell on the whole of it so it couldn''t stay straight anymore and only slide around when it tried to move. It was cruel to the bird, but enveloping it in a spell initially was a real headache and a great way to learn 3D constructs that way. Sadly, it wasn''t really great for combat since every bit of energy would break it immediately, which meant that the enemy wouldn''t be affected, except if one had to fight against a horde of chickens. However, what did grease do? It created a layer that removed friction. Depending on the strength, this could be up to 90%, with Alexander suddenly realizing that he not only could but should use it. "Wheels are overrated! What did they ever do for me?" With a handwave, he conjured four air contraptions, which ripped the wheels away, making the box on wheels an ordinary box. However, he let it float toward him, immediately using the grease spell, the 2D version on the bottom, and allowing the box to fall. With a kick, the box glided on the floor like it was on ice, barely having any friction. Looking at the gliding, Alexander felt he had accomplished something but had no idea what. He felt like a monkey using a gun to beat someone to death. ''It''s probably not even that new.'' Alexander was 100% sure that someone on Earth somehow invented something similar. However, on Orbis, he would give it a 50/50 chance. Why? Did Alexander think that the people on Orbis were dumber? No, it was actually just a pure numbers game. People with mana skills and the ability to engineer things were rare. People who had both skill sets were even rarer. Furthermore, those people needed creativity and the spirit to try something new, another rare ability. What you had now was a person with too many prerequisites. If one added that they could ignore everything and just enchant spatial pouches, making a tremendous amount of gold, it made more sense why nobody was too keen to invent anything outside the given parameters. These unfortunate circumstances created two problems for Alexander. Engineering was a trial-and-error profession, and many things developed by continually failing, only to find afterward the correct answer. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Yet, he didn''t have anyone to whom he could compare his ideas, see what they did, and maybe change his methods to avoid fatal and time-wasting mistakes. It was a pioneering exercise, with him being on his own. The second problem was that he wasn''t a traditional engineer, and seeing issues and solutions in those fields was a new experience. Even though he could imagine some things, he was slightly overwhelmed. ''This is quite the problem...'' Seeing the box slide through the hall, he thought it was a great idea, but how would he implement it with the propulsion engine? The first thing that came to his mind was to dent the underside of the box so it could stay on the tracks and make two grooves. The second was to put the propulsion engine on top of the box so a good amount of airflow could go through. ''That''s all I found, but there should be more... hm...'' With those thoughts, he looked at the box before him, deliberating every possibility he could. It was like a genius was trying to win against himself in chess. However, after minutes of deliberation, he finally understood. ''I have no fucking idea what I am doing.'' If there were someone who could find problems, it would not be him. It would most likely be the first puppy who ran in front of the train, but definitely not him. Alexander wished he was a genius, but at the moment, his mind felt as if two pigeons were mating on the chessboard, which, in truth, was backgammon. Not enough, one of these pigeons ate a piece, suffocating on it. ''Yep, this is about right.'' He could not predict what problems might appear. However, he knew for sure that he needed to test it first in Wolfsteeth and the cities around the sea Howl before building a rail system to the North. In Alexander''s humble opinion, it was only courteous that if one had a crazy and novel idea, one should first kill their own subjects before doing it in other fiefs, he thought so sarcastically. ''I will need cement... I guess?'' When reading the schematics of miniature Gandalf, he described how they used old-school cement, which was much harder to make, for the blocks under the rails. Alexander would simply buy out the one Bartholomew made with his recipe since it would be very cheap. ''Okay... so... I guess it''s time for my specialization... I think?'' Alexander was cautious now since it was far from his expertise and that trains could seriously endanger someone innocent. Before testing his versions of the enchantment, he wanted to ensure that he had thought of everything. Nevertheless, the second pigeon also suffocated, with him seeing absolutely no problems. With that out of the way, Alexander walked to the thin metal plates lying on the floor, which he needed to assemble and engrave. It was a much easier process, in a theoretical sense, than most thought. The construct, derived from the same spell, would be engraved into the material. It didn''t need to be a deep engraving since the mana would flow through it either way, being drawn by the material. However, the deeper the engraving, the longer it would be durable, but one-time-use items usually had a very superficial one, not needing anything fancy. Furthermore, the energy source was in a socket, usually just a mana gem or stone. The construct was usually connected to the socket, and one only needed to push the mana inside the energy source slightly for it to move. Afterward, everything would happen almost automatically. Mana in itself was an exciting subject. Individuals and objects'' mana particles had firm inner bonds as if every mana source was unique. While interesting, what was important in a practical sense was that they had a bizarre state of aggregation by being gaseous while moving like a fluid and having the mentioned firm inner bonds of a solid. Last but not least, around it would be a circle connected to the construct, representing the chant, simply called a chant circle. It was a literal engraved circle with differently deep imprints to imitate the chant. From spell theory, it was described that the chants weren''t ways to talk to Orbis or Mana to activate a spell, but to use sounds to make the mana move in a certain way inside a construct to activate it as a whole and with that, the required effect. Even though chants were made of words and made some sense when spoken, they were only written like that to be remembered by the magician more easily. If one wanted to try, one could activate the construct with the specific sounds either by mouth or through contraptions that created those sounds. However, Alexander barely did it. Since no one else could, he did not want to stand out, making it seem overly complicated. To make it look more appealing, he also specifically spoke much slower when chanting on a day-to-day basis, so everyone who would see him use magic would see it as simply a tool and forget the mysticism surrounding it. Alexander wanted to do the same with the little engine he was imagining. He wished to improve everyone''s ability to move from place to place and build those much more easily. For this, he had his modified propulsion spell. Standing before the metal plates, he was curious since he was about to test something. Knowing Manullium''s traits in being the mana-repellent metal, he was curious if he could develop a novel kind of enchantment. ''Hm, I guess... worth a try.'' With another handwave, all those thin pieces of silvery Manullium with a blue hue floated toward him, bending and stretching as he conjured multiple fireballs and waterballs. Metallic tools floated around, sparks flying as he welded the metallic plates. If Alexander was honest, it was easy. Manullium, as a metal, had little heat resistance and was very malleable, something he found perfect for his little test but a terrible choice for anti-magic weapons or armor. After over an hour, he finished and proudly watched as his creation floated before him, in all its glory, looking like the T1000 after being pulled out of the lava. ''Junk.'' Alexander attempted to create something that would allow him to avoid engravings, as otherwise, if he and all those other Guard Households also needed to buy expensive metals, the project would become less appealing immediately. His solution looked terrible, but theoretically, it should work. Nothing spoke against inventions, and his way was to make them as easy as possible for no-mana users. Engravings were usually meticulous work, with them needing to look precisely at every single curve and line, replicating the construct exactly, as otherwise, they would lose efficiency. The mana needed to go through the engravings, and Alexander didn''t understand why. Because of this, his attempt was floating before him, the jerry-rigged and modified propulsion spell made out of Manullium. A daring effort, indeed. The two-by-two-meter (6.6 ft) physical representation of the construct was many pipes welded together. Alexander theoretically replicated every prerequisite for the spell to work, which he started to inspect in detail, wanting first to know if there were any faults besides its ugliness. First and foremost, he changed the construct of the propulsion spell. Usually, the spell construct was far more complicated than what the giant trash of welded metal showed. Its function would be to thrust in a single and precise attempt, perfect for using the earth bullet combination spell. To have such an instantaneous thrust, one must pressure the air and let it explode by command. However, such a thing wasn''t needed anymore, as it would run continuously at one speed, making it far more straightforward and efficient, with fewer nodes and bridges. It would constantly suck in air and blow it out to create a thrust, which would then push the train. Funnily enough, he could even recreate the chant ring around the construct. It was a continuous pipe connected at two places with the spell construct. He used indents instead of grooves for the sounds, replicating the chant, which he needed to calculate as it would sound very different inside a pipe. Second, he checked all the supplemental elements he added, fearing it wouldn''t work otherwise. The socket for the mana stone became a bin for many of those, further away from the central construct. Since it was a much bigger construct, he theorized that it needed more mana, which he would supplement with the bucket. Third and last, he had two smaller constructs. One was beside where the construct began, and one on the other side, where it would theoretically end. Mana absorption and emission would regulate the mana flow inside the pipes. Were such add-ons in typical constructs common? No, but he thought they were needed because of the metal he used. While others looked for a perfect material not to absorb mana, he thought repelling it would work similarly. All he had to do was, instead of having the mana run over the engraving, he could construct the engraving around the mana, making it run inside. Since it wouldn''t be absorbed in any way, he had no worries about destroying any material. However, it came with other drawbacks. Alexander used the small constructs, which absorbed and emitted mana, to create a cycle for a good reason. If he tried to push his mana into the pipes, the Manullium would repel it. Worse, when it was halfway through, the repulse would suddenly force it to the outside, which meant it would probably activate faster when looking at a construct. Afterward, his other mana followed since it had those solid inner bonds. In the worst case, the cycle would become a mess, with Alexander needing to fine-tune so much that it wouldn''t be worth it or wouldn''t work at all since he could easily forget something important. Even though Alexander continuously heard his skills leveling up, he still was very much clueless. After presumably ten levels, he could now see mistakes and ascertain the functionality and flaws much easier, but it was in his mind not enough, not even close to what he needed. ''All or nothing...'' With a couple of air contraptions, he let it hover sideways before him while trying to observe it meticulously to catch every flaw so he could change it later¡ªthat mess every steampunk enthusiast would love was now ready, with Alexander becoming slightly nervous. With his mana, he activated the enchantment, with the mana being slowly sucked into the entrance pipe, but it immediately jammed at the entrance. Alexander frowned, seeing his mistake immediately, ''Maybe wider pipes? But too big isn''t good either, I think. Hm...'' Whatever made Manullium repel mana didn''t have an infinite reach. If the pipes were wide enough, the mana could flow right through the middle, with the construct having a perfect mana flow without any push-and-pull factors from the absorption or repelling. Alexander sighed. He had been feeling down since his first test failed, but he could already remedy what had caused him the most headache, ''Well, let''s try... huh?!'' As the jammed mana became a glowing ball of dense, dangerous energy, it suddenly pushed through the entrance, sucking out all the other mana from the bucket, too, looking cartoonishly. Alexander couldn''t fathom why it accelerated the absorption and emission, but it finally worked. The air was sucked in and out at absurd speeds, with him needing to strain his mind to hold it in place. With a broad smile, he looked at his creation, hearing a constant pinging, which he adored, as he possibly invented something great. He felt his ego swell to unimaginable sizes. ''The pigeons are alive and won against Deep Blue!'' However, this moment didn''t last long, as he noticed something when the enchantment engine rattled and shook violently. ''Oh, Uh... I forgot the thermodynamics...'' The construct acted literally like a jet engine, which also meant that it heated up to a ridiculous degree. The usually silverish metal with a blue hue started to glow red, threatening to melt down, and the airflow and mana began to condense into a single ball of something very dangerous, getting stuck as the metal bent from the heat. Alexander immediately flashed away multiple times as the construct heated up to a massive degree, with the mana reacting quite violently. "Lili! Come on!" His loyal part-time guard wasn''t there, and he panicked, conjuring dozens of spells, like mana barrier, fire shield, and many contraptions around him, while looking around, hoping no one else was there. BOOM! After what seemed like seconds but felt like an eternity, the enchantment exploded, with parts of the metal flying around, getting stuck in walls, or breaking windows and furniture. Some parts also hit Alexander, but his multilayer barriers could easily block them. After the smoke was gone, Alexander walked to where it exploded, looking at the mess and contemplating. ''Okay, wider pipes, no mana absorption and emission, and find a solution for getting too hot and exploding, killing others...'' He nodded, satisfied with himself, ''...a great first try!'' Like that, the night slowly ended, with the dawn kissing the young boy, and Melina, along with many other guards and servants who heard the explosion, quickly ran toward him. Little to say, he expected congratulations but got something else he should''ve expected. Chapter 166: Leonandrian Martial Arts If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Chapter 166.5: System Window & Future Plans ... Place: Alexander''s Room Time: Evening after Training Lying on the bed, Alexander couldn''t move. Calling his state exhausted would diminish the problem that he couldn''t move at all, even having problems using his mana since all of his mana veins and core were severely constricted and fatigued. ''I still like Ipe, though.'' After ten hours, his favorite healer had no mana and energy, leaving him in a pitiful state. His training went for too long and was far beyond brutal, shattering bones and ripping fibers, not having one place on his body that wasn''t assaulted and rebuilt again. ''It''s time, I guess.'' The timing of his Mother''s desire to train him more extensively was perfect. Alexander felt that everyone around him had reached their limits, and continuing as he did would only have negative consequences in the long term. ''They will all burn out.'' When Alexander saw his retainers endure sleepless nights and mountains of work, he ignored it, thinking of the greater good. However, after a nasty training session, he realized that he needed to change the current flow, with him now having a much clearer mind and an opportunity to grow personally before him. It was time to stop the progress, solidify all the projects he was working on, and prepare for the future when he would make another massive push toward the ideal society he envisioned. ''I need to find some blacksmiths and construction workers for my train project, organize the ball, and plan the attack on the island, but here I will stop... I am so fucked.'' The manpower problem was still the most significant bottleneck Alexander and his people experienced. He had the resources and paid an amount most merchants would dream of, but many decided not to work for him or weren''t qualified. As such, his taking a break was perfect, so he had time to hire more workers for future projects. ''At least Dad is back.'' Fortunately, his Father would be back since the demon run slowed down significantly, and he would have enough people for Alexander to borrow, so he wouldn''t need to give it to his retainers since they were overwhelmed already. ''Hm, but Narsi could handle the camp and dungeon problem.'' After the assault on the Essence Alliance, Alexander also decided to give Narsiz the responsibility for the dungeon and camp since he was about to become an administrator on that island. It was an excellent opportunity for his brother, who had also had grand ambitions in the past and was now about to manage a very chaotic territory. It had a gold mine metaphorically, bordered a hostile nation, a secret ally, and would need to work on relations with the Eros Alliance. ''He will kill me though but will like it... I think.'' Alexander didn''t decide on it out of nowhere since Narsiz told him once that he always felt very unsure in front of him. They had some serious talks when they became closer after the breakdown in the skill test. ''It makes sense in retrospect.'' His brother had little to no self-esteem and trust after he was poisoned, and with Alexander appearing and being the boisterous little monster, he cut his wings off, not even trying. However, Alexander saw the sparkle when he looked his brother in the eyes. It was the greed and ambitions of a great politician. He would support Narsiz and put him on a pedestal since he was genuinely talented. ''I can''t pass on such an opportunity.'' Alexander was genuinely thankful for his Mother''s taking the time to continue his training, which would last at least five hours daily. The results were fantastic, as he simultaneously increased his physical body, martial arts, and mana skills. Usually, he would only get at most a two-hour body strengthening session daily with her, and his progress slowed significantly down since they discovered multiple problems. First, the potions he needed to take so the various resistances would increase at the same pace as before would immediately kill him since he was still too young. Every potion was now ostensively expensive and rare, and they only increased his levels slowly. Second, the demonic energy his Mother used to break down his body accumulated to such an extent that he had become too resistant. She now had to be more careful when breaking down his body without killing him. Again, his age was the big problem since energy would strengthen a body significantly. As such, his ability to break his personal bottleneck was a priority. He couldn''t pass up five or more hours of training per day. ''Fortunately, I have excellent stamina and can work through most of the following weeks and train... wait, that''s right! My body has changed...'' Alexander suddenly remembered that he had received a blessing. Without much waiting and deliberation about the future, which he had already decided on, he wanted to see what improvements he made, immediately opening his system window. PNG Version: However, his system window underwent a significant change. He made it more stylized, like an app of sorts. He always wanted something more detailed and organized to sort through his skills and details without having everything crowded on one page. The entrance page worked pretty well, but the construct for the mess he created became massively complicated. He could avoid using a 3D construct by utilizing multiple 2D ones. Sadly, nobody liked it, not because of the great design but because it was too hard to construct. Most were still not interested in increasing their efficiency in magic but wanted only to have the lifestyle spells to ease their life. ''I should''ve predicted it.'' It was the same on Earth, with most people having the world''s knowledge at their fingertips but liking to play games with overweight birds. The people at the estate were the same, seeing this as another tool only after the initial awe and dispersing of the mysticism. PNG Version: This page was his biggest failure because it had the most bugs. There was a lot of testing, like adding bars or trying to establish notes, which worked pretty well, as well as adding additional information. However, everything time-related bugged out for some reason, and he had no idea why the algorithm didn''t work. It was the same on Earth; everything related to time and dates was a nuisance when it came to coding. Of course, Alexander could just write down some numbers on the calendar, but his goal was to automatize it, which was more complex than he thought, regarding how something was defined and what he could use as a reference. He was still figuring it out, evident by some elements going crazy when he opened his system window. PNG Version When he opened the attributes window, he expected the same minimal increase as always but was suddenly surprised by what he saw instead. ''Fuck me... that''s a lot.'' However, being a pessimist, he closed the system window and opened it normally, only to see the same. Staring at those numbers for some minutes, he suddenly understood his overwhelming stamina when training. ''That''s... a lot.'' Most [Standard Attributes] almost doubled, if not more, making him realize the immense work he would''ve had to do to kill his nature break, still itching. However, he slowly calmed down, already knowing why his attributes were that high. Still, his joy wasn''t affected by this at all. ''The Temple''s blessing is really amazing.'' It was through his merits that he received it, with him thinking of talking to Green and working through a scheme that would cost him no time to receive another one. He had the resources to make it, hopefully, happen. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ''Amazing... it''s too addictive to look at my progress.'' When he finally calmed down, he looked at the other elements he had implemented. Most were useless to him since he couldn''t use [Status Points] or his [Experience] to increase anything, but for others, it was great. ''It was a bitch to work it out.'' Calculating the distribution using math was possible, but writing the algorithm and making those calculations a practical reality was still challenging. At least he was rewarded for it. ''Oh, at least I have now two other skills in the green.'' To the right was the ideal distribution, he learned from Anastasia. It showed which had the most significant benefits per attribute point. Of the four areas, the fourth, from the left, had the most significant increase while the second was somewhat acceptable. It was not complicated to do without any visualizations. However, it was still a great way to save time, which his Mother liked the most since she wouldn''t need to write everything down to get the ideal allocation of her attribute points. PNG Version ''Oh... what''s this?'' He was surprised by something unusual when he opened his next subwindow, responsible for his divine skills. Normally, he wouldn''t have seen it if it were not for his laziness. He still hadn''t implemented the function of jumping from one page to another and needed to iterate through all of them. ''A hooray to my laziness!'' Typically, there was nothing, but he now had something in his [Divine Skills] window called [Meritious Gifts], which was probably why his attributes increased so much. ''Minor, huh...'' Remembering how Green said his Father had multiple Major blessings, his one seemed like child''s play. He wanted a more significant buff, probably impossible to receive since he wasn''t a great Temple member but more of an ally. Still, seeing a [No.] in the header, it should be possible to get another minor, which was an excellent blessing, too. ''It makes sense now, though.'' Alexander never understood why everyone said his Father was more powerful than his Mother, but seeing what those blessings were capable of, those rumors suddenly made much more sense. ''I never really saw him getting serious... actually, Mom, too?!'' He couldn''t think of a time when his parents were fighting with their lives on the line, and the sparing with him or his siblings was usually them getting intentionally hit but never doing anything brutal. However, he immediately ignored it since his thoughts drifted away to new ideas to get another blessing, which was a risky gamble and something he decided not to do, ''First, I need to get through my legacy.'' It was too time-consuming for him, and he would rather concentrate on the training and maybe try some things out, which would barely cost any time. ''So, let''s continue.'' PNG Version Some parts were designed like an app, with which he tried to sort through his skills, giving them a more appropriate theme. Sometimes, it didn''t fit, but he needed to sort them out somehow, and he was already criticized for many skills that did not fit into a category. ''Salyna really liked it, even discussing how to improve it.'' Many already learning more advanced spells liked his version of the spell with all those design choices. It was mainly for those who collected too many skills over their lifetime, becoming slightly overwhelmed if they wanted to oversee the progress of specific skills. As such, his sorting choices became a lively debate, which annoyed him quickly since many visitors were trying to give him their opinions. Because of that, he put a little box in front of his office where everyone could throw letters with suggestions, mostly single sentences or multi-pages with explanations and flowery language. ''It really reminds me of working through tickets, huh.'' PNG Version: ''Not much changed.'' Alexander increased two skills to the [Intermediate] Tier and earned three [Strength]s, which represent the effectiveness of skills. It was not an official name; he just gave it, thinking it was appropriate. The first [Major] he received was in [Algorithmics] because of the way he could reverse engineer the exact distribution of [Attributes]. The second was for [Spell-Theory], which he got when creating multi-layered 2D spells, and for [Spell-Casting] when he understood its more fundamental principle. PNG Version: ''Ohhhh!'' Seeing the [Specialization] window, which depicted all sorts of technical skills, he was joyfully surprised. He acquired three skills: [Enchanting], [Artificing], and [Engineering], while also getting a [Strength] in [Enchanting], which was even a [Greater], which was a level better than [Major]. ''The system really acknowledged the heap of trash.'' The engine, which was an enchantment, was acknowledged, which made him happy since he had also put a lot of thought into it and liked the concept of his idea to make enchantments as a whole into something akin to machinery. ''Well, not much else.'' Besides that, he also saw his [Biochemistry] and [Toxicology] skills from when he tried to understand the love potion but quickly ignored them, giving the work to the Temple and Healer Union to figure out. He only suggested some ways to tackle the problem. Maybe when he knew it was too much, ''Never mind, I decided, and that''s it.'' PNG Version: ''Nothing changed except Gardening... I really need someone to take this now away from me.'' He still had his greenhouse, where he tried to plant, grow, and cultivate various produce. However, he needed someone to help him with this. Alexander suddenly smiled, or at least thought so since he couldn''t feel his face, ''Well, I can get them in a week or so.'' PNG Version: ''Woah!'' His [Martial Arts] skill increased quite a bit, and he gained a new [Strength], which was [Major], which made his decision to concentrate on the training he already wanted to go through even more certain. ''That''s not all, though...'' In addition to increasing his movement skills by some levels, he also gained new ones: [Balance] and [Poise]. ''I really slacked with my combat training.'' While Alexander liked to train, he did it too little, doing the minimum since he saw himself as a mage, but slowly realized that it was stupid to box himself into some category. With all the superb techniques his ancestors invented and cultivated, it would be stupid not to learn them. Furthermore, thanks to his Mother, his understanding of how to use mana would increase, too, when he trained those techniques. ''That... isn''t that a skill Quill mentioned once?'' He suddenly saw a new skill called [Contortionist] and suddenly knew why he got it. ''Well, stretching my tendons until they ripped apart was worth something, at least.'' PNG Version: ''Nothing new here.'' PNG Version: ''Empty as always... many liked the cow, though.'' PNG Version: ''[Tactics] skill from suggesting those amateurish tactics, but I have still no idea when it comes to war. My rank was too low for such decisions to make.'' PNG Version: ''Nothing new really... urgh, this created the most uproar.'' [Torturing] was in the category of [Judicial Skills], and Noriken bothered him to no end in changing it, finding it insulting, which Alexander could understand. ''Later, though. Will write in my notes so I remember... hm.'' PNG Version: ''As always.'' He got two [Strengths] in [Mathematics] and [Logics] for creating the stupid algorithm, which also had a lot of math behind it, and [Logics] for the system window as a whole, with him needing to use some more complex ways to jerry-rig the 2D Constructs. PNG Version: ''Nothing mu... oh! Look at that!'' He got a new skill called [Inventiveness], which was quite a surprise since it apparently could increase one''s creativity regarding technical inventions. Furthermore, he also changed something else very carefully since his [Noble Pridefulness] became [Royal Pridefulness], which meant that it was another [Strength]. However, he never found anything about it, only that some of his ancestors had either version of that skill. PNG Version: ''Oh, look at that!'' [Acrobatic] increased significantly and even got a [Strength]. However, he was breaking his back when he tried to avoid getting beat up, so it was somewhat expected after seeing all those other increases. After perusing all those skills, he closed his window. As he was about to plan his day for tomorrow, overwhelmingly satisfied with his progress, he fell asleep, dead tired and happy as he could be. Chapter 167: Oh, there is papa! The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 168: Surprise Guest If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Chapter 169: Another +1 Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Chapter 170 & 171: Vow Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Chapter 172: A peaceful life If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter 173: First Retainer The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Chapter 174: Camps Entrance I If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter 175: Three beer, please Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Chapter 176: Irisk This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Chapter 177: Thaldon鈥æ”o middle name鈥擴ru Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Chapter 178: Responsibility ... Puppies, youth, adults, and the old sat on fallen-over trees, rocks, and additional otherwise impropriated seating possibilities. They had the time of their lives, enjoying their newly acquired life, laughing and talking loudly around bonfires, eating a meal, and considering their joy, which seemed to have the taste of Knight''s Game, a mystical chocolate described in a fairy tale, made for divine beings'' most loyal servants. ''How poetic.'' For others, it was a place of their end¡ªblood and devastation¡ªa gruesome sight, indeed. It showed the deaths of those who were just at the wrong time at the wrong place and the beginning of those who were now occupying this area. It was captivating, almost beautiful. The bodies were barely buried, and the blood was still seen, with all this happiness spitting at the souls of the fallen¡ªa contrast too poetic to ignore. ''Such a fascinating sight.'' Narsiz, wearing a hooded cloak and a clich¨¦ wolf mask, was walking through the west side of the newly occupied land by those he still called refugees. But if they could hold this land, it would seem derogative to call them like that¡ªeven the young boy, while thinking of himself as better, knew of others'' pride. ''What a difference¡ª'' He looked around, seeing the bustle and hustle of all kinds of beings, now suddenly becoming healthier by the second, overflowing with energy, ''¡ªtoo sad many needed to die for this sight.'' While the young man enjoyed it, there was also something in the back of his mind¡ªguilt, an emotion he had never felt once when killing others by himself, but this was different. They killed around three to four hundred soldiers while taking around double the number of prisoners. It was bizarre, as all those became not people but numbers, miniature figurines, and representations out of wood on maps, only to be defeated. ''I understand now what he meant.'' Alexander once told him that he was ready to swim through a river of blood, hunted down by souls, dragging him down into eternal doom¡ªa powerful picture at the time, obviously perceived as exaggerated back then, but not now. Every death was now dragging him down, but to create a better world, one his brother envisioned and he adored¡ªit was a necessity, one which would make those vengeful souls hunt him for all eternity¡ªa punishment he accepted, too. ''His plan is a little weird, though.'' In a letter exchange, Alexander forced him to let them stay first, wanting to do something with them, as he changed the plan slightly. Narsiz was curious if it would work, but it would become a grand experiment if it did. "Narsiz, can you take off the damn mask?!" His thoughts stopped when he heard his fianc¨¦ nagging, immediately turning to her, who had just a cloak thrown over her shoulders. However, he immediately shushed her, not wanting to stand out. "We are here in secret, did you forget?!" Sarah came from the other side, not wearing a cloak but donning her full plate armor with fist shields and a giant thorned shield on the back. "Yeah, secret¡ª" She nodded toward some mix of djinn and scavenger, who immediately bowed down while slowly walking past them, "¡ªnobody would ever guess who we are¡ª" She said sarcastically. Only now did Narsiz notice something, which Linuel reinforced even more, "There are not many beast-kin who have dealings with them and a wolf-kin with his tail waddling joyfully around¡ª" Narsiz quickly held his tail still, blushing, "¡ªis quite obvious. They all know who you are." ''Hm, they are all bowing down¡ª'' He tried to think if this was a coincidence with the bowing person, which he said as such, "¡ªthis happened once, don''t know about it, though." Like clockwork, his [Luck] seemingly fell to zero. Some more puppies walked past them, looking at them with amazement in their eyes and bowing down to show their respect. Narsiz looked at his sister and fianc¨¦, his expression deadpanned, "It could be their culture; you never know." Both rolled their eyes, but before they could say anything, someone with the same mindset pushed between them, holding her cloak and hood so that nobody could see her face, even trying to use make-up to the best of her abilities to disguise herself. "Are you both insane?! Do you know how many wind-djinns are here?!¡ª" She tapped her foot, sounding slightly hysterical and clearly frightened, having her voice become louder, "¡ªyou know they will eat your eyeball and your babies! BABIES!" Helena, the fire-djinn clerk from the lower court, the copper house where Alexander practiced his noblesse oblige as judge, was also in disguise here. She was wearing an ape mask and was acting even more puppyish than him. He looked at Linuel, "I am not acting like that, am I?" Linuel chuckled, holding back her laughter, and Sarah sighed, not knowing what to say. However, Narsiz only adjusted his mask, thinking it was at least somewhat helpful¡ªalso, he was a stubborn bitch sometimes, not wanting to give in. Behind them came the night-elven pair, moving through their shadows and appearing beside them, with Petra immediately answering, "Nobody cares about this stupid shit." Before Helena could answer, Jorsh confirmed, "All of us are of mixed race. Nobody cares about this¡ª" As she was about to say something, he repeated it, "¡ªliterally nobody, even Will, who was just kind to you for the sake of us getting along, never cared about race a little bit." Helena stopped, letting her head hang as if misunderstood, but it was the truth in many ways. Nobody here cared about race, and after they saw the first success, many became much more honest with their allies about their opinions. William clearly stated that he couldn''t care less what happened with his ancestors and that everybody in the Camp thought, after seeing her for the first time, that she was some weird mix of a scavenger and wind-djinn because of her reddish skin. ''Interesting concept.'' For Narsiz, race was the same as for Alexander. He also knew fully well that it was most likely a canine-kin trait that he had such an acceptance of others¡ªa trait of his blood. He was proud of how it could bring all those races together despite the extreme differences. Behind those two lovebirds pushed a puppy through, or at least one who looked like one. Irisk was ~1.5m in height, and the spear on her back was at least 2/3 of her height, but she seemed to like it, always wearing it. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "What are we standing here around? Do you forget something or¡ª" Her aura became serious, "¡ªMr. Narsiz, do I need to cut someone down? Just point toward them!" After saving her brother and bringing him back, Irisk became incredibly loyal, especially since she was not forced to do anything she didn''t want to. She could become a refugee and leave in some years as an adventurer for all he cared. Now, though, she probably feared being thrown away and tried to show her worth, which Narsiz needed to talk her through. Instead, she should be honest. Linuel rolled her eyes, "Can you not be like that? Even my personal guard, Honey, isn''t that crazy." From the side jumped another little fellow to the forefront, as on edge as Irisk, even with the same height, "Oh! I can, though?! Just point toward the direction!" Honey was Linuel''s personal guard, which would become Narsiz''s after the wedding¡ªa somewhat weird situation, but the small bee-kin was a fine girl, not really bad or good, something like Maurice, incredibly loyal. "Ehm, Mr. Narsiz, do¡ª" Trixie looked around, standing behind Sarah in fright, "¡ªit feels weird." "It''s fine, Trixie, you do nothing but observe." Last but not least, he brought her along with them as she needed to meet her new neighbors and learn about how they lived. She was clearly nervous, unable not to dart her eyes around, listening to weird dialects and flinching at rapid motions of joy. ''Hm, it feels lively¡ª'' A discussion started with Sarah and Linuel trying to calm down Irisk and Trixie. At the same time, Honey played around with some puppies, showing her personality, which he described as small animal energy. Narsiz smiled at the scene and loved to join them, but something pushed him away. He found it increasingly sad that he was such an introvert with few friends, but not now¡ªfamily, friends, love, and a goal¡ªwhat could he wish for more? Joining Alexander was the best choice he could''ve made. Looking at what they created with him being a significant part of it made him proud, and imagining the future made him almost cry, seeing how much influence one person could have. ''An ideal world¡ª'' He took a small step forward, ''¡ªa burden I love to carry.'' They stood in the middle of a former military outpost in the far west of the newly conquered territory. They were at a harbor, which they built quickly to receive resources and refugees. ''Well, I can''t do everything¡ª'' He smiled slightly, ''¡ªwhat was it again? Emancipation? I will help, but they must develop and defend it mostly by themselves.'' As Narsiz strolled around, his entourage of all those diverse characters was behind him, still arguing about nonsensical things. However, he ignored them and enjoyed himself¡ªobserving how one small merchant ship after another docked with more of the Camp, mostly non-fighters, entering the island, breathing in the air for the first time. "I... don''t feel sick anymore..." "Mommy, can we stay here?" "I can''t believe it... I feel my fingers again..." Those who took their first step onto the island suddenly felt as if they could breathe after being suffocated since birth¡ªa new beginning for them, gone the pain and suffering. Miasma was still reaching the island but to a much lesser extent than even Wolfsteeth. As such, many taking their first step had tears in their eyes as the pain disappeared, all the voices who screamed at them went away, their mental fatigue went away, and many of them felt a sudden calm overwhelming them, with many wanting to go to sleep immediately. "I need to thank the chief." "What about Narsiz? Do we need to gift him something? It needs to be great!" "I want to serve the saint!" When Narsiz went closer, many bowed, others kneeled, but most of the time, it was praise about all of them¡ªAurum as the angry bird guy, Ocilia as the pissed spider girl, and so on. They saw them as saviors, emotions he couldn''t describe but something that made his ego grow massively. ''I get it now, Alex.'' Something overwhelmed him. He remembered a private chat with his little brother, who warned him this would break him. It was joyful and sad simultaneously, with Alexander wanting to take all the responsibility¡ªa sad thought that the younger brother wanted to protect the older one. ''I see¡ª'' A sudden dread overcame him, ''¡ªI may be too young for such overwhelming responsibility and naive at that.'' Narsiz imagined wailing and crying families; their puppies would never see their parents or vice versa. Narsiz felt a certain pressure in his chest, a terrible emotion that only now made him see the reality¡ªwholly, to understand the other side. ''Responsibility, huh?'' The world greyed out and came to a standstill. Narsiz heard his system ring multiple times, and suddenly, he saw not the world he was used to but something much more gruesome¡ªa genuine representation of his actions. All of those people he gave a new life were lightning up in a soft green, showing something he would describe as happiness and peace. Simultaneously, they sat on corpses, formed and broken into chairs and food, boiled into a reddish soup with a horrifying representation of meat swimming inside. As he trembled slightly, his mind screamed at him to flee. Without hesitation, he stepped forward, only to feel how something held him in place. He looked down¡ªa corpse, a water-djinn, growling, crying, and bloodied, with their family crying in an illusion behind them. The number increased, slowly making his mind go insane until he heard a voice, which brought him back to reality. "How could you kill us?!" "I have a family! They will now hunger and die!" "I will never see my fianc¨¦!" Narsiz became angry, not at those hallucinations as his guilt became too much, but at himself, even listening to them¡ªlaughing at the ridiculousness of how he stupidly guilt-tripped himself. ''Haha! You are sad?!'' Memories of his kin emerged enslaved, brutalized, and killed for the stupidest reasons, while he felt bad for soldiers, who were paid to fight and die¡ªa ridiculous thought. ''How many of ours are worth of theirs?'' They never cared about his kin, as they still bought his people, so why should he feel bad about prioritizing his? He would kill ten times as much if he could save even one more kin or one of the Camp people. ''I am still too naive.'' Narsiz was responsible for making those decisions, and he could theoretically save everyone, but was it worth losing his people? The answer was apparent as he took the next step, with all those images disappearing one by one¡ªno. He had no responsibility toward the enemy, who would try to kill and enslave his people immediately. There was no need for sympathy or empathy but for his own and his allies. ''I have a duty to the families of my people.'' There was no need to be merciful if they wouldn''t be. How many families of those fallen Camp people would cry because he was too soft, too naive¡ªa much worse thought, making his heart clench as he almost listened to Alexander, who was still too soft. ''It''s my fault.'' Narsiz had more experience and historical knowledge. He shouldn''t have listened to ethical or philosophical approaches to actual conduct¡ªhe felt pathetic. However, as the color slowly returned and the images disappeared, his mind became clearer; he only now noticed it, as before, it was normal. ''What happened?!'' Narsiz suddenly felt Linuel touch his shoulder. He quickly turned around to her, almost pulling out a hidden dagger. His heart raced, and the world he was inside was gone, with all kinds of sounds invading his mind again. "Are you all right? You became a little different¡ª" She crooked her head slightly, "¡ªI think? Now you seem normal, though?" Narsiz gulped and nodded toward her, smiling as he tried to calm down. "Yeah, sorry. I just had a lot of ideas about what to do next." Linuel shrugged, "Great, but let''s wait here, okay?" Narsiz nodded as he saw that he was waiting at the harbor. Something had happened, and according to the multiple calls he heard, it had probably something with his skills to do. ''Did I get to Tier 3?! How...'' What happened felt like a [Mystic Skill], but before he could contemplate further, he already saw his guest from further away, as it was the only one with a distinctive sword on his hip. Narsiz immediately approached him without fear, greeting him while removing his mask, "My friend! I hope you searched us goodly!" His djinnish was rough. Thaldon nodded, pulling his hood back, "I see that we do it like this, Narsiz, I assume." Sarah and Linuel stood beside him, and while they barely understood a word, they were eying his every move. According to Irisk, he was a dangerous person, ready to kill himself, just cut off the enemy''s arm. "Why not? It''s not likely we will attract any weird people, right? Thaldon looked around and sighed, accepting that it wouldn''t be as secretive as he probably imagined, "I guess I understand what you mean, but I hope you will not..." He was interrupted by a squeaky voice, trying to push through from behind the group, "Oh, hello there, dear brother¡ª" She stood before him, proud, her nose high up, "¡ªfancy seeing you here without any guards." Thaldon looked down at her, smirking, "I see you didn''t add to your [Intelligence] attributes while we were away. Guards would only alert others, and sadly, not many are loyal to me like some vermin I look at now." Irisk stomped her foot, looking at him angrily. However, before she could say anything, Narsiz grabbed her shoulder slightly, pushing her back while opening his arms in a friendly manner. "Oh my! Let''s go to the meeting room, right? It''s just a triangle, but I prepared some mouthwatering breads for us ~?." Chapter 179: Azure Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Chapter 180: Fake news 101: Gossip/Rumors Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Chapter 181: Interlocking Interests Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Chapter 182: Those who seek responsibility ... Place: Leonandra Estate Time: After Marisia received the letters Kairoso was in high spirits as he strolled through the estate, greeting all his servants upon arrival. ''Time to relax ?~'' A playful smile graced his face. With the demon run finally over, Kairoso no longer needed to be on the front lines. Now, he could spend precious time with his wife and family, hoping for a few peaceful years before the next one began. ''It ended so abruptly, though¡ª'' He mused, still somewhat perplexed, ''¡ªI hope it is not the silence before the storm.'' The demon run had been bizarre from the start¡ªwaves of demonic monsters relentlessly attacked, growing larger and more cunning with each onslaught¡ªa typical sign for blood demons. But then, it all suddenly halted. He even asked the Oracle, through Green, about the presence of any blood demons. Unfortunately, it was impossible to determine if that disaster was still alive, planning for an even larger attack, or dead. Sometimes, Alpha predators felt provoked by disturbances such as demon runs that caused large commotions over a longer period. They would then hunt the disturbance down themselves. "My Lady, please calm down!" A manly voice, usually calm and serious, was now flustered, trying to calm his wife down¡ªit was Aro, the headbutler. As he stood before his wife''s office, eager to surprise her with his early return, he was taken aback by the commotion inside¡ªit was as if the demon run had followed him. "Where are Alex and Narsi?! I want to see them right now!" Going by her tone, it was rather serious. Kairoso only hoped that the blood demon hadn''t followed him and taken over his wife''s mind¡ªit would make things somewhat awkward if they wanted to have another puppy. Jokes aside, it clearly involved their sons¡ªlikely Alexander, who was often the culprit¡ªhad incensed her, and Aro was doing his best to calm her down. Clank As he opened the door to her office, he saw her glaring at Aro while Salyna and Noriken stood behind him, ready to argue. "Oh my, how strict; what has Mr. Alexander done again ~??" Sarusos, who stood behind him, teasingly smiled at them. Each of them heard him immediately, turning toward the entrance, frowning. Marisia frowned, too, until she saw Kairoso, her husband, standing around and smiling. Everyone turned toward the entrance, frowning, but Marisia''s expression softened when she saw Kairoso. His voice was warm and gentle, "How are you, my little flower?" He opened his arms, eager to feel her warmth again. As expected, his wife marched over, grabbed his arm, and began dragging him toward the bedroom. "Meeting adjourned! We''ll reconvene at midnight!" Kairoso smiled sheepishly as his much shorter wife pulled him along, "You know I didn''t shower. Should I at least¡ª" She immediately cut him off, blushing, "No, I like it¡ª" She took a slight sniff, and her face turned completely red, "¡ªI love your scent." ... Time: Hours Later Place: Tea Room Sitting on the couch, sipping tea, Kairoso felt his calm return after months of pent-up frustration had been released during some rather intense hours. Some of those moments, particularly those involving his transformations would remain secret, as he had promised never to mention them or tease her about her adventurous tendencies. Most importantly, they had some rare alone time before the meeting reconvened¡ªa perfect opportunity to relax and discuss everything. "So, what''s this all about? I couldn''t help but feel a little jealous when you shouted our boys'' names while I was¡ª" She shot him a sharp glare, cutting him off. After a pause, she sipped her tea and continued, "They''ve done something unforgivable." He grinned, thinking it was nothing serious, "What did he do this time? Hand out 100 gold pieces to some lowly commoner?" Kairoso was proud of his son for his magic, intellect, constant self-improvement, and more. However, there was one thing he confided only to Sarusos, who was the only one who understood him in this aspect. Though he loved his wife dearly, with all her exceptional empathy and charm, she had been insulated by the privileges of the nobility, leaving her unable to fully grasp the struggles of the less fortunate. His puppies were of the same breed. Lorient, Sarah, and Narsiz had never experienced the harsh reality of what it meant to fight for their survival¡ªan unfortunate reality for many nobles. Kairoso understood that everyone carried burdens others couldn''t fully comprehend. Just as he couldn''t empathize with the life of an aristocrat, they couldn''t understand what it meant to live without a safety net. So when Alexander recognized the struggles of the commoners and worked to uplift them, Kairoso couldn''t have been prouder. Kairoso supported him wherever he could, pushing the Temple to accommodate Alexander''s efforts and assuring his wife it was for a good cause. However, she saw it as a waste of their wealth, which was unsurprising given that Alexander''s ideas were groundbreaking for the region. Kairoso extended the same support to impoverished rural areas, establishing outposts to protect them from monsters and bandits. Economically, he knew it was a waste of coin, given their meager tax contributions. But having come from such a place himself, he understood their plight. Marisia sighed, "Let me start from the beginning. I received a letter from your colleagues, Baldur Lavafist and Noelle Pascal, with some interesting information." He smiled sheepishly, amused by how she called them his colleagues, "Oh? How are they doing?" Kairoso remembered the volcanic djinn from his early days as a mercenary. Baldur had been the vice leader of the Mercenary Union, which oversaw sellswords from Mal-Gil, the Eros Alliance, the Night-Elf Dwelling, and the lands of the nature-dwellers. Noelle, from a prestigious clan, had spent over a decade raiding dungeons. She had reached silver rank, the second-highest and highly meritious, but often raided under a pseudonym since she couldn''t operate freely within the First Servants'' scene. She claimed to be a pure wind djinn, though in truth, she was also part water djinn. Since then, they have joined their respective alliances, climbing in ranks. Baldur became the Grand Leader of the Eros Alliance, while Noelle was now an elder and administrator. They likely wouldn''t remember Kairoso''s early days as a struggling sellsword, offering his services as a meatshield. "What about them? I remember that they were quite the eccentric folk." Marisia noted how he recalled his past¡ªa past she disliked, filled with too many women¡ªbut she ultimately sighed, remembering her wild time during her first mating season. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "I see, but that''s not the main issue right now¡ª" She straightened up and shifted away from him, her tone becoming more serious, "¡ªplease listen carefully..." Marisia started recounting their letters, including some youth, Helena Irida and Thaldun Uru, who also sent their letters, being some prodigies of the sort. It all followed with her telling how all the incidents happened when Narsiz was visiting Dog-Pudding Island¡ªtiming-wise, it was suspicious. As she described it to him, Kairoso saw her point, ''You all fucked up.'' Nothing she said explicitly implicated them, but it was a logical conclusion, pieced together from various sources, forming a clearer picture of what their puppies were up to¡ªexplosive gadgets, fine coordination, and an extensive supply of resources¡ªthe scent of them was all over. They needed a detailed plan, dozens of highly motivated and loyal people, outside help from the fire-djinn girls, and motives. Considering the letters and knowing his puppies, it was clear that everyone had their reasons. ''They really thought this through, didn''t they?'' The conclusion was only possible because Noelle, Baldur, Helena, and Thaldun had written letters requesting permission and support to invade a particular fire djinn island, wanting to avoid getting ambushed. The small details and timelines they provided, combined with what they already knew, painted a complete picture. Marisia only uncovered the truth because they were so amicable, eager to provide all the details and timelines themselves. It was primarily because of political reasons, as they wanted to maintain those diplomatic relations. Kairoso couldn''t help but respect his son, who had amassed loyal followers, formed alliances with former enemies, and successfully led the refugees out of Kratikal. Despite his respect for his puppies, Kairoso also felt anger as his once-unfaltering wife began to break down, crying and stuttering through her words. At that moment, she seemed like the vulnerable young woman he had fallen in love with decades ago. "Kai... what should I do?¡ª" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at him, her eyes filled with hopelessness, "I... I can''t control them, and they just... do this..." They had gone too far, especially Alexander. Despite his efforts to conceal their actions, it was still a dangerous balancing act. For now, the laws would protect him, as he was still a puppy. But time never stood still, and somebody would always be there to remember. If someone had a grudge, it could quickly escalate into something terrible once they tried to uncover any information. "I... he... how?!¡ª" Her face trembled in frustration, "¡ªKairo, he could face a trial once he is old enough!" Desperation filled her eyes as she reached for Kairoso, begging him to offer a solution. Breaking the law as an adult, never mind if he was of noble blood, he couldn''t receive the same protection as a puppy. "Do... do you understand the consequences?" She choked on her words, starting to look down and sobbing. Kairoso had a solution¡ªa way to mitigate the damage, even if it still resulted in some form of punishment. It was preferable to letting the law judge Alexander. "It''s time." His voice was soft and gentle, yet unyielding. Mairisia looked into his eyes again, hers being red and puffy, She pushed herself away, her eyes red and puffy, "For... what?" Her voice cracking. He gave her a reassuring smile, "Making him the heir, of course." Marisa''s eyes widened, "But¡ª" "Stop!¡ª" he interrupted, knowing what she was about to say, "¡ªHe''s young, yes, but there have been cases where one took the title right after their mating season or even began preparing for it at his age¡ª" He sighed, "¡ªit is the only way, no? Don''t we want to prevent the worst? All we do is accelerate his already-confirmed ascension¡ª" He chuckled, his voice filled with frustration, "¡ªnot like any of our other pups would disagree, right?" No one was protected when a law was broken, not even nobles. The Count had created such law, targeting those from central Mal-Gil who had settled in his territory, determined to hold them accountable. However, to align somewhat with central Mal-Gil, he decreed that Lords and Ladies had certain rights tied to their responsibilities, aiming to protect his knights from undue suffering. One of those privileges was that they could decline to sign any mana contract, forcing them to tell the truth and refuse to talk without suffering consequences. Marisia''s voice steadied, though still quivering slightly, "You want to force a Trial of Redemption?" Just as Kairoso knew religious law inside out, the law of the land was distinct from the norms and customs they followed, like at the Temple. For example, Alexander circumvented one of those, as he could engage Bartholomew and Nila with each other still having their territory¡ªa law since a marriage between nobles was a contract between partners to rule together. Customs and norms weren''t written down but followed and slowly established over decades, like the Moorgrelian Knights, who only bowed to the Count and ignored the Emperor. No such law existed, making it technically impossible to break. However, the Count established the Trial of Redemption as a moral correction for those who defied these unwritten rules. Kairoso nodded gently, "It''s an assurance, of course¡ª" His voice softened, "¡ªWe don''t know what will happen, and it''s better to prepare for the worst. After all¡ª" He sighed, "¡ªhe is who he is." They didn''t consider their other children, as they were practically Alexander''s retainers and would fall under his responsibility. He could excuse them and take full responsibility if they were brought to trial. Knowing Alexander, Kairoso wholly trusted him should it come to such a circumstance, not doubting his loyalty to their family. "He''ll end up like my mother, dam¡ª" She coughed, still teary and sobbing. Kairoso took her in his arms, trying to comfort her as she was still distressed, "I think it is better than the alternative." The Trial of Redemption was used on nobles who broke norms and customs or when a crime had been committed, but the evidence wasn''t sufficient for a fair conviction. It was a way to resolve cases quickly, avoiding traditional punishments like forced labor, slavery marks, or execution. Instead, the consequences were often more creative¡ªand sometimes more devastating. Kairoso''s mother-in-law had also faced punishment after massacring countless people during a brief peace treaty with an adversary kingdom. Though there were no witnesses, everyone knew it was her, but no one could prove it. It was a complicated situation. Ultimately, Scarlett made a deal where she spoke the truth but was exempt from legal punishment¡ªa privilege reserved for Moorgrelian Lords and Ladies. However, Scarlett also accepted a Trial of Redemption with her confession. She was required to enter the Chamber of Souls, where she would confront her faults. When she emerged, she reeked of blood and madness, having fought her inner demons and the souls that cursed her in their final moments. Scarlett needed a decade to recover, plagued by nightmares and hallucinations that left her mind fragile. When she finally recovered, she was less aggressive but more thoughtful and vicious. It was done to show the other party to the treaty that they took it seriously and did not want to ignore any breaches. Marisia breathed much shallower, still in deep thought, still trying to find a way to avoid any consequences, "We could quickly cut them¡ª" Kairoso interrupted her, "You know this is now impossible with all the parties involved." They couldn''t intervene¡ªthis escalated into an international conflict involving allies and enemies. If she tried to eliminate the rogue invaders and restore the situation, it would only draw unwanted attention, giving their enemies leverage to blackmail them. Like with Scarlett, everyone had little to no evidence or information other than themselves. The most important thing was to use this moment to prepare for the worst. Even if they suspected him, making him the heir would allow him to face the Trial of Redemption, avoiding decade-long investigations that might uncover a single piece of incriminating evidence. What their children had done was beyond correction with any punishment¡ªit was simply too much. Kairoso gently caressed his wife, seeing the strain of the past months, if not years, weighing heavily on her. Kairoso''s soothing voice and calming presence slowly eased her distress. He knew only one course of action left¡ªone that could protect Alexander if the worst came to pass, and now she also knew this. "Do you think you can let go?" His wife was controlling, much like her Mother¡ªa comparison he never dared to say. While Marisia tried to protect her puppies, Scarlett had forced them into one Outer Circlish situation after another, shaping them into what she desired. She fell silent, searching for flaws in his plan¡ªa typical attempt to maintain control. But he could easily dismiss them. "But how is that even possible? He has no military merits." One typically needed military merits to become an heir, but age was less important. Merlin became a bronze-rank adventurer at the age of eleven. Fenrir earned the nickname Broken Fist at the age of thirteen after slaughtering one human army after the other. Recently, a dragon-kin boy from Merlin''s household had begun raiding dungeons at just seven years old, already achieving the iron rank. All of these accomplishments counted as merits, though their value varied greatly. Becoming a ranked adventurer was far less prestigious than, for example, Marisia''s feat of killing a noble youth and his retainers while conquering an island and freeing their kin. Moorgrelian nobles were typically highly trained and educated. Lorient, for example, didn''t join the frontlines until she was 18¡ªstill young by their standards but considered old by many other noble houses from central Mal-Gil. Kairoso knew his wife too well. As she began to panic, he became stern, realizing it was up to him to make the decision. "Call all our pups here¡ª" he sighed, feeling overwhelmed even though he had been home less than a day. Marisia''s face twisted as she tried to argue, but deep down, she knew he was right, "I... maybe we can change..." "If a man is pursuing responsibility, it''s an honorable goal, and we shouldn''t stop him. But before that, he must understand what it truly means to be a leader and the harsh reality of war¡ª" Kairoso gently caressed her head, seeing that she was overwhelmed by all the madness that had happened while he was gone. It was a sad reality, but he would take some of the weight off her shoulders now that he was back. "You can still teach him and the others, but making him the heir is the right choice. This way, he can avoid those trials if the worst happens and¡ª" He stopped himself as he felt frustrated, only to continue with a tinge of unhappiness in his voice, "¡ªHe at least is an ambitious boy, and maybe after he learns of the battlefield, he will calm down." The room fell silent as she clenched her hands, mumbling to herself as she tried to analyze the situation. She looked into his eyes after what felt like an eternity and nodded. "I will call them all back and announce it¡ª" However, her eyes suddenly became slightly vengeful, "¡ªlike you said, he should learn the gruesome reality of a battlefield and I don''t want you to intervene." Kairoso knew this glare. However, he wasn''t against what she was about to do, "Of course, my little flower." Chapter 183: Calculator and various contemplations ... Place: Alexander''s (new) Laboratory Time: Midnight Under the moons soft glow, the Leonandra estate was quiet, disturbed only by the footsteps of the roaming guards and the occasional snoring of their draft monsters. However, it didn''t explain the new appearance of an unusual noise, and if one tried to find the source, they would quickly arrive at the newly constructed lab, which was made for artificing. Inside, dozens of mana gems illuminated the room, revealing the chaos within. Piles of gems cluttered one corner, metallic plates lay haphazardly on the floor, and healing talismans dangled from the ceiling. Once meticulously equipped, the lab had fallen into disarray under Alexander''s relentless experimentation, just like all his other workshops. He paid no mind to the disorder as he sat at his workstation¡ªa large table, once intricately engraved by proud artisans, was now marred with scratches and burn marks. Those artisans would indeed weep if they saw what had become of their life''s work. Unfortunately for the artisans, Alexander liked the sturdy table and would soon order more since he wouldn''t know how his latest experiment would proceed¡ªthe table was cluttered with metallic plates embedded with mana gems, a dangerous situation for the piece of meticulously crafted wood. However, the boy endangering the table mirrored the disarray of the room¡ªhis greased hair tied back in a ponytail, his clothes torn and stained with ink and grime from his work¡ªfar from his noble appearance in court or during his passionate speeches. The room echoed with the sound of his tinkering, accompanied by the rhythmic tapping of his foot to a tune from his past life, as his tail swayed comically on the floor, collecting dirt as it was used as a broom and metronome. Alexander was too engrossed in his work to notice the time or the noise he made. For once, he could indulge in his obsessive tendencies without Lili''s presence. He couldn''t help but enjoy the casual atmosphere, a pleasant contrast to the self-inflicted pressure he had endured. Alexander had embraced a newfound sense of calm in the weeks since creating the necessary gunpowder for the Camp and his Grandmother. He could now focus solely on himself. As such, he would experiment in his free time on whatever he found exciting and trained to his heart''s content. Freedom was a strange and liberating thing, which he missed. Even though he still had some responsibilities, he could entrust the bulk of his work to others, a trait his parents praised, knowing how difficult delegation could be for the talented. Because of that praise, he didn''t mention that he had, in truth, some difficulties entrusting his life''s work fully to others, but he could alleviate it by the weekly status reports he received. Those mentioned all his current projects and how they were going¡ªschools were about to open, social work was exceptionally well received, the Temple and Healers Union healthcare project was successful, and he made money like there was no tomorrow with his mana products. The train project was also progressing smoothly. Alexander''s Father had connected him with skilled artisans and enchanters who were bringing his design to life, as his prototype was nothing but a rocket strapped to the top of a metal box on a rail. The remaining details were being worked out, with Alexander leading weekly meetings to answer questions and brainstorm ideas. He overlooked too many things to count, and his blueprint was nothing but an idea. As an example, and a very embarrassing one, he forgot one crucial aspect¡ªhow to stop the train. However, because even his parents saw its value, he was allowed to test it in a designated area in the Northern District, where it regularly malfunctioned and exploded, as heard by many¡ªsuch was technological progress, one of too many noise complaints. ''Hm, I have at least the fundamentals covered¡ª'' He smirked as his ego swelled up, ''¡ªand it only cost me¡ª'' He chuckled in self-deprecation, ''¡ªuncountable sleepless nights and so much gold, I could buy a fucking city.'' Since Alexander started his projects, he had always felt uneasy. He wanted to create a world where everyone could have a better life. Still, one had to start with the fundamentals¡ªeducation, mental care, social care, and infrastructure. Having established and financed his initiatives, all he could do now was wait¡ªat least a decade or two¡ªfor them to take root. Hopefully, other territories would recognize their value and either adopt them or assist The Helping Paw in establishing subsidiaries, perhaps with the help of some tax incentives, as otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to set them up. Did he resent pouring so much gold into these projects while others would reap the profits? No, because he valued something much more¡ªhis reputation, which would spread through every city alongside his ideas. Unfortunately, in a world where every ruler wields immense destructive powers, Alexander knew he needed strong connections and considerable strength to oppose antagonistic behaviors. Fortunately, though, his influence and power were growing, and he anticipated strengthening these ties when the future rulers arrived for the exchange, scheduled in a few months. In addition to strengthening himself, Alexander also needed his future allies to grow stronger and forge connections with each other. While they were all of the same blood and were generally on good terms, it wasn''t enough¡ªhe needed to improve his people so they could defend against the shadows he saw everywhere. There was a lingering feeling of restlessness and anxiety gnawing at his mind. Unfortunately, it wasn''t simply paranoia but the fear of the logical conclusions he deduced from the little information he acquired. Others like him existed; depending on their intentions, they could instantly shatter his ideals. All it would take was for them to be born into a more powerful family with values he found abhorrent. This constant fear drove him always to feel as though he was perpetually racing against unseen forces¡ªones that could emerge at any moment to impose a new world order. Totalitarian ideologies repulsed him, whether secular or religious¡ªespecially those that had driven him from his country and killed his parents. Whatever the threat, he couldn''t afford to remain idle. That''s why he continued to prepare for the future, even if it meant doing so more casually while he waited for his other projects to take root. One of the measures Alexander had been preparing was something he had been contemplating for a long time. His mood switched quickly to delight as he looked at what was before him, ''Look at these hideous cuties!'' It was a primitive calculator capable of adding numbers. While many dismissed the idea as trivial or even foolish when he explained it, Alexander knew better. They simply couldn''t grasp the magnitude of what he was attempting. "Waste of time? This is the future!" he screamed while alone in the lab, becoming more excited as he thought about it. Computers, after all, were fundamentally nothing more than incredibly fast calculators. While his current creation would be slow and rudimentary, it was only the beginning. In time, it could perform billions of operations in the blink of an eye. ''The possibilities¡ª'' Alexander grinned stupidly, as he imagined how mana could accelerate calculations or even alter the fundamental ways a system processed information, ''¡ªif it is possible to recreate lightspeed conditions to travel into the future in spatial items, what is even the limit for a computer?'' Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. He imagined superstate quantum computing, where calculations could be performed across multiple states simultaneously, opening doors to practical AI development that might even approach the singularity. Alexander blushed, getting excited as the ideas piled on top of each other, and he didn''t know where to start. But as his eyes settled back on the chaotic assembly before him, reality quickly tempered his enthusiasm. He frowned, ''Look at this mess¡ª'' he sighed, watching how his marvelous ideas burst one by one like bubbles, ''¡ªlet''s first figure out how I can add numbers automatically.'' Before him lay several metallic plates, each embedded with 32 mana gems sloppily welded into place. Different colored wires snaked around the gems, connecting them in a tangle that spoke more of trial and error than precise engineering¡ªa specialty of his. The wires were anchored to a metallic rod crudely embedded in a larger gem further down at the bottom, constantly emitting a glow. On the opposite side of the larger gem, another rod protruded, wrapped with other wires connected to a different set of mana gems on a secondary metallic plate. This plate was more orderly, the gems arranged meticulously in rows and columns, resembling a digitized clock. ''What a fucking mess.'' The connections were barely stable, but it was only the start, a stepping stone to something far greater¡ªthe cradle of computing or a very horrific housefire. The crudeness of the components wasn''t by accident. Alexander deliberately chose the cheapest options, unwilling to waste too much gold on a simple prototype that could blow up every second. He used fluorescent mana gems¡ªhighly cheap and largely overlooked. Because nobody could use mana, there was little demand for these gems, and few saw the value in mining them. But Alexander saw their potential. Seizing the opportunity, he purchased two mines in the Eros Alliance territory and one in the Nine-Fire territory for a modest 100,000 average gold coins. He knew that their value would skyrocket once mana skills became more accessible, enabling people to infuse objects with it easily. When that happened, these gems could be used as light bulbs with an almost infinite life cycle. For now, though, their primary use was to be used in lamps for the wealthy. Each was built with a transformer that converted energy into mana, and, in his opinion, they were pretty overpriced, at 100 large gold coins apiece. But Alexander had found a different use for them: he stored mana in the gems. They were exceptionally suitable for this purpose, serving as ideal storage units¡ªa godsend for his calculator project, as he couldn''t even imagine where to begin if he had to create storage components from scratch. "So, let''s hope it works better this time¡ª" Alexander sighed, recalling his previous failed attempts, "¡ªWell, besides wasting my time and embarrassing myself, what else do I have to worry about?" He inserted a sliver of mana into the empty mana gem on the top right, which immediately absorbed it and glowed brightly. "1." Next, he added mana to the second gem on the left. "3." Alexander''s first calculator operated on a binary system. The gems were arranged in rows of eight, starting from the top right and moving to the left. Each subsequent mana gem represented a value of 2^n. When lit individually, the first gem represented 1, the second 2, the third 4, the fourth 8, and so on¡ªeach gem''s value doubling as it progressed. By combining them, the gems could represent different numbers. For example, adding mana to the first and second gems meant 1 + 2, totaling 3. Lighting the second and third gems equated to 2 + 4, which added up to 6. If the first three gems were lit, they would represent 1 + 2 + 4, summing to 7. Also, the gems didn''t need to be neighboring to be combined. For instance, lighting the first and third gem represented 1 + 4, totaling 5. However, these values weren''t inherent to the gems but were assigned by Alexander. The gems held no intrinsic value. In practical terms, they were just some gems in four rows that lit up. Yet, this was more than just a simple toy to learn how a binary system functioned. It was a calculator that should add numbers together, which he was about to do. "Now¡ª" He was full of anticipation. When he lit up the first two mana gems on one of the plates, he touched the larger gem, which gleaned brightly between the arrays of smaller gems, absorbing its mana. When the large gem became empty, the mana from the smaller gems started to flow through the wires toward the larger gem. Alexander then touched the rod protracted from the side where the mana came from, forcing the mana out through his skills. The mana from the larger gem moved through the wires into the lower plate. After circulating through the gems multiple times, the mana began to sort itself in a specific pattern. Not only did the mana gems in the corners illuminate, but all the smaller gems between them, too. As they lit up, they displayed a numerical value. "2¡ªfuck!" Alexander''s right eye twitched in irritation, but he controlled his frustration, letting out a sigh. "¡ªWell, where is the fucking bug now?" Creating a simple calculator turned out to be a painstaking task¡ªsomething Alexander couldn''t help but think about sarcastically as he nearly grabbed one of the plates, tempted to disintegrate it out of sheer frustration. The principle was straightforward: Alexander carved the insides of the mana gems, ensuring they could hold a specific amount of mana, which would correlate to a number when combined. It was only possible because he discovered that by using [Mana Vibration] and [Mana Compression] together, he could manipulate the internal structure of the gems. These skills allowed him to compress or expand the space within each gem, enabling it to hold more or less mana as needed. The faster the vibration with as little mana as possible, the more space he could carve out, making the storage for mana larger. On the other hand, the slower the vibration with as much mana as possible, the more mana he could add, making the mana storage smaller as his mana would be embedded into the gem itself. As a side note, the gem''s brightness was directly related to the amount of mana it contained¡ªthe brighter the gem, the more mana it held. However, an unexpected side effect was that the gem would emit a short but intense burst of light if overloaded, essentially functioning as a flashbang. Narsiz had accidentally discovered this, blinding himself for a day¡ªa true inventor. Regardless of Narsiz''s amusing accident, Alexander could create now mana gems that would hold specific amounts of mana. Then, he only needed a creative algorithm, and the mana would sort themselves out. Fortunately, it also only worked because the mana gems behaved in a way he abused to create said algorithm. When connected, the gems never tried to distribute mana evenly, but they tried to fill as many gems as possible before settling in the one left with the smallest storage space. It was a crude solution, but it was the best he could devise with the resources and knowledge at hand. A better way would be to use logic gates, but he would implement those later using the gem''s intrinsic behavior toward mana. "Okay, let''s see¡ª" he mumbled, frustrated as he began rechecking each gem, a finicky and tedious process at best. Each gem''s amount of mana was explicitly adjusted to work with his algorithm. Each number displayed by numerous gems should have a different amount of mana, forcing him to choose a mana value for some storage spaces that were hard to carve out. As he worked for hours, his thoughts drifted away. He remembered that he was also criticized for something else, as some thought he had created something similar to a calculator. They were referring to how he had modified the system window spell to display the optimal range for [Attributes]¡ªsomething many found incredibly useful since it eliminated the need for manual calculations. But that spell was only partially automatic and couldn''t act as a calculator. It merely referenced a value. For example, if someone had X [Strength] at [Level] Y, the spell would select the corresponding value from a pre-constructed table Alexander had designed inside the spell''s construct. He had dozens of versions of it, tweaking it for all kinds of cases, but no calculations were involved, just pre-determined ways of taking a number and referring it to a value. The spell in itself was not created to calculate anything. It functioned by overlaying a layer over the system window that displayed whatever changes the caster wanted. However, mana didn''t inherently understand numbers. The caster had to meticulously recreate the desired data from their window by literally redrawing it, using nodes and lines. The pictures he created worked similarly, with lines and nodes of mana inside smaller constructs that used light to create visible colors and forms. However, because of how it worked, the overwhelming complexity of his last system window drove him to start building a calculator. The construct had become enormous, requiring an Outer Circlish level of control to manage. Fortunately, something great came out of it¡ªJanina loved to play around with it, creating all sorts of pictures, which made her acquire a skill called [Mana Drawing], which Alexander didn''t get for some reason. ''Hm¡ª'' Alexander suddenly came out of his thoughts when he noticed that he checked the last gem. He leaned back, looking at his messy but adorable calculator, ''¡ªI think I am done.'' After resetting his calculator, he injected mana into the first and second mana gems, lighting them up. "3¡ª" His smile broadened, "¡ªlet''s see." He quickly tested every combination he could think of, making the gems light up rapidly, with numbers appearing one after another. "Everything works!¡ª" He opened his arms as wide as he could. Though exhausted, he felt a profound sense of accomplishment, believing he had just created the first functional calculator. Eager to test it further, Alexander quickly repositioned all the plates and infused them with mana, his smile morphing into pure madness. "Now, for my magnum opus!" He opened his normal system window and entered all his skill levels into it to calculate his [Level] and [Tier]. It worked perfectly, even though it was slow and laborious. "Oh fuck yes... huh?" He suddenly heard so many pings that it became absurd. A sensation of unimaginable joy overcame him, followed by a sudden loss of all his stamina. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the table, unconscious. Alexander had pushed himself too far. His Mother had once told him about cases where someone leveled up rapidly, receiving powerful prefixes like [Absolute] or [Greater] in quick succession, which could strain the body to the point of unconsciousness. Apparently, it had just happened to him. The system window: https://chiruschka.github.io/Supersum/chapter183.html Chapter 184: A growing body and surprise If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 185: Responsibility This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 186: Redemption ... Place: Tea Room Time: Hours later The tea room was heavy with tension, like a fragile thread ready to snap at the slightest pull¡ªa sensation all too familiar to Alexander. ''Hm, delicious!'' While everyone else sat stiffly, glaring at him with a mixture of rather hostile emotions, Alexander ignored them and enjoyed the sweets before him while remembering the past. Though far less chaotic, the atmosphere reminded him of his previous life. Family gatherings had always spiraled into shouting matches, where every minor topic would explode into heated arguments¡ªfun times, in hindsight. "''Ah, the good ol'' times¡ª'' he mused, his sarcasm cut short by the eerie silence, ''¡ªGuess I should make the first move.''" Alexander glanced toward his Mother, who needed his Father''s continuous support, as seen by the massive hue of calming, natural, divine energy surrounding her. Otherwise, he feared that she would skin all of them alive. ''Yeah, better not look too long...'' Alexander''s siblings, however, weren''t much calmer¡ªtheir glares making their anger all too clear. ''Better give them more time to calm down.'' On Earth, his family usually calmed down after a few hours¡ªa wishful thought. Here on Orbis, it was different. Alexander had bruised their pride, which gravity he understood too well. Had they done to him what he did to them, he wasn''t sure how he''d react either. Yet, despite the guilt, he still refused to share his burden. As for his punishment? Alexander had already accepted his fate, whatever it might be, only awaiting what his parents had thought out for him. In the meantime, he tried to conceal his desperation with the massive amount of food he ate. "I still don''t get what''s going on¡ª" Janina said, breaking the uncomfortable silence and making Alexander stop devouring the whole cake. She fidgeted with her fingers, glancing around the room nervously. Before Alexander could respond, Narsiz spoke up, his voice laced with sarcastic venom while smiling, "Oh, it''s simple¡ª" he shot a terrifying glance at Alexander, making him flinch, "¡ªyour brother Alex is an evil person¡ªsomeone who doesn''t deserve love or care." Janina blinked nervously, looking between Narsiz and Alexander, clearly bewildered. She knew Narsiz was joking, but the tension in the room made everything feel heavier than it should. She swallowed hard and replied hesitantly, "I don''t think¡ª" Lorient cut her immediately off, her tone sharp with barely restrained fury, "He betrayed us¡ª" she showed her fangs, eyes narrowing at Alexander, "¡ªand decided for us to be cowards." Alexander glanced toward Sarah, waiting for a cutting remark. But instead, there was only disappointment written all over her face. It was as if she couldn''t comprehend why he hadn''t trusted her to stand by him. Just as Alexander readied himself to endure this lovely get-together full of beheaded unicorns and acidic rainbows, his Father shifted the conversation. "A true man seeks no power but responsibility¡ª" His voice was calm but firm, filled with pride and heavy-heartedness. "You''ve never cared for honor, pride, wealth, or power. All you''ve ever cared about is walking a path of your choosing¡ªeven if it goes against everyone''s expectations." Alexander suddenly felt a clenching and warmth in his chest, surging as if someone had gently gripped his heart. He heard similar words from the person he once called Father, too, though the memory was faint, worn down by time. "It doesn''t matter anymore what your goal is¡ªthe responsibility and burden you''ve taken on point all toward one path, that of a Knight." His smile became gentler, with Alexander almost choking on his tears as memories surged from the far past, becoming ever so livelier¡ªscents of iron and burnt flesh invaded his nose. "As the potential heir, it''s a burden only you can carry¡ªand we''ll give you the freedom to walk that path. But are you truly ready?" "Baaba¡ª" He accidentally muttered it aloud, only to quickly cough, "¡ªsorry, I meant dad¡ª" After another moment, he shook the past away, seeing the need to focus on the present, "¡ªwhat is the plan, though?" "Freedom means making your own choices¡ª" a casual shrug accompanied his words, "¡ªWhat would you do?" Alexander smiled nervously, seeing how it was meant to be a teachable moment. However, because of his uneasiness, his nervous tendency to joke around at inappropriate moments came out. "Fake my own death? Maybe set myself up in some shady establishment, make some extra gold learning¡­ adult techniques?" Before he could continue, an invisible force pressed down on him, cutting off his breath and making him bend forward. "Urgh!" His Mother, her exhaustion written across her face, cut in with a sharp tone, "Are you so eager to throw your life away, Alexander? You''ve caused enough damage¡ªthis isn''t a laughing matter." Locking eyes with his Mother, he saw desperateness. She was tired, gone the pridefulness he loved to observe. ''I... need to take it seriously.'' As the pressure slowly subsided, he forced himself to accept the seriousness of the situation, seeing the need to show remorse by changing his attitude at least¡ªit was no laughing matter, indeed. Alexander sighed in relief as the pressure lifted. He awkwardly rubbed his neck, unsure how to deal with the nervous energy inside him. "I know¡ª" his voice was small and regretful, "¡ªbut what else can I do? I''ve made a mess of things, and I don''t want to drag them¡ª" he nodded toward his siblings, "¡ªinto it." His siblings'' stares felt like daggers, and the tension was suffocating once he took it all seriously. For once, guilt settled heavily in his chest. ''Yeah, this is the least I can do.'' Before anyone could respond, with a heavy sigh, Alexander rose to his feet and approached his family, positioning himself before them, "This is the least I can do." He knelt before his parents and siblings, forehead touching the floor, ears pushed down, and tail to the side, showing utmost vulnerability. The tension in the room eased slightly. "I apologize and am ready to do everything in my power to relieve my family''s burden, even if it means I need to take extreme measures¡ª" He clenched his hands in frustration, "¡ªjust tell me what I need to do." The tension finally eased, replaced by a silence that blanketed the room. It was the first time Alexander had ever bowed to anyone. He''d always been arrogant, his ego large. But now, with the weight of his actions dragging everyone down, this apology felt necessary, even to him. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "I won''t promise this will be the last time, but I understand the consequences of what I''ve done." Not only had he dragged his siblings into this mess, but his parents as well¡ªespecially his Mother. While his Father, as a Druid, was largely exempt from reporting anything to the Count, his Mother had no such protection. When he turned ten, his Mother would have to report everything to the Count¡ªa great burden. Even though her oath demanded honesty, it was still filled with loopholes and grey areas, making it lenient and allowing households to exercise tremendous freedom. His initial writings about the creation of gunpowder were brushed off as accidental discoveries, and dangerous ideas were conveniently labeled academic lectures with Anastasia. Many matters could be ignored, but none that could shield Alexander from what he had done. His actions were too blatant, intruding into matters of external governance. While not solely the Count''s domain, it fell under his authority. "I''ll take whatever punishment is necessary, so long as it spares everyone I love, even if it means slaving away for fifty years in some mine." His words were but wishful thinking. Deep down, Alexander knew that his family would still suffer even if he bore all the responsibility. Moorgrel''s system didn''t just punish individuals; it punished entire households, ensuring everyone shared the burden of the perpetrator. This was how he kept his Knights in line¡ªloyal monsters, always teetering on the edge of madness thanks to demonic energy. Even his Grandmother, openly disgusted by the Count''s dealings with Mal-Gil, knew that one severe misstep could damn not just her but her entire bloodline. It forced her¡ªand everyone else¡ªinto submission. This was also why marriage was mandatory. It bound bloodlines together, spreading punishment across every family member and keeping them all tethered to each other''s fate. "I... argh, why?!" As Sarah attempted to stand, obviously wanting to share his responsibility, she was immediately forced back down by an unseen pressure. This time, his Mother''s voice was more composed and almost gentle. "I don''t want to hear any more about what happened or who''s at fault. Let me tell you what we decided on¡ª" Alexander felt a calm gaze on him, "¡ªyou alone will bear the responsibility. Not out of vengeance or spite, but because it''s the only way to make the best of the situation for everyone." As Sarah sat down again, Alexander tried to rise, but his Mother''s words held him still in place. He didn''t dare to move, and his posture showed still utmost submission. "Humility is a rare virtue, Alex¡ªand it''s one you need more than most. With some luck, this whole disaster could become a blessing for your growth¡ª" She smiled at him amiably, "¡ªThe Trial of Redemption is our solution." Alexander stood slowly up and walked back to the couch, "Trial of Redemption?" He racked his mind, but no law came to him. "There''s no such law." His Mother crossed her legs, her tone matter-of-fact, "It''s not a law, but a custom. Nobles can redeem themselves through a trial¡ªan atonement for despicable crimes..." The Trial of Redemption was designed to absolve a noble of their crimes and maintain internal harmony while creating accountability to external parties. Moorgrel had too many enemies to risk internal conflicts or disputes with its allies. Prolonged investigations could ignite tensions and reveal cracks in its foundation that no one wanted to be exposed. "So, what does it mean for me? What will my Trial of Redemption look like?" His Mother''s explanation made the trial sound almost like a get-out-of-jail-free card, but he knew it wouldn''t be that simple. The fact that his Grandmother had nearly been broken by her own trial was proof enough of its severity. However, if he succeeded, his siblings would be spared¡ªit was the perfect solution. His Father shook his head, "First, you need to be officially titled nobility or be coronated as heir. Second, the Count will decide the nature of the trial." Alexander glanced at his siblings, trying to read their reaction. They had agreed to the plan with their silence, understanding its logic. Otherwise, their stubbornness in sharing the responsibility would have caused even more problems. Before Alexander could continue, Narsiz spoke up, his voice full of frustration, making Alexander rethink his previous thoughts. "I understand the reasoning, but can''t one of us be the heir instead?" Their Mother sighed, showing the same frustration toward him, "You may not understand, but the Trial of Redemption requires someone with exceptional will. Alexander is the only one capable of enduring it without ending like my sister." Lorient and Sarah wanted to argue, but they couldn''t, their frustration showing alike. They both knew Alexander was the best choice since he lived through Outer Circle and had the necessary endurance. By now, they also realized that raw strength wasn''t the deciding factor. Even though Alexander had broken down many times before, he was still the most suitable for this as he persevered. Grumbling under their breath, they gave in while Alexander leaned back on the couch, one leg over the other, feeling a little proud that he was the best choice to suffer through the trial¡ªundeniably an odd sensation. "Gotcha, so nothing really changes. You''ll make me the heir, inform the Count when I''m ten, and I''ll go through with whatever punishment is necessary to clear our name." His Mother smirked, an air of mischief swirling around her. "First of all, I''ve already informed the Count." "Sure¡ª" Alexander blinked, taken aback, "¡ªwait, what?" She shrugged, making Alexander panic. His mind blanked, and he couldn''t understand why she did it. Fortunately, she saw how he became more distressed by the moment, finally revealing the reason with a playful tone. "The Trial of Redemption is about showing remorse. The sooner you report it, the more lenient the Count will be. He''ll be more willing to pardon you if you show genuine honesty." Alexander couldn''t help the scowl forming on his face the more he thought about it, ''Right, I forgot.'' She trusted their Master, while Alexander felt the opposite¡ªa belief he held onto since his time on Earth. He distrusted the regime while loving the people and land. Despite his repulsiveness, he immediately understood her intentions, which also made sense. The more goodwill he received from the Count, the better his chances would be to not go through the harshest of trials. "I get it¡ª" he muttered, still uneasy about being at someone else''s mercy, "¡ªSo, when''s the actual ceremony?" Before his parents could respond, Sarah spoke up for the first time, her tone forced and solemn, "There won''t be one until you earn the necessary military merits." Alexander turned toward her, becoming overly dramatic, "You do love m¡ª" He coughed to cover up the sarcasm that almost made it through, "¡ªAhem! Fine. How do I get any, then?" He looked back at his parents, having difficulty taking such a requirement seriously, "Is there a battlefield somewhere I can just stroll onto or an occupied island I could take over?" Alexander didn''t see this as a challenge since he had military experience from his previous life. While he didn''t have a leading or managerial role, he was still a specialist and well-informed regarding strategy and tactics. Adding his wealth to this equation would make it a straightforward victory, with him blitzkrieging the enemy with overwhelming power and numbers while trying to mount an assassination before setting foot anywhere. His Father''s sudden smile interrupted his thoughts¡ªa mischievous one that made Alexander feel uneasy. "While you may be ready to take over some territory, we''ll decide where you go¡ªand where you won''t." It suddenly clicked, ''They haven''t punished me yet.'' Punishing Alexander wasn''t easy. They didn''t want to hinder his growth, and physical pain wasn''t effective since he was exposed to it daily while isolating him would only stunt his social skills further, which were already an issue he acknowledged. "First, you''ll lead an operation to take over the island assigned to Lila, the little fire-djinn girl." He was already planning to support Lila. Racist as she was, she had proven to be a strong and trustworthy ally. "Second¡ª" his Mother added, "¡ªyou''ll need to bargain for at least a third of the land. And no, your siblings won''t help you with the negotiations. You''ll lead the talks alone." Alexander crossed his arms, sarcasm slipping through again, "Got it. And while I''m at it, should I also aim for the Emperor''s throne? This is getting ridiculous." His Father remained unfazed, shrugging, "If you fail, I''ll have Lila''s little gamble crumble to dust." It was becoming clear that they wanted him to grow in areas beyond combat. They needed him to face leaders and situations where his usual snark and manipulation wouldn''t work¡ªan impossible task, perhaps, but one they were set on. Alexander glared at his Father, "I get it. What''s next? Are you going to tie me to a boar and blindfold me while on the battlefield?" His Mother''s smirk widened, and he braced himself for whatever was coming next. "Third, you won''t use your personal assets. What we give you will be what you will use¡ªfar less than what you''re used to." Alexander relaxed slightly. Even without much gold, he had people who were highly loyal to him, ready to dive into combat. He could always find other ways to overwhelm the enemy if push came to shove, even if that meant mercilessly getting the territory¡ªVietnam style. Still, the ominous feeling lingered, and he couldn''t shake it off. "Fourth¡ª" his Father continued, "¡ªthe mutt won''t be helping you. If she steps in to defend you, the operation is over. You''ll return home and join another campaign as a subordinate under some inexperienced youth." Alexander frowned, clearly not thrilled with that condition, but he couldn''t argue with their logic. They needed to correct his behavior, making him more humble and thoughtful of his actions. "The fifth and final point¡ª" his Mother said, her voice gaining a more sinister edge, "¡ªis that you won''t be doing this alone." Alexander raised an eyebrow, the unease creeping back, "Obviously, I''ll have my troops, right?" His Mother shook her head, her smile turning more devilish, showing her fangs slightly, "Remember that exchange you planned? The one where all those youths will visit you?" Alexander nodded cautiously. He had sent out invitations across the East for the pseudo-ball, expecting an exchange of techniques, skills, and friendships. "I do¡ª" The sensation he felt became more palpable, "¡ªWhat about it?" Her smile widened, and he recoiled slightly, sensing that this was about plain vengeance, "Remember how you gave me the letters to send out?¡ª" her tone poisonously sweet, "¡ªWell, I didn''t. I rewrote them to be a little more... exciting." Alexander''s eyes widened, "What did you do?" "You see Alex¡ª" her eyes sparkled with mischief, "¡ªmany of our younglings need military merits too, and killing wild demons doesn''t count. So, when you go, they''ll join you¡ªand you''ll lead them." Chapter 187: Babysitter Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Chapter 188: Hazy Mind Stolen story; please report. Chapter 189: Sarahs Feelings I This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Chapter 190: Sarahs Feelings II Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Chapter 191: Alexanders Decision If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Chapter 192: Immediate Aftermath I Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Chapter 193: Immediate Aftermath II Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Chapter 194: Immediate Aftermath III Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Chapter 195: Otto I ... Shortly after the Camp took over Part of the Island The scent of stale ale and smoke hung heavy in the air in a dimly lit corner of the Rambling Raven Bar. Lively chatter and the clinking of glasses created a cacophony that drowned out any semblance of quiet. Amidst the merriment, a young woman and a young man sat laughing and drinking, their spirits high. "Dammit! I''m finally free¡ª" Ocilia exclaimed, taking a giant gulp and slamming the cheap wooden cup onto the battered table. The liquid sloshed over the rim, spilling onto the stained wood, "¡ªUgh! This is disgusting, but I love it!" Aurum chuckled beside her, his black hair disheveled and face flushed from the array of empty cups scattered before them, "Oh man, at last, I have time to look for a girl¡ª" He leaned in closer, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "¡ªSay, do you know any unmarried girls?" Ocilia''s eyes, slightly unfocused, regarded him with amusement. Her dark hair framed her face, her upper spider eyes all in a different color, "Wow, you''re really bold, huh?" Aurum looked puzzled, a lopsided grin on his face, "Huh? What do you mean?" She smirked, her lips curling playfully, "Bold of you to assume I even have friends, hahaha!" Caught off guard, Aurum burst into laughter, his joy infectious, "Hehe, now that you mention it, I don''t know anybody either!" Ocilia raised her cup, the dim light glinting off the metallic artifact around her wrist, "Cheers to being friendless losers!" Aurum lifted his own in response, their cups clinking with a hollow sound, "Cheers!" As they downed their drinks, Otto observed the scene from a distance, his neatly pressed suit a stark contrast to the rough attire of the bar''s patrons. He suppressed a frown, adjusting his tie. His task was to introduce himself to his future colleagues and assess whether he was still interested in joining them¡ªa peculiar method to ensure someone was fit for a position. However, while those youths looked inconspicuous, Otto saw through them, having analyzed them thoroughly. Ocilia''s aura was akin to that of a veteran soldier from a Marquise, full of pride and unquestionable power, ''Extraordinary.'' But she wasn''t the only one with unimaginable talent. Aurum, a simple swan kin, the son of a Lady''s retainer, always knew what to say and how to act, manipulating their conversation to continue indefinitely, maintaining the mood as if it was a puppet, ''Definitely one of a kind.'' Looking around, everyone knew them and regarded them with respect and admiration¡ªnobody would even dare inconvenience them in any way. This little observation caused Otto''s greed to flare up. He wanted respect, admiration, and prestige¡ªa status he deserved¡ªso he decided to become Alexander''s retainer. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he weaved his way through the crowded room, the floorboards creaking beneath his polished boots. Approaching their table, he offered a polite smile, "Hello. My name is Otto, and I''ll be your new colleague." Ocilia glanced up at him, her gaze sharp despite the haze of alcohol. She exchanged a glance with Aurum, a silent conversation passing between them, "If you''re a gay, how about him?" she said, jerking her thumb toward Otto. Aurum, clearly drunk, chuckled, nearly spilling his drink, "A gay? Haha! Are you a lesbian? Pfff!" Ocilia, no better off, started giggling uncontrollably, her laughter ringing out above the noise of the bar, "Why not? Haha!" Otto''s frown became more pronounced, but he maintained his composure, "Mr. Alexander sent me to introduce myself and ask you about the work¡ª" He straightened up, smoothing his vest with a practiced hand, "¡ªI''ll be the new archivist!" The nearby conversations hushed for a moment, and several patrons glanced their way. The mention of Alexander commanded attention. His name carried weight¡ªa figure of respect and unimaginable admiration. However, Ocilia merely smirked, "Shut up¡ª" She extended her hand, fingers splayed, then clenched into a fist, "¡ªand sit down." Before Otto could react, an unseen force pulled at him. His body moved independently, and a chair slid beneath him as if guided by an invisible hand. He found himself seated at their table, eyes wide with surprise. "How did you¡ª" he began, but the words caught in his throat, unknown as he didn''t sense or see anything¡ªno energy was used. Ocilia leaned back, a satisfied grin on her face, "Drink up, buddy¡ª" she pushed a full cup of the bar''s questionable brew toward him, "Do you really want to be a retainer?" Eager to make a good impression despite his confusion, Otto lifted the cup and took a cautious sip. Instantly, he regretted it. The cheap alcohol burned like fire, and he couldn''t suppress a grimace, "Argh! Why do you drink this? I thought you were well-paid!" Aurum laughed heartily, his eyes gleaming with delight, "I get ten large gold coins per month¡ª" Ocilia shrugged, indifferent, "I don''t keep track, but I think it''s around eight. Most of it''s in the bank, though. I don''t need it." Such sums surprised Otto. A baron with a humble fief and limited income might earn five to ten large gold coins every three months, "So, what are you doing here, then?" he asked, genuinely curious. Aurum gestured toward Ocilia, "She said they had something so strong it knocks out all the [Poison Resistance]. Thought I''d give it a try." Otto raised an eyebrow, "Why do you even have that skill?" It wasn''t unusual for high-ranking nobles to acquire it due to constant threats, but beyond that, no one in their right mind would poison themselves just to gain some [Experience]. There were far easier ways to increase their levels. Ocilia gestured dismissively, "We have a manual in the library that shows you step by step what to eat and drink to gradually get the standard skill up to level 50. I tried it¡ªa couple of weeks of stomachaches and diarrhea, but I got there." Aurum nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, there are manuals for every damn skill. If you''re bored, just look through them. But I wouldn''t recommend [Curse Resistance]¡ªugh." Ocilia grimaced at the memory, "Yeah, that was some nasty stuff." As Otto listened, he couldn''t help but feel a mix of awe and disbelief. The perks of being a retainer sounded like something out of a fable. The rumors weren''t lies, after all. Alexander always seemed to find ways for his people to acquire the same skills he possessed, albeit to a lesser degree. It made sense since increasing specific skills to a high level required costly resources or a good amount of [Luck]. Yet, Alexander wasn''t famous for giving information about those general skills, but because he freely distributed mana skills. Otto knew many who wanted to join him precisely because of that reason, imagining that they could flee the fate of their [Divinity Line] and become a great mage or alchemist. Nevertheless, providing skills was one thing; using them was another. Otto spoke with some of the servants while they were delivering food to Alexander, and most, while initially fascinated, regarded spells not as something grand. They were seen as practical tools to simplify their lives by quickly cleaning them, igniting a fire, or conjuring a snack. Guards and warriors used mana as an additional [Energy] source. Some tried to incorporate spells into their attacks, while one or two were still figuring out how to make them work. Otto wasn''t delusional about becoming the second Merlin. He had no interest in mana skills or manuals, as those were not his primary goal, though they were a nice bonus. He was happy with his specialization and saw no need to learn how to cast a fireball. The longer he sat and listened to them discuss skills¡ªprimarily practical for the Crown or higher nobility¡ªthe more he wanted to steer the conversation back to the matter he had come here for, hoping to use the chance to learn more about what it meant to be a retainer for Alexander. "What nice perks, but I''d like to discuss the work. Mr. Alexander mentioned that I might not like it¡ª" his tone a little firmer, attempting to regain control of the discussion. Ocilia shrugged, taking another sip from her cup, "It''s a lot, but only in bursts." Aurum nodded, leaning forward, "Somewhat, but since you''ll be the archivist, you''ll have a massive workload. If you need more people, just ask and get them. Master allows it every time." Otto nodded cautiously. While he understood that Mr. Alexander had many projects, he had a different goal¡ªto become the estate''s archivist. "So, the work is just that? I have periods of intense stress while other times it''s calm?" he asked, seeking clarification. They both looked at him before bursting into laughter. "Haha! Easy? Calm? Stress?" Aurum shook his head, his expression of disbelief, "For the last few weeks, we''ve barely slept. I live in the damn hotel because I don''t have time to go back home! Right now, I need to figure out how to get the charity operating more efficiently in the south, north, and west of Moorgrel¡ª" He smirked at Otto, "¡ªSo you know, we don''t stop once something is finished; we keep going." Ocilia sighed, a hint of weariness in her eyes, "This isn''t a position for coin, skills, or some nonsense, but for ideals¡ª" She met his gaze, her voice firm, "¡ªWe do the right thing and help others, bringing this shitty city prosperity and happiness. If you want coin, become a worker, but to be a retainer, you need to share the same ideals, or you''ll get cut off and placed in another position." Aurum''s voice softened, filled with conviction, "You don''t get it because you''re a noble, but Master dearly wants to help every poor soul out here¡ª" He gestured around the bar, encompassing the rough patrons and shabby surroundings, "¡ªDo you think he couldn''t just focus on himself and train? We have a greater goal!" Otto swallowed, choosing his words carefully, "I understand that is Mr. Alexander''s goal, but do you think similarly? What is your goal?" Aurum smiled genuinely, "Mine is helping the poor, of course." Ocilia agreed, nodding proudly, "At first, I hated the idea, but after seeing how it really changed their lives, I started to like that too." "This is also Mr. Alexander''s main goal? Help the poor?" Otto probed, curiosity piqued. Aurum shrugged lightly, "Who knows exactly? Master''s goal is something like pushing us forward¡ªmore prosperity, better quality of life, and more opportunities." Otto was puzzled, "That''s it?" Ocilia arched an eyebrow, "That''s it? Do you understand that those goals are indefinite? They''re never-ending. You''ll always look for better ways to improve without a break. That''s it, you moron¡ª" she looked angry, but still had a smile on her lips. Otto had never cared much about ideological pursuits; practical matters always took precedence in his life. But apparently, such ideals were crucial to these youths. He was fine with it as long as their enthusiasm didn''t cross into extremism.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Yet he remained skeptical, suspecting that Aurum and Ocilia might be exceptions rather than the norm among Alexander''s retainers. They were young and full of vigor, undeniably more radical than pragmatic¡ªa quality often tempered by age and experience. Also, being natives of Wolfsteeth and clearly attached to its people, perhaps they were more idealistically driven to improve the city because of that personal connection. Their passion was palpable, and while admirable, it made Otto question whether others shared their motivations in Alexander''s circle. But he sensed that Aurum and Ocilia had somewhat different motivations, which only deepened his curiosity about the young noble''s true intentions. Was Alexander genuinely committed to these lofty ideals, or was there another agenda at play? ''Actually, his idea of me speaking with his other retainers first makes much more sense now¡ª'' Otto mused, ''¡ªBy talking to his people, I can gain a better understanding of Alexander, learn about their perspectives, and perhaps deduce his real intent. There''s no need to form an opinion just yet; it''s best to withhold judgment until I''ve met everyone else...'' While Otto didn''t think there was a need to dig too deeply¡ªassuming that Alexander was simply philanthropically inclined¡ªhe still preferred to see the whole picture if given the chance. After all, aligning himself with a noble whose true motives were unclear could have unforeseen consequences. "I see¡ª" He raised his cup, deciding to play along for now, "¡ªTo Mr. Alexander!" Suddenly, the entire bar erupted in cheers, catching him off guard. "To the damn saint!" "Yeah, let the archmage puppy build a mage tower! Buhahaha!" "To Leonandra''s man! What a great hatchling!" "Buhahaha! Let''s show that scum like us is worth the Paw!" "Hear, hear!" Otto looked around, astonished. The esteem these people had for Alexander was palpable, something he wished to be a part of. ... The Next Day Otto stood before the grand entrance of the Helping Paw headquarters, momentarily awed by its sheer size. The building loomed over the bustling streets of Wolfsteeth, still expanding as it bought out neighboring properties to accommodate its ever-growing workforce. The facade was a mix of new stone and hastily erected scaffolding, trying to satisfy its rapid growth. ''How wealthy is he?'' Otto mused, adjusting his copper-colored necktie, making it more perceptible. He had always known that Alexander possessed significant wealth, but this was on the level of a Viscount specializing in trade. Such operations were costly, which made him even more eager for the archivist position. Outside, he saw people from all different walks of life walking in and out, proudly wearing small pins shaped like paws inside hearts that symbolized their affiliation¡ªmainly used as a security measure. When they ventured into the more dangerous parts of Wolfsteeth, no one dared touch them, knowing they would be hunted down. Those who tried to steal were put a hit on them and pursued relentlessly. Now, many thieves would go straight to the Copper House and admit their faults¡ªit was better than facing the consequences. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the heavy oak doors and stepped inside. The interior was a hive of activity. Workers bustled about, papers in hand, while messenger birds and other avian creatures darted overhead, delivering messages and small packages. The air was filled with discussions, fights, and the distant hammering from the ongoing construction. ''Right, that''s a trend, too, now¡ª'' he watched as a small hawk swooped down to a clerk, who took something out of the pouch the bird had hanging around its neck, pulling out some food, and continued his day while eating it¡ªa sandwich. They had devised a new method of using delivery animals to bring food and supplies, especially since the headquarters lacked space for a proper restaurant. Alexander would cover any expenses up to a point, and because of this, many restaurants and kitchens opened up nearby, flooding the Southern District. The headquarters looked barely finished, but that was to be expected. They had already expanded for the fourth time, and as soon as craftsmen were free, they were immediately hired to work here. Cooks, artisans, tailors, scribes, accountants¡ªanyone with useful skills was immediately hired and put to work. Otto understood the impact; prices for goods and services had soared, making it difficult to find anything. It had become such a mess that even people outside the city were coming here, looking to make good coin with their skills, hearing about such an opportunity. This, in turn, meant that Wolfsteeth needed to expand again, ready to accommodate even more people. It was astounding how much Alexander stirred up the city and changed the landscape in such a short amount of time. He approached the reception desk, where a young raccoon-kin woman was buried in paperwork, her quill scratching furiously across a document. She had short, chestnut hair and wore simple spectacles with simple glass inside that framed sharp, green eyes. She didn''t acknowledge him as he stood there, so he cleared his throat softly. "Excuse me¡ª" he tried to get her attention. "Wait¡ª" she said curtly, not looking up. He frowned, coughing louder this time, "Excuse me¡ª" he repeated, hoping to garner her attention. She finally glanced up, a smirk forming on her lips, "A judge? Who cares? We get plenty of you around here¡ª" She returned to her work, leaving Otto slightly embarrassed. He reached into his pouch and produced the Leonandra sigil Alexander had given him, holding it up for her to see. Her eyes widened slightly, and she looked at him more intently. "A sigil? What do you want? And just so you know, we won''t take any bribes, make deals, or anything shady just because you got your hands on that." "Bribes? Deals?" Otto was taken aback. She nodded, her gaze scrutinizing, "Yeah, we get people who like to flaunt their connections¡ª" She suddenly smirked, "¡ªBut if you try something, Ariana or Aurum will make you regret it. So think carefully about what you need." Otto felt a mix of confusion and understanding. Many people were probably trying to become partners or gain favor through bribery, which was an unfortunate reality in his line of work¡ªbut this wasn''t the time to delve into that, "I came to visit Ariana, actually." The receptionist rolled her eyes, "Third floor, room 308. Good luck; she''s in a bad mood." "Thank you¡ª" he said, nodding politely before making his way to the stairs. As he climbed, the sounds of construction grew louder. Artisans were hard at work, hammering and sawing, the smell of fresh wood and sawdust permeating the air. The building was a labyrinth of half-finished hallways and temporary partitions, forcing him even to walk on boards that, if slipped up, one would fall, regretting their clumsiness. Arriving at the third floor, he navigated through the maze until he found door 308. A simple piece of paper was glued to it, bearing the words Ariana scrawled hastily. Seeing that name, he didn''t forget that he also needed to understand Alexander''s motivations. Yesterday, he met Aurum and Ocilia¡ªAlexander''s first retainers. But today, Otto was to meet someone who had joined much later, someone from central Mal-Gil like himself. Perhaps she would offer another perspective. He knocked a couple of times, and a voice immediately called out, "Come in! Damn it! Can''t you read?" Glancing back at the sign, he realized he had missed the writing in small letters further down: Just Come In. He became a little embarrassed but still pushed the door open and stepped inside. The office was a study in contrast to what he saw at the entrance hall. One side was chaotic¡ªplates stacked haphazardly, half-filled glasses, and crumpled papers strewn about. The other side was meticulously clean, with neatly organized stacks of documents and a well-maintained workspace. Behind the desk sat a tanned lizard-kin woman in a casual suit, a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves revealing toned arms covered in patches of shimmering emerald and ruby scales. Her pinkish-red eyes fixed on him with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity. "What?" she asked bluntly, tapping her fingers impatiently on the desk. Otto took a step forward, clearing his throat, "Ahem! My name is Otto M. Melodias, and I¡ª" She cut him off abruptly, "Melodias? Like the failed knighthood under that loser Viscount?" He flinched but tried to maintain his composure, "I see. You''re also from central Mal-Gil?" He knew this but decided to act surprised. She leaned back in her chair, studying him, "Ariana Leonandra. And I''m a commoner, so no worries¡ª" She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "¡ªCopper-colored necktie with stripes... That means you''re from the Copper Courthouse. Since Lia mentioned you yesterday, you''re probably running around trying to talk to all of Mr. Alexander''s retainers?" Otto tilted his head slightly, "Does Mr. Alexander do this often?" Ariana nodded, her expression indifferent, "I was the first, and be thankful. Some decided to take normal positions after introducing themselves¡ª" Her eyes hardened, "¡ªWell, whatever. I''m his retainer for education, charity, or whatever he feels like." Otto offered a polite smile, "Nice to meet you. I''m a judge and hopefully soon to be the archivist." Ariana shook her head firmly, "Don''t." "Excuse me?" He blinked, taken aback by her bluntness. "You think it''s great to work for Mr. Alexander, but look at this¡ª" She gestured, and several pieces of paper wobbled into the air, floating toward her and stacking haphazardly on the desk. It was a crude display of alchemy, far less sophisticated than what Otto had seen from Alexander. She seemed to be concentrating heavily, a slight furrow in her brow. After a moment, a sizable stack of at least 150 pages lay before her. She looked back at him, annoyance evident, "Guess." "Guess what?" "Guess when I did this work." He hesitated. Alexander had a reputation for being demanding, so he made a conservative estimate, "Over the last month?" She scoffed a hint of arrogance in her expression, "Yesterday. And this is only the proposal for the schools in the Western District¡ª" She floated a single piece of paper toward him, "¡ªI only learned how to manipulate ink contraptions so I could write many times faster. Otherwise, it would be impossible." "I see... But don''t you have access to hundreds of workers?" Otto asked, perplexed. She chuckled dryly, "Do I?¡ª" He caught the paper she had sent his way and glanced at it, "¡ªDo you think just anyone can handle this?" Otto became slightly confused, only seeing complex tables and lists. It was filled with itemized equipment, quantities, costs, and specifications. "What does it mean?" he asked, genuinely confused. "It''s the equipment list for the first school we''re about to open. I must find suppliers for all these items and ensure each school has similar furniture and equipment." "Why is that important?" "Because people like good-looking things and think it has more prestige if their table is made of mahogany rather than walnut, that''s why¡ª" She shrugged, "¡ªRight now, everything is chaotic. We need people who can identify furniture, artisans to craft them, educators who understand how hatchlings behave and what they need, and negotiators to bargain for the best prices." Otto raised a hand to stop her, "I get it. You need a variety of people and workshops capable of mass-producing furniture and supplies." She nodded, "Exactly. I didn''t just say to complain but as a warning. As the archivist, your job won''t just be overseeing trivial matters like contracts. You''ll advise others, ensure everything is properly documented, and likely manage a team of around fifty people initially." Otto frowned, "Wouldn''t I just handle Mr. Alexander''s private matters?" Ariana arched an eyebrow, "Why the fuck would we need you then?" He blinked, his confidence wavering, "I thought¡ª" "You thought wrong¡ª" she cut him off, "¡ªMr. Alexander trusts you, apparently, and this position comes with a lot of power and prestige¡ªbut just as much responsibility." She leaned forward, her gaze piercing, "While I respect Noriken, he only manages what''s already built, tweaking it piece by piece. But we''re creating something new and need creativity and boldness to make it work." Otto frowned, immediately understanding what she wanted from him. He would basically try to find loopholes so they could act more straightforwardly, "You know that even the honorable Noriken doesn''t focus on every field in law, but at most three or so. It''s impossible to know all the laws in every field." She shrugged, "I''m a scribe, but that doesn''t matter right now. Everyone needs to do everything and learn new things in their field or another area altogether since we''re growing insanely fast and doing something untried. We need all hands on deck, and that''s why we get paid so well." He interrupted, "I heard eight to ten large gold coins." She smirked, "Oh no, that''s just the wage. You also get all expenses paid for food and clothes, we''ll help you find living space, and you get an education in anything you desire¡ª" She looked proud, "¡ªI have bonus checks lying around worth hundreds of gold coins¡ªall useless, since what would I need them for? To buy a damn fief?" Otto looked at her skeptically, seeing that she was apparently not here because of the gold, "So, do you do this for idealistic reasons?" Ariana tapped her cheek thoughtfully and shrugged, "Yes and no." "What do you mean?" "It''s simple. Imagine getting everything you want, plus you''re helping and doing something that actually matters. Isn''t that great?" "I..." he began, unsure how to respond. She cut him off again, "I get it. This isn''t central Mal-Gil, and people here are a little crazy. But they appreciate nobility here, at least in our territory. They like us, and it''s a great feeling to do something the subjects value and admire you for instead of working somewhere they would fear you while your Master or Mistress doesn''t push you¡ªmaking you bored and frustrated because of the fear if they change something, it would just become worse." Otto frowned slightly. "Hm, I think I understand." She shook her head, "You don''t because you don''t have everything you want yet. Once you''re wealthy beyond reason and have power with the appropriate knowledge, you will crave prestige¡ªnot the kind where people fear or respect you but where they love you. Nothing is better than knowing the work I do actually helps and has meaning. Don''t you think?" He hesitated, feeling a knot in his stomach, "I suppose..." She shrugged, "Listen, if you just want gold and some power, become a worker. We pay them well enough, especially those with great skills. But only become a retainer if you actually care because you''ll get stripped of your position the moment you become lazy and uncaring if you want to enjoy being known as a retainer to Mr. Alexander." Otto felt a flush of embarrassment mixed with frustration, "I..." "Yeah, yeah¡ª" she waved dismissively, "¡ªNow get out and think about it before accepting the position." He stood there for a moment, processing everything she had said. The weight of responsibility, the relentless pace, and the expectation of genuine commitment were a lot to take in. He nodded slowly, "Thank you for your time." She didn''t respond, already turning back to her work, but before that, all the papers slowly floated back to their proper place. As he made his way back through the bustling headquarters, he couldn''t help but feel a mix of emotions¡ªambition, doubt, curiosity¡ªswirling within him. The scope of Alexander''s projects was staggering, and the impact was undeniable. He paused by a window overlooking the city. The streets below were alive with activity¡ªpeople moving with purpose, buildings rising, and life-improving. Messenger birds darted between rooftops, and the distant hum of conversations floated up to him. Perhaps there was more to this than prestige and gold. Perhaps, he thought, there was a chance to be part of something greater. ''Do I really want this?'' he wondered. The question lingered as he descended the stairs and stepped back into the city streets, needing to talk to more people to understand their motivation. Chapter 196: Otto II This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Chapter 197 & 198: Otto III & IV (and Jarus/Klili) If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 199: First School Day I This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Chapter 200: First School Day II ... "Yeah, sure! Like I care! How did you even get permission from Mom?!" Alexander''s voice echoed through the auditorium, sharp and uncharacteristically harsh. Naza flinched at the sudden outburst. She had always admired Alexander¡ªlistening to his speeches, he was always energetic and showed kindness. She was reminded of one occurrence, how she tripped before him, ''He touched my hand,'' Her cheeks warmed at the memory. However, the lovely memory was interrupted as the auditorium, buzzing with excitement moments before, fell into a tense silence. All eyes turned toward the commotion. Sitting defiantly in the front row was a young girl with snow-white hair streaked with black stripes and piercing green eyes. "She allowed it! And by the way, Alex, it''s none of your business!" the girl retorted, her voice slicing through the hush. Whispers rippled through the crowd as students exchanged puzzled glances. Naza realized this must be Alexander''s younger sister, Janina. Casually addressing a noble with such defiance could lead to severe consequences. Only someone of close relation would dare¡ªbesides, there was also the obvious clue. Before anyone could react further, a palpable tension filled the air. Alexander''s usually warm demeanor shifted; a chilling aura emanated from him. The enchanted butterflies fluttering around the auditorium faltered, their delicate wings ceasing to beat as they drifted to the ground. "Oh, I remember this age all too well," Alexander said, his tone icy. "All the pleading, the tantrums about wanting to see the fucking mouse and that autistic duck, me giving away half my savings so you could have a plastic tiara you''d toss aside after two days! I ate instant noodles for a whole month!" Janina blinked, confusion grazing her expression. "What are you talking about?" she asked, genuinely baffled. Naza felt the same bewilderment. ''What was he saying?'' More impressively, Janina didn''t even flinch under his oppressive aura, which made everyone else want to flee. ''She''s not afraid of him at all,'' Naza thought. ''Scary.'' Alexander seemed to catch himself, a flicker of embarrassment crossing his eyes. His expression softened slightly. "Never mind," he muttered, shaking his head. "If you want to attend this school, you''ll follow the same rules as everyone else." From behind him, a girl with gentle features approached, placing a calming hand on his shoulder¡ªSarah. The heart-shaped pupils and pastel green hair were a clear giveaway. Alexander turned to her, his gaze softening as she gently caressed his shoulder, sliding down his arm, and took his hand. A subtle scent filled the air, barely perceptible to Naza but causing some students in the front rows to sniff audibly. ''Pheromones,'' she realized¡ªintimate ones shared between partners. Naza''s heart sank. There was an undeniable closeness between them. ''Oh...'' she thought, feeling a pang of disappointment. Other students reacted more visibly around her, making her raise an eyebrow, bewildered, ''They are... all crazy.'' A girl beside her began to sniffle. "Is Mr. Alexander... with Ms. Sarah?" she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "But... why?" another murmured, her voice filled with disappointment. "Mr. Alexander... how could you?" a boy moaned, clenching his fists. Others tried to hide their tears behind yawns or turned away to compose themselves. The atmosphere shifted dramatically from awe to heartbreak. While she felt a slight sting, she quickly brushed it aside. She had always admired Alexander from afar, harboring a harmless crush. But seeing the depths of emotion around her, she realized that many held genuine hopes of catching his eye¡ªdreams now seemingly shattered. Before the murmurs could grow louder, Alexander stepped back onto the stage, his demeanor returning to that of the confident and inspiring leader they knew. Sarah stood beside him, proud and firm, along with a bunny-kin woman with glistering black hair and gracefulness in her bright blue eyes. A resounding clap echoed through the auditorium. "Dear students," he began, his voice carrying warmth and authority. "Today marks the beginning of a new era¡ªone that will be remembered throughout history!" Naza felt a surge of excitement. Everyone''s earlier frustration had vanished, replaced by Alexander''s radiant energy that captivated everyone. "This is the first public school in all of Moorgrel, perhaps even in the entire Mal-Gil Empire," Alexander declared, his eyes shining with conviction. "A place where everyone¡ªregardless of status or race¡ªcan come together to learn and grow. Here, you are all equals, given the same opportunities to pursue knowledge, power, creativity, or simply to make lifelong friends¡ªor even find your future spouse." With a graceful wave of his hand, a shimmering illusion appeared behind him¡ªa proud, whimsical bunny resembling the symbol on Naza''s brooch. The bunny stood atop a hill, a book in its paw, gazing toward a rising sun. "I want to see you thrive," Alexander continued. "I want to provide you with the same opportunities I had to help you become the best versions of yourselves. Whether you seek wisdom, strength, or moral growth, this school is here to guide you. Here, you can walk through life with your heads held high, never bowing down to bullies!" He began to pace the stage, his gestures animated and passionate. The illusion behind him transformed, depicting scenes of students studying together, engaging in friendly duels, debates, and creating art. "For our youngest pupils¡ªthe Bunnies¡ªyou will receive foundational education in combat, arts, ethics, literature, nature, and yes," he paused dramatically, a playful smile on his lips, "¡ªeven mana skills and spells!" A collective gasp echoed through the auditorium. Naza''s eyes widened. "Magic?" she whispered, scarcely believing it. "I understand that many of you never dreamed you''d have the chance to learn magic," Alexander said, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. "But here, it is just a taste of what you will learn. Each of you has the potential to become a legendary warrior, a genius scholar, an archmage¡ªor maybe something beyond our imagination. I want you to shape the world around you!" The illusion shifted again, showing groups of young students¡ªsome with feline ears, others with scales or wings¡ªall studying together, casting spells, sharing meals, and playing. Their faces glowed with determination and joy. "But my vision extends beyond teaching you to become something," Alexander continued. "I don''t aim to strengthen only the Leonandra household or Wolfsteeth. I envision a Moorgrel where everyone can live in harmony, prosperity, and without fear of what the future may bring." The images behind him evolved, displaying various races¡ªbeast-kin, djinn with yellow and red skin, night elves, a myriad of nature-dwellers, and others¡ªall united, their faces lit with happiness and mutual respect. "It doesn''t matter where you come from," he declared, his voice carrying hope and ambitions. "Fire-djinn, wind-djinn, scavengers, high-demons, nature-dwellers, night-elves¡ªwe have all faced hardships. We''ve been hunted, enslaved, and treated as less than beings. But I want us to rise above that, cast the mistrust behind us¡ªto build friendships, unite our strengths, create a future where mutual respect is the norm, and have goodwill toward each other."Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. His smile softened a hint of melancholy in his eyes. "You may not fully understand now what I mean, or perhaps you don''t want to. But this is the future I wish for, and you should be the start of this." Alexander''s voice resonated with passion. "As such, this school will not tolerate any discrimination. This is a place of learning and growth for all. Together, we can achieve true progress¡ªculturally, technologically, artistically¡ªand stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, against whatever may come, whatever enemies may want to hurt you, your friends or family." Naza felt her heart swell with pride. His words ignited a fire within her¡ªa desire to be part of this grand vision. "I''ve studied our history," Alexander said, his tone firm, eyes blazing. "The petty infighting and divisions have held us back for too long. Here, in this school, status means nothing. Whether you''re an orphan, the puppy of an artisan or noble, or even my own sister¡ªyou will be treated the same. Merit and effort are what matter here, not your blood." The illusion changed once more, displaying the various empires'' emblems¡ªthe roaring lion of the royal family, the floral crests of the noble houses under Duke Zarmanas, a humble mouse leaping between blades symbolizing Count Moorgrel, the fearsome insignias of the Guard households, the fiery mountains of the Eros Alliance, the Circle of Life of the Temple, the blood-stained claws of the High-Demon empire, and the Helping Paw symbol¡ªall blending into one harmonious emblem, representing a blurry word. "This is a place where you can become truly free," he emphasized. "Free to learn, grow, and become your best selves without the shackles of prejudice or privilege. No one will force a path on you, no restrictions on your dreams, and no one will force you to follow the footsteps of your ancestors¡ªhere, we will support you to become whatever you envisioned to be!" The blurriness became clearer, showing the word A.I.R. School glowing softly behind him. "Welcome to the A.I.R. School," Alexander announced, his voice and expression filled with genuine happiness. "Named in honor of my first teacher, Anastasia I. Ramputt, who stands here as your headmistress. Remember the words inscribed at the entrance: ''Knowledge is our greatest weapon.'' Use it wisely¡ªfor the betterment of Moorgrel, all who call it home, and our friends." He smiled warmly like the sun breaking through clouds. "With that, I conclude my speech and hand things over to Anastasia." After a moment of dead silence, the auditorium erupted into applause. Naza clapped vigorously, her eyes shining with determination. She felt inspired and ready to embrace this opportunity and be part of something greater. ''I want to follow you,'' she thought fervently, her cheeks blushing. Anastasia stepped forward, causing the applause to subside gradually. She was poised, and her clear eyes twinkled with kindness and warm strictness. "Thank you, Mr. Alexander, for that stirring and inspiring speech," she began. After a few more words, she suddenly stopped, gazing over the students and noting the thoughtful expressions on many faces. "I can see that my best student has given you all much to ponder. Perhaps it''s best if we let those thoughts settle," she chuckled softly. A ripple of laughter spread through the crowd, easing the lingering tension. Alexander raised an eyebrow at Anastasia''s light-heartedness, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Well then," Anastasia continued with a playful grin, "I won''t keep you long. You''ll find enchanted boards in the entrance hall displaying your homeroom assignments on your way out. Simply speak your name, and your information will appear. Your homeroom is a class where you''ll receive important updates and begin your journey here at A.I.R. School." Her aura suddenly changed into playfulness and arrogance, as if she had become another person. She smiled widely, "Welcome to a new chapter of your lives. Make the most of it!" With that, the assembly was dismissed. Students began to rise, conversations buzzing around Naza. However, Naza was still sitting, observing Alexander approach Janina again. His expression was firm but not unkind. "So," he said, "have you made your decision? Because you heard me¡ªno special treatment for you." Janina crossed her arms, glaring at him. "It''s unfair. I just wanted to attend the classes I like." Alexander shrugged, smirking, "I''d prefer not to be sent off fighting battles against crazed racists, but here we are¡ªdoing things we''d rather not." His stance shifted, his voice firmer, "Life isn''t always about doing what we like, Nina. If you want to be part of this school, you must commit fully. No special treatment." She huffed, "You''re just being difficult." Janina clenched her fists, "It''s your fault! Why did..." She stopped herself, glancing around at the attentive ears nearby. Lowering her voice, "Damn it! I just want to expand my horizons!" "Yeah? And how will you do that if you don''t understand how others feel? How will you expand your horizon," Alexander made air quotes, "if you don''t do homework, learn for tests, or have any responsibilities?" "But," She looked back at the crowd and then at Alexander, biting her lip, "You know why!" Alexander''s eyes narrowed. "Careful, Nina. I''ve had too much to deal with these past weeks, and now you''re arguing? How about, for once, you try doing something you don''t want to do?" She glared at him, frustration and anger tangible, "Alex..." Sarah stepped forward, her presence calm yet commanding. "Nina, you are our youngest, and maybe because of Alex, you never felt any pressure, never being forced to study, go through grueling training, or experience the dread of failure." Her eyes focused intensely on Janina, making her flinch slightly, "After Alex was born, Mother only focused on him, understanding that he would become the heir all along, but if you want to grow, you must make sacrifices." The auditorium suddenly became eerily silent. All the students who were half-listening to their conversation while acting as if leaving stopped, their expressions in disbelief and joy. Although this news was something they expected, hearing it made them hopeful of a better future. ''Alexander will become the new Lord,'' Naza couldn''t help but feel extreme joy. ''Yes! With him...'' However, their discussion continued, and no student was able to look away from their future Lord and Lady. But they didn''t understand a single word that followed Sarah. "Your shadows move very," she smirked, "irregularly, and I see some little rat hiding in the crowd, so you are safe, but Alex is right. This is his school and his rules. You will either attend as a student or not. I agree with him fully. If he says that there are no special privileges for even us, then so be it." Janina looked at them interchangeably, her voice full of frustration, "Are you like this because he lulled you with all the lovey-dovey romance?!" Sarah suddenly blushed, turning her head, but Alexander stepped in before she tried to get a word out, "Mother, the responses of the Count and other Guard households, and so on, gave me the okay and their blessing to do how I see fit. As such, you either go home and do what you like without any pressure or grow here. There are no special privileges. Now, if you excuse us, I have other speeches to make and then a rendezvous." "Alex!" she shouted as he turned to leave. He waved over his shoulder. "Good luck! I''ll find out later what you decide and kick you out if you don''t attend all classes." As Alexander exited, with Sarah holding hands, the hall buzzed with whispers. Naza found the exchange intriguing, but something else caught her attention. Janina glanced as they left, her resolve wavering. "Fine," she muttered. "I''ll do it your way," suddenly, her voice became louder, yelling as if she wanted Alexander to hear it, "but I will not enjoy it!" With that, he and Sarah exited the auditorium, their hands brushing together as they walked away. Naza watched them go, a mixture of admiration and a twinge of envy stirring within her. Yet, her mind focused on someone else, wanting her to leave the auditorium quickly, ''She is like the others.'' She could barely hold back her repulsiveness when Janina glanced at them, degrading and arrogant but undeserved. ''Okay, let''s focus on finding the homeroom first.'' With mixed emotions, Naza took a deep breath and joined the other students as they walked toward the entrance hall. Arriving, crowds had already formed around the magical boards. Each student stepped up, spoke their name, and watched as their information appeared. Looking for a free one, she soon found one. Stepping up, she hesitated before speaking her name. "Naza," she said softly. The board shimmered, and glowing letters appeared: Name: Naza Class: 1-C Next Class: Homeroom Classroom: 2.10 Teacher: Ms. Shell "Room 2.10, huh?" she mused, feeling a flutter of anticipation. Navigating the corridors, her previous thoughts all disappeared. As she navigated the corridors, she admired the intricate designs and magical touches throughout the school. Enchanted paintings moved subtly, and soft music emanated from the walls when one began humming, responding to their tune. ''This place is incredible,'' she thought. It''s like a dream. ''A place where I can become someone, where my efforts truly matter.'' Before Alexander, she already thought of becoming whatever was necessary to survive. Now, though, she had choices, support, and someone who believed in her, ''I''ll do my best!'' Her spirit was burning with newfound motivation. Her footsteps echoed as she reached the door to her classroom. Taking a deep breath, she pushed it open. "Huh?" she blurted out. Sitting by the window in the fourth row was none other than Janina. ''Great,'' Naza sighed inwardly. ''Of all the classrooms...'' Scanning the room, she realized there was only one seat left¡ªright in front of Janina. ''I hate my life,'' she thought, her shoulders slumping slightly. Chapter 201: First School Day III ... Naza walked towards her seat, scanning the classroom¡ªanything to avoid looking at Janina, who was staring out the window, clearly bored and lost in her thoughts. Worse, there were other unpleasant faces in the room. A noble boy¡ªa jaguar-kin¡ªglanced at her disapprovingly before deciding she wasn''t worth his attention. He was the one who caused the commotion at the entrance. Besides them, there was a high-demon boy with horns and a tail that ended in a heart-shaped tip. The rest of the class was comprised chiefly of orphans or children from poor families¡ªsixteen students in total. Naza took her seat, trying to distract herself from whoever was sitting behind her by marveling at the classroom. ''It''s so beautiful,'' she thought. The room had high arched ceilings that looked like they were carved from a single piece of glowing stone. It shimmered with soft, warm hues like a magical night sky. The desks, though simple, were made of fine polished wood, with intricate carvings of mythical creatures winding their way along the edges. The walls were covered in murals depicting scenes of lush forests, majestic castles, and friendly beasts, giving the space a magical yet kittenish-friendly atmosphere. It was not too busy or distracting but rather relaxing, like looking at the waves in Furri¡ªthere was so much to see, but it made one relaxed when starring at the Howl Sea. At the front was a blackboard unlike any Naza had seen before. It was a massive, shimmering slate, glowing faintly in shifting colors, showing a clock with playful mystical creatures hanging on the hands¡ªall drawn by colorful chalks, and every change appeared to dissolve like a strong gust of wind blowing away dust. A sigh behind her brought her back to reality, and she hesitated. ''Should I at least greet her?'' she thought, glancing at Janina. Then, deciding to take a leap, she turned towards her with a smile, "Hello, you must be M..." She suddenly froze, recalling Alexander''s advice on proper introductions. She cleared her throat. "¡ªJanina, right? Or do I need to add the Ms.? I am so confused, but nice to meet you either way!" Just as Janina seemed ready to react, a woman strode in, her voice rough, a cigarette dangling from her lips. "Oh my! Look at all these lively hatchlings!" she exclaimed, a little saliva stuck in her throat. "You call her Janina, of course! As Mr. Alexander said, status doesn''t matter here!" As she spoke, everyone turned to her, staring. The woman had deep-seated wrinkles on her face, dark green hair tied in a bun, and greyish-blue eyes. Her skin was darker, and she wore a broad smile. "But first, I want all of you to sit down so we can start our first homeroom class." As if enchanted by her presence, the students quickly took their seats. The teacher nodded, satisfied, and puffed on her cigarette, smoke curling from her nose and mouth. She casually sat down on the edge of her desk, crossed her legs, and snapped her fingers. Instantly, the blackboard behind her turned blank before slowly filling up with chalk, writing, ''First Homeroom Class,'' as if by an unseen hand. "Magic is quite handy, I must admit," she said, glancing at the blackboard, clearly pleased with the results. She turned back to the students, her soft but piercing gaze making a few of them flinch. "This is a fascinating project, one that I''m genuinely passionate about," she said, pausing to blow a smoke ring. "Ana invited me and many of my colleagues to join this initiative¡ªtrained us for months, pushing our old bones to the limit." She blew smoke out of her nose, shaping it into a ship that sailed gracefully through the smoke ring. There was a moment of silence, which she interrupted with a shrug, mumbling, "The boy told me to look for someone who would say Gandalf, whatever that means." She gave the students a crooked smile, full of charm and wisdom, "My name''s Josefine N. Hard-Shell. I was banished from my family, so I had to change my surname to Shell; I hope there is no confusion. But¡ª" She shrugged. "Now I''m here." While the chalk continued to write behind her, she continued, "My specialization has always been education, childcare, and research. Even though the Free Cities have more exchanges and opportunities, I believe Wolfsteeth has the potential to become a new hub." She took a strong puff. Breathing out a cloud of thick, colorful smoke, she continued, "You should feel proud to be the first students at such a high-class institution¡ªone of few that might ever exist on this continent." She chuckled, her laughter interrupted by a wet cough, "Need to visit the Temple again... whatever." She cleared her throat, the noise dragging on a little too long, then continued, "Now then, let''s start with the first row, shall we? Please introduce yourselves: name, age, interests, a little about your family¡ªeverything you can think of." A boy stood up, stiff as an arrow. "M... My... name is... is..." He was visibly trembling. Naza sighed, realizing how nervous he was. After him, more students introduced themselves, each given a lot of time by Ms. Shell. Everyone who came from a similar background to hers felt anxiety and nervousness. ''Yeah, it''s always like this.'' Fear had shaped their personalities, making them always expect the worst whenever something good happened. Many students tried desperately to introduce themselves in the best possible light, afraid of what might happen if they didn''t. But for Naza, who had listened to Alexander''s speeches, she understood that his focus was never on present flaws but on future potential and growth. He believed no one should be cast aside for minor shortcomings, and she agreed with him wholly. Then, it was Lucifer''s turn. He stood up, flashing a charming smile, making even Naza blush. "Hello, my name is Lucifer L. Love. I''m an Incubus and six years old! I love reading romance and drama! My family sent me here to gain an understanding of Moorgrelian culture, and I am very interested in the concept of what this school may represent. Also, we''re friends with the Count of..." Lucifer rambled on for three minutes about his household''s history and ties with the Moorgrelians¡ªprimarily due to Kratikal. The high-demon territory was enormous, bordering the notorious region consisting of monsters. Surprisingly, the succubi and incubi were the best at defending their border. Even though the northern concentration of miasma was less intense, it still made most high demons obnoxiously aggressive. It didn''t matter much for their kin as it only increased their drive to procreate, which seemed like a perfect region for them. However, the class'' attention waned as Lucifer detailed alliances, family politics, and bridge-building efforts. Finally, he concluded, "...and now, after my sister went with what we would call the Blood Saint as her disciple, I''m here to exchange ideas, cultures, and maybe much more!" She slowly adapted to his charm every time he talked, finding it strange. ''His scent is so... bizarre.'' Ms. Shell nodded to Lucifer and then addressed the class, her voice firm, "I encourage you to follow Mr. Alexander''s guidance and treat everyone equally, regardless of their kin. This school has a strict no-bullying policy, and any such behavior will be met with severe consequences, no matter your status or race." After a short pause, an eerie silence loomed over the class¡ªno one knew what to say or do. For Naza, it was ingrained to distrust dwarves, humans, gnomes, and high elves. Everyone else was either friendly or neutral¡ªnothing more. Even before receiving any formal education, this was something everyone simply knew. Ms. Shell smiled again, her wrinkles deepening like a lively grandmother''s. "But let me clarify something." She turned to Lucifer, her smile becoming mischievous. "High demons, like beast-kin, have various subraces, each with unique traits. For beast-kin, traits can often be guessed¡ªlike canine-kin having an excellent sense of smell or turtle-kin having a long lifespan. But there are also some naughty abilities, like being able to poison someone with just a kiss or cause hallucinations by touching their skin."If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. She gestured toward Lucifer, taking out a cigarette, "Lucifer, could you explain how your subrace differs from other high demons? Some of your fellow students stare at you and are confused about what is happening to them." Lucifer laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Sorry about that! Incubi and succubi of our subrace are exceptionally charming and seductive. We also can regenerate through... intercourse if we choose to. But when we are young, we can''t control our ability to seduce so well, so I apologize!" There was an awkward silence. Even Naza, used to hearing about strange abilities, blushed slightly, ''That''s... well...'' she thought, unsure how to react to someone who might accidentally seduce her. Ms. Shell nodded, gesturing for Lucifer to sit down. "Yes, please take your seat." She turned toward the class, puffing again. Ana, your headmistress, decided it was fine even though some may fall in love and get heartbroken." A chuckle escaped her, but she immediately stopped it, overplaying it by clearing her throat. Lucifer hung his head low, visibly feeling terrible. ''Poor boy,'' Naza thought, sympathizing with him. ''He didn''t do it on purpose.'' "Well, whatever it may be, they are our friends," Ms. Shell said, chuckling before erupting into a wet cough, now not on purpose. "We also have our people who have incredible charisma. Take canine kin, for example. Even though their charm is different, one always sees them as best friends, loyal companions, or lifelong partners." Everyone glanced at Janina, who didn''t care about the attention. Naza noticed it, too. ''Yeah, they really do seem friendly and trustworthy,'' she thought, though she could tell the charm was of a different nature. The introductions continued, and at some point, it was Naza''s turn to introduce herself. She stood up and began, her voice full of joy, "Hello. My name is Naza, and I think I''m six years old." Everyone with a family stared at her, clearly confused, which forced her to clarify. "I''m an orphan. I don''t know if I have any family, so I don''t know when I was born. But I see our matron as my mother and consider the day she took me in as my birthday." She smiled and shared more about herself, her face lighting up as she recounted all the interests she enjoyed and could remember. "My hobbies are learning as much as I can and talking to others..." she said, her voice filled with excitement. A minute passed, and she finished her introduction with a flushed face, feeling both nervous and proud as she smiled broadly. After her, a fox-kin boy stood up; dirt-blond hair and red eyes accentuated his crazed smile. "Hello, my dear fellows. My name is Lacroux, and I''m the son of a servant at the estate. I''m thrilled to be here. My interests include pharmacy, dagger arts, and hidden weapon techniques..." Naza eyed him warily. Something about Lacroux felt dangerous. ''Better stay away from him,'' she thought. After a few more introductions, it was Janina''s turn. She sighed, still sitting. "My name is Janina, but since my brother is having a fit, you may call me Nina for all I care. My interests are mana painting and arts in general." The teacher raised an eyebrow. "Mana painting?" she asked, genuinely curious. Janina waved her hand lazily, creating an intricate illusion of a bunny¡ªthe same one Alexander had made, only much more detailed and lifelike. "With mana, you can paint by either using contraptions or manipulating the mana directly to create illusions..." she explained. Ms. Shell interrupted, smiling, "Oh my, such talent in magic. I hope you''ll help the others, too?" Janina rolled her eyes. "Sure, why not," she said, her voice annoyed. The teacher ignored her attitude, taking a stronger puff on her cigarette. "Now that introductions are over let''s go over what your typical day will look like..." What followed was a lot more than Naza had anticipated. The school day ran from 06:00 to 20:00, with classes from 10:00 to 16:00 and a lunch break from 12:00 to 13:00. Before classes started, students could have breakfast and participate in club activities financed by the school and overseen by teachers. After classes, there would be dinner, remedial lessons, club activities, and specialized classes provided by teachers and outside experts¡ªlessons Alexander and Anastasia believed to be beneficial but not mandatory. While it seemed like a lot, that was the whole point, and it made most students, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, joyful, if not ecstatic. Meanwhile, the others from better-off families sighed, already sighing and frowning. Naza was thrilled, though. ''What clubs are there? Should I start one?'' she wondered, giddy at the thought. Her life at the orphanage had always been either filled with dread, trying to survive at all costs, never able to have a relaxing second, or dull, like now. It became safe after Alexander helped them, but she had nothing to do but do some chores, training, and whatever she could study. The prospect of having so much to do excited her. She couldn''t help but grin widely, her excitement evident. She heard suddenly Janina''s voice behind her, "Are you okay?" Naza leaned back slightly, tilting her head towards Janina. "Yes! Isn''t this amazing? I usually get bored at home, but now I have so much to do!" Janina sounded puzzled, "But... wouldn''t you rather be stealing or playing pranks or something?" Naza turned to her, eyebrow raised. "Are you stupid?" she said bluntly. "Do you think I stole because I wanted to? I was hungry." She dismissively waved at her, "You wouldn''t understand." Silence fell over the classroom. Naza realized everyone was staring at them. Before she could apologize, Ms. Shell chimed in cheerfully, "What an interesting discussion! Would you care to involve the rest of us?" Naza blushed, but Janina seemed genuinely curious. She spoke up, "I saw how happy she was and wanted to know why." "Naza, would you like to share with the class why you were so happy?" Ms. Shell prompted, her smile mischievous. Naza nodded, still embarrassed, unable to form a coherent sentence, "Um... I said I was happy because I finally had something to do and... she asked if I liked stealing, but I only did it because I was hungry. Now I''m happy to be at school, so... I was thinking about the clubs I could join..." Her voice trailed off. The class murmured in agreement, some nodding. But the few from better-off families didn''t seem to get it. Lucifer frowned, "Huh? Hungry? What do you mean?" Henry added, "Can''t you just ask your parents?" The room grew tense, prompting Ms. Shell to clap her hands. "What we have here is a disparity," she said, smiling. "Ninety percent of our students are orphans and had difficult lives before Mr. Alexander''s support. They''re obviously excited about the opportunities here, and that''s something you others need to understand." Janina frowned, interrupting Ms. Shell. "But why not just be like my brother? He invented so many things and made so much gold!" Now, even the ones from the better-off families looked at her as if she was the crazy one. Even Naza couldn''t believe how dense she was, ''Yeah, just become like Mr. Alexander... why not an Emperor at that.'' The teacher laughed, "Your brother is remarkable, Janina. But not everyone is like him. Let me ask you, did you learn everything by yourself?" "Yes! I painted, drew, and wrote for months to develop my skills!" Her voice was full of pridefulness, clearly knowing that a lot of work was put into her interest. "Very impressive," Ms. Shell acknowledged. "Now, what if you hadn''t eaten for two days? Could you still concentrate on learning those things?" Janina opened her mouth and then paused, her expression softening as she understood the point. The teacher continued, "This school is for people who need support. Don''t forget, Janina, these students are part of your household''s territory. The more skilled they become, the more they can contribute. You should be happy about students like Naza, no?" Janina stared at Naza momentarily, her arrogant gaze giving way to something more genuine. Finally, she nodded. "You''re right, Ms. Shell. I apologize, and I hope you all continue to do your best." Naza nodded back, surprised. "Thanks..." Janina was, by all accounts, arrogant. There was no humbleness but pure dismissiveness. She only accepted authority inside her family, but not here, only listening to the arguments. "Perfect!" Ms. Shell said, clapping her hands again and taking out another cigarette. "This school is not just for commoners to study, but for nobles to broaden their perspectives as well. As you may have heard, Mr. Alexander, now heir, alongside Ms. Sarah, wants us all to be amiable towards one another. To become friends, as he said in his inspiring speech." Henry suddenly spoke up, smiling at Lucifer. "I hope so, too. What else but becoming friendly?" There was a bizarre sensation as the incubus smiled back, like a prey looking at a predator. Naza''s first romance and drama novel was about two men who loved each other. Since then, she loved to read trashy books, at least what she could find. As such, seeing those two boys reminded her of a novel, with her whispering, "Cute..." Janina, behind her, grinned and whispered, "Yeah, they are pretty cute together." Naza turned, seeing the same grin mirrored on Janina''s face. She suddenly found a soul-sister, "Did you read ''The Vampire Prince and the Furry Mercenary''?" Janina nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, it''s one of my favorites!" Before they could continue, Ms. Shell called for attention, her voice rising above the growing chatter. "All right, let''s move on! Now, let''s talk about the classes you''ll be taking..." The bell suddenly rang, confusing everyone. Ms. Shell stood up, frowning. "Well, we will have to improvise for now! First, go and eat something, and then you must attend all your classes today to get a first glimpse! So, don''t be confused if you have until 18:00 today!" Everyone didn''t know what to do, which made her chuckle. "The bell signaled the end of the session! Go to the cafeteria and eat something! Talk to each other and try to build friendships! Ask the boards about your next classes, and they should show them! Off you go!" Naza gathered her things, still buzzing with excitement. She was slightly confused as she left the classroom, but suddenly, someone else walked beside her¡ªJanina, talking loudly. "So, who do you like more? The pirate or the boy?" Chapter 202: First School Day IV ... As Naza and Janina strolled along the cobblestone path leading to the cafeteria, the midday sun warmly bathed the sprawling academy grounds. Lush gardens flanked the pathways, bursting with vibrant flowers whose petals danced lightly in the breeze, filling the air with a sweet fragrance. "So, who do you like more? The pirate or the boy?" Janina asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief. Naza nervously chuckled, her tail swaying gently behind her, revealing her anxiety. The daughter of the rulers suddenly wanting to discuss a trashy romance novel about three men in a love triangle was both surprising and stress-inducing, even if the subject was trivial. Yet, seeing Janina''s eager expression, she decided to engage. Apparently, few shared such interests. "I guess neither because I liked the merchant the most." Janina''s ears perked up in surprise. "Yes! That''s what I thought, too! I adored his gentleness when Gregor returned from his first sailing trip." "Exactly!" Naza exclaimed, the words bursting out before she could stop them. She felt slightly embarrassed, covering her mouth with her hand, but when Janina chuckled, she grew braver. Clearing her throat, Naza adopted a deeper, theatrical voice, her cat-like eyes reflecting the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees. "''Greg, look at you, my boy¡ªhands full of calluses and your fur encrusted with salt... Let me help you get clean... your whole body.''" They stared at each other momentarily before bursting into loud laughter, drawing amused glances from other students milling about. From that point, the conversation flowed effortlessly as they delved into the novel''s most dramatic scenes, critiquing the overly melodramatic love triangles and shallow conflicts. "Remember when the pirate tried to confess his love but ended up setting the ship on fire instead?" Janina giggled, shaking her head. Naza laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "How could I forget? But I loved how the merchant confessed, even though the fireworks drowned out his words at the New Year''s celebration." As they walked, giggling and enjoying the sun warming their fur, Naza noticed other students doing the same¡ªfinding friends and sharing laughter. She stole glances at them, sensing the euphoria permeating the school. "You know," Naza mused, "despite its flaws, the novel does offer an escape. It''s nice to dive into a world where adventures end with grand gestures and everything somehow works out." Janina nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, it would be great if the real world worked like that too." They shared another laugh, the sound echoing pleasantly amidst the ambient chatter and the distant chirping of exotic birds perched in the trees. Their jovial mood was momentarily interrupted when Janina glanced ahead. "Oh, we''re here!" She pointed toward an imposing building that stood apart from the rest. "Let''s grab something to eat and continue our discussion inside, okay?" Naza stood before the cafeteria''s grand entrance, her eyes widening in awe. The building was breathtaking, mirroring the academy''s playful yet exquisite design while exuding its unique charm. Towering arches crafted from shimmering greenish-yellow stone framed the doorway, emitting a welcoming glow. Intricate carvings adorned the pillars¡ªdragons, phoenixes, and leviathans depicted as jovial chefs and servers, each captured in lifelike detail as they brandished utensils or presented platters of delectable dishes. Above the entrance, a massive stained-glass window showcased a bountiful orchard overflowing with fantastical fruits: golden apples, silver pears, and luminescent berries that glowed softly even in daylight. The window cast a kaleidoscope of colors onto the steps below, creating a living mosaic that shifted with the sun''s movement, spelling out Bunny''s House of Food across the pathway. "This is the cafeteria?" Naza whispered, her voice barely audible over the murmurs of passing students. Her stomach gave a gentle rumble but was as fast forgotten in the face of such splendor. Janina grinned, her green eyes reflecting the myriad colors from the stained glass. "Impressive, isn''t it? Wait till you see the inside!" Students streamed past them, a mix of excitement and nervousness evident on their faces. Many paused to read a glowing message on a magical board near the entrance: [If this is your first visit, please allow a servant to assist you!] Janina took Naza''s hand, her grip warm and reassuring. "Come on! I''m starving!" she declared with playful irritation, a hint of pride gleaming in her eyes. Naza accepted her fate with a smile, letting Janina lead her inside. As they stepped inside, Naza felt like she''d entered a different world. The ceiling soared above¡ªa vast dome enchanted to resemble the open sky. Soft clouds drifted lazily across an expanse of azure, occasionally parting to reveal a radiant sun whose rays bathed the room in gentle light. The ethereal illusion was so convincing she half-expected a breeze to tousle her fur. Three expansive floors unfolded before them, each filled with an array of tables carved from rich, natural wood. The furnishings were adorned with playful carvings of woodland creatures and entwined vines, and the chairs were cushioned with plush fabrics in deep greens and browns, echoing the cafeteria''s theme. "They really thought of everything, huh?" Naza whispered, her eyes wide with wonder. The tables varied in size and height to accommodate the academy''s diverse populace¡ªfrom the most petite fairy to the tallest oxkin. She breathed audibly, taking in the scene. "This place makes every restaurant I''ve ever seen look like a food stand." Janina laughed softly. "It does have a way of making everything else seem... quaint." She straightened, pushing her chest out proudly. "You know, I helped paint some of the murals here!" Naza raised an eyebrow, momentarily stunned. "Really?" she blurted out, unable to hide her surprise. Janina giggled. "Of course! Do you think Alex did everything alone? Everyone pitched in." Naza nodded, her [Skills] not detecting any deception; she decided to ask further as she was genuinely interested, "And how do the paintings move? How did you do that?" Janina frowned thoughtfully, glancing up at the clouds on the ceiling. "It has something to do with a calculator Alex invented. Looking closely, you will see that the ceiling is made of small rectangles. All of them are enchanted to change colors over time, making it appear as if everything is moving. Once he figured it out, he taught anyone with decent mana skills how to do the enchantment," she shrugged. "Sadly, I still can''t enchant," there was relief in her voice. Ignoring Janina''s behavior, Naza tried to wrap her mind around the concept¡ªrectangles that changed colors, enchanted by magic to create a moving image. It was complex, almost incomprehensible. "I have no idea what you mean," she admitted with a sheepish smile. Janina chuckled at her confusion and gestured toward a magical board. "Come on, let''s order." As they approached an unoccupied board, Naza noticed groups of students gathered around similar boards. There was no traditional serving counter, just the distant outline of a kitchen at the far end, marked by the occasional clatter of pots and pans but no enticing aromas. "Why is everyone gathered around these boards?" Naza wondered aloud. "That''s how we order our food," Janina explained. "It''s a bit unconventional, but Alex insisted it was the most efficient way." A servant stepped forward to assist, but Janina waved them off confidently. "We''ve got this, thanks!" Naza glanced at her, a mix of curiosity and unease in her eyes, her stomach rumbling. "But where''s the food?" Janina smirked, tapping the side of her nose. "Patience. It''s all part of the experience. Alex told me all about it when he was planning the place." Standing before the board, Janina spoke her name clearly, "Janina." The board shimmered, its surface transitioning from deep black to bright white. Naza watched in fascination as text began to appear, but her attention shifted when she heard Janina let out an exasperated sigh. [Parasite: Janina M. Leonandra] [Hello, my dear little parasite. Are you hungry for some blood?] [Continue]?[I am a parasite]?[Close] "Is everything okay?" Naza asked, noticing the subtle twitch in Janina''s eye. Janina forced a tight smile. "Just my brother''s idea of a joke." Naza stifled a giggle. "Mr. Alexander seems to have a... unique sense of humor." "You have no idea," Janina muttered, her tone a mix of annoyance and fondness. She quickly changed, adopting a teacher-like stance. "Maybe you can understand how this works," a smirk graced her face, making it seem more like an attempt to change the topic than a good-natured explanation. "These boards are enchanted blackboards. When you say your name, they will access something like a library that has your information, which will be displayed here. You interact with it by swiping the choices¡ªlike so." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. She demonstrated by wiping the [Continue] box with her finger. The board responded, refreshing with new options. Naza nodded slowly. "That''s... magical," she said in awe. Conversing with an object felt like something out of a fairy tale. Janina rolled her eyes playfully. "It''s overly complicated, and Alex was told that multiple times, but he still insisted." She glanced around at the clusters of students struggling to navigate the ordering process. Servants flitted about, attempting to assist but often looking as perplexed as the students themselves. "He didn''t anticipate it being this chaotic," Janina remarked, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Serves him right for not listening." Naza observed the scene, noting the mix of confusion and determination on her peers'' faces. "Everyone seems a bit overwhelmed." "They''ll get the hang of it quickly," Janina said with a shrug. "But let''s get back to order. Here, you can select your dietary preferences." The board displayed a list: Race: Canine-kin / Wolf-kin [Vegetarian (No meat or fish)] [Vegan (No animal products)] [Pescetarian (No meat, but fish is okay)] [No nuts (Walnuts, etc.)] [No alcohol] ... Naza scanned the extensive list, her eyes widening. "There are so many options¡ªsome I''ve never even heard of... who doesn''t eat meat but fish?" Janina nodded, ignoring her remark, "With so many different races and cultures, it''s easier to let everyone exclude what they can''t or won''t eat. The kitchen handles the rest." "So what do we actually get?" Naza asked, still processing the array of choices. Janina grinned. "Two potions and a surprise." "Potions?" Naza echoed, intrigued. "You''ll see," Janina replied with a wink. After finalizing her selections, Janina proceeded to the next prompt. However, her expression soured as more of her brother''s teasing messages appeared. [Is someone else eating with you?] [Do you have any friends now? I doubt it.] [One More]?[Finished] Janina clenched her jaw. "He just can''t help himself," she muttered, trying to hold back her irritation. She selected [One More], only for another message to pop up. [Are you sure? If the person is with you against their will, please scream for help.] [One More]?[Finished] With an exasperated growl, Janina stomped her foot. "Alex!" Several nearby students glanced over, but Janina paid them no mind. She jabbed at the [One More] option and gestured for Naza to take her place. "Your turn." Naza stepped forward, hesitant but eager to navigate this new experience. As she began inputting her preferences, she glanced at Janina, who stood with crossed arms, her foot tapping in mild annoyance. ''Well, all siblings seem alike,'' a musing thought. Growing up in the orphanage, she had seen all kinds of sibling dynamics¡ªprotective, nurturing, gentle, and sometimes even abusive. The way Alexander seemed to tease his sister struck her as a bit sad. ''He likes to bully her,'' she thought, feeling her opinion of the boy who had helped her shift slightly. "Do you have a good relationship with Mr. Alexander?" Naza cautiously asked while navigating her selections on the magical board. Her attempt at small talk carried a subtle undertone of concern. Janina was silent for a moment, her gaze distant. "Yeah, he can be an asshole sometimes," she admitted, her voice measured. "But if I need him, he''s there instantly, ready to help and find a solution." She sighed softly, a hint of warmth creeping into her tone. "Sometimes I just wish he''d understand that I want to be hugged and be told everything will be fine. No need for overcomplicated plans." Naza nodded thoughtfully. "So¡ª" "But he''s always focused on fixing things," Janina continued, cutting her off. "He''s got too much empathy for his own good, which isn''t always a blessing. There were times he broke down from all the pressure." "Isn''t that a bit... heartbreaking?" Naza asked, her brow furrowing. Her idealized image of Alexander as an untouchable genius was starting to crumble¡ªJanina''s tone carried a hint of desperation, which she knew too well. Janina offered a sad smile, her way of speaking much more casual, "He has a hard life, you know? If he had less empathy, he wouldn''t feel the constant need to act like there''s a dagger at his throat." She paused, her eyes sharpening as she looked directly at Naza. "His ambitions ignited when he saw the orphans and how you all lived. Even though he seems calm, he''s pushing himself harder, wanting to create a Wolfsteeth where his future subjects can live happily." Janina''s gaze intensified, a mix of frustration and protectiveness. "No one forced him to open the school so soon. No one would have blamed him if it took five more years, but here we are." Naza felt a chill run down her spine under Janina''s piercing stare. "I know it''s not your fault, but I can''t help but blame all of you for his sleepless nights and stress-induced nightmares." An eerie silence settled between them. Naza felt like two giant gleaming green eyes were watching her, pupils in slits, scrutinizing every move¡ªa silent warning, ''Terrifying.'' She stopped, unable to continue her order as sweat ran down her back. There was no killing intent or bloodthirst¡ªonly a threat¡ªlike a vigilant predator. Janina watched her, and the aura she emitted felt not strong but absolute. "If this school fails and Alex breaks down, I''ll make sure everyone who contributed to that will suffer," Janina said quietly, her words laced with steely resolve. Naza swallowed hard, beginning to grasp the fierce loyalty within the Guard Households. She realized they don''t hold back, questioning whether she had ever felt such intense devotion for anyone at the orphanage. Desperate to ease the tension, Naza ventured cautiously, "But you also help him, right?" She avoided Janina''s gaze, the weight of it too much to bear. The heavy atmosphere began to lift as Janina''s expression softened slightly. She nodded, a hint of a frown remaining. "Yeah, if he asked me to, I''d do everything I can... if he asked." Listening to her, Naza suddenly understood why Alexander had spoken about making lifelong friends. ''I want to talk to her,'' she thought, feeling an unexpected pull to continue the conversation. Something urged her to keep reaching out, to bridge the gap between them. Looking into Janina''s gleaming green eyes, worry and helplessness were apparent. She could not support her brother even though she wished to, which made Naza curious as she wanted to understand this feeling of such fierce loyalty. "He loves you and wants to protect you," Naza said earnestly, facing Janina. She flinched slightly under Janina''s stoic gaze but pressed on. "Be there for him, and he''ll appreciate it, even if he says you don''t need to." Janina regarded her quietly, unreadable, ''Fascinating...'' Her mind could not empathize but understand, a sad sensation that made her heart clench, ''...maybe.'' A glimmer of hope sparked inside her, making her want to act irrationally, something she never did. Naza took a deep breath, pushing past her anxiety. "I wish I had a sibling like that," she confessed, a sad smile tugging at her lips. "It feels good to be protected and helped, doesn''t it?" Janina clicked her tongue, glancing away. "I guess." "Maybe you don''t realize it, but I like to imagine Mr. Alexander as an older brother or even a father figure," Naza admitted, placing a hand over her heart. "It''s strange, but it brings me comfort. I''m happy he has a sister who looks after him, even if you''re always bickering. It makes me feel better knowing he''s not alone. Thank you." ''Why did I say this?'' Naza was confused and unable to understand why she said something so embarrassing, but it was her genuine belief. Knowing that someone was there for Alexander¡ªa person she admired deeply¡ªgave her relief. After hearing how he was no different from her, capable of breaking down, she felt a conflicting sensation¡ªa selfish desire for him to continue pushing forward, to keep the school and the Helping Paw running. She couldn''t deny her own hopes for a better life. Alexander was like a beacon to her, a symbol of hope. The thought of him collapsing under the weight of his ambitions frightened her, forcing her to confront her own motivations. ''Can I help him somehow?'' Before she could explore that thought further, the magical board flashed, displaying new text. [Second floor, table 230] [Have a nice meal!] [PS: Don''t forget to feed the bird] The charged atmosphere dissipated. Naza tilted her head in confusion at the last line, but Janina was already moving away, a subtle smile on her lips. "Follow me!" she called over her shoulder. Chapter 203: First School Day V A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Chapter 204: First School Day VI Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Chapter 205: First School Day VII Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Chapter 206: First School Day VIII If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Chapter 207: First School Day IX (short recap) ... As the evening sun gradually withdrew for rest, bathing the obsidian-colored stone of the towering spire in hues of blue and red, casting an imposing shadow toward Alexander, who strode determinedly through it. Students walking in the same direction parted like a wave before him¡ªwhispers fluttered behind him like leaves caught in a gentle breeze¡ªaccounts of transformation, a future rewritten by his hands, and possibilities unveiled barely any demand in return. He could feel their gazes, reflecting awe and deep-seated gratitude, the silent acknowledgments of lives diverted from paths of misery, mired in theft, violence, or worse, leaving their future with the same outcome, with no fault on their own. Alexander had lifted the oppressive weight of despair and destitution, replacing it with hope and opportunity. Now, they walked with heads held high, uniforms crisp, eyes alight with the spark of ambition. After supporting them through charity and giving them hope for a better life, the grandeur of the school was the true testament to his vision, sending a resounding message: you are worthy of more than just survival. Alexander hadn''t simply built an institution but crafted a sanctuary where every student felt valued, as luxurious furnishings whispered of comfort and care, the memorable meals nourished more than just bodies, and the carefully tended gardens offered solace and inspiration, regardless of the shadows that had once darkened their pasts. It was not for opulence''s sake but to inspire. Marble floors echoed with footsteps toward greatness, stained glass windows that painted the halls with stories of heroes and scholars they could become, and gardens blooming with life as a symbol of growth and renewal. Students lingered on ornate benches nestled among the greenery, their faces buried in the first book they ever received, his recollection of fairy tales, molding them morally into the people Alexander desired to see roaming the world. Hidden nooks and alcoves became sanctuaries that lingered in every corner, igniting imaginations and stirring dreams, showing that there was a way to escape their fate forced upon them. It wasn''t merely a school but a declaration of a vision¡ªperceived by many as ignorant or naive. Yet these touches were more than pragmatic symbols of deeper care. They showed the students that someone saw them, understood them, and believed in their potential. For many who had never known parental love, Alexander''s efforts filled a void they hadn''t realized existed. Some students silently wept as he passed, bowing their heads in profound gratitude. Hopes and prayers intertwined in their hearts, all yearning for this sanctuary of learning to endure and flourish. Because of that, many sought ways to elevate Alexander even more, offering him the respect they felt he deserved. Calling him Mr. Alexander wasn''t enough, and Lord inappropriate. A new nickname began circulating among the students, starting with the Elephant student body: ''The Lost Father,'' which transformed into ''Papa Alexander'' for the younger student bodies¡ªendearing, given that most were orphans, and spoken with genuine respect and affection, seeing him as a guiding figure in their lives. ''Papa Alexander,'' Alexander mused internally, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he thought about the upcoming mana skill ceremony. ''I was already bullied for being called Archmage Puppy, and now this? Well, who cares.'' While he didn''t want to acknowledge it, the moniker warmed something deep within him, a place he rarely acknowledged. It was strange, almost unsettling, to be seen in such a light¡ªa protector or a mentor, sure, but a father figure? It was something novel. Walking beside him was Anastasia, her presence as steady as ever. Her black hair caught the fading sunlight, and her bunny ears twitched subtly with each step. She was retelling the events of the day, her voice a calm river flowing over the chaos of recent happenings. Despite her composed facade, he sensed the undercurrents of exhaustion¡ªdark circles under her eyes betrayed sleepless nights and the weight of responsibilities. "Poisoned, huh?" he muttered under his breath after listening to the incident in the Bunny cafeteria, frustration gnawing at him like a persistent itch. The teachers had been negligent, failing to properly inform the Bunny student body about the body modifications he had arranged through the potions. The oversight had resulted in chaos on the very first day¡ªa mess he hoped had no further consequences. Reaching into his blazer''s inner pocket, Alexander retrieved a sleek metallic case. With a practiced flick, he opened it and popped a black, candy-like sphere into his mouth¡ªa bitter taste and numbing sensation spread across his body, "Are all of them at least alive?" he asked, his words slightly muffled as he chewed. Anastasia glanced at him, her eyes slightly narrowing as she noticed his eyes becoming less sharp, but decided to continue, "Yes, thankfully. The servants reacted quickly and handled the situation as best they could. I still can''t believe we overlooked something so crucial, but..." She stopped when Alexander bit into the black sphere again, a mist of venomous gas escaping his mouth. She sighed, a mix of exasperation and concern coloring her tone. "Can you stop taking your self-made drugs? You''re starting to resemble a failed pharmacist more than a noble." He shrugged, unrepentant, "Trust me, this drug is the only thing keeping me sane right now," he replied, his speech slightly queer as the gummy ball numbed his tongue, "The past few months have been... challenging, to say the least, and I would appreciate if you let me have this." Anastasia arched an eyebrow, a playful glint dancing in her eyes. "Always so dramatic, Alex. I''ve seen worse coping mechanisms, but perhaps you could find something less... lethal?" She took a deliberate half-step away, her nose slightly crinkling to ward off the faint, acrid mist emanating from his mouth. Noticing her subtle retreat, Alexander sighed in annoyance but felt surprisingly reassured, knowing he wasn''t the odd one out, thinking that such a habit was quite peculiar. Alexander''s parents never batted an eye at such habits, as indulging in various substances was, as he learned recently, necessary to calm their minds. While his abstinence seemed odd, it wasn''t something they cared about as there were other more obvious problems. His thoughts drifted to tea time at the estate, the air often thick with the rich fragrances of exotic brews or other substances. His siblings, even Janina, favored potent herbal teas that promised substantial effects¡ªcalming or invigorating. But they also did more outside of those get-togethers, whether it was Lorient, who meditated in a room filled with aroma candles, calming her mind, Janina''s serene smile as she sipped a particularly fragrant blend while painting, her eyes half-closed in contentment or his parent''s private indulgence in concoctions so powerful they could kill Alexander immediately. The irony wasn''t lost on him as there was a time he also indulged in something similar, ''The talismans were pretty good, though,'' he mused, a faint smile tugging at his lips. When he was heavily injured, the effect he experienced sometimes made him groggy for hours at a time, enjoying the high immensely and something that made him endure the crippling desperation at times of being unable to move. Ultimately, Alexander didn''t mind following the family''s tradition, as it seemed appropriate given his circumstances. He smirked with a hint of mischief in his eyes. "Like what? Those herbal teas everyone swears by? They might as well be flavored water to me." To get any effect from them, he would need to drink gallons and let it brew until it became disgustingly bitter. She shook her head softly, her bunny ears swaying with the motion. "You know, most people don''t resort to poisoning themselves to unwind." He let out a dry laugh. "Most people don''t have my constitution. Nicotine, alcohol¡ªnone of it has any effect. Perks of a highly modified body and sky-high resistance skills. Even pure alcohol feels like drinking water." He paused, his gaze drifting to the horizon where the sun was just a sliver above the treeline. "These poisons are the only things that make a dent." "Have you considered that might be a sign to take a different approach?" she suggested gently, her eyes searching his. "Perhaps," he conceded, though his tone was noncommittal. A sly grin spread across his face. "Maybe I''ll start sampling bunny kin blood. I hear it''s quite invigorating." Anastasia rolled her eyes, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. "Even if my blood had any relaxing properties and you drained me like a wet cloth, I doubt it would compare to that toxic ball of death you''re so fond of." She chuckled softly, her concern evident despite the light-hearted banter.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. He met her gaze, the corners of his mouth softening. "You''re probably right. Besides, who else but you would be able to manage the education for probably tens of millions in the future?" "Someone has to," she replied with a mock sigh. "Otherwise, you''d spiral into madness¡ªor worse, fashion faux pas." He laughed genuinely at that, the sound echoing lightly around the campus. "Can''t have that," Thoughts of him sometimes appearing in casual clothing before her, mostly riddled with holes or loose, showing too many scars, only for her to start teaching him how appearance was more important than the actual content of his words, "The horror of me actually showing some scars would surely be my downfall." They walked in comfortable silence for a moment, the bustle of the academy around them fading into the background. ''Quite the stressful months, I would say,'' he enjoyed the relaxing stroll, contemplating the past months pressed on him like an invisible shroud. Wrapping up open projects, planning a military operation, and coordinating with the Essence and Eros Alliance had been a logistical nightmare, which would result in a critical meeting in a month to finalize the division of the island they had been negotiating over. ''If not for this enhanced body, I would''ve collapsed a dozen times by now,'' he thought wearily. The endless meetings, the constant problem-solving¡ªit was relentless. While his projects were designed to be self-sustaining and managed by his trusted retainers, initial hurdles still required his attention. He glanced around at the opulent surroundings of the school and couldn''t help but feel a mix of pride and exasperation. ''What a colossal waste of gold,'' he mused. What had started as a vision for an efficient, functional institution had blossomed into a grand establishment. Prestige mattered more than anticipated, especially if he wanted Wolfsteeth to become the primary hub for technology, science, and culture. "Four hundred thousand large gold coins on a single school," he muttered. "Might as well fuck me in the ass and rename me Alexandria and be done with it." Hearing his mumbling, Anastasia raised an eyebrow, smirking. "You created something even the royals from other kingdoms would find opulent, poached teachers of nobility and ensured that no student was above the other, so no petty squabbles could occur, forcing them to concentrate on studying." She tilted her head, studying him. "Give it time. Once the world acknowledges you, this institution of wonders will be flooded with requests to attend, giving you the power you need¡ªeven if you have some short-term pain over the coin." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "In the long term, perhaps. But in the short term, I''m practically bleeding gold." "Think of it as an investment," she mimicked his voice in mockery. "How fucking stupid are those who fucking hoard their gold like some imbeciles," she laughed, stopping her mockery. "You went on countless tangents, giving actually great reasons why this ridiculously opulent school was necessary and now you regret it?" He shot her a sidelong glance. "You are a tad too comfortable, I see?" She chuckled. "All''s fair in keeping you grounded, as I am still your teacher." He couldn''t help but smile. "Fair enough," knowing too well that he wanted everyone to challenge him. ''I got lucky. Otherwise, I really would be broke,'' Alexander''s mind drifted to the offers received to mass-print books, giving him a substantial financial boost. After Alexander sent his fairy tale books to various households, replies came immediately, ignoring the overly ethical penning. The Lord of the Nine-Fire household, Peter, was the first to order ten thousand copies of his romance novel, the second edition¡ªa smutty tale had been all the rage in aristocratic circles for a while now. His printing technology and paper quality outpaced anything else available, and after a while, he received more requests¡ªnobles, the Cathedral of Pestilence and other institutions, and the wealthy. While most of the populace couldn''t read, it didn''t matter as long as those with status and wealth could. The orders, as such, were gifts, blatantly penned ideologies or propaganda to other individuals of similar standing. Books were objects of prestige¡ªbeautiful white paper, strengthened over time with unique materials, and book covers made from monster or wild demon leather, which were even resistant to [Energy], became his most sought-after option¡ªat least for the nobility who loved to pay ridiculous prices for that tad more prestige. On the other hand, the Cathedral and other institutions would send him stacks of parchments weekly to get printed, primarily general educational material for the first years. Copying them by hand would cost fifty times as much as whatever Alexander had offered them for a much superior quality, and they eagerly accepted. ''Indeed, education is quite the endeavor,'' Alexander mused self-mockingly, knowing that every piece of coin immediately vanished from his coffers for additional schools about to open in the following months and years. Because of his desire to expand without pause, an expensive endeavor, he also renegotiated a new price for mana ink with Green when visiting the Temple, which had borne fruit. He''d managed to triple the price, which remained a bargain compared to market rates. In exchange, he agreed to allow ceremonies at the school and the construction of a temple for the religiously inclined, which came with the added bonus of receiving a greater blessing during their upcoming journey to the Noble Ball in a few years. Despite the successes, there was still a void. ''I''d give anything to see Sarah more often,'' he admitted silently, biting down on the candy again. The numbing effect spread, easing his tension. His relationship with Sarah had evolved rapidly. What began as cautious interactions due to their familial situations had blossomed into genuine affection. He felt love¡ªa word he hadn''t associated with himself in a long time¡ªeven though he hadn''t said it aloud, wanting to wait for the right moment during the mating season. ''She''ll love that,'' he pictured with a slight smile. It would also be the only time they would have for themselves since her training demanded much. It was the first time he''d felt this way, and it both exhilarated and unsettled him. Even that short rendezvous they''d had on this day was an exception. ''Patricia, on the other hand, didn''t take the news so well,'' Alexander recalled with a grimace. Announcing his engagement had elicited strong reactions. Letters from Emma and Patricia arrived filled with emotion¡ªconfusion and mainly ramblings he may call mentally unstable. ''At least they will not be joining the upcoming military operation,'' a wave of relief went through him, as there was already too much pressure weighing his mind down¡ªhe bit again, releasing the last bit of comforting numbness into his body. His Mother''s stunt of sending letters in his name to win their favor had worked¡ªperhaps too well. ''Forty-two blood-sucking parasites,'' he thought bitterly. ''Good job, Mother. Next time, you may not open up my asshole too wide for them.'' The Guard Household families and the Count had shown interest in the conflict, seeing it as an opportunity to earn military merit and prestige for their offspring, bringing their own resources as support. In exchange, they indirectly wanted Alexander to show a more lenient approach to writing their records¡ªa task he cared little for and, if needed, would embellish. It was a delicate dance of give and take, laden with unspoken implications. Nothing concrete was written down, but the tone of their letters made their intentions clear. They promised much if he would position them favorably. Their eagerness was understandable. With other borders under truce or too dangerous due to seasoned soldiers with multiple body modifications, options for gaining experience for their offspring were limited. Joining Alexander''s operation was their best chance to achieve something. Now, he was responsible for leading over forty noble youths from more than thirty territories, not just from the East. The weight of their expectations pressed on him like an iron mantle. ''Just... damn it.'' His original plan was thrown out the window¡ªconduct the operation with minimal fuss, perhaps embellish a few reports, use overwhelming force to achieve quick results, and then focus on reconstruction. After receiving all those letters, he knew those nobles needed roles and tasks to fulfill, making his perfect plan crumble. ''I feel like a teacher on a class trip,'' he thought grimly. But what other choice did he have? He needed as much goodwill as possible, and he was forced to accept their resources to make it seem believable, especially since his parents had set limits on what he could use financially. ''Who cares about coins, really?'' he thought dryly, considering the irony. Alexander already had more than enough resources, beginning with the Camp and ending with his ingenuity in recreating horrific weapons of war. But now, he had to slow down so that youth could actually collect experience and not be done after a day. In essence, merits required acknowledgment from others, which would be impossible if the operation ended after a week. As such, Alexander would need to stall as much as possible for them to actually do something worthwhile, hoping the other side wouldn''t act stupid, like breaking common custom laws, e.g., killing messengers, as he would be forced to react more forcefully. But once the enemy broke them, ''Burn, baby, burn,'' his thoughts spiraled into numerous scenarios. Anastasia''s voice pulled him back to the present before his imagination took a dark turn. "What about Nina?" He looked up to see a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I asked because there she is, dear student," she teased. As they neared the mage tower, raised voices reached them. "Janina! You can''t have her as a teacher! She''s an unhonored whore¡ª" Alexander''s eyebrow arched. With a subtle gesture, he cast a 3D spell, rendering them invisible and creating a vacuum dome to prevent sound or scent from giving them away. "Was that necessary?" Anastasia whispered. He nodded, surveying the scene unfolding before them. "I want to see how my sister handles this, and nobody can hear us," he smirked, "You know, vacuum and such." "Always the observer," she sighed softly, ignoring his tease. "Quiet. This is important," Alexander replied, his eyes fixed on Janina while he used a spell to listen to her conversation. They watched as Janina faced off against three noble youths. Alexander studied his sister carefully. She was young¡ªa puppy, really¡ªbut these moments would shape her growth. She needed to confront uncomfortable situations to mature. Janina stood her ground, her posture straight and unwavering. The setting sun cast a halo around her, highlighting the determination etched on her face. The noble youths sneered, their entitled arrogance palpable. ''How intriguing,'' he thought, a hint of pride mixing with curiosity. He wondered how she would navigate the confrontation and what choices she would make. Anastasia leaned in slightly. "Place your bets?" she whispered playfully. He smirked, his eyes never leaving Janina and making his spell global so Anastasia could listen too. "If she''s anything like her siblings," his smile widened, a dangerous glint in his eyes, "they''ll regret crossing her." Anastasia chuckled quietly. "High stakes, then." "Always," he murmured, his gaze intense. As the tension in the courtyard thickened, Alexander felt a surge of anticipation. This was more than a mere sibling''s concern¡ªit was a test, a glimpse into the kind of person Janina would become. Chapter 208: First School Day X ... Beside the towering mage spire, nestled an enchanting garden, fragrant with blooming sunflowers of every color, their petals shimmering under the sunlight like fragments of rainbows. Within lay a grand plaza that pulsed with life. The cobblestone pathways were inlaid with intricate mosaics of pure white stones, forming celestial patterns that guided visitors toward the centerpiece¡ªa magnificent round fountain. A bluish statue of a breathtaking shark-kin woman stood in the heart of the fountain, her lithe form barely draped with a translucent cloth that seemed to flutter in an unseen breeze. She reclined gracefully on a pedestal from which water flowed in delicate sheets, creating a cascading veil that split at precise intervals to form the word "Insight" in flowing script. Around her, in vibrant colors, were various statues in a riot of colors of younglings from different races, seemingly splashing with water and playing, their carefully carved eyes showing wonder and innocence Janina stood at the fountain''s edge, her gaze fixed not on the jubilant depicted scene but lost in the sound of the water¡ªa subtle tension coiled in the air around her, like a storm gathering strength. Breaking through the ambient sounds of rippling water, a sharp voice sliced through the atmosphere. Belia L. Ros¨¦, a leopard-kin with eyes that burned like molten gold, strode forward, her posture rigid with indignation. "This whore has no right to attend such a prestigious school!" she declared, her words dripping with venom. "Do you understand what that means for Mr. Alexander when this scandal surfaces?" Beside her, Henry L. Orchid¡ªa jaguar-kin whose perpetual scowl deepened the shadows on his sharp features¡ªnarrowed his gaze at Janina. "You need to comprehend the gravity of her betrayal against our households," he added, each word sharpened to cut. Janina lifted her chin, her canine ears twitching ever so slightly, betraying a simmering irritation beneath her calm exterior. "I believe you''re overstepping your privileges," she replied coolly, her voice steady but edged with a warning. Her tail flicked behind her, a subtle sign of her restrained agitation. A circle of youths began to tighten around them, their faces a mix of curiosity and unease. Though they tried to appear indifferent, their constant glances and the way they leaned in betrayed their keen interest in the unfolding drama. Meanwhile, further away, within the protective confines of a vacuum dome laced with spells, Alexander observed the scene with a contemplative smile playing on his lips. ''How adorable,'' he mused, watching the noble youths attempt to confront Janina with all the gravitas they could muster. They were like fledgling birds, flapping their wings earnestly but uncertain of how to truly take flight. Their families had sent them to forge stronger ties with him, anticipating his ascent as the heir¡ªan unspoken truth made evident by his siblings becoming official retainers, signaling the subsequent Lord''s rise. Yet, despite their apparent goodwill, they hadn''t sent their best and brightest. The contracts he used were too restrictive for their comfort, and it showed. They resembled puppies learning the boundaries of their leashes, dabbling in politics with someone who preferred a more straightforward approach. ''If they keep this up, Nina will tear them apart,'' Alexander thought, envisioning various scenarios, most of which didn''t end well for the young nobles. Though his little sister appeared tame, it was only in comparison to the madness that often emanated from their family. ''I should prepare,'' he decided, beginning to weave spells and set up contraptions as precautions. Back at the plaza, Henry took a cautious step closer to Janina, a disingenuous smile stretching across his face. "Janina, the teacher caused significant problems for our households," he insisted, eyes darting around to ensure the surrounding students were listening. "All we want is justice. Isn''t that what your brother preaches, symbolized by such a beautiful and fair school?" His tone was smooth, almost silky, but underneath lay a manipulative edge designed to humiliate her publicly. Janina raised an eyebrow, her tail flicking more sharply now. "Oh? Is that so?" she responded, her tone laced with feigned innocence. Henry and Belia exchanged quick, triumphant glances, believing they had gained the upper hand. But Janina''s eyes hardened as she continued, "Didn''t your mistress already punish her? Who are you to decide how she lives her life now?" Her words hung in the air, a subtle challenge wrapped in polite rhetoric. From his vantage point, Alexander analyzed the fascinating exchange. The youths were wielding phrases and concepts that seemed beyond their years, and yet, the na?vet¨¦ with which they did so was almost endearing. His musings were interrupted as Anastasia leaned casually against him, her hip brushing against his, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She chuckled softly, drawing his attention. "What''s so amusing?" Alexander asked, arching an eyebrow, though a slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Anastasia wiped a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye. "Isn''t this exactly your ideology at play?" she teased, her eyes dancing with mirth. "Did you think I couldn''t identify your mindset?" She leaned in closer, her face inches from his, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial but humorous whisper. "What a naughty brat¡ªyou might know how to navigate a discussion like this, but I doubt Janina fully understands what she''s saying." Alexander met her gaze, recognizing the subtle mockery but also the underlying truth in her words. ''Perhaps I should be more cautious,'' he thought, a slight frown creasing his brow. His teachings were progressive¡ªmodern and Earth-like concepts that Orbis wasn''t ready to embrace. While Janina appreciated his ideas, it didn''t mean she grasped them thoroughly, which could leave her humiliated in debates steeped in traditional values. "Well, I suppose I''m more influential than I realized," he admitted aloud, a touch of humility softening his tone. Anastasia''s gaze drifted back to the confrontation below. "It''s getting interesting," she remarked, a sly smile playing on her lips. "So many interesting losers, oh my," she added with a melodramatic sigh, her tone dripping with playful disdain. Belia''s face flushed with anger, her golden eyes flashing dangerously. Before she could retort, a young leopard-kin man with an elephant brooch pinned to his blazer stepped forward. His movements were measured, and his saphir eyes held a quiet strength that belied his unassuming appearance. "That''s enough, Belia," he said softly but firmly. Belia whirled around, her long hair whipping like a dark curtain behind her. When she saw him, her expression twisted with disdain. "How dare you speak my name directly?" she spat. "A bastard like you thinks he can tell me what to do?" Anastasia leaned closer to Alexander once more, her voice barely above a whisper. "Look at them¡ªso consumed by their own petty squabbles that they even forgot Janina," she mused, her tone taking on a darker edge. "Trash will always be trash, Alex, and you know it." A faint smile tugged at his lips. "Isn''t that what this school is for?" he replied, his eyes reflecting a mix of amusement and determination. Alexander hadn''t just allowed these nobles into his school to forge alliances but also to subtly influence them¡ªsoft power, a means of shaping others through culture and education rather than force. ''It''s working, though,'' he thought, watching Louis J. Ros¨¦, a noble youth who, despite appearing average, was stepping up to calm the situation. Even if Belia remained angry for weeks, the change would come gradually, perhaps over months or years. If his plan succeeded, some would rise to positions of power and carry his modern values and ethics into their leadership. Louis met Belia''s glare without flinching. "Here, you''re not at home, little girl," he replied evenly. "You might command me there, but in this city and especially on these school grounds¡ªwe''re all equals." Belia''s eyes blazed with fury, a low growl rumbling in her throat. "You''ll regret those words," she hissed, her pupils constricting. Henry moved to her side, his muscles tensing as his hand drifted toward his spatial pouch. "Louis, you should watch your tongue," he warned. "You know you''ll have to return home eventually." Louis smirked, though a hint of sadness flickered in his eyes. "Will I? I''m not in line to become an heir. I''ve been disinherited, remember? Why should I care about returning when I have more opportunities here than my siblings ever will? This school¡ª" He glanced toward the horizon, his gaze distant. "¡ªis so much better than whatever they were sent to." Anastasia suddenly burst into laughter, the unexpected sound causing Alexander to jump slightly. "What are you laughing at?" he asked, a touch of exasperation in his voice. She wiped a tear from her eye, her laughter subsiding into a mischievous grin. "Really? Do you remember all those awkward interviews and correspondence? Now¡ª" she shrugged, straightening up proudly, "¡ªI must apologize, as you were clearly right. They really don''t care after seeing such opportunities."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Alexander felt a faint blush rise to his cheeks, and he looked away to hide it. "Of course I am," he mumbled, trying to sound nonchalant. He recalled how most nobles, except those from the Guard Households, had dismissed his little project as a school for commoners, offering only basic literacy and arithmetic. They had doubted he would provide mana skills or otherwise valuable training. As such, he had made promises that if they could finish the school earlier by taking more exams, he wouldn''t disgrace them and might even congratulate them. Yet, they must have realized by now that such a feat was impossible after the introductory lesson. Louis was the first noble to declare his desire to stay and grow, proclaiming Alexander''s school as one of the best. ''Yeah, from his point of view, it makes sense,'' Alexander agreed. Unlike other institutions where students with lower status were hindered, this school even forced them to participate and learn as much as possible. Challenges and support between the student body were encouraged, fostering generations of prodigies who would venture into the world carrying his ideals. "Still having problems taking compliments?" Anastasia teased, her tone light but her eyes keen. Alexander nodded slightly, a rueful smile tugging at his lips. "Yeah. Now watch¡ª" he gestured toward the unfolding scene below, "¡ªit''s getting interesting." A panther-kin girl stepped forward before the tension could escalate further. Her strides were silent but purposeful, and an elephant brooch identical to Louis''s adorned her blazer. Her green eyes were sharp, taking in every detail as she assessed the situation. "Louis," she said, her voice cool and measured. "Consider your next words carefully. Regardless of your status, you carry the Ros¨¦ bloodline." ''Hana II Lotus,'' Alexander mused. ''Always one to seize an opportunity.'' Hana''s arrival instantly shifted the dynamics. Louis''s bravado wavered under her steady gaze. "Fine," he conceded, raising his hands in mock surrender. "If it''s you, Hana, I''ll stand down." She was the sole heir of the Lotus fief, the next Viscountess ruling over at least one-sixth of Moorgrel, and the strongest faction from central Mal-Gil. Known for their neutrality, the Lotus family aligned themselves purely based on political advantage, indifferent to the Duchess they served¡ªa notorious warmonger. Because of that, they were strategic in their dealings, leveraging their unique status to thrive. As such, when Hana contacted him, wanting to join the school, her motive became apparent when they discussed his contract: she wanted the Helping Paw within her territory more than anything. It was a give-and-take, as Hana wanted the charity while Alexander would have a great boost in prestige with her attendance. ''I swear, I still get PTSD when thinking about us discussing the damn terms,'' he thought with a sigh, recalling their week-long negotiation sessions, poring over every clause to eliminate loopholes. The contract had ended up being a three-hundred-page monstrosity and a compromise. She would pay 5%, a literal tax, but 90% of that would be used for her future territory while the rest, 0.5%, would be for outward use. Alexander immediately knew that while she didn''t share his vision, there was a cold and calculative understanding of the merits of what he did, seeing the great success in Wolfsteeth. At the same time, the other cities also started to see significant improvements. His musings were interrupted as he sensed another presence approaching. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the newcomer. A young woman sauntered forward, her hips swaying in a calculated rhythm that drew eyes to her. Her purplish hair cascaded over her shoulders, and a predatory grin curved her lips. Her eyes gleamed with obsidian malice. Nathalie Orchid¡ªthe daughter of a fling the Orchid Lord had¡ªenrolled, obviously, to protect Henry and the other youths from the Flower Households, whether from physical harm or humiliation. "My, my! If it isn''t Louis," she drawled mockingly, her voice dripping with disdain. "How are you faring after all that humiliation from your lovely brother?" Alexander sighed, rubbing his temples. "And here comes Nathalie to stir the pot," he muttered. Anastasia chuckled. "Can''t say this isn''t entertaining." He glanced at her, a hint of concern in his eyes. "Should we intervene?" She shook her head. "Let them have their drama. They might learn something from it." He groaned softly, hoping the situation wouldn''t escalate beyond control. "You''re probably right," he conceded. He recalled his interview with Nathalie, outwardly confident, but he sensed that given a chance, she would immediately let go of her old life, shedding the facade she presented to the world. Nathalie undid her silk scarf, holding it in her hand, playing with it¡ªa deliberate gesture, something nobles do to challenge someone to a life-and-death duel. "I''ve always despised you, little boy," she sneered at Louis. But now, I can finally put you in your place," she said, holding the scarf before her, about to let it fall. Louis clenched his fists, his jaw tightening. "Careful, Nathalie," he warned, his voice low. "You''re overstepping." Before the situation could spiral further, Alexander''s voice rang out across the plaza, amplified by a subtle spell. "That''s enough!" All eyes turned toward him. The crowd hushed instantly, and the tension was palpable. His spell was too strong, making some immediately flinch and hold their ears as pain graced their faces. "There will be no aristocratic duels, private or otherwise!" Alexander declared, his gaze sweeping over the gathered students. "No deaths or law-breaking. If you wish to settle disputes, you will do so within the rules of this academy, my academy!" Hana stepped forward, attempting to mediate. "Mr. Alexander, perhaps we can¡ª" He held up a hand, snapping his fingers to silence her. She attempted to use her [Energy] to break the spell, but it was futile. She stared at him anxiously, stepping back. "Hana, I appreciate your initiative, but this ends now." Nathalie scoffed, her arrogance undiminished. "And what authority do you have, boy?" She allowed her [Energy] to surge around her, cloaking herself with a bluish film. "You''re just a child playing at being in charge," she taunted, her tone dripping with condescension. A dangerous glint flashed in Alexander''s eyes, and a chilling smile curved his lips¡ªa hint of madness lurking beneath the surface. The air grew heavy with an oppressive killing intent, causing several students to shudder involuntarily. "Authority?" he echoed softly, his voice deceptively calm. "Allow me to demonstrate." In the blink of an eye, Alexander vanished from his spot, reappearing directly in front of Nathalie. Her eyes widened in shock, but he delivered a precise strike to her side before she could react, his kick connecting with calculated force. Nathalie gasped as the air was forced from her lungs. Under his shin, he could feel the cracking and breaking of bones, dispersing even her protective [Energy] as he used a wind cutter spell around his leg like a chainsaw. She was sent hurtling backward, crashing through a small tree before skidding to a halt on the grass. The crowd watched in stunned silence, the only sound the distant trickle of the fountain. Alexander stood tall, his expression composed, but his eyes cold as ice. "Let this serve as a lesson," he announced, his voice carrying a steely edge. "I will not tolerate recklessness that endangers others." He gestured, and Nathalie''s unconscious form floated toward him, suspended by multiple air contraptions. "Wake up," he commanded, a hint of impatience in his tone. He conjured a slender ice spear that hovered menacingly over her abdomen, the tip pressing lightly against her skin. Nathalie''s eyes snapped open, a mixture of pain and fear contorting her features. "What... what happened...?" she gasped, her hand instinctively moving to the sharp chill at her stomach immediately, trying to use all the [Energy] left to disperse it, but because she had not invested anything in [Defense], she was forced to use much more [Aura]. As Alexander locked eyes with her, she began to tremble, a palpable anxiety overtaking her arrogance. With a thought, he conjured an earthen bullet before him, the small projectile spinning rapidly, creating a whirling vortex of wind around it. "Do you think you can take it, little girl?" he asked softly, his voice laced with a quiet menace. Alexander suddenly felt a disruption in his spell, forcing him to turn his head. Hana had summoned an unusually high amount of [Energy] to break through his construct. She stepped forward again, her tone respectful but firm. "Mr. Alexander, please. Allow me to tend to her." Their eyes met, and for a moment, an unspoken understanding passed between them. Alexander nodded slowly. "Very well," he said, letting Nathalie fall to the ground. He pulled a vial of shimmering liquid from his spatial pouch and handed it to Hana while dispersing his spells. "A high-grade healing potion. She''ll recover quickly." Hana accepted the potion with a slight nod. "Thank you, Mr. Alexander. I want to apologize for her behavior; this is not how the Flower Households should act." She sighed, clearly weary of the ongoing tensions. "I will ensure she receives appropriate punishment, and if you choose to send her away, I will ensure the circumstances are accurately reported so no misunderstandings fall upon you." Alexander chuckled softly, turning to face her fully. "You know, Hana, I appreciate your astuteness and willingness to take responsibility, but each individual is accountable for their actions here." He amplified his voice once more. "I established this school to demonstrate that you alone are responsible for your choices." He glanced at Nathalie, who was struggling to steady her breathing, her face pale from the blood loss. "Everyone will get a chance to achieve greatness, but also failure! What will you choose? It is your decision alone." He turned to the assembled students, his gaze firm but not unkind. "As this is her first day, I will let such inappropriate behavior slide. Let this be a lesson to everyone¡ªI expect better from all of you. Use the opportunities I give you to grow, not to indulge in petty rivalries. You saw that I expect so much more from you than you ever believed possible, but trust me, you can achieve the impossible here; rise and take stars!" He gestured vigorously, clenching his fist. The tension began to ease as the students absorbed his words. Some exchanged thoughtful glances, while others looked at Alexander with newfound respect, perhaps realizing the depth of his commitment to their development. Anastasia appeared at his side once more, a subtle smile on her lips. "Well handled," she remarked quietly. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I hope so," he replied, his gaze drifting over the students slowly dispersing. After a few moments, he noticed Hana still standing nearby, her expression mixed with embarrassment and concern. Alexander snapped his fingers to get her attention, surprising her. "Hey, sleepyhead! Nathalie is injured, you know?" He nodded toward Nathalie, who was clutching her abdomen, her breaths shallow. Hana''s face flushed red, but she immediately moved to Nathalie''s side and administered the potion. He watched as the healing liquid took effect, and color returned to Nathalie''s cheeks. Turning back to the student body, Alexander clapped his hands once, the sound echoing across the plaza. "Now! You will all receive your mana skills, even Nathalie! Move to the tower." He gestured toward the imposing structure. "Hop hop!" A ripple of excitement passed through the crowd as the students began to make their way toward the mage tower, whispers and murmurs filling the air. The earlier tensions seemed to fade, replaced by anticipation. Chapter 209: First School Day XI ... Mage Towers had always stood as beacons of mystery and danger, looming silhouettes where mages bent the very fabric of reality to their will. Whispers of their wonders seeped into every corner of the realm: alchemists brewing potions granting endless strength, tamers summoning ancient beings from distant dimensions, and wizards calling down meteors to reshape the world¡ªimaginations had run wild for the new students gathered at the base of this legendary tower. As the heavy, enchantment-etched doors swung open with a resonant groan, a collective gasp escaped the students'' lips. The air itself seemed to shimmer with anticipation. Stepping inside, they were enveloped by an expansive, circular chamber where the ceiling soared seemingly into infinity, mirroring the boundless night sky. Intricate mosaics depicted constellations and mysterious sigils that shimmered and shifted, each tile infused with a dampened luminescence that made the stars and symbols glow softly, as if alive and dancing above them. The walls, crafted from polished obsidian, reflected the ethereal light of floating crystals that drifted lazily through the air like celestial jellyfish. These mana-infused gems bathed the chamber in hues reminiscent of the eight moons, casting a soft but dim light through the hall. The atmosphere was both serene and electric¡ªa silent testament to the immense power contained within these walls, which every student could discreetly feel. Tall archways lined the hall, each leading to different mysteries within the tower, each path giving a distinct sense Louis couldn''t shake off when looking at it, as if instinctively knowing where it would lead to¡ªartificing, alchemy, magic research. They walked further inside, each footstep echoing softly against the silent tiles that responded to their presence, an elaborate mosaic that left ephemeral white imprints with each step, acknowledging their presence before returning to stillness. Walking further, Louis saw a grand staircase spiraling upward, its elegant curves twisting into the tower''s higher levels. The banisters were carved to resemble coiling serpents¡ªmesmerizing and a touch ominous¡ªtheir eyes inlaid with tiny gemstones that gleamed with inner light. When Louis heard whispers around him, he turned away to see what his peers marveled at¡ªa myriad of exhibitions surrounding them. The most striking was a massive circular platform at the hall''s center. Hovering meticulously above it was a delicate, rotating model of Orbis, complete with all eight moons. Even those unversed in celestial lore couldn''t take their eyes off it, captivated by the intricate dance of celestial bodies, feeling both insignificant and intimately connected to something far greater. All this mysticism improved with a pinch of charming furniture, as standing tables, desks, and plush chairs scattered around them¡ªinviting spaces where knowledge could be shared and discovered. At the far end, Alexander approached what appeared to be a reception desk. Behind it sat a young spider-kin woman with an air of bored efficiency, her eyes lazily scanning the student body. ''Ocilia,'' Louis frowned inwardly, exactly knowing who it was and not only because of her brother. She was Alexander''s disciple and someone you shouldn''t annoy. Rumors abounded of her sharp temper and even sharper abilities. "Hey, Lia, is everyone here already?" Alexander asked with casual familiarity, his voice carrying effortlessly across the chamber. Ocilia glanced up, her upper eyes narrowing slightly to a reddish-purple hue. "Yes, Master. All accounted for," she replied with a sigh. "You know..." He cut her off with a dismissive wave, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Nope! We''re doing it my way. I don''t need any unnecessary complications." She rolled her eyes, her annoyance barely concealed. "Fine," she muttered, her tone laced with exasperation. Her gaze swept over the throngs of students filling the space inside and outside the Mage Tower. "Master, you realize it''ll take at least five to ten hours to process so many students?" Alexander paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully before turning to address the crowd. His voice resonated through the chamber, yet it felt intimate, as if he spoke directly beside each person. "My dear students! Today will be a long day, but fear not¡ªas I, Alexander..." Anastasia rudely interrupted him, bumping her hip slightly into his. "Alex, please, not another speech." While her tone was playful, she wanted him to make it quick, her expression showing tiredness. Alexander sighed, addressing the crow anew, now much snappier, "You will have tomorrow off since today will take some time giving everyone mana skills!" A ripple of excitement coursed through the assembly¡ªnot merely for the prospect of rest but because every student knew they would receive their mana skills. The air buzzed with anticipation; no one in their right mind would decline such a thing just because they had to wait. With a flourish, Alexander waved his hand. From seemingly nowhere, pamphlets of pristine white parchment¡ªfiner than anything Louis had ever seen¡ªflew into the air, gently drifting into the hands of each student. "While you wait, please read this," Alexander explained. "If you can''t read, ask a peer or wait for my servants to arrive! This is very important to know before we continue our journey into the mystical ways of magic!" His voice became theatrical as if trying to entertain the youngest, who started giggling and whispering between each other. Louis caught the pamphlet, marveling at its smooth texture and crisp ink. The words seemed to glow softly, the letters elegantly scripted. As he began to skim through, he couldn''t help but notice Alexander and Ocilia conversing in hushed tones, the latter''s expression a mix of irritation and impatience. "All right!" Alexander''s voice rang out again, drawing everyone''s attention. "Those who don''t have the [Literacy] skill, please step forward! I will explain to you what the pamphlet says!" To everyone''s surprise, only forty students came forward, their expressions a mix of embarrassment and caution. Louis felt a pang of empathy for them. He knew all too well the sting of feeling inadequate. However, a ripple of whispers and barely stifled giggles spread through a group of students¡ªnobles from the Flower Households, their haughty gazes and smug smiles betraying their disdain. A sense of unease settled in Louis''s stomach. ''Great idea, morons,'' he thought bitterly. ''Just laugh at those for whom this school was specially built.'' He edged away from them, not wanting to be associated with their callousness. He understood that nobility held no special privileges in this place. If anything, Alexander favored the marginalized, offering them opportunities they had been denied elsewhere. Louis suspected that mocking the less fortunate here would not end well. As if on cue, a sudden shout rang out¡ªnot from Alexander, but from Ocilia. "What are you laughing at, idiots?!" Her voice was sharp, slicing through the murmurs with razor-edged fury. The hall fell silent, all eyes turning toward her. The tension was palpable as shimmering threads materialized around her fingertips, snaking through the air like predatory vines. They coiled around the mockers, binding them in place. Ocilia advanced toward them, the crowd parting like water before her. Her gaze locked onto Henry, Belia, and two others¡ªstudents Louis recognized from wealthy families. "Is it funny to you?" she taunted, her voice low and dangerous, slowly tightening her threads. "How about I break every bone in your body and laugh at your fragility? That would be sooo hilarious, wouldn''t it?" Fear flashed in their eyes, their bravado crumbling under her glare. Louis felt a knot tighten in his chest. As much as he disliked them, he didn''t want to see anyone hurt. He glanced at Alexander, hoping he would intervene. "Now, now, Lia," Alexander''s voice was calm but firm. "No killing¡ªat least not today." His eyes held a warning but also a hint of amusement. Ocilia hesitated, her threads tightening for a moment before she sighed dramatically. "Fine," she huffed, the shimmering bindings dissolving into the air. The students collapsed to the ground, visibly shaken. Alexander addressed the assembly, his tone shifting to one of stern authority. "This school is a place of learning and growth. I will not tolerate any mockery or belittlement of those seeking to improve themselves. It''s akin to laughing at someone injured going to the Temple for healing."Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. He turned his gaze back to the chastened students. "Now, apologize. We don''t have all day." There was a heavy silence as they gradually stood up. Henry stepped forward, his face flushed with humiliation. "I apologize, Mr. Alexander," he muttered, barely meeting Alexander''s eyes. The others followed suit, their apologies equally mumbled. Louis noticed the slight twitch of Alexander''s lips¡ªa sign that he was not entirely satisfied. It dawned on Louis that the apologies were meant for the mocked students, not for Alexander. The distinction was important. Before Alexander could humiliate them further, a young panther-kin woman stepped forward. Her sleek black hair and fur caught the ambient light, and her amber eyes burned with determination. "Mr. Alexander, may I?" she asked respectfully. He nodded. "Go ahead, Hana." She approached the group with measured steps, each movement exuding confidence. Standing before the mockers, she spoke firmly. "You four didn''t mock Mr. Alexander but our peers. Apologize to them directly." They looked at her with a mixture of defiance and uncertainty. One opened his mouth to protest, but Hana''s gaze hardened. "This is not your territory, and these are not your subjects. Such behavior dishonors us all." Her words hung in the air, heavy with unspoken implications. Louis felt a surge of admiration for her. She was using her position not to belittle them further but to uphold a standard of dignity and respect. Reluctantly, the mockers turned to the group of illiterate students. "We''re sorry," they mumbled, voices barely above whispers. Hana nodded, a small smile of satisfaction touching her lips. "That''s barely acceptable if it''s also okay for Mr. Alexander," she said simply, waiting for Alexander''s approving nod before returning to her place when he did so. Louis observed the exchange thoughtfully. He recalled meeting Hana at a grand ball years ago. Even then, she had been poised and eloquent, a prodigy from the Lotus Household¡ªthe strongest among the Flower Households under their Duchess. Hana''s presence here spoke volumes about her intentions. By attending this academy, she wasn''t merely seeking education; she aimed to gain Alexander''s goodwill by enhancing the school''s reputation through her own noble status. The fact that she defended her noble circle to prevent any tarnish on their image indicated she wasn''t planning to stay for just a month or two. No, she intended to remain for the full six years¡ªa clear sign that she considered this institution far more valuable than any other academy. He realized that if someone of her stature chose this place over other prestigious institutions, then the academy was indeed exceptional. He glanced around at his fellow students, many of whom were commoners, lessers than artisans or grunts. Some might consider them unworthy of such an education, but Louis knew better. Given the right resources and guidance, anyone could achieve greatness. ''Hana thought this too, I guess,'' he mused, knowing too well that if this school continues and more commoners come out, staying on good terms with them would be a good decision. The decision to force them to apologize also stemmed from that, Louis was sure. Alexander clapped his hands, drawing everyone''s attention once more. "Excellent. Now, let''s proceed. If anyone else lacks the [Literacy] skill, please come forward. It''s important that everyone understands the material." A few more students hesitantly stepped forward. Alexander smiled warmly at them. "No need to be embarrassed. We''re here to learn, after all." He gave the rest of the students thirty minutes to read the pamphlet, encouraging them to discuss it with their peers and seek help if needed while disappearing with them while talking loudly. Over the following minutes, more servants and teachers arrived, appearing slightly stressed and whispering among themselves. Louis found a quiet spot near one of the arched windows, the view overlooking the sprawling gardens below. As he settled onto a plush couch, three small gems floated toward him, emitting a soft light perfect for reading. He couldn''t help but marvel at the simple yet thoughtful gesture. He delved into the pamphlet, his eyes scanning the intricate script. The content was dense¡ªpages of rules and guidelines, safety protocols, and conduct expectations. It was clear that the academy took its responsibilities seriously. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he overheard snippets of conversations around him. "Did you read section 3.8a? Does it refer to 4.0 or 5.5?" "I think it''s about handling mana-infused materials, but the wording is so convoluted!" He smiled to himself, finding comfort in the shared confusion. It was oddly reassuring to know that everyone else was just as overwhelmed. "Mind if I join you?" a familiar voice asked. Startled, Louis looked up to see Janina settling onto the couch beside him, her arms crossed and a hint of amusement in her emerald eyes. Her snow-white hair, streaked with strands of black, framed her face elegantly. "Not at all," he replied, scooting over to make room. He felt a little nervous but decided to act like Alexander wanted them to act and treat everyone as equals. She glanced at the floating gems. "Convenient, aren''t they?" Janina remarked a hint of pride in her voice. Louis nodded, still mesmerized by the softly glowing stones hovering above him. "Quite. This place continues to surprise me." Janina smirked, her eyes gleaming with a mischievous light. "My brothers, Narsi and Alex, designed them. It was quite a challenge to make them float, you know?" He looked up at the gems, watching them drift gently over his head. "I see," he said thoughtfully. "And how do they work, if I may ask?" "It''s all about manipulating weight," she explained, her tone both proud and slightly bored as if she''d repeatedly recited this explanation. "Sitting down on the couch activates an enchantment that causes the gems to float over to you. They maintain the same elevation using magnetic forces." Louis nodded appreciatively. "Fascinating." She raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. "You didn''t understand anything I just said, did you?" He chuckled softly. "Not a word." They shared a brief laugh, the moment easing the tension from earlier. Louis appreciated Janina''s willingness to share and her lighthearted teasing. Most young nobles, like himself in the past, would be too arrogant and proud for this. They shared a comfortable silence before she turned to him, her gaze curious. "You know, you handled yourself well earlier." He raised an eyebrow. "Earlier?" "With Belia and the others. You could have joined in or stayed silent, but you didn''t." He shrugged modestly. "It just didn''t feel right to stand by." She studied him thoughtfully. "Why did you do it? Aren''t you worried about getting into trouble?" He considered her question. "I was following the rules," he said simply. "And besides, this place feels different. Like it''s giving us a chance to be better." A soft smile tugged at her lips. "I like you, Louis." Before he could ask her what she meant, two more students approached¡ªa tall girl with golden-brown hair and ruby-red eyes, her coyote-kin ears twitching slightly. Her gait was casual yet confident, hinting at combat experience. Beside her was a more petite girl with charcoal-black hair and golden-orange eyes, her enthusiasm palpable and treading elegant, like the perfect Lady. "You must be Janina," the coyote-kin said with a friendly grin. "I''m Yvonne from Nine-Fire. How are you? It was quite the scene earlier." The smaller girl nodded eagerly. "Hi! I''m Clara, also from Nine-Fire. Nice to meet you! Are you okay after all that?" Janina smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you both. Yes, I''m fine. Thank you for asking." She glanced behind them. "And you, I know. How are you, Matilda? Didn''t expect to see you here." Tall with sparkling emerald-green eyes and scarlet-red hair, Matilda approached with a confident stride. "Couldn''t resist the allure of this place," she said, tapping the little fox emblem on her uniform. "Apparently, I''m in the Fox student body¡ªquite fitting." The four girls launched into conversation, discussing their first impressions of the academy and the grandeur of the Mage Tower. "Can you believe this place?" Clara gushed, practically bouncing on her toes. "It''s like stepping into a dream!" Yvonne chuckled. "Calm down, Clara. You''ll wear yourself out before we even get our mana skills." Matilda smirked. "Let her be. It''s refreshing to see someone so excited. Besides, she''s got a point. This place is incredible." Janina nodded, agreeing with them, "Though the rules are... extensive." Clara rolled her eyes playfully. "Tell me about it! I feel like I need advanced skills just to understand the pamphlet." Yvonne nudged her. "That''s why we''re here¡ªto learn. Even if it means navigating a labyrinth of regulations." Matilda laughed softly. "As long as we don''t get lost in the process." They continued chatting, their voices a pleasant backdrop. Louis listened quietly, feeling both included and slightly out of place. Janina turned to him suddenly. "Louis, what do you think about all this?" He looked up, surprised to find all eyes on him. "Oh, it''s... remarkable," he managed, gesturing vaguely at their surroundings. "A bit overwhelming, but in a good way." Yvonne nodded thoughtfully. "I get that. It''s a lot to take in." Clara leaned forward, her eyes bright. "But isn''t it exciting? Think of all the things we''ll learn! I will become a mage," her smile widened as her voice raised. "A mage!" A high-pitched squeal escaped her. He offered a small smile. "Yes, it is exciting." Matilda eyed him curiously. "You seem different from the others." He tilted his head. "Different, how?" "Less... pretentious," she said with a wink. "It''s refreshing." He chuckled softly. "Well, I aim to please," he leaned slightly forward, his smile flirtatious. "Though, you should know something." Matilda, too, leaned forward, showing a bit of her chest. "I listen, pretty boy." Her smile was charming and flirtatious. "I have a girlfriend who I love," his smile didn''t cease, only Matilda suddenly forced hers. After another moment, everyone else started laughing. "I am sorry, didn''t mean to be mean," he meant it genuinely. After a moment of pouting while peeking at him, Matilda also started laughing but sighed in the end, "I will end as some crazy legendary lone warrior, I''ll tell you." "Legendary? You wish!" Their conversation flowed naturally, the initial awkwardness fading. Louis found himself relaxing, the weight of his past easing slightly. These were people who didn''t judge him for his name or lack thereof. ''It''s refreshing,'' he enjoyed their company. Chapter 210: First School Day XII ... Louis sat among the girls, their laughter ringing like melodious chimes around him. Playful teasing and humorous anecdotes flew freely¡ªa delightful tapestry of camaraderie that wrapped him in warmth. He found himself smiling more than he had in years. ''I really am happy, aren''t I?'' he thought, a mix of confusion and joy swirling within him. The oppressive weight of life at the Ros¨¦ estate seemed to melt away, replaced by a budding hope for a future free from humiliation. Once, he had been the epitome of arrogance¡ªthe cherished jewel of his parents'' eyes. They had lavished him with every privilege the Ros¨¦ estate could offer, adored by servants and peers alike. Raised to believe he was destined for greatness, Louis had worn his self-importance like armor, oblivious to the world beyond his gilded cage. ''I was a frog in a well,'' he mused, his body tensing as memories of his past arrogance flooded back, making him cringe. He recalled how dismissively he''d treated others, convinced of his superiority. That illusion gradually shattered when his brothers returned from their border schools. With them came a cycle of escalating abuse, culminating in a humiliating defeat during a sparring match. It was then he realized that nothing would change no matter what he did. His brothers had secured their positions by marrying twins from a prestigious Marquise household, elevating their standing. On the other hand, Louis was pushed aside and forced to renounce any claim to inheritance. Once the favored son, he was now expected to become a lowly servant, swearing fealty to his siblings. ''I was lucky,'' he thought bitterly, though the so-called luck felt like a crushing burden. The oath to serve his brothers had been postponed repeatedly, as he remained a perceived threat¡ªa dangerous variable in their carefully plotted equations. They humiliated him at every turn, hoping to quash any flicker of ambition. But they crossed an unforgivable line when they decided to marry off Sherly, the woman who had captured his heart. Sherly had been his maid, a confidante, and solace in the estate''s stifling environment¡ªtheir stolen moments together had been his only refuge. When they confessed their feelings to each other, desperation fueled their actions. Together, they seized a fleeting opportunity and fled into the night, leaving everything behind. The following months were a test of survival¡ªcamping under starlit skies, hunting for their meals, and relying solely on each other. Yet, Louis noticed the shadows that crossed Sherly''s eyes. She tried to mask her discomfort with the wilderness, but he could see its toll on her. Determined to find a better life for them both, he remembered hearing whispers of Alexander''s new academy¡ªa place that offered refuge and a fresh start. It was a slim chance, but he was willing to risk everything. Looking out the window, Louis watched as the academy''s grounds were illuminated by the golden hues of the setting sun, casting a warm glow over the sprawling campus. He imagined himself sitting on a bench in the garden, sharing a simple meal with Sherly while exchanging laughter and stories. Below, the girls he''d befriended laughed together, their voices rising like a harmonious chorus that filled the air with lightness. But then, a shadow crossed his face as the weight of reality settled in. The understanding that all of this could be taken away struck him with alarming clarity. The freedom he''d found here, camaraderie, and a chance to reinvent himself could all be ripped away if his family had their way. The thought of being dragged back to the Ros¨¦ estate filled him with dread. The oppressive halls, the humiliation and degradation, the constant abuse¡ªnot just of himself but of Sherly as well¡ªit was a life he couldn''t bear to return to. He clenched his fists, a steely resolve hardening within him. ''I can''t let this slip away,'' he decided. Louis glanced back at the lively scene before him. The girls'' laughter seemed distant now, starkly contrasting the turmoil brewing inside him. The academy wasn''t just a place of learning; it was a sanctuary, a beacon of hope for a future he desperately wanted. His old ambitions stirred within him, flickering to life like embers in a dying fire. Once, he had dreamed of greatness¡ªa hollow prestige his family coveted, but it was no longer true¡ªhe wanted true accomplishment born of his own efforts. ''How can I convince Alexander to let me stay?'' The question gnawed at him. He knew his family was petty and wouldn''t hesitate to use their influence against him. Should he beg and grovel before Alexander, debase himself for the chance to remain? The thought made his stomach churn. ''No,'' he resolved, shaking his head slightly. Alexander valued merit over lineage¡ªhonesty and determination were his best allies. He recalled their brief encounter earlier, how Alexander''s eyes held a sharpness that saw through pretense. There was an air of boldness about him, an unwavering confidence that inspired both awe and envy. ''I decided,'' a resolve flickered through Louis''s eyes as he turned away from the window. He wouldn''t let fear dictate his actions, waiting and cowering in fear, hoping and wishing. Instead, he would, no, must act, ''if I see him...'' His thoughts were interrupted by Yvonne''s cheerful voice. "So, Louis, what brought you to the academy?" she asked, her eyes curious and inviting. He hesitated for a moment before choosing candor. "A fresh start," he admitted, slightly nervous. "I ran away... in a manner of speaking." His voice held a hint of vulnerability as if peeling back a layer of his guarded self. Clara''s eyes softened with understanding. "I don''t think we ever truly run away," she said gently. "We''re always running toward something¡ªfreedom, peace, or perhaps love." "How philosophical!" Matilda chimed in with a playful grin, lightly nudging Clara. "Next, you''ll be quoting sages!" She feigned a dramatic pose, exclaiming, "Oh, fair maidens, should mine spring be vanquished, ne''er shall ye behold the golden hues of autu..." Yvonne rolled her eyes, interrupting Matilda. "Do not quote Huxia right before she annihilated half a human kingdom, it''s a bad omen. Forget all that deep stuff," she turned to Louis. "Did you, like, murder someone or rape your sister?" She wiggled her eyebrows mischievously. "Come on, spill the juicy details!" Louis laughed, the tension easing from his shoulders. "No dark deeds here," he replied, his eyes meeting Clara''s. "It''s just as she said¡ªfreedom and peace." He paused, a genuine smile tugging at his lips. "And maybe a little love." "Ooh, mysterious!" Yvonne exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. "We''ll get the full story out of you yet." They continued chatting, the conversation flowing effortlessly. Louis felt a newfound closeness with them, a camaraderie he hadn''t known he needed. For the first time in a long while, he didn''t regret opening up, even if just a little. "Hey, you four¡ªthe gentleman with the harem¡ªyou''re up next!" a teacher called out, her tone both authoritative and lighthearted. "Harem?" Louis blinked in surprise, glancing around before realizing the teacher meant him and the girls. He chuckled softly. "Guess that''s us." Matilda smirked. "Looks like you''re up." She quipped, "Dear husband." He stood, giving the group a nod. "Time to see what they have in store for us." Janina waved lazily. "We''ll catch up later!" "But she said four and..." Louis trailed off, confused by the number since he knew that Janina and Matilda already had mana skills. Then he noticed a petite cat-kin girl with vibrant orange hair standing nearby, her eyes wide and nervous. "Who''s this charming young lady?" he asked warmly, offering a gentle smile. She blushed, her gaze dropping to the floor. "I-I''m Naza," she whispered, her voice barely audible. Janina nudged her gently toward them. "Don''t be shy. They''re much nicer than I am," she teased with a wink. "Welcome aboard, Naza," Louis said reassuringly. "We are all friendly here." He looked around at their group, having the girls chime in to calm her. After some reassuring words, they navigated through the bustling corridors; Louis couldn''t shake a nagging feeling. A group of students stood off to the side, their gazes cold and disdainful. He recognized them¡ªassociates of his family, no doubt. His chest tightened, but he forced himself to focus on the present. ''I need to trust my gut,'' he reminded himself. What Alexander said still rang in his mind, making him believe those words and ignore his past. They were met by the teacher who had called them¡ªa red panda-kin woman with sharp features and striking red streaks in her dark hair. Despite her stern demeanor, she had an undeniable charm, emitting innocence that made it hard to take her seriously. "Follow me," she instructed, her tone brisk yet not unkind. They walked down corridors adorned with glowing enchantments, the air humming with latent energy. Naza gazed around in awe, momentarily forgetting her earlier nervousness. "It''s like something out of a dream," she whispered. "Yeah, I feel like we''ve stepped into a storybook," Yvonne added, her hands clasped behind her head in a relaxed manner. Clara grinned, nudging Yvonne playfully. "Always trying to act so cool, aren''t you? Trying to build a reputation for someone special? Your little blacksmith girlfriend when she joins, seeing that everyone knows you as¡ª" she ceased her expression teasingly, "¡ªstoic and non-caring?" Yvonne blushed, giving Clara a gentle shove. "Oh, hush." As the girls teased each other, Louis allowed himself a moment to enjoy their company. Their lighthearted banter was a balm to his worried mind.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. They continued through the Mage Tower, and Louis couldn''t help but marvel at the generosity woven into its very fabric. ''What a peculiar child Alexander is,'' he mused. He couldn''t fathom how someone in Alexander''s position would offer so much without demanding anything substantial in return. Any other noble would have seized the opportunity to extort wealth or favors from those seeking such an exceptional education¡ªespecially for access to mana skills. He recalled stories he''d heard of other boarding schools¡ªtales of grandeur and strict tradition, embellished to impress. Yet no tale could possibly compare to what he was witnessing now. Even the most prestigious institutions lacked the innovative spirit and openness that permeated this place. The magnificence of Alexander''s academy stood above all others¡ªa beacon of possibility that surpassed his wildest expectations. They arrived at a classroom filled with peculiar devices¡ªalchemical setups, tubes, and vials bubbling with mysterious liquids, gears turning within glass domes, and charts depicting complex magical theories. The air was thick with the scent of exotic herbs and a faint hum of mystifying energy. Chairs were arranged facing a blackboard at the front, where a collection of intriguing contraptions awaited. "Wow," Naza breathed, her eyes wide as she took in the surroundings. "It''s like we''ve stepped into an alchemist''s workshop," Clara remarked, her gaze roaming over the intricate equipment. "But a good one, not the crazy one you remember?" She started chatting about her experience, describing someone from her estate while they waited. Once around fifty students had settled into their seats, a group of individuals stepped onto the stage. One was a scruffy-looking young man with a mischievous glint in his eye, while the other appeared every bit the model student, immaculate and composed. A tall dragon-kin woman stepped forward, commanding immediate attention. Her silver hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her piercing blue eyes seemed to hold ancient wisdom. One of her horns was cut short¡ªa detail that hinted at a tumultuous past. Her tail''s elegant sway and sparkling scale patches added to her formidable presence. "Welcome to your safety briefing," she began, her voice resonating with authority yet tinged with an unexpected warmth. "Let me shortly introduce myself. My name is Dandeleine, and I work for Mr. Alexander. Though banished from my household, I''ve found a place where hard work and dedication are rewarded. In just a few months, I''ve gained mana skills and advanced further than I ever imagined." She paused, allowing her words to settle. "I am not a teacher or instructor. My official title is TMA¡ªTechnical Magic Assistant. I am responsible for organizing, overseeing, and coordinating the laboratories focused on magic and spells. And," she added, her gaze sharpening, "I am responsible for your safety. When you enter the lab for experiments of any kind, I''ll be there to ensure nothing goes wrong." Louis glanced down at the pamphlet in his hands, filled with detailed safety protocols and procedures. ''This is a lot more structured than I imagined,'' he mused, a wry smile tugging at his lips. Magic and alchemy had always seemed like mysterious arts shrouded in secrecy and danger. Yet here, Alexander had demystified them, turning the practice into something mundane and bureaucratic yet accessible. "Before you begin your studies in magic, alchemy, and artificing, it''s imperative that you understand the risks involved," Dandeleine continued, her tone growing stern. A few students exchanged amused glances and stifling giggles. Sensing the shift in mood, Dandeleine''s lips curved into a knowing smile. "I see some of you think this is trivial. Perhaps you believe magic is all grand gestures and spectacular results without consequence." She gestured to the two young men beside her. "Allow me to introduce Nabil and Maximillian¡ªmy trainees. They''ll help demonstrate the importance of adhering to safety protocols. Think of it as a... practical comedy." The scruffy trainee, Nabil, gave an exaggerated bow, nearly tipping over as he did so. Maximillian rolled his eyes, adjusting his perfectly aligned glasses. The lights slightly dimmed as everyone focused on the improvised state. Dandeleine stepped aside, allowing the trainees to take over. Maximillian began by meticulously arranging alchemical ingredients, measuring each with precision. On the other hand, Nabil haphazardly tossed components into a bubbling flask, whistling a jaunty tune. "Hey, Max, check this out!" Nabil exclaimed, holding up a vial of swirling purple liquid. "I bet if I mix this with that green stuff, it''ll create something amazing!" Maximillian looked horrified. "Nabil, that''s an acid! First acid, then..." But Nabil ignored him, pouring the contents into his concoction. The mixture began to hiss ominously, smoke billowing out in thick clouds. The students watched wide-eyed as Nabil''s eyebrows shot up in exaggerated surprise. "Uh-oh," Nabil said, taking a comically large step back. With a dramatic explosion¡ªaccompanied by harmless sparks and an illusionary burst of flames¡ªNabil was engulfed in smoke. When it cleared, he stood there covered in soot, his hair sticking up in all directions. The class erupted into laughter. Maximillian sighed heavily. "This is why we follow the safety guidelines," he intoned, retrieving a fire suppression orb and activating it. A gentle rain of sparkles descended upon Nabil, cleaning him up instantly and making him excessively wet. Dandeleine stepped forward again. "So, class, can anyone tell me what Nabil did wrong?" Hands shot up around the room. She pointed to a student in the front row. "First the acid, then the water; otherwise, something terrible will happen," the student offered. "Exactly," Dandeleine affirmed. "Even if you mix those substances, the order is as important. A simple mistake can lead to disastrous results." The demonstration continued, with Nabil and Maximillian playing out various scenarios¡ªeach more exaggerated than the last. In one skit, Nabil pretended to ignore protective equipment, resulting in a humorous illusion of his clothes turning into frilly dresses. In another, he misread a spell incantation, causing his voice to squeak uncontrollably. The room was filled with laughter, but the lessons were clear and impactful beneath the humor. Louis found himself genuinely entertained. ''This is brilliant,'' he thought. ''They''re using comedy to teach us important safety measures. It''s engaging.'' Beside him, Naza giggled softly, her earlier nervousness fading away. "They''re really funny," she whispered. Yvonne grinned. "I could watch this all day." Clara, meanwhile, was diligently taking notes, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Aha, right," she murmured. After about an hour of demonstrations, Dandeleine called the trainees to a close. Nabil and Maximillian took an exaggerated bow, earning enthusiastic applause from the students. "Now that we''ve had our fun," Dandeleine said, her tone returning to its authoritative timbre, "let''s see how much you''ve absorbed." She began posing questions to the class, her gaze scanning the room. The students responded eagerly, the earlier demonstrations fresh in their minds. When it was Naza''s turn, Dandeleine asked, "If someone gets a mildly corrosive alchemical substance in their eyes, what should you do to help?" Naza took a deep breath, her voice steady. "You should rinse their eyes with clean water for at least ten minutes and then take them to the Temple or infirmary for healing." Dandeleine nodded approvingly. "Excellent. And don''t forget to identify the substance if possible, as treatment may vary." After the Q&A session, Dandeleine concluded the briefing. "Remember, magic is a powerful tool, but with great power comes great responsibility." As they exited the classroom, the students were abuzz with chatter. "That was the most entertaining lecture I''ve ever had," Clara remarked, tucking her notes into her satchel. Yvonne nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty fun!" She remained calm even though she answered multiple questions incorrectly. On this day, the terms'' Nab'' and ''Max'' were coined among the students, representing the carefree and the meticulous¡ªa lighthearted nod to their memorable lesson. They were led to a large circular chamber in the basement¡ªa vast space with metallic walls that shimmered under ethereal light. The room was lined with door-like openings along its edges, each leading to unknown destinations. Looking up, Louis noticed intricate patterns etched into the ceiling, pulsing with perplexing energy. "Why does this place feel so... different?" he wondered aloud. Clara nodded, "I know, it''s like something is there, but I can''t quite sense it." Yvonne rubbed her arms. "Gives me goosebumps. In a good way, though." They joined a larger group of students¡ªabout 250 in total. At the center of the chamber sat Alexander, engrossed in a book. As they gathered, he closed the book and stood, his presence commanding yet approachable. "Welcome, everyone," he began, his gaze sharp yet warm. "Today, you''ll take your first steps into the world of magic by acquiring the [Mana Sense] skill. Without it, further progress in magic is impossible." A metallic liquid flowed from his hand, conjuring a miniature model of a labyrinth. The intricate design hovered in the air, rotating slowly¡ªa mesmerizing display that held everyone''s attention. "You''ll enter the rooms individually, following the instructions," he explained. "Relax, meditate if you can, and be open to sensing the mana around you." Louis watched in awe. ''He''s so casual about it,'' he thought, clearly knowing that moving water in such a way was considered advanced, something mages and alchemists did to showcase their levels of control while he did it effortlessly. "You''ll spend thirty minutes in each room," Alexander continued, "moving through a series of environments to stimulate your senses. Listen to the subtle differences and feel the shifts in energy. This isn''t just about gaining a skill¡ªit''s about beginning your journey into a deeper understanding of magic." There was a palpable excitement in the air. Students exchanged eager glances, some bouncing on their toes in anticipation. After some more minutes of explanations and a magnificent display of his magic abilities, the first group prepared to enter. As the first group prepared to enter, Louis saw an opportunity. Gathering his courage, he approached Alexander, who was thumbing through his book again. "Excuse me, Mr. Alexander," he began. Alexander glanced up, his gaze sharp but not unkind. "Yes? And you are?" "Louis J. Ros¨¦," he replied, steadying his voice. "Is this about Nathalie?" Alexander sighed. "Look, I don''t care about your reasons or indirect threats¡ªthe teacher stays." Louis shook his head. "No, it''s about me. I wanted to be upfront with you," he said, his heart pounding. "I''ve left my family¡ªthe Ros¨¦ household..." He stopped, clenching his fists, "No, I ran away. They may try to contact you, perhaps even pressure you to send me back." Alexander raised an eyebrow. "And you''re telling me this because...?" "Because I value what I''ve found here," Louis replied earnestly. "The academy, the city¡ªit''s given me hope for a future I want to build myself. I want to stay here," He wanted to bow, but some invisible power didn''t let him, "Mr. Alexander?" Looking again at Alexander, he smiled faintly, "I appreciate your honesty. But let me make one thing clear: here, merit matters more than lineage. Unless you''ve committed some heinous crime, which I doubt, your family''s opinions hold no sway." Relief washed over Louis like a gentle wave. "Thank you. I promise to work hard and prove my worth!" "See that you do," Alexander replied, a hint of encouragement in his tone. Your journey is just beginning," he said, returning to his book and pointing at the entrance to the side. He felt a surge of confidence¡ªan affirmation that he was precisely where he needed to be. ''It was the right choice.'' Joy and warmth filled him as if the pressure had gone. Stepping into the chamber, he was enveloped by a tranquil atmosphere. Soft lights danced along the walls, and a gentle hum resonated through the air. Settling into a comfortable position, Louis closed his eyes, opening himself to the new sensations. A smile spread across his face as he began to sense the faint threads of mana around him, ''at last.'' ... Back in his room that night, Louis collapsed onto his bed, a sense of joy bubbling within him. He opened his system window, marveling at the new skills he''d acquired. Not only had he gained [Mana Sense], he felt a deeper connection to the world around him¡ªa resonance he couldn''t quite put into words. He thought of Sherly and how excited she''d be to hear about his day. The future felt bright, filled with possibilities he hadn''t dared to dream of before. Reveling in his newfound hope, a chilling voice cut through the silence. "I see you''re feeling relaxed." Louis''s heart skipped a beat. He turned slowly to see a figure emerging from the shadows¡ªa haunting presence he thought he''d left behind. "Klepto..." he whispered, dread seeping into his veins. Chapter 211: First School Day XIII ... Louis straightened against the headboard, every muscle tensing as an otherworldly chill swept through his bedroom. There, perched on the windowsill like a grotesque gargoyle, sat a figure silhouetted by moonlight. Its eyes pulsed an unnatural purple, rippling like disturbed water in the darkness. The creature wore what might have once been a sapient smile, twisted into something that spoke of predatory glee¡ªan expression only beings far removed from sapiency could manage. "GoOd EvEnInG," it resonated, its voice a discordant symphony of tones as if several beings spoke at once through damaged vocal cords. The sound made Louis''s teeth ache. Fighting to keep his voice steady, Louis slowly slid his hand beneath his pillow, fingers wrapping around familiar steel. "How are you, Klepto?" The creature''s head tilted at an impossible angle, accompanied by a sound like splintering wood. Confusion flickered across its features. "KlEpTo? WhO iS kLe..." Sudden recognition sparked in those rippling eyes, followed by a burst of manic laughter that seemed to come from everywhere at once. "ThAt''S rIgHt! It''S mE! HaHa!" Louis nodded cautiously. Years of fencing training had tensed his muscles so he could act at a moment''s notice. "So," he ventured, watching as that laughter echoed off the walls, reverberating in his ears repeatedly with a sharper and terrifying pitch at every iteration, "what brings you here?" The question stirred memories he''d tried to bury. Klepto and the refugees had established the noble writing circle, which once seemed so important but had gradually excluded him. Their grand plans against the Guard Households amounted to nothing but youthful rebellion¡ªor so he''d thought. He''d filed it away as a foolish endeavor best forgotten, but now his past mistakes had returned with razor-sharp teeth. Klepto wrenched his head back into position with a sickening crack. "WeLl, WeLl, WeLl, WeLl," each word dripped with dark amusement before his mouth split into an impossibly wide grin, revealing teeth like broken glass, dripping with viscous, sickly blood. "WeLl! I wIlL bE dAmNeD, mY fRiEnD! HoW iS tHe OpErAtIoN gOiNg?" "They cut me out of the group," Louis replied, his grip tightening on the concealed rapier. ''Damn it. I need to fight.'' Frustration welled up as he realized he couldn''t simply flee and call for help¡ªnot when there was a risk of being discovered as an opponent of the Leonandras. That would destroy everything, including the happiness he''d never dreamed possible until now. Klepto''s head shook violently. "No, No, No, No, No," he froze unnaturally still. "No! ThEy Didn''T!" With inhuman grace, he dropped from the windowsill, emitting an aura fitting its appearance. His eyes resembled shattered mirrors, veins filling them out. His hands began to darken, making it easier to see pulsing red veins, almost bursting as little dots of black swam through them. ''An abomination,'' Louis became entirely focused, as what was before him was an abuser of corpse gems. The souls of all those dead beings, the skills that were extracted, gradually took their place, ripping Klepto''s soul away, screaming and fighting for a place¡ªlike ghosts, they were tearing him away in desperation to end their horrific imprisonment. As he took a step, the moths fluttering around the room became frenzied, their wings beating a desperate rhythm, bugs began to run in circles, or the spider in the corner spanned anxiously a net, which pattern made no sense. "YoU sEe," Klepto spread his arms in a mockery of welcome, "ThEy DiDn''T sToP¡ªtHeY cOuLdN''t AnYmOrE." "I see," Louis''s voice was ice. "And why is that?" Horror bloomed as spider-like appendages erupted from Klepto''s back, shredding his clothing. The obsidian limbs, appearing as if sketched out with charcoal, began filling the room like reaching shadows. His chest, transparent with more than two dozen beating hearts, as veins grazed the skin, pulsating in different rhythms, "I mAdE tHe¡ª" Louis didn''t let him finish. Years of training crystallized into a single perfect moment as he lunged forward, [Aura] focusing to a deadly point. The rapier struck true, piercing the side of Klepto''s head with enough force to rip away a third of it. No matter how minimal the damage increase would be, every somewhat useful skill he possessed channeled into that strike. As he withdrew the blade, part of that terrible smile remained. The spider legs surged forward. "Fuck!" Louis flash-stepped backward, feeling the wind of the attack that would have ended him¡ªcrashing into the floor, breaking the wooden boards, making splinters flying everywhere. He watched in mounting dread from his new position as dark energy knit Klepto''s face back together. "NoT nIcE!" ''Of course,'' Louis thought bitterly, recognizing the particular monster type, ''It had to be the regenerative type, my luck.'' They compensated for weak defenses and attacks with endless tricks and impossible resilience. Klepto snapped his broken shin back into place with casual indifference. "I hAd MuCh FeWeR pRoBlEmS wItH yOuR fRiEnDs!" He adjusted his reconstructed head with mechanical precision. "ThEy BaReLy StRuGgLeD aT aLl."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The air grew thick with tension as Louis settled into a defensive stance, his mind racing through his arsenal of abilities while surveying the room, trying to use it to the best of his abilities. ''I''m at a disadvantage,'' he frowned inwardly, not liking his position. His [Divinity Line] - [Velvet Claw Duelist] - had made him a masterful fencer. Still, its divided focus toward [Charisma] meant it excelled against thinking sapient opponents rather than monstrosities driven by madness. Each skill flickered through his consciousness like cards in a deadly deck: [Lunge & Love] - deadly against those who fell for his charm but useless against abominations who can''t be charmed. Otherwise, every damage done would be doubled. [Polite But Deadly] - a technique for disarming opponents through manipulation, rendering them ineffective before blades even crossed. Great at dinner parties, less so against beings not keen on cake. [Gentleman''s Parry] - his signature defensive art, growing stronger with each flourish of finesse. [Feline Footwork] - perhaps his only helpful skill now, granting him the dexterity and stealth to dart through combat like a shadow, a perfect substitute for [Flash]. Taking a calculated step sideways, Louis watched as Klepto''s limbs continued their grotesque dance across the room. "YoU sEe, My DeAr LoUiS," the creature''s voice rang with an unnatural charm that set Louis''s teeth on edge, "I dOn''T nEeD yOu BuT oNlY yOuR bOdY, sO hOw AbOuT iT?" A predatory grin spread across Louis''s face, muscles coiling like springs. "I like my body, though." Klepto sighed theatrically. "At LeAsT yOu DoN''t BeG¡ª" Louis vanished, materializing before the monster with lethal intent. But those obsidian legs formed an instant shield, Klepto''s smirk visible through the gaps. "NoT bA¡ª uRgH!" Louis jumped and bounded off the wall with balletic grace, [Feline Footwork] carrying him behind his opponent. He dropped into a crouch, rapier, finding the nexus where those spider-like appendages erupted from Klepto''s back. ''Gotcha.'' [Aura] ignited along his blade as he executed a devastating series of cuts, severing the monstrous limbs¡ªand taking away his method of attack. Victory turned to ash in his mouth as Klepto''s head rotated a full one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. "NiCe StRaTeGy!" The creature''s maw gaped wide, brilliant energy gathering within. ''Fuck!'' Louis ducked, barely avoiding the beam, witnessing its lethal power crater the wall. "DoN''t RuN! I dOn''T wAnT tO rEpAiR yOuR bEaUtIfUl BoDy!" Klepto''s laughter echoed as blood poured from his shattered teeth, the room''s windows vibrating in sympathy with his madness as cracks started to appear. Louis flash-stepped to his desk, narrowly avoiding another beam as he rolled forward. While doing so, he kicked his chair into the monster''s path in one fluid motion, using the explosion as cover. His mind raced, searching for options as Klepto''s rotating head gave him devastating coverage of the room. ''A distraction.'' Louis leaped to the wall, then to the chandelier above his bed. His rapier snagged the coverlet, throwing it before him, creating a temporary blind. As Klepto fired wildly at the falling fabric, Louis suddenly got an idea as he felt the chandelier''s weight. Louis channeled [Essence] into his feet as he swung from the chandelier, causing his body to reject the conflicting energies violently. Blood erupted from his mouth, but he ignored it¡ªadhering himself to the ceiling while maintaining his grip on the massive light fixture. Crouched upside down, he counted the seconds between Klepto''s wild shots, even as more blood trickled from his lips. The timing had to be perfect. With a grunt of effort that sent fresh crimson spattering across the ceiling, Louis yanked the chandelier free. Crystal and metal crashed into Klepto''s twisted smile with devastating force, forcing the monster to swallow its fully charged beam. The resulting explosion painted the room with darkened gore and brain matter. The impact was catastrophic. Heavy crystal and metal crashed into Klepto''s twisted smile, forcing him to swallow his fully charged beam. The resulting explosion painted the room with darkened gore and brain matter. Louis landed ready to finish the fight, knowing the absence of a [Experience] notification meant this wasn''t over. But before he could move, the bedroom door burst open. "Louis? I heard¡ª" Sherly''s voice died in her throat as she took in the carnage. Her hand reached for her protective charm, but one of the severed spider legs moved with impossible speed. "No!" Louis''s scream came too late. The black lightning struck, and Sherly''s eyes locked with his one final time, filled with desperation before the darkness took her. Klepto''s ethereal laughter filled the room as Louis flash-stepped to her side, his [Aura]-enhanced blade severing the appendage from her heart. But as he caught her falling form, he knew. With multiple steps, he appeared in the lounge, Sherly in his arms. He didn''t care anymore about Klept, the school, or what punishment he would receive¡ªall he wanted was for his true love to survive. ''No, please, no! Please let her live!'' ... Hours Later Louis stood vigil over Sherly''s body within a hollow of the enormous world tree in Wolfsteeth. She lay peacefully among her favorite flowers, their sweet scent a cruel mockery of life''s absence. His fists clenched as reality crushed him anew. ''It''s over.'' The weight of his mistake had stolen his only love. He knelt beside her, fingers trembling as they traced her cooling cheek. "I..." The words caught like thorns in his throat. "Love you..." His first and last kiss touched lips that would never respond, preserved for a mating season she would never experience. "I am so sorry." The words became a mantra as he knelt there, shoulders shaking. She had been his constant, his one true ally in a life filled with shadows. "Sorry." Her body grew colder beneath his touch as tears fell freely. Each memory struck like a physical blow: her arms around him when he cried, her gentle hands treating his injuries, the quiet moments when he felt lost and forsaken by his blood. She had been there through it all. "Please..." But pleading was useless. Louis''s mind raced through possibilities, desperate bargains he would make with any divine being¡ªgod, devil, or nature itself¡ªwho would listen. He would trade his soul for just one more year with her. But the divinity remained silent, as it always had to his prayers. "Are you done?" Louis whirled, killing intent radiating from every pore, only to find Alexander leaning against the doorframe. "Yeah, figures." The boy''s voice carried an odd mixture of ice and sympathy. Rising slowly, Louis bowed. "Mr¡ª" "Let''s cut to the chase," Alexander interrupted, his presence filling the sacred space. "What happened?" Louis''s gaze drifted back to Sherly before meeting Alexander''s eyes, resolved to burn away his tears. "I want vengeance." Alexander raised an eyebrow, an arrogant smirk emerging on his face¡ªthe expression of someone who could make dreams or nightmares real. "On whom?" "Klepto." Chapter 212: Kerfuffel ... What?! My brother is still alive?!" Ocilia''s voice sliced through the reverent silence of the Temple, her wrath echoing off the divine wooden walls as she glared down at Louis and Makol, prostrated before her, their foreheads pressed against the floor. Everyone flinched in Green''s cluttered office, the atmosphere tense. The revelation of Louis''s and Makol''s elaborate schemes¡ªto provoke a Demon Run using an abnormal demonic parasite and force the Leonandra estate to cede territory¡ªhad stunned everyone. There was a difference, though. While Louis was a part of it, he was not directly involved, such as planning or knowing about any endeavors¡ªhe was a bystander who liked to imagine grand gestures but had never had the chance to do anything. Legally, Alexander could easily excuse him. Makol, though, had quite a lot to confess. Under his leadership, William orchestrated multiple assassination attempts, enticing Fiorello of the Nine-Fire household to perform them, even though not much was needed to do so, and performing highly illegal operations¡ªranging from slavery to drugs. Executing half the camp would be the most appropriate punishment. ''Great, what a colossal mess,'' Alexander thought, reclining on a wooden couch, covered in leaves and earth that didn''t dirty the clothes, some distance away. His legs were crossed with practiced ease, but his mind raced. He knew he had to navigate this situation carefully to prevent it from devolving into chaos and petty infighting. In the meantime, others have already started their discussions. Perched on the cluttered desk was Ludwig, a squirrel fauner whose voice, though squeaky, carried an elegant warmth and geniality. Once purely brown, his fur now bore streaks of red and black¡ªmarkings akin to the tattoos Alexander''s father had, signifying the merit he had achieved. "What does this mean? Are we actually allied with wild demonic beings? That can''t be right!" Ludwig''s distress was palpable. A sigh drifted from behind him. Green flew from her seat and settled on the desk beside Ludwig, crossing her legs as she regarded Louis and Makol with curious eyes. "What a giant mess," she mused aloud, twirling a strand of her emerald hair. "But since the Oracle didn''t answer, I suppose we can act as we see fit." Ludwig looked at her, his giant, cute brown eyes almost tearing up with genuine concern. "But how can it be? We are talking about wild demonic beings. Is it true that the Oracle of the Twin-Acorn Temple allowed the secular world to decide the punishment?" Green shrugged, clearly enjoying the spectacle, "Don''t ask me." She tapped her hand band, a simple dirty string with two slightly differently colored acorns attached, "The old aelfe is silent, thus, not caring." When it came to politics, the Temple had a lot of say in some issues, especially regarding divinity. While wild demons and their corrupting [Energies] weren''t seen as divine in any sense, they were on the same level¡ªa testament to their destructive nature. However, the Temple would mostly then take the lead in punishing perpetrators, taking control away from nobility or the crown. Even though annoying, most accepted such arrangements for the sake of their alliance¡ªin this case, though, they stood down as Green, as the Messenger, didn''t receive any instructions. That made Ocilia and Lorient, who stood shoulder to shoulder, their gaze fixed intently on the two men kneeling before them, tense and awaiting instructions¡ªboth had their own problems that needed to be solved. When Alexander observed them, it became clear that he had a decision to make. ''So, what should I do? Forgive or execute? First or Second World War?'' he mused, unable to decide. He reached into his blazer and retrieved a metallic case, carefully selecting a black-tart candy. ''First, I need to calm down,'' he told himself. He wasn''t less outraged but held back, still deciding how to spin such a catastrophic state of affairs into something positive. He popped the candy into his mouth, the bittersweetness spreading across his tongue and soothing his nerves. "There''s no need to scream or fight," he said aloud, his voice steady. "This falls under Lori''s jurisdiction. She''ll decide what happens next, correct?" While Alexander felt the urge to intervene directly, he recognized the importance of giving his retainers the opportunity to make difficult choices. They needed to grow, to be shaped by their decisions¡ªgood or bad¡ªas these experiences would forge their ideals and the futures they envisioned. Green suddenly leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with interest. "Hmm, I get the night elf one, but what about Louis?" She smirked, clearly curious about how Alexander would handle the situation. Ocilia''s eyes narrowed dangerously, her half a dozen irises swirling with pure black and red hues. "Betrayal means execution," she declared, her voice cold as ice. "Does it, though?" Alexander''s smirk hinted at centuries of political maneuvering, a skill not his own but knowledge honed in Earth''s intricate diplomatic arenas¡ªwhere words often wielded more power than weapons. "First of all, I agree with Green. Louis is under my tutelage as a student," he said, absentmindedly stroking his own tail while rolling the candy around in his mouth. He saw no reason to punish the boy with such severity. "I don''t believe execution is necessary." "Master!" Ocilia stepped forward, outrage crackling in her voice like lightning. "He planned to bring chaos to your future subjects and orchestrated attempts on your life and that of your siblings!" Alexander rolled his eyes with theatrical exasperation. "Look, he signed a mana contract and has confessed everything." He leaned forward, his gaze piercing. "He was misguided, yes, but let''s not forget he''s young and was manipulated." On Orbis, only the youth of nobles were given leeway while everyone else was punished as an adult, which, in Alexander''s opinion, was incredibly stupid. Youths on Earth or Orbis were always more hot-headed and made numerous mistakes since they had no foresight or experience to anticipate the worst outcome. It was paramount to show goodwill and rehabilitate rather than punish. In Louis''s case, he made a commitment, one he didn''t want to fulfill after years of letter exchange, as found out after being forced to tell the truth¡ªit was genuinely not worth mentioning. "If I started executing everyone who harbored ill thoughts or spoke against me, I''d have to eliminate half the population of central Wolfsteeth," he added with a dismissive wave of his hand. There were too many who wanted to see Alexander dead. His policies and charity brought a lot of prosperity and, with that, taxes to the rulers, but also crippled a part of the underworld and some wealthy commoners who banked on the suffering of desperate people. The best example was the healer union, which Alexander bought out to serve for free at certain times, driving out older and more experienced members who didn''t care and saw his pay as chump change. As such, a lot of hate and nasty rumors poured toward him. Like them, numerous other organizations and unions wanted his head. Ocilia''s face twisted with disbelief, her lips parted to argue further, but he held up a hand to stop her. "Just wait." Turning to Louis, he commanded, "Stand up." Louis rose shakily to his feet, his face etched with sorrow and exhaustion. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, evidence of the sleepless night haunted by loss. Alexander continued, his tone firm yet not unkind. "You''ll face consequences for failing to inform me, though I understand why you might have felt isolated. Therefore, your punishment will be lenient. Do you have anything to add?"If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Louis shook his head slowly. "I will accept the punishment gladly," he said, bowing deeply. "I am ready, Mr. Alexander." Ignoring him for a moment, Alexander looked back at Ocilia, whose eyes still blazed with anger. "Lia," he said gently. "What do you think his punishment should be? Remember, he didn''t take any direct action and had no prior knowledge of the attempts on my or my family''s life." After a moment of tense silence, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Master, this is not a joke," she said, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. "Your decision here sets a precedent." Alexander nodded thoughtfully. "Too harsh, and I become a tyrant; too lenient, and conspiracies will breed unchecked." Despite the gravity of the situation, his tone remained light, almost playful. He understood the delicate balance he needed to strike. Leaning too far in either direction could jeopardize his overarching goals. A carefully measured response, however, could quell dissent while flushing out hidden adversaries. Ocilia sighed heavily. "It''s your decision, Master," she conceded, her posture relaxing ever so slightly as she glanced at Louis. "I trust your judgment." Then, with a chilling undertone, she added, "But let me deal with my dearest brother." ''She has her priorities straight,'' Alexander mused, recognizing her desire for personal vengeance. He was content to let her pursue Klepto; after all, it aligned with his own interests. Turning his gaze back to Louis, Alexander''s expression softened. "Your punishment, despite my retainers'' desire for retribution," he began, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips, "is fifty years of service after you finish school." Louis straightened, a flicker of relief passing over his face despite the lingering shadows of grief. "Thank you, Mr. Alexander. But may I exchange my lifelong servitude for a small favor?" His voice carried a newfound resolve. Arching an eyebrow, Alexander popped another candy into his mouth after swallowing the one before. "An offer?" He grinned, intrigued. "How exciting. Let''s hear it." "I want revenge," Louis declared, his voice gaining strength. "I want to¡ª" Alexander snapped his fingers sharply, cutting him off. "That''s enough revenge talk." A subtle spell silenced Louis mid-sentence. "While I respect your feelings," he began, but Ocilia interjected. "I think it''s fair," she said, her eyes meeting Alexander''s with a steely gaze. "His one and only love was taken from him. The least we can do is give him the chance to hunt down my brother and see justice served." ''Justice? She slowly realizes,'' he mused, knowing that Ocilia cared little about such things. Still, over time, she became more rhetorically effective as she understood what Alexander and the people around him aimed for¡ªher words were empty, but it didn''t matter as her actions would lead to the same outcome whatever she said¡ªa barbaric chant, a knight''s vow, or simply tickling his idealistic spots. Alexander considered her words, his smirk returning. "I see." Leaning back, he asked, "What about school? If he leaves now, he won''t continue to grow." Ocilia shook her head confidently. "We share the same goal," she replied, nodding toward Louis. "He will be under my guidance. I''ll ensure he learns properly while we search for Klepto." "So, he''ll become your disciple?" Alexander mused aloud. "Lifelong servitude in exchange for the chance to kill Klepto? Very well. But afterward, I expect you back in school. Understood?" Louis bowed deeply. "Thank you, Mr. Alexander." Ocilia inclined her head. "This will suffice, Master." Observing them both, Alexander sensed a shift in Ocilia¡ªa flicker of empathy. For once, she was putting herself in someone else''s shoes, offering Louis a chance at redemption. It could also be something else he couldn''t deduce but wanted to let it play out. "Stay," Alexander said, patting the seat beside him. "You two will have much to discuss." As Louis settled beside him, the focus shifted to Makol. Lorient''s presence was a storm of barely contained fury, her killing intent so intense that Makol trembled on his knees. "I..." she began, her voice wavering. Her hands clenched and unclenched, the fabric of her summer dress straining under the surge of [Energy] emanating from her. Tiny holes began to appear in the delicate material as threads unraveled under the pressure. ''She struggles with decision-making, doesn''t she?'' Alexander thought, his gaze keen as he studied Lorient. While she had effectively led the camp, she was also incredibly well-behaved, as was usually the case shortly after helping them¡ªmaking tough choices about punishment was a different matter entirely. Deciding to give her more time, Alexander turned to Makol, his smile enigmatic. "What an ambitious, if foolhardy, plan you had," he remarked. "While I suspected something was amiss, I didn''t anticipate such boldness." Ocilia was quick to question him. "You knew something was wrong, Master. Why didn''t you act earlier?" He shrugged casually. "Why should I? Assassination attempts are unfortunate, but I don''t hold grudges." What was done was done, and Alexander had no reason to punish prior behavior. Punishing prior behavior would only lead to unrest or a decrease in morale, as he needed the camp to act as his troops in the military operation. Before that, he would rather have something over their head and show his benevolence so they would act in their best interest, showing their best side, than be careful out of fear¡ªa cold and calculative decision. Green burst into laughter. "Haha! By all that circles Orbis, you''re serious?" She wiped away a tear of mirth. "You''re not just going to cut off their heads?" "Stop that!" Ludwig scolded, stamping his tiny foot on the desk. Green tilted her head at him. "Stop what?" "Going against the most fundamental doctrines!" Ludwig exclaimed. "Resentfulness should be prevented! The Core is the blankness of Orbis!" Green chuckled softly. "Ah, right. You''re not from the Twin Acorn Temple." She leaned in conspiratorially. "We believe that the Core is the accumulation of all experiences¡ªemotions, sensations¡ªno matter how heinous or corrosive. If nothing is the Core, then everything is also part of nothing, isn''t it?" Ludwig''s eyes widened. "How can everything also be nothing? That''s contradictory!" Shaking her head, Green was about to respond when Lorient''s voice cut through the air like a blade. "Silence." She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "I need to decide." Turning her gaze to Makol, she asked, "Do you have anything to say?" "It was all my idea," Makol whispered, his voice barely audible. "Do what you see fit, Chief. Just... please spare my people." Alexander gestured toward Lorient. "Your decision. Do what you think is best." His eyes met hers, encouraging her to take the lead. Lorient approached Makol, the air around her thick with tension. "Whatever I want?" she echoed. "You''re responsible for the Strip of Hope camp," Alexander reminded her, using the camp''s official name. "Though I''m sure you have an opinion." Since acquiring their own piece of land, officially recognized by the Eros and Essence Alliance, the camp''s name had been carefully chosen to embody multiple values, the most significant being hope. Using the name was a manipulative approach so she would not crush his head at that very moment. "I do," Alexander admitted, his gaze playful. "But I have people like you to decide what''s best. I can''t possibly know them as well as you do." A heavy silence settled over the room as she grappled with her choice. Finally, she spoke. "No punishment." The declaration hung in the air, met with a mix of surprise and skepticism. Alexander raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" While execution seemed extreme, letting Makol off without any consequence felt too lenient. Lorient turned to face him fully, her expression resolute. "Didn''t you say it was my decision?" A hint of their mother''s stoicism shone through her eyes. He whistled softly at her defiance. "Interesting, but you''re still my retainer, and I need to understand your reasoning." He savored the candy on his tongue, awaiting her explanation. "I''m listening." She tilted her head, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. "Because I feel like it," she said simply, letting the words hang provocatively. "Is that enough?" "I hate this," Alexander grumbled, rising from his seat and walking toward Makol. "Listen, I respect you, but I need a real reason. Otherwise..." He conjured a spinning earthen bullet above the night elf''s head, the threat implicit. "I will not let you continue." Lorient''s eyes narrowed. "So, you don''t trust me? What about you giving Narsi so much responsibility while I can''t decide for my own people?" Alexander smirked, undeterred. "Narsi consulted with me on almost every major decision. Like you, he had to justify his choices, and trust me," his smile teased. "I made his life Outer Circle." "Fair enough," she conceded. Turning back to Makol, her hands trembled slightly. "I decided because I would probably have done far worse in his position." "So, because their conditions were dire, you''re showing leniency¡ªeven though they nearly killed your younger brother and sister?" Alexander probed. Without hesitation, Lorient nodded. "Yes. They weren''t our allies at the time and acted out of desperation. I understand that." She met his gaze, her eyes reflecting a complex mix of emotions. "I would do worse to protect you," she admitted softly. "Far worse." Alexander dissolved the threatening spell, rolling his eyes with a hint of affection. "Oh, please. So melodramatic." A faint smile curved Lorient''s lips as she stepped closer to Makol. "Thank you for trusting my decision," she said, her voice steady. Then, in a swift motion, she pressed her foot onto his head, forcing him deep into the floor. A crack echoed in the room as blood trickled from his mouth. "But now you''re under our command," she continued coldly. "I want Klepto found, or else I''ll make an example of you myself." Alexander watched the exchange, his body tense yet his expression amused. "Listen here," he said, his voice carrying a menacing undertone. "I want Will delivered to us, along with a list of all nobles plotting against me." His smile sharpened. "I have plans to make." Chapter 213: The Fun Travel Logs of the Wild Demonic Lord of Love and Obsession I (Halloween Stuff) ... Months ago, a hideous figure shambled through the outskirts of the refugee camp in Kratikal, resembling an animated corpse. Each step stirred up the dust of countless beings who once inhabited the land, their essences lingering like forgotten whispers. Corrupted and decayed by innumerable corpse gems, Klepto barely clung to life. Every motion was a battle against the screaming souls trapped within him, their wails pulsing beneath his skin with a sickly purple light¡ªeach gem a prison for a stolen life. Klepto''s upper eyes slowly closed, revealing nothing but milky whites as he peered through the endless miasma. ''William... wanted me... here... where?'' The thought echoed in his fractured mind like a broken clock, the relentless hammering never ceasing. Weeks earlier, after recruiting another noble to their cause, he''d received William''s letter summoning him back to Kratikal. The memory was vivid; each word etched perfectly despite his decaying mind. From afar, he observed the nearly abandoned camp, now home only to occasional hunters and those who bred parasitic demons¡ªtwisted creatures used to manipulate other demonic beings. The demons writhed in their containment chambers, their keepers moving with practiced caution, fully aware that one mistake could lead to possession. Yet none of it mattered to him. ''Will...iam...'' His thoughts were warmly entangled in an intricate web, trapped at the center, unable to move or breathe¡ªa strangely beautiful sensation. Each corpse gem pulsed in rhythm with his obsession, the captured souls forced to share in his longing¡ªan unstoppable and infectious mania. "I... want... you..." he whispered, his voice barely audible over the cacophony in his mind. Relief potions no longer silenced the cursed souls; their endless screams pushed him toward oblivion, destroying his body piece by piece. The corpse gems consumed him from within, each one vying for dominance over his failing flesh. Yet he persisted, desperate for one final touch from his beloved¡ªa warmth he yearned for amid the desperation and terror. Hope flickered through his corrupted form when he finally spotted William in the distance. "Will...iam... please..." He stumbled forward, arms outstretched for the embrace he so desperately sought, each step leaving a trail of purple-black ichor. The souls within him howled louder, sensing his desperation. But the reunion he envisioned shattered in an instant. "Urgh!" William''s sudden charge caught him off guard, a massive surge of [Energy] crushing Klepto''s upper body. His breath halted; he couldn''t feel his heartbeat or the movement of his lungs¡ªonly pain remained. The corpse gems fractured within him, their contained souls shrieking in shared agony as they assaulted his own soul. "I... why..." Like a puppet with its strings severed, he collapsed lifelessly. "Why..." Tears blurred his vision as his love walked away, chuckling coldly and not even granting him a final glance. Each of William''s steps echoed with crushing finality. "Please..." he whispered, the word hanging in the air. I... love... you." The physical pain was unimaginable, but it wasn''t what broke him in those final moments. Betrayal crystallized as he lay dying in the camp he''d sacrificed everything for. ''Mistake...'' His entire existence¡ªall the manipulation, the violence, the devotion¡ªhad been for nothing. Disposed of like a broken tool, the souls within him pulsed erratically, feeding on his despair. ''What... did... I... do... wrong?'' He had given everything, destroying himself for this final moment of closure. Every sacrifice, every soul he''d stolen, every atrocity committed in William''s name¡ªall meaningless now, evaporated like a mirage. As darkness crept in, a demonic imp approached, gurgling menacingly. ''I will die,'' Klepto realized, a chilling acceptance washing over him. The creature paused before his drained eyes. No bigger than a meter, its reddish-black skin gleamed under the dim light. A worm-like parasite emerged from its mouth, inching toward the gaping wound in his upper body. When it entered, the pain intensified exponentially, silencing all other voices and bringing him a clarity he hadn''t felt in years. ''I... don''t want... to die...'' Anger and desperation surged within him. Memories of his family and past mistakes flooded back¡ªmoments of love and care overshadowed by youthful folly. He longed to turn back time, but one thought burned brighter than all others: ''William.'' Like a tidal wave, the thought swept away everything else. Despite the betrayal, Klepto still craved his touch, his love. ''Something happened,'' he thought, a spark of logic piercing through the agony. ''He wouldn''t do this. William was corrupted.'' It was the only explanation. They had been happy together¡ªeating, making love, cuddling, talking. It was perfect. "I need to stop it; I need him to come back and destroy all those bad influences." As his mind sharpened, the parasite burrowed deeper, tiny tentacles wriggling through his throat into his brain. It released its [Energy], aiming to make him its puppet. But Klepto''s own [Energy] surged in response¡ªgrit and determination were his only weapons against the incursion. This was a stepping stone to bring back his beloved. ''Time to reverse the roles.'' ''William... you will be mine,'' he vowed. If he received only betrayal instead of the love he desired, then he''d take it by force and punish those who stood in their way. All the planning, all the wasted time, all the sacrifices¡ªwhy not seize everything? Why not turn obstacles into puppets for their desires? The battle over his body became a minor inconvenience. Despite the searing pain grinding his mind into a paste, it didn''t matter. It was all for William, all so they could be together again, no matter the means. ''I will give up everything,'' a thought of no return occurred as their [Energies] intertwined, sacrificing the last of his sapience, trapping the parasite with no escape, his own [Energy] shadowing its every move¡ªit would become him. Hours passed as the parasite panicked, attempting to destroy and rebuild his body with its [Energy]. It invaded his organs with tiny tentacles, but Klepto remained focused. His [Energy] never attacked but followed, intertwining repeatedly, accepting all pain in its wake. The parasite grew exhausted with each bone it dissolved, each organ it crushed, each vein it ripped. Klepto''s [Energy] was there, pushing into the parasite''s essence when it rebuilt, never relenting. A single purpose sustained him during this internal war. ''William, William, William...'' The mantra enabled him to endure the endless cycle of destruction and regeneration, his organs and mind ripped apart and rebuilt over and over.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Time lost meaning; pain became a mere byproduct of survival and his greater purpose¡ªto reclaim the life he imagined¡ªan eternal life sustained by eliminating those who manipulated William and held his Mother hostage. ''I will save you.'' An eternity seemed to pass before his [Energy] merged with the now-dying parasite, his body fully rebuilt. The voices were gone, leaving only echoes of desperation. Klepto was free from sacrifice, ready to make his purpose a reality. Yet there was a problem: he couldn''t move. Weak but clear-minded, his body lay lifeless on the dark, sandy ground. ''Hunger.'' Hours went by as Klepto crawled, barely moving inches, driven by a singular goal as his stomach growled incessantly. Fortunately, voices and footsteps broke through his haze. "It should be here, right?" one voice said, the ground vibrations growing stronger. "Yeah... Ah, here it is, but it''s dead? And who''s that? Did someone get invaded by a parasite?" As they approached, Klepto felt their gazes full of suspicion. "See? I told you it was a good idea to check again! Imagine this guy," one kicked him lightly in the stomach, "going around creating a Demon Run¡ªwhat a fucking disaster." A sigh followed. "Fine, I''ll handle it." The sound of a weapon being unsheathed cut through the air. "Now I have to hear about this for the next year, I guess?" "Of course! Would we keep living on Dog-Pudding Island if abominations like him could be traced back to us? Better check twice, even thrice," the other retorted. "You are right... I am pretty happy now with my first kid who isn''t dying a miserable death after two weeks of suffering." ''William is on Dog-Pudding Island?'' Knowledge surged into his mind from the corpse gems he''d ingested. ''A little island for the two of us!'' Their voices dripped with disgust. "Ugh, he''s still alive? Can we save him?" The other scoffed. "No? Are you crazy? Do you want to risk it? I told¡ª" "Alright, alright! Just take the [Experience]. I don''t deserve them anyway, fuck it." Before they could strike, unknown instincts flared within Klepto. Something sprouted from his back¡ªblack charcoal limbs with numerous hooks, impaling the two attackers. "What the¡ª?!" "Get back¡ªargh!" Blood seeped into the appendages now visible behind him, spider legs that siphoned their life force, allowing him to stand up slowly. ''Tasty.'' Looking into their eyes, Klepto felt a mix of disgust and allure. Something about them felt off, yet they seemed oddly appealing. ''I want [Experience].'' Despite a brief sense of satisfaction, hunger still gnawed at him. They struggled, damaging his monstrous appendages, wiggling inside them, but new ones sprouted, impaling them repeatedly and draining their blood until one lay lifeless while the other gasped for breath. "Please don''t! Urgh..." One of his appendages liquefied, forcing itself into their mouth and silencing their pleas. "Not now." Klepto pulled the dead body closer. "The scent... so sweet." Biting into the corpse, he was surprised by the richness¡ªa culinary masterpiece that needed to be savored. Like a connoisseur, he experimented with every part, relishing each new combination. He cracked the skull to taste the brain¡ªa blend of crunch and softness he found delightful. Extracting the heart, he squeezed its contents into his mouth, enjoying the warmth trickling down his throat. Breaking the mana and [Energy] cores, he marinated the veins in them, only to slurp them like noodles, savoring their unique textures. "Delicious!" Kneeling beside the body, he couldn''t have been happier. Every new flavor brought him immense joy. He wrapped strips of skin around eyeballs, creating morsels that burst with flavor. He nibbled on the tongue and teeth, finding the crunch reminiscent of overdone garlic bread. Carefully extracting the stomach, he used his [Energy] to fashion it into a bowl. He drank the sour, nutritious juices, enjoying every bit of digested food streaming down his throat. He closed his eyes to immerse himself fully in the experience. "This is Core." Sighing in satisfaction, he glanced down at his bloodied attire. "I really am a mess." He chuckled softly, a rare moment of levity after all the darkness he experienced. "Perhaps proper utensils next time." He licked his lips, the taste lingering pleasantly. A muffled whimper brought him back. Turning, he saw the wind djinn¡ªthe surviving attacker¡ªwatching in horror. Their eyes were wide with terror, tears streaking down their face. "I was always bad at etiquette, never eating how I should." He approached them slowly. "Do not worry." He offered a disarming smile, though it did little to ease their fear. "I''m not hungry anymore, but..." Something ignited within him¡ªa desire he hadn''t known existed. His spider-like appendages extended, gently brushing against the djinn''s trembling form. "You can become my servant," he suggested softly. "I just need to remodel your face a little." His limbs moved with unsettling precision, reshaping the djinn''s features despite their muffled screams. He sculpted them into a bloody approximation of William''s features. "You betrayed me, but..." He tore at his own clothing, his face flushed with a mix of emotions. "It doesn''t matter! We can still make beautiful hatchlings! Lovely hatchlings! Loyal hatchlings! A family¡ª" He hesitated as a distant memory surfaced¡ªa fleeting image of his past self. "No," he whispered, pain flickering in his eyes. In a sudden act of self-harm, he rammed one of his appendages into his own temple. "Get out!" Pulling it out slowly, the wound healed instantly. "No more past, only the future with us together." He looked back at the djinn, a determined gleam in his eyes. "But I need relief... now. I''ll apologize to my darling later." Forcing the djinn toward the ground, he violated them with immense pleasure while ripping arms apart, asphyxiating and biting parts of them as ecstasy overcame him, "William! Ohhh!" Pleading and begging stopped as he thrust harder, pushing himself into the djinn, unknowingly forcing his appendages into every single opening they had until it became still, lifeless. Confusion graced Klepto''s face, "Why did you die?" Turning immediately into wrath. "I didn''t allow you to die!" His [Energy] surged, reconstructing the face to perfection, making their heart beat out of nowhere. "Like William... you are alive!" Guiding the djinn to the stand-up, he noticed their unsteady movements. "You may not be William, but you''ll do for now," he licked his lips, blushing. "You''ll help me until I can have him back, dear sex slave." A faint whisper echoed in his mind. [Please kill me... please... I beg...], but he ignored them, gently grabbing their private parts, ripping them slowly out, "Do not worry, my dear, we will be a happy family, and you will help me release my stress and enjoy it." With an elegant swiftness, he tore it away, looking toward the sky, focusing on his next move. "Hm, maybe we should go and meet your new daddy?" Yet, he stopped suddenly. "No!" One of his appendages cut the leg of his slave, making them fall to the ground. "No, No, No! Bad idea, sex slave!" Klepto knew that he was still too weak and that he had made a promise, one he liked to keep, to make William proud: "The nobles! That''s right!" He turned around, seeing the slave wiggling around on the ground. He sat over them, thinking aloud, "Do you know how to talk to them?" [Kill me... pain... help... mommy], he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Well, you''ll look the part, and that''s enough." As he pondered about his plan, his appendages absentmindedly grabbed into the slave''s mouth, plucking one tooth after the other out, like leaves from a beautiful flower, as screams of the trapped soul shrieked in agony at him, "No, that''s a bad idea, that''s not good too, hm..." The repetitive motion was oddly soothing. While filled with beautiful love and obsession, he knew others wouldn''t understand it and hunt him down, but something came to his mind, making him stop the new habit he immensely enjoyed, "That''s right! I can manipulate you and so them!" But uncertainty nagged at him. "How did I manipulate you before? Without [Mystic Skills] or the [System window]..." His thoughts trailed off as a familiar sensation washed over him. A translucent interface appeared before his eyes. A slow grin spread across his face. "Well, isn''t this interesting?" Chapter 214: The Fun Travel Logs of the Wild Demonic Lord of Love and Obsession II Note: Hokkaido¡ªalso known as the Holy Graveyard¡ªis the city built by the first Hero. ... A shimmering rectangle materialized before Klepto, its edges pulsating like a heartbeat. Unlike the usual soothing pastel green he was accustomed to, this one glowed with an unsettling Bordeaux red. It hovered in the toxic mists of Kratikal, casting eerie shadows that danced across the jagged rocks and twisted vegetation surrounding him. The window hinted at an uncharted world waiting to be explored, a realm both enticing and foreboding. "Fascinating," Klepto whispered, his voice barely audible over the distant wails carried by the wind. His eyes narrowed, a mixture of intrigue and confusion clouding his gaze. He racked his brain for answers, but even the myriad souls he had trapped¡ªhumans, djinns, angels, high-demons, dwarves, elementals, gnomes, giants, and countless others¡ªoffered no clues. Their collective memories were like a vast library at his disposal, yet none contained the knowledge he sought. He knew their [System Windows] inside out, but in truth, they all resembled that of the beast-kin, differing mainly in their types of [Divine Skills]. A chill ran down his spine, though not from fear. Only one answer remained. "Am I... a monster now?" he murmured, the realization dawning on him like the first light of dawn breaking through a storm. The thought was both surprising and strangely exhilarating. Becoming something other than a sapient being explained the anomaly before him. A sly smile spread across his face, his eyes gleaming with newfound excitement. "Not bad at all," he mused, savoring the unexpected delight in the notion. He stood up slowly, his movements fluid yet predatory. Stepping over the pleading servant without a second glance, entirely consumed by the crimson glow of the [System Window]. The servant''s desperate whispers faded into the background noise, as insignificant as the moving of the sand under his feet. This discovery would shock the world once it came out, but he knew, ''No one would believe me, though,'' he thought with a hint of irony. Intelligent monsters did exist and posed significant threats, but they were often swiftly eliminated¡ªdriven by madness and an insatiable thirst for war and domination over sapient beings. ''I understand them now,'' he realized, a flicker of empathy¡ªor perhaps kinship¡ªigniting within him. Monsters were often misunderstood, and sapient beings saw their actions as horrific. Yet here he was, crossing that very threshold, finding it quite acceptable¡ªthe lingering metallic taste reminded him of his recent deeds as he licked his lips. It was apparent that his new species viewed sapients as nothing more than cattle, and he found himself accepting that notion. ''The strong should always rule the weak,'' lost in thoughts of newfound superiority, Klepto became acutely aware of his body. A surge of vigor coursed through his veins, filling him with unexpected joy. His senses sharpened; he could smell the sulfur in the air, hear the distant cracking of rocks, and feel the pulsating energy within the toxic mists¡ªa place that would dissolve one''s lungs swiftly and, if not, drive them into insanity. "I see," he whispered, a grin spreading wider across his face. "exhilarating." He flexed his fingers, watching as tiny sparks of crimson energy danced between them. He had never felt such vitality, such raw power. Klepto''s mindset shifted dramatically; any lingering fear evaporated like morning mist under a rising sun. ''Doesn''t this also mean...'' His eyes widened with realization. ''Am I not immortal?!'' The thought sent a thrill through him, bringing him ever so close to ecstasy. The idea of an endless existence, free from the constraints of mortality, was intoxicating. Monsters were often considered immortal, not aging as sapient beings did. Records spoke of creatures over ten thousand years old, perishing only through misfortune or battle. ''William and me,'' Klepto thought, his heart pounding with anticipation. He grabbed his arm, his nails digging into his flesh¡ªnot out of pain, but to anchor himself in this exhilarating reality. He imagined a life of endless love, an eternity spent with the one he cherished. Could there be anything better? Suddenly, a new purpose ignited within him. ''Right! There''s more to discover in the [System Window]!'' He turned back to the hovering rectangle, expecting to spend weeks deciphering its contents. Yet, as his gaze settled on the complex symbols and scripts, everything clicked with astonishing clarity. The symbols made perfect sense as if an ancient instinct had awakened within him, unlocking secrets he never knew he possessed. "So much better," he exclaimed, elation lighting up his features. As a lesser being, he had always had to guess the meanings behind [Skills] and [Mystic Skills]; now, they were as clear as day, each resonating with him on a primal level. First and foremost, he adored his new title. "Klepto..." he murmured, savoring the sound. "The Love-Twisted Weaver." He enunciated each word with deliberate care, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. Despite everything, he genuinely wished to spread love¡ªor at least his twisted version of it. The irony wasn''t lost on him, weaving webs both literal and metaphorical, ensnaring hearts and souls alike. New attributes surfaced, the numbers transforming into symbols that pulsed with meaning. [Stamina] appeared¡ªa rarity that usually required an extraordinary [Divinity Line] to replace mana, but he had both. Other bizarre [Attributes] manifested: [Resistances], [Fate], [Morals]¡ªall aligning with his new [Class], something typically exclusive to humans. "The Unending Web of Sacrifice," he mused, letting the name roll off his tongue like fine wine. It sounded poetic, almost romantic in a dark sort of way. This [Class] came with unique [Traits]: immense regeneration, the power to manipulate and mold servants to his will, and the ability to control them as the lesser beings they were. The possibilities seemed endless, each more enticing than the last. ''What a beautiful web,'' he thought, his gaze instinctively drifting to an intricate net that seemed to materialize within his mind''s eye. An insect was trapped inside, its tiny legs flailing as it struggled futilely. A sadistic glint sparked in his eyes. "[Sacrificial Regeneration]," he whispered, the words slipping off his tongue like a secret incantation. A swirling [Energy] coalesced in his palm, crimson and wrathful like a raging beast. It crackled and hissed, casting a blood-red glow on his face. He hurled it at the struggling djinn behind him with a swift, almost dismissive, motion. The creature''s body dissolved instantly; their ethereal screams and anguished cries echoed briefly in Klepto''s mind before fading into oblivion. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ''Cute,'' a tiny fly emerged from the remnants, darker than any black he had ever seen. It fluttered toward him, its wings beating soundlessly. Landing gently on his shoulder, it dissolved into ash that seeped into his skin like whispering shadows¡ªa surge of vitality coursed through him; not only had his body regenerated, but he felt stronger than ever before. The sensation was intoxicating. "Leveling up is so much easier now," Klepto mused aloud, a hint of amusement in his voice. He examined the updated [System Window], noting the enhancements with satisfaction. He flexed his newly transformed body, clenching and unclenching his fists, rolling his shoulders to savor the newfound strength. Every movement felt effortless, his body a finely tuned instrument. ''Different,'' he thought, marveling at the clarity of his mind. Even the cacophony of voices that once tormented him had diminished to mere whispers¡ªannoyances rather than the debilitating distractions they had been. His form was stronger and more resilient, and only now did he grasp the magnitude of his transformation into something greater. ''William could be the same... we all could be the same,'' he pondered, excitement tinging his thoughts. The idea of sharing this power, this eternal existence, with others he deemed worthy was appealing. Eager to experiment further, [Energy] surged in his hand once more, this time feeling oddly familiar. "Wild Demonic Energy... but different?" he wondered aloud. It was rougher, infused with something he found himself admiring deeply. "It''s... like... divinity." The experience was surreal. The [Energy] he wielded was indeed tinged with divinity, yet a soul within him¡ªa former human priest¡ªscreamed in blasphemous agony. "Why does it feel so strange?" he questioned, tilting his head as if listening to an inner dialogue. He recognized the [Wild Demonic Energy], a force he had encountered countless times at the Leonandra estate. But now, it was laced with something... designed. True demonic energy carried a different sensation¡ªa raw, unfiltered sapience untainted by personal quirks, altering one''s very being. It corroded body, mind, and soul, striving relentlessly to reshape one into a truer version of oneself. In contrast, the holiness he sensed now elevated the soul beyond mere sapience, pushing the boundaries of existence. He glanced back at the [System Window], noting that his [Attribute] [Divinity] was the only one shrouded in mystery. He couldn''t discern its purpose or origin, yet it pulsed with significance. Then he noticed a note at the bottom of the [System Window], a cryptic message that seemed both familiar and enigmatic. "The Divine Blacksmith? I know of him," he recalled, sifting through the memories borrowed from his trapped souls. Legends spoke of when the first human Hero emerged, facing an ancient demon that wrought chaos and destruction in Kratikal, scheming to conquer Orbis. To defeat this menace, an unnamed dwarven blacksmith emerged¡ªa master craftsman whose works transcended time. They crafted the legendary Holy Weapons: a sword for the human Hero, a staff for the elven Sage, a bow for the gnomish Marksman, a shield for the dwarven Tank, an orb for the angelic Saint, daggers for the trollish Fool, and finally, an axe for the orcish Juggernaut¡ªthe champions of their respective races and the First Servants. Though hailed as the mightiest group on Orbis, they perished in Kratikal. Their epic battle shattered the land, creating the sea separating Kratikal from the Free Cities¡ªa tale woven with fact and myth, the truth lost to the sands of time. Yet, the Divine Blacksmith had apparently crafted his [System Window] and bestowed upon him the [Divinity] he now possessed. ''Fascinating,'' he thought, a mix of admiration and curiosity filling his mind. Something¡ªor someone¡ªwanted him alive for reasons beyond his comprehension. ''Should I go to Hokkaido?'' Klepto pondered, considering seeking out a Church to sow death and destruction. The prospect of gaining even more [Divinity], further altering his body, was tempting. But as his thoughts crystallized, a searing pain intensified, like relentless clanging inside his skull. "Argh! Damn it!" he shouted, clutching his head. The clamor grew unbearable, blood trickling from his eyes and ears, even seeping through his pores. It felt as though his very essence was being torn apart. "Stop... sToP!" he screamed, his voice echoing into the void. Suddenly, the pain ceased, leaving his mind eerily blank. For minutes, Klepto stood motionless, the world around him fading into obscurity. Then, like a spark igniting dry tinder, his genuine desire resurfaced. "Right, William is waiting!" he exclaimed, a newfound determination blazing in his eyes. He glanced upward as one of his appendages extended swiftly, snatching a bird from the sky with lightning speed. Without a second thought, he crushed it against the ground, its feathers scattering like ashes in the wind. ''Time to visit those little nobles and make them my dear servants,'' he thought with a wicked grin. "And you will become my carriage of love! But before that, you need a new face." The bird, though half-dead, shivered violently as if sensing the dreadful fate that awaited it. ... Months had passed¡ªafter a whirlwind of calculated encounters and manipulations¡ªNow, a headless body stood in the room where a fierce battle had raged between an abomination and Louis, the jaguar-kin boy. Ethereal laughter lingered in the air as Louis fled, the sound chilling enough to haunt even the bravest of souls. Klepto began to reassemble his body, sacrificing a captured soul in the process. As sinew and bone knit themselves back together, he sensed footsteps approaching¡ªbeings of power he couldn''t hope to confront in his current state. "Still too weak," he muttered, frustration tinging his voice. The defeat at Louis''s hands had been an unexpected setback. It didn''t matter to him, though. ''Time to go back,'' he thought, his resolve unwavering. His smile widened, a faint blush tinting his cheeks as his form pieced itself together in an improvised manner within the dimly lit room. Once he regained mobility, he wasted no time. Without hesitation, he fled swiftly, moving like a shadow through the alleys. ''This was the last one,'' he reminded himself, blushing at the thought that he could now proceed with his grand plan. "William!" His scream echoed through the bustle of the city, though few paid it any mind in the chaos that had become their daily lives. A shadow darted through the streets of Wolfsteeth, racing toward the port. His mind was laser-focused, every fiber attuned to his goal. ''I kept my promise,'' he thought with satisfaction, recalling the vows he had made. He had visited dozens of nobles'' offspring and other influential individuals¡ªthose who craved more, who desired as he did. Whether they accepted his proposal willingly or not mattered little to him. They became his servants, granted a power born from the deaths of hundreds and the ingestion of countless corpse gems. Klepto had ascended, becoming a deity¡ªa divinity in its infancy¡ªyet still unable to summon enough power to vanquish all who opposed him. ''More, more, more,'' he chanted internally, the hunger for power insatiable. He relished every moment, the abilities he wielded surpassing his wildest dreams¡ªa might inaccessible to the masses. ''But who cares?'' he thought dismissively, brushing aside any lingering doubts. He sped past hundreds, perhaps thousands, arriving at a shady alley near the bustling port. The scent of saltwater mingled with the odors of the city, creating a pungent aroma. "Hmm, Dog-Pudding Island it is," he decided with a smirk, recalling the island''s name. But before that, he opened his [System Window], still feeling the remnants of exhaustion from his confrontation with Louis. Klepto frowned, his gaze fixated on the incomplete web displayed before him. He had expended too much energy against Louis; the boy had proven to be unexpectedly strong and creatively adept in combat. ''Darn it,'' he thought, irritation gnawing at him. Just then, he heard the soft footsteps of a family approaching, their laughter and casual conversation drifting through the alleyway. He licked his lips, a predatory gleam in his eyes. ''Oh, my dinner, I guess!'' he mused, a dark humor coloring his thoughts. The prospect of a meal¡ªand perhaps new servants¡ªwas too enticing to pass up. Chapter 215: The Strip of Hope ... Back on Dog-Pudding Island, William meandered down the rough cobblestone paths of the Strip of Hope; his footsteps light and carefree for the first time in years. The sun pierced through the thinning mist of gentle pink, casting a warm, golden glow over the landscape that felt more like a delicate veil than the suffocating shroud of acidic smoke that had plagued his people for generations¡ªa paradise with air that didn''t carry the stench of decay. He paused to watch children chasing each other across the fields. Once sickly and frail, they had blossomed with health now as they were living instead of merely surviving. Their laughter rang out, pure and unbridled, as they kicked up dust from soil that was a pale shade of gray¡ªno longer the black and red death sentence. "No wonder they''re so full of energy now," William mused, a soft smile tugging at his lips. He stood still, soaking in their joy. Faces that had once been gaunt and hollow now glowed with vitality, eyes sparkling with newfound hope. Every day for the last months, an almost festive atmosphere enveloped the island, like a long-awaited celebration after an arduous journey. He found himself smiling¡ªa genuine, effortless smile that reached his eyes and softened the lines of worry etched into his face. His shoulders relaxed¡ªan oppressing weight he hadn''t realized he was carrying had finally been lifted. With a spring in his step, he continued his stroll, the memories of Makol''s daring gamble flickering through his mind. ''Good job,'' he thought with a wry grin. Without that risk, his Mother¡ªthe most important person in his life¡ªmight not be here today. Gratitude swelled within him, warming him from the inside out. The community had been busy growing and building. Houses sprang up made of brownish-red adobe and clay, materials pleasant against the intense heat and the occasional fierce sea winds that easily destroyed wooden structures. There was little formal planning; anyone who found a patch of land not designated for agriculture could erect a home. Narsiz levied taxes based on the size, but this freedom allowed a patchwork of dwellings to emerge, adding to the Strip''s chaotic charm. William''s spirits lifted even more as he watched neighbors greet each other with hearty embraces, their conversations filled with lightness instead of hushed whispers of desperation. The joy was palpable¡ªa living, breathing entity that permeated every corner of the Strip. It was as if the shadows of their harrowing past had finally loosened their grip, retreating into the recesses of memory where they belonged. Stories of the old days were now shared over meals, not with bitterness but with the relief of survivors who had weathered the storm. He realized he, too, had changed. The frantic urgency that had always gnawed at him was gone. ''I can finally breathe,'' William thought, feeling a profound calm settle over him. With their survival ensured, his future no longer felt like a race against time but a path unfolding with endless possibilities. A sudden outburst shattered the tranquility. "No! What the fuck are you doing?! This is dung, you imbecile! Motherfucker, do you even understand beast-kin?!" The shout was laden with exasperation, echoing across the fields. A timid voice muttered, stumbling over the words, "But... ain''t this... uh, y''know... dung?" "Yes, genius, it''s poop! But it''s rich with nutrients the plants need! If you dry it and mix it properly, it''ll help them grow better! Not by smearing it all over like that!" William chuckled softly, his curiosity piqued. He approached the source of the commotion and spotted one of Alexander''s retainers¡ªa young spider-kin boy whose multiple eyes flickered through a kaleidoscope of colors as he barked orders. His slender arms gesticulated wildly, and his spit flew in agitation as he tried to impart the basics of fertilization to a bewildered group of novice farmers. A warm sensation spread through William''s chest as he watched the scene unfold. The transformation was nothing short of miraculous. Skills that had once been dismissed as insignificant were now the backbone of their blooming Strip. The art of agriculture, the craft of building, the simple joy of maintaining a home¡ªall of it converged to paint a picture of a community reborn. And at the heart of it all was Alexander. William felt a flush creep up his neck at the mere thought of him. He whispered under his breath, "My little Prince." The words tasted sweet, almost forbidden. An exhilarating mix of admiration and something deeper stirred within him. There was an undeniable allure about Alexander¡ªhis unwavering confidence, the way he carried himself with an air of authority that was both commanding and endearing. William longed to be near him, to feel the intensity of his gaze, perhaps even to be humbled by his dominating steps. He chuckled softly, his thoughts drifting to the rumors about Alexander and Sarah. ''Though if the rumors are true and he prefers a more submissive role... well, that''s a bit less thrilling,'' he mused, a playful glint in his eyes. Because of Sarah''s stature and how their continuous sparring concluded, rumors depicted Alexander as more passive, even demeaning. But, he also started a trend through his gestures of love, which enflamed the desire of many other spouses to be adored in the same way. ''Still,'' William licked sensually his lips. The idea of witnessing their first time would still be tantalizing. He shook his head, amused by his own wandering mind. A barrage of colorful language jolted William from his reverie as he ventured into the western quarter of the Strip, affectionately dubbed the Cursing Iron. The air here was thick with the clang of metal, the hiss of steam, and the ceaseless tirade of profanities that flowed as freely as the molten ore. "Are ya daft, ya dolt?!" the burly potter roared, his voice booming as his face went red under the grime. "It''s water an'' clay, right amount o'' both! Too much, it''s sludge; too little, it''s rock! Do I gotta carve it in yer skull?" Nearby, an older artisan barked at a young apprentice, "Girl, I had me stones smashed flat by a beast, an'' even they''d do a finer job on this metal! Pay attention, will ya!" Another craftsman scratched his head, squinting at a hunk of gear. "Right, so this here¡­ uh¡­ whatever-it-is¡ªdon''t let the leather catch fire, yeah? Keep it from smokin''." William couldn''t help but grin. The rough-and-tumble nature of the artisans was an acquired taste, but it brought a vibrant energy to the Strip. Under Narsiz''s and Alexander''s guidance, beast-kin from various backgrounds had flocked here to share their knowledge and skills. The cacophony of shouts and the relentless pace might have been overwhelming to some, but for the residents, it was a welcome change from the soul-crushing monotony of their previous lives¡ªendless days spent washing demonic leather. Leaving the clamor of the Cursing Iron behind, William strolled through the open fields, the tall grass swaying gently in the breeze. His leather boots scuffed against the gravel path, occasionally sending small stones skittering ahead. Lost in contemplation, he remained vigilant, his eyes darting to the tree line and the distant hills¡ªa habit ingrained by years of hardship.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. As he neared the heart of the Strip, the faint hum of the marketplace reached his ears, gradually swelling into a cacophony of voices. A heated argument pierced the general bartering. "Do not fuck with me, you rustler!" a fiery voice snarled. "I don''t even know what that shit means! Will you buy it or not?" came the exasperated reply. "You stupid asshole, you were the ones who attacked us!" William sighed, his brow furrowing. ''Another petty squabble,'' he thought. The marketplace was an ambitious experiment¡ªan open bazaar where three rival factions could trade freely. It was intended to foster unity, or at least tolerance, but old grudges died hard. He edged closer and saw a fire djinn, flames flickering angrily around his wrists, confronting a wind djinn whose translucent wings, made of small gales, fluttered in irritation. "I never even heard about anything of that, so fuck off!" the wind djinn snapped. "Heh, your dialect¡ªyou really speak like a moron?" the fire djinn taunted. "What did you say? Wanna repeat it?" The wind djinn''s eyes narrowed, a gust swirling around him. Before the confrontation could escalate, a beast-kin guard stepped between them, arms outstretched. "Enough! Both of you will stop and step away with me," he urged. William watched the scene with a mix of frustration and resignation. ''So much for Alexander''s ideals,'' he mused. He admired the vision of different races coexisting, but centuries of animosity weren''t easily erased. It would take more than shared commerce to bridge the chasms of hatred¡ªperhaps a common enemy or an unparalleled act of unity. Back to walking through the enthusiastic marketplace, vendors called out from their stalls, their voices blending into a lively chorus. "Fresh bread! Delicious sourdough bread!" one shouted, waving a crusty loaf. "Exotic fish! The likes of which you''ve never tasted before!" another enticed, holding up a shimmering catch. Despite the occasional disputes, the marketplace thrived. Coin clinked and changed hands rapidly as the Strip transformed into a bustling hub of commerce¡ªthough perhaps not in the way Alexander had originally envisioned. William chuckled to himself, recalling their lively debates when the first traders arrived, bringing news and opportunities. Turning down a narrow alleyway, he emerged into a district awash with vibrant colors and enticing aromas. Lanterns hung overhead, casting a warm glow that would soften the edges of the night. This was the heart of cultural exchange¡ªthe red-light district. Unregulated by the Lord or Lady, Narsiz, or anyone else, it had become a melting pot where inhibitions faded and boundaries blurred. Here, the exotic allure of different races and the promise of freedom drew crowds day and night. A flirtatious voice purred nearby, "Hey there, sweetie. You look awfully... breedable. Care for some fun?" An awkward reply followed, "I... uh... I''m a guy." A playful laugh. "Well, that suits me just fine." "I mean..." "I enjoy fun regardless. You seem strong, muscular¡ª" "Uhhh..." William smiled at the exchange. The Strip''s harsh history had left little room for traditional relationships. With life so precarious, people embraced the moment, seeking comfort and connection where they could, unbound by conventions of gender or status. The red-light district had blossomed rapidly, becoming a place of pleasure and a center for trade in rare goods and substances¡ªmostly narcotics and various potions. When Alexander first learned of its popularity, his expression had been priceless¡ªa mix of surprise and bemusement. Yet, ever pragmatic, he''d recognized its potential and supported its growth as a means to attract even more visitors to the island. A tinge of melancholy crept into William''s thoughts. ''Not everyone chose to stay,'' he reflected, his gaze drifting to the horizon. Despite the burgeoning opportunities, many had left the Strip, seeking their fortunes elsewhere. Some ventured to Wolfsteeth, hoping to carve out a name for themselves as adventurers or mercenaries. Those whose skills didn''t align with the island''s needs craved purpose beyond its borders. Fortunately, combatants weren''t needed as The beast-kin patrolled the perimeter diligently, ensuring that the Essence Alliance could not exploit any vulnerabilities or provoke conflict. Others were drawn to the allure of the dungeon¡ªa labyrinthine network of caves teeming with danger and reward. Whispered tales spoke of the riches to be gained. Unfortunately, the risks were too massive as the first monsters inside were Tier 3 and above; it was also a veritable nest of toxic spiders and intricate traps, so it was shut until Alexander''s people became strong enough to attack it safely. A sly smile tugged at William''s lips as he recalled his own foray into the depths. Navigating the winding passages and battling colossal insects¡ªhad been both terrifying and exhilarating. The dungeon''s complexity made swift progress impossible, but the spoils were unparalleled. Each defeated creature yielded high-quality cores, and the experience gained was double the norm. Dungeons were mysterious, each with its own unique structure¡ªsome a single vast chamber guarded by a formidable beast, others sprawling multi-level mazes with myriad foes. No one knew what lay at the heart of this one. There was even uncertainty about whether they could reach the guardian monster''s core¡ªthe most coveted prize of all in the next decade. ''If I recall correctly, in certain circles, gold isn''t even the currency of choice,'' William mused. ''Transactions are made with cores, their value surpassing mere coins.'' Cores were versatile¡ªingredients for potent potions, components in crafting powerful weapons, and essential for training. Their effects varied, but their worth was undeniable. A sharp command cut through the air. "Use your hips, moron! Do you want to fight? Do it right!" "Yes, senior!" came the earnest reply. As William continued eastward, he passed the open training grounds. Rows of warriors, soldiers, and adventurers moved in unison, the rhythmic clanging of weapons and the shouts creating a symphony of discipline and determination. Here, skills and knowledge were exchanged freely, attracting newcomers and veterans. They drilled by day, honing their abilities with each other, and indulged by night, seeking release in the pleasures the Strip offered. William felt a warmth spread across his cheeks as he thought of Alexander once more. ''He was right about this place,'' he acknowledged, a soft smile playing on his lips. He remembered Alexander''s tail swaying excitedly when he learned of the influx of trainees and their enthusiasm. The Strip''s tumultuous history had forged a community rich in combat experience. Combining Alexander''s open-hearted approach to sharing that wisdom had made the island a beacon for both novices seeking guidance and seasoned warriors looking for insights. Beast-kin, djinns, and others who cared little for old enmities found common ground here. They valued the opportunity to grow stronger and fill their coffers over clinging to the past. Many had made the Strip their temporary home, contributing to its diverse and vibrant tapestry. Yet, not everything was as idyllic as it seemed. A shadow crossed William''s face as he considered the challenges that lingered. Alexander bore the weight of heavy burdens¡ªconsequences of a coup that had been more orchestrated than spontaneous. As a result, he was compelled to launch a military campaign against a seemingly insignificant island, a move that served as punishment. The Strip had rallied behind him. Thousands had volunteered, willing to risk their lives in combat. But unease gnawed at William. ''They haven''t come back,'' he thought grimly. Under Narsiz''s directive, scouts had been dispatched to infiltrate the island ahead of the main force, but they have yet to return. The silence was unsettling, and though they maintained a facade of optimism, doubt crept in. ''Soon, it''ll be my turn, he reminded himself.'' In a week''s time, he would embark on a reconnaissance mission, hoping to uncover why his people didn''t make it. Pushing the disquieting thoughts aside, William decided to visit his Mother. He made his way to their humble abode¡ªa spacious tent adorned with modest decorations. Pulling back the entrance flap, he was greeted by emptiness. "Good for her," he murmured, a fond smile tugging at his lips. His Mother had been more active lately, taking long walks and forging new friendships. Seeing her embrace life lifted his spirits. A folded piece of parchment caught his eye on the table. Picking it up, he read aloud, "I''m at the altar, taking a hike, waiting for you." He arched an eyebrow, a mix of amusement and concern washing over him. ''The altar?'' he mused. ''Why visiting the dungeon?'' A name they had chosen to call it until it officially opened. Chapter 216: Debt is due / Trust ... As the sun dipped low on the horizon¡ªthe jagged peaks, barely visible against the fading light, threw long shadows over the wild landscape. Yet, signs of sapience presence emerged here and there through the improvised fortifications. A group of guards from the Strip stood vigilant, ready to defend the outer perimeter and ensure no unauthorized entry to the dungeon, something that could ensue horrific wars. After William read his Mother''s note, he wasted no time and quickly arrived at the eastern mountain range. "What a feisty woman," he mused aloud, a fond smirk tugging at his lips. William sighed as he approached, running a hand through his tousled hair. Despite his deep affection for his Mother, he couldn''t help but find it both amusing and exasperating that at eighty years old, she was starting to act like a rebellious teenager. Her newfound zest for life was heartening but also filled him with a quiet worry. With each step, the earth seemed to solidify beneath his feet, responding to his determined stride. "Too adventurous for her own good," he chuckled softly, shaking his head. Still, seeing her embrace this new life¡ªembarking on her own journey¡ªwas a welcome change after years of watching her endure quiet suffering. He recalled how she used to gaze longingly at the horizon, her dreams of adventure stifled by frail health and the sacrifices she had made for him. His Mother had always harbored dreams of becoming an adventurer¡ªaspirations suppressed by her fragile condition and the burdens of the past. For the first ten years of his life, he had been sustained by her milk and care that drained her vitality, causing immeasurable damage to her well-being. Guilt and warmth tightened his chest at the thought. Now, after a recovery facilitated by the Temple healers, she was full of life and plans. She eagerly sought out anyone with combat experience, often engaging the soldiers of the Altar¡ªa codename they used to conceal the dungeon''s existence¡ªin animated discussions. "She''s probably listening to battle stories right now," he thought with a wry smile. "Next thing I know, she''ll be challenging me to a duel." William loved to give her pointers, but her zealousness needed to be damped, as he knew too many who died just because of that. Sometimes, he was a little more than forceful, showing that the world was still full of monsters, ready to rip her apart. ''Hm?'' When William arrived at the fortification right before the cave entrance, the sentries behaved weirdly¡ªthey shifted uneasily, their gazes distant and unfocused. A glassy sheen dulled their eyes, masking the sharpness he had expected. A faint odor hung in the air¡ªsweet and acrid. "That''s odd," he thought, a frown creasing his brow. "Have they been drinking again?" "Is everything all right here?" he called out, his tone light but carrying an undercurrent of authority. Old habits died hard; he couldn''t help the subtle edge that crept into his voice. The guards snapped to attention with jarring rigidity. "Yes, William!" one barked, his voice a notch too loud. "All good!" another added, a strained smile stretching his lips thin. "Right..." William replied slowly, his eyes narrowing as he studied them. Something was off. "Have either of you seen my Mother pass by?" They exchanged nervous glances. One shrugged, avoiding William''s gaze. "No, haven''t seen her." A knot tightened in his stomach. "Okay," he murmured, forcing a casual tone. He glanced toward the cave entrance. "She wouldn''t..." He hesitated, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind. His Mother possessed [Divine Skills] that could conceal her presence. She might have slipped past these less-than-vigilant guards if she was feeling adventurous. Without wasting more time, he moved toward the dungeon entrance. "We''ll speak later," he said over his shoulder, his voice carrying a hint of warning. As he walked away, unease gnawed at him. The guards'' behavior was unsettling, and the silence around the dungeon was unnerving. The cave entrance swallowed him, the bright daylight giving way to the dim glow of luminescent fungi clinging to the damp walls. Their eerie light cast elongated shadows, making the rocky passages feel even more claustrophobic. Deeper inside lay the dungeon, but he had some distance to cover. Usually, soldiers were stationed along these corridors as a precaution and to manage the occasional spider hatchlings that ventured out from the depths. He recalled how, when they first arrived, these tunnels had teemed with thousands of monsters. It had taken weeks of meticulous operations to clear every inch, ensuring the safety of those on the island so that no dungeon break would occur. Yet now, the corridors were eerily silent¡ªtoo silent. The usual distant clank of armor or murmur of voices was absent. His footsteps echoed unnervingly. "Something''s not right," his instincts whispered. His senses sharpened, his eyes darting to every shadow, his ears straining for the faintest sound. The ambient noises¡ªthe distant drip of water, the scuttle of small creatures¡ªwere conspicuously absent. It was as if the dungeon was holding its breath. A chill ran down his spine. He moved forward cautiously, each step deliberate. ''Mother wouldn''t have come this far alone,'' he reassured himself, but doubt gnawed at him. ''Would she?'' She was resourceful, yes, but venturing this deep was reckless¡ªeven for her newfound adventurous spirit. Just as he was about to activate his [Divine Skills], a faint echo of footsteps reached his ears. He froze, heart pounding. Then came a voice¡ªfamiliar yet off-key. "Oh, my dear Will! My darling, at last!" His Mother''s voice, but laced with an unnatural sweetness that sent a chill through him. Cold dread washed over him. "Mama?" he whispered, the word barely escaping his lips. Disbelief and fear tangled within him as she stepped into view. Her eyes lacked their usual warmth, replaced by a vacant gaze. Her movements were stiff, almost puppet-like. Suddenly, a sticky substance ensnared his wrist. "What the¡ª" He barely had time to react before more webbing shot out from the shadows, binding his limbs and yanking him off balance. He thrashed against the restraints, summoning his [Energy] to break free, but the webs seemed alive, regenerating faster than he could tear them. "Who''s there?" he demanded, his voice echoing through the cavern. He hesitated to unleash his full power, afraid of harming his Mother¡ªor whatever had become of her. From the shadows, a figure emerged¡ªa hauntingly familiar silhouette that made his blood run cold. Klepto stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with twisted delight. William was confident he had killed him¡ªa figure from his past he never expected to see again. As he struggled, slender, black appendages¡ªresembling spider legs¡ªhovered menacingly near his Mother''s neck, caressing it softly. A chilling voice oozed from Klepto''s lips. "Don''t worry, darling! We will be together forever!" William''s eyes narrowed, rage igniting within him. "If you harm her, I swear you will not just die!" he snarled. Klepto chuckled, a sound that echoed unnaturally. "No, no, no! I would never hurt your precious Mother. See?" He gestured, and she stepped forward, a vacant smile plastered on her face. William''s heart clenched¡ªthis wasn''t her.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Desperation and hope clawed at him. He tried to channel his abilities, but a viscous liquid dripped onto his skin from above. A numbing sensation spread rapidly, his limbs growing heavy and unresponsive. ''Poison...'' he realized, panic seeping in. His vision blurred. ''Can''t... stay awake...'' He sank to his knees, the strength draining from his body as it was unusually strong, as if planned, ''No...'' Klepto sauntered toward him, gazing down with a twisted smile. "Don''t fret, darling. Soon, you''ll be free, and together we''ll become one." Out of the corners of his fading vision, he saw hundreds of spiders crawling along the walls, their myriad eyes fixed on him. He tried to speak, to plead or bargain, but his tongue felt thick, his words slurred and incoherent. Panic surged as a sharp pain lanced through his abdomen¡ªa piercing appendage stabbing into his flesh. "First, I need to remake you, just like your dear Mother," Klepto whispered gleefully, leaning in close. "And then, with our new army, we''ll fulfill the promise you made to me, and I''ll help you fulfill yours¡ªthe one you''ve forgotten!" Agony and betrayal warred within him as the darkness closed in. Memories flashed¡ªthe promises, the mistakes, the secrets he''d buried. ''What have I... done?'' was his last thought before consciousness slipped away. ... Many knew Alexander as the epitome of charm¡ªan eloquent young man loved, adored, and even worshipped by many when he stepped out from the estate. But those who truly knew him understood that beneath the polished exterior lay a much rougher edge. His likability remained, but it was tempered with a raw intensity that, compared to those masses of commoners, few ever glimpsed. "Where is Will?!" Alexander''s voice thundered through his room in the Wintersleep Hotel, reverberating off the walls of polished wood and dozens of exquisite paintings¡ªweeks had passed since he''d dispatched his people to find the fool daring enough to concoct a plan to cause chaos, death and lastly, blackmail his household. As his patience waned, a dangerous glint flickered in his eyes. The air around him crackled with suppressed aura as he conjured a half-translucent hand of mana, lifting Makol effortlessly off the ground. The night elf hung there like a rag doll, his eyes hollow and rimmed with fear. "I want a pound of flesh," Alexander growled, each word dripping with menace. "Trust me, I can make it easy or hard." Makol met Alexander''s piercing stare, a bleak resignation settling over his features. "I... am sorry," he whispered, the words barely escaping his lips as if all emotion had been drained from him. "I will accept any punishment you deem necessary, Mr. Alexander, and¡ª" He hesitated, biting his lip¡ªa fleeting sign of the turmoil within. "I will also reveal everyone else who was involv¡ª" Before he could finish his sentence, the heavy door swung open with a resounding crash, and Lorient swept into the chamber¡ªher summer dress fluttered in the wind as every step she took exuded an aura of authority that demanded attention. "Makol, you will not!" she commanded without sparing a single glance. Her golden eyes¡ªmirrors of Alexander''s own¡ªlocked onto him with fierce intensity. "Alex, would you mind explaining why Makol is here?" Her tone was dangerously calm, each word laced with an unspoken threat. Without a second glance, Alexander released his hold, and Makol crumpled to the ground like a discarded marionette. He advanced toward Lorient, a manic smile creeping onto his face. "Oh? Do you realize that I''m barely restraining Lia from wiping out the entire Strip?" he retorted, his voice dripping with thinly veiled menace. Lorient didn''t flinch, meeting his gaze head-on. "Then perhaps you should remind your disciple that this is my Strip," she replied coolly, her voice steady and unwavering. A muscle twitched in Alexander''s jaw. His facade cracked ever so slightly, revealing the storm brewing beneath. "You''re pushing it now," he murmured. A palpable aura of malice radiated from him, the air thickening as a faint reddish mist seeped outward, causing the glassware around them to shudder and crack. "I''ll tell you this once," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "I love you, but Lia has every right to behead the little bastard who took her brother." Lorient held her ground, her features hardening into a mask of resolve that reminded him of their Mother. "And I''ve told you," she replied evenly, "he''s nowhere to be found. He and his Mother have vanished." For weeks, Alexander and Ocilia had been waiting for information about William''s and, subsequently, Klepto''s whereabouts. Through relentless training, he could only do so much to restrain and distract his disciple¡ªpushing her body beyond its limits. Despite Klepto''s treachery, blood ties ran deep among the beast-kin. In their canine-centric culture, family bonds were sacred. Alexander knew all too well how much it had cost Ocilia when her own brother forced her to kneel and beg for forgiveness¡ªa humiliation that burned in her soul. "This isn''t a game anymore, Lori," Alexander said, stepping closer until their foreheads nearly touched. His eyes bore into hers, a mix of desperation and determination. "I need to find that little bastard, no matter the cost." "Alex, you won''t undermine my authority," Lorient retorted, her voice rising. "I am the Chief, and now you''re causing chaos among my people¡ª" He cut her off, pressing closer. "Your people?" he sneered. "If not for me, you''d still rot under house arrest for the next decade. Your so-called ''average talent'' wouldn''t even qualify you as a decent warrior." Lorient''s [Energy] flared, a dark red aura igniting around her and mingling with the lingering mist. "Say that again," she challenged, her eyes flashing dangerously. Alexander knew he''d struck a nerve, but he was beyond caring. His priority was to delve into the Strip of Hope, even if it meant stripping away her authority. Just as he prepared to demonstrate why she had every reason to reconsider, a desperate voice shattered the standoff. "Please, stop!" Makol''s plea echoed in the chamber. He had fallen to his knees, a dagger pressed against his own temple, [Energy]crackling around it. Tears streamed down his face, carving paths through the grime. "Chief is telling the truth!" he cried. "We''ve questioned everyone¡ªwe found no trace of where he went! We don''t know! Please, Mr. Alexander! If you don''t believe me, ask me for the truth, and if I lie, so end my life immediately! We signed a contract of truth, so please command me!" Lorient turned sharply, a mix of shock and concern flickering across her features. Before she could react, Alexander''s sudden burst of laughter filled the room. "Ha! Fuck it!" he exclaimed, the sound unnervingly cheerful in the tense atmosphere. He paced the room, running a hand through his hair as if trying to massage away a headache. Peering at Lorient through splayed fingers, he said, "So, you''ve got quite the loyal followers. Fine. I''ll give you a chance to find this little rat. How does that sound?" "And if I can''t?" Lorient asked, her aura dimming but the challenge still clear in her eyes. Alexander''s expression hardened. "If not?" he echoed, arching an eyebrow. He took a deep breath, his tone shifting to cold pragmatism. "You want to remain Chief, don''t you? Then do your damn job." Her fists clenched at her sides, knuckles turning white. "Feeling angry?" he taunted, noting her frustration. "Imagine how I felt when the scum I saved tried to kill Patty and seize part of my future territory. Tell me, how do you think that feels? And now, think how Lia feels after humiliating herself to save him!" As Makol began to speak, Alexander''s gaze snapped toward him. He instantly summoned a spectral mana hand, seizing Makol''s wrist and wrenching the dagger away from his temple. A second mana hand slammed Makol''s head into the floor with a sickening thud. "Stay down," Alexander commanded coldly. "Know your fucking place." An uneasy silence settled over the room. At last, Lorient gave a curt nod. "You''re right," she conceded, her gaze steady on his. "But I haven''t forgotten your ambitions and ideals. Are you suggesting I simply abandon my position if I can''t find someone who has fled?" Alexander''s eyes narrowed, frustration evident. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath, realizing she had a point. Finally, he exhaled sharply. "Fine," he conceded. "You''re right, Lori. So here''s what''s going to happen¡ªyou''ll speak with Lia and find common ground. But if you two end up clashing, I''ll make sure you both regret it. I won''t tolerate infighting right before the military operation. Understood?" It was rare for Alexander to step in so directly, but witnessing Ocilia''s anguish had compelled him to act. Still, he knew he couldn''t control everything; some conflicts needed to unfold on their own. He would intervene only when absolutely necessary¡ªto prevent serious issues or internal strife. For now, he simply felt too nervous right before leaving for something he dreaded. Lorient nodded slowly, some of the tension easing from her shoulders. "Understood," she replied, her voice softer but still firm. She opened her mouth to speak again, but the door swung open once more before she could. Maurice stormed into the room, his face flushed and eyes wide with urgency. Behind him, a cacophony of angry voices echoed, each laced with wrath and arrogance. A shiver ran down Alexander''s spine as he braced himself for his worst nightmare, ''Teenagers.'' Chapter 217: Iron-Claw ... In the far northeastern reaches of Moorgrel, where cold winds howled fiercely and pink-hued snow draped the towering mountains like a celestial tapestry, a city defied the untamed wilderness¡ªQuitsunesteeth. With buildings of stone and wood, walls adorned with the fur of slain monsters, and dark smoke curling from chimneys into the sky, it appeared at first glance to be a small and quiet place of perhaps fifty thousand souls¡ªpuny compared to the giant metropolises in the south. Yet, first impressions were deceiving. At the heart of Quitsunesteeth stood a grand arena hewn from ancient stone and timber. Upon closer look, the very air around it crackled with raw energy, ale, and blood. This nameless arena was more than a mere battleground; it was a sacred crucible where legends were forged and fates sealed. Warriors, monsters, nobles, and even criminals stood as equals here, bound only by the honor of combat and the might of their prowess¡ªa realm without discrimination. Today, the arena thrummed with palpable excitement as crowds of spectators gathered, their voices rising in a wild chorus. The scent of spiced mead and roasted meats filled the air, mingling with the earthy aroma of packed snow. "Bjoern! Bjoern! Bjoern!" roared one side of the crowd. Cups of frothy ale sloshed over as they hoisted them skyward, toasting the impending clash. Cloaks of fur and leather rustled as the crowd jostled for a better view, faces flushed with cold and anticipation. The cacophony of their cheers shook the very foundations of the arena. "Freya! Freya! Freya!" thundered the other side. The occasion was simple: Merits. When the Leonandra Household announced a raid and summoned allies to join their cause, the Lord of the Iron-Claw Household called back his offspring from years of wandering. Bjoern and Freya had spent their youth traveling the wilds, battling monsters and outlaws, honing their skills far from home. Now, they stood upon the sacred ground to partake in the trial to decide who would lead their people into the coming war. As tradition dictated, all were allowed to fight and vie for leadership¡ªdozens of warriors, no higher than Tier 3 and without military merits¡ªa way to promote the young and ambitious. Yet, after countless bouts, only two remained: Bjoern and Freya, siblings standing opposite each other in the heart of the arena. Though neither had seen their first mating season, their youth was masked by an unbreakable confidence that radiated from them as if they could single-handedly face an army of demons. A teasing voice sliced through the noise, rough and laden with playful menace. "Ready to concede, little sister?" Bjoern stood nearly two meters tall, a towering figure whose bushy, chestnut-brown, raccoon-like tail fluttered in the icy wind, peeking out from the gaps in his ornate yet battle-worn armor. Despite the confident smirk etched on his youthful face, his appearance told a different story¡ªfresh blood trickled down from a gash above his eyebrow, stinging as it mingled with sweat. His muscles ached from the fatigue of the last days, but the familiar burn only fueled his adrenaline. ''She''s gotten stronger,'' he mused, watching curiously as his sister looked for any gap in his defense. ''Can''t let her see any weakness, or else I''m done.'' Freya circled him with the grace of a snow leopard, her sapphire-blue eyes never leaving his emerald-green ones. Only half a head shorter than her brother, she moved with elegance, each step deliberate. "Yer tougher than a frost hound in winter, I''ll give ya that," she taunted, a sly smile curling her lips. Her voice carried the rough dialect of their northern lineage, each word dripping with both affection and challenge. Beneath the grime and streaks of blood that marred her smooth caramel skin, her determination shone brightly. "But don''t think fer a moment I''ll be holdin'' back." Her heart pounded in her chest, but she reveled in the thrill. ''He''s strong, but I''ve learned new tricks since we last sparred,'' she thought. ''Time to show him what I''ve become.'' Bjoern''s eyes followed her every move, noting the subtle shifts in her stance. ''She came back much stronger than I expected,'' he acknowledged silently, a hint of pride mingling with caution. ''But I have to win¡ªsorry, lil'' sis.'' Freya paused in her circling, the wind tousling the stray strands of her dark hair that had escaped the leather cord binding back her long, fluffy ears and locks. She wiped a trickle of blood from her neck, smearing it across her jawline like war paint. Her smile widened, revealing a hint of fang. "Ready when ye are," she called, shifting her weight onto the balls of her feet. Bjoern hefted his massive double-handed axe, the battered blades catching the pale sunlight and casting eerie reflections onto the snow. "No hard feelin''s when I win, lil'' sis," he growled, his grin fading as he tapped into his [Mystic Skills]. The air around him grew heavy, rippling as invisible currents of mana and raw energy coalesced around his form. Even the dark whispers of miasma seeped into the mix, sending a shiver through the onlookers. His muscles tensed, the weight of his axe now feeling as light as a feather in his hands. "Time to end this." "Confident pup, ain''t ya?" Freya shot back, her voice steady as steel despite the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "But it''s me who''ll be standin'' victorious." She tightened her grip on her twin maces, the spiked heads glinting menacingly. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a heartbeat, feeling the familiar surge of her [Mystic Skills]. Her form began to shimmer, edges blurring as she became translucent¡ªa ghostly figure against the stark backdrop of white. The crowd gasped, whispers of awe rippling through them. "Let''s see how ye handle this," she mused aloud, a flicker of excitement igniting in her chest. Both quitsune-kin warriors of noble heritage faced each other, their breaths misting in the frigid air. They settled into their stances. Muscles coiled like springs, every fiber of their beings honed for this moment. The crowd''s roar faded into the background; only the silent dialogue of their determined gazes mattered now. Victory and honor were not just words¡ªthey were the very essence of their being, the only possible outcome for both. An eternity seemed to pass in that heartbeat. Then, with a roar that shook the very stones beneath them, Bjoern bellowed, "Come!" His voice reverberated off the arena walls, a primal call to battle. Freya moved like lightning, her muscles propelling her forward in a blur of motion¡ªa flash. The ground scarcely felt her footsteps as she closed the distance, appearing before him mid-air with feline grace. One mace arced toward Bjoern''s head, the spiked metal aiming for a sure kill. Bjoern raised his axe to parry, the handle intercepting her strike. But to his astonishment, the mace passed through as if her weapon were made of smoke. ''What the¡ª'' he thought, realizing too late that her ethereal form rendered her untouchable. He twisted his body, attempting to evade a lethal hit while still figuring out the essence of her [Mystic Skill]. The shimmering veil around Freya dissipated, her solid form reemerging inches from him, a bloodthirsty smile on her lips as she drove her mace toward his neck. The mace struck home, slamming with a sickening crunch. Agony lanced through Bjoern, stars exploding in his vision, fighting to stay upright. Freya didn''t hesitate to continue, swinging her second mace toward his shoulder, aiming to cripple him and end the fight. Seeing this, Bjoern leaned back just enough for the mace to graze past, the spikes tearing a shallow line across his armor. Seizing the momentum, he flashed a grin. "Hup!" he shouted, channeling his strength into a powerful upward kick. His boot connected with her torso, the force of the blow shattering her ribs and sending her further up. "Urgh!" Freya gasped¡ªthe wind knocked from her lungs as pain seared through her. Gravity seemed to slow as Freya ascended, her eyes locking onto Bjoern below, readying himself for her next assault. ''I thought I got him,'' she clicked her tongue silently, having deliberately saved that [Mystic Skill] until now to end the fight quickly. ''Again, he still doesn''t know all it can do,'' she mused, planning her next move. Ignoring the fiery pain in her ribs, she summoned her remaining strength. Her feet found ground in the very air. With a burst of energy, she propelled herself downward, her form shimmering and misting once more as she became an ethereal projectile aimed straight at her brother. Bjoern wasn''t just standing still as he aimed to finish the fight with the next attack¡ªthe ground cracked as the veins on his body popped, pressuring the screeching armor as his muscles expanded massively. ''All or nothing,'' he had to risk it, knowing that every further continuation would be his loss¡ªpulling back the axe, the following swing blurred due to the immense speed, carving through the space where Freya would be. "Not gonna work!" she taunted, exhilaration flooding her senses as her plan seemed to work perfectly¡ªshe could taste victory, the thrill of finally besting her brother felt intoxicating. But before triumph could bloom, an icy chill coursed through her. "What?!" Her ethereal form wavered as an unseen force disrupted it¡ªin that split second, Bjoern''s axe cleaved through the maces she desperately tried to use for defense, splintering them effortlessly. "Gotcha!" he roared, the blade''s edge descending toward her neck. Time seemed to slow as the axe neared her neck, the world narrowing to the gleaming edge of the blade. Just as the steel grazed her skin, a colossal hand shot between them, gripping the axe mid-swing. The force of the interception sent a shockwave rippling outward, snow and dust billowing into the air. Freya was pushed away, her life saved, eyes wide with shock. She tried to stand up again, wanting to continue rebelliously, not believing the apparent outcome, but she couldn''t¡ªshe collapsed to her knees, her legs unable to support her under the weight of exhaustion and fatigue. Bjoern wasn''t better as his muscles deflated. All strength left him as he staggered backward, chest heaving, arm numb from the sudden halt of his swing. He let go, knowing it was over. Standing between them, their Father held the axe effortlessly, his grip unyielding. The siblings exchanged glances, both humbled by his intervention. Ansiques K. Iron-Claw towered above them, a titan among men standing three meters tall. Muscles like forged iron rippled beneath his armor, each scar a testament to battles won, and foes vanquished. His stern green eyes surveyed them, wisdom and authority radiating from his gaze. Fiery, charcoal-red hair cascaded over his broad shoulders, a wild mane befitting the title Titan of the East¡ªthe mere presence commanded reverence. "Enough!" Ansiques''s voice thundered, echoing off the arena walls and instantly silencing the roaring crowd. The spectators stood in awed silence, no one daring to move or speak. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath. Bjoern and Freya mustered what strength they had left to stand, wincing as pain shot through their battered bodies. They met their Father''s gaze, a mixture of defiance and respect in their eyes.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "The fight is over," Ansiques proclaimed, his voice carrying the weight of finality. "Bjoern A. Iron-Claw stands as the victor. He will lead our clan into battle for honor and blood. But mark my words¡ªboth of ye have shown exceptional prowess today. Ye bring pride to the Iron-Claw name." He fixed Freya with a piercing gaze. "Freya A. Iron-Claw, ye will stand beside yer brother, supportin'' him with all yer might. Together, ye will forge a path to glory." A heavy silence hung in the frigid air. Freya''s fists tightened at her sides, knuckles white beneath the grime¡ªa storm of frustration and respect churned within her. She locked eyes with Bjoern, who gave her a subtle nod¡ªa silent acknowledgment of her Skill and his respect. But defeat pressed upon her shoulders, a bitter taste filling her mouth. ''All that effort, and still not enough,'' she thought, a flicker of determination igniting anew. ... Months passed¡ªnow, Bjoern and Freya found themselves seated in a rattling carriage, the unfamiliar landscape of Leonandra territory unfurling beyond the window. The endless stretch of rolling hills and dense forests blurred together, mixed with an abnormally high temperature¡ªa stark contrast to the icy peaks of their homeland. The journey had been incredibly tiresome and long due to monsters invading the sea in large numbers, making travel by river impossible. Boredom and tension coiled in the cramped confines of the carriage. Freya tore into a piece of beef jerky with unladylike enthusiasm, her sharp canines making quick work of the dried meat. Her elegant dress¡ªa soft blue silk that matched her eyes¡ªseemed ill-suited to her rough demeanor. Scars from countless battles traced silver lines along her caramel skin, visible where the fabric dipped at her collarbone and wrists. "This is right nonsense!" she huffed, casting a fiery glare at Bjoern, who appeared wholly engrossed in the passing scenery. "Oi! I''m talkin'' to ye!" Bjoern sighed, tearing his gaze from the window. Dark circles shadowed his emerald eyes, resulting from his night watches, his attire sloppy but noble-like with the best suit he could afford. "Maybe Father should''ve let me finish the job and lop off yer head," he muttered, his tone half-joking but edged with genuine weariness. Freya''s scowl deepened, a flush rising to her cheeks. "Too bad ye didn''t try. I''d be leadin'' this mission then instead of playin'' second fiddle to ye!" she snapped, crossing her arms defiantly¡ªmoping like a puppy. He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache brewing. The first few weeks of travel had been tolerable, but Freya''s relentless griping was wearing him down. He recalled when they''d compared their [System Windows], confirming what he''d suspected¡ªshe was stronger, her [Levels] and [Attributes] surpassing his own despite being younger. It was a bitter pill, but a [System Window] was always only a tiny part of the whole picture. PNG Bjoern''s Mystic Skills and Divinity Line were quite common for the offspring of the Iron-Claw household. [Divinity Line ¨C Infernal Devourer] He could break down all energy around him and absorb it into physical resilience and unyielding strength. Everyone with this Divinity Line did not have any energy veins or an energy core, so some attributes were gone. Still, a new one would appear¡ª[Physical Enhancement]¡ªwhich, as the name suggests, enhances the body and makes it easier to increase overall [Attributes]. [First Mystic Skill ¨C Void Consumption] This passive [Skill] allowed him to absorb energy and constantly enhance his physical power and resilience¡ªthis alone was why his lineage was far larger than many others, as his vitality was tremendously high, increasing his lifespan by a greater amount. [Second Mystic Skill ¨C Eternal Hunger] The second Mystic Skill could only be used as a last resort. It increased the rate and range of absorption, boosting his strength manifold for a short time. But, the lengthier the usage, the stronger the backlash afterward. It was also why Bjoern could not move for a week after defeating Freya. [Third Mystic Skill ¨C Demonic Absorption] This [Skill] made him impossibly strong in Kratikal, as he could slay one wild demon after another. Absorption of [Wild Demonic Energy] was twice as effective, while all his [Skills] and normal strength would deal twice the damage against beings with an energy core made of said [Energy]. [Fourth Mystic Skill ¨C Nullification Field] This [Skill] brought him to victory against Freya as it created a field around him, able to dissolve anything that had any [Energy], be it mana, [Aura], or even divinity. However, maintaining it was also almost impossible as the stamina cost was immense, and he could only use it momentarily. PNG Freya''s [Mystic Skills] and [Divinity Line] were uncommon, explaining her higher [Level] despite her age, but most of them were the same as his. [Divinity Line ¨C Infernal Trickery] The basis was the same as her brother''s; it was just that the specialization led down another path. The same could be said about her [First Mystic Skill¡ªVoid Consumption]. [Second Mystic Skill ¨C Spectral Form] That annoying [Skill] made hitting her when she was in that translucent form impossible. Although she could change constantly, she could only move inside an area filled with [Energy], and the stamina costs were immense. [Third Mystic Skill ¨C Demon''s Bane] It was similar to Bjoern''s third [Mystic Skill], except it transformed [Wild Demon Energy] into stamina, mana, and health but had no offensive capability. [Fourth Mystic Skill ¨C Demon ¨¤ la Carte] It was the weirdest Mystic Skill he knew and the main reason for her growth¡ªMarisia from the Leonandra household apparently had a similar one, only available to those who valued and enjoyed delicious food¡ªa gourmet. It meant that if his sister ate a wild demon, she could learn and understand skills that exhibited the demon''s traits much faster. If the demon was focused on [Dexterity] and movement, she could¡ªand did¡ªlearn skills like [Flash] and [Air Walk] much more quickly. Better yet, it was permanently active until she ate a new wild demon¡ªthat [Skill] was indeed legendary in every sense. The growth went to Freya''s head, and she challenged him at every opportunity, their duels becoming a daily ritual. She was relentless, pushing herself to prove her superiority. Bjoern, however, had the advantage of experience and strategy. He tried to teach her, to show that battles weren''t won by [Levels] and [Skills] alone. But her stubbornness turned lessons into frustrations. Eventually, after a few close calls where he bested her decisively, she begrudgingly eased off, the reality sinking in that [Levels] didn''t equate to victory. ''She''s too na?ve,'' he thought, recalling their sparring sessions. She relied heavily on her [Skills], following patterns predictably, making her movements easy to anticipate. Bjoern had spent years training to transcend those constraints, using his instincts and experience to guide him rather than relying solely on the System''s suggestions. ''Skills are tools, not crutches,'' he mused. Unfortunately, her frustration hadn''t abated; instead, it redirected toward Alexander¡ªtheir assigned leader for the impending military operation. Freya found it absurd that someone so young, someone who hadn''t even undergone their legacy, was to lead them. Bjoern couldn''t entirely disagree¡ªit was unconventional, to say the least¡ªbut he trusted their Father''s judgment. For Bjoern, this mission was a stepping stone toward his own aspirations. ''Wait for me,'' he thought, a soft smile tugging at his lips as he recalled the face of his beloved. Every merit he earned brought him closer to the day he could cast aside his noble name and live a simple life. Freya had no inkling of his true intentions; she likely still believed he was vying for the position of heir. ''Best to keep it quiet,'' he decided. He could almost see Freya''s face light up if she knew he had no interest in the heirship¡ªa rare moment of unguarded happiness between them. But for now, his priority was to return safely and continue guiding her growth through their rivalry. "Ye know what Father said," he replied, his gaze fixed on the passing scenery. "Ye can grumble all ye like with me, but mind yer tongue around Alexander. If ye think ye can do better, by all means, take it up with Father." His tone was light, but the underlying warning was clear. Freya''s eyes flashed. "I don''t believe Mari is stronger than Father," she retorted. "And now ye expect us to follow some pup who hasn''t even gone through the legacy? Are ye daft?" Her frustration bubbled over, spilling into indignation. "We''ve been over this," he warned again, as he had countless times before, that disobedience could have dire consequences. The Lady of the Leonandra Household was fiercely protective of her pups, and any slight against Alexander could spell disaster¡ªnot just for them but their entire household. "Father was clear," Bjoern said firmly, meeting her gaze. "Beside Mari, the Lord is a Druid of considerable power¡ªa man ye don''t want to cross. Do somethin'' reckless, and ye might lose that pretty head of yers." His eyes held hers, the seriousness of his words unmistakable. Freya huffed, leaning back and folding her arms tightly across her ample chest. "Maybe so. But I don''t have to like it. We''re Iron-Claws¡ªthe strongest there is. We shouldn''t be bowin'' to some Leonandra whelp," she grumbled, the words laced with bitterness. Bjoern''s expression softened slightly, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Ye forget, the Leonandras have always been a peculiar bunch. And they''ve got a mage now." "A mage?" Freya scoffed. "So what? We''re warriors, born and bred. Magic tricks won''t save ''em in a real fight." He shook his head, settling back against the cushioned seat. "Alexander''s been undergoin'' body enhancements by the Nightmare, ye know¡ªthe one who made Father shiver in fear. Alex''s not to be taken lightly... ye know... the brutal... bitch..." His words trailed off as his eyelids grew heavy, fatigue finally claiming him. Freya glared at him, a mix of irritation and resignation. Part of her wanted to shake him awake and continue the argument, but a small voice in the back of her mind reminded her of how tiresome she''d become. ''I hate this,'' she thought bitterly. Losing to Bjoern, despite his lower levels, was bad enough. Now, they were supposed to play nice with the Leonandras? It was a bitter pill, one that stabbed at her pride. She cast a sidelong glance at Bjoern, his features softened in sleep. A sigh slipped from her lips. ''Maybe I need to calm down,'' she conceded silently. Despite her frustrations, she couldn''t deny that her brother had always been there for her. He embodied the qualities of a perfect noble¡ªhonorable, selfless, and dedicated. Perhaps she had been too harsh, mistaking his guidance for arrogance. ''He sees me as his sister first,'' she realized, ''not as a rival.'' ''I''ve been actin'' like a fool,'' she admitted to herself after deliberating it momentarily. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, letting the tension ebb away. ''It''s just one setback. Once this is over, I''ll train harder. I''ll reach a level where no tricks or mystic skills can best me.'' Determination settled in her gut like a stone. She allowed herself a small smile, picturing the day she''d stand victorious, her name chanted by the crowd¡ªrespected, admired, a true leader of the Iron-Claw household. The thought warmed her, igniting a spark of hope. ''One day,'' she promised herself. The rhythmic sway of the carriage lulled Freya into an uneasy sleep, the silence between them heavy but not uncomfortable. Hours later, a sudden jolt jarred them awake. The sounds of bustling streets and distant chatter filtered into the carriage. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Freya glanced out the window¡ªand her jaw dropped. Young commoners walked the streets in uniforms of fine fabric, garments so exquisite that even she would think twice about affording them. "What in the realms..." Freya whispered, disbelief coloring her voice. She pressed her face closer to the glass. "Are those commoners wearin'' noble garb?" Bjoern leaned over to look, his own eyes widening slightly. "Seems Father wasn''t lyin'' about Alexander''s eccentricities," he remarked, reminding her about the school he opened. As they continued on, she suddenly saw something she couldn''t ignore¡ªwithout thinking, Freya rapped sharply on the carriage wall. "Marti, ye daft, halt!" she commanded. The carriage slowed to a stop, eliciting a groan from Bjoern. "What now, ye crazy lass?" he grumbled. Freya didn''t bother to reply, already pushing the door open and stepping onto the cobblestone street. A riot of colors caught her eye¡ªa flower shop bursting with blooms she''d never seen before. "Look at these beautiful flowers..." she murmured, stepping toward them. The north was constantly cold and had few to no beautiful flowers¡ªthus, it was far more surprising to see numerous variations here, where the heat was scolding. Suddenly, she heard a collision behind her, followed by the roars of animals and monsters. "I hate yer," Bjoern groaned as he exited the carriage, annoyed by the accident but knowing too well it was their fault. He was ready to apologize and pay for any damages. "Oh no," he muttered. When he saw who crashed into them, he saw three youths climbing out of the other carriage, even more pissed. Seeing their sigil, he immediately recognized it. Two boys, looking eerily similar, helped the girl out¡ªshe had the same features as them¡ªtriplets, ''Fuckin'' damn it,'' he thought, ''the day couldn''t be worse.'' The girl straightened up and huffed, fixing her cold stare at Freya. "I knew I smelled the scent of barbarians," she sneered, her lips curling in disdain. Recognition flashed in Freya''s eyes, quickly replaced by fiery anger. "Persephone, ye connivin'' witch!" she spat, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. ... Post Author Note: Is it actually enough to show the system window like that? Because it is sometimes annoying to look through hundreds of skills if they are not that important. Chapter 218: Heart-Fire I ... Letter from Persephone C. Heart-Fire to Alexander K. Leonandra Dear Alexander, Firstly, allow me to express my deepest gratitude for your captivating correspondence. The elegance of your penmanship is nothing short of artistry¡ªa detail that brought a genuine smile to my face. Initially, I was puzzled by the joint authorship of your letter with your mother, but upon learning of your circumstances, I felt compelled to address you directly. You chose wisely in directing your letter to me. As Persephone, the future Bringer of Serenity, I already lead part of the administration of our tranquil yet resilient fief. Knowing that you are to become the esteemed Architect of Warfare, it seems fitting that we begin this dialogue¡ªeven if our initial exchange might reveal some disagreements. Your proposals are undeniably intriguing, yet I find myself harboring reservations that I feel obliged to clarify before we proceed further. It seems rather generous¡ªperhaps overly so¡ªthat you are willing to share such valuable [Skills] with little expected in return. In light of this, I have included a list of our secondary [Skills] in the exchange, as I wouldn''t want our household to appear ungracious or as if we''re taking undue advantage. You may choose what you desire, and when the time comes, we may exchange those¡ªif you wish for all, I would be more than delighted to oblige. Since you speak so fondly of our rice, soy sauce, and the myriad of delectable dishes we enjoy here, I propose that we also share our traditional agricultural techniques with you. These methods are not merely practices but are woven into the very fabric of our culture¡ªa legacy passed down through generations by our humble farmers. However, I must express certain reservations regarding our economic situation and the potential impact of your proposals. Our people thrive on traditions that have sustained us for countless years. While I appreciate your enthusiasm for investing and bringing new technologies to our fief, I am concerned about potential disruptions to our communities. The changes you propose hold the promise of improvement, yet they can also bring unforeseen challenges. The delicate balance we maintain is akin to a finely crafted tapestry¡ªeach thread carefully placed to create a harmonious whole. We are not Wolfsteeth, Dogsteeth, or Foxteeth¡ªgiant cities with millions of residents¡ªbut a tightly-knit society much more susceptible to adverse outcomes from our decisions. Perhaps we could begin with a smaller collaboration, one that allows both our people to adjust gradually. I''m open to suggestions that honor our traditions while cautiously embracing your brave visions. It''s important to me that any changes respect the heritage and values that define us. I imagine you might feel similarly if we attempted to influence your subjects in a way that disrupted the vibrant and open culture you cherish in the South, especially your commendable embrace of all races and subraces. Regarding the military incursion you mentioned, I must admit that I see little benefit in joining such an endeavor. We have no quarrel with those races, and I would prefer to refrain from intervening in matters that do not directly concern us. I hope you understand my position, and I look forward to your thoughts on how we might find a mutually beneficial path forward. Warm regards, Persephone C. Heart-Fire ... Letter from Alexander K. Leonandra to Persephone C. Heart-Fire Dear Persephone, Your letter was both thoughtful and enlightening, and I am grateful for your candor. It''s clear that your dedication to your people and traditions runs as deep as the ancient roots of the grand oaks in our southern forests. I understand your caution¡ªtruly, I do. Charging ahead without care is like attempting to tame a wild stallion; it often ends with one on the ground, nursing bruises to both body and pride. Your traditions are the heartbeat of your fief, and I have no desire to silence that rhythm. Instead, I propose we consider harmonizing our melodies to create a richer symphony. But like those magnificent trees, their dense crowns can sometimes block out the sun, preventing its warmth from reaching the earth below, leading to rot and decay. Whatever influences may come, your beautiful culture and traditions will undoubtedly continue, but should they be preserved by all means necessary? Perhaps there''s a way to let in a little more light without sacrificing the grandeur of the canopy. Just as we broke our chains piece by piece, seeking the freedom we deserve, stopping now seems foolish. The comfort we have is relative and should not be taken for granted as others grow¡ªprogress is the unstoppable tide of the world, one that will not acknowledge outliers or show the deserved respect as I do. As you mentioned, sharing your agricultural techniques and a piece of your life is an honor I couldn''t be happier about. The thought of learning the secrets behind your exquisite rice and soy sauce fills me with excitement¡ªand a bit of hunger, if I''m honest. In return, I offer our [Skills] not as a mere transaction but as a gesture of goodwill and mutual respect. When we share knowledge freely, I believe we sow the seeds for a bountiful harvest of friendship and prosperity, much like your rice fields yield four times a year. However, I feel compelled to address a concern that weighs heavily on my mind. I have already established agreements with Feather-Paw and Iron-Claw, your neighboring fiefs. They have embraced opportunities for growth and collaboration, and as a result, we''re witnessing a migration of commoners¡ªparticularly those seeking education, spiritual fulfillment, and economic opportunities¡ªtoward these regions and, ultimately, mine. I fear that without action, your fief may experience an exodus, leading to unforeseen hardships for those left behind. Please understand this is not a threat or an attempt at coercion. Rather, it is my earnest plea for us to work together to prevent any negative consequences for your fief. Each subject who departs represents not just a loss of taxes but the erosion of community¡ªthe farmer tending his fields, the shopkeeper greeting neighbors each morning, the adventurer keeping your lands safe from harm. I know that your household has, in the past, leaned toward isolation. But we stand at the brink of a new era¡ªone where unity can fortify us against the challenges that lie ahead. Our borders are the last bastion against the wild demons that threaten all we hold dear and the birthplace of the Knights who will defend the freedom we struggled to achieve. By joining forces, we can create a Moorgrel that is vibrant, resilient, and filled with the laughter of our puppies, elders who may experience a peaceful end in the warmth of their families, and parents who need not sacrifice themselves for the happiness of their loved ones. A happier and safer future can only be achieved by not standing still¡ªnot merely reacting to changes, but by being the change. I assure you, my intentions are to support and uplift, not to impose or disrupt. Let''s take this step together. Trust me when I say that I have proven my commitment through my actions, and I am confident that, upon reflection, you will see the potential for greatness our collaboration holds.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. After all, even the tallest mountains are climbed one step at a time, and I am ready to take that first step with you. If you still harbor doubts, I invite you to visit Cerberusteeth and witness the changes already taking place. Once you have, I would be happy to hear your thoughts on not only a more intimate collaboration but also the possibility of forging our bond in the defense of our lands¡ªan endeavor that could provide an economic boost beyond all imagination. Sincerely, Alexander K. Leonandra ... Right south of the icy North lay a fiefdom administered by descendants of the legendary Cerberus C. Heart-Fire, one of the three founding Knights who served under Count Moorgrel alongside Fenrir and Huxia. These Knights possessed strength beyond imagination, but each bore their own flaws. Huxia was known for a vengeful spirit and bitter spite, while Fenrir carried a reputation as an uncultured, brutal barbarian. Though such characteristics might have been shaped by the tumultuous times they lived through, these same traits could have made it difficult for them to find their place in the more orderly world of today. Cerberus, however, stood apart as the most reasonable of the trio. His lineage was steeped in nobility, starkly contrasting to Huxia''s relatively recent ancestry¡ªaristocrats known more for their poetry and managing red-light districts than for governance. Fenrir''s background was equally distinct: he was the first of his kind to receive a title from Count Moorgrel after arriving in the territory, and his family was as common as they came, if not outright hooligans by some accounts. When Cerberus and his counterparts were granted their territories, Cerberus made a decisive move. He divided a significant portion of his lands among his less capable offspring, granting them domains to defend and nurture. This decision benefited his descendants for generations, ensuring their prosperity and influence¡ªor at least, it once did. Yet even Cerberus, the most balanced of the three knights, couldn''t escape the complexities of his era. One challenge that plagued his lineage was their adherence to the prejudiced views of central Mal-Gil, which at the time harbored extreme discrimination against certain races: canine, avian, and insect kin. Over the centuries, while prejudice against canine kin faded after Count Moorgrel proved himself repeatedly, biases against the other subraces lingered and continued to shape societal structures in subtle yet significant ways. Fenrir and Huxia embraced everyone within their fiefs, fostering diversity and growth, whether by necessity or enlightenment. Cerberus did not. Initially, this disparity wasn''t a significant issue, as all three knights had their own governance styles and cultures. Over time, however, the consequences of Cerberus''s isolationist policies became increasingly apparent. With fewer opportunities for varied talent to thrive, the population in Cerberus''s territories dwindled, and stagnation set into their main cities. Meanwhile, Fenrir and Huxia''s open acceptance of all races and backgrounds attracted talent and prosperity, widening the gap. Compounding these societal issues was the unique nature of Cerberus himself¡ªor itself, as Cerberus was not just a person but a concept, an embodiment of lineage and power. The name was passed down through generations, creating a distinct lineage that held both power and peculiarities. Each generation produced a new trio of siblings who inherited Cerberus''s mantle¡ªeffectively creating a race unto themselves. Each generation could bear offspring only once in their lifetime. As long as any member of that generation lived, no further puppies could be born to carry on the Cerberus legacy. The reason for this remained shrouded in mystery, though it was widely believed that the souls of previous generations were bound up in the new births. This process made each new Cerberus eerily similar to their predecessors in certain respects, though unique in their combination of traits and fate. Procreation was dangerous and a carefully considered endeavor, carrying both hope and tremendous risk. The current Cerberus was composed of three siblings¡ªtriplets¡ªtwo brothers and a sister. Each sibling was born embodying one aspect of the Cerberus legend. One brother possessed boundless physical strength, and the ability to wield fire, capable of consuming all, and every fiber of his musculature was coiled like steel cables brimming with raw power. The second brother inherited a cunning intellect darkened by sly and sadistic streaks, adept at devising intricate strategies and manipulating foes in insidious ways¡ªa shadowed mind capable of great trickery. By many accounts, the sister was the most underestimated. She lacked physical prowess and could not harness [Energy] like her brothers, but she possessed unparalleled intelligence and compassion, the true heart and mind of the trio. She was the linchpin, keeping them balanced and united, her soul the pivot upon which all three turned¡ªher role was crucial. Bound together from birth, the siblings shared everything¡ªlove, pain, and even their [System Window]. This profound intimacy formed a bond of trust and love that none doubted. They never desired to leave each other''s side, finding completeness only when they were together. This unity, however, also fed into their insularity. Because they needed so little from outside their circle, relationships with other Households, including those that once came due to Cerberus, were nonexistent. Their rare visits to other fiefs were calculated and infrequent, often ending in cooled relations rather than strengthened alliances. This isolationist stance, which had served as a kind of protective shield in earlier eras, now led to economic decline and weakened alliances in more interconnected times. Over centuries, this problem persisted, eventually causing even those Households of Cerberus''s own blood to distance themselves. To the south, House Feather-Paw gradually formed bonds with the rest of the Guard Households, using the restored Silver-Tail Household as an intermediary. Iron-claw, subsidized by others, was primarily a buffer against the wild demons and the birthplace of prominent warriors. Still, even they started to eye the South for a more significant role, seeing the increase in prosperity. Meanwhile, Cerberus''s domain continued functioning much as it always had¡ªstatically, consistently, but without growth or adaptation. Policies born of fear and clinging to ancient tradition¡ªonce sensible when the world was more dangerous and less understood¡ªwere detrimental in a swiftly changing era. This lack of socialization and openness had led the Heart-Fire lineage to its current state: a stagnating environment where influence waned, populations dwindled, and economic hardships began to loom. This stagnation was palpable in Heart-Fire''s city of Veilersteeth, where their estate was located¡ªoften shrouded in mist and rain, its modest harbor a quiet hub for the fishing boats that still brought in a reliable catch. It was a home to perhaps a hundred thousand souls¡ªtranquil to the point of sleepiness. Its buildings, constructed with timeless crafts using fine wood and stone, gave an impression of age and tradition. Their primary source of revenue now came from fishing and agriculture, with few businesses showing any interest in establishing themselves in a place seemingly divorced from opportunity. Amidst this serene but slowly decaying backdrop, three young siblings with raven-black hair walked the cobblestone streets of Veilersteeth¡ªvalued and revered by the entire region. The girl, part of the youngest Cerberus in Moorgrel, now felt the weight of change pressing in from all sides¡ªwearing an expression of concern despite hoping for another outcome of the little trip she insisted on. Behind her, a boy with light orange eyes asked, "Did you read it? I barely understand their exchange." He held a letter, the seal broken¡ªan official-looking missive from Alexander K. Leonandra. "Yeah, skimmed through," replied the second boy with darker orange eyes. He yawned, though whether from tiredness or feigned disinterest wasn''t clear. "It''s a long letter; honestly, I have no idea if what he said is true." He peeked at the girl in front of them. They paused before a shuttered shop. Its windows were darkened, its sign faded and nearly illegible¡ªonce a thriving workshop known throughout the city for handcrafted wooden toys, now abandoned. The girl, with hair as raven-black as her brothers but crimson eyes full of concern, stepped forward. She looked up at the sign with a mixture of sadness and nostalgia. "Wasn''t this where old Master Tolly used to make those little carved soldiers and animals?" she asked softly. The darker-eyed boy ran a hand through his tousled hair, confusion, and dismay furrowing his brow. "Yes, it was. He was famous for his craftsmanship. Whenever we walked by this shop as kids, I remember the smell of wood shavings and varnish." The girl stood still, her slender figure framed by the gentle drizzle that began to fall. Her black hair hung down to her waist, a striking contrast against her pale complexion. A subtle scent of cherry blossoms clung to her, a faint fragrance she always wore. Her delicate ears, usually upright in a posture of quiet confidence, now drooped, and her little and short-haired tail hung limply behind her. Tears welled in her eyes, glistening in the dim light of the overcast day as she looked upon the closed shop. "Why...?" she whispered, her voice trembling. The weight of unspoken fears pressed upon her as heavily as the low-hanging clouds pressed upon the city. "Is Alex right?" Chapter 219: Heart-Fire II ... Inside a lavish carriage draped in dark silks and adorned with intricate vein-like patterns, three youths sat amid the gentle sway of their journey. The air was thick with unspoken worries as they rattled through the sprawling landscapes of the Leonandra fief¡ªa region notorious for its oppressive heat and suffocating humidity due to the vast sea named Howl that bordered its shores. The weather weighed heavily on them all. The boys had shed their traditional black suits and blood-red ties for more casual attire¡ªshirts with sleeves rolled up to the elbow, revealing toned forearms glistening with a sheen of sweat. Persephone, however, remained in her raven-black dress, layered with lace and accented with silver chains that contrasted starkly against her porcelain skin. Her canine-kin ears, as black as her flowing hair and adorned with small ribbons, stood alert, betraying the tension she tried to mask. Persephone gazed lifelessly out the window, her crimson eyes reflecting the overcast skies and turmoil within her. The landscape blurred past¡ªa mosaic of sun-scorched fields and distant, shimmering waters. Each passing mile seemed to deepen the weight on her shoulders. Styx leaned forward, his fiery orange eyes filled with concern as he watched her. His dog-like ears, poking through messy locks of dark hair, twitched with unease. "Persephone," he ventured softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Maybe we could do that thing you like so much? You seem... tense." He slightly blushed while saying it. Lethe sighed dramatically, rolling his weary dark orange eyes as he slumped back into his seat, his slik black hair falling into his face. Shadows seemed to cling to his attire, giving him an ethereal presence. The silvery streaks of his rings caught the dim light with every gesture. "Styx, last time you tried that, you ended up ruining her dress," he drawled lazily. Styx shot him a sharp look, his ears standing upright. "And you think sitting around moping helps? You''re not doing any good, Lethe." Lethe smirked, a hint of mischief playing on his lips. "Just facing reality, brother. Administering our future fief isn''t exactly a walk in the park. Pretending otherwise won''t change that, and¡ª" he tapped his temple "¡ªone has to think a lot about it, something you may never do." Styx narrowed his eyes, about to explode in anger. Still, before the carriage went up in flames, Persephone turned away from the window, her expression a mask of controlled composure despite the storm raging inside her. "Both of you, enough," she said, her voice tinged with weariness yet firm. "I''m fine... I just need some time to think." She clenched her dress slightly, her fingers gripping the fabric as if to steady herself. Styx clenched his fists, a subtle warmth radiating from his body. "I just hate seeing you like this, dear. We''re supposed to face these challenges together." Lethe turned away from Styx, noticing that he was genuinely worried, and decided to join his brother. His gaze momentarily softened as he glanced at her. "We all feel the weight, sis. But fretting won''t help any of us. Don''t shut us out." She offered a small, appreciative smile before her eyes hardened with determination. "That''s why we need a plan," she said, making space and tapping on the seat beside her while warmly smiling at Styx, who moved to sit beside her, his hand gently caressing hers. "Thank you." Lethe chuckled softly, nodding at Styx, who was the most aggravated when she became restless. ''How cute,'' she mused, knowing that he always tried to help but could at most provide either emotional support or muscles. He could offer little when it came to administration and governance, where her problems lay. However, Persephone wasn''t opposed to his closeness; she found comfort in it. She gave Lethe a subtle nod toward the other side, but he shook his head with a teasing smile. "Not now, dear. We need to focus on a plan first." Persephone sighed, her eyes regaining a spark of life. "Let''s revisit our situation," she began, her voice as smooth as silk, filling the carriage with a calming presence. She hoped to soothe Styx''s nerves; his tense posture gradually relaxed as she spoke. Within minutes, his head gently settled onto her lap, his eyes closing as she continued speaking in softer tones, her fingers stroking his hair. Since their recent journey through Veilerteeth, she had visited every corner of their territory, speaking to their subjects and evaluating Alexander''s claims. They were true¡ªeach one of them. People were leaving, lured away by opportunities in other fiefs. Artisans, merchants, and farmers¡ªall crucial to their fief''s vitality¡ªwere departing due to rumors and unseen promises. And she could do nothing to stop it. Their parents remained indifferent in their conversations, clinging stubbornly to outdated traditions while their fief declined¡ªnobody liked being told that their governance put the fief into such a position. Still, instead of at least trying to better the current situation, they simply accused Marisa and her son, making it their fault, blaming them for everything bad that happened to their fief. The disdain for Alexander was almost palpable, and it showed since they barely supported the siblings'' travels to the South. They considered him an ambitious fool, waiting for Wolfsteeth to collapse. But the opposite happened. It grew, and by aggressively expanding, there was no stop in sight¡ªbe part of it or be left behind. She sensed that Alexander had started something that couldn''t be stopped. Persephone bit her cherry-red lip, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "We can''t just sit idly by and watch everything crumble," she murmured. "We need every bit of help we can get." Lethe tapped his fingers thoughtfully on his knee. "So, helping in that campaign the idiot started might be enough, right? I mean, who actually meddles in politics beyond our borders?" Persephone raised an eyebrow, looking at him incredulously. "The Nightmare, the Butterfly Princess, the Mad Physician¡ªneed I go on?" Lethe groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Okay, okay, I get it." His frustration was palpable. "And now we have to back him up, too?" Persephone''s gaze hardened. "We''ve had this discussion a hundred times. I understand your worries, but we don''t have a choice. We must rely on his goodwill. Any support he receives will benefit us, too." She had researched Alexander extensively and discovered he would support his friends to the best of his abilities. The more good-willed he was toward someone, the more support he would give, unquestioned, expecting nothing but friendship in return. ''Friendship,'' Persephone mused, a concept she had only heard about. Because of her close relationship with her brothers, others were never needed. However, she wasn''t naive to think that he wouldn''t expect more once the time came. ''I should prepare some letters,'' she thought, thinking about how to write a letter to her grandparents, persuading them for support. She wanted to make Alexander seem like someone who deserved the least punishment once he stood trial for his egregious transgression on the border. Persephone sighed, hoping Alexander wouldn''t be that cold and calculative. She would like to deal with someone more genuine than an aristocrat, where every word would be weighed¡ªworse if she became allied with him, there would be no back, but her instinct told her that it was the right move going forward. Yet, that also meant that should he falter in the campaign, it could lead to chaos and a more aggressive stance, making it harder to work with him¡ªit was all or nothing. Lethe interrupted her thoughts. "Alex''s well-being is imperative to us, but what about Sarah? She''s his fianc¨¦e. Surely she has some sway over his decisions, too? Shouldn''t we try to befriend her, too?" Persephone shook her head. "Sarah cares only for Alex. Her ambitions don''t extend beyond his shadow." Lethe arched an eyebrow. "Is that even workable? I thought all those Architects of Warfare were supposed to be smart and¡ª"A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Persephone cut him off with a sharp look. "Alex earned that title, and Sarah is poised to become the Grand Beastlord." Lethe leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. "I don''t get it. Is every guy in our generation a genius? I''m starting to feel like an outsider here." He glanced down at Styx, a small smile emerging. "Well, never mind." Persephone exhaled, her gaze softening. Canine-kin boys were rarely born. Though her household didn''t face such hardships, she empathized with others who went mad because of it. Even imagining life without Styx and Lethe made her heart ache. She looked between them both, determination steeling her features. "We need Alexander''s goodwill, plain and simple. Are we clear?" Lethe nodded begrudgingly, still not entirely comfortable with the idea. Persephone continued, her voice calmer now. "The next problem is that we brought almost nothing besides ourselves¡ªa hundred gold coins and our wits. But," she smiled faintly, "we have each other. We are strong, and we will become Alex''s greatest allies. We''ll prove our worth and perhaps nudge him toward supporting us." Persephone disliked the politics of her ancestors and the Guard Households. She was focused on achieving the most with what she had; whatever pride needed to be discarded was irrelevant. However, she was more the exception than the rule, as Styx''s voice rasped when he woke up. "Feels like we''re lowering ourselves to some pup," he grumbled. Lethe glanced at him, smirking. "Maybe so, but we''re securing the most support possible. Besides," he shrugged, "would you rather have allies or enemies? We need merits to become official heirs anyway. We''re gaining more than we''re losing here, Styx." Styx grumbled under his breath. "What about my pride?" He looked up at Persephone, his fiery eyes softening as they met hers, yet filled with overwhelming energy, like a volcano about to erupt. ''Lethe and I need to calm him down tonight,'' she mused, gently caressing his hair. "As long as we have each other, we''ll find happiness, right?" Styx flushed slightly, nodding as his short tail waggled happily, "Right." Their unique Divinity Line shaped their personalities toward particular paths. Styx struggled to control his fiery temper, embodying the raw power of their heritage. Lethe was cunning and calculated, his demeanor cool even when chaos loomed. And she... she was the anchor, the one who held them together¡ªempathetic but also pragmatic, willing to set aside pride for the greater good. Because of that, they supported each other in the best way possible, like with Styx, who was like a nervous wreck, sensing the tension. Determined to turn their situation around, Persephone leaned back and opened their [System Window]. "Let''s distribute our free status points and discuss our strategies," she suggested, her lips curling into a smile. "I''ve gotten a bit rusty, enjoying all this peace." ... [Divinity Line ¨C Infernal Triad] The Infernal Triad is exclusive to those who share lineage and purpose. It allows the triplets to channel their powers in tandem. Their combined force transcends the sum of their individual abilities, hinged on each fulfilling a specific role. Alone, they are formidable; together, they are unstoppable. [(Shared) Mystic Skill ¨C Absolute Dominion] When perfectly coordinated, they create a dominion within a range that amplifies their strengths. Only able to be activated by Persephone. ... [Persephone C. Heart-Fire (Support/Link Role)] - Unique Energy: She lacks Energy veins and a core but can support Styx and Lethe, filtering out adverse effects of their [Energy]¡ªable to soothe their minds. - First Mystic Skill ¨C Soulbind Conduit Creates a mental link, allowing perfect coordination and silent communication. (Passive) - Second Mystic Skill ¨C Chorus of the Abyss Her haunting melodies enhance their physical prowess and skill efficiency. While singing, she becomes more vulnerable. ... Styx C. Heart-Fire (Offensive Role) - Unique Energy: His Wild Demonic Energy manifests as unquenchable flames. - First Mystic Skill ¨C Blazing Onslaught Attacks cause explosions and leave lingering, inextinguishable flames. Risk of self-harm if unchecked. - Second Mystic Skill ¨C Molten Grasp Transforms [Energy] into molten lava for devastating close combat. Cannot project [Energy] at range during use. ... Lethe C. Heart-Fire (Defensive/Disruption Role) - Unique Energy: His Wild Demonic Energy manipulates shadows and disrupts perception. - First Mystic Skill ¨C Waves of Forgetfulness Emanates an aura that dulls enemies'' concentration and erodes their memories. - Second Mystic Skill ¨C Ethereal Mirage Crafts illusions to confuse and distract foes¡ªsometimes forces abnormal statuses on them. ... After hours of strategizing and allocating their status points, the trio felt a renewed sense of purpose. Persephone closed the [System Window], a hint of a smile playing on her lips. "Okay, let''s relax today, and tomorrow we''ll..." She was cut off mid-sentence as the carriage abruptly lurched to a halt, throwing them off balance. Styx and Lethe instinctively reached out, steadying her before she could tumble forward. Her expression twisted in irritation. "What just happened?" she demanded. From outside, the coachman''s voice called out, strained and apologetic. "Beggin'' your pardon, m''lords and lady! Some fool stopped dead in the road¡ªwe''ve had a collision!" Styx''s ears perked up, nostrils flaring as he caught a familiar scent wafting through the open window. "That smell... Could it be?" Lethe narrowed his eyes; usually tired, they became sharper. "Who is it?" Styx''s expression darkened. "Iron-Claw." Persephone''s eyes flashed with recognition and a hint of disdain. "It can only be that barbaric bitch," she muttered, her tone icy. She knew that Alexander had invited all future Lords and Ladies to his campaign and exchange¡ªincluding those she could hardly stand. Without hesitation, she opened the carriage door and stepped outside. The bustling streets of Wolfsteeth unfolded before them¡ªa vibrant tapestry of colorful adobe buildings, market stalls brimming with exotic goods, and townsfolk going about their day. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows, and the heat pressed down like a heavy blanket. Amidst the crowd, Persephone''s gaze zeroed in on a familiar figure standing before a flower shop. Freya A. Iron-Claw examined the array of blooms with a surprising delicacy, starkly contrasting the volatile aura surrounding her. Her chestnut brown hair cascaded over her shoulders while her annoyingly long tail swayed the dirt from the ground. The air around her seemed to simmer, a mix of barely contained aggression and something more primal. Persephone''s lips curled into a faint sneer. "I knew I smelled barbarians." Freya turned sharply, her eyes blazing as they met Persephone''s. "Persephone, ye connivin'' witch!" she spat, her hands balling into fists. Behind Freya, Bjoern stepped forward¡ªa towering figure with a rugged demeanor softened only by the concern in his eyes. He offered a placating smile. "Let''s all take a deep breath. No need fer this to escalate. ''Twas an unfortunate accident, nothin'' more." Lethe and Styx emerged from the carriage, flanking Persephone protectively. Lethe''s gaze was cool and assessing, slightly bending forward, while Styx''s fists clenched at his sides, barely restrained. Lethe was the first to break the tense silence. "Ah, Bjoern. Fancy running into you here. Not with your usual company, I see?" Bjoern''s eyes narrowed slightly. "Watch yer tongue, boy. We wouldn''t be wantin'' any unpleasantness." As the tension brewed, Persephone recalled the last visit of the Iron-Claw youths¡ªhow they had wreaked havoc in their city, thrashing bars and restaurants. It had been a mess she had to resolve, and they had left without so much as an apology. Persephone''s gaze was steely as she regarded them. "Your reckless driving has caused us inconvenience. An apology is in order." Freya scoffed, crossing her arms defiantly. "Apologize? For yer driver''s inability to steer clear? Don''t make me laugh." Bjoern placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Freya, perhaps we should¡ª" She shrugged him off. "Nay, Bjoern. I won''t be takin'' blame where it''s not due." Fortunately, Bjoern seemed to understand the need for tact, even if Lethe''s comment hinted at his secret¡ªsomething that happened in their fief, which they had decided not to share with others. Styx stepped forward, his eyes narrowing. "Watch your tone. We''re trying to settle this peacefully." Lethe chuckled darkly. "Though if it''s a fight you''re after, we can oblige." No one released any aura or conjured [Energy]; they all knew they were not in their own fief, and any disruption would sour relationships. While they couldn''t be punished even if they harmed commoners, Alexander''s subjects would harbor resentment toward their future lord for his inability to rein them in. Before tensions could escalate further, a melodic voice interjected with a hint of playful disdain. "Ah, such passion on the streets of Wolfsteeth. It''s almost poetic." All eyes turned to see a striking girl approaching, her pronounced coyote-kin ears poking out of her golden hair that cascaded over her shoulders in elegant waves. She wore a tailored ensemble¡ªa blend of aristocratic fashion and daring flair¡ªtight pants, long boots, a blouse liberally open to showcase her ample bosom, and a rapier gleaming at her side. Her eyes, a piercing shade of sapphire, held a mischievous glint as her delicately groomed tail swayed gently, barely containing the anticipation. "Isabella P. Feather-Paw," Persephone acknowledged coolly. Isabella smiled slyly, her accent a captivating blend of cold precision and playful openness. "Persephone, always a pleasure. And Freya, causing trouble, as usual, I see." Freya bristled. "This ain''t none of yer concern, Isabella. Best ye keep walkin''." Bjoern stepped forward respectfully. "Just a minor dispute." Isabella''s smile never faltered as she brought her gloved hand to her mouth, biting into the fingertip delicately as if about to remove it. "Oh, I''m sure. But perhaps we could resolve this more traditionally?" Her gaze sharpened, a hint of challenge in her eyes. "It would be a shame to disrespect Alex in such a way¡ªsomeone I actually respect among you all." Persephone felt the tension heighten, each word laced with unspoken threats and rivalries. The air seemed to crackle with anticipation. Chapter 220: Feather-Paw I (& some quick naming lore) ... Household names of nobles often carry the weight of forgotten histories¡ªechoes of legends that shaped the world yet slipped through the cracks of time. In Moorgrel, where noble titles other than Knights were forbidden due to the intricate politics of Mal-Gil, titles became symbols of pride and honor among the select Moorgrelian Knightages. Their significance resonated only within their exclusive circle, a secret language of legacy and lore. Take Leonandra, for instance. Bestowed by one of the prior Emperors, Leo¡ªNandra meant happy in an ancient tongue spoken by an exceptional beast-kin whose name history failed to record. It was a sarcastic choice, for Fenrir''s battles ended with him brutally slaughtering his enemies, his laughter echoing hauntingly across the battlefield. Legends whispered that the Emperor delighted in these savage combats, spurring him to ascend to a skill''s Grandmaster Tier. Fenrir and his brilliant wife, Aetherfang, received the titles Prime Beastlord and Architect of Warfare, respectively, within Moorgrel. Their names became synonymous with ferocity and tactical genius, a power couple etched into the annals of history. Close to them was Cold-Snout¡ªa name initially an insult hurled at a Lord from the Leonandra Household who had an affair with a commoner, bringing a bastard into the world. The pup was severely mistreated by the Lady, abused until he could bear it no longer. Breaking away, he vowed such cruelty would never happen again¡ªa new household was born. Due to certain tendencies and overarching acceptance, the first Cold-Snout Lord, Valric Cold-Snout, built a sprawling harem¡ªnow known as the oldest and most stable in history¡ªwith strict separations of power between the Lord and his wives. This made it the only household where gender roles were crucial. After centuries, they gained acceptance. Valric carried the title The Blade of Silent Accord due to his outstanding swordsmanship and rather meek standing within his own household. His first Lady, Evelyne Cold-Snout, led the harem and estate, her unyielding strictness earning her the title The Matron of the Inner Order¡ªa grim designation, especially after rumors of Valric''s mistreatment of rape and other forceful conduct circulated beyond their walls. Nine-Fire emerged from Huxia''s fearsome reputation. In her full power, the [Energy] she wielded around her resembled a beautiful flower garden engulfed in a devastating inferno. Her nine tails, each capable of unleashing catastrophic flames, could obliterate entire landscapes. Back then, her [Energy] was a blazing catastrophe, tinged with [Wild Demonic Energy] from her relentless incursions into what was now called Moorgrel. The earliest titles honored the mistress alone, dubbing her the Mistress of Bloom and Blight, as her flames consumed the masses in a deadly dance of beauty and destruction. On the other hand, the Lord, known only as The Whisper, remained an enigma¡ªhis actual name lost to shadows¡ªa master of intelligence and strategy who oversaw the underworld and led countless assassinations. Silver-Tail separated from Nine-Fire due to Huxia''s extensive blood-and-steel approach. The First Lady at the time, Lysenna Silver-Tail, concentrated intensely on diplomacy, expanding economic influence, and pursuing intimate cooperation among all Guard Households. Their household name played on the human saying silver tongue, initially meant as an insult toward Lysenna''s exceptional bargaining skills. She embraced it, earning the title The Argent Arbiter. One of her first retainers and later husband was a poor boy named Kael, seen as cursed for transforming into the wild demonic beings he consumed¡ªonce properly groomed, an unstoppable force. Though he received nobility, acceptance was slow, and slander followed them everywhere. He was dubbed the Tail-Eater, suggesting he would only bring downfall. The offspring with this specific [Divinity Line] gained acknowledgment only after generations. From then on, they embraced the derogatory term out of spite and to honor their humble beginnings. Heart-Fire was as straightforward as names came. The household of Cerberus produced heirs whose abilities centered on fire and the emotional destabilization of enemies for eons, making the name apt. Emerging from them were two households. One was Iron-Claw, a haven for heirs seen as faulty due to their [Divinity Line], which prevented them from using [Energy]. They relied solely on immense physical prowess. The name was strikingly literal, and only the Lord or Lady could earn the title of Titan¡ªlike the First Lord Eirik Iron-Claw, the only one able to triumph against the three founders of the Guard Households. The second household that split from Heart-Fire was Feather-Paw. The First Lady became disgusted by Cerberus''s conduct, similar to Fenrir''s and Huxia''s¡ªunconditional eradication that made countless towns and cities vanish, innocent lives snuffed out without mercy. The insurmountable bloodshed broke her. This First Lady was Althea Feather-Paw, a doctor of immense importance, possessing unbelievably strong healing [Divinity Line] and exquisite non-lethal combat abilities. One day, during a campaign, she fell in love with a boy¡ªher future husband, Draziel Feather-Paw. He suffered from his own [Divinity Line]¡ª[Wild Demonic Energy] that spawned diseases, often backfiring and causing pain to himself and others. Althea treated him with compassion, hoping to alleviate his curse. But when Cerberus discovered this, he sought to use Draziel as a weapon. An escalation followed, ending with Althea threatening suicide if they weren''t left alone. Granted permission to establish her own household, she devoted herself and her new lineage entirely to medicine, psychology, and charity. She became known as The Hand of Mercy, and he as The Wretch of Pestilence. Throughout history, many of these titles¡ªderogatory as they might have been¡ªgarnered respect as their bearers mastered their exceptional abilities, passing them on beside the nobility. Despite its outstanding talents and Knights, Feather-Paw remained one of the quietest households, and for good reason. ... The central city of the Feather-Paw household was Coyoteteeth, a vibrant mosaic of life and architecture. Divided into grids and built of bricks, stone, limestone, and wood, it was a wild patchwork of colorful and chaotic structures adorned with arches and pillars. Densely packed and lively, it was a testament to excellent administration and the indomitable spirit of its people. At the city''s heart stood the Feather-Paw estate. Humble compared to others and far less fortified, it possessed an undeniable charm¡ªa fairy tale brought to life with vines sprawling on walls and colorful flowers blooming in every nook.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. In the center was a quaint but endearing garden, home to a white pavilion. The paint flaked slightly to reveal the wood beneath, adding to the provincial allure rather than detracting from it. Isabella stood in the pavilion, hands clasped behind her back. Her posture was straight and unwavering, her well-groomed tail still, glistening¡ªdressed in a simple yet elegant gown, her golden hair cascaded down her back like a river of sunlight. Before her sat her father and mother, sipping tea under the gentle warmth. Her younger brother and sister nestled on their laps, giggling as they enjoyed the afternoon treats. The scent of blooming jasmine mingled with the aroma of freshly baked cakes, but the idyllic scene did little to calm the storm brewing within her. She awaited their answer, her heart pounding like a distant drum. She had expressed her wish with all the compassion and reason she could muster¡ªAlexander had to be supported by all necessary means and, if possible, guided and taught by her. "Bella, dear, don''t be so high-strung," her father''s voice was soothing¡ªalmost melodic¡ªas he fed a piece of cake to her sister. His sapphire eyes met hers briefly before returning to caress the puppy''s cheek, a playful smile on his lips. "We''ve agreed to the charities and the school, even promising to waive any taxes. If everything runs smoothly, we''ll also financially support the boy''s endeavors in our fief." Isabella''s eyebrow arched ever so slightly, her ears twitching in irritation. She struggled to maintain her stoic facade, knowing that displaying too much emotion would weaken her position. "Father, you must understand that I do not simply desire the mana skills that the boy will provide me with. While I trust such a gracious person to honor his promise without expecting anything in return, my main reason to join him is that I don''t want him to falter in his campaign." Her mother, still focused on wiping a crumb from her brother''s cheek, interjected softly, "Don''t believe everything he says, dear. Alex is Scarlet''s grandson, and you''re aware of that household''s eccentricities. I''d prefer to avoid more contact than necessary." A flicker of frustration crossed Isabella''s face. She couldn''t fathom such swift judgment, especially when Alexander had proven himself a valuable ally through his actions. ''Is it because of Father?'' she wondered, recalling how her father, Pomeran Feather-Paw, had been part of Scarlet''s grueling training. Twenty-five years of relentless hardship had left him scarred but also elevated him to rival the Iron-Claw Lord in prowess. Whatever they thought of the Leonandras, their success was undeniable. Taking a deep breath, she met her father''s gaze. "I didn''t want to resort to this, but if you don''t grant me any support, I''ll proceed on my own, taking as many soldiers with me as I can," she declared, her voice steady but laced with a hint of desperation. Her words hung in the air like a gauntlet thrown. She was well within her rights; at twenty-six, with merits and exceptional talents in combat and medicine, she needed no permission and already had an array of loyal subjects to call upon. In two years, after the grand ball in central Mal-Gil, she intended to join Scarlet for training, dedicating thirty years to becoming someone akin to Bartholomew or Marisia. From then on, she would claim a title, whether it was her fief or another¡ªambitious and unrelenting in pursuing her ideals. Pomeran set down his teacup with deliberate calmness. His blond hair and prominent coyote ears¡ªmarked with nicks and scars¡ªcaught the sunlight. But his eyes¡ªthose piercing sapphires¡ªsent a chill down her spine. "My dearest daughter," he began, his voice a blend of tension and sweetness, "this family has never regarded friendships as invitations to join bloodbaths." Isabella responded instantly, "It''s not as if we''re risking our lives¡ª" He cut her off, a hint of sarcasm lacing his tone. "I meant, obviously, all the others." Gently setting her sister beside him, he rose and approached her. His aura shifted; something unnaturally sterile and sharp emanated from him, making the very air feel thin. She resisted the urge to step back, her resolve hardening. "Since the beginning, we''ve only supported the Count through his brutal campaigns because it was necessary," he continued. "Every human we tore apart, every dwarf we skinned, every elf we beheaded was for survival. But what does he aim to do, tell me, Bella?" Isabella felt her heartbeat quicken, but she stood her ground. "He saved the refugees the Count mistreated," she replied, her voice unwavering. "Now, he''s striving to eliminate a group of hateful enemies by allying with adversaries and distant friends. There''s no better way to resolve the ongoing feud and build a future with less bloodshed and fewer orphans." Was her train of thought cold and calculative? Perhaps. She hated that it had to be, but Alexander was working toward peace and prosperity¡ªless desperation and misery, less poverty and preventable deaths. If a more amicable relationship could be established with the Essence Alliance while bringing the Eros Alliance into the mix, they could reduce suffering and forge a long-lasting pact. Her father''s gaze hardened. "And you believe his path leads to peace?" "I believe it leads away from senseless slaughter," she retorted. "Isn''t that what we''ve always wanted?" Her mother sighed softly, finally looking up. Her indomitable purple eyes met Isabella''s, the simplicity of her pink hair tied in a ponytail contrasting with the complexity swirling within them. "Bella, your arguments are sound," she conceded, "but what if you''re wrong?" Isabella tilted her head slightly, a strand of golden hair slipping over her shoulder. "What if I''m wrong?" she echoed. "What if he intends to continue conquering and eradicating more?" She felt a twitch at the corner of her mouth, a strange thrill bubbling up inside her¡ªsomething deep down wished for him to do so, to make their ideals a reality through sheer force. Before she could suppress it, her father was suddenly in front of her, his finger pressing lightly against her lips. "That crazed smile," he murmured, concern etched in his features. She blinked, realizing too late that her facade had cracked. She wanted to stop it, but her father suppressed her [Energy], forcing her to hold onto that expression. A flush crept up her neck as he continued¡ªhis tone gentle but firm. "You were barely ready back then to join the southern excursion, and you''re less ready now." He withdrew his finger, and she stepped back, regaining her composure. ''Damn it,'' she cursed inwardly. The [Divinity Line] coursing through her¡ª[Wild Demonic Energy]¡ªwas seen as a curse within their household, the emergence of a beast thirsting for blood. Unlike other Guard Households that celebrated such inheritances¡ªFeather-Paw regarded it with dread. She glanced between her parents, reading the resolve in their expressions. It was clear they wouldn''t offer the support she sought. ''Great... now I have to approach Alex on my own,'' she mused, frustration and determination warring within her. She had delved deep into Alex''s projects¡ªthe charities, the schools, the progress he had made. He embodied all the traits her family valued, what she valued, coupled with the fierce stubbornness of the Leonandras¡ªa perfect combination, in her eyes. She would undoubtedly pursue him if he weren''t already engaged or a Cold-Snout. However, there was a little problem¡ªliterally¡ªAlexander was still young and could be easily influenced. Letting the more unscrupulous members of other households encircle him could exploit his opinions and mindset, something she couldn''t allow. He was perfect as he was. Taking a deliberate step backward, she made her decision. If Alexander failed or wasn''t properly guided, he might become the new Nightmare¡ªa bloodthirsty beast without mercy. If he stayed the same, it would be a triumph for Moorgrel as a whole. But what if he had even more potential to become something greater? A benevolent force for good? She could make it happen by protecting such genius from tarnish and pushing him onto a path that brought peace. As she turned to leave, a sudden sting pierced her back. Her body went numb, sensations slipping away like water through her fingers. ''What...?'' Confusion clouded her mind as darkness edged into her vision. She tried to reach out, but her limbs wouldn''t respond. The last thing she heard was her mother''s voice, soft and sorrowful. "I''m sorry, dear, but we cannot allow you to support a bloodthirsty beast..." The world faded, leaving only the lingering scent of jasmine and the distant echoes of her siblings'' worried voices. Chapter 221: Feather-Paw II ... Isabella floated in a void, her consciousness adrift like a leaf caught in a storm¡ªtime lost all meaning¡ªa minute, an hour, a lifetime? Fragments of memories swirled around her: the earnest faces of those she had mentored, the grateful smiles of villagers she had healed, and the steadfast gazes of her loyal followers pledging their unwavering allegiance. Each memory was a beacon, flickering in the darkness, trying to pull her back from the abyss. ''It was a wonderful time,'' she thought wistfully, her mind in a daze. She recalled being nine years old, her days filled with helping those around her using her exceptional skills in medicine and pharmacy. Her fencing was flawless, and every movement was precise as she defended the helpless from marauding monsters. It was the only time in her life when she felt genuinely happy and truly beloved. ''It had to be this cursed [Divinity Line],'' she lamented. The memory of the day she opened her [System Window] was as vivid as yesterday. She had hoped for a gift to support others, to heal and protect. Instead, fate had other plans for her¡ªthe moment she felt the unsettling [Energy] coursing through her, her world shifted. Her parents grew distant, their warm embraces replaced with cold formality. Servants avoided her gaze, whispers trailing behind her back. Eventually, they locked her away in a remote wing of the estate, a place where she couldn''t hurt anyone. [Divinity Line - Bearer of the Blighted Oath] A [Divinity Line] was bestowed upon those who walk the razor''s edge between life and decay. The Bearer of the Blighted Oath wields the power to heal and harm, channeling pestilence¡ªa [Wild Demon Energy]¡ªas a tool of destruction and renewal. With an unyielding vow to master the delicate balance of vitality and corruption, this [Divinity Line] grants unparalleled control over disease-born [Energy], allowing its bearer to manipulate afflictions to mend wounds, weaken foes, or sow devastation. While their power can cure the gravest ailments, it demands a heavy toll, for the blight they command, leaves a lingering mark on their own spirit. ''It never mattered that I could actually heal,'' she mused, feeling a solitary tear slide down her cheek. She remembered the tiny mouse she had saved¡ªa fragile creature, bones jutting out, eyes dim with suffering. With a gentle touch, she had infused it with her [Energy], watching as vitality returned and it scurried away into the underbrush. What followed was that she became sick, her mind slowly cracking, but she endured and continued her charity, helping everyone she could, no matter how poor or rich someone was¡ªher dream never died. [First Mystic Skill - Virulent Touch] Description: By infusing her hands (or other objects) with pestilence-based energy, she could deliver a debilitating touch that spread a controlled sickness to her enemies. This ailment sapped strength and resilience over time but could also be tailored to neutralize harmful conditions in allies by absorbing their afflictions. Usage: Perfect for weakening opponents in prolonged battles, doubling as a specialized cleansing ability. She became a paradox¡ªa healer and a harbinger of decay. By day, she protected villagers, taking their illnesses upon herself by night. Each act of salvation came with personal suffering, but seeing their smiles made it worthwhile. Slowly, the people began to love her, their fear overshadowed by gratitude, but it was never enough for her parents. [Second Mystic Skill - Blight Needle] Description: A fencing strike so precise it implanted a concentrated shard of pestilence energy into the opponent''s body. Over time, the shard spread affliction while amplifying the effects of other attacks on the target. Usage: A strategic move, amplifying her overall effectiveness against marked enemies. [Third Mystic Skill - Scourge''s Dominion] Description: She could summon an aura of pestilence that bent the battlefield to her will. Enemies within the aura were weakened, their movements slowed, and their attacks dulled. Usage: Ideal for controlling the flow of battle, creating a zone that turned the tide in her favor. But with power came fear. Showcasing Isabelle''s exceptional fighting capabilities branded her a walking disaster¡ªa being capable of bringing death with every step. The whispers grew louder. Even as she received her fourth and fifth [Mystic Skills], those of absolute extermination, the chasm between her and her family widened. ''Do I hate it?'' She asked herself. ''No.'' She reveled in the thrill of combat, the surge of [Energy], the satisfaction of eliminating threats to her people. But the price was high¡ªbeing seen as a monster, much like her father before he earned his standing, weighed heavily on her. ''Ridiculous,'' she thought with a bitter smile. ''Let''s see them fend off those demons without me.'' As her mind spiraled into spite, her mind began to clear up as the inner rage slowly dispersed the haze. ''What happened?'' Confusion threaded through her mind like tangled skeins of yarn. Her thoughts were fragmented, each slipping away before she could grasp it fully. Faces blurred, voices overlapped, her life flashed in disjointed images. Then, like a bolt of lightning, clarity struck. ''Mother!'' Her mother''s sorrowful voice echoed in her ears¡ªthe soft tone masking the sting of betrayal. Rage flared, hot, and fierce. She tried to bolt upright but was abruptly halted. Restraints bit into her wrists and ankles, anchoring her in place. The world around her was a haze, barely extending beyond an arm''s length. Her [Energy] flow was suppressed, leaving her hollow. She struggled against the chains, the clinking echoing in the dim space. A cold metal collar weighed heavily around her neck¡ªa slave collar. The realization settled like a stone in her stomach. ''They actually did it,'' she thought bitterly. Memories of a time she''d fought hard to forget flooded back¡ªthe first tumultuous surge of her powers when her own family had treated her like a wild animal needing to be caged. ''I hate this damn family,'' she seethed. The helplessness, the isolation¡ªthey feared what she could become. Instead of support, they offered shackles. She leaned back against the damp, rough stone wall and closed her eyes to steady herself. The air was thick with the scent of mildew and decay, a stark contrast to the jasmine and lavender of her cherished gardens. Water dripped somewhere in the darkness, a slow, torturous rhythm. ''Do they think they can keep me here? Stop me from fulfilling my purpose?'' A steely determination settled within her. ''They underestimate me.''Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Her thoughts turned to Alexander, the young noble whose vision mirrored her own. His potential was a beacon in this shadowed world. ''I need to reach him.'' He needed guidance and protection. Every moment here was a moment wasted, and she had to purge it from the boy''s mind when someone else she despised came beforehand. It didn''t matter what her parents thought about him or her¡ªsuch geniuses, born with mind, heart, and strength, were rare if not legends from fairy tales¡ªlosing someone like that would be something she could never forgive herself for, ''I just need to cut off one foot and¡ª'' A faint sound pulled her from her reverie¡ªthe distant scrape of metal on metal. Her ears perked, straining to catch any hint of movement. Footsteps echoed, unhurried, almost casual. "Well, ain''t this a fine mess ya got yourself into, eh?" a familiar voice drawled, dripping with biting amusement. "Fancy new jewelry, boss. Though gotta say, those cuffs ain''t exactly your style." Her heart leaped. "Thomas?" she rasped, her voice rough from disuse. From the shadows emerged Thomas, her most trusted retainer and confidant. The flickering torchlight danced across his sharp features. The mouse-kin exuded roguish charm at a modest five and three feet (~160cm). His black-furred ears twitched with mischief, a sly grin playing on his lips. Dressed in dark leathers that blended seamlessly with the gloom, he was every bit the street-smart rogue she relied upon. "In the flesh," he smirked, twirling a lockpick between nimble fingers. "Ya didn''t think I''d leave ya hangin'', did ya?" She managed a wry smile. "Took you long enough." He feigned offense, placing a hand over his heart. "Ouch! Here I am, riskin'' life and limb, and that''s the thanks I get?" "Just get me out of here," she sighed, relief washing over her. "Your wish is my command," he declared with a mock bow, setting to work on the locks. His fingers moved with practiced ease, the lockpick dancing as he manipulated the mechanisms with his [Energy] and [Mystic Skills]¡ªa born thief. As he knelt beside her, the familiar scent of leather and the faint hint of spices enveloped her. Memories of their escapades flooded back¡ªthe late-night runs through cobblestone streets whispered strategies under moonlit skies, and his unwavering support during her darkest hours. When she became a monster, saving everyone she could, almost breaking down due to her need for approval and closeness, Thomas was there after receiving a new lease on his life. He stopped her and showed her that one could have fun in other ways¡ªa friend she couldn''t be happier to have. "Ya know," he mused, "these folks sure got a flair for the dramatic. All these chains for lil'' ol'' you?" "They''re being cautious," she replied dryly. He snorted. "Against their own flesh and blood? Real tight-knit family ya got here." The first shackle clicked open. She flexed her wrist, wincing at the stiffness. "You have no idea." "Oh, I might have some inkling," he said, moving to the next lock. "Remember when they locked ya up during your first¡ª" "Don''t," she interrupted sharply, a flush creeping up her neck. He chuckled. "Touchy subject. Got it." Silence settled between them, broken only by the soft clicks of the locks. She watched him, noting the concentration etched on his face¡ªa rare seriousness beneath his carefree fa?ade. "How''d you get past the guards?" she asked, eager to shift the topic. He grinned wickedly. "Ah, ya know me. Got a way with people." "You drugged them?" He shrugged. "Let''s just say I found yer stash. Didn''t peg ya for the type to keep such... potent concoctions." She raised an eyebrow. "Everyone needs a hobby." "Can''t argue with that," he quipped as the second shackle fell away. Thomas released the final lock with a satisfying click. He stood, extending a hand to help her up. As she rose, a wave of dizziness washed over her. She stumbled slightly. "Whoa there," he steadied her, his grip firm. "They must''ve given ya a hefty dose of somethin''." "They suppressed my [Energy Flow]," she murmured, pressing a hand to her still and unmoving solar plexus where her core was. "It''s like part of me is missing." He reached into his pouch, producing a small vial filled with shimmering blue liquid. "Here, drink this. It''ll help clear the fog." She eyed it suspiciously. "What''s in it?" He winked. "Just a lil'' pick-me-up. Trust me." With a resigned sigh, she uncorked the vial and took a sip. A cool, sharp, and invigorating sensation spread through her. The numbness faded, replaced by a tingling warmth as her [Energy Flow] slowly reignited; her veins and core began moving again, even though gradually. "Better?" he asked, watching her closely. "Much," she nodded. "Thank you." "Anytime, boss." He slung his satchel back over his shoulder. "Now, we gotta skedaddle before they realize you''re missin''." "Wait," she said, glancing around the cell. "I need my things." He tapped the side of his nose. "Already taken care of." From behind his back, he produced a small spatial bag and tossed it to her. She caught it, a genuine smile spreading across her face. "You''re insufferable." "But ya love me," he grinned. She began equipping herself swiftly. The familiar weight of her armor, the comforting grip of her rapier¡ªit grounded her. As she adjusted her gauntlets, she glanced at him. "Will you follow me?" He raised an eyebrow. "Now, what kinda question is that? ''Course I''m comin'' with ya. Can''t let ya hog all the adventure." A soft laugh escaped her. "I wouldn''t have it any other way." "Besides," he smirked, "someone''s gotta keep ya outta trouble." "I think it''s usually the other way around," she retorted playfully. He leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. "Details." She stepped forward, confidence returning. "Let''s move." He held up a finger. she gestured. They navigated the winding corridors, shadows their allies. The estate was eerily quiet, the usual bustle subdued. As they passed portraits of stern ancestors, she felt a disconnect¡ªa lineage she long ago didn''t feel part of. "Ya sure about this?" Thomas whispered as they paused. She met his gaze. "I am." "Then let''s get ya outta here." They slipped through a side door into the crisp night air. The gardens stretched before them, moonlight casting silver hues over the manicured hedges and blooming flowers. The scent of jasmine enveloped them¡ªa bittersweet reminder of home. "Freedom smells good, doesn''t it?" he grinned. "Bittersweet," she admitted. They moved swiftly across the grounds, sticking to the shadows. As they approached the outer wall, voices drifted on the breeze. "Patrol," Thomas hissed. They ducked behind a stone bench, crouching low. Two guards strolled by, lanterns swinging. "Can''t believe they locked up the young miss again," one muttered. "She''s dangerous," the other replied. "Best for everyone." Isabella''s jaw tightened, and her heart clenched. ''Why¡ª'' Before her darkest thoughts could pull her mind into the abyss again, she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder¡ªThomas. She nodded toward him, her easy teary but filled with resolve. Once the guards passed, they scaled a section of the wall where the stones jutted out just enough to provide footholds. Dropping down on the other side, they landed softly in the dewy grass¡ªshe couldn''t use any [Energy] as it would alarm everyone due to the pungent smell, making the suppression of her [Energy Flow], which still recovered, a blessing in disguise "Where to now?" he asked. She looked toward the distant horizon. "To Alexander K. Leonandra." He nodded. "Figured as much. Got a couple of our folks waitin'' nearby with supplies." She glanced at him, gratitude in her eyes. "You thought of everything." "That''s why ya keep me around," he winked while handing over some hooded cloaks and masks. She put them on without hesitation and sneaked through every suspicious alley Thomas knew in Coyoteteeth, always avoiding the guards who patrolled and focusing on the most active areas at night. After hours, they soon left the city, the estate fading behind them¡ªa shadow of a life she ignored for now as there was a beacon of light she wanted to see and sense, someone like her, perhaps a saintly figure, ''Soon.'' She didn''t know what to expect, but her gut told her to go there no matter what. But, before she could get lost in her daydreaming again, she looked to the side, seeing the tired face of her first retainer, best friend, and first lover. "Thomas," she began hesitantly. "Yeah?" "Thank you. For always being there," she blushed slightly. He gave a lopsided grin. "Don''t get all mushy on me now. We''ve got a campaign ahead." She laughed softly. "Right." They walked in comfortable silence, the canopy of stars guiding their path. Chapter 222: Moorgrel ... Isabella stood poised in the western district of Wolfsteeth, her emerald eyes scanning the tumultuous streets. The clatter of hooves and the creak of carriage wheels echoed against the stone buildings as Alexander''s subjects hurried away, casting anxious glances at the sigils on those carriages that crashed into each other. To her, they were an embarrassment to all Guard Households¡ªbickering similar to unruly pups lost without their master. A soft leather glove clenched between her teeth, Isabella felt its familiar weight¡ªa symbol of challenge she was prepared to issue. The Count had forbidden such actions, but she couldn''t stand by while they trashed the birthplace where her ideals would become reality. Isabella arrived a week ago and had been wandering through Wolfsteeth''s winding alleys, immersing herself in the city''s unexpectedly vibrant energy. Despite the lingering shadows of past suffering, the city pulsed with newfound vitality, especially in once-dangerous and impoverished quarters. Vigorous market stalls lined the streets, their owners wearing genuine smiles as they shared tales of hardship and hope. Fresh produce and handcrafted goods showcased not just their wares but a rekindled passion for life. Visiting suspicious taverns, she listened to the stories of their past, where misery was their friend until Alexander made his influence inside the Temple known, curing them. To show their devotion and thankfulness, most were back to battling monsters, not riches inside dungeons or for wealthy patrons, but in rural areas, for a warm meal, a safe bed, and the camaraderie of shared stories over a hearty drink. Young people in immaculate uniforms¡ªmostly orphans and the destitute¡ªnow moved with purpose. In front of everyone, they wielded magic with surprising ease, cleaning streets, aiding the sick and elderly, and offering assistance to those most needed. It was an honorary program inside Alexander''s school that empowered the youth and led them to become better people. Yet beneath the surface, something felt amiss. ''It''s almost too perfect,'' Isabella mused, a flicker of suspicion sparking. Driven by curiosity, she and her entourage entered the city''s underbelly. There, she discovered the Underworld''s influence waning. People had fewer reasons to engage in illicit activities, and smaller, unsavory groups were disappearing¡ªmuch to the relief of more established factions, who seemed oddly grateful for this unexpected shift. Whispers followed her¡ªAlexander did this, and Alexander helped us, floating through the air like a harmonious chorus. Isabella''s resolve solidified; she needed to support him in any way possible and wouldn''t let them make him appear less competent in the subject''s eyes by battling it out in the open. ''There will be no minor disruptions to his path!'' She roared inwardly, eyes narrowing and muscles tensing, readying to teach them humility. As the glove slowly slid off her hand, she caught a glimpse of her sigil intricately sewn on. It made her reflect on her parents'' attempts to alleviate suffering through traditional means. But Alexander was different¡ªhe aimed to eradicate it. ''Calling his actions merely philanthropic is like calling the Emperor merely strong or the Count merely clever¡ªit doesn''t capture the depth of his devotion,'' she mused, astounded by her parents'' dismissiveness. ''I underestimated him,'' she admitted, a warm flicker of admiration igniting her chest. The thought of anyone undermining his efforts sparked a fierce protectiveness within her. She cast a steely gaze at the group before her¡ªBjoern and Fyra, their muscles coiled like springs ready to unleash; the Heartfire triplets, their energy pulsating in sync, with Persephone stepping back, her voice poised to strike. "You think you can win? I highly doubt that," Isabella declared, a confident smile curving her lips. Her energy surged outward, forming an invisible dome around her that slowly became denser by the moment, creating a scent of death and suffering. She noticed Thomas and a few others preparing themselves from the corner of her eye. But she didn''t need their assistance. ''I''ve reached Tier 3 before my legacy, and they think they can even touch me?'' she thought, a hint of arrogance coloring her resolve. The memory of suffering under the curse of Nature''s Break flickered¡ªyears spent pushing herself to the brink. Only after reaching the third Tier with nine did she force a halt, taking drastic measures to pause her progression. Yet she still earned the skill [Prodigy II], boosting all her attributes by 5% and granting her a [Mystic Skill] she desired. Removing the glove, her voice steadied. "Prepare yourselves; this won''t be pleasant." With a swift motion, she tossed the glove into the air and drew her rapier, the blade catching the sunlight in a dazzling flash. The atmosphere thickened, tension hanging heavy as everyone braced for the inevitable clash. The world seemed to hold its breath. But before the glove could touch the ground, it halted mid-air, suspended by an unseen force. Confused murmurs rippled through the group. Isabella''s eyes narrowed. She glanced at the Heartfire triplets and the Iron-Claw siblings; they looked just as bewildered. ''This feels eerily familiar,'' she thought, a chill running down her spine. A high-pitched voice sliced through the confusion. "Quite the gathering for such a blatant breach of conduct, isn''t it, Bella?" Spinning around, Isabella''s gaze landed on a figure stepping out from the shadows. Her eyes widened as recognition set in. "You? They sent you?!" ... In Moorgrel Manor''s opulent dining hall, the rich aroma of roasted meats and exotic spices mingled with the scent of polished wood and aged wine. Golden chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, their light casting a warm glow over the ancient oak table adorned with fine porcelain and crystal goblets, which shimmered like a tranquil lake at dawn. At the head of the table sat Count Aurelian L. Moorgrel, a man of distinguished bearing. One of his eyes gleamed ruby red, the other sapphire blue¡ªa hereditary trait that added to the charm of the Moorgrel lineage. His elongated ears, covered in soft blue fur and neatly braided behind him, subtly twitched as he savored a bite of seared salmon. He delicately sliced into his seared salmon, every movement exuding elegance. "Alexander is quite the troublemaker, isn''t he?" His voice was smooth but carried a rasp like velvet brushing against stone. "I suspect him to come after Valvos." Across from him, Countess Seraphina P. Moorgrel swirled her wine thoughtfully, auburn waves cascading over a gown embroidered with silver threads. Her eyes danced with a mix of amusement and intrigue. "We have no solid proof of his actions, and Marisia was wise not to probe too deeply," she remarked a hint of relief in her tone. "At least she''s not too law-abiding, so we do not need to take drastic measures." Two elegant male peacock kin moved silently around the table, refilling glasses and clearing plates with practiced grace. The family dined amidst discussions of the most captivating topic of recent months¡ªAlexander K. Leonandra. What began as a mere acknowledgment of his genius had evolved into strategic contemplation, as the Moorgrel Household found themselves needing contingency plans for the young upstart. Aurelian chuckled softly, his furred ears twitching in amusement. "Advocating leniency, are we? Quite the bold stance for a Countess." "Oh please," Seraphina waved a delicate and chubby hand dismissively. "Rules are meant to evolve, dear. Without adaptation, they become stagnant¡ªlike water left to rot. Don''t you agree?" "Naturally," he replied, patting his mouth with a silk napkin. Turning his gaze to their puppies seated at the table''s sides, he posed a question. "So, who among you understands why your mother''s perspective is so vital?" Esmeralda S. Moorgrel was the first to speak. Her eyes, mirroring her parents'' chromatic gaze, sparkled with confidence. "It''s to expose the disloyal, Father," she stated. Her overgrown and plush tail, adorned with multicolored gems¡ªanother hallmark of their heritage¡ªswayed gracefully behind her. "The spirit of the law holds more weight than its letter. By allowing minor breaches, we see who remains faithful to what we intended with the law."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Her brother, Zafiro A. Moorgrel, interjected from across the table. "I beg to differ," he said, pushing a lock of dark hair away from his face. Though youthful in appearance, like everyone else, his eyes held the wisdom of someone far beyond his years. "As rulers, we must provide clear guidelines. If we introduce ambiguity, we erode trust and invite chaos. Our prosperity thrives on stability." The grand fireplace crackled softly, flames casting dancing shadows on tapestries depicting their lineage. These debates were a daily ritual¡ªmental sparring designed to sharpen their minds and deepen their understanding of governance and other numerous topics. Winning was unimportant, but they had to comprehend each time something new, the methodology of the other''s thoughts, and reflect on their own. Esmeralda scoffed, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "First of all, it was an agreement, not a law that Alex broke, and second, rigidity needs to be in place for such eccentric figures, who are trying to undermine it at any time, thinking their solutions or morals are superior to ours." Zafiro rolled his eyes. "Semantics. The point remains¡ª" He took a sip of wine, continuing, "¡ªwe should consider relaxing some of our policies, especially since Alexander has shown he''s not following his grandmother''s... volatile footsteps." She arched an eyebrow. "Is that your stellar argument? Care to offer something less simplistic? How do you justify opening borders to the southeast solely for Alexander''s conquests? The council won''t remain silent, especially those who feel slighted by Barth''s actions¡ª" her mouth turned ever so slightly up, remembering that he still had soldiers in those territories to recoup his losses, "¡ªand still are." His eyebrows mimicked hers, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Feeling competitive today, sister?" Setting down his silverware, he leaned forward. "We are out of the council and shouldn''t care anymore what a bunch of traitors think. Other than that, who dares to go against us? We can always threaten to open more war theaters like in the North, where the Nightmare is still carving out land piece by piece." Esmeralda met his gaze unflinchingly. "Are you truly advocating for Alexander? Or is there another reason for your eagerness?" She smirked, a teasing glint in her eye. "Still harboring that fondness for young men being in charge, brother? I always thought you preferred being the one in control." While insulting and teasing each other wasn''t productive, it was undoubtedly part of their debates, trying to stay calm and ignore it or even answer accordingly. A brief flicker of annoyance crossed Zafiro''s face, deciding to ignore the slight. "If you''re so intent on hindering his progress, perhaps you should see Wolfsteeth for yourself. Witness how this so-called ''rule breaker'' is transforming it into Moorgrel''s new capital." His expression turned serious. "I''m earnest when I say we shouldn''t stifle him. His drive is propelling our territory forward. Impede him, and we risk pushing him toward a path resembling his family''s more... infamous members." The room fell silent, the weight of his words hanging heavily¡ªa fun debate turning into a decisive discussion. Even though his proposal seemed far from their reputation¡ªcold pragmatism and vindictive brutality¡ªwithin their inner circle, they were visionaries committed to advancing their domain. Esmeralda glanced between her brother and their parents, realization dawning. "So you propose we bend the rules for him? That''s a dangerous precedent. Others may exploit it." "You misunderstand," Zafiro replied coolly, settling back into his seat. "I''ve studied his speeches. His vision is inspiring, but I am not blind toward his idealistic nature¡ªwe must remain pragmatic." "Pragmatic?" Esmeralda echoed. "If we were pragmatic, we would already emulate Alex, copying his success¡ª" she groaned, annoyance spreading over her face as she leaned back. "¡ªI thought at least Feather-Paw would help him, but no." He sighed. "Emulating him is premature. We need to observe and understand the method of his apparent madness¡ª" he took another sip, clearing the glass. "¡ªHe is so sure, but how can we be? He is like Merlin in his younger days, truly." Her eyes gleamed with challenge. "You''re referring to Alexander''s belief that commoners are equal to nobles?" He shrugged. "To some extent, I agree." "Only to some extent?" she pressed. "The System is omnipotent," he clarified. "Legacies, while controllable, are influenced by bloodlines." She nodded thoughtfully. "Which can be cultivated over generations." "Precisely. But that takes time¡ªcenturies, perhaps millennia." She leaned back, a playful smile tugging at her lips. "In a rush, are we?" He chuckled softly. "Not at all. But history warns us that abrupt revolutions often end in catastrophe. The gradual change ensures lasting progress." She tilted her head, considering his words. "Perhaps you''re right. But clinging too tightly to caution can also hinder growth." "Agreed," he conceded. "Which is why we must find a balance." Aurelian tapped his glass lightly, drawing their attention. "Your debate is enlightening¡ª" he chuckled heartily, "¡ªeven the sudden change in positions, but we must address Alexander''s actions carefully. We don''t want to discourage him, but we can''t allow unchecked overreach. Any repercussions should be minor if he steps out of line again¡ªa gentle reminder, not a harsh punishment." Nobody in the Count''s Household saw Alexander''s philanthropic ideals as an eyesore, but how to control the boy and his actions was a problem¡ªeven when he overstepped any boundaries. All knew too well that when it comes to progress, such things would happen more often than not, as laws and customs didn''t dictate the world but the other way around. They were sure that he would continue, which they also aimed for, but they wanted him to slow down, not create an intense change over a short period. Such things usually didn''t play out well for anyone, wrecking progress or morphing it into something less desirable. As such, they had to do it in a manner that did not make the boy stop his efforts¡ªa balancing act that they had already discussed for weeks, if not months. Silence settled over the room until Esmeralda broke it. "Perhaps we offer forgiveness while inviting him to become our retainer and maybe groom him to become my new husband." Her eyes gleamed with cunning and greed, slightly blushing. "We could persuade Marisia and the esteemed Druid with the right incentives. Allow Sarah to join me as a second wife, a goodwill gesture. Under our guidance, he can pursue his dreams, and we might overlook some of his... indiscretions." Zafiro shook his head slowly. "He''s too¡ªwhat''s the word?¡ªfree-spirited. His successes stem from the liberties the Leonadras afford him. Binding him too tightly could stifle his creativity or worse." The Countess raised a curious eyebrow. "So, what do you propose?" Zafiro leaned back thoughtfully. "We feign indignation, perhaps even hint at reasonable consequences. But we offer subtle hints of what we desire and what would appease us. He should align with our interests, and since he tries to garner favors with other Guard Households, we may act forgiving and listen to them, only staging a minor retribution trial¡ªa slap on the wrist, so to say, nothing more while collecting favors and goodwill from them who supported the boy." Aurelian nodded thoughtfully. "I like the idea, and since the last Redemption Trials were mostly one-sided, nobody knows what it means to support someone; take the chaos of Scarlet''s massacres and the Mad Doctor''s plagues¡ªeverybody wanted them punished." He agreed, looking proudly at his son, "Your approach has merit, but we must tread carefully. The last thing we want is for Alexander to seek refuge elsewhere¡ªespecially with the Emperor." "Understood, Father," Zafiro replied solemnly. Turning to Esmeralda, Aurelian added, "You''ll act as his support. Take someone trustworthy with you, and keep your identity concealed while your brother takes the lead. Perhaps his retainers will reveal valuable insights once you''ve gained their trust." She smiled gracefully. "I won''t disappoint you, Father." A weird dynamic unfolded, but one that they tried to establish through all noble households in their realm¡ªunification and cooperation. Every household should follow a goal, something they desire, and don''t squabble for positions. But greed wasn''t always controllable, which resulted in two Count positions, one for the South, an unofficial one, and one for the rest of their domain. The South, in general, was peaceful and regarded as an economic powerhouse. There, all the noble offspring who didn''t become heirs but still wanted to rule went. This system was created to provide stability and rivalry without overwhelming jealousy. Countess Seraphina beamed. "I''m proud of both of you. This is an opportunity to witness true innovation. Remember, we need individuals like Alexander¡ªnot to suppress them, but to guide them." A servant approached silently, refilling their glasses. As he departed, Zafiro glanced at his sister. "Seems we''ll be collaborating after all." She grinned mischievously. With a flourish, her form began to shimmer. Her petite frame elongated, slowly turning from carbuncle kin to a mix of various canine kin races. Her height increased from 1.45m (~4.76ft), an average height for their family, to 1.8m (~6ft). After a moment, the shimmer turned even her clothing, from delicate silk to finely crafted armor and sword strapped confidently at his side. "For fortune an'' blood, you ol'' fool, am I rite?" Everyone stared at her as she tried to sound like a lowly commoner, only to laugh at her lousy dialect. The family burst into laughter at her theatrical display. Zafiro wiped a tear from his eye. "Always the dramatist, aren''t you?" She winked, her eyes twinkling. "Only when the role demands it." He sighed, heaving the glass into the air for a toast, "I am excited to see him directly and not just from reports." She copied that, her posture and expression betraying the form she took, "Shall tha'' soul'' burn or something something! Guhahaha!" As both siblings joked around, unable to finish the toast, Countess Seraphina clapped her hands softly, interrupting them and heaving her glass. "Wonderful. With both of you on this, I am confident we''ll navigate these waters smoothly." Aurelian was the last one, "For Moorgrel!" Knowing too well that he didn''t need to add anything. Outside, the moon cast a silvery glow over Moorgrel Manor, its light reflecting off the gemstone-studded spires. The stage was set, and as the night unfolded, so too did the intricate web of destiny that bound them all. Chapter 223: Its just a prank ... A delicate fragrance of blooming flowers and sweet confections wafted through the air as Zafiro stood at the heart of Wolfsteeth''s western district, now cheekily dubbed the Love Shack. The recently repurposed area buzzed with life, its cobblestone streets lined with quaint shops displaying trinkets of affection¡ªhandcrafted jewelry, plush toys, and bouquets of rare blossoms. Couples strolled hand in hand, their laughter mingling with the melodies of street musicians. ''All this because of one boy,'' Zafiro mused, observing the vibrant scene before him. Alexander''s romantic gestures had sparked a cultural phenomenon, inspiring even the most stoic of Wolfsteeth''s residents to embrace displays of affection. It was remarkable how a single individual''s actions could ripple through society, shifting norms and igniting new traditions. ''Such a fascinating boy,'' he thought, his mind turning over the puzzle that was Alexander. He possessed a charm that captivated the masses¡ªgenuine kindness that resonated deeply with people. Zafiro had spent days wandering the city, witnessing firsthand the impact of Alexander''s influence. The Love Shack was merely a glimpse into the boy''s heart¡ªa testament to his desire to uplift others. But beneath the surface, Zafiro sensed a complexity that intrigued him. ''There''s more to him than meets the eye.'' His thoughts shifted as he noticed Isabella''s gaze switching from her floating glove to him. ''I can''t ignore those fools then, can I?'' he sighed inwardly. If the puppyish conflict escalated¡ªleading to hurt and worse, it could tarnish Alexander''s efforts to build goodwill among the households. Typically, Zafiro refrained from meddling in his peers'' disputes. Young nobles often clashed, their fiery tempers leading to duels and disputes that seldom required intervention. As long as commoners weren''t harmed, he let them sort it out. But today felt different. The stakes were higher, and the potential fallout greater. He recalled the stories of Scarlet¡ªa prodigy whose brilliance was overshadowed by her cruelty. She had carved a path of devastation, her bloodlust earning her the moniker Nightmare. She drowned villages in seas of blood of their loved ones who fought on the battlefield as punishment, making her name synonymous with terror. In contrast, Alexander used his gifts to heal and support, going as far as using prestigious mages to clean streets and aid the destitute. Two sides of the same coin, but what would happen if Alexander were pushed too far? ''We can''t afford another Nightmare,'' Zafiro thought, his gaze hardening. The weight of responsibility settled on his shoulders. He had to act for Alexander''s sake and Moorgrel''s sake. While Scarlet was undoubtedly a military power like no other, she was also unpredictable, making diplomacy almost impossible to achieve. Isabella''s eyes widened in astonishment as she locked gazes with Zafiro. He stood there with an air of nonchalance, a playful smirk tugging at his mouth''s corners. "You seem to have dropped this," he remarked, his voice carrying a hint of mischief as he levitated the glove back to her. The surrounding nobles turned their attention to him, whispers rippling through the crowd of common onlookers, who were still watching from a seemingly safe distance. The Heart-Fire triplets¡ªPersephone, Styx, and Lethe¡ªexchanged confused glances, their earlier aggression momentarily forgotten. Isabella, too, saw them calming¡ªsheathing her rapier and slipping the glove back on, her expression a mix of irritation and curiosity. Before Zafiro could offer another quip, a towering figure approached. Freya Iron-Claw strode over, her emerald eyes filled with genuine concern. Her presence was commanding, muscles honed beneath an elegant dress that seemed almost out of place on her warrior''s frame. Beside her, Bjoern moved with a quiet caution, his gaze assessing Zafiro with suspicion and intrigue. "Well, would ya look at that, Bjoern!" Freya exclaimed, her accent rolling like distant thunder. "A wee lad playin'' with magic tricks. Ain''t he just the cutest? Did ya try to help the ol'' lady over there?" Bjoern crouched to meet Zafiro''s eye level, his sapphire eyes soft yet piercing. "Aye, young one¡ªit''s dangerous here with many unsavory folks about. Should we find a guard to help you locate your parents?" Heat flushed Zafiro''s cheeks as he realized the misunderstanding. ''Right, the attire.'' Dressed in simple commoner clothes¡ªworn leather boots, a plain white shirt, and linen pants smudged with dust¡ªhe hardly looked the part of the nobility. His carbuncle-kin features didn''t help; the soft, greenish fur and bright eyes often led others to mistake him for a puppy. Squaring his shoulders, he met their patronizing gazes. "I assure you, I am no pup," he declared, injecting as much authority into his voice as his stature allowed. "As you''ve witnessed, my abilities speak for themselves." Freya chuckled, ruffling his hair with a teasing grin. "Oh, I know, lil'' pup. You''re probably an outstanding student, eh?" Bjoern nodded appreciatively. "Impressive magic for someone so young." Zafiro stepped back, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. "Listen here! I am Zafi¡ª" "Nice to meet ya, Zafi!" Freya interrupted, her smile widening. "But you should really be on yer way." She cast a stern glance at Isabella, her demeanor shifting. "This isn''t a place fo'' pups." Looking for help, Zafiro spotted, out of the corner of his eye, his sister and a guard stifling their laughter, clearly enjoying his predicament. ''You''ll pay for this,'' he vowed silently, irritation gnawing at him. But the humiliation was secondary to the larger issue at hand. Persephone''s sly grin caught his attention. "Aw, listen to him. So earnest! Tell me, little one, where are your parents?" Styx and Lethe snickered, their amusement evident. Zafiro''s hands clenched into fists. ''It''s always the same,'' he thought bitterly. Since he could think of, he was never taken seriously, but so wasn''t his Father, who looked barely older than someone right after their first mating season¡ªa curse for being too cute but perfect to deceive people, making them let their defense fall.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Isabella chimed in with a mocking smile. "Perhaps we should help him find his way home. Can''t have a lost pup wandering about, can we?" Freya and Bjoern exchanged puzzled glances, seemingly oblivious to the teasing. Bjoern leaned in, concern etched on his face. "We didn''t mean any harm. Just thought yer might need some help." An idea sparked in Zafiro''s mind. ''Let''s make it interesting if they want to play games.'' He allowed his eyes to glisten with unshed tears, his lower lip quivering ever so slightly. Drawing upon his [Acting] skill, he looked up at the Iron-Claw siblings with feigned vulnerability as if suddenly broken down. "I... I was just trying to find someone to help," he stammered, his voice barely above a whisper. "That lady''s friends," he pointed shakily at Persephone, who stiffened, "they... they hurt my sister. She chased her ball into the street, and they just... ran her over. When I went to the Temple for help¡ª" he cast a fearful glance at Isabella, "¡ªher friends beat me up and took my donations." He continued, his expression and movements perfect as he described how he wanted to take the coin back because he was religious and didn''t want to make a wrong impression on the Temple. He wished to become part of it, knowing that Freya and Bjoern were firm believers. Freya''s eyes widened, a storm brewing within their depths. "What did ya say?" she growled, her accent thickening with her rising anger. Bjoern''s expression darkened, his jaw set in a grim line. "Is this true? Did yer people harm this boy''s kin?" Isabella''s confident facade cracked. "What? That''s ridiculous! He''s lying!" Persephone stepped forward, her eyes narrowing to slits. "A convenient story. You''re quite the storyteller, aren''t you, Za¡ª" But Freya cut her off, her gaze hardening. "I won''t stand for harm comin'' to a pup," she declared, her voice ice-cold and unforgiving. Before anyone could defuse the situation, Bjoern surged forward, his aura erupting with raw power. "ye''ll pay for what yer done!" he roared. Isabella barely had time to draw her rapier before his fist collided with her blade, the force bending the metal and sending shockwaves through the air. "Have you lost your mind?!" Isabella shouted, struggling to maintain her footing. She tried to channel her [Energy], but the risk of harming bystanders held her back. Bjoern''s relentless assault left her scrambling, barely able to deflect his attacks. Persephone snarled, her voice laced with urgency. "Enough of this!" She clasped her hands, drawing in a deep breath. A haunting melody spilled from her lips, weaving a spell to strengthen her brothers. But Freya was a step ahead. Activating her [Mystic Skill], she blurred into motion, her form becoming translucent. "Yer think yer fancy singing can save ya?" she taunted, her voice echoing eerily. Persephone''s song faltered as Freya appeared beside her, phasing in and out like specters. She swung a fist, and though Persephone tried to evade, the blow grazed her arm, a chilling numbness spreading from the point of contact. Styx summoned a barrier of fiery energy, his eyes blazing. "Back off!" he hissed. Freya laughed, slipping through his defenses like smoke. "Yer think ya can stop me?" Her muscles coiled like steel ropes, a predatory glint in her eyes. Lethe stepped forward, dark energy swirling around his hands. "Bind her!" he commanded, launching tendrils of shadow toward Freya. But she vanished, reappearing beside him in an instant¡ªher kick connected with brutal force, sending him hurtling past Zafiro and crashing into a nearby building. Amidst the chaos, Zafiro watched with a mix of satisfaction and apprehension. ''Perhaps I''ve taken this a bit too far,'' he admitted. The marketplace had erupted into a battlefield, and panicked commoners scattered in all directions¡ªmaking some opportunists appear. ''Hmm, trying to steal amidst the chaos?'' Zafiro''s eyes narrowed. With a subtle gesture, he focused on a young thief reaching into an old man''s pocket. The pickpocketer suddenly stumbled, his eyes darting in all directions, while his limbs became uncontrollable. He babbled incoherently before collapsing and emptying his stomach onto the cobblestones. The Moorgrel household had no flashy [Mystic Skills] or [Wild Demonic Energy] as most were about trickery and manipulation. The only thing they had were two [Mystic Skills]. One could increase their [Luck] immensely, which often turned the tides in their favor. At the same time, the other could lower it against enemies¡ªunseen and underestimated, frequently seen as a joke until it destroyed them. But, it was too strong to use it now, as it could lead to severe consequences, so he had to use his [Mystic Skill] that could manipulate the perception, making them think that up was down, left was right, etc. as he tried to control the crowd. After Zafiro knocked out the fourth troublemaker, he sighed, realizing the situation was spiraling. ''I should put an end to this before someone gets seriously hurt.'' Yet, as he considered intervening, a towering wolf-kin stepped between Isabella and Bjoern, effortlessly halting their attacks and sending a shockwave through the area. "Enough! Stand down, all of you," the newcomer commanded, his deep voice resonating with authority. Zafiro recognized him instantly. ''Maurice. So, he''s here.'' Maurice held Isabella''s bent rapier in one hand and Bjoern''s clenched fist in the other, his expression stern¡ªan apron was tied around his waist, and he carried a bag of baking ingredients with his tail¡ªa peculiar sight that contrasted sharply with the tension in the air. Bjoern withdrew, eyeing Maurice warily. "Who might ya be?" Isabella relaxed her stance, relief washing over her features. "You must be¡ª" Anguished cries cut off her words from across the square. "What nonsense is this?!" Freya struggled mid-air, ensnared by shimmering threads that coiled around her translucent form. "Who dares threaten me? Show yourself!" Persephone shouted, gripping a thread that pressed dangerously against her throat. "Enough of this!" A voice echoed, amplified by magic. A young woman stepped forward, her fingers deftly manipulating the threads that bound Freya and Persephone. Her upper eyes¡ªthose of a spider-kin¡ªglowed a fierce crimson, betraying her anger. "Push, and I''ll slice you to pieces," she warned, tightening the threads until they bit into skin. Zafiro observed her with interest. ''Alexander''s disciple. Impressive control.'' Despite the tension, she maintained her composure, though her clenched jaw hinted at the effort it took. Freya''s eyes blazed with defiance. "Release me! They deserve a beatin''!" Persephone''s gaze burned with indignation. "We were attacked without cause!" Zafiro felt a twinge of guilt. ''This has escalated beyond a simple prank.'' He contemplated stepping in to reveal the truth when a cold whisper brushed against his ear. "Quite the spectacle you''ve orchestrated." He stiffened, turning to face Narsiz¡ªa wolf-kin with sleek blond hair and piercing golden eyes. His smile was sharp, lacking warmth, and the air around him seemed to chill. "Narsiz," Zafiro acknowledged cautiously. Narsiz chuckled softly. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic. Stirring up trouble among the Houses? That''s a bold move." Zafiro met his gaze steadily. "I have no idea what you''re implying." "Come now," Narsiz replied, his tone dripping with feigned sympathy. "Perhaps we should pay Alex a visit. I''m sure he''d be most interested in today''s... events." They held each other''s gaze, a silent battle of wills. Memories of past encounters flickered in Zafiro''s mind. Narsiz had once been shy, almost endearing, but time had sharpened him into something far more dangerous. ''This isn''t good,'' Zafiro thought, weighing his options. But he didn''t have to think for long, knowing he was at fault. As the chaos began to subside, Zafiro took a deep breath. "Very well," he said quietly. "Perhaps a conversation with your brother is in order." Narsiz''s smile widened ever so slightly. "Excellent choice." Chapter 224: Compelling Mediation ... How would one define agony? Some might say that the death of a loved one was the pinnacle of suffering; others might describe relentless depression and suicidal thoughts as pure desperation. But Alexander was ready to throttle Narsiz and perhaps himself just to escape the nightmare unfolding before him. "She started it!" Persephone pointed enraged at Freya while looking toward Alexander, "This is but a barbarian!" "No, he did!" Freya shot back, unwilling to accept the blame. Instead, she turned her glare toward Zafiro. "T''was the orphan''s thinkin'' from start to finish." Zafiro stomped his foot, squaring his shoulders defensively. "I never said you should try to kill them!" Seated comfortably, Alexander watched the spectacle with weary eyes, slowly chewing on the black-tart candies he affectionately called brain teasers for apparent reasons. The bittersweetness of apple and citrus taste, combined with the lingering burn of death, soothed him, allowing brief moments of clarity amid the storm. Those allowed him to have a clear head, enough to reserve an entire floor of the Wintersleep Hotel for their impromptu meeting, anticipating the possibility of heated tempers. The last thing he needed was for the future heirs to make a scene in public. ''Can''t say I''m too surprised,'' Alexander mused, watching the squabble unfold. He''d expected tensions, but witnessing the Count''s offspring acting as brashly as any Guard Household scion was exasperating. ''Maybe I gave him much credit.'' Styx''s voice cut through the clamor, directed at Bjoern. "Those idiots attacked us, believing that liar! This little fucker wants to lead us?" He spat to the side in disgust. "I would have thrashed you if your bitch of a sister hadn''t ambushed us!" Alexander''s tail swished lazily behind him as he observed the heated exchange, his ears twitching with amusement as the candy''s effects settled in¡ªa warm haze dulling his frustration. Lorient leaned in close, her whisper pulling him back to reality, making his ears twitch. "Alex, I''m not the expert here, but shouldn''t we intervene?" He sighed, his tail pausing mid-swish. "Let them tire themselves out first," he murmured, popping another candy into his mouth. "I haven''t the patience to play nanny to a pack of wild pups." Bjoern stepped forward, his gait steady and eyes aflame. "Oh, ye think ye can stir me, eh?" He jabbed a thumb toward the door. "Let''s do this right¡ªreal warriors settlin'' it with a proper spar!" Styx opened his mouth to accept the challenge, but Persephone seized the end of his blazer, pulling him back. Her gaze was intense, almost pleading. "Dear, you will not fight this barbarian." Seeing the exchange, Bjoern smirked, his voice dripping with mockery. "Oh? Yer mistress got ye on a tight leash, eh? Won''t be gettin'' yer treats if ye step outta line, lil'' pup?" The atmosphere in the room shifted, tension coiling like a spring ready to snap. Narsiz and Lorient exchanged glances before both leaned in to whisper urgently in Alexander''s ear. "Alex," Lorient began, her tone insistent. "Remember how you told me to get my shit together with the Strip? I suggest you stop this before it gets out of hand." She sighed softly. "I like the bar in this hotel, and if they ban us, I might actually kill one of them." Alexander arched an eyebrow, a sly smile tugging at his lips¡ªshe had a point. It was amusing that their subjects could ban them, something their Mother had made clear. Other than that, they would also always be met with harsher punishment than any commoner¡ªprivilege and expectation went hand in hand. Narsiz added, his voice steady but firm. "If they get serious, someone might die. And knowing you, you might take out more than one." He tapped Alexander''s ears gently. "You''re twitching constantly, and the candies are barely calming you. Intervene before you actually kill them." His words were louder than a whisper, drawing everyone''s attention to Alexander. ''You little fucker,'' Alexander thought, his lips curving at how effective such a simple trick was on a group of hotheaded teenagers. Freya was the first to react. "Heh, ye plannin'' to take me on? No offense, but ain''t ye a bit¡ª" Her grin shifted into a sly smirk. "¡ªtoo small fer that?" He bit down on his candy, the sharp flavor cutting through his thoughts. "Fine." Rising from his chair, he stood tall¡ªeye to eye with Styx, shy of six feet but still smaller than her. As he shrugged off his blazer and rolled up his sleeves, Freya''s gaze lingered on the scars crisscrossing his arms¡ªa faint blush dusted her cheeks. Loosening his tie and undoing the top button of his shirt, Alexander''s demeanor shifted, an aura of intensity radiating from him. The room seemed to hold its breath. "Wanna have a go? I''m always up for demonstrating what mana can do. Think of it as a friendly exchange of pointers." Freya''s blush deepened, but her grin was feral. She sauntered toward him, her aura flaring like a wild flame. Her green eyes, reminiscent of deep forests, locked onto his. "Aye, this is what I''ve been lookin'' for," she purred. "Let''s strike a wager, boy." When Alexander saw her expression, it was all too familiar¡ªthe same possessiveness he''d seen in many accomplished girls of the Guard Households. They didn''t just desire him; they wanted to own him. Only Matilda, Vanessa, and Sarah had ever considered his feelings, allowing him to make his own choices without undue pressure. It wasn''t entirely consensual, but Sarah, given her position and age, had done her best not to manipulate him. Was it strange for Alexander, mentally older and more knowledgeable about their behavior, to be so carefree? Not particularly. It was a different world with customs he couldn''t change since the wider society gladly accepted them¡ªsomething he also had no interest in changing, seeing how Merlin went nowhere because the Earth''s moral compass held no value in Orbis. Was it hypocritical for him to force specific changes while allowing others he disliked similarly to stay? Perhaps, if his endeavors had failed. But they hadn''t. His unique perspective was making a difference, and he needed to adjust to the natural changes while assessing if his societal solutions had lasting merit. Returning to the present, he met Freya''s starving gaze, which spoke volumes. "I can guess what you want," he said evenly. "Why not spell it out?" She tilted her head, muscles tensing beneath her skin. "I know a true mate when I see one. Yer the only one who sets my instincts ablaze." Her expression teetered on the edge of ecstasy as her pheromones thickened the air. "I want ya, no matter what promises''ve been made." Alexander smiled back though he felt no genuine interest. The prospect of the bet intrigued him more. "Then, what do I get if I beat you?" Freya spread her arms wide, pushing her opulent chest forward. "Anythin'' ye want, lil'' boy! I''ll grant yer wish¡ªeven if it means takin'' down me own Father!" At this, Bjoern stepped forward, alarmed. But Freya silenced him with a sharp glance. "I know yer secret, so ye best keep quiet¡ª''less ye fancy some sufferin''." An uncomfortable silence settled as brother and sister stared each other down. Alexander chuckled, breaking the tension. "What a ridiculous bet," he said, shaking his head. "Let me be honest¡ªI don''t need anything from you." Freya''s aura flared, her hands clenched into white-tinted fists, and her tail flinched erratically, but Alexander had enough. He unleashed his own aura, the air tinged with crimson killing intent that made even the Iron-Claws flinch. "Don''t overestimate your standing here," he said coolly. "But I''ll humor you. If you win, I''ll grant you a rendezvous and the chance to become my second wife. How does that sound?" Her eyes narrowed, followed by a cocky smile flashing across her face. "An'' what d''ye get if ye win?" Alexander''s smile turned cold, arrogance seeping through. "The satisfaction of putting you in your place," he replied, echoing in the silent room. Even Narsiz and Lorient exchanged worried glances at his hubris.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Freya turned to a servant by the door, retrieving a spatial pouch. "Ye''ll get yer wish, ye lil'' punk," she said, drawin'' out two one-handed maces. Her smile was gone. "I''ll make ye regret ever underestimatin'' me." Alexander clapped once, the sound sharp and contrasting his joy in the tense air. "Excellent choice! Let''s have a friendly duel where I bash your head in," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. ... Standing in the city guard''s underground training area¡ªa spacious hall with dirt floors and minimal adornment¡ªthe nobles and their guards gathered along the sidelines. Conversations buzzed among them, and even Isabella, who was keeping her distance, found herself chatting with Persephone and Narsiz. Alexander stretched, happy that he got such an idea. This little duel could immediately mediate between them, showing who had the say. While he disliked such methods, they were the most effective, especially given his time constraints. ''They really don''t respect me, but only what I did,'' he mused, knowing the difference. They saw him as nothing but a genius they could manipulate since they squabbled right in front of him, not holding back and using their flimsy justifications¡ªa quick duel would make them quickly understand that he would not hold back. He took his stance, mana swirling subtly around him as he pre-constructed several spells. "Ready to eat dirt?" he taunted, a playful smirk on his lips. Freya stood across from him, spinning her maces with practiced ease. "Ye know, a genius don''t stand a chance against someone who''s finished their legacy¡ªonce they get serious. No amount o'' magic''ll close that gap," she said, though a hint of uncertainty flickered in her eyes. Alexander snorted, "Are you sure about that?" She shrugged, nonchalant in her demeanor, "Fine, I''ll¡ª" Bjoern called out from the sidelines, interrupting her. "Take ''im serious! Ain''t no weakling could control an ancient aura like that without losin'' their mind!" Zafiro interjected, his tone light, a mischievous glint sparkling in his eyes. "But isn''t he just an Architect of Warfare? No offense, but they''re not known for one-on-one duels. Brilliant with administration and strategy, sure, but combat?" The Count''s son looked at Alexander as if wanting to help him out, but he disagreed since such a duel could lead to more problems if not properly held, especially with an Iron-Claw who put a high importance on honor. "I could take both positions but decided on the current title because Sarah disliked those things," he smiled cheekily, "For love, you know?" Freya studied him, then nodded. "Fine." She settled into a ready stance, her expression serious. "If ya think I need to." "That''s what I like to see!" He looked over at the others¡ªZafiro appeared puzzled, Narsiz facepalmed, while Lorient, Bjoern, and Styx stood with arms crossed, mirroring each other''s approving nods. "Who''ll play referee?" Lorient, Styx, and Bjoern stepped forward, exchanging silent glances before Styx spoke up. "I''ll start the duel, but we''ll all keep an eye out. If things get too heated, we''ll step in." After a moment of silence, Freya and Alexander locked eyes again, the air between them charged with an unspoken challenge. Styx raised his hand. "Begin!" Both flashed, leaving a blur that made the onlookers gasp. They appeared only a moment later before each other¡ªAlexander''s hands ignited with flames, dancing and culminating on his fingertips, turning into searing heat. At the same time, Freya moved with fluid grace, her movements almost otherworldly. Alexander struck first, a streak of scalding red leaving into the air¡ªFreya bent like a reed in the wind, evading effortlessly. She countered with a swing of her mace, aiming to end the duel swiftly. He responded by manipulating localized pressure spells, twisting his body in impossible ways to dodge. As her mace whistled past his head, he retaliated with a backward kick, channeling the repurposed slicing technique toward her neck. Freya''s eyes widened as she brought up her other mace to block. The clash sent shockwaves rippling through the arena, stray winds cutting shallow lines across her skin and forcing the spectators to shield themselves. Persephone watched in awe as Lethe had difficulties shielding her. "This is ridiculous," she mumbled under her breath, unable to believe the unorthodox fighting style¡ªusing spells in combination with physical attacks. Hope flickered within her. If Alexander could wield magic this way, perhaps she, born without [Energy Veins and Core], could also learn. Her heart beat faster, and warmth flooded her, even imagining the possibilities. The occasional worries she felt about coming here were washed away immediately. As Alexander and Freya clashed, they separated briefly. He launched compressed earth projectiles toward her, each carrying the force of a battering ram. Freya deflected them, her hands numb from the impact. ''What is this nonsense?'' she thought, panic rising. He matched her, move for move, with a skill that belied his age. After blocking several more projectiles, she realized that giving him space was a mistake. ''He''s controlling the battlefield,'' she acknowledged, acknowledging that her assumptions of him were belied. Deciding to close the gap, she shifted into her translucent form, slipping past his defenses, the projectiles passing through her, leaving nothing but a swishing sound. Alexander smirked, his arrogance making her pop a vein. "How fancy," he remarked casually. "I''ll show ye what real strength looks like!" she retorted, her maces aiming for decisive blows¡ªmaking him unable to flee. Zafiro called out, concern creeping into his voice. "Be ready to intervene!" He was impressed but knew that skills of this magnitude could be dangerous, especially for those not even in the same growing phase. Isabella nodded, tension evident in her stance. "He''s in over his head!" Watching them, Zafiro suddenly became confused as Alexander jumped backward, brought his hands together, and formed a rectangle, one eye closed in focus. "Say cheese!" he exclaimed. Narsiz shouted urgently, "Cover your eyes and ears! Now!" Before anyone could react, a blinding flash erupted, followed by a deafening explosion. The shockwave rattled the arena, and the spectators cried out, some falling to their knees. Zafiro was one of them, even though he did as Narsiz said, using considerable [Energy] to shield himself. However, the massive, high-pitched explosion was too strong. As he was on his knees, barely knowing where up and down was, the ringing sound still assaulted his ears¡ªfeeling how something wet flowed down the side of his head while simultaneously his eyes burned, ''A monster.'' Zafiro forced himself to look, even though his eyes hurt immensely, only to see a Freya staggering, disoriented, and out of her translucent form. She swung her maces erratically as blood dripped out of her ears, screaming something he still couldn''t hear. Alexander, though, stood to the side, watching her struggle, a hint of concern crossing his features. ''Maybe I overdid it,'' he admitted to himself. But it was also a gamble for him as he couldn''t be sure when analyzing her [Mystic Skill]¡ªsince she could speak and see in her form, it meant that she had access to light and the air around them. It was probable that her skill would become far stronger once it leveled up enough and she went through the tests, but for now, the risk he took played off. "I''ll kill ye, ye little rat¡ªargh!" Her screams were desperate, like an injured wild animal being cornered. Alexander wanted to attack but felt it would be better to end it in a way she couldn''t deny afterward¡ªwhile honor was meaningful, pettiness could still come through due to her age, making his life Outer Circle during the campaign. After a good minute, Freya could hear and see again, her breath ragged as she locked eyes with Alexander, "Ye lil'' bastard!" He shrugged nonchalantly, his smile unfazed. "Want to see something really cool?" His eyes gleamed dangerously. "Something really, really cool?" Freya took her stance, her body''s muscles coiling like steel ropes underneath her skin, making her appear as if nothing had happened, "Bring it on, lad." Before he could answer, she disappeared, her speed at least twice as fast as before, making Alexander realize that he had to take it seriously. His body burned as the mana started to flow at extreme speeds, his heart racing, muscles twitching uncontrollably, and his mind flooding with numerous senses¡ªhe disappeared too, his speed matching hers flawlessly. They appeared all around the training ground, sending shockwaves after shockwaves through the area as tremors rang out due to their confrontations¡ªa cacophony of cracking and breaking resounded as Alexander and Freya fought brutally but honestly. Alexander laughed, a sound both joyous and unsettling. "Come on! Faster! Stronger! Show me how much you want me!" Freya answered, her screams a mix of frustration and determination. She shifted in and out of her translucent form, trying desperately to land a blow. But he was always a step ahead, matching her move for move. "Shouldn''t we step in?" Bjoern urged, worry creasing his brow. Freya was pushing herself to the brink, and Alexander seemed almost possessed. Lorient clicked her tongue. "He never fought this hard against me." Bjoern glanced at her, unable to comprehend what was happening, ''Is this for real?!'' Alexander had already won but decided to enjoy the spar, reminiscent of someone that made him shiver, ''Damn it! He is like her!'' As he moved to intervene, a sickening crack echoed as Freya''s mace connected with Alexander''s ribs. He grunted but retaliated instantly, a searing bolt of flames piercing her chest, his eyes filled with madness and joy, while his sister barely survived, unable to back down. He was sent flying, crashing into the wall. Freya, clutching her wound, barely remained standing, eyes still blazing with ferocity. Yet, Alexander wouldn''t give her any breathing room, shooting projectiles through dust clouds, barely evading and blocking those. "Buhahaha! Come one, come one! Where is your fucking fighting spirit!" His voice slowly descended into ecstasy, penetrating her body with his attacks¡ªenjoyment seeping flooding his mind, all the stress slowly dissipating after months of passiveness and diplomacy. Freya''s strength waned as the last projectile mangled her hand¡ªthe mace slipped from her grasp, clattering to the ground. She stumbled forward before collapsing, bloodied and dangerously injured. The onlookers stood frozen, unable to comprehend the ferocity of what they''d witnessed. "Someone stop this!" Persephone cried out. They immediately rushed to her, starting to heal her to the best of her abilities so she would be stable enough to bring her to the Temple, which was luckily only a couple minutes away from the training ground. ''This was better than sex,'' Alexander exhaled, his body entirely relaxed. Chapter 225: Lovey Dovey I ... Inside a room clad with warm, wooden panels reminiscent of a chipmunk''s cozy home, multiple simple beds lined the walls¡ªeach devoid of any garnish, almost sterile with their pastel-green bedding. On one of these beds lay a young woman, motionless, surrounded by an array of talismans that glowed faintly in the dim light filtering through the bloom of lilies hanging off the walls. Freya was enveloped in a haze of inertia, her thoughts a swirling storm of hatred and self-loathing. She felt weak, vulnerable¡ªas if the very essence of her being was unraveling, pulled apart by the same monster who had bested her. No, not just bested, but humiliated her¡ªdisregarding her earnest efforts and pride with a cruel, overwhelming force. The memory replayed like a recurring nightmare, moments of her failure etched deeper with each repetition, a perpetual torment she couldn''t flee. Yet, an unfamiliar voice cut through the haze¡ªa young, female voice tinged with both gentleness and an edge of irritation, like a mother scolding her pups. "Honey," the voice echoed softly yet firmly, "do you really think what you did was wise?" A cheeky, apologetic response surfaced almost immediately from a boyish voice, which Freya knew, though she couldn''t quite place it. "You look really beautiful today, you know¡ª" The attempt at deflection was cut short. "Ow, ow, ow! Fine! I was wrong!" The sound of playful scuffling reached her ears, painting a vivid picture despite her closed eyes. The female voice became firmer, each word laced with both accusation and concern. "Now, what did you do wrong?" "Not beautiful, but marvelous¡ª" The boy''s mischievous smile was almost tangible in his voice, only interrupted by a sudden yelp, followed by mumbling as if his cheek was being pulled. "Ow! Okay, okay!" "Okay, what?" the voice demanded, her worry slipping through her stern fa?ade. "I shouldn''t have fought without Ipe and gone all out against a crazy¡ª" He hesitated for a beat. "Against someone I underestimated." Freya felt an inexplicable gaze lingering on her, as if the conversation somehow revolved around her, jolting her consciousness closer to reality, albeit slowly. The topic shifted suddenly. "Don''t take those if you''re hurt! I swear, you''re like a reckless pup!" The clatter of metal and a soft thud suggested something had been taken from him. A chuckle followed, accompanied by an overwhelming surge of pheromones, making Freya''s heart quicken. "I am, though. You bad girl," his voice teased. "Always looking for the really young ones." The girl''s nervousness was palpable. "I..., no... you can''t... you''re still too... not here... you..." Silence enveloped Freya, thick with unspoken emotions. She could sense the intensity between them, a private moment she had no right to witness¡ªyet it also anchored her, pulling her further out of her nightmare. "But you liked it, didn''t you?" His voice was soft yet teasing. The beating of a heart seemed to echo in the quiet room, hands clenching fabric, feet shifting uneasily. "Remember when you asked me how it felt? I enjoyed it, and you loved every moment." The sensual undertone stirred something within Freya, her body reacting involuntarily. "I did," the girl admitted, sounding both exasperated and affectionate. "I wanted it and asked you, but... is it really okay... I will never forgive myself if you¡ª" He cut her off gently. "I said it, and I meant it." His voice softened, dripping with sincerity. "I love you, and if you have those desires, I''ll be there to fulfill them. You won''t suffer alone. And besides," he added with a playful lilt, "you had to learn a thing or two, darling." "Okay," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "But... only if you want, okay? We can stop if you feel uncomfortable, and could you please... you know?" Her words trailed off, her breathing deep and slow. "Of course, darling," he replied warmly. "Just tell me what you want, and we''ll make each other feel good, okay? As long as we''re together, it''s no one''s business." "Yes," she murmured, her tone filled with relief and desire. Then silence fell over them. An explosion of pheromones jolted Freya awake. Her eyes fluttered open, and the aura around her became almost suffocating¡ªthick with emotions she wasn''t ready to acknowledge. It was unmistakable, the presence of someone experiencing their first mating season¡ªintoxicating, overwhelming. ''Urgh, where am I?'' Her thoughts struggled to coalesce. She stared at the intricately carved ceiling, recognizing the familiar wood of a world tree that every Temple had¡ªa place of healing and reflection. The familiar setting brought a sense of security, allowing her tense muscles to relax slightly. But the reprieve was fleeting¡ªmemories of the sparring match flooded back, causing her to wince. ''At least I''m not dead,'' she mused, tentatively touching her chest where she recalled being wounded. To her surprise, she found herself fully healed. ''How long was I out? There''s no way they used a healer after their first blooming.'' She frowned, her internal clock suggesting only a few hours had passed since the fight. Another wave of pheromones washed over her, assaulting her senses with soft sounds¡ªrustling clothes, hushed whispers, muffled laughter. ''Concentrate,'' she told herself, blushing as she tried to give the couple some privacy. The intimate sounds were hard to ignore, making her feel like an intruder. Determined to focus, Freya replayed the fight with Alexander in her mind. Her hands clenched as she recalled every moment¡ªthe sharpness of the wind slicing her muscles, the searing heat of flames, the biting cold that numbed her limbs, the piercing force that finally overwhelmed her. ''Humiliating,'' she thought, gritting her teeth. Her pride as a warrior felt tarnished. Alexander was a force of nature, an enigma she couldn''t comprehend. She had always believed that mages required years of study, immense intelligence, and disciplined practice to wield spells with any real proficiency. Yet, this boy¡ªnot even having reached his legacy¡ªused them fluidly, naturally, as if they were an extension of himself. She shivered at the memory of their clashes, each one more intense than the last. But it wasn''t just his power that unsettled her. ''That smile,'' she recalled, blushing herself. His joy in battle, the way he fought with unbridled passion, unyielding and fearless¡ªa true warrior in every sense. The scars that adorned his skin told tales of hardship and perseverance, adding to his allure. Freya felt her cheeks warm as she acknowledged her admiration for him. ''Well,'' she sighed inwardly, her body relaxing. ''I should accept my loss like a true warrior.'' A proud grin spread across her face, a mix of respect and determination blossoming within her.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Just as she was settling back, ready to rest and perhaps plan a rematch in her mind, a familiar name caught her attention. "Alex," the girl said softly, her voice carrying a mix of hesitation and desire. "Touch me, I beg you." "Really?" he replied, sounding both surprised and concerned. "Isn''t it too much? Because¡ª" She cut him off, her voice firm yet tender. "No, Alex." There was a rustling sound, followed by a gentle gasp. "Yes." ''Alex?'' Freya''s eyes snapped open, her mind racing. ''Could it be Alexander K. Leonandra?'' She turned her head slightly, her sharp gaze focusing on the source of the voices. The air was thick with pheromones, making it difficult to think clearly. Across the room, she witnessed a scene that left her momentarily speechless. Sarah was leaning in close to Alexander, their faces mere inches apart. "Isn''t he..." Freya recalled Alexander''s age, trying to understand what she was seeing. He was young, perhaps too young for such intimacy by traditional standards. Sarah gazed into his eyes, her expression filled with affection and something more profound. "This can''t be," Freya muttered under her breath, her protective instincts flaring. "Get yer hands off ''im!" she growled, her voice low and dangerous. Without hesitation, she sprang into action, launching a skillful kick at Sarah. Caught off guard, Sarah took the blow, the impact knocking the wind out of her and sending her crashing into the wall. Underneath her, Alexander looked up, confusion etched on his face. "Oh, hey." His smile widened mischievously. "Well, this will be fun." "Fun? Are you okay¡ª" Freya began but was cut off. "Are you crazy?!" Sarah approached with firm, deliberate steps, her face flushed. "Did your brain get damaged?!" Freya squared her shoulders, barely wearing any clothes but some underwear, still refusing to back down. "Shut it! Ye forced yerself on a damn pup! Yer lucky I didn''t snap yer neck!" Sarah''s blush deepened as she glanced toward Alexander, searching for a voice of reason and support. "Oh! My maiden''s heart! How may I not give it to my beloved when she is full of desire!" She didn''t find any. Sarah and Freya''s foreheads popped with veins, tension thick¡ªAlexander hugged himself, turning to the side and waving his tail seductively. "Oh, such firmness, such love I get filled with every night," he licked his lips, making both of them blush. "Oh my, will I get filled from all sides in such a cold and lonely night? Will my heart endure such roughness?" After a tense moment of silence, Sarah turned to Freya. "You damaged his brain. Take responsibility." Freya gasped. "What? Are ye daft?" As Freya took a step forward, Alexander laughed out loud. "Bahaha!" He smirked mischievously. "Stop being so sarcastic." Sarah began to chuckle while waving her tail at him, imitating his ridiculous act¡ªthough Freya didn''t have any of it, as she grew even angrier, interrupting their puppyish interactions. "I''ll say it plain, but I want ye to tell me what happened here." The atmosphere grew serious once more, making even Alexander take it seriously. "Not your business." His voice was matter-of-fact, almost stoic. Freya tilted her head, ignoring Alexander entirely as her eyes locked on Sarah. "Nobody asked you," she growled, her voice low and menacing. "I wanna know what this degenerate thought she was up to." Sarah shrugged, meeting Freya''s gaze without a hint of fear. "Like the poor pup said," she replied, her voice dripping with mockery, "not your business." Freya clenched her fists, turning toward Alexander, who sat there with a bemused expression, his fluffy tail wagging lazily from side to side. "Alex, ye can be honest," she said, her tone softening, almost tender. "Even yer own ma''d probably be against this." Suddenly, Sarah made a noise, cringing. "Eek!" Freya fought to keep a smile from forming. No Noble Household would allow such behavior, and judging by Sarah''s reaction, it was clear they had kept this hidden. ''Did she manipulate him?'' Freya wondered, her mind racing to the only possible conclusion¡ªAlexander wouldn''t know any better. But his sigh surprised her, followed by an unexpectedly sweet answer. "Freya," his tone filled with gratefulness, "I understand your worries, but I did it of my own volition, even going as far as persuading her to do it." Freya narrowed her eyes. "Ye know," she glanced quickly at Sarah. "Ye can be honest with me¡ªeven she ain''t got the right to kill me in a Temple." Alexander shook his head, looking up at her. "I meant what I said." He smiled, sweet and honest, making her blush. "I love her and wanted to try it, and if you go to Mom to tell, I will take a lie detection test with my life on the line to prove it." The air grew tense as if one spark could set the whole place ablaze. Freya locked eyes with Alexander, trying to read the truth in his gaze. ''He''s not lying,'' she thought, concerned for him, but it was seemingly his choice¡ªone she couldn''t just take away without consequence. ''I really don''t like it,'' she thought, her shoulders relaxing. There was a lingering unease, but she couldn''t simply interfere in their lives further. Alexander¡ªwho had bested her brutally without even reaching his legacy¡ªwas dangerous. But here he was, acting like a goof, a loving idiot who alternated between mature and puppyish. Freya nodded curtly. "Thanks fer patchin'' me up." She moved past Sarah, her tone sharp. "I''d be grateful if ye could show me the way." Sarah hesitated momentarily, but after Alexander waved her off, she followed, catching up. The hallway they walked down was dimly lit, flickering lanterns casting shifting shadows on the walls. The scent of damp earth filled the air, and the wooden beams above were entangled with roots that seemed almost alive, pulsating faintly with energy. "You know pretty well where to go," Sarah said, her tone stiff, her voice echoing softly in the enclosed space. Freya smirked, glancing at the twisting roots along the ground, the earthy smell enveloping her senses. "It''s the roots." "The one with the scent of worms and earth?" Sarah asked, her nose wrinkling slightly at the musty odor. "Yeah," Freya confirmed. An eerie silence followed, the only sound being the faint rustle of leaves above and the distant dripping of water. It was almost peaceful, the kind of quiet that made you acutely aware of every breath. Sarah broke the silence almost immediately. "So," her tone shifted, her gaze boring into Freya''s back. "What do you want to talk about?" Freya didn''t answer immediately, her eyes narrowing as she resisted the urge to crack Sarah''s head open then and there. The dim light made the tension between them even more palpable, the shadows emphasizing the rigid set of Freya''s jaw. She wanted to understand why Sarah acted the way she did. "Why?" As they walked further, their footsteps echoed in the narrow corridor. A simple answer came, almost mockingly: "Because I love Alex." Her voice was honest and immature, untainted by the world¡ªa sharp contrast to Alexander, who seemed to understand too much of life''s harshness, even while still being unchained in a puppyish way. Freya nodded, acknowledging her answer. The roots twisted up the walls around them, their gnarled shapes like grasping fingers. "I see," she said, though doubt lingered in her voice. "Ye''ll keep goin'' and not wait?" Sarah gulped, her heartbeat quickening, almost in rhythm with the faint, distant thrum of the roots. "I will stop if he says so." Freya shook her head, her expression slowly contorting as she glanced around, the narrowness of the passage adding to her frustration. "That weren''t an answer to my question." "Yes," Sarah''s voice was a whisper, but it carried determination. "And if you want to stop me, try it." Freya and Sarah paused, locking eyes as if daring the other to back down. The dim lantern light flickered between them, casting long shadows stretching toward each other like dueling swords. Freya knew she should let it go, but she couldn''t. "I''ll be keepin'' an eye on the both o'' ye while I''m here." Freya turned and began to walk away, her footsteps echoing on the wooden floor. "I''ll keep it quiet for now, but if I see him gettin'' pushed too far¡ª" Her killing intent, though restrained, flared like a sudden burst of heat, crashing into Sarah and making her gasp. The oppressive feeling hung in the air like a heavy fog. "I''ll do whatever it takes to tear that pretty head right off yer shoulders." This time, as she walked away, her feet carrying her along the winding path, the roots and wooden beams passing in a blur, she felt a wave of disgust with herself. ''Should I?'' she wondered, her eyes catching the faint luminescence of the roots, their glow almost judgmental. Yet something about Alexander made her hesitate¡ªsomething that made her believe he couldn''t be easily manipulated or forced. After a long moment of contemplation, as the corridor widened and she saw the faint light of the entrance ahead, she shook her head. ''I''ll observe for now.'' As she approached the entrance, the warm light filtering in from outside, contrasting sharply with the cold, earthy interior, she saw her brother walking toward her. His presence made her smile, the warmth of familiarity pushing the troubling questions of morality to the back of her mind. "Why are yer in underwear?!" His voice filled with bewilderment. Freya suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something, blushing. Chapter 226: Lovey Dovey II ... When Sarah and Freya had left, Alexander collapsed onto his bed, wincing as a sharp pain shot through his stomach. ''Damn, she''s a wild beast,'' he thought, recalling how fiercely Freya had fought¡ªevery strike aimed to kill. But, instead of being overwhelmed or fearful, something he expected, it felt exhilarating, his blood boiling with each clash. His ancient lineage stirred within him, yearning to break free, while his mental fortitude struggled to keep it in check¡ªintense and highly dangerous¡ªhe loved every moment of it. ''Was it dangerous without a healer around? Absolutely,'' he mused. Yet, an inexplicable desire drove him forward. While he couldn''t fully control it, he managed to restrain himself from slipping into a complete frenzy¡ªit made him feel alive. ''I probably shouldn''t mention this to anyone,'' he thought, worry creeping in as he realized he''d taken another risk. But as he tried to push it from his mind, a sharp pain flared in his stomach as if reminding him to be more honest, as promised. "Argh! That little bitch! Fine! I''ll tell Dad, damn it!" After the confrontation, Ipe was summoned to tend to Freya''s injuries while Ludwig patched up Alexander. His condition wasn''t dire¡ªjust a few broken ribs and a torn intestine, nothing a bit of spit and double-sided tape couldn''t fix, he joked to himself. Freya, on the other hand, had a burned hole in her chest and was barely surviving with one lung¡ªso he had to wait. Fortunately, a silver lining appeared, making his pain worth it¡ªSarah. She came with Ipe, who was already quite exhausted after healing her during the whole day of body enhancements. Alexander had missed her terribly, as they had only a few hours every couple of days for each other. The unfortunate reality was that she wasn''t too pleased with him trying to fight someone dangerous and getting hurt¡ªhe could never expect such a thing. She had scolded him sternly, fully embracing her role as Grandbeast Lord. She insisted he focus solely on administration while never questioning his goals and aspirations. Conversely, regarding the military, she only sought his input on logistics and what she dismissively called bureaucratic gibberish. ''She''s too inflexible,'' he thought, scrunching his face as he recalled her playful side and how she told him to stay out of her expertise when he intervened with the soldier''s training. ''To be honest, she was quite gentle while telling me to fuck off basically, just with nicer words,'' he mused, remembering their discussions. ''Now I understand how the Count ensures no one gets too ambitious.'' It was a classic divide-and-conquer strategy that required two or more rulers: the brains couldn''t overpower the brawn, and the muscle lacked the cunning to do the same. It was a clever way to ensure that his Knights wouldn''t get any stupid ideas, and if they did, that would give him enough time to react as they would be most likely inexperienced to take over the whole fief. Despite the challenges to his ambitions, the arrangement gave him enough leeway to introduce his ideas into the zeitgeist subtly. Once he was prepared, he envisioned introducing a semblance of democracy while retaining power, inspired by a nation that built its democratic government on promises, customs, and a way too puzzling structure. Closing his eyes, Alexander reveled in the thought of gradually changing the world. His fianc¨¦e, Sarah, came to mind¡ªa woman he cherished more each day. He had to suppress feelings that didn''t align with this world''s morals, as she was incredible and loving, deserving of a partner who gave his all¡ªeverything else, but that would be an insult in his opinion. ''I feel like such a hopeless romantic,'' he thought with a cringe, but he couldn''t help wanting to make her feel cherished. Whenever he was stressed, she was there, offering encouragement and patiently listening to his rants¡ªeven when he listed people he wanted to behead¡ªa relationship built on mutual understanding and hatred as she felt mostly the same about them. Returning to his previous morals and letting her go was unthinkable¡ªhe was happy to have her as his anchor. While family was important, she meant even more¡ªa person with whom he could be genuinely open without fear of judgment. Yet, he faced another challenge, having seen her suffer for the first time¡ªher first mating season was approaching. ''It''s getting serious,'' Alexander mused, recalling how Sarah had woken him one night, drenched in sweat and restless, her hands between her thighs¡ªa futile struggle since it was still months until the mating season. They were biologically incapable of climax before that¡ªa fact that explained why most teenagers in this world were more insufferable than they already were. ''It wasn''t too bad, honestly,'' he reflected on those tender moments, his rigid morals softening as he realized that letting her suffer would be cruel. When Sarah saw him awake and tried to calm her, she became overwhelmed with her desires as she leaned in to kiss him but pulled back, tears welling in her eyes. Hesitant at first, Alexander finally complied, and their lips met¡ªgiving the okay to do it, whatever it meant at that time. When their lips met, he began understanding what his mother meant about manipulation. Her pheromones enveloped him, plunging him into a state of euphoria¡ªa blissful peace of mind. He remembered the sensation of her pheromones flooding his senses, bringing monumental tranquility¡ªa golden shot. This addictive serenity was a valid concern; becoming dependent on another person was quite literal here, which explained why many frowned upon such behavior and why others yearned for it, as experiencing it was only possible during certain ages. Alexander, however, embraced it, rationalizing it as an incredible high. For Sarah, it eased her tension as the pheromones built up and flowed toward him. He saw it as a way for beast-kin to prepare their bodies for the first mating season, beginning to experiment and understand their connection. Though he risked becoming dependent¡ªespecially in combination with those candies he already took en mass¡ªhe saw little difference from his past life habits like smoking and drinking coffee. There were no explicit cravings, just a familiar restlessness¡ªhis usual state he liked to alleviate. ''Ah, here comes my dealer,'' Alexander thought jokingly, catching a whiff of Sarah as she strode back in, slamming the door behind her. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. "Oh hey, how¡ª" He didn''t finish before she was upon him, intertwining her fingers with his and pressing him down. "Stop talking and lock the door," she demanded. "Uh..." He hesitated, but a quick glance at her intense eyes made him comply. "Sure thing." With a thought, he manipulated the earth to barricade the door shut. Sarah gripped his hands firmly, pressing them down and coming closer. ''She''s quite the forceful one,'' he mused, not denying the thrill it gave him. Usually, he was the initiator, but he found comfort in letting her take the lead. His previous partners might have described him as traditional¡ªopen-minded but preferring slow, sensual romance. Yet, he liked to be honest¡ªhe was boring¡ªhappy when he could make love with the person he cherished. His thoughts were interrupted as Sarah began unbuttoning her shirt. "Whoa, wait¡ª" "Shh," she cut him off, tossing her shirt aside and slowly removing her pants. "I talked with Lin," she said, her voice strained. Alexander gulped. "That''s not a good sign." He recalled how she had barely held back, her pheromones overwhelming as she was basically in denial. All she could do was flood Narsiz, who looked pained, bearing the brunt of it and struggling to cope¡ªa downside for a partner who couldn''t process the pheromones as they were in vastly different stages of their life. As she sat beside him, all clothing removed, sweat glistening on her skin, she started unbuttoning his shirt. "I''m in heat, Alex, and you said you''d help me, right?" He nodded gently. "Yeah," he replied, raising an eyebrow. "But you know, I don''t think my... capabilities will be much help." Sarah paused, then burst into laughter. "Haha! What do you think I want to do?" He smirked, feigning innocence. "I don''t know, maybe steal my virtuous soul with your irresistible charm?" He caressed her soft curves with his tail; though sensual, his voice was naughty, "A maiden like me is only waiting to be ravished by a beast like you," with a slight turn, he showed her his behind, playfully trying to calm her down a little. She rolled her eyes, still chuckling. "Stop being so dense." Continuing to unbutton his shirt, she added, "Lin said that through pure skin contact while kissing and... more, we can both relax a lot better." Her voice wavered as a deeper blush spread across her face. "I think Lin might be a bit... of a horny bitch," Alexander remarked, allowing her to proceed. He didn''t mind; they had seen each other countless times during baths and cuddling¡ªit wasn''t unusual. What bothered him was that his fianc¨¦e had befriended someone he wasn''t fond of, and he hoped Linuel wouldn''t become a permanent fixture in their lives. Sarah smirked. "Well, yeah, obviously?" She snorted as if it was a given, "Why do you think I asked her?" He raised an eyebrow as she pulled off his shirt. "You''re aware of her... questionable behavior? I heard about it from Narsi. She didn''t tell you herself, did she?" Sarah chuckled, removing the last piece of his clothing. "Patty and Emma filled me in." Her smile widened. "But in the end, I won, and you''re mine." Alexander frowned, thinking about those who were obviously infatuated with him. After digging a bit, he realized there was more beneath the surface. ''They are fucking crazy,'' their letters had become more intense, and Emma seemed increasingly unhinged. What annoyed Alexander was that Sarah didn''t seem to care, fully trusting him. This meant he had to deal with these psychos himself while she watched from the sidelines, amused. "Do you see me as an object? A prize to be won?" he asked, but a subtle smirk played on his lips. She froze, her eyes widening as her demeanor shifted. "Oh." Her breathing became ragged as she quickly pulled back. "No! I''m sorry, I didn''t mean it like that. I swear! I love you, trust me¡ª" She started to frown. "Wait... you''re laughing." They exchanged looks before Alexander burst into laughter. "Haha, you''re so¡ªwhoa!" Without warning, Sarah lunged at him, pressing him against her chest and playfully biting his ear. "I don''t like you teasing me." Though not canine-kin by nature, he understood the gesture symbolized intense arousal, anger, and a desire to assert dominance between partners. His instincts barely responded, feeling only a slight pinch. "You''re hesitating, you know?" He sensed her pheromones fluctuating, becoming erratic as she paused. "I... I just can''t hurt you... sorry." Alexander gave her a reassuring smile. "You''re such a softy," he thought, appreciating this tender side of her. To others, she was formidable¡ªshe''d had quite the confrontations or even seen them as something lesser, but to him, she was overwhelmingly sensitive. "It''s okay." He pulled her closer, draping a blanket over them. "Go ahead, do what you like." His voice was gentle. He''d had his fun teasing her and wanted to ease her tension. She glanced at the blanket, then back at him. "You know¡ª" He cut her off gently. "Please, let''s not revisit that discussion." She nodded. "I just¡ª" He interrupted again. "I understand and appreciate your feelings, but still." "But¡ª" he interjected once more. "No, I just don''t feel comfortable with it. " His last words were more assertive, wanting her to stop this. Sarah sighed softly, then cupped his face, her fingers tracing his jawline as she brought him closer. "Thank you." He felt his mind begin to quiet. "For what?" She leaned in, her breath warm against his neck. "You''re always so confident and larger-than-life around others, but I..." He could hear the smile in her voice. "I''m grateful that you''re honest and vulnerable with me. Thank you." Alexander felt a flush rise to his cheeks, genuinely touched. Sarah had always been there for him, and he knew there was no judgment. Nonetheless, one thing he struggled with¡ªhis body. While he didn''t mind the scars themselves, they were reminders of pain and suffering¡ªthe most harrowing moments of his life, followed by months of torturous recovery filled with humiliation and desperation. Though he could endure anything physically, the mental scars lingered, driving him to push forward relentlessly, fearing he might miss out on his goal if he stopped. He never wanted to regret not seizing every opportunity, especially after coming so close to death. Fortunately, Sarah''s constant support finally made him slow down and brought him peace. ''It''s always been a battle, hasn''t it?'' he thought, recognizing that he''d often broken down only to rise again, stronger and with renewed purpose. But this time, he had found his anchor. Sarah pulled him closer as their tails intertwined and their legs entwined beneath the blanket. "Alex, I need to mark you again. I''m sorry." His eyes widened. "Wait¡ª" Before he could protest, she tilted her head, her eyes meeting his briefly before she bit gently into his collarbone, where the pheromone glands were. He flinched slightly. ''Ugh... my mind.'' Marking was considered the formation of a soul bond¡ªa way for partners to understand each other deeply and share everything. Once marked, their bodies would never forget one another, ensuring mutual desire. This was the second time for them¡ªthe first had been right after their unofficial engagement. Alexander felt his mind go blank as she ingrained her pheromones directly into him. Their breathing synchronized as she held him close; he relaxed under the overwhelming sensation. Her fangs pressed gently into the sensitive area, bringing a profound sense of calm and unity. He sensed her anxiety, the pressure she felt to be worthy, her inner deliberations, and the intense yet nurturing love she harbored¡ªshe only wanted to protect him. Similarly, Sarah could feel his emotions, her body responding instinctively. She hugged him tighter, her nails lightly grazing his skin as she yearned to share more. Her bite deepened slightly, leaving an enduring mark on him. ''I love you,'' Alexander thought, his mind settling as he absorbed the burdens she carried. Suddenly, he heard her voice echo in his mind. ''I love you, too.'' He exhaled softly, all his worries melting away. Chapter 227: People of Culture ... Standing on what looked like an abandoned airport runway¡ªcracked asphalt, rusted lighting fixtures half-leaning under a bruised sky¡ªAlexander glared down at the front of his once-white shirt. It was smudged with dirt, dried blood, and the ghosts of old sweat. He blew out a long breath, arms tensed as if bracing himself against a memory threatening to resurface. "You really should stop digging around in my memories, Teach''," he said, his voice caught somewhere between annoyance and uneasy amusement. Teach'' materialized beside him with the grace of someone stepping out of a dream, her approach marked by a playful sway in her hips. She still wore that same dull office suit¡ªa gray blazer, a pencil skirt just above the knees, sensible heels¡ªutterly ordinary attire for a being so extraordinary. It contrasted sharply with the surreal nature of these skill tests they had conducted for the last months in landscapes pulled from his own recollections. Yet her demeanor was anything but boring. With a grin that spoke of puppyish curiosity and mischief, she flashed him expectant eyes. "Why?" she teased, brimming with glee, "I adore your culture! Who can resist a classic like ''Die Hard''? So gritty, so... sweaty." Alexander arched an eyebrow, at least thankful he wasn''t wandering naked through Harlem or having a cook-off in a concentration camp¡ªTeach'' wasn''t the most sensitive when it came to Earth, even less knowing that Orbis was by far worse. He rubbed the back of his neck, feigning casualness. "Culture, huh? If that counts as culture, maybe I can introduce you to something classier next time. An art gallery, maybe?" He tried to sound magnanimous, but only half succeeded. Teach'' blew a loud raspberry, wrinkling her nose dramatically. "No, thank you! The Louvre was torture enough." She pretended to shiver, her shoulders hitching up theatrically. "All those statues and paintings... Bah! Boring." He tricked Teach into revisiting the Louvre when he had his [Drawing] skill test right as she started her phase of choosing absurd locations. Instead of enjoying the Nostalgia, he got Teach'' nitpicking every piece of art, making faces at ancient statues and muttering about the ''frumpy clothing'' of Renaissance portraits. ''She has a point, though,'' he mused bitterly. It was not the real Louvre, just echoes of his remembrance where he once had a date, whisps of artworks he barely looked at, trying to impress girls with the knowledge he got minutes before from a brochure. Alexander tried again, forcing a thin smile that felt as stiff as the old control tower behind him. "Maybe you could¡ª" She cut him off with a manic wave of her hand. "Nope!" His smile became forced. "At least hear me out¡ª" With exaggerated seriousness, she added, "If you dare bring it up again, we''re doing the [Dancing] skill test as you try to avoid those giant lizards next time. Don''t try me." He pursed his lips, exhaling sharply. A strange mixture of exasperation and affection floated through him. Teach'' had a way of toying with him that felt almost friendly if one squinted. In the past, there was an implicit understanding that she could rummage through his memories¡ªinfuriating. But after the [Law] Tier test, she showed it openly, making every night a surreal visit into his past. Sadly, he could take little from it as he sought to fill the gaps in his knowledge. ''Maybe I can try again, though?'' While it was almost impossible for him to remember things from his past life he didn''t know from the beginning or just read over without focus, Teach'' was still someone who led others through skill and Tier tests. Once, in a slip, she hinted that someone had succeeded in a Grandmaster Tier test in [Physics]¡ªa new way for Alexander to get the desired knowledge, to fill the library in the hopes that someone could build on it in twenty to thirty years, advancing his fief. But every time he probed too bluntly, she would shift the conversation or threaten him with outlandish scenarios. Alexander narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. In the distance, where the runway''s asphalt met a shimmer of heat and empty air, he could almost imagine shadows of phantom planes and the scent of kerosene. Even though confused and thinking that the scenario felt a little off, he turned to her. "Alright, alright, no more Louvre talk," he said carefully. Then he shrugged, trying for a casual tone. "But can you at least tell me what today''s skill test is? I''ve done quite a few, from cooking under siege by zombies and dragons to sewing under a waterfall while some Chinese guy annoyed me. And I''m thankful you''re not dragging me through something like a German trying to hunt me down." He shuddered, recalling a previous test scenario in which he had problems¡ªin the Normandie, trying to avoid mana-filled bullets with his [Mana Sense]. Teach'' tilted her head and pressed a finger to her cheek, feigning an elaborate attempt to recall something important. "This is your skill test for¡ª" She paused dramatically, stuck out her tongue playfully, and tapped her temple as though her brain were a stubborn vending machine. "Oops, I forgot!" They both broke into laughter, their voices echoing over the vacant tarmac. Despite the annoyance and his trying not to wring her out as his patience reached the limit, he couldn''t help but enjoy these odd exchanges¡ªslightly¡ªa hint that she enjoyed his company as much as he begrudgingly enjoyed hers. Alexander took a half step closer, adopting a conspiratorial lean. The sun above them was low and red, and the hum of distant cicadas¡ªif that''s what they were¡ªadded a surreal note. "Look," he began more softly, "I''m not just curious about the skill tests. I''ve got Nature''s Break looming over me, and with the blessing I received, I can actually press on." He continued, his lashes fluttering with charm, "I''ve heard rumors. If I reach Tier 3 before my legacy, I get a 5% attribute boost and can choose one mystic skill. But I''m pushing beyond that. I''m nearing Tier 6. Does that scale up? Will I get some kind of super body modification? A 625% stat increase?" She went utterly still. Her mischievous grin vanished, replaced by a carefully blank expression. For a moment, the air thickened, and Alexander''s heart pounded. He wondered if he''d poked at something sacred, a forbidden question. He tried to maintain an easy posture, his tail twitching uncertainly behind him. His ears flattened slightly, a canine instinct he hadn''t quite unlearned even though etiquette dictated it, showing he felt her sudden shift in mood. He remembered how she could instantly turn into a horrifying terror as if revealing her true nature¡ªsomething beyond mortal ken. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Before he could backpedal, Teach''s presence intensified, slowly increasing and making him feel dread. It was as if a silent god pressed a thumb against his head, slowly squishing him like a bug. Alexander''s mouth went dry. He tensed, fighting the impulse to drop to his knees, bolt, fight back, or simply wet himself, hoping she would slip on the puddle, breaking her neck, before yanking his spine out. "You, uh," he ventured, his voice cracking slightly, all his skills making his mind burn as he fought his instincts. "You look... particularly sumptuous today." He flashed a disarming smile, equal parts flattery, and desperation, mostly desperation, though. She smirked, and just as quickly as she''d stiffened, she vanished, leaving him reeling, heart hammering, bladder waving. The airport around him shimmered. Then her voice came, hollow and distant, echoing mechanically: "Congratulations. Your skill test is concluded. You have succeeded in¡ª" The voice cut off as the test. ... Alexander jolted awake in his bed next to Sarah, heart pounding. The comfort of the familiar linens and the soft breathing of someone nearby offered a frantic kind of relief. His bladder reminded him urgently of the stress he''d just endured. As he hurried toward the bathroom, each step deliberate and stiff, he tried to piece together what had just happened. ''I really need to stop poking that bear.'' He grimaced, ''A very terrifying bear.'' Turning on the bathroom light and splashing water on his face. ''Janina mentioned she got a stuffed animal as a guide. Lorient got some kind of handsome K-pop guy cameo. But me? No, I get a cosmic horror who might be a god rummaging through my memories. Just... fuck.'' He sighed heavily, running his fingers through his fur. As irritating as Teach'' could be, at least she kept things interesting. He wondered if he could ever glean more knowledge from her¡ªmaybe about those theoretical physics breakthroughs, maybe about how to help his students reach higher Tiers faster. She was a key, a gatekeeper of hidden knowledge, and he''d have to tread carefully if he wanted to open those gates without losing his sanity. Looking into the mirror, he saw himself smile, filled with madness and greed, ''I am so fucked.'' ... Far away, in a realm beyond conventional space and time, Teach'' emerged into darkness so complete it swallowed sound. She wore the same gray suit, but now it looked almost militaristic under the weight of silence and shadow¡ªonly seen by her. "Great, now this," her voice echoed through the empty void. "Did Winston dim the lights again?" A single snap of her fingers conjured a dim, honey-colored light from nowhere, illuminating a small, rustic farmhouse interior¡ªwooden walls warped by age, straw bedding half scattered on the floor, dusty shelves laden with odd trinkets. It was a place that looked as if it shouldn''t exist anywhere but a nostalgic memory. Her frown softened into a warm smile as she looked around. She gently pulled a rough-hewn chair and sat, crossing her legs. A sigh escaped her lips as she fell into the rest, trying to calm down, her eyes closed, enjoying the place through her other senses. As time passed, the subtle creak of old and brittle wood awoke her, making her eyes flutter. An old butler stepped into the light¡ªimmaculate in his old-fashioned attire: a perfect mustache, a monocle, and a top hat perched at a rakish angle. He was elegance incarnate, though in a setting that made no sense for his attire. It was as if someone had mashed together sets from different plays¡ªone she clearly approved of. "Mistress," Winston intoned smoothly, "about Alexander¡­" Teach'' drummed her fingertips on the armrest, her mind returning to what brought her into a space of solace. "We have a problem, Winston. I never thought we''d encounter someone like him¡ªsomeone who actually acts far too different than all those others." Memories of the past surfaced, making her hand grip subconsciously into the armrest until a cracking was heard¡ªa signal for her to stop dwelling on the past. She continued, clicking her tongue, "I ignored it, but he is creating Legends¡ªheroes, saints, sages, legendary artisans, and geniuses¡ªas if it were nothing." Her eyes narrowed, her voice firm. "He is the second I know who actually shares all his knowledge freely, wanting to advance everyone by accelerating progression to an absurd degree." She rolled her eyes. "He''s a headache, is what he is." Winston''s mustache wiggled, his eyes gleaming like a proud grandfather. "You say that, Mistress, but I recall you''ve taken quite a shine to him. You''re lively again¡ªyouthful, even." He chuckled, his joyous voice deeply resonating within her. "He brings others up with him¡ªlike a rising tide lifting all ships." Admiration underlaced his tone, something only she heard when he talked about her. Teach'' scoffed, leaning back so far the chair nearly tipped, her defiance comically clear. "Great, as if it will help me to solve this problem¡ªhe''s the first to reach such an absurd level before reaching his legacy, and I am the one who will revamp everything just to accommodate him and those little buggers." She gazed at the dust motes dancing in the warm light. Her tone softened, barely audible. "Change can be good, Winston. But too much change, too fast, invites uninvited guests. Vermin sniffing around the foundations of reality. We can''t let that happen." Winston''s monocle gleamed. "Should I¡ª" She gave him a humorless smile, interrupting him. "No, they are a nuisance. But let them come. The boy''s protected by that gross bastard¡ªProf. Chimaera." Her face contorted in distaste at the mention of the name. "No one will dare lay a finger on Alexander. Not yet, at least." Winston bowed, mustache drooping slightly in what might have been sympathy or regret. "I understand, Mistress." She shrugged as if trying to shake off a mood. "We will see where this goes. We have a lot to do for now, so let''s do our best." ... Somewhere in Orbis, far from mystic beings and grand prophecies, a lanky, unshaven figure slumped on a battered couch. He wore pajama pants that were too loud and colorful for his own good and pink plush bunny slippers that looked so grimy they might hop off and seek asylum elsewhere. He was half-conscious, fiddling with a TV remote, scratching at his hairless chest beneath a stained undershirt. A stale cigarette hung from his lips, ignited not by flame but by a muttered word and a puff of ambient magic. He jolted as if hearing distant gossip. "Weird," he mumbled, smoke curling up into his nostrils. "Someone talking about me?" From behind him, a childish voice piped up. "C''mon! The pizza''s getting cold! For you, one-third is pineapple, ham, and tzatziki, one-third is a meat lover''s paradise, and my third is vegan. Hands off my slice!" The man turned slowly, eyes glassy behind smudged glasses. "Sure, sure," he said. "Let''s watch that episode of Friends again. The one where Joey gets the turkey stuck on his head." The child groaned, his snow-white tail swaying violently in defiance but gave in with a huff. "Fine. Toss in the cassette." He stretched with exaggerated lethargy, reaching for a box of tapes on the lower shelf of the TV cabinet. As he rummaged, the cigarette smoldered, seemingly lighting itself at his slightest whisper. "Thermodynamics, air currents," he muttered as if reciting a mantra that would make his life easier. He cracked a grin. "Yes! I love this episode." He pressed the cassette into the player in that cramped, dingy living room, oblivious to cosmic plans. The screen flickered. Laughter lines crackled out from the old TV. And as the show''s canned laughter filled the silence, this odd pair settled in, pizza slices at the ready, unwitting extras in the grand tapestry unfolding far beyond their cluttered room. A roar filled the space, and the boy pushed one part to their roommate. "Here you go¡ª" He suddenly saw his piece taken away by what appeared to be a snake and goat drooling over it. "Hands off, I said!" Chapter 228: Calming Doubt & Magic Board ... Birdsong filled the morning air, though not the gentle sort that drifted softly across garden blooms. These were the cries of vicious little sparrows who, instead of carrying a meter tape gently in their beaks, used those sharp edges to cut into ferocious mouses that didn''t go down voluntarily as it bit one down with its sew needle teeth¡ªa usual occurrence on such a beautiful day. "Every day, it''s a-gettin'' closer," Alexander sang, his voice light. "Goin'' faster than a roller coaster¡­~?"He strode by, pausing only long enough to note how ants began swarming the duel, transforming them into their banquet. ''Ah, isn''t nature beautiful? Like Cinderella, all is in harmony,'' he continued, his footsteps surprisingly buoyant on the manicured path, humming a carefree tune between screams of despair and terror. As he stepped into the mansion''s grand foyer, his voice rose into a carefree tune, the melody echoing off warm marble floors and gilded pillars. Servants paused in their bustle, their eyes flicking to him and as quickly away. He grinned at them, wrapping up his impromptu serenade¡ª"Love like yours will surely come my way"¡ªbefore stopping abruptly at a figure by the window, her luminous wings catching his sight, delicate patterns of iridescent blues and purples. It was a butterfly-kin girl, trembling with each staccato breath, ready to bolt, as her posture spoke of terror. When Alexander, hand extended in a casual greeting, noticed her tears welling at the corners of large, anxious eyes, his smile faltered. This was no dance partner waiting to swing but a creature cornered by some rumored monster. He tried a gentle, almost playful gesture, offering a hand. "A-hey¡­ a-hey¡­," he began, but his voice scraped awkwardly, ending on a frustrated note, as he noted the shivering. "Hey¡­ fuck me," he muttered, stepping back. His voice dropped to a whisper as he moved away, the cheerful tune evaporating. "Why does everyone think I''m going to murder them?" he grumbled under his breath. Frustrated humor clung to the words, but it did nothing to lift his sinking mood. Alexander''s smile faltered. With a resigned sigh, he ran a hand through his hair, messing with its careful arrangement. ''Nobody runs from Sarah,'' he mused bitterly, his hand lowered toward the third marking he received. He rubbed his tingled skin¡ªa memory of intimacy and connection that reminded him he wasn''t all edges and menace. Just last night, he''d shared something real, something warm. But no one else saw that side, only the grumpy boy whose scent was a mix of nothing or blood. The thought swirled in his mind as he navigated the mansion''s busy halls. Dust motes glittered in light streams, and servants bustled and bickered in hushed tones. He naturally slipped into the role everyone expected, making everyone he met on his way calm and respectful toward him¡ªa frustrated hunger gnawed at him as he wanted to share his happiness, but it found no easy meal here. Each step carried him deeper into the estate through crowds of servants, attendants, and the newly arrived young nobles who swelled the estate''s occupancy far beyond comfortable limits. The halls felt crowded and tense: curt whispers, clinking trays, and scuffling feet scratched at his ears, making his tail bump into everyone as it still waggled happily. Alexander wanted to retreat to a quiet nook, but duty called. He was expected at his strategy room¡ªannexed from Klili''s bedroom and now repurposed for his growing ambitions¡ªthe first step toward world domination. It was an odd repurposing symbolizing the estate''s overcrowding. Alexander wondered if he should build another mansion outright as he neared the door, seeing how the estate was bursting at its seams: young nobles, artisans, their servants, their servants'' servants¡ªenough to drive even his iron-willed Mother to the brink. He pictured another sprawling structure rising on these lands, forging space and order from chaos. Or, more darkly, he considered that the problem might resolve itself if a few inconvenient individuals simply had an accident while sparring. He shook his head to dislodge the thought. Humor or not, it felt too grim, even thinking about the paperwork it would bring. When he pushed open the door, he found maids arranging neat rows of snacks and drinks along a sideboard. Their eyes darted away from him, shoulders rigid. The tension in their posture spoke louder than any complaint¡ªhere was the noble who brought chaos. His ears flinched slightly, and he could almost taste their bloodthirst but jokes on them; Alexander was already getting miserable on his own¡ªno need to wish him the worst; it would come naturally. However, Alexander''s self-deprecating humor aside, it was really bad. The servants were used to a certain order, a known routine. Now, everything had changed as the young nobles nested themselves under one roof, servants from different masters and mistresses squabbling over tiny comforts¡ªpillows, softer sheets, fresh pastries. Ironically, the young nobles adapted more easily, accustomed to arduous travels and rough lodgings. They''d learned to live in tents and train under harsh conditions. Their servants, pampered into a routine, found these new circumstances intolerable. It was a quiet, ridiculous drama unfolding behind every door. Alexander almost smirked¡ªalmost. Not his problem. As long as no one turned up dead, the situation would sort itself out, hopefully without his involvement, as he hated to mediate between others. Yes, it was wrong to stab someone with silverware, and yes, it was also equally bad to impregnate their daughter out of revenge¡ªfunnily enough, it already happened more than once. With a shrug and wary of dangerously sharp cutlery, he strode to the room''s centerpiece: an enormous magical board, three meters high and five wide. Its uneven, grainy surface shimmered with faint arcs of mana. Nearby stood a hulking metal contraption that hummed and rattled like a caged beast. The device''s glow was patchy, flickering uncertainly. It looked ridiculous¡ªhalf genius, half-drunken blacksmith''s night terror¡ªand he took pride in that. It was his invention, a testament to his peculiar blend of ambition and frustration. He allowed himself a thin, private smile. ''Creating that calculator was the breakthrough,'' he mused, folding his arms. Most people had mocked it at first. Why invent a strange device to save and organize things when paper and ink existed? Why rely on intricate mana devices and gems when you could simply use the contraptions and paper everyone knew? They dismissed it as an expensive toy, ignoring the potential he saw shimmering behind the rough and occasionally explody edges. Using [Mana Sense], his gaze drifted over the gadget''s components¡ªpipes of cheap alloy, ink infused with mana, and gems arranged in patterns that created a hazardous wonderland. He remembered Earth and its computers¡ªtools that transformed societies. On Orbis, people still clung to rudimentary administrative methods as enchantments were expensive, and no one cared if an administrator needed much more time to process something. This mindset made them slow to embrace something so alien, so seemingly unnecessary. He sighed, thinking of how easily he himself might have scoffed at new ideas if he''d never experienced Earth''s technological leaps. ''Have I dismissed others like that?'' The thought stung. He tried to recall if he''d belittled anyone''s innovations. Granted, he often sent reckless experimenters to the Temple for healing when their projects went awry, but that was practical caution, not dismissal. Still, he wondered if his impatience or arrogance had stifled someone''s genius. Alexander recalled a concept he had once read about¡ª"the tenth man," a person tasked with challenging every decision to prevent groupthink. He almost laughed at the notion of employing not just one but several "tenth men" here. ''I''d probably end up murdering them,'' he thought grimly, a wry smile tugging at his lips. The dark humor tasted bitter. Yet the idea held merit: he needed someone brave enough to question him, demand explanations, and poke holes in his plans before disaster struck. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. In the quiet of the strategy room, doubts buzzed at the edges of his mind. He glanced at the towering magical board and the contraption beside it. This was supposed to herald a new age of organization, calculation, and efficiency. But what if it was just another needless complexity in a world already rich with magic and resources he simply overlooked? He clenched his jaw, feeling self-doubt creep through him. Before, stress and urgency had always driven him forward, pushing him to innovate at a relentless pace. Now, with Sarah''s mark softening his sharp edges, he found himself pausing to reconsider. He missed that unyielding drive¡ªeven if it had made him irritable, it also made him confident. ''Fuck this marking,'' he swore inwardly, hating how the gentle warmth of Sarah''s influence tempered his fierceness. He fiddled with a small metal case in his pocket, extracting a candy. Popping it into his mouth, he savored the taste, a poor substitute for old Earth vices like cigarettes or a cup filled with six espresso to start the morning. The candy''s sweet hush dulled his irritations and made the edges blur. He refused to yield to that calmness and swiftly used his [Mana Overload] to burn through the candy''s soothing effect. The craving for more candy flared¡ªan addiction of sorts¡ªbut it restored his familiar edge. Not healthy, he admitted silently, but familiar. Cracking his neck and exhaling a poisonous mist, he whispered, "Well, you''d never turn me into a wimp, right, baby?" He addressed the mechanical monstrosity as if it were a sulking lover. The room stood silent except for the faint hum of mana, which reminded him of distant bees in a hidden orchard. Stepping closer, he pressed a hand to the board''s surface, letting his [Mana Sense] roam, checking whether it would explode during the meeting or work as intended. ''Oh, were you lonely, my little pup?'' His pride swelled to unimaginable heights as everything seemed as it should¡ªunexpectedly safe with a tinge of danger to spice things up. This lovely fire hazard comprised three parts¡ªthe back wall, the front wall, and the space between them, with a complicated device underneath. Even though not directly part of it, the device that used the principle of his first prototype of a calculator stood to the side. The back had a nest of soldered mana gems, with small pipes made of Manullium, a mana-repellent metal, going through them¡ªa much better way to connect them than through wires. The mana would seemingly flow between them and not erode the material. The only problem was that his mana gems, usually used to light up when used, were delicate and tended to heat up. Because of that, a particular risk was involved¡ªone that loved to burst and splitter, creating more explosions. To avoid it, he took a small piece of metal, enchanted it, and glued it to the bottom. A wind enchantment, now a fan, would cool them down, pushing the warm air to the top, where it was partly open, allowing it to escape. The front was made of glass, a rectangular box that fit the measurements of the whole magic board. It was filled with mana ink that he painstakingly distilled from various ingredients that had to be purified numerous times. It had an extraordinary mana density that was as viscous as oil. Behind it was an extremely thin piece of paper, devoid of any mana and fitted with numerous, barely visible holes. The space between them was empty, except for the bottom and top. Glued to the walls were two pieces of metal with an enchantment that had cost Alexander an arm and a leg¡ªliterally, as it cost ten large gold coins, the price in the Temple, for regrowing two limbs. What did it do? It was a way to direct mana from one part to another without deviating. The box to the side was his actual calculator, minimized and compacted so that it became a literal heater. It had already destroyed his laboratory once, so he had to create multiple layers of wind and frost enchantments to cool it down. Ultimately, it followed the same principle as previously. It had various mana gems that could hold myriad quantities of mana that, when activated, would send the mana toward the gems of the back, creating an astonishing amount of patterns. To change it, he assembled a dozen sliding Manullium plates in different forms, which would interrupt the flow and change the actual pattern. The greatest thing was that because the mana went through the Manullium pipes, there was barely a need to replenish it as any would barely get lost. He had to use mana stones for the middle part, but they could be used for weeks and were even cheaper than mana gems. The most interesting question was: How did it work? How did it create various images and texts, like those on the magic board in his school? While the paintings were simple artworks enchanted to follow a specific pattern and react programmatically to certain sensations, his boards were much more complex but flexible¡ªable to store data. All thanks to reading a battered manuscript (acquired through less-than-legal means) that mana took on strange properties when it was influenced by nearby mana inside other material than itself. It would suddenly create predictable patterns on how the influenced mana would move, something Alexander could never achieve before¡ªfinding out any predictability or pattern of ambient or stored mana. It was an enormous breakthrough for him, sadly ignored by everyone else. Alexander explained it by assuming that mana particles moved differently inside various materials when stimulated, which caused them to radiate part of their mana. The radiated part would then hit mana in different materials, such as air or liquid, creating patterns and, better yet, adding to the strength of the effect, creating even greater radiation. So, what was it exactly? Alexander had no idea, but he would still test it on numerous mana-dense materials, like mana ink, and be able to create beautiful patterns, such as images, numbers, letters, and more while experimenting. Alexander activated the calculator by sliding out the uppermost plate that blocked the mana entirely, making the magic board rattle slightly. His maids immediately started preparing spell constructs for a mana shield. In all honesty, Alexander agreed with them as he similarly prepared for the worst. In truth, the contraption still hovered at the edge of chaos¡ªsometimes it worked, sometimes it shook violently and threatened to explode. Like a newborn foal, it tottered, and he had to teach it to walk. That he''d managed to build something so intricate with half-trained blacksmiths and his own patchy magical engineering was a triumph in itself. He slid various other plates into the calculator box, changing the amount and pattern the mana flew out toward the back of the magic board. The mana gems emitted a different amount of mana and influenced the mana that flowed in between, which added to the effect, able to influence the mana ink in the front through the neutral and the holes it flew through. The ink shifted beautifully, leaving only a few parts on the top, while the rest flowed down, creating the title "First Meeting." Usually, moving mana ink was painfully hard, so Alexander used contraptions to manipulate its physical properties. But with this, he could do it without just switching and rearranging some plates. ''Sadly, I had no time to create a storage for you,'' he mused bitterly. The magic boards in school were similar, but they were far safer and had a small storage device. It was a box with thousands of small plates, all different shapes and forms, and a calculator. On the side, some enchantments would be triggered by the student''s voice, [Energy], and [Mana], automatically shifting and arranging them precisely. Fortunately, the enchantments were similarly modular and could be quickly exchanged to inform them individually, depending on class changes or other organizational shifts inside the school. Beneath the humor and pride lay a quiet anxiety. Alexander had forced progress in a world that resisted it. With no pressing crisis hammering at his door, he was floating, unsure if his innovations mattered. Would the world embrace these gadgets, or were they destined to be curiosities in his private chamber? His fingers traced a seam in the contraption''s frame, "Ow! Motherfucker!" But he forgot it was cooking hot, even with cooling. He stood still, listening, a first aid spell constructed, healing his burnt finger. Behind him, the maids had finished setting the table and were slipping out, silent as ghosts, relieved to escape his presence and the machine that could tear them to pieces. Their fear and misunderstandings weighed on him. He wanted them to see him as driven but not a monster. Perhaps one day, when his gadget proved its worth and eased their burdens, they would laugh with him instead of trembling¡ªdepending on the explody factor. Exhaling slowly, Alexander squared his shoulders and looked at the board. "You''re the right decision, aren''t you?" he asked softly as if it might answer. His voice was gentle, which he rarely used. Inside him brewed a strange cocktail of defiance, doubt, and determination. He had come so far and knew so much, yet there was always more to learn. Standing amid half-finished dreams and jittery mana flows, he recognized that he might need the stress, the tension, and internal conflicts to keep pushing forward. Complacency was the real enemy, not the naysayers or the fearful servants. To better himself and prove that his ideas weren''t just folly, he needed challenges and maybe a few good cynics to keep him honest. The door suddenly opened, and a cacophony of youthful voices echoed in the room. Alexander turned around, his smile fresh as if his earlier contemplations never existed, "Hello there!" Chapter 229: Ressources I ... Alexander stood beside a long magic board as the voices behind him started socializing. With careful precision, he glid thin metal plates into the slots of the calculator container, adjusting them until the illusions on the board should, in theory, form a coherent 2D map. Once adequately aligned and turned on, the arrangement would reveal detailed topography and symbolic tokens representing troops, resources, and defensive emplacements. But so far, the pieces refused to cooperate. On the table behind him lay spread-out stacks of pamphlets detailing every symbol, token, and coded icon for strategic purposes. Each page represented countless factors, from enemy armaments to the peculiar weather patterns around Pure-Steam Island. The island''s isolation was notorious¡ªit would be easier to conquer North Korea stealthily than to take that mist- and jungle-shrouded territory. Alexander smirked grimly at the thought. He''d never say it aloud, but the sheer complexity thrilled him as much as it irritated him. For such an endeavor, the base of operation was lacking¡ªan improvised solution was what he needed. This cramped chamber had been christened the strategy room only until Klili''s patience wore thin, and she demanded her sleeping quarters back¡ªcircumstances that showed through all of the Leonandra estate. ''Jesus, I would''ve been fucked if they brought all of their men,'' he mused bitterly, as his people slowly couldn''t be bought anymore and regarded other comforts as more significant. Gold and checks were stored or deposited, becoming useless, which gave him another idea. ''This reminds me¡ª'' Those thoughts were quickly interrupted when a faint, pale morning light filtered through the high, narrow windows, outlining Alexander''s silhouette and bringing his mind back when blinded. ''Right, concentrate,'' he sighed, earnestly continuing to position the plates while in thought. Initially, he wanted to start the military exercises after seeing what everyone brought to the table, but fortunately, Narsiz prevented it. ''Shit is fucked,'' Alexander mused self-mockingly, thinking that his understanding of the military was of some use until he almost made an error, as the gold he had, ridiculous amounts, made problems he had regarded with little concern¡ªa corporate mindset, absolutely missing the forest for the trees. No soldiers had arrived yet; that was by design. He wouldn''t even know where to quarter half of them, and he found some twisted comfort in that ignorance¡ªsomething Melina, his head maid, responsible for managing his in-estate properties, didn''t like and made him this know, repeatedly. They were expected to trickle in over the coming weeks¡ªquiet arrivals using civilian manners¡ªthere was no need to raise a stir before the official start of their campaign. Patience was a virtue in these matters, and it wasn''t meant for the enemy but the population as a whole, which always had negative connotations of compulsory subscription, something often seen in other territories. Alexander traced a finger along the incomplete map, his mind turning southwest where the Eros Alliance had their stronghold. The token for Baldur Lavafist''s forces hovered in his thoughts. The old bastard had launched a premature siege¡ªfar too early. Alexander''s brow knitted, a subtle clench of his jaw betraying the frustration beneath his cool exterior. ''He''s desperate,'' Alexander mused bitterly, pressing a plate with a bit too much force¡ªa crack echoed. ''Pushing for surrender before we''ve scouted properly... he is aiming for something else.'' Alexander knew the politics behind Lavafist''s gambit: a show of strength, a cheap favor to soften the enemy''s defenses¡ªmostly within. His power was undeniable: a predator and a legendary adventurer. But in politics, no matter how much strength he showed, he was an outsider¡ªa commoner, the son of a common blacksmith. ''I hope it works, though,'' Alexander wondered, unable to deny that Lavafist wanted to weaken certain factions within and was ready to lose unnecessary territory while building relationships. It was apparent¡ªa reflection of his past as an adventurer who tended to be more open-minded than not¡ªa bet with the promise to open the door to his Alliance. Yet to Alexander, it felt too risky, showing that Pascal''s reputation needed to be saved while Alexander had his own interests, mostly aligned with either side. Lavafist, however, didn''t make them surrender; through information, there was quite a stir inside some factions¡ªespecially those who favored the First Servant''s stance¡ªand all he could do was stop them from raising an internal conflict. The illusions on the board flickered as Alexander rearranged the plates yet again, trying to form the perfect representation of terrain and fortifications. Each misalignment magnified his tension. The Pure-Steam Island''s leaders had isolationist tendencies that rivaled the most paranoid regimes. Some on the council secretly admired this stance, undercutting collaborations from within. Lavafist likely aimed to snuff out these pests quickly. Alexander knew that if the operation collapsed into chaos, it would only strengthen Lavafist''s hand and undercut everyone else''s. ''I deeply, deeply despise politics,'' Alexander mused, understanding the irony, forcing a calm fa?ade as he eyed the shifting illusions on the board. He had to gather resources, finalize a strategy, and ensure everyone knew their role. They needed to coordinate¡ªdivide the territory, arrange long-term governance, and maintain stability. Otherwise, an opportunity like this wouldn''t occur as quickly. Though outwardly, the layers of responsibility pressed down, he kept a slouch and a half-smirk as if all this were some elaborate board game. Inwardly, he had to suppress his maddening expression, wanting nothing more than to carpet-bomb the damn territory and be done with it. Politics and military conflicts were never easy, and his ability not to start a war with Pascal alone spoke of fortune beyond imagination¡ªmostly, it was his Grandmother, as many didn''t want to get on her bad side, understanding her relative excentric past and predisposition for outbursts. ''So,'' he tapped his chin, trying to soften his stance even more while providing aid and support to Lavafist and Pascal, his stance still overwhelmingly focused on diplomacy. ''I should focus on¡ª'' A soft, hesitant voice broke his focus. "Ehm, Alex? May I have a moment with you?" Isabella of the Feather-Paw household stood behind him, her posture stiff, a forced smile hovering over her expression. Her long and glistering blond jackal ears flicked nervously. Alexander glanced over his shoulder and jerked his thumb toward another room. "Need privacy?" The strategy room¡ªreally just Klili''s disheveled bedroom¡ªwas crowded with people who would be part of this venture. Half pretended not to listen, but Alexander could practically feel their ears pivoting toward any hint of gossip. Isabella nodded, and they slipped into what was technically Klili''s closet but now served as a makeshift office. Alexander couldn''t help but grin at the absurdity. He snapped his fingers inside. A soft hum signaled a soundproof barrier and the appearance of a light sphere. The air turned oddly still. He knew they couldn''t stay too long inside or risk suffocation. Isabella''s nose wrinkled as she eyed the cramped space, her tail twitching. "I expected something... more sophisticated," she admitted, her voice low and uncertain. Alexander leaned casually against a wall, arms folded. "It''s what we''ve got. Klili''s got a taste for hoarding old dresses and novelty umbrellas, not exactly high-tech war rooms. Anyway, what''s on your mind?" He raised his brows. "If it''s about accommodations, join the queue. I''ve already got a dozen would-be assassins fantasizing about pillow-induced suffocation. I wouldn''t want to deprive them of that honor." Isabella''s tense expression softened slightly. "You have quite the dark sense of humor," she said, a reluctant smile tugging at her lips. "I expected someone a bit more... empathetic." His grin was lopsided. "Oh, I''m all sunshine and rainbows on the inside. Truly. Just ask the unicorns grazing in my nooks." The sarcasm fizzled, and he straightened a bit, golden eyes sharpening. "But enough banter. I''ve got restless teens outside, ready to spill blood or love. What do you need, Isabella?" Was Alexander unmannered? Yes, but he knew how to observe proper etiquette when necessary; when alone, there was no need for it. Etiquette was primarily required in group settings to avoid embarrassing others or escalating situations. Consequently, his straightforward and harsh manner of speaking was typical, and Isabella didn''t take it personally. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. She took a breath, her shoulders lifted, and her eyes downcast. "I have a problem," she began, voice near a whisper. "Yet I still want to be part of this campaign." Alexander cocked his head. "You ran away," he said flatly, not bothering to dress it up. "From your cozy home to join this madness. Brave or foolish, can''t say I''d advise it. But why? Planning to kill a few fire-djinn isolationists to prove some puppyish point?" Isabella''s eyes widened, shock flickering in their emerald depths. "You knew?" There was no surprise, as Alexander had Quill work overtime and threatened to confine him in a permanent chastity belt if he didn''t perform his duties¡ªand it worked wonders. The information he gathered primarily indicated that the Feather-Paw territory was in chaos following the daughter''s flight, leaving him with few conclusions to draw. A faint, mischievous gleam danced in his gaze. "Your parents are¡ªhow should I put it¡ªless than thrilled. But I''m no nanny. You made a choice. I''m interested in what you''ll bring to the table." Her voice grew tight. "I ran because I believe I can help. I can save lives, not just take them. I fear if I return, they''ll confine me in Outer Circle for who knows how long." She met his gaze directly now, face earnest. "Tell me the truth, Alexander. Am I making a mistake?" Isabella was a good person, sacrificing her time and talents to save as many as possible. However, her parents supported her until she mentioned his name¡ªa slight difference in opinions occurred. It was not Alexander''s place to judge, but he supported her nonetheless for practical reasons. The Feather-Paw rulers despised him because of his dear Grandmother and her compassionate way of living. Ultimately, he needed support for his upcoming trial, and gaining her allegiance was easier. He studied her, silence stretching between them. In that quiet, he noted the flickering [Energy] in her posture¡ªdefiance warring with doubt. "I''m not my Grandmother. And I''m not your parents. I''m carving my own path," he said finally, voice quieter, more sincere than before. "Whether that path leads to salvation or ruin... well, that''s what everyone''s here to judge, isn''t it?" A small laugh escaped Isabella, the tension easing. "You little shit," she said, almost fondly. "I''ll just have to observe you and see if my judgment was correct." Alexander snorted. "Welcome to the spectator stands. Half the continent''s already watching my every move and rolling their eyes." With a wink, he pushed off the wall and reached for the door. "Oh, and if a letter shows up from your parents¡ªdo me a favor and ignore it. Barth might be doing me a little favor on that front." She stiffened, her pupils shaking, "What?!" ... Meanwhile, far to the north of Alexander, jagged mountains rose over ashen fields in the Silver-Tail fief. Soot-stained ruins of villages clung to life, patches of scorched earth slowly healing as stubborn wildflowers and fresh grass pushed through the blackened ground. Life reasserted itself despite old traumas. A caravan of twenty ornate carriages rattled along a narrow, winding path well removed from any bustling heart of civilization. They traveled quietly, skirting tiny villages to restock in the shadows of half-rebuilt homesteads. Inside the lead carriage, Pomerian Feather-Paw¡ªknown among many as the Wretch of Pestilence¡ªsat with perfect posture. The crisp scent of incense clung to his snow-white gloves as he trailed a fingertip over the hilt of his rapier. Silver-blond fur and hair framed a face drawn with tension. He was supposed to command armies, not chase after his only daughter like some common bounty hunter. He cursed inwardly, ''Bella, what have you done?'' A man of fearsome military reputation, Pomerian wrestled privately with the moral stains on his soul. His power¡ªand the name that accompanied it¡ªhad once been earned through mass slaughter. It was a legacy he would inevitably have to pass on¡ªa curse that only brought pain and suffering. Yet, Isabella''s brilliance and compassion broke the cycle¡ªlike a snow-white flower, unsullied, her idealistic nature and passion for helping, forging peace, and relieving suffering even made his wife jealous¡ªhis daughter was a sacrifice to clean their blood. And yet, here he was, forging ahead to retrieve her before she fell under the sway of Alexander and became sullied¡ªthe boy whose lineage whispered of nightmares and atrocities. ''Alexander,'' Pomerian''s mind churned. ''That cunning little serpent. If Isabella stays near him, she might be charmed by his clever words, lured into a world of endless conflict,'' his finger became firmer as it glided over the grip of his rapier made of demonium. ''Alexander K. Leonandra,'' he repeated his name, the grandson of the manifestation of bloodthirst also known as The Nightmare¡ªfilthy and barbaric¡ªnurturing someone with the brilliance of Aetherfang¡ªa shadow of unimaginable proportions was slowly encompassing the land. Alexander''s name slithered through the corners of Pomerian''s mind again, stirring his thoughts into catastrophic imaginations. The boy had cunning and cruelty woven into his very bone, which needed to be expelled or restrained by all means. Pomerian''s wife had warned him that the retribution trials would be enough to shackle the youthful temper, but Pomerian suspected it wouldn''t be so simple¡ªhe was right. Isabella became his first victim, a naive girl with the potential to guide their lineage into a blessing, and was seduced by Alexander into a worldview of endless war, ''I will bring you back, no matter the cost.'' The caravan rumbled onward, the mountains casting jagged shadows. Pomerian''s large coyote-like ears twitched, tail flicking anxiously. The exchanges with Marisia were too calm¡ªalmost uncaring. She''d insisted that puppies must find their own paths. Pomerian found no comfort in her stoic acceptance. Each click of the carriage wheels tightened the knot in his stomach, his blood freezing at the thought of confronting her¡ªa living weapon. They reached a valley where char and soot still lingered, ghostly echoes of old wars. Without warning, the entire caravan lurched to a halt. Pomerian''s head snapped, caught a shift in the air, a tickle of foreign [Energy]. Before Pomerian could demand an explanation, a familiar, grating voice boomed over the hush of the ruined landscape. A familiar voice boomed through the hush. "Oy! Pompom! Long time no see!" A rough and barking laugh followed by an absurd "Muhahaha!" reverberated among the scorched remnants of the valley. Pomerian''s ears flattened. ''Bartholomew.'' He hadn''t seen that brute in decades. The man had been a legendary combatant, equal parts cunning and chaos, once a grudging comrade under The Nightmare¡ªborn into the identical status filled with hostility. Now, he stood in the path, halting Pomerian''s progress. They survived the gruesome training together, and even though Pomerian left five years earlier, Bartholomew should''ve known and understood the cost of senseless violence. It was seemingly insufficient as he killed his own blood, and now the fool barred his path. Pomerian''s jaw tightened. ''He must have been bought,'' he mused, tugging the carriage door open. ''Alex''s gold can make loyal pets of many,'' he stepped down from the carriage, rapier clinking faintly. The smell of soot shot up into his nose as his pristine boots landed lightly in the soot, leaving perfect prints. He inhaled, catching a hint of acrid smoke. His guards fanned out, anxious and ready. The rapier''s scabbard glittered faintly in the dim sunlight. One white-gloved hand held it, the other swiping over his perfectly trimmed and slim mustache. His spotless attire perfectly matched his small, lean body¡ªtensed like a spring. Bartholomew loomed ahead: a hulking dog-kin, still dressed in ragged, ill-fitting clothes, muscles rippling beneath. His presence was as subtle as a falling mountain. He grinned as if this were an old drinking reunion. "So many carriages, Pompom. Off to fetch your wayward pup by the scruff of her neck, eh? Let her make her own decisions." A monster of his race and Pomerian hated it. He was a work of art, modeled and modified by the Nightmare until he became what one could only call the second strongest in their generation, only eclipsed by a breathing weapon. Pomerian''s emerald eyes narrowed. "You know why I''m traveling, then," he said, voice taut with suppressed anger. "Then you must know who she''s gone to." Bartholomew''s grin didn''t falter. He puffed a foul-looking cigar, smoke curling in red-black wisps. "Everyone knows, Pompom. Ori knows. Peter knows. Brutus and even Cecilia. And you know how she can hold a grudge." The big man gave a humorless chuckle. "Rumors spread fast as plague." Pomerian''s grip on his rapier tightened. "Let me be clearer, Bartholomew," his jaw tensed. "It''s not only to whom but to where." Bartholomew rolled his eyes overdramatically. "The whole South likes him," he rolled casually his shoulders, continuing. "The little scuffle is nothing to worry about, but some give and take between the old cookstove, the pancake maker, and the little bastard." Pomerian''s tail stood still. "Then you know this isn''t just some harmless escapade. Alexander''s bloodline could birth another Nightmare. Millions could die if he rises unchecked. Is that what you desire?" The big man''s laughter faded. A subtle shadow passed over Bartholomew''s eyes as if recalling distant horrors. "Times change," he rumbled. "You can''t stop a storm by stabbing the wind. Alexander might be a monster¡ªor he might be something else entirely. You fear what could come, but war births strange alliances. Sometimes blood-soaked fields grow the finest forests." He shrugged as if this fatalistic poetry could excuse catastrophe. Pomerian''s lips curled in disdain. "So you condone his potential? I expected more from you." He drew a breath, and a tainted aura unfurled around him, crackling with an ancient potency. Grass withered instantly, and some of his own guards staggered, choking on the sudden stench of decay. The valley felt colder, the wind holding its breath¡ªdeath itself plagued the land. "You forget yourself, Bartholomew. If you stand in my way, you will be an example to others¡ªdon''t let your title dictate your ignorance, dear Tail-Eater." Bartholomew spat out the last scrap of his cigar, the ember dying instantly. He stiffened, his friendly fa?ade slipping. A ripple of raw power coursed through him. Flesh and bone distorted, muscles bulging in unnatural shapes, [Energy] gathering like stormclouds. "You''re a damn fool," he snarled, voice deepening as his form changed, raw and primal¡ªterror. Pomerian recognized the transformation: it was Bartholomew''s true strength, rarely unleashed. The clash of two titans loomed; their might formed through blood and pain, fueled by rejection¡ªfound themselves with contradictory causes.