Chapter 8: Kingdom of Elenoir

ARTHUR LEYWIN'S POV:It had been a few hours since I saved an elf girl named Tessia Eralith, and somehow I ended up becoming her escort. Well, it's not like I could complain, since elves may have a teleportation gate to Spain, so it was in my favor.A few more days passed by fairly uneventfully when, out of nowhere, I was struck with deep aches in my abdomen. The first pains occurred on the third day of the trip; We were inside the tent, Tess already fast asleep, when a sudden searing ache spread from my sternum. It disappeared soon enough, but even that brief moment caused a pain that left me in shivers."Can you tell how far we are from Elenoir now, Tessia?" I asked on a particularly clear morning on the fifth day of our journey.Her elongated ears twitched as she began surveying her surroundings. Suddenly, she ran to a particularly crooked tree and ran her fingers over the trunk. A few minutes of silence went by before she came, visibly excited."That tree is one I used to come to with my Grandfather sometimes! I remember carving my name into the trunk of the tree when he wasn't looking. We're not too far anymore! I think that if we quicken our pace a little bit, we'll be able to make it by tonight!" she said, pointing to the tree."Sounds good," I answered, following behind her. As lovely as the journey had been, I needed to make plans to somehow get home, and that wouldn't be possible until I got her home.We continued on the rest of the day, with only a few quick stops to rest ourselves and replenish our stomachs. Constant use of mana rotation had kept my body from being strained, but it was obvious that Tess was growing more weary.It was dusk now and the fog around us seemed to be getting thicker. My sense of direction was all but useless in this blasted forest. Enough so that, if I were to get separated from Tess, I could wind up traveling in circles without even realizing it.She suddenly turned to me, her face a mixture of happiness and hesitation before she muttered, "We're here."Looking around, the only things visible were clusters of trees and fog. Confused, I was about to ask where we were, but I stopped myself when I saw Tess placing both her palms on a tree and muttering a chant.Suddenly, the fog around us was sucked into the same tree and what came into vision was a giant wooden door that seemed to be propped up by itself on the ground.Tess grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. When she opened it, I was reminded of the portal that Sylvia had pushed me through. The experience didn't feel any better the second time but I at least knew what to expect. As we softly landed on our feet, arriving at our destination, I immediately rummaged through my bag to make sure I still had the stone Sylvia entrusted me with. It was only after confirming that it was still there did I finally looked up and took in the scene around us.Pristine.That was the word that popped into my head as I gawked at the elven city. It appeared we had directly teleported right past the gates. What I saw before me were buildings that seemed to be built out of a jade-like material. These jade buildings were so flawless and smooth that each seemed to be carved from a single, huge stone.Making this place look even more awe-inspiring were the huge trees that intertwined with the buildings, filling this whole city with a more distinctive and organic ambiance. Looking up, I see homes built on unnaturally thick branches extending out of the massive trunks even larger than the buildings with smoke drifting out of their chimneys.The entire ground inside this city was covered in a lush field of soft moss, with only the narrow sidewalks and the main road paved with smooth stone. The dense array of branches that fanned out from the trees covered most of the city in a canopy of shade, but there was a warm, luminescent glow throughout the city thanks to numerous floating orbs of light situated on every corner and street.While I stood, slack-jawed, still processing the world around me, a shadow whizzed in front of me suddenly, jolting me awake.Tess was still holding onto my hand when a group of what seemed like guards arrived out of nowhere. These elven warriors emanated a dignified air, all dressed in coordinated black suits with green trimmings and a golden shoulder guard on their left shoulder. These five guards all carried a rapier strapped to their waist. I mentally noted that these guards had no sensible aura radiating out of them.Augmenters and conjurers both naturally emit a faint aura from their bodies. The fact I wasn't able to sense any mana leaking meant one of two things: Their mana cores were at a high enough level where I wasn't able to sense it, or they had enough control over their mana to not let any leak out. Either way, it meant that these guys were as impressive as their attire made them look.The guards ignored my presence as they suddenly kneeled in front of Tess In unison. "We welcome back the royal princess.""..." My gaze flicked back and forth between the guards and Tess and I'm reminded of the time when I jokingly called Tessia 'your highness'.Tessia was actually the princess of this whole kingdom?When I tried to let go of Tessia's hand she suddenly squeezed her hand tighter. In a voice so cold and apathetic that I mistook her voice for someone else's, she said, "You may rise."They stood up with their right fist still crossing their chest when the knight in front spoke. "Princess, we arrived as soon as we saw that the royal teleportation gate had been used. The King and Queen are..."Before he could finish speaking, I heard a cry not too far away."My baby! Tessia, you're okay! Oh, my baby!"Running towards us was a middle-aged man and woman. From the crown on the man's head and the tiara encircling the woman's forehead, I assumed that they were the King and Queen.The King's tall, built body was uniformed in a loose, decorated robe. His emerald eyes were pointed upwards and his thin lips were tensed, matching his short, military-style hair.While the King had a dignified but somewhat reserved appearance, the Queen was breathtaking. Although she was a bit past her youthful stage, her age couldn't mask the beauty that she was. Her round eyes shimmered a light blue hue, contrasting well with her lush, pink-colored lips. Her silver hair was curled down, flailing past her back as she ran towards us, her well-proportioned figure visible underneath her dress.The mother's cheeks were lined with tears and the father had a tense expression that looked like he was holding back tears as well.I turned my gaze to see Tessia's face visibly soften as she started tearing up as well. I let go of her hand and gently pushed her towards her parents, feeling a little sentimental myself.Tessia landed in the arms of her mother who started sobbing at this point on their knees, both burying their face in their daughter's shoulders.The last to arrive was an old man well past his prime. His facial features are all sharp, with a gaze that could kill someone on contact. His hair was pure white and was tied in the back, face cleanly shaven. This elderly man didn't say anything, but his eyes did warm up a little when he saw Tessia.It took several minutes for Tessia and her parents to settle down. In the meantime, the guards were glaring at me with daggers in their eyes, as even the elder was eyeing me curiously.The King finally stood up and while his eyes were red, he still carried an air of dignity. "As the King of Elenoir and the father of Tessia, I must apologize for this unsightly appearance of mine, and more importantly, I wish to thank you for escorting my daughter back home safely," he stated, his voice coming out a bit hoarse. "Please accompany us to our home so that you may rest. After, you can tell us what happened."His tone was gentle but implied that there wasn't really an option, so I simply nodded in consent. As I was about to follow behind them, Tessia came to me and grabbed my hand again, filling the surrounding people with expressions of shock. I couldn't help but chuckle uncomfortably as I scratched the side of my head, unable to muster up the appropriate words for a situation like this.After a strenuously awkward ride that seemed a lot longer than it actually had been, we arrived at the castle. Rather than a castle, however, it looked to be an enormous tree. This tree, which probably needed at least a few hundred people locking arms to encircle it, was made of a white stone that, I could only guess, had gone through a petrification process somehow.Stepping through the front doors of the tree, I was pleasantly surprised to see how impressive the interior of this castle was. There were two curved staircases that created a circle, with a gigantic chandelier floating in the middle of it. This chandelier seemed to be made of the same orbs of light that were dotted throughout the city.I had told the King and Queen that it wasn't necessary for me to rest and would rather tell them as soon as we arrived, so that's what we did.Not even washing up, the welcoming crew was all situated around the rectangular dining table downstairs. Tessia's father was on the far end of the table with me directly opposite of him. Tessia's mother sat perpendicular to her husband, with Tessia seated right next to her. The grandpa was sitting across from the mother and daughter, leaving a pretty big gap between us, while the five guards stood off to the side behind the King.With both his elbows resting on the table, fingers intertwined, the King was the first to speak. "Child. What did you say your name was?""Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin, and I come from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Elder, and gentlemen." I stood up and bowed slightly at each of them individually before sitting back down.Discussion wasn't going to progress if they were going to treat me like a child.Both the King and Queen and the guards in the back showed evident looks of surprise at my mature behavior, while even the grandpa had an amused smirk on his face; Tessia gave me a shy smile.Regaining composure, the King continued on. "It seems you are much more mature than your age. Forgive me for assuming. My name is Alduin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial Eralith, and my father Virion Eralith. As for what happened, please tell us. We would like to hear your side of this."Waving off the apology, I began telling the story. I made sure to be very vague in telling them how I got inside the Forest of Elshire in the first place; I simply told them I had gotten separated from my family after running into bandits, only managing to survive out of luck.Inevitably, I had to tell them I was a mage. This was followed by another wave of looks of utter disbelief from everyone, including Tessia. Because of the lack of obstacles we ran into on our journey back, I never really had the need to use mana so I didn't bother explaining.One of the guards told me that I was a liar and to prove that I was actually a mage when, unexpectedly, Tessia's grandfather shut him down. He then clasped his hands together on the table and looked at me with a renewed, eerie interest.I quickly moved on, telling them how I had spotted a carriage and observed them carrying a tied-up child into the back of a carriage before going off.At this, the King slammed both of his hands on the table, his eyes narrowing into a menacing glare."I should've known it was humans..."I corrected his mildly racist comment and said, "They were slave traders. Them and bandits alike prey on, not just elves, but humans as well, speaking as a victim myself."This caused the King to shut his mouth before sitting back down, letting out a soft cough."I didn't ask Princess Tessia this, but I am curious as to how slave traders even got their hands on the princess of this kingdom," I queried.At this, the King almost looked embarrassed before saying, "My wife and I had a bit of a disagreement with Tessia and she decided to rebel by running away. We had decided to let her cool off a bit before fetching her back because we knew where she usually stayed when she pouted, but unfortunately, she ran into some hu... slave traders."I glazed over the details of the fight with the slave traders."Luckily, I had caught the slave traders by surprise and managed to dispose of them before untying the princess and escorting her here.""So a four-year-old managed to 'luckily' kill off four adults, one being an augmenter at that, and you simply wave it off like it's no big deal," chimes in the king's father seated across from Tessia, leaning back on the chair so only two of the legs are touching the ground."Yes. Half of them were asleep and the two were simply not on guard so disposing of them was not too challenging," I refuted back.The elder just responded with a lazy shrug of his shoulder.After finishing the events, I cleared my throat before asking what I came here for. "As I have mentioned, it has been almost two months since I have seen my parents. I do not plan to intrude on your kingdom for long as I wish to meet them quickly, so I was wondering if you guys had a teleportation gate that could take me to the City of Xyrus or anywhere inside Sapin.""You're going to leave already, Art?!" Tessia shot up from her seat, face stricken with panic.Both her mother and father gave each other a baffled look as they mouthed 'Art'.The elder just shot a snide grin at this and chuckled, rocking on his chair."I don't think it's appropriate for a human such as myself to be inside this Kingdom for too long, Princess. Besides, I wish to make sure that my family is safe and tell them I'm okay as well," I answered, giving a sheepish smile.The King responds to Tessia. "It has been a couple hundred years since the last human stepped foot into the Kingdom of Elenoir and you, Arthur, are the first human to be in the capital of this Kingdom, the City of Zestier. However, saving our daughter and taking the trouble to accompany her all the way back to us entitles you with a proper reward..."I take a quick peek at Tessia and see her head down, her gunmetal silver hair covering her face."...Unfortunately, the teleportation gate linked with the Kingdom of Sapin opens only once every seven years, for the Summit Conference between the three races. Since the last Summit was two years ago, it'll be another five years until the gate will function," the King continued.I couldn't help but let out a deep breath in disappointment."However, we are more than willing to send a group of guards to escort you back home. You are correct that it may not be wise to stay in this kingdom for too long. While some are tolerant, many hold animosity towards humans because of the war long ago." He flashed a brief, sorrowful smile at this.I nodded in agreement. At least I'd be able to safely go back home."For now, please make yourself at home here. We will have your escorts prepared by tomorrow morning. I do advise you not to wander around outside in the city though, for the reasons mentioned earlier."The King snapped his finger and an elderly elf lady in a tan maid uniform rushed out, leading me to my room.The room I was led to was large, but elegantly simple in furnishings. While the only furniture consisted of a couch, tea table, bed, and dresser, each looked to be handcrafted out of wood by seasoned craftsmen. As soon as I got into the room, I closed the door behind me, stripped, and went straight for the bathroom. The shower was a pleasant surprise; it was a simple waterfall that seemed to naturally flow from the ceiling and drain back out on the floor. However, the constant flow of water that didn't seem to ever turn off was a surprisingly pleasant temperature, just warm enough to relax my body and pores.As I finished dressing into a very silky robe just for your top and short pants, I placed the stone Sylvia left me inside the chest pocket inside my robe and once again, tried to study my mana core.About thirty minutes in and making only minimal progress, I hear a knock on my door."Coming!"Opening the door, I'm greeted by a pouting Tessia who threw a light punch at my chest."You dummy! Why did you act all unfriendly when you were with my family back there," she harrumphed, slipping past me and sitting on my bed."Well, first of all, you didn't mention to me that you happened to be the princess of this entire kingdom!" Shaking my head, I gripped Tessia's hand and pulled her out of my room. Kids or not, I didn't think her parents were going to like her being in a boy's room."Come on, show me around the castle! I won't get the chance to visit this place again." I immediately regretted saying this.I hear a slight sniffle as Tessia suddenly breaks down into tears, trying to talk while sobbing."Art! I don't want you to *Sniff* leave...""...You're the first *Sniff* person I've gotten ever close to...""..."I just gently patted her head while she was rubbing her eyes with the arm not holding onto my hand.As we continued walking in silence, except for Tess' soft sniffles, we made it outside, in the courtyard at the back of the castle. The floating orbs were giving off a dim, luminescent glow, lighting up the well-kept garden in a gentle atmosphere. I wonder how they maintained...Before I even had the chance to finish my thought, A blatantly clear killing intent bombarded my senses. Milliseconds later a faint glimmer gave off the position of a projectile aimed at Tessia. I pushed the still-crying princess out of the way and I prepared to parry the projectile with a mana-infused hand.At that instant, a figure in black was facing my back, his right arm in a stance to attack. Grabbing the projectile, I immediately spun myself to block the assassin with whatever was thrown at me. To my surprise, I was face to face with Tessia's grandfather.I jumped back out of range before angrily shouting, "What the hell! Why are you trying to kill us?""Kid. It may hurt a little but I doubt that toy you're holding could kill anyone," he chuckled.I looked down at my hand to see a pencil-sized projectile with both ends blunted and coated in a layer of something close to rubber.I was tricked!"Haha! Nice reaction, nice reaction! I didn't think you'd catch my little present and use it to block my next attack! Truly marvelous! However, your usage of mana was mediocre at best!"He proceeded to throw me a wooden sword fit for my size as he took out a wooden sword of his own, just a bit bigger."Here I come!" Not even giving me the time to get in a stance or even the chance to accept his impromptu training, he dashed towards me.This crazy old bat!I lowered my stance and, instead of being defensive, I launched myself at him as well, accelerating my speed to throw off the timing of his swing. Aiming for the fingers gripping his sword, I swung upward, reinforcing my entire body.Right before my sword came into contact with his hand, I was met with only air as he disappeared from my sight.Whipping my head back, I spotted him a couple of meters apart from where I was standing."You're a scary little brat, aren't you? Looks like I'll have to be a bit more serious!" the grandpa smirked.His speed increased even more. Even with my previous life being a life of only training and battles, I was only barely able to keep him in my sight. However, being able to see him and being able to respond to his attacks are two different things.I felt like a sandbag as I could only curse at my own body.I was able to block one move of his out of every three he landed on my body.Screw technique, this old bat was messing with me through sheer speed. The only reason I was able to somewhat keep up was by using sword techniques and footwork to minimize my movement, along with the fact that, because of my size, I was a small target.After about ten, long minutes of being treated like a wooden training post, I started noticing some patterns in the grandpa's attacks.As he flashed behind me about to do a horizontal sweep to my legs, I put all of my strength into my legs and leaped back with my sword tucked into my armpit pointing at his head.With a solid thud created from my blow landing, the old bat stumbled a little before gaining balance."HAHAHAHA! I guess I deserved that one!" he laughed, rubbing his swollen forehead.Throughout all of this, Tessia was surprised at first but after realizing it was just a spar, she settled down. She used this chance, though, to jump out and stomp towards the elder."Grandpa! You hurt Art too much! You should've gone easier on him!" Pinching the elder's side."AHH! That hurts little one. Haha, I'm afraid if I went easier on Arthur, he'd be the one bullying me!" he gently answered as he picked up his granddaughter.He flashed in front of me and suddenly placed his right palm into my sternum."Just as I thought. Your body is in a dangerous state..."I stared blankly at him. Through constant use of mana rotation and meditation, my body should be a lot healthier than even the most well-fed four-year-old.Virion, noticing my doubtful gaze, pressed his palm on my sternum at a certain angle, triggering a familiar searing pain."Your mana manipulation is good for a beginner despite your age, and your sword techniques and fighting experience are frightening enough to make me wonder what sort of life you had led to learning all of this." His eyes narrowed. "But you failed to mention one critical thing in your story earlier."I could feel my heartbeat beginning to rise as I started to suspect that he found out about Sylvia, worse yet about the multi-cores I had."I've decided. Arthur, become my disciple!" He nodded, throwing me entirely off guard._________________________________________________________________________________Three years passed by in a blur, and I discovered the fact that Sylvia had given me her will when she pierced my sternum. And the scales that Sylvia had given seem to be working perfectly as Virion had not been able to discover about my other cores.I have somehow gotten used to living here but I still miss Mom and Dad, and my newborn sibling who I still know nothing about. Fortunately, I have been able to contact them with the help of someone named Rinia-an old friend of Virion and a diviner, and was able to assure them that I am okay and they should take care of each other while I am not there. "Art! Are you ready? Today is finally the day. After this, you'll be a true beast tamer, not like those lucky adventurers that just have a beast will," He emphasized, arms crossed.I gave him a firm nod while Tess headed to the table Gramps was sitting on to watch.It wasn't much of a ceremony. All it consisted of was Gramps exerting a large amount of mana into my core. This would trigger a large surge of mana that I would have to direct and spread into my body."Do you remember the basic phases of beast tamers, Art?" he quizzed.I recited the basics that Grandpa Virion pounded into me these past years. "All beast tamers have a different number of forms that they can will their bodies into. The number of forms depends on the strength of the Beast's will that is left in the mana core. The first phase, which all beast tamers have, is Acquire. In this phase, the Tamer can utilize a small portion of the inherent ability that their beast has. The second stage is Integrate, where the Tamer's body wholly infuses with the Beast's will, allowing much better control over their beast's inherent abilities.""Correct! The phases that the beast tamers are able to unlock simply show how much they can utilize their beasts' will. The stronger the beast, the harder it is, but at the same time, if the tamer can't get insight, then it is also impossible to get past the first phase. One thing to note, however, is that not always is the Integrate stage more powerful than the Acquire. The Acquire phase is tapping into a specific inherent ability of your beast's while Integrate is a much more all-encompassing power up using your beast's will," he reminded, his face deathly serious."While I didn't tell you earlier, now that you are about to become a true beast tamer, you should know the differences in how a beast tamer's will is acquired. If the beast is killed and his mana core is extracted with its will still intact, a mage can absorb the will and try to gain insights. That mage would be considered a forged tamer. While it is a lot easier and straightforward to be a forged tamer, the probability of gaining insight is very rare and limited. One of the reasons it took me so long for me to be able to break into the second phase was because I am a forged tamer. I consider myself lucky to even be able to break into the second stage though. Arthur, you are one of the extremely rare legacy tamers; where the beast willingly imparted its will onto you, Not to mention the fact that somehow the process of distributing the mana from your core to the rest of your body was much faster for you, reason unknown."As he said the process required spreading the mana from my core which contains will to the rest of my body, but since I had seven cores I was able to refill my core with Sylvia's will, again and again, increasing the speed by almost five times, but Virion stopped me after 1 hrs every day saying my body is still immature for the Sylvia's will so I should take it slow hence I spent most of the time practicing sword by sparing with virion while constantly using mana rotation to increase my proficiency. Continuing on, he explained, "Art, my first phase doesn't really make me that much faster, but I'm able to erase a bit of my presence and blend myself into the shadows. You haven't seen my second phase, right? Watch carefully. It took me over ten years for me to make a breakthrough into this phase."Feeling a powerful surge of mana surrounding his body, I couldn't help but involuntarily cringe. All of a sudden, the mana around his body seeped back into him and my eyes widened.Grandpa's skin turns pitch black. Even the whites of his eyes became black while his irises turned sharp and glowed yellow. His tied white hair became unbound and was also a shiny black color. The aura that surrounded him made me shudder and take a step back."This is the Integrate phase. I'm going to sneak up behind you. Pay attention," He growled, his voice much raspier than before.Was it really sneaking up if he told me... was what I was thinking when he disappeared from my vision. I couldn't feel his presence at all but I when looked behind me as I had been told to do, his finger was already pressed against my jugular as he looked down at me with his glowing yellow eyes.Fast. It seemed like instant teleportation but I knew it wasn't by the skid mark from his initial position. It was speed that even I couldn't keep up with. Not even close. No. The scary part wasn't even his insane speed. It was his lack of presence. Even directly behind me, I couldn't sense where he was.He turned back to normal, his face slightly flushed as Tessia began clapping as if this was a show."Whew! Using that form always takes a toll on me. After training with it for a couple of decades, I'm able to keep the form on for a bit less than an hour. During my acquire phase, I am simply channeling a small portion of my beast will and I'm able to borrow the speed and stealth of the shadow panther. However, with my Integrate phase, not only did my speed and stealth rise, but so did my senses to keep up."I nodded in agreement."Good! Let's begin the ceremony," he replied, clasping his hands together.We stood face to face, only an arm's length apart. Tess was now leaning forward in excitement, as we were about to start."Just let your mana come out freely. Don't try to control anything. I'll restrain you if necessary so it's crucial that you keep a relaxed state of mind and rouse the particles of mana you assimilated all these years," he instructed.After a nod in response, he then began exerting mana into my core, flooding my core with his mana along with mine.Instantly, I began feeling a warm sensation, like a hot gust of air was flowing in and out of my pores.As I felt my body reaching its limit, a loud explosion startled me out of my concentration, only for me to see Gramps getting thrown back and Tess falling back on her chair and rolling back as well.An unbearable pain immediately surges from my body, as if my very skeleton was trying to crawl out of my skin. Without even the strength to scream my vision darkens. I welcomed the darkness because I knew it would relieve me of my pain._________________________________________________________________________________Waking up back in my bed, I sat up feeling surprisingly refreshed. Sitting to my side, laying her head down on my legs was Tess. Looking at her sleeping like this, it reminded me of when I had escorted her back home after saving her from the slave traders.Grandpa walked in soon after and he sat down on the other side of the bed, not bothering to wake up his slumbering granddaughter."How do you feel brat?" His lips curl up into a half grin."I should be asking you that, Gramps. I saw you getting sent flying; even Tess was knocked back."He just let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I have to admit I wasn't expecting that great of a force. I know you probably have a good reason for not even telling me what kind of beast gave you its will but I'll ask just one more time. What sort of beast gave you its will?"Scenes of my time with Sylvia ran through my mind, one of them being her telling me never to tell anyone I had met her. However, Virion was probably only the few people I could actually trust, and he had the right to know. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be alive."...Well, using her own words, it was what we called a dragon that had passed her will to me."A thick silence filled the room as Virion's face was frozen in the same stricken expression he had when I told him. He began mumbling to himself, the only words I could make out being 'possible' and 'never happened'."D-dragon..." he managed to wheeze out, his eyes staring blankly at me."Dear lord... a D-dragon Tamer. In my life, I've never thought I'd be able to see the birth of a Dragon Tamer...I-I'm even the one that trained him! HAHAHA! A Dragon Tamer!"Tess woke up from the now senile Virion and looked at him, confused.He suddenly grabbed both my shoulders and looked at me intently. "You did right in keeping this a secret. Do not tell anyone else. This power of yours has to be kept a secret until you have the strength to protect yourself and those around you.""I'm beginning to believe that more and more, Gramps," I responded seriously."Good! Although I would like to know the whole story, but I am more than satisfied with what you've told me for now." He smiled back."What is it, Gramps? What did Art tell you? Uu...not fair, keeping secrets from me." Tess started pouting at this point."Hahaha, you'll know when the time is right little one. Arthur! I have good news. The teleportation gate that is supposed to open in two years will be opening early. There is a tournament that will be held in the city of Xyrus in four months. This tournament will be a very important event for the future because both the dwarves and elves are sending youths as representatives for both the tournament and as preliminary students to your human academy. During the tournament, we can sneak you back into Sapin without the humans knowing at that time," Gramps exclaimed with a smile on his sharp face."Really Gramps? I can go home soon?" I shot out of bed.I would finally be able to see my parents again! I had been sending messages to my parents every once in a while through Elder Rinia but after seeing them through the water divination technique, I wasn't able to see them again."Y-you're going to be leaving soon, Art?" Tessia asked, her face crestfallen."Yeah. I have to meet my family soon. Don't worry though! I'll visit you again! And maybe you can come visit me in Sapin!" I said, hoping to cheer her up."We still have four months, Arthur! Until the day the teleportation gates open, I expect you to train harder than before, brat! Your mana core hasn't developed at all these past three years from the assimilation you had to do. Don't focus on only training your beast's will. That should only be used as a trump card. Understood?"He was right. Although I have yet to activate even the Acquire phase of my dragon will, I knew that using it would only bring unwanted attention. I shouldn't use my beast's will if possible.Continuing, Grandpa slapped my back and said, "Now! Take a bath and then rest. You reek of something rotten, brat. Little one, let's leave Arthur alone so he can recuperate."I noticed Tess still looking depressed by the sudden news of my leaving. Growing up and living with her for three years had given us a bond that was as close to siblings and while she was only nine years old, the fact that she was already showing signs of blossoming into a beautiful woman did make me feel a twinge of regret that I wouldn't be here with her as she grew up."Tess! Cheer up okay? I'll still be around for a few more months and even after I leave, it's not going to be permanent." I patted her head to comfort her."Eeep! W-what are you?" I can almost see the steam coming out of her head as she turns bright red. Suddenly, she pushed me away and ran out."Ah! Youth! Haha, sleep well, brat!" he chuckled, shaking his head while closing the door behind him.Was Tess going through puberty already?I hopped back into bed, feeling too lazy to take a shower right now."I'll just lay down for a little and then take shower." I muttered aloud.*Rustle* *Rustle*I wonder if it's windy tonight. I usually didn't hear the rustling of leaves.*Crack*Okay... that was an unusual soundI sat up to look around, trying to locate where the sound was coming from.*Crack* *Crack*I turned my gaze towards where I had left my robe on the chair."Kyu~" "Kyu~"Kyu?My robe was making "kyu~" sounds? My brows furrowed as I tried to assess what was going on.*Crack! * "Kyu~!"The stone! ~~A/N: Well, basically nothing much has happened except the fact that Arthur was able to spread mana much faster by refilling the sternum core which gave him time to practice sword.