4

We soon found ourselves seated at a long rectangular table, me and Arthur on one side and the Eraliths on the other. The thing that interested me the most though, was that the King and Queen did not have very developed cores. Both only being at the light red stage, the guards at yellow.

Then there was the old man that was with them, Virion Eralith. He was strong, and I could sense the beast will of another feline mana beast. I don't understand why he isn't their king, do the Elves not follow the strongest of them?

"Children. What did you say your names were?" Before I could speak, Arthur had already stood up and bowed as he began to speak. They would be sorely disappointed if they expected me to bow to them.

"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 could only stare at the boy from the corner of my eye. Based on the memories of this body that is definitely not the manner that children his age typically speak.

The adults seemed surprised by his etiquette and I couldn't blame them, but then their gazes moved over to me and waited expectantly.

"My name is Leo." I said shortly. The less said the less likely I would be to slip up and say something that could be troublesome. I do not fear these elves but even I know when to hold back. I would gain nothing from getting on their bad side after all.

The royals introduced themselves and then Arthur began telling them the story of how ended up rescuing the princess. I chimed in with bits that I could, but mostly stayed quiet.

"So a 4 year old managed to 'luckily' kill off 4 adults, one being an augmenter at that, and you simply wave it off like it's no big deal," the old man said from his spot.

"Well, Leo did help with 2 of them and the other 2 I caught off guard. What I did wasn't that impressive." Arthur argued and Virion just shrugged his shoulder.

"As I have mentioned, it has been almost 2 months since I have seen my parents. I do not plan to intrude in 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 else inside Sapin."

"You're going to leave already, Art?!" Tessia yelled as she shot up from her chair, panic across her face. But I was looking at Arthur again, had he really survived in the Forest of Elenoir for almost 2 months at his core stage? Sure he was a Quadra elemental mage with a beast will, but that's still extraordinary. If he met the one that gave him his beast will during those 2 months they could have protected him, and it would make sense why he was having backlash from the will when we met.

"…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 2 years ago, it'll be another 5 years until the gate will function." Alduin said.

"For now, please Arthur, make yourself at home here. And Leo, please stay as well so that we can reward you in the morning as we send off Arthur, it's rather late after all." He continued, snapping his finger an elderly elf lady came to guide us to our room.

We were guided to the same room, consisting of 2 beds, a table with small furniture stationed around it, and a dresser each finely crafted out of quality wood. I didn't understand the necessity for everything to have name, a compulsion that I had noticed in the adventurers. Because of the elf boy's memories I knew the name of each item I saw, but why was it necessary.

They're just a place to sit, or a place to rest in the case of the beds, and storage for the dresser. Ahh this is something I'm going to have to get used to.

"I'm going to take a shower, is it alright if I go first?" Arthur pulled me out of my thoughts. I just nodded as I walked over to the window and sat on the ledge, looking out at the sky. Here inside the city, the fog didn't obstruct the moon and stars. Lunar Leopards have an extra connection with the moon, where our powers are stronger depending on the fullness.

It wasn't the difference between stages or anything that drastic, but we became a little faster, and our mana flowed easier. It was currently the start of a new moon. My parents had made sure I knew the significance of the moon and its stages. Anything started on the night of a new moon is seen as a good fortune.

It's why most of my kind go on their first solo hunt during a new moon. Even though we're stronger during a full moon, it builds a young cub's confidence to earn their first kill at their weakest.

I began cultivating my core while I enjoyed the breeze, focusing on using the assimilation method like I had taught Arthur. An apex predator needs a strong body as much as they need a cultivated core. It doesn't matter if you're equivalent to a Silver core mage if the attack of a red stage can harm you.

I had already broken out of the black core and into the red when Arthur came out of the shower.

"Hey, you can go in now if you wa-." He stopped abruptly and stared at me in surprise.

"You broke through to the red stage in just 30 minutes?" He asked incredulously as he came closer to me. I pushed his head away with a finger and stood to walk past him.

"If I couldn't do that much I would never be able to achieve my goal." I said as grabbed a towel from the same pile Arthur had grabbed his, along with the silky robes.

"And what is your goal?" He asked and I turned as I reached the bathroom door.

"To become the strongest of course." Wasn't that obvious? Doesn't everyone want to become the strongest? I thought it was weird that a king, essentially the elves alpha, wasn't very strong, but maybe the 2 legged don't care about strength. Because he is the king even though he's so weak. Truthfully it shouldn't concern me.

If they want to stay weak it just means less people to oppose me, but it also limits me in the people I can grow stronger from overcoming….