Subordinates’ Progress

Over the next few seconds, Isaac quickly compared the two features with each other. While they were mostly similar, there were a few notable differences.

For one, familia members, contrary to subordinates, didn't have their Loyalty portrayed in their Status. Even though both could be tracked on the system map, Isaac's blood contained within the familia members' falna gave them a few peculiarities. The first one being that they could expand his system map, just like Ais, as they were technically just carrying around a part of Isaac's body. Secondly, they could be a sort of backup, as Isaac was theoretically able to revive himself using just a miniscule part of his blood, should his body ever be entirely destroyed.

Even Isaac almost felt a slight shiver run down his spine when he thought about how such a revival process would look like from an outside perspective. He would literally be growing himself a body out of their backs, a horribly creepy scene. As there was no need to mentally traumatize those who decided to put their fate into his hands, he would simply create a new avatar for his soul from scratch. Another alternative would be to store away some of his blood at a secure location - there were simply too many other viable options.

Admittedly, there were still a lot of things that Isaac hadn't yet figured out about both features. More time was needed to familiarize himself with them. It would also be helpful to experience situations that made focussing on them a necessity, as that would likely accelerate the uncovering of their secrets.

Towards the end of his comparison, an idea had bloomed within Isaac's mind, but before he could order the system to put it into practice, it had already delivered.

[ Due to significant overlap, the 'Subordinates' and 'Familia' features will be merged. ]

[ The 'Subordinates' feature has been converted into the 'Retainers' sub-feature.

The 'Familia' feature has been converted into the 'Familia' sub-feature.

Both are now part of the 'Subordinates' feature. ]

While he was still mostly ignoring the somewhat disoriented Kalin, a quiet sigh slipped out of Isaac's mouth. He had already realized exactly what had happened.

The cause of this entire development was the fact that the system was self-expanding. Whenever Isaac needed or really wanted a specific feature, it would find a way to create it for him. Back when he had wanted to make Mina submit to his control and become his minion, the system had created the 'Subordinates' feature. As there was no similar feature yet at the time, no potential problems could be observed and a generic term was chosen for its name. But when Isaac gave Kalin his falna, with the intent of helping him grow and nourishing his strength, this caused the system to create the 'Familia' feature, which was only slightly different from the already existing 'Subordinates' feature.

To be fair, even if Isaac hadn't noticed the similarities and wished for a change, the system would have gone through this adjustment anyway. It wouldn't allow such imperfections to exist within its framework. They would momentarily exist, depending on the circumstances, but would be ironed out as soon as the system discovered them.

What caused the system to rename the 'Subordinates' feature into the 'Retainers' sub-feature was the initial intent at the moment the feature was created. As for why it went with one of the more honorable options, compared to 'Lackeys' or 'Minions', that was because Isaac had also taken his first step on the Hidden Path 'King' back then. A king's subordinates represented him and his inviolable majesty. Even if they themselves weren't anything special, they at least had to have a name that inspired respect.

By now, Kalin's irregular, laboured breaths started to normalize again. He was still sweating heavily, but he slowly began to regain control over his body. Honestly, if Isaac had paid more attention and warned him of this situation beforehand, he wouldn't have been in any kind of precarious situation. But because Isaac had grown too unaccustomed to what it would feel like for other people to have their bodies suddenly change significantly, he had inadvertently forgotten to give him a reminder. He could have spared Kalin the transitory panic if it hadn't slipped his mind.

Once he had determined that the boy had recovered enough, he signaled for him to sit up. With a somewhat apologetic smile on his face, Isaac handed Kalin his Status sheet.

[ Name: Kalin Myre ]

[ Familia: Nameless Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Familia) ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ Age: 15 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: I-88 -> F-369 ]

[ Endurance: I-23 -> G-220 ]

[ Dexterity: I-99 -> E-429 ]

[ Agility: I-96 -> F-398 ]

[ Magic: I-17 -> I-53 ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ None ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Spearman ]

Even Kalin's stats from before getting his falna had already been very impressive and proved just how much work the young man had put into getting stronger. Without the ability to process his amassed excelia, his body had already been trained to a point that would have been mindblowing in Isaac's old world. Now, after years of accumulation, this enormous amount of excelia had given rise to a qualitative change in Kalin's stats and body.

More impressive, however, was the fact that Kalin would be able to choose the Development Ability 'Spearman' when he ranked up to Level 2 in the future. Only the most prodigious would unlock a Development Ability related to their fighting style at such a low Level. Most likely, what pushed the laws' evaluation of Kalin over the edge was Isaac's training. It was only the drop that tipped the scale, however. His foundation before then had already been rock-solid, another monument to his effort.

After Kalin had made way for Mina, Isaac had him and Jakk turn around, so as to avoid embarrassing the pure Chienthrope girl. To make sure they wouldn't do something as foolish as taking a peek at the young maiden, he asked Ais to keep watch over the two in the meantime.

He didn't do this because he gave his female subordinates special treatment, however. Previously, Kalin hadn't shown any sign of being disturbed by the prospect of having to remove his shirt in front of a handful of girls. If he had seemed uncomfortable in any way, Isaac would have asked those girls to be respectful and give the boy some privacy. But it hadn't been necessary. Mina, however, had been nervously fidgeting around with the edge of her shirt ever since the realization of what she would likely have to do had hit her. Her ears had drooped pretty much as low as they could go, while her tail had turned stiff and was wagging very slowly - telltale signs of her distress.

When she noticed her lord's efforts, Mina's ears and tail perked up immediately, while a relieved smile played across her lips. As she didn't want to delay the proceedings any further, she swiftly took off her shirt, exposing her moderately sized breasts, held in place and covered by a cheap, grey linen bra.

There was no hint of nervousness contained within Mina's actions. Shortly after she had become Isaac's subordinate, she had already determined that he didn't want her to 'serve' him and wasn't interested in her in that particular way. That was more than fine with her, as it made her feel a sense of security during these troubled times.

Just as she had expected, Isaac's expression didn't change whatsoever, neither did his eyes wander. Nonetheless, there was one person who was getting flustered by the current situation: Lefiya. She simply hadn't thought that her new comrade would act in such a brazen and nonchalant manner.

Before the panicky elf could delude herself into some weird fantasies, Isaac's calm words interrupted Lefiya's thoughts.

"Lefiya, please take Mina with you on your next shopping trip. She needs some new underwear, as their current low quality will only harm her body if she exercises for prolonged periods of time. Of course, I'll foot the bill for this upgrade of her equipment."

As she had had very different expectations about what he was going to say, Lefiya felt that the way in which such a situation was handled swiftly and aboveboard was a little incongruous. Still, she was aware that the origin of this feeling was her mind wandering off to 'weird' places, so she didn't blame anyone but herself. Although she was still blushing, she nodded her head in response.

Once Mina had lain down on the sofa in a similar position to Kalin and opened the clasp of her bra to give Isaac full access to her back, the falna bestowal process began again. After learning from his previous mistake, Isaac cautioned Mina about what was going to happen and told her to try to relax. To make sure she was prepared for the changes in her body, he had her take deep and regular breaths, to give her some kind of rhythm or perceived familiarity to cling to.

[ Mina Teagle has joined your familia.

Quest 'Have two familia members.' completed. 200 AP rewarded. ]

[ Name: Mina Teagle ]

[ Familia: Nameless Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

[ Race: Chienthrope ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ Age: 16 ]

[ Loyalty: 95/100 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: I-15 -> G-288 ]

[ Endurance: I-27 -> G-218 ]

[ Dexterity: I-18 -> F-307 ]

[ Agility: I-43 -> G-266 ]

[ Magic: I-10 -> I-58 ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ None ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

It came as no surprise that Mina's stats were already almost on par with Kalin's. This was partially because she had slain a significantly higher number of Dungeon Lizards than him, but the more significant reason was that Kalin's stats had long since plateaued. It had become really hard for him to gain more excelia from the relatively weak monsters he had fought over the years. While his accumulation was impressive, it was also highly inefficient. But as he hadn't been part of a familia and hadn't been blessed with a falna before, that was to be expected.

What made Isaac raise an eyebrow in amazement was the fact that Mina was already able to choose the 'Swordsman' Development Ability when she ranked up to Level 2. While that was the same as Kalin, it showed just how extremely talented she was in regards to combat related skills. For a young farmer girl, who would very likely never have had the chance to pick up a weapon if she hadn't met Isaac, this was more than simply impressive. It was outright scary, if viewed through the lens of this world's common sense.

There was one thing that made Isaac sigh, however. Although he had already been aware of it, to look at Mina's almost maxed out Loyalty stat made him somewhat conflicted. On one hand, he was happy that her belief in him had grown to such an extent, as that would make it extremely unlikely for her to betray him in the future. But on the other hand, her fervently subservient behaviour would undoubtedly become more prevalent in the future, once her Loyalty increased even more. Maybe he should count himself lucky that it hadn't increased even a single point in a few days?

Thanks to Isaac's precautions, Mina didn't react too violently to the drastic increase in stats. She did feel slightly disoriented for a couple of seconds, but that faded away quickly. Unlike poor Kalin, her muscles didn't cramp up uncontrollably, as her steady breathing kept her from tensing up in a panic.

When it was time to give Averin his falna, Kalin and Jakk had been allowed to observe the process again. Compared to the previous bestowal ceremonies, however, this one was quite an unusual one.

Averin was sitting in Isaac's lap, so the latter had easy access to his back. But that wasn't the cause for the uncanny feeling the observers experienced. Rather, it was the fact that instead of a humanoid, sentient being, Averin was a glorified rooster… and a monster. Both of these usually wouldn't be able to get a falna of their own.

While it might be possible to give a normal rooster a falna, as far as the world at large knew, no-one had ever tried. As for monsters, there had been a few curious gods who tried to make them a part of their familia, but it simply had never worked out. The specifics as to why weren't known to the general populace or the godly community, although a few select individuals may have gained some knowledge on that aspect in the one thousand years since the gods' descent.

Because Isaac didn't just want to rip out all of the feathers on Averin's back, he had to lift them up one by one with his other hand, to carefully spread the pattern of blood across the small rooster's back. Very quickly, he realized that this would take significantly longer than the times before, so the entire group started chatting away, only paying a minimum amount of attention to what was happening.

During the falna creation process, Isaac noticed no abnormalities related to Averin being a monster. He was still able to gain an in depth understanding of the struggles the young Jack Bird had gone through and could let the piled up excelia improve his body.

Not everything went smoothly, however. When it came time to increase Averin's Agility, Isaac almost made a fatal mistake.

"Oh shit."

When the group saw the somewhat baffled and annoyed look on Isaac's face, they looked at him with inquisitive gazes. Before any of them could ask about what was going on, however, Isaac had already started to explain.

"Averin's Agility would have surpassed 1500 if I finished updating his Status just now. I overlooked how close he had already been to the maximum, so we would have almost had an exploding rooster on our hands."

In response to his words, Averin's body tensed up noticeably. But as the Jack Bird didn't know whether or not it would be a good idea to move now, he kept as still as possible. Not giving him a chance of growing any more fearful, Isaac's following words pacified Averin again.

"No need to worry, tough. I'll just let him rank up to Level 2. He will lose the handful of stat points past the maximum but that's still a lot better than dying, right?"

This news earned the now relieved rooster the congratulations of his companions, which uplifted his mood considerably. As to why Averin was even eligible for a rank up, that had a very simple explanation. Contrary to the sentient species, who had to perform acts even gods would praise them for to increase their Level, monsters didn't have such requirements. Instead, their rank ups usually had a biological reason. Maybe they were born with a slight mutation, enabling them to reach a higher realm than their brethren. Maybe they stumbled across a certain material that caused their bodies to evolve. There were many ways in which monsters could increase in strength. Apparently, for Averin, there was also the gate of possibilities opened by the falna. So now that Isaac's blood enabled his evolution, there was nothing barring his path.

After more than an hour, the arduous process finally concluded.

[ Averin has joined your familia.

Quest 'Have three familia members.' completed. 300 AP rewarded. ]

[ Name: Averin ]

[ Familia: Nameless Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

[ Race: Jack Bird -> Jack Bird Variant ]

[ Level: 1 -> 2 ]

[ Age: 14 days ]

[ Loyalty: 80/100 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: I-2 -> G-288 -> I-0 (432) ]

[ Endurance: H-152 -> G-256 -> I-0 (384) ]

[ Dexterity: I-5 -> F-382 -> I-0 (573) ]

[ Agility: SSS-1483 -> XXX-1502 -> I-0 (2250) ]

[ Magic: I-0 -> I-2 -> I-0 (3) ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ Atalantan Accelerate ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Beak Fighter: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Chain Attack ]

Impressively, Averin had already unlocked two Development Abilities he could choose from in such a short time. The first one, 'Beak Fighter', was one that had most likely never been seen before in this world. Due to his continued use of his beak to attack monsters in the dungeon and his impressive instincts, courtesy of being a monster, he had quickly gotten the laws to acknowledge him. The second one, 'Chain Attack', had been unlocked due to the ridiculous amounts of continuous attacks it had taken for Averin to take down even a single Goblin. While his speed was impressive, his Strength was nearly nonexistent. He could leave shallow scratches and peck marks on his opponents with ease, but to take them down had taken ridiculous amounts of effort.

During the rank up process, Isaac had made sure to ask Averin about which of the two Development Abilities he wanted to pick.

[ Beak Fighter (I): Improves comprehension speed of beak related skills and abilities by 10%. Increases all stats by 5% when attacking with a beak. ]

[ Chain Attack (I): If the user continues to aim his attacks at the same target, each successive attack will increase the user's stats by 1% for the duration of one minute. Can be stacked up to a maximum of 10%. ]

It didn't take long for the pumped up rooster to settle on 'Beak Fighter', as it would enable him to develop his own fighting style even further in the future. Although he had slept through most of the training sessions he had been a part of, he had still paid as much attention as he could, rapidly improving his understanding of combat as a result.

'Chain Attack' was very tempting as well, but it wouldn't help him in qualitatively transforming his combat skill. Still, as he always had the option of choosing it next time, it wouldn't go to waste and could be a very powerful boon in the future.

Out of all of his subordinates, Averin experienced the most drastic change right after Isaac was finished: he evolved. While he had previously only been about as big as a normal rooster, he grew to almost double the size in about a minute. The fluffy, yellow-green feathers kept their fluffiness but gained a somewhat slick look. Their feel wasn't any different, though. While the usual ferocity of a monster hadn't been able to be found within Averin before, his body now turned significantly more muscular underneath his feathers. Even his skin began to harden a little, while somehow not restricting his movements whatsoever. There was also another thing: the colour of Averin's feathers changed into a deep green.

One change that only Isaac noticed, however, was that 'something' was trying to syphon off small parts of the energy contained within the blood making up Averin's falna. It was most likely the same entity or mechanism that had led to Averin's exhausted state previously. Thankfully, ever since Isaac had gotten the ichor upgrade, the energy contained within his blood was functionally inexhaustible. But even if the energy somehow started to get depleted in a noticeable way, he could simply let some of the affected blood cells fully devote themselves to regenerating said energy, which would produce a lot more than was currently being consumed. Thankfully, for some reason, the source of the syphoning had focussed on the energy in Averin's falna now, which removed the negative impact it had had on the rooster previously.

The evolution caught the entire group by surprise. At the same time, Kalin and Mina grew a little worried about the rooster. They had already experienced firsthand how difficult it was to adapt to extreme physical changes. And yet, what they had gone through could probably not even come close to what the poor bird had to endure…

Almost to spit into the faces of the two worrywarts, Averin energetically got up to inspect his new and improved body right away. This earned him the relieved smiles of his fellow familia members. If they knew that he, due to being a monster, didn't even have to worry about most things associated with drastic changes to the body and therefore felt no uncomfortability whatsoever, they probably would have coughed up blood instead.

Before this gathering could conclude, there was still one elephant in the room which needed to be addressed. It was the 'Nameless Familia' he had written down on his subordinates' Status sheets.

Thankfully, this wasn't a matter that required tough decisions and a lot of thought. Rather, it was extremely simple. In this world, all familias were usually named after their gods. Because Isaac was the head of this familia, it was a given that it would simply be named after him. Heck, even if he wanted to give it another name, if the public ever got to know that he had his own familia, they would just call it the Isaac Familia anyway, no matter what he called it, as that was simply common sense in this world.

After the system had recognized the name change, Isaac made sure to make everyone present promise to keep the existence of the Isaac Familia a secret. Even ignoring all the avoidable troubles that would come knocking on his doorstep, Isaac really didn't want to get involved in the Guild's restrictions and the godly community's politics if he could help it. It wouldn't be the end of the world if others found out about all of this, but it would still be very undesirable. Loki would surely start to ask questions soon, once she noticed the rooster's drastic changes, so that was yet another matter to look forward to.

As the entire meeting had taken a few hours, it was now quite close to lunch time. As Averin's size had increased a lot, seeing him getting carried around by Mina like a hug pillow was an increasingly amusing sight. When sending off his subordinates to enjoy the rest of their day, Isaac once again advised them to relax. They could use the day to get used to the changes in their bodies, though, so they would have an easier time in tomorrow's training.

While they were strolling through the manor grounds hand in hand, Ais and Isaac tried to find a nice spot to have a bite to eat. What they finally settled on was one of the larger fountains in a relatively secluded place. As it was surrounded by a small hedge maze, people rarely made their way here.

In peace and quiet, with only the sounds of the burbling water and the refreshingly cold winter breeze to keep them company, the two happily munched away on lots of different flavours of potato snacks.