《Son of Chaos》


 1 Welcome

    When he woke up he found himself in a dark room with only a small amount of light illuminating the floor just enough to make out the door.


    As soon as he opened his eyes a transparent screen appeared.


    << Welcome to the World of Mythelem >>


    He stared in surprise at the screen and tried to think of anything he knew about Mythelem, but there was nothing.


    Not only was there nothing about it, there was nothing at all. His entire memory was a blank slate, with not even a speck of information. Like it had read his desire for knowledge another screen popped up.


    << Do you wish to start the tutorial ? >>


    This time under the text there were two button, their label were obviously << Yes >> and << No >>.


    * Of course I would like to start the tutorial but it would have been nice to tell me how. *


    << You have selected to start the tutorial and learned the first lesson. To interact with the interface you just have to think about what you want and it will automatically react. Now try to open your character screen by thinking about it. >>


    He tried it and after some time he finally managed to open it.


    << As you have experienced at the start it will need some time for you to interact with the system, but be assured after a while it will be your second nature and will ne naturally effortless. >>


    Taking note of it he looked at his character screen.


    Name: Ivan Hope


    Age: 16


    Family: None


    Strength (STR): 1


    Endurance (END): 1


    Agility (AGI): 1


    Magic power (AP): 1


    HP: 10


    MP: 5


    Damage (DMG): 5


    Defense (DEF): 0


    Skills: none


    Titles: Son of Chaos


    Achievements: none


    << To get more information about what is displayed, just think of it and it will be shown .>>


    * Well, the first one are self-explanatory, but the others I''m not sure, so lets try it.* He then thinks of strength and another screen pops up besides the character screen.


    << Strength: One of the four base attributes, which every person possess, it describes the general strength of the persons body and has direct influence towards physical actions. >>


    * Oh, that wasn''t really helpful, but at the same time expected, since the name says it all. Whatever lets continue. *


    << Endurance:One of the four base attributes, which every person possess, it describes the general endurance of the persons body and as such influences how much punishment it can take. >>


    << Agility:One of the four base attributes, which every person possess, it describes how fast the physical reactions of a person are. >>


    << Magic power:One of the four base attributes, which every person possess, it is also called Ability Power and is the most complex of the four attributes. It describes the size of the persons mana pool, but also influences some other factors. >>


    * Hm, the last one really didn''t help much. Well whatever it''s not like i can''t find out more later.*


    << Skills: The abilities of the person. >>


    << Titles: The titles of the person. >>


    << Achievements: The achievements of the person. >>


    * Well the last one really didn''t gave much more information. Then lets check out that title. *


    << Title - SS , Name: Son of Chaos,


    You are the Son of Chaos and as such are able to break free of the constrains of the usual rules, at least as long as you have enough strength.


    Effect: Limits may not apply for you. >>


    * Oh, that sounds useful. *


    << Now that you have checked your character screen, it is time for the other currently available screens. First of the Inventory. >>


    Ivan thought about opening the inventory and sure enough another screen opened, which showed an empty grid. Only at the bottom there was a copper colored coin with a 20 before it.


    << At the bottom you can see your current money and as you can see you only have 20 copper coins. Which means you are dirt poor. >>


    << Now to the last currently available screen which is the map screen. >> At the same time at the top right corner of his field of sight there appears a translucent map which showed the surrounding area, which was currently just the room he was in.


    << You can resize the map as you wish. To get more information on the map you have to explore the area. Its not like there will mysteriously appear all the information on it. >>


    << Now that you have learned all the information you need, you should explore the interface a bit more on you own. It''s time for your first quest. Quests are tasks given out by the system, which can be triggered either by an action or outer circumstances. Completing them will reward you with some experience which can increase your stats, some money and sometimes some skills or titles. >>


    << Quest - F : First time at school


    Since you have just reached the age of 16 you are eligible to enter school and study for two years for free. Your task is to go to the nearest school and apply for a place.


    Rewards: 2 Expto a random stat and 5 copper >>


    * So this is how a quest looks like, but what does the F mean? The title had something similar to this but there it was SS*


    << Congratulations you found about about rankings. >>, to Ivan the System sounded a bit sarcastic. << Rankings describe slightly different things depending on what its is, but generally the ranks are from the lowest to the highest: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS. For titles it describes the rarity and effect, while for quests it describes the rarity and difficulty. The higher the ranking of a quest the harder it is but the higher the rewards. For items it describes the rarity and stats of the item. >>


    Ivan then got up and walked towards the door, during that he checked his body and everything felt fine. As he slowly opened the door he found himself looking at a street, where there was trash everywhere and the houses looked like even the slightest gust of wind would destroy them.


    << You have entered the Slums >>


    * Well what a surprise, with how it looked nobody would have guessed. * , Ivan thought. He then resolutely stepped out of the door. On his map there has appeared a slowly blinking yellow arrow and he guessed that it was the direction for the quest, so he followed it and started to move down the street.

 2 Enrolling

    After a short walk he reached a big gate on top of which there were the words "Universal School 34573" The gate looked like it had not been repaired for at lest a decade. * The name really fits the look but what would one expect from a free school in the slums. *


    After Ivan enters the gate he finds himself on a big square which was filled with others, which seemed to be of the same age as him.


    "Hey, have you decided on which apartment you want to join?"


    "Yeah, I want to join the Adventurer department."


    "Really, are you sure? Even through adventurer can earn a lot of money their death rate is high too."


    "I don''t have a choice. There are five hungry mouths at home and my dad is ill, so I have to make some money fast and the only way to do that is to join the adventurer department."


    "Oh, then I can only wish you luck."


    "Thank you, but what about you?"


    "I''m lucky, my dad just got another job and so I can join the blacksmith department."


    "Oh, I''m really envious. Later on you could then craft my equipment."


    "Sure thing. Even through we blacksmiths won''t earn much at the start, later on it''s something else entirely."


    Ivan listened to the conversations of some nearby boys and only now found out, that there were different departments he could join. * Damn, I don''t have any idea what departments there are and which I should join. *


    Before he could think more about it some people appeared on a stage at the side of the square wich was the furthest away from the entrance. The old men in the front then started to speak. Even through his voice didn''t seem loud it reached Ivan who stood near the entrance.


    "Welcome to the Universal School 34573. All of you have just become sixteen this year and as such your two years of mandatory training will start today. I hope you can learn a lot during this time and use your earned knowledge to life a good live.


    We will now start registering, so slowly make your way to one of the smaller entrances at the side and talk to the person sitting at the desk there. For those of you who have already decided on a department please tell it to them, so they can register you, for those who haven''t decided, you can either name your choices and we will test before registering or you can chose to have one selected randomly of your choices."


    * Pfew, so I can just register and let them put me into one of the departments, but i wonder what they will test. *


    Moving slowly towards one of the desks he listened to some more conversations in hopes of getting more information, but all he got where that the departments where principally divided into two parts. One where the crafting professions, while the other were the fighting professions. While just about anyone seemed to be able to enter the crafting professions, with the exception of a few, which seemed to have special requirements the fighting professions where the opposite. Except the adventure department, which anyone could enter the other departments had strict requirements. Sadly nobody mentioned what they were. They just sighted that they weren''t qualified.


    When it was finally Ivans turn he stepped towards one of the desks where a middle aged man sat. "Name?" "Ivan Hope" "Department?" "Any". For the first time the guy looked up from his sheet of paper. "Are you serious?" "I am". The students behind him laughed. It seems like everyone had some departments they wished to join. "Move over there." The man pointed at a empty space where a diagram was engraved into the floor.


    As soon as Ivan entered the diagram it lighted up and slowly moved up until it reached above his head, it then dimmed and vanished into the floor.


    "Strength 1 , Endurance 1 , Agility 1", which each word the man spoke the laughter behind Ivan got louder. * It seems like these stats are trash. * "No wonder he didn''t choose any department, since no one would want him with these trash stats." Before the boy could continue trash talking him the man showed a surprised look. "Eeh, your Magic power is 1 too." This time nobody laughed and Ivan was puzzled. Seeing his look the man looked at him and asked "Did no one ever tell you how stats worked". Embarrassed Ivan answered "No". "Okay. Usually any person is born with 3 of the for main stats at 1 while the last one is 0. In most cases Magic power is 0 but in some cases it is 1 and Strength is 0. These cases are fit to become mages. Someone like you who has 1 in both stats is quite rare. And since one can only increase stats if they are at least 1 except for side stats, which can be acquired with luck someone with 1 in each stat is rare and can come quite far." "Oh, so my stats are quite good?" The man laughed, "The basics are good, but they are way to low. Usually people at yourage have at least 60 stat points distributed on all their stats, so you lag way behind. I really wonder how you managed to have only 1 at your age. Even if your gain rate is low, that''s still impossible, even if you did nothing all day." "Gain rate?" "You really know nothing do you?" "Sorry, but I really can''t remember anything." "A hard reset huh?" "Hard reset?" "Sometimes because of some kind of weird circumstances the system has to set back someone to the basics. From what I heard this isn''t even a bad thing, since it generally improves the victim." "Oh, thank you for all the information." "No problem, just doing my job. Anyway I think you should go to the magic department, since most of the newcomers there have only 1 in Magic power too, since it is quite hard to train if you don''t know what to do." "Alright, I''ll follow your recommendation then."


    "Here you go." , after a short wait the man gives him a identity card. "Welcome to the school". "Thank you."


    << Quest finished:First time at school


    You gain 2 Exp in Magic power and 5 copper. >>


    << You have gained 2 Exp in AP and need 8 more to reach the next level. >>

 3 Job marke

    << Title: Student of Universal School 34573


    You are a Student of Universal School 34573.


    This title is automatically activated until you either graduate of leave the school.


    EXP + 10% >>


    As soon as the first screen vanishes the next screen appears. At the same time on his shoulder an emblem appears on his shoulder, which depicts the name of the school and below it a blue ball.


    "You will be a student of the magic department, so when you come for the first class tomorrow you have to go to building 10 , room 5.2. Here are some booklets with information about the school." "Thank you very much." "Ok, then get going. Next one!"


    With this the man dismisses Ivan and he turns around to leave. When he leaves through the big gate he finds that the former empty street had become filled with stands and people. He could see other students, with a similar emblem to his moving to some of the stands to talk with the owners.


    "Excuse me?", behind him a voice sounds out and he turns around. "Ha, I was right, you too are a member of our department." Behind Ivan stood two guys who couldn''t be more different. The one who had called out to him was so fat, he seemed more like a ball then a person, while the other was so thin that one had the feeling that even the slightest wind would blow him away.


    Before Ivan even had the time to react the fat guy continued on: "My name is Gregory Tellor, but you can call me Greg, and this thin guy here is Sergey Muckovick or just Serge. As we are in the same department we should get along." "Nice to meet you, my name is Ivan Hope." "So have you already decided where to work?" "Huh?" "What you don''t know? How could you not know?" "Know what?", Ivan said embarrassed. "So you really didn''t know. It''s tradition, and also practical that when youths enroll into a school they too find a job. That''s why there are so many companies here." "Ah, I was wondering what was going on. Could you tell me more?" "Sure, if you want to know anything you just have to ask me and you would have definitely asked the right guy.", Greg smiles while praising himself. Serge on the other hand just smiles and says nothing, it seemed like he wasn''t the talkative type.


    "So, when it''s enrollment time all the companies close to the school who need some worker will send a representative to the job market held before the school to display their job offers.", Greg starts to lecture. "Then the students can go and find some job they like. Although for a school like this they only offer manual work. Luckily I already have a job which my old man organized." * Hm, I only have 25 copper so I will definitely need a job, so this is a good opportunity *


    Before he could think more about it Greg continued. "Besides the companies there are also the big alliances which will send a representative to all schools. I guess you don''t know about them either so listen. The big alliances are the Merchant Alliance which is a conglomerate of merchant houses lead by the big four. They are the second richest of the alliance and they handle the Universal Bank and biggest auction house the Universe, there are rumors that you can buy anything from them, as long as you have the money. The second alliance is the Adventure Alliance, which is a union of adventures, they organize them and care for them. They are quite open since anyone can enter but to enter their inner ranks is supposed to be quite difficult. Then there is the Slavers Alliance which is the richest and most powerful but also the one with the smallest amount of members. They have their business of training and trading slaves and pets, but mostly pets. Since slaves are really expensive and rare I don''t really know much about them." "Wow, thank you for all the information." "No problem, we are comrades after all." "Then wouldn''t it be better to enter an alliance instead of joining a company?" "It''s not that easy. The alliances are powerful enough that they only need to recruit those they expect to be really useful, so most new students have no way of joining them." "Oh, then do you know how they decide who is useful?" "Not exactly, but I have heard that the recruiter have a certain set of skills that enable them to test if the target has the requirement."


    After explaining things Greg then pulled Ivan to a stand. "Here this is the stand of the company my father works for and the pay is quite good, so you should really think about getting a job here." Ivan took a look at the posters and saw that they would pay 10 copper a hour and you were required to work at least 5 hours a day, with Sunday being a free day. *Fuck, I really need to get a feeling of how much a copper is worth.* As he didn''t react Greg didn''t force him but instead said, "Well think about it, there is still time until the evening, for now lets go get something to eat."


    With these words he once again started to pull him along, this time to a stand wich sold food. A quick glance allowed Ivan to check out the prices which were displayed on a sign. *On simple bowl of soup costs 20 copper? Wouldn''t that be 2 hours work just to get something to eat?* "Lets eat here. Even though the prices are a bit higher than if you make it yourself it''s still quite cheap." "This is cheap?" Greg looked at him weirdly "Yeah. I''m sorry if I''m intrusive, but why do I have the feeling that you seem to know nothing?" Ivan looked down embarrassed, "That''s because I don''t. I just woke up this morning without any memories." "Oh," , Greg looks at him in surprise. "how did that happen?" For the first time Serge said something "Stupid, of course he wouldn''t know." "Ups. Then maybe your stats and skills can tell you something?" "Not really, since there are no skills and the stats are all at 1, but the man responsible for enrolling me said something about a hard reset." "Hm, I have heard of it but I don''t know anything about it, do you Serge? After all you are the one reading all the time." Serge just shakes his head, to signal that he was clueless too. "Well, since we can''t do anything about it lets just ignore it. But how did you know to come to school?" "Oh it was a quest."


    "So you are one of the lucky one to get this quest." "Is it that rare? I thought everyone gets it." "Nah it''s not really rare, but getting it generally shows that you are quite lucky with quests."

 4 Invitation

    Behind them a voice sounds out.Turning around they find a man standing behind them. His grey hair is cut short and still full but contrary to his hair color there are no wrinkles in his face and his eyes sparkle. He is wearing a simple black outfit consisting of a T-Shirt, wide trousers and boots. The only color on it is the emblem on his shoulder which displays a collar with a chain winding around it and a whip above them, all in a blood red color.


    "Sir." , Greg greets him without hesitation after seeing the emblem and Serge hurriedly follows suit. Just Ivan is a bit late, since the change in Greg had really surprised him. As they start to bow the man loughs, "Haha, no need to be so formal. I''m just here to ask him some questions.", with that he points at Ivan. He then continues, "Boy, how big is your inventory?". The others look surprised at him. "Um, 100 cubic meter, Sir.", Ivan hurriedly answers. He didn''t think much about it since he thought it was normal, but Greg''s and Serge''s chin fell down. "Wow, that''s even more than I thought." Ivan throws an asking look at Greg and he hurriedly explains. "I guess since you lost your memories you didn''t know that a usual inventory is only at the size of about 1 cubic meter, so your inventory space is abnormal big." "But can''t the space be increased?" "Of course it can, but the price is way to high, the System takes a million gold for the first cubic meter and everyone after it only increases." "Wow, that''s really expensive."


    The man ignored them and mumbled to himself. "Hm, that''s quite a bit more than I guessed. It seems I found a good one." He then directly looked at Ivan and asked, "Boy, do you want to join us?"


    "Um, I don''t even know who you are." "Oh, look at how forgetful I am. My name is Carl van Bergen and I am the recruiter of the Slavers Alliance. And since you fulfill the basic requirements to enter our Alliance I am asking you to join."


    Greg smiles hugely and encourages him "Do it, Ivan. There is nothing better than joining them." "I would love to, but I need to know the pay." "There is none." "Then I''m sorry, but I need to earn my livelihood so I can''t join." "Don''t be so hasty. Even though there is no basic pay, we will provide a place to live and you basic necessities. Besides that after the orientation phase you can take internal missions to earn your pay." "Oh, then I would love to enter the Slavers Alliance." "Great, then meet me at the school gate at 8 in the evening so we can go over the contract and get you settled down." "Sounds good, and thank you for offering me to join." "Haha, I just did my job. Now go and have some more fun.", with that he turns around and leaves.


    "Wow you really lucked out, Ivan." "Is it really that great?" "You have no idea, everyone wants to join an alliance and you got an offer of the strongest one. Luckily I too have still a chance to enter the Merchant Alliance, since you can enter it if you become a successful merchant. But enough of that, let''s have some more fun, since from tomorrow on we won''t have much time to play.", with these he pulled the two others all around, chatting non stop.


    Soon it was close to 8 and time for Ivan to meet Van Bergen, so he interrupted Greg''s stream of words. "Guys, I have to go." "Huh, what. Oh you gotta meet the recruiter right?" "Mmm." "Then we will meet tomorrow?" "Of course, after all we are in the same class.". For the first time in a long while Serge said something too, "Ivan, take care and make the most of this chance. We will see you tomorrow." "Bye." After saying his goodbye he left for the meeting.


    When he arrived at the school gate it was exactly 8 but Van Bergen wasn''t in sight. Just as he wanted to look around someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around he saw the man behind him. "Very good. You are quite punctual, but you should try coming a bit early. Follow me." After saying his bit he went ahead towards one of the food stalls and sat down. "Sit down and order something.", seeing Ivan fidgeting around he then lightly laughed and said, "Don''t worry, I will pay for it." Letting out an embarrassed sight Ivan said, "Thank you." "Don''t worry about it, that is something I should do, after all I will be your mentor." "My mentor?"


    "I guess you don''t really know anything about our Alliance and how it works right?" Before Ivan could answer a waitress came to ask them what they wanted to eat and they both ordered some noodles.


    "Don''t worry, that is what I am for. Since I found you and recruited you I will be your mentor and teach you the basics, as well as help you if need it. In exchange I will get a bonus depending on your performance each month, so work hard.


    Anyways, lets get started with some information about what we do. In general we do what our name depicts, like all alliances. We catch, train, sell, supervise slaves of all types. So first of all, what is a slave?"


    "Someone who has no rights and have to serve the master?"


    "Close, but not quite. There are quite some rights slaves posses, some are enforced by the system while others are enforced by us. Besides that it is important to look at what creatures can be slaves."


    "I thought they were humans?"


    "That''s only a small part of it. Most slaves are monsters, which are all living beings with a certain intelligence which don''t belong to the four great races."


    "Oh, so plants can also be slaves?"


    "Sure, but they are quite rare, since not many plants can reach the required threshold of intelligence, most of them are smaller animals."

 5 Contract signing

    "I guess humans are one of the four races, which are the others then?"


    "Humans are indeed one of the races and even the one with the most population. But we are the one with the weakest individual base strength too. Besides us there are the Beast men, which are similar to us in population, but much more diverse, since they are split up in groups according to their totem animal. Then there are the Dragons and Elves which are both races with low numbers, but great individual strength. Later you will learn more about them, but for now a simple introduction is sufficient. You may even meet them at the campus, since there are members of all the races.


    For now lets go over the contract. It is a standard contract for newbies, so there is nothing special to it, mostly it''s just lawyer talk, so I will go over the important points.


    First of all the most important, remuneration. As I said unlike others we won''t pay a basic wage, but we will offer a place to sleep, which quality depends on your rank, as well as basic living needs, like food and clothes.


    Besides that you will be able to take missions to earn points which you can trade for different items, including regular money."


    "Sounds good, since I don''t really have a need for money now."


    He laughs, "Believe me, soon you will be in great need of money, but if you are doing well you can earn much more than with any other job.


    Now let''s talk about what you have to do. Basically it''s just completing 5 missions a month for free. As your rank increases there will be more freedom, as you can move them to another month or finish them in advance, but they will be harder too. Besides that you will have to train to be stronger, but there is no check up on that."


    "That seems quite easygoing."


    "It is, but that''s only because people with big initial inventory are so rare."


    "Why is it so important to have a big initial inventory?"


    "It has to do with our basic skills. You will see when you will get them, but I can tell you, that the minimal requirement is 20 m3 and most will have less than 60 m3, so the amount of new members we have each year are only about 30 for Imperial City which has a population of above 2 millions."


    "Wow, that really seems like a small amount."


    "Mm, it is. So do you have any other questions?"


    "Only one, how do I get from my living-quarter to school each day?"


    "For that you can use the travel app on the phone. Each new member will get two travels each day, but they can only travel from there living-quarter to one locked spot, which will be the school gate for you."


    "That sounds great, but what is a phone?"


    "Oh right, you are hard reset and came to the slum here, so you won''t know about it. Don''t worry about it, after you sign the contract you will get a welcome packet which contains a phone as well as other things you will need to get started."


    "Alright." Ivan then quickly goes over the contract before signing it.


    << Title: Member of Slavers Alliance (Unranked)


    You are a Member of the Slavers Alliance


    You now have access to the faculty of the Slavers Alliance as well as their apps.


    You can''t take missions of you own.


    Your mentor is: Carl van Bergen >>


    "Great, welcome to the Alliance, I hope you can make it far."


    "Thank you. I hope so."


    Van Bergen smiles at him, before pulling a packet out of his inventory. "This is the first part of your welcoming packet, the rest we will get at the library on our campus."


    He then opens the packet and shows Ivan the items in it. The first item is a flat crystal with some buttons on the side.


    "This is the phone, you can activate it by pressing this button on the side. It runs on magic power, so you have to load which you can do at your room."


    He then presses on the button and a second later one side of the crystal lights up. Displaying a circle with a string of words above it. '' To activate this phone please press your thumb on this circle.''


    "Go ahead so the phone is bound to you and you can use it."


    Ivan stares fascinated at the crystal and then presses his thumb on the circle. ''Welcome Ivan Hope, you are now the owner of the screen.'' Below the text is a button labeled ''Ok'' and after pressing it another screen is shown. This time there are a few icons displayed.


    "These are the apps. You should play around it a bit to learn more about them, but for now the important one is the one with the shoe icon as that is the travel app. Tap on it to open the app, and then select the plus button to set a travel location."


    He follows the instructions and on the screen he can now see a image of his surrounding beside the little house button and on top a display shows ''1/1''.


    "You have now set this location as a travel location. At the bottom there should be a display about how many times you can travel today."


    At the bottom of the screen there really is a display ''0/2 travels''.


    "Alright, now click on the little house to enter your room and wait for me there. I will give you the rest there since it is more private and comfortable."


    He then pull out his own phone and a diagram appears below his feet before he vanishes.


    * Guess I will go too.* Ivan then too uses the app to travel and as with Van Bergen a diagram appears below his feet after which the world went dark.

 6 Father

    At the same time in a villa in one of the neighborhoods for the rich and mighty the front door opens.


    "Jane I''m back."


    In the living room a small girl jumps up from the couch and runs towards the front door, with the nanny trailing behind her.


    "Mum, welcome back."


    The woman who just entered the villa kneels down to hug the child.


    "Mm, thank you darling."


    She then stands back up and takes her daughter''s hand to lead her back to the living room.


    "Madam, welcome back", the nanny greets her too and she greets back,


    "Has anything special happened?"


    Before the nanny can answer Jane speaks up. "Mum, I got a new title?" "A new title? Didn''t you just stay at home?" She turns towards the nanny who hurriedly assured her that the girl hadn''t left the villa.


    "Can I see the description darling?"


    "Sure", with that she shares the title description with her mother.


    << Title: Daughter of Chaos (SS) [Inherited]


    You are a Daughter of Chaos since your father is a Son of Chaos and as such you are able to break free of the constrains of the usual rules, at least as long as you have enough strength.


    Effect: Limits may not apply for you. >>


    The woman looks stunned and doesn''t move until her daughter tugs at her hand.


    "Mum, what''s the matter?"


    "Sorry darling, I was lost in thoughts, since it is the first time since I conceived you. I didn''t even know if he was dead or alive."


    "Oh. You have never talked about him. Could you tell me more?"


    "When you are older I will tell you everything. But for now I really have to talk to your grandpa about the title since it is really unusual."


    "But it is time to eat and you said it is important to eat so I can grow stronger."


    The woman shows an expression as if she is deep in thought. "I guess I said that. Then lets go eat first."


    She then leads the little girl to the dining room where the staff of the villa has already prepared they diner.


    "Did you wash your hands?" "Of course, right before you came." The nanny who followed them in coughs and she hurriedly continues, "But it''s better if I do it again.", with these words she frees her hand and runs towards the bathroom, leaving behind her mother who shakes her head in amusement.


    "Was there anything special when she got the title?", she then asks the nanny.


    "No, Madam. She was just playing around when she suddenly jumped up and did a little dance yelling that she had gotten a new title."


    After that they silently wait for Jane to come back so they could start eating.


    Later this evening after she had put her daughter to bed she walked to her office and made a call.


    "Hey father."


    "Hey my daughter. Did something happen for you to call so late?"


    "Yeah, my daughter got a title."


    "Isn''t that a good thing? Why do you sound so unhappy?"


    "Because it is inherited from that bastard."


    "So that bastard is still alive and he even got a inheritable title?"


    "Seems like it. At least my daughter got something good from it, even through I really hoped for that bastard to have died."


    "So did the title tell you anything about where we could find him?"


    "No. It is a weird title anyway but seems powerful nonetheless "


    "That''s good, it would be bad if it would be detrimental for Jane."


    "It doesn''t seems so, but I guess we will need to wait for it to trigger to know it for sure.", she then proceeds to tell her father the description of the title.


    "Wow, that''s way better than I expected.", her father says in astonishment.


    "Is it really that great?"


    "You may not yet understand, since you are still at quite a low level since you spend your time doing business and not fighting, but even so what would you think if some of your skills could level up even further than the usual maximum level?"


    She thought about some of her skills which were giving her a huge advantage during negotiations and thought about what would happen if her skill was always higher than that of the ones around her and she let out her breath in astonishment.


    "Damn, that would be overpowered, why didn''t I think of that?"


    "Because you don''t have any maxed skills yet. By the way, did anything change for you? Since you are your official wife."


    Following her fathers words she checked her status which she seldom did, since she didn''t have as much use for stats as others and was surprised to find an additional title.


    "There is one. But how come there was no notification?"


    "Since you didn''t earn the title yourself there may not be a notification. So what does it say?"


    << Title: Wife of a Son of Chaos


    You are a official wife of a Son of Chaos and as such can earn chaos points by fulfilling your duties to then use them to lift some restrictions of the system. >>


    "I guess it is useless until you meet him again."


    "Even if I meet him it''s useless, since I won''t ever will fulfill this supposed duties, whatever they are."


    "Don''t say that. But it''s great that you can profit too. And who knows what is accepted as duties, maybe cooking a meal is enough and don''t forget your daughter. Even through that bastard did that to you he is still her father."


    "Whatever", she unconvinced said before saying her goodbye to her father after assuring him that she would come with her daughter to visit him next weekend.


    "Damn family law, that forces me to be this bastard wife.", she then angrily says and left the office to go check on her daughter.

 7 Room

    As soon as his vision came back Ivan found himself in a small room, which had just enough space for a simple bed and table with a chair. On one side there was a open door wich lead to a small bathroom, while on the other there was a closed one with a lock, which seemed to lead to a hallway, at least that was what Ivan guessed.


    Since there was nothing interesting in the room he then went into the bathroom which only had a narrow shower, a toilet and a washbasin with a mirror.


    As he looks into the mirror he sees his face for the first time. He had a lean face with a straight nose, thin lips and eyes which seemed to fit well with the rest. On top of his head there were short blond hair which was a bit messy. All in all he thought that he looked quite handsome, but still normal. He then looked down on his lean body which didn''t seem to have no ounce of extra fat on it and only consisted of lean muscles.


    "Wow, I''m really not bad looking", he narcissistic praised himself. He then grabbed a comb lying around and combed his hair. After trying out different ways to style his hair he then looked satisfied and put down the comb.


    After that he went back to the main room and lied down on the bed, which was surprisingly comfortable, wich he didn''t expect, since it looked very simple.


    Just after lying down there was a knock on his door and he hurriedly stood up to open the door.


    "Great, you are here. So what do you think?", Van Bergen asked while pushing him aside to enter the room and sitting down on the chair, behaving as if the room was his.


    "Not bad, it doesn''t seem to be any special and is even a bit small, but the bed is comfortable."


    His mentor laughed and told him, "Don''t worry, if you increase your rank the living space provided will go up in quality too. Remind me to show you where I am living so that you have something to motivate you."


    He then pulls out the packed where the phone came from and pulled out two bundle of clothes and a thin book. "These are your uniforms, one for you to wear normally and one for combat. They are self-cleaning and repairing so as long as their durability isn''t used up you can wear them without worries. And this is the rule book, so read it carefully so as to make no mistakes.", he then throws one of the clothe bundle towards him. "Here this is the normal uniform, so go change so that we can go to the library to get you your initial skills."


    Ivan hurriedly catches the bundle and goes into the bathroom to change. "Pfff, we are all man here so do you really have to leave to change", he hears his mentor mocking him but he ignores him and closes the door behind him.


    He then opens the bundle and takes a good look at the uniform. It consists of a simple T-Shirt, trousers and army boots, as well as a leather jacket. All the parts were black with the the trouser having light blue stripes running from the top to the end of the legs on both sides. The jacket had the same stripes from the shoulder down the arms. * Not bad, it looks quite good.*


    He then hurriedly stripped of his old clothes and the sight of the shower reminded him that he hadn''t washed himself since he woke up.


    "Mentor can I take a shower fast?"


    "Of course, I would be ashamed if I brought a dirty and smelly brat around."


    Having gotten the consent for a shower he hurriedly followed through and took a fast shower, before wearing the uniform and leaving the bathroom.


    After coming out Van Bergen stood up and circled around him nodding his head. "Not bad, It seems the uniform suits you, which is good, since you have to wear them until you reach rank A."


    "So you are rank A mentor? Since you aren''t wearing a uniform."


    "Yup. But if you want to know more about the ranks you will have to check it out yourself. It is described in the rule book. Now lets get going."


    He left through the front door, indicating for Ivan to follow him. As soon as they left the door they entered a long hallway with at least a hundred doors. On the floor there were arrows directing them to go left.


    His mentor saw him looking at the arrows and told him, "Since the buildings are huge and look the same these arrows can be used to find the exit, so if you ever find yourself lost in a building just follow them and you will reach the exit."


    Ivan nods and follows him down the hallway until they reach a staircase. "Do you know about lifts?", Van Bergen asks while pointing at a pair of doors.


    As soon as he hears the word lift Ivan feels some knowledge pouring into his mind which wasn''t there before and he stumbles, while gripping his head. His mentor hurriedly grabs his shoulder to stabilize him. "What happend?"


    Ivan waits for the pain to subside before answering. "I don''t know. As soon as I heard the word lift there was a lot of knowledge pouring into my brain, like what a lift is, how it works, how to craft it and other supplementary information."


    "So much? It seems like your past self knew quite a bit about them. Don''t worry, I never have met someone like you who had a hard rest, but I heard that they sometimes can regain past knowledge after being triggered."


    "So it is knowledge, that I forgot?"


    "I guess so, but I''m not a specialist in these things but I would say to just ignore it and be happy about easily gaining some knowledge."


    "Since I don''t think I can do anything about it I will just have to live with it, but it fucking hurts."


    "That always happens when a large amount of knowledge enters you mind. You will get used to it, since quite a few spells have the same effect when you learn it."

 8 Campus

    After that they took the lift down to the ground floor and entered a huge foyer. There were quite a bit of people moving through the foyer and all of them wore the same uniform as himself.


    "They are like yourself, just new recruits from this year or last year. Many mentors aren''t as thoughtful as myself and won''t lead their disciples around.", his mentor smugly said. "Well besides that many of them won''t need as much help as you.", he then followed up with a unnecessary comment.


    He then continued along towards the front door which consisted of three big glas doors wich opened automatically if someone approached them. Behind the doors one could see a lively street which moving objects.


    "Wow, there is a lot more activity then I thought."


    "What do you expect, after all there are more than fifty thousand living on this campus and even through most of them are servants, they still have to move around."


    "Then what are these objects on the street?"


    "I guess you wouldn''t know them, since only the rich can afford them. They are cars, a type of magical device which can be bought in the system shop for an exorbitant price."


    "System shop?", Ivan took a look at the icons of his interface, but saw no shop icon.


    "You won''t see it on your interface until you get a voucher. That''s another reason why the cars are so expensive. Besides the price in the shop you need a voucher to buy them and they are one time use only and only drop in one weird dungeon which is monopolized by the Tang family, so if you want to buy a car you can do that only from them."


    "And nobody tried to take the dungeon away from them?"


    "Sure there were some who tried, but the Tang family is quite strong and the really strong powers have no interest in it as long as they keep the prices rational."


    He then lead Ivan out of the door and towards a staircase. "This is the subway, which connects all the important places on campus. Be aware that you can only travel to a few of them since your rank is so low."


    After descending the staircase they enter a long hall with entryways on both sides and panels, similar to the phone besides them.


    "You can choose your destination on one of the panels and then have a few seconds to enter the gateway to board your capsule which will then transport you to your goal.", after explaining the procedure he then stepped to a panel and choose library. "Come on enter. If you are fast enough you can enter a capsule together with another person, so always watch out this only happens if you invited them."


    After entering he finds himself in a spartan looking room with only two banks and a screen which displayed the destination and the time that would be needed to arrive.


    "For now you can only take this subway, since you can''t afford a car and mounts are forbidden, since there are always problems with them if you put more than ten of them together. Later you should buy a car, even if you learn a flying skill since they are just more comfortable."


    He then talked a bit more about how it was to live on the campus until they arrived at the library, which was a surprising amount of time later.


    After they left the capsule they found them self in a hallway which lead towards a big foyer which was luxuriously decorated with a mosaic marble floor and a big dome which seemed to have inlays made of gold which formed complex but beautiful diagrams. On the sides of the hexagonal room there were two entrances, the one they had come from and one that lead outside, while to other sides were taken up by counters behind which women and men in uniforms stood, which served the guests of wich there were only a few, so most counters were empty.


    "Wow", Ivan couldn''t refrain from displaying his astonishment regarding this sight. Van Bergen let him admire the view a bit before interrupting him.


    "Not bad right?" "Mmm, I just expected it to be fuller."


    "I guess the name library has mislead you a bit. Even though we call it that and there is really a large collection of books and scrolls available, most people will use the digital library for that, since it is much more comfortable. So the main point of the library is the large collection of skill books, which can be bought or sold here."


    Ivan once again took a good look and was even more impressed of an organization wich would build something like this, just for the few people wich seemed to visit.


    "It just seems a bit wasteful."


    His mentor smiled and suppressed his laughter, "Normally there are even less people here, but since today is recruitment day, many new people come here for their initial skills."


    He then slowly made his way to one of the counter with a middle aged woman manning it.


    "Hey Mary"


    "Hey Carl, we haven''t seen you in a long time", theycordially greeted each other and you could feel that they had known each other for a long time.


    "It were at most five months."


    "I know, but still you should come more often."


    "I will try."


    After getting a promise from him she then moved her focus towards Ivan.


    "And who might this be?"


    "My new student."


    She looked at him in surprise, "What? So you have finally given up your resistance and went out for recruitment."


    "I had to, these old guys wanted to decrease my rank if I didn''t go. I even went to the school with the worst track record but who could have guessed that they had someone talented this year."


    Even through his word were spoken as if he was really unhappy about it, the smile on his face betrayed him.


    "Tsss, I never would have guessed that you would get a student and even be proud about it."

 9 New skills

    Before the woman could further tease him he hurriedly changed the topic.


    "I''m sure you know why we are here, so get the things ready."


    "Don''t be so impatient and don''t try to distract me, I will surely remember this and we are gonna talk about it again."


    She then pointed at a screen and said. "Put your finger there so that we can authorize the issuance of the starter skill books."


    As soon as Ivan put his finger on the screen a light flashed and Mary nodded in satisfaction.


    "Not bad old man, your disciple really has potential, since he has the right to get the Slavers skill book."


    Van Bergen smiled smugly, "Of course, how else could he possible be my disciple."


    The woman can only shake her hand and ignore him. "For those who have superb initial potential there is a extra skill-book they will get which is the Slavers skill-book. It is quite rare and can be really useful for a new member.", she then explains to Ivan.


    After a short time she then opens a little door in the wall behind her and pulls five thin books out. Four of them seem quite simple with a brown leather cover, while the last one has a white leather cover with a golden pattern, which had to be the slavers skill-book.


    "Here you go.", with these words she hands the books over to him and then continues, "I would recommend to learn the skills here, especially the one from the Slavers skill-book, since it is a random one and we can help you to understand the skill better if it is a rare one."


    Ivan takes a look at his mentor and sees him nodding, so he places his hand on the cover of the first book.


    << Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Inspect, do you wish to learn this skill? >>


    Without a moment of hesitation Ivan presses the yes button and soon the next popup appeared.


    << Congratulations, you have learned the skill Inspect. >>


    << Skill Inspect (E) Lvl.1 : You can now see some information about what you see. The amount of information depends on the level of the skill and what you wish to inspect. >>


    * This sounds really useful. *


    He tried to use the skill on one of the other skill books he had.


    << Item: Skill book Mana manipulation. Can be used to learn the skill Mana manipulation. >>


    The information didn''t tell him much, but at least he now knew wich skill he would learn with the book. He then took the just inspected book in his hand and again the popup appeared.


    << Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Mana manipulation, do you wish to learn this skill? >>


    Once again he pressed the accept button and he got the information for this skill too.


    << Skill Mana Manipulation (E) Lvl. 1: You can now manipulate your mana.


    + 1% Skill efficiency


    >>


    << Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Slave space, do you wish to learn this skill? >>


    << Skill Slave space (D) Lvl. 1: You now have a slave space where you can store up to 5 (initial Inventory size in m3 / 20) slaves you have contracted. >>


    * Ah, so this is why the initial inventory space is so important. *. He now finally understood why the initial inventory size is so important.


    << Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Tame, do you wish to learn this skill? >>


    << Skill Tame (D) Lvl. 1: Tames a monster to get it to submit to a contract with you. This skill has a high rate of failure which depends on the target and the level of the skill. >>


    This skill seemed to be complementary to the one before and a way for slavers to get new slaves.


    Now there was only one book left, while the others had crumbled after he had learned the skill contained in them.


    When he took the last book into his hand he was surprised at how heavy it was.


    << Congratulations, you have found a skill book which contains a random skill of the Slaver, do you wish to learn this skill?>>


    << Skill Evolution (SS) Lvl. 1: Evolves the targeted slave. Has a ultra high rate of failure depending on the target and the skill level. Maximum evolution is SS. Cool down: 1 month>>


    Seeing that he had finished learning the skills Mary asked him, "So what skill did you get?"


    Ivan shared the skill name with them and they looked disappointed.


    "Oh, so it was that skill."


    "Is it bad? It doesn''t seem to be."


    "It isn''t necessary bad. It depends a lot on the skill rank, but even with a high rank the rate of failure is just to high and the cool down is to high too, so it isn''t practical except in the beginning and with luck."


    * Guess it''s like lottery if I''m lucky then its good and since the rank is so high there may be a pleasant surprise, so I''will just try it. *


    They chatted a bit more and he learned quite a bit about the skills, before they said goodbye.


    "Now go back and read the rule book. Tomorrow I will take you to get some more skills."


    "Why didn''t we get them today?"


    "Cause they can only be gotten by finishing some quests."


    "Oh, ok. Until tomorrow then."


    He said goodbye to his mentor too and then took the subway back to his dorm.


    After arriving at his room he took out the thin rule book and laid down on the bed to read it. There weren''t really any surprising rules since most of them were concerning the interaction between him and the other members of the Alliance.


    But there was one that surprised him and that was that it was forbidden to mention his membership until he reached rank C, but after some time he guessed it was to stop new members from misusing the name of the Alliance.

 10 School 1

    At the next morning he woke up at 6 o''clock because the timer on his phone rang. He went into the bathroom and took a shower, before wearing his clothes, which were the same as last day and which weren''t really in a great state.


    * I really need to get some new clothes as soon as possible. *, he had taken a look at the map of the campus and there were a lot of shops including some for clothing and even one which sold cheap clothing and where any member was entitled to buy for up to 10 silver each month.


    After getting ready he used his travel app to leave the campus and arrived near the school gate.


    * Luckily my mentor told me to set the travel point at a alley or I don''t know what would have happened. *, Ivan thought after he saw the youths filling the street and streaming through the school gate.


    Then he followed the stream and entered the school to. This time he didn''t stop at the square but directly went towards one entry way on top of which there was a shield ''Magic academy''.


    Compared to the other gates there were a lot less people who went towards this entry way.


    * It seems there really are not a lot of mages. *


    Luckily there was a map on one wall so he managed to find his classroom quite fast and even arrived a bit early but even so there where already quite a few people in the room, which seemed to be designed to hold about 20 people.


    "Hey Ivan!", someone greeted him and when he took a look he saw that it was Greg.


    "Morning Greg, Serge.", he greeted them, since they stood next to each other.


    "So how is it? Did you get in?"


    "I did, but I hope you can''t tell anyone else, since the rules forbid me from telling anyone."


    "I won''t, but is it ok for us to know?"


    "I guess so since you already found out yesterday, before I even entered and it would be hard to keep it a secret from you two."


    They talked a bit more and Greg told them everything that happend to him after they had split up yesterday. It wasn''t really a lot but he still managed to stretch it for 20 minutes and only stopped because the teacher entered the room.


    The students hurriedly found a seat and Ivan ended up besides Serge with Greg on the other side of Serge.


    "Welcome to your first class. I am your teacher Mrs. Mertinez. We will be seeing each other a lot, since I''ll teach you magic theory and practical magic which make up the most of your lesson time. Besides that there are combat lessons, which will be taught by Mr. Martin and crafting courses, which will be taught by different people. And now please introduce yourself, starting from front to back and right to left."


    After that everyone gave a short introduction except Greg who just couldn''t stop talking about himself and had to be interrupted by the teacher.


    "Now I will tell you a bit more about how your days at school are going to proceed. At the morning you will have practical magic lessons, followed by crafting lesson. Then there is a break, followed by theoretical magic lessons and lastly combat lessons. For each lesson you will come back to the class room and if there is a need the teacher will lead you to the right room. After the first week you will be expected to go to the rooms yourself. Any questions?"


    There were none and so she directly continued.


    "I know that most of you have no idea what magic is exactly and most of you have no way to move your mana around.


    Let''s first talk a bit about what magic is. There are different definitions, such as the ability to use skills or spells, but also just the ability to move your mana around. Nowadays the generally accepted definition is the ability to move your mana around and as such mages need to have the Magic Power stat."


    "So for the start I will now teach you how to move your magic around. The corresponding skill is called Mana manipulation, but it can only learned from costly skill books. Luckily for all mages there is a weaker variant which can be learned by certain actions. And even if you have the skill already you should still follow the actions since it will be beneficial to understanding the uses of the skill. And that is a lesson you shouldn''t forget. Not only is having a skill important but even more so than levels it is important to understand a skill and be able to use it in a most optional way."


    Ivan was easily able to see the reason why it was important to use a skill wisely since it cost mana and also had a cool down, so using it at the wrong time could lead to not being able to use it if it was really needed.


    "First you have to try to feel the mana inside you. If you focus on the inside of your mind there should be a small ball of blue light.", she then followed up with some explanation on how to look inside ones mind.


    Following her instruction Ivan and the others tried to see there mana pool, but even after trying for a few times, there was still no progress.


    Seeing the dejected looks of her students the teacher laughed and said, "Don''t worry, it usually needs at least fifty tries to be able to do it, so you will have to train for a bit longer. For now continue trying until the end of the lesson in one hour."


    She then sat a chair at the side and only answered the questions the students asked but didn''t do anything else besides that.


    When the time was up she stood up.


    "Alright time is up. Relax for 5 minutes before the teacher for the crafting classes come to introduce their specialty."

 11 School 2

    Five minutes later the door opened and three other teacher came in. The one in the lead was a old man with a wise look, while the second was the complete opposite, being a burly man with arms as thick as others tights. The last one was a small girl, which looked as if she was only about ten years old.


    "These are the ones who will teach your crafting", Mrs. Mertinez introduced them. She gestured towards the old man, "This is Sir. Keller who is responsible for teaching engraving. Sir. Keller if you could please tell them what engraving is about."


    Sir. Keller nodded sagely and then spoke in a horse voice, "Engraving is the art of using rare metals to create diagrams in other objects and apply a permanent magic effect on them. It has a multitude of uses but requires a good three dimensional imagination, so not anyone is able master it.", he then continued by giving some examples like effects for armor.


    After he finished his introduction on engraving the teacher gestured for the burly man to continue.


    "Hello students, I am Mr. Evan and I teach forging. In forging you will learn to craft all kind of tools made by metal while imbuing it with magic to improve it''s properties. In the last step we often work together with the engravers to create an even better piece.", he then talked a bit more about forging and pulled some examples of items made by former students out of his inventory to show everyone what could be possible.


    "Now for the last and most difficult area", the woman takes over after Mr. Evan finished his explanations. "You may call me Miss. Klein and I will teach a selected few of you pill refining.


    As I said, pill refining is much more difficult than the other two areas and it has strict requirements so I will choose which students I will teach. Of course you have the option to chose another area to learn but don''t come to me later if you change your mind."


    Of all of them this woman seemed to be the most arrogant, but the others just accepted her words, so they were either used to it or she was in the right about what she was saying.


    "Pill refining is the art of using raw materials to create pills which provide a temporary or even permanent effect. Just about every effect you can imagine is possible as long as you have the right materials and recipe. Sadly most people don''t have the recipe or the materials or the skill they would need to fulfill their imagination, so I will teach you how to research new recipes, find out the effect of materials and lastly how to craft a pill from them."


    When Ivan heard that any effect was possible he thought about his skill Evolution. * Maybe I can craft a pill which increases the chance for a successful evolution? I guess I''ll have to ask Van Carl about it later. *


    After Miss. Klein finished her introduction too, it was time to ask some questions and Ivan listened intently since quite a few of them where something he had asked himself too.


    "Great, now that everyone asked his or her question it is time to decide what you want to learn. First of Miss. Klein will announce the names of these who are capable of learning pill refinement and then you can choose.


    Miss. Klein please."


    "Alright, this year there are only two people how have the necessary talent for pill refinement and these are Mr. Muckovik and Mr. Hope."


    Ivan was positively surprised, * So Serge and I are the only ones. That''s great. *


    If Greg would have been in the same class as him he really wasn''t sure he could stand it since this guy seemed to never stop talking.


    "Does any of you two not wish to learn pill refinement?"


    The two of them hurriedly stated that they would love to learn pill refinement after Miss. Klein glared at them to warn them not to reject the offer.


    "Great, I will come get you tomorrow for the class then.", with these words she turned around and left without waiting for the rest of the selection to finish.


    After that the other students in the class split up between engraving and forging and both areas got about the same amount of students.


    "Great, now that that is done, it is time for a break. I will see you again at this room in an hour.", with these words Mrs. Mertinez followed the other two out of the classroom, leaving behind a room full of excited students.


    "I didn''t know a school like this would have a pill refinement class and you two even got in.". Not even a second went by, before Greg started talking.


    "Is it that surprising?", Ivan asked since he had thought that the offered classes were the same everywhere.


    "Of course. Pill refiner are rare, so even though all schools are supposed to offer this class not every school manages to get a pill refiner to hold it. Since this is a school which doesn''t even has a rank it is quite surprising to find on here.


    And not only that there are even two guys who are capable to learn it and they are my friends too."


    Greg happily jumped up and down, while pulling them out of the room and towards the canteen.


    "Are they really that awesome?"


    "Pff, Ivan even if you have amnesia you should try to learn more about life fast.", Greg criticized him for his lack of knowledge. "Most pills have to be made by pill refiners, so if you want to get a healing pill or a boost pill you have to buy them from them. It is the profession which earns the most money."


    "Then do you know what kind of pills there are?"


    "Of course this brother knows.", Greg elevated himself to the status of brother. "There are two main differentiation which Miss. Klein already mentioned, which are permanent pills and temporary pills. By the way healing pills fall in the category temporary pills even though their effect is basically permanent."

 12 School 3

    While talking they had reached the canteen and now stood in line to get their meal.


    "I''m not really sure why that is, but i heard that permanent pills have to change a indicator forever, while temporary change it only for some time and healing pills are just supposed to increase the regeneration rate by a lot, so the effect seems instantaneous, but isn''t in reality."


    At this point Serge opened his mouth to confirm what Greg said. "According to one of the books I have read, which is about pill refinement, this is really the case, but there is more to it. There aren''t really crafted permanent pills, since they only have a long duration. For example there are pills which are called permanent, which give a small stat increase, but they only work until a person dies.


    It doesn''t really make much difference, but strictly speaking a permanent pill would still be in effect even after a person dies, so these pills effect has an end and as such aren''t really permanent."


    "So there aren''t any real permanent pills?"


    "There are, just not any that are crafted. But some bosses may drop them and I heard that they are sold for horrendous prices since if you are rich you can get a temple to resurrect you and as such these people need real permanent pills."


    "You can be resurrected?"


    "Yeah, but since it is a privilege of the temples I don''t know much about it."


    "That''s great. But I guess that even if it was there is no way, we could pay for it."


    "Well as far as I know during the training sessions organized by the school there is a safety policy with a temple close by so the students will be resurrected, but they will have a dept which is quite sizable."


    "Still its good to know that there is such a form of safety."


    "I recon they had to do it or they couldn''t organize these sessions."


    "Sarge, how come you know so much about it?", Ivan asked curiously. It was quite surprising for him to hear Sarge talking so much, but it seemed that he liked spreading his knowledge.


    "My parents operate a book store so whenever I had nothing to do I would go there and read. After a while I naturally came to collect this knowledge."


    "Then do you know anything about hard reset?"


    "You mean that hat happened to you? Sorry, although I have seen it being mentioned before I don''t really know anything about it."


    At this moment an old voice cut in, "It happens if you go against the System or if you get caught up in a cleanup."


    The three of them turn around to check who had cut into their conversation. It was an old woman who had long white hair which was in sharp contrast to her dark blue robe, which completely covered her straight figure. To be honest if not for the hair and the wrinkles in her face one would have guessed her to be at most 30 years old.


    "Sorry, boys. I just happen to hear your question and since you seem to be affected I thought it wold be helpful to tell you a bit about it."


    "So you know about hard reset?", Serge asked eager. It seemed like only knowledge could get him to talk, independent of whether he was the one spreading it or gaining it.


    "Yes, it''s not really a secret but only the truly powerful would ever get in contact with it. As I said, you either have to go against the System, which requires power far above most or you will have to get caught up in a cleanup."


    "I thought no one could go against the System."


    "That''s usually the case for people of our realm, but if powers from other realms come into play it may change."


    "Other realms?"


    "I won''t tell you much about it, since your levels are way to low. Just knowing that there are other realms and really powerful people can travel from one realm to another is enough.


    And when that happens it may influence our realm. It may only be an object being left behind or it might be more direct influence, anyways all of that is perceived as outside influence by the System and it will try to get rid of that but since it comes from another realm it can''t directly be influenced so the System will generate quests for people powerful enough to get rid of the problem.


    But sometimes the object may be useful for the person send, so there is the possibility of a trial to integrate it into the system. Some weird powerful items have there origin in this trial.


    Each trial is a risk, since some of the objects can to lead great damage, so there is a price for starting such a trial and that is a hard reset. It basically means that the person starting the trial will die if he fails, but since they are really powerful their souls are to strong to be easily eradicated so the system will just remove all memories, leaving only some knowledge intact, as well as stats, skills, titles and anything else that makes up the strength of such a person."


    "So that means that Ivan was powerful before."


    "Yes, but it won''t matter anymore, since he has to start anew and often power just comes from luck so he most likely won''t be able to reach the same level again."


    "Oh, then what about the other reason for a hard reset."


    "The System might be quite powerful, but it to runs experiments and sometimes they run awry so it then has to clean up after that. If you happen to be in an area where something like this happens, then your data gets corrupted and you too will be hard rest."


    "Wow, that sounds really unfair."


    "That''s just how it is. If you run into an experiment by another humanoid you won''t even have the chance to start anew, so it isn''t that bad."

 13 School 4

    After saying these words she moved on and left them standing in the line which had slowly moved on so it was now their time to get their meal.


    After they got their meal, which consisted of one main dish, one salad, one side dish and a dessert, they sat down at a table.


    "What do you think about what we just heard?", Greg asked the other two.


    "I can''t really comment on it, since there is no way to check it and if she is right. But does it really matter? For me it won''t change anything since even if I know why I ended up like I did, what can I do about it?"


    They talked about it some more but it always came back to them not having enough information and so the time flew by and it was time for class once again.


    "Usually we would have a theoretical magic lesson now, but for today there is something else you have to learn.


    This morning I thought you about how to learn Mana Manipulation. But besides being able to use our mana, mages do have a need for information too. The more you know about something, may it be a monster you are targeting or a material you want to use, the better you can work with it, so you all should learn the skill Inspect. As with Mana Manipulation the skill is a bit inferior than the one from skill books, but the difference is quite small and can be compensated by collecting a lot of information.


    To learn this skill you will have to read a lot and then use the methods I will teach you to extrapolate the data to gain information about what you want to inspect."


    "I guess you have a big advantage then Serge, since you have read so much.", Gregsays to Serge, " But how come you don''t have the skill?"


    "Didn''t you listen? There is a special method for data extrapolation and sadly I didn''t have access to it."


    "Oh"


    After that they listened to the teacher explanations and tried it out, but to no success.


    "Alright, everyone. Class is over, now go down to the training ground. Mr. Martin will be awaiting you there."


    The training ground was separated in multiple smaller fields, and most of them where full of students training forms. Ivan and his classmates went to one of the smaller fields which were empty and had the sign of the mage department in the center.


    As soon as the first student reached the field a middle aged man which had a very robust statue walked towards them.


    "Welcome, I am Mr. Martin and I will be your combat trainer. There are two rules you all have to follow, if you don''t I will make sure to get you expelled."


    "Wow, so serious.", Greg whispered.


    "You there. Shut up, while I am talking", he instantly got reproached. It seemed like this teachers hearing was quite outstanding.


    "First rule, on the training field you will follow my commands without thinking about it. If I say you jump then you jump if I say you stop then you''ll stop and not even move a muscle. Understood?"


    "Yes." , "Sure" , "Mm", the students answered.


    "It seems you even need to learn how to answer my questions. If I ask you if you understood, you will answer with a loud and clear Yes, Sir, Understood?"


    "Yes, Sir.", this time the students answered loud and clear, but there were still on which was later than the others, which was Greg, who was more interested in watching the weapon on one of the racks at the side.


    "You there!", the teacher shouted at Greg, who jumped and hurriedly moved his attention.


    "Since you seem to find the weapon on the racks so much interesting, then what I have to say, you may clean all of them after we finish."


    Greg''s face sank and he looked really unhappy, but he didn''t dare to say anything.


    "Now for the second rule. And this is as important as the first one. Don''t injure anyone deliberately, understood?"


    This time all the students answered with "Yes, Sir."


    "Great. Then I will now tell you a bit about what you will be learning.


    Since you are mages there won''t be any of the usual drill for working together since it would be unexpected if you had to work together in combat, so we will directly start with weapon training."


    "You will learn four different weapons as well as weaponless fighting in the first year. After that you will have to choose one thing you want to concentrate on.


    The weapon we will start with is the staff, since it is the most used weapon by mages."


    One of the students lifted his hand. "Yes?"`


    "Isn''t the staff used to amplify our skills and not for close combat?"


    "You are correct, but there are always situations where you have to fight in close combat. And if you don''t even know how to use your staff then you will be gone faster than you can blink."


    He waited if there were any other questions, but nobody else seemed to have any, so he continued.


    "After that you will learn how to use dagger and then sword, bow and finally unarmed combat. Any questions?"


    "No, Sir", this time the students seemed to have chosen the right way to answer, since he nodded in satisfaction.


    He then went over to one of the racks which was full of simple wood staffs, which were about 2 m long.


    "This is the standard practice staff, each of you go get one and then I will demonstrate you how to hold it and the basic stances."


    Each of the students grabbed a staff and watched him demonstrating the way to hold it before imitating him. He went around and corrected some who did it wrong.


    After he was satisfied with the way everyone held their staff he then slowly demonstrated the basic forms multiple times while explaining the steps.

 14 School 5

    After slowly following his instructions, Ivan saw a popup announcing a new Skill.


    << Congratulations, you have learned the skill Staff Mastery (Novice). >>


    << Skill Staff Mastery (Novice) (F) Lvl.1 : You now have rudimentary knowledge on how to use a staff.


    Damage + 0.5% while using a staff to attack. >>


    "Alright, everyone stop practicing. You should all have gained the skill Staff Mastery now. Did anyone didn''t get it?"


    Everybody signaled that they had gained it.


    "Good. At least you are better than the last batch. There really were some in that who weren''t able to learn it in the first class. As you may have noticed the skill gives you a small damage increase if you use a staff to attack. This will not apply to skills you use and the skill won''t help you in the way to use your staff. So even if you level it up you will still have to train on how to use the staff."


    "Since we still have half an hour left, it is time to get some experience, so find a partner for a training fight."


    Serge asked Greg to be his partner, so Ivan had to find someone else, but he didn''t have any contact with his other classmates. * I guess I should have at least checked them out. *, now he could only regret his lack of interest in his other classmates. Luckily the number of students was even and as such there was someone else who didn''t have a partner. It was a girl who was lanky and had short blue hair.


    Since there were more guys in the class Ivan really wouldn''t have expected a girl to be left over, even though she was at least a head taller than anyone else with her more than 2 m height.


    When she saw, that only Ivan was left she came over and said in a silky voice, "Hey, I''m Irena, please take care of me."


    Now that he could take a closer look at her he understood, why the others avoided her. One of her eyes was glassy and dead, with the half of her face full of deep pockmark, which completely destroyed her look which wouldn''t have been bad, seeing how the other half of her face looked.


    Surprisingly Ivan didn''t feel anything when he saw this face and he had the indistinct feeling, that he had seen much worse, but he couldn''t pinpoint that feeling and as such choose to ignore it.


    "Hey, I''m Ivan. Please take care of me too."


    Seeing that Ivan didn''t have any reaction towards her look a light flashed through her normal eye.


    "Alright, now that everyone has found a partner I will give everyone a brooch which you have to pin on your chest. It will emit a magic shield, which will stop your partner from damaging you, but the pain will still be transmitted. If the hit was critical it will change it''s color to red and the fight is over."


    He went around, distributing the brooches and made sure that everyone had it pined to their chest.


    "Each round has up to ten minutes. Start!"


    As soon as he said start the lanky girl used her staff to stab towards Ivan''s stomach and the fight started.


    Ivan didn''t have any problems with the moves, but he lacked power since his stats were low, so he could only try to defend by evading or redirecting the power of her attacks, but even so he wouldn''t have lasted even a minute if the girl didn''t take back her power and speed intentionally and only competed with him in techniques. Fully concentrating on each other the both of them failed to notice that Mr. Martin had stopped besides them and watched intently.


    Ivan could feel that his control over the staff increased a lot while the attacks of his partner got more sophisticated too stopping him from ever gaining the advantage, but still managing to stop her from dealing a critical blow.


    Soon they started to pant and their sweat dripped down but they were to focused to notice it and soon the ten minutes were over and while the others stopped their fight they continued theirs and the teacher didn''t stop them either but signaled the others to be quiet and watch.


    Finally Ivan was so exhausted that he couldn''t even hold up his staff anymore and he got hit by the girl''s staff at the head and the pain together with his exhaustion lead to him fainting.


    Before he could fall the teacher did catch him and slowly lowered him to the ground. The girl too didn''t have the energy to remain standing and slumped down on the ground.


    "What''s your name?", Mr. Martin asked her. "Irena ,Sir."


    "You did a good job in restraining yourself. If you didn''t you could have won easily but you wouldn''t have learned anything."


    "Thank you, Sir.", hearing the praise, she smiled happily but to the others it looked scary, since only half of her mouth could move like intended, which resulted in a weird smile.


    Then the teacher looked towards Greg and Serge, "You three seem to know each other so could you tell me why this guy is so weak. It''s abnormal."


    The both of them looked at each other before Greg said, "I guess he wouldn''t mind us telling.", then he took a breath and continued, "He had a hard reset and now all his stats are at 1."


    The teacher looked surprised before nodding, "That makes sense, otherwise he couldn''t be this weak, but he sure is lucky to have all stats at 1." He then asked Irena, "You too have all stats at least at 1, right?".


    She looked at him in surprise, since she didn''t expect him to have seen it from their fight. She nodded and he smiled a wide smile, which made her shudder.


    "Haha, this is great, this is great.", he then pulled out a pill and put it into Ivan''s mouth.

 15 Partners

    After he took the pill Ivan soon woke up. As soon as he saw that he was awake the teacher told the other students.


    "This was it for today. Remember to practice the forms I showed you whenever you have time. I will test you tomorrow, to see how much you remember.", he then looked at Ivan and Irena, "You two come with me."


    He waited for Ivan to stand up, which he managed with some difficulty, it seems he had really used up too much energy and Irena too had a hard time standing up, and then lead them towards one of the buildings next to the training ground.


    After they entered his office he offered them a seat.


    "Have you heard about Training Skills?", he asked the two of them after they all sat down.


    Ivan could only look clueless, since he had never heard of them, but Irena seemed to know something, "They are used to increase your stats after they reach a threshold and can''t really be raised by repeating simple actions."


    "Correct. They are not all that rare if you only want a low ranked, but the higher ranked are scarce. For example the school tournament only offers E ranked as a winning price while the inter school tournament offers D ranked for the top five. On the other hand F ranked can easily be bought for a few silver."


    They looked at him and wondered where he was going with this.


    Seeing the look in their eyes he didn''t continue to delay and pulled out a skill book. It was the most impressive looking skill book Ivan had ever seen. It had a metallic color with golden inlays which formed complex diagrams which were arranged around gemstones which where inlaid at the center of the cover. He couldn''t help but stare greedy at it, since he was sure that it had quite a high rank.


    Besides him Irena too had an astonished look in her eyes, but it vanished fast.


    "This is the reason I called you here.", he laid his hand on the book and stroked it''s cover, "I found this skill book during a dungeon clear, but sadly I can''t use it."


    "Then why didn''t you sell it. It must be worth a lot", Irena asked.


    He shook his head. "Even though this book is S ranked it has some requirements, which are very rare and as such it wouldn''t really sell, except to collectors and that''s not what I wanted."


    A sad look was on his face as he reminisced about something.


    "When we did that dungeon I lost my best friend, so I couldn''t stand something that he gave his life for to just collect dust in some collection. After I failed to sell it with the condition that the buyer had to be able to use it, I then decided to keep it and hope that I would maybe be able to find someone who would be able to use it and finally there is a chance."


    He then looked at them with hope in his eyes. "You two are the first students I met, that have a chance to fulfill the requirements for the skill, so I hope that the two of you are willing to try learning and using it."


    This time even Irena displays her surprise, "Are you sure teacher? This is an S ranked skill."


    "I know, but I really want someone to use it. If I weren''t sure I wouldn''t have made the offer."


    "Could you tell us more information? Dual skills are really rare and the demands for the ones using it are a bit...", she then trails of, not willing to continue.


    "I know that it is asking a lot, especially to you but I''m sure an S ranked Training Skill will be worth it."


    "I will think about it.", she then looks at Ivan, "How about you?"


    "Um sorry, I got no clue what you are talking about.", he could only answer embrassedly.


    "Right, I forgot. Dual skills are skills that have to be used by two persons together, usually male and female. They will require some contact between the partners, but it is different for each skill. Some only require them holding hands, while other need more skin contact, while others go even further.", she then stops, not wanting to further explain what it could be, but Ivan could imagine it.


    "Oh, that''s really a big decision then."


    "Yes, especially since it is not like the skill will only be useful now and then become useless later on. An S ranked Training Skill would accompany us most likely for the rest of our life."


    "So we have to stay together for the rest of our life?"


    "If we want to use the skill then yes, but if we find another Training Skill to replace it then not necessarily."


    Ivan took a good look at her. She wasn''t good looking, especially with her face, but also with her height. She was at least 30 cm higher than him, and to make it worse she was thin and had no curves. Her breasts were practically nonexistent and her ass was the same. If it only were about holding hands then it was no problem, but what if the skill required more?


    Irena saw him looking at her and managed to catch the distaste in his eyes and a look of hurt flashed unnoticed across her face. She knew how she looked so she couldn''t really fault him but she still felt hurt.


    "I will think about it too.", he then came to a decision. For him being able to learn such a great skill was much more important and he still had hope, that there were pills, which could improve her looks.


    "That''s great. I hope you two decide to do it."


    They then said goodbye to the teacher and left the office. As soon as they went through the door Irena ran away, so he didn''t manage to ask her any more questions.


    Without anything else to do at school for now he then used his phone to get back to the Campus.

 16 Transfer Station

    After returning to his room the first thing he did was taking a shower, since after the combat training his body was sweaty.


    After the shower he went back to his room planning to read a few books from the digital library, since he had once again seen how lacking his general knowledge was but he was stopped by the sound of his phone ringing.


    "Hello?"


    "Hey Ivan. Are you at your room?"


    "Yes, I just came back from school."


    "Great, then go wear your combat uniform and come out, I will be waiting for you in the foyer.", without waiting for him to respond his mentor ended the call and he had no way but follow his orders.


    << Item: Armor : Combat uniform of the Slavers Alliance (F)


    An armor made from light leather for the newcomers of the Slavers Alliance.


    Def +5


    Can only be worn by members of the Slavers Alliance >>


    For the first time Ivan took a closer look at the combat uniform and used Inspect to check it out but it didn''t seem like anything special.


    After hastily putting on the uniform he left his room and went to the foyer where he could already see Van Bergen waiting for him.


    "There you are. The others are already waiting for us.", with that he went ahead towards the subway station.


    "Mentor, what exactly is going on and who is waiting for us?"


    "We are going to get you a skill which will be really useful for your further growth and since it can be done in a group some friends asked me to take their new students with me."


    "Oh.", after a short pause he then asked him, "Mentor, today a teacher offered me a Training Skill."


    "A Training Skill? How did that happen?", he seemed quite surprised.


    Ivan then proceeded to tell him what had happend at school and when he finished his mentor locked at him in surprise.


    "He really offered you that S ranked skill and the both of you didn''t instantly accept?", then after a short pause he corrected himself, "Well she didn''t accept? I''m not surprised that you didn''t, since you are completely clueless as usual but I''m sure she must have known how incredible it is."


    "Is it really that great? After all, all the higher leveled people have to have such skills."


    "We have such skills, but usually they are only B ranked and below, only some of the high ranking aristocrats have A ranked skills and to my knowledge there are only two S ranked skills in this country. So think about it, how great this skill is."


    Ivan felt enlightened and decided to accept the offer as soon as possible.


    "Besides even if the girl is ugly at the moment, that may not necessarily be the case later since there are many things which can change your appearance."


    While talking they had reached their destination which was a gigantic hall, which had a simple style. The building materials were mainly steel and glass, which created a modern look which was only reinforced by the futuristic looking portals, which were located in small alcoves which where guarded by at least two men in full plate armor.


    "This is the transfer station, with portals to all important cities and dungeons.", Van Bergen proudly informed Ivan.


    "It looks impressive, but why use portals? Couldn''t it be done with the app?"


    "Certainly you could use the app, but it would be much more expensive so we have this station with permanent portals."


    Ivan nodded in understanding and followed him over to a group of three which seemed to be the other students who would be joining them.


    They were two guys and one woman. Both of the guys didn''t look special in any way but the woman left quite an impression. Not only was she beautiful with an Asian look, with her long straight black hair, her smooth skin which looked like jade as well as her body which had curves at the right places and long straight legs. Her expression was cold, wich suited her beautiful face and the most impressive thing was her aura which seemed to be full of dominance.


    When her eyes swept over him, he felt a formless pressure which seemed to tell him not to mess with this person. To his surprise the pressure didn''t lead to the result it should, but instead created the urge to tease her but he held himself back since he was sure that he wouldn''t have a good ending if he followed this urge.


    "Great everyone is here, then lets get going.", after they arrived Van Bergen didn''t introduce them but instead directly lead them towards one of the portals. The guards nodded at him and the group entered the portal.


    When they left the portal the were standing in a big cave. Behind them there was the portal they had come from, while in front of them there was an entrance which lead further into the dungeon.


    Even though they were beneath the surface it was quite bright, since there was a type of moss on the ceiling which emitted a soft light.


    << You have entered the dungeon: Caves of Leuren


    Maximum group size: 5


    Difficulty: F


    Average Level: 20 >>


    He was greeted with a popup which told him some information about the dungeon but nothing really useful.


    After this popup there was another one.


    << Quest: Clear the Caves of Leuren (F)


    Kill Leuren, the owner of the Caves of Leuren.


    Reward: Skill: Shadow Stats


    >>


    Ivan was sure that this was the skill his mentor had talked about, but this wasn''t the only quest he got.


    << Quest: First dungeon (F)


    Clear your first dungeon


    Reward: Title: Dungeon Diver , Skill: Reincarnation (F)


    >>


    The rewards from this quest looked even better than the first ones, since there was two and the name of the skills filled him with hope. * Maybe it will enable me to come back after dead. *, he thought hopefully but not daring to really believe it, since the skill only had the rank F.

 17 First dungeon

    "All of you have the quest Clear the Caves?", Van Bergen asked the group and everyone confirmed it except the girl who just mad a small nod. It seemed like he was used to this and he continued, "This won''t be a normal run, since I will be pulling you, so just follow behind me and make sure not to lag behind to far."


    After that he walked into the entrance with the group trailing behind. While walking he explained some things to Ivan.


    "This is a low ranked dungeon, so it only has one floor, generally a dungeon has an amount of floors which correspond with the rank it has. At the end of each floor there is a mini boss, which will open the gateway to the next floor, while the last floor has the end boss, which has to be killed to gain the rewards for the dungeon. Bosses have generally much better drops than normal monster as well."


    While walking he casually waved his hands and some rats, and bats which had come to close fell down to the floor with their body split in half.


    "If you finished the first run do the others give some rewards too?"


    "Yes, but the first clear reward is always better. If you are the first to ever clear the dungeon the reward is even better."


    "How come there is nobody else here?"


    "That''s because dungeons exists in a separate space which will be there for only one group. For other groups there exist other copies of the dungeon."


    "Does anyone knows why it is like that?"


    "Not for sure, but it has been speculated that dungeons are living beings which gain their energy from the creatures inside. So if some creature moves around in a dungeon, casts skills and fights they emit energy and this energy the dungeon can absorb. Of course the most energy should be gained if something dies inside the dungeon."


    "Then shouldn''t dungeons be really dangerous?"


    "They are, but at the same time the dungeon can''t be to dangerous or nobody would enter it. And besides they should have different strength which manifests in their level."


    "Then wouldn''t it be useful to make a level cap? Since truly strong people won''t die in a dungeon."


    "First of all, people would usually not enter much weaker dungeons, since it is just not profitable, and second even the strong people will emit a lot of energy, since their attacks have much more power, even if they limit their strength. If you want to know more about it there are a few good books about dungeons."


    After walking and talking they had now entered a larger cave in the center of which there sat a large bat on a stone.


    << Leuren the Vampire Lvl. 30 >>


    * So this is the boss, it doesn''t look as special as I expected.*, Ivan thought when he saw the bat, which was just slightly larger than the ones they had met on the way here. Even his color was the same.


    "Lord Van Bergen, could we please try to fight this boss?", one of the guys which had followed along silently asked.


    "You three want to go?"


    The three of them nodded and Van Bergen gave his consent but reminded them, "Be careful, even through I am here there, since I won''t intervene until really necessary."


    One of the guys pulled out his sword from the scabbard on his hip. It was a thin silver blade with a simple grip and pommel. Along the blade there was a faint pattern, which reminded one of a vine wrapping around the blade. It looked quite beautiful in the soft light and emitted a faint aura of sharpness.


    "A good sword", Van Bergen praised it after taking a closer look, "I didn''t expect that guy to give you his old blade."


    The other guy used a spear, which in comparison was much plainer as it was a simple wooden shaft with an iron tip without any patterns.


    The staff the girl pulled out stood in stark contrast to the two rather simple weapons. Not only had it a crystal on top which was at least the size of a fist, it even had golden pattern running along the wooden staff. The wood to wasn''t simple since it had a inner glow which beautifully accented the red color of the wood itself.


    "Wow", the others couldn''t stop themself from uttering a cry of admiration. Only Van Bergen stayed calm since he surely had seen something like this before.


    * This girl really has to be rich. *, Ivan thought as he tried to guess how much the staff was worth.


    His mentor took the opportunity to teach him a bit more, "This staff isn''t man made, but a drop from a boss monster in one of the lower ranked dungeons. It is quite rare and has a great amplification effect. Generally you should always try for monster drops, since they are always better than man made items of the same rank and level. Sadly they drops so seldom that we often have no choice but to use man made items."


    He then pulled out a simple unadorned staff out and gave it to Ivan.


    "Here you go. You try fighting the boss too, it will be a good experience for you but make sure not to obstruct the others."


    Ivan took a look at the staff and was quite surprised that a staff looking so simple could be as good as this.


    << Item: Staff: Staff of Smit (D) , Durability: 5/10 , Effect: +20% damage while using staff attacks >>


    His mentor saw his surprise and laughed, "Remember, even if things look simple they aren''t necessary weak or useless. Quite the opposite, some of the gaudiest things are in truth absolutely useless. So always check an item out before discarding it."


    "Ok, now that everyone is ready get going. And remember safety first."

 18 Fighting the boss

    The one with the spear went first followed by the other two while the girl stood in the back.


    As they got closer, the boss reacted to their presence and unfolded his large big leathery wings. They were more than twice as long as his body was height and had two brutal looking claws at the end of each.


    "Watch out for these claws, they are the main weapon. He will use them as well as sometimes trying to suck your blood.", Van Bergen informed them.


    "You handle the right wing while I will concentrate on the left and Sam will attack the center alright?", the guy with the spear suggested. It seems Sam was the name of the swordsman.


    The both of them nodded even though Ivan felt a bit unsure regarding his job, since he thought he was to week but there was no time for further pondering because the boss had started to make its move.


    Using a flap of his wings to noiseless propel himself towards them he quickly came close. He then used the claws at his feet to get a good grip on the floor and swung both his wings towards them.


    While the spear bearer hold his spear in both hands pointing the tip towards one of the incoming wings Ivan didn''t dare to do it. He used a small irregularity on the rock floor to secure his staff, putting his feet on this end while pointing the other towards the wing coming towards him.


    In the back his mentor who had watched his every move nodded in satisfaction, it seemed like this student of his was capable of using his brain.


    "Bang" , with a loud sound the wing and his staff collided, and while he got rattled so much that he nearly puked blood the staff held and the wing slash was stopped.


    On the other side the spear holder wasn''t as lucky since his spear was to sharp and the tip went through the leathery membrane of the wing not fully stopping it but only slowing it a bit.


    He tried to dodge the claws but still got hit by it. A wound on his hip appeared and blood started to flowed out. Hastily he took out a pill which stopped the bleeding.


    At the time both of the wing slashes were stopped the swordsman rushed forwards and used all his strength to slash at the face of the monster. The strike hit the crown of the beasts head, creating a thing line down its face before stopping at his chin. The line then opened and blood spurted out all over the swordsman.


    Even though the wound seemed dangerous for the boss it still didn''t utter a sound and instead tried to lunge out towards the swordsman with his mouth wide open, displaying the dangerous looking fangs of his.


    Before it could even come close a ball of fire appeared before it and unerringly hit inside its mouth.


    * Wow, didn''t think that chick would use fire magic, with her disposition ice would be much more fitting. *, Ivan couldn''t help thinking.


    "Be careful, now the boss is enraged and will deal much more damage.", his mentors voice once again gave them some information.


    And truly the eyes of the beast were now a shining red and they looked like bloody jewels emitting a strong sense of blood thirst.


    Once again it swung his wings at them and this time even though Ivan deployed the same trick as before he was unable to stop the force completely and he got send flying while puking out some blood.


    << -7 HP >>


    For the first time a number showing the loss of his HP showed up.


    * Fuck, I only have 10 HP. *


    Luckily for the rest of the team he had managed to hold long enough that the swordsman was able to ram his sword deep into the bosses mouth, while another fireball was on his way which once again hit the mouth of the boss. Sadly the hand of the swordsman was still holding the sword which was stuck inside and he screamed out. He let go of his sword and rolled on the floor in pain, trying to put out the flames which had raced up his arm, while continuing to scream.


    "Wow, your coordination sucks.", Van Bergen said while walking over, "You are lucky you managed to just about kill that guy or you would have died after a mistake like this."


    He moved over to the boss who laid on his back with steam coming out of his mouth and praised, "Quite a powerful fireball.".


    He seemed to ignore the injury as if it was something normal and looked at the girl, "You really should have used ice magic. Fire magic doesn''t seem to fit your disposition."


    * Wow, he said exactly what I thought before.*, Ivan felt that he and his mentor were surprisingly similar.


    "Now go and finish this guy.", he pointed at the spear-wielding guy and ordered.


    He followed his command and rammed the spear deep into the helpless bat.


    << Congratulation you have made your first kill. Reward: +1 Luck >>


    << Congratulation Son of Chaos triggered! >>


    << Congratulation you and your team have killed a monster more than 25 levels higher than you. Reward: Title: Slayer of slightly bigger things (1) >>


    This was the first time Ivan had seen his title get triggered and he was quite happy about the result after he took a look at the reward.


    << Title: Slayer of slightly bigger things (D) Level 1


    You have slain a monster of at least 25 levels higher than you.


    +1 Luck


    Slay 5 more for the next level


    >>


    * I really need to check what luck is used for, after all I seem to get it all the time at the moment.*, Ivan thought. Since he didn''t have time to read up on more information he could only surmise that it was a hidden stat and that it would give him what the name said, better luck.

 19 Rewards

    << Congratulation you have killed the boss and cleared the Caves of Leuren. >>


    << Congratulation you have finished the quest Clear the Caves of Leuren. Reward: Skill: Shadow Stats>>


    * This was the skill mentor wanted me to learn right? *, Ivan thought to himself and took a look at the skill.


    << Skill: Shadow stats (E) (Passive)


    For each stat point you gain you will get 0.1 shadow stat. Shadow stats won''t influence your training speed.


    >>


    * This seems really useful, but also a bit weak.*


    Before Ivan could further think about it the next prompt came up.


    << Congratulation you have finished the quest First dungeon. Reward: Title: Dungeon Diver , Skill: Reincarnation (F) >>


    This was the skill Ivan had been waiting for, so he hurriedly checked it out.


    << Skill: Reincarnation (F)


    Cool down: 48 h


    Effect: After death you will change into soul-form, where you are indestructible, but are unable to do anything besides using the interface. You can then come back to life at a spot you have set before. If the skill is on cool down, you have remain in soul-form until it has recharged.


    You will also lose 5 - 10 random stat points.


    Remark: You won''t lose shadow stats.


    >>


    After reading that Ivan was really happy and after reading the remark he had a daring idea. * If I increase my stat points to 11 for all of them and then die wouldn''t that mean that I would have 1 shadow stat while it would still be easy to increase the stats again. And what if I repeat it?*


    Once Ivan had this idea he couldn''t help but wanting to try it but now was not the time, so he took a look at his last reward.


    << Title: Dungeon Diver (F)


    You have ventured deep into a dungeon and killed the final boss.


    +1 Possible boss drop (highest grade F)


    Clear a dungeon of higher rank to increase the rank of this title.


    >>


    * Wow! *, Ivan was stunned speechless, * Still who knows if this ever triggers. *


    While he had looked over his quest rewards, the others had checked out the dead boss, but besides his fangs and a piece of pelt there was nothing left of him. These items were quite worthless so nobody even bothered picking them up.


    After the boss had been defeated a portal had appeared at on of the walls which lead back to the entrance. It looked different than the one they had used to come here, since it was a natural one which didn''t have the silver pillars which supported the man made portals.


    "Ok, everyone lets go back." Van Bergen said and ushered everyone towards the portal.


    After they got back to the transfer station they split up and Van Bergen signaled for Ivan to follow him.


    "Mentor, why did the boss seem so easy?", Ivan had wondered about that. Even with his stats at only 1 he had managed to block the first strike and they had easily killed the boss.


    His mentor laughed before answering his question, "It only seems easy. Wait until you have to try it yourself. Of course since the dungeon only has rank F and is for the lowest level it is still easy to kill."


    "Then if the rank was higher it would have been more difficult?"


    "Of course. The level just tells you the level of the creatures in the dungeon, but the rank is what describes the difficulty. An F ranked dungeon will always be easy for people of the recommend level since the creatures will only have one skill and that is F ranked. But with higher ranked dungeons they will have multiple skills of higher rank which will increase the difficulty exponentially.


    Besides that girl is at least level 40 so that made killing the boss so fast."


    "What? That girl is already level 40? She can''t be much older than me."


    Once again the man burst out in laughter.


    "It''s not really that surprising. Even though she is a bit younger than you she is from a prominent family and has already trained for more than 10 years and that with a Training Skill."


    Ivan nodded his understanding. If she had already trained for 10 years with a Training Skill she really should have a higher level, but something else got his attention.


    "Then shouldn''t her level be even higher? After all she is already training for 10 years and I heard that there are people in their 20''s who are above level 200."


    "There is a big difference in training speed depending on level and age. For these below 16 years the speed is much slower, which is also the reason school only starts with 16, since it wouldn''t really be efficient for these below this age to be trained. Besides that the first 50 level are a bit slower than thoseafter that. This is because the first 50 level are something which can be archived by purely using normal training methods and don''t require Training Skills. During these levels you improve the amount of muscles, the amount of active nerve cells and so on, all of which needs time and energy from the body. But at level 50 you have reached the border of what is possible with these methods and you then have to use Training Skills to flood your cells with energy from the atmosphere to improve them. At first the improvement is much faster than building up cells but it to will slow down since each improvement will need more energy. Later there are some more transformations but you don''t need to know about them until its time."


    "Then what happens if you use Training Skills before you have build up all your muscles?"


    "That''s where it gets weird. Nobody knows why, but the energy only gets stored until you have reached level 50. Some guess that at level 50 there is some kind of transformation which then enables your cells to strengthen themself with that energy."


    "So after level 50 all the energy gets converted and you instantly gain some level?"


    "You would expect that but what happens is much more useful. The effect is similar to what the skill Shadow Stats gives, so people who used Training Skills before level 50 will have higher real stats than their level suggest."

 20 Training

    They arrived another hall which looked simple with only one counter and a portal.


    "Hey, could I get a training room for my student?", Van Bergen asked the man standing at the counter and handed over a card.


    "Yes, Lord Van Bergen, you are eligible for one training room rank F for a student. Do you want to give your student permanent access or a number of hours per month or week?"


    "Give him permanent access please."


    "Alright, please wait a while until the card is made."


    They didn''t have to wait long since it only took a few minutes before someone came in from a side room with the card.


    "Here you go. If you take out this card and put it near the portal you can then use it to enter the training room.", the man smiled friendly towards Ivan and gave him the card.


    The card was in a plain black with only his name engraved in Gold, which created an elegant look.


    "Since you got the card here I guess you don''t know about the other uses of it, right?", the man asked in a friendly tone.


    Ivan nodded a bit embrassed, "Yes, I don''t."


    "No problem. Let me explain it for you then.


    This card can be used to access some facilities of the Alliance like this training rooms or the stables, but the most important use is as a storage device for your credits. Even though you can always check your credits on your inventory interface it sadly is to complex to make payments through the interface without using a intermediate tool, so the card will fulfill this function."


    "Oh, thank you for the explanation."


    "No worry, its my job and besides it''s quite boring here."


    "Ok lets get going.", Van Bergen said and moved in front of the portal grabbing Ivans shoulder to pull him along.


    "If you touch the person with the person with the card, you can enter together with him.", he explained and then pulled him through the portal.


    When they left the portal they found themself in a small room with a gate leading into a room which seemed much larger. Behind them there was the portal they came from and also the way back.


    The floor consisted of a simple dark gray stone, while the walls had a white color but where just as simple looking.


    On one wall there was a weapon rack which held all kinds of weapon while on another there were some armor stands with different types of armor on them, ranging from light cloth robes to heavy metal plate armor.


    "This is the training room. If you want to train, you should do it here, since you have everything you need here.", his mentor explained and then moved into the bigger room.


    It was about 50 m long as well as wide and had a height of at least 20 m. The floor was the same gray stone as in the small room and the walls had the same color. Besides the entryway there was a panel like the ones in the subway.


    Van Bergen saw him looking at the panel and gestured for him to move towards it.


    "You can change the settings for this room here. It is quite amazing, since you can not only change the gravity to assist in training but you can also simulate all kinds of environments. Of course since it is only a F ranked room the options aren''t as encompassing as for higher ranked rooms, but it will do."


    He then pulled up and moved a slider. Suddenly Ivan felt his weight increase and he crashed to the floor.


    His mentor ginned as he saw him, it really seemed like he enjoyed playing with him.


    "From now on you will keep the gravity like this while training.", he then ordered.


    Ivan laboriously picked himself up until he was at least standing, but he didn''t even manage to straighten out his back. He then gave an angry glare at his mentor, which was completely ignored.


    "First get used to this gravity until you are able to stand straight and move around. Then start running and don''t stop for at least half an hour. If you fall down you will have to start again."


    * Fuck that sadist. This is just torture. *, Ivan thought even though he was aware that this kind of training should give great results.


    His mentor turned around to leave but before he vanished through the portal he threw out a last sentence. "And don''t even try to leave before finishing the task, I will be watching you."


    Ivan couldn''t help himself from cursing out loudly. But since he had no choice he could only endure the gravity and try to stand straight.


    After what felt like an eternity but was in reality only half a hour he was finally able to straighten out his back.


    << Strength +1 >>


    * Finally, I''m not level 1 anymore, even though level 2 isn''t really better. * Ivan was quite happy about gaining his first stat point.


    Motivated by the success he tried to move but only managed a few steps before falling down.


    * Damn this sadist. *, he once again cursed his mentor for increasing the gravity by so much.


    Once again he struggled his way up and started to move. This time he managed to get a bit further before falling down.


    Four hours and five stat increases later he had finally managed to shuffle around for half an hour.


    *Finally it has ended*, he though happily before shuffling towards the small room.


    After entering the small room the gravity suddenly went back to normal and he felt so light he thought that if he jumped it would be a while until he came back down.


    Still immersed in this feeling of lightness he failed to notice a brief flicker of silver light on his skin.


    Then the rumbling of his stomach woke him up and he realized that he hadn''t eaten anything since the meal at school.

 21 A new day

    After checking the campus map on his phone he found out that there were a cafeteria at his dorm where he could eat for free, so he made his way over.


    The food was nothing special but it was filling and after he had his fill he went up to his room, since he felt so tired he feared he would fall asleep if he sat just a bit longer. As such he didn''t even take a shower but directly fell on his bed and was asleep as soon as he hit it.


    The next day the alarm once again woke him but when he tried to turn it off a unbearable pain stopped him from moving even a single finger. He couldn''t even scream out, since his facial muscles were in pain too.


    * Damn, this has to be because of this shitty crazy training yesterday. *, wrecked by the pain he really hoped to kill his mentor who had forced him to do that inhuman training which lead to his current state.


    Just when he contemplated on how to get his revenge his door opened and the bastard came in.


    "Good morning."


    The happy greeting and the smile on the face only made Ivan even angrier but he was still unable to answer.


    "Hoho, I see you did good in your training.", his mentor said as a reaction to his lack of thereof.


    He then came over and pried open his mouth to drop in a pill.


    As soon as the pill entered his mouth it dissolved and he could feel some kind of energy flowing into his body. Soon he regained his control over his body but the pain was still there.


    "Fuck, is there nothing against the pain?"


    "Of course there is, but that would just destroy the training."


    "How the hell is this pain useful for the training?"


    "Of course it is. To be strong you will have to be able to withstand excruciating pain, so you won''t instantly be killed if you get wounded. After all even if someone instantly heals you the pain will still be there and if you aren''t capable to resist it more often than not the foe will kill you."


    "Whatever, it still hurts way to much. Can''t believe that everyone would go through something like this."


    "Of course not. Many don''t even train their pain threshold but these often die too and the ones who do most of the time will take a slower approach, but you just don''t have the time for it. After all you will start doing the dungeon from yesterday solo soon."


    "Huh, I do have to solo it?"


    "Of course. Generally slaver do have way to many secrets to fight efficient with others and with our slaves we are quite capable of going solo. At higher levels we than make permanent pairs, but you are still far of that point so you have to go solo."


    "Anyways, when is this pain going away?"


    "Maybe 2 to 4 hours, but you do have training again in the afternoon."


    "What? I will die."


    "Haha, no you won''t. And even better we will reduce your stat points in regular intervals."


    Ivan was surprised. Even though he had the skill << Reincarnation >> he didn''t tell his mentor about it, so he wonderedhow they would reduce the stat points.


    "And how do we do that?"


    "It is actually quite simple. There is a skill which exchanges stat points for a temporary boost. So you will use that skill until you stats are once again below 10."


    "Then what about the shadow stats? Do they stay or are they gone?"


    "You will lose them too, but there is nothing we can do about it."


    "I think there is another way.", Ivan said and then told his mentor about his skill << Reincarnation >>.


    "Wow, didn''t expect you to have gotten such a good skill.


    You are right this is much better than the other but we will change the training a bit. You will do the training in the training room for 4 hours each day and if all your stats are above 10 then you will go into the dungeon '' Caves of Leuren'' and fight through it until you die."


    * Oh hell, why did I have to tell him about the skill. If not there is no way the training could be so sadistic. *, before he could voice any objections his mentor continued.


    "Of course your normal training will have to change too. After all all your stats have to be above 10, so you not only will have to run in high gravity, there also will be projectiles you have to dodge, which will increase your Agility, you will have to wear some extra weight to increase your endurance and to top it of, while running you will have to circulate your mana and use a levitate skill on a book which you will have to read and understand."


    "Um isn''t that a bit to much?"


    "Nonsense. That is the best way to train. After all you will increase all your stats at the same time, as well as practice multitasking, coordination and even increase your knowledge. Its a win,win,win situation."


    "It may sound good, but I really doubt that a human is possible of this kind of training.", Ivan once again tried to evade the new training, but who would have expected that his mentor would just shrug his shoulders and say, "Who knows but I know that you will try it out."


    Seeing that his mentor was firm in his decision he had no choice but relent. * I wonder if we really have to follow all the orders from our mentor as it is written in the rule book.*


    "Then what about the Training Skill?"


    "You can do that after school. At the initial level it should only take you about half an hour for one session and you can usually only do one per day."


    "Damn!", he muttered.

 22 Training Skill

    After that they went for breakfast and then Ivan went to school. The first three classes where nothing special but at the start of the fourth the teacher Mr. Evan called him and Irena over.


    "So have the two of you decided?"


    Irena hesitated a bit but then nodded, "Yes, this is just to good of an opportunity to pass on it, so as long as Ivan is alright with me I will learn it."


    "I don''t know why I shouldn''t be alright with you, so of course I will learn it too."


    Irena looked at him and in her eyes he could see gratitude and a bit of anticipation.


    "Thank you for not minding my looks.", she then says in a small voice.


    Only now Ivan understood what she meant. It seems she didn''t take him serious when he said he didn''t know and instead thought that he was just polite. Still it was true that he didn''t mind her look, since he somehow had the feeling that it would be possible to fix her face and if she just ate more her body should look quite good.


    Thinking to this point he then started to wonder why he thought it would be easy to fix her condition but was interrupted by Mr. Evan.


    "Great, great. Finally I can fulfill our wish.", he says emotionally and then grabbed both of their hands. "I hope you can make good use of this skill."


    He then once again pulled out the skill book and asked them to both put their hands on it.


    << Congratulations, you have found a skill book with the skill Beauty Dual Training, do you wish to learn this skill? >>


    * Huh, that name. *, but he didn''t think long about it but accepted instead.


    << Congratulations, you have learned the skill Beauty Dual Training. >>


    << Beauty Dual Training (S) (Training Skill) (Duo)Lvl.1 : Partner Irena Berg ,


    You can now train together with your partner by pulling the energy from your surroundings and infusing it into your cells.


    Side effects may include removal of scars, better skin, faster healing or generally improved looks.


    Method level 1: Hold the hand of your partner and circulate your mana in the described way.


    Method level 2: Hidden


    ...


    Remarks: You are gonna be one beautiful man.>>


    This was the longest skill description he had ever seen, but it told him a lot. He just wasn''t sure what to think about that remark.


    On the other hand Irena had quite a reaction when she got the skill description as her whole face lit up and she excitedly grabbed his hands.


    "Come on Ivan, lets get started with the training."


    "Wait a bit. Could the two of you please tell me the skill name and description first?", Mr. Evan asked them.


    Ivan ignored Irena who was still excited and calmly told him the description.


    "Wow, you really are lucky, since the side effects are positiv."


    "You mean there are negativ ones too?"


    "Of course. But at later states there will be other side effects coming to play so be careful of them."


    "Oh. Then let us hope that they aren''t bad."


    "Usually they aren''t. So I think you can be assured, especially since the first were already positiv."


    "Lets go and train.", once again Irena voiced her wish. It seems she really hoped for the side effect to apply since Ivan didn''t think that the thought of getting stronger would have motivated her like this.


    Mr. Evan smiled and said, "Since you are so eager to start then go. You can use one of the training rooms of the school so you have your privacy."


    "Thank you Mr Evan."


    Irena then pulled Ivan along as she hurried towards one of the training rooms.


    After they entered the both of them sat down in front of each other and put their hands together.


    "Lets get started then."


    Ivan activated the skill and moved his mana according to the manual. He could feel the mana flow through his body before leaving through one hand just to come back through the other. When it entered there were an additional energy surrounding it, which then slowly split up from his mana stream and seeped into his cells.


    At first he didn''t notice it, since the feeling was only faint but there was another stream of mana flowing through his body which seemed to pull in energy which traveled through him without ever interacting with him. He guessed that it was Irenas mana and he guessed that she should be feeling the same.


    There was one thing which made him wonder and that was, why the energy would interact with the other persons mana but not that of the person itself.


    * Whatever, there is no use thinking about it.*


    Soon 30 minutes were spend holding up the mana flow and he now had the feeling he had to stop.


    On the other side Irena had the same feeling and they both stopped the movement of their mana at the same time.


    "Ah, that felt good.", Ivan stretched his extremities which felt a bit stiff after sitting still for so long.


    At the same time he felt full of energy, which was a feeling he could get addicted to.


    "Hey, did this session change anything for my scars?", Irena asked him as soon as she too had finished stretching.


    "How could it? We only trained 30 minutes.", he answered without even checking.


    "Tss, you didn''t even check.", she sounded offended and he hurriedly decided to take a good look so she wouldn''t get angry at him. After all she was much stronger than him and if she decided to beat him up there was no way for him to efficiently defend himself.


    When he took a look he was surprised to see that the scars seemed to be a bit lighter.


    "It can''t be. There is no way this is so effective.", he mumbled to himself.


    "What is it?", she asked nervously as she saw the surprise in his eyes.


    "I think they are a bit lighter...", before he could finish her scream of happiness interrupted him.

 23 Sensing

    Six months later at the villa in one of the neighborhoods for the rich and mighty there where a pair of mother and daughter were sitting in the living room. The daughter sat on the sofa and read a book while the mother sat at a table going through some documents.


    There was a comfortable silence as they both did their own things but still spent time together. The scene seemed quite harmonious and one could feel the close bond between the two of them.


    Suddenly the girl put her book down and looked towards her mother.


    "Mom, how come daddy isn''t living with us?"


    "Huh?", her mother looks up in surprise.


    "Doesn''t he love the two of us?"


    The mother wasn''t really sure how she should answer this question, but finally decided to tell the truth.


    "To be honest, I don''t think he knows you exists and he should most likely have forgotten me too."


    "Oh.", the little girl looked down with a sad face, but the mother had no idea how she could comfort her. Luckily she soon looked up again and asked another question.


    "Then could you tell me how you met him?"


    "Hm, how come you are asking so many questions about him suddenly?"


    The child points at the book it had read. It seems like there was something about the story which had made her ask these questions.


    "Ah, ok. Then I''ll tell you the story but there are a few parts I will only tell you if you are older."


    She collected her thoughts and then started to tell the story of how she had met the father of her daughter and her husband.


    "At that time I was still going out adventure and we were going to a newly discovered location which was expected to have some valuable resources. Sadly after we fought our way in we had to realize that we miscalculated the level and coordination of the creatures there. We got surrounded and one member of our group fell. There wasn''t really a chance for us to ever get out alive."


    Her eyes seemed to look far away as she reminisced.


    "When we were sure that we wouldn''t be able to survive he came. I don''t even know how he looked, since we were all heavily wounded and not really able to concentrate. Anyway he came and killed all the foes at that location before taking me away."


    "Then what about the others in your party?"


    "He left them, but since he killed all the monsters near them they managed to survive."


    "That''s good", the daughter said with relief. It seemed like she hoped for her father to be a nice man.


    "Then what happend after he took you away?"


    The mother saw her daughter look eagerly at her and couldn''t help laughing.


    "After that he took me to a cave where he laid me down on a bed and we did what adults do so little ones like you can be born."


    "Then why didn''t you stay with him?"


    "When I woke up he was already gone.", and what she didn''t tell was that she was never asked if she wanted to sleep with him or that he told her that this was his reward for saving them.


    "Then he must be really strong right?"


    "Yes, I don''t know how strong but since he was able to kill all these monsters so easily he must have been quite strong."


    Her daughter looked puzzled, "Then how come he feels weak?"


    "Huh, what do you mean he feels weak?"


    "Ever since I got that title I have been able to feel a presence and when I concentrate on it the system tells me it is my father."


    Her mother looked at her in astonishment.


    "You can sense him? Why didn''t you tell me?"


    She scratches her head, "I forgot. And yes I can sense him but only sometimes. Sometimes the presence just disappears."


    "Then can you feel where he is?", the mother now sounds quite agitated as she questions her daughter.


    "Only the rough direction."


    "Really? You can really feel where he is?"


    Her daughter nodded, being a bit intimidated by her reaction.


    "Then why didn''t you tell me earlier?"


    "You didn''t ask me."


    "Then lets go and look for him tomorrow alright?"


    "Of course and then we can ask him to live together with us."


    She was a bit shocked by what her daughter wished for but she wasn''t able to deny her wish after seeing the hopeful look on her face.


    "Alright.", she sights in her mind, since she didn''t think that it would be realistic to expect him to live with them.


    "Thank you mommy."


    She smiles at her daughter and dotingly pats her head. In her mind she couldn''t help but feel some fear when she thought about meeting that man. What would she do if he insisted to take away her daughter? What if he though that their daughter was an existent which shouldn''t have come to this world? She could only hope that her daughters words where correct and he was week now. If that was the case than for her daughter she would have him live with them, even though she hated that guy who had taken her first time.


    "Now lets go to bed darling, it''s late already."


    "Mmm, I can''t wait for tomorrow."


    The two of them went towards the girls bedroom and her mother accompanied her until she fell asleep.


    After going back to her own backroom she then contemplated about whether she should tell her father about what happend or if she should first find him.


    It was already past midnight when she made the decision to find him first and then talk to her parents because who knew what would happen if her father found about about them going to find him.


    After making her decision she finally fell asleep.

 24 Break

    It had been six months since he woke up and now it was summer. While it wasn''t really that hot this was only because in the last days the weather was quite rainy but Ivan expected that after that changed it would become warm fast.


    Fitting for the time of the year tomorrow the summer break would start and then for 1 month there won''t be any school.


    When he stood at the school gate he couldn''t help but remember the last half year. He had spent most of the time training and he couldn''t even remember how many times he had died during this brutal training his mentor had forced him to do.


    He checked his stats as to see how much he had managed to progress.


    << Character Ivan Hope


    - Age: 16


    - Family: None


    - Strength: 20 (+45)


    - Endurance: 15 (+45)


    - Agility: 19 (+42)


    - Magic power: 22 (+48)


    - HP: 600


    - MP: 350


    - Damage: 325


    - Defense: 1


    - Luck: 2


    Skills:


    - Inspect (E) Lvl. 2


    - Mana Manipulation (E) Lvl. 5


    - Slave Space (D) Lvl. 1


    - Tame (D) Lvl. 1


    - Evolution (SS) Lvl. 1


    - Reincarnation (F) Lvl. 5


    - Shadow stats (E)


    Titles:


    - Son of Chaos (SS)


    - Slayer of slightly bigger things (D)


    - Dungeon Diver (F)


    Achievements:


    none


    >>


    Even though he was still not level 50 his shadow stats had increased by a lot so he was quite satisfied with it. Still he really didn''t like what he had to do to get them this high.


    He was sure that he experienced every possible way to die in the one dungeon he had to do, since he had run it until he was able to solo it. And since his mentor had forbidden him from getting a slave to help he really had to do everything solo. The boss alone had killed him at least forty times and he had experienced getting his throat ripped out by the fangs of that vampire as well as having his belly sliced open by the sharp claws. And he had to say it really wasn''t any fun but luckily he had soon gotten used to it. He too had understood why his mentor had made him train like this since there were quite a few times at the start where he died because the pain from a nonlethal wound has stopped him from reacting fast enough to another attack.


    Stopping his train of thought he then took a look at his phone which had chimed, indicating a new message.


    "After school meet me at the mission hall. Van Bergen."


    It seemed like his mentor would finally allow him to do some missions after all that would be the only reason to go to the mission hall.


    The reason was one of the main halls of the slave alliance and was well visited, since it was where all the missions where displayed. Of course you could check out the available missions at the intranet too, but only at the mission hall you could accept them. After you finished your mission you had to go to the mission hall as well to turn them in and the receive your rewards.


    "Hey Ivan, do you have time to go out to play today?", a familiar voice broke him out of his thoughts.


    When he turned around he saw Greg wo as usual was together with Serge.


    "Sorry I can''t, my mentor is looking for me."


    "What a shame. I had hoped we could play around today since I will leave with my family tomorrow."


    "You leave tomorrow?", Ivan asked in surprise.


    "Yes, we are traveling to the ocean for this break and it will be a one month tour, so we would only see each others again after the break ends."


    "Damn, I would really have liked to go out with you today."


    "Well, I don''t think its a good idea to stand up your mentor."


    "You are right it wouldn''t. I still remember what happend the last time."


    Ivan had once stood up his mentor because he wanted to go to some market together with his friends and when he came back his mentor had waited for him and threw him into the training room. He then turned up the gravity to at least double of what it usual would be and then forbade him from leaving until he had to school next time.


    Sadly it had been a Friday and as such he had to stay in the room for more than two days. It was hell, especially since he even forced him to do more training than usual. Once he even died when he fell unlucky since the gravity was high enough that he broke his neck during the fall. To be honest it was the worst death he had until now. Not because it was painful, but because every time he thought of it he would feel ashamed.


    "You never wanted to tell about it, so I can''t relate but I guess it mustn''t have been fun."


    "It surely wasn''t.", Ivan shuddered when he thought about it again.


    "Then we won''t hinder you, so you don''t have to endure it again, and will get going."


    After that the three of them said goodbye to each other while promising to meet again as soon as the break ends.


    After that Ivan walked towards the alley where he usually left for the campus, but before he could enter it he was blocked by a woman who held a small girl at her hand.


    As soon as he saw the woman a picture flashed through his mind. It wasn''t really informative since it only was the picture of a cave with nothing special in it except a bed which kind of seemed out of place.


    * Hm, did I know this woman before my reset? *, Ivan asked himself because if he didn''t there wasn''t really a good reason for some image to pop up. He tried to remember a bit more but there was nothing,

 25 Wife

    When they had left the villa this morning to search for that bastard she had already expected him to be in the same city as them since she didn''t believe that her daughter could sense him if he was further away. But she would never have expected to find him at the slums and even the worst part of it.


    When her daughter had then led her to the school gate she was once again surprised, because she really wouldn''t have expected that bastard to become a teacher at such a school. In her opinion this bastard was way stronger than even the protector of the Empire so she really couldn''t understand why such an expert would stay at the slums.


    When they had neared the school gate school ended and a lot of students left the school. This was when her daughter pointed at a group of three students. They were quite a weird trio. While on of them was so fat he looked like a ball the other was tin and tall like a beansprout. Only the last one was normal looking, one could even say that he was a bit handsome. It was just that the contrast between them was so high and their positioning didn''t make it better since the ball was in the middle as opposed to the normal man which would have looked much better.


    "That''s daddy!", her daughter told her while pointing at the group.


    "Huh? It can''t be. They are way to young."


    "No I''m sure. The normal looking one is my daddy."


    Even though she still didn''t believe that he could truly be that bastard since he should only be a student and as such should have an age of less than 20 she was glad that it was at least the normal looking youth.


    "Let''s go over.", her daughter pulling on her sleeve brought her out of her thoughts.


    "Not yet. Let''s wait for them to split up."


    "Oh", her daughter said while having an unhappy expression.


    "Don''t worry, now that we have found him I will make sure that he accompanies you.", she hurriedly appeases her when she saw her look of dejection.


    Luckily they didn''t have to wait for long since the trio soon split up and the normal looking man walked towards an alley. She hurriedly took her daughter and blocked him.


    << Congratulation you have finished the hidden quest: Find your husband.


    You are rewarded with the title ''Faithful Wife'' >>


    << Faithful Wife


    You have waited for more than five years for your husband without cheating while you are less than 40 years old.


    + 5% effect for all wifely duties.


    >>


    She never would have expected that she had a hidden quest like this. She really didn''t know what to think about the title but at least she now could be sure that this guy was that bastard.


    The youth too had stopped and stared at her with a blank look.


    At this moment her daughter had freed her hand which she had held and ran towards the youth.


    "Daddy!"


    When she jumped towards the youth he instinctively caught her and held her in his arms. Her daughter then grabbed his neck and snuggled into his arms. It seemed like she didn''t want to ever let go as a smile bloomed on her little face.


    "Who are you?", after he caught himself he then asked her.


    She expected this question but what she was surprised about was that he made no move to put down their daughter.


    "That''s mommy.", her daughter answered before she could.


    "Oh.", he answered deep in thought.


    What really surprised her was that he was so calm and didn''t look too surprised.


    "Let''s go somewhere else to talk.", she hurriedly proposed, since she really didn''t want to have this discussion on the street.


    "Yes lets do that."


    She started to move, trying to decide where the best place to talk was and she finally decided that her home was after all the best.


    While they moved her daughter was still in his arms and so she was careful to only walk a little bit in front of him so she could keep an eye on him.


    When they came to the main street she lead him towards her car. It was an Audi A8 which seemed out of place since it was of a much higher grade than the few other cars which were parked along the street.


    She unlocked the car and opened the backdoor.


    "Get in.", she really didn''t see a reason to be all that nice to this bastard.


    "Lets get in daddy.", her daughter too asked him to board the car while she signaled that she wanted to be let down. Even after he sat her down she still kept a hold of his hand and when boarding the car she pulled him along.


    When she saw her daughter acting like this she really didn''t know how to feel. All the time she had thought that her daughter was living happy and that there was no problem with her father not being around but now she really understood that she was naiv. Even though her daughter had never shown it it was clear to see that she had wanted her father to be at her side.


    After the two of them had sat down on their seats and fastened the seat belts she too boarded the car and started the engine.


    In the back mirror she could see the facial expression of the man which was one of curiosity like he had never sat in a car.


    She shook her head. How could that be that an expert like him had never ridden a car.


    She carefully drove out of the slum. Because there were so few cars most of the people went by foot and as such the street was full of pedestrians which meant that she could only drive at a snail speed until she reached the highway.

 26 Father

    Only after he had boarded the car did Ivan come out of his state of shock he had entered after hearing the little girl call him father. Since then he had only acted on autopilot.


    Now that he regained his calm he took a closer look at the little girl who sat besides him and which seemed to be his daughter from before the reset. She had dark brown hair which was braided into a pair of pigtails which made her look even cuter than if she had it open. At least that was what he thought. Her face was round and together with her big eyes and small nose made for a cute looking sight.


    But most important for him was that there was an indescribable connection between them which was the reason he believed her claim to be his daughter.


    * Why did I never thought about whom I had connections with before the reset?*, he asked himself and at the same time wondered if there were others. What about his former friends? Did they think he was dead and would they even recognize him if they met again, after all he would most likely not recognize them.


    He then thought back to when he had first meet his daughter and her mother. There was no sign of the mother recognizing him. It was his daughter who seemed the only one to recognize him, which was most likely because of the mysterious connection between them.


    When they had left the slums his daughter plucked at his sleeve and pointed at a tower which seemed to reach the heavens.


    "Daddy, can you take me up there sometimes?"


    "I''m not sure. I don''t even know what this tower is."


    "It is the Tower of Ascension. Each level of it can only be entered if you have a certain strength and you can take at most two others with you. For each level you reach there are certain rewards and additionally some facilities.", the woman intervened.


    "Then daddy will try his best to take you up there, ok."


    "Ok"


    Ivan was honestly quite surprised at how easy it was for him to accept the fact that he now was a father.


    After about half a hour on the highway they left it and entered a upscale neighborhood where they soon entered a gateway.


    The gateway consisted of two tall marble pillars at both sides of the road. The pillars where unadorned but still had a dominant air around them. After the gateway the road lead through a two rows of tall trees which emitted an old aura he could feel even in the car. These old trees where in sharp contrast to the villa at the end which was build with glass and steel and which did appear modern. Even though there was such an contrast it just highlighted the luxury of this estate and didn''t seem jarring at all which came as a surprise to him since he never expected that one could use such strong contrasts in such a way.


    The car parked in front of the villa and the woman alighted from the car before opening the door for her daughter whom she helped to climb out of the car. Ivan too opened his door and left the car. When he then inhaled the fresh air he was surprised at how much better it was then the one at the campus, not to mention at school.


    * I really didn''t see much.*, he mocked himself. After all besides going to school and training he had only spend time with his friends and that was always in the slums.


    "Come on in.", said the woman who had walked towards the door while holding her daughters hand.


    After they entered the villa they stood in a huge two stories living room which was decorated in a modern style. The only colorful thing where a few pillows on the couch while the rest where in plain white with just a bit of black. Luckily there was quite some glass and shiny metal which helped to avoid a boring look and instead made it look modern and elegant.


    There was a maid waiting for them which offered them some slipper which he gladly wore. It would have been a disaster if he got dirt on the white carpet.


    "Welcome home madam, little miss.", the maid greeted the two while looking at him with curiosity.


    The woman had seen the look of the maid and said in a plain voice, "This is my husband."


    A sliver of shock flashed through the maids eyes but she had excellent control over herself so she managed to suppress it instantly and greeted him, "Welcome Sir."


    It was the first time that he was called sir so he felt a bit weird but he could only choose to accept this form of address. Concerning what the woman had called him he wasn''t to surprised because if the girl was his daughter than he should definitely have some relation to her, he just hadn''t been sure what kind of relation it was.


    "Sit down.", the woman ordered and then went upstairs with her daughter presumably to clean up.


    "Sir, can I get you something to drink?", the maid asked him with a friendly smile. In her heart she was really surprised since the madam had never mentioned her husband in front of her and she had served her ever since she was little. It wasn''t that she was surprised that her madam had a husband, after all she was clear on the family rules but that he suddenly appeared and even more that he looked so ordinary. She had always thought that the man who was able to get her madam to bear his child would be a peerless expert.


    "Thank you, but lets wait for them to come down.", Ivan answered since he felt that it would be impolite to get a drink while waiting for them.

 27 Family

    It didn''t take long for them to come down again and Ivan took a good look at the woman for the first time.


    She had the same hair color as her daughter but hers was cut in a bob which suited her really well. Her face had a noble look with a well fitting nose, eyes and mouth. Her skin looked smooth and white. Her body was great too, it was just that her breasts were a bit small which her long legs mad more than made up for. He could fully understand why his former self had got together with this woman.


    It was just that her expression was ice cold towards him and only softened when she looked at her daughter.


    After sitting down, she put her legs which where in a pair of blue jeans over each other and leaned back. This posture gave of a deep sense of confidence and nobility.


    "What''s your name?"


    He was surprised for a bit, that she didn''t even know his name. How did they find him then? Anyways he answered her honestly.


    "Ivan Hope"


    "Ivan Hope? Not a bad name.", she talked to herself in a small voice. Then without mentioning their names she asked the next question.


    "How come you are so weak?"


    Ivan was a bit annoyed by her behavior so he decided to only give short answers.


    "Hard reset."


    He could see a look of surprise on her face, but she did catch herself very fast.


    "That explains it, but then why would my daughter sense you? That shouldn''t normally happen."


    "How would I know?"


    "Whatever, it doesn''t matter at the moment. Let''s talk about why I invited you here."


    Ivan wouldn''t really have called it inviting but whatever, he was to lazy to argue about something like that.


    "Then could you at least tell me your name?"


    "I''m Jane, daddy and my mommy isLara.", his daughter chimed in.


    She was sitting next to her mother on the sofa opposite to him, so even though he had the reflex to pat her head, he could only smile at him and say, "So your name is Jane? That''s a great name."


    "Thanks daddy, mommy choose it for me."


    Her smile really warmed his heart and he was once again astonished at how easy it was for him to accept this girl as his daughter.


    Lara looked at them and nodded her head. It seemed like she was pleased with the way they were interacting.


    "A while ago both Jane and me got a new title because of you. That was the first time I heard of you ever since Jane was born.", she then started to explain.


    * Must have something to do with the Son of Chaos title*, Ivan guessed and her next words affirmed it.


    "For Jane it was the title ''Daughter of Chaos'' while mine is a bit different. It is named ''Wife of a Son of Chaos'' and unlike my daughters title it can only trigger if I''m together with you."


    She made a short pause so he could digest the information, before she continued.


    "Yesterday I then found out that she can feel your presence, so we searched for you today."


    Ivan interrupted her at this point, "She can feel my presence?"


    "Yes, it seems like after she got the title she had some connection with you, through which she was able to sense you."


    "That''s unexpected. I always thought that the hard reset would remove everything from the past life."


    "Not everything, but it usually only leaves pure information behind."


    "That''s not right. When I saw you I saw the image of a cave and this doesn''t seem to be pure information."


    "You saw a cave?", she seemed agitated.


    "Yes."


    "That is really weird. My guess is that it is the cave where Jane was conceived, so it definitely not pure information."


    "Maybe it is because of the title?", Ivan mentioned the only reason he could think of.


    She thought about it and finally nodded, "It should be."


    After a moment of silence she then continued to speak, "The main reason I decided to look for you is because of our daughter. I don''t really want her to grow up without a father and since there was a chance to meet you again I had to take it."


    She then petted her daughters head, while her daughter looked at him happily.


    "Jupp , Jupp. Daddy is gonna stay with us from now on.", she happily giggled.


    "Huh", "Huh", both of them exclaimed in surprise.


    "Um, I don''t think that is a good idea, after all daddy has his own life, so to suddenly move should be hard."


    "Yes, Yes, I already have a place where I live and I don''t think I can move out at the moment."


    The two of them hurried to get rid of the idea of all of them living together, after all even though they had a child together they weren''t really that close.


    But who would expect that the girl would start to bawl while repeating that she wants her daddy to stay with her.


    Lara tried to coax her to stop crying but there was nothing that worked so she finally had to give in.


    "Alright darling, if he agrees your daddy can stay with us."


    "Really? That''s great. Hurry up daddy agree.", she brightened up and hurriedly jumped towards him.


    He put her down on her knees and then gently said, "I don''t really know if I can but I''ll ask. And even if I can''t I will still come visit you."


    "Humph, who would dare to deny you to live here? Just wait, I''ll get grandpa to help."


    She then tried to grab the phone on the table but was intercepted by her mother.


    "Now wait a bit! Let him ask first before you do anything drastic."


    "Oh, ok. Come on daddy go ask."


    She bounced up and down on his knees while looking at him with a hopeful look in her eyes. It was really shocking how fast this girl could change. Just a minute ago she was bawling her eyes out and now she was full of expectation with not even the slightest tear in sight.

 28 Together

    Ivan really couldn''t resist this look in her eyes and so had no choice but to pull out his phone and make a call to his mentor.


    "Hah, so you still know how to call?", his mentor bellowed at him.


    Since the voice was to loud Ivan had no other choice but to remove the phone from his ear or he just might go deaf. Yes it was his fault for forgetting that he had to meet him, but could anyone really blame him?


    When Lara heard the voice voiced out in surprise, "Uncle?"


    Her voice was loud enough for his mentor to hear and when he talked again his voice had completely changed, it was sweet and pampering, "Oho if it isn''t my favorite nice. How come you are with this rascal?"


    "What? You two are related?", Ivan really wouldn''t have expected the two of them to be related. Wasn''t that a bit to much of a coincidence?


    The both of them ignored him.


    "I''ll explain later. I think it would be better to explain it in person. But how come you know him?"


    "Then I''ll come over alright?"


    "Sure."


    "See you in a bit then."


    "Granduncle is coming over?", the little girl on his knees asked to makes sure that it was real.


    "Yes Granduncle is coming over.", her mother assured her.


    "Great, I haven''t met him in a long time.", she then focused on Ivan and said seriously, "After granduncle comes over you better behave. Even though he often is fun to be around he can be quite strict."


    Ivan thought back to the training and could only nod his head, "I know. I''ll be sure to behave."


    * Sadly it is already to late. He is already angry. *


    Not even five minutes later someone rang the bell and when the door opened Van Bergen stood in front of it.


    "You are here uncle fast.", Lara greeted him.


    "Of course, how couldn''t I hurry over if my favorite nice sounds so mysterious."


    "Where did I sound mysterious."


    Ivan''s eyes nearly popped out. The contrast between her cold look before and the warm and sweet look was just too great but he had to admit that both looks looked good on her.


    "Ivan, we are gonna talk about how you just didn''t come to the meeting and not even called later."


    "Yes, mentor.", Ivan couldn''t help shuddering. He was sure that that conversation would end in him getting bellowed at and finally getting another horror training session.


    After that he was once again ignored and could only stand at the sideline as Lara explained what happened.


    "Wow, I would never have expected that this rascal was this bas... guy back then."


    Ivan didn''t know what he wanted to call him, but he was sure it wasn''t good since he did stop himself from using the word after remembering that there was a child in the room.


    "Does your father know?"


    "No I didn''t tell him yet."


    "That''s good or I would have lost my student."


    This didn''t sound good. It seemed like he wasn''t really well liked by that family. Well except for his daughter who still sat on his knees while looking at her granduncle.


    "Don''t tell him for now. I''ll do it later."


    "Ok. You said he is your student?"


    "Yes. I had to go recruit some students and he was the only one I found at that shit school. So I had to take him in."


    "No surprise.", she answered after thinking back to the school where she fetched that bastard.


    "Well his talent is decent, so it is still alright. And creating training regiments is really fun."


    Lara remembered the training regiments her uncle loved to design and got a bit happier now that she knew that he had been tortured quite a bit.


    "So he also is a member of the Slaver Alliance?"


    "Of course, what else could he be?"


    "Just asking. You know the family rules."


    "Um, to be honest I completely forgot about it, but now that you mention it it sure is a good thing he is a member. Anyway, what are you planning to do now?"


    "Daddy is going to live with us.", for the first time after greeting her granduncle Jane said something.


    When he heard her, her granduncle who had just drank a mouthful of tea sprayed it all over the table.


    "What are you saying?", his voice had gone low and dark. It instilled a primal fear in Ivan and he hurriedly tried to stop Jane from repeating what she had said, but he was to late.


    "Daddy is going to stay with us from now on. Isn''t that great?", she innocently repeated.


    Like a erupting volcano Van Bergens anger broke out and he once again bellowed at Ivan, "What? How dare you try to live with my nice and grandniece?"


    After that there was some more berating which Ivan could only endure. Finally he calmed down and asked, "Whose idea was it?"


    "Mine, mine", Jane seemed to have fun. It seemed like she was used to her granduncles fit of rages since she was able to ignore them.


    Van Bergen shot a glare at Ivan before saying in a dark tone, "Luckily it wasn''t you."


    Ivan really didn''t want to imagine what would have happened to him if he was the one who made the suggestion.


    "So you agreed?", he then asked Lara.


    "How couldn''t I? You know I can''t resist my cute daughter."


    His mentor nodded. He too couldn''t resist her begging eyes.


    "Fine whatever. Just live together but if something happens make sure to call me and I''ll make sure to give this rascal a good lesson."


    "I will. Then about father?"


    He sights. "I will talk to him, but make sure he doesn''t find out you are living together. I think you can imagine what will happen if he does."


    "Yeah. Did you hear darling? Don''t talk to grandpa about living together with daddy for now."


    "I won''t, I won''t", Jane hurriedly assented, now that she got her wish of living together.

 29 Time with your daughter

    "As for you", his mentor once again glared at Ivan, "You better behave or I will be doubling your training."


    Ivan''s face went white and he hurriedly promised to behave himself. His training was already abnormal hard, so doubling it would be the same as killing him.


    "I''d hope so. Anyways originally I planned to let you do some easy missions this week, but now I think it is better for you to accompany your daughter this week."


    "Yes, daddy. I already got it all planned out."


    "Huh? You already got it all planned out?", he was quite surprised, since he was aware that she only got to know him today. The others too were surprised and openly showed their interest in what she had planned.


    "Yes, after I started to feel your presence I started to plan out, what I want to do after we meet."


    "Wow. Your foresight is awesome.", he praised her and once again her face lit up.


    "So there are four main things I want to do. First of going to an amusement park. Preferable the Tailan Park. I heard that it is awesome."


    Ivan could only stare blankly at her, since he had no knowledge concerning this amusement park, but Lara nodded, to indicate that it was ok for her to go there.


    "Second the Kei Lan Zoo which is famed for its great assortment of monsters and their family friendly policy."


    Once again he had no clue so he threw a look towards Lara and she once again nodded.


    "Third the cinema, to watch a film."


    This time Ivan didn''t have to check if it was ok, since he was sure that there was no problem with that.


    "Then what is the fourth?"


    "A picnic with the full family."


    This time both Lara and Ivan stare at her, not sure what to say but finally Lara was the first to relent.


    "Then let''s do that tomorrow, since doing it at a Saturday would be best."


    Now that Lara agreed Ivan too could only nod in acceptance.


    "Great."


    "Then have you decided where you want the picnic to be held?", Ivan asked her, while being sure that that was the case.


    "Of course daddy.", his daughter threw him a condescending look. She felt that her father often asked unnecessary questions. She then told them where she wanted to have the picnic, "I think the Berg Park would be a great location. The best would be at the meadow near that little lake where me and mommy went before."


    "Darling, I don''t think it would be a good idea to bring Ivan to the Berg Park. If my father would get to know about it, before uncle tells him it will be a disaster."


    "Oh.", she looks dejected but soon looks bright again. "Daddy is uncles student right?"


    "Yes.", Ivan answered, not knowing where his daughter was going with this.


    "Then can''t uncle come with us and daddy comes as uncles student?"


    Lara looked thoughtful and then turned towards her uncle. "What do you think?"


    "Sure, that could work. But wouldn''t it be easier if you just find another place?"


    "No, I really want it to be that place, besides having uncle with us is even better."


    "Alright then let''s do it like that. Uncle will you come over to meet us tomorrow at 12 then?"


    "Of course. That way I can too check if this rascal has behaved himself."


    They chatted a bit more before his mentor left and after that Jane had to go to bed too.


    "No, I don''t want to go to bed. I want to stay with daddy."


    "Don''t worry, you will be able to spent lots of time with him from now on. Now let me bring you to bed.", her mother firmly reprimanded her.


    She held onto him refusing to let go. So he had no choice but to gather her in his arms and stand up.


    "Tell me where is your room?"


    "First you have to brush your teeth.", her mother reminded her after she had told him that her room was the second from left on the top floor.


    "Oh. I forgot."


    Ivan couldn''t see her face, but he was absolutely sure that she didn''t forget but just didn''t want to do it.


    "Come on, show me the way to the bathroom."


    Jane used her arm to lead her father towards the bathroom, while enjoying the feeling of being carried by him.


    After he had finally managed to get her into her bed she still had another request.


    "Daddy, can you read me a bedtime story?"


    "Sure."


    He then took one of the books lying on the bedside table and asked her if it was alright, After getting her confirmation he then proceeded to read one of the stories in the book.


    He wasn''t even halfway through with it when she was already deep asleep. He guessed that the emotional stress must have tired her out.


    He then left the room and silently closed the door. When he turned around he found out that Lara was already waiting for him.


    "Let''s talk.", without waiting for his reply she then went back down towards the living room.


    After both of them sat down she then started, "Mr. Hope, there are a few things I have to explain."


    She then took a deep breath, "First of all I need to tell you why we are married. You might have already realized that we didn''t really know each other, right?"


    "Yes. It is quite obvious from your reactions."


    "Alright, then I will tell you about how we met. It happened when I was out adventuring. We went a bit to deep into the forest and where surrounded by goblins. One of our party members had already died and the others where all injured. I too had a deep wound which would have been lethal without timely medical attention. When we were about to give up all hope you appeared."

 30 Reward

    Ivan thought it sounded like the typical hero on a white horse story, but he was sure that it wasn''t like that, so he kept quiet and waited for her to continue.


    "Even now I don''t understand how you did it but you killed all the goblins surrounding us in seconds. You then gave us some pills which helped us heal our wounds.


    Then when we wanted to thank you, you said that there was no need, since you would take a reward."


    "Then the reward was...", he started, but was unable to finish the sentence.


    "It was me. You took me towards a cave and then without asking for my opinion forced yourself on me."


    When he heard that he was shocked. It seemed like his former self wasn''t really of the nice category.


    "I''m sorry.", he couldn''t think of anything to say.


    "Don''t be. It was your former self who did it and besides it isn''t unusual. To be honest it happens quite often. I just never expected it to happen to me. Having to offer my virginity for my teammates and my lives wouldn''t have been a bad deal. Of course I wouldn''t have been happy but I could have accepted it if not for our family rule."


    She once again paused and took a sip of tea.


    "A long time ago one of my ancestors made a system enforced family rule, that anyone who has sex with a partner of the opposite gender will be automatically married to this partner. And that is why I was so unhappy about it and also why we are married according to the system."


    "Huh? But in my character screen you aren''t listed and Jane too isn''t mentioned.", Ivan says after checking the family section of his character screen.


    "That''s weird. We really should be listed there. Maybe it is because of the reset?", she looked thoughtfully into her cup of tea.


    "Whatever it doesn''t really matter since you are listed for us and we got the titles too. So you have to take responsibility even if the system doesn''t display us."


    << New Quest: Taking responsibility


    Someone from your life before the hard reset has asked you to take responsibility for the actions of your former self?


    If you do take responsibility then you will gain Lara as your wife and Jane as your daughter along with whatever else pops up.


    If you don''t, the connection between you and Lara as well as you and Jane will be severed and you won''t have to take responsibility for the actions of your former self.


    >>


    Below the quest window there were two buttons.


    << Accept Responsibility >> << Reject Responsibility >>


    The answer was easy for Ivan. Even though he didn''t know what would come out of accepting responsibility, since it was the riskier option he just couldn''t accept the fact that if he didn''t his connection to his daughter would be severed. Although he had only known her for a few hours he really liked that child and was happy about having her as his daughter.


    So without any hesitation he clicked on the << Accept Responsibility >> button.


    << Congratulation you have decided to take responsibility for the actions of your former self. >>


    << Congratulation you have formed the Hope Family. The family screen has now been unlocked. >>


    << Congratulation you have married Lara von Berg : Luck +1 Remark: You really lucked out to find such a great looking wife. >>


    << Congratulation you have sired a daughter : Charisma +1 Remark: You really are way to lucky. >>


    << Congratulation you have earned the title: Honorable Man (SS). >>


    << Congratulation you have unlocked the Honor Shop, which you can now access via the shop interface. >>


    << Congratulation you have earned the title: Founder (F). >>


    Directly after clicking on the button a row of notifications popped up and looking at the surprised face of the woman in front of him he wasn''t the only one.


    "What did you do?"


    "Um,", Ivan was nervous because of the stare of her, "I just accepted to take responsibility like you asked me to."


    "So because of that the system reacted like this?"


    "I don''t know how the system gave you, but I guess so."


    "Nothing much, I just got a notification that I have entered the Hope family and was now the first mistress of the family. What did you get?"


    Ivan listed the things he got and for the first time he got to see an amused look on her face.


    "Well the system got that right. You really lucked out with the two of us."


    It seems the remarks had lead to her amusement and for the first time Ivan was glad for the ruthless remarks of the system.


    "I have heard about the Honor Shop. You are really lucky to get access to that. But it will be useless if you don''t have a way to get any honor."


    Ivan checked out the title which had unlocked the Honor Shop and then shared the description with her.


    << Title: Honorable Man (SS) Lvl. 1


    You have taken responsibility for the actions of your self before a hard reset.


    + 1 Honer each day


    >>


    "Wow, from what I heard it is really hard to gain any Honor and you will gain 1 each day without doing anything. No wonder it is ranked SS, but I bet there is something coming for you, because you have decided to take responsibility."


    After he shared the description another prompt popped up.


    << Congratulation because of the trust you have shown towards your wife Lara von Berg you can now share certain things with her.


    Currently available: Honor


    Do you want to share your honor with your wife? >>


    Ivan wasn''t sure what could be bought in the honor shop, so he wanted to check it out first before making the decision but wasn''t able to close the prompt.


    << You have to decide now whether you want to share or not. >>


    It seemed like he could only share blindly. He guessed that was because it got triggered because of trust and that is why he to had to choose based on trust. To be honest he didn''t really trust her but thought that he would be able to get her to soften her attitude towards him. Sharing what he got after deciding to take responsibility didn''t really mean much to him but sharing his honor would be another thing altogether, after all it seemed a rare resource.

 31 Sharing is caring

    Finally he decided to share it, after all if not for Lara he wouldn''t have gained the tile and access to honor anyway, besides he was sure that there would be some kind of reward for it and even if he shared he that didn''t mean that he lost everything. So he finally pressed the button to accept sharing his honor.


    << Congratulations you have decided to share your honor with your wife. As such you will get a discount of 5% for the honor shop. >>


    Ivan secretly let out his breath. It seems it was the right decision to share, after all a 5% discount was nothing to sneeze at.


    Once again the beautiful woman in front of him let out a sound of surprise.


    "You decided to share your honor with me?", she asked with a voice full of astonishment.


    "Yes, after all I only got it because of you.", Ivan tried to play down his action but she didn''t seem to believe him.


    "Whatever. Be assured that I won''t use it unless it is for Jane."


    "That''s great. How about we both check the shop later and if we find something good we will save the honor for it?"


    "That would be fantastic."


    Her face lit up and she smiled at him for the first time. * I guess the way to her heart is through her daughter.*, Ivan thought. Hopefully she would continue to warm up to him. Having an ice cold wife would surely suck.


    She then called over the housekeeper and told her to lead him to one of the bedrooms.


    The bedroom was big and in the same style as the living room. Besides the door he had come in through there was another which lead to a bathroom which was equipped with a shower as well as a bathtub. Luckily he had most of his clothes in his inventory since he had more than enough space, so he could take a shower and then put on a comfortable pajama.


    After he laid down on the soft bed he started to check out the other things he had gotten after accepting responsibility. First of all he took a look at the new stat ''Charisma'' he had gotten.


    << Charisma: A stat that describes how attractive your aura seems to other intelligent beings. >>


    From the description it wasn''t discernible whether the attraction could be negativ or if it always was positiv, so he wasn''t sure what to think about this new stat.


    After that he took a look at the family screen which had been unlocked. At the top there was a simple character which was his family name. Below it there was a tree view of the current family which was simple as there were only him, Lara and their daughter in it.


    On the sides there were some tabs which could be opened, but only one was unlocked. It was the family rules tab and it didn''t have any content besides a button to create a new rule which also stated a high price for it.


    After that he checked out the honor shop which he had kept for last.


    On top there were the letters '' Honor Shop Lvl. 1''. It seemed like there were multiple levels of the shop and he was sure that the higher the level the better the content.


    Below it there were three tabs. The first one was labeled ''Consumables'' , the second ''Mounts'', and the last ''Skills''.


    He opened the ''Consumables'' tab and got a short list of 3 pills. The first one was one which would increase a random unlocked stat by 1-3 forever and had a price of 19 honor. The second was a healing pill which could instantly restore the body to peak condition and it''s price was 47.5 honor. The last one was a pill which could increase training speed permanently by a factor of 1.1 and it''s price was 380 honor and as such completely out of his range for the next time, but it would be the most useful for him as well as his daughter.


    Next he checked out the ''Mounts'' tab which only had one item in it. It was a Hellfire horse which was one of the fasted natural breads of horse and a popular mount for those who could pay its horrendous price. It was priced at a cheap 950 honor and as such not even worth thinking about. He would need to save for more than three years to get this much honor as long as he didn''t find another way to gain some.


    He then opened the last tab while being sure that the price here would be even greater. And after checking out the first skill his expectations were confirmed. It was the skill << Minor Heal (E) >> and the price was 1900 honor. He didn''t even look at the other skills listed since their price only increased.


    He had no choice but to close the shop window dejected.


    After thinking about the items available he then resolved himself to find another way to earn honor. Things like the pills and maybe some of the skills were to useful to pass on them. He looked through the wiki the Alliance provided but didn''t find anything.


    Having finished checking out the gains of today he then closed his eyes and thought back to how he met his daughter the first time. Without him noticing a smile appeared on his face giving him a very serene look.


    He then fell asleep while still thinking of his daughter.


    In another room Lara on the other hand still laid awake in her bed. She had tried not to show it, but what happened today had unsettled her more than she would ever admit. He was just so different than in her memories. He wasn''t as strong and his personality seemed to be weaker. No not weaker but more approachable. She wondered if it was because of the difference in his life after the reset.

 32 Picnic 1

    The next morning Ivan woke up in an unfamiliar room. During the last months he had always woke up in his room at the campus, which was a lot smaller than the room he was currently in. His confusion didn''t last long as he remembered what had happend yesterday, which was nothing less than a complete change of his life. He now had a daughter and a wife, even though his wife didn''t seem to like him.


    After collecting his thoughts he went into the bathroom to wash up and then changed into some comfortable clothes, before leaving his room.


    As soon as he left his room he was greeted by the happy scream of his daughter, "Daddy! You are finally up."


    He then saw her bound up the stairs before happily gabbing his hand.


    "How did you sleep? What are we going to do until the picnic? Can we play something?", she then fired out a stream of questions, not giving him time to answer any of them.


    "Let''s go to the garden, I will show you around.", she then continued and started to pull him along.


    "Stop right there Jane.", the voice of Lara came to his rescue, "You still haven''t finished your breakfast."


    "Oh.", only now did she seem to remember that she was still having breakfast when her daddy had come out of his room.


    "Then let''s eat first.", she sounds a bit dejected, that she couldn''t start playing with him now.


    "Sure, and after that you can show me around.", Ivan encouraged her.


    A blinding smile appeared on her little face and he once again marveled at how fast her mood changed. One second she was unhappy and the next she was full of happiness again.


    Besides Lara his mentor too was seated at the table with a plate full of food before them. There was one more empty space with a plate on which there was still some food left, which surely was his daughters, that had been abandoned when she came to greet him.


    With great timing the housekeeper came from the kitchen with another plate of food which she put down on the seat besides Lara, which was traditionally the seat for the man of the house.


    He was a bit taken aback, since he wouldn''t have expected to be seated like this, considering his wife attitude towards him. But surprisingly she didn''t say anything towards this arrangement and he had no choice but to accept the seating. Looking at his daughters face, she too wasn''t all that happy with the arrangement, since she was sitting on the other side of Lara and as such not directly next to her daddy.


    The breakfast was rich consisting of egg, bacon and toast with a glass of orange juice. Only after he sat down his mentor greeted him, "Morning, Ivan. Didn''t you sleeping a bit long?"


    "Well it was the first time I was able to, since I had to either go to school or training all the time before."


    Lara on the other hand didn''t even greet him and instead scolded her daughter.


    "How many time do I have to tell you not to get up from the table until everyone has finished their meal?"


    "I''m sorry mom, I forgot.", Jane ruefully let her head hang down.


    "Just don''t forget it again next time."


    "Yes mommy, I won''t."


    "And outside of the house call your father Ivan and not daddy."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Because it is a secret for now that he is your father."


    "Great, I love secrets.", she happily jumps up and down on her chair, which lead to her mother smiling at her antics.


    After that they finished breakfast Jane pulled him along for a tour of the house. Since he had already seen everything important inside she lead him to outside.


    Behind the villa there was a big outdoor pool, from which steam rose, because in the mornings it was already quite cold and the pool was heated. After the pool there were a tennis court and a big playground with a swing a climbing frame and a trampoline.


    "What do you think? Isn''t it great?"


    "Yes, it is. It must be fun to play in the playground or in the pool."


    "It sure is, sadly I don''t have nobody to play with most of the time, since mom is always busy."


    "Aren''t there any children at you age you could play with?"


    "There are a few, but most of them are annoying. They are just to childish."


    It was weird to hear this out of the child of a child.


    "They are childish? Aren''t you a child yourself?"


    "Of course I am a child, but that isn''t a good reason to behave like they do. Most of them can''t even read, although they are already eight years old. And lastly they are just to weak, so I always have to be careful not to hurt them and that''s really hard if they start rampage around."


    "I don''t really know how children are supposed to be at your age, but are they really that weak?"


    "Oh right, I forgot that you have forgotten everything. And it isn''t so much that they are to weak, but that my stats are just much higher than theirs."


    "Really how come?"


    "Grandpa said that it must be because of you, since my mother had normal stats at her age and I am the first in the family who has such elevated stats."


    "Then do you hate it that you are different?"


    "No. I''m happy to be different after all that is something I got from my parents and which means that I wasn''t as much of a burden for my mother."


    At this point Ivan went on his knees and hugged the little girl. As soon as he had put his arms around her she started to sob, as her strong facade crumbled and her pent up frustration released.

 33 Picnic 2

    At a window of the villa Lara looked down on the scene and her own tears streamed down her face. Besides her Carl stood and patted her back to console her.


    "There, There."


    After she calmed down she then expressed her regret.


    "I didn''t even know that it was so hard for her. I only ever saw how talented and mature she is and completely forgot that she is still a little child who needs to have someone to play."


    "I still think you did good. Even though you didn''t have to work if you didn''t want to, you know that you would have gone crazy if you didn''t and she knows that too."


    "But I could have worked less and spend more time with her."


    "Really? With your personality? And even if you could, what do you think that child would say if you neglected your work because of you?"


    She let out a light chuckle, "She would scold me for not being responsible."


    "You see, there is nothing you could have done. If anyone has failed it was us, the rest of the family. We could certainly have spent more time with her.", he then paused for a while before continuing, "The real problem is that she has nobody at a similar age as her to play with."


    "But where could we find someone who would be her match and have a similar age?"


    "I don''t know but maybe your mother has a idea."


    "You are right, if anyone has a idea then it is my mom. I''ll make sure to ask her the next time we meet."


    "You do that. For now I think it is good if Ivan will spend a lot of time with her. Maybe I should give him more than a week."


    "I don''t think so.", she retorted.


    "Why not? Wouldn''t it be better for her to have time to spend with her father?", he asked with a questioning look.


    "They just found each other and if they spend to much time together I fear that she will get to grow to depended."


    He nods contemplative before agreeing with her.


    "You are right. Let''s do it as planned and let them get used to each other while spending time away from each other too."


    "It seems like she has stopped crying.", Lara commented after seeing her daughter leaving her fathers embrace.


    "Then let''s go downstairs. It is time to get going.", Carl said in a happy sounding voice, which seemed a bit artificial.


    After both Ivan and Jane changed their clothes and got cleaned up they once again boarded Lara''s Audi A8 and they then drove over to the Berg Park.


    Ivan didn''t know anything about it, since he hadn''t really have much information about what there was in the city, besides the few attractions in the slums he had visited with his friends, but to any member of the high society the name was known.It was the private park of the Berg family which was the most important family of the empire. After all even the empire was named after them and they had long been the reigning family.


    The drive wasn''t that far, since it only took half an hour and they soon arrived before a simple iron gate, which opened automatically before the car. Behind the simple gate there was a bit more to drive before they arrive at a parking space, which only had one other car on it. Ivan didn''t recognize it, but it looked very expensive.


    Besides the car stood a tall woman who wore a summer dress and a straw hat, giving her a worldly image, which contrasted in a stunning way with her noble bearing. Ivan didn''t quite know if it was a good contrast or a bad but it certainly made a impression.


    "Grandma!", Jane called out, after seeing the lady waiting for them and jumped out of the car without waiting for anyone to help her.


    "There you are my little darling.", the lady beamed when she saw her granddaughter running towards her.


    "It is great that you are here too. Now only grandpa is missing.", Jane happily chatters.


    "Sadly he doesn''t have time but he asked me to tell you that he misses you and that you should come over to visit more."


    "Mm, I will make sure to visit him.", the child vigorously nodded her head.


    "Mom", Lara too greeted her after she had gotten out of the car.


    "Come here and let me take a look at my daughter.", she then grabbed her daughters shoulders and took a good look at her face.


    "You have cried? ", she asked and threw a glare in Ivans direction who was completely clueless as to why he got glared at.


    Lara didn''t seem to be surprised that her mother had been able to see it, since she always did have the ability to see through her.


    "Yes, but it is ok now."


    "Was it his fault?"


    "Huh? No, how could it be his fault."


    "Then whose fault was it?", her mother spoke in a tone which promised whoever was at fault a bad ending.


    "It was my own fault."


    "Your own?"


    "Yes, it was because of something I didn''t realize until today even though I should have."


    "Is it about Jane?"


    "How did you know?"


    "Darling, I''m a mother too. Even though your situation wasn''t as extreme as her''s you were still much more talented than your peers."


    "But Cait, Tom and Eric are similar to me."


    "Of course they are, after all I found them exactly for this reason."


    "Oh, so that''s why they suddenly got into the academy?"


    "Yes. I offered them a place but what happened after that had nothing to do with me. You becoming friends with them was because of you."


    "I know mom. So what about Jane?"


    "Her case is much harder since she is much more talented, so I haven''t been able to find anyone."


    The whole time Jane had listened to them and now she decided to interrupt them, "Don''t worry, I''m fine with just reading and playing with you."

 34 Picnic 3

    Suddenly a thought came to Ivan and he too entered the conversation.


    "How about letting her go to a normal school?"


    "A normal school? And what would be the use of that?", Lara asked with disdain.


    "I mean a normal school for youths who are older than sixteen. Just make a story up as to why she is still small and it could work."


    "That may work, but what would be the use?", the Lady asked.


    "She could be together with people with similar stats while nobody knows that she is much younger. If she uses Training Skills, it won''t show until she reaches fifty in her stats and since the training at school is set up in a way that fifty is the goal for graduation, her talent wouldn''t be as visible if she doesn''t train her body during this time. Besides the people at these schools are much more mature than children of her age so she would fit in much better."


    "This idea doesn''t sound bad.", Lara had to admit.


    The lady too had a thoughtful look at her face while looking at Jane, who seemed to be enthused by his idea.


    "What do you think darling?", she finally asked her granddaughter.


    "I like it! I''m sure it is gonna be so much fun."


    Hearing her daughters excited words Lara nodded.


    "Let''s try it. But you won''t be going to the same school as Ivan."


    "Why?"


    "She is right. It would be better for you to go to another school.", Ivan too was of that opinion. After all it would be a nightmare if anyone found out that they were daughter and father. How weird would it be if they would both go to the same school.


    With that it was decided that she would go to school while pretending to be sixteen and it would be a different school than Ivans.


    The little girl, didn''t insist and instead grabbed his mothers hand and tugged at it.


    "Whatever, let''s go and start the picnic."


    Both her mother and grandmother smiled at her and then followed along. Ivan on the other hand was called over by Carl who stood at the trunk of the car and opened it.


    "Come here rascal. You''r job is to help me carry these baskets."


    Inside the trunk there were three baskets and Carl had grabbed the smallest and of course lightest while leaving him the other two. Ivan wanted to complain, but fearing that it would only gain him some form of punishment he swallowed his words and obediently took the other two baskets, before following after his mentor.


    The site choose for the picnic was a wonderful meadow wich was surrounded by forest on three sides, while the last one was a small beach, which gave access to a wonderful clear lake, which really invited someone to go for a swim.


    When Ivan saw the view as he entered the meadow he couldn''t help but sight in admiration. This view was just to different than what he had gotten used to. Even though the campus too had parks they were different. They just didn''t give him the same feeling as the majestic trees which framed this meadow.


    Seeing Ivan standing there with a look of admiration the others broke out in laughter.


    "Haha, you have never seen something like this right?"


    "Yes, it is beautiful."


    "Then after you finish admiring it come help me put down the blankets so we have something to sit on."


    Soon he shook himself out of his reverie and went to help his mentor to put down the two big blankets for them to sit on. They then opened the baskets which were filled with food and drinks. He wondered why they didn''t just put all of these things into their inventories.


    His mentor leaned towards him and asked in a whisper, "I''m sure you are wondering why we don''t use our inventory, right?"


    He nodded and Carl gave him the answer, "It is because of the atmosphere. Lara has always been of the opinion that using your inventory for everything will lead to you forgetting about enjoying the simple things. She learned that from my father who took this philosophy to the extreme."


    Ivan could see the logic behind it, after all if everything was to comfortable and easy one would forget to value these things and the work others may have put into it. It was like training skills. If one would only learn the skills through skill books, then how would one be able to really understand them and use them in the most optimal way, not even mentioning improving them.


    Seeing that he understood the reasoning Carl nodded in satisfaction, it seemed his student wasn''t spoiled by the living style at the alliance.


    They chatted and played some games together until it was time for lunch. All the food was designed to be eaten while cold and it consisted of sandwiches, fruits, vegetables and other more complicated delicacies. Especially the content of the small basket was awesome.


    Seeing the admiration in his eyes the lady smiled at him and asked, "Do you like it? I made it myself."


    "It looks awesome, ma''m", because of her aura he decided to use a respectful form of address.


    "You don''t have to be so respectful. Just call me Miranda or mother, after all I am your mother in law.", she said with a grin, which only widened when she saw the look of shock on her daughters face.


    "What? Did you really think I wouldn''t know?", she then asked her daughter with a playful smile on her face.


    "Um", Lara had no answer for her question because she herself knew that it would have been impossible to hide it from her mother who was even better informed than her father when it concerned family matters.


    "Does daddy know?"


    "What do you think?"


    "Yeah, if he knew he would already have gone ballistic but since he hasn''t come over he shouldn''t be aware of it."

 35 Picnic 4

    "Yup, you got it. And I think it is better to keep it this way for now."


    "Why do you think so? We were originally planning to have uncle explain it to him."


    "Usually that wouldn''t be a bad idea, but did you forget how angry he was after all that happened? If he knew that son-in-law has appeared and that he is so weak, do you think he can keep his calm?"


    Lara shuddered when she imagined her fathers reaction. Most of the time her father was calm and calculating but when it concerned his family he was completely different. He would have a considerable explosive temperament and those who were daring enough to mess with his family would always end in a bad way. There was once a prince form another country who had once met her older sister and felt such a desire for her that he let go of any decorum. Luckily her sister was much stronger and she managed to defeat him and his lackeys. She even broke one of his legs, but her father thought it wasn''t punishment enough and as such he got someone to destroy the princes testicles. Even though everyone knew he was the one who ordered it, nobody dared to ask him to be responsible. But after that nobody ever tried to do anything to his family until the thing with her happened. Not being able to get either revenge or force the offender to take responsibility was his greatest regret.


    "Then what do you think should be done?"


    "I think it is a great idea to use his connection with brother-in-law to allow him to spend time with Jane, but you can''t overdo it. Meeting once or twice a week is fine but not more."


    She then looked at Jane and Ivan who were playing around in the water after having changed into swimsuits.


    "I have to admit, they look good together and it seems like the contact with him has done her good."


    Lara nodded her head, "Yes, she seems more relaxed now then before. And a lot more childish."


    "That''s good. Children have to be childish. If they are to mature it will hamper their development."


    "Then why do you think it''s a good idea to send her to a school for much older children?"


    "There is not much choice. Even though it is good for children to behave childish, they too have to learn to be mature sometimes and for her the time was early. We can''t roll back time so we have to work with what has happened and as such she is already much more mature than others of her age."


    They then talked a bit more about how to raise children and Miranda even gave her tips on how to handle a husband, which Lara tried to reject with the comment, that they weren''t really husband and wife, but on which her mother insisted that she knew them.


    After playing around for a long time Jane finally got tired and they decided to end the picnic. When they were back at their cars and said goodbye to Miranda she reminded Lara, "Remember what I thought you."


    Hearing this Lara blushed and thought to herself, *Who would ever need this?*.


    When Jane heard these words she tried to find out what her grandmother meant with that but her mother was adamant in rejecting her questions, so she could only give up and pout.


    Because she had used up to much energy she then fell asleep on Ivans lap shortly after they had boarded the car. On her face there was still a huge grin.


    On the front seat Lara and Carl talked in a small voice about what she had discussed about with her mother and they changed their plans based on that.


    After they arrived at the villa Ivan carried the still sleeping Jane into her room and put her on her bed, before putting a blanket on her.


    When he came back to the living room Carl and Lara were sitting on the couch and chatted while drinking tea. When he saw this harmonious scene he hesitated to go down the stairs. Luckily the decision was taken away when his mentor called him.


    "Ivan come here, so we can discuss the further course of action."


    Ivan sat down next to his mentor and like magic the housekeeper appeared with another cup of tea. "Thank you."


    As all the times before he had thanked her she only nodded and then vanished once again. He was really wondering if she had a skill that allowed her to do it or if it was only her experience.


    "We have decided to not inform my father just yet.", Lara started the conversation.


    "Why? Wasn''t the plan to let mentor do it?"


    "Yes, but my mother who knows my fathers temper even better than me told us not to do it yet."


    "Oh.", to be honest Ivan didn''t really care about whether they informed her father, which showed in his face as well as his response.


    "You better care if my father finds out about it early since I am sure he is going to come after you if he does."


    "Oh?", this time there was a tinge of fear in his reply. He wasn''t sure about her fathers might but since his mentor seemed to think he was strong then there was no way he could contest against him.


    "Is ''Oh'' the only thing you can say? Whatever just make sure you aren''t found out."


    "Oh. I guess then that I can''t stay at the villa anymore?" Just to anger her he once again started his sentence with an ''Oh'' and the effect was evident as she stared angrily at him.


    "Correct, so go back to where you came from.", she then blurted out angrily.


    "Hey, you were the one who asked me to come here.", he just couldn''t stop since the look at her face was priceless. In all the time he had known her, which admittedly were only about a day, he hadn''t seen such a vivid expression on her face except when she was talking with her daughter.

 36 Mission hall

    Soon the one week his mentor had given him to spend with his daughter was over and even though he had spent a lot of time with her, he still wanted to do more with her. Sadly his mentor had forced him to come back with him to the campus.


    During this week the two had stayed at the villa. He so he could be close to his daughter and his mentor as a reason for his stay.


    When he did teleport back to his room at the campus he was feeling weird, since he hadn''t been in such a cramped room for the last week. It was really astonishing how fast someone could get used to living in luxury. He really was going to miss his room at the villa.


    After checking the room to see if everything was in order he then left for the mission hall as ordered by his mentor.


    The mission hall was a great building which was bustling with activity. There were a constant stream of people coming in and out of the building, since doing missions was important for all members. Besides earning contribution points you too could get rare materials for them. And even if you excluded the rewards there were still good reasons to do missions as it was a good way to find suitable locations to gain experience. And especially for craftsman since it would be otherwise hard to find the materials to craft more difficult items since they were always rare and expensive, but if you took a crafting mission you would get the materials from the client. Of course you had to show beforehand that you would be able to do the job but it was still the easiest way to get repetitive training without having to spend an absurd amount of money.


    When he entered the building through on of the huge entrances which didn''t have a door, but instead a invisible energy shield which kept out the weather as well as dirt and dust he found himself in a big rectangular hall. The entrance through wich he came in was on one of the small sides. On the opposite side of the hall there were a row of counters, each with a number above it and on the wall above it there was a large screen with listed on one side the numbers of the counters while on the other there were some other numbers.


    On the two long sides there were alcoves which either housed cafes or waiting rooms. Throughout the big hall there were fountains distributed which were surrounded by different plants which stopped the hall from looking to boring. Around these isles couches and chairs were placed for these who waited for their number to come up.


    His mentor had told him to look for the ''Beluga'' and he soon found it on the right side. It only was a dark oak shield with the name on it above a door of the same material. It looked wrong, since it really didn''t fit with the look of the other cafes which prioritized openness and light.


    After opening the door he entered a room which fitted his expectation since it was only dimly lit by a chandelier which had real candles and was made of gold and clear crystals, which glittered spectacular in the candlelight. Besides a bar he couldn''t see anything since there were spells in place which obscured the view on the small rooms surrounding the hall.


    As soon as he entered though the door a female waiter greeted him.


    "Hello, Sir. Do you have a membership card or someone to meet?"


    It seemed like you could only enter this cafe with either a membership card or if someone who had one invited you. When he took a closer look at the waitress he could feel an aura of suppression from her, like what you would feel if you meet someone much stronger.


    *Wow, this must really be an awesome cafe. Even the staff is so strong.*, he internally exclaimed.


    "My mentor Carl van Bergen asked me to meet him here."


    He then could see her press a button on her headset before she nodded and said, "Follow me."


    It seemed like she had just checked if what he said was true. The security was really high here and he couldn''t help but wonder what was the requisite to get a membership card.


    The waitress lead him into a small room. When the went in he could feel the light pressure of a defense shield which hadn''t been activated.


    "Sir. I brought your guest.", she then told his mentor while bowing to him.


    "Thank you Clara. Could you please bring him a cup of milk coffee?"


    "Of course, Sir.", she once again bowed and then left the room without turning around.


    "Good, you are finally here.", his mentor then scolded him.


    He took a look at his clock and thought indignant, * I''m even five minutes to early, so how could he say that I''m finally here?*, but influenced by the atmosphere here he didn''t express himself.


    "Don''t be shy. Sit down.", his mentor grinned at him while pointing on the seat opposite of him.


    "So what do you think of this cafe?"


    "Impressive.", Ivan told his honest opinion. He never had seen such luxury. Even when he had stayed at the villa and visited different places with his daughter, and some of them were reserved for the rich and mighty of the capital.


    Take the chair he sat on for example. He wasn''t sure what wood it was made out but it had a great dark color and the texture as well as the grain were fine and clear, making him sure that it wasn''t simple and surely worth a lot. The metal parts were out of a metal alloy, which had the characteristic luster of an alloy he had once seen in a book and which was used to make high grade weapons.

 37 Beluga

    Before he could finish his musing about the extravagance of this cafe a waitress entered the room. It was a different one then the one who had lead him here, but she too had this aura of suppression. It seemed like all of the staff here was much stronger then him.


    "You coffee Sir.", this time the waitress didn''t bow but just put the plate with a cup of hot coffee and a little plate with some cookies down in front of him on the black crystal table.


    "Thank you Julia.", once again his mentor thanked the waitress while calling them by their name and Ivan wondered whether he new the names of all the staff.


    After she had left he then pushed a black card towards Ivan.


    "Here take this card."


    The card was approximately 5 x 10 cm of size and made from black crystal. There was only a string ofnumbers on the bottom while on the top right sight there was a image of a beluga whale. The image was made with white silver and it shimmered white in the soft candle light. The string of numbers on the other hand was in gold. This made the card look simple but elegant.


    "This is?"


    "A membership card. Of course it is only of the lowest rank. It will enable you to use some of the services offered by the Beluga Corporation. But to be honest there is only one service that is of use for you at the moment and that is the mission service, where members can give missions or accept them in order to earn Beluga points and gain experience."


    "So it is like the system of the Alliance?"


    "Yes, but of a much higher level. Most of the missions require one to be at least level 500 or a master craftsman."


    "If the requirement is so high then how am I supposed to use this service?", Ivan asked with suspicion in his voice.


    His mentor laughed when he heard the question but to Ivan the laugh seemed to contain a bit of evil.


    "Of course you can''t do the usual missions, but there are a few which are perfect for you. After all you have a skill like Reincarnation."


    "So these missions require me to go die?", he couldn''t believe that there were missions like that because he didn''t think that there would be anyone who would take them.


    "Not quite. What do you know about instant dungeons?"


    "Not much but I have read that they are dungeons which suddenly appear and disappear as soon as someone finishes them."


    "Correct. Besides that they follow slightly different rules to normal dungeons so there are some which have a low level but are very deadly. Of course these dungeons provide some rare materials which can only be found in these dungeons. And since you have a low level and don''t really need to fear death you are the best candidate to clear these dungeons."


    "Oh, then these missions require me to clear some deadly dungeon and get some rare material from them?"


    "Yes. And the payment for these missions is great since there aren''t many who are willing to do them. After all skills like your ''Reincarnation'' skill are very rare."


    Ivan nodded his head and moved his hand to grab the card but was stopped by Carl.


    "You have to put a drop of blood on it first so you can be recognized as the owner.", he then pulled out a small knife, the likes Ivan had never seen before. The blade didn''t seem to be made out of a metal but instead a crystal which had a deep blue color and through which lines of lightning, sometimes shot. The form too was unusual as the tip was thin but soon got much wider. The heft was made from a dark wood which had a prominent texture that made it seem like there were scales on it.


    "This is?", he asked his mentor after admiring the knife for a bit.


    "A gift. I never gave you one after you became my student so I thought today would be a good opportunity to give you one."


    "It looks expensive."


    Once again his mentor laughed and this time there was only amusement in it. "It sure is, but since you are my only student as well as the husband of my nice it is only fitting."


    Not hesitating anymore Ivan took the knife and enjoyed the feeling of holding it in his hand. The texture of the wood ensured that his grip on it was secure and he expected it to stay this way even if water or blood got on it.


    "Thank you, mentor.", he then thanked his mentor from his heart.


    His mentor only waved his hand and then pointed on the card. "Hurry up and put your blood on it."


    Ivan carefully used the tip of his new knife to open up a small cut at the top of his finger. As the knife was extraordinary sharp he had to just slightly let the tip slide over his skin to do it. He then squeezed out a drop of blood and let it drop down on the black crystal card. As soon as the drop touched the card the number on the card changed and there was now a F at the front of the number, which he was sure was his current rank.


    << Congratulations you have entered the Beluga Corporation >>


    << You soul imprint has been found as being already registered so according to the rules your new card has been linked with the old account and access has been restricted to the ranking of your new card. To unlock your former level please drop some blood on your old card. >>


    Once again he got into contact with something from his old life. It seemed like his old self too had a membership and it had most likely been of a higher rank than his current. He just wasn''t sure how much higher.

 38 Mission

    "Great, now that this is done we can get to what I called you here for.", his mentors impatient voice broke him out of his thoughts.


    "Now put your card on that location.", he then pointed on a small rectangle of slightly brighter crystal at the edge of the table.


    Ivan followed his direction and as soon as he put down the card on the indicated spot the rest of the table lit up. It now displayed a menu with many disabled buttons. Only the button for missions and trading were enabled and shone in a slightly brighter light than the others.


    Carl then reached out and pressed his finger on the mission button to open up another selection where he choose the ''Local'' option.


    He then explained, "Here you can take the same missions that you can take at the hall but it is much more comfortable."


    He then entered some word into the search bar and selected one of the displayed missions.


    "Take a look, that is the first mission I have selected for you."


    ''Hunting Mission, Rank F


    Target: Hunt at least 10 Steelback Bears rank F and bring back their pelts.


    Rewards: 10 CP for each pelt , up to 100 times


    Additional rewards: 5 CP for each kg of bear paw''


    He had looked through the prices at the Alliance Shop, so he knew that 10 CP wasn''t really all that much but it would still be enough for someone to live of for a month. It was just that compared to living costs, the items used for training or fighting were much more expensive. For example a simple sword without any special effects would cost at least 100 CP. And that was only for one made from simple steel.


    As for the extra rewards for extra pelts and bear paws he guessed that it was designed like this because while most members of the Alliance had larger inventories than common they would still not be so big that they could transport huge amounts of pelts or paws.


    "What do you think?"


    "It looks good but I don''t know anything about Steelback Bears so I''m not sure."


    Hearing his cautious words his mentor nodded in satisfaction. His student was careful enough to first check out the details before accepting the mission, which was what many others failed to do. Most mission failures came from the recipient not having collected all the available information and thus underestimating the difficulty of the mission.


    On the screen the word ''Steelback Bear'' was in a slightly different color which indicated that one could click on it to get some more information, which Ivan did without any hesitation.


    ''Steelback Bear


    A monster belonging to the bear category. It gets his name from the pelt on his back, which is like steel. The color of its back pelt decides the rank of this bear. For rank F it is a dark gray which isn''t much different from the color of the rest of his pelt. For rank E it is a light gray. For rank D it is white. For rank C it is silver. As for higher ranks it is speculated that the next ranks change to color towards golden but it hasn''t been confirmed yet.''


    Then a lot of other information followed, like habitats where it lives, what it hunts, when it reproduces and finally an overview of the skills it can use which were only two. One was a simple swipe of its claws which would cause invisible wind blades to shoot out along the swipe while the other was a roar which could influence surrounding beings so that they would lose their balance as well as being stunned for a short time.


    At then end these bears were some of the most dangerous monsters in the vicinity of the capital as well as the most valuable. Not only could their pelts be used to make armor suitable for cold areas, their paws too were a delicacy which was highly sought after by the rich. Their claws too could be used to make low grade knifes and even though these could only be used for menial tasks they were still quite popular since they were much easier to be maintained than ones made of metal.


    But to him the most interesting part was that some parts of it could be used for pill crafting. Even though he hadn''t learned how to make ones until now, he had read a lot about pill crafting as instructed by his teacher, so he had an interest in collecting ingredients for when he would finally have learned how to craft them. He had checked the prices for some ingredients and was stunned by how high they were. Of course the parts of the bear that could be used as ingredients where of such a low grade that they didn''t even have a rank so nobody would sell or buy them. But he knew of a simple pill receipt that required them and some common herbs which could too be found in the area the bears lived in. So when he saw the information he decided to give it a try since he would have nothing to lose and he really was fed up with not being able to use his theoretical knowledge of pill crafting.


    His mentor had watched him read the information and was satisfied with the look of concentration on his students face. When he then looked up from the screen he saw his mentors questioning eyes on his.


    "It looks good. It will be a good test of abilities, while not being to difficult. Not to mentioning that the rewards are not bad."


    Hearing his students evaluation of the quest which was similar to his own he once again nodded.


    "That''s right. So go on and take the quest."


    Ivan once again checked the quest to make sure that he didn''t miss anything before pressing the accept button.

 39 Outpos

    Ivan was currently standing on a square which was surrounded by four big buildings. On of them was an Inn while the other was a transport station.


    Another was were the guards were stationed. The guards were part of the military and their job was to check the barrier which kept the monsters out of the save zones as well as execute rescue missions if necessary.


    Finally the last one was a commercial building containing a smith as well as a general item store and a clinic. The clinic was only for emergency cases as the patients would be moved into the capital as soon as possible.


    Even though there weren''t many buildings here it was still bustling with peoples. Most of them were adventures, a job where you made money by going into the wilderness to collect materials. Some of them entered the buildings while others left through the grand arch in the barrier which allowed them to freely enter the wilderness.


    After Ivan had finished his talk with his mentor he had taken the train to this outpost, so he could then enter the wilderness and then travel to the forest area where the Steelback bears could be found.


    Since he had already prepared everything he would need for this trip at the alliance he walked towards the entrance of the wilderness. The entrance was guarded by to guards in full plate armor which completely hid their features but one could still feel their oppressive aura.


    After he left the civilized area there were no more streets and he could only travel through the high grass. He really wondered why nobody bothered to make some streets leading deeper into the wilderness.


    He had checked out his route beforehand and there weren''t really any dangerous creatures in his way so he started running. The high grass made his progress much harder especially since he still had to be careful of his surroundings.


    The grassland was what he had to pass through first and it was seemingly endless. Even after running for more than five hours and completely depleting his stamina there was still no end in sight. After running for so long he had to take a rest even though he couldn''t stand this grassland anymore and wanted to leave as fast as he could. Since it wasn''t late yet he only took out some jerky and chewed on it while sitting on the ground.


    Then after a good rest he once again started running. * Luckily there is a compass and map on the interface or I would have long gotten lost. *


    * I really need a mount. Running by myself really sucks.*, he now really came to understand why every adventurer would get a mount as soon as he or she could. Sadly he just didn''t have the money to buy one and since his mentor had forbidden him from taming anything he had no way to get one himself. As such he could only run by himself.


    After two days of continues running there was finally a change of scenery. At the horizon he could see the outlines of trees and motivated by the sight of his goal he sped up. Sadly the view was misleading and it still took him more than six hours to finally reach the forest.


    Even though he was only standing at the border of the forest the trees already reached high up into the sky where their tops were interweaving to make a forest roof which seemed continuous and which didn''t let much light through. As such the forest was quite dark and if not for the glowing moss on the trees it would have been even darker. Surprisingly the light from the moss was enough to allow more vegetation on the floor of the forest. You could find grass and different herbs as well as some lonely flowers. In the places where it was darker or on toppled trees you could find different kinds of mushrooms.


    Without much effort Ivan could easily see some useful herbs as well as mushrooms. Of course there were more than enough plants which he knew were poisonous and many he had never seen before.


    He had read that in this forest there were always appearing new species of plants which one had to be careful of since it was hard to find these that are useful and avoiding these that are poisonous.


    On one of the trees he could see some deep claw marks which didn''t seem to be older than a day and he guessed that they had to be from a bear since they were higher up on the tree and the spacing of the claws were fitting.


    * It seems like I am lucky. There has to be a bear close to the border. And where there is one there have to be more. *, Ivan was happy about seeing the claw mark. After all the territories of the Steelback bears was small and they lived in groups of up to ten bears. Of course he could only attack them if they were alone since he wasn''t strong enough to fight against multiple of them.


    He set a save point for his resurrection skill, since the grassland seemed safe and he really didn''t want to run all the way again if he happened to be killed by one of his prey. After that he took out the simple iron sword his mentor had given him for this mission. As he had been thought by his teacher one should always wear his sword if one is expecting danger since pulling it out of the scabbard one could instantly use it. If one had it in his inventory while it was more comfortable it also made pulling it a bit longer.


    He then carefully made his way into the forest. He made an effort to listen to any strange sounds which could warn him about incoming danger.


    With careful steps and one hand on his sword he slowly advanced through the dimly light forest.

 40 Boar

    After advancing for a bit he suddenly heard a rustling from the left, which was different from the usual sounds made by the breeze. Because of his taunt nerves he jerked slightly and started to pull out his sword, before his brain could regain control. He carefully stepped to the side to create more distance to the brushes where the rusting had come from. He then pulled out his sword fully and got ready in case something dangerous would come out of the bushes.


    He didn''t need to wait for long before a wild boar left the brushes. Seeing that it was only a common animal he let out a sight of relief but still inspected the animal, since he had heard that there were monsters which had evolved from normal animals and didn''t differentiate much from them in appearance.


    << Wild Boar, Unranked, Level 97


    A common animal which lives in the forest. As long as it isn''t with children it won''t attack, but if they are they are highly aggressive to defend their children. Their meat is said to be much tastier than domesticated pig meat, but according to the Culinary Guide it mostly depends on the taste of the consumer. >>


    It was a surprisingly long description. Much longer than he was used to and the information did seem to digress from the usual combat related ones.


    The boar stared at him while he was doing the same. Since he couldn''t see if there was anything following behind the boar he didn''t know whether it would attack him or not. And even though the idea of fresh barbecued boar meat sounded good he didn''t want to unnecessarily mess with something which was level 97 even if it was only an unranked animal.


    As such he slowly moved sideways in the direction he was going before meeting it, while keeping a eye on it all the time. Luckily after a short snort the boar turned around and left the way it had come.


    Once again letting out a sight of relief he put his sword back into its scabbard and then continued on deeper into the forest.


    After seeing the level of the boar he hoped that the monsters in this area didn''t have a similar level or his hunt for Steelback Bears would be harder than he expected. In the descriptions for the bears he had read that they had levels starting from 50 and that the F ranked could have ones as high as 150 which would be impossible for him to fight against.


    And in the information about this forest there was stated that there were different areas where the animals and monsters had different levels. And these areas were constantly shifting so no one could be sure in what area on was in until one had seen a few residents.


    If the boar was at the top end of the scale for the area he was in than that would be good since he would most likely be able to find Steelback Bears at the lower end of the scale, but if it was the other way around and the boar was at the lower end then he could meet Steelback Bears with levels up to 150 or even ones which were ranked E. And ranked E ones would be much more dangerous than F ranked even if their level was lower.


    Throwing these useless thoughts into the back of his head he once again advanced further into the forest.


    He hadn''t gotten far when he heard a big commotion behind him.


    Turning around he saw the boar he had just met running towards him while behind it a large Steelback Bear chased it. Not only was the bear much bigger than the boar it was faster too. It''s powerful body which was clad in a dense fur made big lunges each of which closed the distance to its prey. Ivan concentrated his gaze on the back of the Steelback Bear and was shocked when he saw that the color of the fur there was a very light gray.


    *F**k, I am really to unlucky. The first Steelback Bear I find is one that is rank E and from the look of it even closer to rank D than rank F. And to top it of this stupid boar is leading it to me.*


    He didn''t know if it was purpose or not but the boar was directly running towards him. Since it was still a bit out he decided to inspect the Steelback Bear first, before he decided on how to proceed.


    << Steelback Bear, Rank E, Level 139


    For more information please check the wiki.>>


    * As expected the information for monsters really is much less. *, a thought flashed through his brain. * But level 139? Isn''t that to much? *, he once again lamented his bad luck which had lead to him meeting a Steelback Bear like that on his first try.


    In the mean time the pair had come so close to him that he wouldn''t have a chance to escape anymore, if there ever was one.


    Feeling helpless he could only pull out his sword and get into position. But before the two could reach him the Steelback Bear made one last lunge completely closing the distance to the boar and with a swift swipe of one of its front paws it effortless brought it down.


    Seeing the power behind that effortless seeming swipe he couldn''t help but shudder. This Steelback Bear was even stronger than he had expected. * I hope it starts eating the boar so I can sneak away.*


    Sadly his wish didn''t come true as after making sure that the boar wasn''t in condition to flee anymore the bear stared at him with eyes full of bloodthirst. Seeing the cruel and bloodthirsty look in the eyes of the bear he instinctively took a step back which only served as a trigger for the bear to attack him.

 41 Steelback Bear

    With a speed belying his size the bear closed the distance to him.


    Seeing the massive bear, which seemed to be made out of muscles and bloodthirst Ivan was sure that he had no way to parry any of its attack and the only way for him to survive was to evade to the best of his abilities while searching for a opportunity to counter attack.


    The speed of the Steelback Bear was so great that even though he was prepared Ivan could only evade the first swipe of its claws by a hairs width. He could feel the sharp wind that the wipe brought with it on his skin and he once again was reminded at how fearsome such a simple attack could be.


    And even though he had experienced death many times before it had not made him less afraid of it. Quite the opposite since he was clear of how painful it was to get killed. And the pain was something he could do nothing against but endure. As such he had later learned how to get killed fast which had the positive effect of increasing his own lethality since he was now knowledgeable about the points of the human body which could lead to a fast death. Of course he too was able to inflict horrible pain on another human without him dying but he really hoped that he would never be in a situation to use it.


    Hurriedly banishing these distracting thoughts and suppressing the instinctual fear he felt towards a superior opponent he concentrated on his fight.


    Having evaded the first attack he tried to counter attack with a stab of his word towards the throat of the Steelback Bear but before the tip of the sword could come even close to his opponent the claws once again swiped towards him.


    * F**k this guy is really to fast. *, he helplessly thought before adjusting his strategy. It seemed like he could only hope to do it the slow way by inflicting light injuries with the hope that the Steelback Bear would loose some of its fearsome speed.


    Dodging the next claw attack too he then slashed down with his sword. When the sword hit the thick hide of the Steelback Bear it barely penetrated it and left only a small wound.


    * Such a thick hide. How the bloody hell am I supposed to cut through that? *, he could only lament. Sadly he had no better sword and he couldn''t afford one either. The dagger he had gotten from his mentor would surely be sharper but the reach was also much shorter and there was no way that he would be able to evade the next attack after trying to hit the Steelback Bear. As such he could only try it again and again while trying to hit where there were tendons.


    After many tries when is breathing had already became ragged he finally managed to cut the tendons on the front paw of the pear which instantly reduced the pressure on him. Sadly it still wasn''t enough for him to go after its weaker points like eyes or throat. It seemed the only way was to slowly whittle it down.


    Now that the pressure on him had lessened he could stabilize his breathing to reduce his consummation of stamina which sadly was already nearly depleted. If he didn''t find another good cut soon he would have to disengage and hope that the Steelback Bear wouldn''t be able to catch up with its nearly useless front paw.


    Another good point about the lessened pressure was that he was now able to place his cut with more precision, since the time frame for his slash had widened. As such he soon managed to cut of another tendon, this time on the other front leg. This weakened the Steelback Bear significantly since it now couldn''t use either of his front legs to attack him. He was only barely able to stand on them so how could he lift one to attack him.


    Just as Ivan slightly relaxed the monster used his massiv back legs to lunge on him with his fearsometeeth on full display.


    Surprised he could only tumble backwards but he was a bit to slow and the teeth of the Bear sank into his shoulder. At the same time he hurriedly dropped his sword to take out the crystal dagger and stab it into the throat of his attacker. The daggers sharpness was incomparable to that of the sword and as such it easily sliced through its throat which resulted in a huge amount of fresh blood shooting out of the severed jugular.


    The feeling of having the Steelback Bears teeth sticking in his shoulder and begin splattered by its blood really wasn''t a comfortable one. Luckily his slash together with the disabled front legs of the bear had stopped it from pulling back his head and completely mangling of his shoulder. Even though such wound would heal surprisingly fast with the application of some medicine it would still stop him from doing much for at least a week.


    As soon as the light in the hate filled eyes of the Steelback Bear dimmed he carefully pried open his muzzle to extract his shoulder from it. He then fell down on his butt as all his strength left him. At the end of the fight the only reason he had been able to continue on was that his body was filled to the brim with adrenaline. Now that the danger was over he naturally felt powerless, not even able to lift an arm. The only thing he could do was to quietly sit there and recuperate while hoping that nothing else would come over and take the opportunity to attack him.


    His luck wasn''t bad and nothing came close to him. He guessed that the loud sounds the Steelback Bear had made during the fight had scared away any other creatures in the vicinity. Without any attacks he was able to regain some energy before checking out his gains.

 42 Blood essence

    The most obvious gain was of course the corpse of the Steelback Bear but after the fight he had heard the notification that he had gained something from the fight. It was just that he hadn''t had the time to check them out yet.


    He opened up the first notification which had sounded during the fight.


    << Congratulation you have unlocked blood essence. >>


    << Blood Essence is the essence of living beings with blood. After their death you are now able to condense it into crystal form which can then be used with the right skills.


    Unlock conditions:


    Get familiar with the use of blood by killing and getting killed by a vampire type being.


    Get bathed with the blood of a being strong enough to have condensed blood essence.


    Remark:


    Are you sure you are still a human?


    >>


    Once again the remark wasn''t all that friendly and he couldn''t help but wonder if he did something to the system since he hadn''t heard of anyone else who got such remarks.


    After reading the unlock conditions he was sure that there weren''t many others who could fulfill them since he hadn''t found any mention of a skill like his ''Resurrection'' skill in the Alliance library and without it he was sure that the first condition would be hard to fulfill.


    What he didn''t quite understand was the second condition as it implied that the dungeon creatures didn''t have any blood essence which he found weird. After all the description of Blood Essence had mentioned that living beings with blood have it and since the dungeon creatures he had slain had blood they too should have it.


    A daring thought came to him. Could it be that the creatures in the dungeon weren''t really alive but jut constructs by the system?


    Deciding that he would be unable to find an answer to this question he choose to continue on with checking out his spoils.


    Next up were the information for two skills he had gained. These skills were ways of using the blood essence.


    << Congratulation you have unlocked the skill ''Blood is Power'' >>


    << Skill: Blood is Power, Rank S, Level 1


    Mana cost: 200


    Channeling time: 5h


    Recharge time: 24h


    Use up one blood essence crystal to permanently gain some of its stats in form of shadow stats.


    You will get 0.01 stat per blood crystal stat.


    >>


    This skill looked really useful since it could help him to permanently increase his strength by slaying enemies and since it scaled with the stats of the blood crystals he was sure that it would scale well with the strength of his foes. The question was only how much stats these crystals had because getting only 1 percent of its stats wouldn''t be much if the amount was low.


    The second on the other hand was a temporary increase of strength which he was sure could be very useful in a dire situation.


    << Skill: Burning Blood, Rank S, Level 1


    Mana cost: 20


    Recharge time: 2h


    Use up one blood essence crystal to temporarily increase your power by burning the blood essence in it.


    The effect depends on the type of crystal you use.


    >>


    This skill too depended on the crystal he used which was logical since it would use up the blood essence inside the crystal.


    << Congratulation you have gained your first Blood Essence Crystal: Blood Essence Crystal of the Steelback Bear (F).


    You can check out your available Blood Essence Crystals in the new tab of your character screen.


    >>


    Thankfully this notification told him that he had a Blood Essence Crystal and where he could check it out. He hurriedly followed the directions and found a list with only one entry which was the mentioned crystal.


    It was a small Stellback Bear icon in red with the name besides it. When he concentrated his will on it more information popped up.


    <<Item:Blood Essence Crystal of the Steelback Bear, Rank F


    Strength +10, Agility +5, Endurance +10


    >>


    So a bear like the one he had just slain only gave him a Blood Essence Crystal with 25 stat points and 10 at most for one category which would mean that he would get 0.25 shadow stats altogether, which wasn''t much. But even though the amount was low and the cast time as well as the recharge time was high it would still be very useful since it was repetitive and unlike the ''Shadow Stats'' skill didn''t require him to increase his base stats.


    As such he was very happy with his earnings.


    He was tempted to instantly try it out but decided that it would be better to do it at a save place since he would be defenseless while channeling the skill.


    Since he had finished going through the notifications it was time to take care of the carcass of the Steelback Bear, so he stood up and took his sharp crystal dagger.


    He had never before tried to skin and dissect a bear but they had had lessons about it at school and also practiced on some small animals. Besides that he had read up on it a bit more while traveling so he was confident that he would be able to somehow manage.


    Sadly reality was cruel as he miserably failed to skin the bear and the hide he finally got was full of holes and worth nothing because of it.


    " Damn. If I had known it would be so hard I would have checked out if there were any lessons on skinning a bear."


    "It was only the first time. I''m sure the next time it will be much better.", he then comforted himself not really believing what he just said.


    Taking a deep breath he then went onto dissecting the bear which of course also went awry but at least the paws seemed fine and he got another joint out of it, which he planned to barbecue, since it didn''t seem presentable.


    After storing his spoils in his inventory he cleaned up the place by burying the left overs. Then he continued on deeper into the forest.

 43 Green vine snake

    While walking through the forest he collected many common herbs along the way. He planned to use this opportunity to practice his pill refining. Since he didn''t really have any money he couldn''t practice in the city since he couldn''t afford even the cheapest herbs. Luckily in the forest the simple herbs needed for starter pills where aplenty. When he had checked out the available info of this forest he had learned about it and spent some of his few coppers on some glass vials which could be used to store the pills.


    After he got back he would try to sell the bes ones to make a bit more money. They should be worth a few silver if he managed to fill all of his vials.


    While he walked through the forest he slowly relaxed since he hadn''t met anything dangerous for quite a bit and the last few times he had he was easily able to evade it.


    On one of the trees he would walk by there was a inconspicuous green vine which meandered around the trunk of it. When he got closer it suddenly hurled itself towards him, in a similar fashion to an arrow leaving its bow. In mid air its mouth opened to reveal the two fangs dripping with a light green poison.


    Seeing a movement out of the corner of his eyes Ivan turned around while lifting his sword in an attempt to defend himself but he was half a second to late as the snake managed to insert its fangs into his arm and inject its poison.


    * A Green Vine Snake? My luck really sucks. *, Ivan thought when he saw what had attacked him. Without a moment of hesitation he tried to grab the snake behind its head. It was important to catch the snake if it bit one since only then would he be able to craft a antidote to its poison.


    Sadly he was just a second to late and the snake pulled out its fangs with lightning speed before letting itself drop down to the ground. It then proceeded to speed away towards one of the bushes at the side but before it could enter the nearest bush and disappear a sharp wind descended and it hurriedly tried to dodge.


    This time it was its turn to be to slow as the sword Ivan had stabbed down towards it inserted itself into its body near the end of the tail and kept it from continuing on.


    Not being able to move away it could only try to confront the one which had locked it in place but sadly even though it was normally much faster than its prey its strength was sorely lacking.


    Ivan managed to easily subdue the snake now that it wasn''t able to move freely. After that he pulled out a glass vial and put it near the fangs of the snake in the hope of catching a bit of its poison. His luck wasn''t bad since the snake hadn''t injected all its poison into his body and as such he was able to gain a few drops of it which was enough to make the antidote.


    After acquiring the Green Vine Snake poison he hurriedly killed of the snake since he could feel that he had to hurry up. The poison had already started to significantly drain his HP and if he wasn''t fast with concocting the antidote he would soon feel its effect.


    He then pulled out two common herbs out which he had collected earlier and after pressing out their sap mixed it with the snake poison. First he used the grass like herb which had a light yellow sap that when mixed with the poison made the resulting fluid have a surprisingly blue color.


    Ivan had seen this before in a tutorial but he was still surprised at how rich the blue was and how different from the color of the ingredients it was made of. Sadly he didn''t have the time to admire its look, but had to insert the sap of the other herb instead. This herb which looked like a unremarkable dark green flower had a light green sap and after adding it to the potion it lost its blue color and instead gained a light green color which was completely unremarkable.


    But this color was what Ivan wanted to see since it was a signal that the mixture was correct and he could now use it as an antidote to the snake poison. Since his HP had only fallen to just below fifty percent he took the time to inspect the vial, just to be safe.


    << Very weak antidote, Unranked


    This antidote is something any real adventurer would scoff at but it can still be used to cure weak poisons.


    Remark: It really is fitting for you.


    >>


    Even though the description was really unflattering it still confirmed its use as an antidote and Ivan hurriedly drank it. When the potion entered his mouth he had to suppress his urge to spit it out again since it''s taste was absolutely disgusting.


    With effort he managed to swallow it and without delay he could feel the poison in him being removed from his system.


    "Couldn''t there be a warning in it''s description that it tastes extremely disgusting?", he couldn''t help but spat out. It really had tasted way to disgusting and he wasn''t sure that he would manage to drink it again next time. Luckily the taste didn''t linger.


    "I really need to make some antidote pills.", he decided. Even though according to what he had read the simple low grade pills didn''t taste good they didn''t taste too bad either. It was more like they didn''t really have any taste.


    He then looked down on the snake he had slain. Even though it wasn''t even half a meter long it had created much discomfort for him and if he hadn''t collected the herbs it might have even ended with his death.

 44 Temporary base

    Soon it started to get late and it was time for him to find a place for the night. Unlike when he was crossing the grass land he couldn''t just sleep anywhere in the forest since many monsters called the floor below the high trees their home. And especially at night these monsters would come out.


    According to the guide he had read. One should try to find a small cave either in a tree or in one of the cliffs. Since the terrain had gotten increasingly mountainous it shouldn''t be that hard to find a cliff with a cave.


    He had ruled out a tree cave since he wanted to try his hand at refining pills and he was sure that it would be a bad idea to create any kind of fire in such a cave. On the other hand he wasn''t strong enough to create a cave himself within an acceptable time so he could only depend on naturally formed ones or ones made by his predecessors.


    His luck wasn''t so good so he only found a small cave which was at least 3 meters up on the cave wall when it was nearly dark. He hurriedly climbed up to it and found that the space behind the narrow entrance was surprisingly spacious. It was at least twenty square meters and what was a pleasant surprise was the small pond at the end of it. There was some water dropping down from the cave ceiling which then landed in the pond before being slowly drained through a small hole at the bottom of it.


    The rest of the cave on the other hand was dry since all the water was concentrated. As such the cave was very suitable to stay in. Especially since there were no bones anywhere which was an indicator that there had never been any monster or animal staying in it.


    * Maybe I should make this cave my base. *, Ivan thought. * After all it is deep enough into the forest so I should be able to find anything I need in less than a day march of here and I shouldn''t really venture much deeper into the forest since the monsters there are increasingly strong and ferocious.*


    After deciding on making the cave his temporary base he pulled out his sleeping bag from his inventory and placed it on a flat piece of floor at one of the sides. The floor was hard but he would manage. Maybe if he managed to hunt a few more animals he could use their pelts as a bed but for that he would have to tan them and he honestly had no idea on how to do it and all the tutorials he could check with his phone didn''t offer any solution either since they required items he just didn''t have. So for now he would have to sleep on the hard floor with only his sleeping back as comfort.


    Next he took out a piece of cloth he still had and used it and hung it in front of the entrance so the light of his fire wouldn''t be as visible from the outside.


    Having finished the preparations he then used his phone to call his daughter which he had started to miss after being separated for only a few days.


    While they chatted about everything that happened to them during the time they hadn''t seen each other time flied by and it was time for Jane to go to bed so they could only stop and say goodbye to each other.


    Now that Ivan had finished everything important he could move on to refining pills. Of course poor as he was he was unable to buy all the necessary equipment and as such could only use a method he had once read about.


    One pill refiner had written down this method in a survival guide and it was intended to only be used if one lost everything on oneself or couldn''t access it for whatever reason.


    Firstly Ivan took out the four required herbs which he had an ample amount of since they were easy to find in this forest. The pill he was planning to craft was a simple detoxification pill which would be of the lowest grade.


    The rank of a pill was mainly determined by the grade of the used herbs and the number of different herbs used. Of course this wasn''t a strict factor for the rank but generally it was enough to guess the rank of a pill. Besides the rank there was another important characteristic which was the quality. There were five different qualities starting with the worst, trash, low, middle, high, supreme.


    Any pill could only have one rank which was specific to the used recipe but the quality solely depended on the skill of the refiner as well as the used tools. Of course the better the tools the higher the chance to get a good quality which would also increase the effect of the pill.


    The pill Ivan was planning to refine was of the lowest possible rank. Strictly speaking it didn''t even have a rank since it was only an unranked pill that didn''t even reach rank F.


    After taking out the required ingredients he then used some water to clean them and used his knife to cut away the parts which weren''t needed. Higher level pill refiner would use their excellent control over the refining fire to burn these away which was much more precise but he just wasn''t able to and as such had to be content with cutting away most of the unneeded pieces.


    The more unneeded pieces of the herb there were at the pill formation stage of the process the worse the quality of the resulting pill, so it was important to cut away as much as possible without removing anything that was used for the pill. This balance act required experience and that''s why he only prepared five sets. Because trying to form the pill would help him to understand if he could cut away more or if he had cut away to much. Hopefully the second try would be more successful then.

 45 Pill refining

    Now that he finished the preparation he started the process of refining his first pill.


    First he used his mana to from a sphere which held one set of ingredients. This sphere would replace the normally used pill furnace. It was quite an elegant solution to the problem of a missing furnace, besides the problem that it used up way to much mana to be used under normal circumstances.


    Besides the set of herbs he added a bit of water from the pond. Then he used some more mana to create a small flame.


    In theory one could use any flame for refining, but the only other source of fire he had available would be a wood based fire which would be much harder to control. So even though his mana flame used up lots and lots of mana it was much more suitable for refining.


    He then used the fire to heat up the ingredients until they split up into their medical components, which was the first step of pill refining. He then quickly checked his mana and saw that he had already used up one tenth of it.


    The next step was to use mana to separate the medical components and then select the ones he needed while discarding the others. This step was called purification and was one of the hardest parts since even though the herbs had already split up into their medical components, these components didn''t just separate on their own but intermingled. He had read that good pill refiners could remove around 80 percent of the impurities. Of course he was far away from that and he could only hope to even manage to remove 20 percent, since that was the lowest purity where the pill could still successfully form.


    He carefully used his mana to pull out the impurities from the mixture and let dem evaporate through the sphere. When his remaining mana was less then a quarter he had to stop the process or he would be unable to form the pill.


    Now he went on to the next step wich was forming the pill. Using the mana sphere as a container made this process quite easy. He just needed to shrink it until only a hard little pill remained. During the shrinking process the pressure on the medical components remaining would fuse them together. Of course this was a very primitiv way to do pill formation but it was good enough for low grade pills.


    Since the components resisted against the merger he had to use more mana on the smaller sphere than the bigger one but he managed to slowly shrink it until it had a diameter of less than two centimeter. And the pill had reached a solid state.


    Once the pill became solid he removed the mana sphere, which he couldn''t keep up anyway since he had run out of mana, and the small pill dropped down on his hand.


    It had a dark murky color and looked more like mud than anything else, but it had a solid feel to it which was a good sign. Ivan didn''t dare to be happy just yet since it was highly unlikely that he was successful on his first try.


    << Failed Small Pill of Detoxification, Unranked


    A failed product. It was supposed to be a Small Pill of Detoxification but it ended as a undefinable mixture. Consume it to find out it''s effect.


    Remark: Trash produces trash,


    >>


    Inspecting the pill gave him the answer. It was a failed product. Of course the remark was ignored since he had gotten used to them.


    What surprised him was that even though it was a failed product there was still an unknown effect. Of course he wouldn''t take the pill just to find out what it was, after all it just might be a negative one.


    But he wasn''t disheartened by his failure to create the Small Pill of Detoxification since it was only his first try. Instead he was full of eagerness to try again. Sadly his mana was depleted and he had to wait for it to replenish again. Since this would take at least a hour he went over the process of his refining in the hope of finding out why he had failed.


    He did try another two times which all ended in failure before deciding to stop for today and instead go to sleep. After all it was already late and he had to go out hunting tomorrow.


    As soon as he lied down in his sleeping bag he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.


    The next morning he awoke when the sun shined in through a small gap between the curtain and the wall at the entrance of the cave. Even though the floor was rock hard he had been able to sleep well which could surely be attributed to his exhaustion on the day before.


    Once again he ate some rations as breakfast and then went down from the cave.


    Below the cave there laid a valley through which a small stream flowed. On one end was a waterfall while the other was open and was where he did come from.


    After taking a bath in the stream which sparkled in the morning sun and was ice cold he then got ready to continue with his mission.


    Yesterday he had found some more marks made by the claws of Steelback Bears near the entrance to the small valley so he was hopeful that he would be able to find some in the surrounding forest.


    As such he didn''t remove his things from the cave but instead decided to keep them there. He then created a marker on his map so he would easily find his way back before taking out his sword and leaving the serene valley.


    Now that the terrain was much more mountainous there weren''t as many high trees anymore and the sun was able to reach the ground a lot more which lead to a great difference in the atmosphere as Ivan felt much more relaxed than in the dim light of the forest at the plainer terrain.

 46 Hunting

    Because of that he decided to search the hills first since he really didn''t fancy going back into the dim forest, besides that he felt that the chances to find his prey there was higher. Not only that, the amount of herbs growing in the hills would be higher too.


    Once again an alert youth moved through the forest collecting herbs and checking the trees for the characteristic marks of the Steelback Bear.


    Soon he found a tree that was marked and he started to look for others close by. Soon he found another two and was now better able to calculate the territory of the Steelback Bear.


    Of course he couldn''t be absolutely sure that the marks were from the same one but the size and the distance of the claw marks was very similar so it was likely for them to belong to the same Steelback Bear.


    Now that he had a reduced area to search he soon found the Bear that had made the marks. Unlike the first one he had met it was just an F grade one. As such with his experience from his first fight he was able to easily slay it.


    Sadly he still wasn''t able to skin it well enough and as such the hide was once again ruined but at least it was better than before.


    After finishing the cleanup he then continued his hunt but wasn''t able to find another one until it got late.


    After returning to the cave he once again called his daughter for a chat. Following the call he then practiced his pill refining without much success.


    Like this a week passed during which he hunted during the day and practiced pill refining during the evening.


    Now that a week had passed he had finally managed to collect the 10 Steelback Bear pelts he needed for his mission. He also had at least 100 kg of bear paw, but sadly he didn''t get another Blood Essence. As such he had a decision to make on whether to go back or continue for a bit more. After all he would be able to gain some more contribution points by hunting for more pelts. Since he wasn''t able to decide he decided to call his mentor.


    "So you finally decided to call me? If your daughter didn''t tell me about your talks I wouldn''t even have known whether you were still alive or not."


    Only now did Ivan realize that he had completely forgotten to call his mentor ever since he left the capital. Even though he didn''t explicitly said that he should call it would still have been prudent to do it.


    "Sorry. It just slipped my mind."


    He could then hear his mentor laughing at him.


    "Was it that much fun to be outside of the capital and hunt?", his mentor then asked, giving him the feeling that he could see right through him.


    Ivan could only admit it embarrassed, "Yeah, it was great to experience something so different."


    "That''s good. Then why did you call? Because I''m sure you didn''t call just because you missed hearing my voice."


    "Oh. I called because I wanted a second opinion on whether I should stay to hunt a bit more or come back."


    "You managed to get everything for the quest?"


    "Yes, but only just. If I stay I could get some more pelts which I could submit but I''m not sure if it is worth the time."


    "The bit of contribution points you would get for it is surely not worth it but the question is if you would be able to gain more experience by continuing and that is something only you can decide on."


    Ivan thought back at the last fights he had against Steelback Bears and how easy he felt they were.


    "Well to be honest I found the last few fights quite easy."


    "Then you wouldn''t gain much by continuing. Did you find anything else you can do there better than here?"


    "Such like?"


    "There are sometimes spots which are much better for training than artificial environments. These are often high cliffs, waterfalls or caves."


    Ivan thought about all the areas he had explored but nothing special came to his mind.


    "I don''t think so.", only after saying that he remembered the ease at which he was able to find herbs around here so he hurriedly followed up with, "But there are lots of common herbs to be found around here and I have used them for practice."


    "These herbs can be easily bought here in the city so that''s not really a good reason."


    "But I don''t have money to buy them."


    Once again he could hear his mentor laugh at him.


    "Haha, did you forget your mission reward? Besides that these kinds of common herbs can be bought for only a few contribution points per kg."


    Once he heard that he let out a surprised gasp, "So cheap?"


    "Don''t forget that even though contribution points aren''t worth much if you exchange them for silver or gold, they are much harder to get and since they can''t be exchanged for money many use resources to trade for them. Because of the exchange rules one contribution point is only worth one silver but can be used to buy resources worth more than five silver."


    After hearing the explanation Ivan understood the reasoning behind it but was still quite surprised. He had never taken a closer look at exchange rates for the contribution points and to make it worse he didn''t even have a good feeling about the worth of the currency used in the empire.


    "I guess there is no reason to stay here then.", he sighted. Even though life in this little valley was hard and primitive he had still enjoyed his stay here and would miss the freedom he enjoyed here.


    Hearing the sad tone in his students voice his mentor chuckled. He had felt the same way when he had to return to the capital for the first time. Living in the wilderness was really something special.

 47 Rewards

    Now that he had decided to leave there was no use procrastinating so he didn''t hesitate to clean up the cave he had stayed in and getting ready to leave.


    Once again he had to traverse the dark forest before reaching the grassland. Even though he hurried it was only three days later that he arrived at the gates to the safe zone around the capital.


    * I''m finally back. *, he couldn''t help but think while being filled with happiness. Even though his stay in the valley and the mountains around it wasn''t all that bad it was the way back that had reallystressed his mind. He silently swore to himself to never again cross the grassland without a mount that could drastically reduce the time needed.


    As soon as he stepped through the thin magical membrane he was back in civilization and the system informed him that certain options were once again unlocked like the shop and teleport option which wouldn''t work in the wilderness.


    He then hurriedly teleported back to his room at the campus and without wasting even a second ran into the bathroom.


    He couldn''t wait to get rid of his clothes that he had now worn for nearly two weeks. And even though they were still clean because of the enchantments on them it didn''t stop him from feeling disgusted by them. It wasn''t a rational feeling but it still existed.


    After throwing the clothes aside he then stepped into the shower and turned on the water. The feeling of it washing over his skin was heavenly and not comparable to that of washing in a waterfall.


    Grabbing a bar of soap he then thoroughly cleaned himself until his skin was red.


    "Finally I am feeling clean again."


    He then left the shower and put on some other clothes consisting of a simple jeans and t-shirt. Since they were wider than his uniform it gave him the feeling of being free and unrestrained.


    Taking one look at his uniform he had thrown into a corner he couldn''t be bothered to care about it and as such just left it lying there for now.


    After cleaning himself up he now once again felt like a human being and he proceeded to call his mentor.


    "Hello mentor."


    "Hey, Ivan. You are back?"


    "Yes. I just got back.", he didn''t mention the hour he had spend under the shower as he thought that it would better not to tell him that.


    "Haha, let me guess you just came out of the shower."


    A flash of surprise appeared in Ivans eyes but it soon vanished. He had slowly gotten used to his mentor seemingly being able to guess his actions.


    "Yes.", he could only admit.


    "That''s normal. Everyone does that after they come back from the wilderness.", his mentor seemed to guess his feelings and appeased him, " So now that you are back come meet me at the Beluga so you can get your missions rewards."


    After saying that he ended the call.


    Ivan once again stood before the door of the Beluga. This time when he pushed open a waitress greeted him and offered to lead him to the room his mentor was located in. He wondered why the waitress didn''t ask for his membership card like last time. To satisfy his curiosity he asked the waitress the question.


    "You membership card is from this cafe and after you entered it connected with our system and informed us about your status and in your case your mentor. And since your mentor made the request to directly bring you to him in case you enter the cafe we know what to do.", the woman patiently explained.


    "Oh, then this only works for the cafe the card is from?"


    "Yes, because of security reasons the card will only connect with the system of the home cafe."


    "Then if I enter another cafe I have to show my card?"


    "Yes, and that is the only thing you have to do. So at another cafe you only have to inform the staff of your status. Anything else is unnecessary."


    It seemed like it was easy to stay anonym in other cafes than the home cafe but he wondered how they checked if the owner of the card was really the one holding it. But after thinking about it a bit he realized that there should be some kind of enchantment on the card that ensured it.


    Before he could ask the waitress another question they arrived at the door to the room which she opened, leading him inside.


    "You are here.", his mentor greeted him and let his gaze rove over his body. He then nodded in satisfaction. "Seems like the adventure did you good."


    Ivan didn''t know how he arrived at this conclusion since he thought that he looked like always.


    His bewilderment must have shown on his face since his mentor laughed and the waitress to let out a small giggle which she had tried to suppress unsuccessful.


    Van Bergen looked at the waitress and asked, "Do you want to tell him or should I?"


    Seeing the way his mentor spoke to the waitress prompted him to take another look at her and he realized that she was the one that had brought them their drinks last time. He wasn''t sure of her name but it seemed to be Julia or something like this.


    "Then I will Sir.", the waitress nodded at his mentor while smiling gently. When he saw that Ivan thought that there was something going on between them.


    "It is your aura, Sir. When you came here before you didn''t have any but now you do.", seeing the lost look on his face she then continued to explain.


    "Aura is what we call the subconscious effect we have on our surroundings. For example people that have killed will accumulate killing intent which then seeps into their surrounding creating the feeling of danger in others around them. But of course there are other things that make up your aura it is just that in most cases a persons aura contains at least killing intend as well a feeling of power."

 48 Aura

    "For stronger persons that can even be used to influence their foes but this requires a huge difference between them. Of course aura can be retracted as well but that requires training."


    "Oh, thank you for the explanation. Then what changed about my aura?"


    "Your aura now contains killing intend which wasn''t there before. And to be exact it is the kind of killing intend that is clear and pure and not of the baleful kind."


    When Ivan head this his first thought was that he should have had killing intend before since he had killed monsters before going into the wilderness but then he remembered what had happened after his first encounter with a Steelback Bear and how dungeon monsters hadn''t count there. From that he guessed that they didn''t count towards killing intent either.


    That only left the second question, "There are different kind of killing intent?"


    "Of course. Nothing is simple in life and killing intent is no exception. It is heavily influenced by the feelings and goals one has while killing as well as how one kills. If one kills in order to get resources or defend oneself then the killing intend will be clear and pure, but if one kills just for fun or for the killing itself then it will become dark and baleful. Besides that there is the way one kills. If the kills are without deliberate torture then it will be clear and pure but if it is with then it will be dark and baleful."


    "So that means that I didn''t torture my enemies while killing them?", Ivan asked after remembering one of his fights where he had slowly killed a Bear by letting him bled out. To him that had seemed to be quite torturous.


    "Generally yes.", the waitress confirmed.


    "Oh. Then how come I can''t feel either my aura or that of my mentor.", he asked. Making use of the opportunity that someone was willing to explain.


    "I told you before that one can retract ones aura and most people will do that if they aren''t fighting so they don''t disturb anyone. Besides that if one hasn''t trained any aura skills one can only feel auras if they are much stronger than yours."


    "You said that most people wouldn''t retract their aura during fighting, why is that?"


    "That''s because ones aura is an important tool during fights. Not only can it be used to make the opponent feel pressure it can also be integrated into ones skills to increase their lethality. Of course all of that depends on the strength of both parties aura."


    He nodded deep in thoughts as he thought about what she had told him. He guessed using aura during a fight could lead to the opponent feeling more pressure or even get them to freeze up during an important moment.


    Seeing that he didn''t have any other questions the waitress returned her focus to her job.


    "What would you like to drink, Sir?"


    This time Ivan didn''t want to drink coffee since even though it had tasted good it wasn''t really his thing but since he had no clue as to what was available he could only ask.


    "We have many different beverages available. You can check out or menu on the screen after you used you card or you can tell me your preferred taste and I will recommend something. Of course there is also the option of letting me surprise you. I''m sure I will be able to select something that is to your taste."


    The last sentence was spoken full of conviction and pride.


    "Then I''ll leave it to you."


    She nodded and then left the room.


    "Good now turn in your mission and then I''ll teach you how to retract your aura since it will be better if not everyone can feel it."


    Ivan then used his card to activate the screen in the table. After the menu appeared he navigated to the mission he had taken and pressed the submit button. As soon as he pressed it a compartment opened on one of the walls with a sign to put the items required for the quest into it.


    Pulling out the ten pelts and 100 kg of meat he put all of that into the compartment which managed to hold it even though it seemed way to small. There had to be a space enchantment on it which increased the internal size of it as well as enabled it to teleport the contend away.


    As soon as he closed the compartment a notification popped up on the screen.


    ''You have fulfilled the selected mission. You have been awarded 100 CP for the submitted pelts as well as 500 CP for the submitted bear paws. Since this is the first mission you have done for the Slavers Alliance you have awarded an additional 50 CP. We hope that you can complete many more and help our Slavers Alliance to grow and prosper.''


    The 50 extra CP were nice but what was really important was that he finally had some money to buy things.


    He quickly checked his inventory and saw the 650 CP. He couldn''t stop his happiness from showing on his face and he broke out into a wide smile.


    His mentor could only shake his head at this sight but his lips too curled up into a small smile.


    At this moment the door opened and the waitress came back in. A glint of surprise flashed through her eyes when she saw the look of delight on Ivans face but it was to fast for either of them to see.


    "Your beverage Sir."


    She then put down a cup made of glass on the table. She positioned it so that it wasn''t on the screen but as close as possible to him without it being in danger of him knocking against it.


    Ivan then took a look at the content of the cup but wasn''t able to identify it.


    "This is?"

 49 Five Herbs Tea

    "This is a tea made from five different herbs, which leads to it having a fresh but mild taste. Of course this is only the lowest variant, so it doesn''t provide any bonuses."


    "Tea can provide bonuses?"


    "Of course. Just like pill refining the art of tea making is a path of creating consumables that grant boosts to the consumer."


    "Oh, this is the first time I hear about it. Then which one of the both is more useful?"


    The waitress let out a small laugh which lit up her pretty face. For the first time Ivan took the time to really take a look at her and was surprised at how beautiful she was. Her skin was smooth like jade and white like cream without any blemishes. Her figure was well proportioned with curves where there should be curves and flat where it should be flat. Sadly the uniform she wore hid most of it since it was very conservative but he felt that her figure shouldn''t be any inferior to that of Lara who was the best looking woman he had seen before. Of course her face was fitting to the rest of the body as it was well formed with a noble look. Her surprisingly large eyes were of a soft blue color which contrasted in a fascinating way with her jet black hair that she wore in a ponytail. Her nose was straight and he mouth was small but well formed. Together they created a harmony that captivated anyone who looked at it.


    The waitress had started to explain him the differences between pill refining and the art of tea making when she realized that Ivan didn''t listen but instead stared at her with an captivated look in his eyes.


    "Sir?", she called him in an attempt to wake him up but he didn''t react to her call, which he only experienced as a heavenly melody.


    Van Bergen who had concentrated on enjoying his own beverage looked up only now to find his student staring at the waitress with a captivated gaze.


    "What happened?"


    "I don''t know Sir. He just suddenly became absent minded."


    Suddenly her expression turned into a startled one.


    "It can''t be.", she then exclaimed.


    He looked at her and asked inquisitive, "What can''t be? Did you think of something that happened?", after all it was his student who sat there absentminded and he found it weird.


    "Sir, you know that the cafe uses illusions so that us staff is as inconspicuous as possible, right?"


    "Yes, it is one of the nice features here."


    "I would guess that he saw through these illusions, even though there should be no way for him to do that."


    When he heard these words he relaxed visible. It seemed that it wasn''t as problematic as he had feared.


    "Don''t worry about that. This guy is a bit weird and sometimes does things that would surprise you."


    "If you say so."


    "But still I am surprised that seeing through the illusions on you would lead to him entering such a state.", he then continued as he thought about his nice, which was beautiful enough to ruin countries. After seeing her so much he would have thought that this student of his would be able to resist any beauty.


    "Well, I am not to sure why either, because even though my teachers have always said I am very beautiful I have never felt that it was so."


    "Then did anyone else who saw you have a similar reaction?"


    "Nobody besides my teachers have seen me without the illusions before."


    While they had talked Ivan had been able to awake from his trance. Even though he had been lost in his admiration of her beauty he had still been able to hear everything that had been said. When he heard the last sentence he couldn''t help but ask, "You haven''t meet anyone besides your teachers outside of the cafe?"


    The both of them looked at him with worry.


    "You are ok?", his mentor asked him in a worried tone.


    "Sure, I was just surprised. After all I didn''t expect her to be on the same level as Lara, if not even a bit more beautiful."


    Van Bergen starred at the waitress with awe. Even with his life experience he hadn''t met any woman more beautiful than his nice.


    Under the gaze of the both of them the waitresses face flushed red, which only served to increase her charm, nearly making Ivan fall once again into a trance. After all even though Lara''s face was of similar beauty her facial expressions were just to cold and couldn''t evoke the same feeling as the one of this girl.


    She then hurriedly changed the topic so they would stop staring at her.


    "To answer your question. Yes I have never met anyone outside of the cafe. Like the others who work here I am an orphan which has been groomed by the cafe since birth so I would be capable of taking on the tasks given to me."


    "Oh, but isn''t it boring to always stay in this cafe only?"


    "Don''t misunderstand. Even though we are groomed by the cafe we don''t stay in it all the time. We go to school like anyone else and have our free time to do whatever we want. It is just that because of security reasons that we always have a illusion on us that changes the way we look."


    Hearing that and combining it with what he knew about the cafe he was quickly able to understand why it was handled like this.


    "So it is because the cafe want''s to guard you against villains trying using you to gather information inside the club."


    "Yes that is one of the reason. But another is to enable us to act normal outside of the cafe, since all of us have outstanding looks and temperament as well as skills."

 50 Pe

    "All of you?", Ivan couldn''t believe what she had said because the waitresses he had met were very powerful.


    "Yes. That was the reason we were selected for grooming. These without outstanding talent and look aren''t able to enter the training program and can only stay at one of the common orphanages the cafe owns."


    "But why does their look matter if you are always under an illusion?"


    "That is because of the high level service our Beluga offers. If you have a high enough rank then it is possible that the Beluga Corporation awards you with a personal staff which will only serve you. And the one we serve is then the only person who may see our true appearance and decide on who else can see it."


    "Oh so it is like that. Then what will happen now that I saw your appearance?", Ivan asked nervously. Hopefully they wouldn''t create any problems for him now.


    "I don''t know. We will have to ask the manager about it.", the waitress too looked uneasy. After all she too would be in trouble depending on the decision.


    "Can''t we just be quite about it and keep it for ourselves?", he asked, thinking that it would be the safe option.


    "No, we can''t. Besides the possibility of the illusion having been broken showed up on the maintenance system I won''t do that.", she said heatedly. Obviously being strongly against the thought of keeping something from the corporation. It seemed like her loyalty was very strong.


    "Alright, alright. It was just an idea. There is no need to get so fired up."


    "Whatever. You finish your talk and then we will go see the manager.", she huffed and then left the room.


    "Wow you really got a talent of making woman angry and getting into weird situations. But why are the woman always drop dead gorgeous?"


    "Pfft, you didn''t even see how she looks.", Ivan felt slightly pissed of because of the way the waitress had talked and then having to listen to his mentor making fun of him.


    "Alright enough of that, lets get back to what I wanted to talk about with you. Now that you have finished your first mission it is time for you to tame your first pet."


    Once he heard these word Ivans eyes did light up.


    "Really?"


    "Of course. At the same time you will become a real member of the Slavers Alliance and gain the rank F. Of course that also means that you will have to do the five missions a month which you have been able to avoid until now."


    "I knew that this would happen sometimes so I think it should be fine. I''ll just do some easy and fast missions for that."


    "That''s the spirit. I have already selected a monster for you to tame and it is an old friend of you."


    "A friend of mine?", Ivan had to ponder for a bit to get an idea of which monster his mentor meant, "You mean the boss of the Caves of Leuren?"


    "Yes. It is very strong for your first pet. Much stronger than the usual pet but you should be able to do it. And if not you can just try as many times as you need."


    "Will it work? After all it is a dungeon creature."


    "So you have already realized that the creatures in a dungeon are different from these in the wilderness? But you don''t have to worry. In this aspect they work the same."


    "How come? I thought that when one tames a creature it would be taken away by the tamer, including its spirit and essence, but dungeon creatures don''t have them."


    "You really have to tell me how you came to know about spirit and essence later. But on the point of how the tame skill works you are slightly wrong. In reality the taming process is similar to what happens with dungeon creatures. The skill makes an imprint of the creature which is then stored inside the pet dimension. This imprint is more of an copy then a transformation of the creature, so it doesn''t conflict with the workings of dungeons."


    "Then the summoned pets don''t have any essence either?"


    "They do, but it is bound to the imprint in the pet dimension and as such can''t be acquired without acquiring the pet dimension itself. After all only by it being this way it is possible to summon it again after it has died."


    "So it is like this."


    "Well I have heard that there are other ways of doing it which is called the contractual way, but it requires much higher base levels and is stuff of the legends."


    "Then why doesn''t everyone make the boss their first pet and instead have weaker ones?", he then asked the other question he had.


    "That''s because during the taming process you have to defend against the attacks of the creature you want to tame and nobody is allowed to help you. Not only will the taming fail the system will also punish all parties involved. I guess it is a form of control so it isn''t possible to just tame an ultra strong creature with the help of others and then breeze through everything in ones way."


    "Oh, ok. That sounds reasonable. Then do I have to be careful of anything while taming the boss?"


    "No, just don''t kill it during the time the spell needs to finish."


    The both of them fell silent and enjoyed their beverage. Ivan had to admit that the tea the waitress had gotten him was very much to his taste. The refreshing feeling helped him to relax and enjoy the silence.


    As such the two of them sat in the room with a relaxed atmosphere enjoying their tea and neither of them was willing to destroy the silence just yet. Slowly the minutes went by and Ivans eyes closed. The past day had been very stressful and the rest now made him sleepy.

 51 Servan

    Finally having finished his tea Van Bergen came back out of his relaxed state and looked at his student who had fallen asleep.


    "I guess he is really tired after staying in the wilderness so long."


    He then carefully got up and opened the door only to find the waitress standing before it. Touching his lips with a finger he signaled her to be quiet and then closed the door behind him.


    "The management came to a decision?"


    "Yes, so I have been told to get Mr. Hope as soon as possible."


    Van Bergen nodded.


    "Can you do me a favor and wait for a bit more? That rascal is currently asleep and he had two strenuous weeks after him."


    "Then I''ll wait 30 minutes more. Is that alright?"


    "Of course. Thank you."


    With that he left, leaving behind his sleeping student.


    Exactly 30 minutes later the waitress opened the door and entered the room.


    When her gaze fell on the soundly sleeping young man who had his head down on the table and a faint trace of saliva running down his chin she couldn''t help but feel bemused.It was usual to see someone sleeping so deep in one of the rooms of the cafe. After all the price one had to pay for them was astonishing high.


    She then closed in on him and proceeded to wake him up, which wasn''t an easy task since Ivan was really exhausted.


    As soon as he woke up he let out a huge yawn and looked at the one that had awoken him.


    "Oh, it is you. Where is my mentor?"


    "He left earlier. Now lets get going the manager is already waiting for us."


    She then left the room and he hurriedly ran after her.


    In a small office with simple decor a man sat behind a large desk. He seemed completely unremarkable but Ivan was sure that in truth this man must be a formidable expert. Because if not there was no way that he could be the manager of this cafe if the rest of the staff was already as formidable as the waitress seated besides him.


    "I''m sure you understand why I have called you here. But I will tell you anyway. It is because you have seen Julias true appearance.", the man made a pause during which he stared at Ivan as if trying to see through him. When he had first heard about what had happend he couldn''t believe it after all even people stronger than him were unable to see through the illusion and during all his time working for the Beluga Corporation he hadn''t heard of any case where something like this had happened.


    And even his superiors hadn''t heard of any case, which made the boy in front of him a first.


    Of course the two young ones in front of his desk didn''t dare to utter even a slight sound as long as they weren''t asked directly.


    "I''m sure the two of you want to now the decision of the superiors as soon as possible so I won''t make it unnecessary suspenseful."


    *But aren''t you doing exactly this at the moment?*, Ivan couldn''t help to think in his heart. At the same time he wanted to curse at this guy because of him drawing it out.


    After another pause he finally told them what would happen.


    "Since it was a unforeseen event and not planned we have decided that Julia will become Ivans servant according to the rules. Of course this will only be implemented fully after Ivan reaches the necessary rank of membership. Until then you will stay here as a waitress like before but you will also be the only one responsible for serving Mr. Hope."


    Hearing this Ivan let out a sight of relieve. It seemed like nothing bad would come out of what had happened. Julia too was happy with the decision since for her nothing had really changed and there wasn''t even an punishment like she had feared.


    Seeing the expression of relief on the faces of the two the manager couldn''t help but curl up the corners of his mouth.


    "Alright that was everything. The two of you can get going now."


    He then made a shoo gesture with his hand and the two of them got of from their seats. They then bowed and left the room with steps that had a slight spring in them.


    "Then I''ll get going.", Ivan said to the waitress whose name he had only found out for sure.


    "Goodbye Mr. Hope.", Julia too said goodbye to him and then skipped away.


    Seeing her leave so happily a look of amusement appeared on Ivans face and he shook his head. In some ways this girl appeared mature but then she acted like a litte child.


    After leaving the cafe he received a message from his mentor telling him to meet him at the training hall tomorrow morning. After sending a short message that he would be there he then went back to his room. He shortly thought about going out to meet his daughter but even though he had slept in the cafe for a bit he still felt very tired and as such decided to postpone it to the next day, after all he had chatted with her every evening so it wouldn''t matter if he only visited her the next day. Of course that were only his thoughts.


    As soon as he entered his room he walked over to the bed and let himself fall down on it.


    "This softness is just heavenly."


    He lay there enjoying the softness of the bed and thought back to the last two weeks. Even though they were filled with dangers and hardships they too were two weeks were he had learned more than during his half of year at school. Of course that was only for the practical aspects and it was only possible because of the foundation created through his studies.


    Unknowingly he fell asleep.

 52 Aura Suppression

    The next morning he was awakened by the sound of his alarm.


    *F**k is it already 8 o''clock? *, he couldn''t help but curse when he saw the time on his interface. Since he was so tired before going to bed yesterday he now had the feeling that he had absolutely not slept enough and he fervently wanted to sleep a bit more.


    Sadly his mentor had told him to come to the training room at 9 so if he wanted to take a shower and eat some breakfast he could only grit his teeth and get up.


    After a hot steamy shower he went downstairs to the cafeteria which he had used ever since he started living here. Even though the food wasn''t anything special it was filling and most important free.


    As always the breakfast consisted of some eggs, bread and bacon. On one of the dispensers he got a glass of orange juice and then went towards his usual table. Surprisingly there was already someone seated at it. That had never happened before, since all the inhabitants of this dorm had silently divided the tables among them.


    "Good morning.", Ivan greeted the elderly man sitting at the table before placing his tablet down.


    The man looked up and surprise flashed through his eyes, but it was to fast for Ivan to see.


    "Morning.", he then answered. His voice was old but still full of vigor and there was a indescribable fluctuation in it with seemed to pressure Ivan.


    Without another word Ivan then sat down and started to devour his breakfast.


    * This young one isn''t bad. Let''s see how he fares in the tournament in one month.*, the elderly man opposite of him thought to himself.


    Ivan hurriedly finished his breakfast since he had spent a bit to much time under the shower. But how could he resist the heavenly feeling of hot water running down on his body? Before his adventure he hadn''t felt this way, but now his view had changed.


    At exactly 9 o''clock he arrived at the training room where Van Bergen was already waiting for him. Then after greeting each other they entered the room.


    "Do you remember what Julia told you about aura yesterday?"


    "Of course."


    "Good then we can directly move on to the ways to suppress your aura."


    "There are different ways?"


    "Of course, after all suppressing your aura is a form of aura control and even though the way to do it is the same that is to not let it outside of your body there are different ways to go about it. So to be exact you won''t be learning a skill to suppress your aura but one to control it."


    "So one can utilize ones aura?"


    "Of course. Didn''t you listen yesterday? Julia clearly told you that ones aura has an subconscious effect on ones surroundings so why shouldn''t one be able to make this effect conscious? Of course it isn''t easy and it needs much practice but it is possible to focus some elements of ones aura to influence the minds of others. For example if you were able to extract your killing intent from your aura and then focus it on a person you could induce fear in this person. Which if you have a strong enough killing intent and the target has a weak enough mind could even kill it. So tell me if it could be useful?"


    "But shouldn''t the ones capable of being ones foes have similar mental strength?"


    "Sure, and then it wouldn''t be of much effect, but it can still help. But besides that the most terrifying thing in the wilderness aren''t the strong monsters, because it is usually possible to avoid them but the weak ones that arrive in extremely large hordes. If they surround someone there is no way that one could use ones mana or stamina to completely kill all of them, even escaping would be hard.


    These are the situations killing intent is most useful in, since it cost only small amounts of mental strength to emit it for a long time and if it can kill these weak monsters one can even use it to completely exterminate such a horde."


    Ivan was able to understand what his mentor meant and nodded while thinking about how scary such a large horde of monsters would be.


    "Good, then lets get started. First you have to sense your aura. For that you have to first enter your mental space."


    "Mental space?"


    "Oh, I forgot that you wouldn''t have gotten that far in school yet.", he slightly hit himself with his palm as if in disbelieve that he could make such a mistake.


    "You know about the inside of your mind from your lessons about mana right?"


    "Yes.", they had learned about it in their firstlesson and since then he had instinctively always accessed it when he used mana.


    "But I am sure you haven''t tried to enter it with your mind ever since then right?"


    "Yes.", Ivan was a bit embarrassed since even though he had always practiced controlling his mana he had never returned to the source of it.


    Seeing the embarrassed blush on his face the corners of Van Bergens mouth curled up.


    "Don''t worry about it. Most people don''t do it after the first success and to be honest there isn''t much use either since we can access our mana without doing it."


    "But shouldn''t it be better to control the mana directly from its source."


    "Better yes, easier no. You can experiment with it later. For now go enter the inside of your mind."


    Ivan started to follow the mediating routine his teacher had thought him and soon he got the feeling of hovering in a small void. It was spherical and completely black with only a small blue ball at the center.


    He then tried splitting his mind so he could talk to his mentor and ask how to proceed.

 53 Soul Division

    Splitting his mind to communicate with the outside world was much harder than he expected and he had to try repeatedly before succeeding.


    It worked by splitting of a small part of his soul form and using it to leave the space inside his mind. The feeling of splitting his soul form was one that was extremely painful and terrifying but after he had started there was no way for him to stop.


    Finally a small part was split off and as soon as the last connection to the rest was cut of it reformed to become a smaller version of his main soul form. His main soul form too reformed to form the same form as before wich was a splitting image of himself.


    << Congratulation you have created the skill Soul Division by splitting your soul form and resisting the resulting pain. >>


    Surprisingly this act of him had given him a new skill and any remnants of pain he felt vanished with the sound of the prompt popping up.


    << Skill Soul Division (Unique) Lvl. 1


    Passive


    By splitting your soul form you have created a second form that can act independently from the main form. This allows you to effectively multitask on the highest level.


    Remarks: The second form can''t leave the body until it''s level is high enough.


    Comment: One has to be either stupid or crazy to even try something like this. Who would have thought that it could work.


    >>


    * Wow this comment from the system is even worse than the ones before. *, Ivan couldn''t help but be disgruntled by the comment left by the system, but he wondered why there was no rank but only the word ''unique'' at the header of this skill.


    Before he could try to click on it to hopefully get more information the next popup came up.


    << Congratulation you have gained the title Unique >>


    << Title: Unique (Legendary)


    You are a unique existence, since you posses 1 unique skill.


    + 5 Honor each day


    To reach level 2 you have to gain 1 more unique skill, title or item.


    Comment: You sure are uniquely stupid and unlikable.


    >>


    * Holy s*t. *, this time his surprise concerning the reward for this tile way outweighed his unhappiness towards the comment. After all these were five honor points each day which meant that he now got six time as much as before. And he could even buy the pill, that would increase a random unlocked stat by 1-3 forever, every four days.


    But this wasn''t the end of it as the next popup appeared.


    << Congratulation you have discovered a completely new characteristic of the soul form and as such you will be rewarded with one Golden Lottery Ticket.


    Comment: Why?? Oh why??


    >>


    This time he had to laugh inside his heart when he read the comment. It seemed like the system was really unhappy with him discovering something it didn''t seem to know.


    But even more important was the lottery ticket, since he had never heard of something like this before. He hurriedly checked his inventory and found something new floating in it.


    It looked like the ticket for the train he took to the outpost but was made from an unknown material which was extremely smooth and had a golden color that was only disrupted by dark red runes carved into it.


    << Golden Lottery Ticket


    A ticket that is given by the System for extraordinary feats and can be used to get one random item from the Golden Lottery Pool.


    Hold it in your hand and inject some mana into it to activate it.


    >>


    Even though the description didn''t tell him much it still invoked the desire to try it out in him. But for now he had to postpone it and first ask his mentor on how to proceed.


    He used his secondary soul form to take control of his body while his main soul form stayed in the space inside of his mind.


    As soon as he once again regained control of his body he realized that with the current strength of his secondary soul form he was only barely able to control it and only basic movements could be made. It would be impossible to use it to fight and he could only relay on his main soul form for that.


    Van Bergen had watched his student the whole time and when he saw him open his eyes he asked, "So what did you see?"


    Ivan was surprised by the question and he checked out the void again, since he was sure that his mentor hadn''t meant the blue ball of light. But even though he carefully checked once again he wasn''t able to see anything.


    "Nothing, only the small blue ball that is the source of my mana."


    "Nothing?", his mentor seemed surprised and a thoughtful look emerged on his face.


    "Hm, try again and this time get closer to the mana source."


    "Can''t you just tell me what I am looking for?"


    "That would be impossible, since it is slightly different for everyone."


    Ivan moved his main soul form closer to the ball in the center of the space and after he got so close that he was nearly able to touch it he saw that there were thin wisps of a dark liquid flowing around it.


    He told his mentor what he had seen and his mentor nodded in understanding.


    "The liquid should represent your mental power. Now try to collect it and form another ball out of it which then should move around your mana source like the moon circles the earth."


    Following the directions he had been given Ivan tried to collect the dark liquid but it was much harder than he had expected since the wisps were to fine and it was nearly impossible for him to touch them.


    Luckily nobody was able to see the scene inside the space as his main soul form ran after the wisps of dark liquid while trying to use its hands to catch them.

 54 Mental Hu

    *Damn there has to be a better method of doing this.*, Ivan thought but he wasn''t able to think of anything and asking his mentor was of no use as he only said that everyone had his or her own way of doing this and since he wasn''t a teacher he didn''t know the method of finding out the best way for him to do it.


    So the comical scene inside the space of his mind could only continue until there was finally no black liquid left flowing around the blue sphere.


    While collecting the liquid he had already formed it into a ball and now that it contained all the available liquid it''s exterior hardened until it became as hard asstone. Of course it was completely smooth without even the slightest irregularity.


    Watching it in fascination was Ivan and as soon as it finished its transformation he let it out of his hands and got it to orbit around the bigger blue sphere.


    As soon as it reached a stable orbit another change happened to it.


    From the blue sphere a thin stream of mana moved towards it and connected the two spheres. At the same time a deep droning sound appeared in the space which gave him a unfathomable feeling. It was like something would soon arrive which was of a much higher existence than himself.


    The mana continued to flow into the dark sphere and soon small cracks appeared on it.


    "What? No.", Ivan couldn''t help but scream into the void when he saw this sights. He had after all invested a lot into making this sphere and he absolutely didn''t want to once again run after this liquid in order to collect it.


    He tried to move closer to the sphere in the hope of being able to use his hands to hold it together but to his surprise he was unable to even get near it.


    Right when he collected his strength in order to try to surpass the invisible force rejecting his approach the dark sphere broke open completely.


    When Ivan saw what emerged from the broken sphere he let out his breath. Similar to how a chicken hatched form it''s egg a small hut emerged from the broken sphere.


    This hut wasn''t anything grand but looked exceedingly simple and plain. It was made from an unknown dark substance and besides the door there was no other opening. The door was closed but he felt that as long as he wished he could easily move through it and enter this hut.


    Below it the remains of the dark sphere had formed a small isle for the hut to stand on while the blue stream that was coming from the mana source slowly flowed around the isle before vanishing into it.


    Soon he could see thin wisps of bronze colored smoke coming out of the small chimney. These wisps circled once above the hut before moving towards the mana source. As soon as the first wisp of smoke touched the mana source the circle was established and Ivan could feel something in him change. His mind became clearer and he had the feeling that he was able to think faster.


    Besides that his body emitted a slight ripple and whatever it passed he was able to sense. After it spread out for not more than two meters it vanished and the feeling of being able to sense anything in his surrounding vanished with it, leaving only an area of around one meter behind where he could fuzzily sense anything bigger than five centimeters that was in it.


    When Van Bergen felt the invisible ripple he smiled proudly. His student had been able to create his mental space much faster than he had expected. Most people needed at least a few hours to manage to do it while some even needed more than a day. The half hour Ivan had used was very fast.


    "What now mentor?", Ivan''s words tore him out of his thoughts.


    "I guess you formed the hut?"


    "Yes. Could you tell me what exactly it is?"


    "Let''s do that later. First you should suppress your aura. For that enter the hut. You should then find a small flame located somewhere in it with black smoke coming out of it and then vanishing. If you have found this flame try to imagine a barrier around it that stops the smoke from going more than five centimeters away from it. After that you shouldn''t leak your killing intent anymore."


    In the space of his mind Ivan''s main soul form followed his mentors direction and easily entered the newly formed hut.


    The space inside the hut was much bigger than he had expected since it was at least fifty square meter while the outside was only about 50 square centimeters. Even though there wasn''t any light source the hut was brightly lit. There was nothing in it except a small black flame that was positioned in front of one of the walls. This flame was quite lively and it constantly changed form. When he took a closer look he could see that the forms taken were these of the monsters he had slain.


    Above the flame there was a thin wisp of black smoke that meandered upwards until it seemed to vanish into a small black whirlpool.


    * This must be the flame mentor talked of. But how do I create a barrier around it?* He had no idea on how to create a barrier. *He told me to imagine a barrier, but what should I imagine?*


    While he contemplated on how to create a barrier he saw something else from the corner of his eyes. Besides the black flame there was surprisingly another one which was much smaller. And because it was so small he had missed it while looking around before. This flame was much more stable than the black one and it was surrounded by a glass like substance that formed a perfect sphere.


    * That''s it. Why didn''t I think of it before.

 55 Bloodflame

    He decided to copy the sphere around the red flame and tried to imagine it appearing around the black flame too. Sadly his first tries didn''t work as even though a thin sphere appeared it shattered as soon as his concentration wavered.


    Time went by as he repeatedly tried forming the sphere and then maintaining without having to fully concentrate onit.


    * Don''t tell me I have to use my secondary mind form to keep this barrier in existence? No that can''t be. After all others can do it and they don''t have a secondary mind form. Besides the barrier on the red flame is stable on its own too.*


    He temporarily gave up on trying to create the barrier and instead changed his focus on studying the barrier around the red flame. Only after taking a closer look on it did he realize that unlike what he had thought before the barrier wasn''t still but instead rotated all the time.


    *So that''s how it works. The rotation should stabilize the barrier and keep it from falling apart.*


    He hurriedly applied his new insights onto the barrier he tried to form and was soon pleasantly surprised. Even though the barrier he made wasn''t as smooth as the other it was enough, as it was fully capable of stopping the black smoke while sustaining itself.


    Now that he had finished his task he once again shifted his concentration towards the red flame and tried to inspect it.


    << Bloodflame (Sealed)


    No information available


    >>


    Besides the name there were no useful information and Ivan could only resignedly shake his head. Maybe he could find something about it in the library but he kind of doubted it since he thought that if there were any then the system shouldn''t have said that there were no information available.


    Since he couldn''t find out anything about it he decided not to mess with it and instead left the space in his mind.


    "Seems like you were successful."


    "Of course, but why didn''t you tell me how to seal the flame?"


    "Because everyone does it in a different way, so nobody can help you with this.", he then paused for a bit and then continued, "Now that you have managed to seal the flame you can practice controlling the smoke during your free time. Try to infuse it into your mana and mental energy so you can use it with offensive skills."


    "Mental energy?"


    "Oh right, I didn''t tell you about that. After you formed the mental hut there should have come some smoke out of its chimney. This is what we call mental energy and like mana it can be pulled outside to be used in skills."


    "Ah, ok. Then what is the difference between it and mana?"


    "There are quite a few. For example one can connect ones spiritual sense to it.", he then hurriedly explained before Ivan could ask, "Spiritual sense is what we call the special perception one has after forming ones mental hut. I''m sure you have realized that you can sense items in a certain range around you. This is the effect of spiritual sense. After you merge it into your mental energy you can further expand it and with special skills create additional effects. Besides that mental energy can be used to influence your surroundings. Of course that uses up a lot of it."


    He then explained some of the finer things about it and Ivan soon understood the usefulness of using ones mental energy and spiritual sense.


    He then let his secondary soul form, that had nothing to do, practice controlling his mental energy and killing intent. This way he could make the most out of his time.


    "Alright now that this is out of the way let''s talk about how your future training will go."


    "I don''t have to do this hellish training anymore?"


    His mentor chuckled when he heard Ivan''s question, but when it reached Ivan''s ears it only filled him with fear. He was sure that the training his mentor had thought of would be even more terrifying than his current.


    "So you found it hellish? Then I''m sure you will like the new one.", he smiled sadistically.


    "You know mentor, something I really think you enjoy seeing me being tortured."


    "Well it sure is fun. But admit, it is effective."


    "Yeah, because if it wasn''t I would have long tried to get rid of you as my mentor."


    This time his mentor broke out in loud laughter.


    "Anyways lets get back to the topic at hand. As I told you yesterday it is time for you to get your first pet, which will be the dungeon boss. And after that you will have to hurry up and reach level 200 so you can enter the dungeon I have selected for you."


    "Level 200? Isn''t that way to high?"


    "That''s just the minimum requirement to enter the dungeon. The monster inside have a much higher level, but you should already be used to it."


    "But how do I manage to reach level 200? After all I am not even level 25 now."


    "Haven''t you used your training skill? I checked out your training partner and she is already above level 200 so you too should easily be able to reach it after you reach level 50 and release the stored energy to evolve your cells."


    "She is already above level 200? How come I didn''t realize that?"


    "Because you are dumb.", his mentor made fun of him, enjoying the look on his face.


    Luckily Ivan had long gotten used to his mentors sense of humor and was now able to ignore him, because if he wasn''t he would have surely exploded because of anger.


    "So I only have to reach level 50 and then I too will jump above level 200?"


    "That should happen. Of course you will need some time to reach level 50 but I''m sure you can manage to do that "

 56 Taming

    "I guess I can just continue with the same training as before."


    "I don''t think that will work. After all next week will be the newcomer tournament and for that you should reach at least level 200 or you will only embarrass yourselves. Besides that getting a good ranking in it will also help you to proceed since the resources allocated as well as the possible mission depend on it. At least for the first year."


    "What the? And you only tell me now? There is no way I can increase my stat to above level 50 with that training in one week."


    "Well remember that you theoretically only need one stat above 50 to reach level 50. But you should think about it carefully since it may have a surprising amount of influence on your future."


    "What do you mean? I have never heard about that before."


    "That''s no surprise since most people aren''t aware of it, but according to some research the alliance did it does have a slight influence on your cells. If one reaches 50 first in strength then ones cells gain a bit more explosive strength while endurance slightly increases the regeneration of cells. Agility will slightly increase your reaction speed. But in my opinion magic power is the best since it not only increases the rate at which one can absorb power from the surroundings, it can also slightly increase ones ability of comprehension. Of course this is balanced by the fact that it is much harder to raise."


    As soon as Ivan heard the benefits on raising ones magic power first he decided to do that. During his time in the wilderness he had already discovered that crafting pills the way he did had strong requirements on ones magic power and as such also significantly increased it. Besides that it was already his highest stat even though it was only at 26.


    Of course trying to raise his stats also meant that he would have to be careful not to die since that could destroy all the progress he had made.


    "Then shouldn''t I postpone going into the dungeon until I have reached level 50?", he thought about it and this was the best course of action he could find.


    "Not at all. After all the others too will have a pet so if you don''t have any then you will be in a serious disadvantage. Of course only taming the pet isn''t enough. You will have to train it and get used to fighting together with it."


    These words made sense to Ivan, so he could only nod his head.


    "Now get going, the less time you waste the better. If you can''t manage to get into the top ten of the tournament then I will find something to punish you."


    As soon as he heard this threat Ivan ran.


    Because he didn''t dare to delay he was unable to see his mentor shaking his head in amusement.


    He then rushed to the transfer station and teleported to the dungeon. Since he had to it many times before it was easy for him to go through it until he once again reached the boss room.


    As usual the boss sat on his stone in the center of the room. Ivan then started casting Tame. As soon as he started casting his mana left his body and formed into a dark blue rune which then moved towards the boss. It then entered the body of the boss and at the same moment it did the boss stood up.


    After standing up it''s body then did swell until it had double the size as before. It''s eyes turned red and the fur on it stood up. This was the enraged state any creature would enter if someone tried to tame it.


    On Ivan''s HUD a clock appeared which counted down from five minutes. This was the time required for the tame spell to finish and the time he had to defend against the bat''s attacks.


    While going through the rest of the dungeon he had already thought about how to fight the enraged boss and he had decided on first trying to run around it to waste it times as well as collect more information on how it had changed compared to the usual boss.


    He soon realized that one of the changes was it''s speed as while he usually was able to run away from it now he wasn''t able to and the boss managed to close the gap again and again. So he could only try to dodge it''s attack and use his sword when necessary to parry it''s attack.


    Because of it''s speed and strength he could only defend and had no way to counterattack.


    Slowly the seconds ticked by and soon he had already lasted two minutes. But even though he had managed to not get injured by the enraged boss he too had done no damage to it and his stamina was much more depleted than its judging by the way both of them moved.


    "Damn, this won''t work.", he called out in frustration. If he continued this way his stamina would run out before the tame skill finished and the enraged boss would have an easy time to kill him.


    As such he choose to change his tactic, and he stopped running. Instead he found one of the crevices in the wall he had used before, when he fought against the boss at the beginning. They were small enough that the bat wasn''t able to attack one with both wings but could only use one which reduced the difficulty of defending. Of course he too wasn''t able to dodge, so he had to block.


    Luckily even though the boss had been enraged his strength was reduced by the awkward angel it had to attack from since his wings too had increased in size.


    Of course even so he was only able to withstand a few hit''s before his arm started to hurt. As soon as that happened he used his mana to create a barrier which could withstand a few hits as well.

 57 Vlada

    By alternating this he was able to hang on for the entire five minutes. It was only in the last half minute that his mana ran out and he could only try alternating his hands to use his sword to defend.


    Sadly he wasn''t as proficient in using his sword with his left hand as he was with his right one, so his defense was much weaker and one wing strike went through nearly slicing of his arm.


    Luckily for him he managed to twist his body and instead take the hit with his body.


    Getting wounded wasn''t that bad since as long as he had HP his wounds would heal quickly and if worst came to worst he could just use Reincarnation. Loosing a limb on the other hand was different. Not only would HP be useless since it wasn''t able to regenerate lost limbs, Reincarnation too had problems with amputation. Even though the limb would reappear he had found out that he would loose his strength in it which reduced his stats. Surprisingly this only applied before his death. His guess was that it had something to do with his soul form and how the energy and info was stored in it.


    So whenever he had a choice he would try to avoid amputation even at the cost of his life.


    Now that he had slash in his belly which bled his stamina would reduce even faster. Luckily not much time was left and he was sure that he would be able to survive.


    Nearly half a minute later the boss finally stopped attacking him and became still. Then a blue glow slowly emerged from its body. At the same time its body shrank until it once again was of his usual size. It''s eyes to turned blue and it''s fur went down giving it a much more harmless appearance than before even though the blue eyes looked a bit weird in combination with its smooth black fur.


    Then Ivan felt a connection establish to it. It was very vague and only allowed him to feel it''s existence and his vague position. At the same time he could feel that he would be able to give it simple instructions through this connection.


    << Congratulation you have tamed your first monster. You have gained the title Monster Tamer >>


    << Monster Tamer (D)


    You have tamed one or more monsters.


    + 1 Inventory space (1 m3)


    >>


    Before doing anything else he first got out a healing pill and swallowed it, following which he could see his wound slowly close. Only then did he read through the prompt.


    * Great. The question is if this inventory space counts towards the base space or if it is an upgrade. *


    He didn''t spend much time contemplating about it and instead used inspect on the freshly tamed bat.


    << Vlada, Vampire Bat , Rank F >>


    The skill didn''t tell him much besides the name the race and the rank. Luckily a new icon had appeared on his interface which depicted a small monster.


    After clicking on it the pet menu appeared, which listed all his slaves and showed how much space he had in his slave space. There was currently only one slave and that was the vampire bat before him, which used up one of his five spaces.


    After selecting the icon of Vlada a new window opened which contained more details.


    << Vlada , Vampire Bat, Rank F


    Female


    Age: 20


    Level: 1


    Skills: Vampirism Lvl. 1, Wing Slash Lvl. 1


    >>


    << Skill: Vampirism (F)


    Drink the blood of an enemy to restore HP and get a temporary strength boost.


    >>


    << Skill: Wing Slash (F)


    Use the wings to create a saber of compressed air which can slash your enemies.


    >>


    Both of the skills were nothing special since they both were only rank F and quite generic.


    Of course this window too didn''t provide much information about Vlada and Ivan realized that he would only be able to understand more about her if they fought together.


    "So that''s why my mentor put so much emphasis on me training and fighting on it.", he realized.


    He then decided to directly use the other skill he had that influenced his slaves, which was Evolution.


    When he tried to use the skill he realized that it wasn''t as simple as he thought. Because after activating it not only drained the rest of his mana, it too drained all of his remaining HP except a very small amount and his newly formed mental energy too got drained into the skill matrix.


    All of these energies flowed out of his body and collected in front of him before creating a rune circle. At this moment the newly created seal on his killing intent broke and a small part of the flame too left his body to arrive at the center of the rune circle were it formed another profound rune that seemed to swallow all the light close to it. Finally he had to spit out a bit of blood that had a red light in it. This blood too formed small runes that circled around the black one inside the outer ring of runes formed by the three energies.


    At the same time the blood left his body he felt weakness overcome him and he realized that it should be the essence blood that he had already came in contact with when he found the essence blood crystals.


    He could only hope that the weakness was only temporary and not permanent. A quick look at his stats showed that they hadn''t decreased but there was a red - 15 besides each of them. But there was no indicator on whether it was permanent or not.


    While he had checked his stats the complex rune circle had decreased in size and was now only about 30 centimeters in diameter as opposed to 2 meters it was before. It too seemed to have finished shrinking as it started to spin rapidly before descending into Vlada.

 58 Evolution

    As soon as the rune circle entered Vladas body one could see huge changes to the body. It got more slender and streamlined, the wings increased in size while becoming more sturdy. All in all the body seemed more optimized for flight and speed then before. The fur too became smoother and gained a metallic shine.


    When Ivan looked at her she looked much more elegant than before, which he found highly satisfying. After all he had to show her to others and the better she looked along with a higher combat power the more he could feel proud of her.


    << Congratulation your slave Vlada has evolved from a Vampiric Bat to an Evolved Vampiric Bat.


    She has gained the skill Size Change (E)


    >>


    << Skill: Size Change, Rank E


    Changes the size of the caster. Available size is from 15 cm to 10 m.


    Remark: At maximum size this slave can be used as a flying mount.


    >>


    "Yes", Ivan couldn''t help but call out loudly in happiness when he read the remark of the skill. Aflying mount was something he had desperately wished for after experience the grass land during his last adventure. And now his first slave would be able to fulfill this wish.


    When the Bat saw his outburst of happiness it to screamed loudly to express its happiness about being able to make its owner happy.


    When Ivan heard it he couldn''t help laughing and he then stroke her fur. She then leaned closer towards him. He was sure that if she was a cat she would start purring.


    He then tried to use the mental link he had with her to get her to change to a smaller size since he would be able to carry her around like that and didn''t have to put her into the slave space.


    Spending more time with her even outside of combat should improve their connection so it would be useful to have her sit on his shoulder while he did his things.


    After trying for a while he finally managed to get her to use the skill and shrink into a cute 15 cm big bat. She then flew up to his shoulder and sat down on it.


    He patted her a bit more, enjoying the soft feeling of her fur before he left the dungeon with wide strides.


    After that he decided to not yet meet his mentor but instead try to level his magic power to 50 first. According to his plans he would do that by refining pills, but first he had to get some more medical herbs, since even though he collected quite a few during his stunt into the forest they wouldn''t be enough. Besides that he preferred to refine another pill which needed other medical herbs.


    He had searched for information on how to best buy these herbs and the best was seemed to be to buy them at a herbalist shop for CP. Of course this only worked for the shop on the Slavers Alliance Campus since other shops wouldn''t accept CP.


    Soon he arrived at the largest herbalist shop on campus. Even though there were others these mostly dealt with special herbs while this one dealt with high volume sales of common herbs.


    As soon as he opened the door and entered the building a refreshing scent of medical herbs wafted over him. He couldn''t help but inhale it while a relaxed expression appeared on his face.


    He then looked around the shop.


    At the walls to the side there were crates of herbes displayed. All of the crates contained at least 50 different stalks and above them there was a expansive description of it as well as the price per kilogram. The price was given in gold as well as in CP enabling the customers to better decide on how to sale.


    On the side opposite of the door was a long counter at which two salesman stood. They didn''t try to help the customers in the shop but instead only waited for them to order something and then serve them.


    Ivan''s gaze swept over the creates of herbs and he soon found the herbs he needed. One was the Blood Forming Grass, which was a common herb that had the effect of improving the rate at which the body formed blood for a short time. Then there was the Flesh Mending Grass, which similarly to the Blood Forming Grass did the same thing as it name indicated. Finally there was the Essence Collecting Grass which was a catalyst used for the pill.


    All of the herbs were of the lowest category as they were common grade grasses. Generally a grass would always be the lowest of a grade, since they could be found in larger amounts and it was easier to grow them than other types of herbs.


    After checking out the prices he found out that he would only need 20 CP for one kg of all of them which would theoretically be enough for 10 pills. According to the prices for the pills he wanted to craft which were Lesser Healing Pills he would be able to make a small profit if he managed to reach at least 50 percent success rate. Of course that was unlikely to happen to soon since when he had tried refining pills he had not even one success.


    After deciding to spend 600 of his CP on the herbs he then proceeded towards one of the salesman which was a kind looking middle aged man.


    "Welcome, how may I help you?", the salesman greeted him with a friendly tone.


    "Hello, I would like to buy 10 kg of Blood Forming Grass, Flesh Mending Grass and Essence Collecting Grass each."


    When the salesman heard the order he smiled. Even though it wasn''t a big order, someone like him who had worked as a salesman for many years could instantly understand that this youth before him was only starting on the path towards pill refining.

 59 Herb Ring

    "It looks like you are only just starting as a pill refiner? "


    Ivan didn''t see anything wrong with the question of the middle aged man so he honestly answered him.


    "Then I''m sure you don''t have a Herb Ring right?", the man then followed up with another question.


    "A Herb Ring?", Ivan asked clueless. He had never before heard of it.


    "It''s not surprising that you haven''t heard of it before since it won''t usually be mentioned in starter books or lessons.", the man said in a understanding tone.


    "But don''t worry, I''ll explain the uses of a Herb Ring to you and then I''ll tell you why I mentioned it to you.


    A Herb Ring is a ring made from a special type of stone which can be found in a dungeon controlled by the Herbalist Guild. Inside the ring there is a independent space that can only be entered by plants and mental energy. Of course there are different grades and ranks of rings so the space is depended on the ring. For most pill refiners the cheapest and simplest ring which has only space but no good soil and energy accumulation is sufficient because they only want to use the space to store their herbs. Because only plants can enter the independent space they are much cheaper than upgrading ones inventory."


    "That sure sounds useful, but I''m sure that even so they are still expensive."


    "Of course. Even the worst quality rings are still worth more than ten thousand contribution points. Of course there is another way to gain them but it is strongly depended on ones luck."


    Ivan nodded. It was as he expected. If there was no other way to gain them then this salesman wouldn''t have mentioned the ring to him. He was very interested in this ring since even though his inventory was unusual big even the few herbs he had planned to purchase would take up quite a bit of space in it.


    "That sounds interesting, but could you first tell me a bit more about the other functions of the Herb Rings besides storing plants."


    "Of course.", seeing that Ivan was interested the man smiled and then continued on with his explanations.


    "Of course storing herbs isn''t the main function of the Herb Ring, instead it is the possibility to grow them there. Of course the possible herbs one can grow in ones ring depends on the quality of the soil and energy accumulation. The higher the grade and rank of the herb the higher the requirements. But this alone wouldn''t quite justify it''s price, since even though being able to carry ones herb fields with one is nice but it would still be possible to grow them on normal fields.


    That is were the energy accumulation comes to play. Herbs need a certain amount of energy in their surroundings. It is hard to find places that require their requirements besides the places they can be find naturally. Sadly these spots are often dangerous and completely unsuited for systematic herb growing.


    The Herb Ring on the other hand has the ability to collect energy and infuse it into the space within it. Because of that the energy in the surroundings is high enough to support herbs that would normally be hard or impossible to grow."


    "Wow that sounds really impressive. But isn''t it hard to care for the herbs if only mental energy can be used?"


    The salesman laughs heartily.


    "It sure is. And that is the reason why there are herbalists even though theoretically each pill refiner could grow their own herbs. Even though pill refiners use mental energy too they usually don''t train it specifically so they don''t have enough to use it to take care of a lot of herbs. We herbalists on the other hand mainly train mental energy so we are able to grow a huge amount of herbs in our ring."


    "Do that is how it is. Then without enough mental energy these rings can only be used as storage."


    "That''s how it is. Of course there are some plants that don''t need any care but can grow by themself. These can still be planted in a ring that isn''t managed. But these plants are rare and often require at least a middle grade ring."


    "Um, I''m a bit embarrassed to ask but what are these grades you are talking about?"


    "Haha, don''t be. It should be me that is sorry for not explaining it earlier.


    Grades are a form to describe the quality of an item. There are generally four grades which are from lowest to highest, low grade, middle grade, high grade and peak grade. Inside these grades all items have then the ranks you surely now. The special ranks legendary, artifact and unique are outside of this system since they can''t really be graded like this. We just call them special grade even though it isn''t a real grade it still works as classification."


    "Thank you for the explanation. Could you maybe give me an example on how a middle grade ring differs from a low grade?"


    "Sure. The main difference in the quality of rings are the three factors I have mentioned before. Space, soil, and energy accumulation. The bigger the space the better as you are sure to have already guessed. The same with the energy accumulation. Here more is better too. Soil on the other hand is much more complex since different types of plants require different soils too. So while for someone who wants to grow fire attributed plants a fire attributed soil would be great for someone else it would be useless. Because of that when talking about the quality of the soil we talk about the


    average grade and rank of the soil as well as the different types of soil appearing in the space.


    This hard to balance so you will still have to check out if you can use the soil in the ring or if you would even use a Herb Ring of lower rank just because the soil is a better fit to your plants."

 60 Herb Dungeon

    "Wow, this sounds complicated."


    "Don''t worry. Once one starts growing plants one would get the hang out quite fast. Of course if you only want a ring as storage then you don''t have to think about it."


    "OK, thank you for explaining."


    "No problem, after all I have mentioned it first."


    "Oh right, why did you mention it? After all you surely know that I can''t pay for a Herb Ring."


    "It''s because I saw you together with Lord Van Bergen and heard that you are his student. So I thought that it would be wise to offer you a slot to explore the Herb Dungeon, which is the dungeon where the stones for the rings can be found."


    *So it is because of mentor. He seems to be more important than I thought.*, Ivan finally understood why the salesman explained so much to him.


    "I have to admit that I am quite interested, but I don''t think the access to the dungeon is for free. Besides that I am currently concentrating on pill refining so I don''t have much time to go farm in a dungeon."


    "Of course the access to the dungeon isn''t free. Besides having to be recommended by a herbalist clan you have to accept a quest too.This quest is so the Herbalist Guild gets something out of allowing others into their dungeon."


    "A quest?"


    "Yes. Unlike others the Herbalist Guild doesn''t take a fee beforehand but will take up to five herb stones for each run."


    "Five stones? I doubt the drop rate is so high that one could get five in one run, or their price wouldn''t be so high."


    The salesman smiles and nods. In his eyes there is a flash of appreciation since he is quite satisfied with the comprehension abilities of this young man.


    "Of course it isn''t. That''s why it is up to five herb stones. It is lucky to get even one but of course there are people who get more than five and these lucky ones can keep them."


    "Hm, there has to be other things that drop in this dungeon or nobody would do something like this."


    "Of course there are other things that drop. Not only do lots of common herbs drop. There are even rare herbs and fruits to be found. For most dungeon divers this is the main reward.


    Besides the value of these herbs and fruits themself, there are also bounties on unknown ones."


    "So that''s how it is. Sadly I don''t have the time."


    The other man chuckles and then shakes his head. "You don''t know, but besides the drops there is something even more useful for pill refiners in this dungeon. And that are the mana fountains on each level. They contain a fluid that can restore ones mana."


    "Really? There is something so useful?", Ivan hadn''t heard of any potion or pill before that could restore ones mana. There were pills for just about anything but restoring mana, which was one of the greatest mysteries. According to the information he had collected in the library, many had tried to develop one, but they had all failed miserably.


    "Of course. But the fluid can''t be transported and to be honest it isn''t that much. Especially on the first level of the dungeon. There it is only two drops, which can only refill ones mana two times. For each level the amounts then double. At least that is what we guess, since nobody has ever entered the sixth level."


    Even the two drops on the first level would help Ivan to practice his pill refining since he would be able to drastically reduce the time needed to recuperate.


    "Then wouldn''t many go into the dungeon again and again? Since I am sure that the first level is much easier than the second."


    "Sadly that doesn''t work since there is a limit of one run per day. Besides that there is a limit to how many instances of the dungeon can exist at the same time. If not we could make a fortune from selling entrance rights."


    Ivan felt a bit sad that his idea wouldn''t work, but it was kind of expected since it would be to overpowered.


    "Do you know how difficult it is to clear the second level?"


    "I myself haven''t entered the dungeon but I have heard that the monsters on the first level are around level 50. The second has an average level of 100. The third one of 200 and so on."


    *Hm, that''s not as bad as I feared. I should be able to clear the first level and maybe I can even accomplish something on the second level. At least it would be good training for me and Vlada.*


    The more Ivan though about it, the better he liked the thought of training in this dungeon.


    "You are right Sir. This sounds like a good dungeon to train."


    Seeing that Ivan agreed to his opinion the man looked satisfied. He would be able to find another adventurer, which could help his clan. The same way the adventures could earn by clearing the dungeon the clan, that had sponsored the adventurer would get resources from the guild, dependent on the stones the adventurer submitted.


    He then took out a token on which there was the symbol of the Herbalist Guild which was a schematically image of a herb Ivan had never seen before.


    "Here this is the toke which will enable you to enter the dungeon."


    He then gave the token to Ivan.


    "Thank you.", Ivan thanked him and took the token. As soon as he accepted it a prompt came up.


    << Congratulation you have gained access to the Herb Dungeon.


    Current maximum times of access per day: 1


    Given by clan: Feng


    >>


    Surprisingly there was a information concerning the maximum times he could access the dungeon, which was currently 1. This indicated to him that it would be possible to access it more often in the future.


    "Now that this is out of the way, let us finish the sales of the herbs.", the salesman reminded him of why he had come to the shop in the first place.

 61 Herb Garden

    << Welcome to the Herb Garden


    According to rumors this Herb Garden was once the herb garden of a supreme being which created this realm in order to grow rare plants for his experiments.


    During the long years of abandonment these plants have gained spirituality and morphed into monsters. They now make up the majority of the inhabitants of this Herb Garden. Besides these plant monsters adventures have met many other monsters which are based on other creatures found in a garden.


    Because these monsters see human adventures as a great source of fertilizer they spare no effort to kill them, so thread careful.


    >>


    This time, when Ivan entered the dungeon, he got a much longer description then before.


    After he had finished his business at the herb store he had directly went over to the Herbalist Guild. With the token the salesman had given him it was easy to enter this dungeon.


    After he closed the short description of the dungeon the next prompt appeared.


    << You have entered the dungeon: Herb Garden Level 1


    Maximum group size: 1


    Difficulty: F


    Average Level: 50


    >>


    << Congratulation Son of Chaos triggered! >>


    << Because of the effect of Son of Chaos all mana fountains contain only half the usual amount of elixir. >>


    " What the?? "


    When Ivan first saw that his title had triggered he felt happy since it only had a positive effect until now. Sadly this time the effect was negativ and he couldn''t help put feel rage bubbling up inside his heart.


    Sadly there was nothing he could do but bury the rage. He had no way to change it and could only hope that it wasn''t permanent. Maybe the next time he entered he would get the normal amount of elixir.


    After thinking so far his rage simmered down and he took a deep breath. He then checked out the next prompt and this time he got a pleasant surprise.


    << New Quest: Clearing the Herb Garden, Rank F


    The first floor of the Herb Garden is dominated by a treant which terrorizes all other inhabitants of this level. The more intelligent of them have asked the system to help them find someone to help kill it.


    In exchange they are willing to provide support to helper during his time in the dungeon.


    Task: Kill the Murderous Treant


    Reward: A random helper while inside the Herb Garden


    >>


    "Wow. This reward may be really useful. But how come I haven''t heard about this quest before?", he mused. Before entering the dungeon he had collected all the information he could get on it and this quest wasn''t mentioned anywhere.


    After that there weren''t any other prompts so he took a good look around.


    He was currently standing on a small platform made from a dark wood, which he hadn''t seen before. On the end of the platform were he had come from there was a blue vortex which was the portal he had entered through. Besides that there was a milky white barrier which was the border of this small realm. On the other three sides of the platform there were stone paths which lead into the distance. They weren''t strait but instead curved around, creating a carefree atmosphere.


    According to the information he had collected it didn''t matter which path he took since all of them would eventually lead to the boss. Nobody was quite sure that any path was better than the others, but many explorations had shown that the harvest was very different between runs. So the current theory was that each path had a different grade which determined the encounters one would have while traversing them. Leaving the path on the other hand would strongly increase the danger. Most of the adventures that had dared to leave them reported strong monsters lurking a distance away from the path.


    Once even a level 900 adventurer had nearly lost his life to one of these. After that the general consensus was that one should always stay on the paths. Leaving them only while fighting monsters and even than stay in a one kilometer range of them.


    Ivan randomly choose the middle path and without any hesitation departed the platform.


    Most of the danger in the first level came from being unable to differentiate the monsters from the normal plants. Of course this was only valid for the inexperienced.


    The basic rule he had found was to always assume that any plant he saw was a monster. This of course would stress his mental energy, but for the start it would be much safer.


    As such he proceeded slowly, while using all his senses to check the surrounding plants. Even though dying wouldn''t be permanent for him, it would strongly hinder his plans. To reach level 200 in just a week he couldn''t risk loosing his stat points.


    Above him Vlada flew in her small form, serving as a sentinel. She suddenly dived down while enlarging. Startled by her sudden move, Ivan hurriedly checked out the target location but he only saw a harmless looking mushroom.


    Just when he wondered why Vlada would attack this mushroom, it split up and released spores into the air.


    When these spores left the mushroom they speed up and shot towards Vlada as well as himself.


    Even though he hadn''t expected the mushroom to attack he still managed to create a flame shield in front of him. This flame shield was a thin sheet of his mana flame and something he had created while manipulating his flame during his pill refining trials.


    It was way to weak to stop a real attack, but for something like the spore attack it was perfect. After all it was easy to burn them.


    It was as he had expected. As soon as the spores hit his flame shield they instantly burst into flames, not being able to penetrate the shield.


    Vlada on the other hand simply ignored them, since they were to weak to penetrate her skin. She soon arrived before the mushroom and easily slashed it into half.

 62 Mushroom Farmer

    << Congratulation you have gained the title Mushroom Farmer (F)


    You have killed at least one mushroom


    Increased probability for mushrooms to drop something.


    >>


    This title was something any herbalist or adventurer would get sooner or later and it wasn''t really worth anything so Ivan simply closed the prompt. He instead focused on the two halves of the mushroom.


    Between them there was a small green stone in which a spark seemed to dance around.


    "It can''t be that I am so lucky, can it? ", Ivan said to himself when he saw this stone.


    But inspecting him showed that he really was so luck and got a Herb Space Rock from the first monster he had killed in this dungeon.


    << Herb Space Rock (Low Grade)


    A mysterious type of rock that contains a space in it, that can be used to grow herbs in it.


    >>


    At the same time he picked it up there was a quest update notification. He then took another look at the quest, he had gotten before entering the dungeon.


    << Quest: Entrance fare


    To enter the Herb Garden you have to pay the Herbalist Guild.


    Task: Collect 5 x Herb Space Rock (Low Grade)


    or Collect 1 x Herb Space Rock (Middle Grade)


    You have currently 1 Low Grade Herb Space Rock.


    >>


    Well it wasn''t like he could keep the Rock, but having found one so soon he could be hopeful to find some more. Maybe he would even be able to keep one.


    "Good Job."


    After picking up he didn''t forgot to praise Vlada since she was the one who did the work. As an answer the bat, that had once again shrunk, rubbed his cheek with its head.


    "Come let''s continue."


    With that the two of them continued on. Sometimes they met mushrooms, sometimes some of the grass tried to slash Ivan. But there was nothing dangerous until they came to a forest.


    Ivan had read that the forests were one of the most dangerous terrain in this dungeon, since it was easy for monsters to hide and the amount of them was huge too. As such he was careful when entering. As preparation he already readied his flame shield which had worked excellent against all the plant monsters they had met until now.


    Vlada too landed, because the branches of the trees would interfere with her flying.


    Then they entered the forest.


    They weren''t even five meters into it, when a vine shot at them from one side while something else fell down on them from one of the branches above.


    They hurriedly coordinated and Vlada shot towards the thing falling down, while Ivan rushed towards the vine, while pulling out his sword.


    He wasn''t able to cover much ground, before the vine reached him. Without any hesitation she stabbed towards his head. He used his sword to parry the stab and the shock from it nearly wrestled the sword out of his hand.


    "Damn.", Ivan couldn''t help but exclaim in shock, when he felt the strength of the vain.


    Even though his parry had thrown it back at least five meters it attacked again without the slightest pause.


    This time he didn''t try to parry but to evade but he was to slow and the vine managed to take out some of his flesh. Luckily it had targeted his torso this time, so it was still acceptable.


    "Hm, I can''t dodge and I can''t parry. What am I going to do?"


    Having no other idea he tried to use his flame shield to reduce the strength of the vine''s attack, but it wasn''t strong enough to do more than slightly char the vine.


    After the second parry his hand now hurt so much that he had a hard time holding his sword.


    "The flame shield is just to weak, so the effect isn''t good enough."


    His mind worked at maximum speed, in order to find a solution to his ordeal. He didn''t have time to check on Vlada, but through their connection he could feel that she too was fighting and wouldn''t be able to come to his help.


    "If only the shield was stronger.", thinking about that gave him an idea. When he had first created the flame shield he had thought that it should cover him completely, but was that really the case?


    What if he condensed the shield to a smaller area?


    Not having much time to ponder about it, since the vine once again shot towards him, he could only try it.


    Luckily it was relatively easy for him to alter the skill since he had developed it himself. Of course he had incorporated knowledge and ideas from others, but at the core it was his spell.


    He created the shield as usual and then compressed it so that it only had a diameter of about 20 centimeter. This process was quite slow and the vine had nearly reached him when he finished.


    Sadly for him the shield was at the wrong place and he didn''t have the time to move it.


    He let out a scream of pain, when the vine shot through his hip. After recoiling it left a fist sized hole in him from which blood streamed out like a waterfall.


    He hurriedly swallowed a pill to stop the bleeding and start the regeneration of his flesh, since only the power of his HP wasn''t enough for the job.


    "This won''t work. I am way to slow at creating and controlling.", he didn''t disperse the flame shield even when the vine had hit him.


    When the vine which now had a red color at the tip once again shot towards him, he used his mental energy to move the compressed flame shield into its way.


    Because of his lack of practice and experience with the compressed shield he didn''t manage to move it directly into its way, but the vein still brushed against it.


    As soon as it touched the shield a burnt smell was released and the vein swerved away from the shield. As a result it missed him too.

 63 Flame Shield

    Even though he had now found a way to barely defend against the attacks of the vine. He was still to slow with his shield. Despite trying to position it in the best way, he couldn''t avoid getting even more injured.


    Besides that he used up his mana and mental energy at a high rate. But even so he only managed to slightly char the vine. After blocking more than ten attacks from the vine he hadn''t even managed to inflict any real injuries on it, while his strength was slowly reducing, because of the blood flowing out of his wounds.


    Realizing that he couldn''t continue like that his first thought was to check if Vlada could help him deal with the vine, but she too was in an unfavorable situation.


    As such he could only decide to withdraw. He informed Vlada and then decisively moved outside of the range of the vine.


    "Damn, I really need a way to deal with this vine."


    Even though he could easily avoid it, in his opinion it would be a very bad idea to do it. After all if he couldn''t even defeat a simple vine, how was he supposed to clear this level then.


    Now that he wasn''t being attacked he had the time to think of a way.


    For that he first thought about his experiences during the fight. The first thing that stood out was his new way of using the Flame Shield. Even though it was much smaller, after he had compressed it, it was much more sturdy too.


    "I need to be able to move it around faster, so I should take the time to train moving it around. Besides that it would be great if I could have multiple Compressed Flame Shields at the same time, but I fear that will use up to much mana and mental energy."


    "But that would only make sure I can defend myself. Besides that I need something to attack, or I won''t be able to ever defeat this stupid vine."


    His first thought was to use a flame based attack, like Flame Arrows. He had seen description of it in some basic books. But after a short period of contemplation he threw away this idea. There was no way he would have enough mana to do it this way.


    "The best way would be to combine defense and offense. But how could I archive it?"


    Combining defense and offense into one was difficult. Even though his Compressed Flame Shield could defend, it was incapable of attacking. And if he tried he would be defenseless during this time.


    "Hmm, how can I combine them?"


    Finally he thought of something, "My sword!"


    All the time he had used his sword to attack and defend, so it was a obvious starting point.


    "But my sword was useless during the last fight. I could neither use it to block, nor to attack. Only the flames from the Compressed Flame Shield did anything to the vine."


    "My sword can attack and defend and my Compressed Flame Shield can damage the vine. How about I combine them?"


    As soon as this idea came to him he then proceeded to try it out.


    For that he tried to wrap the Compressed Flame Shield around the blade of his sword. But as soon as the flame got close to the blade, the complete sword heated up and the he hurriedly aborted his try. He only had this one sword and it would be horrible if he damaged it.


    "This won''t work. I need to keep the heat away from the blade or it will melt the sword. If only I had a higher grade sword. I''m sure it would be able to withstand much higher temperatures and maybe even be able to isolate the heat."


    He hadn''t played around much with flames made by mana except for his Flame Shield and for pill refining, so he didn''t have any good idea at first. As such he decided to first recuperate and then think about it again.


    After finishing recuperating he once again thought about the problem. It couldn''t be that hard to stop the flames from heating up the sword right?


    He once again thought about all the methods he knew, that could isolate something. Sadly that weren''t many, or to be exact it was only one and that was the mana sphere he used for pill refining.


    Maybe he could create a mana sphere around the blade and then wrap the Compressed Flame Shield around it.


    Not wanting to waste any more time he started his experiment, but then hurriedly stopped.


    "That was close. What if it failed and I lost my sword.", he couldn''t help but scold himself for being so thoughtless.


    "Hm, since I only need the form, it should be feasible to use a wooden sword as a base."


    He then proceeded to make some wooden swords to practice with.


    Unsurprisingly, the first few tries failed miserable, since his mana sphere wasn''t stable enough. Since the form was different it was much more difficult to make it stable enough.


    After a while he finally managed to get rid of all the small problems with the mana sphere, which now had the form of the blade of his sword and not a sphere.


    Besides that he had to experiment a bit with another mana sphere so that the heft and grip of the sword wasn''t influenced by the flames.


    Without him noticing a few hours had passed and even though his Magic Power hadn''t increased significantly, he now had much better control over his mana as well as his mental energy. This resulted in him having to use much less of them than before, to produce the same effect.


    As such even though his absolute amount hadn''t increased much, in reality he could now do much more with it.


    Realizing this he decided to invest more time into training his control. Before he had neglected this and only concentrated on increasing his stats.

 64 Enchantmen

    He wondered, why his mentor hadn''t advised him to spend more time on control.


    Now that he had practiced with the wooden sword, destroying tens of them, it was time to apply it on his real sword.


    He carefully followed the by him developed steps and soon his sword was wreathed in flames, while still being cold to the touch.


    "Yes!", he spontaneously let out a scream of excitement.


    << Congratulation you have developed a new way to gain the effect Flame Enchantment.


    Your method has been graded as Unranked, since it is ineffective, while having high requirements.


    +5 Honor for being the first to use this method.


    Remark: Who would have expected that something you developed would be ineffective? Wait, I did!


    >>


    "Wow. I didn''t expect to gain something like this."


    Once again he ignored the remark. Even though the five honor wasn''t that much for him he was still happy to get them.


    The best thing to him was that the System had given him a name for this skill.


    * After I finish here I will have to check out more information about Flame Enchantment.*


    But now that he had a way to attack and defend it was time to get rid of this vine.


    Before that he checked out his other gains during his experiments. Not only had he developed a new skill, but his Will Power had increased significantly too.


    It seemed like trying to find new ways to apply his skills was a great way to train it. If it wasn''t so depending on inspiration it would be great to do it a few more times.


    Once again he and Vlada proceeded forwards until they reached the area, where they had been stopped the last time.


    This time he was ready when the vine shot towards him and he parried with his flaming sword. When the vine got near it, it instinctively stopped because of its fear of fire, which enabled Ivan to easily stop the attack.


    "Great, it works."


    Using his sword to block all incoming strikes he got closer to the tree, from which the vine came from.


    The vine was winding around the trunk of the tree which was more than two meters wide. Following it upwards he saw that it ended somewhere in the top of the tree.


    Because he had no easy way to get up there he could only hack at thevine in the hope to remove as much as possible of it.


    When he struck the vine he realized to his surprise that the tree had no reaction to the flames on his sword. There wasn''t even the slightest bit of charring to be seen.


    "This tree should have a high resistance to flames. I wonder what kind of species it is."


    During his studies of pill refining he had learned about a lot of species, but he hadn''t seen this tree before.


    After hacking of the end of the vine, it was now mostly harmless, since it didn''t have therange to attack him anymore.


    Now that he had defeated his opponent he looked towards his pet and saw that she too had finished her fight. But she didn''t kill her opponent, but it had fled.


    He communicated with her, to get her to fly him to the top of the tree so he could look for some fruits or seeds. Besides that he would be able to really finish of the vine.


    While communicating with her, he got the feeling that it was slightly easier to get her to understand what he wanted. He didn''t think much about it, but hopped on her back.


    With strong wing movements she then flew up towards the top of the tree.


    To his surprise the tree was much taller than he had expected. It towered above the rest of the forest and was surrounded by mist.


    This mist wasn''t the slightest bit wet, but instead felt warm and dry on his skin. When he breathed in, some of the mist entered his lungs.


    Soon he felt a slight burning feeling from them, which then spread out throughout his body. Wherever it passed he could feel slight changes to his flesh. Even though it hadn''t become stronger it felt more vigorous and active.


    He tried concentrating on it, to find out more but was unable to do so.


    Meanwhile Vlada had continued to flow upwards along the trunk of the tree. Here the trunk was completely smooth. The vine had ended long ago and besides the tree itself there was nothing else in sight, as the mist blocked the view towards the horizon.


    "I really wonder what kind of tree it is."


    Below him Vlada let out an acquiescent loud.


    "Huh? You seem to have gotten more intelligent.", he mused. Until now even though she had sometimes reacted to what he said, it wasn''t like this. He had to directly talk to her or she wouldn''t react, but now she had reacted even though he had only talked to himself.


    Once again an affirmative sound could be heard from the bat.


    They had already flown upwards for more than half an hour when above them an island of green appeared.


    "This has to be the top of this tree. Come on lets get up there and check it out."


    They soon broke through this layer of leaves and branches. Some of which were larger than the main trunk.


    "How unusual. Shouldn''t the main trunk be larger than the branches?", Ivan couldn''t exclaim when he first laid eyes on these branches.


    This layer of green was only slightly more than two meter thick, but while there was some free space next to the main trunk, just a little bit further out the branches created a platform, on which one could easily move around.


    Some branches came out of it, looking like little trees, standing on a green meadow.


    In the middle the main trunk continued on upwards, without an end in sight.

 65 Mysterious Fruits

    Seeing the tree continue upwards Ivan decided to first check out this platform. After all this tree was so mysterious, so there should be something good to be found. After that he would try to go further upwards.


    Having decided on his course of action, he first went over to the most conspicuous thing on this green platform. Which where the branches that looked like trees.


    From the distance there was nothing unusual about them, but when he got closer he saw that there were small fruits hanging on some of the smaller branches.


    These fruits looked like small grapes and there were only a few of them on the branch before him. All of them shimmered in a different amount of colors. The ones with the most shimmered in all colors of the rainbow, while the one with the least only had a dim red look.


    Not only were the amount of colors different, but the intensity of the light they emitted was different too. The more colors they had the brighter the light they emitted too.


    It wasn''t hard for Ivan to speculate that the more color a grape had the riper it was. The rainbow colored one, that was emitting the most light, should be the only one which was fully ripe.


    Even though Ivan really wanted to collect all the grapes, since he was sure that they had to be something great, he restrained his greed and only plucked the one grape.


    Once again he inspected it in the hope that he would gain more information about what exactly this grape was. Checking the tree had given him zero information and when he had tried it on the grapes while they were still on the tree, he too had gotten no information.


    << Mysterious Fruit


    A rainbow colored fruit that grows on a mysterious tree. Eat the fruit flesh to find out more. The seed at the center of the fruit can most likely be used to grow a mysterious tree, but it''s grow time can''t be determined.


    >>


    It seemed like the System too had no information about this mysterious tree. But it was still able to come to some conclusions, which it then put into the information it gave him.


    "Guess I can only try it out later. For now let''s check the other branches."


    After that he went to all the tree like branches and collected three more Mysterious Fruits. Besides these fruits he wasn''t able to find anything else on this platform.


    "I guess it''s time to fly further upwards. Maybe I will find something good there too."


    He once again rode Vlada upwards.


    They had only flown up slightly more than ten meters when their progress halted. It was like the surrounding air had become viscous. Even when Vlada did put all her strength into it, they were unable to move up even the slightest.


    Disappointed the two could only give up the plan to fly higher and search for other good things on this tree. They could only descend until they once again reached the ground.


    They then continued on their way towards the end of the path.


    During their travels they met lots of different plants that tried to attack them, but the sword wrapped with flames was easily able to get rid of them.


    The more he used it, the more he liked it. It was perfect for this dungeon and also enabled him to train multiple stats at the same time. After all fighting with a sword not only required strength and agility but also stamina. And with the addition of the enchantment he even used his mana and mental energy which trained his willpower. Of course there was also the downside that, since it used all this different kinds of energy, he had to frequently rest to regenerate them.


    Time passed and after getting used to fighting with his flaming sword, he started to try to slightly change the flames depending on the situation. Doing that he realized that he would be able to reduce his consumption of mana this way. Of course he too had to use more mental energy to control the flames much more precise, but he had realized that he could last longer this way.


    Finally the reached a clearing in the forest, on which only a single tree stood. The tree was a willow, which leaves had a slight red tint, which gave it a malicious look, since it seemed like they had been bathed in blood.


    The bones lying around it only strengthened that impression. Ivan didn''t even have to think to realize that this tree was the Murderous Treant mentioned in the quest << Clearing the Herb Garden >>.


    Readying his flaming sword he dashed towards the Treant.


    As soon as he reached a distance of ten meters of the tree, it suddenly moved. Some of it''s branches shot towards him, trying to impale him, while others slashed down from above with the intention of whipping him to death.


    Their timing was impeccable and they would reach him at exactly the same time. Allowing him to only defend against on route of attack, while having to take the other head on. Not only that. There were also some branches wrapping around in order to reduce his range of movement.


    "F**k"


    As soon as he saw this he could only curse. Curse at the tree being so clever as to attack in this way, as well as at himself. The easy wins after having developed his Flame Enchantment had made him overconfident.


    "Overconfidence really is what kills the strong."


    He only had a second to decide on how to react and even wasted some precious time on cursing, which only deepened his predicament.


    Now the only way was to speed up and hope that he could slightly mess up the attack timing of the Treant. He decisively collected every ounce of strength he had to push himself to a even higher speed. Shooting towards the incoming branches, trying to impale him.

 66 Legacy

    Because of the speed, at which the gap between them closed, he was unable to muster much strength to defend himself. He could only use his sword to block as many incoming branches, which were trying to impale him, while twisting his body in every possible way.


    Even though he managed to block most branches, one of them still stabbed through his shoulder.


    As soon as it penetrated his skin it started to emit a suction force, which slowly moved his blood towards the wound. The blood was then absorbed by the branch.


    When Ivan felt his blood starting to drain, he felt fear and hurriedly tried to cut of the branch with his sword. Because his sword was only a simple iron sword and the branches of the Murderous Treant had high fire resistance, he was unable to cut it of.


    Moving backwards to pull it out was useless too, since there were still some branches behind him and the strength of the Treant wasn''t something he could contest against.


    He pulled out his dagger and tried to cut the branch of and this time he managed to do it. But during the time needed to accomplish this the branches behind him, that had originally tried to whip him, had changed their style of attack and now speared towards him from the back.


    This time he wasn''t as luck as the first time and multiple branches went though his back. They too started to pump out his blood and this time he was unable to get rid of them.


    Soon the amount of blood left in him was reduced so far, that he blacked out.


    << You have died and entered Soul-form.


    Because you are in a special dungeon you are currently unable to revive. Leave the dungeon or finish the soul quest. >>


    For the first time the notification had changed.


    "Hm, so this dungeon is a special dungeon?", Ivan wondered, "But what is this soul quest?"


    Soon he had to temporarily concentrate on something else, as another prompt popped up.


    << Congratulation you have fulfilled the two conditions and received the legacy quest of the Herb Garden.


    Condition 1: Have a Heaven Grade bloodline or higher.


    Condition 2: Be able to enter Soul Form while being in the Body Refinement Realm.


    >>


    Both of these conditions weren''t something he could understand. He had never heard about Heaven Grade and bloodlines. But was still able to make some guesses as what it meant.


    Bloodline should have something to do with his ancestors and it having to be of at least Heaven Grade should mean that it had to be of a specific grade.


    The second was easier to guess, but the term "Body Refinement Realm" surprised him. He guessed that him using the energy of his surroundings to temper his flesh should be part of the Body Refinement Realm. But it indicated that there was something above it, but he had heard that even the strongest in the four empires still refined their bodies.


    << Quest Legacy of the Herb Garden (Unique)


    You have fulfilled the condition to gain the Legacy of the Herb Garden. This legacy is only a small part of the legacies left by the owner of the Herb Garden. Obtaining this part of the legacy enables you to try to gain the others, after arriving at the places they are located at.


    Step 1: Kill the Murderous Treant on the first level of the Herb Garden.


    Reward:


    - Legacy of the Herb Garden.


    - Herb Ring (Artifact)


    >>


    This was the first time he had seen a unique quest and when he read it he was pleasantly surprised. Even though he didn''t know what the Legacy of the Herb Garden was, the Herb Ring alone would be a great reward.


    The only problem was that even the first step of the quest was already that heard. At the moment he had no idea how he would be able to kill it. And this was only the first step. He was sure that there would be more steps and each of them would be more difficult than the one before, since that was the way most chain quests worked.


    Still, it would be a great long term goal to finish this quest. But for now, it was more important to revive.


    As such he looked at the other quest he had gotten.


    << Soul Quest: Gaining Strength 1


    All living beings have souls, that are released after their death. Most of them will vanish withing a blink of an eye, but some will stay longer. The stronger the being during its life, the more powerful its soul. Some are even able to absorb other souls to strengthen themself and after reaching a certain threshold can then reincarnate.


    In the special environment of the Herb Garden, the souls of death beings can stay for at least two days. While they aren''t able to absorb other souls to strengthen themself, they can move around freely.


    Collect and absorb the souls of at least 20 beings, to strengthen your soul. To do that use your soul form to catch the souls running around and then eat them.


    Reward: Skill: Soul Absorb (SS)


    >>


    When Ivan read through this quest his eyes lit up. After he had created his secondary soul form, his main form had been weakened. Sadly there was no skill recorded in the database of the alliance, that could strengthen the soul. And now he had stumbled over one, so how couldn''t he be delighted.


    He had already spent a lot of time inside this dungeon, so he was unwilling to waste anymore. As such he hurriedly shot of the way he had come. After all he had killed quite a few creatures. Maybe their souls could be found nearby. At least the chance to find some should be one.


    First he would strengthen his soul, before working on increasing his stats, because there was no way he could defeat the Murderous Treant at the moment. Besides that he had realized that he needed a better sword, which was another thing on his list of things to get.

 67 Soul Absorb

    It wasn''t long before he came about the first soul. It was the soul of one of the vines he had killed and it had exactly the same form, but looked like it was made out of clouds. Milky white and slightly transparent.


    * So this is how the soul form of other beings look.*, Ivan thought. Maybe because the creatures he had slain before he had never before seen another soul form than hi own.


    They were only visible to him when he was in soul form, so he hadn''t seen the ones in the dungeon before.


    * Hm, they are quite different from my soul form. Is it because of a difference in strength?*, he couldn''t help but wonder. Unlike these cloud like soul forms, his was much more like his normal body. The only difference was that his soul form was slightly transparent.


    He ran towards the soul form of the vine and easily catcht it, since it didn''t have any combat power in its soul form. It felt like cotton and was very comfortable to the touch.


    * Wow, if only I could make a bed out of this.*


    After this fleeting thought he bit down on the vine and a taste like cotton candy spread in his mouth. * This tastes awesome. I''m sure Jane would love this. *


    It wasn''t long until he had completely eaten up the vine''s soul form. As soon the last bit of it reached his stomach a warm feeling spread out from his stomach slowly seeping to his entire soul form.


    Even though there was no change to be observed from the outside, he had the feeling that his soul form had become slightly stronger.


    * Awesome. Maybe if I eat enough I can make a tertiary soul form and so on. * After he had created his secondary soul form his main soul form had been weakened and he was unable to make another one, but now there might be a chance to make more.


    After that he continued to hunt more soul forms and soon he had reached the 20 required for the quest.


    << Congratulations you have finished the quest Gaining Strength 1


    You have been rewarded with the skillSoul Absorb (SS) >>


    <<Soul Absorb (SS) Lvl. 1


    You can now absorb a part of the soul form of the creatures you slay.


    >>


    The description was short and what he had expected. Now he had a way to strengthen his soul form besides hunting soul forms in this dungeons, while being in soul form himself.


    * If only I knew what else this soul form can be used for.* Even though he had found a few uses of the soul form, he still had the feeling that there should be more about it.


    Now that the quest was finished he once again had the option to revive and he didn''t hesitate to choose it. He then hurriedly checked his stats and found to his surprise that his Magic Power had increased to 35, which was quite a bit higher that before he entered the dungeon.


    " Not even a day has passed and it increased by this much? ", he couldn''t help but exclaim. Sadly there was nobody that could react to his question as his Bat Vlada was the only one around, and she only laid besides him sleeping.


    "Could the development of the Flame Enchantment really be that influential?"


    Thinking about it, he was sure that this was the reason. He just wasn''t sure if it was the act of developing a skill itself or his increasing control over his mana that was pivotal.


    * Maybe I should create another skill?*, he couldn''t help but think about it. But soon he threw away the idea as unrealistic. He had only been able to develop it because of an enlightenment during the fight.


    * For now I should leave this dungeon. Since I have no chance to defeat the Murderous Treant for now it is useless for me to stay here. *


    After getting slaughtered so easily by the Murderous Treant he had realized that he wouldn''t be able to slay it anytime soon. At first he was wondering why there was such a strong boss at this level. And why he hadn''t heard about it before, but now he was sure that it had something to do with the legacy quest and that the other explorers had never even met that Murderous Treant.


    As long as he was unable to slay the treant there was no way he could clear this floor and gain the elixir from the mana fountain. It would be useless to stay in this dungeon, since it was highly unlikely that he would be able to collect enough herb stones on the first floor alone.


    Now it would be best to go back to his old plan of just focusing on pill refining.


    Decisively he stood up and called his pet.


    "Let''s go Vlada. It is time to go back."


    Then the two of them moved towards the entrance of the dungeon.


    Soon it was the day before the tournament and his stock of medical herbs was nearly used up too, He had just finished refining the second to last potion of pills.


    " Wow! ", he couldn''t help but exclaim when he looked at the result of this round of pill refining. Not only were there two pills of good quality. There even was one of perfect quality.


    << Small Healing Pill , Rank F , Quality: Perfect


    A perfect version of the Small Healing Pill. This pill is able to heal a persons small flesh wounds in a short time, as well as replenish a small amount of blood. It is much more effective than one of lower quality.


    >>


    It was the first time that he had managed to refine a pill of the Perfect quality and he was overflowing with happiness. After all an increase of quality wasn''t just a simple linear increase of effectiveness. It was also a sign that his skill in pill refining had passed a threshold and he could now officially call himself a pill refiner.

 68 Bloodline

    He didn''t let his happiness stop himself from starting the next pill refining session.


    He had just formed the mana sphere, when he felt something inside him change.


    << Congratulation you have reached 50 points in one stat. Your flesh will now be remodeled >>


    Before he could fully read the prompt a warm feeling seemed to flow out of his head and spread throughout his whole body. Soon the temperature increased until he felt that his whole body was being burned.


    This felt extremely painful and he screamed out, while rolling around the floor. Those reactions couldn''t change anything and he could only try to endure the feeling of his flesh being burned.


    Slowly the pain overwhelmed him and he started to hope, that he would die soon. Yet because of the pain he was unable to stop this torture, by killing himself.


    Under the extreme pain his mind seemed to slowly fracture as all coherent thoughts stopped and his mind was now only filled with the feeling of pain.


    After what seemed like eons he finally blacked out.


    When he woke up again he didn''t know how much time had passed.


    "F**k, what was with this pain? ", he cursed out loud. Then he tried to sit up, but due to the spasm, his muscles didn''t obey him and he could only stay in the position on the floor, where he had fell down after the pain started.


    He then carefully tried to feel his body to see what changes had happened.


    As soon as he used his senses he was shocked. Even though his muscles seemed to be useless at the moment, in fact they were much stronger now. They seemed, like they had been broken and then rebuild multiple times until they had become much stronger. At least that was the feeling he got from them, since it was impossible to see what had really happened.


    Besides the muscles, all his other flesh had been strengthened too.


    *Seems like I have broken through level 50. I wonder what level I am now? *, Ivan instantly understood what happened. *But why was there so much pain? Nothing I have read mentioned that this breakthrough would be accompanied by so much pain.*


    Half his mind was still observing his newly strengthened flesh, while his other contemplated these questions. As such he easily spotted the energy starting to flow through his flesh. *What kind of energy is that?*


    It seemed like there was something unusual about his body, since this energy wasn''t mentioned anywhere either.


    << Congratulation you have activated your bloodline.


    Type: Chaos Dragon God Bloodline


    Grade: Undetermined


    Strength: Initial - Low


    Effect: The body generates Vital Qi naturally. Other effects may exists, but are unknown at the current time.


    >>


    << Congratulation you have unlocked a new Skill: Dragon Claw (Undetermined)


    You can use the Vital Qi in your body to condense a dragon claw.


    >>


    * Hm? What is that? How come there rank seems to be undetermined?*


    As soon as he saw these two prompts he instantly saw that their ranks wasn''t displayed, but instead was undetermined. He wasn''t sure whether it was good or bad, but was sure that he would be able to find out soon.


    *But what is this bloodline thing? It has been mentioned in the Herb Garden too, and why has it been activated now? *


    The second question was easily answered, since the time of its awakening had been the same as him reaching level 50, so it surely had something to do with this breakthrough. The first on the other hand was much harder to answer and he could only think of the same things as before.


    *Hm, so this bloodline should be at least Heaven Grade, but the System won''t tell me which exactly. Maybe it doesn''t even know. But going by it''s name, it should be quite awesome. After all there are the words ''Dragon'' and ''God'' in it. And the last word ''Chaos'' is the same as in my first title, which is quite special too. *


    Now that he had finished his breakthrough it was time to check out his stats.


    << Character screen


    Name: Ivan Hope


    - Age: 16


    - Family


    - Lara von Berg (1. wife)


    - Jane von Berg (daughter)


    Stats


    - Strength: 222 (+66)


    - Endurance: 225 (+67)


    - Agility: 223 (+45)


    - Magic power: 255 (+70)


    - Defense: 1


    Hidden stats


    - Luck: 3


    - Charisma: 1


    - Inventory Space : 1


    Bloodline


    - Chaos Dragon God Bloodline (Initial - Low)


    Skills


    - Inspect (E) Lvl. 3


    - Mana Manipulation (E) Lvl. 9


    - Slave Space (D) Lvl. 1


    - Tame (D) Lvl. 1


    - Evolution (SS) Lvl. 1


    - Reincarnation (F) Lvl. 5


    - Shadow stats (E)


    - Blood is Power (S) Lvl. 1


    - Burning Blood (S) Lvl. 1


    - Soul Division (Unique) Lvl. 1


    - Soul Absorb (SS) Lvl. 1


    - Dragon Claw (Undetermined)


    Titles


    - Son of Chaos (SS)


    - Slayer of slightly bigger things (D)


    - Dungeon Diver (F)


    - Honorable Man (SS) Lvl. 1


    - Founder (F)


    - Unique (Legendary)


    - Monster Tamer (D)


    - Mushroom Farmer (F)


    Achievements


    - none


    Slaves


    - Vlada (Vampire Bat)


    >>


    There was quite a bit of change since he had really looked at the screen the last time, but something that he realized, and didn''t quite like was that his skills were mostly level 1. Luckily most of his skills had nothing to do with direct combat except << Mana Manipulation >>, so it wasn''t all that bad.


    *Maybe I should get some combat skills?*


    Even though one could cast just about any skill with just << Mana Manipulation >>, but it was hard to do more complex ones. Besides that, skills that were accepted by the System, were much more efficient. The problem was only that it was hard to get them, as there were only two ways. Either develop one on one own, which was impossible for him for now, and the other was with skill books.


    But only some skill books could be copied and even then they were still very expensive. And as such that wasn''t an option for the current him.


    While trying to find ways to get some System accepted skills he remembered the Golden Lottery Ticket, which he had completely forgotten about.

 69 Lottery

    He then took out the ticket and once again checked it out.


    << Golden Lottery Ticket


    A ticket that is given by the System for extraordinary feats and can be used to get one random item from the Golden Lottery Pool.


    Hold it in your hand and inject some mana into it to activate it.


    >>


    *Hm, I don''t know what the Golden Lottery Pool is, but it''s quite likely that the reward will be something great.*


    He then slowly urged some mana into the ticket and soon a rune circle emerged from it. This rune circle shimmered in a golden light and in the center of it there were pictures which slowly changed.


    *These must be the items I can get from the lottery.*, Ivan thought, while he watched the pictures changing constantly. There were books, pills, weapons and sometimes even creatures to be seen.


    *Wow, it seems like one can get just about anything from this lottery. I wonder if there is a way to get more of these tickets.* It didn''t even have to be golden tickets, he would be satisfied with any kind of ticket. Because he was sure that there were different tiers of tickets and that golden wasn''t the highest, but neither the lowest.


    He wasn''t sure what he would prefer as the item he got from the lottery. After all, all of these item types could help him. As he had realized during his fight with the Murderous Treant, he was in need of a better weapon, so a sword or something similar would be great. On the other hand, he would love to have some more skills too. Pills didn''t even needed to be mentioned, since he was sure that they should be ones with great effects. After all the ones in the honor shop were already great and in his opinion the ones from the lottery should be much better.


    The thing he was the least excited about were the creatures that were displayed. Even though he was sure that they would be strong and useful, he felt that they wouldn''t help to increase his power directly. He wasn''t sure why, but he had an instinctive rejection towards external power. And even if they were bound to him through a contract, to him they were still an external source of power.


    Weapon were the same, but unlike slaves they were necessary to display the real power of oneself, so there wasn''t as much rejection towards them inside his mind.


    Finally after a lot of different pictures had been shown inside the rune circle it stopped and the circle lit up with a blinding golden light.


    Ivan hastily shut his eyes, because of fear of being blinded by the light. When he opened his eyes again, the rune circle had vanished, leaving behind a dark green book levitating in the air, where it was before.


    Not being able to wait Ivan stretched out his hand and grabbed the book, instantly using his mana to activate it. Then the information inside the book streamed into his brain and he was able to check out the skill he had gotten.


    << Skill Dark Dual Cultivation (Artifact)


    Type: Passive


    Alignment: Evil


    During forced sexual intercourse you can gain benefits depending on the strength of your partner, the bloodline of your partner and the physical and mental pain of your partner.


    Remark: Can be combined with the Evil Dark Master skill for better effects.


    Comment: Is this fitting or what? Now you can be even more evil than before.


    >>


    "What the??", Ivan couldn''t help but exclaim when he read the description of his new skill. The thing that he was most annoyed with wasn''t the skill itself but that there was no description of the benefits he could gain. It took him a bit to realize that this was an uncommon reaction. He was sure that his mentor, his friends and his family would at first react to the forced sexual intercourse part, since this was just another way to say ****, which was something all of them abhorred.


    *Why don''t I seem to have a problem with this? Why was my first thought about what benefits I could gain? *, these questions now popped up inside his brain.


    He had never thought about his feelings towards others actions, but now he couldn''t help but contemplate about them.


    It didn''t take him long to realize that he didn''t care even the slightest bit about others, that he didn''t know. There he was different from the others. They did care about others, even if they didn''t know them. One just had to think back towards that time when they stood before a news stand and had seen a report about someone being robbed and then bloodily murdered. Greg and Serge who where there with him not only expressed their anger about someone doing something like this. No, one could see in their eyes that they really were angry about what happened.


    He on the other hand had expressed his anger too, but it was just following along. In reality he hadn''t felt anything at all.


    * Then whom do I care about? *


    Asking himself this question he sank deep into thought and only after a few hours did he come to an conclusion.


    *It seems like I care only about three groups of people. These that are of my blood, like Jane, these that I see as my friends and finally these that I see as mine. *


    The thing that surprised him a bit was that, when he created these groups he found out that he had sorted Vlada as well as Lara into the group of people that he considered his. For him family seemed to be intrinsically linked to blood and since Jane didn''t have his blood in her, he was unable to consider her his family.


    *Why am I like this? Am I a psychopath?*, during the time he had to recuperate, from using his mana, he had read all kind of books in the library and he had stumbled over this expression and which seemed to describe a mental illness.


    *Shouldn''t be. After all I still care about a lot of people. Whatever, I don''t think I should care about it to much. But in order to life in this society, I think I have to create some rules on how to act towards strangers.*

 70 Tournament 1

    *Well who cares. I will just life my life as I want and follow the laws. Then there shouldn''t be any problems.*


    After making this resolution he then took a look at the clock and saw that it was already late.


    *Guess I don''t have time to get used to my new stats today. This is gonna suck tomorrow. But if I don''t sleep it will be even worse.*


    Since he didn''t have the time to get used to his newfound strength, he would surely have some problems fighting in the tournament tomorrow, but sadly there was nothing he could do about it.


    The next morning he woke up and got ready. In the cafeteria everyone talked about the tournament today. It was the annual tournament that everyone in the Slavers Alliance had to participate in.


    Of course the newcomer tournament was only a small part of it, since there would only be about 200 people participating, each of which was a member for less than one year. Most people had never met these newcomers so the focus on this part of the tournament was small for most people. The main focus laid on the elders tournament where the elders of the Alliance would contest against each others.


    Ivan had never really inquired about the structure of the Alliance but he had heard that it was lead by the Head, who was rumored to have maxed out his stats. Nobody knew why, but it seemed impossible to get the stats above 1000. Of course there were methods to still increase it, but the main stats wouldn''t go higher. According to some sociologists that was the main reason why this realm had such a stable structure. After all each empire had maxed out subordinates which enabled them to enforce their laws.


    Below the Head was the grand elder which was responsible for the day to day operations of the Alliance. Below that were a multitude of elders which were the leaders of the different departments, as well as the important fighters of the Alliance. And while the Head and the Grand Elder wouldn''t participate in the tournament the elders would. Since most of them had high stats and skills it would be a great experience to witness them fighting against each other.


    "So whom do you think will win?"


    "I think Elder van Bergen has a good chance to win this time."


    When Ivan overheard the conversation of a couple sitting at the table next to him, he was surprised to hear a familiar name. *Mentor is an elder? And from their words he seemed to be one of the strongest.*


    He had never asked his mentor what his rank and role was, so hearing that he was an elder came at quite a surprise. *I wonder what his role is. After all he always seems to have a lot of time.* He had never seen his mentor being pressed for time. It didn''t matter when, but he always appeared to be relaxed and carefree.


    After eating he went towards the assembly point for the newcomers. When he arrived there, there were already many unfamiliar faces, that like him were waiting for the start of the tournament.


    But there were some familiar faces to too. To be exact it were the two man who had entered the dungeon with him, when he had first entered the Alliance. Since they weren''t really familiar with each other, he didn''t went over to greet them but instead observed the crowd.


    Most of the looked nervous. They did some last minute preparations, by either checking their prepared pills or their weapons. Some even practiced some combat skills, which he thought was the stupidest thing one could do. Not only was it to late now to gain anything, but they would even show their potential opponents their skills and as such would be giving up a small advantage they may have had, if they kept them secret.


    The ones Ivan found the most dangerous were these that had sat down quietly and either observed the others or meditated. To him this was a sign of experience, which was much more dangerous than pure strength.


    He then followed their example and sat down too.


    He hadn''t meditated for long, when an commotion ripped him out of it. He opened his eyes and looked towards the source of the noise. There an ice cold woman slowly made her way into the crowd. It was the woman who had went into the dungeon too. Not knowing why she would create such an commotion he listened to the conversations around him.


    "That is Tang Lin, did you know that she has already reached level 400 and I heard that her pet S ranked."


    "Really? How did she manage that? Is she that talented?"


    The other laughed softly, "Haha, no talent alone would be enough for that. While it is true that she is truly talented I heard that it is mostly because her grandfather pampers her a lot."


    "Her grandfather?"


    "Yes. Her grandfather is the Grand Elder. So ever since she has entered she has gotten a lot of resources from him."


    "Wow, she really is lucky.", the other said with envy clearly recognizable in his voice.


    *So she is the granddaughter of the Grand Elder. No wonder she had such a great staff when we were in the dungeon.*


    After that, seeing that it wasn''t really something that interesting, he went back to mediation.


    When it was time for the tournament to start a middle aged man entered the room.


    "Everyone here?", he asked and without waiting for an answer then continued, "I will now tell you the rules for this tournament, so you better listen carefully, because breaking them means that you will disqualified."


    "There aren''t many rules, since all of you will be wearing an medallion that will protect your life, so you can battle to your fullest. The fight will only end if the System decides that one of you has been killed or is unable to continue the fight. The medallion will protect you from any injury, but it will apply the corresponding damage. That means, that if you would lose an arm from an attack, it will stop you from using this arm during the rest of the fight."

 71 Tournament 2

    "We will start with a group stage were you will be allocated to one of the ten groups. You will then fight against each other person in your group two times, and the best two from each group will get into the knockout stage.


    You will then fight until only one person remains."


    These style of tournament didn''t come as a surprise to any of the participants, since they had already be informed about it before. This time it was just a formality. Of course some thought that it would be unfair, since luck would play a roll to in how far one would come, but as one elder once said, "Luck is also a part of ones strength."


    After he explained the rules, they proceeded with the group drawing.


    Ivan got into group four, while Miss. Tang got into group two, which made him quite happy. Because of that it would be easier to reach ne knockout stage. After all with Miss. Tang in ones group, one place would have already been taken.


    The tournament began with the newcomer tournament and for the group stage, one fight from each group would happen at the same time.


    In group four the first fight was between a young man and a young woman. Both of them summoned their pets at the start of the fight which were exactly the same. They were the simple vampire bats from the dungeon.


    Then the young man pulled out a bow, to support it''s pet, by using his arrows to disturb the others attacks. The woman on the other hand had a completely different approach as she pulled out a staff and cast support skills on her pet, while only defending herself.


    Ivan watched their fight attentively since it was his first time seeing others fight each other and he was sure that he would be able to learn a lot.


    After fighting for more than fifteen minutes, the woman''s pet finally managed to slay the man''s pet, before pouncing on the man. Which soon ended the fight with the woman winning.


    The fights of the other groups had mostly ended earlier, except for one, where two man were hitting each other with their bare fists, while their pets just stood aside and watched them. Anyone who saw this fight found it hilarious.


    On the platform of the second group, the second fight just ended and it was time for Miss. Tang to enter the stage. While Ivan was anticipating the fight, since he was really curious about her strength, her opponent forfeited before he even entered the stage.


    Judging by the sights of the participants around him he wasn''t the only one who had anticipated the first fight of her.


    For the next fights there was nothing that he was especially interested in, so he just watched in a relaxed manner.


    Finally it was his time to fight and his opponent was someone he hadn''t seen before, which came as no surprise. After both of them ascended on the platform the referee asked them to greet each other before starting the fight.


    As soon as the signal sounded, Ivan called out Vlada, who was nearly double the size of the opponents pet, even though she hadn''t even taken her biggest form.


    His opponent wasn''t even able to pull out his weapon, when Vlada was already upon him. His pet could do nothing to stop her, since the difference in strength was simply to much.


    In the blink of an eye the fight had ended with Ivan''s victory. But he was unable to feel any happiness about it, since it felt to easy as he didn''t even had to take action.


    After that he continued to win his fights with only Vlada taking action. At the same time in group two Miss. Tang too was winning each fight, but her opponents always surrendered, before the fight even started. Besides the two of them there were others, that dominated their groups.


    In group nine one man was winning each fight easily with his supreme swordsmanship, while in group eight a woman got rid of her opponents with, a simple but overpowered fireball.


    Besides these there were others who were undefeated, but had to work more for their victories. What surprised him a bit, was that the woman from the first fight too hadn''t lost a fight except the one against himself.


    Finally all the group stage fights had ended and the 20 persons to enter the knockout stage had been determined.


    Now it was time for the drawing of the positions. From each group the first place would draw his position, while the second position would get the one on the other side of the bracket. As such two members of the same group would only be able to meet again in the finals.


    The drawing would go in the same order as the group number. Starting with group one and ending with group ten. This time the drawing would be done on stage, so the spectators could see the reactions of the ones drawing their slots.


    Above the arena there were four screens that were oriented in each direction. Before these screens had displayed the rankings in the groups, but now they displayed the empty bracket with ten slots on each side.


    Then the head referee entered the central stage.


    "Welcome everyone to this years tournament. As it is customary the group stage of the newcomer tournament has already been finished and we will now begin with the main tournament."


    It had come at a surprise for Ivan when he had first come to know that the group stage for the newcomers didn''t count as a real part of the tournament. It was more of a precursor.


    "Now let''s welcome all the participant on the stage for the drawing.", with these words the referee invited all the newcomers, which had won the group stage onto the stage.

 72 Tournament 3

    The twenty winners of the group stage made their way up to the stage.


    Ivan knew three of them, while the others were new faces. Unsurprisingly Miss Tang was one of the winners as well as the other two''s he met during his first dungeon run. Besides them there was the woman from his group.


    From Miss Tang groups the second place was an muscular man, which hadn''t even shown his pet yet, since his fights were easy and he had forfeited the fight against Miss. Tang. Besides these two the other winners had to show their strengths during the group stage. At least Ivan thought so.


    "Great, now lets begin with the winner of group one.", the head referee announced.


    The winner of group one which was a skinny young man, that used his superb archer skills as well as his surprisingly tanky pig pet, to win his fights. After the announcement he stepped forward and pulled out a slip of paper with the slot he would get.


    He started of on the lower left bracket.


    After that the drawing proceeded until finally everyone had his slot in the bracket. Ivan didn''t have much luck since he would meet Miss Tang in the second fight. As such he didn''t have much hope in making the top five.


    "Then lets get the first fight started. The contestants are Ivan Hope and Dennis Lerou.", the referee announced the first fight. "Everyone else, please leave the stage."


    He then waited for the rest of the contestants to leave the stage, so that only the two fighters were left on stage.


    "Are the both of you ready?", he then asked Ivan and the other young man Dennis. After both of them nodded he then announced, "Let the fight begin."


    Once again Ivan summoned his pet Vlada, but he knew that this wasn''t enough to win against his opponent.


    As most of the contestants his opponent used his pet as the main force, while he stood back and supported it. He was a caster, which used fire balls to interrupt his opponents rhythm and enable his pet bear to do damage to him.


    Even though Vlada would be able to fight on equal footing or even surpass the bear, she would be unable to do so if the young man fired fireballs at her. As such it was necessary for Ivan to attack too.


    Something he had realized during the duration of the tournament was, that his fighting style seemed to be quite unusual. As such he hoped to surprise his opponent. Of course this would only work during the first fight, since he hadn''t shown his fighting style before.


    His opponent pulled out his staff and got ready to cast his fireball spells, while his bear rushed towards Vlada.


    While Vlada pounced towards the incoming bear, Ivan didn''t hesitate to sprint towards his opponent.


    Seeing him coming the young man became flustered, since he hadn''t expected him to rush towards him. Sadly he wasn''t interrupted, but still finished his chant to fire a fireball towards Ivan.


    Ivan quickly pulled out his sword while creating a sturdy but small fire shield in the trajectory of the incoming fireball. Even though fire shields weren''t really the best way, to block fireballs his strengthened shield was up to the tast, and the incoming attack vanished harmlessly.


    His opponent tried to increase the distance while starting his next chant, but Ivan was much faster than him and he easily reached him before he could finish his next attempt. At the same time his pet was tied down by Vlada and was unable to come to his aid.


    Ivan used his flame enchantment and then slashed with his sword, while letting the enchantment drift away from the blade.


    This was something he had learned during his fights and it was a great way to cast a flaming blade in a short distance from him. It was a short ranged attack, but since it moved faster than he himself it was of great use in situations like this.


    As soon as the flaming sword blade appeared a murmur went through the mass of spectators. One of the elders turned towards Van Bergen and said, "I didn''t expect your student to be a magical swordsman. This is quite unusual."


    Van Bergen too looked surprised at the display on stage. He hadn''t seen his student fight since he started to teach him. And he had only thought him how to train, but no fighting skills, as such he too had no idea that his student had chosen the way of a magical swordsman.


    "I too didn''t know he has chosen this path. To be honest I haven''t thought him any fighting skills."


    "You didn''t?", the other elder looked surprised, "You are saying that he has developed this fighting style by himself?"


    "I think so. I don''t think that he has learned this at school, since they only teach basic fighting skills."


    "Then I''ll have to congratulate you for having such a capable student."


    Van Bergen smiled proudly, "Thank you, thank you. Sadly it will be impossible for him to reach further than the top ten."


    The elder nodded, "Yeah, Miss. Tang is just to much of a monster. Still I hope he will seriously fight her. It should be a good fight to see."


    "Well considering that he was not even level 50 two days ago, I think top ten will already be good."


    "He was not even level 50 two days ago? That means that he has broken through in the last two days?"


    Van Bergen grunted in confirmation.


    "I guess it will be hard for him then. He shouldn''t have had the time to get adjusted to his new strength yet."


    The two of them focused back on the stage, where the fight was just about to finish.


    Even though the skinny man had managed to dodge the first flame blade, he couldn''t do the same with the second. Which hit him exactly at his central axis.

 73 Tournament 4

    "The winner is Ivan Hope", the referee announced, as soon as the sign appeared that his opponent had lost.


    After that the two of them did shake hands before they left the stage, so the next pair could fight.


    Next up were Miss. Tang and a man who had shown a lot of skill in fire magic. Which would be a bad match for him. To Ivan''s knowledge Miss. Tang was proficient in ice magic which was able to counter fire magic well. Of course it worked the other way around too, but since she was stronger it should be easy for her to win. He could only hope that her opponent would make it a good fight, so that he could gain some information about her fighting style.


    After the announcement by the referee the both of them greeted each other before starting their fight.


    Both of them pulled out their staffs and Ivan once again marveled at how great Miss. Tangs staff looked. Her opponent''s staff on the other hand was much simpler.


    While the spectators cheered the two of them started to cast their first skills. What surprised Ivan a bit was that neither of them called out their pets. He could kinda understand why Miss. Tang didn''t call out her pet, since she had hidden it until now, but her opponent had already shown his before. So he couldn''t understand his decision not to call it out now, since he was of the opinion that that guy would need any help he could get. And his pet which was a simple vampire bat should be able to at least disrupt his opponent.


    Over Miss. Tangs head a large ice crystal formed, while above her opponents head a much smaller fireball congregated. Of course size wasn''t the most important thing, since smaller fire balls with higher heat would work much better, than larger but colder ones.


    After that both of them waved their staffs forward at the same time, which made their conjured skills fly towards the middle of the stage. There the two skills clashed in an explosion of steam and pressure.


    This was the most primitive way of comparing the strength of ones magic skills, since there were no sophistication in it, but only pure strength counted.


    Soon the steam vanished and one could see a much smaller ice crystal remaining floating in the air. From this it was clear who had won this contest. And indeed, as soon as the ice crystal appeared, the fire mage did forfeit.


    *Damn, there wasn''t really much to learn from this fight.*, Ivan was disappointed. After all this clash had brought him no new information.


    After that the fights of the first round continued until only 10 people were left in the tournament.


    "Alright now that we have determined the final ten of this newcomer tournament it is time to announce the prices for the winners.", the referee announced something unexpected. Ivan had already been wondering why there were no information on the prices for the winners of the tournament, but he had never expected that they would only be announced after the final ten had been determined. He had thought that there simple were none, besides the fame.


    "For everyone that has entered the first 20 there is a one gold reward.", some of the ones that had made the top 20 cheered, while others barley reacted. For them one gold wasn''t much, because their parents were rich and powerful.


    "For the top ten we have an additional reward of five Evolution Pills. For those of you who aren''t aware of the effects of the pills, I will shortly explain it. The Evolution Pill can be fed to your pet and there is then a chance that your pet will evolve. Since these are only D grade pills they can at most increase the grade of your pet to D grade."


    This time the cheering was much louder, while the ones who failed to get into the top ten stared at the ones who did with eyes filled with envy. While gold wasn''t much to many, these pills weren''t easy to find. Only a few people knew how to refine them and it was nearly impossible to get them, except as rewards for missions issued by the Slavers Alliance. As such they were much more enticing than the reward before.


    "For the top five we have one Rebirth Pill, which can be used to initiate a rebirth of your pet. For those of you that don''t know what a rebirth of a pet means, I will shortly explain it.


    A rebirth for a pet doesn''t increase the grade of a pet, but it can purify the bloodline, which makes further evolution much easier."


    When Ivan heard the word bloodline his interest was aroused. He had heard about it in the quest at the Herb Garden, but when he checked he hadn''t found anything. Of course he had only looked for information concerning mankind and not pets, which now seemed like a mistake.


    *If this pill can purify bloodlines, then I wonder if it can purify my bloodline too?*, he wondered. Sadly it didn''t seem like he would be able to test it anytime soon, since he had no hope of winning his next fight and entering the top five.


    Meanwhile the referee ignored the reactions of the crowd and continued on.


    "The top three get the rights to use an F grade training room for two hours a day.", once again envious looks were cast, while others looked full of eagerness to earn the price.


    To Ivan this reward seemed to be much worse than the one before. After all he had used a training room all the time. Now it seemed like his mentor had given him quite some favor, when he allowed him to use it whenever he wanted.


    Of course for someone like Miss. Tang this reward too wouldn''t be anything special.

 74 Tournament 5

    "As for the winner, he will get a grade F house on the campus."


    When the last reward was announced an uproar went through the participants. A grade F house may sound like nothing special, but one had to know that one had usually be a member of the alliance for at least ten years, as well have a high enough rank, to buy a house on campus. And then the prices weren''t small at all. As such normally this was a great reward for the first time. But if as expected Miss. Tang would get this reward, then it would just be wasted. After all her grandfather was the grand elder and as such she would surely have a much better place to live in.


    "Alright, now that the rewards are announced, it is time to continue with the fights for the best five. We will start this with the fight between Ivan Hope and Miss. Tang."


    When Ivan heard his name he hurriedly ascended the platform, while his opponent elegantly walked towards it too. Her face still held the same ice cold expression she had on since the start.


    When she ascended the platform there was a loud cheer from the spectators, as well as loud shouts, encouraging Ivan to help them see a flustered expression of her. It seems like he wasn''t the only one who wondered how she would look if her face showed another expression.


    "Both of you greet each other."


    As before they greeted each other with a small handshake, allowing Ivan to feel her smaller but ice cold hand in his. * Is this girl an iceberg?*


    "And, start.", the referee announced the start of the fight, after the both of them had arrived at their starting positions.


    Since he hadn''t gotten any information about his opponents fighting style, Ivan thought that the best way to go forward was to stay true to his tried and tested methods. As such he summoned Vlada and together with her he shot towards Miss. Tang.


    At the same time his blade did slide out of its scabbard, she too had her staff in her hand, while already starting to cast her spell.


    While closing the distance to her in a sprint, he applied his flame enchantment and hacked down on her with as much speed as he could muster.


    "Bang", with a loud bang his sword hit the just coalesced ice shield surrounding her. The backslash of this swing was then used to make a circular movement at which end his sword was once again slashing towards her.


    There was no facial reaction, but a small glint of surprise flashed through her eyes, unseen by nearly everybody. But on one tribune he grandfather managed to catch it. *It seems like this young boy of Carl isn''t that simple.*, he mused.


    While his second stroke was still on it''s way, Vlada arrived behind her and used both her wing to slash powerfully downwards.


    The ice shield was already weakened by Ivan''s unexpectedly strong first stroke and was unable to fully defend against the might of this slash. Of course it was only a hastily casted skill and as such from the beginning much weaker. Still even though it crumbled it had still managed to stop Vlada''s strike.


    Thanks to the perfect coordination between him and his pet Ivan''s strike reached her directly after her shield had crumbled, leaving her without time to finish the skill she had already started casting. She could only hurriedly use her staff to block to blade. Of course since the quality of the staff was so high this was no problem for it and there wasn''t even the smallest nick left on it.


    Her first instinct was to create some distance from her opponent, but his pet blocked her escape route.


    "Good, seems like she has to call out her pet.", on the elder tribune Van Bergen cheered, when he saw the situation. Even though he and the Grand Elder were friends, they still had some friendly competition going on. And as such it was always a happy thing for him, if something managed to push that granddaughter and grandfather pair. Who told the Grand Elder to always gloat about his granddaughter when they were enjoying a bottle of wine together.


    And as expected, Miss. Tang called out her pet. It was a five meter big bear, that looked like it was made out of crystals. As soon as it appeared it stormed towards Vlada with a seemingly unstoppable momentum.


    *Damn.*, Ivan could only curse inwardly, when he saw this monster. Even though Vlada could become much bigger her fighting prowess was much lower. After all this was one of the feared Crystal Bears. A species that lived deep inside the Crystal Mountains at the north of the empire.


    The reaction of the spectators weren''t much different from his, except for a few who hadn''t recognized the bear.


    "What the.....", when Van Bergen saw the bear first appear his chin nearly fell down in surprise. "That fucking old man. How the hell could he give his granddaughter something like this? This is just plain cheating."


    The elders around him looked at him with pity. His and the Grand Elders relationship was well known, so nobody was too surprised about the way he addressed him. Besides they too wanted to question the sanity of their Grand Elder. Crystal Bears were ultra rare and he wasted one on his granddaughter who wouldn''t be able to make full use of it for a long time.


    The Grand Elder on the other hand had a satisfied grin on his face when he saw the expression on his friends face.


    On the stage the fight, that had looked to be going well for Ivan had completely changed. Vlada was completely outclassed by the Crystal Bear and no help in dealing with Miss. Tang. But luckily with theability to take flight she was able to keep him occupied. This enabled Ivan and Miss. Tang do duel without any of their pet''s messing up the balance.

 75 Tournament 6

    Sadly for Ivan there just wasn''t any balance. The stat difference was just to high. Besides that the longer they fought the clearer it became to him, that not only were their strength to different, his close combat skills too were worse than hers.


    As such even without her having to cast any skills he was slowly pushed back, until finally he was no longer able to properly block a staff strike of her, which would have broken his right sword bearing arm.


    Swiftly switching his sword over to his other hand he continued fighting, but even though he was able to use both his hands equal, this didn''t change the fact that he was weaker. As such the same thing happened again.


    "I give up.", he could only give up.


    "The winner is Miss. Tang.", the referee announced under the cheers of the crowd.


    Then the both of them once again shook hands.


    "You aren''t bad.", with these words Miss. Tang left the stage, leaving behind a speechless Ivan and referee. Never before in the tournament had they heard Miss. Tang say one word more than strictly necessary.


    After that the tournament continued and unsurprisingly the final winner was Miss. Tang. What surprised Ivan was that the one who got second place was the second place from his group. As such many thought that Ivan should be the second place. Sadly he had to fight against Miss. Tang before that and as such was unable to advance to the finals.


    After the rewards were distributed the newcomer tournament ended and the ones for normal members started.


    It was interesting to watch the different strategies employed, but often times the difference in strength was to big and the one, he thought had the better strategy still lost miserably.


    Of course there was still a lot to learn from this fight, since it was likely that such a situation could be encountered in the world. As such having some strategies that could be used against stronger opponents was definitely a must have.


    After this tournament had concluded it was then time for the most hyped one, which was the elder tournament.


    The elder tournament was different from the normal tournament, since it wouldn''t be of much help for studying techniques and strategies. Their level were just to high, which made it next to impossible to really discern anything. But still the entertainment value of it was much higher, so most people loved to watch this part of the day.


    For Ivan this tournament was even more interesting, since it would be his first time seeing his mentor fight. He really wondered how strong he was.


    This time the elder tournament could offer the same spectacular views as the ones in the years before until finally the winner was decided which was Ivan''s mentor.


    Ivan didn''t even know how he got most of his wins, but he was clear that his mentor was much stronger than he had thought. But seeing this strength only got him wondering whether he too would be able to reach such highs. And what about the owner of the Herb Garden? Ivan wasn''t sure, but it was likely that he should be much, much stronger than his mentor. He knew that there seemed to be a maximum strength that could be archived, which was around level one thousand, but why did he get the feeling that there was something above it? And what about the worlds outside of the system worlds, that the lady at school had spoken about?


    For the first time Ivan found another goal, besides finding out who he was before his reset. And that was to be strong enough to be able to go out there and explore, and when he came back there would be a warm family waiting for him. The last thing was something he had slowly realized while spending time with his daughter. A man could be as strong as he want''s, but a family was still something that was a necessity.


    Deep in thought about his future he left the arena, when a middle aged man in a black suit approached him.


    "Mister Hope?"


    "Yes?", Ivan asked in surprise.


    "Mylady has send you to give you this.", the man bowed and presented a simple but elegant wooden chest to him. The chest was the size of a book and created a splendid contrast with the white gloves of the man, since the wood it was made of was ink black.


    "Your lady?", Ivan asked, since he didn''t know who would send him such an extravagant gift.


    "My lady is Miss. Tang.", the man explained with a friendly smile, while covertly checking out the young man before him. Never before had his lady gifted any man anything, besides her family members, so it couldn''t help that he would be curious about the recipient of this gift. He then continued with his explanation, "I am not sure, what is in it, but Mylady told me to give it to you and tell you that there is a letter inside, that would explain everything to you."


    Ivan hesitated for a bit. He didn''t have enough contact with Miss. Tang, for her to gift him anything, but it wasn''t like he could reject it. If he did, he wasn''t sure how, but he was sure that he would be in deep shit.


    "Then I have to thank Miss. Tang.", he responded and took the chest, which was heavier than it looked.


    "A good day then, Mister Hope.", the man said his goodbye after having fulfilled his job of delivering the chest and turned around to leave.


    "Goodbye."


    After the man had left, he then took a closer look at the chest, but there wasn''t much to see. It was entirely made from one piece of that black wood, with no gap between the lid and the body. There was only a silver lock that he had seen before. It was keyed to ones system account and could only be opened by the intended person.

 76 Visi

    Since he didn''t want to open the chest here, he tried to put it into his inventory, but to his surprise it didn''t work, but instead he got a system message.


    << Warning: This item contains a separate space and as such can not be put into other separate spaces. >>


    This was the first time something like this had happened to him, and the message didn''t really help much either, since he had no knowledge concerning space and it''s properties, not to mention the interaction of two separate spaces.


    As such he didn''t think about it to much and just put it under his arm and then proceeded to go home, where he could open it and look what was inside.


    He didn''t get far, when his phone rang. Pulling it out from his pocket with his free arm, he saw that the caller was his mentor.


    "Hey Ivan, good job at the tournament. Come over for a party, I will send you the address.", before he could say anything, his mentor had already ended the call after saying what he wanted to.


    "What the...", Ivan cursed softly. Sometimes he found his mentors way of doing things annoying. Even so he still looked at the text message which consisted of only an address and then checked the navigation app on how to best go there.


    Half an hour later he stood before a luxurious villa, which was the address his mentor had send him.


    On a small shield at the entrance he saw the name of his mentor, so it should be his villa.


    "Seems like the elders aren''t living badly."


    In the more than half a year that he had been his student, his mentor hadn''t invited him to his house even once, so he had no clue as how he lived.


    He then walked through the entrance gate into the well cared front garden, towards the front door. Where he then pressed the bell.


    Soon the door opened, and a beautiful woman looked at him.


    "Hey, you must be Ivan right?", not even waiting for Ivan to nod, she then continued, "I''m Jenny. Come on in, everyone is already waiting for you."


    With that she turned around moving towards the living room, while continuing talking.


    "I saw your last fight during the tournament. Never expected that someone could push that litte girl to use her pet, while being at the same age."


    Ivan felt a bit overwhelmed by her continuous chatter, but what surprised him was that this woman had called Miss. Tang ''litte girl''. In addition to her slightly similar look, he was sure that they were related in some way.


    Shortly after they reached the living room and the woman dropped the biggest bomb until now.


    "If my husband bullies you in any way, you can just tell me and I will set him straight."


    "Your husband?"


    "Yes, Carl is my husband.", she answered and then saw his shocked face.


    "Don''t tell me he didn''t tell you anything about himself?"


    Ivan nodded his head. His mentor had truly never told him anything about himself. Even his relationship with Lara, was only known to him because of the circumstances.


    "That''s so typical of him.", Jenny said angrily. "Well, whatever now that you are here, I will make sure to introduce you the family."


    They had reached the living room and saw that there were already a few people seated on the comfortable looking couches. Besides his mentor there was another woman, who had her head leaned on his shoulder. The place on the other side was free and after telling him to find a seat Jenny sat down there.


    Besides them there was an older pair Ivan didn''t know, but which had an aura of oppressive might around them. Then there was another person he had already met, which was Miranda van Berg, the mother of Lara. Besides her sat an elegant man, who had an aura around him, which was different from the older pair. Theirs was one that would make one feel oppression, while his made on want to obey his orders. Ivan named this aura ''Ruler Aura'', for himself. Looking at his closeness with Miranda, he could make the educated guess that this should be her husband and Lara''s father.


    After he sat down besides another young man, his mentor greeted him.


    "You are here.", he then introduced him to the others, "This is my student Ivan and I''m sure you have seen him during the tournament."


    Everyone else greeted him too.


    "I''m sorry about the drawings during the tournament. With your strength you could have easily been the second place.", the older woman said, to which Ivan helplessly answered, "My luck just wasn''t good enough this time."


    His mentor then pointed at the black chest, "How did you get this thing? I know that you don''t have enough money to buy a Storage Chest."


    "This is called Storage Chest?"


    "Yes, it is an expensive magical tool, that can be used to store things. Inside of it there is a separate space, so you can store much more in it than one would think, looking at it from the outside."


    "Someone gave it to me and said it was a gift from Miss. Tang."


    "Little Lin gave it to you?",Jenny asked with a shocked look.


    "Yes."


    "Do you know what''s inside?"


    "No, I hadn''t had the time to open it yet."


    "Then do it now. I''m really interested in what this little girl has given as the first gift to anyone outside her family."


    Now it was Ivan''s turn look shocked, "You are saying, that she hasn''t gifted anyone outside of her family anything before?"


    Jenny nodded, "As far as I know yes. This girl has a cold character and as long as she thinks someone isn''t worthy she won''t have any interaction with them. And in her eyes just about everyone is unworthy. That''s why I was so surprised when she gifted you something."

 77 Introduction

    At this point his mentor interrupted them, "I don''t think it would be proper for him to open it in front of everyone here"


    "Huh, but Little Lin had her servant give it to him at a public place, so it should be alright.", Jenny protested. One could easily see that she was very curious about what was inside the chest.


    Carl shot her a stern look. "Alright, Alright. I''m going to call her and ask her, ok?"


    Seeing her husband nod, she made the call.


    While she was busy with it, he then took the opportunity to introduce the people assembled in the room.


    "I''m sure you have already guessed who this gentleman is", he then pointed at the man besides Miranda, "he is her husband and Janes grandfather, Joseph."


    The man nodded as a greeting but didn''t say anything, neither did he seem surprised at the mention of Jane. It seemed like he already knew about Ivan knowing her.


    Carl then mentioned with his head towards the woman besides him, "This is my second wife, Trisha."


    Ivan had already expected something like this, seeing how close the two of them were. He hadn''t really concerned himself with the rules of marriage, but he had still heard something. Nobody knew why, but the birthrate of females was at least trice as high as that of men. Which had lead to most men having at least three wives. During the tournament he had even heard, that one of the elders had more than ten wives, all of which were beautiful, as well as powerful.


    Trisha greeted him happily, "Hello, I have heard a lot about you from Carl. It is nice to finally meet you. If it weren''t for this mission, me and Jenny were on we would have invited you over earlier. Because I''m sure Carl has only cared about your training and nothing else.", she then threw her husband a reproachful glare.


    She had heard about his situation from her husband, and in her opinion her husband had miserably failed in his role as a mentor. Because not only should he have taught him how to train but also how to correctly life in society.


    Ivan found it amusing how his mentor looked embarrassed after the look his wife gave him.


    With a cough his mentor hurriedly continued on and pointed at the older pair. "These are Trisha''s parents. Her mother Katherine and her father Luke. Both of them are the highest ranking pill refiners in the Alliance."


    The both of them greeted him warmly, "If you ever have any questions regarding pill refining you can ask us.", Luke then offered.


    "And this is their son Ted. Unlike his parent''s he doesn''t refine pills but instead has put his body and soul into rune engraving.", Carl then introduced the last person, which was the young man seated besides Ivan.


    "Hi, nice to meet you.", the man then offered his hand for a handshake. The both of them shook hands and Ivan could feel the callouses on his hand. They were unlike his, which were formed by sword training. He guessed that they were from the constant use of engraving tools.


    "Are you interested in rune engraving?"


    "I didn''t really have any contact with it. At school I was selected into the pill refining class, so this is what I have focused on."


    Hearing this Luke''s interest was awoken."Who is your teacher?"


    "Miss. Klein.", Ivan answered slightly surprised that Luke would ask this question.


    "Really? It is Miss. Bea Klein? Someone who looks like a little girl?", Luke asked enthusiastically.


    "Yes.", now Ivan was really bewildered. Why was Luke so excited, when hearing his teachers name.


    "Wow, it is really her. I can''t believe she really teaches at a high school. And at yours to boot."


    "You know her?"


    "Of course I know her. She is famous in our circle."


    "Really?", Ivan couldn''t believe that his teacher, who had always showed a laid back attitude would be someone famous.


    "Really. She is rumored to have been able to refine Artifact grade pills, so how could she not be famous. It is just that she is a very private person. It was rumored that she was teaching somewhere, but I never would have believed that it was true. You are really lucky to have such a teacher." There was some envy in his voice.


    The information came at a real surprise. He had interacted with her for half a year, but had seen no signs that she was that awesome. Of course he had never seen her refine pills either, since she had only forced her two students to learn everything they could about all the plants out there.


    He had started to get annoyed with it and even though it had helped him extremely during his stints into pill refining, he still had felt that it was unnecessary. But now he wasn''t sure anymore. Maybe she had a good reason for it.


    Luke than told a few more rumors he had heard about her. And Ivan soon realized that he was a hardcore fan.


    On the other hand, Jenny had been chatting with her nice on the phone all the time and she now finally finished her call. "Little Lin said that she would come over. She said that there are a few things that would better be talked about in person."


    "Huh, then why did she just have her servant give me the chest? And didn''t directly talk with me?", Ivan asked confused.


    "What do you ask me that? Just ask her when she comes.", Jenny has a exasperated look on her face. After all she to had wondered about it. The only thing she could come up with that would explain this weird behavior would be the main family. These bunch of guys had rules which could twist a normal persons sense of reason. And unlike her, her niece was from the main family.

 78 Main Family

    Soon the doorbell rang and Jenny went to open it.


    "Uncle", Lin greeted Carl first, before greeting the others. During this time her face kept it''s cold look, without any reaction to whom she greeted. The only exception was Jenny where some warmth could be seen in her eyes, whenever she looked at her aunt.


    "Well, now that you have greeted everyone, how about telling us about what you gave to Ivan.", Jenny brought the focus of the conversation towards, what had interested her the most.


    "If you don''t want to make it public, you can just ignore your aunt.", Carl said. He felt that it would be impolite to force her to talk about it, if she didn''t want to.


    "Don''t worry, uncle. It''s no problem to tell what is in the chest. To be honest I feel it is better to do it in person anyway. And everyone here is family, so it is ok.", Lin reassured her uncle. She then turned towards Ivan.


    "I guess you haven''t opened the chest yet right?"


    Ivan nodded.


    "Good then let''s start at the beginning. I''m sure that aunty has already guessed that it has something to do with the Tang main family. But most of you may not be aware of what it means to be a member of the main family.", she now addressed everyone in the room. And she got many nods as confirmation to her guess.


    "As you may know the Tang Family in this realm is only a branch of the real Tang Family, which is located in a higher realm."


    These talks about realms confused Ivan, he hadn''t heard about it before, but the others didn''t seem to be surprised, so he could only keep in his curiosity, while deciding to check it out later.


    "As such there are a multitude of rules the members have to follow, and one of the most important ones is that we have to follow the prophecies.


    Not everyone will get one, but it is said that the ones who have gotten one and didn''t try to fulfill them didn''t have a good end. As such whenever the family treasure emits a prophecy everyone tries to fulfill them to their best capacities.


    And when I was born, I got a prophecy, which told me to give a chest filled with specific items to the one who managed to make me call out my pet during the alliance tournament, which would happen while I was sixteen."


    Jenny looked at her nice and then asked, "So you entered the alliance because of this prophecy?"


    Lin shook her head, "No, I did enter this alliance because of grandpa. Besides in the prophecy there wasn''t even specified, which alliance tournament it was."


    Jenny nodded relieved. She really hoped that her niece hadn''t made such an important decision based only on some prophecy. As such the confirmation that she had chosen this alliance not because of a prophecy, but because of her grandfather, was a relief to her.


    "So after Ivan forced you to use your bear during the tournament and you send him the chest,the prophecy is now fulfilled?", Jenny asked.


    "Yes, this was the requirement for the prophecy. Of course there is still the matter of the chest''s content."


    "Then what is in it? And why did you have a servant give it to him?"


    "The servant part is because of some family rules. Because of the content I couldn''t deliver it myself, but had to get someone to do it for me."


    "Then what is it? Can I open it?", Jenny asked eagerly. The way these two behaved was completely opposite to the expectation Ivan had, because of their age and status in the family. It seemed like Miss. Tang was the more mature on, while Jenny acted like a little girl sometimes.


    Lin seemed to already be used to her aunt''s behavior so she only looked questioningly at Ivan, letting him decide.


    Since Ivan had no idea what was in the chest, he had no issue with her opening it.


    "Sure, if you want to."


    "Yay.", with a happy squeal Jenny grabbed the chest, as well as Ivan''s hand. She then pressed his finger onto the lock and had him confirm that he wanted to unlock it.


    She then opened the lid of the chest. The frame of the chest was decorated with silver runes, which were part of the space skill. Where there would normally be the space inside of the chest, there was instead a shimmering black membrane which was infused with cyan colored swirls. It was a beautiful sight, which made Ivan want to admire it for a while.


    "Let''s check what''s in this. I''m sure that it is something great.", Jenny was really happy as she pulled out the first item from the chest. It was a black briefcase, which she directly opened and turned over, so that it''s content spilled on the small table.


    It was a certificated as well as some key card.


    "This is the certificate for a house and these cards, should be the keys then?", she looked at the document and then asked the girl sitting besides her.


    "Yes, it is the house I won. Since I have already gotten my own home from my grandpa, I don''t need it. And I think Ivan would have been able to win it, if I hadn''t participated, so I think it is only fair to gift it to him."


    "So it was your own decision and not because of the prophecy?"


    "Yes. These item''s are something else.", not wanting to spoil Jenny''s fun she didn''t mention what the items were and whether there were other things inside the chest, which weren''t in there because of the prophecy.


    Jenny then pulled out the next item from the chest.

 79 Sword

    It was a 1.2 meter long and about 6 cm width package, that was wrapped in a piece of red cloth. Without any hesitation she then unwrapped the item, uncovering a sword, which was in a scabbard. As such only the hilt was visible. It was of a plain design, as it was completely black with only a golden spiral winding around the grip. Ivan wasn''t sure what it was made out of, since it surely wasn''t iron or a simple steel.


    "This looks like a good sword, but how did you get the idea to gift him a sword?"


    "This was actually quite easy. The prophecy said that the gift had to include a weapon and when we were fighting on stage, I saw that he was using a simple iron sword. So I asked uncle about it and he told me that it was the only one he could afford. That''s why I took out one of the swords from grandpas collection."


    When Jenny heard, what her nice said she threw a accusing look towards her husband. "You knew about this?"


    Carl hastily shook his head, "No, no. She only asked me about the sword Ivan used. I thought it was because of something that happend during their fight. I never would have thought that this would lead to her gifting him a sword."


    Seeing him defend himself like this Ivan had to hold back his laughter. Most of the time his mentor seemed to be domineering. But seeing him like this he realized that Jenny was the real boss and his mentor could only obey her.


    "Wait, you took it out of your grandpas collection?"


    "Yes. Is there a problem with that?"


    "A problem?", Jenny nearly screamed. "Don''t you know how much dad cherishes his sword collection? He didn''t even let Carl touch any of these swords. And he is after all his son in law. And now you took one and gifted it away?"


    She knew that her dad liked to spoil his granddaughter, but she was sure that it wasn''t to the extend of him allowing her to take something out of his collection and gift it to someone, who strictly speaking had no relationship with their family.


    "Oh, I kinda forgot about it.", said Lin, without showing even the least bit of embarrassment. Ivan was sure that she neither forgot about it, nor did she care about it. After seeing her interact with her aunt he had understood, that her personality was quite different than his first impression of her.


    Although she had a ice cold face, which barely showed any expression, while communicating with her family, there wasn''t any cold feeling. Instead there was a warmth, he hadn''t seen before, and which made him slightly envious. Even though he had Jane, which whom he too had a blood connection, they couldn''t interact the same way, these two did. They had only met a short time ago, so there was still some distance between them and Lara''s attitude towards him didn''t help.


    "You! Whatever, but I really want to see what dad is going to do to you if he finds out."


    She then laid the sword onto the table. "It would be better if you don''t accept this until dad has voiced his opinion. After all we don''t want him not torture you, because you laid your hands onto one of his valued swords."


    Hearing this Ivan could only nod. He didn''t know how obsessed the Grand Elder was with his sword collection, but judging by Jenny''s reaction it should be a lot. There was no way he would risk offending him, just for a sword.


    Seeing Ivan being so understand, while showing no greed towards the sword, Jenny felt very satisfied with the student her husband had picked up. Maybe she should ask him to take him as an official disciple. Because then he would be like their son and she would be able to spoil him however she wanted. She had long since wished to have a child, but because of something that had happened during one of their adventures, all of them had become infertile and until now they hadn''t found a way to cure the problem.


    Determined to talk about it later, when the guests were gone, she moved back her focus towards the chest. There was only one item left, which was a black folder. When she pulled it out, she saw out of the corner of her eye, that her niece had become fidgety. Seeing this she knew that there was something up with the content of the folder.


    "Girl, do you want to tell me something before I open this folder?"


    Lin hesitated for a bit, before saying, "Um, just that this is only in there because of the prophecy."


    These words didn''t make Jenny happy, but instead gave her a dark foreboding. There surely wasn''t something good in it, or her little niece wouldn''t have reacted this way. With a apprehensive feeling she then carefully opened the folder.


    Inside there was only one document, which was made of the heavy thick paper, that was typically used for important official documents. She looked at it and then wordlessly put it down on the table. Her face completely expressionless, something Ivan hadn''t seen before, she then looked at her niece, waiting for her to explain.


    Seeing her weird behavior the others tried to check out the document, but Jenny shot them a glare, stopping them from satisfying their curiosity.


    "I am waiting.", she then told her niece in a voice, devoid of any emotion, which made it only scarier, than if there was anger in it.


    Lin tried to play stupid, but under the stare of her aunt she finally cracked. "I told you that this is in it because of the prophecy.", she tried to defend herself, fully knowing that there was no way that her aunt would accept it.


    "Oh, so it is only because of the prophecy.", she then paused before shouting at her, "Are you f**king stupid? Just because of some stupid prophecy you are willing to sign something like this? Don''t you know how important a marriage is?"

 80 Marriage

    Lin seemed to shrink, when her aunt continued to yell at her, until she had finally run out of breath.


    "Um, how about I just don''t sign it?", Ivan asked tentatively. At the same time these words left his mouth he could see his mentor throwing him a look full of pity. And indeed Jenny, who had just got her breath back, once again started to yell, but this time he was the target.


    "What? So you think my niece isn''t good enough for you?"


    When he heard this question, Ivan wanted to cry. First she was angry at Lin because she signed the marriage contract, and know that he had proposed an easy solution, she was angry at him.


    Without a way to stop her, they could only wait for her to calm down.


    "So what are the two going to do about this?", she waved the document through the air.


    Ivan didn''t dare to say anything, since his last proposal had lead to him being yelled at for at least five minutes.


    Lin looked at him and then said, "Sorry Ivan, but you will have to sign this. If not I will try anything in my power to do it, even if I have to use force."


    Everyone looked at her in surprise. They had thought that even though the prophecy had forced her to put this into the chest, she didn''t really care about it. Maybe she would have even preferred for him not to sign.


    "Why are you insisting on him signing it?", for the first time Miranda mixed into the conversation.


    Seeing that everyone was looking at her questioning, Lin took a deep breath before explaining. "It wasn''t just that I had to insert the contract into the gift. I too have to make sure that he signs it. And that at any cost."


    "But why? Is it really only because of the family rules?"


    "No it isn''t. Each prophecy made by the main family has three parts. The first one is a certain event that will happen, in this case me being forced to use my pet during the tournament. Then there is a part, that describes the actions one should use to get the good outcome. Which would be the gift and the marriage. The last part are two outcomes, one which will occur if the second part is fulfilled and another which will occur if not." She then paused for a bit. "I can''t tell you everything about the last part, but both outcomes have something to do with my family. Besides that there is also something concerning only me, which I can tell you about.


    It isn''t anything specific but if I don''t get married then I would at most live until I''m fifty. Which is also the reason that my grandpa agreed."


    When they heard the last part everyone sucked in a deep breath, except Ivan, who didn''t really understand the significance of it.


    "Really? It said that you won''t live longer than fifty if you don''t marry Ivan?", Jenny asked in a concerned voice.


    "Yes. Of course it isn''t sure, how long I could live if we marry, but it should be the same as everyone else.", which depended on ones strength as well as luck.


    "Then how is the success rate of these prophecies?"


    "According to the family records, they were never wrong. And there are more than two hundred recorded cases."


    "Ivan. Sign it.", Jenny forcefully put the contract before him and then starred at him, daring him to refuse.


    *Damn, don''t I get any choice in this? I already got ice cold wife. Do I really need another one? ... Even though she looks just as beautiful. *, Ivan whined in his heart, but didn''t dare show it on the outside. He could only pick up the pen and sign at the intended location.


    << Congratulation you have married Lin Tang.


    Luck +1


    Remark: I don''t even know what to say anymore. >>


    << Congratulations, Lin Tang has entered the Hope family. >>


    << Congratulation, with the marriage to Lin Tang, all you marriages have been made official. Each member of the marriage will gain one ''Ring of Marriage''. >>


    The next moment something on his and Lin''s finger shimmered and a plain but beautiful ring appeared on their ring finger.


    << Ring of Marriage, Artifact


    This ring is a sign that you are officially married and the marriage is witnessed and enforced by the gods.


    Wearer of the ring are under the following effects:


    ''Blessing of the Gods'' : You are blessed by the gods. This improves your interaction with the energy of the Heavens.


    ''Blessing of the World'': You are blessed by the World. This improves your interaction with the energy of the Earth.


    ''Blessing of the Spirit'': You are blessed by the Grand Spirit. This improves your interaction with the energy of the Spirit.


    ''Blessing of the Grand Chaos'': You are blessed by the Grand Chaos. Who said that one had to follow all the rules? Maybe there will be a surprise.


    ''Curse of the System'': The System is more likely to create additional rules for you. One daily quest with a penalty upon failure.


    This ring can not be removed. Upon death the ring will collect the soul and teleport to the owner of the main Ring, Ivan.


    Bearer of the Rings can sense each others location and condition.


    Bearer of the Rings can only have sexual intercourse with each other.


    Bearer of the Rings can enter the Ring Space. !! Currently unavailable. To unlock this feature an Artifact grade independent space is required. !!


    Bearer of the Rings can access the Blood Linage !! Currently unavailable. To unlock this feature an Artifact grade blood crystal is required. !!


    Bearer of the Rings can access the Herb Space !! Currently unavailable. To unlock this feature an Artifact grade herb space is required. !!


    The Power of Growth. This ring has the ability to grow together with the bearer.


    Magic Power + 10


    Luck +5


    Inventory Space +10


    >>

 81 What did you do?

    At the same time in the capital. At the topmost floor of a high buildingthere was a large office. One side of it consisted of one gigantic window, which went from the ceiling to the floor, allowing one to look down on most of the city. One could even see the imperial palace, or at least the mist above it, that secured it from the view of others.


    There wasn''t much furniture in this room, consisting of only a large desk as well as a seating area. At the desk there sat a woman in a white suit, In front of her there was a large crystal display, which displayed some documents for her to read.


    In the seating area, a cute little girl was playing with a small ball of flame. She formed different animals with it. Sadly she wasn''t yet proficient in controlling the flame and as such the animals were barely discernible. Her daddy had thought her how to do it, when she had been bored during a drive. He had said, that since her power was still low, it wouldn''t be dangerous even if she lost control, but until now she never had lost control of the flame. And even though she had spent a lot of time playing like this lately, she still wasn''t tired of it. If only her energy was stronger, than she could play even more. But so, she had to take a break every ten minutes or such.


    Just when she felt her energy running out, she heard fist being hammered onto a wooden desk behind her. Turning around she looked questioningly at her mother, who showed one of her rare expressions.


    "This f**cker. How dare he. See how I''m going to teach him how to behave.", her mother shouted out. After that she continued cursing, enabling the girl to learn a series of new curses, she hadn''t heard before.


    Finally the woman calmed down, only now remembering that her daughter was still in the room. In her anger she had forgotten that she had brought her with her today.


    "Sorry, sweetie. It is just this stupid father of you. And remember not to use the curses, you have just heard."


    The girl nodded, but even so she hurriedly remembered them. Just in case.


    The woman then looked at the ring, that had just appeared on her ring finger, and her temper once again threatened to flare up. The ring had appeared without any warning, together with a system message, surprising her, just when she had finally finished to read the last report.


    Her daughter saw her looking at the ring and she asked curiously, "Mommy, how come you wear a ring? Did daddy gift it to you."


    At the mention of her nominal husband the woman gnashed her teeth. She had been able to just ignore him and let him play with their daughter, but now that bastard had done something that lead to her having to wear this ring. And all the bonuses it gave, couldn''t change the fact that she hated it. It reminded her of what had happened back then,


    "You could say so. It is something the system gave us."


    "Oh, then can I take a look at it?"


    "Sure.", the woman let the girl grab her hand. She then looked at her daughter closely studying the simple ring, and a small smile appeared on her lips. Even if she was angry, her daughter was still able to make her smile, which just showed how deep her love for her was.


    "So how come, you suddenly got a ring from daddy?"


    "I told you the system gave it. But honestly I don''t know. He said he would come over tonight, then we can ask him."


    When she heard that her daddy would come over, the little girl was happy and send a beaming smile towards her mother. Her daddy hadn''t told her about it, as he never did. He had said, that it would be more fun if it was a surprise when he came over, but she had guessed, that he just wasn''t sure if he could come over and didn''t want her to feel sad if he wasn''t able to.


    Back to the living room where Ivan had just gotten his ring, the others stared at the two rings that had just appeared.


    "Why did these rings appear after you signed the contract?", Jenny asked. She too had signed the same contract with Carl, but back then nothing like this had happened.


    "It is a symbol of our marriage.", Lin said, "It is just that these rings are weird."


    Jenny looked concerned as she grabbed her hand and looked at the ring. But when she tried to use the Inspect Skill on it, she didn''t get any information.


    Seeing her like this, warmed Lin''s heart and she hurriedly explained, "It isn''t anything bad. Quite the opposite. It seems to good to be true."


    "Really? You are telling the truth and not just trying to reassure me, right?"


    "Of course I am telling the truth. Come let me share the info on it with everyone.", she then did as she said and everyone could see the stats of the ring.


    All around everyone sucked in a deep breath, when they saw the stats of the ring.


    "What the hell? Since when would one get something like this if one marriages? Maybe I should marry too.", Ted exclaimed.


    "Nonsense. How could something like this happen normally. There must be something special about this marriage or the person included in it.", his father admonished him.


    Ivan too was dumbfounded when he had read the stats. There was only one thing, where he could guess why it appeared on the ring and that was the ''Blessing of the Grand Chaos''. It should have something to do with his bloodline and title. Then going by logic the other blessings too should have the same origin. But as for whose bloodline played a role there he didn''t know.

 82 Spirit Sparrow

    The ''Curse of the System'' on the other hand surely was only the System being envious. Going by the remarks it had given him, it would only be happy if it could do something like this.


    "I don''t know about anything else, but the ''Blessing of the Spirit'' should be because of me.", at this moment Lin''s voice interrupted his thoughts.


    "Your''s?", Ivan asked in surprise. The others too looked at her waiting for an explanation.


    "Mm. Here in this realm we don''t really have any contact with bloodlines, since we can''t make use of them. After all the Systems restrains here are much stronger than in the other realms. But I heard from someone in the main family of the upper realm, that our family has a faint bloodline of the Spirit Sparrow."


    "Bloodline? You mean like the monsters here?"


    "Yes. Not only monsters, humans too have bloodlines. They are just more diluted and have to be heavily purified before they can be used. I''m not sure, but I have heard that one needs to be at least of Earth Rank to be able to purify ones bloodline and use the inherited technique."


    "So that''s how it is.",Carl nodded. "It seems like you have a bloodline too, Ivan.", he then continued, surprising the others in the room.


    "Huh? Ivan has one too?", Lin asked. She had speculated that if the ''Blessing of the Spirit'' was there because of her, then the others should be because of the Ivan or the other girl she could now sense. Or maybe it was a combination, but she hadn''t expected that Carl would know something about it. After all he hadn''t heard about the bloodlines of humans before.


    Carl gave Ivan a questioning look. He wanted to know if it was alright for him to disclose information about his ''Son of Chaos'' title. After all he only knew about it because Lara had told him about it.


    Ivan thought for a bit. He didn''t really want others to know about it, but he realized that everyone here had more or less a familial relationship with him. Although it was a bit more distant in the case of the members of the Mueller family. As such he nodded his consent.


    Seeing his nod, Carl then continued with his explanation, "I think so. He has a title called ''Son of Chaos'', which can be passed on to his family and descendants. Even though I don''t understand why someone who marries him get something like this. In case of a child it should be because of a bloodline."


    He then suddenly stopped, realizing that he had given them a bit more information than he had planned. Jenny and Miranda knew about Lara and Jane, while Lin had been able to sense another person through the ring and had realized this way that Ivan had another wife, but the others were clueless.


    "What Ivan? You are already married and even have a child?", Ted exclaimed in surprise. Ivan was even younger than him and he already had two wives and a child, while he himself was still single? How could the world be so unfair?


    Ivan saw that everyone looked at him in curiosity, besides these that already knew about it. He could only sight helplessly and explain, while trying to hide as much information as possible.


    "Yes, but the situation is a bit complicated. Did my talkative mentor tell you anything about me?", he then asked, while glaring at Carl. He felt angry at him, for disclosing so much information about him. And now he had to tell them even more, but he was sure that if he didn''t, they, or at least Ted, wouldn''t let him get away with silence.


    "I didn''t tell them much.", Carl ignored the glare.


    "Hm,", Ivan hummed, not really believing him, "then as you may or may not know, I have a Hard Reset behind me." When he said that everyone''s gaze changed. In there gaze there was now mixed in some admiration, because only great figures could have a Hard Reset happen to them, as well as empathy for losing his former life.


    Ignoring their gazes Ivan continued, "Now the wife and child are something from before the Hard Reset, that I met again. There are some circumstances, that I don''t want to tell, but I wasn''t really close to them before the reset, so they didn''t really know anything about the me before. So don''t even ask about who I was before.", he then warned them, anticipating their next questions.


    "So that''s how it is. And here I was wondering how you managed to find a wife and even sire a child while still being so young.", Ted let out a breath of relieve. It seemed like he had really taken it to heart that Ivan had a child before him. "Damn, now that you got a wife, I need to find one to and hurriedly have a child before you can do it. Then at least in this life I can beat you at it.", he then senselessly made up a competition.


    Ivan looked at him, like he was crazy. But seeing that the others had no reaction he guessed that it wasn''t anything unusual and decided to ignore him. At least he had lighten the atmosphere in the room.


    "Oh, so that''s how it is. You must have been really lucky to have met them again so soon.", Lin said. "Maybe one of the blessings is because of her then.", she speculated, before continuing, "And if there are other''s you haven''t met, then maybe they too have a influence on these blessings."


    Ivan hadn''t thought about that before, so when he heard her words, he was astonished. * Don''t tell me there really is another one? Or maybe even more? * He had found even one wife to much and now, because of the weird feeling he had, when he had seen the marriage contract Lin gave him, he had two. What the f**k would he do if there were even more?

 83 Red Flame

    As soon as he thought that, he got the feeling that there really were more. This feeling came from the memories before the Reset. It weren''t real memories, but more an instinctive feeling. * Hm, this feels a bit different than the feeling before.*


    When he had first heard about Lin wanting to marry him, even if it was only because of a prophecy, he also suddenly felt something. It was a possessiveness, that had forced him to accept, since he absolutely couldn''t stand the idea of her marrying someone else. Now that he was able to compare it to the feeling he got about the other wives, he was able to determine that the possessiveness hadn''t stemmed from his memories. But he wasn''t sure where it really came from.


    He tried to inspect his body to see if there were any changes. Maybe there was something in him, that had reacted to the situation. But even after carefully checking his body he wasn''t able to find even the slightest clue. That was until his secondary Soul Form checked his Mental Hut. At first it wasn''t noticeable, but after carefully checking everything in it, he found out, that there were some changes to the unknown red flame.


    It had grown slightly bigger and was now winding around a ring, that looked identical to the ring on his hand. The flame now looked like a little red snake, giving off a very lifelike feeling. * What kind of flame is this? *, Ivan wondered. He had seen it before, but since it was just hovering there, sealed in a glass like substance, he had ignored it. But now that there were such drastic changes to it, it made him nervous. While looking at it some other changes happened. Just like the black whirlpool above the other flame, which he now knew was called Killer Flame, because it was formed from killing intend, above the red flame whirlpools appeared too.


    There were three little whirlpools, which were arranged in a line, with the two at the ends slowly rotating around the one in the middle. From one of the outer whirlpool a clear fluid dropped towards the flame, which was then swallowed by the dragon. From the other whirlpool a different liquid dropped down too. This one was quite weird, as it consisted of a brown and golden component, which swirled around each other, making for a wonderful sight. This liquid wasn''t swallowed by the dragon, but instead dropped onto the ring and was then quietly absorbed.


    The last whirlpool on the other hand didn''t emit a liquid, but instead swallowed a dark red liquid being emitted by the ring. The amount of this liquid was much less, he wasn''t sure how much, but while watching it, only one drop had appeared, while there had already been more than ten coming out of the other whirlpools. Surprisingly, the dark red liquid hadn''t only entered the central whirlpool. Small drops had entered the other two whirlpools too.


    Sadly Ivan still had no clue as to what the flame was, or what these liquids where. As such he could only observe, hoping to find out something. But these changes to the flame, made him sure, that the feeling should have something to do with it. This wasn''t something he liked, since he had no control over it, but from the beginning there were many things he couldn''t control. As such he could only swallow his indignation and live with it.


    He emerged from his thoughts just in time to hear Jenny make fun of him. She was still on the topic of him maybe having even more wives. Seeing her glee at his possible predicament, he silently decided to never tell her about him being sure that there really were others.


    Finally Jenny had her fill and she stopped mocking him. "So what are the two of you going to do now?"


    "Huh?", Ivan was confused.


    Jenny looked at him with disdain. "Don''t tell me you were planning to just continue living as before?"


    "We can''t?", both Ivan and Lin asked at the same time. It seemed like the both of them were of the same mind. Just treat the marriage as something official, that didn''t really influence their live. Sure there were some necessary changes, like not having sex with anyone else, but since neither of them had many thoughts about that topic, they didn''t see it as important. Besides that there wasn''t anything else that had to change, besides Lin not being able to marry anyone else, which didn''t really matter to her either.


    "You really did.", Jenny shook her head in disappointment. As she had expected. These two emotionally challenged people didn''t care about the marriage at all. But unlike them, she always had seen the family, created by the husband and his wives, as something important, so there was no chance in hell, that she would let them get away with not caring about it.


    "Ha, there is no way, that I will let you get away with it. I don''t care if I have to force you, but I will make a good pair of husband and wife out of you.", she then fell silent, while contemplating something.


    Seeing her like this, Ivan got goosebumps all over his body. He had the feeling that she would think of something ridiculous and there would be no way for him to escape, since she was much stronger than him. He could only throw a pleading look towards his mentor, but he only got a shrug as his answer. It seemed like Carl too was powerless. *Damn. Is it to late to run away?*


    Just as he was starting to plan, how to escape, Jenny snapped her fingers. "That''s it. From now on the two of you will live in the big guestroom on the second floor."


    Lin stared at her aunt in bewilderment. "Huh?"


    "If you are living here, I can make sure that your marriage develops in the right way.", Jenny readily started to explain. "Besides living together in the same room, will help you develop your marriage faster. And not being alone in a house, it will ease the awkwardness."

 84 Gotta go

    Both of them looked at her speechlessly. It seemed like she was planning to make their marriage a real one, regardless of their wishes.


    "And then the two of you will have a child. But don''t worry, I will take care of it, so you don''t have to waste all your time on taking care of it."


    Hearing this Ivan nearly chocked. It seemed like this was her real goal. To get them to make a child for her to take care of. Lin too blanched and then hurriedly stood up.


    "Sorry, everyone, but I have to leave now. My father asked me to meet him tonight.", with these words she hurriedly ran off.


    Seeing her escape, Jenny stared at Ivan, "Don''t tell me you have to leave too?"


    "I really do. I have promised someone to met them today.", Ivan hurriedly answered. There was no way he would stay here alone.


    "Oho, so you too want to run away?"


    "No, no. I really have to go.", he hurriedly reassured her.


    Looking wronged Jenny waved her hand. "Whatever. If you have to leave, then leave. But I dare you not to come back in at most a week.", she then threatened him. Ivan wasn''t sure what she would do, if he really didn''t come back, but he was sure that he wouldn''t enjoy it.


    He then grabbed the gifts he and put them in his inventory before saying goodbye to everyone.


    After he had left, the Mueller family too said their goodbye, leaving only Carl and his wives as well as Lara''s parents in the living room.


    Miranda looked at her husband, who seemed to be deep in thought since a bit ago. To be exactly it was ever since the rings had appeared on Ivan''s and Lin''s hands.


    "What are you thinking about?"


    "When these rings appeared I felt a familiar aura coming from Ivan, but I don''t know from where I know it."


    Miranda hid her anxiousness. She hadn''t yet prepared everything for telling him about Lara and Ivan, so she could only hope that it had nothing to do with them.


    "But I''m sure that it was during my times adventuring in a higher realm."


    These words reduced her worries, but at the same time brought even bigger confusion.


    "Maybe you have met him before?"


    "I''m not sure.", after saying this he once again fell silent. The others patiently waited for him to come to a conclusion, until finally his eyes lit up.


    "It was him. He had the same aura.", he exclaimed. It was clear to see his excitement, as well as something they hadn''t seen before on him, and that was admiration, bordering at worship.


    Before he had followed his father on the throne twenty years ago, he had been an adventurer. Not only had he explored this realm, but even entered a sect in the higher realm. There he had proceeded on the road to power. This continued on until the date he had been given by his father. Until then he would be able to do whatever he want, but after that he had to take the throne of the Empire of Berg, as was the family tradition. Only after reigning for at least two hundred years was he allowed to retire and have his own children follow him on the throne. This tradition of the royal family had created a long row of highly competent emperors, which together with the rules of the system were able to keep order in this realm, as well as increase its prosperity.


    Seeing everyone looking at him in confusion, he coughed in embarrassment.


    "Sorry, I just got a bit to excited.", he then paused before explaining, "It was during one of my earlier adventures. It was around 150 years ago, when I together with some sect mates went to explore a new onetime dungeon. As the times before, the higher ups in the sect had checked the dungeon to rank it, so that the disciples which took the mission wouldn''t face impossible to overcome dangers. But at that time something went wrong. It is unknown why, but after it had been checked, there was a mutation and when we entered it, we faced monsters of such a high rank, that even our sect master appeared powerless in comparison.


    For that you have to know that even though the rank of our sect wasn''t that high, out sect master was still an Mortal King."


    Aside from Carl the others had a confused look on their face. Carl too had experience in the upper realm, so he was familiar with the ranking system, but the others had never left this realm. And here the stats were the only ranking for power.


    "Let me explain. In this realm, we use the stats to describe our power, but that only works because every beings power in this realm is limited to below a thousand in these stats. In other realms these restrictions don''t exist, so there are techniques that are used to become even stronger after reaching one thousand in each stat."


    "Then wouldn''t we be in a big disadvantage when entering the upper realm?", Jenny asked. She had planned to ask Carl to take her with him to the upper realm, because she really wanted to experience what it was like. After all he had always wound his way around telling her what he had experienced there.


    "In a way yes. But there is one thing we are superior to them."


    "Really?", Jenny asked in surprise.


    "Really. Unlike here, were there are many mages, in the upper realm it is nearly impossible to find one. And because of that these skills that require mana are something rare. Sadly because of that there aren''t any known methods of training ones magic even further, but by applying some general theories, it is still possible to slowly strengthen ones mana source."


    "So the advantage is in our mana source?"


    "Yes. By using magic we can reach approximately the strength of someone two stages above us, while in the lower stages. Later it won''t make as much of a difference, but it is enough to bridge the time until we can adapt to their system."

 85 Higher realms

    "Anyways. Back to the topic. In the upper realm a Martial King is already one of the top figures, especially a peak state one like our master.


    But after we send our emergency signal he, who came to help us, since he was already in the vicinity, got stuck too. There was a barrier that stopped us from leaving the dungeon, while the way forward was blocked by these monsters.", here he shuddered. It seemed like the memories were still affecting him.


    "Luckily for us, there was a safe zone around the dungeon entrance, which they were unable to enter, or we would have been slaughtered in merely a few seconds.


    With no way back, nor forward, we could only stay there in the hope that someone would come to rescue us or that the blocked entrance would open.", he fell silent, deep in his memories of that time.


    "And then one year later, someone once again entered the dungeon. When he first entered, we thought that another unfortunate person had come to join us. But to our surprise, this person seemed to have known what to expects, since he wasn''t surprised by what he saw after entering. On the contrary the thing that seemed to surprise him were the people in the safe zone.


    Out master, who was the strongest person trapped in the dungeon, then explained why everyone was there.


    When the man heard our story, he surprisingly apologized to us and explained that this dungeon was a training ground of their sect, but because of something they had messed up while creating a new entrance, which had lead to us appearing in it. It was only now, that they had gone around on checking on this dungeon."


    "Wait? How can a dungeon like this be a training ground?", Carl asked in surprise.


    "That is because we weren''t in the upper realm.", Joseph, sighed. "What we call the upper realm is only the realm directly above us. But above it there is once again another realm and then again and again. Nobody knows where it ends."


    Everyone gasped when they heard that. While the upper realm wasn''t unknown, neither of them had heard about the realms above it. Just imagine how strong the people in these realm''s had to be.


    "Anyways. What happened after that was kind of anticlimactic. The man who had entered the dungeon to check on it told us to wait for him to go get an elder of his sect, who would be able to send us back.


    Soon he came back with the elder, who then with only a wave of his hand opened a portal which would send us back. But before he send us back, he removed any specific information about him and the other man, leaving only a vague impression. And from this impression I felt the similarity to Ivan."


    "Then in his former life Ivan was...?"


    "I don''t know. It could have been the man, the elder or just the aura left on one of the objects on one of these twos. The only thing I''m sure of is that it wasn''t something on the people who had entered from the upper realm."


    "Then Ivan''s former incarnation should be of a much higher realm, right?", Jenny asked in astonishment.


    "It should be.", Joseph agreed.


    "Whatever. It doesn''t matter who he was before. It only matters who he is now.", Miranda said, breaking the others out of their reverie.


    "Yeah. But what really worries me is, why he was in this realm?", Carl asked.


    "Well, there is no way to know. So we shouldn''t think about it to much. And I definitely won''t change the way I treat him.", Jenny said forcefully.


    "Right."


    Just a little bit later at the Tang Mansion. This was an impressive mansion that was the home of the more than one hundred members of the main Tang family in this realm. It sprawled over more than 100 km2 and consisted of a multitude of buildings, gardens and even a lake, surrounded by a high wall, which were the basis of a defensive formation, covering all of the mansion.


    In the living room of one of the villas, directly at the lake, there were two man seated in comfortable chairs. Each of them had a mug of tee in their hands, from which they slowly took sips, while talking to each other.


    "There are only five days left, until I have to leave.", the older man said mournfully.


    "Haha, hearing you one may think that life in the upper realm is horrible.", the other man, who looked middle aged mocked.


    "As if you didn''t know. Why else would you have decided to come back here as soon as you could?", the older man stroked his white beard and retorted.


    "I really envy you. Here it is so peaceful. There are rules everyone has to follow, unlike up there, where only the law of the jungle reigns. Sadly I wasn''t born here, so I can only visit here for a few months every ten years."


    The younger man nodded his head. Many from the upper realms Tang family, came to this realm in order to have a break. Sadly it wasn''t that easy to come down here if one wasn''t born here. Not only did one have to be especially invited, one could also only stay here for at most four moths each ten years. Besides that not just anyone could invite someone to come down here. No, the person had to be able to enter the upper realm, which was only possible if one had reached 1k in each stat. But even then one could only invite at most two persons each year. As such the amount of people being able to enter the realm was quite low.


    "Have you finished everything then?"


    "Yes, the only thing left is the situation with Lin."


    The younger man nodded. Today his daughter had reported to him, that the situation of the prophecy had occurred and that she was planning to proceed as recommended.

 86 Sanctioned Marriage

    Just at this moment the door opened and a girl entered the room.


    "Father, Elder Bai", she then greeted the two men.


    "Haha, little girl, we were just talking about you,", the elderly man, who she had called Elder Bai, greeted her.


    "Oh, then I guess that I cam at the right time?"


    "For sure. So tell us how was it?", he then asked in a caring tone. Even though they weren''t closely related, since he came from another part of the family, he still saw her as something like a granddaughter.


    "Not bad. He signed the contract.", she then paused, before continuing, "It is just aunt Jenny was there."


    As soon as these words left her mouth, her father gave her a pitying look. Elder Bai on the other hand, hadn''t had any contact with Jenny and could only look at her bewildered.


    "Jenny is my wife''s sister and quite a meddlesome person. I''m sure that when she heard about the marriage she directly tried to interfere.", Lin''s father explained.


    "Oh, so that''s how it is. So what did she do?"


    "She want''s to force him and me to live together at her place. She even let it slip, that she hopes for us to have a child soon, so she has someone to pamper.", Lin complained.


    Seeing her so agitated, her father had to fight to keep back his laughter. It would be highly unwise to laugh at her at this moment.


    "Then what did you expect would happen after the two of you married?"


    "I thought we could just life our own lives as before.", she answered.


    Hearing his daughters answer he had to shake his head. How could she be so naive? There was no way, that she could continue like before after marrying. After all marriage creates a bond between both parties. In this realm it wasn''t as important in this realm, since here the rights and duties of both partners were just about the same. That was to care for the other, which meant that if one partner was in danger the other had to try his or hers best to help. But in the upper realm, it was much more slanted towards the male. As there were additional rules enforced by the system, which were only applicable to the female. And with Lin''s talent she would surely enter the upper realm, in the foreseeable future, which meant that she had to then live with this.


    Seeing him shaking his head, Lin glared angrily at him. "Don''t tell me you think the same?"


    He nodded his head. "Yes, I too think it would be good if the two of you would get to know each other better. As for a child, just let nature take it''s course."


    She huffed, "Whatever. It''s not like I can escape."


    He had to agree. Usually Jenny was a nice and easygoing woman, but once she had decided on something, there was no way to get her to change her decision. And she would any mean to get to her goal.


    "Then what about the guy? Ivan it was, right?", Elder Bai interjected.


    "Ah right. Tell me about him. You didn''t say much about him before."


    "Hm, I don''t really know that much about him either. Let me just tell you about what happened during the meeting.", she then proceeded to tell what had happend.


    When Elder Bai heard about the Marriage Ring, he gasped. "A Sanctioned Marriage!"


    "A Sanctioned Marriage? What is that?", Lin asked when she heard his exclamation.


    A bit embarrassed Elder Bai coughed, "To be honest I don''t know that much either. It is something mentioned in some of our ancestral teachings.According to them a Sanctioned Marriage is a marriage between members of different mayor bloodlines, which has been approved by at least one of the great powers.


    And from what you have told, it wasn''t only one great power that has approved your marriage but four."


    "So our family''s bloodline is a mayor bloodline?", Lin''s father asked in interest.


    "Yes, but so is his. But that''s not what is important. The important part are the ramifications of a Sanctioned Marriage. Sadly the Sanctioned Marriage is only mentioned at the side, since it is extremely rare for it to happen, so there aren''t that many information on it available.


    But one of the aspects mentioned, is the ability to share bloodlines with each other. Sure for now it won''t have any impact on you, but once you reach earth realm it will make a big difference. While others only have one bloodline''s skill they can train in, you will have more than ones."


    "Huh, but earth rank is still far away.", Lin looks disappointed.


    "Haha, with your talent it wouldn''t take all that long. Besides because you are a carrier of a prophecy you are eligible to some resources from the current lead family."


    The current lead family he mentioned was the part of the family, that was situated in the realm, which was two grades above the realm they were currently in. While the current realm only allowed one to have stats of up to 1 k, the realm above had such few resources that the highest grade was only Mortal King. But the one above that was much richer and according to rumors Mortal Kings were like sand at the beach. There were countless of them, in fact they even counted as one of the lowest grade.


    Ages ago the Tang family had started in this realm before entering the upper realm and establishing themself there. After reaching a threshold they had then proceeded to move towards the realm above, which lead to the current state.


    Even though their branch was the oldest, because of their lack in strength, their influence had completely vanished. Even the branch in the upper realm wasn''t seen as anything important, by the heads of the main family. Many of them didn''t even see them as part of the main family. But because of the ancestral teachings, which still were of importance they still had to accept them. Of course there wouldn''t be any resources flowing down, except for these required by the ancestral teachings, like the ones mentioned just now.


    "Really?"


    "Really. But I wouldn''t hope for much. Most likely it will just be something they see as trash." As an elder he had experienced the way, these guys from the lead family acted towards these from the lower realms. If one was trying to be nice one would call it arrogance, but in truth it was only disdain.


    "Whatever, every bit counts.", she said, without caring.


    "Well, tell me about that other woman.", her father then asked the question, which had kept him occupied, ever since he had heard, that there was another woman.


    "I don''t really know anything about here, besides what Carl has told. But I know that she is in the Capital. And from the direction it should be somewhere in the richer area."


    "Oh right, you can sense her location right?"


    She nodded, "Yes. And it seems to be quite accurate too."


    "Then let''s find out who it is.", her father rubbed his hands, eager to find out who the other woman was, which whom his daughter had to share her husband. After all it was an important point for his daughters future happiness.


    But to his shock, his daughter shook her head. "I don''t think that would be a good idea. It would be better to wait, for Ivan to tell me about her, himself. Besides that, if my guess is correct, then she to should have gotten a ring.


    Let''s see how Ivan is going to explain that to her.", she then smiledin schadenfreude.


    From what she had heard, Ivan and this other woman didn''t have a close relationship, so suddenly receiving a ring together with the notification that he had married someone else too, would surely make her angry. Sadly she wouldn''t be able to see the scene when he got confronted about it.


    "Oh.", her father looked disappointed. But there was nothing he could do, since his daughter didn''t want to take the proactive approach.


    "But tell me honestly, what you think about that guy.", he then asked the most important question.


    Lin hesitated, while collecting her thoughts. "I don''t really know. I have after all only meet him three times and one of them we were fighting each other. But from what I have seen, he doesn''t seem like a bad guy." She thought back to their first meeting and how he had managed to fight with them against that boss, even though his stats seemed abyssal. "He has a strong determination and seems to be quite talented. I guess only time will show how he really is."


    Seeing that his daughter didn''t have anymore information on her new husband, or at least wasn''t willing to share them, he could only stop asking. But quietly, he decided to let his men check him out. There was no way, he could leave his daughter in the hands of someone he knew nothing about. Besides that his wife would kill him as soon as she came back if he really didn''t do anything. It was bad enough that Lin had married without her being asked, so some strategies to reduce her anger at him, for not stopping their daughter were needed desperately.

 87 Explain!

    Meanwhile, Ivan too left the campus and went to Lara''s villa. Even though he didn''t know what her reaction would be, he couldn''t imagine it to be a good one. Sadly because of Jane, there was no way for him to escape.


    When he opened the door of the villa, the little girl, that had been reading one of her favorite books, while laying on the comfortable couch, jumped up to greet him.


    "Daddy you are home.", she ran towards him and hugged him, which he reciprocated with taking her in the air and swirling her around.


    "I''m home.", he replied. And to his own surprise, he meant it. Coming here and being greeted by his cute little daughter really felt like coming home, coming to a place he belonged. Of course, there was still an ice woman living here, but this didn''t impact his feeling in the slightest.


    Lara, having heard her daughters happy greeting, then appeared at her office door on the second floor, looking down on him. Her icy eyes made him shiver.


    "Darling, let me have a chat with him first and then the two of you can play together.", she then softly said to her daughter.


    Looking a bit dejected, Jane nodded. Usually, her mother didn''t take up much of the time she had with her father, so it was ok if she waited for a bit more.


    "You, come here.", Lara then ordered Ivan. The difference between her tone, while talking to Jane and Ivan was like the difference between heaven and earth.


    Not daring to oppose her, he slowly made his way up the stairs, trying to delay the inevitable as much as possible, but sadly the distance wasn''t that far, so he soon reached her office.


    After both of them were seated, she put her right hand onto the table and pointed at the ring.


    "Explain!", just this one word, but it was infused with an easily detectable fury.


    Ivan knew that there was no way around it, so he simply told her what happened. During the whole time, there was no change in her expression, which stopped him from understanding her thoughts.


    "Hoho, so you just signed that contract? Without even thinking about Jane?"


    "I told you, why I did that. And besides, what does this have to do with Jane?"


    "Are you just playing dumb or do you really not understand?"


    Ivan shook his head. He really didn''t know how this would affect their daughter. It wasn''t like there would be a difference in their relationship.


    "Right, you have no clue as for how the family relationships work.", for the first time, she showed some emotion, when she sighed in exhaustion."A long time ago, there were many fights between the children of different wives. Not only them but these wives too fought against each other, to gain the best position for their own child. In a normal family, the effects were negligible, but for those families that were rich and powerful, it often ended in disaster. After one especially bloody war, triggered by such a fight between the sons of a king, which nearly lead to the extermination of mankind in this realm, the system decided, to once and for all get rid of these fights.", she made a pause and Ivan waited patiently for her to continue. He hadn''t heard about this before.


    "After some experimentation, there are two main rules that have been implemented. One is that one is incapable of killing one''s siblings. The system just wouldn''t allow it. But it is much more difficult to stop bullying this way, so special emotional bonds have been created by the system. These bonds apply for everyone in a family, which in our case means the Hope Family. These bonds will lead to Jane seeing that new woman as a mother, while she will see her as a daughter."


    "That doesn''t sound too bad."


    "Fundamentally it isn''t. It''s just that to archive this bond, because of some universal rules, something has to be inherited. And it will be the descendant, that will inherit. If this happens before birth there aren''t any problems, as long as all the wives don''t have any huge problems. But in cases like this, there will be some change to Jane, and we don''t know how it will affect her."


    "But this should happen quite often, right?", Ivan asked. It couldn''t be a rarity that someone would marry someone else after already having children.


    "Yes, it happens frequently. And normally it wouldn''t be a problem. But Jane is a bit special. So the results may differ."


    Ivan had to agree. Jane really was special. And now he understood Lara''s concern. It really was a bit irresponsible to just agree to the marriage, without even talking to them before it.


    "Then has there been any sign of change?", he asked in concern.


    "No. It would normally take a while for there to be any. So in the next days, we should keep an eye out for it."


    "Alright. I don''t have anything else to do this week anyway. So I''ll spend it with Jane."


    "That would be great, there is a big project coming up, so I won''t have that much time.", Lara readily agreed.


    This was the first time that she mentioned her work, which he knew nothing about. But to be honest he wasn''t that interested in it either.


    "Oh, right. I have arranged for Jane to transfer to Central High."


    Central High was the best school in the Capital, where only geniuses and children of rich people could study. It was hard to even get a normal spot there, but to transfer into it was even harder.


    "Did she enter because of her talent?" Ivan didn''t want her to enter this school because of the power of the Berg Family. Even though it may improve the treatment she would receive, it was his firm belief, that it would be better for her, to be treated like just another student.


    "Of course, don''t you know how talented she is.", Lara answered him, with pride filling her voice. Whenever they talked about their daughter, the atmosphere between them completely changed.


    "Of course I know. So she isn''t admitted under her own name right."


    "Yeah. I created a fake name and background for her. Or else it would be impossible for her to live a normal school life."


    "Then is there anything for me to do, or have you already finished everything?"


    "I have arranged for everything. The only thing left is to meet the teacher.", remembering that he only visited a low-grade school, she then continued to explain. "The upper-grade schools, require the parents of their students to meet their teachers regularly, so they can better coordinate. Most children that go to these schools have already been taught by private instructors, so it is imperative to find out what they already know."


    "Oh, so that''s how it is. Then what has Jane already been taught?", he asked curiously. He hadn''t met her that long ago, and even after that, she spent most of her time with her mother and not with him, so he really had no clue.


    "So you are finally interested in our daughter''s education?", she asked snappily.


    In reaction, he laughed, embarrassed because he really hadn''t thought about it before.


    "Sorry.", he could only apologize, but just when he did, he saw some amusement flash through her eyes. It seemed like she had made fun of him, and in reality, wasn''t angry at him for not showing interest. Maybe she was even happy, that he hadn''t tried to interfere, without understanding everything.


    After that, she patiently explained to him the training their daughter had already gone through, which wasn''t as much as he had thought. Of course, there was the basic stuff, like reading, writing, and calculating, but there was basic magic, which he already knew about. After all, he had thought her his way of fire control. Then there was etiquette, which to a child had to be the worst of it. Basic fighting styles too had been taught to her, but mostly as a way to keep her fit and healthy.


    "Then how does this compare to what the others at school have been taught?"


    "It''s quite a bit less. But she is after all much younger than them and I don''t think it is a good way to grow up if one has to spend all of one''s time with learning."


    Ivan couldn''t agree more. When he started training his mentor had told him that it was important to have enough rest between training sessions. Of course if one was doing extreme training, this wouldn''t apply. But the body and spirit would be unable to endure extreme training for extended periods. Both needed times, where they could relax and recuperate. For children, this was even more important, or it could stunt the growth of them. Both emotional as well as physical.

 88 Inheritance

    While they talked about their daughter, suddenly the door to the office was pushed open, and the one they had just talked about excitedly came running into the room.


    "Mommy, Daddy! Look at what I got.", then without waiting for them to react she then shared some prompts with them.


    << Congratulations, because your father has somehow managed to marry another (awesome) woman, you have gained one inheritance, ''Spirit Pet''.


    Remark: I''m sure there will be more in the future. >>


    << Congratulations, your title ''Daughter of Chaos'' has been triggered. You now have the opportunity to reject inheritances. >>


    << Inheritance: Spirit Pet, Grade S


    The spiritual bloodline enables their carrier to awaken a Spirit Pet. This pet is formed by a sliver of mental energy as the base. While it is connected with its owner it has its own intelligence.


    Appearance: Random (Animal)


    Stats: Dependent on the owner


    Requirements: None


    Upkeep: None


    >>


    Seeing them, the first thing Lara did was letting out a relieved sigh. She had feared that there would be a problem, because of this stupid guys marriage. Now she could relax because first, the effect was a good one, and second, her daughter could reject the inheritance, and from the wording, she could reject the following too.


    "So did you already accept?"


    "Of course not, Mommy. You have told me to not just accept anything, without asking you first.", the little girl said while looking obedient.


    "I think she should accept. It looks like something positive, without any negative side effects.", Ivan voiced his opinion.


    "It looks like it."


    Jane jumped up and down in excitement when she heard that her parents agreed to her accepting. She had always wanted a pet, but sadly it was impossible. Because her stats were much higher than those of other children of her age, a normal pet would be easily injured, as soon as she lost even the slightest bit of control over her strength. And for children, it was much harder to control their strength, especially while playing. On the other hand, a Monster Pet was impossible too, since, first of those of a suitable size were very rare, and secondly, she was still unable to make a contract.


    Seeing the expectancy of her daughter, Lara was unable to deny her, especially since there was no definite reason, so she nodded.


    "Yay, thank you, mommy.", the girl exclaimed and jumped at her to hug her.


    She didn''t spend much time with the hug, before hurriedly accepting the inheritance.


    As soon as she clicked the accept button, something looking like white mist left her body. It slowly exited through the space between her brows, before forming into a small little pig.


    Seeing the form, she looked disappointed, but before she could voice her disappointment, the shape changed into that of a little monkey. It then slowly rotated through a multitude of shapes, each of them was the shape of a little animal. Some of them she liked, whiles others made her disappointed. Finally, the speed of it switching shape slowed down, until it finally settled on something that looked like a cute little kitten.


    As soon as the shape was settled, a lot more mist started to come out of her body, infusing into the little kitten. Besides that, there was a steady flow of energy coming from somewhere else. It felt similar to the energy they usually absorbed, while using Training Skills, just much purer. Slowly a pitch black kitten formed in front of Jane. Just when it had nearly finished forming, Ivan felt something burning inside him. It was as if his blood had suddenly turned into lava. Spreading from his heart, it speedily advanced through his body, creating an increasing amount of pain.


    He screamed out in pain, startling the woman, who had focused all her attention on her daughter and the kitten she was forming. Turning towards him, she was shocked by the sight. Just a second ago he had looked normal, but now his veins were bulging and wriggling like something was trying to escape from them. But it didn''t end there, as there was steam coming from his body, and this steam was blood red.


    "What happened?", she asked, her voice tinged with concern. She might not like him, but he was after all Janes father.


    Ivan was in too much pain to answer, and even if he were able to, he too had no clue as to what happened.


    Getting no response she got closer to him, but to her shock, he started to emit a crazy amount of heat. Throwing a quick look at her daughter, to check if she was ok, she then focused on observing him. But the only thing she could do was look on, as his situation once again changed.


    Similarly to what happened to his daughter, the mist too started to take shape. But unlike her mist, his mist didn''t circle through different shapes but directly formed the shape of a lizard. Like Janes it became deep black, while it formed, but with red patterns.


    With the formation of the lizard, his body stopped giving off steam and while his veins were still unnatural, it looked like the wriggling weakened. Just when Lara, thought that his condition was getting better, suddenly he spasmed and the veins on his arms burst open, splattering blood everywhere. And a scream filled with an indescribable agony echoed through the villa.


    "Shit!", she cursed. She then pulled out her phone and hurriedly called over the family doctor as well as her uncle. She then told her housekeeper, Madam Tanner, to take Jane to the living room.


    Madam Tanner had been shocked, when she saw the blood-spattered room, after bursting into the room, but she soon got a grip on herself and took the little girl on her arm to carry her out. Luckily Jane was still out of it. It seemed like condensing her pet, which was now sleeping in her arms, had taken a lot out of her. While she was oblivious to her surroundings during the process, now it was just deep exhaustion, that stopped her from registering anything around her.


    Since he hadn''t bled beside the initial outburst, and she didn''t want to move him, before the doctor had checked him out, she could only wait. Using the time, she cast ''Clean'' on herself. The skill was very useful since it could easily clean clothes, without the need to wash them. Not only did it work on clothes, but also everything else. It was just that it used a lot of mana.


    After casting the skill, the room once again became clean, as the blood stains vanished. But surprisingly the red stains on her white shirt didn''t completely vanish. Instead, they had changed into elegantly looking patterns, that reminded her of the runes, she had seen on equipment found in some of the higher ranked dungeons.


    Wondering what this was about, and since the doctor wasn''t here yet, she decided to use inspect to check it out.


    << Bloody Shirt, Grade Unique


    This shirt has been stained by the blood of Ivan Hope during the first time his bloodline mutated. Mysteriously these bloodstains have formed Ancient Blood Runes on the shirt.


    Can only be worn and inspected, by females with a family connection with Ivan Hope.


    Effect: Chaos Shield (Passive), Self Cleaning (Passive), Self Repairing (Passive)


    Energy: (70/100) Grade F


    Energy is used to activate the effects and can be recharged by injecting blood into the Ancient Blood Runes. Blood has to contain the Spiritual Chaos Dragon bloodline.


    >>


    When she saw the description that popped up she was stunned. * What the hell?? * This was only a common shirt she had bought in a normal shop and now, because some blood had spattered on it, it changed into a Unique grade item?


    Besides that, there were some weird things about the description. It was much more detailed than usual and it was filled with information, that she hadn''t heard about before, which was unusual for the ''Inspect'' skill, since it took normaly only took the knowledge one had, together with some extrapolations and then created a short and precise description. But in this case, it seemed like most of the information came from the system, which was nice, but puzzling.


    Anyway, the most important thing was that it told her what had happened to Ivan. Although even with this information, she still couldn''t clearly understand, what happened, and why it had happened. She had heard about bloodlines from her father, and she knew that her own family had one too. Her father hadn''t told her which one, since according to the family rules, she would only be eligible to know after she had reached level 1000. She could guess that Ivan''s bloodline had undergone some changes, which had most likely been triggered by Jane forming her Spirt Pet.


    "Oh, right.", she had completely forgotten about the lizard that he had formed. It now laid on his chest, deep asleep. She took a closer look at it and unlike she had first thought, it wasn''t black. Its color was a dark gray, which was only interrupted by dark red. Similar to the red on her shirt, they too seemed to form runes.


    "I wonder what these are.", she wondered while tracing them. The skin of the lizard felt surprisingly comfortable to the touch, as it was warm and smooth, evoking her desire to stroke it some more.

 89 Make the marriage work

    Just then the door opened and the family doctor entered. Lara froze, before hurriedly grabbing the little lizard and acting as if, she had only wanted to take it away from him, so the doctor could check him out.


    The family doctor was an elderly lady, who had worked for their family for a long time already. She had been there when Lara had been born, and when Jane had been born, so they were comfortable around each other. They didn''t treat each other like employer and employee but more like aunt and niece.


    The doctor grinned when she saw Lara jumping up like she had been caught doing something forbidden. If not for the man lying on the floor, she would have taken the time to tease her, but now she hurriedly went to check him out.


    As a doctor, she had collected skills, that not only allowed her to diagnose but also to heal. Unlike priests, which used their special skills to replenish the HP of the target, which would improve the self-healing abilities of the target, doctors went another way. They would diagnose the problem and then used specifically targeted skills to get rid of them. This made them capable of healing injuries and diseases that the body of the patient couldn''t heal on their own. At the same time, these made them unsuitable for the battlefield as the time needed to heal someone was much longer.


    As an experienced doctor, it didn''t take her long to diagnose what was currently wrong with Ivan.


    "He has lost a lot of blood. In fact, he lost so much, that a normal person would have already died.", the normal she mentioned was someone with a level less than 200 who made up the majority of the population. Level 200 was a kind of threshold since it required a training skill of at least Grade D to reach it. The ones of a worse grade just couldn''t support the required energy. But only Grade E and F were freely available since they could be learned without a skill book and these of higher grade couldn''t be copied either but had to be farmed from monsters.


    "Besides that, his arteries and nerves are heavily damaged. They will need at least half a month to fully recover.", she then continued. "It''s good that you haven''t moved him yet, since every movement should bring him a lot of pain, because of his sore muscles." She didn''t explain why there was damage to his muscles, but Lara could guess it because she had seen the pain had been in and if a person was in a lot of pain, often times the muscles would cramp.


    She then pulled out a syringe from her inventory and gave Ivan an injection. "There, that should stop the pain, for now, so let''s move him to a bed."


    After having moved him to his bed, she then started casting some skills on him, that should speed up the healing rate of his nerves and arteries.Damage to both of them was always problematic, especially if it was as heavy as in this case. That was because the arteries were needed for the blood to flow through the body and if they were damaged, the transport of energy in the body would be heavily influenced and the self-healing ability of the body was heavily dependent on this energy. Studies had found, that HP was just a certain form of energy contained in the blood, which had the property of speeding up the growth of new cells, if necessary. On the other hand, the nerves were the carrier of the mental energy, as well as the energy controlling the healing effects of the body.


    If the arteries were damaged, the healing would start from the heart and then slowly spread out, while when the nerves were damaged the healing would start at the brain and then spread out. It was there, where the two energies came into contact first. Of course, there was still a little amount of energy constantly available in the blood and nerves, but this couldn''t do much, as most of the energy was concentrated at the heart and brain.


    That was why when arteries and nerves were damaged, it became a problem. These two energies just wouldn''t get into contact at the best locations, which severely slowed the healing progress. To remove this problem, was nearly impossible, but by manually healing the connection between heart and brain first, it could decrease it.


    "Alright. I''ll do the same thing for the next five days and then he can recuperate on his own."


    "Ok, thank you."


    Now that she had finished his treatment, the doctor stared at Lara and asked the question she had been holding in ever since she had been called over. "And now tell me who he is."


    Lara hesitated for a bit and then told the truth. "He is Janes father."


    "Whaaat????", the other woman exclaimed. She knew everything about how Jane came to be. "How come he is here? And why is he so weak?" When she had diagnosed him, she had been able to clearly feel his strength and it was way different from the one Lara had reported in the past.


    Lara saw no reason to hide anything from her and told her what had happened.


    "Wow, I never expected something like this to happen.", she then hesitated for a bit before saying, "But I think you should try to make this marriage work."


    "Mia, what are you saying? You especially should know how I felt back then." The doctor, Mia, was the one who had helped her to overcome the trauma she had after being raped, so she couldn''t believe that she out of all people would recommend her something like this.


    "Calm down girl. I only want, what is best for you. It is exactly because of what happened back then, that you should try. Only this way, you will be able to completely overcome it."


    "What do you mean? I have already overcome it.", Lara protested.


    "Hah, don''t try to fool yourself. If you had really overcome it, you wouldn''t have stopped adventuring and taken over the company."


    "What are you talking about? I took over the company so that I would have the time to take care of Jane."


    "Really? If you had really only wanted more time to spend with your daughter, then there is no way you would have taken over. Because since then, you have even less time than before. Instead, you would have stayed at home, or done something that wouldn''t require you to invest much time."


    Lara was unwilling to admit that she might be right, not even to herself. "Believe what you will. This decision has nothing to do with what happened."


    "Oh right? Alright, then let''s say it really doesn''t have anything to do with it. Then what about your unwillingness to get into contact with men."


    "How am I unwilling? Don''t I always spend time with dad and uncle?"


    "Yes, but they are family. And they are the only ones. Hell girl, you even got rid of all the male top staff in the company."


    "I did not!"


    "Oh right. You only transferred them out of the headquarters. Stop being stubborn. It''s not like it is bad to admit it. On the contrary, it is bad to not admit it, because then you can do nothing about it."


    Lara looked torn. Ever since that fateful day, she had distanced herself from males as far as possible as well as giving up on adventuring. But she was really unwilling to admit, that he still had so much sway over her actions.


    "Just think about it. There is no need to make the decision hurriedly."


    Lara slowly sipped the tea the housekeep had brought them, while she thought about what Mia had told her. Meanwhile, Mia too enjoyed her tee and waited for her to come to a decision.


    "Why did you decide to talk about that now?"


    "Because something has changed. There is now a way for you to completely overcome your trauma. When I saw you close to someone who isn''t a real family member to you, I thought there was a chance in you. I really didn''t expect him to be the source of your trauma, which makes it even better that you were able to get closer to him. I think this is a great opportunity to fully overcome your trauma."


    "I don''t know. I think it is fine the way it is."


    "Just think about it. And don''t forget that you will have to stay married to him for a long time."


    "Mmm, I will.", Lara finally conceded. "Oh, by the way, when do you expect that guy to wake up?"


    Surprised by the sudden change of topic Mia was slow to answer. Then before she could answer the housekeeper who had gotten the job of watching over Jane and Ivan, whom they had put into the same room, called them.

 90 Evolution

    "Madam, your husband has awoken."


    "Huh? That fast? I expected Jane to wake up first.", Lara was surprised, which earned her a disdainful look from Mia.


    "Do you really think so low of my ability? Of course, he would wake up first. How couldn''t he after I have worked on him?"


    Already used to her excessive pride in her work, Lara hurriedly nodded in agreement, because if not she would hear a long sermon. She then hurriedly stood up and escaped into the room.


    On the bed there laid the very pale Ivan. While on the sofa her daughter is sleeping peacefully.


    "How do you feel?", she then asked and unconsciously there was some concern hidden in her voice.


    When Ivan who had just woken up and was still feeling dizzy heard her question he was shocked. He never would have expected her to be worried for him like this. So although his whole body felt powerless and even the slightest movement created pain, he collected some strength and smiled, just barely.


    "It''s alright. What happened?" He himself didn''t know what had happened. After their daughter had formed the small kitten, his blood had started to boil and after that came that heart-wrenching pain. Just the thought of it made him shudder.


    "I''m not sure.", she answered uncertain, before describing everything that had happened.


    Only now did Ivan see the small lizard laying relaxed in her bosom.


    "It should be the same as Jane''s, right?" There was a bit of uncertainty in his voice, as he himself wasn''t sure. After all, there was a big difference between what had happened to him and their daughter.


    "It should be. Do you feel any connection to it? And what about System messages?"


    Hearing her ask, he immediately checked for System messages and unsurprisingly there were some, but they were minimized, so he had overlooked them just now. Delaying, checking them out, he first concentrated on feeling if there is a connection to the little lizard.


    It didn''t take long before he could feel a faint connection, but this connection was even fainter than the one with Vlada at the beginning. Maybe it too would need time?


    "There is a connection, but it is very faint. Even worse than the connection to my pet."


    "That''s good. I don''t know what this little guy is, but I''m sure it would be bad if there was no connection. After all, he came out of your body."


    Ivan hesitated and then he decided to directly share the System messages. He had seen, that she was concerned about him, and after all, was said and done, she was still his wife and his daughter''s mother, so he did not want to hide anything important from her.


    << Warning! Bloodline Resonance has been detected. Due to the severity of this case, the System reserves its right to directly intervene. >>


    Seeing this message, both of them sharply inhaled. Usually, the System had a hands-off strategy. It would only directly interfere if there was a direct threat to the entire realm. They didn''t know what Bloodline Resonance was, but for the System to announce the willingness to intervene, it should be something, that if it went wrong, would have terrible consequences.


    Ivan felt that he really needed more information about bloodlines, but sadly there were no available.


    << Congratulations! Your bloodline has evolved to ''Spiritual Chaos Dragon God (Unstable)''


    By absorbing the ''Spirit Sparrow'' bloodline through Bloodline Resonance and <Unknown>, your bloodline has evolved. Sadly the difference in grade between the bloodlines is too high, so the resulting bloodline is unstable.


    Because of the severity of this case, the System will calculate a strategy to stabilize the bloodline.


    Remark: This time it''s free of charge. The next time, you better be prepared to pay.


    >>


    Once again the message didn''t tell them much since they weren''t really able to understand what it talked about. The only thing both of them were sure about, was that it was bad that the bloodline was unstable.


    "Hurry, check if the System has issued any quests.", Lara anxiously said. She really didn''t want to know what would happen if he failed in stabilizing his bloodline.


    Ivan wordlessly obeyed and checked out the next message.


    << New Quest: Stabilizing the Bloodline (Grade S)


    To stabilize the bloodline ''Spiritual Chaos Dragon God (Unstable)'' permanently, it is necessary to strengthen the spiritual part. To achieve this it is necessary to absorb other spiritual bloodlines through either marriage or contract. The effect depends on the strength of the absorbed bloodline.


    The contract only works for beasts, while marriage only works for higher beings, like humans.


    Current Strength: 1/100


    Time Limit: 10y


    Rewards: If successful the bloodline will be stabilized, while failure will ignite the bloodline, destroying every carrier as well as dealing immense damage to the realms they are in.


    >>


    They both stare at the last part. "Do you think Janes bloodline has changed too?", Ivan asked with fear in his voice. If it was only his, that had changed, then even if the worst case happened, at least only he would be implicated. But if his daughter was implicated too, then he really couldn''t stand it.


    "I don''t think so. She has inherited your bloodline long ago and it shouldn''t have changed now. But to be sure, we will have to ask her when she wakes up."


    "Then let us look for beasts with a spiritual bloodline.", Ivan focused on what he could do, in order to not think about what might happen to his daughter if he failed.


    Lara shook her head, "I don''t think that would work, at least not in this realm. Because I only know of five different beasts that have a spiritual bloodline. Sure there are many beasts we don''t know about, but if we don''t know about them, then how can we find them?"


    "At least ten years aren''t that short, so we will have time. Maybe I will be able to go to the upper realm and find these beasts there?"


    "I don''t think so. Sure you have increased in level very fast until now, but you have to understand that after level 250 the speed decreases significantly, with bottlenecks at level 500 and level 750. Both of which will require you to do some hard quests."


    "Then what are we supposed to do?", he didn''t know when, but they had started to see this not as only his problem, but theirs, which was a huge step in their relationship.


    "I don''t know. I will talk about it with Mom since she knows more about it. After all, she has also gone to the upper realm."


    "She has?", this came as a surprise to him. He hadn''t thought that Miranda was so strong.


    Seeing his incredulous look, Lara had to laugh. "Did you think she was just a weak woman? As the empress, she, of course, has to have some strength. Besides that it is also necessary for her to be strong enough, so her lifespan is long enough."


    Ivan is embarrassed since he had never thought about it. It was just that the image she gave of wasn''t something he associated with a woman who was so strong because one had to be level 1000 to be able to enter the upper realm, which wasn''t easy to reach.


    "Besides that, I don''t think we can ignore the other option.", she then mentioned the option, Ivan had just ignored.


    "Oh please no. I already got two wives, which whom I honestly don''t have anything to do.", Ivan was really annoyed, that the wives just seemed to increase. He wondered if the System did something just to annoy him this way.


    Seeing his discomfort, Lara once again laughed. The look on his face was just too funny. "It''s not like you really have to take them as your wives. You can take them as just your concubines. Even though this is also recognized as a form of marriage by the system, it isn''t eternal, since you can divorce after just five years. And there are fewer responsibilities for both parties."


    "Will this really work?", he hesitated. Just these two women were already enough for him to handle.


    "It should. But there are a lot of differences for taking a wife and a concubine. I guess you aren''t familiar with the role of concubines in our current society, so I will explain it to you.


    Unlike wives, which are taken by the male, concubines are selected by the wives, in order to share their burden. For example, taking care of the household or the children, but also of the husband''s needs."


    "Then why would anyone want to be a concubine? Isn''t it better to be a wife, instead of getting all the work?"


    "One reason is the possibility to divorce. Besides that, the treatment a concubine get''s is just about the same as a wife and if they divorce there will be a huge payment. Another important point for noble families is, that there are no status demands on concubines, so it is a good way to marry a lover, without anyone being able to say anything. Sadly this works only for male nobles. But on the other hand, the status demands for females aren''t as strict, since they don''t have to continue the family line."

 91 Bloodline Types

    "Besides that, it is also useful if two people are unsure if they really want to stay together for the rest of their life. Since it is possible to divorce anytime after five years are over. With a higher level comes a longer life, so to commit for such a long time is difficult for many.


    And then there are the cases, where it is necessary to enter the family temporarily. The only way to do this according to the Systems rules is to marry, which means, that any job that is focused on managing family fortunes, can only be done by a woman, who temporarily marry into the family as a concubine."


    Ivan looked at her in incredulity. He never would have expected that there was such reason to marry someone as a concubine. He was alright with the first reasons, but the last seemed unbelievable to him.


    Seeing his look Lara laughed, once again stunning him. How come that every time he heard her laugh, his brain seemed to short-circuit?


    "In most big families, their fortune doesn''t belong to a single person, but to the family itself, so only someone who is a member of the family can get access to it.", she patiently explained. "Of course that only concerns System based resources." Then knowing that he wouldn''t know the difference between System based resources and others, she continued, "For your information, a System based resource, is something that the System supports. Mostly it is land and automated productions. These things can be bought and managed through the System and in the case of land, the System will also enforce the rules set by the owner. For example, the outposts in the wilderness are always built on such land, since only this way the owner can be sure that first of all the rules are followed and second, no wild beasts will attack it. Oh right, this might work too."


    Hearing the sudden exclamation, Ivan looked at her questioningly. He more and more got the feeling, that he was completely clueless at how this world worked. Maybe he shouldn''t only focus on training, but instead, go out more? Thinking back, the only times he learned anything, that didn''t have anything to do with training, was when he encountered something new and someone else had to explain it to him. Besides that, there were only the times, that he had gone out with either Jane or his friends, Serge and Greg. He felt a bit embarrassed, now that he thought about it.


    "Thank you.", he then said in a soft voice.


    Lara looks at him in surprise. Until now, she didn''t really have that high of an opinion of him but seeing his situation in the office, she had realized how different he was from that hateful guy back then. Although theoretically both of them were the same person, the feeling they gave off was very different. Back then he had given of an extreme feeling of suppression and thick killing intent, but now he was like a harmless newborn, that didn''t know much about the world. Besides that, she had seen the way he had interacted with their daughter all the time. In the beginning, the only reason she had even let him get near her Jane was only that he was weak, so she had been assured, that she could take him on in case something happened. But later on, she had realized that there was no need to be guarded against him in this aspect since one could see that he really loved and cared for her.


    She thought back at Mia''s words and surprisingly she now thought that maybe she was right and she really should try to make this marriage work.


    Seeing these eyes filled with gratitude on her, she was slightly embarrassed and hurriedly focused back on her thoughts just now.


    "Just thought of another reason to increase the number of concubines. And that is to increase the members of the family, so it reaches a higher rank."


    Ivan had seen before that there were ranks to families, but he hadn''t checked out, what was required to increase them and what the advantages of higher ranks were. He didn''t even need to ask, as Lara already started to explain it to him.


    "For a family to reach a higher rank, not only is it required, that there are enough strong persons in the family, but there also need to be a high enough number of members. Then, when the rank of the family increased, it will stay at least at that rank. But what is important is that when one increases the rank of a family, there will be a System based resource to be gained. The resource will be random, so it might be completely useless for us, but what is important is, that the requirement for a certain number of members will give us a reason, for you to have a higher number of concubines."


    "But how do we find ones, that have a spiritual bloodline.", Ivan asked in concern. From what he had heard, there wasn''t really any way to find out one''s bloodline, before reaching the Earth Realm and being able to train one''s bloodline.


    "While it isn''t possible to know the exact bloodline, it is still possible to determine the type of bloodline.", Lara explained, what she had heard from her grandfather before. "Bloodlines are generally divided into three types. Or to be exact, there are two types of bloodlines that stand out from the rest, which are mentioned separately. One is the Spiritual Type Bloodline, which focuses on the spiritual aspect and enables one to use Spiritual Qi, while the other is the Physical Type Bloodline, which focuses on the body and enables one to use Vital Qi. The others are called General Type Bloodline and don''t have the ability to generate a special type of Qi naturally. Of course, this is only after one reached the Earth Realm and have trained the bloodline enough. But before that, there are some other signs. People with Physical Type Bloodlines have a bit higher regenerative abilities and can train their body faster too. As for the ones with Spiritual Type Bloodlines, they have a heightened resistance towards mental attacks and can train their minds a bit faster. So we just have to test for a heightened resistance towards mental attacks and it will be likely, that we find someone with a Spiritual Type Bloodline."


    Ivan looked at her in astonishment. He never expected her to know this much about bloodlines.


    "How come you know so much about them?"


    She smiles and with a bit of longing in her eyes said, "My grandfather told me. He has already reached the Earth Realm, so he is much more knowledgable about the topic than others."


    Seeing the longing in her eyes he carefully asks, "You haven''t seen him for a while?"


    "Yeah, it has already been a few years. But he regularly is in contact with us, so it''s not like I haven''t talked with him at all. Still, I miss meeting him in person."


    Ivan didn''t know what to say. He never had experienced the feeling of missing someone, so he could only helplessly watch. Luckily she soon regained her composure.


    "Anyway. Tomorrow I''ll start looking for some candidates, so we can stabilize your bloodline as fast as possible and get rid of any possible danger for you and Jane."


    He agreed to her proposition and felt much more relaxed, now that he had a general idea of how to remove the danger. He looked at the blinking notification icon, that told him, that there was still one more message, from the System, left. He opened it and saw that it was another quest.


    << New Quest: Curbing the flareups (Grade F) (Repeated)


    While the bloodline ''Spiritual Chaos Dragon God (Unstable)'' is unstable, it requires a certain intake of Spiritual Qi to temporarily stabilize it and stop it from flaring up. The flareups of the bloodline result in a high amount of pain as well as damage to the arteries and nerves. So it is highly recommended to fulfill this quest.


    Currently Absorbed Spiritual Qi: 0/100


    Time Limit: 2 weeks


    Tip: Spiritual Qi can be absorbed, if someone else injects his or her Spiritual Qi into you (requires. Earth Realm) or through the use of the skill ''Qi Exchange'', which can now be bought from the Honor Shop.


    >>


    This quest description he too shared with Lara, who didn''t look all that surprised. "You already expected this?"


    "Yes. It would be weird that if the Bloodline is really unstable, that there wouldn''t be any effects before the final ignition. And it is a lucky thing that the System offers to sell that skill because to find someone that fulfills the first condition is next to impossible."


    "I just hope it isn''t anything weird because lately, the System seems to like to push me into a weird direction."

 92 Start of school

    "Let me take a look.", with that, she opened the honor shop, that Ivan had shared with her before. Besides the things that were available before, now in the ''Skills'' section, there was a new skill listed at the top.


    << Qi Exchange (Grade F)


    This skill enables the user and another person to exchange special type Qi on an equal basis, to use it to improve themselves. The Qi types have to be different.


    Vital Qi: Strengthens the body


    Spiritual Qi: Strengthens the mind


    Others: Currently locked


    To exchange Qi it is required to have a close connection. This connection is dependent on the strength of the weaker party''s Qi.


    Below Earth Realm: Sexual Intercourse


    Earth Realm: Skin to Skin contact


    .


    .


    .


    Remark: To exchange Qi is an intimate action, that requires trust from both sides as well as a high enough amount of control over one''s Qi. Both can be circumvented by using natural actions. During intercourse, a connection between both partners is naturally established, which can then be used to exchange Qi. The stronger the Qi, the weaker the required natural connection.


    >>


    When Ivan read the description of the skill he couldn''t help but curse the System. Just as he had feared, once again the System had pushed him into a weird direction. At least this time it had provided an explanation.


    "This sounds logical.", Lara too had read the description. "But I really wonder what kind of effects other types of Qi would have."


    He couldn''t answer her question since he had only heard of Spiritual and Vital Qi. He then checked the price of the skill which was 20 Honor Points and as such, was affordable.


    "So should I buy it now?"


    "Yes, the earlier the better. It doesn''t seem like there is a way around using it. And after that save the honor points for some ''Strengthening Pills (F)''."


    The ''Strengthening Pill (F)'' was the pill that would increase a random unlocked stat by 1-3 forever and had a price of 19 honor, but he wasn''t sure why she would want him to save for some of them.


    "Why that? Are they important?"


    "Of course they are.", she looks at him in exasperation, "If it wasn''t for this skill, we could have only paid these concubines some money, but with the additional requirements, we will have to offer more. And the only thing we have are these pills."


    "Are they really worth that much?", Ivan asked in an unbelieving tone. After all, it was only an increase of 1-3 and although it was permanent, there shouldn''t be much difference to these pills made by Pill Refiners.


    "Of course they are. After all, they can be used for a breakthrough. I''m sure you know that ever 200 level there is a threshold that one has to cross. For those with high-grade training skills, these thresholds aren''t really a problem but don''t forget that most people only have access to the public training skills, which are only of grade E or F. And for 400 it a skill of grade D is needed. But while it isn''t possible to change one''s training skill, if one can find a way to pass the threshold then the skill will evolve together with the body enabling one to continue training until one reaches the next threshold."


    "Wait! One can''t change one''s training skill?"


    "Yes. You didn''t know?" He nodded. It seemed like this was the type of common knowledge, nobody had told him and was too basic to be mentioned in the books he had read.


    "But you surely are training in one right? If not you couldn''t have reached level 250 already."


    Ivan then explained to her about his training skill and how he had gotten it. After he finished his explanation, he saw Lara staring at him incredulously.


    She sighed and then said, "You are really unbelievable. Do you know that? Why the hell do all your important skills and such involving woman?"


    He helplessly shrugged his shoulders, "How am I supposed to know?"


    "Whatever. Since you are injured you will have to rest for the next week and the week after school will once again start. Ask that Irena to come over here so that we can meet."


    "Sure, I will ask her."


    "Then rest well. I''ll take care of collecting some concubines for you, so you won''t end up like this again in two weeks."


    After that, she leaves the room. Since Ivan was still feeling exhausted it didn''t take long for him to fall asleep again.


    The week of recuperation soon passed. Even though he had already felt fit after a few days, the doctor Mia and Lara had forbidden him from doing anything strenuous. As such he could only spend the days at home, either playing with Jane or reading books. This time he didn''t just focus on books concerning skills or pill refining, but also some books that could teach him common sense. There were even some novels mixed in, which although only to be taken with care, still told him a lot about the world.


    Today it was the start of the new school term and as such he had to get up early in the morning. Since he hadn''t had the opportunity yet to get a driving license, which was necessary to be able to drive a car, he could only either take a taxi or ask Lara to drive him. Today Lara had offered to drive him since she had a meeting that was on the other side of the city, so she had to drive through anyway.


    After alighting from the car, he waved goodbye to Jane who too had come with them and then proceeded towards the school entrance.


    He had barely entered the classroom, when an excited voice greeted him, "Hey Ivan, you are here." Unsurprisingly it was Greg who had greeted him in such a loud voice, that everyone else, who had already arrived, turned to look at him.


    "Damn, you are loud as always.", he jokingly scolded his friend.


    "Haha, that''s just the way I am." Greg then came over to give him a hug and he reciprocated. He hadn''t realized it, but he had missed this guy. With him, the atmosphere would always be lively.


    "So how was your break? I went to a popular tourist attraction with my family.", even though he started off with asking Ivan about how his break was, he soo drifted off into telling everything that happened on his vocation, to the last detail.


    Not having the heart to interrupt him, he could only listen, while being a bit envious of this guy laid back attitude. During his monologue, Serge too had arrived and as usual, had just sat down next to them with only a nod as a greeting.


    Greg hadn''t quite finished telling his story when the teacher Miss. Mertinez entered the room.


    "I hope everyone had a good break.", she greeted the students with a cheerful smile. It seemed like her break must have good, for her to smile like this.


    "This term we will start with your practical combat experience.", she then announced creating some clamor in the classroom. Ivan had studied the school curriculum, so he wasn''t surprised by her announcement, but it seemed like others hadn''t, judging by their surprised exclamations.


    "The practical combat sessions will be done in the training dungeon allocated to the school and they will be in groups."


    It was easy to get solo combat practice, as one could just pay a small fee to enter one of the training dungeons, open to the public, but to gain experience in group combat was much harder, since no group would like to take someone with them, that had no experience and that they didn''t know well. As such, each school would have group combat experience sessions. According to the explanations of the teacher, each of them would be paired up with three fighters, and a priest. One of the fighters would be specialized in tanking, which was a heartless job, from what he had heard. One would receive the most attacks from the enemies and at the same time had to be able to get them to focus on oneself. Since the enemies wouldn''t be stupid, it was essential to taunt them well enough, making it necessary to have a lot of knowledge about them. Another fighter would be a damage dealer, someone who is mainly focused on dealing as much damage as possible to the enemy while relying on the tank and his own speed and agility, to escape the enemies attacks.


    The final fighter was an archer, who would mainly focus on long-range attacks while staying away from the enemy.


    Since the school had no courses for priests, they had formed a collaboration with a nearby temple, which would supply the priests.


    The groups would be formed by the teachers and had to work together for the rest of their school life. This forced them to learn, how to work together with someone, independently of whether they like them or not. Only in extreme cases would such a group be changed.

 93 Training Dungeon 1

    "So does anyone have any questions?", the teacher finished her explanations and asked.


    One of the students signaled that he had a question and after the teacher asked him to say it out, he then asked, "According to what I know, there are many more fighters than mages, so how would the distribution work?"


    "It''s correct that there aren''t enough mages, so there will be many groups, that will have no mage but instead another fighter. That is a bit unfair for them, but sadly there is no other way."


    Everyone nodded. It was a fact that there weren''t enough mages because it required one to have unlocked the stat ''Magic Power''. The other pure skill using group are the priests, but unlike mages, they get their power bestowed by their god, which removed their need to have ''Magic Power''. Instead, their power was mainly based on faith as well as the strength of their body, since a strong body was necessary for channeling the power of their god. Because of that, there were more than enough priests, to have one in each group.


    "Any other questions?"


    Seeing that nobody else had any questions the teacher then lead the class to the training ground, where the groups would be announced.


    It was slow going since every single student''s name would be called until everyone had finally found his or her group, making one wonder if there isn''t another more efficient method.


    Finally, it was Ivan''s turn. After his name had been called he went towards the area were his group should gather.


    Since he was a mage, he was called first, but the others arrived just after him. First came a group of three, with one girl clinging to one of the guys, while another guy in priest robes followed behind them. Since everyone kept their weapons in their inventory there was no way to guess their role, besides the priests, who would always wear their robes.


    "Hi, I''m Tina and these are Tom and Lars.", the girl introduced herself as well as the two guys. Her small face giving him a friendly smile. Together with her small frame, it gave her a very cute feeling.


    Then before Ivan could even introduce himself she directly continued. "Tom is my brother.", she pointed at the priest, "He is a bit quiet so don''t mind if he doesn''t say anything. "And this is my boyfriend Lars.", she then introduced the boy she was clinging onto. He was slender with a common looking face. On his face was a friendly smile as he nodded in greeting. It seemed like he was used to his girlfriends nonstop talking and had opted to be silent too. One couldn''t help but wonder if it was because of this habit of her that her brother was always quiet.


    Finally finding a pause he hurriedly introduced himself too. "Hello, I''m Ivan. Nice to meet you."


    He had barely finished his sentence when Tina once again wanted to continue talking, but luckily another woman came over. She should be the last member of the team.


    "Hello, I''m Susan. And I''m specialized in tanking.", she too introduced herself and also named her specialization, which the other hurriedly followed suit.


    Tina was an archer and her boyfriend was a swordsman. After everyone had announced their role, they then decided on a group leader. Unsurprisingly it became Tina''s job since nobody else wanted to do the job, and her lively and friendly nature suited the job. Besides that, being an archer made it easier for her to keep control of a battle. After having decided on their group leader, Tina then activated the teleport to the entrance hall of the Training Dungeon, which was available only on the training ground.


    << Welcome to the Training Dungeon Entrance Hall >>


    <<


    Party Name: Locked (Clear floor 5 to unlock)


    Party Leader: Tina Celler


    Party Member: Tom Celler, Lars Trevor, Susan Hess, Ivan Hope


    Minimum Party Level: 45


    Maximum Party Level: 257


    Average Party Level:89


    Dungeon Level: Not Selected


    Dungeon Difficulty: Not Selected


    Current Floor: 1


    >>


    << Congratulations, because at least one member of your group is 100 levels or more above the member with the lowest level, while there is less than one year age difference, you have unlocked the following modes:


    Nightmare Mode:


    The level of the dungeon will be set to the level of the highest member.


    Increases the grade and amounts of rewards for slaying monsters and clearing floors.


    Hard Mode:


    The level of the dungeon will be set to the average level of the party.


    Slightly increased grade and amount of rewards for slaying monsters and clearing floors.


    Normal Mode:


    The level of the dungeon will be set to the average level of the party without the highest leveled members. Their level will be suppressed to the average level of your party.


    Normal grade and amount of rewards for slaying monsters and clearing floors.


    >>


    "What the...", Tina exclaimed and stared at Susan and Ivan, "One of you is already level 257???"


    She knew the level of her brother and boyfriend, so she was sure that it had to be either of them. But honestly to already be of such a high level was very surprising.


    "Not me.", Susan said and looked at Ivan, "So it should be you. What kind of training skill do you use, to have already reached such a level?"


    "Sorry can''t tell you.", Ivan answered. Lara had warned him not to tell anyone what kind of training skill he used. It was better to hide it.


    Tina looked at him in envy. "Whatever, if you don''t want to tell then don''t. But this is good for us."


    "How so?", Susan asked.


    "Because we can do Nightmare Mode. I have heard that the drops are much better in this mode, especially the training skill one can get if one is below level 50 and hasn''t trained in one."


    The others nodded in understanding. One of the best features of the Training Dungeon was the possibility to get a training skill after clearing a floor. If not for it only dropping under certain conditions and also only one per person, it would be ideal to farm them here.


    "Sure, Nightmare Mode would be ideal, but are you sure we can do it?", Lars asked concerned.


    "I''m not sure, but we should at least try. Whether we will be able to do it, will mostly depend on you, Ivan."


    As the highest leveled member of the group, it would be on his shoulder to carry the team. After all, there would be more than 200 levels between the other members and the monsters, which would make it hard for them to do anything. Tina and Tom would still be alright since one was ranged, while the other was the healer, but the other two would be mostly useless.


    If Susan tried to tank even one monster she surely wouldn''t be able to last more than one or two hits. For Lars, the situation was even worse, since his defense was much lower and the speed and agility that normally ensured his survival was way too low to dodge these monsters attack.


    All this meant, that Ivan would have to practically solo a five-man dungeon, while also being unable to even summon Vlada because of the rules of the Slavers Alliance.


    "I''m not sure if it will work. The difference in level for you is really too high and we don''t have any experience working together. If it was only a solo dungeon it wouldn''t be a problem, but with it being a five-man dungeon, there should be much more monsters and if the groups are too big, I don''t think I can handle them.", Ivan cautiously said.


    "If it''s only for a short time, I should be able to handle up to five, depending on the monster.", Susan interjected, surprising everyone else.


    "You can?", Tina asked baffled. She too had thought that Susan would be next to useless.


    "It''s because of a skill handed down in my family.", Susan explained. Unlike the skill books for mages, that vanished after one use, most of the fighter skill books didn''t vanish and would be handed down in the families, so it wasn''t surprising that she had learned some unique skills. But what was surprising was that the skill would make her capable of tanking monsters, more than 200 levels higher than her.


    "Your family has such a skill?", Lars was surprised. Such skills were usually only found in noble families.


    "Yes. But it has a high stamina consumption, so I can''t just spam it."


    "It''s already enough if you can tank them for a short time if we run into big groups. So I think we can try Nightmare Mode."


    "Everyone what do you think?", Tina asked the group and everyone agreed to try out the Nightmare Mode.


    << Congratulations, you have selected Nightmare Mode.


    Dungeon Level has been set to 257. All rewards are of increased quality and the amount is increased too.


    >>

 94 Training Dungeon 2

    "Alright, let''s get going.", Tina exclaimed excited and then activated the teleportation.


    << Congratulations, you have entered Floor 1 of the Training Dungeon.


    New Quest: Clear the Catacombs (1)


    You have arrived in some old catacombs, which have been left alone for a long time. During this time, a Rat Lord together with its children has made these hallways his home. Now it is time for cleanup!


    Tasks:


    - Slay 200 rats


    - Slay the Rat Lord


    Rewards:


    - Access to Floor 2


    - 20 - 50 copper


    - A random Skill Book (req. Nightmare Mode)


    Remark: Rats really love shiny things. They bring them to their nests to enjoy them. Maybe you can find something good when plundering such a nest?


    >>


    After reading the description for this floor, Ivan looked around. They were in a small stone room, with only one exit. A few torches dimly lit the room. Interested in how they were able to sustain themselves, he went over to take a closer look.


    These torches were made out of a type of wood he hadn''t seen or heard of before.And what burnt wasn''t the wood itself, but instead a type of energy emitted at the top of the stick of wood. At the same time, he could feel that the wood was absorbing energy from the surroundings.


    *Interesting. Maybe I can use them. I should definitely try to take some with me.*, when he saw these properties of the wood, he decided to take some with him, so as to experiment with it. It seemed like the property of absorbing energy came from the wood itself, so if he could use it in pill refining, maybe he would be able to craft pills that were able to absorb energy, to strengthen their effects. Well, at least he could use it as a fire source. The only question was, why nobody else had tried it before, as he wasn''t so vain as to believe, that he was the first one to find out the woods property.


    "What are you looking at?", suddenly a question came from behind him, surprising him.


    "These torches. The wood they are made of is quite interesting."


    Susan, who was the one who had asked him the question, too checked out the wood, before asking, "What is so interesting? Isn''t it just normal wood?"


    "How is it normal wood? Can''t you feel it absorbing energy?"


    "It absorbs energy?", once again Susan took a closer look. "I don''t feel anything. Are you sure about it?"


    These words stumped Ivan. *How come she didn''t feel anything? Could it be because she wasn''t a mage, or was it something else? Whatever, for now, let''s just take one torch with me.* Thinking so, he grabbed a torch and put it out, before putting it into his inventory. Instantly the already dim room became even darker.


    "Hey? Why did you do that?", Tina questioned him.


    "It looked interesting, so I wanted to take it with me." He then hurriedly changed the topic, "Should we start?"


    "Sure, everyone, get ready."


    Once again Ivan could only marvel at the usefulness of the inventory. When one takes out clothes, there would be the option to directly wear them, removing the need to laboriously change into them. Especially for armor, this was a great effect. Because of this, it didn''t even take two minutes, before everyone had changed into their gear.


    The biggest change was in Susan''s look. While before, she was in jeans and a comfortable t-shirt, she now wore her armor. Unlike what Ivan had expected, it wasn''t the type of heavy plate armor, often preferred by tanks, but instead, a tight-fitting silver shimmering version of her clothes before. It made her look very sexy.


    "Wow, your armor looks so sexy!", Tina, who was wearing a standard leather armor, which too did nothing to hide her figure, exclaimed. In reaction, Susan blushes.


    "How did you get such an armor?", Tom asked in surprise.


    "My boyfriend gifted it to me, why?"


    "Wow, your boyfriend sure is good off."


    "Huh? What are you talking about? He is just a normal guy."


    Tom looked at her with a weird expression but chose not to say anything. It wasn''t his place to say anything. But even though he chose not to say anything, everyone knew that there was something up with that armor.


    "Alright, enough about that, let''s start. Ivan and Susan you two will be in front, with Lars behind you. I and my brother will keep a bit more distance. When we meet these rats, I hope you can completely block the hallway. If any of them slip through it''s your job, Lars, to kill them as fast as possible.", Tina confidently allocated their jobs, evoking the feeling, that she had done it before.


    Following her orders, everyone took their position and Ivan and Susan slowly entered the hallway.


    It didn''t take long for them to find the first group of rats, or to be exact, for them to find them. They hadn''t even moved forwards for more than a hundred meters when a group of seven of these rodents came running towards them. They must have been drawn towards them, by the sound they had made, while moving forwards.


    "Careful", Susan exclaimed, while readying her shield.


    Seeing them, the rats, which were at least 40 centimeters long rushed towards them with an even faster speed. Obviously, they saw them as intruders and wanted to get rid of them as fast as possible.


    Ivan covered his sword in flames, before slashing it horizontally, releasing a flame blade. The blade traveled so fast, that it seemed to appear almost instantly before the pack of rats. it then went through it, without losing much energy and vanished in the tunnel behind them.


    The smell of barbecue permeated the air and before the stunned eyes of the group, all the rat''s upper half slid down from the rest, creating a grizzly sight. Because of the heat of the flame blade, there was no blood, but just the halves of the rats.


    "Gulp", the group swallowed in shock before staring at Ivan as if they were seeing a monster.


    "Ups", Ivan looked at them with a sheepish look, "They were a lot weaker than I expected.", he then tried to explain.


    "Bullshit. There is no way that they would be that weak.", Tina nearly screamed at him.


    While it was true that the monsters on Floor 1 would be weak, compared to their level, there was still no way, that a usual mage would be able to one-shot a group of them with such ease. The explanation for that laid in the skill ''Shadow Stats'' as well as his skill in compressing the flame.


    Seeing that he was unwilling to explain, Tina didn''t press him, but instead said, "Whatever, if you don''t want to explain it, then don''t. But from now on try to hold back except if the situation is dire so that we can get some practice."


    She made a good point. If he cleared all the enemies so easily, then they would be unable to train their teamwork. Besides that, it would be good for the other members to gain combat experience against much stronger enemies. Of course, his strength would serve as a great fall back, in case the situation got dangerous, which would enable them to train even more efficient.


    "Alright, I will try to limit my strength.", Ivan assented.


    Meanwhile, Lars had gone and checked out the drops. In the training dungeon, the monsters could drop some simple items, which mostly meant body parts. As such the rats dropped two ''Rat Teeth'' as well as a ''Rat Pelt''. Both of which were quite useless. But they would still fetch around 5 copper for the teeth and 8 for the pelt, so if one collected enough it was still worth it to pick them up. Of course, that was only the case, since all of them came from a poor background. Ivan himself only had a few silver and the other''s situation shouldn''t be much better, or they wouldn''t be going to the same school. Of course for Tom money wasn''t really necessary, since the temple would take care of all the necessities, but it was still good to have some.


    After that, they continued on until they met the next group of rats. This time there were seven of them which like the one before came rushing towards them as soon as they saw them. This time Ivan didn''t use his flame blade but instead choose to try to block them. It was an unnatural notion for him, since his usual style of fighting, which he had developed during his time where he was fighting solo or with Vlada, was to dodge as much as possible. As such his attempts to block them were clumsy and only relying on his superior strength and the small width of the hallway did he manage it.

 95 Training Dungeon 3

    Susan was the complete opposite. She was very proficient in blocking and managed to use her shield to redirect the attacks of the rats, without directly clashing against them. This enabled her to stand her ground even though her strength was much inferior to his. This made clear the difference between him and her. She was proficient in blocking and working in a team, while he was specialized in dodging and fighting alone or with pets.


    While they blocked the enemies, Tina used her bow to shoot arrows at the vital part of the rodents. Of course, it was impossible to kill them with just one arrow, even if it hit a vital part, like the eyes. For most monsters, the main weapon was their body, so they would strengthen their body as much as possible, leading to a hardened skin as well as other improvements to their defense and offense. Besides that, after reaching level 200 they would be able to form a shield around them with their stamina and because of their strengthened bodies, they would have a lot of stamina. The best way to break this shield was to attack the vital parts too, since the attacked monster would instinctively increase the stamina in the shield, resulting in higher consumption, than an attack towards a less relevant body part. Then after draining most of the targets, stamina one would be able to directly attack its body.


    On the other hand, it was much harder for Lars to deal any damage to them, since he had to weave his attacks into their defense. Because Ivan was inexperienced and Susan had a hard time even holding her position, both were unable to create openings for him, making his job even harder.


    But under his stabs and Tina''s arrows soon the first rat fell down dead to the floor. Having gotten the hang out of it, the others were killed even faster and soon all of the rats in the group were dead. After once again collecting the loot, they then continued on.


    Having fought their way through the long hallway, they reached a big hall. During the way, they had become much more proficient in fighting against these groups of rats. While at the beginning they had needed more than ten minutes to kill all of them, with Tom having to heal both of them quite often, in the end, they had taken less than nine minutes to kill them with Tom not having to do much.


    Now they carefully looked into the hall, which was the first derivation to the hallway they had taken until now. In the hall, there were many groups of rats shuffling around. Groups were coming out of other entrances and then leaving through others. Some of the entrances experienced more traffic than others and one entrance was especially traveled.


    "The Lord should be this way.", Susan whispered while pointing at that entrance.


    "Yes, but there is no way that we can get in there without cleaning up all the rats.", Tina responded and she was right.


    "Maybe we can lure these groups separately.", Lars suggested.


    "It would be great if we could, but I don''t think it will be that easy. If we had something to barricade a part of the hallway it would be much easier to fight a sustained battle."


    There had been nothing in the hallway, that could be used as a barricade, so they couldn''t reduce the size of the entrance, in order to reduce the stress on the tanks. And nobody would have something so large in one''s inventory, as space was severely restricted. But when Tina mentioned barricading the hallway, Ivan remembered, that he still had some crates filled with herbs in his inventory. Unlike others his inventory was sizable, so he had kept the herbs in their crates, to make it easier to find something. If he removed the herbs, maybe they could use these crates as a blockade.


    "I have some crates, but they are only the type to store some herbs, so they aren''t that sturdy."


    "Really? Why the hell are you wasting your inventory space for these?", Tina asked in a questioning tone. Or to be correct it was more like the tone one would use to talk to a crazy person.


    "Well, to be honest, my inventory is kinda big and I don''t have that many things to store in it, so there was no need to unpack these herbs, just to save some space.", Ivan embarrassedly admitted.


    The other looked at him in a weird way, before shaking their head at the same time. Slowly they had come to accept that there were many unusual things about him.


    "Whatever, whatever. Take them out and we will see."


    Ivan took out the crates, still filled with herbs. There were five of them, each two meters long and one meter high and wide. They were made of sturdy wood, but it was still questionable if they could withstand the rats.


    Tina looked at Susan and asked, "What do you think? Can they be used?"


    "Why do you think I would know?"


    "Aren''t you a tank? Who if not you would know anything about building a barricade?"


    "Just because I am a tank doesn''t mean that I know how to build a barricade, that is a completely different thing. Besides how hard can it be? Let''s just stack them so that they block enough of the hallway, that one of us can defend."


    Since nobody had a better idea, they stacked the crates, leaving only a small space in the middle, where the rats were supposed to be funneled in.


    "Ivan you''ll block first. If everything goes well we can try to have Susan try it too. I''ll try to pull one group, but be ready for more of them to come. Susan and Lars, be ready to stabilize these crates if they threaten to fall over.", Tina distributed the jobs and then waited for everyone to get ready.


    "Everyone ready?"


    After waiting for the affirmation from everyone, she moved forward until she had a clear line of sight to one of the rat groups. She then nooked an arrow and waited for the other groups to have some distance to the targeted group.


    The first group always stayed too close to at least two others, so she discarded it and instead focused on another group. Only after waiting for more than a quarter hour a group had split up enough for her to try to pull it. Pulling back the bowstring, she waited for them to reach the optional position, before releasing the arrow.


    The arrow shot towards one of the rats, hitting it squarely on the head, displaying her formidable skill in archery. Having been hit by an arrow out of nowhere, the rat was enraged and with a squeak, it turned towards the source of this offending arrow. Seeing a human that had intruded into their territory, it once again squeaked to gain the attention of the other rats in the group before rushing towards the intruder.


    Seeing, that her arrow had the planned effect, Tina hurriedly rushed through the opening between the crates. As soon as she was through, Ivan went forward to block it.


    It didn''t take the group of rats long to reach them and enraged by the attack on one of theirs, they threw themselves on Ivan, who was in the frontline.


    With the practice they had before, they soon made short work out of them.


    After that Tina went out to pull the next group, which they then slaughtered. This continued on until the number of rat groups passing through the hall had visibly been reduced.


    "Let''s take a break.", Ivan said. Even though he had exchanged his position with Susan for a few pulls, he still had to do the most blocking.


    The others too were exhausted from fighting so much, so they readily agreed. So they sat down and pulled out some provisions. Ivan still sat in the gap between the crates with one eye focused on the hall, in case that some groups of rats came over.


    Luckily nothing happened and after resting for a time they decided to continue their slaughter. Although they had already killed the required amount for the quest, it was still necessary to kill more, so that they could take on the Rat Lord.


    This time something went wrong when Tina tried to pull the next group. Instead of pulling only one group, she got the attention of an additional two groups, which had suddenly run out of an entrance.


    "Damn. Be careful!", she couldn''t help but curse. Even though they were able to easily kill one group, they hadn''t yet gone against multiple.


    Ivan blocked the rat''s trying to get through the gap in the barricade as before, but because there were many more rats this time, the pressure on the barricade was much higher than before, and when some of the rats jumped on the back of their companions to reach the top of the barricade, they crashed against the topmost crates, making them slide slowly towards the defenders.

 96 Training Dungeon 4

    Lars and Susan didn''t hesitate to stabilize the crates. Luckily the rats couldn''t really exert any strength against these, so it was easy to keep them in place.


    Meanwhile, Ivan defended the gap with everything he got. He could feel clearly that he had become much better at analyzing the incoming rat''s path of attack and calculating the best way to divert their strength. Before his only option, when facing a strong attack, was to dodge it, but now he was capable of diverting it. He too had found out that in many cases blocking an attack would give him a better window for a counter attack, then just dodging.


    Finally, the killed off the last of the rats and Tina let herself drop down to the floor.


    "Damn, that was exhausting."


    "But that should have been just about all the rats left.", Lars encouraged her.


    Ivan who wasn''t as exhausted as the rest, thanks to his higher stats, took a look in the now empty hall. As Lars had said, there weren''t any rats left.


    "Let''s recuperate and then we can challenge the last hallway and hopefully the final boss."


    When everyone else sat down too, to rest, Susan looked at the crates still stacked up as a barricade.


    "Hey Ivan, if you have such a big inventory, could you bring some real materials for a barricade next time?"


    "What materials?"


    "I''m not sure, but I imagine something like concrete or even metal."


    "I too think we should bring something like this with us.", Tina interjected, "How about you Susan check out what is good and then Ivan can buy it and bring it with him. Of course, we will have to provide the money for it together."


    "Sounds good. Oh right, we haven''t exchanged our contact number yet.", Susan accepted Tina''s proposal.


    Everyone else too accepted the proposal and then exchanged their contact number.


    "Alright, now that that is out of the way, how about we continue on?", Tina asked. She had been the most exhausted, but after only a short rest now once again seemed to be filled with energy. Ivan and Susan could only marvel at her rate of recovery, while the other two were already used to it.


    Ivan stored the crates once again in his inventory and the group carefully made their way forward. They were especially careful when crossing the big hall since a surprise attack by some rats they had missed would really get them into danger. Because they were in a hall, their standard front to back fighting style wouldn''t work. It would be impossible for Susan and Ivan to tank the rats and keep them away from the easier injured members.


    Luckily nothing happened and they soon reached another small hall. The hall was round and with a large free space in the middle. Divided by a row of columns an around two-meter width path went around the room. The pillars were made from stone and had a distance of about three meters from each other.


    In the middle of the hall laid a huge rat. It was about five meters long and while it''s hight wasn''t visible, it should be at least two meters.


    "Wow, that is one big guy. How the hell are we going to defeat something this big?", Lars exclaimed in astonishment.


    << Rat Lord


    Level: 260


    The lord of the rats of Floor 1 of the training dungeon. After it had entered this hall, he ate a relique stored here, which lead to his might drastically increasing. Unfortunately, as a side effect to his increased might, his body too had increased in size, leading to it being unable to leave this hall. It spends most of its time in a deep sleep from which it doesn''t easily wake up.


    >>


    This was the description Ivan got when he used ''Inspect'' on the large rat. There was a lot of background information, but nothing useful for the fight, besides that it wouldn''t wake up easily.


    Besides the huge rat, there were still about 10 or so smaller rats that seemed to be organizing something. Surprisingly, even though they had killed all the other rats, these rats didn''t show any unusual behavior.


    "So how are we going to proceed?", Susan asked. During the time fighting through the rest of the floor, Tina had established herself as the leader, not only in name but also in spirit. As such it was normal for her to make the decisions.


    "Let''s try to pull these little rats into the hallway, so we can get rid of them before taking on the big one. With its size, he shouldn''t be able to help the little ones then. Unfortunately, we can''t just shoot the big one with arrows, while staying safe in the hallway.",she then lamented. One of the columns was directly in front of the entrance, blocking the line of sight towards the Rat Lord. "Well, let''s take care of the small ones first."


    She then took up her bow, to pull the rats, while Susan and Ivan got ready to block them at the entrance of the hallway.


    Having already gained a lot of experience with these types of fight, it didn''t take them long to clear up all the little rats, leaving only behind the still sleeping Rat Lord.


    "Ivan you go and try to keep these guys aggro. Remember not to instantly kill it.", Tina ordered, eliciting laughter from the others.


    After Ivan had killed the first group instantly, there was another instance where he hadn''t properly controlled his strength, once again killing the group of attacking rats instantly.


    Ivan slowly moved towards the Rat Lord. Surprisingly he was able to reach melee range without the Rat Lord waking up. It seemed to be a really heavy sleeper. Since he had the time he moved around it, to check if there were any glaring weaknesses, they could exploit. But there was only the gray pelt visible.


    Ivan used his sword to slash down on the neck of the Rat Lord. As soon as the sword was nearly in contact with the target, suddenly an invisible shield blocked it and the eyes of the Rat Lord shot open.


    "Squeak", a rage-filled squeak came out of its mouth.


    It turned towards Ivan with surprising speed, while using one of its front claws to sweep towards his head. Ivan agile jumped back just in time. He could feel the wind from the claws sweeping past his face.


    "Careful everyone. This guy is much stronger and faster than the others.", he then warned the others.


    The others acknowledged his warning and too started to attack. Susan, who wasn''t really good at dealing damage, stood before Tom and Tina, so she could block for them in case the Rat Lord focused on them. Lars, on the other hand, used the columns around the room to stealthily move to the Rat Lords back.


    Ivan used his sword to stab towards the Rat Lords eyes, whenever he had the opportunity while dodging its claw attacks. While he was mostly unable to hit, it managed to enrage the Rat Lord, so it fully focused its attention on him.


    Tina too focused her arrows on the head of the rat, which leads to it being even more irritated. When Lars had made his way around, he stormed forwards targeting the backside of the Rat Lord. At that instant Ivan saw the monster before him, contract its muscles and he hurriedly called out, "Go back."


    But it was too late. Lars didn''t have the time to dodge the tail of the rat, that suddenly whipped out towards him and hit him squarely at his chest.


    "Aaarrrghh", he screamed out in pain. There was no way that he could withstand that hit. Luckily he had reacted instantly when Ivan had screamed out his warning, so he had already started moving backward when the tail hit him. If he didn''t it would surely have caved in his chest. But so it only broke a rib as well as throwing him back against the column behind him, leading to even more pain at his back.


    "Damn!", Tina started cursing when she saw her boyfriend getting injured so heavily. But she kept her calm and continued firing arrows at their target.


    Tom used the hallway to move towards Lars and then pulled him back behind the column, ignoring his screams of pain. He then used his magic to strengthen the self-regeneration, after fixing the position of the broken rib. Even though priests mostly only strengthened the self-regeneration of their patients by increasing their HP, they had to fix the position of broken bones too. While the bodies of higher leveled warriors would move the bones in the right position on their own, this wasn''t the case for those with a lower level. Quite the opposite, if the position wasn''t fixed they would just grow together in the wrong way.

 97 Training Dungeon 5

    But even though Tom had done his best, Lars would still be out of commission for at least a few days, as long as he didn''t visit a hospital.


    As such there were only two people left to deal damage to the Rat Lord. Tom didn''t have any attack skills yet and Susan wouldn''t fare much better than Lars if she tried to get close to the rat.


    Now with the addition of the tail, it became even harder for Ivan to dodge and block the attacks of the Rat Lord. If he was alone, it wouldn''t be that much of a problem, since he could have killed the monster much faster. But since it was supposed to be a team effort, he could only deplete its stamina, together with Tina.


    The two of them continued their attack onto the huge rat until finally, its shield broke. After that, an arrow entered its eye, enraging the Rat Lord. Surprised by the sudden increase of its speed, Ivan didn''t manage to evade the tail. The hastily positioned blade too was unable to stop its momentum. More or less unhindered it crushed into his chest, throwing him back like Lars. But unlike Lars, his body was much stronger so the strike didn''t manage to break any bones.


    The Rat Lord, who had just gotten rid of him, rushed towards the one who had shot the offending arrow.


    "F*ck", Tina cursed and hastily tried to retreat behind one of the columns, but in the heat of the fight, she had distanced herself quite a bit from it and now it came back to bite her. Being of a much lower level than the Rat Lord, she was much slower than it and in the blink of an eye, it had reached her.


    She could only helplessly stare at the claw coming her way since she was unable to dodge it. Just when the claw was about to reach her face a flaming blade slid through space directly before her.


    It was so close to her face that her eyebrows were burnt by it, but more importantly, it slid through the incoming claw.


    "Squeak!!!", a pain filled scream sounded through the hall as the Rat Lords claw got mangled. It completely forgot about Tina and instead focused its red eye, which he was left with, on Ivan. This eye was filled with rage and hate as well as a sliver of fear. But the rage and hate heavily outweighed the fear and so it switched target and rushed towards him.


    Ivan who had just stood up and released his flame blade was now faced with the angry Rat Lord. Unable to use his flame blade again he could only throw himself to the side in the hope of dodging the teeth of the incoming monster.


    Because the inside of its mouth was a weak point, the Rat Lord hadn''t used his teeth yet to attack, but now it changed its behavior. At the same time, Ivan pulled out the Blood Essence Crystal he had gotten during his adventure and activated ''Burning Blood''.


    As soon as he activated the skill, the crystal crumbled and he could feel something flowing into his body, which heated up his blood. Unlike the time something went wrong with his bloodline, it was a gentle heat, that made him feel very comfortable.


    Together with the comfortable feeling came the feeling that he was just a bit faster and stronger. This slight increase in speed enabled him to dodge the attack from the Rat Lord. At the same time, he counterattacked with a swing of his sword. Because of his unstable stand, he wasn''t able to put much strength into the swing, but it still managed to injure the Rat Lord. But this slight injury only managed to enrage it even more. Making it completely throw away any concern about being injured.


    In this state, it became much harder for him to successfully dodge its attacks, which made it impossible for him to counterattack. Tina, on the other hand, could now once again fire her arrows at the Rat Lord, since it was now fully focused on Ivan. And while it ignored these arrows it strength was still sapped by the additional wounds created by them.


    It didn''t take long until all its energy was sapped away and it fell down on the floor. Not quite trusting the situation, Ivan carefully moved towards it, to check if it really had exhausted all its energy. As such he was ready when the Rat Lord suddenly snapped towards him. He hurriedly evaded and then rammed his sword into its throat, finally slaying it. Unlike the other monsters in the dungeon, the ones that are classified as bosses wouldn''t vanish into thin air shortly after being slain. For the System to classify them as dead, it was necessary to take out their core, which was commonly found in their head. This was so that the bosses could use a variety of tricks, like playing dead.


    After having verified that it was dead, Ivan dug out the core of the Rat Lord. It was a crystal the size of a marble and it shimmered in a dark red color, making it quite beautiful.


    Only after he had dug out the core did the body vanishes, leaving behind a silver coin and a teeth. He picked them up and threw them towards Lars, who was in charge of the loot.


    << Congratulations you have finished the quest ''Clear the Catacombs (1)'' >>


    << Congratulations you have unlocked Floor 2 of the Training Dungeon >>


    << Congratulations you have been rewarded with the skill book ''Frost Shackles'' for clearing Floor 1 of the Training Dungeon in Nightmare mode. >>


    << Congratulations you have completed the hidden quest ''The Spirit of the Training Dungeon (1)''


    By not relying on only the strongest member of the group, but instead making it a team effort you have lived up to the spirit of the Training Dungeon. Keep it up!


    This quest is only available in Nightmare Mode.


    Select one of the following rewards:


    - Skill Box


    - Pill Box


    - Material Box


    >>


    "Wow, a hidden quest.", Susan exclaimed in elation. After all, hidden quests are rare and always have good rewards.


    "Whatever, let''s get Lars to a hospital first.", Tom said. They could accept the rewards for the quests later.


    On the side of the hall opposite to the entrance they had come through a portal had appeared, which would lead out of the floor.


    "Ivan come help me carry him.", Tom ordered and together they carried Lars through the portal. They appeared once again in the entrance hall and Tina speedily selected to leave the dungeon.


    They then appeared on the training field. On one side of the field, there was a small house were a few doctors were on standby, whenever the school had such a team training. As soon as the appeared one of those doctors spotted Lars and hurried towards them.


    "What happened?", he shouted towards them while running in their direction.


    Tom was the one, who answered him since he was the only one that focused on healing in their team. When the doctor heard that it was only a broken rib he was relieved. Before there was a group where all five were heavily injured and one of them even had his innards showing. Luckily they were still in time, so they were able to save him. Because although the System allowed resurrection for those that died because of injuries taken in the Training Dungeon, being resurrected would heavily impact their strength and often times would leave a mental trauma, stopping them from ever fighting again.


    After checking Lars and confirming that it was truly just a broken rib, he complimented Tom, "You did a good job treating it." He then used a skill to preliminarily fuse the rib together, so it would easily be able to heal in the correct way.


    "There you go. Don''t put any stress on it for a week and you will be ok."


    The group thanked the doctor and moved to the resting area beside the field.


    "Alright, let''s review the run while it is still fresh.", Tina then started the after action review. "The fighting against the normal rats wasn''t really a problem since both Ivan and Susan were able to handle tanking them, but the boss was a real problem. I think there were two main mistakes that we made. One was for Lars to try to attack the boss at all. The difference in strength is just too much for us to try melee combat. The other mistake was for me to distance myself too far from the safety of the hallway."


    After that, they continued to point out the small mistakes they had made and what they could do better. When they finished, the sky had already darkened and most of the other groups had come out too.


    Not far away from their table, Greg and Serge sat together with Irena seeming to wait for him, so after they had said goodbye to each other he went over to them.

 98 Talking

    "Hey, guys."


    "You are finally out. What took your group so long?", Serge was the one who first reacted to his greeting. It seemed like they had already been out of the dungeon for quite a while and were only waiting for him. When Ivan thought of it, he felt happy. It was great to have good friends.


    Although he didn''t let his feeling show on his face, Greg still seemed to sense it. "Don''t be too happy. We only waited for you, because we have something to talk about with you."


    "Right. What is it?", Ivan didn''t believe him but still played along.


    "First tell us how it went. Then we can talk about it."


    "Well, aside from the boss there weren''t really any problems."


    "You had problems with the boss? Isn''t he just an oversized rat? So how could you have problems with it, if you managed the groups before? Everyone else who had problems didn''t clean up all the rats in the hall.", Greg asked skeptically.


    A look of surprise appeared on Ivan''s face. For them, the boss wasn''t just an oversized rat. It was much stronger and faster as well as the additional tail attack, which had caused the most problem.


    Seeing his look, Irena inhaled forcefully. "Don''t tell me you didn''t do the run in Normal Mode?"


    "How did you know?"


    "I heard that depending on the mode one chooses, the difficulty of the boss increases. And not only the level but also the skills it can use as well as it''s intelligence. So the only reason your boss was this much harder would be that you have chosen another mode. So which Mode did you choose?"


    "Oh, we chose Nightmare Mode."


    "You did what????", Irena exclaimed, leading to questioning stares from the others.


    "We chose Nightmare Mode. Why is there a problem with it?", Ivan asked bewildered by her extreme reaction.


    "Of course there is. Do you have any idea how risky it is? Right, why do I even ask? Of course, you don''t.", she forcefully calmed herself down. "Unlike Hardcore, Nightmare not only increases the level of all monsters in the dungeon but also drastically improves the boss. Besides that, according to what I have heard, it removes the reincarnation option."


    "Wait? Does it remove the reincarnation option? But didn''t the teacher say, that there would generally be possible to reincarnate if one dies in the Training Dungeon?"


    "She did and this is true for Normal and Hardcore mode but the Nightmare Mode is different."


    "Then why didn''t the teacher warn us about it?"


    "How would she know that you were even able to do the dungeon on Nightmare Mode? Although the description says that it is available because of the difference in levels between team members, that isn''t all that is required. According to some research, not only a difference of 200 levels is required but also some other conditions, such as having a bloodline of a high enough grade."


    When she said these words, Greg and Serge looked at her in confusion, while Ivan didn''t seem that surprised.


    "Wait, wait. What do you mean with bloodline? You mean, as the one''s monster have? Why have I never heard about humans having bloodlines too?", Greg asked.


    "Indeed, human to have bloodlines. It is just rarely known outside of these families that know about their bloodline and the people who are strong enough to go to the upper realm."


    "So your family know about their bloodline?", Serge asked.


    "Yes. One of my ancestors has reached such heights, that he has awakened his bloodline."


    "Then don''t you come from an important family?", Greg asked in surprise.


    "Not really. Besides that ancestor, there wasn''t really any notable person in our family."


    "You sure? Then how come your family name is the same as that of the royal family?", Serge asked with suspicion. Although the family name Berg wasn''t uncommon, most of the families that had it, had at least a distant relationship with the royal family.


    Irena looked embarrassed. "I shouldn''t talk about it but since we are friends, I guess it''s ok, as long as you promise not to tell anyone else."


    Everyone hurriedly agreed not to tell it anyone else.


    "Alright. It''s like this. You know that ancestor I was talking about? After he gained a lot of power he kinda started a rebellion against his brother, who was the emperor at that time."


    When she said that everyone looked at her in shock.


    "Hey, don''t look at me like that. That was a few thousand years ago, alright.", she shook her head, "Whatever. Anyway, after starting his rebellion it didn''t take long until he got defeated and was then banished from the family. Because of the way the rebellion happened, there wasn''t any other punishment, besides the loss of any noble status. That''s why we still have the family name, Berg."


    After she had finished her story, Ivan was really interested in how she and Lara would react when they met.


    "Anyway, back to the topic. Next time, be more careful. Sadly you can''t change the mode, for now, so you will have to make the best out of it."


    "Is it really that bad?", Greg asked, feeling worried for his friend.


    "If they are careful and manage not to die, then it''s a giant opportunity. And for us, it is one too."


    "Right. So does everyone agree to form a team to train in the dungeon, during Tuesday and Thursday?", Greg asked.


    "So that''s why you were waiting for me.", Ivan exclaimed, finally finding out the reason they had waited for him.


    "Yeah, so what do you think?"


    "Sounds good. But isn''t our group a bit unbalanced?"


    "Not really. Even though we are all mages we have different specialization. But we are still missing one person.", Irena answered.


    "Ha, I have already got someone else in mind, to fill the last slot.", Greg said proudly. He was the one who had brought up the idea, so it didn''t come as a surprise that he would have someone in mind for the last position.


    "Shoot.", Irena said impatiently.


    "Relax, she will be here soon."


    "She?"


    "Yes, she is my girlfriend.", as soon as these words left his mouth everyone chin nearly fell down to the floor. This was something they had never expected. Greg loved to talk about anything and everything, so how come they had never heard about him having a girlfriend?


    Seeing their shocked expressions, Greg laughed proudly. "Ha, you would have never expected that I would give you such a surprise right?"


    They speechlessly nodded. It was indeed a surprise. Ivan was even unable to decide which was the bigger surprise. That Greg had a girlfriend, who could stand his incessant talking or that he had managed to keep quiet about it.


    Irena was the first, to regain her calm. "So what role does your girlfriend has? We are kinda missing a healer, so it would be great if she could do something in that direction."


    "Don''t worry, she is a paladin."


    "That''s great."


    Both priests and paladins channeled the energy from their god, to fuel their skills. But while priests were mainly focused on healing spells paladins were much more versatile. They usually trained in healing skills as well as fighting skills, making them superior to priests. Of course, they too had their drawbacks. But unlike one may expect, it wasn''t that they were weaker at both of these areas than these professions that focused on only one area, but that the requirements were much higher. It wasn''t public knowledge what exactly these requirements were, but only one out of ten thousand candidates were eligible to become a paladin, making them exceedingly rare. And for one of them to be Greg''s girlfriend really came as a surprise.


    Under his breath, Serge murmured, "I wonder how she looks. To take Greg as her boyfriend, her taste surely has to be heavy."


    All of them had great hearing and he wasn''t that quite when he murmured, so besides Greg who got angry, the others laughed.


    Three different laughers rang out at the same time. Unknowingly a petit girl had appeared behind Irena and Ivan, who too laughed when she heard what Serge had said.


    "Hi, I''m the one with the heavy taste, you talked about.", she greeted Serge, whose face became as red as an apple in shame.


    "Hehe, I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to offend you."


    "Don''t worry. I know that it was just a joke.", the girl waved his apology away and sat down next to Greg.


    "Hello everyone, I''m Pia. I''m sure Greg already told you everything about me.", she then introduced herself, but to her surprise, the others at the table shook their heads.


    "Nope, he only just told us that he had a girlfriend."


    "That''s surprising.", it seemed she was well aware of her boyfriend''s tendency to talk.


    "Sweety, I wanted to give them a big surprise, so I kept quiet about it.", Greg explained when she threw him a questioning glance.

 99 Wife

    "Pff, I bet you only wanted to brag."


    "Irena, how can you say that? Besides, aren''t you and Ivan together?"


    "The two of you are together?", Pia asked with interest.


    Both Ivan and Irena shook their head at the same time, surprising Greg, "How come? Doesn''t your training skill necessitate it?"


    They had talked about their training skill before, so he knew about the requirements and had thought that they got together so they could fulfill them.


    "Only in the later stages. For now, there isn''t any need to get together.", Irena explained. "After all we barely know each other."


    Pia nodded when she heard that, "It is good not to be too hurried when getting into a relationship. Most of the time it will only lead to problems.", when she said that there was some sadness in her voice.


    "Then could you tell us, how you and Greg have gotten together?", Irena asked in an attempt to divert the topic.


    "Sure, but there isn''t really anything to it. We are have been neighbors ever since birth and our families are good friends too, so with time we just got together."


    "Greg sure is lucky.", Serge mumbled.


    "What do you mean?? And how come you are talking so much today?", Greg pretended to get angry at his friend''s comment but inside he knew that he was lucky to have such a girl as his girlfriend.


    "Must have been some shock he got during his time in the dungeon.", Ivan speculated.


    "Anyway, now that everyone is here, let''s talk about forming a group to go into the training dungeon.", Irena brought back the conversation to the main topic.


    "What''s there to talk about? Let''s just meet tomorrow after school and try it out."


    "Could you be more serious, Greg?", Irena reprimanded him. "At least we have to distribute our roles as well as decide the mode because after all, we could do Nightmare Mode if we want."


    "Really? We can do Nightmare Mode?", Pia asked excitedly.


    "You do know about it?"


    "Of course. My teacher told me that, if I ever have the opportunity to do the Training Dungeon in Nightmare Mode, I definitely shouldn''t miss it. From what she explained, the available rewards are huge and there are some things that are only available in that mode."


    "I too would like to try it.", Serge supported the suggestion to do the Training Dungeon in Nightmare Mode.


    "Then is anyone against trying it?", Irena asked the other two at the table, who both shook their head, to signal that they didn''t have a problem with it.


    "Alright, then that''s decided. We will do it in Nightmare Mode. Now to the distribution of the roles. Anyone has any recommendations?"


    "Well, Pia has to be the healer. And I think you should be the group leader and as such be responsible for battlefield control. From what I have seen Greg isn''t the fastest but neither is he proficient in tanking, so he should be a ranged attacker. I got some experience in tanking, so I can take that role, while Serge can act as a melee attacker.", Ivan proposed. He knew how Irena, Serge, and Greg liked to fight from their usual training so he didn''t find it hard to find appropriate roles for them.


    When they heard his suggestion, everyone nodded their heads. That was everyone except Pia.


    "I don''t want to be the healer. This is either so boring or way to stressful.", she protested.


    "But we don''t have anyone else who can use healing skills.", Irena remarked.


    Pia nodded grudgingly, "Alright, but only as long as I got an attacker position too."


    "Sure, but only ranged attack. Everything else is too risky."


    "Alright, anything is better than nothing.", Pia still wasn''t happy, but she understood the thoughts behind the decision, so she accepted it.


    After that, they continued chatting until it was time to go home. Before they broke up their meeting, Ivan asked Irena, "Do you have time tonight?"


    "Huh? Why do you ask?", Irena didn''t expect the question and was a little bit flustered when she answered.


    "My wife wants to meet you.", when these words left Ivan''s mouth, everyone who was already getting ready to leave, stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him.


    "What?", Irena asked in astonishment. He hadn''t talked about what had happened during the break, so nobody knew about him having a wife. Quite the opposite, because they knew that he had gone through a hard reset, everyone thought that he didn''t have any family. Especially for Irena, getting to know that he had a wife came as a big shock. For she had to be together with him because of their training skill, so it directly had an impact on herself.


    "Yeah, explain.", Greg too demanded an explanation. He was sure that when they had last talked before the break, there was no wife in sight.


    Under their questioning, Ivan had no choice, but to tell them about how he had met Lara and Jane. When everyone heard that he even had a daughter, who wasn''t that much younger than him, they once again were shocked but this time they nearly broke out in laughter. After all, that image was just too funny.


    "Wow, I would never have expected something like this. You sure are lucky.", Greg said in admiration.


    Irena, on the other hand, felt relieved, when she heard about the way Lara and Ivan had met. After all their relationship was mainly because of something that had happened a while ago and which Ivan didn''t even remember. If he had just married, even after deciding to training that Training Skill together with her, while not even telling her about it, she would have been very disappointed.


    "Alright, then let''s get going.", she readily agreed to meet her, since she too wanted to know how she was.


    They said goodby to the others before leaving. Because Ivan still hadn''t gotten his driver license, he hadn''t taken a car to school but the subway. There was a station close to the school, from which a line drove towards the central hub, where they could take another towards the area the villa was at. Since it was such an upscale area, it had its own station, which was mainly for the employees, since the owners would have their cars.


    All in all the drive required just above half an hour and while talking a bit more about what had happened during the break, they soon reached the villa.


    "Wow, this villa is quite impressive.", Irena exclaimed in admiration when she saw the villa.


    Ivan nodded. The first time he had come here he hadn''t really had the mind to admire it and after that, it had quickly become normality. But now her exclamation had once again made him admire the beauty of this villa.


    He did lead Irena to the door and opened it. He had long since been added to the system, so he could enter the villa freely.


    As soon as he opened the door, someone poked her head out of one of the doors on the second floor.


    "Daddy!", she then screamed and came running down the stairs.


    "Careful", Ivan indulgingly warned her, even though he knew that nothing would happen.


    Jane wanted to throw herself onto him for a hug, but then remembered that she was still carrying a black cat on her arms.


    Ivan smiled lovingly at her and then asked, "Aren''t you going to introduce us?"


    "Right. Daddy this is Tess. Tess this is my daddy.", she then looked at Irena and then repeated his question in a curious voice, "Aren''t you going to introduce us?"


    When Irena saw her cute behavior she had to smile and got down, so she was on the same height as Jane. "Hello, I am Irena and you must be Ivan''s daughter, Jane, right."


    "Hello.", Jane politely greeted her back.


    They had just finished their introduction when once again a door opened on the second floor and Lara entered the room.


    "Ivan, you are here.", she greeted Ivan first, before looking at Irena. Then without saying anything she slowly came down the stairs and stood before her. "Hello, you must be Irena. It''s nice to meet you."


    Her voice and expression was calm, leaving one no way of discerning her feelings. Irena, on the other hand, seemed to be a bit nervous. Seeing that Lara laughed lightly and reassured her, "No need to worry. I''m sure Ivan told you how our situation came to be."


    "Yes, he did."


    "That''s good.", she paused and then turned towards Ivan, "How about you and Jane go play a bit. I''m sure she would love to really introduce you to Tess."


    Seeing that she wanted to have a talk alone with Irena, he readily agreed and was soon pulled into one of the rooms by Jane.

 100 Family Skill

    The two women moved to the office and sat down on the comfortable chairs.


    "Would you like some tea?", Lara asked in a friendly tone, which calmed Irena down, who had feard that the talk would be very unpleasant.


    "Sure.", she accepted the offer and Lara poured her a cup from a teapot standing on her office table.


    "How much did Ivan tell you about how our situation came to be?", Lara then started the conversation.


    "He told me about how you have met before his hard reset, but nothing concrete. He just said that you only met once."


    Lara nodded, she seemed to be satisfied with what he had told her. She wasn''t willing to have everyone know the details of their meeting.


    "Then I''m sure you can imagine why I wanted to meet you?"


    "It should have to do with our Training Skill."


    "Correct. I''m not sure how much you know about dual Training Skills?"


    "Nothing. Before I saw the skill, I didn''t even know they existed."


    Lara was surprised when she heard that, "You parents didn''t talk to you about that?"


    Now it was Irenas turn to be surprised, "My parents?"


    "So you didn''t know. Your parents too train in a dual Training Skill, so I expected you to know about it."


    Irena wasn''t surprised that the woman before her, had information about her parents because with her apparent wealth it would be easy for her to get some information, but to know their Training Skill did go above what a normal investigation could find out. And since even she didn''t know, it should be a well-kept secret.


    "How do you know that they train in a dual Training Skill?", she asked suspiciously.


    "Do you know why your ancestor rebelled?", in response, she got a completely off-topic question.


    "Huh?"


    "Well since you didn''t even know about the skill your parents are training in, it is no surprise that you don''t know about it because it is exactly this skill that is the reason.


    Back then, the emperor decided to change the family skill, since it had too many drawbacks in his opinion, but his brother was much more conservative and he wanted to keep it. They argued about it and finally, your ancestor decided to leave the family, so that he would be able to keep the skill. But unlike normal families, it isn''t that easy to leave the royal family in such a way, that one can keep the family skill. The only way is to rebel and create a situation where the family is split, which was what the two brothers decided on."


    This was the first time Irena heard about the reason for the rebellion of her ancestor. "What do you mean with family skill? I haven''t heard about it before."


    "It is a skill, that is set as the inheritance of the family and the reason why the big families can keep their status through the times. Everyone in the family can learn it with the permission of the family head, without the need for a skill book."


    Irena instantly understood the use of the family skill. After all, the biggest problem with high graded Training Skills was that they required skill books, that couldn''t be replicated. So everyone in the family being able to learn them without a skill book would certainly increase the strength of the family''s descendants.


    "So that''s how it is. Then how come I haven''t heard about it?"


    "Sorry, you would have to ask your parents about that.", Lara too didn''t know why her parents hadn''t told her about it.


    "But how come you know so much about what had happened?", Irena asked the question she had in the back of her mind, ever since Lara had started to talk about the skill of her parents.


    Seeing the curious look on her face, Lara smiled. When she had gotten her information from her secretary she had been quite surprised. Who would have thought that the girl Ivan had chosen as a training partner would be from that part of the family? Although officially there wasn''t any contact between their families, in truth her mother and Irena''s were good friends and often met.


    "That''s because my name is Von Berg."


    As soon as she said this sentence Irena stared at her in shock. Only the members of the royal family had the name, Von Berg, while the others could still keep the Berg name, they would lose the Von.


    "Well, I guess that explains it.", it didn''t take long for Irena to calm back down. She took it surprisingly well, impressing Lara.


    "Good. Back to the topic. Since you don''t know anything about dual Training Skills, let me explain a few things to you.


    First and most important, don''t try to skip any steps in the progression.", she then warned.


    Irena understood that she meant the part of the skill, where it was described, which actions were necessary for it to work. For the first part, it was holding hands, while the second part was still hidden. "Why is that? Shouldn''t it be more effective if the partners are more intimate?"


    "One might think that but the truth is the complete opposite. If that was the case then why is there even any progression? Couldn''t one just start at having s*x?"


    She hadn''t thought about it before but when hearing these questions she too felt that it had to have some meaning.


    "Our family has made many experiments before so we know much more about these skills than others and many things you won''t find in any library."


    "Then why are you telling this to me and not Ivan?"


    "That''s because you are the one who is the most affected by skipping. For the male partner it doesn''t make much of a difference but for the woman, there is a huge difference. If you skip a stage, then the effect of the training skill will diminish heavily. So don''t skip any and follow the description of it. As soon as the next stage unlocks you can do whatever is described without suffering any setbacks."


    Irena looks at her thankfully, "Thank you for telling me."


    "Haha", Lara lightly laughs, "I''m not just doing it for you. Ivan had, way to much luck with getting women, so it is necessary for him to follow the proper order with at least you. That way he will value you more too."


    "Women? Don''t tell me there are more than us two?"


    Once again Lara laughed. "So he didn''t tell you." After that, he told Irena everything that had happened with Lin and his bloodline.


    "Damn, that guy.", Irena couldn''t help but curse when she had heard all that. "I''m definitely not going to skip any steps with him. What the hell, I am even going to take as much time as possible."


    The two continued chatting for a bit more until the housekeeper called them down for dinner. They had enjoyed chatting, so Lara invited her to stay for dinner and Irena gladly accepted.


    While they had talked, Ivan and Jane had played in the other room together with Tess. After first materializing Jane had been unable to call out Tess again until today. It was the same with Ivans little lizard. He had disappeared after less than a day and during the time he had been out, he had only slept. Now, if not for the faint connection he could still feel, he would have already forgotten about it. When he had seen Tess, he too had tried to call out the little lizard, in the was Jane described she had managed to call out Tess, but there was no response. Maybe he would need more time until he was able to come out.


    What Ivan found the most interesting, was that Tess was able to increase in size until she was about one meter high at her shoulder and it seemed like this wasn''t the largest she could get. But because she was still young and Jane was still weak it was the most she could reach yet. When he had seen it he had tried to playfully fight with her, much to the amusement of his daughter who cheered loudly for her kitten.


    It didn''t take long before he had to realize, that without using weapons or deadly skills he was unable to win against her since she was much faster and only slightly weaker than him. After being thrown to the floor the second time he had wanted to stop playing with Tess, but seeing his daughter laughing loudly at him, he couldn''t help but fight a few more rounds just so she could enjoy herself even more.


    After that, they laid down exhausted at the floor. For Tess to fight, she had to consume some of Janes energy so she too was now tired. And if not for the housekeeper calling them to dinner, they would surely have fallen asleep.

 101 Pill refining

    TThe next day it was a usual school day. The first lesson was a magical theory lesson while the second was a pill refining lesson. When he entered the room together with Serge Miss. Klein was already waiting for them. After greeting them she directly got started.


    "I bet both of you have used the break to try out pill refining right?", she asked the two of them, to which they both nodded.


    "Great, that''s the right way to learn pill refining. By learning through experience and experimentation. If you only learn from others, then you can never be a truly great pill refiner. But of course, that requires solid fundamentals. So the two of you show me how you refine a pill of your choice and then explain why you did it that way and we will then discuss it."


    She then pointed at Serge, "You go first."


    Serge didn''t hesitate and pulled out his pill furnace from his inventory. It was the first time Ivan had seen a pill furnace from a close distance. He himself had never used one since he had gotten used to using the technique with the mana shield and Miss. Klein had never talked about them in class.


    The pill furnace didn''t seem to be anything special as it was made of simple iron. It consisted of two part. On the bottom, there was a fire pan where the coal was to be put, while the top was a globe, from which the top part could be taken off, to get access to its interior.


    Next Serge took out a piece of coal and some herbs. Ivan was instantly able to recognize these herbs, as they were exactly the same he had used a multitude of time to craft the ''Lesser Healing PIll'', the pill he was most proficient at crafting.


    When he saw that Serge was crafting the same pill, he too had crafted a lot of time. Even though he had changed to the higher grade ''Small Healing Pill'', he was still interested in how he would refine this pill. After all his tries were based on his own understanding and with a completely different technique.


    Serge first placed the coal in the intended place and then ignited it. He had to wait for a bit until the pill furnace was completely heated since insufficient heat would lead to the medical component not fully separating. This would in the best case result in a lot of wasted material, but in the worst, it would completely ruin the pill. During this time he used his mana to distribute the heat evenly. To control the heat emitted by the coal was much simpler and energy consuming than directly creating a flame with mana.


    With the special coal and the control, it didn''t take long for the furnace to be uniformly heated up. Serge then started to put in the first herb, surprising Ivan. He had used a much higher temperature and had thrown in all the ingredients at the same time. From his analysis, only higher grade ingredients required one to put them in at different times. For these low-grade ingredients, it was just a waste of time and energy.


    He then used his spiritual sense to observe the situation inside the furnace. What he saw surprised him. Unlike himself, Serge didn''t use mental energy to mix the medical ingredients but instead used his mana, which was much less precise.


    It was something he had realized soon after starting to practice using mental energy. Because it was directly able to influence the surroundings it was a much more precise way of controlling than with mana. With mana, it was like using one''s hand to move something, but with mental energy, it was like the object was a part of the body and could directly be controlled.


    As such, he found Serge''s control over the medical ingredients to be crude and a bit clumsy, but he had to admit that he himself wouldn''t be able to reach the same level of control if he would use mana.


    Refining the ''Lesser Healing PIll'' didn''t take much time and soon the pill was formed. It was a good quality pill.


    When Miss. Klein saw the result she nodded in satisfaction before merciless criticizing Serge for how he refined the pill.


    "While the result is good there are many things you can improve on. First of all your heat control was still lacking which result in a decrease of quality, but more important, why the hell did you take so long to put in the ingredients?"


    "Um,", Serge nervously answered, "I thought that since they require a different amount of heat and time to release their medical essence."


    "You are right, they need different conditions to release their medical essence. But if you space it like this, you will waste a lot. After they have released their medial essence you have to keep the essence somewhere until the rest is finished and, since your heat control isn''t good enough, during this time some of it will vanish, reducing the quality. It would be better to just throw in the ingredients at the same time since there isn''t much difference anyway."


    "So what I did was overkill?"


    "Not really. Even with higher grade ingredients, working on one herb after the other wouldn''t work. Of course, it is hard to do with mana, but you will have to learn to multitask, so you can treat each herb at the same time."


    After that, she pointed out a few other minor things with his pill forming as well as giving tips at how to control heat, before turning towards Ivan.


    "Now it''s your turn. Did you practice any pill besides the''Lesser Healing PIll''? Because I don''t want to see you doing it too."


    "Yes, Miss. Klein."


    "Great, then get started."


    Ivan took out the herbs for the ''Small Healing Pill'', of which he still had a lot in his inventory and started to prepare them. Unlike the herbs for the ''Lesser Healing Pill'', they required one to remove some unneeded parts, since otherwise, they would interfere with the pill forming. Seeing the herbs he had pulled out, Miss. Klein raised her eyebrows but kept silent.


    After having prepared the herbs, Ivan then formed his mana sphere, that he always used for pill refining and created a mana fire at the same time. He then put the herbs one after another into the sphere. Between each herb, there was a small calculated delay. This delay was to accommodate the difference in time needed to make the herb release its medical essence.


    Ivan was fully focused on controlling the flame, so each herb had the right temperature, and as such was unable to see the shocked expression on his teachers face. When the herbs released their medical essence, he used his mental energy to move it into a location at the center of the sphere, separating it from any heat and the essence from the other herbs. Although the heat was required for the herbs to release their essence, that wasn''t the case for the forming of the pill. At least not for the ''Small Healing Pill'', on the contrary, by cooling down the medical essence it became easier to merge them later on.


    After all the herbs had released their medical essence, he expelled the dregs from the sphere and waited for the last bit of essence to cool down. He then started to carefully merge the essences. It was necessary to do this in the right order and ratio because some essence could have extreme reactions if coming into contact.


    After successfully merging the medical essences into one, he split it into five evenly sized balls, into which he then injected some of his mana. With the injection of mana, the medical essence hardened to form the finished pill.


    He then put his hand below the sphere and dismissed it, which lead to the pills falling down into his hand. All of them were good quality pills which satisfied him. Then, having finished his demonstration he looked at the stoic face of his teacher.


    "Not bad. It seems like you have quite a good control over your mental energy.", then seeing Serge''s confused expression she explained to him about mental energy.


    "Besides that, your usage of the mana sphere as a pill furnace is well practiced, but you are missing the biggest advantage of using a mana sphere."


    "The biggest advantage?"


    "Haha, I guess you have only started to use it because you either didn''t have a furnace with you when you started, or you didn''t have the money."


    When she mentioned his reasons for not using a furnace, Ivan couldn''t help but be embarrassed.


    "Don''t take it to heart. It is good that you have started with the mana sphere. In my opinion, it is superior to any kind of pill furnace. Of course, that is only if one has the strength to support it and the control to use it in the right way. If you are only using it as a normal pill furnace then you are better off using a real one."

 102 Disciple

    "The right way?", both Ivan and Serge looked at her questioningly.


    "Yes. Of course, even though I call it the right way, that is only from my perspective.", she smiled slightly. "As you know, the medical essence shouldn''t come into contact with the outside air, since it would lose it''s potency otherwise."


    "Yes, that''s the reason one uses one furnace for the full process since it is inadvisable to transfer the essence from one pill furnace to another."


    Miss. Klein nodded. She seemed to be satisfied with the answer Serge had given. "That''s right. But if one uses mana spheres, who says one can''t merge them, if one has multiple."


    As soon as she said that, both of them understood. If it was possible to merge these mana spheres without reducing the potency of the medical essence then wouldn''t they be able to heat up the herbs separately, making the process much more efficient?


    "It sounds great, but I''m sure it can''t be that easy or everyone would use that method.", Ivan said doubtfully.


    "You are correct. It isn''t easy. Not only does it require a high mana capacity, but also a great amount of control. Not to mention the ability to multitask even more than for normal pill refining. Besides that, it requires a lot of practice to be able to merge the different mana spheres."


    Ivan thought about what she had said, but felt that that shouldn''t be all the reasons, because if it only required practice and strength, while providing such a huge advantage then shouldn''t more use it?


    Miss. Klein''s next words confirmed his suspicions, "But that isn''t the real problem. The real problem is that the improvement it offers is too small compared to what one has to invest. Low-grade pills have only a few ingredients, so it is still not that hard to use this method, but an increased effect of a few percents, just isn''t worth it. Might as well just make a few more pills after all the ingredients are cheap and easily available."


    "Then what about the higher grade pills? Their ingredients are worth much more and are more difficult to process, so shouldn''t the effect be worth much more then?"


    "That''s right. But don''t forget that not only does the ingredients get more difficult to process, which would require more focus on each ingredient, but there also many more ingredients.


    So with the increase of the grade, while the effect of using the mana sphere method would increase, the difficulty would increase even more."


    "But doesn''t the difficulty of processing the herbs would increase independently from the method used? And with the mana sphere, one would be at least be able to treat them separately, making it easier.", Serge made a valid point.


    "Theoretically you are right. But sadly the reality is that one can''t split one''s focus infinitely. Sure it can be trained but only to a certain degree. There is still a limit to what the body and soul can support. That''s why many see the technique as one that has many benefits, but in the end, limits one growth because once one has reached a certain pill grade, one would be unable to progress with it.", after saying that she looks a bit dejected. It seemed like she too had reached the end of her ability to progress.


    "Is there no way around it? There should be one or you wouldn''t have said that it is a much better method than using a standard pill furnace."


    "Well, there are a few ways I know of. The best way would be to increase the capability of one''s soul to multitask. But sadly I haven''t found any yet. The next best is to strengthen the soul, which makes one able to switch focus faster. This can be used together with a rotating system to increase the spheres one can control at the same time. Of course, it has its drawbacks, since it leads to slight fluctuations in the control. Besides that methods top strengthen the soul are rare.


    Lastly, there is the easiest and inefficient method. Still, it is able to increase the quality of refined pills. That is the method I came up personally, so I will only teach it to my students.", she looked at them seriously before continuing, "If you want to know it, then you have to accept me as your pill refining teacher and promise to only teach it to your own students."


    When she said this the two of them looked at her in bewilderment, "Aren''t we already your students?"


    "There is a difference. At the moment you are students at the school and I am a teacher here. So while you are technically my pill refining students, the relationship isn''t as close as what I meant. The relationship between teacher and student I meant, is often called the teacher-disciple relationship. It requires a ceremony and is officially accepted by the System. It also contains a set of rules and duties for both parties.", she paused to check out their reactions.


    Seeing that both of them looked at her with interest she then continued her explanation, "The teacher has the duty to teach the students everything they know as well as provide the materials for them to practice. Of course, this only goes so far as the teacher is capable of providing. On the other hand, the disciple is to learn from the teacher and help with research as long as it isn''t dangerous for himself.", she then listed a few other things concerning the teaching process. The other important point concerned the personal techniques of the teacher. They were only to be taught to other disciples and be kept a secret from everyone else.


    "Alright, that''s it for the teaching part. But the teacher-disciple relationship also influences other areas of life. For example, both the disciple and the teacher have the responsibility to help the other if there are problems. In this way, it is kind of like a family relationship. But I think you should read up on it in some books in the library. After that, you can then decide."


    While Ivan listened to her offer a warm feeling welled up in him. There was absolutely no need for her to offer something like this to them. After all, neither of them had anything of worth and doing this only for future profit seemed unlikely. From Ted''s words, when he had heard about Miss Klein being his teachers, after the tournament, he could guess that Miss. Klei''s status in the community of pill refiners shouldn''t be a small one.


    "Why us?", he asked curiously.


    She looked at him with amusement. "Ha, I knew you would ask this.", during her time teaching him she had realized that he never took anything for granted and liked to question everything. She usually disliked this kind of people, since they rarely knew when they should stop, but Ivan was different. When he didn''t get an answer and didn''t see a fast way to find one, he would just push it back for another time, if there were more information.


    "Because you passed the test.", she readily answered, before continuing on before either of them could ask what the test was, "Not only was there a test at the beginning to find out these that are capable of becoming pill refiners. During the first half school year I often times secretly tested your personality and ability to learn, as well as your talent in pill refining."


    Ivan nodded, satisfied with her answer.


    "The two of you should think about it and when you have decided to give me your answer."


    Although Ivan was already sure that accepting her offer would be a great idea, he still chooses not to accept yet. If he did it would make him seem hasty, even though he didn''t think that Miss. Klein wasn''t already familiar with his personality. But more important was that he hadn''t decided yet about his skill ''Soul Division''. From his understanding, this skill would be a great help for the mana sphere method of pill refining because it would allow one to increase the ability to multitask, since each soul form could control the same amount of spheres as the main form, as long as they trained enough.


    Sure he couldn''t share it easily since it was a unique skill he had developed by accident, but maybe if he shared his method then Miss. Klein would be able to find her own way. If he became her disciple then he should share the skill, but the skill was surely valuable and made the method of Miss. Klein, less necessary to him.


    As soon as his thoughts traveled this far, he hurriedly shook his head. Once again he had only focused on his profits, completely ignoring interpersonal relationships. So what if the skill was valuable? The trust Miss. Klein had shown them when offering them the position of the disciple was much more valuable.

 103 Fusion

    Before he could continue his train of thought, Miss. Klein once again spoke to them.


    "For now, I''m going to show you how to fuse two mana spheres."


    She then formed two mana spheres and positioned them beside each other. "These mana spheres are made by mana, which has formed a thin membrane, so to fuse them you will have to either connect one of the membranes to the other and then remove the separating part, or you form a new sphere over them. The first method has a high risk since it is very difficult to connect them since one has to have a high amount of control to bring them close enough to each other without them interfering and destroying each other."


    She then slowly brings the two spheres closer to each other until they touch. In the instant, this happens a small explosion happens.


    "As you see, failure will result in an explosion, that would completely distribute the medical essence into the air, leading to you losing all of it. The best way to merge them is to start at a small point and then extend it."


    She too demonstrated this. She brought two newly created spheres beside each other and then got them into contact at a small area before expanding the opening between them until the new sphere looked like an elongated sphere. She then dismissed it and once again formed another two spheres.


    "Now to the second method. While it is much easier and safer, it will reduce the efficiency, since there will be a bit of additional air in the new sphere.", she then too brought the two spheres next to each other and then formed another around them, while explaining, "The closer you can create the new sphere the lesser your losses in efficiency. Of course, the difficulty will increase as well. And remember not to be disheartened if you fail the first few times. Especially for the first method.", she paused and then continued, "I think for now you should practice the second method. Start with a wider sphere around and then slowly decrease the distances until there isn''t really any space between them. This way you can slowly train your control."


    "Then wouldn''t having mental energy be better?", Serge asked.


    "Not really, since it doesn''t allow one to control mana. And for this, you will need good control over your mana, which means that it should be easier for you.", Miss. Klein answered.


    After this, the two of them practiced forming the new mana sphere as close as possible to the others while maintaining a high success rate. According to their teacher, being able to be successful in nine out of ten cases would be the best time to decrease the distance between the spheres. And as Miss. Klein had expected, Serge managed to reach a smaller distance than Ivan.


    "Alright, that''s it for today. Practice hard and think about the offer.", at the end of class, she reminded the two.


    "Goodbye, Miss. Klein", they said their goodbye before leaving. They had one more class before school ended and they could go to the dungeon.


    Soon it was the end of school and Irena, Greg, Serge, and Ivan went to the training field to wait for Pia, who didn''t let them wait for long.


    "Hey", they greeted each other before directly proceeding to the dungeon entrance hall.


    Having already experienced the first floor before they easily managed to clear the normal rat groups. This time Serge who too was a melee fighter shared the heavy load with Ivan since both of them had a high enough level. Seeing the way Irena blocked the incoming rats, Ivan was once again impressed with Susan who had managed to do the same thing with a much lower level.


    Still, even though it was much easier for this group, it still took them some time to finally reach the rat boss.


    "Alright, Ivan has already told us about this guys attacks, so everyone should be careful of his tail.", Irena as the team leader once again warned the others.


    Ivan was the one who should take its aggro, according to the plan, so he shot towards the rat lord and used his sword to slash at it. Like before he didn''t use his flame blades since they were still training their coordination and using it would defeat this purpose.


    This time everyone was warned, so the rat lords tail attacks were dodged. There was only one close call when the rat lord rushed at Greg who didn''t have time to dodge. Luckily Irena was able to use a skill called ''Frost Shakles'', to stop its charge momentarily, enabling Greg to dodge after all.


    After killing the rat lord, the group unlocked floor two and the others too got the prompt that they had finished the quest ''The Spirit of the Training Dungeon (1)''.


    "Great this went well and much faster than yesterday.", Greg exclaimed happily.


    "Yeah. There are still some small problems but our coordination is surprisingly good.", Irena too was happy.


    "Should we try the second floor?", Pia asked. She seemed eager to continue but to her disappointment, Irena shook her head.


    "I don''t think that''s a good idea. All of us already did the dungeon yesterday and we have to do it again this week, so we should take our time to rest."


    "Oh."


    Since Irena had decided, the others didn''t talk back but instead followed her out of the dungeon. They then sat down to talk about how they did. Since everything went quite well this too didn''t take long and they said goodbye to each other.


    "Let''s go training.", Irena proposed. They hadn''t trained during the break which most people would consider stupid. Normally everyone would use their training skill every day since it could only be used so much each day and the cap would reset every morning. As such missing out on a day of training would mean losing the time forever. But because of the grade of their training skill, they hadn''t felt compelled to do their training every day and instead decided to take breaks.


    And it wasn''t like this was bad. According to some studies, taking breaks from training would slow the progress but at the same time strengthen the effects. Which sounded weird to Ivan when he had first read about it. He had thought that the effect would be equivalent to the progress but after reading some more papers he had understood what was meant.


    The main point was control. While it was possible to progress fast which meant constantly strengthening one''s cells, this would make the brain slightly unaccustomed to them, which would lead to a reduced ability to bring out the full strength. Of course, this problem only existed for those that had high-grade training skills which provided such rapid growth.


    "Sure.", Ivan instantly agreed and they went into one of the rooms especially prepared for the students to execute their training skills. Similarly to these at the Alliance these training rooms had a slightly higher amount of energy that could be absorbed, which increased the efficiency of the training skills. While they weren''t as good as the training room in the Alliance it was still notable.


    They sat down on the mats at the floor, opposite to each other and then touched Ivan stretched out his hands to hold hers. As always she showed no notable reaction when their hands touched but Ivan couldn''t help to check her out. It was the first time he had the time to do it, since the end of the break.


    While her eye was still glassy and dead, the pockmarks, which covered half of her face, seemed to be slightly lighter, but it was barely recognizable. Besides that, her hair had become longer as she had let it grow ever since they had started training together and it was now shoulder length and silky.


    While he was looking at her, she had closed her eyes and started to use the training skill. The resulting resonance forced Ivan to hurriedly starting to use it too.


    This was the first time he had used the skill, ever since he had reached level fifty. The feeling was completely different. Before he had only been able to feel the energy circulating through his and Irena''s body, before slowly vanishing into his cells. But now that the effect was directly available he could feel the energy entering his cells and slightly changing it.


    He used his secondary soul form to observe these changes closer but was unable to understand them. The only result he got was that the way his cells strengthened seemed to be kinda inbalanced. At least that was the best way he could describe it. Some parts of the cells would get strengthened more than the others. This increased the speed of his cells improving but he felt that it should be better if all of his cells would be improved.

 104 Tinkering

    *Hm, maybe I can try to redirect the energy?*, suddenly an idea popped into his mind. But then he hesitated. He had read up on training skills after their teacher had offered them this one, and he had found a stern warning, that modifying an existing training skill would require a deep understanding of energy and biology.


    *But it''s not like I would really change the skill right? After all, it is only applying it a bit different.*, Ivan then tried to reassure himself. *Whatever, nothing risked, nothing gained.*, he came to a decision and then decisively tried to implement it.


    He started with a single cell and tried to change the flow of energy in such a way, that it uniformly strengthened the cell. His first tries were a clear failure since the energy resisted his attempts to control it, but finally, it worked. He could observe as every aspect of the cell was strengthened when the energy flowed through it.


    << Congratulations, you have successfully modified the training skill ''Beauty Dual Training''


    Through your modification, the skill now strengthens all stats equally as well as increases the durability of your flesh. This will increase the defense of your body.


    At the same time, the increased spreading of energy has resulted in decreased growth of all stats.


    Because the modification has its source at the male partner, the female partner will be assigned a bit higher amount of energy, increasing her growth speed.


    Because the modification has been made only for the male partner, the male partner can now use the training skill without the female partner, while drastically decreasing efficiency.


    >>


    << Beauty Dual Training (Unique) (Training Skill) (Duo) Lvl .1: Partner Irena Berg,


    You can now train together with your partner by pulling the energy from your surroundings and infusing it into your cells. Alternative you can train it alone with a drastically decreased effect.


    Training this skill will increase the defenses of your flesh.


    Side effects will include removal of scars, better skin, faster healing or generally improved looks.


    Method level 1: Hold the hand of your partner and circulate your mana in the described way.


    Method level 2: Hidden


    ...


    Remarks: You are gonna be one beautiful man.>>


    There were only a few changes to the skill description, but these were quite interesting. The ability to be able to use it alone was quite good. The only question was how much the effect was decreased. Besides that the increase of defense was something highly sought after and that the side effect now was changed to be definite instead of a probability.


    "What did you do?", an incredulous sounding voice ripped him out of his thoughts. It was Irena who too had gotten a notification of the changes in the training skill.


    "Um....", Ivan was a bit embarrassed. He had changed the skill without consulting her first. Luckily nothing had gone wrong. Calming himself down, he then explained what had happened.


    "Sigh. You are really one of the kind.", had it been half a year ago she would have surely been much more agitated, but she had long since gotten used to him being a bit weird. "Well, at least I got the better out of it. But don''t do something as dangerous as this again.", she then warned him.


    << Congratulations, you have gained the title ''Skill Tinkerer''


    You have messed with at least one skill, resulting in an improved version of it.


    During your tinkering, you have gained a slightly better understanding of skills.


    Slightly increased effect for all skills.


    >>


    *Wow, this titles effect is quite good. But why do I have the feeling that the title is kind of mocking me?* when Ivan read the description of his new title, he was pleasantly surprised.


    After that, they continued training until their time was up and they said goodbye to each other.


    A small villa in an upscale neighborhood of the capital.


    Suddenly the door was pushed open with so much force, that it nearly rebounded and hit the young woman who had stormed into the living room.


    "Mom, mom, look.", she exclaimed towards an old looking woman who sat in a wheelchair, reading a book while sipping at a cup of tea.


    "Lucia, haven''t I told you many times not to open the door like this?", the woman asked while sounding resigned.


    "But mom, look at this.", the young woman ignored her mothers'' admonition and instead shoved a phone towards her.


    The old looking woman knew her daughters'' personality, so she gave up trying to say anything and instead grasped the phone.


    Displayed on the screen was the job board, which was a platform regulated by the System where one could post job offers. These jobs were then controlled by the System which ensured that the rewards would be given as long as the System was satisfied. The offer Lucia showed was one for the position of a concubine, which in itself wasn''t anything special. There were many of these on the platform and many would take these jobs since they were often easy and longtime employment.


    Unlike many offers of this kind, this offer had many requirements. When the woman read through them she looked at it with surprise. "I never would have expected that someone with an unstable bloodline would appear here."


    "Huh? What do you mean mom?", her daughter asked in bewilderment.


    "Nothing. Why did want to show me this? And why the hell did you even look at it?", the woman stared hard at her daughter.


    Lucia ignored the second question and only answered the first one, "Look at the rewards. Isn''t the ''Strengthening Pill (F)'' exactly what you need?"


    The old woman hadn''t looked at the possible rewards before, but now that she heard her daughters words, she hurriedly did.


    There was a list of available rewards, ranging from the most mundane, money, to the ''Strengthening Pill (F)''. Although the others weren''t bad, for those that had a use for it the ''Strengthening Pill'' was definitely the best possible reward.


    "I didn''t expect anyone to use this kind of pill as a reward.", the woman exclaimed in surprise. She had already searched for such a pill for a long time and until now the price for it had always been ridiculously high if it was even possible to acquire it.


    "What do you think? It''s the right pill, right?", Lucia asked in a worried voice. She had seen how her mother had aged while being unable to break through even the first barrier at level 50.


    "Yes, it is. Finally, I have found it.", the other woman laughed in happiness. She had felt her body slowly giving up and knew that she hadn''t had much time left. To be honest she had already started to accept that she would soon pass away, but still, there was the desire to take care of her daughter and to get revenge for what had happened back then.


    Seeing her mother so happy, for the first time in a long time, the young woman too smiled happily. "Great, then I will apply for the job." She tried to grab the phone, but her mother stopped her.


    "Don''t. I don''t want you to sacrifice yourself for this.", she knew her daughter had wanted to have her first time with someone she loved and one of the conditions was that the concubine had to sleep with the master.


    "But mom, how could you then get the pill? You said it was the only way.", her daughter asked her.


    "I will take the job."


    "You?", Lucia stared at her mother in astonishment.


    "What? You think I can''t?"


    Lucia nodded her head honestly. She really didn''t think her mother could do it. With her old and weak body, there was no way she could fulfill the duties listed in the job offer.


    Seeing her daughter not believing in her, she laughed. She hadn''t expected anything else. After all her body had really deteriorated too much.


    "Don''t worry. If I really fail to get accepted, you can still try alright?", she pacified her worried daughter. Seeing her this way really warmed her heart. She really was lucky to have such a filial daughter.


    "Alright. But if you aren''t accepted until the day after tomorrow, I will apply for this job.", she agreed.


    They smiled at each other and the old woman took the phone and clicked at the apply button. The System automatically filled in her personal data, so she only had to fill in the field where one should describe why one should get the job. In it she only wrote one sentence, "I can help with the unstable bloodline.".


    Meanwhile, Lucia tried to see what she wrote, but she was blocked.


    "Here you go.", the old woman did send off her application and then gave the phone back to her daughter.


    "What did you write?", Lucia asked curiously but got no answer.


    "Don''t ask and I won''t ask why you found this offer.", her mother shot her down.

 105 What the hell are you doing?

    After having finished her work, Lara took a look at the responses to the job offer she had posted. Because of the stringent requirements, she didn''t expect there to be many and the facts proved her right. There were only five applications. She slowly read through each of them in the order they had come in.


    The first one was from a single mother who wanted a better chance for her son. One of the offers she had made was that she would help one relative to enter any school. In the empire, the schools were divided into different grades with the free schools, like the one Ivan was going to, being of the lowest grade and the Imperial School at the top. For the schools besides the free schools, not only did they require on to pay a huge amount of fees, but there were also stringent requirements to social status. For her, as a princess, it was easy to get a slot at any school, so she had put the offer in and it seemed like it was a good move.


    The woman didn''t mention which school she wanted her son to go to, but she was sure that she would want the best possible, so made a remark in her todo list to get a slot for the Imperial School. She then carefully read through the info on the woman. Although the System would only allow applicants who fulfilled the requirements, there were still some things to take note of. When she read the age of the woman and the son she had to smile. Although the woman wasn''t that much older than herself, the son was only one year younger than the current Ivan. Thinking about how Ivan would legally have a son only one year younger really amused her.


    The next one was quite an unusual case. She was only fifteen at the moment which was less than the required age for marriage, which was sixteen. But because of the duration of the contract, the System had allowed the application to go through. Until she was sixteen the relationship would be different with her being protected by the System from any abuse, but after reaching age sixteen the System would enforce some extra rules. Because of that, there would seldom be girls that wanted to become a concubine before age sixteen.


    From the description, this girl wanted to escape her foster parents, who were her aunt and uncle. There wasn''t much information but it seemed like after her real parents had died her relatives had taken her in and used as a slave. The only way for her to escape was to find a new guardian but because of her own status, it was hard to find someone. Her father was a duke and she had inherited the title, with her uncle acting in her stead. After that, he had blocked any attempts of her to find new guardians. Besides that, the laws prohibited anyone to be the guardian of someone of a higher status, unless one was family.


    The girl had read between the lines and seeing that Lara had been able to offer a slot at any school, which included the Imperial School, she had guessed that her status was high enough to become her guardian.


    Lara didn''t have any contact with any of the aristocracy, besides her friends, for a long time, so she didn''t know anything about what had happened lately, but she remembered the duke. They had once met at a social gathering and had chatted for a bit. Back then he had been accompanied by his beautiful wife who was pregnant at that time. The child should be the girl now applying for the job.


    Thinking about it, she felt that the girl was quite pitiful and so decided to check out the situation, to see if she could help her without the girl having to give up so much.


    The next person was the most normal case. It was an adventurer who had reached only level 649 and was now planning to settle down. She wanted to take up Laras offer of a permit, to build a farm in one of the special districts.


    The special districts were areas inside the safe zone that had E grade soil or better. This better grade soil would have much higher harvests than the other, so it was very popular with farmers. But since there weren''t that many such areas they were worth a lot and mostly in the hands of the higher aristocracy. Lara owned such an area, which was sized a few tens of square kilometers, she had been gifted by her mother when she had given birth to Jane. Currently, she had someone manage it for her, but she had planned to get some permanent settlers who would lease a plot of land. This way she would be eligible, to get her own title, which would be of some help in her business. As such, she took the opportunity to offer some plots of lands, which would solve two problems at the same time.


    When she read the name of the next one she almost spat out the tree she was drinking. It was someone she knew and whom she never expected to see applying to the position of a concubine. After gulping down the tea she pulled out her phone and made a call.


    "Tanya, what the hell are you doing?", she asked as soon as the call went through.


    "Huh? Lara, what''s the matter? You call after such a long time and don''t even greet me?", from the other end, a soft voice answered with questions of its own.


    "Your concubine application.", Lara gritted her teeth as she specified.


    "How do you know?", Tanya sounded surprised, "Don''t tell me you made the offer?"


    "Yes, but don''t try to evade the question. Why the hell did you apply for such a job?"


    But once again Tanya ignored her question, "That''s great. It will be so much better with you being the wife. This way, I won''t be bullied.", after saying that she giggled.


    This time Lara exploded in anger, "Tanya, f*cking tell me why you applied."


    "Alright, alright. Calm down.", Tanya hurriedly tried to calm her down. "You know how my old man is right? He is worried because I haven''t married yet, so he found me a fiance."


    "So? He loves you to death, so the one he found shouldn''t be bad."


    "Well, it seems like Lord Keith has heard about my father looking for a fiance. I''m sure you can imagine the rest."


    Lara could imagine what happened. Lord Keith was a special existence in the Empire of Sun. After his father had done some outstanding deeds for the royal family, he had gotten the title of protector. Due to this title, he was mostly free from the commands of the emperor, which wasn''t a big problem, because they had been best friends for a long time.


    Lord Keith, on the other hand, was a completely different person. Luckily the title of protector couldn''t be inherited, or it would lead to many problems later on. Lord Keith was feared all through the capital because of his style of doing things. He used the status of his father to oppress the common people and there were rumors that he had even caused some of the smaller families to vanish after they refused to offer their daughters to him. Sadly there was no evidence and with his father standing behind him, nobody dared to go against him without any hard evidence.


    This guy had been after Tanya for a long time, but with her status, there was no way he could do anything to her. Now with her father looking for a fiance, he had pressured his father to talk to the emperor about making him the fiance and his father, who loved him to a fault, wasn''t able to reject him and brought up the topic to his friend.


    The emperor too had heard the rumors about Lord Keith, but he was unable to reject his friend. The only thing he could do was to offer his daughter a way out. If she was able to find a marriage partner, he would support her. As such she had looked through the concubine offers at the job portal in search of one with a high enough standing for her to take. As a princess, she couldn''t just take any offer. If she loved her partner there would be no problem, but since she didn''t have anyone she loved, she would have to select someone who had a high enough standing and the only one she found was Laras offer.


    After explaining all that Tanya then asked, "So what do you think? Could you help me with this."


    Lara thought about it. Since Tanya was from a royal family her bloodline should be of a higher grade which would be good for the quest. Besides that she was her friend, so helping her was a must. It was just that she didn''t want her to have to live the rest of her life as a concubine. Because she didn''t think that Lord Keith would let her go if she divorced and as such, she would have to stay as a concubine until either of them died or Lord Keith lost all his power.

 106 Becoming a real wife?

    "Are you sure that you want to live like this for the rest of your life?"`, she asked her friend.


    Tanya laughed helplessly, "Do you think I have a choice? You know that my father can''t reject the Protector after he saved his life."


    "But is becoming a concubine really the only way?"


    "If you have any other idea I would gladly hear it."


    Lara thought about it but sadly she didn''t come up with anything. Leaving the empire and hiding somewhere was no option either because it was way to hard to try one''s signature inside the safe zone. Sure if she lived in the wilderness, nobody would be able to find her but she might as well not live at all. There was no civilization there and living like this for a long time would really mess with one''s head.


    Leaving the realm was no option either because in the upper realm nobody nothing would keep her safe from Lord Keith who was stronger than her.


    "Then how about becoming a real wife? Wouldn''t that be better?", although there wasn''t any difference between being a wife and concubine according to the System and the law, besides being lower in the hierarchy, for aristocrats, there was a big difference. For them, the wife had to be from a similar standing and had an official position while a concubine was more of a lover and had no social standing.


    There was silence on the other end of the call until finally, she could hear Tanya take a deep breath as if she had made a decision. "Alright, but first I have to tell you something."


    "Shoot."


    "No, not over the phone. Let''s meet and then we can talk about it and if you are alright with it we can then sign the contract."


    Lara was wondering why her friend would only tell it to her in person, but she easily accepted it.


    "Alright. Then come over whenever you want."


    After that, they chatted a bit more, mainly about how Lara was living ever since she had met her husband.


    After finishing the call Lara leaned back in her chair and fell into deep thoughts. Although she too hadn''t had a choice with her husband, it was more or less her own fault. Back then they really shouldn''t have taken the mission, but she had insisted since she thought that they could manage it. So it was her own decision which had led to her being raped, which then triggered her family rule. If not for this, she would have had free choice of who to marry. This was the way of the Berg family. They won''t force their members to marry someone they don''t want, but after they had chosen they had to live with their choice.


    Many other daughters of nobility envied the freedom of the commoners to chose their own husbands, while they had to marry the ones arranged by their family.


    Lara couldn''t help but think about her little sister who had married the owner of a small business. When they had married, their family, together with her husband,had decided to hide the fact that their family was an aristocratic family. But that had been a decision made freely and easily reversible. This led to her sister living a happy life without anyone trying to get close to her because of her status. *I really should invite them over sometimes.*


    Collecting her thoughts she then opened the last application. When she saw the picture she was shocked. Although she hadn''t specified anything about the physical appearance, it was highly unusual that someone, who was not at least better looking than average, would apply for the position of a concubine. As such seeing, the image of an old woman, sitting in a wheelchair came as a shock to her.


    If her goal was to only find a concubine for the satisfaction of her husband, then she surely would have ignored the application but since the System accepted the application, the woman should fulfill the requirements. Therefore she would help with completing the quest ''Stabilizing the Bloodline'', if not with the quest ''Curbing the flareups''. The first quest would only require them to marry and not have intercourse so the physical capabilities didn''t matter. The second on the other hand would most likely be impossible.


    Thinking this way she continued reading through the application until she came to the one sentence the old woman had written. "I can help with the unstable bloodline."


    When she read that sentence, she couldn''t help but take a deep breath. Just from reading the job offer, this woman had understood their reason for searching for concubines. "Can she really?", she asked herself. "She should since she knew what happened."


    Thinking this far, she once again made a call.


    To her surprise, a young voice answered, "Hello, this is Lucia Lefair."


    Hearing her name, Lara was sure that she was somehow related to the one who applied. "Hello, this is Lara Hope. Could I please speak with Celine Lefair?" She had used the family name Hope since her name Van Berg was too well-known and after all, she had posted the job offer in her capacity as the first wife of Ivan and as such as a member of the Hope family.


    "Ah, you have to call because of the job application.", Lucia instantly understood the reason for the call, since she knew the name, "Please wait for a bit, I will give the phone to my mother."


    After that Lara could hear her hurried steps. "Here mom, a call for you."


    "Hello, I''m Celine.", the woman introduced herself.


    "Hello. I hope I don''t interrupt anything but I wanted to talk to you about what you have written in your application. Are you serious?"


    Hearing her straightforward question the woman laughed lightly, "Of course. But I don''t know if you want to use the way I know."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Although I know a way of stabilizing bloodlines, or to be exact to strengthen an aspect of a bloodline, it is of the evil path."


    Lara knew about the evil path. While it was rare to see anything of that path in this realm, in the upper realm it wasn''t all that uncommon. Training by doing evil deeds could increase the speed of advancement and as such was of fatal attraction for many. But as always there was a tradeoff. The more one went down the evil path, the more one lost one''s feelings until only negative feelings, as well as apathy, was left. Most of those that had trained on the evil path for longer would become psychopaths.


    "How bad?"


    Seeing that Lara didn''t instantly reject it, Celine let out a breath of relief. If she had been rejected, then there was no way for her to ever get her revenge.


    "Not that bad, it is just that the guy who developed it was a sadistic pervert and as such anyone who uses the ritual would be influenced to have similar tendencies. But because of the structure of the ritual, these tendencies would only be directed towards the ritual partner."


    Hearing this Lara felt relieved. This didn''t sound bad at all, at least for a technique of the evil path.


    "Ritual Partner?"


    "Yes. The ritual consists of two people. For once the person whose bloodline is supposed to be strengthened and who takes the position of master and the person who will sacrifice his or her Bloodline Power."


    "Sacrifice his or her bloodline power? Does that mean that someone gives up his or her bloodline, so the other person bloodline can be strengthened?", Lara focused on the main point.


    "Not at all. I guess you don''t know the difference between Bloodline Power and Bloodline Aspects and their strength.", she then explained without waiting for Lara''s reply, "Bloodline Aspects determine the bloodline and can be seen as innate traits of the bloodline, while Bloodline Power is what we call the power capacity we have in our bloodline, after reaching Earth Realm. From this point, the term is a bit misleading since it is used for two things at the same time. The capacity of our bloodline, as well as the power we inject into our bloodline skills."


    "Then for the ritual, doesn''t the partner have to have Bloodline Power, which means that she has to be at least Earth Rank?", Lara asked. If this was really the case, then the ritual would be useless. There is no way that someone above Earth Rank would sacrifice her power just to help Ivan.


    "Mmm, this is one of the requirements. You didn''t think that it would be easy did you?"


    "No, but isn''t the ritual useless this way?"


    "Normally it would be but since I have brought it up, I too have a way to get it to work.", Celine paused. After this, there would be no way for her to go back. It was either risk everything now or slowly die in the near future. She could only hope that this bet would work out.

 107 Ritual

    Lara could feel that she was making a decision and didn''t press her, but instead patiently waited for her.


    "I will do it.", she then finally voiced her decision.


    This answer didn''t come as much of a surprise as Lara had already expected something like this. Still, there was one question that had to be asked.


    "Why would you do this? If you are able to do it, then you have to be at least Earth Rank and then none of the rewards should mean anything to you."


    "Normally yes, but something has happened and I lost my strength. Now to gain it back, accepting this deal is the best thing I can do."


    "If you lost your strength, wouldn''t that affect the ritual?"


    "No, not at all. The ritual only depends on the Bloodline Power, which hasn''t been affected, since it is extremely complicated to do this without killing the target. And because the usage of Bloodline Power requires Qi there is no need either. So although I have lost my Qi and Vital Qi, I still have my Bloodline Power.", Celine explained.


    Lara didn''t know anything about Bloodline Power and as such couldn''t deduce the truth, but she was inclined to trust the woman. "You lost your Vital Qi? Is that the reason why you look so old?", she asked curiously.


    "Yes. I''m not sure if you are aware but without sufficient Vital Qi, the body will age at a fast speed. So after my body lost most of its ability to generate Vital Qi I have lived of my reserves and now that they are at their end, I have aged a lot."


    After hearing this explanation Lara could guess one of the reasons, why the other party would make this deal. But to be sure she still asked, "Then the reason you have offered to do this is that you need Vital Qi?"


    "That''s one of the reasons. With your husband refilling my Vital Qi I can continue to live and my body will become young once again too, so don''t worry. But besides the Vital Qi, I would need five ''Strengthening Pill''.", Celine clearly stated her reasons for making her offer.


    "Alright, The Vital Qi is no problem since exchanging it is necessary to stabilize the Bloodline anyway. As for the pills, if the ritual truly works then there is no problem with giving them to you.", Lara agreed to the demands.


    "Great, then I''ll send you the description for the ritual so you can check it. And if you agree after that we will sign the contract alright?"


    "Sure.", Lara readily agreed.


    Just after voicing her agreement a System notification popped up.


    << Celine Lefair wants to share the description for the Ritual ''Bloodline Refining Furnace Ritual (Unique)'' with you.


    Do you accept?


    >>


    Without having to think about it Lara agreed.


    << Ritual: Bloodline Refining Furnace Ritual (Unique)


    Alignment: Evil


    Introduction through the creator:


    This ritual is the work I am the proudest of as well the most disappointed in. When I started my research on how to strengthen Bloodline Aspects many of my brothers laughed at me, telling me it was impossible. But I persevered and finally found a way to do what others thought impossible.


    By researching the most common way of bloodline transfer, which is giving it to one''s children I found a way of strengthening existing bloodlines through the use of a female as a furnace.


    This is the part I am most proud of.


    The part I am most disappointed in is the requirements the ritual has for the female who is to serve as the furnace. Not only does she need to have a high Bloodline Power, but what is the worst is that she has to sacrifice it out of her free will. I have tried everything but there is no way to force someone to do it. Even using some rare treasures as the trade doesn''t work. According to my observation, the female has to offer this ritual on herself, while the male can''t have any knowledge of it beforehand.


    I really hope that sometimes someone will execute this ritual.


    Requirements:


    (The System has detected two parties willing to do the ritual and as such will indicate which requirements are fulfilled.)


    Furnace:


    - Female (y)


    - High Bloodline Power (y)


    - Offered ritual (y)


    - Bloodline Heaven Grade or higher (y)


    - Mental State ''Clear Mind'' or higher (y)


    - Has given birth (y)


    - Fertile (y)


    - Red Jade Bones (y)


    Refiner:


    - Male (y)


    - Bloodline Mortal Grade or higher (y)


    - Mental State ''Clear Mind'' or higher (no, currently only in ''Blurry Mind'')


    - Fertile (y)


    Remark: The insufficient Mental State will only reduce the efficiency of the ritual until the Mental State ''Clear Mind'' has been archived.


    Items:


    - Furnace uniform (y)


    Ritual duration: Infinite


    Ritual execution:


    The ritual consists of two parts. The first is the primer which will only be done at the start of the ritual, while the second part, which is the main part, called repeater, can be repeated every seven days and has the effect of strengthening a selected Bloodline Aspect of the Refiner.


    To learn the concrete procedure you will have to learn the ritual.


    Remark: The System guarantees the effect of the ritual if not it''s morality.


    >>


    Lara carefully read through the description of the ritual. Sadly there was no exact description of the ritual itself but remembering what Celine had told her about the creator as well as what was written in the introduction, she was sure that it would contain something sexual. Once again.


    She was unsure what it was, but so many things about Ivan pointed towards sex. Especially anything that had to do with his bloodline.


    "Alright, I have read the description. But I do have some questions first if you don''t mind.", Lara then once again talked to Celine.


    "Of course. Ask away."


    "For the requirements, there are two things I am unfamiliar with. One is the Mental State and the other the Red Jade Bones.", Lara told her what she didn''t know.


    "Mental State is a measurement for the stability of the mind under stress. The first state is ''Muddy Mind'' and it what every normal person possesses. The mind isn''t that resilient. One can only concentrate on a certain amount of time and the reactions in surprise situations are instinctive.


    When one reaches ''Blurry Mind'', the time one can concentrate is highly increased. It''s not a problem to concentrate on something for more than a day, though when surprised one''s reactions are still mostly instinctive.


    Finally, there is the state ''Clear Mind'', which not only increases the amount of time one can concentrate but also means that the reaction to surprises is to first analyze it, which can be done very fast, before taking action.", she clearly explained the Mental States she knew, before continuing with the next explanation.


    "As for the Red Jade Bones, it describes an innate bone type. Similar to how people are born with bloodlines, some are born with special features. There are three different categories of features one can be born with. Special bones, special meridians, special body. As the name says, special bones mean that your bones are unlike normal, but have different properties. One of such a bone type is ''Red Jade Bones'', which I have. It enables the interaction of Bloodline Power with your bones, unlocking new skills, which should be the reason for it being a requirement.


    Special meridians mean that the meridians are different, which usually has effects on training speed. A special body, on the other hand, is an all-around enhancement, resulting in special skills as well as increased training speed.


    But before reaching the Mortal Realm it is nearly impossible to find out if one possesses any of them."


    "About the furnace uniform mentioned..."


    "Ah that. Don''t worry, I have it. It came together with the ritual."


    "I thought so. Then let''s do it this way. Come over to meet my husband and I and then we can sign the contract, alright?"


    "Sure."


    After having decided on a time for the meeting, the two talked a bit more, since Lara wanted to know a bit more about this woman, who would soon be her husband''s concubine. And who would play an important role in the stabilization of the bloodline.


    Having then finished their conversation she leaned back. Now that she knew about the ritual there would be no need for Ivan to marry a multitude of concubines. Luckily there weren''t many applicants to the job offer, but still, she had to decide if she still wanted to accept them or not.


    "Hm, just to be safe I should accept them.", she then decided. After all, although the ritual should work, it couldn''t be bad to have a backup plan ready. Having made her decision she then send a notifiaction to the first three women who had applied. As for Tanya she had to wait and see what she wanted to talk with her about, before coming to a decision.

 108 Family of three

    When Lara came home, the sight of Jane and Ivan playing together greeted her eyes. They were fully focused on the card game they were playing and hadn''t noticed her coming in. When this picture entered her eyes, she unconsciously smiled. She was really happy that Jane and her father got along this well, even though it sometimes looked more like a pair of siblings going along, instead of father and daughter.


    She didn''t disturb them and instead silently went upstairs into her room, where she took a shower and changed into more comfortable clothes.


    When she came back down, the two of them had just finished their game.


    "Mom, you are home!", Jane exclaimed and rushed towards her.


    "Mm, did you have fun?", Lara hugged her and then softly asked.


    "Of course. Come play with us.", she then pulled her mother along towards the couch. Lara didn''t resist and was soon seated on the couch next to Jane. Ivan, on the other hand, had to make space and was now sitting on the floor. This way they were close enough to play.


    While they had fun playing unbeknown to them Madam Tanner watched them from the entrance to the kitchen. To her, they looked like a happy family of three which gladened her immensely. She had been by her mistress side for a long time and had experienced the way she had been after what happened back then. Sure the birth of Jane had a huge effect on her recovery, but it had been a long time since she had seen her so carefree in the presence of a man, other than her father. Smiling to herself she silently took a picture and send it to Lara''s mother.


    Although she was Lara''s housekeeper, before that she had been working for her mother and they still had been in contact frequently. Back when Lara had first moved out, she had been tasked with watching over her and sometimes reporting how Lara was doing. This was something Lara was aware of and she had never said anything about it, although even if she did, Miranda would just find another way to get updates on her.


    Meanwhile at the Palast Miranda and her husband were sitting next to each other on a couch and enjoying some tea, while relaxing. As the emperor and empress, their days were always full of work and so they didn''t go crazy they had made the rule, that every evening they would spend some time together just relaxing. Of course sometimes one of the other wives or concubines would accompany them, but today it was only the two of them.


    It was a time for them to relax and as such, they had blocked any calls. In case there was an emergency one could just call the palace number and a servant would notify them. Of course, that was only if their secretaries accepted the call as really important. So when Miranda''s phone suddenly emitted a sound both of them were startled.


    "You didn''t block your phone?", Joseph asked reproachfully.


    "I did.", Miranda hurriedly assured him, before admitting, "Except a few numbers."


    "Aha.", her husband snorted. He knew his wife well enough to know that there was no way she would block every number. He was sure that the numbers of all the family members weren''t blocked. It was just that they knew about there time off and didn''t dare to disturb them.


    "I''m sure it''s something important.", Miranda said and then picked up the phone laying on the table beside them. She then saw that Madam Tanner had sent her a photo and without much thought opened it.


    On the picture, she saw the happy family of three playing a card game. Her first reaction was to smile, but then she remembered that her husband was still in the room. And he didn''t know about Ivan yet.


    *Please, don''t have him let see this.*, she silently prayed, before turning around. Sadly no god heard her prayer as he was standing directly behind her, looking over her shoulder. *Damn.*


    "This is ...", he asked with a low voice, which was a sure sign, that he was angry. She shortly contemplated lying but instantly discarded the idea. It would only make him even angrier.


    "Calm down.", she first tried to placate him, even though she knew it was useless.


    "How can I be calm after seeing this picture? Why are my daughter and granddaughter playing together with a man and that at her home?"


    It wasn''t hard for her to understand his meaning. He didn''t know that the man was Lara''s husband. Because Ivan looked so young it didn''t even come to his mind. As such the reason for his anger was that his daughter was playing with another man than her husband. Although he hated her husband for what he did to his darling daughter, he was a man who put emphasis on trust and loyalty, so seeing his daughter with a man, he thought wasn''t her husband, made him disappointed and angry.


    Seeing that she hadn''t answered his questions, he once again asked, "Why aren''t you talking? It seemed like you knew about it.", the second sentence was voiced in a disappointed tone.


    Miranda took a deep breath and decided to just tell the truth. "First promise that you won''t run over there and kill anyone."


    Joseph stared at her with angry eyes, "If you don''t start telling the truth then I won''t mind going over there and killing this guy, that plays with a married woman."


    "He is her husband.", Miranda blurted out, fearing that he would carry out his threat.


    "Her what???", this time he didn''t keep his voice down and instead bellowed angrily. Not only did he below, but he also started to walk towards the door, while starting to emit killing intent.


    Miranda hurriedly grabbed his arm. "Calm down. Calm down. First, sit down again and let me explain." She continued trying to get him to calm down and finally, he sat down again, although he was still simmering with rage.


    "I knew you would react like this.", she reproachfully said, while shaking her head.


    "How should I react then? How dare that guy shows his face in front of my daughter? I have to make sure to let him pay for what he did."


    "And that''s why nobody wanted to tell you.", she mumbled.


    "Right. You already knew about it?", he had heard her mumbling.


    "Well...", she hesitated, not really wanting to admit it. "Yes, I already knew about it."


    "Who else?"


    "Only Carl."


    "My brother knew too?"


    Miranda stopped hesitating and started telling the story from the beginning where Jane had felt her father and how they looked for him after that. When she finished the story he sighed, his anger already gone.


    "What a mess. And I can''t even put the blame for what happened on him anymore.", he was a just man and although Ivan was the technically the same one that had hurt his darling daughter so much, now he was someone completely different. So he found it unfair to pin the crimes of his former incarnation on him. And more important to him was, that judging by the picture it didn''t seem like his daughter had any problem with him. Quite contrary, she looked happy. In fact, she looked happier than he had seen her for a long time. Maybe she was nearly back to her old self.


    It was just that he really didn''t want to forgive him. *This won''t do. I should find some kind of punishment for him. Something that is a punishment, but an opportunity at the same time.*, he silently decided.


    "But if he dares hurt her, I''ll make his life hell.", he then spat out in order to vent his frustration.


    "I''m sure he won''t. From what I know he is quite nice."


    "Hmpf. Still, even if I can''t get revenge on him, I still have to punish my stupid brother, for not telling me about it.", he said. Ignoring the fact that his daughter and wife hadn''t said anything either. This was just the difference of status in his heart.


    Seeing him change his target to his brother, Miranda breathed a sigh of relief. Carl has already used to his brothers'' punishments, so this could be considered as a great result.


    "Oh, do you have his contact number?"


    "Yes. Do you want to meet him?"


    "Mmm,", he smiled while looking at his wife who understood him well. "Invite him over to an informal meeting."


    Hearing that it would be an informal meeting, Miranda smiled. It seemed like her husband had already let go of his anger.


    "Sure. I''ll call him first thing tomorrow. But for now, let''s relax.", she then grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bathroom, to take a relaxing bath together. Well, first there would be some fun and then the relaxing.

 109 Family

    After Lara and Ivan had put Jane to sleep, both of them retired to their respective rooms for the night. But Lara didn''t go to bed just yet. Instead, she sat down and thought about her relationship with Ivan. Since she had met him for the first time, her thoughts of him had changed multiple times.


    At first, she was filled with awe and thankfulness, after he had saved her group. But this had soon changed when he had raped her. She had only felt hate for him. That her family rules made him her legal husband had made it even worse. Just when she was at her lowest, the doctor told her that she was pregnant.


    Her first reaction was to abort the child, her mother and father were strictly against it. Even her psychiatrist recommend, that she should keep the child. She argued that it would not only be a good way to get over her trauma but also that the child itself was innocent. Besides, that was she really willing to not have any children? Because of the family rules, she would only be able to have children with her husband and since nobody knew who he was, it was nearly impossible to get pregnant again.


    Under the persuasion of all these people, she finally decided to keep the child, which would become the best decision she had ever made in her life. When she felt the little life growing in her, she was filled with happiness. She couldn''t wait to finally meet her child, hold it, cuddle it and play with it. During this time her feelings towards Ivan once again changed. She still felt hate but there was also some thankfulness again. These two feelings fought with each other and while watching their daughter grow up the thankfulness started to overshadow her hate.


    Such when they met once again she surprisingly didn''t feel any hate for him anymore. Instead, she felt mostly indifferent. Together with the wish of her daughter to spend time with him, she didn''t have a problem with him staying with them for a while. Even more, she surprisingly didn''t feel the same discomfort, she felt with other males.


    Seeing him love their daughter and the way he interacted with her, she slowly warmed up towards him, starting to see him as part of the family. Him being like a clean slate after his reset, only helped. This feeling slowly accumulated until she saw him in so much pain during his bloodline evolution. That was when she realized that she had started to care for him.


    And today it had felt very natural to play with him and her daughter. She felt like she had completely accepted as part of the family. She wasn''t sure if she loved him, but she certainly liked having him around her and her daughter.


    Thinking this far, she remembered Mia''s words. "You should try to make this marriage work."


    Should she really? She had to admit that her words were right, she had avoided any contact with men ever since back then. *Maybe if I start slow.*, she couldn''t help but think. The only marriages she had really experienced where his mother and father and uncle and aunts. Both of these marriages were filled with happiness, which had often made her envious. Of course there were some problems, especially with her mother and father, since his role necessitated a bigger harem than usual, but in the end, her mother was the one in control and somehow she managed to keep everything harmonious.


    It was just that they sometimes let their affection flow out way too much, embarrassing everyone around them. There was no way she could make them her model. But her uncle and aunts weren''t any better. Which was mostly Jennys fault. Her personality was just too active and outgoing.


    "I definitely won''t act like them.", she silently swore to herself. That would be way too embarrassing. But then how should she start. If she wanted to make this marriage real, she knew that she not only had to be able to live with him but also sleep with him. After all, having sex and children were a fundamental part of being married. Besides she found their interactions during the day were already like a married couple. So the only thing left was their interaction during the night.


    "Whatever, let''s just start with sleeping on the same bed.", she finally decided after contemplating for a while.


    After having made her decision she resolutely got up and left her room to knock at Ivans door.


    As usual, Ivan was sitting on his bed, reading a book on his phone. After having realized how lacking his common sense was, he not only read scientific literature but also some entertainment literature. He was clear on the fact that what was described wouldn''t be the real thing, but by reading many different books, he was able to gather some information. Besides, it was fun to read them.


    But today he was reading a research paper about a medical herb, he had found the last time he went to the ''Herb Garden''. Just when he had finished the paper, there was a knock at his door.


    The knock surprised him since this was the first time that anyone had knocked at his door this late into the night. His first thought was that Jane had woken up again and was now looking for him. As such he hurriedly opened the door. When he had opened the door he was surprised to see Lara standing in front of it. She was wearing her pajamas and had her hair let down.


    Seeing her like this he was stunned. Usually, she had her hair up in a ponytail and wore clothes that while comfortable, didn''t show any skin. But now she was wearing a pajama that while conservative, still showed a bit of cleavage. Together with her straight ink black hair which went down to just below her shoulders, she had a completely different look. She looked much softer than usual.


    Seeing him staring at her Lara blushed lightly, once again stunning him.


    "Can I come in?", she then asked in a soft voice.


    These words broke him out of his reverie and he hurriedly stepped back from the door, so she could enter the room. She slowly entered the room and closed the door, before she sat down on the couch.


    Ivan didn''t say anything but too sat down. He then patiently waited for her to say something because surely she wouldn''t come to his room if she didn''t have anything to say.


    "Ivan, what do you think about our marriage?", Lara opened the conversation with a question, that had been on her mind for a while now. Just like her, he too had been forced into this marriage, so she really wanted to know his thoughts on it.


    Ivan didn''t instantly answer but first thought about it.


    "I''m glad to have it.", he then answered, surprising her. She wasn''t sure what her expectation was, but she thought that he wouldn''t be satisfied with it.


    "Why?", her voice had become slightly horse as she asked this question.


    "Because it gave me a family.", he answered, before continuing, "After coming to, in that room, I knew nobody and nothing. There was only this quest, telling me to go to school and nothing else.", he then started telling the story of what happened after waking up. He hadn''t really told this to anyone else, but now he somehow felt a desire to tell her this.


    "I had nothing at this time. No family, no friends. If not for your uncle recruiting me, I wouldn''t even know what to do for food and lodging. Of course, there were Greg and Serge, but at that time they were still strangers.


    After that although I didn''t have to fret about daily necessities and Greg and Serge had become my friends, I technically was still alone. This was something I felt especially when I heard others talking about their family.", he paused with a faraway look in his eyes. And the corners of his mouth curved upwards.


    "All of this changed when Jane came running towards me while calling me daddy. Although I was shocked, there was so much happiness. Finally, I too had a family. Although I still didn''t have parents, I had a wife and a child."


    "But I was so cold towards you."


    "Yes, you were.", when he said that she once again blushed, "But that didn''t matter to me at all. Sure this marriage was only on paper and not even real, but it still meant that I had a family."


    Hearing this, Lara couldn''t help but smile. It seemed like the meeting between all of them, not only gave Jane a father who loved her, something she had always desired but also helped the two of them. For her, it was slowly getting rid of her trauma and for him, it was getting rid of his loneliness.

 110 Good Morning

    Hearing his response only hardened the resolve, she had just made. Without another word, she stood up and went towards the bed. Ignoring the weird stare he gave her, she then sat down on it.


    "Let''s go to sleep."


    "Huh?", Ivan''s chin dropped when he saw her nonchalantly sitting down on his bed, seemingly getting ready to sleep.


    When Lara saw his reaction she laughed out loudly. This shook Ivan out of his shock. Even though she was laughing at him, he still was happy to have been able to make her laugh. The only times he had seen her laugh were in their daughter''s presence.


    "You should laugh more often. You are beautiful like this.", he unconsciously voiced his true thoughts.


    When she heard these sentences, she abruptly stopped laughing. This was the first time he had complimented her and it made her aware of the current situation. Here she was, sitting on his bed and laughing at him, but not only wasn''t he angry, but he also complimented her. She smiled sweetly as the last bit of tension left her body.


    "Don''t misunderstand. It is only sleeping and nothing more."


    "But why?"


    To his question, she answered with what Mia had said as well as some of her own thoughts. "And that is why I think we should sleep together for a start."


    There was no reason for Ivan to reject him. After all, who wouldn''t want to have a beautiful wife sleep with oneself?


    Still, he felt a bit awkward, when he laid down beside her on the bed, keeping some distance.


    Both of them didn''t manage to fall asleep for a long time, because they were well aware of the unfamiliar presence of someone else on the bed.


    The next morning Ivan was woken up by the ringing of his alarm. After waking up he felt something pressing down on his body. Still half asleep he didn''t know what it was and tried to push it away. When his hand came into contact with a silky surface he suddenly heard a small sound besides his ear.


    He fully opened his eyes and turned his head towards the source of the sound. In front of him was a beautiful face, with eyes still closed. Only now did Ivan remembered that Lara had proposed that they sleep together.


    He hurriedly tried to take a look at what his hand was touching. As he had feared, it was her skin. Her pajama leg had been moved upwards, freeing her beautiful leg, which was now positioned on top of him. Just when he was contemplating whether to move her leg or keep it as it is, Lara opened her eyes.


    Unlike him, she wasn''t out of it after waking up and instantly remembered what had happened yesterday. "Good morning.", she greeted him.


    "Good morning.", Ivan hurriedly tried to move his hand but in his haste all he achieved was him stroking her leg, as he tried to move his hand upwards. He nervously looked at his wife''s face. But there was no anger in it but instead a slight smile.


    Without saying anything she moved her leg away and sat up. "Come let''s get up."


    Thankful that she hadn''t said anything, he hurriedly got up too. He then escaped into the bathroom, missing the movement of her lips, which slowly curbed into a full smile. She then released a completely untypical giggle, before getting up too.


    After getting up, she went to her own bathroom to get ready. She had to go to work as well as have her meeting with Tanya.


    While they had breakfast, Miranda called to tell them, that Joseph had found out about them and that he had invited Ivan to a meeting.


    "Will you be alright?", Lara asked slightly worried.


    Hearing her worried tone, Ivan''s heart warmed. It felt truly great to have someone worry about you. "I''m sure I will be fine. After all, Miranda didn''t sound that worried.", he reassured her.


    He was right. If the meeting would be something bad, then surely her mother would have sounded different. As such Lara discarded her worry and instead concentrated on eating this breakfast, together with her family.


    It was midday when Lara got the call from Tanya that she was waiting for her in a cafe downstairs. Since she had already expected her, she had deliberately kept her schedule empty. This way she could easily go downstairs to meet her friend.


    After entering the cafe she could easily identify where her friend was seated. The gazes of all the other patron were oriented towards him. While the gazes of the men were filled with appreciation or lust, these of the women were filled with envy or surprisingly also lust. This state of affair was mainly because of Tanya''s look coupled with the way she dressed.


    She had blond hair that was cut into a bob and framed an absolutely stunning face, part of which was hidden by the shades she always wore. Her body with its hourglass figure fitted well with her face. But what really created most of these gazes was the fact that she loved to wear tightfitting leather clothes. Lara had asked her before why she would wear these and the answer was that she loved the feeling of them clinging to her skin.


    Today she at least didn''t wear one of her super short skirts and instead sported long pants. Her top too was relatively modest for her as it was a simple shirt with a jacket on top. Of course, both of them were tightfitting and made of leather. This assemble was completely in black with just some red as an accent.


    "Hey, there sexy.", Lara greeted her as usual while sitting down opposite of her.


    "Hey, sweety. Long time no see.", Tanya happily greeted her back.


    It was true, they hadn''t seen each other for more than a year, which was mostly Lara''s fault as she was busy and after she had met Ivan, she unconsciously avoided her friends.


    "Sorry, it''s my fault. How about I buy you a meal as an apology?", Lara apologized.


    "Haha, don''t sweat it.", Tanya looked her up and down, "You look good. Enjoying your married life?", she asked, her voice filled with mirth but also some hidden bitterness.


    "You know how this marriage happened. But he is a really nice guy.", remembering his reaction this morning Lara couldn''t help but smile.


    "That''s great. You know that you can always count on us to help right?", Tanya asked while referring to her former adventurer party.


    "Of course. I know."


    They chatted some more about what had happened to them during the time they hadn''t seen each other.


    "Alright, let''s get to the main point. What did you want to tell me?", Lara asked.


    Tanya nervously played with her fingers and then blurted out, "I love you."


    When these words left her mouth she stared at the woman opposite of her, trying to catch her reaction, but unexpectedly there was no change in her expression.


    "You don''t seem to be surprised."


    "How could I? We all knew about that.", Lara said. One would have to be blind to not see that Tanya had been in love with her for a long time. They had just chosen to ignore it since this was the best way to keep their friendship. She had feared that if she rejected her, she would lose her as a friend.


    "Huh? You mean, all of you already knew about it?"


    Lara nodded. In their group, the only one who still believed that it was a secret was Tanya herself.


    "Then why didn''t you tell me? Do you know how worried I was of showing anything in fear of losing you?", she whined.


    "You think it was different for us? We to didn''t want to lose you."


    Tanay took a long sip of her beverage.


    "Then you don''t have a problem with it?", she then carefully asked.


    "I don''t. Who you want to love is your responsibility. You only have to accept that I don''t like you this way. To me, you are only the best fried, similar to a sister."


    "Then your offer still stands? The one to marry your husband?"


    "Of course. If you really have no other idea and still want to."


    "Of course I want to. This way we will at least be family and one can even say that we are married to each other.",Tanya exclaimed happily before slyly adding something else in a low voice, "Besides if we do a threesome I would even get to have sex with you."


    Although she had lowered her voice, Lara could still clearly understand what she said and spurted out the mouthful of tea she had just taken. This girl was just too brazen. Not even married yet and already thinking of having a threesome with her and her husband.

 111 Conversation

    "You!", she exclaimed.


    "What? Don''t you think it would be fun?", Tanya clearly showed the attitude of her being in the right. Angering Lara even more.


    "There is no way I will do that."


    Tanya looked at her in astonishment, "Don''t tell me you didn''t have sex with him yet?"


    "What are you talking about?"


    "Hoho, you really didn''t.", Tanya laughs loudly, startling the other customers of the cafe.


    When the stares landed on the two of them Lara wished to be far away. Although she wasn''t easily embarrassed, this just went too far.


    "You! Shut up. How about you come over for dinner today?"


    "Alright, alright. Don''t get so riled up.", Tanya tried to calm her down. It was clear, that her friend was a bit sensitive, so she didn''t push it. "Of course I will come over. After all its a good chance to meet my future husband.", she then agreed to the offer with a smile. Enjoying her friends'' reaction to the words, future husband.


    After she agreed, they continued to chat a bit more, until it was time for Lara to get back to work.


    Meanwhile, Ivan had gone to school and after it finished he had then taken public transports to the palace. Now he stood in front of the grand entrance of the palace. Or to be precise he stood in front of one of the two entrances. Part of the palace was open for the public and was a popular visiting spot. So there were two entrances to the palace. One was for the general populace who just wanted to visit the public part of the palace, while the other was for these invited by the royal family.


    Miranda had, of course, told him to come to the private entrance, which was closed and guarded by two guards. Ivan was unable to see through their strength, but he could feel a slight oppressive aura radiating from them, which made him certain that they were much stronger than himself.


    When he came closer to the entrance, one of the guards looked at him, before once again staring into the distance. Just when he wanted to greet them, a smaller door opened and a young and beautiful maid stepped out. She then walked towards him and bowed.


    "Welcome my Lord.", she greeted him with a silky voice, that managed to send shivers down his back. Something that had never happened before. *What the?* He didn''t understand the reason for him shivering on hearing her voice, but he was sure that it wasn''t because he found her attractive or sexy. It was more like fear? An instinctive form of fear that came from something deep within him.


    His reaction didn''t escape the maids'' sharp eyes and a hint of surprise flashed through her eyes.


    "The emperor awaits you.", she followed up her greeting. Before turning around and walking back into the palace. She completely ignored any reaction he had and her posture clearly showed that she expected him to follow him.


    At first, Ivan was surprised at how arrogant she seemed, but when he saw the other servants respectfully greeting her, he realized that she should have a quite high standing. Which made it even more surprising that she had personally come to get him at the door.


    After walking for a short time they arrived at another entrance which leads to a parking space. The maid went towards a white sports car and gestured to him to get in. After he had sat down on the passenger seat, she explained, "While the official parts of the palace are one giant building, nowadays the royal family prefers to live in separate villas. It has been proven to be more comfortable and reduce infighting."


    She drove fast and soon they had arrived at a villa which was very similar to Lara''s. It seemed like her villa was build with this one as the model. The maid parked the car in a parking spot in front of the villa and alighted from the car.


    "His Highness is waiting for you in his study." She then leads him to the mentioned study. After knocking on the door a deep voice told them to come in.


    When Ivan entered the room he saw Joseph sitting behind a large desk. His expression was neither cold nor warm. Which was much better than he had feared. Of course, that was only the case if he wasn''t the type to get a colder expression the angrier he got.


    "Sit down.", he ordered him and then told the maid, "Susan please get us some tea."


    "Yes, My lord.", the maid, Susan, responded and left the room.


    "Miranda told me about how you and my daughter met again.", Joseph started the conversation. "But since I only have met you that one time at my brothers home, I wanted to meet you again, so I can get a better picture of you. So tell me how are you and my daughter doing at the moment?"


    When Ivan heard the question he thought back at what had happened yesterday night. But there was no way that he could tell him about that.


    "Not bad I think. We have gotten a lot closer than when we first met."


    "Mm, I saw the picture of you playing together."


    "Yes, that was the first time we really played together."


    "That''s good.


    Although I''m angry at what you did before your reset, there is nothing I can change, so hearing that you and Lara get along just fine is a relief. But if you ever hurt her again, I will make you pay.", he warned him in a stern voice while letting out a bit of his aura. Even just this bit of aura made Ivan shudder in fright.


    "I won''t.", he hurriedly promised, meaning it. He too didn''t want her to be hurt.


    "Well, now that this is decided, there are a few things I have to tell you. Some have to do with Lara, while others have to do with you being married to someone of the Von Berg family.", he took a sip of tea, that Susan had delivered without Ivan even realizing she had entered the room.


    "What do you know about Lara''s work?"


    "Not much, I only know that she is the CEO of some company."


    "She not only is the CEO, but she is also the owner. Back then after she got pregnant with Jane, she decided to retire as an adventurer and instead go into business, so she could have more time with her child. Although she said that, I think the real reason was that she feared going out on an adventure again. But there was nothing I could do about that, so I gave her one of our family companies to manage. To motivate her to work on conversing with others and especially men, I then made her the offer that she could get shares in the company as long as she reaches certain targets.


    To my surprise, it didn''t even take her three years to fulfill all the targets and become the largest shareholder.


    Are you wondering why I''m telling you this?"


    Ivan nodded as a response.


    "The reason for that is an old rule. Family heads have to know about any property of their members that has a certain value. This rule isn''t a System rule but one of many that the main family heads have decided a long time ago."


    After finishing his explanation he slid a thin booklet towards Ivan.


    "Here. In this, all the rules are listed. Read it carefully."


    Seeing this booklet Ivan was surprised. He hadn''t found any information about any rules for family heads before. Or to be honest many information about families at all. Seeing that Joseph seemed to have some information he took the opportunity to ask some questions.


    "Could you tell me why there is no information about families available?"


    Joseph seemed to have anticipated the question since he readily answered, "Of course. But let me ask you first. Do you think it easy to become a family head?"


    "It isn''t?", he was surprised. For him, he had become the family head as soon as he had accepted Lara and Jane. There was no difficulty at all.


    "It isn''t. There are currently only three known ways of becoming a family head. The most common one is to be accepted as a subfamily by a family. Since the family which takes in the subfamily has to pay, this is usually only done if there has been done a meticulous deed.


    The next one is to split from a family. But there is a long list of conditions that have to be fulfilled before the new part is accepted as a family. That''s why this is seldom done.


    And finally, there is your case. Well not exactly your case, but something similar. When a person either doesn''t have parents or is the first one in one''s lineage that awakens a bloodline of a high enough grade, then one can found a family."

 112 Mark

    "Oh, I didn''t expect that there would be such requirements."


    "Well, this isn''t well known after all.


    But this solves another problem perfectly too. And that is that to marry someone from the royal family one has to have a title of at least count. Usually, if a commoner want''s to marry someone from a royal family, we would give him some tasks, which would enable him to become a count, before the marriage. So strictly speaking you having married Lara before has been against the law. Before your reset, this wasn''t a problem since from what she told me, you had the strength to be entitled to an honorable archduke title. But since your strength vanished after the reset you would have lost this title too.


    Instead, because you are a family head you are entitled to get bestowed the title of duke, so the problem is gone too after you have been bestowed this title."


    Ivan looked at the man in surprise. He didn''t know much about the nobles but he had heard that duke was a high rank. This once again enforced the importance of a family head.


    Seeing that Ivan kept his calm, Joseph nodded in satisfaction. He didn''t know if the young man in front of him truly understood what it meant to be a duke, thinking of his history, most likely not, but it still made him satisfied that he kept his calm.


    "How much do you know about the aristocracy?", he then asked.


    to this question, Ivan could only helplessly shake his head. He had never really concerned himself with anything other than getting stronger and the matters of the alliance. "I don''t really know anything."


    "Just as I expected. Anyways, it shouldn''t really be that important to you, since you seem to have the goal of entering the upper realms. But there are still some things you have to take note of. It would be good if you read some of the books about our aristocracy you can find online.", he then named a few books, that would give him a good overview.


    "But what I would recommend is that you let Lara take care of these things. After all, she is experienced in these things."


    Ivan agreed. As long as Lara would be willing to do this, he would be happy. He didn''t have any real interest in this. The things he wanted to focus on were pill refining and getting stronger.


    They talked a bit more about how Ivan was doing because Joseph wanted to learn more about this son in law.


    After they had finished their conversation the maid, Susan, brought him back to the entrance and he went home.


    When Ivan entered the living room he was greeted by the sight of an unfamiliar woman playing with his daughter. Seeing them have fun, he didn''t interrupt them, but instead silently went to his room, to change his clothes. He didn''t know when, but shortly after he had started to live in the villa, a full set of clothes had appeared in his wardrobe. Although he didn''t want to use his wife''s money, except if it was for their daughter. Since these clothes were already there he saw no reason not to wear them. Besides that, he had taken to his wife''s routine of wearing comfortable clothes while being at home.


    After taking a short shower and changing into a set of comfortable clothes, he went downstairs.


    This time his daughter looked up by chance and saw him. Since there was a pause in their game, she stood up and ran towards him, while calling out, "Daddy!"


    He whirled her around and then hold her on his arms, something she loved. He then looked at the blond woman still sitting on the couch, "Hey darling. Aren''t you going to introduce us?"


    Jane nodded enthusiastically, "Of course, Daddy this is aunt Tanya. Aunt Tanya this is my daddy."


    Ivan offered his hand for a handshake and after greeting her while shaking hands, he too sat down. The two of them then carefully looked at each other up and down. His gaze only scanned her but then focused on her abnormal eyes. They were like those of a normal human, but the iris was completely yellow. No, saying yellow didn''t do it justice. It was like looking at a ball of yellow flames. There even seemed to be some movement, like they really were made out of flames.


    Tanya too carefully looked at this man, that had become her best friends husband, and would most likely be hers too. He was quite handsome but in a way that wouldn''t overwhelm people. But what really surprised her was his reaction to her. Unlike most men that saw her for the first time, he didn''t show any signs of desire. Something that gave her a very favorable impression.


    Those that didn''t know her well, though she liked this kind of gazes because of the way she dressed but the truth was that she disliked them. The only reason she wore these clothes was that she liked them and had decided to give a shit of the opinions of others. Thus him not focusing on her appearance gave him a few plus points in her book.


    Him focusing on her eyes didn''t surprise her and it didn''t annoy her either. The irises of the eyes of the Sun family were just too unique. As such when she felt his gaze focused on them she just smiled and asked, "What do you think? They look cool right?"


    Ivan unconsciously nodded. He was focused on understanding how they could seem so alive.


    "Hah, from all the Uradel families ours has the best signature.", she then proudly said, earning confused looks from both Jane and Ivan.


    Seeing their confused looks she readily explained, "Uradel are these noble families that have a long history, during which their bloodline hasn''t declined but instead gathered strength. All of the royal families and most of these of the higher nobles belong to this category. After refining their bloodlines for so long, the members with a high enough bloodline purity then show some outer signs. Generally, it is just a mark, simial to a tattoo, but for my Sun family, it is these irises."


    "Then what are my mothers and mine?", Jane asked curiously. She hadn''t seen any such mark on her body and neither on her mothers.


    Hearing the question, Tanya looked confused. "You haven''t seen them?"


    At this time the door to Lara''s office opened and her voice answered the question, "No, she hasn''t."


    Tanya turned towards Lara and asked, "How could this be? I know that you have the mount mark on your shoulder, so how can she not have seen it?"


    This time it was Janes turn to be confused, "Mommy doesn''t have any mark." They had bathed together so she was sure about it. Her mother''s skin was white and completely smooth without even the slightest blemish.


    Tanya questioningly looked at her best friend. "What happened? To my knowledge, there is no way to hide these marks."


    Instead of answering, Lara came down and stood before her before pulling down her shirt, as to show her her shoulder blade, which really wasn''t free of any mark.


    "What? How could that be? I''m sure you had one before."


    Ivan could see his wife smiling mischievous, something he hadn''t seen before, and something he found adorable.


    "See, mommy doesn''t have any mark.", Jane said in a righteous tone. If it was someone else this might have made Tanya angry, but coming from this cute girl she only found it adorable.


    "Come on, tell me how this happened.", Tanya asked again.


    Instead of answering her just focused and slowly an image appeared on her shoulder. It was the mark Tanya had talked about. But instead of just the mountain she had seen before and that she had expected, there was now an additional dragon sitting on top of the dragon. But while it was sitting on top of the mountain, it didn''t seem to dominate it but instead seemed to harmonize with it. Even more shocking was that the process of the image appearing looked similar to it closing its wings.


    "What the?", Tanya exclaimed in shock. Jane too looked shocked. "Mommy, why have you never shown it to me? It is beautiful."


    She felt some connection to the image and her own shoulder too burned up. She pulled on her shirt and glanced at her won shoulder. She wasn''t able to fully see it, but she could see the top of the image appearing on her own shoulder.


    "Mommy, look I got one too.", she happily exclaimed, while turning around, to show off the image that had just appeared.


    "How could this be? How could you hide the mark? And how the hell did your image change??", Tanya got worked up. Each question was asked louder than the one before.

 113 I prefer a sister

    In reaction to her friend''s frantic questions, Lara only shrugged her shoulders. "It''s a secret. Maybe if you are a good girl I will tell you.", she then joked.


    "You!", Tanya shouted angrily, but one could see that she enjoyed bantering around like this.


    After that, they played around a bit more until it was dinner time.


    "Can aunt Tanya stay with us tonight?", Jane asked after dinner. It seemed like she had taken a liking to this woman.


    "How about I marry your dad and then I can stay every day?", Tanya asked in response. Although it was asked jokingly, it was a good way to find out Janes reaction to her father marrying someone else.


    "That would be great!", the little girl exclaimed in elation. Before asking a question, which made the adults around the table speechless. "Then does that mean you and father will make me a little brother or sister then? I would prefer a sister just so you know."


    "It''s not that easy.", Ivan tried to explain, "Even if we marry, this wouldn''t mean that you would instantly get a child."


    "But you and Mommy got one directly after marrying.", Jane objected.


    "That''s because we were lucky.", while answering like this, he glanced at Jane with trepidation. He wasn''t sure if her view was the same, but when he saw her nod he was glad.


    "Oh, then I''ll wish you luck."


    "Hoh, so you like the idea of your dad and me marrying? Don''t you fear that I''ll bully your mother after?", Tanya asked while making a scary face. She just couldn''t help herself. Seeing this cute little girl really made her want to tease her.


    Jane looked at her with mock disdain, "Can you even do that? From what I know you always lost to my Mommy."


    Ivan chuckled while Lara outright started to laugh out loudly. Tanya, on the other hand, blushed in embarrassment. It was true that back when they were in a party she would often challenge Lara and generally lose. But she soon recovered.


    "That was back then. Now I''m much stronger than her.", she then proudly announced. During these years she had continued adventuring, unlike Lara who had fully concentrated on management.


    In response, Jane only looked at her with disdain. "Do you really think mom didn''t train?"


    "She did?", Tanya then turned towards Lara, "How the hell do you even have the time for that?"


    "Why shouldn''t I have the time? As long as one is good at multitasking there is no reason not to use one''s training skill while doing paperwork.", she answered as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Of course, that wasn''t the case. To use one''s training skill a high amount of concentration was needed and most people wouldn''t be able to do anything at the same time, not to mention doing paperwork, which would require some concentration in itself.


    Tanya looked at her as if she had seen a monster, "That''s really too abnormal. Wait that is not right. I''m sure that you weren''t able to do it before."


    She was right, in fact only after she had gotten pregnant with Jane, had her mind expanded, which resulted in this ability. But since she didn''t understand the connection, she saw no reason to tell her friend about this. Because if she did, then she surely would want to sleep with Ivan even more, just to try if it would happen to her too. As such she chose to answer the question only with dignified silence.


    "Your silence won''t work. I''ll surely find out how you did it."


    "Is it something unusual to be able to use one''s training skill while doing other things?", Jane asked in a confused voice. Agitating Tanya even further.


    "Don''t tell me you too use your training skill on the side?"


    "Of course. Why wouldn''t I? This way I can do something more fun. Just sitting around and using that skill is way too boring."


    Hearing her answer Tanya could only shake her head before focusing her gaze on Ivan. "It must be your fault.", she then proclaimed.


    Ivan had just thought about how Jane was the same as himself. If not for his training skill being a duo training skill, then he too would just operate it on the side. Luckily he had changed the skill slightly and could now use it on the side, besides these sessions with Irena. So when Tanya accused him suddenly he was unclear on why she would do that.


    "What do I have to do with it?", he asked innocently, while already being sure that it should have something to do with him. After all, Lara had only changed after meeting him and both he and Jane were able to use the training skill while doing other things.


    "Only after meeting you has she become able to train like this. So you have to be the one responsible.", Tanya proclaimed proudly.


    "Don''t you think that this argumentation is kind of shaky?", Lara threw in.


    "I don''t care. You help me to be able to do it too. Oh, and while we are it, make me able to hide my Uradel Mark too.", she unreasonably requested.


    "Tanya behave.", Lara warned. Her friend''s behavior sometimes was just like a little child.


    "I don''t care. Besides, we already decided that I would marry you two, so where is the problem."


    When Ivan heard these words, he looked at Lara in surprise. How come there was such a decision and he hadn''t heard anything about it.


    Seeing his look, Lara calmly answered, "Didn''t you tell me to take care of finding the concubines? She is one of these that have applied. But because of her family, it has to change to marrying as a real wife." She then proceeded to explain Tanya''s situation and why they had come to their decision.


    Ivan hadn''t cared that much about these things. To him, this had always only been a way of suppressing the effects of his bloodline flareups. But a real wife was something different. That was just the way he felt.


    Lara is married to him because of what his past self did and he accepted Tang Lin because of his feeling, but for Tanya, there wasn''t anything like this. So he wasn''t really that keen on marrying her, still, if his wife wanted this, then he could only compromise. After all, it wasn''t like he would make a loss. Not only was Tanya beautiful, but she also had a great background and talent.


    "Hmmm, since I told you to make the decision, then you make the decision.", he indirectly agreed.


    "Thank you.", Lara smiled at him. She was happy for the trust he showed.


    Tanya smiled at the sight of them and silently pulled Jane away, leaving them some space. She understood that it was important for them to have their moments.


    "Then about the others?", Ivan asked.


    Lara instantly understood that he meant the other applicants, so she told him about them. When she told him about Celine and the ritual he became happy. If this worked, then it would become so much easier for both him and Lara.


    "Let''s hope that it works.", he voiced his hopes.


    "It will. The System itself said that the ritual would work. It''s just that I''m not completely clear on the specifics of it."


    "Well, we can only wait and see. For now, let''s go and check on these two children." It hadn''t taken him long to understand the kind of person Tanya was and in his view calling her a child was completely warranted.


    The two of them went towards where these two had vanished. Unconsciously they walked side by side, with their bodies nearly touching, looking like a real couple.


    This time once again Lara came over to sleep with Ivan. While they felt closer, they both still kept some distance from each other.


    While they laid together in the darkness, Lara''s voice suddenly sounded out. "Did you know that I hated you?"


    "From what had happened, I wouldn''t have expected anything else."


    "Then do you know that I hated Jane too at the beginning? And even wanted to abort her?", there was a slight tinge of remorse in her voice.


    "But now you love her very much.", Ivan replied. He didn''t think that her thoughts were wrong. He would never be able to fully understand her thoughts at that time, but not hating the thing that would always remind her of being hated would be weirder in his opinion.


    When Lara heard his simple answer she let out a relaxed smile. True, what did it matter what she had felt back then? Only her current feelings mattered.


    "Someday we will have another child."


    Hearing her, Ivan looked at her in shock. He really hadn''t expected her to say something like this. It seemed like she had been affected by Janes words before. He wanted to ask her what exactly she meant, but hearing her steady breathing he swallowed down his questions.

 114 Servan

    The next day was the day of the meeting with Celine Lefair, so after school had finished Ivan hurried back home. Not long after, a young lady pushed a wheelchair in.


    On the wheelchair sat the old looking woman Celine Lefair. When they saw her being lead in by the housekeeper, Lara and Ivan stood up to greet her.


    "Thank you for coming. We are really grateful that you are willing to help us.", Lara opened the conversation after they had exchanged their greetings.


    Celine hurriedly waved off her thanks, "Don''t. It is me who should be thankful.", then before it could escalate into a party of everyone trying to push their gratefulness around she continued, "Let''s just talk about how we should proceed. Lucia, give me the folder please."


    Her daughter pulled out a thin folder out of her backpack and put it onto the table. "Here, mom."


    "This is a contract I have prepared. I hope you will accept this one, instead of the one you have prepared.", she then said to Lara.


    Lara didn''t say anything. She only picked up the folder and read carefully through the contract. Ivan, on the other hand, had no interest in the contract and was instead willing to let his wife handle it. After she had finished reading the contract Lara looked at Celine in surprise.


    "This is quite an extreme contract."


    "I know, but believe me it is necessary."


    "Well, it isn''t like it is bad for us, so I don''t see a problem with it. Do you want to sign it now?"


    When she heard the question, Celine nodded happily. She had expected the other side to agree, but when it happened she still could barely suppress her happiness. Finally, she could recover. Finally, she could get rid of this old body.


    She then pulled out a small blade and made a cut on her finger, letting a drop of blood drop down on the contract. This was one of the changes she had made to the standard concubine contract. Unlike the others which could just be signed with ink, this one had to be signed with blood giving willingly by the involved parties.


    Next, it was Lara''s turn to drop a drop of blood on the contract. She did it in the capacity of the main wife. Then it was Ivan''s turn, who through the whole conversation hadn''t said anything. He too, without any hesitation, let a drop of his blood fall onto the contract.


    << Congratulations, you have gained your first Blood Bound Servant >>


    For maybe the first time the System directly followed up the announcement with a short description of what a Blood Bound Servant was.


    << Blood Bound Servant


    A servant who has bound itself to a master through a voluntary blood contract. This contract gives all the power to the master, while also imposing a few duties on the master, which are mostly related to the well being of the servant. This form of contract will be inherited by all bloodline carriers and as such is a decision for further generations as well.


    Unlike slave contracts, the servant keeps most of its basic freedom. It has the right to refuse orders, which are not explicitly enforced through the Blood Seal. This contract is a common method of binding a servant family to the main family.


    The duties of the master consist of:


    - Taking care of daily necessities.


    - Defending the servant against external threats, as long as the own safety isn''t compromised.


    - Strengthening the servant as long as it isn''t at the cost of the own growth.


    Not fulfilling these duties will be punished by the System after a warning.


    Certain actions against the servant family are frowned upon but aren''t directly punished:


    - Raping or torturing


    - Killing without reason


    - Using the servant for experiments that leave lasting damage


    The following actions are forbidden and will be punished by the System:


    - Selling a servant


    - Destroying a servants soul without reason


    Duties of the servant:


    - Following the master''s orders, which are enforced by the Blood Seal


    - Supporting the master


    - Strengthening the master''s bloodline


    >>


    When Ivan read through this info popup he was surprised. It was quite sizeable and had most of the important information on it. But he would have never expected for Celine to make this kind of contract, which would influence her descendants. But he could feel that the only servant was she herself, while her daughter wasn''t included. Could it be that she wasn''t her real daughter?


    No, it should be that she just didn''t have the same bloodline and instead carried the bloodline of her father.


    << Quest: Choosing a Blood Seal (F)


    The Blood Seal is the physical manifestation of the connection between a master and his Blood Bound Servants. It will be displayed above the heart of the servant as well as in small on the left arm of the master.


    Each servant bloodline will have its own seal, which must contain the bloodline representatives of both bloodlines. As such this seal has to contain the ''Spiritual Chaos Dragon God'' and the ''Spiritual Fire Phoenix''


    Task: Design the Blood Seal in the screen available for it.


    Reward: Random new color for the next Seal


    >>


    When Ivan read the quest description he was surprised that he would be able to design the seal himself, but when he saw the reward he was speechless. What kind of reward was that?


    Only when he opened the screen to design the seal he understood that the reward truly would be useful. Because there was currently only one color available and that was a screaming pink.


    *What the? I hope I can change it later.*


    The seal that was already shown wasn''t much better. To him, it looked like the image of the dragon and phoenix mating. He hurriedly rearranged it. Now it looked like the two of them dancing around each other while supporting each other. Around it, he added a circle which should display the unity of these two. He then tried to share the draft with the other two, but sadly he was unable to. As such he could only choose to describe it to them.


    "What do you think? Anything you want to change?"


    "I think it is fine this way.", Lara was the first to give her opinion. "But I never would have expected you to have a phoenix bloodline. From what I have heard the phoenix bloodlines are one of the strongest.", she then spoke towards Celine.


    "Neither did I expect your husband to have a dragon bloodline, which is on a similar if not higher level than the phoenix bloodline.", Celine responded in kind. "As for the seal, I think it is fine too. Just that the color is just a bit ...", she didn''t continue but everyone could imagine her point. Sadly there didn''t seem anything they could do about it.


    Having gotten the confirmation by the two of them, Ivan pressed on the accept button of the seal.


    As soon as he did that, he felt a slight burn on his wrist and when he checked it out a small seal appeared on it. It was on the inner side and with its pink color was clearly visible on his white skin. Maybe he should buy a wrist band so he could hide it?


    Celine''s was hidden by her clothes, which was much better than his. Of course, if she wore something that showed off her cleavage it might just be partially visible.


    "Great, now that this is done, let''s exchange some Qi.", Celine suggested.


    "How do we do that? The only method I know don''t seem to be possible with the condition your body is in.", Ivan asked in an interested tone.


    "What you have should be the simplest method there is, ''Qi Exchange'', right?"


    In response, Ivan only nodded.


    "While having sex is the easiest and most efficient method, it isn''t the only one. Where do you think your Vital Qi and my Spiritual Qi is stored?"


    When she asked this question both Ivan and Lara were embarrassed. They had never thought about it, even though this was an obvious question to ask oneself.


    "Don''t be embarrassed. Even if you tried to find out the answer yourself, you still wouldn''t have been able with your current strength.


    Spirit Qi is stored in ones dantian, Mental Qi in ones See of Conscious, which is also called Mental Space. These are the types of Qi everyone has. Then there is Vital Qi which is similar to life essence. It is stored in the cells of the body and especially in the blood vessels. Then there is Spiritual Qi which is stored in the brain."


    "Then how come one can exchange it during sexual intercourse?", Ivan asked. Having someone explain all this to them was a great opportunity and he was determined to make the best of it.


    "Haha", seeing how eager he was Celine laughed, "Don''t worry, from now on you can just ask and if I know it, I will tell you about it."

 115 Essence Blood

    "Anyway. For Vital Qi, it is relatively simple. You just have to exchange some essence blood. Well, I say it is easy, but in the truth is this is only because of our blood contract. If not, you giving me your essence blood would have major implications. The biggest would be that I would be unable to absorb it."


    "Then Spiritual Qi should be similar? There is a fluid that one can exchange? But how would that work since it is stored in the brain? It''s not like we can take out your brain fluid."


    Hearing this Celine couldn''t help but laugh. "You are right, it won''t work this way. But luckily for us, there is no need to do something so complicated. Although I lost my strength I can still freely move my Spiritual Qi around. It is just that I''m missing the Spirit Qi to really use it."


    "Then how do I extract some of my essence blood?"


    "It isn''t hard. In fact, you already did it just now"


    Ivan didn''t have to think long about it, before realizing that she meant the blood contract.


    "You mean the contract? But how? I didn''t do anything special and only let some blood drop down."


    "That''s correct. A blood contract always has to be signed with essence blood.


    The only thing that is needed is the will. For the contract, it was the will to sign it, which automatically condensed a drop of blood essence. For our goal, you just have to focus on condensing a drop of blood essence on the tip of your finger."


    "That seems surprisingly simple. Then how will you absorb it? Do you just drink it?"


    "That''s the easiest way. Of course for blood essence, it is usually better to directly take it in. If it is crystalized then it doesn''t matter but you can''t do that yet.


    Oh and don''t imagine that you can condense a lot of essence blood. At the moment your limit should be around two to three drops, after which you will need to recuperate for at least a day. If you overdraw your blood essence you will seriously impact your body. At first, you will only feel as if you have lost all your energy, but if you continue you can harm your body. So for now only condense one drop at the tip of your finger and then give it to me."


    Following her instructions, Ivan carefully willed a drop of essence blood to condense at the tip of his finger, which easily succeded. As soon as the drop of essence blood appeared, he pushed the finger towards Celine who then used her tongue to lick his finger. A movement, that if not for her appearance and her trembling, would surely look very sensual.


    As soon as the drop of blood rolled down her throat Celine let out a slight moan. At the same time her appearance changed slightly, she now looked just a bit healthier. Her former white color had now a slight tinge of pink. It was really surprising that there would be such a huge effect this fast.


    Seeing the look of surprise on the faces of the others, Celine chuckled. "It is only this apparent because I seriously lacked Vital Qi. If not the difference wouldn''t be this big. Let me refine this drop first and then I will transfer some Spiritual Qi to you.", she then continued on.


    Hearing her words, Ivan and Lara sighted in relief, it seemed like the quest ''Curbing the flareups'' could be fulfilled without problems. Although they weren''t sure how much that Spiritual Qi she would transfer would be.


    "That''s great. Then from now on do you and your daughter want to live with us, or do you prefer to stay at your own home?", Lara asked.


    "Thank you for the offer. Living here will make things easier, so if it is alright with you I''ll live here.", she then turned towards her daughter, who hadn''t said anything during their conversation.


    "What about you? Do you want to stay here together or would you prefer to live alone?"


    Lucia didn''t even have to think before answering, "Of course I will stay here with you. After all, I''ll have to take care of you."


    Her mother smiled lovingly at her. "Don''t forget that I''ll soon be able to once again take care of myself. So do what your heart tells you."


    "Whatever. I''ll stay here and take care of you.", Lucia insisted, ignoring her mother''s words, "Besides, aren''t you and him married now? Doesn''t that mean that he is technically my stepfather now?"


    When he heard her words Ivan couldn''t stop himself from exclaiming, "What the hell? You are older than me, so how can I be your stepfather?"


    Seeing him getting riled up like this, Lucia gave him a wicked smile, "So what? You married my mother, so you are my stepfather. Right father?"


    Even someone as dense as Ivan could understand, that Lucia seemed to have something against him. Most likely it was because of the contract her mother made with him. But even though it greatly vexed him, being called father by someone older than himself, he forcibly kept his anger in check. Instead, he calmly said, "Of course daughter."


    He then turned towards the two women, while ignoring Lucia, who was gritting her teeth in response to his reaction. "How about we let Lucia take care of Jane too? I think it would be great for them to get closer to each other, now that they are sisters."


    Celine looked at him weirdly. She knew her daughter and she knew that Jane was still young. She didn''t know her exact age, but she was sure that it was less than ten. And her daughter was completely unfit to take care of a child of that age. Heck, she ofter behaved similarly to a child of that age.


    Lara, on the other hand, was aware that their child was much more mature than other children of their age, so she too thought that her having a sister which was an adult would be a good thing for her. As such she readily agreed. "Sounds good. Of course only if you want.", she said towards Lucia.


    Lucia really wasn''t happy with Ivan''s idea. She only wanted to take care of her mother and annoy him a bit. How the hell did it become, her having to babysit their daughter? Sadly she could only accept her fate. Now her mother was bound to them by the blood contract and she had to be careful not to make her life hard. Although she didn''t get the feeling that they would do that, just because of her, it was better to play it safe.


    "Of course. I would love to.", she said while smiling. It was a slightly forced smile which was clearly deduced by Lara. She could even guess the reason for it, but she decided not to say anything. After she had met Jane, she was sure that Lucia wouldn''t have a problem spending time with her. In her opinion, the two of them were similar enough to get along well.


    "Then after she comes back from visiting her grandmother, I''ll introduce you."


    She then called madam Tanner and told her to lead them to their rooms, which were next to each other on the second floor, which had been empty until now.


    After the mother and daughter pair had been led away, she once again sat down beside Ivan, after getting a new cup of tea for both of them.


    "What do you think?"


    "It seems that she knows what she does."


    "Mmm, but that wasn''t what I meant. What do you think about Lucia''s looks?"


    "Lucia''s looks?", Ivan asked bewildered. What did Lucia''s looks have to do with anything?


    "Of course. After all, it should be a good indicator of how Celine would look when she has a youthful look. And since you will surely have to sleep with her, her look would be important."


    Now Ivan understood what she meant, but still why would she ask him this.


    "Hm, I didn''t really take notice of it. But I would say that her appearance is average."


    Hearing his answer, Lara had to laugh. It was only because of the women around him, that he thought that her appearance was average. And that he didn''t go out much and only was in contact with a few people.


    Even Irena was except for her destroyed face quite a beauty. Not to mention that Tang Lin. Her mother was, of course, of exceptional beauty and her own looks were nothing to scoff at either. At least in her own humble opinion.


    "Didn''t you feel that there was something weird about it?", she brought back her thoughts and the conversation to the main point.


    "No, why?", Ivan truly hadn''t felt anything.


    "I don''t know.", she helplessly shook her head, "I just felt that they were to uniform as if they had been designed, to be just a bit above average. Good enough to stick out, but not enough to invoke problems."


    After voicing out her opinion, she fell silent. Ivan too had nothing to say about it. As such they sat there in comfortable silence, enjoying their tea.

 116 Comfortable

    After dinner, Celine told Ivan that she would now be able to transfer some Spiritual Qi.


    "So how are we doing this?"


    "Nothing special. Just sit down and let me do the job. You only have to accept the Spiritual Qi and rotate it through your body, so it can interact with your blood. This should then reduce the discomfort you feel."


    Ivan followed her directions and sat down in front of her.


    "Pull up your shirt. We need to have direct skin to skin contact.", Celine directed him.


    Without hesitation, Ivan directly removed his shirt, revealing his muscular body. Neither of them felt shy. After all, both of them were used to fighting and in such situations, there was always a chance that one''s clothes would get ripped, or even completely destroyed. Being conscious of showing skin, would only lead to one''s death during such times.


    Celine pressed her hands on his back. When they came into contact with his skin, Ivan could feel some kind of energy seeping into him. This should be the Spiritual Qi. He didn''t yet take the time to check it out further, but instead started to move it through his body.


    As the Spiritual Qi flowed through his body, it gave him a very comfortable cool feeling. It was as if something that had always heated him up, had finally cooled down, removing a pain he hadn''t really felt consciously anymore.


    When the stream of Spiritual Qi ended, he felt disappointed. Although in the end, it hadn''t changed as much as at the start, it still felt very comfortable to him.


    "How does it feel?", the tired voice of Celine pulled him out of his reminiscence.


    "Much better. Thank you."


    "No need to thank you. I gained a lot from you too.", which was the truth. Ivan''s Vital Qi had been even more effective than she could have ever hoped. His bloodline had to be highly ranked since it was able to produce such pure Vital Qi at its low level.


    "Do you have a quest for reducing the flare-ups?", Celine then continued on with a question.


    Ivan wasn''t surprised that she was able to guess the existence of the quest. In his opinion, she should have seen his situation before. He too was interested in how the counter had changed, so he pulled up the description and shared it with her.


    << Quest: Curbing the flareups (Grade F) (Repeated)


    While the bloodline ''Spiritual Chaos Dragon God (Unstable)'' is unstable, it requires a certain intake of Spiritual Qi to temporarily stabilize it and stop it from flaring up. The flareups of the bloodline result in a high amount of pain as well as damage to the arteries and nerves. So it is highly recommended to fulfill this quest.


    Currently Absorbed Spiritual Qi: 25/100


    Time Limit: 10d


    Tip: Spiritual Qi can be absorbed, if someone else injects his or her Spiritual Qi into you (requires. Earth Realm) or through the use of the skill ''Qi Exchange'', which can now be bought from the Honor Shop.


    >>


    "Looks like this was able to only provide you with 25 percent of the required Spiritual Qi, but there is enough time left. I should be able to provide you with just as much every two days if you provide me with essence blood beforehand."


    Hearing this Ivan felt happy. Doing it this way was much better than the other method. Although other young men at his age would maybe be very happy, to have the excuse to collect and sleep with many good looking women, he felt different.


    To him, it was more important to have someone whom he could connect with. Not only in a sexual but also a mental way. Although he would still go through with taking these concubines Lara had already accepted, he really didn''t want to have even more. As such Celine and her ritual were heavens sent for him.


    "The ''Strengthening Pills'' are from the Honor Shop?", Celine then asked a seemingly unrelated question.


    "Yes.", Ivan honestly answered. If he were to accept her as a family member and a blood servant, then there was no reason not to trust her with things, such as these.


    "It''s great that you have access to it. There are some really great things available in it. You can''t even get them in the higher realms. Sadly the prices are so high and it is hard to get any honor."


    Ivan had to agree with her sentiments. The prices really were high. Although he had a 5% discount they were still so high that even saving for a few years wouldn''t enable him to buy most of the things available. And besides his steady income from his titles, he hadn''t gotten any honor.


    Suddenly he focused on her wording. She had said that it was hard to get honor points, so she should know a way. Thinking like this he eagerly asked, "Do you know any ways to earn honor points?"


    Celine sighed, before answering, "Yes, I know a few ways. But all of them have high risks and most of them are currently impossible for you. The best way to earn honor points is to go to the inter-realm battlefields. But for you would have to be much stronger, to enter even the lowest of them. Besides that, there is the option to explore mysterious realms."


    Ivan hadn''t heard of mysterious realms before, but luckily Celine explained them to him, without him having to ask about them.


    "Mysterious realms are what is left if beings with a high enough cultivation are either slain or sealed. I don''t really know how they are created, but the System allows people to explore them. Unlike dungeons, these realms are real, so the monsters in it don''t respawn and neither do the ones who go in. That''s why they aren''t used for training. They are just too dangerous."


    "Then why would anyone want to enter them?"


    "They are like small worlds and many of them are filled with rare treasures. And then there are the honor points one can earn by exploring them. Everyone who enters such a realm will receive a quest from the System which will give one a small number of honor points."


    "Then shouldn''t they be very popular. I don''t think that just a high difficulty would keep all the greedy people away."


    "They are very popular. But the entrance fee has a significant impact on their popularity. If one enters, then even if one manages to escape, as long as one doesn''t manage to finish the quest, one would lose honor points."


    "Then do you think it would be a good idea for me to try exploring one?"


    "I''m not sure.", Celine said hesitantly. "But if you feel that you can do it, you should surely try it out."


    "Then how would I know that I could do it?", Ivan asked dejectedly.


    Seeing his reaction Celine giggled. "The System would only allocate a realm which inhabitants have a strength that is one realm above yours. For you, it would be Blood Refining Realm."


    Ivan didn''t know much about the realms. He had heard of Earth Rank, which should also be a description of one''s strength. But besides that, he was completely clueless, which showed on his face as he only had a confused look on it after her words.


    "Hm, I forgot that it isn''t common knowledge in this realm.


    We differentiate the strength of people into ranks. Starting with Foundation, Mortal, Earth, and Heaven. Above that there are others, but I don''t know about them. After all, I have only reached Earth rank before. These ranks are then divided into multiple realms. For the Foundation rank, it goes from Flesh Refining to Blood Refining, Bone Refining and then Pathways Refining. These for realms are called the refining realms and are the most basic ones.


    In this realm, you can only go through the Flesh Refining Realm. For the others, you have to enter the upper realms.


    After one has crossed the refining realms, the body has then acquired the basic requirements to absorb Qi from the outside and store it inside the dantian. The first realm is thus called Qi Gathering realm. At this realm, the qi is still only stored and one can only use it to further strengthen the body temporarily.


    After collecting enough qi, it is possible to condense and purify it, which then allows one to project it outside. This is called Qi Condensing Realm."


    Ivan eagerly listened to her explanation. He really wanted to know more about this. If he ever wanted to find out his roots, then he surely would have to go to the upper realms. And for that, he would have to understand more about these things.


    "Then after that?", he asked when she stopped with her explanation.


    "After that, there are many more realms, but for now there is no use knowing them. You should focus on building your foundation. To much haste will only limit your further progress."

 117 Come to bed

    "That''s one of the advantages that people from this realm do have if they enter the upper realms. There they usually only take a few weeks for the Flesh Refining Realm. Although this makes their cultivation increase much faster, they won''t have a foundation as stable."


    "If a foundation is that important, then why are they rushing like this?"


    "The situations are too different. In this realm, there is no problem if you take your time, but up there you will have to increase your strength fast. The only laws there are those of the jungle. Only the strong rule. Only in the really big sects and clans is it possible for the most talented to slowly strengthen their foundations. If not, they will lose the constant contest for resources."


    "That sounds brutal.", Ivan was appealed by what he heard. Ever since he could remember he had lived in the capital or the alliance. Both places were ruled by laws which were independent on personal strength.


    "It is. And that is the reason why so many retire here or don''t even leave this realm. They rather live a peaceful, safe life, then have to constantly strive for more power. Of course, this option is only open for those born here or having married someone from this realm. If you go to the upper realm, you can even find people who would pay you an enormous amount just to marry you, so they can retire here."


    Celine fell silent, seemingly relieving some old memories. Ivan didn''t disturb her but waited patiently for her to continue on.


    "Anyway, all this doesn''t matter to you right now. You just have to remember not to hurry towards level 1000, but to take your time. The optimal time depends on the person, but you should at least wait for two more years before advancing to the Blood Refining Realm. Until then slowly train and increase your skills and combat experience.


    As for the mysterious realms. They aren''t that dependent on your cultivation, but instead, they require you to have skill. Only then can you fight against those one realm above you."


    Ivan felt intrigued. From her words, he could guess that while dangerous, exploring mysterious realms, should also be very profitable. Not only the honor points but also the items one could find. Still, it wasn''t anything he should try for now. But later he would surely try it out.


    After finishing his conversation with Celine he went upstairs into his room. When he entered, Lara was lying on the bed, reading a book. She put down the book and looked at him carefully.


    "How was it?"


    "It went great. She just laid her hands on my back and transferred the Spiritual Qi. After that, I felt a cool and comfortable sensation.", Ivan explained what had happened.


    When Lara heard the way Celine had transferred the Spiritual Qi she surprisingly felt relief. *Why is that?*, she wondered. *It can''t be that I don''t like him spending time with other women right?* It wasn''t the right time to think more about it, so she pushed it to the back of her mind and instead focused on what Celine had told him about mysterious realms.


    "I have heard about them. And I think you should talk with uncle about it. I think he could evaluate your strength the best."


    "You are right.", Ivan agreed with her. His mentor knew about most of his skills such as his reincarnation skill and he guessed that he too knew about the difficulty of the mysterious realms, so he was the most qualified person to give his recommendation.


    "Alright. Go wash and then come to bed.", Lara interrupted his thoughts. She hadn''t thought anything when she said these words, but now that she heard them they sounded kind of ambiguous. But she chose not to say anything more, or she would just make it even worse.


    Ivan too didn''t misunderstand and after taking a shower he slipped into the bed, staying on his side. It then didn''t take long for the two of them to fall asleep.


    Soon it was the weekend. Today Lara had set up the meetings with the other candidates for the position of a concubine, but this was only in the afternoon.


    When the family sat at the breakfast table, eating a hearty breakfast, the doorbell rang.


    Madam Tanner wanted to open the door, but Ivan stopped her.


    "I''ll go.", he said to her while getting up. Madam Tanner was still working in the kitchen. Jane had wanted an extra portion of beacon and egg, so she had gone into the kitchen to make it.


    When Ivan opened the door, he was surprised to see Jenny standing in front of him. Behind her stood her husband and his mentor Carl, who gave him a grimace, which told him, that Jenny had forced him to come. Besides the two of them, there was another beautiful woman. It was Tang Lin, his other nominal wife.


    "Come in.", he invited them in, without waiting for them to say anything. There wasn''t really a need to especially greet them since they were family.


    "Aunty!", Jane greeted Jenny with a loud shout when she entered the dining room.


    "Haha, Jane.", Jenny too enthusiastically greeted her back. One could think that they hadn''t seen each other for a long time, when in fact they had met just yesterday.


    "Uncle, Aunty, you are here.", Lara too greeted them before inviting them to sit down, "Come sit down. Have you eaten yet?"


    "No, we didn''t. I thought we might as well eat here since Madam Tanner''s cooking is absolutely delicious." She then let her gaze roam over the others on the table.


    Seeing her unspoken question, Lara introduced everyone to each other. "This is Celine and her daughter Lucia. Because of some reason they are currently living with us." She wasn''t willing to tell them everything here. That had to wait until they were alone. "And this is?", she then asked, while looking at Tang Lin.


    When the woman had entered, she had felt some weird connection with her, which made her curious. Thus she took a closer look at her. She was beautiful but appeared a bit cold, similar to her own disposition towards strangers.


    "You don''t know?", Jenny seemed a bit surprised. She then threw a questioning look at Ivan, "You didn''t tell her?"


    *I knew it. She has something to do with him. He really is a womanizer.*, Lara internally scolded Ivan, who in truth hadn''t done anything to earn this title. It was just that he always got entangled with women, without him even having to do anything.


    "I told her about it. But since I don''t have any image, I couldn''t tell her how she looks, so how could she recognize her.", Ivan hurriedly defended himself. He was scared of this woman. If Jenny got angry, he absolutely wouldn''t want to be the target of her wrath. It was bad enough if she was only targeting him, in order to help him. Or at least, what she herself thought of as help.


    "Hello, I''m Tang Lin.", at this moment Lin came forward herself, in order to calm the situation. She knew her aunt and if she got rolling, then there was no stopping her, so it was better to directly shut her down.


    Hearing her name, Lara instantly understood who stood before her, as well as the weird connection. It should be because of their rings.


    "Nice to meet you.", she politely greeted back. "How about we sit down. I''m sure Madam Tanner has already started to prepare your portions."


    Everyone sat down and then started eating. Ivan and Carl started talking about mysterious realms, with Jenny and Celine trowing in some sentences, while Lara and Tang Lin too talked. They talked about how they got to meet Ivan and why they had married him. During their talk, they found out, that they were quite similar. Both had been forced into marriage by the rules of their family. Both were outwardly cold, but warm towards those they cared about. All in all, they hit it off pretty well, which came as a huge relief to Ivan and Jenny who were watching them from the corner of their eyes.


    If they were completely incompatible, then this would make all their life hell.


    After they had finished talking, they sat on the couches in the living room. Jane and Lucia had gone out to play, which left only the adults.


    "So what brings you here? You didn''t just come here to introduce Lin to me, right?", Lara asked Jenny. She clearly knew who was responsible for this visit.


    "Can''t we just come for a visit?", Jenny asked innocently. To her question, Lara only reacted with a raised eyebrow. There was no way, that this aunt of her would only come to visit. Not once in her life did she come to visit without an agenda.

 118 Explore a dungeon

    "Alright, Alright. You really are no fun.", Jenny complained. "How is it going between you and Ivan?"


    "Quite good, why?", Lara responded. She was unwilling to tell this aunt of her more. If she did that, she would only have to listen to her lecture her. Saying just this would be the safest.


    "That''s good.", uncharacteristically Jenny didn''t continue to ask. "Then I''m sure you don''t have a problem if Lin lives here?"


    This question didn''t come unexpectedly for Lara. She had already prepared for it when she had heard about Lin.


    "Of course I don''t have any problem with it. After all, she is Ivan''s wife too. And I think we will get along quite well."


    "Great, then this is settled. Now let''s get to why we came here today. We want you to come with us to explore a dungeon." , she then stated the reason.


    The sentence really shocked Lara. Ever since she had gotten pregnant with Jane she had stayed in the capital, so why would they want her to come to explore a dungeon?


    "Why?", she asked confused.


    "Because you have the right skill set and we trust you.", knowing that this answer wouldn''t be enough she then continued on. "The dungeon we are planning to go to is a bit unusual. It not only requires fighting, but there are puzzle sections too. And these puzzles are mainly on management. "


    Hearing her explanation cleared up her doubts, but she was still surprised, that they had found a dungeon like this. They were very rare, as most dungeons only required fighting and sometimes solving logic puzzles. The ones that require a special skill set would often give much higher rewards, but were much harder too. And it wasn''t like one could just take someone specialized in the object of these puzzles. The fighting in the dungeon was too difficult for that.


    Not only that, the puzzle themselves would often require the rest of the party to trust the one solving them, which made it only harder to find someone.


    Lara fell silent, as she contemplated. It wasn''t like she wasn''t tempted. In fact, in the last few months, she had thought about trying out adventuring once again. But she had decided against it. Not only would it split her up from her daughter, but also her job of managing her company.


    Just when she was thinking about rejecting, Ivan''s voice stopped her. "You should go."


    "Huh?", she looked at him in surprise.


    "I asked madam Tanner about it and she said that you haven''t taken a break ever since you took over that company."


    "I took some breaks.", Lara hurriedly protested.


    "Really? From what I have heard, the only breaks you took were ones, where you did stay at home to take care of Jane."


    What Ivan said was the truth. The only times she had taken a break, was when Jane required it. It wasn''t like her whole life revolved around her job. She didn''t work in the evening or on Sundays, except if there was an emergency.


    Seeing her not responding, Ivan continued on. "It is important to sometimes do something entirely different. Only this way, you can keep your mental health. And exploring a dungeon, will not only be something different, but also something you''ll enjoy a lot."


    "But what if something happens to me? What about Jane then?", Lara asked worriedly. This was the true reason, she had stayed in the capital all the time. After her close brush with death, she unconsciously feared that it would happen again if she went out. And this time there wouldn''t be someone who would save her.


    The others looked at each other. While this dungeon wasn''t that dangerous, it would be highly unlikely that anyone would die, but there was no guarantee. So they didn''t know how to alleviate her fears.


    Finally, Ivan was the first to break the silence. "This is all the more a reason that you should go."


    Lara looked at him in bewilderment and the others too looked at him in curiosity.


    "I know that you have continued training even after you stopped going out on adventures, but if you stay this fearful, then there is no chance that you will ever become stronger. Because if you fear that you could die all the time, this means that you have no confidence in your own strength. Heck, if you continue like this, this problem may even creep into your normal life. So take this opportunity, to go out and regain your confidence. What opportunity could be better than this one? Not only would you go with family, who are strong, but also something which has a low amount of risk, while still being difficult."


    After saying all this, he looked at her and waited for her reaction. Lara had a thoughtful look on her face. She felt that what Ivan had said was true, but there were some things he hadn''t mentioned since he didn''t know about it. It had to do with the Berg Bloodline. Someone with this bloodline had to have a mind as steadfast as a mountain, or there would be some impact on their health.


    She hadn''t wanted to see it, but there were some signs of this already happening. Lately, she had been tired out faster. But still...


    Carl could clearly see her struggling. "If you and Ivan are willing to pay for it, then there is a way to make it much safer for you."


    "Huh?", everyone was surprised since they didn''t understand what he meant.


    "Do you know where your skills and memories are stored?", Carl asked a seemingly unrelated question.


    "Of course, they are stored in the soul.", Ivan answered and the others nodded. This was common knowledge.


    "Then do you know how skill books work?"


    This time everyone shook their heads. None of them knew about it. Like most people, they just accepted it and saw it as something too complex to understand.


    "That''s no surprise. Since it isn''t really of any use for most people. Even those who copy skill books don''t need to really understand their function, so many of them don''t even try to understand them.


    The way they work is through soul imprints. To be exact they store a soul imprint that contains the skill, which will then merge into the target''s soul and thus enable one to use the skill. It is easy to merge with the soul imprint, but it is really hard to create one. And I don''t mean copying one, but extracting a skill one has and make a soul imprint of it."


    The others didn''t understand why he talked about this, although it was interesting, it didn''t seem to have a connection with what they were talking about. But how could Ivan not understand? The suggestion was certainly to make a soul imprint with the ''Reincarnation'' skill. Lara would then be able to learn it and stay much safer like this.


    "How do I do it?", Ivan asked eagerly.


    Hearing him ask this, seemingly not caring about the price, made Carl''s mouth curve upwards. He was glad that this guy would be so willing to help his nice.


    "You don''t want to know the price first?"


    "If it can keep her safe, then that is more important. Besides, you wouldn''t have made this suggestion if it was something really detrimental for me.", Ivan assuredly said.


    "Alright.", Carl then explained the process. It required one to make something like a copy of a part of one''s soul. Although this copy wouldn''t be a part of the soul, it would still have a connection to it. And this is were one of the problems lied. Because of that when the target integrated the soul imprint, the connection would be integrated too. Although the connection would be very weak, it would still make a few things possible. Such as feeling the position or health status. So this should only be done if the people participating trust each other.


    For Ivan and Lara, this wasn''t a real problem since they already had such a connection ever since their marriage ring had appeared. The next problem too wasn''t really a problem for Ivan. This was that making the soul imprint would damage the soul. Usually, someone who had injured his or her soul would need a long time to recuperate, while having a reduced training speed and constant pain. But when Ivan had split his soul before he didn''t have a constant pain, which maybe was because his soul had still been in its normal form, just smaller. But more important was that he had a skill that could strengthen his soul and thus should be helpful in healing it too.


    As such the only problem left, was that it would be painful. Which Ivan was sure he would be able to get through.


    "Let''s do it.", he announced.


    "What exactly are you talking about?", Lara couldn''t hold back that question anymore.


    "Just wait and see."

 119 Copied

    After Ivan had agreed, Carl led him and Lara to her office and told them to sit in front of each other.


    "Alright, now touch your hands.", he then continued to lead them through the process of sharing the skill.


    After they had finished, Ivan let out a sigh of relieve. Although the pain was still manageable for him since he had developed a high threshold, because of experiencing much pain before, it was still nothing to laugh at. In fact, if possible he really didn''t want to do it again anytime soon.


    "Alright, now share the description.", he then eagerly asked Lara. What a disaster it would be if this hadn''t worked as expected.


    << Skill: Reincarnation (Copy) (F)


    Cooldown: 64 h


    Effect: After death, you will change into soul-form, where you are indestructible but are unable to do anything besides using the interface. You can then come back to life at a spot you have set before. If the skill is on cooldown, you have to remain in soul-form until it has recharged.


    You will also lose 15 - 20 random stat points.


    Remark: You won''t lose shadow stats. Since this skill has been copied by someone with inferior skill, it''s efficiency has decreased a lot and its grade can only be increased in accordance with the source.


    >>


    There were a few differences but the main use was still there, so all of them were satisfied. Especially Lara, who hadn''t known beforehand, what kind of skill it was, they were copying.


    "Wow, this is awesome.", she exclaimed.


    "Yes, it is. But keep in mind that there are some weaknesses. Such as the long cooldown as well as the fact that the soul-form, while indestructible can still be caught and tortured. And even if that doesn''t happen, if you yourself happen to be caught, then as long as you don''t die, you can be tortured too. And last but not least, the pain while dying is sometimes really terrifying. So try not to die."


    When Lara heard his warning, she felt like he had experience in the last part. This was the feeling his tone of voice evoked in her. The other parts were just information.


    "I will.", she assured him.


    "Then you will go on this exploration?"


    Lara gritted her teeth and nodded. "Yes, this is the best opportunity."


    "That''s good."


    They then went back to the others and chatted a bit more.


    When Carl and Jenny left, Jenny reminded Lara that she would fetch her this Monday for their exploration.


    It was already midday, so they ate and after that, it was time for them to meet the other concubine candidates.


    During these meetings, everything went well and they soon signed their contracts.


    "Check the progress on the quest.", Lara prompted Ivan, which he promptly did.


    << Stabilizing the Bloodline (Grade S)


    Current Strength: 1.2/100


    Time Limit: ~10y


    >>


    "Damn, there isn''t much change.", Lara cursed. She had hoped for a bit more than a measly 0.2 percent.


    "Hm? The time limit has changed.", Ivan voiced his observation. Before there was written exactly 10 years, while now it was only around 10 years.


    "Is this good or bad?", Lara asked with a worried voice.


    "I don''t know. But it should be a good sign.", Ivan answered. He didn''t know why, but he just had the feeling that the time limit had increased slightly. Maybe the sessions with Celine had influenced it.


    "Well, it is ten years anyway, so there should hopefully still be enough time. It is just disappointing how little the strength changed."


    "Mmm. I really hope that the change through Celine''s ritual will be a bit higher."


    "Do you have anything planned for the rest of the day?", Lara asked then with a careful tone.


    "Yeah. I have planned to go to the Heb Dungeon." This was what Ivan had decided after he had heard that the sharing of his reincarnation skill would damage his soul. There he would be able to use ''Soul Absorb'', to increase the healing speed the damage his soul had taken during the process.


    "Oh.", Lara seemed disappointed when she heard that he already had something planned.


    Sensing her mood, Ivan hurriedly followed up with, "But it isn''t urgent so it wouldn''t be a problem to change the plan."


    "No, just do what you have planned."


    "Well, too late. The plan is already changed.", Ivan voiced in a domineering tone.


    Seeing him act like this, Lara had to laugh. "You are such a child."


    Ivan ignored her laugher. "Then why are you asking?"


    Lara blushed faintly, in fact, it was so faint, that one could only see it if one looked at her very closely. "I thought we could go on a date."


    "A date?", Ivan was surprised. This really wasn''t what he had expected.


    "Yes, just you and me.", she then felt the need to explain, "It would be a great way for us to get closer and make Jane happier." The last part was just an excuse to hide her true plan, which was to use the opportunity to get over some of her fears.


    This invitation wasn''t something Ivan would reject, so he hurriedly accepted. "Sure, let''s go. Do you already have anything planned?", he then repeated her sentence back at her.


    "Yeah, I already have something planned.", she answered him while holding her head high and giving him a proud look. As if to show that unlike him, who had changed his plan on the fly, which showed that they weren''t important, her''s were well thought out.


    "Great, then I won''t have to do anything but follow your lead.", he said happily.


    "You are correct. You just have to follow me.", she said and then turned around and walked towards his room.


    "Where are you going?"


    "You will have to change into something else first before we can go out and I will have to as well.", she told him in response.


    When they entered his room, she went straight towards one of the cabinets he had only looked in once. It was filled with clothes, but he was unwilling to use them since they weren''t his.


    "I really don''t understand why you don''t wear them."


    "Because they aren''t mine.", he explained.


    Lara turned towards him with a blank face, "So you differentiate between us this much?"


    "Shouldn''t I? How could I just use your stuff? It is already enough that I can live her so carefree.", Ivan voiced out his honest opinion. He felt that there should be a clear line, between what was his and what was hers.


    After she had heard this, Lara''s blank face crumbled. Instead, she now sported a wide smile. "You really are something else. Do you know how many men would directly take everything their wife owns as theirs? Although it isn''t that extreme here, in the upper realms, the wife doesn''t have any rights to own anything and everything will belong to the husband."


    "Wow, that sounds unfair."


    "It is, but the society up there is very unfair. There is nothing more dangerous than being beautiful and not strong enough to protect oneself or be of use. If that happens, then one can only resign oneself to a life in misery."


    "But isn''t it different here?"


    "It is. But certain things are the same, such as that what the wife own, the husband owns too. Of course, what the husband owns, the wife owns too. This is the law of this country. So don''t feel bad if you use my things."


    After saying her part, she turned back around and opened the cabinet. She only looked through it for a short moment, before pulling out a suit. "Here, try this on."


    Ivan hadn''t worn a suit before, but it wasn''t that hard. The only thing weird was the tie. Why the hell would anyone put something like this around one''s neck.


    When he came out of the bathroom, where he had changed, Lara was waiting for him, while sitting relaxedly on the bed. When she saw him coming out her eyes opened a bit wider.


    "You look quite handsome."


    He couldn''t really be called that handsome but wasn''t bad looking either. The dark suit perfectly brought out his well-toned body and the contrast with his blond hair and lighter skin, it looked great on him.


    "What is with this thing?", Ivan asked while holding up the tie.


    "Just forget about it. It isn''t that official of a situation, so there is no real need to wear it if you don''t want to. Now get downstairs and wait for me. I have to change as well."


    He followed her order and went downstairs. When he went down the stairs, he found the others staring at him. Jane, Celine and even Lucia, who had always more or less ignored him. Now all of them were staring at him, making him feel slightly uncomfortable.


    "Do I look weird?", he asked, unsure of himself.

 120 Date

    "You look great, daddy.", Jane exclaimed and rushed towards him.


    The others nodded, reassuring him.


    "You are going out?", Celine asked.


    "Yes. I''m just waiting for Lara."


    "So you are going on a date?", Celine asked with a slight smirk, teasing him.


    Sadly this nuance was completely lost on Ivan. He just nodded.


    "That''s good. The two of you should cherish each other more. The world out there is dangerous, especially since I don''t think you will be staying in this realm forever. So one should really enjoy these peaceful times."


    When Jane heard Celine''s words she looked at Ivan with a pitiful look.


    "You are leaving daddy?"


    "What are you talking about? I won''t leave anytime soon."


    "So you are planning to leave.", Jane said reproachfully.


    Ivan smiled at her antics and squatted down in front of her. "How can I bear to leave my little darling? But sometimes there will be a time for us to separate. When you have grown up, don''t you want to live your own life? Find your own happiness?"


    Jane didn''t look convinced but since he had already said, that he wouldn''t leave, for the time being, she chooses to stay quiet.


    "So where are you going?"


    "I don''t know. Lara said to just follow her."


    Both Celine and Lucia laughed when they heard that. It seemed so typical of him. As long as it wasn''t about his training or fighting, he seemed to be content to just follow the decisions of others, mainly his wife.


    They were just thinking about how to best make fun of him, because of this, when Lara walked down the staircase. She looked stunning in her burgundy colored high-necked long dress, that showed off her figure while not showing much skin. Her hair was bound in a simple ponytail and she wore next to no makeup. But this only managed to highlight her natural beauty.


    When he first looked at her, Ivan was stunned. Until now, he had only seen her in either office clothes or comfortable home wear. Seeing her in a dress was a completely different view, making him be absolutely charmed by it.


    Seeing his stunned look Lara smiled proudly. It had been a long time since she had worn a dress, so it had been a long time since she had seen a look like this. Her usual clothing was professional to dissuade others from looking at her. She just didn''t want any guys to look at her like this. But now that Ivan was doing it she felt proud, which was a clear sign for the change in her heart.


    "Let''s get going.", her words broke Ivan out of his reverie.


    "Jane, be good and don''t annoy your sister too much.", she then warmly warned their daughter, directly calling Lucia her sister.


    "I won''t!", Jane protested, making the others laugh.


    "She won''t be a problem, so be relaxed and have fun.", Lucia assured them.


    "Mm." Lara grabbed Ivan''s arm and then pulled him out, leading to another series of laughter by the ones left behind.


    "So where are we going?", Ivan asked once again.


    This time Lara didn''t hide it and instead explained, "Today is a business dinner gala. Usually, I won''t go but instead, only send the vice president. But my mother has asked me to show with you in the public, so I thought this was a great opportunity."


    When he heard that it was because of her mother, that she had asked him out, Ivan felt a bit disappointed.


    "So it''s because of your mother.", he mumbled quietly. Still, Lara heard his words and replied hurriedly, "That''s not it. It''s just that I wanted to wait a bit longer. I wanted to wait until our marriage was real, before appearing together in the public."


    "So you think our marriage isn''t real?", Ivan asked with slight anger in his voice.


    Lara slowly got flustered. She felt it hard to voice out her feelings. "You know to have sex and such things. Aren''t they required in a marriage?"


    Hearing her flustered reply Ivan had to laugh. Never before had he seen her like this and he just found it cute.


    Now it was Lara''s turn to get angry, "What are you laughing at?"


    Ivan calmed himself down, before answering. "I just enjoy seeing you like this. It''s just so different."


    "Hmpf."


    While they were quarreling they reached the entrance, where a stretch limousine was already waiting for them. In front of it were not only an older woman who was the driver but also a young looking woman and men, waiting for them.


    "Hoh, so you are the boss''s husband. Not bad, not bad.", the woman stepped towards them, as soon as they stepped through the gate.


    "Yes, this is my husband Ivan.", Lara introduced him, before introducing the other pair, "And this is Keira, the vice president, and her husband Teddy."


    "Nice to meet you.", Teddy shook his hand, while Keira stared at him.


    "So since he is your husband is he, my boss, too, then?", she asked Lara with a sly voice.


    "You could say so?", Lara carefully responded. While Keira was an exemplary vice president, in private she was a bit unusual. And even the husband she found was according to her unusual tendencies. Together they made a fitting pair.


    The next words of Keira only confirmed her fears. "Then do you think we could play together for a bit? You two being the master and me the servant? I''ll even throw in Teddy if you want."


    "I don''t think you.", she directly tried to shoot her down.


    "You sure. I promise that it will be a great experience.", Keira insisted.


    "NO!", Lara exclaimed. This damn girl, she always managed to get her angry. If not for her being so good at her job and being her friend, she would have long since fired her.


    "Oh.", Keria looked disappointed but she quickly reverted back to her usual self, "If you ever change your mind, just tell me."


    "I won''t, don''t worry."


    After they had finished, they entered the car.


    "Is there anything I have to look out for?", Ivan asked. He didn''t have the opportunity to ask before but now seemed like a good opportunity.


    "This is the first time to such an event?", Keira asked in surprise. She didn''t know anything about him, but since he was Lara''s husband, then shouldn''t he have a certain status? After all, Lara was a princess, so her husband had to have a certain status too and then he should have attended such events before.


    "Yes.", Ivan readily admitted. He was sure that there would be more such events in the future he would have to attend. At least the event for the announcement of the title of duke, but there would surely be many more.


    "Not really. Just be polite but not too much and don''t promise anything. If you do this, then you will be just fine.", Keira readily explained. "As for the rest, just follow our example. Oh and don''t touch just any woman.", the last sentence was said in a joking tone, but still earned her an angry glare from Lara.


    "Do you think everyone is like you?", she asked in a cold voice. "If I remember correctly, didn''t you once get thrown out because you got frisky with a man at one such event?"


    "Haha. Yeah, that was fun. Who would have expected that that guy would be so stuck up?", Keria said without any remorse.


    "I guess I''ll better not follow your example then.", Ivan said. This woman really scared him with her style. He much preferred someone like Lara or Tanya, who was open too, but still more reserved.


    "Hmph. You really don''t know what would be good for you.", she joked.


    The drive luckily didn''t take long, or he was sure that Keira would have managed to drive Lara insane. After they had finished the short talk about what he had to look out for, she had then continued to try to talk her into playing together. The whole time Teddy had just sat there silently and listened to them, with a smile on his face. It seemed like he was used to it. Only at the end, when they had nearly arrived, he said something.


    "You should do it. It''s fun to try something new."


    This was a bit surprising to Lara. She hadn''t expected him to say something like this. Keira had practically offered to serve her husband and not only did Teddy not say anything against it, but he even encouraged it.


    "Oh and if I could watch it would be great."


    "Fuu..", this left both Lara and Ivan speechless. It was the first time they came into contact with someone like this.


    Suddenly an evil grin appeared on Lara''s face. "So you want to serve us, is that it?"


    Keira shuddered when she saw her grin, but there was no way, she would back off. "Yes, so what?"

 121 Intuition

    Lara clearly saw her shudder, but still, she insisted. This only made her more curious as to why she was so fixated on it.


    "Why?", she asked while her expression got serious.


    Keira hesitated. "I''m not sure. I just feel that I have to do it."


    "Is it because of your weird intuition?", Lara asked. One of the reasons why Keira was such a good vice president was her intuition. During all the time they had worked together, no one time had her intuition lead her astray. Instead, following it, it had always worked well for her.


    "It should be. It is just that the feeling is much clearer than ever before. It is like I can feel that this is the only way to finally break through my bottleneck."


    "Your bottleneck?", Lara hadn''t heard her talk about it before. Although they were friends, it was more focused on their work and general companionship and not their cultivation. She only knew that Kiera had been in the upper realm, which made her a lot stronger than herself.


    "Mm. I never told you about it, since it is convention not to talk about cultivation above the first stage in this realm, except when necessary. I don''t know how familiar you are with it but to condense one''s core you require a seed.


    This seed is something everyone who can collect Qi from the environment is born with. It is also the reason why we can collect Qi and store it in our dantian.


    But sometimes there are people who have a so-called false seed. This seed is similar to a normal seed in that it allows the owner to collect Qi. But it is too unstable to be used as the seed for a core.", having come this far in her explanation, she showed a sad look. It seemed like finding out that she had a fake core did have a huge impact on her.


    The others patiently waited for her to continue with her explanation, "This is why I came back. Although there had been rumors that it is possible to stabilize the fake seed, the cost is unbelievable. As such, I had no choice but to give up on cultivating. Instead, I went back to my family, to enjoy a normal life. Of course, I could have stayed and worked as a ''Foundation Strengthening'' cultivator, but up there this isn''t enough to make a living in the cultivation world while staying in the mortal world is just a waste. Besides it is much more primitive there than here."


    "So you feel that serving my husband can help you stabilize your seed? Why would that be?", Lara asked in bewilderment. Although she understood Kiera''s problem, she didn''t understand how it was related to her husband.


    "Yes.", Keira nodded firmly. "I don''t know either. But I can feel that it would work. And I can feel that it has something to do with serving him, with being used by him to release his lust."


    "Huh? The focus lies on you being submissive?", Ivan asked in surprise. For his question, he earned an angry glare by his wife.


    "Hoho, so you like the idea?", she asked in a dangerous voice. It seemed that she really wasn''t happy about him seeming to show any interested.


    Ivan hurriedly tried to justify his question. "That''s not it. I just have an idea what this is about." He then hurriedly shared a skill description.


    << Skill Dark Dual Cultivation (Artifact)


    Type: Passive


    Alignment: Evil


    During forced sexual intercourse you can gain benefits depending on the strength of your partner, the bloodline of your partner and the physical and mental pain of your partner.


    Remark: Can be combined with the Evil Dark Master skill for better effects.


    Comment: Is this fitting or what? Now you can be even eviler than before.


    >>


    The others read through the description before looking at him in surprise, "How the hell do you have such a skill?"


    "Got it in a lottery.", Ivan shortly answered with the truth, but the others looked at him with weird eyes. "It''s not like I wanted this. And it''s not like I have ever used it."


    "Then why do you think that this skill could have something to do with it? Besides that, the subject is similar to what she feels.", Lara asked curiously.


    "After I got this skill I did some research and found out that nothing is ever only one way. If the skill user gets a benefit, then there are only two reasons for this.


    Either it is something taken from the victim or it is something gained from the outside. But if it is something taken from the victim, then there is no reason for this skill to be Artifact grade. There are similar skills described, which are only D grade, so why would this one be Artifact grade?"


    "So you believe that since it is Artifact grade, it should do something different from those other skills? What if it only robs even more than the others?"


    "That''s impossible. The D grade skill I mentioned robs the victim of just about everything."


    "But if it is really like you speculate, then wouldn''t that be mentioned in the description?"


    "Not really. Many skill description doesn''t mention side effects and the focus of this skill isn''t on the victim, so there just might be such a side effect."


    "He is right.", Teddy interjected.


    "And you don''t have a problem with this?"


    "It is Keira''s decision. Our marriage is only for show anyway?"


    "Huh?"


    "You didn''t know?", Teddy looked at Lara in surprise. "I thought Keira told you."


    "No, I didn''t. After all, there was no reason too.", Keira said, before explaining why their marriage was only for show. "Teddy and I are from big families. Although neither of them has an aristocratic title, both own big companies. Although our parents are friends, the elders still decided to have a marriage between their children to strengthen the bond between the families.


    At first, it was decided that my elder brother and Teddy''s elder sister would marry since neither of them has any talent in cultivation, but great business talent. Besides that, they were the eldest and as such the most suitable.


    Sadly there is just one problem and that is that the two of them always fight when they meet each other.", at this point, she laughs lightly.


    "Surprisingly that is only in private. In business related matters they are able to work together well. So when I came back, my parents asked me if I would be willing to take my brother''s place and marry Teddy.


    Until then I had no interest in marriage and I didn''t have anyone I liked either, so I agreed. As for Teddy, the decision was even easier, since he never had any interest in women."


    "So that''s how it is. But still..."


    "Please, Lara. This might just be my only chance to ever progress.", Keira pleaded.


    Lara didn''t say anything. Although Keira was her friend, she really didn''t like the thought of having to share Ivan with her. The concubines were out of necessity and Tang Lin wasn''t anything she had been able to decide on. But accepting Keira would be something entirely different. Yes, there would be some benefit to accepting, but it would still be a decision to share her husband with a friend.


    With Tanya there was someone else, she had accepted, but this too was because it was important. If not Tanya would definitely have to suffer. In Keira''s case, she didn''t see it like this. It was more a question of fulfilling one''s dream, one''s aspirations. But if it worked, wouldn''t they make her friend happy? Could she really deny her in the knowledge, that she had maybe stopped her friend from acquiring happiness?


    "Let me think about it.", she finally acceded.


    "Alright. Then I''ll wait for your answer.


    For now, let''s concentrate on the party."


    The four of them alighted from the car, that had arrived at the avenue of the party. It was one of the most luxurious hotels in the capital.


    Ivan offered Lara his arm and they entered the hotel together, followed by Teddy and Keira. At the front of one of the great halls, a table was placed, with two elegant women standing behind it. They accepted the invitations of the guests and after asking them to sign in a book gave them a small gift, before inviting them into the hall.


    Ivan and Lara went over to them and Lara gave them their invitation.


    "Welcome Mrs. and Mr. Hope.", the one on the right greeted them politely. Lately, Lara had started to use the name Hope, instead of her old family name Von Berg and the invitation was on the name too.


    "Because of some dishes served, we have to ask, whether you are mages, so please forgive us.", she then followed up.


    Ivan looked at Lara in confusion. He hadn''t been to such a party, so he wasn''t sure how to react.


    Lara leaned her head on his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

 122 Gala

    "There are some delicacies, that while unbelievable tasty, cannot be eaten by normal persons. Because they contain a form of energy that can only be absorbed by mages and is damaging if not absorbed, they are restricted to mages.", she explained to him.


    She then continued towards the servant, "We both are."


    The women gave them two small stickers in response, "Please wear them at your clothes if you want to enjoy the special dishes. Only if they are visible will the waiter allow you to order them.", she then explained to them.


    Lara already knew about it, so she just nodded and Ivan followed her example.


    They then entered the hall. The hall was mainly filled with small tables surrounded by a few chairs, where the guests each had their own place. When they entered, a group of people close to the entrance turned towards them. When they saw who had entered, a look of surprise appeared on their faces and a group consisting of three pairs came towards them.


    "Madam von Berg, I didn''t expect you to come.", an elderly man greeted them. The woman beside him was elderly as well, but she still kept some of her good looks. Together with their aura, it made the two of them look very imposing.


    "Lord and Lady von Deldor, It is nice to see you again.", Lara first greeted him, before explaining, "It''s not like I didn''t want to come, but since you made it compulsory to have a partner, I was just unable to."


    "Oh, so this gentleman must be your husband?", Lady von Deldor asked while letting her eyes sweep over Ivan. "He looks like a fine guy."


    "Yes, this is Ivan, my husband.", Lara introduced him. Their conversation had a joking undertone, indicating that they knew each other quite well.


    "Then from now on, you have to come to all our parties.", the Lady told her with a seemingly stern tone.


    "Of course, of course, how would I dare to reject your invitations, now that I don''t have an excuse anymore?"


    This time the Lady had to giggle slightly. She then came over and wrapped her arm around Lara''s shoulder.


    "You know, I really envy you. Back then we went to the same class but now look at us. You are still looking as young as before, while I have gotten this old already.", although her words seemed to indicate unhappiness, there was nothing like this in her tone. Instead, it was full of mirth. Clearly enjoying complaining to Lara.


    Ivan was surprised at the information he had gotten from her speech. Although he knew that Lara should be older than she looked, he hadn''t expected the difference to be this big.


    Lara looked a bit dejected at it, but the Lady didn''t seem to mind. "Don''t look like this. It''s just the way it is. Those that can train will get stronger and live longer and those that can''t live their lives to the fullest in the time they have."


    These words reminded Ivan of something he hadn''t thought about before. With an increase of strength, life expectancy would increase as well, so those who would be stronger would have to experience the others to slowly die, while they survived. Luckily for him, those around him were all able to train and had considerable talent. So they would live a long time too.


    They chatted a bit more and the other two pairs were introduced as well. They consisted of the children of the Von Deldor as well as their spouses. All of them were a friendly bunch, making it easy to communicate with them.


    "Sorry, but we have to greet the other guests too.", the Lady said to Lara when another group of guests entered the hall.


    "Of course. Go do your job. I''m sure there will be some more time to chat later. And if not just give me a call and we can meet. I really miss our meetings back then."


    "Sure, I will call.", with these words, they left to greet the new guests.


    "Let''s go to our seats. After that, we can then go around and greet a few others.", Lara said, before leading them to one of the tables.


    At the table, there were already four people seated. Who enthusiastically greeted Lara, when she came closer.


    "Hey, sis. I really didn''t expect to see you here.", this came from the guy at the left side.


    "Yeah, it is the first time I have seen you come to a party like this.", the woman from the other pair said as well.


    "Well sister, isn''t it just so she can show off her man?", the man asked in a joking tone.


    "Oh, so it is like this.", the woman answered as if it was a great truth.


    "The two of you stop messing around.", Lara hurriedly intervened, before the two could continue on and embarrass her even more.


    "Alright, Alright.", the man hurriedly placated her. He then offered Ivan his hand. "Hi, I''m Lara''s brother Key. It is nice to meet you."


    Ivan shook his hand and introduced himself as well. The others seemed to already know of him since neither of them showed any surprise.


    "Hi, I''m Lara''s elder sister Tess and this is my husband Oleg.", the woman introduced herself after that and shook hands with him as well.


    "And who is that besides you?", Lara asked her brother curiously.


    "Right, you haven''t met yet.", Key looked ashamed that he had forgotten to introduce his companion, who only smiled softly.


    "Hello, I''m Yevina. And I''m this dork''s fiance.", she then introduced herself, directly calling Key a dork. This elicited a burst of hearty laughter from Tess.


    "Hey, how can you call your future husband a dork?", Key asked angrily.


    Yevina looked at him innocently. "Why not? You are a dork after all."


    "Damn.", Key could only curse but was unable to answer. This clearly showed the power in their family. Once again eliciting a burst of laughter from the others.


    "Haha, I would have never expected that my brother would have such a day sometimes.", Lara exclaimed while laughing. "I really like it. Keep up the good work."


    "You....", Key cursed angrily, but a sharp glare from his fiance shut him up.


    Tess took pity in him and changed the topic, "So how are the two of you? Since you appear together here, it must be going quite well?", she asked Lara while giving her an obvious wink.


    "It''s going great.", Lara answered while a smile appeared on her face.


    "That''s good. I feared that there would be some problems after you have met again."


    "Oh there were some, but him having lost his memory has made it much easier."


    They continued chatting until the host appeared on the stage.


    "Welcome, everyone to this gala by the Deldor Company. We are glad that all of you have come.


    This year, not only is this gala the annually biggest meet of the most important people in the economic world of the capital, but also the platform for an important announcement of the Deldor Company."


    When he finished his sentence a murmur went through the hall.


    "Have you heard anything about this?", Lara asked the other two.


    "No, this comes as a surprise to me too.", her brother answered and her sister shook her head, to show that she too didn''t know about it.


    Luckily, the host didn''t let them wait for long as he soon continued on.


    "We are happy to announce that together with the Leidra Company, we have decided to open up a new region in the Seven Trail Mountains."


    This time his announcement made even bigger waves. To open up a new region, would mean that these two companies would use their power to clear a part of the wilderness and then install shields there to keep the monsters out. It would then be able to found a new town there.


    While this might be very profitable if they succeeded and there were no strong monster attacks. If they failed, it would end up as a gigantic hole that could easily make these two companies go broke. Because if their shields failed and they weren''t able to keep the monsters at bay, the military would deploy to ensure the safety of the civilians.


    Of course, this wouldn''t be for free. Not only would they have to pay for the deployment, but they would also lose their rights of management for the region.


    All these things result in it being like a gamble.


    "Why would they do this?", Keira asked in surprise, "To my knowledge, there is no reason for them to take the risk."


    "I''m not sure. From what I know these companies have never made as much profit as during the last quartal.", Key answered.


    Before they could continue to speculate the host once again interrupted them.


    "I''m sure many are wondering why our companies have decided to take the risk."

 123 Crystal Mine

    A murmur of approval went through the guests.


    "The Deldor Company is happy to announce that we have found a crystal mine in the Seven Trail Mountains.", he had barely finished his sentence, when an uproar started in the hall.


    "Wow, they are just too lucky."


    "A crystal mine? Damn, their luck is just to good."


    Like this, many exclamations could be heard. Of course while many were excited, hearing this news, there were also some that didn''t feel the same way.


    A small amount didn''t understand the importance of a crystal mine, while an even smaller amount just didn''t care. Of course, there were also some that were unhappy about the news. These were the ones that owned a crystal mine themselves, so the new crystal mine would have a direct impact on their business. Sure, the impact wouldn''t be that big, since crystals were always in demand, but it would still be there.


    "How come everyone is this excited?", Ivan asked the ones around him. None of whom were as excited as the rest of the guests.


    "Right, you might not know.", Lara started to explain, "The crystal mines he is talking about is a mine managed by the system, so it is a bit different from classical mines. For example, it is much easier to extract the resource, and even better the resource will grow back. If not they wouldn''t make such a huge move for it.


    Now, why are crystals so important? First of all one of the types of crystals commonly found in crystal mines are the so-called Programmable Clear Crystal, as well as the Image Displaying Crystal. Besides these two there might also be other rare crystals, but they are the most important."


    Ivan hadn''t heard about these crystals before but from their names, he could make a guess at their usage.


    "So they are used for our technology?"


    "Yes. PCC is used for the processors in our devices, while IDC is used for displaying information. There is barely any device, that doesn''t make use of it."


    "Well, that is only in this realm.", Keira threw in.


    "What do you mean?", Ivan asked.


    "The programming of PCC requires one to either use mana or Qi. In this realm, there are enough mages, who would do the job, so it is possible for there to be a real high-tech industry. But in the higher realm, first of all, there aren''t really any mages. And those that can use Qi feel that it is beneath them to use it for something as mundane as programming PCC.", Keira explained to those that had never been to the upper realms.


    "Not only that. I''m not so sure why, but their basic development is low too."


    "Then the energy source to these devices, what are they?", Ivan had gotten interested in these devices. Maybe he should look a bit more into them?


    "That depends on the device. The best ones are crystals as well but these are rarely found. Another common way is to use PCC to create an energy gathering circuit. These circuits can collect energy from around them, just like we do during training, and then use it to function. Although they are very comfortable in that you don''t need to recharge them, their output is to low for most applications.


    The most common method is to use a mixture of crystal dust and some herbs and minerals to create a mana battery which can be recharged and discharged easily, without losing capacity."


    "Can they be used by humans too?", Ivan asked curiously.


    "Yes, but the amount that can be stored is just too small. The devices aren''t really using a lot, so it is ok for them, but for a mage, it is only a small drop of mana, they can store this way. At least that is the case for anything except some exceptionally rare crystals. But these are seen as a strategic resource by the empire, so you will most likely never see them."


    "Oh.", Ivan can only be disappointed. It seemed like he wouldn''t be able to get his hand on something as practical as a battery for his mana. But nevertheless, he still wanted to look into programming and such a bit more.


    After this big announcement, the host gave some more information about the project, including the information, that they were searching for some more partners.


    When the guests heard this, once again some weren''t able to keep calm. They instantly called their secretaries or vices, to prepare a proposal for their partnership.


    After a while, everything calmed down and the gala continued in an orderly manner.


    Ivan and the others kept on chatting. All of them were very nice and made for a comfortable environment.They were only interrupted when a pair came towards them.


    "Hey, Teddy, Keira.", they greeted, when they came close. The man then proceeded to hug Teddy, while the woman did the same with Keira. Not only did they hug each other, but they also kissed each other.


    Seeing the confused looks on the faces of the others in their small round, Teddy smiled cheekily. "This is my boyfriend, Olaf and his wife Larissa.", he then introduced the two of them, only furthering the confusion.


    Larissa laughed happily when she saw the look on their faces.


    "Olaf is my husband, but at the same time Teddy''s boyfriend. Since both of them aren''t quite straight, that is just the way it developed.", she then explained.


    "Then you and Keira?", Tess asked, still confused.


    "Well, we aren''t strictly straight either, so while these two are together, why shouldn''t we do the same?"


    "Besides it is fun for all of us to be together too.", Keira said cheekily.


    "Sounds like a mess.", Key said.


    "Sometimes it is.", Larissa admitted, "But it is really fun as well."


    "I don''t think it is anything for me.", Tess said.


    "Well, what brings the two of you here?", Keira asked.


    "Can''t we just come over to greet you?"


    "As if you would ever do something as simple as this. Wherever you go, you have at least two plans ready."


    "Haha, you would know it right?", Larissa teased Keira. But then she got serious. "Of course there is something else. Not only did we want to meet your other friends, but we also want to invite the two of you. Of course, the others are invited as well."


    "Then how about you first tell us, what you want to invite us too?", Keira asked exasperated. That woman''s style of acting was sometimes really annoying.


    "It''s a free for all party."


    "Huh?", the others asked confused. Only Keira and Teddy seemed to know what was meant and their faces lit up.


    "Really? You are organizing it again? The last one was so much fun.", Keira happily exclaimed.


    "Hey! Could you explain what all this is about?"


    "Of course. A free for all party is a party, where we can freely change our partners to have some new experiences. As long as all participants accept, everything is possible. From BDSM to having an orgy. It is really fun. You should really try it out."


    As soon as she finished her explanation, Tess and Lara hurriedly shook their head.


    "No thank you. We really aren''t swinging this way.", they declined while throwing their husbands a stern look, just so they got no strange idea.


    Key wanted to decline the invitation as well but was interrupted by his fiancee. "Thank you for the invitation. We will surely come."


    "What???", Key exclaimed shocked. "What do you mean?", he then confronted Yevina.


    "Calm down. If it is just checking it out, what is the problem?"


    "The problem? Why would you even think about it?", Key asked still angry.


    Before they could start a full-blown argument, Lara hurriedly intervened. "Calm down. You can argue as much as you want after you get home, but mind your image here."


    Hearing her admonishment, Key forcible calmed himself down. "Alright, we will talk about it after we get home."


    "So no one else is interested?", Larissa asked slightly disappointed.


    "Seems like it.", Olaf said.


    They soon left and everyone''s eyes turned towards Keira and Teddy.


    "The two of you are really unusual.", Lara said and the others nodded wordlessly.


    "So what? We both enjoy it.", Keira said defiantly.


    "I didn''t say it was bad. If you enjoy it, then why not. It is just so different from what we are used to."


    "Well, you should really try it out. Maybe you too will enjoy it.", Keira couldn''t help but say, only to earn a glare.


    "There is no way, I will let another man touch me.", she assured.


    "Then what about a woman?", Keira asked slyly.


    This time Lara didn''t directly answer. Instead, she thought about Tanya and her confession, as well as her talk about a threesome.


    "Haha, you have thought about it.", Keira laughed.


    "So what?"


    "Nothing. I just think it is fun. You shouldn''t just think about it. How about we try it out? You, me and Ivan?", Keira once again came back to her offer before.

 124 Tell us

    Lara glared at her.


    "I said I would think about it. If you continue to pester me about it then you can forget about it completely."


    After this warning, Keira hurriedly shut her mouth.


    The gala continued with them talking amongst themselves. Sometimes someone would come over to greet them, but neither of them was very motivated to socialize.


    One thing that really astonished Ivan was the food served. While all of it was delicious, the food only available for mages was on an entirely different level. Not only was the taste unbelievable good but it also gave some slight temporary buffs.


    But besides the food, there wasn''t really anything about the gala that was able to interest him. Sure, it was nice to meet other people but to be honest, he found most of them only annoying. As such he was happy when the gala ended and they got ready to leave.


    Keira and Teddy didn''t drive back with them but instead called a taxi. So only Lara and Ivan were in the car.


    "So how did you find it?", Lara asked.


    "It was nice to meet your siblings.", Ivan answered diplomatically.


    Hearing his answer, Lara couldn''t help but giggle. "Don''t worry about it. I don''t really like these parties either, so we won''t be going to them that often."


    Ivan let out a breath of relief.


    "So what do you think about Keira''s proposal?", Lara then dropped the next bomb.


    Ivan didn''t directly answer, but instead looked at her carefully, trying to find out her thoughts about it. But he was unable to find out anything.


    "I don''t know. To be honest, I have the feeling that there are already enough women around me, so I don''t really want to increase the number even more."


    "So you aren''t even a little bit tempted?", Lara asked in a teasing voice.


    "I would be lying if I said that I''m not tempted. After all, she is a beautiful woman. But I''m not sure the trouble would be worth it. Not to mention the relationship I have with all. Or to be correct the absence of any relationship with most of the women who are officially married to me.


    So even though I''m tempted, I would prefer to work on our relationship first."


    When he said the last sentence a smile appeared on her face.


    "I think the same but at the same time, I don''t just want to ignore Keira. After all, she is my friend."


    "Then how about we just reject her for now, but tell her that maybe later we will agree?"


    "Wouldn''t that be a bit cruel?"


    "How so? It isn''t like we have to help her."


    "But it isn''t like we would lose anything by helping her.", Lara protested. Seemingly having changed her mind. It now seemed to Ivan as if she was in favor of the proposal.


    "Don''t we? But even so, how do you even want to fulfill her wish? It''s not like we had sex except that one time. And now you want to have a threesome?"


    "I know that it may seem weird, but I think that would even make it easier.


    You know that after what had happened back then in the cave, I developed a mental blockage concerning men. I really don''t like to come into contact with any, except a few special ones, like you and the members of my family."


    Ivan nodded. Of course, he knew about it. After all, it had been his past selfs fault. And when he had first met Lara it had clearly shown and they had talked about it as well.


    Seeing him nod, Lara then continued, "As such, even though I have slowly gotten used to being near you, having sex is still a big step. And I think that having someone else there could really help me overcome my barriers."


    "I don''t know...", Ivan wasn''t sure if he would agree to her reasoning. But in the end, it was she who had the problem and not him. So maybe she was right?


    He once again sighted. "Ok, it is your decision. If you want to do it, then we will do it. If not then we won''t. But for now, focus on your adventure first. After you are back, we can then make the final decision. Alright?"


    "Alright. Thank you for being understanding like this."


    "Of course I would be. After all, we are husband and wife.", he smiles at her.


    When they got back home, everyone else was already asleep. As such the two of them silently walked upstairs. After checking on their daughter, they then went into their bedroom to retire for the night.


    The next morning all of them sat on the breakfast table when Lucia initiated the questioning.


    "So how was your date yesterday? Did anything happen after you came back?", she shot out these questions while having an expression of extreme curiosity.


    Lara shot down her questions just as fast, without even the slightest change of expression, "Nothing happened."


    Sadly Lucia didn''t give up this easy. "I don''t believe you. Come on, tell us everything that happened yesterday."


    "Yes, Mom. Come on, tell us.", Jane too chirped in.


    Seeing her daughter''s curious eyes, she could only relent and recount the events of the evening. Of course, she skipped a few parts, such as the talk with Keira.


    When the others heard that really, nothing had happened, they looked disappointed, but soon the topic went to Lara''s upcoming adventure.


    "So how long will you be gone?", Celine asked.


    "I don''t know yet. But I''m sure it will be at least two weeks."


    "Then Jane will you be fine, not seeing your mother for such a long time?"


    "Of course.", Jane looked proudly in the round, "After all, I''m not a little girl anymore.", before then reducing the impact by directly following it up with, "Besides, Daddy is here as well."


    "And me!", Lucia reminded her hurriedly. During the short time they had known each other they had become good friends.


    "Of course. You and Celine are here too. So I won''t be lonely.", she then turned towards Lara, "So you can go without a worry."


    Lara smiled warmly at her daughter and pinched her cheeks. "But what if mom is missing you?"


    "Hmm", Jane looked at her, "If you miss me, then just call. Besides don''t you have aunty?"


    "Hmpf, how can your aunty compare to you?"


    "Alright enough playing around. I''m sure it will be fine.", Ivan hurriedly intervened, before they could continue their play.


    "So you won''t miss me?", Lara asked him accusingly.


    "Of course I will. But that is the way life is. It''s not like we can stay together all the time."


    Lara sighed. It was true that she didn''t want to leave them, even for only a short time, but still, she had already decided to go. So if she chickened out now, it would only make it much harder, if they had to split up the next time.


    "I know. It is just the first time that I will be away from home so long, ever since Jane was born."


    Seeing her slightly sad, Ivan unconsciously moved his arm and gently patted her head. The same way he always did with Jane.


    His hand had just touched her soft hair when he snapped back to reality. At first, he wanted to pull back his hand but then decided against it.


    Lara too didn''t react to his action, besides slightly blushing. While the others at the table smiled at the sight.


    "And you still say nothing happened between the two of you.", Lucia once again tried to make fun of them.


    Ivan hurriedly pulled back his hand and Lara glared at Lucia, "I already told you nothing happened."


    "Ho, so you say. But you didn''t say anything about what happened in the car."


    Lara humphed once again but kept silent. There was no way she could win against Lucia.


    They happily chatted at the table.


    Ivan felt that this type of life was great. He had a warm family and nothing that worried him. Here at home, he could relax and not worry about anything. This was the best feeling he had ever felt. Before meeting the pair of mother and daughter, his life was really dull.


    Now that he had experienced it, he was of the same opinion as to these scientists, that had written, that it was necessary to relax and have a warm environment, in order to get truly strong. Only this way would one have the motivation to train as well as take a step back, to consolidate one''s strength. Only through the warmth of other humans would one stay human and not degenerate to a single-minded fool, that disregarded anything but his desires.

 125 Goodbye

    On Monday morning, it was time for Lara to leave. They had set the departure time at five o clock, which was before Ivan had to go to school. As such everyone was standing at the front door to say goodbye to her.


    Lara hugged Jane while saying her temporary goodbye to her. "Take care and listen to your father, alright?"


    "Mmm", Jane obediently nodded, "You too, take care."


    "I will. And I will call you every day as well.", Lara promised.


    After releasing her daughter, she then hugged Ivan, surprising him. At first, he didn''t know how to respond to the sudden close contact, but after a second of being frozen stiff, he hugged her back.


    "Take care.", he said softly.


    "You too. Take care of our daughter."


    The hug didn''t last long before Lara let him go and turned around, to leave. She waved one last time before entering Jenny''s car.


    Standing hand in hand, Jane and Ivan watched her leave. "Don''t worry, she will be back soon.", he then comforted his daughter, who looked sadly down the road.


    "I know, but this is still the first time we will be separated for so long."


    "Well the best method to fight against loneliness is to play with someone, so go and play with Lucia.", Ivan told her in a joking tone, even though his advice was serious.


    "Exactly! I have already planned many things.", Lucia jumped in.


    "Really?"


    "Of course."


    Hearing her new friends words, Jane let go of Ivan''s hand and ran over to her, making the others smile. It was really astonishing how fast her mood changed. Just now she was so sad to see her mother leave and now she was happily thinking of playing with Lucia.


    "Then go play. I too have to go to school."


    Time passed and it was time for the pill refining class. Both Ivan and Serge were sitting in the classroom and were waiting for Miss Klein to come to teach their class.


    "Have you decided?", Serge, surprisingly, asked him. Of course, Ivan instantly understood what he meant. It was about Miss Klein''s offer to take them as her disciples.


    "Yeah, I''ll accept the offer. It is just too tempting.", he honestly answered.


    "Great, I too have decided to accept it. I really don''t want to follow in my father''s footsteps.", Serge said. Surprisingly he was quite talkative today, which was quite different from his usual behavior.


    "So you don''t want to take over his store?"


    "No. Although I really like reading, I want to do something different. And luckily my father doesn''t want to force me either but instead supports my decision."


    "So you want to focus on pill refining?"


    "Yes. I love refining pills. Not only is it profitable but also really challenging. This way I can earn money and do what I love. But I don''t know if I can really do it. After all learning pill refinement cost quite a lot."


    This was something Ivan had realized as well. To learn pill refinement it was necessary to practice and to practice one needed the necessary ingredients. For the beginner pills, it was still alright, but the better the pills the more expensive the ingredients. And with the failure rate of a novice, it was nearly impossible to make enough money form pill refinement. Sure one could make the pills from a lower grade, but that would cost a lot of time.


    This need for money to nurture a pill refiner had lead to them being rare at higher grades. The ones that had reached a higher grade generally belonged to either a bigger family or were sponsored by a corporation. Of getting sponsored meant that one would have to work for the corporation for a long time.


    Ivan hadn''t thought about it before since most of his herbs were those he got during training and the others were bought since they weren''t rare. Of course, he was only of the lowest grade of pill refiner, so the ingredients were neither rare nor expensive.


    "Then do you have an idea on how to get the money?"


    "No. I have thought about it and I think getting sponsorship is the best idea, but I wanted to ask Miss. Klein about it."


    "Well being Miss. Klein''s student should make it easier as well.", Ivan said. He had learned that Miss. Klein was quite famous in the circle of pill refiners.


    "You are correct, it would make it much easier.", a voice surprised the two of them. Unknowingly their teacher had entered the room, "But don''t you think that talking like this would make it seem like you only want to be my student because of the status you would gain?"


    Serge blushed embarrassedly but Ivan stayed calm. "Well, it is the truth after all. And if we become your disciples, we have to think of all the consequences of it."


    "Hoho, you are quite a smooth talker.", there was no anger in her voice. Instead, there was just a tinge of amusement. "Then does that mean, the two of you have decided?"


    "Yes!", both of them answered at the same time.


    "Even if I forbid you from taking on sponsorship and only relying on your own strength to get the necessary ingredients?"


    Neither of them hesitated to nod. For Ivan, it didn''t make a difference, since he had never planned to bind himself to an organization like this. Sure he was a member of the Slavers Alliance, but this was something completely different since he didn''t lose much freedom. There were only the mandatory quests and everything else was his decision. And if he left the realm, then even these quests could be delayed.


    As for Serge, it was much more important for him to get a great teacher. This way, even if he had to work himself to his bones, he would at least learn something.


    "Great. Then I''m sure that the two of you read up on the teacher-disciple relationship. If there are no other questions, then let''s do the ceremony now."


    Ivan had read up on it, but it wasn''t much different as she had already told them. Of course, there were different types of it, but the basics were mostly the same.


    After they had affirmed their understanding they then began with the ceremony. Miss Klein choose the simplest version, where the disciple and teacher only had to make a vow towards the other and after that, the disciple had to give the teacher something to drink. After the teacher had drunk it, then the ceremony would be done and the System would officially accept the relationship.


    << Congratulations, you have become the disciple of Bea Klein.


    Slightly increased chance to understand problems of pill refining.


    Slightly increased chance of successfully refining pills of grade A or less.


    >>


    << Congratulations, you have gained the title: Disciple (F) >>


    << Title: Disciple (F)


    You have taken someone as a master and as such has become the disciple. The role of a disciple is to learn and support their master. Do well and you can reach unimaginable heights.


    Slightly increased learning speed. (Improves memory and understanding.)


    Slightly increased luck if helping your master.


    >>


    << Warning: Your title Son of Chaos has been activated. >>


    << Warning; Your title Son of Chaos has been deemed to have a wrong description, now correcting. >>


    << Warning: Because of the activation of your title Son of Chaos, there have been changes to your teacher-disciple relationship with Bea Klein. >>


    *What the??*, this was the first time Ivan had seen something like this. At first, the usual popups had appeared which had informed him about the new relationship as well as the title. But then his field of view had been flooded with a flood of red warning messages.


    Reading them, it seemed like it had something to do with his title ''Son of chaos'' as well as the new teacher-disciple relationship. Somehow the title had been activated and then clashed with it.


    Which was weird, since the title should make it possible for him to break limits and there wasn''t any limit to break here.


    Well, maybe he would get the answer after the title had been updated.


    After the warnings disappeared a red timer appeared at the bottom of his HUD, which slowly counted down. Currently, there were still 10 hours left. Ivan guessed, that when it reached zero, his title would be updated. For now, he could only wait and continue as before.


    "Great, now that we have done the ceremony, the both of you are officially my disciples.", Miss. Klein smiled at them. She then took out two books and threw them at them. "Here, I recorded down the method of pill refining, I came up with. Read it and try to understand it. If you have questions, you can just call me. My number is on the first page."


    "Thank you, teacher."


    "That''s what I should do. Besides that let me give you some other tasks."

 126 Task

    The tasks that are given by a teacher to his or her disciple would be made a quest by the system. This was one of the perks of the relationship since some of the rewards would come from the system itself.


    Of course, this also came with some restriction, or everyone would want to enter such a relationship. The biggest restriction was, of course, the fact that the number of disciples a teacher could take was limited by his or her skill.


    Besides that, a quest would only be created once a week for each disciple and the reward would, of course, be dependant on the difficulty of the task. This stopped the teachers from just throwing out easy tasks with huge rewards.


    "First learn the technique I have just given you, then collect the ingredients needed to refine the ''Smaller Strength Pill''. The recipe, you can easily find online. If you can manage to refine at least a normal quality pill, then this task will be fulfilled and as a reward, I will give you a low-grade herb ring."


    "A herb ring?", Ivan asked in shock. From his understanding, these were quite expensive, so getting them for such a task seemed very generous.


    Miss. Klein laughed lightly, "They are only low grade and can only be used to store herbs. Still, it is something you will need in the future. After all, you will have to collect your herbs by yourself, so if you don''t have a good way to store them you will soon run into problems."


    "Still they are too expensive.", Serge said. Unlike Ivan who had only a vague idea of their worth, he knew about it. Even the kind of ring she had talked about would cost nearly as much as his father''s store.


    "Don''t worry about the price. They aren''t that expensive to me and I can get them surprisingly cheap from the guild."


    Since she was insistent and the ring would truly help them, they could only accept it. At least it was the reward of a task and not just a gift, which made it easier for them to accept it.


    << New Quest: First steps to real Pill Refining


    Task:


    Learn Bea Klein''s pill refining technique and use it to refine a ''Smaller Strength Pill'' of at least normal quality.


    Rewards:


    Low-grade Herb Ring, capable of only storing herbs.


    A slight increase in soul strength.


    A random low-grade herb.


    Time limit:


    Unlimited


    >>


    After she gave them the task, she then continued teaching them about what to look out for while refining pills.


    After the normal lessons had finished, it was time for dungeon training. They had slowly progressed through the first four floors, which all had the same enemies, rats. Of course, each floor was more difficult than the one before. But this came from larger groups of rats as well as new variants of rats. For example on the third floor, they had encountered a type of rat, that was able to spat small balls of acid towards them.


    They were quite hard for them to handle since you could only evade them or block them with a mana shield. If you tried to block them, then you could only watch as your weapon slowly got reduced to slag.


    Of course, their group had it still good, since they had a magician in their group. For those who were so unlucky to only consist of fighters, they had an even harder time fighting these rats.


    Fortunately, there were only a few of them and these were sparsely distributed throughout the catacombs.


    Now that they had reached floor five they would meet a new environment and foes. This time Ivan had looked it up beforehand, so he would know what to expect. The floors five to nine would be an open grassland, which was inhibited by different species. The most dangerous ones would be the wolf packs, but the vultures weren''t far behind.


    "Hey everyone.", Tina happily greeted the others. She had come a bit later, which was surprising since she usually clung to her boyfriend.


    "So is everyone prepared?"


    "Of course."


    "Yes."


    Everyone responded affirmative and then formed the party.


    "Great, then let''s get started."


    As so many times before, they then entered the dungeon.


    << Congratulation, you have reached Floor 5 in Nightmare mode. As a reward, all open spaces will have an increased amount of plants to be harvested.


    Reach Floor 25 in Nightmare mode for the next reward.


    >>


    The first thing, that greeted them after entering was this status message.


    "Wow, I didn''t know that there would be rewards for clearing floors in Nightmare mode.", Lars said in surprise.


    "But it seemed kind of useless.", Susan commented.


    "For you maybe, but for me, it is the best.", Ivan retorted. He had just gotten the task from his teacher and was in dire need of herbs he could collect. The one entry to the Herb Dungeon just didn''t cut it. As such finding more herbs in this Training Dungeon would be a great help.


    "Besides, who knows, maybe the next reward will increase the amount of something else. It seems to be related to what is coming next in the dungeon."


    "That may be, but just this one instance isn''t enough to prove it."


    "Well, we will see when we reach floor 25. Until then it is senseless to speculate."


    "Alright everyone should we get going?", Tina asked, interrupting their discussion.


    They appeared on a stone platform in the middle of an endless grassland. Above them, there was a blue sky, with sparsely distributed clouds, slowly moving along. A light wind blew and rustled through the grass.


    Seeing that there was only endless grass in all direction Ivan and the others looked bewildered.


    "So anyone knows how we know where we should go?", Tom asked.


    "From what I have read, there should be something on this platform, that will trigger the quest.", Tina explained, "The quest should then lead us towards the goal. But first, we have to find it."


    They searched the platform for anything, that might trigger the quest, but weren''t able to find anything.


    "Nothing?"


    Everyone shook their heads.


    "There should be something here. Although it is something different most of the time, according to the records there has always been something."


    "So where didn''t we look?"


    "Hm, we have searched the complete platform, so there is no way it is on it."


    "Then what about the side?"


    "I already checked them", Lars said.


    "Then what is left?"


    The others didn''t know the answer either.


    "Do we have to go without the quest?"


    "There is no use. We won''t be able to find the right way."


    Susan looked at the sky, "Damn, why the hell are we so unlucky?"


    Tina looked at her and then suddenly exclaimed, startling the others. "That''s it!"


    "What?"


    "The sky. Maybe the item is above us.", she explained her thought.


    "But why would it? Shouldn''t it be somewhere accessible for us?", Tom asked hesitantly.


    "I guess someone here does have the ability to go up there.", she answered and looked at Ivan. Everyone else too turned towards them. From all of them, he was the most likely to have a way to get up into the air. During their explorations, he had always managed to surprise them.


    Ivan could only grimace in response. Why the hell were they always looking at him, when something weird happens. Well, maybe this time it was really his fault.


    "So do you have a way?", Tina asked sternly.


    "Yeah", Ivan reluctantly admitted. He didn''t want to show Vlada. Although she was technically part of his strength, according to the rules of the Alliance, at his status he shouldn''t show her. Not only that, he too preferred to use the time in the Training Dungeon to train himself. Especially his teamwork. Bringing Vlada into the mix would only reduce the effect.


    Sadly this time, the system seemed to have made up its mind to force him to reveal her. Since they had searched everywhere else, he could only agree with Tina''s conclusion. Especially since he knew that he had the ability to go up into the air.


    He called out Vlada. When the bat appeared in front of the others, they released gasps of surprise. Although she wasn''t in her largest form, she was still quite big.


    After she appeared she first surveyed the surroundings, to determine if there was any threat and after having determined that the surroundings were safe, she cuddled into his side. This was something she had started to do, ever since she evolved. While she liked sitting on his shoulder in her smallest form. When in her slightly bigger form, which was her normal form, and she was just about the same size as him, she loved to cuddle whit him.


    Ivan softly stroked her head, enjoying the feeling of her soft pelt under his hand, while he looked at the astonished looks of the other party members.

 127 Grand Endless Grasslands 1

    "Wow!", Tina exclaimed. "She is so cute."


    The others also were fascinated by her.


    "How did you get her? I heard pets are expensive.", Tina asked. Anybody who would go to their school would come from a poor background. Because if one had money, then one wouldn''t live in the slums and go to an unranked school, like theirs.


    "Don''t tell me you are a member of the Slavers Alliance?", she then asked. This was the only logical guess, why he was able to have such a pet.


    Ivan just nodded calmly. Since he had already revealed Vlada, there was no reason to hide being a member of the Slavers Alliance.


    "How come you have never before used your pets?", Susan asked investigatory.


    "There wasn''t really a good reason. Having her around would have reduced the effectiveness of our training.", Ivan answered, giving the reasons that didn''t have anything to do with the Alliance''s rules.


    "Hm, you are right.", Susan agreed.


    Having fulfilled their curiosity about Vlada, Ivan then ordered her to fly upwards and look for anything that could be the trigger for the quest.


    Vlada spread her wings and slowly ascended. Periodically she halted and carefully checked around her.


    It took her fifteen minutes to finally find a small cube floating in the air. After grabbing it, she descended towards the group and dropped it into Ivan''s hand.


    The cube looked as if it was made out of glass. It was completely clear with only a slight white outline. In its center, a blue dot could be seen.


    As soon as it came into contact with Ivan''s hand, a message popped up for the members of the group.


    << New Quest: Traversing the grassland (F) (Nightmare Mode) (1)


    You have entered the Grand Endless Grasslands, which is filled with danger and opportunities. Your goal is to reach the grand tree, which is the only tree growing on this grassland. All the while fighting against the native monsters of the grassland.


    Tasks (Part 1):


    - Follow the arrow in the Direction Cube until you reach the grass hut.


    Bonus tasks:


    - Slay 50 Grass Wolfes


    - Slay 10 Grass Vultures


    - Slay 5 Gigant Grass Pythons


    Rewards:


    - Access to floor 6


    - 1 Silver


    - A random item box (req. Nightmare Mode)


    Bonus Rewards:


    For each bonus task you fulfill, you will receive:


    - 1 Silver


    - 1 Small Healing Pill (Normal Quality)


    For fulfilling all bonus tasks, you will receive:


    - 5 Silver


    - 1 Small Strengthening Pill (Normal Quality)


    - 1 Tin Lottery Ticket (req. Nightmare Mode)


    >>


    "Wow!", Tina exclaimed when she had finished reading the quest description. "These bonus tasks really give great rewards."


    "Yes, but they surely will be really hard as well.", Susan responded. "But what is this ''Tin Lottery Ticket''?"


    "I don''t know, but it must be something great since it is only available in Nightmare Mode and requires us to finish all the bonus tasks. Does anyone else have an idea what it could be?", Tina answered and then directly asked the rest of the group. Besides Ivan, everyone shook their heads, to indicate that they didn''t have any idea either.


    Tina saw that Ivan hadn''t shaken his head so she directly asked him, "Ivan, do you have an idea?"


    "Yeah. I have seen something like this before, just that it was a ''Golden Lottery Ticket''. It could be used to get something from the ''Golden Lottery Pool''. So this ticket should be a ticket for the ''Tin Lottery Pool''. I just don''t know how the items in this pool compare to those of the golden one.", Ivan explained what he knew.


    "Then how was the item from the ''Golden Lottery Pool''?", Tina asked curiously.


    "It should have been a great one.", Ivan responded. He himself wasn''t sure how great the reward truly was.


    "That''s good. But I think the tin variant should be quite a bit below it.", Tina said.


    "Yes, tin is ranked much lower than gold after all.", her brother interjected.


    "Right, you are a blacksmith, so you should know more about metals. Do they have a ranking?", Tina asked her brother. Although they were brother and sister, Tom was much quieter than her and usually didn''t initiate a conversation, so she had never heard him talking about his hobby.


    "Yes, they do. This ranking is even officially accepted by the system. Of course, there are always exceptions and there are always special rules but it generally works to rank metals.", Tom started to explain. "The lowest rank is tin, which is the same as these lottery tickets, so they should be of the lowest rank."


    "Ohhh.", disappointed sights could be heard, that the other members of the group emitted when they heard that. Tom ignored them and continued.


    "After that comes, copper and then bronze. These three are called the low-rank metals. They are followed by middle-rank metals, iron, silver, and gold. Finally, there are the high-rank metals. Theoretically, there should be three as well, but we only know of one at the moment, which is titanium."


    "So gold is quite a distance from the tin, right? Then wouldn''t be the reward be much worse.", Tina complained.


    "So what? A reward is still a reward and for it being a reward for clearing the bonus tasks on the fifth floor in Nightmare Mode, it should still be something great.", Susan consoled her.


    "I know, I know. Then should we get going?", Tina asked.


    "Sure.", everyone readily agreed. They had already wasted a lot of time on this platform. They had only a certain amount of time in the dungeon. After all, they had to go home after school and their parents would already be waiting for them. Although even if they hurried, it would be highly unlikely that they would manage to clear this floor on the first try. Luckily it wasn''t necessary to search for the quest trigger again when they would try again.


    "Then Ivan you go in the front. And Susan on the rear. The others should stay in the middle with Lars and me flanking Tom.", she proficiently ordered their formation, which was also the standard formation for them, when it came to open rooms. Before they had only needed to use it in the large halls since it was better to block the hallways with Ivan and Susan side by side after they had completely cleared them behind them.


    It was also the officially recommended formation for five-man parties. Of course, they would generally use the fighter as the rearguard and the tank as the lead. But for them, it was better to have Ivan go in front since he was the strongest and Susan in the rear since her survivability was still much higher than that of the rest.


    Because of the way they had to fight since their enemies were much stronger than them, Lars had adopted a fighting style, that focused on swift, sharp attacks, followed by retreating instantly if the enemy made any move towards him. His fighting style was now closer to that of an assassin than that of a normal swordsman.


    Ivan recalled Vlada and after they got into formation, they set out.


    Now the blue spot in the cube had changed into a blue arrow, which always pointed in one direction and served as the compass for the group.


    After stepping from the platform, they were now surrounded by the grass, that was even higher than them. Each blade was thicker than ten centimeters and there were many different sorts. Because some of them were razor sharp it was necessary to use one''s weapon to cut free a path for them to walk on.Something that would have been a very tedious process, considering the sturdiness of these grass blades. Luckily Ivan had his crystal dagger, which was sharp enough to easily cut through those grass blades. He had pulled it out after he had nearly destroyed his simple sword when trying to cut a slightly blue tinted grass blade.


    "Damn, this grass is dangerous!", Tina suddenly exclaimed. She hadn''t been careful enough and a grass blade on the side of the path had come into contact with the leather armor on her arm. It had then cleanly cut through it, nearly cutting into her arm as well.


    "Yes, so be careful everyone.", Ivan once again reminded the others.


    The sharpness of the grass spelled problems for them. Not only did it hinder their progress, but while fighting, it would also hinder their maneuverability. Since they couldn''t easily leave the path, they wouldn''t be able to dodge as much as they would like. And while this applied to them, it would surely not apply to the monster who lived here. Which meant that they would be able to attack them from the flanks whenever they wished. All of this led to them being in a dangerous situation.


    To be honest there was a relatively simple solution, which was to just ride on the enlarged Vlada. This way they would only have to defend themselves against the Grass Vultures while ignoring the danger of the grass as well as those monsters, which are unable to fly. Of course, this would also destroy the value of this training, so Ivan didn''t even mention it, but kept it in his brain, in case of an emergency.

 128 Grand Endless Grassland 2

    And truly, they hadn''t even walked wor five minutes, when suddenly a wolf tunneled out of the grass at the side. Its target was Tina, who had walked on that side.


    Coming out like this, it managed to surprise her, even though all of their concentration was raised to the maximum. Luckily for Tina, it didn''t choose to attack her throat, because that would most likely have been a death sentence for her. Instead, it targeted her leg. And it succeeded too.


    Tina had barely started to react when the wolfes sharp teeth entered her leg, "Aaaaarrgghhh.", she exclaimed in pain. But she didn''t let the pain stop her. With all her strength she stabbed downwards towards its head, with the short sword in her hand. She was hoping that she could force the wolf to release her leg. Unfortunately, she was mistaken. Instead of releasing her leg, the wolf used its huge physical strength to abruptly pull her leg away.


    Unable to keep her balance, Tina couldn''t continue with her stab and instead fell. But this short time had enabled Tom to react. He used his sword to hack down at the wolf, while at the same time channeling a healing spell for his sister.


    While hie attack completely missed the agile wolf, it nevertheless got it to release Tina''s leg. Tina hurriedly moved away from the wolf and got back on her legs. Meanwhile, the others had just taken a short look and seeing that it was only one wolf, focused on their surroundings again. Tina and Tom should be able to get rid of the wolf together, but it would be bad if someone else got surprised too.


    Having regained her footing, Tina paired up with her brother and put pressure onto the wolf. Whit two people attacking him, he couldn''t use his agility as well as before. The problem was that neither Tina nor Tom were able to land even a single hit on it.


    This stalemate continued for a bit until the wolf decided that it wasn''t worth it. Unlike some might believe, the monsters in the dungeons weren''t stupid crazy beasts, that would only know how to attack adventures. They too would be driven by their basic instincts. And the reason the wolf had attacked Tina was that it saw her as easy prey.


    Now that it had realized that it was different, it didn''t hesitate to vanish back into the grass.


    "Damn.", Tina cursed. She knew what this interaction meant. "Guys, prepare to die.", she then said, trying to inject some humor into her voice, to liven up the situation.


    If even one single wolf was this difficult for them to handle, then there was no way, that they would be able to withstand a full pack of them. Although Susan, Lars, and Ivan were better at close-quarter fighting than the two of them, this wouldn''t be enough, if they got surrounded.


    "Yeah, this sucks. It seems like we will fail hard on this floor.", Susan agreed. The floors in the dungeon had a multitude of checkpoints. At these checkpoints, one would be able to leave the dungeon as well as rest for a bit since they were designated as safe points. But on the Grand Endless Grassland, there were no such checkpoints except those that served as start and endpoint for the floors.


    But judging from the combat just now, it wasn''t likely that they would be able to reach the first checkpoint.


    "Damn, I heard dying in the dungeon sucks.", Lars too started to curse.


    While one would get revived by the system if one died in the Training Dungeon it wasn''t a comfortable affaire. Not only would one be able to feel one dying, which depending on the dead wasn''t fun. Because who would want to experience slowly being eaten up, or dissolved by the acid in a monster''s stomach?And after this bodily pain, there would be the pain to the soul, which was a side effect of the revive.


    Of course, there were some masochists who didn''t have a problem with it or even enjoyed it, but those were a rarity and most teams would hate to have someone like this as a member. Someone who didn''t really fear death, while sometimes being able of astonishing deeds, would in most cases be a danger to him and his teammates.


    "So what will we do now?", Tom asked.


    "I''m not sure. Does anyone have a good idea?", Tina asked while looking at Ivan. It seemed like she had gotten into the habit of expecting him to always have something up his sleeve.


    But this time she was doomed to be disappointed. Ivan didn''t have a good idea either. If he was alone, then he might be able to do it, but together with the others, it was impossible.


    "I don''t have any idea either. How did the other teams do it?"


    Because they were in Nightmare Mode, they had had more failures on the third and fourth floor. This had slowed them down compared to the other teams, which meant that some other teams should have already finished this floor. Since Tina liked to talk to others, Ivan was sure, that she had talked with those teams about it.


    "Yeah, but I don''t think their experience will be of much use for us. According to them the only problematic thing about the wolves was that they would appear. But besides that, they could easily defend against them and kill them, if the group size didn''t exceed 20.", she told them what the others had said before continuing, "But the won''t work for us. These wolves are to fast for us to defeat. Although Ivan should be able to do it. And maybe Lars as well. But we others are just sitting ducks in their eyes."


    "Then can we only continue on and hope for the best?", Susan asked. She didn''t seem happy about it, but neither did the rest. It was just that nobody had a good idea.


    "Is there no way, to increase our speed?", this was Lars who asked.


    "I don''t think so.", Tina answered, "Or do you have such a blessing?", she then asked her brother, who shook his head.


    "I don''t. But I could get one called Blessing of the Wind from the church. It is just that it is a bit expensive."


    "What does it do?"


    "It generally speeds up the targets. It is a group blessing, so I could cast it on up to five targets at the same time, which would be perfect in this situation.", Tom explained.


    "That really sounds like something we need. Then what would you need to get it?", Tina said.


    "We priests have to contribute to our church and this way we can earn points. We can then use them to buy different things."


    "So we won''t be able to help you.", said with disappointment in her voice.


    "Yeah, but I have some points saved up. So if I focus for a bit, I should be able to buy the blessing in around two months time."


    "That''s quite a long time."


    "Well, it won''t help us at the moment anyway. For now, it would be better to continue on.", Ivan interrupted the discussion. They were still standing in the middle of the grassland, so it was definitely not a good idea to hold this discussion at the moment.


    Once again the group made their way slowly forward. This time they were even slower since Ivan took the time to cut a larger path. Even though Tina and Tom wouldn''t be able to defeat the wolves on Tina''s side, with the larger path it would at least be less likely that they would be caught by surprise again.


    They now stood closer together as well. Although this would hinder their maneuverability, this didn''t really matter in the current situation, since none of them except Ivan was capable of really evading the wolves. As such the better defense capabilities of their new formation outweighed the cons of not being able to evade as well.


    They hadn''t gone far when once again a wolf jumped at them. This time it targeted Susan, who was in the back. Unlike Tina, she was well versed in defending herself in close quarters. As such, she was able to position her shield between her and the wolf, which fully collided with it.


    The force of the collision was big enough to force Susan back a step. At the same time, the wolf who hadn''t expected this turn of events was influenced as well. A hit to the head couldn''t just be ignored. Although it didn''t fall, it still staggered. Its moment of confusion was then exploited by Lars who tried to stab it in its throat. This was something he had learned on the floors below. Always go for the kill, and if that doesn''t work, then continue with slowly disabling the enemy.

 129 Grand Endless Grassland 3

    With Susan having stunned the wolf, his stab easily penetrated its throat. Although the wolfs vitality was high, it still couldn''t survive a stab through the throat. As such it soon died.


    "Good job.", Susan praised Lars.


    "You too. If you didn''t stun it, I don''t think I could have stabbed it like this.", he had seen the wolves speed when it had attacked her. And there was no way that he could cope with this kind of speed. Susan had only been able to position her shield at the right time because she was on high alert and with her skill was able to use only minimal motions.


    "This won''t work. We may be able to defend against single wolfs, but even two of them would be too much.", Lars then said.


    "So? There is nothing we can do, right?", Tina responded.


    "Well, we can at least take this opportunity to train against this kind of fast animal.", Ivan proposed. "Maybe we should stay close to the platform and not venture further yet. I think the wolves here are mostly single, while further out their number will increase."


    "Right, does this dungeon floor has a time limit?", Tom suddenly thought of something.


    "I don''t think so.", Tina answered. Although there were dungeons which had a time limit for their floors, they were on the rarer side. Most dungeons wouldn''t have a limit.


    "Oh.", Tom looked disappointed.


    "Then should we stay together or split up?", Ivan asked. If they were searching for single wolfs to train on, it might be better to split up. That could greatly increase the efficiency of their training.


    "I think we should split up into groups. Ivan, you can go solo, since you are the only one capable of doing so. Susan and Lars should make another team and the last one would be me and my brother.", Tina agreed with the proposal and directly created the groups.


    "Does that work? You and Tom lack close combat power. Would you be able to kill any wolves?"


    "We will have to figure something out, but it should be alright. And if not, then we can only try again next time."


    Everyone else agreed as well, to split up.


    Now that he didn''t have to create a path for the others in the group, Ivan could just surround himself with a thin mana barrier, which would stop the grass blades from cutting him. Thus his speed drastically increased. Of course, this would also slowly drain his mana but it was well worth it.


    It didn''t take long for him to meet a wolf. Just like the ones before, it jumped at him out of the thick grass. But unlike the others, his reaction speed could compare to that of the wolf. And although he didn''t manage to position his sword for an instant kill, he still managed to wound the wolf, while forcing it to shift sideways. Because of its evasive movement, it wasn''t able to finish its attack and its fangs went wide.


    Ivan''s sword, on the other hand, left a slight wound its flanks. The wound was too shallow to affect it, so after landing, it instantly catapulted itself towards him again.


    This time Ivan had more preparation time, so he took a simple step aside and slid his sword along the wolfs side. Although the quality of the sword was slow, it was enough to slide through the skin of the wolf and leave a wide wound, wich profusely bled.


    The wolves in this grassland were quite interesting as they would instantly retract if they were faced with a situation they deemed impossible to win. Therefore the wolf which had just gotten its side cut open resolutely continued running, instead of turning around to face Ivan again.


    He was surprised by its actions, so he was a bit slow and when he reacted, the wolf had already vanished in the grass.


    "Damn. These beasts are quite intelligent.", he cursed out.


    Since he wouldn''t be able to find the wolf, he just continued, hoping for the next one to attack him. This time he should try to either finish it instantly or to at least make the wolf unable to run. Or else he might not manage to kill even one wolf.


    Although the wolves were moving around solo, there were quite a few of them, so it didn''t take long for the next one to pounce towards him. This time Ivan was much faster to react. While moving to the side, he crouched and let his sword slit along the right legs of the wolf.


    To his surprise, his sword wasn''t able to even scratch the pelt of the wolf''s legs. It seemed to be much harder than the one on its sides.


    "Could it be because of the grass here?", he wondered, while changing his tactic. Since he couldn''t disable the wolf this way, then the only thing left was the instant kill.


    With his speed, he was unable to get a real advantage over the wolf. So he could only use his superior judgment to win. To kill the wolf instantly there were only two valid targets. Its neck or its brain. Of course, there was also the option of just splitting it open, freezing it or burning it completely. But those options would require him to spend a significant amount of mana, something he didn''t want to do.


    Once again the wolf pounced towards him. It seemed like this was the type of attack, they would prefer to do, as long as it was possible.


    Once again he dodged the attack and this time he hacked down with his sword when the wolf flew by him. This time he was just fast enough and neatly hit the neck of the wolf.


    His blade smoothly went through the neck and cleanly chopped off the head of the wolf. Thus instantly killing it.


    The only problem was that it didn''t teach him much. Killing a single wolf was just to simple for him.


    "Hm, I should go further out. I think I need at least a group of five wolves to put pressure on me. Or else there won''t be any training effect.", he mumbled to himself.


    Having made his decision he changed the direction he walked in. He now once again followed the blue arrow in the cube.


    While he was walking his gaze was suddenly attracted by a small blade of grass, which looked different than the other grass blades that could be seen.


    He bent down and carefully studied it, with the help of the ''Inspect'' skill.


    << Red Wind Grass,


    An uncommon type of grass, that can only be found in large open areas, mostly filled with other types of grasses. There it collects the wind blowing through the grass and collects the blood of the animals dying in the grass.


    It is wind and blood attributed, making it a perfect ingredient for speed boosting pills.


    >>


    The last sentence was something he got ever since he had learned enough about pill refining. It was a huge help when identifying the uses of medicinal herbs.


    And this herb was exactly what he needed. With this, he would be able to refine a pill, that could help the group to challenge this dungeon floor.


    At the same time, he cursed at his stupidity. They had gotten a message that the number of herbs that could be found was increased. But he hadn''t even looked until now. If not for finding this herb through luck, who knew how many others he would have missed.


    He carefully picked up the herb and placed it into his new Herb Ring.


    Then he continued. But this time he not only watched out for attackers but also for unusual plants. Especially grasses. These would be harder to differentiate than other herbs since everything was filled with grasses. And there was such a huge variety of grasses out there, that it was nearly impossible to be able to detect them all.


    What he now needed was a way to see his surroundings in detail. Thinking so far, he remembered the spiritual sense he usually only used during pill refining. There it enabled him to see the situation during the progress in great detail. But since it was possible to use spiritual sense to sense one''s surroundings, then it should be possible to use it during exploring and fighting as well.


    Not only would it allow him a 360-degree view of his surroundings, but it would also allow him to detect the things inside the grass. The herbs, as well as the monsters, would be sensable by him. This would enable him to find more herbs as well as reduce the risk of surprise attacks.


    The only drawback was that the amount of information collected through the spiritual sense was truly huge. Usually, he would only focus on a small area, so it was still manageable. But now he wanted to sense a large area, drastically increasing the difficulty.

 130 Grand Endless Grassland 4

    At first, he was overwhelmed, by the sudden influx of information. But it didn''t take him long to figure out, how to filter the information, thus reducing the strain on his brain.


    He didn''t need to know every detail, but only the rough outlines. For monsters that were more than enough to detect them and for herbs, it was enough to determine if he should check in more detail.


    Now that he was able to sense his surroundings, his speed once again increased. Although he didn''t avoid the wolves he found, he was prepared for them before they could attack him. This meant that he had now a much easier time one-shotting them.


    Like this, he slowly made his way forward. One wolf became two wolves and then three wolves. Finally, each group had at least five wolves and sometimes even seven.


    While he was easily able to handle the groups of three or fewer wolves when he got to the groups of more than that, he started to have to exert all his skill to handle them. While fighting, he slowly fell into a trance. His moves became instinctually, greatly reducing his reaction time.


    This way, he fought his way closer to the target of the floor.


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    He didn''t know how much time had passed, or how many wolves he had killed when an alert broke him out of his trance.


    << You have reached the first checkpoint. All team members can now choose to leave the floor at any time they want. >>


    Surprised, Ivan looked around.


    In front of him stood a gray stone statue of a wolf, just like the ones he had killed all the time. Red veins were going through the statue, most of them were a vibrant blood red, while the others were less vibrant, or even gray, with only a slight tinge of red differentiation them from the rest of the statue.


    "This must be the checkpoint.", Ivan murmured, "But what do these veins mean?"


    There was no explanation for them, so Ivan could only ignore them for now.


    He took a look at the time and found that it was nearly midnight. "Damn, did so much time really pass?", he asked in shock. Just to start cursing after the implications sank in.


    Although others could take care of Jane, he had wanted to go home and play with her. Because it was the first time her mother had left her alone, it wouldn''t be good, if her father didn''t come home in time as well.


    "Let''s check on the others and then hurry home.", he decided. Although it was way past sleeping time for Jane, he wasn''t sure if she had already gone to bed, or if she was waiting for him, "I hope Celine or Lucia have managed to get her to sleep."


    He used the System to contact the other in the group.


    The others had stayed close to the platform. There they would only meet lone wolves, which they could defeat in their groups of two. This way each of them had helped slay at least twenty wolves, which was much more than they had ever expected.


    The only problem was, that there was still no way to leave the floor and none of them was willing to die just yet. Although there was no connection to the outside, their parents knew that they were going to train in the Training Dungeon. And since it was well known, that one couldn''t really die in it, they wouldn''t be too worried.


    None of the members of the group was the kind to stupidly throw away their life again and again, as some people did. The biggest danger for people fighting in the Training Dungeon was to go crazy.


    While one couldn''t die, continued torture or repeated deaths could screw with one''s mind. Luckily, enemies, that would torture one were only possible in floors higher than 100. And if one got repeatedly killed, then one could only blame oneself. If an enemy is impossible to defeat, then one should know when to stop and come back after some more training.


    Since getting killed would enable one to respawn in the entrance hall, there was no reason to experience death after death.


    Another big problem they had was the mental pressure. Although the platform seemed safe from the wolves, that wasn''t sure. Thus they had to constantly be on the lookout for wolves to attack them. Together with the physical strain from fighting so many monsters, this served to exhaust them even more.


    It had been more than two hours that they had left the platform. If not for Ivan still running around in this grassland, they would have already gone out and suicided while fighting some wolves. Killing themselves was never an option for them, although that may be less painful.


    Now they were just sitting on the platform, with one person standing guard, while waiting for Ivan to come back.


    But instead of him coming back, they received a notification from the System.


    << A member of your team has reached the first checkpoint. All team members can now choose to leave the floor at any time they want. >>


    Together with the notification, an icon appeared on their HUD. It looked like a door and when concentrating on it one would get the information that through activating it one would be teleported to the entrance hall of the dungeon.


    When the notification appeared the group spontaneously broke out in loud cheers. It was clear, that Ivan had somehow managed to reach the first checkpoint. And unlike usually or reported by other teams, it seemed like one member reaching the checkpoint was enough to allow everyone on the team to leave the floor.


    Of course, leaving the floor would mean forfeiting any progress they may have made. But that was of no consideration for them. The progress wasn''t much anyway and it was more important to recuperate and relax for a bit.


    "Let''s contact Ivan and then leave.", Lars said excitedly.


    The others too urged Tina to contact Ivan. Everyone was very eager to finally leave.


    Before Tina could contact Ivan, he contacted her instead. "Wow, Ivan. I didn''t expect you could reach the checkpoint solo. How did you do that?"


    Hearing her question, the others stared at her with anger. How could she waste time with this question? There was enough time to ask it later. For now, it was imperative to get out of here.


    Luckily, Ivan wasn''t in the mood to talk about it either. Especially since he couldn''t remember everything either. Instead, he directly asked, "Anyone wants to stay here or should we leave?"


    It had never been a question for anyone in the group, to leave alone, while others stayed. They were a team and as such, they would leave as a team as well.


    "Of course we want to leave!", everyone exclaimed.


    "Great, then let''s get out of it." Without any hesitation, everyone used the teleport to leave the floor.


    At nearly the same time, the members of the group appeared in the entrance hall. Besides Ivan everyone let themselves fall to the floor.


    "Damn, this was torture.", Tom groaned. He who usually didn''t have to do direct fighting had to tank for his sister. As a priest, he had some skills that would make it easier for him to take an attack than Tina, so per default, he had become the tank in their two-man group.


    Susan wasn''t in a much better state. True, she was much better in defending than Tom, but she didn''t have his healing spells. Although Tom had healed her whenever they met at the platform until then she had to bear the pain.


    Looking at everyone on the floor, Ivan smiled slightly, instantly getting glares in response.


    "What are you looking at? Isn''t all this your fault.", Tina angrily said.


    Ivan just shrugged and responded, "How so? We all choose Nightmare Mode together, so you can''t put the fault onto me. And besides, if I didn''t reach the checkpoint, how would you have gotten out in such a comfortable way?"


    "Right, shouldn''t you be even more exhausted than us?", having realized that Ivan was still standing there with ease, Susan asked in surprise.


    "It''s not the first time I had to be wary for a long time. You get used to it and learn to relax whenever possible. In truth, it is possible to be alert for a long time if you train it. The main point is to know when to relax and what to relax. For example, you can close your eyes and instead use your ears, if your eyes get too strained. In most cases, there is no sense to have all your senses on full alert. By rotating them, it can massively reduce the strain on them as well as the brain. After all the different parts of the brain are used to analyze the input from your senses."

 131 Magic Edge

    "Oh, that makes sense. It looks like we need to train more.", Tina said, before continuing, "But for now, we should all go home and take a good rest. If everyone agrees, then we can talk about this run tomorrow."


    Everyone else enthusiastically agreed. They couldn''t wish for anything more, than going home and resting. Of course, it would be even better if they didn''t have to go home and could instantly rest.


    While in the subway, on his way home, Ivan checked out the message prompts he had dismissed during the frantic fighting in the dungeon.


    << Congratulations, you have learned the new skill ''Magic Edge (F)'' >>


    << Skill: Magic Edge (F)


    By infusing the blade of your weapon with a small amount of mana, you create a thin mana shield around the blade, drastically increasing its sharpness as well as slightly increasing its durability.


    Cost:


    A constant stream of mana. The amount of mana funneled into the blade determines the effect. The amount of mana per second a weapon can take depends on its quality as well as your control over the mana.


    Effect:


    Drastically increased sharpness of the blade depended on the mana funneled into the blade as well as the control over the mana and this skill.


    Slightly increased durability of the blade. Because of the mana shield, the blade is less likely to get damaged, thus reducing the damage it takes.


    >>


    This skill should be something he had learned during the combat when he had used his flaming blades, to instantly kill the wolves. But because he had run low on mana he was forced to remove the fire component. Although this drastically decreased its effect, it also decreased the mana cost, making it much more suitable for long-duration fighting.


    It was a useful, but still simple skill. Especially the fact, that the effect was dependent on the mana channeled into it as well as his mana control. Especially the mana control made it very suitable for him.


    Although he wasn''t as good as Serge in controlling mana, he was still much better than the average mage. This was because of the requirements of pill refining. While usually, mages would focus more on increasing their mana, pill refiners would instead focus on their mana control. Sure, that would slow the growth of their mana reserves, but it was well worth it.


    Ivan had realized, that while spells managed by the system mostly weren''t influenced by mana control since that part would be taken care of by the spell matrix. But for developing personalized spells or customizing spells to suit one''s style, mana control was a requirement.


    In his opinion, someone who didn''t have fine control over mana would never be a good mage. Instead, they could at most be called spell slingers. Nothing more than casters who would just throw out spells. Unable to react properly to unexpected situations and locked in the framework, formed by their available spells.


    Of course, there were also some spells, who could be caster better if the mana control was better, but those spells were mostly channeling spells and as such not very popular. Especially since they ofter worked best in combination with close-quarter combat. Something most mages inherently disliked.


    He then checked the next prompt. It too was about a skill he had gained. But it was quite different from ''Magic Edge''.


    << Congratulations, you have learned the new skill ''World Awareness (C)'' >>


    << World Awareness (C)


    For an adventurer, it is imperative to be aware of the surroundings.


    To sense enemies approaching, to sense projectiles shooting towards him and of course to sense valuables. Because if one isn''t able to find any valuables, then why bother being an adventurer?


    By using Spiritual Sense to sense the surrounding one can do all this. But as one might realize, the costs are way too high. A high drain on one''s Mental Energy because of the constant use of Spiritual Sense as well as the extreme amount of information leads to fast exhaustion. Thus it is necessary to filter the information and to efficiently use the Spiritual Sense.


    This skill enables the owner to efficiently sense the surroundings, by making use of a complex scan algorithm as well as filter algorithm.


    Cost:


    A large amount of Mental Energy as well as mental exhaustion.


    Effect:


    Scans the surroundings of the user for hostile creatures and objects, as well as valuables.


    Current range:


    50m


    >>


    This was another useful skill. Although it had one weakness and that was the high cost as well as the cost. While using up Mental Energy wasn''t a problem for Ivan, since he didn''t have a way to use it in combat anyway, The problem was mental exhaustion. This was something that could be fatal. Because of mental exhaustion, the reaction speed, as well as the thinking speed, would be reduced. And during combat, there was nothing worse. Especially since he focused on speed to evade the enemies attacks as well as to counterattack.


    There even a millisecond could determine the result. As such a slowed reaction speed could spell his doom. There was no need to even mention the effect on his thinking speed. With that, the skill lost most of his usefulness.


    Maybe in some situations, it could still be useful. As such he wouldn''t use it in normal cases to scan for enemies. But to use it to scan for valuables would surely be viable, as long as he was sure that there was no danger around.


    << Congratulations, you have gained the passive effect of World Awareness (C) >>


    << World Awareness (passive) (C)


    While it is unrealistic to continuously scan the surroundings actively, for an adventurer it is still a necessity to be aware of the surroundings.


    By drastically reducing the amount of Mental Energy used to scan as well as more radical filters, it is possible to scan the surroundings without much strain. In fact, the strain is even lower than the recovery rate.


    Of course, this to the detriment of sensitivity and range.


    Effect:


    You can vaguely sense creatures and objects in your surroundings.


    Current range:


    5m


    >>


    Now, this was exactly what he wished for. He had already realized, that he had been able to vaguely sense his surroundings, but the feeling was so vague that it might as well not be there. It seemed like he had to train this skill more since it was unmeasurable useful. Of course, the range was to low as well. Five meters was something that some monsters could pass in the blink of an eye. And that was valid for monsters, that were on the level of those wolves.


    With a higher level and grade, they would be even faster. If he met such a monster then his five-meter sensory range, might as well not exist at all.


    << Congratulations, you have gained the title ''Slayer of Wolves (F)'' >>


    << Title: Slayer of Wolves (F)


    By slaying a large number of wolves, that have at least your level, solo, you have managed to gain the title ''Slayer of Wolves''. You have extensively studied the best way to slay wolves, enabling you to easily find their weak points as well as to exploit them.


    You have been drenched by the blood of wolves, making you appear as a dangerous foe to all wolves. Those stronger than you will seek you out to get revenge for their fallen brethren, while those weaker will try to avoid you, as to avoid the same fate as those slain by you.


    Effect:


    - Increased damage to wolves.


    - You can easily find the weak point of wolf creatures.


    - Wolves that are stronger than you are more aggressive towards you.


    - Wolves that are weaker than you are more likely to avoid you or flee from you.


    >>


    This title was just one of the usual title one could get when slaying many creatures of a specific type solo and in a short timespan. They were something commonly seen and were very balanced. They were very popular as well since it would remove the need of having to handle trash mobs. As the low-level monster would just flee, while the higher leveled monsters would come towards you. Of course, if one wasn''t strong and careful enough this aspect could spell one''s doom. But generally, the pros outweighed the cons of this type of title.


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    << Congratulations, you have learned the skill ''Battle Trance (C)'' >>


    << Skill: Battle Trance (C)


    Those who love combat, especially close quarter combat, will sometimes lose themselves in the joy of fighting. They will then only react on instinct, drastically improving their fighting ability, while reducing the decision making ability. They will become the perfect fighting machine.


    They can only leave the trance when there is no foe left, standing or they are critically wounded.


    Cost:


    Mental Energy, that is proportional to the time spent in the trance.


    Effect:


    - Increases reaction speed.


    - Increases skill proficiency.


    - Reduces the ability to make decisions, not relevant for combat.


    - Can''t be canceled until either you or the foes are defeated, or your Mental Energy runs out.


    Warning:


    If the trance cancels because you run out of Mental Energy, then you will fall into a coma for two to five days.


    >>

 132 Risky Skill

    This skill was a risky one. While it may be able to help one survive a fight, it could just as well lead to one''s doom. As long as one was able to defeat the foes in the time frame, one had because of the Mental Energy one had, then everything was good and this skill would make it much easier. But if one miscalculated and the time wasn''t enough, then one would fall into a coma and be easily dispatched.


    It was a skill, that once activated didn''t allow retreat. And as such should only be used, when one could either calculate the time needed for the fight or when the situation was so dire, that the increase of combat strength may help one survive, while otherwise, one would be unable to. As such it was a great last resort skill in case one was unable to flee.


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    But because of his skill ''Reincarnation'', he would be able to use the skill a bit more freely. It could be said that the skill ''Reincarnation'' was the most important one, he had ever gotten. How couldn''t it, since it was, what enabled him to survive all kind of situations. Although could it really be called surviving?


    There was only one prompt left, which was a new skill as well. It was surprising how many skills he had gotten in one day of extensive fighting.


    << Congratulations, you have learned the new skill ''Mana Strengthening'' >>


    << Skill: Mana Strengthening (E)


    The body is something that requires energy to run. The more energy available, the better it can work, the more power and speed it can deliver. So what if you infuse it with something like mana?


    Since mana is a highly concentrated form of energy, that is usually incompatible with the energy used by the body, the effect will surely be surprising.


    Ever experienced an uncountable number of explosions going off in your body? Now you can.


    By mixing mana with Vital Qi you can, through the resulting explosion, supercharge your cells, drastically increasing your power and speed for a short time. While at the same time stressing and even damaging your cells.


    Cost:


    A variable amount of mana and Vital Qi.


    Effect:


    Increased strength and speed, depending on the amount of mana and Vital Qi used. If too much mana is used, then additionally there will be a period of weakness after the effect ends.


    Is way too much mana used, then after the effect ends, there will be damage to your body. This damage may even be the complete destruction of your body.


    Warning:


    Calculate the amount of mana used. It depends on the strengthening of your body.


    Remark:


    Yay, you blew yourself up. Come on, do it again.


    >>


    Once again it was a skill, where Ivan didn''t know what to say about it. While it was very useful, there was a risk associated as well. This generally seemed to be a pattern with most strengthening skills. Or maybe it was just a thing, that skills with variable mana usage had drawbacks. While they would always scale well with increased mana and other factors, they would also always have a risk associated with them.


    Some skills would just not work if the amount of mana was wrong, while others would either fizzle out or explode. And those body strengthening skills were the worst. In the end, they could always result in the death of the user.


    Just like the ''Battle Trance'' skill. If you failed, then you would fall into a coma and while that sounds like you wouldn''t die, you would have to take a look at the situation you could fail in. If you weren''t extremely lucky and fell into a coma just when you got rid of your last foe, then you would surely have at least one foe going at you. So if you fell into a coma, how the hell, were you supposed to defend? Thus it meant you were as good as dead if you failed.


    And this ''Mana Strengthening'' skill was similar. You could use it to boost your body short time, but you had to be careful not to extend the right duration or you would be as good as dead. If you need the skill at a level that would result in weakness after the effect ended, then if you didn''t manage to finish the fight in the time the effect lasted, you would surely die after it ended. Not to mention the case were you directly blew yourself up while casting the skill.


    "Well, at least I now have two skills to use in an emergency.", Ivan murmured.


    While he had been checking out the prompts, he had reached the station next to his home. As such he left the subway and started to walk back the last part. Although he had learned how to drive and even got his license, he still preferred to use public transport and go on foot.


    It was already night, so the sky was dark and only the light from the moon and stars lighted up the area. Since this was a luxurious neighborhood, there were no other sources of light that could destroy the atmosphere.


    Ivan enjoyed his walk back. The slightly cold night wind comfortably caressed his face, helping him relax and fully release the tension from the dungeon run. There truly was nothing more beautiful than a silent night with no danger in sight.


    The walk back home was nearly to short for him. If not for him desiring to check on his daughter as well as being slightly tired, he would have spent a bit more time, just walking around.


    The villa was dark, indicating that everyone was asleep. Ivan silently made his way up the stairs to his daughter''s bedroom. Thanks to his good night vision he didn''t need to activate the lights.


    When he saw the sight on his daughter''s bed he had to uncontrollable smile. Jane had fallen asleep in the arms of Lucia. Something he was happy to see, as it showed how close they had gotten in the short time they knew each other.


    In fact, they now seemed like sisters, who knew each other for a long time. This was something Ivan was very glad to see. When he had first met Jane, it hadn''t taken him long to realize that she was unlike other children of her age. She was much stronger and intelligent than most of them. But because she was still a child, she was unable to hide those differences, leading to her being unable to spend time with them.


    This had lead to her being very lonely and developing a much more mature personality than normal. Now with Lucia, who often acted childishly, she had someone she could play with, without fear of hurting her, either physically or mentally.


    He didn''t enter the room, but instead silently closed the door. Still smiling he walked to his room. After a short shower, he let himself fall onto the bed in his pajamas.


    "I wonder how Lara is doing?", he asked himself. He didn''t know how, but in the short time Lara had slept at his room, he had gotten used to seeing her lying on his bed. Now that she wasn''t here, he couldn''t help but wonder how she was doing.


    Ignoring the fact that it was already late, he took out his phone and send a message to her. It was nothing special, just asking her how she was doing.


    Not unexpected, he didn''t directly get an answer.


    Lying on the bed, he reminiscent of what had happened ever since his reset and he once again realized, that everything that was truly important to him had to do with Lara and Jane.


    "Thank you former me, for what you did." Although he knew that Lara had gotten a trauma, because of what his former self had done, he couldn''t help but be grateful for it. If not, then what would his current life be about?


    Mindlessly trying to get stronger? What was the sense with that? Only to find out who he was before? Was that really something one could make the only goal of one''s life?


    Sure, that was what he had thought at first, but now his view had changed. The most important thing was to live happily. And everything else was only a tool to do this. Happiness was the true goal one should strive for. Who cares about strength, as long as one can be happy and protect one''s happiness.


    And to him, happiness was living with his family and watch them enjoy their life. To watch his daughter laugh happily while playing. To see his wife relax and smile. This was his happiness and he would do anything to protect it.

 133 For the family

    << Congratulations, you have gained the core belief ''For the family'' >>


    << Congratulations, you have unlocked the System Wiki (Level 0) >>


    << System Wiki (Level 0)


    You can now access the wiki entries of the system. At level 0 you can only access those that the system has explicitly given you access to.


    >>


    << You have unlocked the wiki entry ''core belief'' >>


    << Core belief


    A core belief is a central part of cultivation. It describes the motivation behind cultivation and what you believe in. While acting according to your core belief you can nurture it and have it grow.


    Skills that align with your core belief are more efficient than others. You can use the power of your core belief to increase the effect of skills which are in tune with it.


    Your current core belief ''For the family'' is a common one, that focuses on the family. There are generally three routes most people take, with many others available as well.


    Route one:


    The happiness of the family. Here the happiness of the family and its members stand in the foreground. It mostly focuses on supporting skills, that can help family members attain happiness.


    Route two:


    The glory of the family. This route focuses on the glory of the family. An important point to watch is what glory means, but generally, it can be described as the reputation the family has in the eyes of the others. This route focuses mainly on combat skills since a good way to increase the reputation of the family is to fight against strong monsters or cultivators.


    Route three:


    I''m the family and the family is me. This route is an egocentric one, where the focus is on oneself and the family is seen as an extension of oneself. Everything you and the family do is for you to enjoy.


    Recommend route:


    A mixture between route one and two is recommended since it can balance the two. Sometimes a little bit of route three is advisable as well since it can reduce the risk of being used by the family.


    ...


    >>


    After that followed a lot more with more details, including some tips on how to grow the core belief.


    Ivan checked out his sea of consciousness and easily found the small seed floating in it, besides the mental hut. This was the representation of the core belief.


    It would start as a seed and then slowly be nurtured into a sapling, before growing into a tree. There wasn''t any mention of an upper limit in the wiki entry, but there were hints that after the tree reached a certain size, it would change. It was just that he wasn''t able to access this information and besides, it was still way too far away for him to think about.


    He took a closer look at the unassuming seed, but couldn''t detect anything special. It would have to become a sapling first before it could be used in any way.


    << Since you are a family head, you can now set your core belief as the family belief. Do you want to do it? >>


    While reading about the core belief, he had also read about family belief. The family belief was slightly different from the core belief. It would grow with the deeds of the family members and unlike the core belief, it didn''t allow the usage of its power to strengthen skills. Instead, it would provide buffs for the family members.


    And unlike core beliefs, which one could have as many as one wants, although it was generally seen as unrealistic to have more than four, a family could only have one family belief per rank. As such it was important that the family head selected a good core belief to serve as family belief. In fact, often the family heads would rather leave a spot free than select an unsuitable belief.


    Luckily for Ivan, according to the wiki, his ''For the family'' was one of the most popular family beliefs. It was generally seen as having good synergy with the family system since it put the focus on the family. The wiki didn''t go in-depth, but it mentioned that the buffs gained through the ''For the family'' belief were some of the best, since they would allow the family to be stronger and even sped up the growth of other family beliefs.


    As such it was one of the best first or second family beliefs to be selected.


    With this knowledge, Ivan didn''t hesitate to select the accept button.


    << Warning: Your family has currently no family home, so the family belief seed can not be planted. Please reach family rank 2, to gain a family home. >>


    "Oh right.", that was something Ivan had forgotten about. For the family belief to work, just like the core belief, it had to grow into at least a sapling. But unlike the core belief which would grow inside one''s sea of consciousness, the family belief would grow in the family home.


    Only at rank 2 would a family get a family home, near the place, where it was founded. This family home would then serve as the focal point of the family. Later it could then be moved, if necessary.


    << Congratulations, you have gained a new quest: ''Growth of the family (1)'' >>


    << Quest: Growth of the family (1)


    Grade: F


    As a family man, how can your family be of a low rank? You should hurry up and increase the members of your family.


    Task:


    Have 20 members in your family. Currently 7.


    Reward:


    A free random building on your family homeland.


    >>


    "Damn.", once again it was a quest he was kind of unwilling to finish. "Whatever, let''s think about it later." He hurriedly threw it into the back of his mind.


    << Congratulations, you have gained a new quest: ''Power of believing (1)'' >>


    << Quest: Power of believing (1)


    Grade: E


    Now that you have gained a core belief, you have to understand it''s power, to really use it. For that, the first step is to grow it into a sapling, so you can use it.


    Task:


    Grow your core belief seed into a sapling


    Reward:


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    A random core belief skill book.


    >>


    Now, this was a quest, Ivan liked. It was straightforward and required him to do what he desired to do anyway. And that was to spend time with his family. Because spending a happy time with family members would be one of the easiest ways to grow his core belief seed.


    << Congratulations, you have earned the title ''Early believer'' >>


    << Title: Early believer


    Grade: S


    Usually, core beliefs are only gained in the earth realm. For you to gain your first one in the flesh refining realm shows the strength of your belief. Stay true to yourself and you will be able to reach great heights.


    Effect:


    Increases the growth speed of your core belief.


    Increases the effect of your actions on the family belief.


    >>


    After reading the description of this title, Ivan couldn''t help but smile. This was something he liked. Sure as just about always, the title could also backfire on him but as long as he stood to his believes he could only gain through it.


    Having read all the prompts he could feel himself growing sleepy. It seemed like the dungeon run had sapped his strength much more than he had thought. And soon he fell into a deep sleep.


    The next day he woke up in his bed. He turned to look if Lara had already gotten up, before remembering that she had left for an adventure. Once again he wondered how easily he had gotten used to her staying with him in the same room.


    When he came down the stairs, the others already waited for him at the breakfast table.


    "Daddy!", Jane exclaimed when she saw him.


    "Morning darling.", he softly greeted her back and tussled her hair. He then greeted the others as well, "Morning everyone."


    "Morning, Ivan.", the others replied. Although Celine should have called him master, ever since they had done the contract, he had told her to just act comfortable and call him by his name. As for Lucia, she just called him by his name from the start, not feeling any distance to him.


    He sat down and looked at them. As usual, Lucia sat beside his daughter and the two whispered to each other and picked up each other food. It warmed his heart to see them acting so comfortable with each other. Opposite of them sat Celine who too smiled at the sight of her daughter.


    She had gotten better since Ivan had infused her with Vital Qi regularly. Now she was able to walk on her own again and her formerly white hair had gotten some color at the roots. According to her, it would take at most two more months until they could execute the ritual.


    But she was already able to transfer him enough spiritual qi to cure the flareups of blood. Something that made his life much easier.

 134 Park

    After they had finished eating breakfast, Jane suddenly spoke up.


    "Daddy, this week a new park has opened. Do you think we can go there today?"


    Hearing her request, Ivan looked at her in confusion. He didn''t understand what was so special about a park, that they would have to go there. Before they had already gone to an amusement park and Jane hadn''t really liked it that much.


    Seeing his look Lucia explained in Janes stead, "It is something completely new. A water-themed park. You know that Jane loves swimming so this is something made for her. Originally she wanted to ask you yesterday already, but I stopped her since you had school until evening. But today you should have some time right?"


    Although she explained like this, it was clear to see, that she was at least as much looking forward to visiting that park as Jane was. Not that Ivan had a problem with it. It only showed once again how well these two got along, just like sisters.


    *Wait, maybe I can finish that quest this way. I''ll have to ask Lara about it.*, he suddenly got an idea, when he thought about them being like sisters. If they really became sisters, then wouldn''t Lucia be a member of the family and increase the counter for that quest?


    "Hm, originally I have planned to go to the training dungeon with some friends, but it shouldn''t be a problem to adjourn it." He didn''t think that the others would have a problem with it. After all, they too had to go into the dungeon yesterday and he wasn''t sure that they were already fit again. Thus going to a park and relax may just be the best thing to do.


    "How about you ask them to go along?", Celine interjected.


    "Yes, daddy. I wanna meet your friends as well.", Jane supported Celine''s decision instantly. Until now she had only met Irena, who had come over before.


    "Sure I will ask them if they want to come with us."


    "Great, then I''ll get everything ready so you can have fun then.", Celine smiled at them.


    "Why don''t you come along? Or haven''t you recovered enough yet?", Ivan proposed.


    When she heard his question Celine''s face lit up. She was happy that he thought of her and was willing to take her with them. During the last few years, she had spent as an old woman, her mentality had changed as well. She was more mature than before and often saw herself more like an old woman, with a fragile body.


    "I''d love to, but I don''t think my body can handle it just yet."


    "Is there really no way? I''d love for you to accompany you.", Jane asked her as well,


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    "Mmm, it''s not that there is no way, it is just that the only way would be a bit detrimental for your father.", Celine patiently explained to her.


    "Then if daddy helps, you can come with us?", Jane said while focusing on the, from her point, important thing. She had grown close to Celine as well and saw her as something like an aunt. So for her, it would be much more fun if she could accompany them.


    "Yes. But there are some problems with this method."


    "Let''s do it.", Ivan didn''t even wait for her to explain the problems. In his understanding of her, she wouldn''t even have mentioned it, if there was a real problem. As such he had no problem with agreeing to it, without knowing what it was first.


    Celine looks at him carefully, as if to determine if he was serious and when she saw that he didn''t show any signs of nervousness, she smiled gladly. She was happy about her decision, back when her daughter had shown her the job advertisement. Not only had her daughter met Jane, who was like her sister, but Ivan and Lara were nice people as well.


    "It is a form of vitality overload, which would allow me to become young again for a few hours. To be exact I would look like when I was twenty and that for about five hours, so we will have to do it after you come back from school."


    She didn''t mention what they would have to do and Ivan didn''t ask either.


    After having decided on going to the park this afternoon, it was time for Ivan to go to school. As usual, he took public transport to reach the slum, where the school was located.


    While he walked down the wide street, that was lined with small stands, where people sold food and other necessities, he suddenly sensed something unusual. It came from one of those stands. Or to be exact from the young woman behind it.


    He couldn''t see how she looks since her face was smeared with dirt and her clothes were so baggy, that they completely hid her figure. Only her blood-red eyes were visible. Those eyes were unusual and he wondered how they came to be. Did she have them from birth or did she get them later? If not for her skin being completely smooth although dirty, he wouldn''t even be able to guess that she was a young woman.


    She wasn''t an unusual sight on these streets since many young women had to work on these stands.


    Sure everyone in the kingdom was able to attend school and thus would get some basic education. But most of those that were born in the slum would be unable to leave them since it was hard to get a job with just the school education offered by the schools in the slums.


    Especially if the person didn''t have any talent in fighting since adventurer was the only job anyone could do. But if one didn''t have the talent, then it would only mean throwing away one''s life. Most people would prefer to stay in the slum and make the best of their life.


    He had heard, that the king had created many campaigns to get rid of the slums, including introducing some basic welfare. But that had only made the life in the slums more bearable. Even the kingdom wasn''t able to just give those people enough to live a normal life. This could only happen if they were able to find work, that paid well enough.


    But through the years, the royal family had to realize that they were unable to completely get rid of the slums. Instead, they focused on providing the most basic necessities. As such it had been a long time since someone starved or froze to death. So even though life in the slums wasn''t great, it was still manageable. And there were also some who managed to get out and then took their family with them. Thus there wasn''t a depressed atmosphere over the slums, but instead, it was lively and full of hope. Hope for a better future for oneself and one''s descendants.


    But back to that woman, which had attracted Ivan''s attention. He slowly got closer to her and looked at the things on the stand, in order to hide him trying to feel her out with his spiritual sense. To his surprise, the things she sold were pills and elixirs. But they were of such an inferior quality that they could barely be called that. Still, for common illnesses, they were more than enough.


    Even after using his spiritual sense to scan her he was unable to find what had attracted him. He could only feel his spiritual sense get a bit excited when it swept over her. While thinking about the best way to proceed, he took one of the pills and carefully studied them.


    It was surprisingly well made, but the lack of material and technique destroyed the hard work. From the looks of it, she had only found some recipe and then used inferior material and pure determination to craft this pill. He was surprised that she had even managed to form a pill.


    After that, he picked up one of the elixirs. Checking them out, he realized that they were the failed pill refining products dissolved in water. This would keep some of the properties of the pills and was a great way to recycle the failed product.


    He was quite impressed by her ingenuity. Looking at them he suddenly had an idea. He had gotten to a stage in his pill refining, where it took a long time to do the basic preparation. So it would be a huge help to have an assistant.


    "Excuse me, did you make these?", he asked the woman, while pointing at the pills.


    "Yes. They are made by me and are guaranteed to work.", the woman confirmed his guess and instantly praised her goods.


    "I know.", Ivan nodded, surprising her. "I just wanted to make sure, since I want to make me an offer."


    "An offer?", she asked carefully. Since he was that interested in those pills, it shouldn''t be anything untoward. As such she decided to first listen to him.

 135 Assistan

    "Yes. I would like to offer you a position as my assistant.", Ivan told her and then pulled out his business card. He had gotten them when the system had given him the title ''Pill refiner'' not long ago.


    << Title: Pill refiner (F)


    You are now a qualified pill refiner. Work hard to become better.


    Assistants:


    You have 1 free assistant slot.


    Unlocks F grade herb store.


    Unlocks F grade pill store.


    >>


    The description didn''t tell him much but there was more information available.


    << Wiki: F grade herb store


    The F grade herb store is one of the stores provided by the system for crafters. There you can buy F grade herbs, which you can then use to refine pills. These herbs can only be used by you and cannot be sold to others.


    >>


    <<Wiki: F grade pill store


    The F grade pill store is one of the stores provided by the system. There you can buy and sell F grade herbs. The pills sold can only be used by yourself and not be given to anyone else. You can also only sell pills that you have crafted yourself.


    >>


    Ivan had checked out those stores and their prices were very bad. It was much cheaper to buy most herbs at the herb stores controlled by other humans. The pills to were much more expensive and the buying price was lower as well. As such the stores were only useful for those rarer herbs, that couldn''t usually be found in any stores.


    <<Wiki: Pill refiner assistant


    The official pill refiner assistant will be able to work with the herbs exclusive to the refiner. The system will also mask the assistants magical signature during work, with that of the refiners.


    Pills refined together with one''s assistant will count as refined personally.


    >>


    The thing that Ivan was interested in was the masking of the magical signature.


    The magical signature of the one working with the herbs would subtly influence properties of the herb. So if someone besides the refiner worked with the herbs, it would lead to a decrease in the efficiency of the pill and an increase of the difficulty for the refining process. Only if the refiner was intimately familiar with the magical signature of the other person would he be able to compensate for these differences.


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    As such, the masking of the magical signature was a huge help, when refining a large number of pills, since the preparation could be done by something else, drastically reducing the work the refiner had to do.


    Anyway. After he had gotten the title, an option had appeared in his inventory to take out this business card. It was designed by the system and was provided free of charge. It displayed not only his name and contact details, but also his pill refiner rank and couldn''t be forged. Not only that, he had read that it would automatically update the information as well.


    After he had given the card to the woman, she relaxed slightly. When she had taken the card, the system had confirmed his status as a pill refiner. Still, she felt bewildered. Why would this man, she hadn''t met before want her to be his assistant?


    "Why would you want me to be your assistant?", she didn''t try to be shy and directly asked him the question.


    Ivan only thought for a bit and then decided to answer honestly. "I don''t know. It is just that I feel like it will work out." He knew that saying it like this wouldn''t sound that serious, but it was the best he could come up with. After all, he didn''t know why he was attracted to her. He only knew that it wasn''t the attraction one would have for the other sex, but something deeper.


    Seeing him answer like this, the woman relaxed even further. Sure the answer didn''t sound great. It was kind of a stupid answer, but it showed his sincerity. Because if he wasn''t, then he never would have answered her like this.


    "Then what do you offer?", she then asked. After all, if she were to become his assistant, she would have to live on what he was paying. It was a job like anything else, after all.


    Ivan was stumped when facing her question. He hadn''t thought about his decision, so he hadn''t thought of her payment either. He didn''t even have a clue as to how a pill refinement assistant was paid. As such he could only shrug his shoulders and say, "How about you make a proposal and we can then talk about it?"


    "Huh?", the woman was surprised. Wouldn''t normally the employer make the offer? How come it was now her that was supposed to make the offer?


    She too had no knowledge as to what the usual payment was. Thus she could only tell him the things she was in need of.


    "Then how about lodging, food, and other necessities as well as you teaching me about pill refinement?", she asked hesitantly. She didn''t think that there was a problem with the first few things, but him teaching her was something he just might not accept.


    He was surprised, when he heard, what she wanted. It was much less than he had expected. It was just that lodging might be a problem. After all, he was currently living in Lara''s house and didn''t have any real estate by himself. Of course, he also had the room at the alliance, but that wasn''t a valid option in this case.


    *Should I buy a house?*, he silently asked himself. Maybe that would be a good idea. He could then create his own pill refinement room there as well as a laboratory.Something he was hesitant to do at his home. He felt that work and living should be separated. *I wonder how expensive something like this would be?*


    He looked at the woman who looked at him with an expectant stare, waiting for his answer and got an idea.


    "Do you know of any house I could buy, which has a big garden as well?", he asked, once again shocking her.


    "No, I don''t.", she shook her head. Because she had never earned much money, there was no reason for her to know something like this.


    "Then how about you find one for me and you can then live there.", following that he explained to her his thought about making it something like his workplace. She got the idea and promised him to look for something suitable. But only after they had signed a contract. She didn''t want to do this work and then realize that it was for nothing.


    With the help of the system, it was easy to sign such a contract. The contract stated, that Ivan would provide her with food and lodging, as well as some necessary clothes. Besides that, he would teach her pill refining and provide the herbs needed for the process of teaching her as well as a small amount for her to practice with. This just might bite him later on, but for now, he was very willing to provide them. In exchange, she would first look for a suitable house to create a workshop. After that, she would take care of it as well as the herb garden. Besides that, she would help him prepare herbs for pill refinement.


    Both sides were very satisfied with the contract and parted happily. Ivan had to go to school, while she went to look for a house.


    During their talk, he had found out her name as well. She only had the first name Arina, since she was an orphan and the orphanage that she had grown up in, didn''t give their children a family name. This made it easier for them to later enter a family.


    As for the money for the house, even though he didn''t really want to, Ivan had no choice but to use the card, his wife had given him. He would later make sure to pay her back in some form, but for now, it was the only way.


    Now that he had gotten Arina to be his assistant, he would have the time to check out why his spiritual sense reacted so strongly to her.


    He slowly continued on until he reached the entrance of the school. Meeting Arina had reminded him of how weird their school was. It was a low-grade school in the slums, but there was a teacher like Miss. Klein teaching in it. And not only her. He got the feeling that some of the other teachers weren''t normal either. Then there was the woman who had explained to him about the hard reset back then.


    Arina had gone to a school in the slums as well, but her school had neither a pill refinement teacher nor a forging teacher. And it was seen as a normal school. So what was this school, that had both, besides many other specialized teachers?


    *Well, whatever. Let''s just be happy that I''m attending such a great school.*, Ivan pushed back that matter and entered the school grounds.

 136 Inviting them

    Because of him meeting Arina he was nearly too late for the first class. When he entered the classroom there was less than one minute left until class would start and the teacher was already standing in the front.


    He was the last one to enter and while Mrs. Mertinez didn''t say anything, she shot him a disapproving look.


    "Great, now that everyone is here, let''s start.", she started the lesson as soon as Ivan had placed his behind on his chair. Coincidently it was exactly the time class was supposed to start.


    When the lesson had ended, Greg and Serge came over.


    "Hey, how come you were so later today?", Greg asked curiously. Usually, Ivan was one of those students who were always early, by at least a quarter of an hour. Behind him, Serge didn''t say anything, but Ivan could see that he was curious as well.


    "I met someone while on the way.", Ivan explained. He then told them about how he met Arina.


    "Interesting. I have never heard of anything being able to evoke such a reaction from one''s spiritual sense.", Serge said. From all of them, he was the one who had read the most. "Has there ever been anyone or anything else, who would evoke such a feeling in you?"


    "No.", Ivan shook his head, before remembering something, "Wait, there was something, but it was a completely different feeling."


    "Really? How so?"


    Ivan told them about the maid, Susan, he had met at the palace.


    "That should be something different. The fear you felt, seems like something that would be felt, because either she is much stronger than you. And I mean so much that she doesn''t need more than a thought to erase your existence. Or someone who has a bloodline, which can dominate yours. And has trained it to a high degree as well."


    Ivan looked at Serge in surprise. He hadn''t expected him to be able to explain that feeling. He also hadn''t expected him to know about bloodlines.


    "Then wouldn''t it be possible, that Arina''s bloodline can somehow excite mine? Maybe something that is very compatible?", he speculated.


    Serge shook his head. "It shouldn''t be. From what you have told, the feeling doesn''t come from your blood but from your spiritual sense, which is something entirely different. It is completely unheard of that the spiritual sense reacts to anything. In every book I have read, it was seen as just a form of sense, which would inherently be unable to have any reaction on its own."


    "Well anyway, now that I have hired her as my assistant, I will have the time to find out more."


    Serge nodded. He too was of the opinion that he should try to understand where this feeling came from.


    "Anyway, there was something else I wanted to ask you guys.", Ivan changed the topic. "Would it be alright with you two if we go to a theme park this afternoon, instead of training in the dungeon?"


    With his question, he really surprised the other two. Out of all of them, he was the one who was always the most focused on training. So for him to ask something like this made them wonder what was up. Something Greg instantly voiced out.


    "How come? Are you ill?", he shot out these questions.


    Ivan had to smile, was he really that focused on training? He thought that he was relaxing often enough. But thinking of it, the only times he relaxed were when he spend time with Jane.


    "Nope. It was my daughter who has asked me to spend the afternoon with her. And I thought that it would be a great opportunity for all of us to go out and relax.", he explained.


    "Oh, so that was the reason.", it sounded more probable like this. If he had said, that it was his own idea, they wouldn''t have believed him.


    "Then we will finally meet your wife and daughter?", Greg asked curiously.


    "Lara is currently out of town, so it is only my daughter you can meet.", Ivan smiled. He wondered how Lara was currently doing. Was everything going well?


    "So you will take her to a theme park then?"


    "Yeah. She saw that new water-themed park, that opened this Monday and wanted to go. Since I thought it would be a good opportunity I agreed and told her I would ask if you want to come as well."


    "I would love to, but I don''t think I have the money.", Greg looked a bit dejected.


    This was something Ivan had forgotten about. This was a school in the slums, so most of the students came from the slums as well and which of them would have the money to spend on something like a theme park? Luckily that wasn''t a problem for Ivan. Because this was something for his daughter he would pay with Lara''s money anyway. And for her paying for a few more tickets wouldn''t make any difference.


    "Since I invited you, I will pay for it of course.", he told them.


    "How could we let you pay for it?", Greg tried to reject him. They knew that he didn''t have much money either.


    "Just let him pay. It won''t be a problem for him.", suddenly a voice interjected. It was Irena who had come over and heard the end of their talk.


    "So I''m invited as well?", she then asked Ivan, although she already knew the answer.


    "Of course. Everyone from our group is invited.", Ivan told her while smiling. He was glad that she helped him convince Greg. If he would have said it, it wouldn''t be as effective as with her saying it.


    "How did you know that he has the money? Did you take the next step in your relationship?", Greg asked Irena jokingly.


    In response, he got a hit to the back of his head, something Irena seemed to like doing lately. She did it to others as well, if she thought that they annoyed her.


    "Did you forget that I went to meet his wife? You wouldn''t believe, in what kind of house they live.", she didn''t mention that she was a princess nor that they were distantly related.


    "Really? What kind of house? It is a villa?", Greg asked, excited as so often.


    "Wait and see for yourself.", Irena ruthlessly shot him down. Seeing his face, when he saw that villa would just be too amusing, to spoil it with telling him about it beforehand.


    "Anyway, I think it is a great idea. So Greg, call your girlfriend and tell her about it.", she then ordered. Making the final decision, that all of them would go.


    "Great.", Ivan was happy that everyone agreed. It would surely be fun to go out and play like this.


    Greg too felt happy. Lately, he had been training so much, that he hadn''t had time to go on a date with Pia. Sure, there would be others around, but that didn''t change the fact that it would be like a date. And he wouldn''t even need to pay while enjoying the theme-park.


    "Right, do we need anything for the park? Like certain clothes?", Greg asked Ivan. "After all it is a water-themed park."


    He was right. Ivan hadn''t thought about it before, but what about swimsuits, would they need it?


    Luckily it was easy to check it. The theme park had a website, where one could find the relevant information.


    "Lucky, that you asked. It is indeed required to wear a swimsuit at the park.", Ivan told Greg. He wrote a message to Jane and the others, asking them if they had one prepared.


    He didn''t have to wait long for their answer, which was no, they didn''t have any swimsuit prepared. As such he wrote them a message that they would go shopping for one, before going to the park.


    "I''ll have to take Jane and the others to shop for a swimsuit before going, so if anyone else needs one as well, you can just come with us."


    "Will you pay for them as well?", Irena asked him. She didn''t have any qualms about doing so, as she saw him as someone who should do such things. After all, they would get together in the future.


    "Sure.", Ivan didn''t have any problems with it. It wasn''t his money and even if it was he would still be more than willing to pay for his friends.


    "Yay, this is going to be great. First shopping and then playing. How could it get even better?", Irena exclaimed happily.


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    Her outburst surprised the others. They didn''t expect her to be so happy about going shopping.


    "Hey, don''t look at me like this. Which woman doesn''t love to go shopping?"


    The others didn''t know. None of them had gone shopping with a woman before. Ivan never had the opportunity and Greg didn''t have the money.

 137 Greeted by Jane

    Having finalized their plans for the afternoon, they chatted until the next class started.


    It was soon the end of the last class and everyone gathered at the school entrance, waiting for Pia. They didn''t have to wait long before an excited Pia ran towards them.


    "Hey!", she exclaimed, when she came near them. She then hugged Greg and looked at Ivan with a prompting gaze. "Let''s get going."


    It seemed like she was the most excited of all of them. And Ivan had no intention of curbing her excitement. The thought of going out to play with his friends and daughter gave him a warm anticipatory feeling. The only thing missing was Lara.


    Together they used public transport to reach Lara''s villa. When the others first saw it, they couldn''t help but exclaim in awe. For them, it was something they usually only saw in films, a common entertainment method.


    "Wow, your wife really is rich. Then how come you are still dressed as before and act as if you are poor?", Greg asked curiously.


    "Yes, she is rich. But it is her money and not mine, so I don''t want to use it this way. I''d rather prefer to earn my own money.", Ivan explained.


    "Then you will be using your money to pay today?", he asked in surprise.


    "No. Since this time it is mostly about having fun with my daughter, it is alright to use her money."


    "Ah, so you''ll only use her money when it concerns your daughter?", Pia asked, having understood the differentiation.


    "Yes. If it is for our daughter, then there is no problem with using her money.", Ivan confirmed her guess.


    "Then how is paying for our swimsuits something that should be paid by her?"


    "Of course it is. After all, it is so Jane has some more people to play with.", Ivan answered her with a smirk.


    "Haha, so we are only here to be playmates for your daughter? And here I thought you invited us because we are your friends.", Greg joked. All of them knew Ivan well enough to realize that he was only joking.


    While bantering, they had reached the entrance of the villa and Ivan opened the door.


    Instantly they were greeted by Jane, who had already been waiting for them. She ran towards Ivan who hugged her and whirled her around, as she liked. After setting her back down, she then greeted the others.


    "Hello, I''m Jane.", she cutely introduces herself, before greeting them by their names. "Hello, Greg, Serge, Irena, and Pia.", surprising everyone besides Irena.


    "Huh, how do you know our names?", Greg asked. He had instantly taken a liking to the small girl and was now beaming a smile at her. Happy that she knew his name.


    "Daddy said that one of his friends was fat and named Greg, so who else could it be?", Jane acted as if it was the most natural thing to say.


    The group laughed at her answer. Unlike some, Greg had no problem with being called fat. In fact, it was even something that he was proud of. According to him, it showed the love of his parents for him. Because if they didn''t love him then would they provide him with enough food to get fat?


    The others had to smile whenever they heard this justification but they had to admit that he wasn''t completely wrong. Still, they felt that it was just an excuse.


    "Hoho seems like you are quite intelligent. Then did you deduce who the others are from that point?", Greg asked, trying to make himself important. Now that he knew Ivan had told his daughter about them, then the logical conclusion was that Jane had easily been able to identify the others after distinguishing him.


    Jane understood what he was trying to do and she ruthlessly destroyed his hopes. "Of course not. Serge is just as recognizable as you.", she answered, looking at him like he was stupid.


    "Hahaha.", Pia broke out in loud laughter. She hugged her boyfriend''s waist but continued laughing. "Hahaha, did you think you were that unique?"


    "Well, at least I''m unique enough for you to like me.", Greg easily countered.


    Their interaction made the other smile. The two of them were always good for some fun time.


    "Daddy, Celine said that you should come to her room first after you are back and then we can go.", Jane informed him after they had calmed down.


    "Alright. Then you''ll wait here with Irena and the others? By the way, where is Lucia?"


    "Sure. And Lucia just went to her room to get something."


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    Irena too indicated that she would look after Jane. When Ivan walked towards Celine''s room, he could hear her asking about Celine and Lucia.


    He knocked onto Celine''s door and after getting her approval entered the room. It didn''t look any different from his own since they both were originally guest rooms. Celine was sitting on the bed and was looking at him when he entered. An undecipherable emotion flashed through her eyes when she saw him.


    "Are you sure you want to do this?", she asked him.


    "You didn''t even explain it yet, so how can I be?"


    "True. I didn''t.", she took a deep breath. "I guess you have already guessed, that I would need a big amount of vital qi if I want to restore my youth for some time.", she started.


    Ivan nodded. In his eyes, that was the only way it could work.


    "And you are correct. But there are two problems with it. First of all the amount is big and is kind of wasted, since it will soon be burned, without improving my body''s condition. And because of that, it is impossible to use just your essence blood. Which leads to the second problem. I have a way to extract enough vital qi from you in a short time, but it will hurt your base essence."


    "My base essence?", he hadn''t heard about it before.


    "Yes. Every being has a base essence. It is a part of your soul and is necessary for the creation of essence blood and vital qi as well as spiritual qi. Basically, it is the controller and converter for the qi in your body."


    "Then hurting the base essence would result in me being unable to generate qi?", Ivan asked. This sounded more serious, then he had expected.


    "No. You will still be able to generate it. As long as the base essence isn''t damaged too much, it will always generate qi. Just not as much and from that which is generated, a part will be used to repair the base essence.", she explained.


    When Ivan heard that he was reminded of her condition, "Then your base essence is heavily damaged?"


    "Exactly. I told you that if it is damaged too much it will stop working, and that is what has happened to me. I''m currently using your vital qi to nourish my body as well as repair my base essence."


    "Then what exactly will be the aftereffects of your method?"


    "Because, it overdrafts your vital qi, it will slightly damage your base essence. But the damage should be minuscule, only resulting in you lacking vital qi for a few days. At most, in two weeks you should be back to normal."


    "Then how are we going to do it?", Ivan asked, making his decision clear.


    Celine blushed, "There are two outlets for vital qi. One is in the essence blood, which is used for oneself, while the other is in the sperm, where the vital qi is for the potential child."


    "Huh?"


    "It''s only logical.", Celine hurriedly explained, "Think about it. For a child to come into existence it, of course, requires a huge amount of vital qi and spiritual qi. While most of it will be supplied by the woman during pregnancy, the man has to supply some as well, to kickstart its existence."


    "Um.", Ivan was speechless. What she said made sense, but at the same time sounded weird to him.


    "Well, in reality, it is not that easy. If not every man that had sex would severely deplete his vital qi. There is only a small chance that the sperm is infused with a larger amount of vital qi. Most of the time it will contain next to nothing.", she once again paused. It was very awkward for her to talk about this.


    "Anyway. The reason why sperm is better for transferring vital qi than essence blood is that it is easier to manipulate the amount of vital qi infused into it. Every fertility ritual or spell is based on increasing the vital qi in the sperm and the woman''s egg. Essence blood, on the other hand, can''t be manipulated by anyone besides the person himself and it is impossible to force the body and base essence to create more."


    "So you want to do a fertility ritual and then absorb the vital qi from my sperm?", Ivan asked stunned.

 138 Desire

    "Yes, that''s the only way I can think of that would have the effect of making me young again and I can tell you that I won''t go to the park with you guys if I''m not looking younger.", although she had gotten used to being old, she still had some pride left. And going to a water-themed park, where she would have to wear a swimsuit was an absolute no go.


    "If you are worried about Lara, then I can tell you that you don''t have to. I already told her that we would have to have sex because of the ritual and for today we don''t have to have sex anyway. I only need to take in your sperm which can be done by just swallowing it."


    "I don''t know...", Ivan hesitated. He hadn''t done it before and he had kind of planned on doing it with his wife first, although he knew that he couldn''t escape doing it with others as well.


    "It''s alright. Don''t worry, just sit back and relax. I''ll surely make it worth for you.", Celine said.


    Ivan was still feeling unsure, but he decided to go through with it. After all, he had promised to help her, so he couldn''t just back out.


    As she indicated, he sat down on the bed and waited for her to start.


    << Warning: You have become the target of a mind-altering spell.


    Spell: "Small ritual of potency"


    Effect: Increased lust


    Caster: Celine Lefair


    Evaluation: Harmless


    Remark: According to article 2 it is forbidden to cast mind-altering spells on another intelligent being without their explicit consent. The system will block any spell cast without such consent given to the system in the form of a checkbox.


    Do you want to accept to be the target of the spell "Small ritual of potency", cast by Celine Lefair?


    Check the box and submit if you wish to accept or select "Reject" if you want to reject the spell.


    >>


    "Oh right, I forgot about that.", Celine said, just when the warning popped up. "In this realm, these spells have to be agreed to."


    She then explained it in more detail, "Because the goal of the spell is to increase the chance of the woman conceiving a child it has the side effect of increasing the lust of the male. Since it is a spell it counts as a mind-altering spell, which is strictly controlled in this realm."


    After Ivan accepted the spell, he could feel something warm flowing through him. At the same time, his blood seemed to get ignited.


    "Fu....", he exhaled, instinctively trying to resist the feeling that had come together with the warmth.


    "Don''t try to resist.", Celine saw what he was doing and directly warned him, "Since I''m so weak at the moment you can resist it, but it will destroy the intended effect."


    While saying that she slowly came closer.


    When she sank on her knees in front of him, Ivan could feel himself being submerged in desire. Desire to possess, desire to dominate, desire to make her his.


    Seeing the change in his eyes, Celine was surprised. The effect of the spell shouldn''t be so strong. It should only slightly increase the male''s desire. It should be just enough to make him hard and not much more.


    "What is wrong?", she asked in a worried tone. If something went wrong with a skill like this, it could be very problematic.


    Instead of answering, Ivan let out a deep growl. The growl sounded inhuman and more like something a beast would emit. At the same time, his eyes changed. Instead of the usual color, they were now completely dark purple-gold with catlike pupils. His hair, which he had always worn short grew at a visible speed and its color changed into a purple-gold as well.


    Celine stared at him in shock. She had heard of something like this before. But it should be impossible for Ivan to have those changes.


    Meanwhile, Ivan''s eyes were now completely fixated on her. He slowly licked his lips.


    Celine debated what to do. The spell was already cast, so there was nothing she could do about it.From what she had heard, this change was a reaction of the bloodline to an external invasion. Something like an allergic reaction. The problem was that she didn''t know how to solve this reaction.


    While she was still contemplating, suddenly a hand shot towards her and grabbed her neck, pulling her up until her head was at the same height as Ivan''s. Her eyes starring into his purple-golden.


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    She couldn''t help but shudder. Something deep inside her feared the man, or the being, standing in front of her. At the same time, it desired him.


    Ivan lifted his other hand and slowly let a finger slide down her front, parting her clothes in the progress. The finger was able to easily split the clothes which were usually very durable, clearly showing the sharpness of the mana blade formed around it.


    The mana blade slid exactly above her skin, leaving no trace of it, but completely slicing her clothes. When it reached the bottom, her shirt had completely split open and her BH had opened as well, exposing her skin and breasts.


    Ivan''s hand came back up and cupped one of her breasts, slightly massaging it, before pinching the nipple slightly. The movement elicited a shudder from her and she could feel both her nipples becoming hard.


    With one hand grasping her neck and the other cupping her breast, Ivan pulled her up even further until she straddled him. Then the hand on her neck moved up to her mouth and forced it open, inserting two fingers into it, which firmly grasped her tongue.


    There was confusion in Celine''s eyes, as she was wondering what he was doing when suddenly he harshly pulled her tongue out of her mouth.


    "Aaaarrgggg.", she exclaimed in pain, because of the sudden brutal tug.


    The man in front of her smirked at her painful expression. He held her tongue firmly and opened his own mouth, before biting on his own tongue. A single drop of blood flowed out of it and he carefully used his tongue to let it drop down on hers.


    As soon as the drop came into contact with it, his finger made a small slit on her tongue, which was exceedingly painful. The drop then seeped into the wound, which instantly closed and vanished together with the pain. Instead, she could now feel something burning up in her.


    It felt like fire was flowing through her veins making her want to scream in pain and writhe around. But his two hands stopped her. One controlled her jaw, while the other controlled her body.


    She could feel something in her change. Her bones seemed to shift and her flesh seemed to change. Even her skin started to change, tightening until it was completely smooth and tight around her flesh. It was similar to what should have happened when she once again regained her youth, but at the same time very different. Her body now seemed better, her bones stronger, her flesh more solid and her skin sturdier, while keeping a silky texture and softness.


    After her body had changed, the fire in her charged towards her head. From the positive changes to her body, she knew that she didn''t have to fear what would happen. That is except the pain.


    And truly, this time the pain was even stronger. It felt as if she was being ripped into pieces. The pain was felt in her innermost being and was too strong to even blackout. She could only suffer through it with no way of escaping it.


    After what felt like an eternity the pain finally vanished, leaving behind an incomparable refreshed feeling. Never before had she felt this good, this peacefull and this awake. It seemed like her brain was running on stimulants and her body reacted instantly. She felt even better than when she had her maximum strength back then.


    She took a look at her inner world and to her pleasant surprise, she could see that her base essence had completely recovered. *How could that be? There is no way, that Ivan has enough Vital Qi to do it, so how did that happen?*


    Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pain in her lower abdomen. The short sharp pain was followed by a wave of pleasure which made her body heat up. Her body instinctively reacted, before her mind could catch up, and ground against the hard rod inside her, pushing it even further in.


    And her mind didn''t catch up anytime soon since she soon lost herself in pleasure. She sat atop Ivan and was rhythmically lifted up by him, which let the hard rod slid out of her, before he pushed her back down, once again filling her.


    When his lips pressed down onto hers, she shuddered. She greedily responded and started to push her tongue against his lips, trying to invade his mouth with it.

 139 Draconian

    Only when he released himself into her, did she snap out of it. She hurriedly withdraws her hands which had unknowingly started to caress his body and distanced herself from him. She then tried to stand up and since he didn''t keep her down, she managed to get up.


    She had completely lost her top and her shirt had been destroyed as well, thus she stood in front of Ivan in her full naked glory. The result of their session could faintly be seen dropping down her leg, a mixture of her and his juices.


    At the moment he had come to his climax he had started to change back. But unlike her, who was now full of energy, it looked like he had lost all his energy.


    When his body crumbled down, she hurriedly moved towards him and stabilized him, letting him slowly lie down on the bed.


    "Hm, something is wrong.", she wondered. It had been to easy for her to catch him. Although he wasn''t that heavy, she would have been too weak to do it before. And although the ritual was supposed to give her some vitality back, this should have mostly gone into restoring her youth temporarily. Leaving her with the strength of a normal adult woman. Instead, she had been able to easily catch him, which would require much more strength than that of a normal adult woman.


    She pushed the question aside for now and instead focused on Ivan first. After checking, she realized that he was not only exhausted but that there also seemed to be a lot of damage to his body. It was just that with her current strength she was unable to get a better picture.


    "For now I guess I can only wait for him to wake up.", she breathed a sigh of relief since he was still ok and turned her focus back on herself.


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    "Well, first of all, let''s get washed up." There was some sticky fluid on her leg and the rest of her body felt dirty as well.


    After entering the bathroom, she directly went under the shower. When the warm water started to stream over her body, she could feel herself relax. But when she saw the color of the water she was startled once again. It was nearly black at first but then went back to clear water again.


    She knew why the water would be black. In addition to the pain, she had felt before their sex session, the black water should result from the impurities, that had been pushed out of her body. The only question was why that had happened since it was usually something that only happens at the end of the flesh refining realm.


    After the shower, she felt completely renewed and decided to take a look into the mirror, something she had evaded ever since she had started to age so drastically.


    What looked back at her from the mirror was her younger face. Her skin was smooth, her lips red and her green eyes seemed to sparkle. Her hair was once again firey red and was in a bob cut which was surprising since it was different from before.


    She softly slid her hands over her smooth cheeks and a smile appeared on her face, making her look even more beautiful.


    "Damn, it''s so great to be beautiful again." Although she wasn''t that focused on beauty, it wasn''t like she wouldn''t prefer to be beautiful.


    "If only it would be gone soon again." When thinking about that her smile vanished. The ritual would only give her back her beauty for a short time. After that, she would once again go back to that hateful old body.


    She went back to the room and searched for some clothes to wear, but everything she owned was cut for her old self and now wasn''t suitable at all. She could only take a dress, that wasn''t that bad looking and fitting and wear it until she could buy something fitting.


    Now that she was clothed, it was time to check out what exactly had happened with the ritual. Because if everything went as expected, then she shouldn''t have felt any pain and Ivan shouldn''t be out like he was now.


    She first took a look at the system prompts, that had been minimized, starting from the oldest one.


    << Warning, someone has targeted you with a racial conversion ritual.


    Spell: "Draconification ritual"


    Effect: Changes race to Draconian


    Caster: Ivan Hope


    Evaluation: Can not be evaluated


    Remark: According to article 2 it is forbidden to cast racial conversion rituals on another intelligent being without their explicit consent. The system will block any spell cast without such consent given to the system in the form of a checkbox.


    - Do you want to accept to be the target of the spell "Draconification ritual", cast by Ivan Hope?


    - Warning, because of your status you are unable to reject "Draconification ritual".


    - Warning, this is a violation of article 2 that can not be controlled by the system and as such will be fined.


    >>


    "What the?", she exclaimed after reading the prompt. It was similar to the one, Ivan had before, just that it was a racial conversion ritual instead of a mind-altering spell. She had heard about those racial conversion rituals but they were extremely rare and required the caster to not only have a special bloodline but also unfathomable strength.


    "But what is a Draconian?", she wondered, never having heard of this race before. Judging by the info she had now changed into one since she couldn''t resist the ritual. It was just that she didn''t feel any different and when she had looked at herself in the mirror she hadn''t seen anything different either.


    And what was this about a fine? She didn''t even do anything, so why was she being fined? She could only hope that the fine wasn''t much, not that she had anything of worth.


    Taking a deep breath, she looked at the next message.


    << Congratulations, your race has been changed from Human to Draconian


    The Draconian race is the servant race of the noble dragon race.


    Since long ago, it is custom that the royal dragons change their most trusted servants of the other gender into the artificial Draconian race. This is widely seen as the highest honor a servant can be bestowed with since it shows the trust of their master.


    Back in ancient times, a group of dragon researcher has developed the artificial Draconian race in an attempt to strengthen their most loyal servants. They managed to create a ritual that could infuse part of the power of the dragon casting it into the servant, elevating them to new heights. After all, the Dragon race is seen as one of the highest races in existence.


    By infusing their servants with their power, their bodily and mental strength increases drastically. Besides that, they become even more loyal and will keep an appearance that is to the liking of the master, independently to how they would originally look.


    This led to many humans to try to become a draconian since it would grant them an infinitely youthful appearance since dragons are a race that loves beauty and would never let someone not beautiful stay beside them if they could change it.


    >>


    After reading the short introduction, Celine was in shock. She knew that Ivan had dragon blood in him but according to this introduction he even had royal blood inside him. But that wasn''t the most important thing. The most important thing was that she would be able to keep her current appearance as long as he was happy with it.


    "Hell, I must make sure, that he loves this appearance of me.", she instantly made this decision. After having experienced having an old body and with the hope of staying young, there was no way that she would ever risk going back to some other appearance. Especially an old one.


    She went back to the bed to once again check on Ivan and when she saw that he was still sleeping peacefully, she once again smiled happily. After softly stroking his hair, she left the room.


    The others were happily chatting in the living room when the door to Celine''s room opened. Because Lucia had kept an eye on the door all the time she was the first to see the young woman leaving the room. When she saw her a look of shock appeared on her face and she couldn''t help staring at her.


    Although it had been a long time since her mother had lost her youthful appearance, she could still remember how she had looked back then. At that time she had only been five. And as a five-year-old, having to see one''s mother age every day until she looked more like a grandma than a mother was something that had left a lasting impression. Etching her former appearance deep into her mind.

 140 You are beautiful

    When she first saw the woman appear from her mother''s room, she instantly recognized her. Her mother finally had her youthful appearance back. Although it was only temporary, it still showed that it would be possible to completely regain it.


    At first, she only felt happy for her mother, but then she realized that something was different, which shocked her to her core. Unlike before, there was now an aura around her mother, something she could feel as soon as she laid her eyes on her. She got the feeling that her mother was in control and if she gave her an order she would only be able to obey. This came from the combination of power and dominance, that she seemed to contain.


    And this aura was something she had never felt before from her. Making her wonder what happened when she and Ivan were alone because it didn''t seem as simple as her regaining her youthful appearance. Instead, there seemed to have something more changed inside her mother.


    When the others realized, that she was staring at something, they too turned toward Celine. When they saw her there was a look of confusion on their faces. They hadn''t seen her like this before and as such were unable to recognize her. Her transformation was just too drastic. Combined with the aura pressing down on them, she was completely unrecognizable for them.


    "Mom", Lucia exclaimed, shocking the others out of their state of confusion.


    After she exclaimed, she jumped up and rushed towards Celine.


    Celine smiled happily when she saw her daughter running towards her with a happy smile on her face. It had been a long time since the two of them had smiled like this. Because of her situation, there was always some sadness in their smiles, which only they could perceive, since they managed to hide it well. But now there was nothing like this in their smiles. They just showed pure happiness.


    "Mom, you are ok? You are all healed now?", Lucia grabbed her arms and excitedly asked, not showing any respect towards her mother and more acting like she was her sister or a good friend.


    But Celine didn''t have a problem with it, in fact, she liked it. It was much better to see her daughter be bold enough to grab her instead of being careful around her in fear of hurting her.


    "Yes, I''m all better." She hadn''t checked her base essence, to find out if it was completely healed but from how she was feeling and from the strength coursing through her body it should be.


    "That''s great, that''s great.", Lucia hugged her mother with all her might.


    Celine lightly patted her back, while hugging her back.


    Meanwhile, the others had also stood up and waited for them to regain their calm.


    "Wow, you look really beautiful.", Irena said in an admiring voice. "I''d never have expected you to change this much."


    "Yeah, you are so beautiful now.", Jane chimed in as well. "Where is dad?", she then asked.


    At the mention of Ivan, Celine looked embarrassed. "Um, something went wrong and he is now completely exhausted."


    There was no way, she would mention what had happened between them. At least not to those assembled here. But at the same time, she wasn''t able to provide them with a good explanation as to what went wrong, because she didn''t know it either.


    "Huh? Then what about going to the theme-park?", Jane asked, focusing on what was most important to her. From the way Celine acted, she knew that nothing bad had happened to her dad.


    "I''m sorry. I don''t think he will be able to go today.", Celine apologized. It was her fault after all.


    "Oh.", Jane looked disappointed. She had been looking forward to going out to play.


    Pia saw how disappointed the little girl was and hurriedly proposed, "We can go another time after Ivan recovers. So how about we all play here today? You can show us around and then propose a game, alright?"


    Although Jane understood that she wanted to shift her attention, she accepted the proposal thankfully. Although they wouldn''t be going to the theme park, meeting new people and playing here wasn''t bad either.


    "Alright. How about I''ll show you around in the garden? It''s great and there are lots of things to play with.", she grabbed Irena''s hand and lead them outside. Leaving only Lucia and Celine behind.


    The two of them sat down on a couch and looked at each other.


    "It is great that you are alright now.", Lucia once again said. It seemed like she still couldn''t believe it.


    "Yes. I too never expected to recover so soon.", Celine agreed while leaning back, enjoying the comfortable couch.


    "So what are we going to do now?", Lucia asked.


    "What do you mean? Of course, we will stay here and support this family with all our might."


    When she heard her mothers answer, Lucia sighed a breath in relief. She loved staying here. Everyone here was nice and she felt as if she was part of the family. And Jane had become like a sister to her. It was just that she had feard, that after recovering, her mother would try to get revenge for what had happened back then.


    "That''s great. I really love staying here."


    "Mm, me too."


    "So tell me, what happened? With how you are now, something big must have happened.", Lucia asked her mother. They had talked about the ritual before and she knew that the result couldn''t come from the ritual.


    "Well, ...", Celine hesitated at first but then told her daughter what happened, "At first everything went as planned. I told Ivan about the ritual and then we started. The problem happened after he accepted the spell to be cast on him. Something inside him reacted to the spell.


    I''m not sure what exactly it was, for that we would have to ask Ivan, but after he reacted weirdly, things progressed further than I had planned."


    Here Lucia interrupted her mother, "You mean the two of you did ....", she hadn''t even finished her question when her mother blushing had already answered it.


    "Wow, didn''t expect you to take such a big step."


    "Hey, it wasn''t my choice.", Celine defended herself.


    "Mmm", Lucia hummed disbelievingly, "But I''m sure you enjoyed it."


    Celine was unable to refuse her accusations. After all, she had enjoyed it. At least after her body had changed and the pain was over.


    "So what? Anyway back to the topic. At the start, something inside my body got changed. I really don''t know how he did it. But take a look." She showed her daughter the info screen concerning her racial change.


    After reading through it Lucia looked at her in astonishment. "Wow, it seems like you are way too lucky. You only planned to get younger temporarily and you found a way to stay young for a long, long time."


    "Yeah, yeah. That''s not what important. What''s important is that my race has changed and it is a servant race."


    "So what? From the description, you only have to serve one person and that is your master, Ivan. I don''t think that is bad, in fact, does it change anything at all?"


    "But you know how servant races are seen up there.", Celine protested.


    "Yes, I know. They are treated like slaves and absolute trash, whom everyone in the master race can use as they want. And the other races look down on them as well.", Lucia agreed with what her mother had said. "But I don''t think it is like this in this case. First of all, who would even know? And second of all, which other known servant race has such positive effects like yours?"


    When Celine heard the two points she had made, she became thoughtful. Maybe she really had worried too much and it wasn''t as bad as she had feared.


    "I guess you are right.", she agreed.


    "Of course I am.", Lucia said proudly. Because of the exaggerated pride, she showed on her face, Celine had to laugh.


    "And besides that, there are more important things to worry about now.", she returned to normal and continued on.


    "Huh?"


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    "Are you stupid? Of course, there are. Don''t forget that you had sex with Ivan. Now your relationship has to change. There is no way that you could continue on like before."


    "But it was already clear from the start that we would have to do it.", Celine protested.


    Lucia let out a sigh. Her mother was really dense in this aspect. "Yes, it was. But the situation was kind of different, right? And don''t forget that you haven''t talked to Lara about it beforehand."


    With Lucia''s reminder, Celine understood something. She knew that although Lara and Ivan sleep on the same bed, they didn''t have intercourse yet. And now she had done it with him first, making her wonder how Lara would react to it.

 141 Friendship

    "Then what should I do?", she asked her daughter, who seemed to have a better understanding of others emotions.


    "There isn''t much you can do at the moment. But after Lara comes back you should tell her about what happened and explain it to her. Then you can plan on how to continue."


    "Mm, I planned to do that. But first I''ll have to help Ivan to recover."


    "Right, what do you think happened to him?"


    "I''m not sure. But I would guess that he somehow channeled too much energy through his body. Changing my race must have consumed a lot and even though it comes from some other source, it still had to go through his body. If he is lucky, then only his body is affected and not his base essence or even soul.", Celine explained her thoughts on why Ivan would be so exhausted.


    "Sounds reasonable.", Lucia agreed and then stood up, grabbing her mother''s hand, "Come on, let''s get you some clothes. Your old ones won''t fit you."


    She then led her mother to her room and the two of them selected some clothes for her to wear until she bought some for herself.


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    Outside Jane had shown the others around. All of them were impressed by the extensive garden and the part which could only be called a forest. Now they sat on the terrace and were chatting.


    At first, they were supposed to play, but Jane instead preferred to ask them questions about her daddy.


    "Greg, I''m really surprised that my daddy would become friends with you.", Jane said while looking at the fatty skeptically.


    Hearing her tone, Greg pretended to be hurt, "What? Why? I''m such a great guy, so how couldn''t I make your father my friend?"


    "Huh? You shouldn''t lie like this. If anything it was my daddy, who graciously accepted you as his friend.", Jane retorted. Usually, she wouldn''t joke around like this, but teasing this guy was just to much fun.


    Pia and Irena looked at the two bickerings and couldn''t help but smile in amusement. Sometimes the two of them would throw in a sentence or two, fanning their bickering. Serge on the other hand just sat at the side and looked at them, with nobody knowing what he was thinking about.


    That was how Lucia and Celine found them.


    "What are the two of you fighting over?", Lucia asked Jane when she saw her bickering with Greg.


    "Sister, this fatty said that daddy should be glad that he befriended him.", Jane complained to Lucia.


    "Of course, he should. Or do you think that with his personality he could ever make any friends?", Greg injected his own opinion.


    "You! What is wrong with my daddy''s personality?"


    Just when they were about to start their fight again, Lucia hurriedly interrupted them. "Alright, that''s enough. Besides didn''t your daddy said that he is very happy to have made friends like them?", she asked Jane while indicating the group.


    Jane unwillingly nodded, "I still think they should be happy to have my dad as their friend."


    "Of course they should, the same as your father should be happy to have them as their friends.", Lucia said patiently. "Only then can they truly be friends. Otherwise, wouldn''t it just be one side using the other?"


    When she heard the question Jane became thoughtful. She felt that her sister had a point. It was something she had seen often before. Even with little kids. They only looked to befriend someone because they would gain something from it. But that wasn''t true friendship. True friendship required both sides to have equal standing in the relationship. If one side felt that the other should be happy to be their friend and didn''t consider that he should be happy as well, then that would never be a true friendship.


    Having thought it through she nodded and agreed, "That sounds right. Then what about us? Are we equal in our relationship?"


    At first, Lucia was surprised by her question. Because of her mothers status, it was impossible for them to be on an equal standing. This was something she hadn''t thought about before, but it wasn''t hard to find an answer, "We are sisters, so there is no need to be equal. For sister''s, there is always one older and one younger, but even so, they are still sisters."


    The answer was a bit far fetched, but it could overcome the problem with their identity.


    "Oh, so that''s how it is. What you said sounds reasonable.", Jane readily agreed. Truthfully, she didn''t really care that much. The only thing important was that she enjoyed Lucia''s company and that was all that counted for her. In her eyes, there was no need to think so much.


    Now that this was cleared up, they went back to playing around.


    Greg pulled out a card game and put it on the table.


    "How about we play some cards? We can even make some small bets.", he then proposed.


    "Sure. But just be prepared to lose.", Pia instantly agreed. Judging by Greg''s expression it wasn''t the first time they would play. And most of the times it seemed like it was him loosing.


    "Hah, with Serge here you won''t be able to win all the time.", he then retorted, while looking at Serge pleadingly, "Help me please?"


    Serge slightly shook his head while saying, "Sorry, but I''ll play as well." Telling him that he was unable to help him.


    "Damn.", Greg cursed when his friend rejected his plea for help. Not only would he have to play against his girlfriend, whom he would lose against most of the time, but also his friend, who was better at playing cards as well.


    "Great, let me join as well.", Jane and Irena too agreed to play.


    Having gotten the agreement of most of the group, Greg looked questioning at the only two who hadn''t agreed yet. "How about you?"


    "Um, sorry I don''t really know how to play.", Lucia admitted slightly embarrassed. While she had grown up, she and her friends had played different games. And later she had spent her time looking for something to help her mother, slowly drifting apart from her friends. As such, she didn''t have any opportunity to learn the current card games.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll explain them beforehand.", Greg assured her. He then looked at Celine who hadn''t said anything yet. "Would you like to play as well, madam?", he asked respectfully.


    Although Celine now didn''t look much older than them, her aura as well as the fact that he knew that she was older than them, made him regard her as someone of a higher status, thus making him use the address, madam.


    In reaction, Celine smiled at him. "Just talk to me like you would to anyone else here. I''m not different from you and no madam.", she then lightly scolded him.


    "Sure.", with Greg''s character it wasn''t hard for him to change his way of talking to her. It was much easier than forcing himself to talk so respectfully as before. "Then are you going to play?"


    Celine shook her head. "No, I''ll go and look after Ivan. You have fun and play. Remember not to bet anything valuable.", she warned them after telling them that she would leave them.


    "Alright.", Greg nodded. Although he too was slightly worried about Ivan, there wasn''t anything they could do. Having Celine look after him would reassure the ones playing.


    Having said that, Celine stood up and walked back into the villa. She then slowly walked to her room, while thinking about how she should act when Ivan woke up.


    Just thinking back to what had happened would make her blush and feel flustered, so how would she be able to stay calm and act normal in front of him?


    `Maybe he won''t remember what happened.`, she thought hopefully, before feeling that it would be too disappointing.


    `Should I really try to act as before? After all, our relationship has changed now, so wouldn''t it be more fitting to change the way I act? But how should I act? I''m neither his wife nor his lover. I''m only his servant. But do I want to just be another servant? No! I don''t want to be just another servant. But what then?`, while these thoughts swam through her mind, she slowly reached her room.


    The instant she saw the man, she was thinking about, lying on her bed, her thoughts gained some clarity. `I just want to be whatever he wants me to be.`, this thought filled her mind. She didn''t know if it was something that came from her new race or not, but she didn''t even ask herself that. For her, it was only important that she had decided on how to act now.


    Having made up her mind she lightly closed the door behind her and walked closer to him. When she looked down on his pale face, she felt sad, that she was unable to help him, when she was the reason for what had happened.

 142 Ancestral Soul

    A few beads of sweat were on his face and she carefully used some clothes to wipe them away. Just when she was gently wiping his face, his eyes slowly opened.


    The first thing, Ivan felt when he woke up was the pain. Every little part of his body sent pain signals to his brain, nearly overwhelming it and forcing him to blackout again. Only the fact, that he had increased his resistance before, enabled him to hold on.


    *Damn, not again.*, was what he thought. It seemed like every time he blacked out he would wake up in pain. Just as when his bloodline evolved. Back then he too had awoken in pain. Not to mention these time he had gotten killed while training. Some of those deaths were so painful, that it had nearly warped his mind. But with time he had become more resistant against it, so he was now able to stand the current pain he was feeling.


    He slowly opened his eyes. Even this movement was enough to send new spikes of pain through his brain. While he was trying to open his eyes, he could feel someone gently removing his sweat. The soft touch of the wet cloth on his skin felt comfortable since luckily his skin wasn''t hypersensitive.


    When he finally managed to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was unknown eyes staring down on him, with a gentle look in them. While he was still wondering, whom these eyes belong to, the memories of what happened before filled his brain.


    *Fuuuu..., what the hell did I do?*, he asked himself, shocked that he had acted so completely against his usual behavior. *What happened?*


    Before he could ask himself anymore question a gentle voice said, "You are awake? That''s good. How do you feel?", the last question was filled with concern, making him feel warm. He never before had someone worry about him like this. Or at least, nobody had shown it like this.


    He pushed the pain into the back of his mind and answered in a coarse voice, "I''m alright. It''s just that I seem to have damaged my body. How about you?"


    Hearing his answer Celine''s face relaxed and she smiled lightly. Still, there was some concern in her eyes, when she heard that his body was damaged. "I''m very good as well. I''m not sure what happened, but it seems like you have activated some ritual stemming from your bloodline, which has changed my body. Now I''m young again." At her last sentence, there was unconcealed happiness in her voice.


    "I guess that this ritual has required your body to handle energies, that it couldn''t withstand, so it is now damaged.", she then explained her take on why he was injured. "But you should first check your system prompts.", she then advised him.


    Ivan agreed with her and now that he knows that she was alright and that what had happened didn''t seem to be something that had hurt her, he turned his focus towards the system prompts, that had been minimized.


    >


    The first one he read was a warning. And a warning that promised him a heavy fine, if he didn''t stop his action, whatever it was. He had no knowledge about what the Ancestral Soul was, but it seemed like it was responsible for most of the things that had happened. Checking the system-wiki didn''t yield any result either.


    He then checked the next Prompt.


    >


    "Damn!", when he read this prompt he couldn''t help himself but cursed out loud. Losing all his honor points was a big hit. He hadn''t used any yet since he had saved them up for better and more expensive things. And now they were all gone. The two months, where he wouldn''t get any, was irrelevant in comparison.


    "What''s wrong?", Celine instantly asked with concern when she heard him cursing.


    Instead of answering, Ivan just shared the prompt with her. "Oh, that really sucks.", she agreed with him. Still, she was much more relaxed than him.


    "You don''t seem to think that it is that bad?", he asked her.


    "That''s because it isn''t.", she answered and then explained, "There are only a few rules that can be broken. Most of them are enforced by the system and there is no way of breaking them. Because the system can''t enforce these rules, it instead heavily punishes those that break them, so that nobody else would even try."


    Ivan instantly understood what she meant, "So losing only my honor points isn''t that hard of a punishment, since I can regain them, right?"


    "Yes. I have heard, that most rule-breakers are punished with some form of reset. In heavy cases even a hard reset."


    Hearing that, Ivan felt better. After all, he had only lost some honor points, which would automatically regenerate.


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    Having been calmed down, he then took a look at the next time.


    >


    >


    It seemed like this what, what had created the changes in Celine''s body. But since it didn''t provide any real information, he just skipped this prompt and checked out the next one.


    Once again it was a warning:


    >


    As he expected, this warning had been ignored as well.


    >


    After that followed a description of the Draconian race.


    While he was glad that Celine''s problem had been resolved, the information from that prompt made him feel like screaming. To think that he had just lost most of his strength. Sure, compared to others he had a large amount of shadow stats, which hadn''t changed, but still, he would now be much weaker than before.


    But not only that. He wouldn''t be able to increase his stats for one year either, making it only worse. The last part was like adding insult to injury. If not for it only being for one month he surely would curse nonstop.


    Celine saw his expression change and asked. "What''s the matter. Is there anything bad?"


    Ivan didn''t answer but directly shared the prompt. After she read through it, she was stunned as well.


    "This really is harsh.", she then said, while looking at him with sympathy. She knew the feeling of losing one''s strength and being unable to get it back. And although it was only temporary, that didn''t make it easier.


    He didn''t dare to continue thinking about it, or he surely would become depressive. Instead, he thought about what he would still be able to do. First, he would have to check out his current strength and then he could still work on his shadow stats. And after one month he would focus on his alchemy.


    Having planned like this, his mood slightly increased. There were more prompts left, so he swallowed nervously and then opened the next one. Hopefully, it wouldn''t be anything bad.

 143 Endless Pen

    Directly after this prompt, another appeared where there were three checkboxes, with one already checked and greyed out, indicating that it couldn''t be changed. Leaving only the checkboxes for Warrior path and Management path available. The accept button was greyed out as well since he had to select one of the options available before continuing.


    Although he was unable to close this prompt, Ivan could still share the one before with Celine. After all, the decision would impact her the most, so it was only right for him to ask her opinion.


    "What do you think? Which one should I select?", he then asked her.


    Without hesitation, she gave her answer, "Just select both."


    "Are you sure? There has to be a reason that the system gives one the option to choose.", Ivan hesitated.


    "Yes, I am. And I know the reason as well. After all, where I come from there are other servant races and it is common knowledge how their training works.", Celine answered and then started to explain, "First let''s start with servant races. I don''t think you know anything about them since there are none in this realm, correct?"


    Ivan nodded. Before this, he had never heard about something like this before. The only other races he was aware of, were the monster races.


    "So a servant race is a race that has been modified to be the slaves of a master race. Mostly this is the result of some crazy experiments. And most races are old since much of the knowledge is lost and the other races would often attack any experiments in this direction.


    Each member of a servant race has to obey each member of the master race, with no option to resist as long as the new command doesn''t go against an old command. Each command is ranked according to the time it has been given.


    It is common to give the babies the command to completely obey the person who holds their special sign. This way, they can later be traded, without anyone having to fear them going rouge because of some old command since every command giving from the person holding the sign has priority.


    So although I call them servants, they aren''t that different from slaves. With the only difference being that slave seals can be broken and the slave thus freed, while for a servant this is impossible."


    She took a deep breath, before continuing, "Of course, my circumstance is different. According to the description of the draconian race, you are my only master and it has nothing to do with your race. Not only that, I can feel that I have more freedom than I have heard members of servant races have.


    For example, can I sense that if it is to save your life, I am able to ignore your orders. And that I can resist suicidal orders as long as the goal can be reached in a different way."


    When he heard this Ivan let out a breath of relief. He didn''t like the thought of her being just someone who would follow orders.


    "Then as long as I don''t give you any commands, you are free to do whatever you want?"


    "Basically yes. But there is a drive to serve you, so as long as you don''t resist, I will do just that.", Celine said and smiled at him. "It isn''t that different from being a blood servant."


    "Anyway. A servant can be trained in three main paths. And these paths are the ones displayed on that prompt. Besides them, there should be others, which can be unlocked later. The more paths a servant has unlocked, the more valuable and stronger the servant is.


    That''s because each path unlocks a number of skills, the system provides. And these skills are usually high-grade ones, where the skill book is unbelievably expensive."


    "So it is a way to get free skills?", he asked in surprise. If that truly was the case, then her having all three paths would mean that she would be able to learn skills from all these paths, right?


    "Yes. But of course, there is also a drawback. It''s not possible to just unlock these skills. Instead, the servant has to rise his or her level, which is done by doing actions related to the path. Each path has it''s own experience bar and only if all the bars are full, the servant can level up and thus unlock a new skill."


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    "Wouldn''t that mean that someone with more paths would level up slower? Then wouldn''t it be better to have fewer paths than more?"


    "While it is true that the level up progress is slower, there are synergy effects for having multiple paths.


    Not only would it unlock more extra paths, but also some of the skills from different paths can be combined. I have heard that many of the skills from the management path can also be used to increase one''s combat power.


    All in all, the benefits should overwhelm the faults.", Celine finished explaining.


    "Alright. If that''s the case and you are sure about it, then I''ll select the other two paths as well. Alright?"


    "Yeah.", she agreed and looked at him with expectation in her eyes. Getting free rare skills was a huge benefit. And since each servant would have its own skill tree it wasn''t possible to guess which skills would be in hers.


    Having gotten her agreement, Ivan selected both the management and warrior path and then confirmed his selection. As soon as he did that more prompts appeared.


    >


    This was a happy surprise. Although he didn''t know what skills would be available in this skill tree, he was sure that they would be something great.


    >


    >


    >


    >


    >


    When Ivan read this description, he wondered how it would look at Celine. But before he could think about it more, another prompt popped up.


    >


    >


    >


    This skill truly was something awesome. Although it was under the management section, in truth it was something that would be useful in all areas. And the best thing was that he too would have the skill.


    >


    >


    This was something, where Ivan was completely unable to evaluate the worth of. Luckily he didn''t have to and could instead read the next prompt.

 144 Basic Heavenly Massage

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    This too seemed like a useful skill. Although Ivan found the price for the flask of massage oil to be a ripoff.


    Celine too was happy with the skill. She had feared that the skill in this category would be something much more problematic.


    >


    >


    Reading the description Ivan really wondered how the system came up with them. And the remark at the end was something he had started to miss. As weird as it sounded, he had started to enjoy reading the sarcastic remarks giving by the system. It was just that the last few prompts didn''t have any good one.


    But reading the description he couldn''t help but wonder how it looked like to have provoked such a reaction from that designer''s wife. Maybe there would be time to check it out later?


    "Don''t even think about it.", a cold voice interrupted his thoughts.


    Surprised he looked at the source of this voice and saw that it was Celine who stared at him coldly. Clearly warning him with her eyes.


    "You took a look at it?", he asked curiously. Judging by her reaction it seemed like the outfit really was something, making him want to see it even more.


    "Yes and I''ll promise, that if you take even one look at it, I''m going to gauge out your eyes.", she once again warned him in a sharp voice.


    Ivan could see that she was serious about it. Still, he couldn''t help but tease her a bit, "Can you even do that?"


    "Who knows. But even if I can''t, I can still get someone else to do it for me.", she said with a shrug.


    "Alright I won''t look at it.", he hurriedly promised. Looking at the outfit wasn''t as important to him, as not getting injured by her.


    >


    "Huh?", Celine looked at the prompt in confusion. She hadn''t seen one like this ever before. Ivan, on the other hand, wasn''t that surprised. He had seen something like this before. He was only wondering what the mentioned contract was and why his servant''s outfit was already decided.


    "Whatever. Just check out the design.", he said to Celine, while also checking out the new menu on his interface.


    It was a collection for clothes, provided by the system. It seemed to be similar to the inventory, but more specialized since it would only contain clothes.


    Currently, there was only one outfit in it, which was the outfit mentioned before. It wasn''t the servant version but something called the master version. With a thought, it appeared in his eyes before him, enabling him to take a good look at it.


    It was a black robe made out of an unknown material. Although it was mostly black, there was a faint golden structure, which looked like veins. The only other color was the golden dragon crest as well as blue strips leading from his neck over his shoulders and down to the hands.


    The combat boots that came with it were black as well and made of the same material as the robe.


    All in all, Ivan thought that it would look very elegant if he wore it. But since he was currently lying in bed it was unsuitable for him to change his clothes into the robe.


    He then turned his focus back towards Celine, who unlike him had changed into the clothes. When he saw her appearance it took away his breath. It just looked so great at her, giving her an elegant and beautiful appearance.


    Like his, it was a completely black robe, with only a few patches of color. There was the crest as well, but it was smaller than his and was in silver instead of gold. The blue stripes were thinner as well. But the biggest difference was, that unlike his, Celine''s roble clung tightly to her body, showing off her curves, while maintaining a feeling of decorum.


    He couldn''t see her feet under the robe, so he didn''t know what kind of shoes she wore. But he could see that there were a pair of black gloves covering her hands. When he saw them, he didn''t know why he thought that they were there because the only thing they should touch with their own hands was their master.


    Had this design come from his former self. And did this feeling come from the him back then as well? It was the only thing that made sense.


    "Not bad.", Celine praised the clothes. "I wonder what kind of material this is?", she asked, while running her hand over her robe.


    "I don''t know, but it looks special."


    "It should be. Just look at how detailed these veins are. Do you think they are natural?"


    "I suppose so. I don''t think anyone would be able or willing to create such fine lines on it otherwise."


    "Well, whatever it is. There is no way to find out at the moment."


    "Yeah. But I wonder if this robe has any special effects."


    "I don''t know. The system didn''t provide any information, so there isn''t really any way to find out."


    "We could experiment on it.", Celine proposed.


    "As long as you don''t destroy it, you can do that."


    "I''ll do that.", Celine nodded absentminded. She was already fully focused on planning how to experiment on the robe. "Right. Was that everything?"


    Ivan checked his interface and found no more prompts left, so he nodded. "It should be. There aren''t any more notifications."


    "Good.", she looked at him and saw that he seemed even more exhausted than before. "You should sleep more."


    "I will.", he agreed. "Right, what about the others?", he suddenly thought of his friends. Before he had forgotten about them because of the excitement from the prompts and his general exhaustion.


    "They are fine.", she reassured him, "They are playing with Jane and Lucia. When I checked on them before, they seemed to be having a great time."


    "Still because of me, they won''t be able to enjoy the theme park.", he looked down ruefully.


    "Don''t worry about it. They understood that it wasn''t your fault. And it isn''t like we can just do it another day.", she comforted him.


    "Mm. Then please take care of them.", he was already getting sleepy, so he just shoved the responsibility of caring for them on her and relaxed back into the comfortable bed.


    It didn''t even take a minute before his regular breathing showed that he was deep asleep.


    Celine silently got up and carefully left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

 145 Level

    When Ivan woke up again, it was already the next day and the sun shone softly inside the room.


    Unlike yesterday, his body now felt a lot better. Although he still felt powerless, it wasn''t to the point that he was unable to move. Even the pain had gone down and was now only a slight sting throughout his whole body.


    He carefully lifted up his upper body into a sitting position. When he was able to do this without the pain getting worse or feeling exhausted, he was relieved and delighted.


    "Seems like the short term problems aren''t bad. As for the long term problems...", he didn''t continue but instead checked his character info.


    Before the character screen opened another message popped up.


    >


    This info solved some questions Ivan had. Now that his stats were capped at 50, his combat strength would be much higher than that, since all his shadow stats, which weren''t influenced had at least the same value, if not twice as much. Having level 50 would make all dungeons that had a difficulty, that was level based, very easy to him.


    And then there was the question with the training dungeon. If his level fell, then wouldn''t they be unable to do it in nightmare mode. Not that he knew whether he was still able to do it, now that he was weaker than before.


    >


    After he had finished reading his character screen, it was as he expected. Although his attributes were now at 50 his shadow stats were still there and with their value and his skills pulled up his level to 200. Although it was lower, it was still quite high.


    The question was how he could get stronger now. The shadow stat gain from ''Shadow Stats'' '' required him to increase his attributes first. Then he would usually reduce them again with ''Reincarnation''.


    And this was something that would work if the attributes weren''t capped at 50. 50 was a threshold, which meant that he couldn''t reduce them further. Although he hadn''t run into this situation before, since he never had 50 in all attributes, from what he had read it wasn''t possible to go back to 49 if an attribute was at 50 before. This meant that he was unable to reduce them and then regain them in order to get shadow stats.


    This left him with only ''Blood is Power'' as a means of increasing his shadow stats. But he felt that this was even harder since it not only required him to get Blood Essence Crystal, but it had a channeling time of five hours and a cooldown of 24 hours, which made it hard to use it productively.


    It would only be worth it if he could get his hands on some high-level Blood Essence Crystals. He would need a 100 stat points in Blood Essence Crystals to gain one shadow stat.


    All that wouldn''t be that much of a problem if he could get the crystals in dungeons, but that was impossible. And to make matters worse: These crystals couldn''t be traded with others. He could only use the ones he had gotten himself directly from his foes.


    "I guess I''ll have to ask Carl then.", he decided, when he was unable to come up with a good solution. At least his mentor should know where he could find monsters of an appropriate level out in the wilderness.


    Ivan slowly stood up completely. He then left the room and went over to his own.


    After a long shower, he then chose something comfortable to wear and went downstairs. Not unexpectedly, Celine was sitting on the sofa and was reading something. When she heard his footsteps, she looked up from her book and turned towards the stairs.


    When she saw him slowly making his way downwards, she smiled at him.


    "Morning.", she then greeted him and looked him up and down carefully.


    "Morning.", he responded and naturally made his way over to her. He lifted her legs and sat down beside her, depositing the legs on his own. Every move of his was fluent and without any awkwardness.


    Neither of them registered that this action of his was something that he wouldn''t have done before. Before he had always kept his distance and he would surely not have just touched her naked legs.


    "I already informed the school that you wouldn''t be able to come today.", Celine then informed him, after setting down the book.


    "Thank you."


    "So how are you feeling now?"


    "Better. There is just a slight pain. And I feel kind of powerless.", Ivan explained.


    "That''s normal. After all, you lost a lot of stats at the same time. To be honest. The more strength you lose the worse it is. The important thing is to get use to it. After a while, you won''t even notice it anymore. Instead, it will once again feel normal to have the strength you have."


    When she said that, Ivan knew that she spoke out of her experience. After all, she too should have gone through this. But her situation should have been even worse since the difference had been much larger.


    Celine then continued. "I would suggest that you try some light combat to acclimate to your new strength."


    Ivan nodded. Her suggestion was good. After all the best way to determine one''s, strength was to fight. Of course, the opponent shouldn''t be too strong or it would be completely pointless. What was there to learn if you fought against something that would one hit you?


    Better to start with something easy and then work the way up, while trying to stress one''s prowess as much as possible.


    "Have you thought about what you are going to do for the next year?", Celine then asked him with a slight worry in her eyes. She feared that he would be discouraged by his inability to increase his stats.


    "Not yet. But I have a few plans, which I can check out.", he answered, before explaining them to her. "First of all, I thought I would use the opportunity to increase my control over my skills, as well as their level."


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    When he had checked out his character screen before, he had realized that besides ''Mana Manipulation'' his other skills all had a very low level. Most of them were only level 1 and he hadn''t even used some of them. Sure it would be nearly impossible to increase the level of some of them anytime soon. They either had too long cooldowns or he wasn''t able to use them freely.


    "Sounds like a good idea. In this realm, most people will have a solid foundation in skills, since it is harder to increase one''s stats here. But in the upper realms, it is common to just ignore the skills available during Body Refining. Something that is a large oversight if you ask me."


    "Body Refining?", Ivan hadn''t heard of this term before, so he asked.


    "Yeah. It is what we call the first three steps of cultivation. And the first realm of it is what is available in this realm.", she explained readily. "During Body Refining one increases the strength of one''s body and thus lays a foundation."


    "So what is trained later?", he asked curiously, but was blocked by her. "You''ll know later on when you go to a higher realm. For now, that knowledge wouldn''t help you and may even be bad for you."

 146 Crystallization

    Since she was unwilling to explain, Ivan didn''t press her. Instead, he focused back on else she had said.


    "When it is the foundation, then why do they ignore it?"


    "Because it is weak in comparison. And most people don''t want to do things that won''t show results anytime soon."


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    She was right. Who wouldn''t want fast visible results instead of something in the far future?


    "But wouldn''t that mean that we would lag behind when we enter the higher realms?"


    "Yes. But it isn''t that much, so it is still fine. And after entering the higher realms, there is a short term boost that enables us to catch up with the majority."


    "Then that''s fine."


    "So besides training your skills you still have some other plans?"


    "Yes. I have a skill that enables me to increase my shadow stats. It is just that it is kind of hard to get the required materials."


    He then shared the description for ''Blood is Power''.


    >


    "Wow! You really are one lucky guy.", when she read the description, she exclaimed in astonishment.


    Seeing her strong reaction, he was surprised. Usually, she would keep her calm, independently of what happened. Even with the change into someone from a servant race, she had kept her calm. So to see her exclaim like that came as a shock to him.


    Seeing his suprise she stared at him and then shook her head. "Right. You don''t even know what you got there.", she then said with ridicule in her voice.


    "Then how about you explain?", Ivan was slightly affronted by her tone.


    "Sorry, sorry.", she lightly apologized. "How do you think one can strengthen oneself?", she then started her explanation with a question.


    "To take in energy and use it to strengthen oneself." The answer was easy for Ivan since it was what everyone did.


    "Correct. Now the difference is where the energy comes from.


    Most training techniques use energy, that is everywhere around us. They then channel it into the body and uses it to strengthen the body in a specific way.


    Now, while this is an easy and comfortable method of getting energy. It is neither efficient nor fast. It is much better to use energy, that has already been collected, concentrated and purified.", she paused an looked at Ivan to check if he was following.


    When he nodded to indicate his understanding, she continued. "Now there are three different things, where one can find such energy. At least that are the accepted ones.


    First, of are natural crystallization. If the energy in the surroundings is high enough, it can condense and form crystals. Depending on the energy they contain, they are called by different names. And because of the time needed for this process. They are seen as a nonrenewable resource.


    Usually, they are found deep in the earth, where not many lifeforms can reach. There there is time available for them to form and grow. Then sects will mine them and use them for their cultivation as well as currency. Then when they have mined everything they have to start looking somewhere else."


    "This doesn''t sound like something that can be done in the long run.", Ivan commented.


    "You would be surprised. The upper realms are huge. And there are many areas where no human has ever set foot. In these areas, large deposits of energy crystals have formed and when they start mining a new one, the old one can regenerate. Still, with an increase in population these mines become rarer and the distance larger. Which is the main problem with them."


    "Can''t they just teleport?", he asked in confusion.


    "Hah. Unlike here, where the System enables and supports teleportation, it isn''t that easy in the higher realms. Not only is the skill required hard to come by. The strength necessary to build portals is too high as well. And then there is the required energy. All of these make it nearly impossible to create a useful portal network."


    "Anyway. The next method is to use herbs. This is the most commonly used method as well. Together with pill refining, it is possible to reach astonishing results. Of course, it too depends on the quality of the herbs, with the really good ones only being found in the wilderness.


    But it is possible to cultivate some herbs and those are enough to support most sects."


    "But don''t they have to grow as well? So how can they have enough energy?"


    "Sure they do. But unlike the crystals, they actively absorb energy and are thus much faster in accumulating it. Sure the energy isn''t as pure, but it is still much better than nothing.


    Most of the increase in speed comes from special medical properties of these herbs as well as the fact, that absorbing the energy of one herb is equivalent to spending nearly half the time, the herb has grown, cultivating."


    "I can see that.", he said. Just imagine multiple selves could collect energy at the same time. Even if there were losses, it was still much more efficient than only oneself cultivating.


    "Then the third one?", he asked curiously. During this explanation, he had learned a lot, so he was eager to learn even more.


    "The third one is to absorb the energy from animals."


    "So the higher the being is in the food chain the better? Since they absorb the energy from the ones below them?"


    "Theoretically yes.", she agreed. "But in practice, this isn''t necessarily the case. Not only will there be losses in each step of the food chain. There will also be impurities brought into the energy, that has to be filtered out.


    Through experiments, it has been determined that growing herbs is useful while rearing animals is just a waste. Of course, that doesn''t mean that hunting wild ones is one as well. There is a huge industry around hunting wild beasts. Not only for the bones and pelts, which can be used in crafting, but also their cores and flesh."


    "Cores?"


    "The cores are where they concentrate their collected energy. But it is only a small part, compared to the one that is available in their blood and flesh.


    Eating the flesh of those beasts allows one to absorb some of the energy in it. It is just that it is quite wasteful. Absorbing the cores is better but still not even a fraction of the energy the beast has collected."


    "Then where is the rest? The blood?", Ivan asked.


    "Exactly. But the problem with blood is that it is nearly impossible to extract energy from it. It is too closely bound to the being. But still, there are some ways to extract that energy. Most of them require a combination of blood, herbs and some minerals to create pills. They are terrible ineffective but for most people the only way.


    Then there are some races, that naturally are able to extract the energy from the blood of others. We call these species vampiric. But this ability is useless for humans since all attempts to imitate them have ended in disaster. "


    "Then the skill?", he asked confused. The skill should use the energy contained in the blood of the slain beasts. But how would they form Blood Essence Crystals?


    "You guessed it. The skill uses a different method to extract the energy. I don''t know how it works, but I''m sure that it is much more efficient than the other methods I have mentioned.


    By using it you can use beasts much more efficient than others and thus will be able to absorb energy faster than others. Of course, that is only if the rest of your talent is the same."


    "So it is an awesome skill?"


    "For sure.", she nodded confirmative. But then she warned him, "But don''t think it is that unique. Although it is rare to have a skill like this. It isn''t like there aren''t others with it. There is even a sect, whose main cultivation skill can absorb the energy of blood. Although I have heard that there are severe side effects."


    "Thank you for the explanation and the warning.", he thanked her. Before he asked her, "So what do you think? Should I try to use this skill to increase my strength during his period?"


    "Of course. But you should first find a good place to find beasts which have at least level 100 or above. Or else using the skill would just be a waste.


    Right, what level are you anyway?"


    "Level 200"


    "Not bad. Higher than I expected. I thought you would be around 150. It seems like you have trained quite diligently."


    "I''m a bit surprised as well. If I add up the shadow stats and normal stats, no attribute is higher than 150."


    "Then it should be your skills. Or your bloodline."

 147 Told your wife

    "I don''t think it''s my skills. Remember how low they are?"


    "Right. You said that they had a low level. Well if it isn''t them, then it should be your bloodline. But I haven''t really seen a reason for the System to rate it so high. Is there anything else?"


    Ivan facepalmed. "Fu... I forgot. There is still Vlada." Because he hadn''t used her lately, he had forgotten about her. No, not forgotten, he had just excluded her from his strength. To him, it had always seemed like something external.


    "Vlada?"


    "My slave. She is an Evolved Vampiric Bat."


    "Oh right. You are after all a member of the Slaver Alliance, so you should have a slave."


    "Yeah. I kinda didn''t count her in, since I see her strength as something more external and thought my level was only my strength. But it seems like this isn''t the case."


    "Of course not. One''s slaves are an important part of one''s strength. There are even some that focus all their energy on training their slaves or pets as they are called as well. Those Pet Masters are highly regarded since they are much more capable of fighting against large groups."


    "Mmm, I can see that. It just feels wrong somehow.", Ivan responded.


    "That''s because you instinctively think of your own strength only. It''s not a bad thing. It just shows that you are more accustomed to being alone and to have to rely on yourself. Something that isn''t surprising, considering that after your reset you didn''t have any family to rely on.


    But now you have one and you should try to change that habit. Not only your slaves but also your servants, friends, and family are a part of your strength."


    What she said sounds logical, but Ivan knew that it wasn''t that easy to change.


    Celine then continued, "Just try it. While fighting, don''t just rely on yourself, but also try to rely on your slave. Or even go so far as to let your slave do the fighting alone. In the beginning, this will be hard, but it can later elevate your comprehensive strength to a whole new level."


    "Mmm, I will try it."


    "Great. Then later let''s go to the training dungeon together."


    "Huh?", the abrupt proposal surprised Ivan.


    "Is it that surprising? Now that I''m your servant it is necessary for us to fight together. Only this way can we level up the Warrior Path. Besides, it will be a good opportunity for you to learn."


    He had to agree with her. He didn''t know how strong she was currently, but he knew that she had been very strong before. As such he should be able to learn a lot from her.


    "Great.", he agreed to her proposal.


    "Then that''s settled. But first, we will have to go shopping."


    "Shopping?", he once again asked. He really couldn''t follow her train of thought.


    "Of course. Not only do I need some new clothes. After all the old ones won''t fit anymore. But I will also need some equipment. And then we need some massage oils and such for leveling up the Relief Path.


    By the way, do you have anything I could manage for you?"


    She knew that he didn''t really have anything to his name, which would make leveling up the Management Path much harder since she would have started at zero.


    To her surprise, he answered, "I do. At least I have something planned." He then continued with his explanation, "You know that I can refine pills right?"


    When she nodded, he continued, "So after I got the ''Pill Refiner'' title, I met someone who could be my assistant and then planned to open a pill store." He then continued by telling her about meeting Arina and what he had planned.


    "That''s a good idea.", she praised him. "But I''m surprised you already got that title."


    Seeing his questioning look, she explained, "The title shows that you are quite skilled. Most pill refiners need to practice for tens of years before they can reach that level."


    "I got a good teacher.", he responded, and he meant it. Without Miss. Klein''s teachings, he wouldn''t have been able to reach his current level this fast.


    "I''m sure that is only part of the reason. Your talent should be quite good as well.


    Anyway back to the shop. I think it is a good idea and should work out well. There always is a huge demand for all levels of pills. And since your refining level is high enough, you should be able to earn quite a bit. So how about you just focus on the refining part and leave the rest to me?"


    Since Ivan had no experience with managing a shop, he was only too happy to let her do it. "Sure. I''d be happy if you could do that."


    "Great. Then give me the number of that girl."


    He did exactly that and after saving it, Celine looked at him with a sly smile.


    "By the way, I told your wife about what happened yesterday."


    When he heard that sentence he felt flustered. Although it wasn''t like he did anything wrong, it still felt weird. He hadn''t even stabilized his relationship with Lara when something like this happened with Celine. Now he was worried about her reaction.


    "Um, what did she say?", he hesitantly asked.


    Seeing his worried face, Celine laughed, making Ivan relax. If the reaction had been bad, then from his understanding of Celine''s personality, there was no way that she would laugh.


    Seeing that he calmed down, Celine knew that he had guessed that the reaction couldn''t have been that bad. So she too calmed down and said, "She was surprised. But she also said that she was glad that something happened between us."


    "?", he was confused. That absolutely wasn''t the reaction he had expected.


    "I too was confused at first, but she explained it.", Celine continued, "She explained, that it is the job of the first wife to take care of the husband''s need. But she won''t be able to do it anytime soon, because of what happened in the past."


    "But I don''t think I have any needs like this.", Ivan refuted.


    "That''s only what you think. It is scientifically proven, that men have their needs, except in some rare cases. By the way, the same is the case for women. It is just not as strong. And not giving in to them can be detrimental to their combat ability as well as concentration. And at your age, the effect it is even stronger."


    "Then what are the others doing? I know of many others who have neither girlfriends nor wives.


    "I didn''t say it is necessary. But it can help increase concentration. Anyway, that isn''t really the main point, which is that it is common for a man to have multiple women, so there isn''t anything unusual about us having sex. And Lara is very open in this aspect. Not only did she tell me that it was alright, she even encouraged us to do it more often."


    "I''d still have expected a larger reaction. Isn''t there any jealousy between woman?"


    "Of course there is. It is just that the marriage contracts suppress it. Like they enforce a certain behavior towards the woman as well. Besides for her, I think that us two having sex is a kind of relief for her as well as it reduces an unseen pressure she has been feeling."


    Ivan listened to her explanation, but he still couldn''t quite understand the thought process. Luckily he didn''t have to. He could just accept it without thinking more about it. In fact, he was happy to leave the decisions concerning the household to Lara. This way he could focus on enjoying the time with his family and friends, as well as training to be stronger, without having to divert time.


    "Well, if you say so."


    "Yes I say so.", she affirmed. "So if you are ok then let''s go shopping."


    "Sure. But what about Lucia and Jane?", he asked. When he hadn''t seen the two of them, he guessed that the two of them were somewhere else playing together, as they usually did.


    "I already told them that we would go out when you get up. So they went out together to play."


    "That''s good. Thank you and Lucia for taking care of Jane.", he thanked her.


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    She hurriedly waved away his thanks. "You don''t have to thank us. Both of us like her and enjoy spending time with her. She is just like a sister to Lucia and I too see her as something like a daughter."


    Ivan still smiled thankfully. He knew that before Celine and Lucia had come to this house, Jane oftentimes had only the housekeeper as company. Although most of the time she had been with Lara, she had to play with herself since Lara had been working. Now with Lucia and Celine, there always was someone around she could play with.

 148 You are Celine?

    "Then let''s go.", Celine said, before getting up from the couch. "Do you want to drive or should I? But let me warn you, I haven''t driven for a long time."


    "Just tell me where to go and I''ll drive.", Ivan said.


    The two of them went into the garage, where Ivan selected a black Audi for them to take. After boarding the car, Celine told him the route to one of the biggest shopping malls in the city, Kurd Mall.


    After parking their car, the two of them entered the mall. It was the first time Ivan saw such a mall. Until now he had always shopped in the smaller stores at the alliance, which were very different from this mall. With the targeted customer group being the members of the alliance, they were mainly focused on practicality and ease of finding what one needs. In the mall, on the other hand, the customers were normal citizens, who, after school, hadn''t fought even a single time. Of course, their expectations would be different.


    When he first entered he admired the great hall, which white marble floor together with the warm lighting gave it a very welcome atmosphere. While the sides were occupied by a multitude of shops, the center was filled with plants, seating areas, and cafes.


    While he was still looking around an arm wound around his. It was Celine''s who now stood close beside him, making them look like any other couple walking around here.


    "Let''s get some clothes first.", she proposed and subtle pulled him towards one of the stairs leading up to the second floor.


    On the second floor were a multitude of clothing stores. They were separated into four groups: children, woman, man and mixed, with the woman area being the biggest. This made it easy to see that women made up a large part of the customers of this mall. All of the stores belonged to known brands, which Ivan knew nothing about.


    Under Celine''s lead, they arrived before a store, which seemed to offer all kinds of woman clothes. It seemed like she was familiar with the store, as when she entered she directly walked towards one of the young women in uniform, which were waiting to serve the customers.


    "Hey, Lia.", she greeted the woman, but only earned a confused look in response. It seemed that the woman was unable to recognize her, which wasn''t a surprise, considering her drastic change.


    Celine didn''t felt slighted since she understood that fact and only told her with a smile, "I''m Celine. You know, the old woman in a wheelchair."


    When she said that a flash of recognition flashed through Lia''s eyes, but was once again replaced with confusion.


    "You are Celine? But ...", she asked in confusion.


    "Yeah. I was ill before and have now recovered." while saying that, she removed her arm around Ivan''s and walked towards the young woman.


    "Really? You told me you were ill, but this transformation is just too huge.", Lia was still unbelieving. It had only been one week since she last saw Celine, so seeing her having changed so much in just one week wasn''t something she could believe.


    "Do I have to first tell everyone about what happened when we first met?", Celine jokingly treated her.


    Lia hurriedly shook her head, "No need, no need. I believe you."


    Ivan looked at the two of them with a gentle smile. It seemed like the two of them were good friends. Although he wondered how that had happened, it should have something to do with that first meeting Celine mentioned, and it didn''t seem appropriate to ask about it.


    Now that the first confusion had been solved, the two women started to happily chat, leaving Ivan with nothing to do. He slowly walked around the store, looking at the different dresses on display.


    All of them were well made and looked beautiful. Finally, he stopped before one of the simpler clothes on display. It was a cream-colored suit for women, which he thought would fit Lara very well.


    "You want to buy it for Lara?", suddenly a voice behind him asked.


    Surprised he turned around and saw the woman who had asked the question. It was Yevina who stood behind him. She was accompanied by her fiancee Key who greeted him as well.


    "Hello, Ivan."


    "Hello", Ivan returned the greeting, before asking Yevina, "How did you know that I was wanting to buy this suit for Lara?"


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    She shrugged, "I guessed it. From what Key has told me about her, that would be something one could gift his sister. For other women, it would be kind of weird to gift a suit instead of a dress.", she then explained.


    "Oh, so that''s how it is.", Ivan nodded in understanding before asking the two of them, "Right, how come you are here?"


    "Haha, this mall belongs to the Imperial Trust Fund, so we regularly check it out.", Key explained.


    Ivan looked around and saw, that everyone was ignoring them. "It doesn''t seem like the employees here know that you are their boss.", he then commented.


    "They don''t. Or to be exact they don''t know that I''m their boss. Our family has always been secretive with our appearance. Just check out some videos of our public appearances and you will find out that we look very different in them. It would be such a hassle if everyone knew how we look in reality.", Key explained.


    Although Ivan was surprised, he could easily understand them. Being recognized everywhere would truly be annoying.


    "In fact, most higher nobles won''t use their real appearance for public appearances.", Key then continued.


    "So whom did you come here with?", Yevina interrupted their conversation, "After all Lara isn''t here at the moment."


    Ivan pointed at Celine who was still chatting with Lia. "I came with Celine."


    The two of them looked at the woman he had pointed at. "So who is she?", Yevina asked curiously.


    Ivan didn''t want to explain their exact relationship, so he just explained, "It is kind of complicated, but is something like a servant. But also something more."


    His vague explanation only served to increase Yevina''s curiosity. "So does Lara know about her?"


    "Of course. In fact, she is the one who had her stay with us."


    "Well, then everything is alright.", Key said.


    They chatted some more until suddenly Yevina brought up her wish to buy something special.


    Key looked at her puzzled, "What do you mean?"


    "Well you know, there will be another party soon and I want a special outfit for that."


    "Oh, then after that we can go to that shop Larissa recommended.", Key answered.


    "Party?", Ivan asked confused. Mentioning Larissa, he could only think of that sex party she had mentioned at the gala. "You two went?"


    Yevina smiled, "Yeah we did and it was great."


    Key nodded as well. It seemed that after he had been convinced by Yevina to attend the party he had enjoyed it as well, which surprised Ivan.


    "Surprisingly, it was fun. At first, I was against it. After all who would want to share their wife. But after she forced me to attend I found that it could be quite a turn on. At least if you swing that way."


    "You should try as well.", Yevina told Ivan, but he shook his head.


    "No. I don''t think I could do it. Just the thought makes me angry.", Ivan refused.


    "So you are one of those.", Key nodded. "Then what about sharing someone other? Someone who isn''t your wife?"


    Ivan took some time to think about it. Unlike the thought of someone having sex with his wife, the thought of sharing someone else didn''t repulse him. "I don''t know. But it isn''t repulsive."


    "Then do you want to come with us to shop?", Yevina asked, "I mean after you have finished here?"


    "I''ll ask Celine and then decide."


    "Great, then we''ll be at the Green Rabbit Cafe.", she said, before leaving together with Key.


    While they were talking, Celine had wrapped up her conversation with Lia as well and was now trying out different dresses.


    "Hey, what do you think about this?", she came over, wearing a dark blue short dress, that hugged her figure in a sexy way. While it was short at the bottom and showed much of her beautiful legs, it was closed at the top. This contrast made it much more appealing if either everything was shown or hidden.


    "It looks great.", Ivan voiced his honest opinion, bringing a happy smile on her face.


    "Then I''ll buy it.", she happily says, before walking towards another dress to try on. This one was more conservative since it was longer and not as figure-hugging. Thus it was more suited as casual wear.


    After selecting some trousers and shirts, as well as another two dresses, she finally finished. Ivan too told one of the employees to pack up the suit he had selected and after paying with the card, Lara had given him, they left the store.

 149 Green Rabbi

    He told Celine about the invitation from Key and Yevina and they decided to first meet up with them. They could delay the other stuff for now. He sent a short message to Key to inform them that they would come over to the cafe.


    Key informed them that they were on the way as well.


    Ivan and Celine went downstairs to the first floor and after searching for a bit found the Green Rabbit Cafe, which was a small cozy cafe at the sides. Unlike the other cafes, there weren''t any seats outside. After entering, they easily spotted Yevina and Key who were seated at a table in a corner.


    "Hey.", Yevina greeted them and then introduced herself to Celine, "I''m Yevina."


    Celine greeted her back and indicated that she had already heard about her from Ivan.


    After sitting down they ordered some tea and started to talk. Although it was mostly Yevina and Celine doing the talking, while Ivan and Key sat beside them and listened, only sometimes throwing in a sentence or two.


    It was astonishing how easily these two women managed to get close to each other. While they started off with some common topics, they soon switched to more personal, such as how they met the men beside them, or what hobbies they had.


    "Do you think it''s weird that I don''t have a problem with sharing Ivan with another woman, but I would strongly dislike it if he shared me with another man?", Celine asked when the topic changed to the party the other pair had visited.


    Yevina didn''t even have to think before answering, "I don''t think so. I think that''s the usual way, although I don''t know why it is like this. In my opinion, everyone is free to be like they want, as long as they don''t infringe on the taboos of others.


    But I also think that one should try out new things. For example, how about you, Ivan, and another woman at the same time? Or you and another woman? What about those?"


    Confronted by these questions, Celine didn''t know how to answer. She hadn''t thought about these before. To her, it had always been natural for her partner to be just one man, the man she was together with. Back then it had been Lucia''s father and now it was Ivan.


    "I don''t know.", she honestly responded.


    "Just think about it. For now, let''s get going or the shop is going to close.", Yevina said, before getting up.


    The others followed her out of the mall and towards a small alley, nearby. The alley was between two other stores next to the shopping mall and only had a door, with a simple sign, at the end of it. The sign read "Jacky''s Shop", which told nothing about the kind of store it was.


    When they got close to the door, Yevina pulled out a simple black card, with the same letters on it as the sign. She held the card in front of a nearly invisible reader beside the door and the door opened.


    Entering the door gave Ivan a weird feeling. It felt like something had shifted, but he was unable to detect what. He looked at the others, but they didn''t seem to have felt anything.


    "That''s surprising. I didn''t think anyone would be able to feel it.", a soft voice said, following by a woman appearing before them. She was wearing a black uniform, which covered everything except her face. There even were gloves, that covered her hands and a cap, which covered her head.


    Ivan looked into her purple eyes, which complimented her purple lips and asked, "What happened when we went through the door?" He asked while the other three looked confused at what she meant.


    "This is a separate dimension, so you teleported", she explained. "For you to detect it, you must have quite some talent in spacial magic."


    Now Ivan looked confused as well, "Spacial magic?"


    He hadn''t heard about it before. According to the information he had, it seemed to be impossible to affect space with magic, which made use of mana. It was different for Qi, which was able to influence it.


    "It''s not surprising, that you haven''t heard about it. It''s rare for anyone to have a talent in it.", the woman responded. "Anyway, I''m Jacky, the owner of this humble store.", the woman introduced herself to the group.


    "Hello, I''m Yevina and Larissa recommended this store to us.", she then introduced the others. From the way to get access to having the store in a different dimension, she knew that the store was something special, or at least the owner was.


    "Then come in everyone.", Jacky said while pointing at another door, leading out of the entrance hall, they had appeared in.


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    Behind this door, another hall came into view. It was as big as the shopping mall, they had just left, surprising the door.


    "Wow.", Celine exclaimed. "Is all of this your store?", she then asked Jacky in astonishment.


    "Yes.", the woman smiled proudly. "I have sections for just about everything and everything you want, you get here. And if you can''t find it, you can order it." It seemed like she was really proud of this store.


    On the first floor, there was a large reception area, which was manned by two women, wearing a similar uniform to Jacky''s. But unlike her completely black one, theirs had purple stripes.


    Besides them, there were some others, who were leading other groups or single people.


    Jacky pointed at them and said, "These are my employees. Everyone is only allowed to move around if lead by one of them. They know where everything is and will do their utmost to help the customers. Well, although I say utmost there are limits to their help. Some depend on the rank of the customer, while other things are strictly off-limit."


    She then gestured at Yevina, "The card Larissa gave you is only an invitation card. While it can allow you entry to the store, you have only access to a selected part of the store. And it will only work one time. If you want to come again, you would need to get a membership card."


    Yevina nodded, "I know. Larissa told me that I should directly buy for at least one thousand gold coins, so I can get the membership card."


    When she said the amount, Ivan gasped. One thousand gold was an astronomically amount of money for him. To have to spend so much just to get a membership was astonishing.


    Jacky heard his gasp and smiled at him. "You think this is a lot?", she asked slyly.


    He nodded in response.


    "To others that may be. But here it is nothing. Most things here can''t even be bought with gold. Only cheap things can, while other things have to be traded with crystallized energy. So the most common payment method is energy crystals, followed by demon cores.", she explained.


    "For example this sword", she pointed at a dark green sword, an employee carried towards the checkout counter at the side, while being followed by a young man. "It is an S class sword with a level requirement of at least 1k.", pausing, she once again savored the astonishment of the group. "The price is around 2 EU, which would make about twenty billion gold if exchanged. That is if anyone would even exchange something containing EU for gold."


    "EU?", Key asked. It seemed like this was something even he as the prince controlling the foundation hadn''t come into contact with yet.


    "Energy units. It is a way to measure the energy contained in a crystal.", understanding that they won''t be able to understand how much it was exactly, she then continued to explain, "A normal 1 cubic centimeter crystal has around 1 EU in it." She then pulled one out and showed it to them.


    Everyone except Celine looked at it curiously. They could feel the energy in it and had the feeling that if they wanted to, they would be able to extract it. Of course, they wouldn''t do this since the crystal didn''t belong to them, but it allowed them to get a feeling for the energy contained in it.


    "This seems like a lot of energy. But I haven''t seen them before, so where are they from?", Yevina asked.


    "These crystals don''t exist in our realm naturally. All of them have to be important from the higher realms.", Celine was the one explaining. "But it seems like this store doesn''t just have customers from our realm.", she then commented.


    "You have good eyes.", Jacky complimented her. "This store is accessible from a multitude of realms, including the one you are from. Of course, some of them are higher than others. That''s one reason one can only walk around with an employee accompanying them. If not it could be dangerous."

 150 Sections

    She then led them towards one of the sections on the first floor.


    "Here we are. Since you are recommended by Larissa, she would surely send you here for this section.", she said, before pointing at the sign, which said "Erotic Section 1". It seemed like it wasn''t the first time Larissa had recommended someone to her store and it had always been for the same reason.


    Yevina laughed. "It seems like you know Larissa well."


    "Of course. She is a good friend of mine.", Jacky agreed.


    "What does the 1 mean at the sign?", Key asked curiously.


    "The number on the sign would show the grade of the section. Starting with 1 which would contain items suitable for everyone below Foundation Realm.", Jacky explained.


    Below Foundation Realm meant everyone from ''Flesh Refining'', ''Blood Refining'', ''Pathway Refining'', ''Qi Gathering'', and ''Qi Condensing'' realm. Since they were still in ''Flesh Refining'', it meant that the targeted group was still above them.


    "There are higher sections even for the erotic stuff?", Yevina asked in surprise. Ivan too couldn''t imagine, why there was a need to differentiate such stuff into different sections.


    "Of course.", Jacky replied as if it was obvious. "There are many things, that have to scale with the power of the user. Just think of bondage gear. If it doesn''t scale, then it would be completely useless. Who would want to use it, if a simple tug could tear it?"


    "Which means you use high-grade ingredients to make bondage gear?"


    "Sure. If there are people, who buy it, then we will make it and sell it.", Jacky answered in the typical style of a merchant.


    While talking, they had entered the section. They were greeted by a seating area where four men and four women were seated. All of them were wearing the store''s uniform and they were freely chatting, when they entered. As soon as they saw them they hurriedly stood up and came over to greet them.


    "Usually the attendant would call them, so they are prepared when the customers enter.", Jacky explained. Evidently she hadn''t done so, which led to them still sitting on the couches.


    "Boss!", they greeted her, before greeting the others as well, "Welcome."


    "Cait.", Jacky called one of the women, "you will be responsible for them."


    She then turned towards Yevina, "I have to go. Cait here will take good care of you. She and the others will help you with anything in this store, from testing toys to modeling the clothes, if you don''t want to do it yourself." It seemed like the service provided was quite complete, making Ivan wonder if it was like this for everyone.


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    Jacky seemed to have guessed his thoughts as she continued, "Although this is usually a service only available for VIP 3 or above members since Larissa send you I''ll make an exception this time.", she then turned towards Ivan and pulled out a card.


    "Here.", she gave the card to him and to his surprise it was a VIP card. It had a 1 on it which indicated that it was a level 1 VIP card. But there was also a J on it. "The ''J'' on it indicates that you can ask the service person to contact me", she explained, before he could ask. "But don''t use it for fun.", she then warned him.


    "Why would you give this to me?", he asked her.


    "Because of the talent, you have shown. If you want to learn more about Spacial Magic, then come here to meet me after you have reached level 50 in Mana Manipulation.", she told him. After that, she didn''t wait for any response and directly vanished.


    "Hello, I''m Cait and I''ll be your personal attendant.", the woman Jacky had pointed at, introduced herself to the group. "May I know, if you already have something specific in mind, or if you want to walk around and look first?"


    Everyone looked at Yevina, who was the one who had wanted to come here and waited for her response.


    "To be honest, I don''t have any idea.", she shrugged her shoulders.


    "Alright.", Cait said, "Then how about I introduce some things to you and you can then decide if you want to take a closer look?"


    "Sure."


    "I hope you won''t be insulted, but it would be useful to know, how much you are willing to spend.", she asked carefully.


    Nobody felt insulted since after Jacky''s introduction they understood that some of the prices here were unbelievable.


    "I didn''t plan to use more than a million gold.", Yevina responded. Although to most people a million gold was a lot, to her it wasn''t that much, so she was more than willing to use it on her enjoyment. After naming her price, she then looked at Key.


    "To be honest I just wanted to accompany you.", he told her, making her smile happily. She didn''t need him to buy her anything. Just him accompanying her was more than enough.


    Celine and Ivan smiled at the sight of the two flirting with each other. They felt happy for them. It seemed like they really loved each other.


    "I don''t know. Originally I didn''t plan to buy anything, but if I find something I like I could pay up to one EU.", Celine said, surprising Yevina and Key. They wouldn''t have expected her to be able to pay one EU. Ivan, on the other hand, wasn''t surprised. Although she should have used up quite a lot during her illness, she had been to the upper realms after all and even reached the Earth Realm.


    "I don''t have any money.", Ivan said when the others looked at him.


    Cait smiled at him frankly admitting it. She had seen many customers try to hide the fact that they were unable to pay much, just to impress others. Some had even used their entire fortune for that reason. Ivan''s frankness was much more impressive than their behavior.


    "Alright, so it will be the Ladys shopping, correct?"


    Everyone nodded.


    "Then how about I''ll lead you to a private room. This way you can enjoy some tea while waiting and it will be more comfortable for you to show off your outfits. Or do you want two separated rooms?"


    "That would be great. If you two are alright with it we should take one room. I would love to hear Ivan''s opinion as well.", Yevina said while looking at Ivan and Celine.


    Ivan too looked at Celine, making it clear that it was her decision.


    "Then let''s use one room. A second opinion wouldn''t be bad. And the two can talk while we search.", Celine agreed. She wasn''t shy about showing her body, she just wouldn''t give it to anyone else but her current partner.


    Having heard their respond, Cait led them to a private room at the side. While Key and Ivan sat down on one of the couch and were served a cup of tea each, she then took Yevina and Celine outside to select some outfits for them.


    "Not only are there different designs, but also different materials, which are used in crafting. I recommend to first select a material and then look at different designs.", Ivan could hear her explaining while leaving.


    "Did you know that the only reason you are still alive is Jane?", Key suddenly asked a shocking question.


    "Yeah. Your family must have hated me back then.", Ivan responded calmly. It wasn''t unexpected that they would have wanted to kill him.


    "Well, I''m glad that it went the way it did. And for fathering Jane we have to be thankful. Although the process was very disagreeable, I can''t deny that it saved my sister."


    "What do you mean? Did something happen with Lara back then?", Ivan knew that Key wasn''t talking about the situation back then, but something different.


    "I''m sure she didn''t tell you and I don''t think she wants you to know either, but I think you have the right and need to know.", Key said and then paused, collecting his thoughts. Ivan didn''t disrupt him and patiently waited for him to continue.


    "It hasn''t happened ever since Jane has been born, but you will still have to be careful of her periods of suicidal actions."


    "Huh?", to Ivan, Lara was one of the calmest and self-controlled people he knew, so he couldn''t imagine her to have suicidal tendencies.


    "As I said, it hasn''t appeared ever since Jane has been born, but back then she would often go into situations with a high chance of death. One time when she came out of a dungeon, she was just barely alive. And do you know what she did as soon as she was healed? She went in again, and she returned nearly half death again. If we hadn''t used force she would have surely tried again.", while talking he became emotional. "And do you know what the worst thing was? It was the fact that none of us knew why? Anyway, after that we only allowed her to go out with her friends. Only that way was it possible to keep her safe."

 151 Changed our mind

    "She too didn''t say anything?"


    "No. She didn''t. But luckily she has now calmed down and is now much more in control of herself. Most likely it wouldn''t happen again, but you should still keep an eye out for it."


    Ivan nodded his understanding.


    "Anyway. Do you already know when you will get your title?", Key then changed the topic.


    "No. But I guess it should be sometimes soon after Lara comes back.", Ivan responded.


    "I guess she must have already started to train you.", he said with a smile.


    "Yeah. Why the hell must there be so many weird rules?"


    "That''s the way it is. Although we aren''t that strict here. I heard that some courts in the upper realm have so many rules, it is nearly impossible not to break at least one, whatever you do."


    "You haven''t gone to the higher realm?", Ivan asked.


    "Nope. I never had much interest in fighting. And in that case, there is no reason to go up there. There it is always about strength and getting stronger. To me, living happily and freely is much more important."


    "So that''s why you are leading such huge cooperation?", Ivan asked jokingly.


    "Of course. How else could I live freely? You know the most important thing in this realm is power and connections. And for that, what could be better than be a member of the royal family and the head of the Imperial Trust Fund?", Key said while smiling happily. "Besides I enjoy the feeling of being in control of so much money and power."


    "Well, that sure sounds like your true thoughts."


    They continued joking around until the three girls came back. They too were chatting happily with each other.


    "So how did it go? Did you find something?", Ivan asked Celine.


    "Of course. This store is great. I never knew that there could be so much diversity. So many different materials and designs.", she happily answered. "And Cait was a great help."


    "I thought you wanted us to help select something?", Key asked confused.


    "Well, we changed our mind.", Yevina retorted, sounding unreasonable, but then explained, "We want it to be a surprise."


    "I can assure you that it will be a pleasant one.", Cait chimed in as well.


    "Great. Then if there is nothing else, how about we go home? And if you like you could come with us and we can eat dinner together. I''m sure Jane would be happy.", Ivan asked, with the second question being directed toward Key and Yevina.


    They simply looked at each other and then Yevina agreed, "Sure, that would be great. I''m really looking forward to meeting her. After all, she will be my niece soon."


    "So you are planning to marry soon?"


    "Yes. It will be at the beginning of the next year."


    When they were getting ready to leave, Ivan turned towards Cait and pulled out the only Blood Essence Crystal he had. It was from a weak snake, that he had fought back then when he had gone on an adventure in the wilderness.


    "Could you maybe tell me how much this is worth?"


    "Hm, a low-grade Bood Essence Crystal. If not for the monster being so weak, it would be worth a lot. But the energy content is only at about 20 nEU.", Cait said after inspecting it. It seemed she was no stranger to those crystals. "Still, since it has a great usage as a catalyst during pill refining it is still worth about 50 nEU."


    Although 50 nEu didn''t seem like that much, in fact, it was a lot for Ivan. With around 1 billion gold for one EU, 50 nEU still meant 50 thousand gold.


    "Wow, that''s a lot more than I expected.", he exclaimed.


    "Well, they contain nearly all the energy of the monster it is from. And a lot of its price comes from the fact that it can help pills, of the same grade, achieve higher quality.", Cait explained.


    If not for it dropping only rarely and him needing the crystals to increase his strength, they could make a great source of income for Ivan. And even so, he could still sell them if need be, which was great news for him.


    "If you get more of them, you shouldn''t sell them for gold.", Cait advised him.


    "Why? Isn''t it the same if I sell them ore use them?"


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    "Of course not. You will later realize that there are things, you won''t be able to buy with gold. But you can buy the same thing for an equivalent amount of EU. That''s because it is always harder to get useable EU. And this is especially so for these Blood Essence Crystals. Oftentimes pill refiners will sell things to you for them, that they wouldn''t sell otherwise."


    "That good?"


    "Yeah. But not for this crystal. Because of the low amount of energy contained in it, it can only be used by new pill refiners. Others won''t even touch them. But if they have more energy, then even low-grade Blood Essence Crystals can be traded for great things.


    We too accept them as an EU payment method."


    That was something she had explained to them before. Most of the things in the store could only be bought with EU and not gold.


    >


    Suddenly a message popped up and in his hands, a black crystal card appeared. The card was slightly see-through with a three dimensional S and B displayed in it.


    When Cait saw the card, she gasped in surprise. "You have a System Bank card?"


    "Mmm, just got it.", Ivan answered, while still trying to understand the message he had gotten.


    Seeing his unimpressed reaction, Cait asked him in agitation, "Do you even know what this means?"


    He shook his head. To him, it seemed like just any other bank account, but judging by her reaction there should be something more to it.


    "It is the only known bank card, that can be used with just about any payment method. And you can even exchange between them. And the status connected with it is immense as well.


    In many stores, it would work the same way as a VIP card, because it is only given to people, that are either very rich or whom the system expects to become rich. At least that is what research has been shown. In reality, nobody knows for sure.", she explained. She then continued with teaching him how to use it, "Put the Blood Essence Crystal beside the card and imagine it being absorbed."


    He followed her words and a screen popped up, asking him if he wants to deposit the crystal in his bank account. It also displayed the energy the crystal contained at 20 mEU.


    "Seems like it is better not to deposit those crystals.", he commented.


    "Yes. Since their value doesn''t just come from the energy contained in them.", Cait agreed, before continuing, "But if you want to get Energy Crystals, you can use this method to exchange them."


    "Then is there a benefit of Energy Crystals, compared to Blood Essence Crystals?"


    "Yes. The main difference is the ease of use. If you don''t have some very special skills, it is impossible to use them besides pill refining. And if they contain enough energy, it would be better to use the energy directly, then using them to create low-grade pills.


    Of course, that only applies to low-grade crystals. If their grade is higher than the point where the energy is more useful is higher as well."


    "So the grade doesn''t depend on the energy contained in them?"


    "No. The grade depends on the skill that is used to form them, which makes those higher than low-grade very rare."


    Ivan nodded his understanding. "Thank you for explaining this."


    "No problem. I''m just doing my job.", Cait waved away his thanks. "But if you are truly thankful then how about you select me as your attendant as well?"


    "Sure. It seems like Celine was very satisfied with your service.", he gestured towards Celine who was talking animatedly with Yevina.


    "It was my honor to have served her.", suddenly Cait''s tone changed. When before she had spoken more freely, she now spoke very reserved. Her eyes wandering towards the entrance of the section.


    Ivan turned to check out, what she was looking at and was stunned at the sight.

 152 Insignificance

    What stunned him wasn''t the extremely tight and shiny clothes the woman was wearing or the mask, but the aura that he felt as soon as he laid his eyes on her. He could feel an aura of blood and domination coming from her.


    The woman in front of him suddenly felt larger and larger, until he himself was nothing more than an unimportant insect before her. No, not even an insect, but only an insignificant speck of life. This feeling of insignificance came together with an intense feeling of submission. Why should he go against someone like this? Why should he resist? Why not just submit? Why even try, if it could only result in death?


    Just when this feeling got even stronger something in his blood started to burn. ''Damn, not again.'', he cursed silently. The last time that had happened he had ended in his current state, locked at 50 for each of his stats. But together with his boiling blood the feeling of hopelessness he had been feeling vanished as well. Slowly he once again grew until he was the same as that woman. Then his body wanted to grow as well, trying to suppress her now. But some kind of restrain held him back, making it impossible for him to do so.


    ''At least nothing bad happened this time.'', Ivan sighed in relief. Only to realize that he had done so too early, as just after he had done so, his vision blacked out. ''Damn, not again.'', this curse was the last thing he thought before completely blacking out.


    The others too felt the aura of suppression coming from the woman, but their reaction was much smaller since the feeling was very muted. It was easy to see that she had dampened down her aura a lot.


    So Ivan suddenly collapsing came as a shock to them. Cait who was the closest to him, hurriedly catch him, so he wouldn''t fall down on the floor. She then carried him to one of the couches and laid him down, before turning towards the woman.


    The others too had hurried over and after seeing nothing wrong with Ivan turned towards the woman as well. Before they could say anything, Jacky suddenly appeared between them and the woman.


    "Lady Meilo, didn''t I tell you to retract your aura, whenever you come here? How come something like this happened again?", she directly asked the woman. It seemed like it wasn''t the first time something like this happened.


    "How is that my fault?", the woman asked, "Look at them, aren''t they fine?", she then pointed at the other people in the section, all of whom were fine.


    "So. I told you to completely retract it. And even I can feel some leaking out.", Jacky reproached her.


    "Well. You are abnormally sensitive to it."


    "And so is he.", Jacky commented while pointing at Ivan.


    "Yeah, yeah. I''m sorry about it. My talent just broke through and it seems like my control isn''t that bad yet.", although she didn''t directly apologize, it was nearly the same.


    "You know the rules, so you will have to pay for breaking the rules."


    "Sure. Just take the money from my account.", Lady Meilo agreed readily. It seemed like she didn''t want to fight with Jacky and as if the amount she had to pay wasn''t that much anyway. "But I won''t give anything to that guy.", she then continued on.


    Jacky nodded, "Yeah. I think he should just be happy that it was you he resonated with."


    When she said that Celine had a sudden look of understanding on her face. She had now understood what had happened, "So that''s what happened."


    Yevina and Key looked at her questioningly, "You understood what happened?"


    "Yeah. And looking at this Lady Meilo, it shouldn''t be that bad.", Celine said, before continuing, "But wait for Ivan to wake up, then I''ll explain it to you all at the same time."


    They turned their attention back to the conversation between the two women.


    "But I''m really curious what he will have to do, to overcome the limit."


    "If you really want to know it, then why not ask him."


    "Nah. If I did, I most likely would have to kill him.", Lady Meilo shrugged her shoulders.


    Jacky nodded, "You are right. Although I don''t think you could do that."


    "True, I won''t be able to do that here, but what about after he left?"


    "He comes from Mythelem.", Jacky said smugly while grinning at the other woman.


    There was a look of surprise on Lady Meilo''s face when she heard that. "Damn, how come someone like this comes from this realm?" She knew what it meant that that guy had resonated with her mostly suppressed aura. It usually required a great dominant bloodline for that to happen. And the realm of Mythelem was famous for being one of the most comfortable low-grade realms, not for their great bloodlines. In fact, nobody had ever heard of there being a great bloodline in this realm.


    At the same time, it was the one realm, where she would be unable to get him.


    "Well. It wouldn''t be as much fun as to let him live and see what will come out of it.", she then said.


    "Aha.", Jacky said seemingly not believing her.


    "It''s true. Lately, I have been bored, so something new would be fun. Sometimes I really regret taking on the position of sect master. It''s just so damn boring. And I can''t even leave."


    "It''s not like you can''t. It''s just that you have a feeling of responsibility, so you won''t leave."


    "Yeah. Sadly that''s how it is."


    "Then why don''t you search for a husband and make a family together?"


    "Because I haven''t found anyone yet. All of them are so weak."


    "Nah, you are just too strong."


    "Whatever. If there isn''t anything important, then I''ll continue shopping now. I heard you got a new toy."


    "Don''t let me keep you. Enjoy spending your money."


    Lady Meilo made a grimace at Jacky, before walking towards one of the saleswomen.


    Jacky, on the other hand, walked over to Ivan and the rest. "I''m sorry about this.", she apologized. After all, Ivan was a customer and he had been harmed in her store.


    "No problem. But this Lady Meilo, is she strong?", Celine answered.


    "Yes. So there won''t be any problem with the barrier for a long time.", Jacky answered, understanding her concern.


    "Then it''s fine. Later he can then try to break it. Although I''m curious about what kind of barrier it is."


    "Me too. If you want, you can use one of the hotel rooms we provide for free, to stay the night.", Jacky then told them, "Take it as a compensation for him getting hurt."


    "You have hotel rooms?", Yevina asked surprised.


    "Of course. We offer an all-encompassing service here. And since we also provide alterations and sometimes have auctions, a hotel is a necessity."


    "Thank you for the offer, but we will have to decline. It shouldn''t take him long to wake up and we already planned to eat at home."


    "Alright. Then do you want to wait here or take him home first?"


    "I think we should take him home.", Key said while looking at Celine.


    "Yeah. I think that would be best.", Celine agreed.


    "Then let me send you.", Jacky said.


    "You can send us?"


    "Yeah. If you agree, then I can do it.", Jacky smiled proudly. There were two things she was really proud of. One was her store and the others were her skills in spacial magic.


    "Then we will have to trouble you."


    "Great.", Jacky then pulled out a simple black staff. She then drew runes into the air and a shimmering portal appeared. "If you go through here, you will arrive at the front of your villa.", she told Celine.


    "How do you know where we live?"


    Jacky laughed lightly. "I know Lara, so how couldn''t I know where you live?"


    "Oh, so that''s how it is."


    "Right.", Jacky pulled out a packet, which was wrapped in gift paper. "Please give this to Lara, when she comes back."


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    Celine took the packet and then lifted up Ivan with one arm. She was easily able to carry him with one arm, although his position didn''t look that comfortable. But still, it was better than a princess carry, which would only make him ashamed, if he were awake.


    Then Yevina and Key went through the portal first, after they had said goodbye to Jacky. After saying goodbye as well, Celine followed them.


    After going through the portal, they found themselves in front of Lara''s villa. Just as Jacky had told them.


    "She really is impressive. I haven''t heard of anyone having such good teleportation skills before.", Key said.


    "Me neither. I wonder how strong she truly is."


    "Not that it matters. And besides, since she is friends with Lara, maybe we can ask her after she is back. She should know more.", Yevina said.

 153 Dominate

    They entered the villa and were greeted by the sight of Jane and Lucia playing on the floor. Between them, there were cards spread out, which belonged to a popular card trading game. They were currently focusing fully on their fight.


    Celine didn''t know enough about the understand who was winning, but it seemed like they were evenly matched.


    She laid down Ivan on the couch, which was the furthest from them, before greeting them.


    "Hey. You two."


    "Hey, mom." "Hey Celine", the two greeted her back, without even looking up from their game.


    Celine shook her head helplessly. "Stop your game, we have guests. So at least stop your game for now.", she then admonished them.


    The two finally looked up from their game. When Jane saw Key, she exclaimed, "Uncle", and ran towards him.


    "Hey, little one.", Key greeted her and caught her when she threw herself at him.


    "How come you are here? Didn''t you go out with dad? How come you brought my uncle back? Where is daddy?", Jane then fired off question after question, without giving them time to answer.


    "Calm down.", Celine said and then started to explain, "We went shopping together and met your uncle by accident. Then we decided to chat go somewhere else and have dinner together. That''s why he is here. As for your daddy, he is lying over there. You didn''t even realize that I carried him in."


    The little girl looked at where she was pointing and saw her father lying on the couch. "What happened to him?", she asked calmly. She didn''t seem that concerned about seeing him passed out, confusing Key and Yevina.


    "The usual.", Celine remarked.


    "Seems like something like this has happened to him before?", Yevina asked curiously.


    "Yeah. Once with my mother and once with Celine. Maybe even more, but I don''t know about it.", Jane told her.


    "Wow. That''s weird."


    "Mm, should be because of who he was before his reset.", Jane commented. That was what her mother had said. Because of his reset, her father should be different from others, so if something weird happened she shouldn''t worry.


    "Makes sense. Still, does anyone know when he will wake up?"


    Just when she asked, Ivan moved. He slowly sat up. When he had just woken up, he still was filled with the feeling that woman had induced in him, but as soon as he realized that he was back home, he had calmed down and gone back to normal.


    "Damn, what happened?", was the first thing he said. He then realized that everyone was looking at him curiously as well. He wanted to say that he had no clue but then realized that there was a message from the system.


    >


    >


    Although he didn''t quite understand the effect, it looked very useful against weaker opponents. Especially since it wasn''t limited to a single species. And it didn''t seem to have a cost associated with it. The question was how much the difference in strength had to be for it to work.


    "So which talent did you get?", Celine asked him.


    He wasn''t surprised that she knew what had happened, so instead of answering, he directly shared the description.


    "Mmm, that was about what I expected.", Celine said, "Check your quests. You should have gotten two. One to increase the rank of the talent and one to break the limit."


    He followed her suggestion and truly there were two new quests in his quest screen. The first one was named ''Practiced domination'' and the second ''Limitless domination''.


    >


    The quest didn''t seem that bad. He could just buy some weak female slaves and make them wear the collar. Although he didn''t have the money at the moment, he should be able to earn it. But after looking at the description of `Collar of Submission`, he had to change his mind. This quest was damn difficult.


    >


    And the description made the formerly easy seeming quest suddenly much harder. But maybe he would be able to finish this quest in Jacky''s store. After all, it wasn''t a part of the Realm of Mythelem. Although it would be next to impossible to find someone with the requirements there. The slaves she got, surely would be above his strength. As for bringing someone in there and then doing it, he didn''t think that Jacky would agree to it and besides he himself didn''t really want to do it either.


    He then checked out the other quest.


    >


    >


    When Ivan read the remark, he nearly had to cough up blood. Now, this damn system even started to advertise it''s store. The more contact he had with it, the more it looked like one of those greedy game developers who sold ingame stuff. Something he had always tried to keep a distance off, whenever he relaxed while playing a game on his phone.


    Besides that, this quest didn''t seem to be urgent at all. Now his `Dominate` talent was only at rank F and level 1 so until he reached rank S and level 50, a lot of time would have passed.


    This didn''t change the fact, that he disliked the direction of these quests. Why was it always about women? Why couldn''t it just be about fighting? That would be much more enjoyable.


    Only after questioning the systems work ethic did he remember that the others in the room were still looking at him, wanting to know which two quests he had gotten.


    He didn''t want to talk about them in front of Jane, Lucia, Yevina, and Key. Later he would ask Celine about her opinion, but he didn''t feel comfortable with telling the content to the others. Especially not his daughter.


    So he only said, "Yes I got two quests. One is to increase the rank of the talent, but it is currently impossible to fulfill and the other is to break the limit of it, but this one isn''t urgent as well."

 154 Cook

    The others could feel that he wasn''t willing to talk about the quests, so they didn''t press him. Instead, Celine shifted the topic, "Since everything is alright, then let''s cook dinner together."


    Although usually, Madam Tanner would cook dinner for them, today she thought it would be a great activity to do it together. The thing she had neglected was that none of them had ever cooked before. They were used to getting served, so they had never bothered about it.


    "Um, but I don''t know how to cook.", Yevina said hesitantly. Then everyone else nodded, to indicate that they didn''t know either.


    "Urgh, you really...", she was speechless. To her, it was natural to know at least some basic cooking. In the upper realm, even the most pampered sons and ladies would know how to cook. Of course, they would only do it when they were at one of the academies, which was ironic. Only the rich and powerful would send their descendants to attend one of the academies, and those were the only ones who had a chance to live without ever learning to cook. But since it was necessary to learn cooking at the academies they would have to learn it as well.


    "Whatever, at least you can cut some vegetables. I''ll ask Madam Tanner to help us.", she sighed.


    "Could you maybe teach me?", Yevina asked eagerly. She hadn''t thought about cooking before, since it seemed natural to her, to let the servants do it, but now that Celine had mentioned doing it themselves as an activity, she liked the thought of doing it together with Key.


    "Me too, me too.", Jane chimed in while jumping up and down. Her behavior made everyone smile.


    "Sure, I would be happy too.", Celine agreed to their request. She enjoyed cooking and spending time with someone who had become her friend.


    During the cooking, the man had been banished to cut the vegetables, while the women did the cooking, but neither Ivan nor Key had a problem with it. Both of them were glad that they could keep their distance from the constantly chatting women.


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    With everyone''s help, they finished an extensive dinner. While most of the dishes didn''t look as appealing as the ones made by a professional chef or housekeeper they were made by themselves, and as such, they found them even tastier.


    After having finished, Ivan leaned back satisfied. "This was great. We should do this more often."


    "Yeah.", Key agreed. He too had eaten a lot. In fact, he had eaten more than he usually would. And if one observed him carefully, one could see that he had preferred the dishes, Yevina had a part in creating.


    They then cleaned up together and sat down with a cup of tea, to chat a bit more.


    When it was time for Jane to go to bed, Key and Yevina left as well, after promising to come over again, and the house quieted down. Madam Tanner and Lucia had gone to bed as well, leaving only Celine and Ivan still sitting in the living room.


    "You should go to bed as well. You will have to go to school tomorrow.", Celine told Ivan while smiling gently at him.


    "I''m not that tired yet. After all, I stood up late today.", Ivan responded, "I think I''m going to read a bit, before going to bed. But you had a long day, so you should go to bed as well."


    "Yours or mine?", she asked teasingly.


    Ivan who had just taken a sip of tea nearly spurted it out again. "You changed.", he said accusingly.


    "Well, look at me. How could I not change.", Celine said while showing off her figure. "But you are right. I have changed. But it''s not like it''s a bad thing. I for myself like it."


    "As long as you are happy with it.", he said, while openly admiring her figure.


    "I am.", she smiled happily before continuing, "Alright, I''m going to sleep. Don''t stay up too late. Good Night."


    "Good Night."


    After she had been gone, Ivan used his phone to read a book about pill refining.


    The next day, when Ivan entered the classroom, he was instantly greeted by Greg. "Hey, where were you yesterday?", he asked him, while walking towards him, with Serge behind him as usual.


    Irena came over as well, from where she was chatting with some other girls. "Right. Did you know that everyone was worried? The teacher didn''t say anything either."


    "I hurt myself and was unable to get out of bed until the afternoon.", Ivan answered their inquiries.


    "You got hurt? What happened?", Irena asked worriedly.


    "Nothing much. A ritual kind of went awry.", he responded, unwilling to tell the details. "But now I''m mostly fine again.", he then tried to reassure his friends.


    "Mostly?", Irena directly focused on the important point of his sentence.


    "Yeah.", he nodded. "It''s just that my stats are currently locked at fifty."


    Everyone else looked at him in shock, "What the hell did you do?", Greg asked incredulously.


    "Is it that surprising?"


    "Of course. Don''t you know that injuries that lock stats are the worst kind, directly behind those that kill you? Just look at yourself. Although you look fine, there have to be some hidden serious injuries, that stop you from using your power and increasing your power."


    "Yeah, I know it''s bad. But it''s not like I can''t increase my power and in a year the lock will be lifted anyways."


    "If you are sure about it.", Greg said, clearly not agreeing with him. "So do we have to pause our training dungeon runs?"


    "No, I don''t think so. According to my character screen, I''m still level 200 so I should still be able to do well in the dungeon. And nightmare mode is available anyway since Irena has high stats, and as such a high level, as well.", he reassured them.


    "You are still level 200? How come?", Greg asked surprised.


    It wasn''t Ivan but Irena that answered, "Did you really think that the reason he was so strong was his stats?", she asked and only got nods in reply.


    "That''s where you are wrong. If we only look at stats, then I do have higher stats than him. So it has to be something else. I''m not sure how it''s named since each alliance has its own way to increase its member''s stats, but he should have a skill that should do it, right?"


    "Yes.", Ivan confirmed, "It''s called ''Shadow stats'' and it will provide an independent bonus, whenever a stat increases.", he told them since there was no rule against it.


    "So that''s it. But wouldn''t this skill make the owner much stronger than others?"


    "Not really. Usually, the bonus for such skills would be small. There has to be some synergy effect with another skill, for it to have as much effect as in Ivan''s case.", Irena said.


    Ivan was astonished that she was able to guess it so well. If not for his ''Reincarnation'' skill having a synergy effect with ''Shadow Stats'', it wouldn''t be that effective. Only through resetting his stats with ''Reincarnation'' could he really exploit ''Shadow Stats''.


    "Then could we get a skill like this as well?", Serge for the first time opened his mouth and asked.


    "I don''t think so. The known skills of this type have already been distributed amongst the strong organizations.", the girl replied to his question.


    "Then how come you know so much about it?"


    "From my family library. It contains a list of the known skills of this type and who owns them."


    "This sucks. Having something like this would really help our future prospects."


    "I thought you didn''t want to focus on fighting?", Ivan asked surprised.


    "So? Being stronger is always a good thing.", Greg responded.


    "True. But if there isn''t an organization that is easy to enter then there is no way for all of us to get our hand on such a skill."


    "That''s not quite correct.", Irena threw in, surprising the others.


    "Huh?"


    "Yeah. And Ivan you are the one who can make it possible."


    "?", nobody knew what she was playing at.


    "You should either be a duke or you should get the title soon, right?"


    "Yes, I should get it soon. How did you know?"


    "First of all you are a family head and secondly you are married to a princess. So its only natural that you would get this title.


    Anyway, the important point is that a noble of the rank of a duke has three slots every five years, to get a certain skill for a retainer."


    "So you mean if Serge, me and you become his retainers, then he can get us this skill, whichever it is?", Greg asked eagerly.


    "Yes for you and Serge. For me, that isn''t necessary since I already have the permit to learn it at my eighteenth birthday."


    "But wouldn''t that be too late? After all its still a bit until then?"


    "No. The skill can only be used from the eighteenth birthday on anyway."


    "Really? How come?"


    "Sorry, can''t tell you."

 155 Formations

    "Oh...", Serge responded disappointedly.


    "Ha. Do you know how lucky you are to even have this opportunity?", Irena asked.


    That was something everyone had to agree to. It was hard to enter either an alliance or become a retainer of a high enough noble, and thus it was hard to gain such a skill. But to them, it basically fell from the sky and it was thanks to Ivan.


    "Anyway, do you know what we will be doing in fighting class today?", Irena changed the topic before Greg could say anything.


    "No. Only what Mr. Martin told us yesterday.", Greg shook his head, before explaining to Ivan, "Yesterday he said that we are now finished with the basics and would start something different today. Of course, he also told us that although he said we have finished the basics, that wouldn''t mean that we have already learned enough about basic combat skills."


    The last sentence was typical for Mr. Martin. He would always emphasize that for combat skills, one could never finish learning. And especially the basics. In his opinion, there was no end to training them. After all, they would be the foundation on which they would build their combat skills. And so he had ingrained into them the attitude of always training and improving their basic techniques. Before training any advanced technique, they would always first repeat the basic techniques required.


    This resulted in them having a lower number of advanced techniques, but all of them were better mastered and could display higher power than those of students of other teachers. Something they had found out during their explorations in the training dungeon. Although the effect wasn''t much, it still showed.


    "It should be formation training.", the always silent Serge threw in. Resulting in everyone looking at him questioningly. Although he didn''t talk much, his input always had value and if there was one situation, where he would start talking, then it was to explain things.


    "Didn''t any of you read the school curriculum?", he asked, seemingly surprised that they were unaware of it.


    Everyone else looked at each other. Who would read the school curriculum? Although it was easily accessible there wasn''t really a need. What use was there in knowing what would come next during class? Preparing in advance? If they did that, then what would be the use of the class? As such, the general attitude of the students was to just go with the flow.


    "According to the curriculum, after basic training comes formation training, so what we will start with today, should be this.", seeing their clueless looks, Serge started to explain, "During the training dungeon they threw us into the cold water and let us experiment around with how to fight as a team. Now there should be a formal training on team formations and how to maximize the strength of a team."


    "Ah.", Ivan was enlightened. "Now that everyone has gotten stuck on the fifth floor of the training dungeon, it would be a good time to teach us something new, which should enable our team strength to increase."


    The others instantly understood what he meant. It truly was the best timing to start with a new topic. Everyone had gotten stuck and as such would be searching for a way to increase their strength. But it would be hard to increase the student''s individual strength in a short time. Now that they had come to understand that their individual strength wasn''t enough, it would be easy to motivate them to learn how to work together, while if they thought it before there would be many who wouldn''t focus on it since they would think that individual strength would be more important.


    For Ivan, this came at an even better timing. As Celine had told him, he had to learn to work better together with his pets and use them in combat, although he only had one. So what could be more useful than learning how to cooperate during combat? He was sure that the techniques they would learn in combat class could also be applied to combat with pets.


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    *Maybe I should check out the offers in the alliance more?*, he thought. He now felt that there should be more available in it. Besides doing the required tasks, he didn''t really have any contact with it, which might be a huge mistake. And even the tasks he had done, where mostly centered around pill refining or other easy tasks. He had only done them because it was required.


    In the Alliance Shop, there were not only items for sale, but also teaching lessons. And over the time he had collected some CP, so it should be enough to attend a few. *Let''s check it out after school*, he decided.


    After a bit more chatting, it was time for class.


    The first class was magic theory, which was thought by Mrs. Mertinez and as usual, she was extremely punctual with starting the class.


    "Good morning everyone.", she greeted them and waited for them to greet back, as had become their daily habit.


    "Today we will start with studying formations.", she then started class, "I hope some of you have read the school curriculum and know that later on, you will be thaught about some formations in combat class.


    So the first question we have to ask ourselves is, what are formations?", she then looked questioningly at her students.


    One of the guys raised his hands and after she had called him out, spoke his answer, "Formations should be combining the strength of many for one goal."


    Mrs. Mertinez nodded, "You aren''t wrong."


    The student smiled proudly but was instantly shot down when she continued, "But that is just a small part of it. Or to be exact it is just a form of applying formations.


    Still, there is one important point you have mentioned. And that is combining.


    Formations combine different things and use the synergy effects between them to accomplish a goal that can''t be accomplished by just the things alone.


    All of you have already come into contact with other techniques that use synergy effects, such as rune inscribing, pill refining, or skill merging. But we don''t talk about formations in this context. Can anyone guess why that is so?"


    This time someone else answered, "Is it because those techniques create something new?"


    "Correct. All these techniques use up material to create something new. The new thing exceeds the sum of its parts by using synergy effects. But it is impossible to split it up again. We call this merger.


    But besides creating something new, synergy effects can also be used if objects are combined temporarily. Or are positioned in a specific way. This is what we call formations.


    All of you have already experienced the simplest form of formations during your training dungeon run.", after the last sentence, only a few students looked surprised, while everyone else instantly understood.


    According to the definition she had given, their simple team formations would already count as a formation.


    "I''m sure most of you have already guessed it. Team formations are a basic form of formation, as the name already implies.


    Now let''s talk about how to categorize formations. First of all, there are two types of formations. Powered ones and unpowered. Powered ones have stronger effects, but require a constant supply of energy. Unpowered ones are weaker but don''t require a constant supply of energy. Well, most of them still require some energy to kickstart them."


    "Simple team formations, for example, belong to the unpowered type, while expert team formations can belong to the powered type."


    After that, she continued to tell them a bit more about formations and their usage.


    "Alright, now that you know the basics, let''s try a simple formation. This one belongs to the powered type and can be powered directly by any kind of energy."


    She then pulled out some gemstones. They were nothing special which she let everyone test by passing them around.


    "While the choice of material is not that important, it will influence the effect of the formation and each formation will react differently to different materials. But there is one thing that works quite well with any known formation and that are gems."


    She then positioned five different gems on her table. Between them, there was some distance and the positioning looked random, but they roughly formed a circle.


    "The three most important points of a formation is the positioning of the material, the activation phrase, and the energy circuits.


    The first step is to position the material. Then you have to draw the energy circuits. This can be done by using mana threads positioned in the space between and around the materials." while explaining, she used her mana to draw glowing threads on her table. There was an outer ring and inside it was connected to each material. But not only was it connected, but she also formed many more glowing threads, that went around inside the outer circle until they formed a complex image.

 156 Simple formation

    "While it is possible to use different materials for a formation, the energy circuits have to be the same. Of course, I only drew them glowing to help you learn them. Usually, we would draw them invisible so anyone who goes against the formation wouldn''t be able to easily understand it.", she continued to explain after she had finished drawing the energy circuits.


    "Finally we use the activation phrase to activate the formation. I''ll speak it out loud but normally you should only say it out in your mind, which is enough to activate the formation while hiding important information about it."


    "Krz''ds ter nam", she then spoke out clearly in a language that they hadn''t heard before and which didn''t seem to be easy to pronounce.


    As soon as she had finished that short sentence, the outer circle of the energy circuits lit up and a thin membrane appeared about it, which then closed at the top, forming a perfect half-sphere.


    Mrs. Mertinez knocked lightly against it. "This is a simple formation, which is called ''Simple Defense Shield Formation''. It uses the energy stored inside the gems to make this barrier. While activated it will constantly consume energy and if stressed it will consume an amount depending on the stress it experiences. As such it is a simple yet effective defense, with power that only depends on the energy available."


    She looked at the students who were intensely studying the formation in front of her.


    "This is something you will have to always do when using formation. Find out their weak points, because if you aren''t aware of them, then you might not even know how you died.", she warned them. Everyone nodded. It wasn''t something new to them. Skills to had weak points and only by knowing them themselves were they able to compensate for them and thus reduce the risk of using them.


    "Alright, then can anyone tell me the weak points of this formation?", she asked her students.


    A few students raised their hands, with Irena a part of them. Ivan had some guesses as well, but he hesitated to raise his hand.


    She looked at those who had raised their hands and then selected one of them.


    "The shield should fail, if its energy is depleted, so by attacking it repeatedly it should be possible to exhaust the energy stored in the gems."


    "Correct. This is the most obvious method of breaking this formation and it is something that works with just about any formation. If they are exhausted they will stop working.", Mrs. Mertinez praised the student who had answered. "Then let''s first hear some other weaknesses you can guess before we talk about how to fix these flaws."


    The number of hands in the air had been reduced after the student answered since it was an answer many had guessed. Of course, there were also some who had just put up their hands, like Ivan.


    "Ivan, what''s your guess?"


    "The barrier should break if it is attacked by a powerful enough attack, that is above the capacity of the gems to provide energy to the formation. I just can''t guess if it will break permanently or restore itself.", Ivan voiced out his guess.


    "Good. For simple formations, such as this one, they will permanently break if the maximum energy has been exceeded. Better formations may be able to repair themselves.", the teacher explained. "Of course this requires them to shut down before the drain can destroy the gems."


    "So the better the gems, the better the defense?", one of the students asked.


    "Generally yes. But there are some differences in gems. Some of them have higher energy storage, while others have a better capability to transfer energy. So it is important to choose the right gems since those that have both are always much more expensive and rare than those that have only one of those attributes."


    "Then can''t we just combine them?"


    "A good idea and something that is usually done. But for many formations, it leads to problems if some of the materials are of higher quality then others."


    "Oh", the student who had asked the question looked disappointed.


    "Then would it be possible to use gems with a high transfer rate for the formation and some with high energy storage as a battery?", someone else asked.


    "You mean something similar to how smartphones work?", another student asked.


    The formerly orderly class had started to become a discussion round, as it often did.


    "Yeah. After all, they too have a battery that powers the other components. So shouldn''t it work with formations as well?"


    It should, but the question is how the energy transfer would be done."


    "Well I would propose a mixture of PCC and runes.", another student suggested.


    "That should work. Does anyone know how it works in a smartphone?"


    Mrs. Mertinez looked proudly at her students who were busy discussing how to improve the gems. Being able to teach them to try to solve the problem together made her feel like she had been successful.


    While other teachers might focus only on the grades of their students, she wanted them to be able to think independently and solve problems they stumble upon, without anyone''s help. And seeing them work like this could thus fill her with pride in her work as well as pride in her students themselves.


    "Hey, you aren''t supposed to build a new node design.", she still interrupted them after a while. "But you had some good ideas, which have been implemented as well."


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    She then took out something. "This is a node, that is sold and that implements a few of your ideas."


    The node was in the form of a pyramid and looked like it was made out of glass with a spherical ruby in the center. If one took a close look one could see some fine circuits in the glass-like substance.


    "Teacher, why are you calling this node?"


    "Didn''t I explain that?", she thought she had mentioned it before. "It''s called node since it is used as a central point of a formation. It can replace the gems that I used before."


    She then explained the features of the node. It was a combination of a high transfer capacity gem together with a battery system as well as some security measures.


    "Then why would anyone use gems if nodes like this exist?", one of the students asked confused.


    "Well, these nodes are more expensive and often the improvement they provide isn''t really needed. And in many formations, they are less efficient than other materials."


    "Alright, that''s it for the theoretical part. Now go and practice.", she ordered. She then put a box on the table. "In here are some cheap crystals. They are enough to make the ''Simple Defense Shield Formation''. Although it won''t have much of an effect, it is enough to check if you have learned it."


    Everyone grabbed the required number of crystals and then started to try to make the formation.


    It was surprisingly difficult to draw the magic circuits. It had looked so easy when Mrs. Mertinez had done it, but when they had to try it, they understood how hard it was to make it exact enough. Even a single millimeter discrepancy was enough to make the formation fail.


    So after positioning the gems, they carefully started to draw the magic circuits until they failed to be exact enough. Then the drawn circuits would vanish with a puff.


    While Ivan was completely immersed in carefully drawing a sudden explosion beside him shocked him and made him draw wrongly.


    Snapping around his head to look at Greg who was working beside him, he was surprised to see a perfectly round hole in his desk.


    "What the hell did you do?", he asked stunned.


    "Um, after finishing the circle, I must have messed up something in the inner part."


    "Messed up? More like created an explosive formation.", Irena commented.


    "So? You haven''t even finished the circle.", Greg shot back at her.


    "That''s because I''m careful so that something like what you did doesn''t happen."


    "That''s enough", Mrs. Mertinez stopped their bickering, before it could escalate. "Greg go and get a new desk.", she then ordered. "And don''t be disheartened by your failure. It''s normal to fail a few times and think about it this way. What if you can replicate this failure? Wouldn''t you have a powerful offensive formation then?"


    Greg nodded and then went to the storage room to get a new desk.


    Mrs. Mertinez smiled as she watched him leave. "Each year there are a few who explode their formations and in the end, they are often the ones who become the best at making them.", she then told Irena.


    Irena nodded. To her and Greg it was just their usual bickering, which was a sign of their friendship, so neither would take the comments to heart. Usually, they would keep themselves in check during class, but this opportunity was just too good to miss it.

 157 Basic Spear Formation

    After this short interlude the class continued and while nobody got even close to creating the formation all of them learned a lot.


    "All of you did a good job, but without a lot of training you won''t be able to form the formation, so make sure to practice when you have time. You can take those crystals with you and train with them.", Mrs. Mertinez told them when it was time for the class to end.


    "The formations are really interesting, I wonder what else one can do with it.", Irena said while they were leaving the classroom.


    "It should have a wide range of applications. After all, we will learn some in combat class as well."


    "That''s true. But shouldn''t there be a difference between them and the one we just learned?"


    "Of course. Something like what we have just learned shouldn''t be applicable during combat. At least not as long as it isn''t prepared beforehand. So the ones in combat class have to be different."


    They continued chatting until it was time for the next class.


    Time flew by and soon it was time for combat class. Thus everyone gathered on the training field.


    Mr. Martin started class as soon as he saw that everyone had arrived.


    "This morning Mrs. Martinez has already told you some basic knowledge about formation, so I won''t repeat that. Instead, we will focus on the three team-formations you will learn during your school life. Or at least those will be the only ones that are officially thought. If you want to learn others as well, you will have to learn them on your own.


    We categorize team-formations into active and passive ones as well as attack, defense, and trapping.


    Here you will learn a passive attack and defense as well as an active trapping formation, with each of them being only a basic one."


    One of the students raised his hand and Mr. Martin asked him to voice out his question.


    "Why do we only learn those three formations?"


    "A good question.", Mr. Martin complimented the student. "It shows that you have understood that there is something different from the other skills we teach you."


    He then continued explaining, "The skills you will learn at school are generally those that can be learned without the use of skill books. Just by manually learning them you can then unlock them. But sadly we haven''t been able to find team-formations like this.


    Every known team formation requires skill books to be learned, except for the three you will learn. Those can be licensed from the system to be taught to students of a teaching institute."


    "But if the passive team formation only depends on the positioning of the team members, then why would they even require a skill?", another student asked.


    "Sure it is possible to imitate them to some degree, but something seems to be missing. Call it the soul of the formation. There always seems to be some slight error in the coordination between the team members if a formation is used, without all the members having it as a skill.", the teacher patiently explained.


    He then waited, if there were more questions and when he saw that there weren''t any, he started explaining the formations they would learn.


    "The first two formations I will teach you are the ''Basic Spear Formation'', which is a passive offensive formation and the ''Basic Turtle Formation'', which is a passive defensive formation.


    Those two formations can be trained at the same time, with one team using the defensive formation and the other trying to break it with the offensive formation."


    He then pointed at some students, "You will be team A and the rest will be team B."


    With that, he had divided up the students into two similar-sized groups.


    "Team A will attack first, so get a spear each.", he pointed to a weapon rack at the side, which was filled with simple wooden spears. "For the start, we will use spears, since they make it easier. Later when you have a better mastery of the formation you can use it with any weapon you can think of, as long as they are a melee weapon. You can even mix the weapon types."


    He then waited for everyone in team A to take one spear. "Now get into formation.", he then pushed the students of team A into position, until they formed a spear-like formation. One student stood at the front. Behind him stood two other students and after them three students, making them look like the tip of a spear. Because of the team size, the last two students didn''t make a full row and were instead positioned in the middle like a shaft.


    "This is the basic formation for the ''Basic Spear Formation''.", Mr. Martin explained, "If there are more people, then more rows will be added, with each row having a slightly larger width than the one before. For experienced users, it is also possible to make the core empty, which means that later rows only have people on the outside, while the inside is either empty or filled with other people, that are not part of the formation."


    "The true might of this formation comes from a distribution of force when charging. When meeting the enemy, the rebound force will be distributed along the flanks of the formation, thus reducing the force on the leader in the front. At the same time, the shape will also make breaking through defense easier.", he explained the benefits of the formation as well as its usage, which was charging to break the enemy line.


    "Later you might even be proficient enough to merge your aura''s, making the formation similar to one spear and thus rising it''s power much further."


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    The students in team A slowly got a feel for the formation. Under Mr. Martin''s commands, they slowly advanced with their spears pointing forward. Then they tried to turn, which led to great chaos in the ranks. Meanwhile, team B was watching them and tried to learn as much as possible.


    "As you can see, one of the biggest weaknesses of the formation is the difficulty in changing direction. Oftentimes this means that once you start charging you won''t be able to adjust your direction, so be careful when using it without enough mastery."


    Seeing that they had started to work together better he then told them, "Alright, that''s enough for now. I will now show team B the ''Basic Turtle Formation'', so watch carefully."


    The turtle formation was easier than the spear formation since it only required the students to take shields and form a box, with the shields pointing outwards. This meant that, whichever an enemy attacked from, they would only be met with a wall of shields.


    The shields used were big and sturdy, which made it possible to place them on the ground and by crouching have them cover the full body of the student behind it.


    "The difficulty in this formation lies in moving as well as counterattacking.", the teacher explained. "While moving it is necessary for everyone to be in sync, so the shields keep overlapping and no openings are created.


    And while counterattacking teamwork is required so the short openings can not be exploited by the enemy."


    "But for now you will first practice withstanding an enemy charge.", he then directed the two teams into position, so the team A would charge at the team B.


    "Let''s get the party started. I want team A to charge against team B until either the defense line breaks or the time for class is up."


    There was still an hour left, so it would be a strenuous affair for team A to repeatedly charge if they didn''t manage to break the formation of team B.


    Ivan was in team B and he was positioned in the front row in the middle. Because of the team size, they only had three people in a row making the formation quite small. On the right, his shield was in front of the shield of his neighbor while on the left it was behind. According to Mr. Martin''s explanation, it was thus especially important to stabilize the left side, since it had to hold the force on his own shield as well as some of his neighbor''s. This way, the force would be transferred across the entire formation and thus making his job easier.


    On the teacher''s command team A started to charge towards them.


    When they started charging, the formerly harmless-looking formation of team A seemed to become a sharp spear in the eyes of Ivan and the rest of team B.


    "So this is the effect of the ''Basic Spear Formation''", one of the students in team B murmured.


    But the change in appearance didn''t only exist for team B. When team A started to charge towards the ''Basic Turtle Formation'', there too seemed to be a change in what they saw. It didn''t seem like they were charging against a row of shields but instead a solid block of wood.

 158 We are special?

    One hour later, the teacher finally signaled them that they could stop.


    As soon as he did so, everyone dropped down onto the floor, dead tired. If not for the pressure Mr. Martin exerted on them, then they wouldn''t even be able to last so long. All of them were completely exhausted.


    It wasn''t clear whether team A or team B was more exhausted. Although repeatedly charging would consume a huge amount of stamina, withstanding the charge was exhausting as well. Still, both teams managed to hold on, with neither of them breaking down. In the end, team A was still able to use the ''Basic Spear Formation'', while the ''Basic Turtle Formation'' remained unbroken until the end.


    "All of you did well.", Mr. Martin praised the students who were strewn around the training ground. "Although we do this every year, most of the time one group or the other falters before the time ends."


    "So we are special?", Greg asked. Although he was completely exhausted, this couldn''t stop him from talking.


    "Nope, just more balanced.", the teacher answered with a straight face.


    "Pfff", Greg commented disbelieving.


    Mr. Martin''s face broke out into a smile. "Alright, alright. Since you lasted until the end and you did it at nearly full force, you did better than most other years."


    "Still, there are many things you have to improve on. But you have learned the first important lesson for team-formations. Hold them until you break down. If you ever use team-formations and can''t hold them then you will most likely lose, so holding them is of utmost importance."


    "Now let''s do some exercises that will help you recover."


    Everyone groaned but they somehow managed to follow along and it truly helped them recover.


    After everyone was once again capable of moving around Mr. Martin ended the class, making everyone sigh in relief.


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    "That was so damn exhausting.", Greg complained while sipping on his water, while they sat down in the resting area.


    "Yes. But it was good training.", Ivan agreed. And Irena nodded her head as well.


    "So should we rest today, or should we go into the training dungeon and practice?", she then asked.


    "To be honest I''m so beat that I really just want to laze around in a bed.", Ivan said, before following it up, "But technically it would be the best for us to go to the dungeon to practice since it would enforce the training from just now."


    "But we need to rest first and then we need those shields if we want to practice.", she reminded them.


    "I can get the shields.", Greg offered.


    "Great. Then how about we rest and meet this evening to train?"


    "This evening?"


    "Yeah. Let''s rest during the afternoon, then we should be fit enough again in the evening."


    "I''m ok with that.", Serge agreed.


    Everyone else agreed as well and they got up and made their way towards the school exit.


    "So anyone got an idea on how to best relax and recover?", Greg asked. It was the first time he was this exhausted and would have to be fit again on the same day.


    "A good bath. Relaxing on a couch, reading something. Eating something.", Irena told him.


    "A bath and food sure sound great.", he directly skipped the center part. Those two things would make him happy, while reading wasn''t something he enjoyed that much.


    "Of course the best thing would be a massage.", the girl continued voicing out the options.


    "Yeah. But they cost too much.", Serge agreed. Getting everyone else to look at them. He was unusually talkative.


    "What?"


    "You talk so much.", Greg praised him, "Well, at least for your standard."


    "You.."


    "Must be because the topic is of interest to him.", Ivan started to tease Serge as well since it was a rare opportunity.


    "Do the two of you have any idea how interesting the human body and its recovery from stress and exhaustion is?", the fact that he continued talking only underlined Ivan''s point.


    He then continued on with his statements on how interesting the human body is and why it was so interesting to research it. When he drifted off into complex medical areas only Ivan was barely able to follow him since he had to learn a lot of it for pill refining.


    "Alright, alright. That''s enough.", Greg stopped his stream of words which was kind of ironic since he was the one who usually had to be stopped.


    "So you now understand?", Serge asked him.


    "Sure. The human body is ultra interesting and I now have to study its recovery during bathing and eating.", Greg cleverly gave an excuse before speeding off into the distance.


    "I''ll do the same.", Irena too excused herself and hurriedly fled, leaving only Serge and Ivan behind.


    "I''ll conduct some experiments as well.", Ivan too gave an excuse and hurriedly left. Luckily it seemed like Serge had used up his daily contingent of words and didn''t try to stop him.


    *Wow. Usually, he is so quiet but once he starts talking...*, he thought while going towards the subway, to take it home. *Maybe I could ask Celine to give me a massage? Irena said that it could help.*, he thought back to the skill she had gotten when she became a relief path servant.


    Taking the familiar subway home, it didn''t take him long to arrive back at the villa.


    When he entered, he was surprised to see someone waiting for him. It was the servant from the palace, which had given him that uncomfortable feeling. If he remembered correctly her name was Susan. She was currently deep into conversation with Celine while drinking tea.


    He thought about silently leaving again or trying to sneak into his room because he didn''t really want to meet her. He didn''t like this feeling that once again welled up in him when he saw her. Although it seemed different if he looked at it carefully. Although there was still fear, there was also something else, something he couldn''t explain.


    "You are back.", the silky voice was exactly as he remembered and once again it sent shivers down his back.


    Ivan hurriedly recomposed himself and then greeted her politely. "Hello." He didn''t know what else to say.


    Seeing the hesitant look on his face, her lips curved up. It would be fun to tease him.


    "Hey, Ivan. Welcome back.", Celine greeted him as well. "This is Susan. She has been sent by the palace.", she then introduced the woman beside her. She didn''t know that they had already met before. Although she was a bit taken aback by how Susan had greeted him.


    "Great, now that you are back, I can talk about the reason I''m here.", Susan said while getting up from the couch.


    She then bowed towards Ivan and her aura, as well as her personality, seemed to change completely. Where she seemed domineering and aloof before, she now seemed subservient and amiable. This change shocked Ivan as well as Celine since it seemed so different from before.


    "Greetings Master. I have been sent by the palace to prepare you for the ceremony where you will be conferred the title of duke. As well as how you have to act after that on official occasions.", she then explained.


    "Ah, so you are here to tutor me on aristocratic etiquette?"


    "That''s correct, Master. The emperor told me that you have no knowledge concerning the aristocracy, so I will start with the basics."


    "Um, can we maybe do this another time? I''m completely exhausted and still have to go into the dungeons with some friends this evening.", Ivan interrupted her.


    As soon as he did, she gave him a glare, that made him shudder. "No way, Master. I especially came here to teach you, so you have to learn."


    This made clear that although she called him ''Master'' that was only a formality and she would do exactly what she planned.


    "Besides, if you rest you may as well listen to my explanations at the same time."


    "But I planned to ask Celine to give me a message.", Ivan tried once again.


    "So? It''s not like it matters.", Susan once again shot down his try. She then began to explain, without giving him a chance to try to refuse her again. "Now let''s start with how you have to interact with servants.


    No servant will talk to you first if it''s not important for their current task. The only exception is your personal servant who will serve as an interface between you and the servants. For every other servant, you will have to talk to them first.", she paused and then turned towards Celine.


    "Now let''s talk about how you give orders. The important point is that you give an order. For example, don''t ask like this: ''Celine, would you please give me a massage? ''", for the last sentence, she imitated Ivan''s voice surprisingly well. "Instead do it like this: ''Celine, please give me a massage.''"


    She then turned back towards Ivan.

 159 Like a command

    "Do you understand the difference, Master?"


    Ivan nodded. It wasn''t hard to understand the difference, since the second one was clearly a command, while the first was a polite question.


    "Good. Then what''s the difference with: ''Celine, would you please give me a massage? ''"


    It was once again the same question, but withing the imitated voice, there was an undertone of dominance, making it feel less like a question but more like a command. Although it was the same words, the effect was different.


    "It''s the tone.", Ivan answered. "By using a tone as if there is only the answer ''Yes'', it changes it from a question to a command."


    Susan nodded satisfied. "Good. That''s exactly right. Often, the important thing isn''t the choice of words but the tone of your voice. It can change a question into a command or the other way around. Now try it."


    "Celine, could you please give me a massage?", Ivan tried to say this sentence in the same tone as Susan, but he still didn''t quite manage it. It still seemed more like a question than a command.


    "It''s still lacking but for a first try not bad.", Susan said. She then asked Celine, "I''m guessing you will be Ivan''s personal servant, right?"


    "I don''t quite understand what it means to be a personal servant, but I guess so."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll teach you.", Susan told her gently. It was completely different from how she treated Ivan.


    "Now for servants, it is quite easy. Don''t interrupt your master, if not to stop him saying something wrong or stupid. Obey his orders, as long as they don''t infringe on your basic rights. Always be respectful."


    "Ok.", Celine nodded to show that she had understood. "Then how should I address him? Is there a norm or can it be chosen freely?"


    "The standard is ''Master'', but you can also use one of his titles.", Susan explained.


    "Then I''ll call him ''Master''.", Celine decided.


    "But only in public.", Ivan reminded her. He was unwilling to have her call him ''Master'' all his time. Instead, he preferred their current relaxed and comfortable interactions.


    "Sure that''s fine.", Susan agreed. "It''s common for most personal servants to call their master different in public and private. They are after all one of the closest people to each other.


    But for now, you should try to talk in private as you would in public so that you can train and don''t make a mistake."


    "Makes sense.", Ivan agreed.


    "Didn''t you want a massage?", Susan asked Ivan, making the other two realize that they were still standing around in the living room.


    "Right.", Celine exclaimed. "When we went shopping last time, I bought everything required. And I also had one of the rooms refurbished so it would be more comfortable for a massage."


    She then led them towards one of the rooms.


    "Massaging is always a good skill for a personal servant to have.", Susan praised before asking curiously, "So have you only learned it or do you have a skill?"


    "I have a skill, ''Basic Heavenly Massage''.", Celine answered while hiding how she got the skill.


    When she heard the skill name an expression of astonishment appeared on Susan''s face. "Really? You really have this skill?", she asked excitedly while grabbing Celine''s shoulders and starting to shake her.


    Celine was surprised by the fervor shown by the other woman. "Yes. But could you please stop shaking me?" She was completely helpless against Susans shaking. Even if she used all her strength which had increased drastically after changing her race, she was unable to stop her from shaking her.


    Susan hurriedly let go of her. "Sorry. I was just too excited. Do you even understand what this skill is?", she then asked.


    The other two shook their heads. Wasn''t it just a massage technique?


    "No wonder you don''t see it as something special.", Susan took a deep breath.


    "First of. Every skill that has the word ''Heaven'' in its name is a great skill.", she said, "Didn''t you read the description? Especially the part about stimulating the cells?"


    "So?", Celine looked at her in incomprehension.


    "So? That means it can strengthen your cells. And this is independent of your cultivation since it is based on a different system. So a regular massage can make one''s bodily strength be higher than those of one''s peers. And this is something extremely important in the upper realm. Especially with the rarity and difficulty of body refining skills."


    "Huh? Aren''t we training in body refining skills?", Ivan asked puzzled.


    "Yes and no. Although technically the flesh, blood, and pathway refining realms are body refining realms, where the body gets refined, it is more of a transformation of the body to better support the gathering and usage of Qi. The normal way after that is to collect Qi and use it for skills. At that point, the body refining has more or less finished and any additional bodily strength comes from the Qi flowing through it.


    But besides that, it is also possible to further strengthen the body itself. The cells will then generate a new power which is similar to Qi."


    At that point, Ivan interrupted her, "You mean Vital Qi?"


    "Yes. How do you know about it?"


    "Because of my bloodline.", he honestly responded.


    "Mmm. Makes sense." Surprisingly she didn''t ask about her bloodline. Instead her expression seemed as if she had expected it, making him wonder if she knew about his bloodline. And if she did, how.


    "So anyway. Even for those with the right bloodline, it is hard to continue training their bodies. So since just training Qi seems more effective most people only focus on that. Coupled with this neglect as well as the difficulty itself, good body refining skills are rare and hard to get. So something like the ''Heavenly Massage'' massage, which can provide the same effect is very valuable.


    And although its the basic variant, don''t look down on it. If you would give me a message as well I would be truly thankful."


    "Oh so how would you show your thankfulness?", Celine asked. She would always try to get the best out of everything. And listening to Susan she found her to be even more knowledgable than her, so she should have some good things.


    "How about I give you my body?"


    The response shocked them. "What the...?", he couldn''t stop himself from saying.


    Celine too looked at her askant.


    Seeing their skepticism Susan smiled wryly. "She wasn''t surprised by their reaction."


    "Well, that wouldn''t be for just some massages but also something from Ivan. So how about it? You give me those two things and I''ll give you my body?"


    They looked at each other in confusion.


    "Um? What do you want from him? And why should we want your body?", Celine asked hesitantly.


    They had already arrived in the room. In the center was a massage table with a small one beside it with some flasks, with liquid in them, on it. There was also a small area divided off, which was for changing and a shelf with comfortable white towels. There was also a small seating area with just a few chairs.


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    Now Susan sat down on one of them. "First of all, I have a spiritual bloodline and if I guess correctly that is exactly what he needs. Second, I could speed up your training. And as for what I need from him, that''s some base essence and some blood essence."


    "Base essence?", Ivan asked surprised. "I don''t think that''s possible." Although blood essence was important as well, it would slowly regenerate and he currently had a full amount. But his base essence was currently damaged and giving something of it away would make the damage even worse.


    Seeing his defensive position, Suan laughed softly. Her voice regained her silken quality, which always managed to make him uncomfortable.


    "I know. I can see that your base essence is currently damaged. But even if it wasn''t it is much too weak and there is no way that you could provide the amount I would need. Maybe you will have enough if you reach the late Earth Realm."


    "So it is something for the future.", he sighed in relief. Although he truly required someone with a spiritual bloodline, so he could stabilize his bloodline, if it was this far into the future than he didn''t have to get into this mess.


    "Not quite. Although I didn''t plan to talk about this with you yet, we might as well do it now.", Susan said while pulling out sheets of paper. "I want to make a contract with you. I will give you my body as well as a method to fully stabilize your bloodline with it and in exchange, you will give me the amount of base essence and blood essence I need after you reached late Earth realm."

 160 Improve the bloodline?

    "But wouldn''t that be risky for you?"


    "Although there is some risk, do you know how long I have searched for someone with the right bloodline? Do you think people with dragon god bloodlines are common? It''s fucking hard to find even a single one. And then you even have to find someone who is willing to make a deal with you. Do you even understand how stuck up those bastards are?", Susan slowly talked herself into a rage. It seemed that she had truly suffered while searching.


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    They kept silent and let her rant.


    "Sorry. Every time I think about it, I just get angry.", Susan apologized after finishing her rant. "So back to the topic.


    If we have a contract then the risk is low and although helping you stabilize your bloodline will make me lose some of my power, it will be worth it in the end. And I can even recover it with hard work."


    "Then about the method?", Celine asked. The only method she knew was the one mentioned in Ivan''s quest and the ritual ''Bloodline Refining Furnace Ritual''.


    "The easiest and most stable method is ''Inheritance'', which is most likely the method you have been given. Then there are some rituals that can provide the same thing, by refining the bloodline. But both of these methods will only stabilize the bloodline. And although that makes it stronger it''s not like it will improve the bloodline."


    "So your method will improve the bloodline?"


    "No. But it not only stabilizes the bloodline but also fulfills another condition for activating parts of the bloodline."


    "Activating parts of the bloodline?"


    "Yes. Dragons are one of the highest if not the highest race, so it is reasonable for them to have something that makes them stronger than other races. And since they are solitary, arrogant, and completely unwilling to work with other races, this something has to be themselves.


    So that''s why they have the ability to infuse traits from other bloodlines into theirs. I don''t know how it works, but I know how to start the process."


    "That sounds kind of overpowered.", Celine commented.


    "It would be. But from what I have heard, there are severe restrictions on how many times it can be done."


    "Then wouldn''t it be a disadvantage for Ivan to infuse traits from your bloodline? After all, if it was that good, then wouldn''t some of the other dragons you have met accepted your offer?", Celine asked suspiciously.


    There was praise in Susan''s eyes when she answered. "Maybe. I don''t know for sure why they rejected me. It could be that they don''t value my bloodline that highly, or it could be that they just didn''t need the traits contained in my bloodline.


    But I know that he can use at least one of my traits, which is ''Spiritual''. If he infuses this into his bloodline, then it should stabilize and even gain its effect."


    "Still wouldn''t it be better to use the ritual and then he could later find someone with a better bloodline?", Celine didn''t relent.


    "Maybe. Maybe not. But how long will the ritual need for it to be effective? And are you even capable of activating it?"


    Celine knew that she was right. Although it wasn''t mentioned in the description of the ritual she was certain that they were currently unable to activate it. And worse, there was no direct mention of how effective it is.


    "So your method works directly? And it works faster?"


    "I think so.", Susan seemed a bit unsure. "As I already told you that I don''t know how it works, but I talked with someone who offered her bloodline and she told me that it took about half a year. She also told me that she couldn''t tell me about the process since it would be different for every pair, but the duration should always be around half a year to one year."


    "We will have to think about it.", Ivan told her. He wanted to talk about it with Lara first.


    "Alright. That''s all I can ask for.", Susan agreed. She didn''t look dispirited. It seemed like she had already expected him to not directly agree. "Then I''ll leave the contract here so you can read it.", she held out her hand with the contract, indicating for Ivan to take it, which he did.


    "But could I still get a massage?", she let a pleading tone flow into her voice. Although they were sure it should be fake, it still managed to move them. Creating the instinct to directly agree.


    Coughing lightly, Ivan caught himself. "If Celine is alright with it, then why not."


    "Sure. It would be good to have someone to practice on before I massage you.", she told Ivan.


    "What so I''m just going to be your guinea pig?", Susan asked with fake anger.


    "Yeah. So do you want it?", Celine said while grinning at her.


    "Even if you suck, a ''Heavenly Massage'' is a ''Heavenly Massage''", she shot back.


    "Well then remove your clothes and lie down on the table.", Celine ordered.


    Hearing that she would have to remove her clothes, Ivan hurriedly wanted to leave, "Then I''ll go outside. Call me when you are finished."


    "Stop there.", before he even managed to reach the door, the cold voice of Celine stopped him. "It would be better for you to watch. Then it will be easier for me to massage you later on."


    "But how hard can it be? Don''t I just have to lie on the table?"


    "Yes, but a good stimulus before the massage can increase the effect it has on your mental strength. And besides, you could use some training for your mentality. If you run away every time you see a girl naked, then how would you be able to fight? If you fight against a woman, then do you want to have to give up, since even cutting her clothes would make you want to run away?"


    Although Ivan thought what she said was a bit far fetched, he couldn''t deny the truth of the core matter she had mentioned. In battle there could be situations he would find uncomfortable and damage to clothes would easily be possible. So if his first reaction then was to look away or even run away, then this could spell doom.


    "She is right, you know.", Susan agreed with Celine as well. "And let me tell you, there are some women who run around so sexily dressed, that the current you would definitely have a problem with it. Not to mention them using charms and other tactics. If you can''t withstand them, then you will be in serious trouble.


    There are even organizations, whose members charm a man and then get him to sell himself as


    a slave, while the woman from the organization will count the profit."


    "Urgh. That sounds bad. But still... Wouldn''t it be enough to strengthen my will?", Ivan asked. He had gotten interested in the topic since he hadn''t thought about it before. It touched a subject he was inexperienced with. He hadn''t experienced a lot of variety of combat and life, so maybe he would be more susceptible to such things.


    "Strengthening your will is only one point. Experiencing a multitude of situations is useful as well. Here people of this realm are far behind those of the upper realms. Although I can''t say that it is a bad thing for those living here. Only when you leave, will you be in a disadvantage against those who have grown up in the cruel world up there."


    "What do you mean?"


    "In every known realm, besides this one, where the System exerts so much direct control, there is only one rule, the rule of the jungle. The strong eat the weak."


    "But wouldn''t that just create chaos?"


    "Of course not. To the strong, a bit of order is good for their own development, since it makes the amassing of resources easier. So they impose their rule onto those weaker and create their own form of order.


    There are kingdoms, empires, sects and many other organizations. And all of them strive to become stronger while using those weaker than them. So the world is filled with constant war and nobody is surprised when suddenly someone goes on a killing spree.


    And then there is the difference between cultivators and mortals. To a cultivator, a mortal is in the best case a source of resources and in the normal only a speck of dirt, that can be ignored. Well, some just see them as their plaything."


    "Wow. That sounds horrible."


    "It is how it is. But although there is always some danger, it isn''t like it is all bad. There is order and usually, nobody wants to waste their energy on things that benefits them. Together with a concept of pride and honor, it keeps some stability. Most of the time, those in the same cultivation realm would fight each other while those with higher realms would ignore them as long as they don''t cross some kind of baseline."

 161 Illusion

    "Still, it doesn''t sound that great. Why would anyone even want to go there? Wouldn''t it be better to stay in this realm?"


    "Because of power and because of life span. The two things that can move everything.", Celine says bitingly. It seemed like she had had a bad experience because of these reasons. Maybe it had something to do with her state when he had met her, Ivan wondered.


    "Exactly. The higher the realm the higher the life span. And the more power, the better for most people. Not only does it makes one safer, but it also enables you to amass more resources.", Susan continued. "And with your bloodline and your situation, I bet you will go there, so the first thing you have to learn, is to use each opportunity to get stronger.


    This doesn''t mean that you have to give up time for relaxation or that you have to throw away any moral code you have. But try to use those opportunities that are given to you."


    Ivan nodded. He understood what she wanted to tell him. If he wanted to go to the upper realms, then he had to strengthen his will and experience more things, so he wouldn''t be influenced by others. He also had to become more proactive. Looking back, ever since he had been reborn, he more or less had gone with the flow.


    Of course, that hadn''t been bad for him. He had a family and was constantly getting stronger. But according to what he heard, that wouldn''t work in the upper realms. If he acted the same way up there, then he would just become a playtoy for stronger people.


    "Think about it. That''s enough talking. I can''t wait to get my massage.", Susan said and then started to slowly remove one piece of clothing after another. She even took the time to display herself to Ivan after each piece.


    Ivan''s first instinct was to look away, but remembering what she had told him, he suppressed the impulse and instead continued looking. Still, since he wasn''t used to seeing the female body a slight blush spread over his face, making Susan smile in delight. She really seemed to enjoy, eliciting unusual emotions in him.


    When Susan started to remove her underwear, lust welled up in him. With the lust now suppressing his shyness, he started to truly appreciate her body. It was toned, with smooth skin which was shaved everywhere, leaving only the hair on her head. Her breasts were well-formed and looked very soft yet springy. Their size was such that he would be able to comfortably grab them and play with them.


    Then to his surprise, Susan didn''t move towards the massage table but instead moved towards him. She smiled seductively at him and cupped her breasts with her hands.


    "Do you like them?", she asked with a seductive whisper, "Do you want to touch them? Come I''ll let you touch them."


    These words of her together with her actions, stimulated his lust, removing any rest of rational thinking. If not for her arriving before him, then he would have jumped towards her.


    She now stood before him and took his hands into hers. Then she pressed them onto her breasts. The feeling was wonderful and Ivan started to play with them, so he could better enjoy that feeling. Susan too seemed to enjoy his touch, since she started to let out small moans. Both of them completely forgetting about Celine who was in the room as well.


    "Harder", she whispered into his ear.


    In response, his soft touches changed. He started to knead them eliciting even stronger moans from her. Those moans fanned his lust even more and he pinched her right nipple.


    "Ahhhhhhhh....", she screamed, but the scream wasn''t filled with pain, but instead with lust and satisfaction.


    "More, please, more.", she begged him, when she regained her composure.


    Just then, Ivan suddenly felt a pain at the back of his head, and the picture around him started to shatter. It revealed the room with Celine standing beside the massage table and Susan standing beside him, fully clothed. She was the one, that had hit his head.


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    "Urgh, what happened.", he asked confused, while rubbing the back of his head.


    "I made you fall into an illusion.", Susan explained. "You see, when I removed my clothes, you lost some control over your mind, which opened a rift in your defenses. This way it is easy to make you fall into an illusion."


    "So that''s what happened. Then what I saw wasn''t real?", he asked, while still trying to calm down.


    "No, it was just something created from your imagination and the illusion skill."


    "Then do you know about the content of the illusion?" Hopefully, she didn''t. If not he would be so embarrassed.


    But her next words destroyed that hope. "Of course I do. After all, I control it."


    "Urgh.", he sighed. "Then the you in that illusion also acted as you would?"


    She smiled at him. "Mmm."


    Although she didn''t say it explicitly, the sound she made, made it clear that this was the case.


    Ivan took a deep breath. Then he stretched out his hands and pulled her into his lap. Although she could have easily avoided him or resisted him, she let it happen.


    "So, you like someone playing with your breasts that much?", he whispered into her ears teasingly, before lightly cupping them in his hands.


    His movements elicited the same moans from her like the ones in his illusion. He had to admit, that he enjoyed playing with her like this. Not only felt her breasts great in his hands, but her behind also had an effect on him, when she started to slightly squirm on his lap.


    But when he tried to move his hands into her top, she stopped him with a slap on his fingers.


    "Don''t. You would first have to sign the contract.", she warned him. "Then you can enjoy my body as much as you like."


    "Tsk.", Ivan clicked his tongue in disappointment. "So that''s why you showed me this illusion. You wanted to make me sign the contract by using your body.", he said in fake anger.


    Susan chuckled, "Now you understand." She then turned around, so that she was sitting with her face towards him. Because of their size, he just had to slightly lower his head, for it to land between her breasts. She then smiled at him cheekily, "So didn''t it work?"


    He gulped down some salvia and suppressed his lust even further, which was hard, considering their position and the memories from the illusion.


    "I guess so. But I still want to talk to Lara first.", he admitted but still stood to what he had said before.


    "Fine.", Susan pouted. She then stood up and got ready to leave. "I''ll leave you two alone, so you can get your message."


    She then turned towards Celine, "Thank you very much for the massage. It was great."


    "No problem. If you have time, you can call me and we can do it again, alright?"


    "Really? Would that be ok?", Susan asked happily while grabbing Celine''s hands.


    "Sure. It is great to have someone to practice on. And besides, I get the feeling that we will spend a lot of time together anyway."


    "Me too.", she happily smiles and then says her goodbye, after promising Celine that she would call soon.


    "So what do you think?", Ivan asked Celine after Susan had left.


    "Hm, I''m not sure. I think she is serious about the offer. But there seems something wrong about what she wants in return. She said that she wants blood and base essence in return, but if it is only this, then why wouldn''t any other dragon offer it to her? After all, it would normally just regenerate."


    "So you think that maybe it wouldn''t if she gets it?"


    "Yes. Although I don''t know why that would be the case."


    "Me neither. But it''s not like I have much knowledge about such things. In the end, doesn''t it just makes this a decision between short term gain and long term gain?"


    "Maybe. But there is one thing, where she is correct. Her method would be better than my ritual. Although they shouldn''t be exclusive, so you could use both methods to strengthen yourself."


    "Then you would say that I should accept the offer?"


    "Mmm, I think you should.", Celine nodded. "But talk about it with Lara first. Maybe she knows more. After all, Susan is a servant of her father."


    "But you can think about it more, later. For now, let me give you a massage. So remove your clothes please."


    After experiencing the illusion, Ivan didn''t feel that shy and he removed his clothes swiftly, before laying down on the massage table, face down.


    "Now close your eyes and relax.", Celine told him in a soft voice.

 162 Do you want to come as well?

    Ivan could then feel her warm fingers touching his back, making him shudder slightly. Then with smooth but powerful movements, she began to massage his back. With each movement of her hands, a small amount of energy would seep into his body.


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    Ivan could feel himself slowly relax. First his muscles and then his mind. While focusing on the touch of her hands on his skin, he slowly felt his eyelids become heavy and not long after everything around him went slowly dark, as he fell asleep.


    When he woke up, the first thing he saw was the familiar ceiling of his bedroom. It seems like after he had fallen asleep Celine had moved him to his bed. He slowly stretched and enjoyed the feeling of his body. He felt fully rested and full of energy.


    "This message was really great.", he silently complimented.


    After getting up he first went into the bathroom to take a shower. He was still naked and he couldn''t help but feel embarrassed when he thought about how Celine must have moved him like this.


    Having finished showering and wearing some fresh clothes, he left the room and went towards the living room.


    He hadn''t reached it yet when Celine came towards him.


    "Great, you are already awake. I was just going to wake you up.", she greeted him and then asked, "How are you feeling?"


    "Great.", Ivan smiled at her, "The massage was great. I feel much better now. I really hope you can give me another one soon."


    She beamed him a smile. "That''s great. I''m happy that you liked it. And sure just ask whenever you want one."


    "Thanks. But you could have just let me sleep on the massage table. There was no need for you to move me to my bedroom."


    "It''s more comfortable for you to sleep in your bed.", she told him in a firm tone, making clear that she wouldn''t discuss this. And Ivan knew that she would move him again if he fell asleep during another massage.


    "I prepared some food for you. You should still have enough time to eat and then reach the school in time.", she changed the topic.


    "Thanks.", he once again thanked him. She had become an important part of his life. In fact ever since he had met Lara, he hadn''t had to take care of himself, except when he was outside.


    While they walked towards the dining table together, he suddenly remembered something. It was about him having to learn to use his strength and that his servants where his strength as well. This was valid for Vlada but Celine as well.


    Thinking about it, he hadn''t fought together with her at all. And he had to admit that his normal reaction wouldn''t be to do it but instead try to fight by himself.


    He turned towards the woman walking beside him. "Do you want to come as well?"


    Hearing his question she looked at him in surprise. "You mean you want me to come with you into the dungeon?"


    He nodded.


    "Sure.", she happily exclaimed. "How come you asked?", she then asked curiously.


    "Aren''t I suppose to learn to use my strength? Aren''t you a part of it?"


    "Mm. That''s great. I''ll make sure you won''t regret it."


    They sat down at the table and started to eat the light meal, Celine had prepared.


    "Do you have everything, to go into the dungeon?", Ivan asked.


    "Yes. Remember I got an armor that''s quite good when I became your servant and when we went to Jacky''s Shop I got a sword as well."


    "Ok. Remind me to give you some simple pills."


    "The ones you made?"


    "Yes. Although they aren''t that great, they should be good enough."


    "That''s good. It is very useful to have a pill refiner in a group. Those pills can get very expensive, so having one can drastically reduce the money we have to spend.


    By the way, how is the formation of your group?"


    "We don''t really have one. Until now, we have just fought together in whichever way seemed best. And today we wanted to practice the ''Basic Turtle Formation'' and the ''Basic Spear Formation''.", Ivan explained what they had learned in class today.


    Celine nodded thoughtfully. "Those two aren''t bad, but they seem a bit unfitting for your group. If I''m correct then you have four mages and one paladin, right?"


    "Yes. You are right. Those formations seem to be more geared towards warriors, but they are the only ones we learned.", Ivan agreed. He had seen this as well. Both formations were heavily focused on group melee fighting, which wasn''t the true domain of mages, but of warriors.


    "Well, it''s not like it is bad to learn them. But I would recommend you to try to learn another one, that can be combined with them."


    "A formation that can be combined with them?", Ivan asked surprised.


    "Yes. There is a formation called ''Magical Strengthening Formation'', that has been developed by a group of mages, in order to strengthen their physical combat power.


    Back then they wanted to clear a dungeon that had weird restrictions. Only mages could enter it, but once they entered it they would be unable to attack with magical skills. Only pure physical attacks were possible. And while most groups would have given up, they instead developed a series of skills and formations that made use of mana to strengthen their physical combat power."


    "Couldn''t they just strengthen their combat skills and the relevant stats?", Ivan asked confused. After all, it wasn''t like mages and warriors were mutually exclusive. It was just that mages started with mana, unlike warriors. They could use all the skills warriors could if they just trained them. Of course, normally they wouldn''t do it since it was seen as a waste of time.


    "Well, they had already trained as mages. And the dungeon had a level restriction to level 500 which meant that those that hadn''t started with all attributes unlocked hadn''t unlocked the last one. Which meant that most of them lacked one of the physical attributes."


    "So did they manage to do it?"


    "Yes. Surprisingly they did it. But the important thing is that they left their collection of skills and formations for future generations. Sadly nowadays they have become rarely seen."


    "Why is that?", Ivan asked confused. They seemed very useful in certain situations, so why would they be lost now?


    Seeing his laugh Celine laughed softly. "Do you think everyone is like you? Most mages would focus on casting skills from the distance. It is just your group of weird friends that don''t. I guess that''s because you are all mages. Or why do you think the school created groups with warriors and mages?


    In a normal party, the mages are responsible for long-range support and crowd control. Not for tanking and melee combat like you."


    "So you are saying the way I fight is wrong?"


    "Of course not. In fighting, there is no right or wrong way. You have to fight the way you are best at."


    Ivan agreed with her. Only by fighting the way he was best at, could he produce the best results.


    "But that doesn''t mean that you shouldn''t be able to fight in other styles as well if the situation requires it. And that is something you seem to be sorely lacking in."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Just take a look at your skills. Is there even one crowd control skill or long-range attack skill? Not to mention a large area of effect skill?"


    He didn''t have to check his character screen to know that he didn''t have any skill of this type.


    "You are right. I don''t have any such skills. But wouldn''t have our teacher told us about this?"


    "What level are most of the people in your class?", instead of answering his question she threw back this question at him.


    "I''m not sure, but I think they are below level 50."


    "There you go. Below level 50 the mana pool would be much too small to fight effectively as a mage, so there was no need to teach you about the right way to fight as a mage yet. But you and Irena as well are different. The two of you have a large enough mana pool, so you should learn how to fight as a mage. This will improve team performance drastically. After all, there is a reason for the standard team formation."


    Ivan fell into thoughts while continuing to eat.


    "Think about it. If you want to, I can teach the two of you.", Celine encouraged him. "Now let''s get finished or we will be late."

 163 Mana strings

    They barely made it in time. When they arrived at the training area, the others were already waiting.


    "Hey Ivan, you are late.", Pia shouted towards him when she saw him coming.


    "Hey everyone. And I''m sure that I''m still in time.", he first greeted the others, before answering Pia.


    "Everyone else is already waiting for you, so you are late.", she insisted.


    Seeing that he couldn''t win the argument, Ivan just accepted the accusation. "Alright, if you say so."


    Having won the short argument, Pia nodded in satisfaction.


    "Hey everyone.", Celine who had smiled at their antics greeted the others as well.


    "Hey Celine.", the others greeted her back and Irena asked, "How come you are here?"


    "What? Am I not welcome?", adopting Pia''s style of bantering, Celine joked.


    "Of course you are. I was just wondering since we enter as a five-man group and you wouldn''t fit in."


    Although Irena''s words may have sounded unpleasant if heard by the wrong person, Celine understood her correctly. "So you already guessed that I came to train in the dungeon together with you. But you are wrong that I wouldn''t fit in. Technically my status is the same as Vlada. I count as a part of Ivan''s strength, so I can enter.", she told her.


    "Is that so?", Irena asked in surprise.


    "Yes. Just like slaves and pets only use up the slot of the master, servants like me do the same.", Celine explained.


    "That''s great.", Irena exclaimed. "Then can you maybe teach us some things?", she asked eagerly. She too knew that Celine was much more experienced than they were.


    "Of course, that is one of the reasons I am here.", Celine agreed happily. She truly liked Irena and the others, so she was really happy when they accepted her so readily.


    Hearing her response the others cheered as well. This was just like having a private teacher just for themselves.


    "Then did Ivan already tell you what we have planned to do?", Irena asked. As the team leader, it was her job to make sure that everyone was on the same page.


    "Yes. We already talked about it. For now, we should go into the entrance hall for the dungeon and then we can change our gear and talk some more."


    She then entered the dungeon and the others followed her lead.


    After appearing in the entrance hall of the dungeon, Celine mentioned for everyone to sit down on the floor.


    "Sit down first. I''m going to teach you a formation first."


    "Really?", Greg exclaimed. Until now he had been uncharacteristically quiet, but hearing this he got livelier.


    "Right, why were you so quiet? Are you still tired from the training?", Ivan poked fun at him.


    "The better question would be, why are you so energetic?", Greg shot back.


    "Because I had a great relaxing massage.", Ivan responded smugly. In response, he got envious looks from everyone. "Alright, let''s start learning.", he hurriedly changed the topic.


    Celine repeated the background story for the formation, she had told him before, so the others knew it as well.


    "Such a useful formation and the school doesn''t even teach it.", Serge sighed.


    "That''s because it isn''t free for them to do so.", Celine explained.


    "Then we have to pay for it?", Greg asked worriedly.


    "No.", she laughed when she saw his worried face. "Although the school can''t teach it for free, I can."


    "How come?", Greg asked curiously.


    "Because schools teach all skills to such a large group of people, they require special licenses for it. Some of them are free and those are the ones you will get thought. The better the school the better the skills thought since they can pay for the licenses.", she explained to them. "But since I''m just a private person and don''t teach many people I don''t need such a license."


    "I''m surprised that nobody has found a way around it."


    "Well, since it is the System that is responsible for this rule, I reckon that there is no way around it."


    She told them how to activate the formation and then explained its function in more detail. "After you activate the formation it will create a mana-field, that will interact with your cells and strengthen them. For each additional person, the effect will strengthen, up to twenty, and the consumption will decrease."


    "How does this work? Do you know it?", Irena asked, eager to learn more.


    "I''m not sure about how it strengthens the cells but I know the number of people in the formation influence the effect and consumption.", Celine answered.


    "When mana flows through your body, then it will barely interact with it if it comes from your source. That is because its characteristics are highly compatible with your body since it comes from the same person. Normally that is a good thing since it reduces the consumption while casting spells outside of your body.", she explained. This was something that hadn''t been mentioned in class before since it was something that everyone just accepted as normal. So why would one talk about it?


    "But while it is normally a good thing, it is counterproductive while trying to influence the cells. More


    mana is needed to get them to interact well."


    "Then the mana in the field has its characteristics changed when more people enter it?", Serge guessed.


    "Correct. With each additional person, the characteristics of the mana in the mana-field will change slightly, making it better able to interact with the cells, while being close enough to still be able to break the skin barrier."


    The skin barrier was a natural barrier that everyone possessed. It stopped mana and other tainted energies from entering the body, or else someone could be killed by just destroying the brain or some artery without the need to destroy any more.


    "So the upper border of 20 people is so the characteristics aren''t too far off.", Pia said while nodding in understanding.


    Seeing that everyone had understood her, Celine looked satisfied. She enjoyed teaching them since all of them were intelligent and would pick up new knowledge fast.


    "Ok. Now let''s try it out. Since Irena is the team leader, she should start. After she has created a stable mana-field, the others can then join it."


    "Ok, I''ll try.", Irena said and then closed her eyes to better concentrate.


    Following the pattern, Celine had told them before, she let the mana flow out of her, trying to establish the field.


    Only by fully activating his spiritual sense could Ivan feel the mana-field slowly taking form around them. The mana formed strings that formed mysterious patterns, which were like those Celine had shown them. But he could see that the strings weren''t uniform and the patterns were slightly off.


    *I guess this will fail.*, he thought while concentrating fully on how the field continued to expand. After all, this was the best way to learn.


    Just as he had predicted, once the field reached about two meter in radius, it broke down. The deformed strings of mana weren''t capable of supporting the patterns and the deformation destabilized it additionally.


    Irena exhaled. "Damn, this is hard."


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    "Take your time.", Celine told her. "You did very well for the first time.", she then praised her, before pointing out where she had to correct the patterns and where she should be more careful to make the mana strings more uniform.


    After explaining all of this she then said, "Alright, try again. This time focus more on what I told you. If the pattern is stable, then you can expand it further."


    Irena once again closed her eyes and focused on trying to form a stable pattern.


    "As for you.", Celine turned towards the others, "Come with me." She then stood up and went towards the far side of the hall, so there was the maximum possible distance to Irena.


    "While Irena is trying to form the pattern for the formation, you should also practice forming uniform mana strings.", she advised them. "Although you won''t have to form complicated patterns with it, she will have to wave them into her formation pattern and the better the quality of the mana strings, mean the higher the uniformity of them, the easier it will be for her."


    She then formed a string of mana and made it shine red. "Not only is this useful for the formation, but it is also a great way to practice your control.", she told them while manipulating the string. She changed its thickness and its form. She changed its color and even created patterns on it.


    "If you can control the mana strings like this, then it will be a huge boost for you."


    Everyone was impressed by her control over the string. And this awe got even stronger when they tried it themselves.


    Although Serge and Ivan both were quite good at controlling their mana, because of them learning pill refining, what she had shown was something else entirely.

 164 Start Training

    After about one hour had passed, Celine called for them to stop.


    "Alright. That''s enough for today. If we continue then we won''t be able to practice what we came here for."


    "But I still haven''t managed to form the formation.", Irena protested. She had made good progress and was unwilling to stop now.


    "I know. But you have made great progress and it won''t be possible to finish learning it today. Besides haven''t you realized how exhausted your mental energy is?"


    Because of her eagerness to learn, Irena hadn''t realized how exhausted she had become. Only after hearing her words did she realize that she was right. In her current state more practice wouldn''t be that effective. It would be better to stop for now and then practice again after she had rested.


    "Besides, I''m sure the others are exhausted as well.", Celine said while pointing at Greg who had laid down on the floor and was breathing heavily.


    "Then shouldn''t we rest now? Wouldn''t it be as useless to train the other formations now?", Irena asked. If they were that exhausted then practice for the other formations should be less effective as well. But it seemed like Celine wanted to do it now.


    "It''s different.", Celine said with a smile. She was happy that Irena tried to understand and wasn''t ashamed to ask if she didn''t understand something. "The ''Turtle'' and ''Spear'' formations are basic formation that doesn''t require much mental energy. Quite the opposite. They are designed to be used until the end, so training them in an exhausted state can increase the speed in which they are assimilated into reflexes. If you don''t even have to think about using them, then they can make full use of.", she patiently explained.


    "But if we do it this way, then wouldn''t any mistake we make also get ingrained into our reflexes?", Serge asked skeptically.


    "Sure, that''s why it isn''t usually trained this way. The risk is high and it requires someone training the group who has a good understanding of the formation. Luckily for you, I''m more than capable of doing it.", the last sentence was said with pride.


    "Alright, let''s do it as Celine has recommended.", Irena voiced out her decision. It showed her status as the leader, that everyone nodded and accepted her decision.


    When everyone had changed into their armor, Celine once again became the center of attention. Her armor was just too spectacular. Made from black leather it clung tightly to her figure, making her look very sexy and alluring.


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    It also displayed a surprising amount of skin. Her shoulders were completely free and so were her belly, which would usually be heavily armored, since a wound there could be extremely dangerous. Of course, this design made it look all the better.


    All in all the armor consisted of four parts. Long gloves that went up over her elbows. A top that was shoulder free and ended just below her breasts and tight pants, which clung to her legs, showing off their perfect form. Finally, it ended with black high heels, which couldn''t look more unfitting for fighting.


    The only thing, not black where her white skin and the golden patterns. Especially eye-catching was the golden dragon above her heart. The dragon looked the same as the one he had seen on Lara''s mark and he was sure that it was there because she was his servant and had gotten the armor after the ritual.


    "Wow.", Pia exclaimed, before hitting the back of Greg''s head. "What are you staring at?", she angrily asked.


    Greg shrugged his shoulders. He had stared at Celine with a perverted expression. "What can I do? She just looks to sexy.", he said without thinking, earning him another slap.


    They weren''t the only one staring, the others did so as well. "Does this armor works?", Irena asked doubtfully. The armor showed just to much skin, leaving to many parts uncovered.


    Celine smiled happily at the stares. After having been an old woman for so long, she enjoyed the feeling of being young and pretty again. "Of course it does.", she responded, before explaining, "I guess you haven''t seen armor of a high enough grade yet. The better the materials, the less there is a need to cover the body with it. For high-grade armor, the defense doesn''t come from the material itself but the energy field generated by it. And for that, it is only necessary for the material to cover some areas. Everything else will still be covered by the field and be just as defended."


    When Irena heard this, she nodded. "So that''s how it is. But wouldn''t it still be better to cover the free areas with some other materials to strengthen the armor further."


    "If you would do that, the materials would interfere with each other and you would get something that is worse than if you leave it free. Of course, there are also materials that wouldn''t interfere, but why use them when leaving them will make the armor more beautiful or in this case sexy?"


    "Is that so?", suddenly a sly look appeared on Irena''s face. "Then the reason your armor is so sexy..."


    Without any shame, Celine directly answered, "Of course it is for Ivan." She then smiled widely at Irena. While enjoying her embarrassed look. She was still too young to tease her.


    "Whatever.", Irena hurriedly changed the topic. "Greg, did you bring the shields and spears?"


    "Yes.", Greg then took out simple spears and shields for them to use.


    "How much did they cost? We will pay for them together.", Irena asked him.


    Greg shook his head. "It''s alright. These are just things left behind from a shipment of training equipment for a school. They just barely don''t fulfill the standard required to be used as teaching material. And because of that nobody would buy them anyway, so I got them for free."


    The others weren''t familiar with the standards for teaching equipment, so Ivan asked warily, "Then can we use them for training? Wouldnt that be dangerous?"


    "No.", Greg reassured them, "The standard for training equipment is quite high. They have to stand up to many training sessions and they can''t break in a way that will endanger the students using them. After all, we don''t wear shields all the time while training.


    But to train in the dungeon they are more than enough. After all, they are still very durable and in actual combat, weapons can break anytime anyway. So the danger of them breaking is not problematic."


    Hearing his explanation, the others could only agree.


    Now that everyone was prepared it was time to start training.


    "Ok. First, we will start on the first floor. We will then slowly work our way upwards, killing every monster on each floor, while only using the ''Basic Spear Formation'' and the ''Basic Turtle Formation''. We will start with the ''Basic Turtle Formation'' to herd the monsters into an area. The narrow corridors of the first floor are perfectly suited for that. Then we change to the ''Basic Spear Formation'' and kill them in one fell swoop.", Celine told them the plan.


    After that, they didn''t hesitate and entered the first floor.


    Although the corridors were narrow, they still formed a line of three people in front of the others forming another behind them. The first line was made up of Irena, Ivan, and Celine, for the beginning.


    "Since we are the strongest we will start.", Celine said. "After the first round, we will switch clockwise."


    "Round?"`, Greg asked confused.


    "We can only use this tactic in narrow corridors but the floor also has larger open spaces. There we will need to pull the rats into the corridor and then kill them. After that, the round ends and we will switch.", Celine explained in more detail.


    "Ivan take out Vlada. She can assist us from above.", she then told Ivan.


    Only after her reminder did he remember that he had planned to train with Vlada as well. Blushing he hurriedly summoned her.


    Luckily when she appeared she was in her smallest form, because if she had appeared in her largest form, she wouldn''t have had enough space in the corridor.


    Without him having to ask, Celine explained to him. "The best use of Vlada in an environment is to either harass from above or to scout. She could also try to pull the rats over."


    Ivan thought for a bit and then ordered, "Vlada go look for rats and pull them here."


    From his observation, Vlada was intelligent enough to understand commands like this. And for the benefit of his party members, he gave the command loud instead of using the mental connection they had.


    Celine nodded satisfied. His decision was a good one. Still, there was one point she had to criticize, "Although the decision is good, the next time remember that you aren''t the group leader. You should talk to Irena about it first."


    "I understand.", Ivan agreed.

 165 Training 1

    "Ok now, Irena you will take control, while I will only correct the mistakes you make with the formation.", she then told Irena.


    "Ok.", Irena voiced out and then commanded them, "Let''s get moving. We will slowly move down the corridor, while in formation until Vlada comes to us with the rats."


    Everything voiced out that that they understood her command and they started to slowly move while trying to keep the formation.


    "Ivan lift your shield by 5cm, Irena, move your shield 2cm to the left. Greg, move a bit closer to Ivan.", Celine started to throw out corrections for their formation. They weren''t big changes but by following them, they were easily able to feel that the formation seemed to fit better.


    They hadn''t managed to advanced far, when Ivan got a message from Vlada, that she had found a group of rats and was now coming towards the group with them following behind her.


    "They are coming.", he warned the group so everyone would be prepared.


    "Everyone stop and get ready to receive them.", Irena speedily reacted.


    Vlada was flying near the ceiling while the rats ran after her and jumped up and down, trying to get her. Since the rats on the first floor didn''t have any form of ranged attack it was a futile attempt. Still, that couldn''t stop them from trying.


    Even when they saw the shields of the group they didn''t change their target. It seemed that they had been angered by Vlada so much that they had fallen into a rage, ignoring everything else.


    Without hesitation, the group of rats crashed fully into their shield-wall. Now Ivan could really feel how the wall worked. Some of the force was absorbed by himself, while some were transferred towards Irena and Greg. On the other hand, the sideways force that was created by the rats hitting the shield in an angel was transferred partly to Irena. This force was compensated or even overcompensated by the force exerted on Irena''s shield. This made it exceedingly easy to hold the shield centered and thus keeping the wall closed.


    The group of rats wasn''t small, with more than twenty of them crashing into them. As such the force was large as well, but they managed to hold their ground. The front row of rats, on the other hand, wasn''t that lucky. The force with which they crashed against the shields was partially bounced back onto them, and while not being able to throw them back or fully stun them, it still managed to make them dizzy.


    "Make use of this opportunity and attack over your shields.", Celines timely command came.


    Ivan used his sword to stab over his shield, trying to wound the rats at their heads or even pierce them. While the low size of the rats made it easier to block them with the shields, it also made it harder to hit them.


    Realizing the problem Irena asked Celine, "How are we supposed to do this? We can''t reach them."


    "Don''t you have spears? Change to them."


    After she said this, the others realized that she was right. For the spear formation, they had prepared spears. And with spears being much longer than swords, they were much more suitable for stabbing over the shields.


    Ivan took out his spear together with the others. While it wasn''t as good as his sword, in fact, it wasn''t much more than a simple wooden shaft with an iron spearhead, the range made up for its lower quality. With it, it was possible to reach the floor while keeping the shield in position. Luckily the ceiling was high enough for them to freely use the spear.


    Since nobody of them had any real skills in spears, beyond the basic ones they learned in school, they could only simple stab at the rats, making the progress slow and tedious. Celine seemed to be much better with the spear, but she was holding back intentionally, trying to keep her skill at the same level as the others, to make the training more efficient.


    Together it didn''t take much to clean up the group of rats, although it took time, nobody got hurt and the shield-wall withstood all attacks of the rats.


    "Do you want to give a review now or do we continue?", Irena asked Celine when the last rat was pinned to the floor with a spear.


    "Let''s continue. I''ll give you all a full review when we are done.", the woman beside her responded.


    "Ok. Then let''s move on."


    Once again they slowly made their way through the dungeon. They were lucky as the corridor was linear with no crossroads, making it easier for them. With the dungeon generating a new layout every time this just might be different next time. During this time, Vlada had pulled five more groups, each of which had between 20 and 40 rats and which they had slain easily.


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    Due to the long fights, they just needed to long to kill off the rats, they were now completely exhausted. This was especially so for Irena and Ivan, while Greg, Serge, and Pia who were in the second row were still a bit better off. Only Celine still seemed to be full of energy, making the others envious.


    "How do you have so much stamina?", Pia asked her while breathing heavily. Using the spear to kill the rats was taxing since she had to reach over the woman and shield before her.


    "Well, I didn''t exhaust myself with training before we started moving."


    This answer only got her unbelieving looks. "I don''t believe that is all.", Pia voiced out what everyone was thinking.


    "Alright, alright. I admit it. I''m just better at using the spear and my body is better than yours.", Celine said while smiling at them.


    "So you only let us train beforehand, so you can look better now?"


    "Of course not.", Celine shot Pia, who had asked the question, a glare. "But if you continue asking than I have to assume that you are eager to continue."


    The warning made Pia instantly swallow the words, she had planned to say. They finally had a small break and there was no way, that she would risk it.


    "Alright, enough.", Irena interjected. "Everyone, eat and drink something."


    Some food and water would refill some of their stamina, which they truly needed. Although it wouldn''t do much for their mental exhaustion, it could at least ensure that their bodies would function properly.


    After everyone had finished some food and water, they once again got into formation. Irena stared into the room they had to enter.


    "The formation wouldn''t work there.", she murmured while thinking to herself. The open space in the room would be completely unsuitable for their two-row formation. "Should we increase the formation to three rows? No, that won''t work."


    Ivan looked to the side and saw that Celine was looking at the woman between them with a smile. As if feeling his gaze at her she looked back at him and nodded with a smile. He was able to guess that she indicated her agreement with Irena''s thoughts.


    "Ivan can Vlada pull them into the corridor?", Irena turned towards him and asked.


    "No.", he shook his head, "She already tried before, but they won''t leave the room except to their selected corridors."


    "Damn. Then I guess we can only try to break through and then have on row facing forwards and one backward.", she sighed while voicing out her new plan. She then looked questioningly at Celine in order to get her opinion on it.


    Celine just shrugged her shoulders. "It is your decision."


    Irena took a deep breath and then said, "Alright, let''s do it. We will rush through the room into the corridor opposite to our.", she pointed at a corridor. "Then the back row will turn around and defend against any opponents coming from the back. Ivan and Greg, you will defend the left side, while Pia will defend the right side. I will focus on the front and Serge you take care of the back."


    With her new adjustments, they changed the position of their shields. Although they now weren''t in the ''Basic Turtle Formation'' anymore, the shields now provided them with a better all-around defense.


    "Go.", on Irena''s command, they stormed out of the corridor and into the open space of the room before them. As soon as they ¨ºntered, more than a hundred red eyes turned towards them. Then the rats rushed towards them from all directions.


    Luckily for them, there weren''t many between them and their targeted corridor. But they moved slower than them and even though they had a headstart, it wasn''t enough. Ivan used his shield to knock aside a rat, that had tried to jump against Irena from the left side and used his spear to get another one to move out of his way. He wasn''t trying to hit the rat since that might end up slowing him down or forcing him to drop his spear.


    "Damn, I should have changed to my sword.", he cursed, realizing that the shorter but sharper sword would have been the better choice.

 166 Training 2

    The others weren''t much better off. They too had problems handling their spears in the right way. The only exception was Celine who not surprisingly was more than capable of using her spear to pave the way and repel the rats coming from her side.


    Still, they managed to make it through the room and entered the corridor. There they once again changed their formation into one row pointing forward and the other pointing backward.


    Unlike before, when the rats didn''t enter the corridor, with Vlada trying to pull them in, they now showed no hesitation and readily stormed after them into the corridor. At the same time, another group came from the front, which was lured there by the squeaks of the others.


    "Brace for impact.", Irena called out just before the groups crashed into them one after another.


    The group from behind them which was also the bigger one reached them first. Because of their new formation, when it crashed into their shields they couldn''t absorb the force as well as before and were pushed back. Which was exactly the moment, the other group crushed into them as well, making them feel like they were being crushed between two mountains.


    Their backs collided into each other hard and they barely managed to hold the shield wall up.


    But after dispersing the initial force it didn''t get better. Because they were now pressed closely together, they were unable to wield their spears without getting in each other ways. Their already clumsy way of using them, got even worse, although this would have seemed impossible before.


    "Damn.", even the always silent Serge couldn''t help but curse out loud.


    With the rats constantly pressuring them in their attempt to get at them the pressure didn''t let up and they were unable to push them back to create some more space to fight more effectively. The only thing they could do was endure.


    Luckily, while the rats were unable to get to them, they were able to use their spears to attack them, slowly dealing damage to them and sometimes even killing one of them in one or at least a few strokes.


    Ivan used his shield, which had already been damaged quite a bit but was still fully functional to block the rats in front of him while using his spear to try to inflict wounds on them. Slowly his mind started to fill with fog, as exhaustion crept upon him. His thoughts got slower and only one thought was left in his mind, "Resist. Stand strong. Don''t lower the shield. Use the spear to kill them." These sentences repeated on an infinite loop in his mind, while any other thought slowly vanished in the fog.


    He forgot about the others, he even forgot where he was, he only continued on to hold his shield and pierce towards the enemy in front of him.


    If he had still been able to form conscious thoughts and observe his own movements, then he would have seen that his moves had gotten more fluent, more efficient, and more effective. The number of attacks he needed to kill one rat had decreased by more than half and the energy used to hold up the shield had also decreased as he now distributed the force better.


    Celine who was the only one not overwhelmed by exhaustion saw his and the others changes and smiled in satisfaction. "They really are some good seedlings. Although those two aren''t as suited.", she then commented. The last sentence was directed towards Greg and Serge, who struggled much more than the others. Although she spoke out loud, nobody was able to listen to her, since they had all fallen into a stupor because of their exhaustion.


    Weirdly the rats just kept coming. The group had already killed more than there had been in the complete dungeon last time, but they were unable to realize and question this. Instead, as if they were on autopilot they continued to fight.


    And with each passing minute, their movements got more natural, more practiced and more effective, until they finally reached their limit. The first one to fall was Serge, whose strength and endurance had been stretched way beyond his limit. He just wasn''t able to keep up his shield anymore.


    Instantly the rats were on top of him and with their sharp claws and teeth, they ripped him into shreds. Then with the wall broken Irena''s back was now exposed and she too was unable to hold up.


    Confronted by enemies from two sides, Greg, Ivan, and Pia weren''t able to hold on much longer as well and were killed as well, leaving only Celine behind who, when Serge had fallen, had jumped into the air and was now standing above them on a thin string of ice.


    She looked down on the corpses of the group, which were now consumed by the rats. "Sorry, but this is also necessary.", she murmured, before she put away a small statue she had been holding the whole time. As soon as she did so, the rats stopped coming and instead started to disperse.


    She then moved through the air, always stepping on a thin string of ice, that formed just in time before her until she reached the boss room.


    Although she could have left the floor in the same way as the others, by getting killed, she wasn''t really willing to do so. So the only way was for her to kill the boss, which with her stats as well as combat experience and skills was an extremely easy task. Even Ivan was able to easily slay the boss, so it wasn''t that surprising that she would be able to kill it with just a swing of her sword.


    When she appeared in the entrance hall of the dungeon, the others had already been resurrected there. Pia and Greg were hugging each other while shivering, while Serge sat alone, holding his knees. Irena too had crawled into Ivan''s arms, while shivering. The only one who looked calm and composed was Ivan. He, unlike the others, already had a lot of experience with dying, so he wasn''t that affected. Of course, dying would always have an effect, so he too wasn''t feeling completely ok.


    But unlike the others, he was able to think clearly, now that some of his exhaustion was gone and he had broken out of the weird state he had been in during the fight. He understood that this was something that Celine had planned. He was wondering how she had been able to get the additional rats to appear and attack them. After all, it wasn''t hard to see that there had been much more than should have been possible.


    *Was the goal to get us to fight until the end or to experience death? Or both?*, he thought while stroking Irena''s back in an attempt to comfort her. He couldn''t help but think back to his first death and compare his reaction to those of the others. In comparison, his reaction back then seemed very lackluster. *Hm, was my reaction back then so different?*, he asked himself before pushing the thought away. After all, he wasn''t like the others. He always had had the feeling that even after the hard reset some things had been left over, such as his calmness in some situations.


    While he was thinking about this and at the same time comforted Irena, with a flash Celine appeared in the middle of the room. After she appeared, she immediately came over and apologized, "I''m sorry."


    "It''s alright. Did you do it to get them to learn about death or to get us to fight until we couldn''t go on anymore?"


    On hearing his response the worried look on her face disappeared and instead her lips curved up into a smile. "I''m glad you understand.", she said while looking at him happily. It seemed she had been very worried about his reaction to what she had done. "It was for both. Experiencing death can help them to cherish their life more, while also enabling them to go to their limits and take risks if necessary. And fighting until the end has the best effect on combat experience.", she then answered his question.


    It was just like he had guessed. She had in fact used the opportunity to do both. "So how did you do it? Where did all those rats come from?", he asked the question that had plagued him ever since he had realized what she had done.


    Seeing his curious expression she couldn''t help but smile at him slyly. "Did you think you know everything about me?", she asked him coquettishly.


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    Ivan gulped down his salvia and shook his head, "No.", he said in a hoarse voice. Her question had reminded him of the time they had sex and where he had seen her naked. And the images that appeared in his mind made his lust burn up. Together with her expression, if not for Irena in his arms, he would have grabbed her and pushed her down.

 167 Drive you home

    In response to his burning stare, she licked her lips seductively and pushed out her breasts. The sudden change in their behavior surprised both of them. Still, neither was willing to stop.


    Luckily they were interrupted by Greg. "Urgh", with a weird sound he suddenly started puking. Closely followed by Pia who followed shortly behind him. After all, they were still hugging each other and Greg had just emptied his stomach over her backside. Who wouldn''t puke at that?


    "Wow.", Celine voiced out. Their sudden dilemma also broke Serge and Irena out of their state of shock.


    "Greg!", after she had recovered, Pia screamed at her boyfriend. Having been puked upon was truly to disgusting. Although she too had done it on him, it was his fault after all.


    Her scream shook Greg up and he hurriedly apologized. "Sorry, I couldn''t stop myself." He said while taking out a towel and trying to remove the results of his actions. This didn''t make it better since it only increased the smell and made everyone else gag too.


    "Let''s go.", Ivan told Celine and then lifted up Irena in his arms, intending to carry her out of the dungeon in order to flee from the disgusting odor.


    Celine and Serge hurriedly followed him, leaving the pair behind.


    "Hey, how could you leave us like this?", Greg hurriedly called after them. He knew that Pia wouldn''t let him go until she had finished scolding him. She would even be able to ignore the smell.


    "Let''s meet again tomorrow.", Ivan called towards them and then hurriedly left with Irena in his arms.


    As soon as the now reduced group left the dungeon, everyone took a deep breath, filling their lungs with the clean air.


    "Wow. That was epic.", Celine said, earning nods from the others.


    Then Irena who was still in Ivan''s arms said, "You can let me down now."


    "Do you feel better now?", Ivan asked worried, not yet putting her down.


    "Mmm.", she nodded, while blushing, "It was just that it was my first death and it really messed me up."


    Ivan took another careful look at her face and then put her down carefully. "Don''t worry about it. The first one is always special."


    "Pff...", Celine had to suppress a laugher when she heard his misleading sentence.


    When the others looked at her curiously, she hurriedly put on a serious expression and said, "Alright, let''s finish for today. Everyone did well, but there are still some things I have to criticize, but we can do that tomorrow when everyone has calmed down and is fit again."


    Everyone couldn''t agree more. Even though they had regained some stamina after they had died, the mental fatigue was too much. They desperately wanted to go home and go to sleep.


    "Come, I''ll drive you home.", Celine offered. Since they had driven a car to school and there was still space in it, they wouldn''t have any problem doing so.


    "Really? Can we?", Serge asked eagerly, surprising Ivan.


    "How come you are so eager to get a ride? You even look much more alive than before.", he asked his friend.


    "How couldn''t I? Do you know how hard it is to get a ride in a car?", he looked at Ivan and then shook his head, "Of course not. After all, you have no common sense.", he then answered his question himself.


    With Celine and Irena laughing at his answer, Ivan could only indignantly protest, "How could you say that I have no common sense?"


    "So do you? Everything you have come into contact with after your rebirth is not something normal people would ever experience.", Serge responded.


    Ivan looked pleadingly at Celine, hoping she would help him refute his friend, but to his dismay, she agreed, "That''s true."


    "Hey."


    "So what?", Celine said to him, "Who said common sense is necessary for you? Besides the common sense here is different from that in the upper realms anyway, so who cares."


    Although she hadn''t defended him, it was still good enough for him. He smiled triumphantly at Serge and then gestured, "Let''s go."


    Celine led them to the car and sat down at the driver seat.


    "Can I sit in the front?", Serge asked. It seemed he was really interested in driving a car.


    "Sure.", Ivan and Irena agreed.


    After everyone had boarded the car, Celine asked for their addresses and then started to drive.


    "How about you get a driving license and I''ll ask Lara to let you borrow one of the cars just standing around in the garage?", Ivan asked Serge when he saw, how eagerly he asked Celine all kinds of questions concerning driving a car. He never would have imagined, that besides pill refining, there was another topic that could make him this talkative.


    "Really? That would be so great.", he exclaimed.


    They first took Irena home, since this way Serge could enjoy it a bit more. In fact, Irena had asked them to do so. When they arrived at Serge''s home, he lamented that the drive had been too short.


    Both he and Ivan got out of the car. "Get home. There will be more opportunities to enjoy it.", Ivan told him.


    Serge hugged him, "Thanks, bro.", he then ran towards his home, not turning around as if fearing that he wouldn''t be able to leave if he did so.


    Celine and Ivan, who had sat down at the front seat, smiled at each other. "I never would have expected to see such a side in him.", he commented.


    "Well everyone has a hidden side.", she responded, "But I never would have expected it either."


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    "Let''s go home." "Sure."


    Soon they arrived back home. Since Jane and Lucia were still staying with Miranda and Madam Tanner had already gone to bed, the house was dark. Still, both felt like they had come home, home to a warm home for both of them and their family.


    "I''m going to take a shower and then sleep.", he told her and started walking upstairs.


    "Me too, do you want to take one together.", a teasing voice came from behind him, nearly making him stumble.


    "Uh, I don''t think so.", he hurriedly rejected.


    "So you think you can''t control yourself if we shower together?"


    "Of course I can.", he angrily responded.


    "Sure, prove it then."


    He knew that he had fallen into her trap. Not that it was a bad trap per se, but he had decided to not have sex with her again until he had cleared up his relationship with Lara. And he knew that if they truly showered together, then he would be definitely unable to hold himself back. Hell, back when he had first seen her in the sexy armor it had already been hard to control himself.


    Seeing his troubled expression she chuckled, "Forget it. I don''t want to force you to do something you don''t want to do.", she said to him with a soft voice. Although it was hard, he was able to hear the slight disappointment in it.


    He swallowed and thought about what Lara had told him before. Then after he steeled his mind, he said, "No, let''s take a shower together."


    Her face lit up when she heard his words, "Really?", she asked disbelievingly.


    "Yes. After all, Lara has already agreed to us being together. So me rejecting you because of this reason is only me running away.", he told her. And it was the truth. He felt that if he had sex with her than his relationship with the women in his life would change fundamentally. And this was something that scared him since they were the reason for him having a family and a home.


    "I know.", Celine said empathically. She knew about his fears and was happy that she had managed to make him face them and most likely overcome them.


    She grabbed his hand and pulled him upwards into the bathroom of his room.


    "Do you want to undress me or do you prefer to watch me do it?", she asked with a seductive smile. She was still wearing the armor, the same as Ivan who too was wearing his combat outfit. The look of the armor would make both quite an experience.


    While waiting for his decision, she slowly ran her hands over her armor, accentuating its look.


    Ivan swallowed hard and then took a step towards her. He lifted up his hands and moved it towards her hip. When his hands touched her smooth skin, he could feel her shudder. He could see the desire in her eyes so he continued moving his hands, slowly letting them slide up until they entered the space between the soft leather of her armor and her even softer skin.


    Then he carefully grabbed the leather and moved it up, slowly revealing more of her jade-like skin. He felt himself heat up more and more with each millimeter of skin revealed, knowing what would happen soon. Imagine what he would see soon. Desiring to go further.

 168 Woke up

    When Ivan woke up the next morning he felt something warm and soft in his arms. It was an unusual but comfortable feeling, making him unwilling to wake up or move since he didn''t want to lose this warmth. But his alarm was merciless. Its shrill wake up tone did its best to make sure that he couldn''t pretend, not to hear it.


    Together with the movement of the woman in his arms, he had no choice but to open his eyes. What greeted him was the beautiful face of Celine, who too had opened her eyes and was looking at him smilingly.


    "Good morning.", she greeted him in a soft voice.


    "Morning.", Ivan responded while the images of yesterday started to float up inside his mind.


    Yesterday after the much longer shower than necessary, they had moved onto the bed and continued. Only when they both had felt completely satisfied, they had fallen asleep in each other arms. It had been the most enjoyable thing he had ever experienced and if not for the alarm telling him that he had to get up to go to school, then he surely would have gone for another round this morning. Instead, he had to reluctantly let go of the woman in his arms and get up from the bed.


    "Continue sleeping.", he then told her, "I have to school, but you should rest some more."


    She smiled happily at his caring words. But she shook her head too. "No, I have to get up as well. Lara told me that she would come back this Saturday and I''m planning to throw her a party then."


    "Huh? How come she didn''t tell me?", he said in surprise. He had talked to her nearly every day and while he knew that they had progressed well, she hadn''t informed him that they would be back so soon.


    "I think she wanted to surprise you.", Celine chuckled.


    "Then is it alright for you to tell me about it?"


    "If I didn''t, then how could we throw her a welcome back party? Although I can contact most people you know, I would have to do it through others, so I think it would be better if you would help me."


    "Sure.", he readily agreed. He liked the idea of throwing a party for Lara''s successful dungeon exploration. While talking to her lately, he had realized how happy she was to go adventuring again. She seemed to be more alive and active. Something he really liked to see.


    "So what do you have planned?"


    "Nothing too special. I thought we would just invite those we are close to and hold a small party here at the villa."


    The idea sounded good to him. Neither he nor Lara was the type who would enjoy big parties. A more familiar setting would be more comfortable for them.


    "Sounds like a great idea.", he readily agreed and then asked, "So how can I help?"


    "I can do most of the work, but it would be helpful if you could invite some of your friends, your mentor, and your master. " Celine told him. It was just as he expected. She was always very well organized and willing to take matters into her own hands. He also wasn''t surprised by the people she had mentioned. In fact, they were just about anyone he knew, that she wasn''t that close to. He wasn''t sure, but he thought that she had met Lara''s family more often than him, with the exception of Carl.


    "Then I''ll do that today. Just send me the relevant information, so I can give it to them."


    "Great."


    Having finished the topic, Ivan made his way into the bathroom, to take a short shower and get dressed.


    "Do you want me to join you?", Celine asked cheekily but Ivan hurriedly rejected her. If she really did, then there was no way, that he would be at school in time.


    After he had finished, he asked Celine if he should wait for her to which she agreed. She wasn''t the type who would usually need a long time in the bathroom, so they soon were going downstairs to the kitchen.


    "Let me prepare the breakfast.", she offered, while indicating for him to sit down and wait for her.


    "No, we can just do it together."


    "So you know how to prepare breakfast?", she asked him while lifting an eyebrow questioningly.


    He felt embarrassed at her question because he truly never had prepared breakfast. The only thing even remotely similar was when he had prepared food while being in the wilderness and that had been in a completely different setting.


    "I can learn?", he said tentatively.


    She looked suspicious but agreed, "Alright. Then let''s just make something simple."


    And something simple they made. Just some bread and bacon and eggs. So there was little he could ruin. And it was done quickly, which was necessary since he didn''t have much time.


    After breakfast, he then said goodbye and went to school.


    He hadn''t reached the school gate yet when his phone signaled that he had a new message. It was the information concerning the party. Just the time and that everyone could wear casual clothes. He responded with a short notice that he had received the information.


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    By chance, he met Greg before the entrance. "Hey!", he greeted the worn-out looking guy.


    Unlike usual he didn''t respond energetically but seemed to barely have the energy to greet him back.


    "Wow. You are so lifeless. Did something happen between you and Pia?", Ivan asked concerned. In his mind, the only reason for the always energetic Greg to be like this was that something bad had happened between them after what had happened yesterday.


    Greg didn''t even look at him when he responded with a short, "Mmm."


    It seemed like something really had happened. Well, it wasn''t much of a surprise that Pia would be angry with him. After all, he had puked over her.


    "What happened?", he continued trying to get some more information. With Pia not going to the same school, Greg himself was the best source of information concerning this case.


    Greg took a deep breath and then finally looked up. His eyes were red and it seemed like he had cried. "She broke up with me.", he finally whispered.


    "Huh?", Ivan couldn''t believe what he ha heard. He never would have expected them to break up over something like this.


    "It wasn''t just what happened yesterday. That was just the last straw.", Greg explained when he saw Ivan''s unbelieving look.


    "Then what was it?", he was concerned for his friend so he continued asking. Hoping that Greg would tell him about it. Maybe he would then be able to help him.


    At first, Greg didn''t respond. Ivan didn''t force him since he understood that this was something Greg had to decide and it wasn''t possible for him to meddle in it if he didn''t want it.


    They continued walking in silence until they reached the classroom.


    "I''ll tell you about it after school.", Greg suddenly said, before walking to his seat and sitting down. Laying down his head on the table.


    Not long after Serge and Irena entered the room as well. They too looked shocked at Greg and asked Ivan in concern, "What happened to Greg? Do you know?"


    "I don''t know the specifics, but it seems like Pia broke up with him.", he told them, what Greg had said to him and also mentioned that they would talk about it more after school.


    "Wow, I didn''t expect this.", Irena exclaimed quietly.


    "Me neither.", Serge agreed, "I always thought they were happy together."


    "Me too."


    "Maybe it is just something temporary? Maybe she just was fed up with something and needs some space?", Irena speculated.


    The other two could only shrug their shoulders. They didn''t have any idea either, but all of them hoped that this would have a good ending for Greg.


    Soon the teacher entered the room and it was time for class, leaving each of them with some time to think about it alone.


    Only after class did Ivan remember that he had forgotten to invite the others to the party. Although he wasn''t sure if it was the right timing, he still decided to do so. Maybe it would provide Greg with some distraction.


    So after class, he called over the others.


    "On Saturday Lara will come back and we have decided to hold a party.", he told them. "So I would be happy if you all would come."


    "Of course." "Sure." "Ok.", everyone agreed to come.


    With everyone''s agreement, he told them the time and location. Since they all had already been to their villa there was no need to tell them much.


    "So should we bring something?", Irena asked.


    Ivan looked uncertain, "I don''t know. Celine is organizing it, so it would be best if you ask her."


    "Ha, so you let her do the hard work again.", she remarked sharply.


    Ivan just shrugged his shoulders, "So? She is much better at this stuff. You don''t want to experience the mess I would surely make if I had to do it."

 169 Help me with something

    "That I believe.", Irena said. "Still you could have surely helped her with something."


    "I am, I''m inviting you guys as well as some others.", Ivan said righteously. In response, he only earned a shake of the head.


    "Whatever, I have to go to the next class. Miss. Klein is gonna be angry if we are late.", he hurriedly evaded any further questioning and grabbed Serge to pull him along to the pill refining classroom.


    When they entered Miss. Klein was already there, sitting relaxedly in a chair and reading a book without a cover.


    When Ivan opened the door she looked up and greeted them. "You are already here.", she then looked at the clock, "There are still some minutes until class starts. What made you come early?"


    Before Serge could say anything, Ivan hurriedly brought up a topic he had to talk about anyway. "Master, this Saturday, my wife will come back from a dungeon exploration and we have planned to throw a party, so I would like to invite you to come as well."


    "You are inviting me?", the teacher seemed to be surprised.


    "Of course, after all, you are my master. So wouldn''t it be just right to invite you?"


    She gave him a sharp look. "I''d rather believe that you got some other motive for inviting me."


    Ivan acted innocent, "How could that be?"


    "Stop fooling around. Tell me why you truly want to invite me."


    "Well, one reason is certainly that you are my master. Another is that everyone will be happy to meet you, especially that one guy, he is a huge fan of you."


    "Oh, so you invited me to boast with it?"


    "Well, maybe."


    Miss. Klein chuckled. Ivan''s behavior had really changed since she had met him the first time. He was much more fun now, although he usually hid this side of him.


    "Alright, I''ll come. And I''ll even bring a gift for your wife. After all, she is the first wife of my student.", she agreed.


    "Great.", Ivan happily exclaimed.


    "But,", Miss. Klein continued before he could really cheer, "In exchange, you will have to help me with something."


    "Of course. It will be my honor to help my master."


    "Even though you don''t even know what I need your help with? What if I want you to test some dangerous new pills?"


    He shook his head, "I don''t believe that you would risk the health of your best student."


    "Oh, but I think my best student is not you but Serge."


    "Second best then.", he readily agreed. In many ways, Serge was better than him at pill refining. "But if I''m only the second-best, then why don''t you ask him for help?"


    "Easy, this has nothing to do with pill refining, so skill doesn''t matter. What is important is that you look better."


    Ivan pretended to try to shrink away, "I''ll just warn you that there are already enough women around me, I really couldn''t stand it if that number increases further. Besides to be honest you are a bit small for my taste."


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    Hearing his words Miss. Klein stared at him angrily, "What are you thinking about. Who would want to enter your crazy harem? By the way, how did you even get so many women to surround you?"


    "I really don''t know, but we are drifting away from the main topic.", he hastily brought back the conversation to the main topic. He didn''t want to dwell on the topic of him and the women around him too much.


    "I have to go to a pill refiner meeting in the upper realms. It is organized by the sect I''m a member of. And there is that stupid woman who always loves rubbing the fact that I never had a good looking disciple into my face."


    "Huh? You never had a good looking disciple? Oh, and you think that I''m good looking?"


    She looked at him with mock disgust. "Well looking at your harem you should have something going for you and looking at how the girls around you look at you, your look should passable, what do I know. I have never cared about the look of men."


    "That''s why you always had bad looking disciples.", he couldn''t help but interject.


    "Whatever. I have always selected my disciples for their talent and not their looks. That''s why that woman has lost every contest against me."


    "If she has always lost, then why do you even care about it?"


    "You don''t have to care about that.", she stared at him, warning him not to continue asking.


    "Alright. Of course, I will help you. But did you say that it is in the upper realm? How can I go there? Wouldn''t I need to increase my level first?"


    "I can take you there for some time. A month or two should be fine. After that, you will have to leave again. But I don''t think this will take so long.", she paused as if thinking about something, "It should be ok if I teach you some things there."


    "You will teach me something there? Why can''t you do it here?"


    "Because it is impossible here. The rules of the System don''t allow us to use these things I will teach you."


    "Then what can I do with it?"


    "I can further your understanding, so it will still be useful."


    "Then what about Serge here? Wouldn''t it be more useful for him then?"


    Miss. Klein looked at Serge who had just listened to them, "No, it won''t be that useful for him. His future is different from yours. I don''t think he will ever leave this realm."


    "How can you say that? Isn''t he more talented than me?", Ivan protested.


    This time it was Serge who spoke, "No, the master is right. I don''t think I will ever leave this realm. While doing our dungeon runs I have realized, that life which is filled with dangers and fighting isn''t anything for me. I''m also unwilling to spend much energy on increasing my level. I would rather improve my pill refining skills to the maximum possible in this realm. Although I''m not sure if there is even a limit."


    Miss. Klein nodded at his words, it was just as she had expected. Ivan, on the other hand, looked perplexed. He had thought that Serge was the same as himself and wanted to go to the higher realms. Only now did he realize that others were different. They enjoyed life in this realm which was safe and stable but still filled with challenges and the possibilities of adventures.


    "Well if you are alright with it, then I would love to accompany you, master." Now that it was clear that Serge didn''t want the opportunity, he saw no reason not to agree.


    "Great. I will tell you the exact time we will leave but it should be at the start of the next summer break."


    After that was out of the way, they started with class. Today Miss. Klein first had them do a test about the effects of different kinds of herbs, before continuing with having them try to design pills refined with them.


    Creating pill designs was the most difficult thing for pill refiners. They could only work with their understanding of the herbs, the reaction of the herbs with each other as well as a multitude of recipes using the herbs. These things then had to be used to make a completely new pill design.


    Just about every design they came up with would then be ripped into shreds by Miss. Klein, who would find faults in all of them. These faults could lead to a multitude of effects. From harmless ones such as a slightly wrong but harmless effect or no effect at all. To really bad ones such as extremely negative effects or even explosions during the refining process or after it.


    Each time she found a defect, she would tell them about it and tell them the reasons as well. They could then try to fix it or if they weren''t able to do so, throw it away and start anew. With each round, they would get a deeper understanding of the herbs and their interactions as well as pill refining general


    It was an interesting and effective way of learning, that gave them the motivation to press on until finally, they arrived at a working recipe. Of course, the likelihood of them finding a truly new recipe was slim, but even finding an existing one was still exhilarating. Not to mention that developing a recipe by themselves would drastically increase their success rate as well as the quality.


    When they finally used their self-developed recipe to refine a furnace of pills, the feeling was truly great, even overshadowing the extreme mental exhaustion.

 170 Remember this feeling

    Of course, the effect of the pills was minimal and they were inefficient as hell, but it was the first time they had created their own pill, making them understandably proud.


    Miss. Klein watched their elated expressions and then seriously told them after they had calmed down a bit. "Remember this feeling. It will be your best motivation and drive on the path of pill refining."


    They nodded in understanding. Only by creating their own pills did they realize how good it felt to be able to do so. This made them want to create better pills, requiring them to learn more about herbs and pill refining. This was even more so for Serge than for Ivan. He couldn''t stop staring at the pill he created with pride and desire.


    After that class ended and it was time for the next one.


    After school, the group met on the training ground. They didn''t plan to go into the dungeon, but the ground had seating areas that were well suited to meet and talk.


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    After everyone had sat down, Irena started the conversation by asking Greg, "So what happened?"


    Greg who still looked depressed took a deep breath and then started to talk, "You know that I and Pia have known each other for a long time right?"


    "Yes."


    "Well, although we have started to go out with each other, at the same time we have started to drift apart. With her becoming a paladin and me being a not so good mage. This has made our relationship a bit shaky."


    "Huh? How come I didn''t see that?", Ivan asked confused.


    "You don''t even have a normal relationship but only so many weird ones, so how could you tell?", Greg shot at him.


    Ivan readily agreed, "True." His relationships were really weird, with none of them being even rudimentarily normal.


    "I didn''t see it either.", Irena agreed with Ivan''s point of view.


    "It''s not like we have a bad relationship. It is just that it is more like friends than as lovers.", Greg explained.


    "Oh, so she sees you only as a friend, while you saw her as a lover?"


    "Mmm.", he agreed. Once again there were tears threatening to flow out of his eyes.


    "Did she tell you that?", Ivan asked curiously. He still felt that something was wrong.


    "No, but I could see it. She even told me that I was an absolute disappointment, who wasn''t worthy to be with her. That I disgust her with how I am, how I look and how I act."


    "Wow, that doesn''t sound like a friend."


    "No, she was always like that. If she is close to you, then she will tell you what she thinks. If she doesn''t tell you what she thinks, then she is distant from you.", Greg informed them. After all, he too knew Pia for a long time.


    "So yesterday she said that she wanted to break up with you?", Ivan asked, just to make sure.


    "She didn''t explicitly say it but what else could she have meant?"


    "Maybe she just said that because she was angry? After all, you puked all over her."


    "No. I know that she was serious."


    "Then have you thought about the points she mentioned? Maybe that is what she wanted. Maybe she wanted you to change. How were you when you met? When you got together?"


    "The same as now?", Greg answered in an unsure tone. It seemed like he hadn''t thought about it. He had just taken her words as a rejection.


    "No.", Serge said. "Back then you knew what you wanted, now you are just drifting along.", after saying this he once again went back to being silent, not telling them more.


    "Maybe Serge got a point.", Irena said before asking Greg, "So what are your goals and what are you doing to reach them?"


    Greg looked even more confused, "My goal is to be a merchant, didn''t I tell you about it?"


    "You did, but what does this mean to you? Why do you want to become a merchant? What are you doing in order to become one?"


    In response to her questions, Greg fell deep into thoughts. The others sat there and waited for him to think it through and come to some answers. After all, these questions could only be answered by Greg himself.


    Suddenly Ivan''s phone rang. After taking it out and looking at who was calling him, he saw that it was Celine. He stood up and went aside before taking the call.


    "Hey, how come you are calling?", he asked in a soft voice. Usually, Celine would only call when something was up.


    "Hey, are you still in school?"


    "Yes. Is something up?"


    "Miranda asked us to come over today. It seems like she wants to take part in Lara''s welcome party. Besides that, we will also have to look after the shop, which you asked your assistance to prepare. So I thought I would come and get you directly at school."


    "Ok. But something came up with Greg, so this might take a bit longer."


    "Something is up with Greg?", Celine asked concerned. She liked the friends Ivan had surrounded himself with, so she was concerned, when she heard that something had happened.


    Ivan told her about the situation with Pia as well as their guesses on what exactly happened.


    "I agree with you. I don''t think Pia wants to break up with him. Why don''t I ask her about it? Maybe she will be willing to talk to me about it?"


    "Would you do that? That would be great."


    "I''ll call her while driving over.", Celine assured him.


    "Drive carefully.", he reminded her, before saying goodbye and ending the call.


    Even after the conversation, Greg still hadn''t finished his introspection. So Ivan sat down carefully and told the others about what Celine had said. Irena agreed that it was a good idea for Celine to call Pia. She was in the best position to do so since she wasn''t that close to Greg, which should make it better for Pia to talk to her honestly.


    "I want to stop doing dungeon training with you guys.", suddenly Serge told them, surprising Irena and Ivan. Although Ivan knew why he had made this decision, Irena didn''t. At first, she thought that Serge was unhappy with their group and that now with the problem with Pia, it may seem to him like it was best to stop training together. But she didn''t need long to remember that Serge wasn''t that kind of person. There had to be another reason for that.


    "He wants to focus on pill refining.", Ivan told her when he saw her confused eyes.


    "Oh. That''s a relief. I feared you were unhappy with the group."


    "Of course, not. It is great to train with you.", Serge assured her. "It is just that my fighting skills are good enough to graduate and thus it is possible for me to now focus fully on what I really want."


    Irena nodded in agreement, "That''s a good decision. Most people make this decision only in the third year, so you will have some headstart if you start now. Not that there are many other pill refiners in school."


    "Sorry about leaving the group. I know that me leaving may mean that you will be unable to continue training like before.", Serge said while looking at them apologetically.


    "Don''t worry about it. Even if that is the case, it is more important that everyone is happy and able to follow their dream.", Irena reassured him and Ivan nodded.


    Suddenly Ivan had an idea.


    "Serge, do you want to help me with my store?"


    "What store?"


    Ivan explained how he met that girl Arina and how he had decided to open a store. He then told him how he thought that if they sold the pills they refined, they could get more money to get the herbs necessary to improve their skill.


    Originally he had planned to refine all the pills by himself with the help of Arina but if Serge would agree to help then that would make it easier to secure the supply of pills.


    Hearing his proposal, Serge was intrigued. "This sounds like an interesting idea. If it goes well it can remove our biggest problem in practicing, which is money." After all their master wouldn''t give them any resources. Well, at least not as much as they really required. She always stressed how they had to rely on themself to truly improve.


    "When Celine comes over, we can talk it through with her. After all, I asked her to manage the store.", Ivan said when he saw that Serge agreed to his proposal.


    "But I don''t have anything to invest in the store at the moment, so I will only be an employee.", Serge told him. Ivan had offered him a part of the store but he felt that since he could only bring in his skills he didn''t deserve it.

 171 Agreemen

    But Ivan insisted on it, "But I think it would be better for you to get some shares. If you really feel that you shouldn''t get any because you didn''t invest anything in the store, then how about you just see it as a part of the signing bonus. Just work for the store and create new pills to make it better.


    We can even ask Greg to help manage it and then we can try to make it work together."


    Ivan had to persuade Serge a bit more before he agreed to accept 20% of the shares. But only on the condition that he would let the store use any recipes he developed for free. Normally stores would pay a fee for the recipes they used, even if the developer was an employee.


    They had just finished their agreement and had also decided to ask Greg to help with management as soon as he was back to normal, when suddenly out of the corner of his eyes, Ivan saw someone storming towards them. It wasn''t hard to see that whoever it was, the person was enraged, making him wonder who it was and who enraged him or her.


    Part of the answer became clear when the person came closer. It was Pia who, without greeting the others, directly stomped over to Greg and grabbed him at his collar, lifting him up and then screaming angrily into his face.


    "What the fuck are you thinking? When the fucking hell did I tell you that I want to break up with you? How about you get fucking back on track, so I don''t have to worry this much about you."


    While she shouted at him, she too started to shake him. Greg looked completely shocked at the sudden outburst. He hadn''t even seen her coming over and now he was suddenly being grabbed by her.


    Ignoring everything else, he hesitantly asked, "You don''t want to break up with me?"


    "Of course not, you idiot.", it seemed like Pia was truly angry at him since she continued to curse at him.


    "But you said that I was a disappointment and that I am not worthy to be with you.", he weakly protested.


    "Damn you, stupid idiot. I said that only because I wanted you to change. Do you remember how you were when we got together? You were full of drive. You desired to become something, to make something. Now? Now you just live every day as it comes. You hang around with friends, not that that is bad. But besides that? You are planning to take over your father''s shop? Hah!", she was still angry but her tone had already become softer while explaining.


    Greg became thoughtful. What she said was true. Back then he had dreamed of creating his own business. To become a successful merchant and a great member of the alliance. But the harsh reality had started to affect him. It had robbed him of his dreams. Back then when he had seen how his father struggled, when he understood that he would most likely never have the funds to start.


    Slowly he had started to be satisfied with his current life while reducing his dreams until finally there was nothing left. Now that he understood this he also understood what his girlfriend had meant. He also understood that after they died, she had clearly understood the fact that he himself was unable to awake from his stupor. Thus she had tried to help him come out of it. But he had misunderstood it and had taken it as her trying to break up with him. Thankfully he had talked with his friends about it and he was sure that it was one of them who had told Pia about his thoughts, prompting her to come over.


    "Thank you.", he sincerely told Pia while hugging her.


    Seeing that he understood her meaning, Pia too calmed down and removed her hands from his collar to hug him back.


    The others didn''t interrupt them and when Celine arrived she too didn''t do anything to shorten their sweet moment.


    Finally, Pia let go of Greg. "That''s enough, we are in public." Her sentence made the others think about what they would do if they were private. Ivan guessed that it might just be good old makeup sex.


    "Thank you for telling me about this idiot''s thoughts.", she then said to Celine and Ivan. This time the word ''idiot'' was filled with sweetness instead of anger.


    "Of course. The two of you are our friends after all.", Ivan easily replied.


    "So have you calmed down and thought it through?", Serge asked Greg.


    "Mm. First I will stop going into the dungeon with you. Sorry.", Greg told them. His complexion looked much better. It seemed like he had dropped a huge load. There was also an additional spark of liveliness in his eyes.


    "So you are the same as Serge. Well, I guess we can stop this group then. After all three people are a bit too few.", Irena said. There wasn''t any disappointment in her voice. She knew that her friends had made the decision because this was what they wanted and not because of a problem in the group. And since her friends wanted to do something else, then she surely would support them in that.


    "Huh? You have decided to stop going into the dungeon as well?", Greg asked Serge in surprise.


    "Yes, I''d rather fully focus on pill refining.", Serge answered him, before telling him about what he and Ivan had talked about just before Pia had come. "So what do you think?"


    "I''d love to do it together with you guys. But since I don''t bring anything into this partnership, I don''t want any shares.", he then said exactly the same thing as Serge had before. Clearly displaying that the two of them were the same kind of honest person.


    "Hm, I bring in the right for the store to use my pill recipes, Ivan has the starting capital, so we only need something for you."


    "My family has the starting capital.", Ivan corrected them. After all, it wasn''t his money, but money Lara had given him to spend. So it would be better to call it their families money.


    "Whatever, stop bragging that you got a wive and a child.", Greg waved him away. It seemed like he had truly found back to his old lively behavior. Ivan wondered how someone could change this fast. It was truly astonishing.


    "Anyway, I neither have the money like you nor the skill like Serge.", Greg continued speaking his thoughts out loud.


    "How about your managing skill?", Ivan proposed.


    "No.", the fatty rejected. "There are just too many people who, for a relatively small pay could manage it. And many could most likely do it better."


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    "How about you think about it? And we give you an option to get up to 20% as well if you find something?", Ivan proposed.


    "Alright.", Greg could only agree since he couldn''t think of anything at the moment.


    "So you will manage the store?", Ivan asked again, just to make sure.


    "Yes.", this time the answer came directly and was full of confidence. Although there was some nervousness in his expression this was much better than before. Ivan had the feeling that if they had asked him before Pia had talked to him, then he would have rejected them on the basis of not being experienced enough.


    Just when they wanted to happily cheer at founding their new partnership two voices interrupted them. "You don''t want to leave us out, do you?", both Irena and Pia asked at nearly the same time.


    "Of course not. The question is only what you can add to our business.", Greg answered them, directly taking over the role of manager.


    Ivan let them talk, while he stood beside Celine and took her hand. He then whispered, "I hope you aren''t angry at me for not asking you, before offering Greg the job as manager." After all, he had asked her to do it before.


    In response, she smiled at him warmly and answered, "Not at all. And besides, since I manage all your money and investments, I can still control them." When she said the last bit, she grinned.


    It was the truth. He had asked her to take care of all this stuff since he himself had no interest in doing so. And it could improve the level of her management path. Of course, he didn''t own much, so there wasn''t much for her to do either.


    "Then I''ll hope you can help out if they run into a problem, that they can''t solve alone.", he told her. She was much more experienced than them. Although he didn''t want her to hold their hands since they had to learn how to do things themselves, having her as a fallback would be great.


    "Of course. After all, they are our friends and it is our investment as well.", she instantly assured him.


    Hearing her say ''our'' made him happy since it showed that she had fully accepted their relationship, something he had always been just a bit unsure about.

 172 Store

    While they shared a moment, Greg had finished his negotiations with the two girls.


    "If you are fine with it, then me, Serge, Pia, and Irena will each get 10% of the shares of our new store. I''ll manage it, Serge will refine pills for it.", this was what they had planned before, although they had reduced the number of shares to only 10%.


    "I don''t think it has been mentioned before, but Pia can craft charms and will provide them to the store.", he then continued on.


    Charms were one-time-use items, which usually stored a live-saving spell such as a healing or shielding spell. Since Pia was a Paladin, she was able to craft both types based on her faith. Charms were something very useful for any adventurer since they could make the difference between life and death. At the same time, they could only be crafted by a few people making them rare and expensive. Ivan didn''t know the exact requirements to craft them but it had something to do with their faith and skill in using the skills embedded in the charm. Of course, there would also be differences between different charms, based on who crafted them.


    "That''s great. Seems like we can make the store high end.", he cheered.


    "Of course.", Greg said proudly and the others nodded their agreement. All of them were proud of their crafting skills. For lower ranked adventurers the stuff they were able to create would definitely be on the upper end of the scale.


    "Especially since Irena can engrave. So we are only missing someone who is specialized in forging and we have a complete team. Then we could provide everything lower-ranked adventurers would need.", Greg sounded so proud that it seemed as if he personally had found all the members and brought them together. Since everyone was glad that he was back to normal, nobody called him out on it.


    "Then should we look for someone?", Ivan asked.


    "I think we should just hire someone.", Greg said, "We will need to get some sales personal anyway since we don''t have the time to do sales. And I think it would be better if nobody outside of our rounds of friends holds a stake in the store."


    Ivan checked the expressions of the others to see what they thought about Greg''s proposal. Everyone nodded to indicate that they agreed with his opinion.


    "Ok. Then let''s have Greg find some personal including someone who can forge. And if there is a need we can invite someone else later.", he then made the decision.


    "I''ll get started today.", Greg agreed enthusiastically.


    Celine then gave everyone the address of the store and told them to go there to take a look. She would also call Arina to tell her about what they had decided.


    Now that is was out of the way, Celine got to the next topic. "Now that so many of you have decided to stop going into the dungeon, I think you should decide on how to continue."


    "Right. Since Greg isn''t going, I''ll not go either. After all, I only went because of him.", Pia told them honestly.


    Nobody took offense in her words. It was what they had already expected.


    With her out as well, there were only Irena and Ivan left. They looked at each other and then turned towards Celine.


    "What''s your opinion?", Irena asked the more experienced woman.


    "It depends on your goals. I know that Ivan is planning to go to the upper realm so fighting in a group isn''t as useful as collecting combat experience in solo combat. Up there it is rarer to fight as a group. Most cultivators move and fight alone.", Celine told them, already indicating what choice she thought was best for Ivan to make. "What about you? Do you plan to go to the upper realm as well?"


    "I''m not sure.", Irena answered her question.


    "Well, it''s not like you have to make the decision now. But if you want to stay in this realm only it would be better to find a group to train together instead of going solo."


    "Can''t we do both?"


    "You could but it would be much less effective. Solo combat is different from group combat, so what you practice would be different as well."


    "But isn''t he fighting together with his pets and even you? Does that even count as solo combat?", Irena asked confused while pointing at Ivan.


    "A good question. And the answer is yes. Everything that can be called on by one''s owns strength at a moment''s notice is considered to be part of one''s strength and thus fighting like this is categorized as solo combat.


    But of course, there are differences. For people who use pets or summoned creatures, solo combat can be just like group combat."


    "Then if I had a pet as well, I could theoretically train group and solo combat at the same time?"


    "Since it would be so similar you could say so.", Celine agreed, not knowing where she was going with her questions.


    "Then I''ll do the same form of training as Ivan. Solo combat with pets to get practice in group combat.", Irena announced her decision, surprising everyone.


    "You have a pet?", Greg asked in surprise. The others looked at her questioningly as well. None of them had ever heard her talking about having a pet.


    Irena nodded and then explained, "It is different from Ivan. Vlada is a slave, which has been bound to him with the ''Tame'' skill. She can''t naturally evolve and can theoretically be traded.


    My pet is something that comes from a bloodline bound. It grows together with me and can evolve if it reaches a certain level."


    Celine stared at her in surprise, "Your family has bloodline pets?"


    "Mm."


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    "Wow.", a look of astonishment appeared on Celine''s face. "Can you show it to us?"


    The others didn''t understand why she was so astonished since they had never heard of bloodline pets before.


    Irena shook her head, "No. I just reached the level required to activate it and haven''t done the ritual yet."


    "Oh.", Celine sounded a bit disappointed.


    "I''ll show it to you when I have it.", seeing her disappointment, Irena promised her, thus cheering her up.


    "Um, what is a bloodline pet?", Greg asked the question, which the others had in their head too.


    "A bloodline pet is a pet, that is formed by the energy provided by a bloodline. The most common one is a spirit pet but there are also other types."


    When Ivan heard her explanation he suddenly remembered something. He had completely forgotten about the lizard that had appeared back when his bloodline had changed. With Janes kitten being around all the time, they had completely forgotten her abnormal nature and instead saw her as just a normal kitten.


    Back then the lizard had vanished after some time and he was currently unable to call it out. He could feel some connection with it but the feeling he got was that it was sleeping.


    Meanwhile, Celine had explained some more facts about bloodline pets, such as how they scaled with the strength of the owner and were as such strongly desired partners.


    They were interrupted by the ringing of Celine''s phone. After taking a short glance at it she hurriedly accepted the call.


    "Sorry, Jane. Greg made a mess, so we were delayed."


    It was his daughter who had called to check on where they were. They had delayed for so long that she had gotten worried.


    "Of course. We will come over now.", Celine told her before hanging up the phone. She didn''t even give him a chance to talk to his daughter.


    "You can talk to her when we get there.", she told him, when she saw his displeased look.


    "Ok. Then we will get going. See you.", he hurriedly said his goodbye before pulling Celine towards the entrance. He didn''t want to keep his daughter waiting any longer than necessary since she had already called to ask where they were.


    The woman who was being pulled along, could only smile apologizing to the group and then follow him. Behind them, the group of friends laughed at him hurrying to his daughter.


    "How about we have a daughter as well?", Greg asked Pia.


    Her rebuking him angrily, saying that they were still too young was the last thing they heard before leaving the school''s premises.


    Celine had taken a van, so they would be able to comfortably fit into it on the drive back. After boarding it she then drove them speedily but safely to the palace.

 173 Kitchen

    There Susan was already awaiting them at the entrance.


    "Hey, you two. Jane is already waiting for you.", she cheerily greeted them when they had alighted from the car.


    "Hello, to you too.", Celine greeted her back happily.


    They then chatted happily with each other while walking towards the place where Jane and the others were. Ivan who followed behind them silently wondered how they had gotten so close.


    Soon they reached the villa and what greeted him was a small bundle of energy shooting towards him.


    "Uff.", he couldn''t help but exhale when his little girl ran into his opened arms.


    "Daddy, you are here.", she happily exclaimed.


    Before he could really enjoy the feeling of hugging his little daughter, she already wound herself out of his embrace and started to pull him towards the door.


    "Come. Sister Lucia and grandma are baking cookies. We have to help them as well."


    He didn''t resist her and was soon pulled into the kitchen where Lucia and Miranda were standing on the counter and stirred the cookie daugh while chatting animatedly. If one didn''t know that Miranda was older than Lucia, then one would have thought that they were friends of the same age or even sisters.


    When they saw Jane pulling her father into the kitchen, the paused their conversation to direct him to help.


    "There. Take a scoop and stir that.", Miranda told him while pointing at a bowl that was already filled with the necessary ingredients.


    He wordlessly followed her instructions and started to get to work. Meanwhile, Jane too had taken a smaller bowl and was now stirring in it.


    Later Susan and Celine entered the kitchen as well to help.


    Together they prepared a lot of stuff. Not only cookies but also cake and other pastries.


    "So what is all that for?", Ivan asked curiously when he saw the number of pastries they had created.


    "This is of course for the party when mama comes back.", Jane told him while looking at him as if he was stupid.


    "So you have already everything planned out?", he asked her teasingly.


    She proudly pushed out her chest and answered confidently, "Of course. It''s not like I could leave something so important to you."


    Her serious answer made everyone laugh. It was laughter, filled with happiness and Ivan and Jane couldn''t help but start laughing as well. The house was filled with laughter, making Ivan feel warm and comfortable. Now only Lara was missing to make the situation perfect.


    Together everyone deposited the goods they had baked inside a box, which would keep them in the same state they had been put in. This way they would still be fresh when they were taken out for the party.


    After that, they cleaned up together. As Miranda said, this was also a part of the fun. Because of that they didn''t leave the cleaning to the servants but did it themselves.


    Having finished that they sat down in the living room with a cup of tea and some freshly baked cookies.


    "So how is everything going?", Miranda asked Ivan.


    He told her about what he had been up to, with Celine sometimes providing extra information. The others enjoyed hearing about it, especially Jane since this was about her dad.


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    When he told Miranda about the decision his friends had made just today, she nodded approvingly. "It''s good that your friends have been able to decide what they want to do so early.", she told him, "I have seen too many young people who waste their time on things they don''t truly enjoy."


    Celine and Susan both readily agreed with her. They had lived long enough to have seen things like this many times before.


    When the discussion dissolved into who had seen the worst cases, Ivan, Jane, and Lucia silently went aside to play. Lately, Jane had started to enjoy playing a card game so they played it together while enjoying their tea and cookies.


    When it got late, everyone got ready to leave. To Ivan''s surprise, even Miranda seemed to get ready to leave the house.


    Looking at his curious eyes she told him, "Until Lara will be back, I''ll stay at your home to help prepare for the party."


    At first, Ivan had thought that the party would be a small one but now it didn''t seem like it anymore. Well, as long as they didn''t include him in their plans he would be fine.


    Luckily the van with which they had come was big enough for all of them. Together they drove back to the villa. This time Ivan was driving because Celine wanted to talk with Miranda.


    When they got home, Jane instantly ran inside to greet Madam Tanner and Tess. The others followed slowly behind her.


    "Madam Tanner, please prepare a bedroom for Miranda.", Ivan told the housekeeper.


    "I already did so. Please follow me.", Madam Tanner''s answer made it clear to Ivan that he was truly out of the loop considering things in this household.


    He just shrugged his shoulders and went into the kitchen to get another cup of tea. He was planning to enjoy it while reading.


    When he left the kitchen the picture he saw was of Jane sitting on Celine''s lap while Tess was lying on her lap. They made a funny but comfortable picture. Smiling he went over and sat down beside them.


    "Daddy.", Jane greeted him before letting herself fall sideways. She was now lying on both of their laps, with her head being on his. Tess was lying on her belly, completely unwilling to even move.


    Ivan softly patted Jane''s head. "Did you enjoy staying with your grandma?"


    "Yes. But I missed you and mom."


    "I missed the two of you as well.", by saying that out loud, he realized how true it was. He truly had missed the two of them.


    They just silently sat together, enjoying their time together. Only when Jane had fallen asleep did they too go to bed.


    The next day after school, Ivan teleported to his room at the Slavers Alliance. He then pulled out his phone to send Carl a message asking for a meeting.


    He didn''t have to wait to get a response, saying that he should just come over to Carl''s house whenever he got the time for it. He would be at home for the whole time today.


    Lately, he had only come to the Slavers Alliance to finish the required quests but today he had another reason to come here. One of the elders would hold a lecture on how to fight together with one''s combat slaves.


    Since this was one of his biggest problems he had decided to go to the lecture. Sure it would also be transmitted over the network and you could even watch it later, but going to the lecture would provide a better insight.


    If he knew anyone else in the Alliance he could also chat with them after the lecture. Sadly he had never taken the time to get to know anyone besides Carl and Tang Lin. There were also Carls''s wives but he didn''t have much contact with them. True he didn''t have much contact with Tang Lin as well but in the end, she was his wife so there was some connection between them.


    He took public transport to the lecture hall where the lecture would be held. He hadn''t been here before but everything was described in detail on the website so it was easy for him to find his way.


    At the entrance of the lecture hall, he had to show the ticket he had gotten beforehand. With the hall only having a certain number of seats, the Alliance had decided that it was necessary to register for lectures beforehand.


    Although he arrived early by more than half an hour, the hall was already filled to the brim, with only a small number of seats still free. A conspicuously empty spot was in the front where three young women were seated.


    It seemed that nobody dared to sit beside them, which resulted in the whole row staying empty. He could even see someone looking at them and then trying to worm his way through to one free seat in the middle of another row. Some were even sitting on the stairs, just so they wouldn''t have to sit in the row.


    He took a closer look at the women, being interested in why everyone was giving them so much space. To his surprise, one of the backs felt familiar. Making a guess, he focused on the ring on his hand and he could feel something pointing towards the rightmost woman on the of the trio.


    Feeling this he knew that this had to be Tang Lin. He debated not greeting her and ignoring her and finding another seat to sit down, but since there were no more free seats available he finally decided to just go over. What could she do if he wanted to sit there?

 174 Friends

    When he came closer Tang Lin suddenly turned her head around. It was as if she had sensed something.


    When her eyes fell upon him, they widened for a moment, before she regained her calm. She then waved towards him, telling him to come over and sit down beside her.


    Under the weird stares of the other people in the lecture hall, he walked into their row and sat down beside her.


    "Hey, I haven''t seen you at a lecture before. How come you have come this time?", she greeted him and directly started to ask him questions.


    "Hey. The theme of the lecture seems interesting and it directly touches a problem I have.", he greeted her back and explained. There wasn''t any feeling of distance between them and they were able to easily act as if they were good friends.


    Meanwhile, the two girls sitting beside Tang Lin looked at them curiously. When they started talking about why he was there and how the lecture may be able to help them, the one sitting in the middle didn''t seem to be able to contain her curiosity anymore.


    "Hey Lin, don''t you want to introduce it?", she asked scoldingly. But the light in her eyes, as well as her grin, made it clear that she wasn''t really scolding her but instead enjoyed the situation. Especially when Lin blushed in embarrassment.


    "Sorry, you know how I am.", she apologized to her friends who just nodded. Whenever this girl started talking about something she was interested in with someone she was close to, then she would completely forget about her surroundings.


    "This is Ivan. And these are Gala and Beth.", she first introduced Ivan to them and then indicated the woman who was sitting beside her first. It seems like she was Gala while the other was Beth. Both of the girls looked very similar, with fiery red hair, that framed a beautiful aristocratic face. What was especially striking was their purple irises.


    "Hoho, so this is your husband?", Gala asked in a joking manner while taking a closer look at him. It seemed like Tang Lin had told them about him and their relationship.


    "Not bad.", she then continued while nodding. Although Ivan had no idea what she had seen, which had prompted her to make this statement.


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    "He certainly isn''t bad looking.", Beth to piped in.


    "As you may have guessed, these two are my best friends although they can be troublesome sometimes.", Lin ignored their statements and introduced them in more detail to him.


    Seeing them joke around with each other like this, increased his curiosity, why nobody had dared to sit down in this row and even looked at him weirdly when he did do so. Even now most people in the hall looked at him as if he was an alien. It was as if they couldn''t understand the fact that he was sitting here calmly while chatting with those three girls.


    Since he didn''t see any problem with asking them about this he just did so, "How come everyone seems to evade you?"


    Looking at him as if to check if he was seriously asking this, Gala and Beth grinned.


    "You were right. He really is lacking common sense.", Gala then told Lin while smiling even more.


    At the same time, Ivan had the feeling as if she and Beth had just relaxed a bit more. He couldn''t exactly pinpoint the source of it, since before he hadn''t had the feeling that they were tense in any way.


    "I told you so.", Lin retorted while smiling happily. "So do you want to tell him or should we keep it a secret?", she then acted all conspiratory.


    From everyone''s way of acting it was clear that it wasn''t a secret, but she still made it look like it. It was clear that she wanted to tease her friends. And her friends happily played along. They too acted as if it was an important decision to make.


    Ivan looked at them fooling around and couldn''t help but smile. It was always great to see friends getting along this well. Especially Gala''s and Beth''s lively personalities. He wondered whether he should introduce them to his friends. They together with Greg would most likely make an annoying but fun group.


    When they finished joking around, Lin told Ivan in a serious voice, "Well, you already know that my grandfather is the Grand Elder, so my status is high. Because of all these annoying flies who tried to get something from me, I adopted a cold and cruel image in public. Just ask anyone and they will tell you to keep your distance from me, or you will be regretting it."


    Her words surprised him. He never had the feeling that she was cold and cruel. It seemed like she was a great actor if she was capable of fooling everyone.


    Seeing his dubious look, she continued to explain, "I guess you are wondering how I did that?"


    He nodded in agreement and even added, "If they look at you having fun with your friends here, wouldn''t that destroy your image."


    "Of course not. I have painstakingly created an image of me being good to my friends and hard and cold to anyone else. It took some time but after I got my grandfather to heavily punish someone who annoyed me a bit too much it worked out."


    "So you are the reason everyone keeps a distance from you is that? How come I don''t believe that?"


    "Tsk. And here I thought I could take all the credit.", Lin clicked her tongue and the other two girls laughed out loud.


    "Haha, seems like your husband isn''t stupid.", Beth chortled.


    "Of course, or how else could he be fit to be my husband?", Lin said exceedingly proudly. She was clearly blowing into her own trumpet and the two girls dutifully praised her for her wisdom and greatness.


    "Pff, don''t forget that you have already told us everything about how your marriage came to be.", Gala said with a voice filled with disdain.


    "Anyways.", Lin quickly got serious. She didn''t want the topic to drift sideways anymore. Because if it did, then she didn''t know what those two girls would tell Ivan. "These two''s father is the Alliance Master and their mother is a drake. So everyone is very respectful of them."


    With Lin''s father being the Grand Elder, she was of similar status to them so it was no surprise for them to be together. Especially since they got along very well. Ivan didn''t care about status at all, which could clearly be seen from how he interacted with Lara''s parents. Many would have felt conscious of their titles but he hadn''t been raised to have feelings of respect towards others because of their status.


    What he truly was interested in was the fact that their mother was a drake. Drakes who were sometimes called fake dragons counted as some of the strongest races. So he wondered how strong a combination of human and drake would be.


    The sisters saw that he didn''t show a strong reaction to the revelation. His reaction seemed to be nearly nonexistent.


    "You don''t seem to be surprised?", Beth asked. There was a reproachful undertone to her question. Something Ivan couldn''t understand. What did he do for her to feel like this?


    He honestly answered, "Not really. I knew that there had to be something special about you. After all, you got a purple iris. Something pure humans wouldn''t have."


    "You are right. Pure humans wouldn''t have it but most people wouldn''t guess that we would be mixed.", Beth responded while looking at him curiously, "Did you have contact with someone mixed before?"


    "Hm, not sure. I got into contact with many bloodline things. And sometimes I have the suspicion that they have something to do with mixing humans with other races.", he voiced out a suspicion he had for a long time.


    Beth looked at him with praise in her eyes, "You are correct. Bloodlines have something to do with mixing humans with other races.


    When most other races get strong enough, they can assume a humanoid appearance. Oftentimes they can''t be differentiated from pure humans. But not only are they able to assume the form but they are also able to mate and have children. Those are then called mixed races. During the eons, these mixed races can even develop into new races. For example, it is rumored that drakes have come into existence through the mating of dragons and humans."


    "Wow, Then doesn''t every human who has a bloodline has ancestors that aren''t human?", Ivan asked in surprise.


    "Yes, but it may have been far off in history so it doesn''t make much difference as long as the bloodline isn''t awakened."


    "Then do pure humans have a bloodline too?"


    "Yes, they have one. But it is extremely rare for it to awaken. That''s the reason that most people awake their bloodline from a different race."

 175 Lecture

    While they were talking and joking around, time flew by and it was soon time for the lecture to start.


    Exactly on time, an elderly man ascended the podium. After introducing himself as Elder Ming he directly started the lecture.


    He provided lots of interesting information regarding fighting with combat slaves. Such as how to properly design a group of them or how to train them.


    But what Ivan found the most interesting was his insights into the importance of the relationship between slave and master. According to the elder, it was especially important to have a good understanding of the slave''s feelings towards oneself. This was the case in normal situations but especially so in combat, where a wrong decision could determine survival or death.


    Based on the understanding one could then determine the kind of orders one had to give.


    He was of the opinion that orders would always create a framework for the slave to act in. It would be next to impossible to directly control the slave. Just imagine that you had to tell the slave every single movement during combat.


    And the way the slave interpreted the framework it had been given not only depended on the personality of it, but also on the feelings towards the master. For example, a slave that hated it''s master and wants nothing more than kill him, then it just may interpret orders in such a way that it would kill the master. Or it wouldn''t react to a threat it recognized but for which it hadn''t been given a direct order.


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    A slave who got along or even felt loved by the master might just react on its own initiative to diffuse the threat, thus lightening the load of the master.


    Elder Ming was of the opinion that treating slaves in a way that would make them feel goodwill towards the master was always the best way. But if it didn''t work, then it was especially important to know it and plan for it. If it was in giving more detailed commands or just knowing that it wasn''t possible to rely on it.


    Ivan liked his insights and found them useful. Currently, he only had Vlada and in a way Celine and he got along well with both of them. He understood that if his relationship with Celine was bad then she would never have taken the initiative to help him train or to teach him. And he himself didn''t have a good enough understanding of her and her knowledge to make the best use of her. Thus giving her a lot of freedom could enable her to make the decisions that in the end were the best outcome for him.


    Of course, this required a certain amount of trust. Something he didn''t find hard to do.


    After the three-hour lecture ended, it was time for him to leave and visit Carl.


    "I have to go.", he informed the girls.


    "Really? Don''t you have some more time to chat?", Beth asked. It seemed like she had truly enjoyed chatting with him.


    "I promised my mentor to meet him today and if I don''t go now, it will be so late, that it would be kind of impolite.", he answered.


    "Oh, you are going to visit Carl? Then we can go together." when Lin heard him talking about meeting his mentor, she instantly knew who he meant.


    "Great. Let''s go then. We haven''t met him in a while.", Gala readily agreed with Lin''s proposal.


    Ivan wasn''t surprised that they knew Carl. After all, he and Lin were related. And with them being good friends for a long time it would be more surprising if they didn''t know each other.


    He wasn''t given the chance to refuse, not that he had planned to, since they simply followed him.


    They took the transport back to Carl''s villa. Because both Ivan and Lin had been granted access to the villa by Carl''s wife Jenny, they could directly enter the villa. They still opted to ring the bell first, since they felt that it would be impolite to just enter.


    They didn''t have to wait long for Carl to open the door.


    "Hey, you are here.", he first greeted Ivan and then turned towards Lin and the other two girls, "Hey, everyone. Didn''t expect you all to come here together."


    "Hey, uncle.", the girls greeted him back and then Lin explained, "We met at today''s lecture."


    "Oh. You went to a lecture?", Carl asked Ivan in surprise. He knew that this guy hadn''t gone to one before.


    "Yes. It seemed interesting."


    "Well. Come on in. And excuse the slight mess.", Carl told them and then went back inside.


    The others followed him and were shocked. How was this a slight mess? This was clearly a big mess.


    "Don''t tell me you once again didn''t clean up since Jenny and Trisha are away?", Lin''s question answered Ivan''s question before he could even put them out there.


    It seemed like one of Carl''s wives was responsible for cleaning. Or they forced him to keep it clean? Anyway, it should be something like this. And now that the two of them were away, together with Lara, Carl clearly didn''t invest any effort in keeping his home clean.


    "Urgh. I will clean it up before they come back.", Carl hurriedly promised.


    "You better. You know how Jenny gets when she has something to nag about.", she had been the target of one of Jenny''s seemingly endless nagging sessions before and she knew clearly that it was something she wouldn''t want to stand through again.


    "Wow, uncle. We didn''t expect you to be this messy.", now that the important things were out of the way, the two sisters chimed in as well.


    "Couldn''t you leave them behind?", Carl asked Lin. Those two girls were to mischievious. They would most likely tell everyone about how messy his home had gotten as soon as his wives were out.


    Lin grinned at him. She clearly enjoyed his plight, making one wonder what he had done to her, to enjoy revenge like this. "They are my friends, so why shouldn''t I meet up with them?", she asked innocently.


    "Damn you know how they annoy me every time.", he cursed. "Don''t tell me you are still angry because I didn''t help you against Jenny? You know that I can''t do anything to her."


    "I know but that doesn''t mean that I forgive you for not even trying."


    While they chatted they had sat down on the couches in the living room. That was after they had pushed off some things that were lying on them.


    "So what did all of you come here for?", Carl asked with his focus on Ivan.


    "Well, first of all, I wanted to invite you to a party. We are planning to hold a party when Lara and the rest are coming back this weekend.", Ivan first mentioned one of the reasons he had wanted to meet with Carl. "Right, if you want to you can come as well.", this sentence was directed towards Lin and the sisters.


    "A party? Great! We are always up for a party.", Gala exclaimed in excitement. Beth too looked excited.


    Meanwhile, a short flash of happiness appeared on Lin''s face. It was so short that nobody else was able to realize it.


    "Of course I will come. Especially since Jenny and Trisha will be there too.", Carl too agreed readily to the invitation.


    Ivan then gave them the details and declined the girl''s offer to help, stating that there were already more than enough helpers.


    "So now that I know Ivan''s reason, why are you here?", Carl then asked the girls.


    "We just came with Lin.", Beth answered for both her and Gala.


    "Since Ivan was coming here, I thought I would visit you as well.", Lin told him with a smile. "Besides that, my grandfather told me to tell you that you should go visit him sometimes this week."


    "Can''t he just tell me this himself? And can''t you just send a message?"


    "Of course. But then where would be the fun? By visiting together with my good friends here I can bring some spice into your life."


    "Thank you very much.", although the words were that of a thank you. His forceful tone made it clear, that in no way was he thanking her. He clearly could do without her type of spice in his life.


    Seeing his reaction, the girls laughed out loudly. Ivan too wanted to laugh but found it wrong to laugh about his mentors plight like this.


    Carl could still determine his reaction and glared at him. "Just laugh. When you get to know those two better you won''t laugh like this anymore."


    "Wow, he really fears you. What did you do to him?", not being able to constrain his curiosity anymore, Ivan had to ask the sisters this question.

 176 Battle group

    To his disappointment the sisters just shrugged their shoulders, "Sorry, there have been so many things we did, that we don''t know what is the reason. And our father forbade us to talk about the best of them.


    But don''t you think its fun?"


    Hearing her answer, Ivan couldn''t help but feel for his mentor. Although she didn''t say anything definitive it was definitely even worse than he could imagine. Silently he vowed to himself to never get on their bad side if he could help it.


    He hurriedly changed the topic, "Anyway, there was another reason I have come here for."


    He then proceeded to tell Carl what had happened to him lately, that, that he hadn''t already told him. This included how his stats had been locked.


    When he finished his story, the sisters looked at him in awe and exclaimed, "Wow, your bloodline is even more domineering than ours."


    "Really?", Carl asked in surprise. The sister''s bloodline was one of the most domineerings he had ever come into contact with. So for them to say that Ivan''s was even more domineering was certainly a huge point.


    "Yes.", Beth nodded. "According to what mom told us before, it is hard to call the ancestral soul if the bloodline isn''t pure and strong enough."


    "Hm. Well, I don''t think that this is the most important point at this moment. Instead, it should be the lock on the stats, right?", Carl asked Ivan to make sure.


    "Yes. I was wondering what I could do during this year to still improve."


    "So that''s why you went to the lecture.", Lin exclaimed. It seemed like she had just understood Ivan''s thought process of focusing more on his slaves, now that he couldn''t improve himself as before.


    "Yes. I wanted to focus more on other aspects of my strength. And one point is slaves, but I don''t have much experience. To be honest I never really used them much in combat situations. I mostly tried to fight by myself. That''s also is what I wanted to ask you about. You are the person with the most knowledge in this aspect, that I know.", the last sentences were directed towards his mentor.


    Carl nodded, "It is a good idea to think of other ways to strengthen yourself. I can teach you something about slaves or battle pets as I personally call them if we are using them for combat. But in the end, you have to find out by yourself how you want to strengthen yourself."


    "Anyway, have you added any new slave?"


    "No, it is just Vlada at the current time.", Ivan replied honestly. Technically Celine was a servant and not a slave, although he didn''t quite understand the differences, besides her being unable to enter the ''Slave Space''.


    "Ok. One of the most popular designs for a battle group is the classic tank, support, and attacker composition. In this type of design, Vlada would be an attacker or support. With her support being mostly out of combat in scouting and anti-air operations. During combat, she should either combat airborne foes or assist in attacking enemies on the ground."


    Ivan nodded, in school, they too were using this kind of group composition. He also agreed with his assessment of Vlada''s capabilities. "So I should get a tank and support next? As well as a better attacker?"


    "In theory yes. And you should also try to get a ranged attacker. But here comes the problem for you. Although a tank is easy to find. In the worst case, just select something bulky and durable. Giants or bears are popular options there. There is even a database containing all types of species and their attributes, so you can select something suitable out of it."


    Gala nodded in agreement, "We did it this way as well. The database is really useful and it even contains some rather rare species."


    "Yes. You should look through it later. But be mindful that you need to combat the one you select alone without outside help while executing the ritual.", Carl reminded him.


    Remembering how it was with Vlada, Ivan couldn''t agree more. That truly had been a bad experience. Luckily he should be able to have Celine support him, which should make it much easier.


    "What''s harder are the other roles. Close ranger attackers can be found easily as well since just about any monster does have a close-range attack. You just have to find a suitable one."


    "Is there a database for this as well?", Ivan asked curiously.


    "Yes, there is. But I wouldn''t recommend you to use it. There are just too many options and I think it is better to select something that you have fought against in the wild and that you liked.", Carl responded to his question, before continuing with his point.


    "So what is left is support and ranged attackers. And that''s where the problem is. There aren''t many of either of them."


    "Huh? But there are many in the dungeons aren''t there?", during the dungeon explorations he had often met monsters that could use ranged attacks or even magic.


    Carl smiled and asked him, "Did you try taming them?"


    Ivan shook his head. He hadn''t even thought of trying to do it.


    "Even if you had tried, you would have failed every time anyways.", Carl told him. "Monsters in the dungeon are different from those in the wild. While it is possible to tame monsters of a low grade, level, and rank like your Vlada, it would be impossible to tame others."


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    "So we have to tame monsters in the wild?"


    "Yes. And there, monsters who can attack over a distance or use magic, are much rarer. They usually are mutations of other species since in this realm there aren''t any species that have a high enough grade to consistently have magic."


    "So I just have to go out and hope to be lucky?"


    "Basically yes. Of course, you can also try to buy slaves if you have the money. At auctions, they can sometimes be found. Most of them are human but that is usually accepted. Many even think of it as easier than to have those roles occupied by monsters."


    Ivan had forgotten about that aspect of slavery since he had never come into contact with it. He had always felt that his slaves were something that was connected to him and he was completely unwilling to sell them. Sure he had only ever had two. Vlada and Celine with Celine even being a very special case.


    Carl could see his doubt about taking this route. "If you think that buying a slave to serve the role should have some drawbacks then you are right. Hm, how about you tell me your thoughts and then I''ll tell you what I think about it?"


    "Sure. First off, I think a problem is loyalty. By buying a slave there wouldn''t be any loyalty, which I felt when I tamed Vlada. And according to the lecture just now the relationship between slave and master is important. I think that by buying a slave that there is a different starting point that makes it harder to improve the relationship. Even more so, if the slave is more intelligent."


    "Good. That''s a good point. Of course, sometimes it can also be that by buying a slave you can make that slave have a very good impression of you. It mostly depends on the former owner."


    Ivan was happy that his mentor praised him since it made him feel as if he had grown. Before he had to always ask for advice but slowly he had started to make conclusions by himself. And those conclusions would be the right ones in other''s eyes as well.


    "Then another point would be former habits. If a slave has served another master before, then it should have developed some habits, which aren''t necessarily compatible with my own style."


    "Good. Do you have another point?"


    Ivan thought for a bit and then shook his head. He didn''t have anything else he could think of.


    "Not bad, you already mentioned the main points. Which is the relationship and the compatibility between master and servant." He then turned towards the girls, "Do you have anything to add?"


    The girls looked at each other and then Gala opened her mouth, "There is something missing if a slave isn''t directly bound but instead bought. When you sell a slave you have to transfer the contract and in that process, the mental link gets disrupted. After that, it is possible to build something similar but it will always be inferior."


    "Correct. Since you never had a bought slave it isn''t surprising that you don''t know about it.", he then reassured Ivan as if he feared that he would be depressed that he hadn''t known about it, while all three girls knew about it.

 177 Cut those vegetables

    "So the best method is to just go out in the wild and hope to be lucky?", Ivan asked.


    "Correct. Just go out and hope to be lucky.", Carl smiled at him.


    They talked a bit more about slaves and how to select one fitting for you. Each of them had different ideas and they all profited from exchanging them.


    It was then time to say goodbye. Ivan would be going home while Lin would accompany Carl for the meeting with her grandfather. The sisters too were going home but they had to go in a different direction than Ivan, so they wouldn''t be going together.


    When Ivan reached his home and opened the door, he was able to see some changes to the living room. There were now many more seating opportunities, which fitted in well with the complete picture of the room.


    When he entered he could hear the laughter coming from the kitchen. It was easy to identify the light and adorable laughter of his daughter. He guessed that they were once again in the kitchen baking or cooking.


    And that was the picture he was seeing when entering the kitchen. All the women in the house had come together here to cook. Celine and Miranda were doing the main work with Lucia and Jane helping wherever possible.


    Madam Tanner had been banished to the side, where she was sitting on a stool, drinking tea and watching over the stove. From the smile on her face, she didn''t feel offended by having been allocated this job. Instead, she seemed to enjoy the view of the family cooking together.


    Celine had felt Ivan entering and she instantly gave him an order, "Go cut those vegetables." She commanded him while pointing to a basket filled with carrots.


    Unlike her, Jane greeted him when he went over to the basket, to start his work. "Hey, daddy. You are just in time to help."


    From her words, it didn''t seem like they had been cooking for long and he would have a lot of helping to do.


    He listened to the women chatting, while he was cutting the vegetables. As soon as he was finished with one task, Celine or Miranda would directly give him the next one. Only after, what felt like an eternity of cutting and peeling was he finally done. There were no more preparatory tasks to be done.


    "Go and prepare the table.", the command, coming from Celine stopped his relief of finally having finished.


    "Daddy, come and help me.", Jane said while taking out the cutlery.


    Ivan who hadn''t prepared the table before followed his daughter''s direction and together they finished the task.


    During the whole process, he had felt warm and comfortable. This was how a family should be. They should be together doing mundane tasks. They should enjoy their normal life together.


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    When everyone was seated around the table he realized that only a part of what they had cooked was intended for today''s dinner. The rest was put aside for the party.


    After dinner, they played some board games together until it was time for Jane to go to bed. Ivan took her to her room and after putting her into the bed was stopped by her, when he was leaving.


    "Daddy, can you tell me a story to fall asleep to?", she shyly asked.


    To her request, there was no way he could say no. But he didn''t know any stories suitable for a child of her age. Luckily she helped him out of his embarrassment as she wordlessly took out a book and pushed it into his hand.


    "The story of the little cat please.", she then pleaded with him.


    It was the first time he had a children''s book in his hands. There were a lot of illustrations in it and he knew that his daughter was more than capable of reading it herself, which together with the illustrations would make the experience much more complete then him reading it to her.


    But he also knew that this wasn''t just about the experience of reading but of her father reading the story to her and for him to read the story to his daughter.


    He checked the table of contents and then opened the page where the story of the little cat started.


    "One day a little cat woke up and ...", he started to read in a soft voice. While looking down at the lovely face of his daughter on the bed.


    He silently closed the book and put it on Jane''s night table. The little girl had already fallen asleep a while ago but he had still continued reading the story until the end. After patting her little head one last time, he then silently left the room, unaware of the smile spreading on the girl''s lips.


    The next day after school, Ivan took the time to check out the database Carl had told him about it. There truly was a large collection of known monsters, that could fulfill different roles. For tanks, the most popular species were bears, lizards, and turtles.


    Turtles had the highest defenses but were also the slowest. The bears had good defense speed and attacks. They were very balanced and thus were very popular. In Ivan''s view, the lizards were the most interesting. They weren''t as clear cut as the other two but could have the same properties as the other two. The only reason that they weren''t the most popular was that it was rare for one to find that had a supreme combination.


    Those with thick scales would usually be slowed down by them, making them similar to turtles. Those with thinner scales would be faster and were similar to bears. But unlike the other two species, it was possible to find some single exemplars that had very hard scales and weren''t slowed down by them. Those were called supreme combination lizards and they didn''t have any obvious disadvantages. Of course, they would always have the disadvantages of their species, which were the thinner scales on their belly.


    Ivan didn''t have to think much about it and directly decided to find a suitable lizard. After all his little his bloodline pet was a little lizard, so it would be fitting to have a lizard in his group. And he somehow felt closer to them as well.


    There was still a lot of lizard types listed in the database, making it difficult to decide on a single one. There were types that lived in the desert and others that lived in the mountains. These two were the main habitats but there were also some others which lived in swamps or forests.


    After a bit more research he finally decided to try to find one which lived in the mountains. Not only did these types generally have higher defense, fitting well in the role of tank, but there was also a mountain range not far away, that contained some known species.


    He had found two species he liked especially well, the ''Black Granite Lizards'' which as the name said had skin similar to black granite. They had good defense and looked sleek and dangerous, appealing to his taste. The second was the ''White Marmor Lizards''. This species was bigger than the ''Black Granite Lizards'' and had a higher defense while having a reduced movability.


    Looking at the pictures of the two species he had selected, he couldn''t help but wonder if unconscious he had selected those that looked the best. Because both of them looked quite good.


    Anyway, he would only be able to go out and look for a fitting one after Lara was back since there wasn''t enough time left until the weekend. Now that he had selected something to tame and knew where he was going it was time to look for some quests in that area.


    He had only done the quest necessary for the alliance without doing anything extra. Now that he was going out into the wilderness anyway, it would be good to finish some on the way.


    Besides that, it was also necessary to ask for leave from school. Luckily it was easy to do this. It was only necessary to ask, then the teacher would give you a test and if you managed to be good enough then you could get up to one month of leave.


    This was commonly used by the better students who had learned many things beforehand or who had a higher learning speed than the other students. This way they didn''t have to hang around in school and could instead work on their career or go train.


    Ivan hadn''t made use of it, although he theoretically was able to since he liked being with his friends at school and he found that even if he read the material for lessons beforehand, there were still things he could learn from the teachers.

 178 Welcome back

    It wasn''t time to do that yet. The first priority was the welcome back party.


    Everyone was gathered in front of the villa. Jane stood in the front with Ivan and Carl just behind her. Then came the rest of the invited people. Lara''s family stood together behind Ivan while Jenny and Trisha''s families stood more behind Carl. Together they formed a group of more than thirty people, most of whom Ivan had met for the first time today.


    He was only familiar with Lara''s family and some parts of Jenny''s but most of the other people were strangers to him.


    A little bit to the side stood his friends as well as Miss. Klein. It wasn''t that the others wanted them to stand aside but they had decided on that themselves. Greg had argued that none of them had much contact with the Lara or the others and were only here because of him.


    Since they had already been informed when Lara and the others would arrive, they didn''t have to wait for long, before a black car pulled up in front of the villa.


    When a long and slender leg, clad in black cloth, exited the car, Jane started running towards the car while calling out, "Mommy."


    She had easily identified the leg as belonging to her mother. Ivan followed behind her slowly but he kept his distance. He didn''t want to interrupt their reunion. Although Jane hadn''t said anything he knew that she had been missing her mother.


    So as soon as Lara alighted from the car she was hit by the little girl who threw herself at her. "Mommy.", her sweet voice exclaimed with pure happiness.


    "Hello darling.", she felt a lump in her throat as she hugged her little girl. She had really missed her little girl. Although it had been fun to go adventuring, now that she had come back home she felt truly happy.


    The mother and child hugging was a wonderful sight to see and nobody wanted to interrupt them. Jenny and Trisha even tiptoed around the car after exiting it, just so they didn''t disturb them. They then went over to embrace Carl.


    While hugging they then too watched Lara and Jane hugging and chatting away.


    Finally, it was Miranda who interrupted her daughters and granddaughter''s time together. "Hey, you two. You can hug, some more, later now let everyone else welcome you back as well."


    She then pushed Ivan aside with a blaming look in her eyes. It seemed like she was of the opinion that he should have gone over there and welcomed back his wife as well. He just shrugged his shoulders and followed her.


    After Miranda hugged her daughter and welcomed her back as well, she stepped back and pushed Ivan in front of Lara.


    He didn''t know if he should hug her or not. Before she had left they hadn''t really been that close that he could just hug her. Unwilling to risk her getting angry at him because he went too far into her personal space, he just stood in front of her.


    "Welcome home.", he told her with a warm tone. His eyes looked at her gently. She was the one who had given him a home, the one who had given him their cute daughter.


    "I''m home.", she answered him in a soft voice and then took the last step that separated them, putting her arms around him.


    At first, he went stiff at her embrace but then he relaxed and lifted his arms to hug her back.


    The embrace didn''t last long before Jane pushed herself between them.


    "Mommy, come and look at what we prepared. Everyone did it together.", she told her and then pulled her mother along.


    Behind them, Miranda looked at Ivan and laughed. "It seems like your daughter didn''t like you getting to close to her mother."


    He knew that she was only making fun of him so he didn''t take it to heart and instead responded calmly, "Really? I only think that she has missed her mother too much to part with her for even a bit now."


    "Just continue thinking like that and you will see where you will end.", she continued joking.


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    Following Jane and Lara, everyone else entered as well and the party officially started. The relaxed and familiar atmosphere was much more to Ivan''s liking than the one at the party where he had gone with Lara before.


    The people sat together in small groups and chatted animatedly while tasting the exquisite food they had prepared.


    During all the time Jane hadn''t left her mother''s side except for going to get something to eat or drink. It was clear that she had truly missed her mother although she hadn''t shown it in the time she had been away.


    When it got late she even fell asleep on her mother''s lap.


    "Let me carry her to bed.", Ivan whispered softly into Lara''s ear.


    "Let her stay. I want to stay with her.", she responded in a soft voice.


    "Then should we end the party so you two can go to bed? You must be exhausted as well."


    Hearing his concern she smiled at him sweetly, something she hadn''t done before. It seemed like the adventure had done her good.


    "Mmmm.", her only answer was an agreeing sound.


    Ivan straightened up and addressed the guests in the room.


    "Everyone, I''m thankful that you have come and hope you enjoyed the party but I think that the ones who we have assembled here to welcome back should be tired and I thus think it is time for us to allow them to rest.", he started a speech and everyone looked at the woman beside him as well as his daughter who was sleeping on her lap.


    They all grinned at his speech. It was obvious that the true reason for him to give it was that his daughter was tired and he wanted her to go to bed but she didn''t want to be separated from her mother just yet.


    Of course, nobody pointed it out openly. Jenny and Trish even agreed loudly with his suggestion, claiming that they were tired as well. Although judging how animatedly they had just chatted with others this seemed very unlikely.


    Anyway, everyone readily agreed. The party had already gone on for a long time and it truly was time to end it.


    When everyone said their goodbye and left, Lara wanted to get up and say goodbye as well but Ivan pressed her back onto the couch. "Just let me do it. You stay here with Jane and bid your farewell from here. Don''t wake up Jane."


    If she hadn''t agreed to his suggestion then he would have no way of keeping her from getting up but she too didn''t want to leave her daughter alone so she readily agreed to his suggestion.


    Thus Ivan and Celine took on the role of saying goodbye to all the guests. When it was Miss. Klein''s turn she told him.


    "Remember what I told you about going to the upper realm? It has been determined that we will have to go in about one month''s time. I saw that you applied for leave from school, so make sure to come back in time."


    He nodded to show that he had understood and remembered.


    When the last guest had left Celine turned towards him and asked, "You will be going to the upper realm? But you aren''t even ready yet?"


    While walking back towards his wife and daughter he explained how Miss. Klein had asked him to go with her to the gathering.


    "It''s a good opportunity. You can surely learn a lot there. But you must be careful as just about everyone can easily flatten you there. Always remember that you are one of the weakest there. And they don''t play by the same rules as the people in this realm.", she warned him.


    "I know."


    "I''ll take Jane to bed.", Lara told him when he arrived beside her.


    "How about you sleep with her tonight?", he proposed, thinking that it would be better for Jane to sleep with her mother for tonight.


    "You think so? It was hard to get her to sleep alone back then. I don''t want her to get used to it again.", she hesitated.


    Hearing her question he had the unexplainable feeling that they had gotten closer to each other. Before she wouldn''t have asked him this question.


    "I don''t think there would be a problem with making an exception today.", he reassured her.


    She carefully lifted up their daughter and carried her towards the bedroom. Before entering she turned her head towards Ivan and said, "Good night."


    "Good night.", he responded and smiled at the closing door. He then went towards his own bedroom to go to sleep as well. Tomorrow he planned to spend the day with his family before going out in the wilderness to find more combat pets.

 179 Can I help you?

    The next day they spent together as a family. They stayed at home, chatted, played and cooked together, fully enjoying the feeling of having a warm home and family.


    Then on Monday, it was time for Ivan to leave, since he was planning to go out and find some new battle pets.


    The farewell was kept simple and he soon found himself on the train towards the outpost, from where he had entered the grasslands last time. This time he was planning to use Vlada to fly over the grasslands since he found them annoying and not suitable for training.


    He was then planning to cross the forest on foot while training against the bears and snakes inhibiting it. After entering the mountains he would then proceed deeper, where the terrain would get rockier and more dangerous. According to the available information these parts were inhabited by the lizards he was looking for. But not only did the lizards live there but also the more dangerous griffins, which would stop anyone from flying around.


    These griffins were also the main reason for the low exploration rate of these mountains. It was too dangerous and unrewarding to try to explore the mountains. According to the few explorers who had wandered deep into the mountains, the terrain would get more dangerous with steep cliffs and only small paths. Not only that, but there was also the constant threat of being attacked by the griffins which seemed to be everywhere.


    But of course, there were some who defied all these dangers and finally arrived at the other side of the mountains, only to be greeted by extremely dangerous wilderness. Some described having arrived at a swamp that was filled with miasma while others arrived at a desert that seemed to only contain sand and elemental beasts. And then there were those who arrived in the jungle.


    When arriving back none of them were willing to describe their experience but none of them would ever set their foot into the wilderness again. It was guessed that there was something that had tortured them mentally until they had a deep-seated fear of the wilderness.


    Of course, most never appeared again, vanishing in the mountains.


    He was only planning to enter the beginning part of the mountains so he didn''t have to fear what came beyond.


    After arriving at the outpost he left it directly, just as he had planned. He then summoned Vlada, who as usual appeared in her small form. She then flew onto his shoulder and rubbed her head at his cheek, showing him her affection.


    He petted her for a bit while looking out at the endless grasslands, remembering the last time he had crossed it. It had been so annoying to do so since it seemed to look the same, wherever he had directed his view.


    "Let''s go.", he told Vlada who in response flew up and then landed on the ground before him, while changing into her largest form.


    He just wanted to climb on top of her, when someone called him from behind, "Hey, could you please wait a bit?"


    Surprised that someone would call him here, he turned around and saw someone running towards him. The person was clad in black leather armor and he was unable to differentiate the gender. From his looks, it could be either a man or a woman. The voice also didn''t give any indication.


    Since the person had called him in a polite way, he saw no reason to be rude. So he waited for him to approach and then asked, "Can I help you?"


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    The person arrived in front of him and asked him in a hurried tone of voice, "Are you planning to fly over the grassland? Can you take me with you? I''m looking for my little aunt."


    The sentences were fired in fast succession, seemingly very important to the person. Although he hadn''t made it clear why he wanted to hitch a ride with Vlada, his last sentence gave a hint. It seemed like his little aunt, which should be much younger than him, had run away and he was now looking for her.


    "Your aunt ran away?", Ivan asked to make sure that his guess was correct.


    "Yes.", the other person nodded, "She is only ten but already much stronger than most, so she always runs away to go on an adventure. And I always have to go and catch her."


    What he told about his aunt reminded Ivan of his own daughter. She too was stronger than other children of her age. Luckily she had never tried to run away.


    "Do you have something to trace her? I can take you to look for her.", he didn''t mind helping. Especially since it was on the way.


    Seeing that he agreed to help the other person expressed his happiness by smiling widely, "Of course, Of course.", he hurriedly pulled out an instrument that looked like a compass, just that the needle wasn''t pointing north but somewhere in the direction away from the outpost.


    Ivan took a look at it and then got onto Vlada, "Get on."


    "Thank you so much.", the person thanked him while jumping up behind him. The movement was effortless and demonstrated good control and power. It seemed that he was more powerful than Ivan.


    Ivan had already communicated with Vlada about letting him ride with them, so she didn''t have a reaction when someone strange landed on her back. There was no saddle or anything like these, but for neither of them, balancing on her back posed a problem. They sat down on her wide back and started to talk, while Vlada started flying in the direction the compass had pointed.


    "So tell me how come you are in such a hurry to chase after your aunt? She should have done things like this before and everything went well, right?", Ivan asked his new companion.


    "You guessed it. My aunt is really a handful. She has already maxed out her stats, although she is only ten, so everything that others of her age do seems boring to her. She instead loves to read about adventuring. First, it was only reading and then she started to actively pursuit it. Forcing some of our servants to take her with them until going out alone.", it seemed the other person was very willing to tell the story, making Ivan see the grievances he had suffered from his little aunt''s behavior.


    "While it was fine as long as she went with our servants, going alone is too dangerous for her."


    Ivan nodded. If he thought about Jane going out on an adventure at her age and alone to boot, then he couldn''t help but feel scared.


    "So after the first time she did that, we tried everything to stop her from going out alone. We even let her go out with some servants to have fun. But all of that didn''t stop her from slipping out again and again. And do you know what the worst thing is?"


    "No."


    "We can''t even stop her from escaping.", he exclaimed, "Anything short of imprisonment and putting chains on her is unable to stop that little beast.", it seemed like he had talked himself into a rage since his face became red and the description he found for his aunt became much more colorful as well.


    He started to tell Ivan about how his aunt had run away and how his grandfather had send him to catch her and bring her back. And each and every time it had become harder to do so since his aunt had started to see it as a competition and she had taken every measure possible to escape his pursuit. Of course, with the blood compass in his hands, the most she could do was delay him, but that was enough to get herself into trouble.


    One time he had to save her from a pack of angry wolves. She had stolen one of their pups and had intended to make it her pet. It wasn''t hard to guess that they hadn''t been happy about it and what their intended punishment was going to be.


    When he had arrived, she was already in a desperate strait. Honestly, after that, he had thought that she would calm down and understand how dangerous it was to run off alone. But who would have guessed that this false feeling of safety had been made use of by her to once again run away? And this time she had managed to delay him for nearly a week. Who knows how far she had managed to go during this time.


    If everything went well she had only wandered around in the grassland but more likely was that she had already entered the forests.


    "So, do you think she is currently in danger?", Ivan asked worriedly.


    "I don''t think so. Nothing in the forest should pose that much of a problem for her. But somehow she always finds a way to get into problems."

 180 Made his way through the fores

    "Then she should also be capable of surviving it right?", Ivan asked. He wasn''t trying to reassure the other person since he seemed to be very calm.


    "Yeah. It is truly a miracle. Not only does she manage to always get into trouble she also manages to get out of it. And in the few cases where it didn''t seem likely, it was weirdly exactly when I arrived there to fetch her back."


    "Wow, she really is a handful."


    "You don''t even know half of it."


    He then told Ivan some stories about what his little aunt had done or gotten into. It was very entertaining to hear those stories and they made time flow by.


    While they talked, Vlada had carried them over the grassland and the forest came into view at the horizon.


    A look at the compass revealed that the girl was still somewhere in front of them. She should have entered the forest.


    "I knew it.", Ivan''s new companion exclaimed, "There is no way she would just stay in the peaceful grasslands."


    "Well, as long as she is only in the forest we can still find her swiftly."


    "Thank you once again for your help.", he thankfully told Ivan.


    "No problem. It is on my way anyways."


    While they were flying over the forest he slowly got nervous. Until now he hadn''t been worried about his aunt but now that they went further into the forest he started to get worried. The danger here was much higher than further out towards the grassland. Especially when the terrain got more mountainous.


    "Damn, how far did this girl get?", he said in a worried tone.


    "Could she have something to ride on?", Ivan asked. He didn''t think that a small girl would be able to get this far without any steed.


    "I checked beforehand and she didn''t take any of our families steeds."


    "Then could she have gotten it somewhere else?"


    "I can''t eliminate this possibility. But let''s hope not, or it would get much more difficult to catch up with her."


    Sadly it got more apparent as time went on, that the girl must have gotten her hands on some kind of steed, as they hadn''t caught up even after flying over the forest for a long time.


    Slowly the ground below them changed as the trees got less and less and the terrain got rockier and rockier. The mountain peaks that had seemed far away before also got closer and now completely filled the horizon.


    There was also an increasing number of black spots visible on the sky before them. Meanwhile, the compass still pointed straight ahead.


    "We will have to land.", Ivan said when he saw those black spots. He knew that they were the monsters that inhabited the skies above the mountains. And they weren''t something he wanted to mess with.


    "Yeah.", a sound of agreement came from the other rider.


    With Ivan''s command, Vlada started to dive towards a small clearing in the forest.


    "Thank you for your help."


    "No problem. I was planning to go here anyway."


    It was as if they both had decided independently but at the same time to split up, now that Vlada wouldn''t improve the chance of finding that guy''s little aunt faster.


    There wasn''t any need for further words as they split up. Ivan was planning to stay in the forest for a bit more and train as well as collect some herbs, while his companion had to continue on. Until now Ivan didn''t know his name and he didn''t feel that there was a need to ask either. If fate allowed it then they would meet again and if not, then there was just no fate between them.


    Vlada shrank into a smaller form, allowing her to fly between the trees and allowing her to much better scout.


    "Go search for some bears.", he gave her a mental command before splitting up. He was planning on finding some herbs which he knew grew around here.


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    He slowly made his way through the forest. Although it wasn''t as dense here, where the terrain was already mountainous the trees still rose high in the air. There wasn''t much underwood which made moving between them much more comfortable and safer.


    The rocky ground was largely covered by moss instead of grass. While most of the moss had a green color there were also patches of different colored moss. These patches were different kinds of mosses, each of which he had learned about before. And while some of them were useful for pill refining there were also some that were poisonous and could even kill a grown man if stepped upon barefoot. Of course, even the simple boots he wore would provide enough protection from their poison. It just meant that he had to be careful when harvesting the moss he wanted.


    Below one tree whose trunk had a radius of at least two meters, he found one of the mosses he searched for. It was hard to differentiate from the others since it had the same greenish-brown color, but its form was special since each fiber seemed to be surrounded by a star-like pattern.


    He took out a small trowel and carefully removed part of the moss. This was something that every person collecting herbs in the wild was urged to do. By removing only part of it, the herb would be given the opportunity to regrow and thus be of use for the next person to stumble over it.


    Of course, there were also exceptions, since doing so would not only reduce the harvest but also sometimes be impossible. Then it was fine to remove it completely.


    After he had carefully removed the part he wanted he stored it inside his herb ring before moving on.


    The forest was like a treasure trove. It wasn''t visited much, so herbs could grow freely and while there weren''t really high-grade rare herbs around, lower-grade ones could be found quite easily.


    Not long after he had found the moss he spotted a thin blue vine wrapping around the trunk of another large tree. This vine didn''t have any use in pill refining by itself but it could grow small flowers at its end which could be used together with the moss to create a pill that was capable of providing a small amount fo HP.


    To harvest the flower it was necessary for Ivan to ascend the tree and find the end of the vine, hidden in the crown. If Vlada was here, he could have easily let her carry him to the top but she was still scouting around. In his mind, he could feel through the connection with her that while she had found some single bears she determined them to not be useful in his training.


    Her making this decision would later greatly help him with his training efficiency. But for now, it meant that she was still scouting and was thus unavailable, leaving him with only the option of climbing the tree by himself.


    Of course, with the vine as well as the rough bark of the tree, this wasn''t hard. He speedily climbed up the tree until he had nearly reached the crown of the tree. That was when suddenly one of the small branches above him came alive. It shot towards him, while a mouth opened and two fangs where displayed.


    It was a snake that inhabited the crowns of the trees in this area. With its appearance, Ivan was in a precarious situation. He didn''t have a save stand and needed at least one foot and hand to secure his position, leaving only one hand free to fend off the snake.


    With a flick of his wrist, he whipped out his dagger and stabbed towards the incoming snakehead. The snake, of course, didn''t let itself be hit and it recoiled just as fast as it had moved towards him. With the stab going into empty air, Ivan was now in an even more problematic situation. There was no way for him to move, as long as he needed to hold the dagger in his hand. Moving would require him to use both hands. And as soon as he put the dagger away the snake would surely attack again.


    This left him with only the option of feinting, in order to lure the snake out with the hope of then being able to damage it.


    He carefully hid his dagger while putting his full focus on the branches above him.


    There was no movement above. He didn''t know whether the snake understood that he had put away his weapon or not but if it didn''t show itself he would only have two options left. One would be to move upwards, increasing the risk of the snake successfully attacking him and one downwards, which was safer but would also mean that he would give up on the flowers of the blue vine.

 181 Bluish-White flower

    Making his decision he slowly resumed his climb. Each nerve was tensed and each sense strained to the limit, ready to identify the incoming thread and to react to it. And he wouldn''t be disappointed.


    He had barely made 1m headway when once again the snake shot towards him from its hiding place.


    This time he didn''t waste time whipping out his dagger instead he let go with his right hand and used the motion to escape the incoming attack. At the same time, he used his empty hand to try to catch the snake behind its head.


    The strengths of the snake where its capability of hiding and its fast linear speed while attacking. Now that its attack had missed it was hard for it to change its movement. It tried to once again retreat into the lush tree leaves to hid but Ivan''s hand was faster.


    With his fingers closing around the snake just behind its head he managed to catch it safely. He was now able to reaffirm his guess as to what kind of snake it was. It was a Blue Vine Snake, a snake that could commonly be found close to the blue vine which had been his target. It wasn''t seen as a difficult-to-defeat monster since it could easily be caught if you knew about it.


    It would try to bite its victim and inject a fast-acting paralyzing poison. It wouldn''t normally attack humans as long as they didn''t invade their living habitat, which he had done by climbing the tree. After all, they weren''t capable of eating something as large as a human. This poison could also be extracted and then used to refine pills that acted as fast-acting painkillers.


    The best method would be to keep the snake alive and milk it but with Ivan''s current position of clinging to the trunk of a tree, he wasn''t able to safely keep it, leaving him only with the choice of killing it now and then extract the available resources later, which would be less but there would still be some useful material.


    He used his mana to summon a small flaming blade and then cut into the snake just behind its head. By separating the head from the body with the hot blade he would be able to keep as much as possible from the snake, damaging only a small part of it.


    After separating the head from the body he put away both parts and continued upwards into the tree.


    There weren''t any more incidents and he easily reached the top of the tree. Besides the lush green leaves of the tree, there was also a bluish-white flower that had a radius of around ten centimeters. This was the flower of the blue vine and the reason he had climbed up here.


    There were five petals and each of them had the same color signaling that the flower had been completely developed and had thus the maximum use for pill refining. He carefully plucked two petals, leaving behind the other three. This would ensure that the vine would survive and bear a new flower next year. If he removed more petals it may be possible that the vine wouldn''t be able to survive, since the flowers were essential to recreate as well as collect energy.


    Descending from the tree was easy and fast, and soon he found himself once again searching the forest for other materials.


    Meanwhile, Vlada hadn''t been lazy either. She had found four different groups of bears. Although bears would normally live alone the here ones living here Steelback Bears loved to meet up regularly, thus they would create something similar to small communities.


    Those communities consisted of only a few caves located next to each other, making them very hard to find. Without Vlada''s scouting abilities it would have taken Ivan a lot more time to find even one, as long as he didn''t stumble into one.


    Now he could slowly make his way towards one of the four she had found, while constantly keeping out an eye towards possible resources.


    And he wasn''t unfortunate. Along the way, he not only picked up a few more mosses but also flower petals, snakes and other small herbs. After getting back he would be able to refine a lot of pills. Although he would give some of the materials to the store so the others could practice as well.


    Finally, he arrived at a clearing in the forest which was dominated by the huge stone in the center which was surrounded by cliffs on three sides. According to Vlada, Steelback Bears could be found in the caves which had naturally been formed inside the cliffs.


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    But currently, there were no bears in sight.


    "Could they all be inside the caves?", Ivan wondered.


    Although it was already late, the sun hadn''t disappeared below the horizon yet and it was still bright outside. So it was unlikely that the day-active animals had already gone into their caves to sleep. There should be a different explanation for them to have disappeared.


    He was still thinking about what this reason could be when his thoughts were interrupted by an angry roar.


    "Sounds like a Steelback Bear. I wonder what angered it like this.", Ivan murmured to himself and then followed the sound.


    The roar had come from a location sideways from this clearing. Just by following one of the cliffs, he should be able to arrive at the right location.


    He carefully made his way over. He didn''t want to suddenly stand face to face with a group of bears. Not without any preparation.


    The sight that entered his view when he arrived at the source of the roar was so comical that if it wasn''t dangerous he would have laughed out loud.


    On top of a small ledge sat a small girl who was cuddling a small cub. And below the ledge stood a row of bears, each of them angrily staring at the girl above them.


    But while they stared at her angrily and sometimes also roared at her, she completely ignored them and continued petting the cub as well as talking to it. From the distance he wasn''t able to understand her words but considering that the cub didn''t make any moves, trying to escape from her grip it didn''t seem anything problematic.


    ''Wait, a little girl, here? Don''t tell me its that guy''s little aunt. But where is he? Didn''t he say that the compass showed that she was further into the mountains?''


    Anyway, that was for later. Now he did have to make a decision. Should he help that girl or not? And did that girl even need his help?


    Out here in the wilderness one shouldn''t judge things just by their appearance. Just look at how relaxed the girl looked. She even had the leisure of petting the little cub, while below its parents were angrily looking at her, ready to rip her into pieces.


    ''Whatever. I''ll just come back later and check-up at her.'', Ivan decided after some thought. In his opinion, the girl wasn''t in any danger at the moment. And leaving her there would be a good learning experience if she truly was unable to escape.


    Having made his decision he turned around and left just as stealthy as he had come.


    Now that the group of bears he had initially targeted wasn''t a valid target currently he had to look for another one. But the other groups were too far away and he wouldn''t be able to reach them before nightfall and moving through the forest during the night wasn''t something he planned to do.


    Thus he informed Vlada to meet up with him and while on it to check for a comfortable cave he could rest in.


    About half an hour later he stood in front of a smooth stone wall. There didn''t seem to exist anyway to climb the wall and looking at the structure of the surrounding mountain, it didn''t even seem possible to arrive at the small ledge at the top of the wall.


    "Hm. Vlada informed me that there is a cave up there. But there is no way for me to get up there. I guess I have to wait for her here."


    According to the slightly unprecise information he had gotten from Vlada, the ledge was in front of a cave. She had found it before while looking for bears and had remembered it when he told her to look for a place to spend the night.


    As a bat, Vlada''s flight was extremely silent and if not for him being in constant contact with her, then he would definitely have missed her arrival. After arriving at his side, she first perched herself on top of his shoulder. Something that seemed to have become something she loved to do.


    Ivan also directly started to pet her. She had done a good job searching around. And a bit of praise wouldn''t hurt anyone.

 182 Hall

    After Vlada carried him up onto the ledge he stared in surprise at the view. Unlike what he had expected, which was a dark cave, the crack in the wall, which he had thought was the entrance of a cave opened up into a wide brightly lit hall.


    "Didn''t you say it is a cave?", he asked Vlada in confusion. Although she hadn''t said so in these exact words, he only now realized that he had seen the information she had transmitted in this way.


    At first, he didn''t want to enter it, since it could be seen as rude to just enter someone else place. And it could also be dangerous. But taking a closer look, he was able to see a thick layer of dust on the floor, lighted up by the bright crystals embedded in the walls and pillars.


    "Seems like it has been deserted.", he murmured to himself, something he seemed to do more often lately. Maybe it was that he had gotten used to having others besides him and now that he was alone in the wilderness he wanted to hear a voice sometimes.


    He carefully stepped into the hall, with his feets disturbing the dust on the floor. Weirdly as soon as he entered he didn''t feel any movement of air but it still seemed fresh and clean unlike what one would expect in a dusty hall.


    There should be some kind of magic at work here to ensure fresh air as well as block any wind that could enter through the entrance. From Ivan''s understanding, it should be some kind of longterm formation, although he didn''t understand why the user didn''t add anything which worked against the dust.


    Although the hall looked impressive with the glowing pillars it was completely empty. There were no other entrances except the crack through which he had entered, making him wonder what it had been used for. Because the crack he had entered through seemed to have come into existence later on.


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    "Maybe there was a teleportation formation here before?", he silently speculated while casting a skill that would clean the hall.


    Now with the dust gone, it was possible to see the floor which was covered with indecipherable patterns. Just by looking at it, his head started to hurt. Thinking that there was no way for him to understand them now, he took out his phone and made some pictures.


    After photographing every single bit of the floor he then took out some furs to cover the floor. These furs not only hid the headache-inducing patterns but also made it more comfortable.


    Because of the still working formation, the temperature inside was very comfortable and the view outside was great.


    "This is a great location. Maybe I should make this my outpost?", Ivan asked himself. Although he wouldn''t be able to use his teleportation app to come here, it wasn''t impossible to create a teleportation gate to connect this space to Lara''s villa. It was only that those gates were impossibly expensive.


    "Guess I''ll have to wait for me to get good enough and learn from Jacky." Until then he could only use Vlada to fly here. But he could still make this hall into a comfortable home for when he stayed inside the forest. Maybe he could even make a small garden. There was a pond not far away and the earth below was well suited for all kinds of herbs commonly found in a forest.


    He opened the System Shop to find out if it offered anything he could use. Although the teleportation app didn''t work outside of the safe zones this wasn''t the case for the shop. With just a small fee it was possible to receive items everywhere in the system realms.


    While searching through the store he saw a wide variety of furniture available. Besides furniture, there were also all kinds of magical tools that could improve living conditions. Some had interesting functions but required mana to work. But with one tool he found it wouldn''t be a problem to install them in this hall. This tool was able to use EU to supply other tools in the vicinity with the mana they require to function and there wasn''t even any loss. Besides the conversion rate of EU to mana was impressive.


    Just by using one Blood Essence Crystal similar to the one he had shown at Jacky''s Shop back then, he could run all the basic appliances needed in a kitchen and bath for more than a month straight.


    The only thing that scared him was the price. He was definitely unable to pay for it any time soon. But at least he had confirmed the feasibility of his idea.


    Satisfied he laid down, planning to sleep for the night and then in the morning once again continue exploring.


    Soon he had fallen into a routine, composing of getting up, go out and hunt bears as well as collect herbs and then return to the hall and refine some of the lower quality, or damaged, herbs he had gotten that day. Then he would use his phone to call his family and chat for a bit before going to sleep.


    With this routine in place soon two weeks had passed, leaving only two more weeks time until he had to accompany Miss. Klein.


    Today Ivan had decided to change up his routine. He felt that he had gotten all he could from the surroundings. His inventory was filled with parts of Steelback Bears as well as other monsters he had encountered. His herb ring was filled with herbs, all of which had a good quality, the rest had been refined into pills which filled up the rest of his inventory.


    "I really don''t have enough space to store items.", Ivan sighed. Although his inventory was relatively large it still seemed to be too small to store all the things he wanted to put inside it.


    "Isn''t there any way to get more storage space besides expanding the inventory?", he wondered. Expanding his inventory was way too expensive for his taste.


    Of course, there was. Just like the chest, he had gotten from Lin back then. But the chest was way too clunky to carry around and he couldn''t put it into his inventory. "Maybe there is a bag form of it or something like this. I should check."


    Checking the Systems Store he found what he looked for. Not only were there storage bags but also storage rings, which were much more comfortable to carry around and which had a higher storage space as well. But as always the prices were way too high for him to even entertain the thought of buying them.


    "In the end, money is everything.", he sighed depressed.


    Shaking his head he got ready to leave this little hideout. "I''ll be back", he swore. During these two weeks, he had fallen in love with this place even more and it had hardened his resolve of making it his outpost.


    As he went deeper into the mountains he passed the spot where he had spotted the little girl before. Back then he had checked on her the next day but she was already gone. Besides her, the bears were gone as well, so he reckoned that, if she truly was that little aunt, that her nephew had caught her and had taken care of the bears. And if not, then something else should have happened, which he couldn''t guess. But there was one thing that he was sure of and that was that the girl was fine. Because if not, then there was no way that the bears would vanish as well.


    He entered a valley which should lead him further into the mountains. In the center of the valley was a small stream. In its clear water, there were occasionally some small fishes flitting around. And while the trees here were much smaller than in the forest before, they were still numerous.


    By following the stream he reached a large pool into which a waterfall thundered down. This was the end of the valley and also the start of a much more arduous journey. From now on he wouldn''t be able to just relaxedly walk onto more or less flat ground, but he would have to climb over rocks and cross dangerous terrain.


    By looking upwards it was possible to see the dark spots in the sky. Each of them symbolizing a dangerous monster that would attack as soon as it spotted a worthwhile prey. Those monsters also stopped him from using Vlada to leisurely fly through the mountains.


    He moved his fingers in order to warm them up before gripping the stone wall. Then with clumsy moves, he started the climb. The goal was a small ledge about halfway up the stone wall.

 183 Lizard

    Ivan sat down on the ledge while panting heavily. Even with his strong body, climbing the wall had taken out more of his power than he would ever have guessed. Hindered by his lack of technique he was often only able to proceed by using pure power, something that put extreme strain on his body.


    \"Wow, this is truly a great way to work out and train.\", he told himself. Sadly he didn''t gain anything besides the experience in climbing as well as a bit of a better understanding of how to move his body and exert his strength. Especially the last point was something useful.


    He then looked up and sighed. There was even more wall waiting for him to climb up. Once again he was tempted to just call Vlada to carry him up. But he was stopped by his fear of griffins. While they wouldn''t attack targets at the ground in a pack, this completely changed when the target was in the air. They were extremely territorial and would hunt down anything that ventured into their skies.


    Having taken a break he once again got ready to climb on.


    After he had finally ascended the wall he found himself on a plateau. In the distance, the mountains continued up even further, but for now, it was relatively flat. Of course, the terrain was extremely rocky and it wasn''t rare to find some ravines crossing the plateau. But it was a breeze to continue on here as compared to the wall he had just had to climb up.


    While he was making his way over the plateau, suddenly a rock seemed to move towards him. Not sure if it was only his imagination it increased his wariness. Some of the monsters living here were well versed in hiding themself.


    The event just a few seconds later proved his carefulness to be prudent, as the rock he had thought just moved was thrown aside as a giant lizard shot out of the hole it had covered.


    The lizard had a granite colored exterior, made up of scales as large as his hands. Its mouth was adorned with large teeth, which would seemingly crush anything that would come between them.


    Before Ivan could continue his observation he was forced to roll aside as the heavy body of the reptile went through the space his own one had just occupied.


    Contrary to what its size could make one believe it was very fast. Not only was it fast but its tail was also extremely flexible and strong.


    Ivan had just rolled aside to doge its mouth and body when the tail crashed towards him. Because of his recent hurried evasion, he didn''t have a good stand and was unable to evade once again. And don''t even mention blocking the tail attack. Not only was his position unsuited to do so, but the power behind the hit was also too much.


    Thus the attack managed to hit him squarely on the chest. He had instinctively turned towards the attacker and thus he was now hit at such a sensible location. He had the feeling that someone had tried to smash in his chest and his body flew back. Rolling in order to absorb some of the force of the hit he hurriedly got back onto his feet, only to be greeted with the wide mouth of the lizard in front of him.


    Using every ounce of available strength he threw himself backward in an attempt to dodge the closing jaws of the attacker.


    He could feel the wind produced by the snapping together of the jaws on his face but he had still managed to escape the seemingly fatal attack.


    \"Fu...\", he couldn''t even curse at the moment as he was once again hit by the reptile. Just that it was its snout this time. It seemed that after missing its bite it had decided to ram its face into him.


    Once again he was flying to the air and once again did the foe rushed towards the spot he would land on.


    This continued for, in his opinion way too long, until finally, he couldn''t hold on anymore. Since it was impossible for him to get into any position that would allow him to counterattack, with all the flying around. Not to mention the heavy bruises and most likely broken bones, which also seriously hampered any chance of mounting a counterattack. Anyway, he decided to call Vlada for help.


    She too was unable to contest against the lizard but at least she was able to catch him out of the air and carry him away.


    Flying low, she carried him with her claws towards the direction they had come from. By keeping this low above the ground, with not even five meters between him and her they didn''t instantly come to the griffins, which circled above, attention.


    With the lizard chasing after them Ivan had to be carried until they nearly reached the wall, he had just climbed up before the lizard let go and returned to its resting place.


    Vlada deposited Ivan on the ground, keeping an eye out for any other foe that could appear, be it griffin or lizard.


    \"Damn. I didn''t expect it to be this hard to fight those lizards. Just wait I''m going to come back and get my revenge.\", Ivan cursed while starting to take care of his injuries.


    Before he hadn''t had the time but now he could take out some pills he had refined, which would increase the speed at which he would heal. Luckily the damage wasn''t as bad as he had feared since no bones were broken.


    \"Was this damn monster weaker than it seemed?\", he wondered. Considering the impact he had felt he should have some broken bones, so he found it weird that he didn''t seem to have any. \"No that can''t be. If it was weaker then I shouldn''t have flown through the air like this. Not to mention that I felt the impact firsthand.\"


    Just thinking back to the way he had been tossed through the air by that beast he couldn''t help but feel anger bubbling inside him. To any observer, it must have appeared as if that beast had just toyed with him. Luckily there hadn''t been any observer or he would have to feel so ashamed of his recent performance.


    After taking care of his injuries he wasn''t yet fit to go fight again but at least it didn''t hurt that much anymore.


    He then decided to stay here and use that damned beast for his training. Thinking about the fight just now, he found many mistakes he had made and also many things he had to improve on.


    The biggest problem had been that the lizard had been able to ambush him, closely followed by his incapability of turning the tide in the fight. And his use of magic had been atrocious since it had been nearly inexistent.


    This fight had also made him question if it was a good idea to continue on. Instead, it just might be better to give up on his goal of finding a new battle pet and instead focus on training his own survival abilities by fighting against that lizard.


    He wasn''t sure what the best course of action was and thus he decided that for now he would stay here and recuperate. Tomorrow all his injuries should have been healed fully, thanks to the pills he had taken. Then he would decide if he wanted to continue or if he took the time to learn more while fighting against that lizard.


    The question was what he should do until then? Putting up the tent he had brought with him wouldn''t take much time and there was still a lot left until the sun would set. Anything strenuous was out of the picture with his current status but he could still train his mana. What he wanted to do was to improve his mana manipulation.


    He had only worked on it because of the need for it with pill refining but he had remembered Jacky''s offer and he was now tempted to improve his skill so far that she would teach him about spatial magic. The method he selected for this was what Celine had taught them back in the dungeon.


    He would start practicing forming thin mana strings and then try to use them to make all kinds of forms and patterns. This should help him to train his fine control over mana. It could also improve his concentration ability and who knows, maybe there are even more benefits to doing this.

 184 Mana Mesh

    The next morning after waking up, the first thing Ivan did was stretch and feeling out the state of his injuries. As he had expected they had completely healed and he was now once again in a good enough shape to fight.


    So after eating a light breakfast he once again moved towards the direction where he had met that lizard yesterday. This time, not only did he pay extreme attention towards his surroundings, but he also spread out his senses in an attempt to find the beast, before it could attack him.


    And his wariness paid out. This time he wasn''t surprised by the appearance of the lizard since he managed to sense it in time. But he also didn''t manage to sense it early enough to prepare a counterattack towards it as soon as it would appear. So in the end, not much had changed and he still got tossed around by it once again. The only difference was that he managed to lessen the impact from the lizard''s hits, resulting in much lighter damage than before.


    The thing that created the largest problem for him was the tail, since it was fast and strong, making it hard to evade or parry it. He currently also didn''t have any viable option of blocking it. The magic shield he tried to use was easily broken by the powerful swing of the tail. If only the shield wasn''t that rigid. Maybe if it was more flexible he could absorb more of the force of the swing with it?


    But now wasn''t the time to experiment. Instead, he fully focused on trying to evade the attacks as much as possible while migrating as much force as possible with his shields.


    But once again he had to rely on Vlada to escape when he had been beaten down.


    After having arrived at his camping place he then spent time recovering from his wounds as well as recuperating his mana. Then he started to experiment on his idea of a more flexible shield, which he had gotten during the fight.


    \"Hm, how should I make it flexible?\", he asked himself. He didn''t have a good idea of how to start with his development of a flexible shield. He also hadn''t read about something like this anywhere. The spells for shields he had seen until now all empathized the strength and sturdiness of the shields.


    \"How about I copy something?\" This was the first thought that appeared in his mind. It was a common start for spells. Look at something in reality and then transfer the knowledge and design into magic.


    But in reality, he also hadn''t seen any flexible shields. But there was something similar in the form of armor. Both things would provide protection against attacks. But while shields were distanced from the person wearing them, armor would be located close to the body. There was hard armor such as plate armor and softer armor made with leather or cloth.


    He had no idea what structure leather had and while it was possible to study it with his senses and the available leather he had, it would use up a lot of time. This only left the option of cloth. Cloth generally had a simpler and cleaner structure than leather. He also had a rough idea of how to reproduce something similar. He would use the magic strings Celine had taught them about and use it to weave a mana based cloth. He could then use multiple layers to transform the energy from the attacks to heat energy and block the attack or at least cushion it.


    Having found a rough direction on how to develop his new spell he didn''t hesitate to get started with it. First, he had to create the mana strings. Something that as he found out was much more difficult than expected. Forming just one that had a uniform thickness that was thin enough was already hard. But what he needed were thousands of them. And to make it work well, all of them would have to have a perfect form.


    For now, he was only able to form around ten of them, each of which was shaped differently. He just wasn''t able to make them shaped the same. Instead, some were thicker while others were thinner but none of them was uniform. But for now, that was what he had to work with.


    With such a low number of mana strings, he was only able to make a rough mesh out of them, by weaving them together. Although this mesh had large holes in it, it should be suitable for blocking the blunt attacks by the lizard''s tail. But only blunt attacks. It had completely no resistive properties against stabbing attacks.


    After he had created the best mesh he was currently capable of he used a function of the system which was highly valued by spell developers. It was the ability to save a blueprint of mana structures. One could buy the blueprint slots from the system by spending some gold and he had done so for one slot.


    While he had developed the spell, the time had passed and it was already time to rest, so he would be fit for fighting the next day.


    The next morning he once again went out to fight against the lizard.


    This time not only didn''t he get surprised by it, but he also managed to use his new mana mesh to withstand the force of the lizard tail. Although he said he withstood it, in truth he was only able to absorb part of it with the mesh which would deform under the force and absorb a lot of them before being pushed against his body, transferring the leftover force to him. This force wasn''t enough to throw him through the air but it still fucking hurt.


    The mesh didn''t help him fight longer or even go against the lizard and counterattack it. It even shortened the time since his mana soon ran out. But the great thing was that when he called for Vlada to escape from the fight he wasn''t heavily injured like the days before.


    Once back at the camp, he ate, improved his spell and then rested. This way the days passed, each of them spent just like this. Slowly he improved in fighting against the lizard. Now he sometimes managed to counterattack and he had once even managed to hurt the lizard with one of his sword strikes.


    But not only had his fighting capabilities grown but also his mana manipulation ability. In fact, his skill ''Mana Manipulation'' had reached level 24.


    And while he had improved, the same could be said about the lizard. Its attacks had gotten increasingly tricky and powerful. It wasn''t just Ivan using it to train but it also used Ivan to train.


    Today was the last day Ivan would be able to fight against the lizard. Tomorrow he would have to start going back home. Although he hadn''t finished what he had planned, which was to improve his pets, he sure had managed to improve himself. And not only he had improved but also Vlada who had gone out to train as well, whenever he had been at the camp training his mana mesh spell.


    Today he stood in front of the lizard for the last time. \"Hey, I''ll have to say goodbye today. Tomorrow I''ll have to leave and go back.\", he didn''t know why, but lately, he had started to talk to his opponent. Maybe it was because he had been out in the wild for so long and he wasn''t used to it yet.


    In response to his sentence, the lizard lifted his front paw and waved it towards him. In his mind, this meant that he should stop spewing nonsense and that he should attack. This wasn''t the first time this happened. In fact, he had more and more got the feeling that the lizard was very intelligent and he even seemed to understand human language.


    Once again the two of them clashed. And once again he lost. But this time the lizard stopped before defeating him completely. Usually, this was the point of the fight, where Ivan would call for Vlada to stoop in and take him away. But this time was different. Since the lizard had stopped its attacks on him, he didn''t see a reason to call Vlada.


    Moreover, it seemed as if the lizard wanted something from him. Or it wouldn''t have stopped its attacks and instead continue on like every time before.

 185 Comrade

    \u003c\u003c Congratulations, Franz Leopold wants to become your comrade \u003e\u003e


    \u003c\u003c Information:


    A comrade is a being of another race that voluntarily agrees to follow along with you. Between both parties is a relationship of equality with one party commonly being the leading one, which is agreed on beforehand. And which is the one who has been offered the comradeship and not the one offering to become the comrade.


    While a comrade has similarities to pets, there are some stark differences such as being unable to trade them and also the inability to store them inside the pet space. But things such as shared character info, skills that affect pets, and the clearance for dungeons is the same.


    \u003e\u003e


    Thankfully the information directly followed the popup screen or Ivan wouldn''t have known what its content would have meant. But still, it came as a huge surprise to him. While he wasn''t quite sure of the details it seemed like the lizard was named Franz Leopold and because of their constant fighting, it had decided that it would be good for him to follow along with him, which was the reason for it making the decision to become his comrade.


    Initially, he had planned to increase his pets to strengthen his combat strength but because he had met Leopold he had given up on it and instead focused on training himself with his help. But now it seemed like lady luck had mercy with him and he would gain a new member for his party. Although it wasn''t a pet in some way it should be even better.


    As such thoughts flowed through his brain he didn''t hesitate to press the accept button. The window hadn''t even finished when a male voice rang through his mind.


    `Hey, boss.`, it didn''t take much to guess that it was Franz''s voice. It seemed like, unlike Vlada his intelligence was much higher, and as such he was able to form complete words and language.


    `Hey.`, using his mind to respond, Ivan greeted him back before continuing with a question that had plagued him ever since the window had appeared, `How come you decided on becoming my comrade?`


    `Because mom said that if I ever meet someone who can help me get stronger I should take that opportunity. And while fighting I learned more than in the last years staying on this plateau.`


    `Then why didn''t you go further onto the plateau?`, Ivan asked confused. If he wasn''t able to learn much here, then why not continue further in?


    `Because those guys are way too strong.`, Franz whined. It seemed like he had tried before but the difference in strength had been too much. So much in fact that he had been unable to learn anything from it.


    `So you need a slower curve of strength increase?`


    `Yes. Unlike humans, we get stronger mostly by fighting and consuming our foes cores and blood essence. But enemies of similar strength don''t do as much as stronger ones. And since I''m between two layers of strength present on the plateau I haven''t been able to find fitting enemies.`, he continued to explain.


    `Well then welcome on the team. And let''s get stronger together.`, now that all the immediate questions were out of the way he welcomed Franz officially.


    `Great to be on the team.`


    `Oh right, can you maybe shrink?`, Ivan asked. It would be unsuitable to have a giant lizard following him around everywhere. And that was the only way to do it since he couldn''t keep him in the pet space.


    `Sure.`, luckily he was able to do so, and soon he had shrunken into a less than twenty cm long lizard. Together with its size, his weight had decreased as well which was awesome. Now it could sit on Ivans''s shoulder and he would be able to easily carry it around.


    `Great. Then let''s go.`


    `Yay, out to great new adventures.`, the lizard seemed way more excited than Ivan.


    This time he rode on Vlada for the whole way and as such the travel time wasn''t as long as on the way out.


    Standing before the villa he once again realized how much he had been missing his family in the last weeks. Although they had chatted regularly over the phone, just as when Lara had been away it wasn''t a great replacement to meeting his family in person.


    He hadn''t informed anyone that he would be returning today so there was nobody to greet him. When he entered the villa he found it empty. It seemed like everyone was out at the moment. Although he felt slightly disappointed it suited him just fine. This way he could take a shower first.


    He had to wait until the evening for the members of his family to come back. It seemed like everyone had gone out shopping.


    When Jane saw him sitting on the couch after entering the building, she exclaimed in joy and ran towards him, before jumping into his arms.


    "Dad, you are back.", her happy voice sounded out.


    The greetings of the others weren''t as exuberant but they too welcomed him back warmly.


    `You got a great family going there, boss.`, the voice of Franz suddenly appeared in his mind again. He had fallen asleep on the back of the couch before and it seemed like the commotion had woken him up.


    With it moving, Jane spotted him as well, "Daddy, there is a lizard.", she exclaimed.


    "Mmm, that is Franz. He is a new member of the family.", Ivan introduced the lizard before using his mind to tell Franz the names of all the women.


    The women looked curiously at the lizard. They could tell that it was a monster and seeing that he hadn''t stored it away in his pet space, it seemed like it was something special.


    Celine, being the most experienced was the first to make a guess, "Could it be your comrade?"


    "Yes.", not surprised that she knew about it he easily confirmed her guess.


    While Celine seemed to understand the situation, the others looked at the two of them in confusion.


    This prompted Celine to explain, "A comrade is something special since it is quite rare. It can be seen as something similar to a pet but one that is equal to the owner." She basically told them the same information that Ivan had acquired from the system prompt.


    She then took a closer look at the lizard and shook her head in confusion. "But there is something weird about it. It looks just like a normal granite lizard and as such shouldn''t possess the intelligence to form such a contract."


    "Really?", Ivan didn''t know anything about it so he was as surprised as the others.


    `Do you know anything about it?`, he tried asking Leopold.


    `No. I always thought I''m just like anyone else and the character info doesn''t show anything either.`, Leopold answered.


    The fact that the character info didn''t show anything unusual didn''t have much meaning since it wouldn''t record all information. Especially if the person himself wasn''t aware of the information.


    "Well not that it matters.", Celine continued, "And if it does it should be positive, so there is no need to worry about it."


    Having finished the discussion they turned their attention towards other topics.


    "So, tell what happened for you to get a comrade instead of pets like you were planning to do.", Lara asked curiously. Beforehand they had talked about his plans and now seeing how the situation was different she was curious as to what had happened.


    Ivan started to tell the story of what happened. Everyone else listened with interest. Although parts of it were boring and Ivan just skipped over it, some things were truly interesting. They were especially interested in the one he had taken along for the ride as well as the little girl. The way he and Leopold had gotten to know each other created a lot of laughter. Imagining him being bounced around through the air was just too hilarious.


    When he had finished telling his story it was about time to eat. While making their way over to the dining table, where Madam Tanner had already prepared the food, Lara asked Ivan, "So when do you have to leave with Miss. Klein?"


    Ivan shrugged, "I''m not sure but it should be soon. I think she will come and get me when it is time." At least that was what they had decided on.


    "So you won''t stay long?", there seemed to be a hint of being disappointed in her voice.


    Ivan wasn''t sure if he had just imagined it but he still answered, "Sadly no. But when I''m back I should have time to spend with our family."


    When he finished his words, Lara smiled slightly. At the same time, she turned her head to hide her expression. She wasn''t yet prepared to tell him about the decision she had made.

 186 Temporary cards

    The following days were spend in the company of his family. He played with Jane, annoyed Celine, and ate the good food Madam Tanner made. The only form of training he did was to continue improving his magic mesh. Something that had a good effect on its performance as well as his control over mana.


    But every good relaxing time would have its end. And this time it came in the form of his master Miss. Klein appearing in front of his villa, together with Serge.


    "Master.", he greeted her, already knowing the reason for her to appear here. And as expected her words after greeting him confirmed his guess.


    "Get ready. We will go to the upper realm.", she told him with annoyance dripping out of her voice. It seemed like she wasn''t happy about going to the meetup. Maybe it had something to do with the reason that she was teaching at such a low ranked school like theirs? A question he had never dared to ask her.


    Ivan had already prepared everything since he knew beforehand that he had to leave soon. So the only thing left was to inform Madame Tanner and then he was ready to go.


    After doing so he returned to the door and told his waiting master, "I''m ready."


    "Great, then let''s get this shit behind us."


    She then led the two disciples of her to the car she had arrived in, which was a combi that provided more than enough space for them.


    "Sit down in the back.", she ordered them before getting into the driver seat.


    "What happened for her to be so grumpy?", Ivan whispered towards Serge. Their master''s temper seemed to be even worse than he had ever experienced.


    "I don''t know.", Serge answered him, whispering as well.


    Not daring to ask they could only sit in silence while she drove the car towards the Tower of Ascension. With her aggressive driving style, it didn''t take them long to arrive there. After parking the car inside a huge parking garage they alighted and then took the elevator to the ground floor of the building. This elevator didn''t go any higher. It was only responsible for bringing the people from the garage towards the entrance hall and back.


    When they entered the entrance hall they were astonished by its size. It was less like a large hall and more like a city in itself. In fact, space inside seemed disproportional to the outside size, indicating the use of some kind of space-related technology or magic.


    Miss. Klein ignored all the buildings along the street and directly led them to a huge one at the center. This building consisted of a hall as well as rows of elevators. But the most impressive thing was a huge gate in the center, which Ivan guessed would lead towards the upper realm.


    This gate was surrounded by a low barrier and the entrance was guarded by two fierce-looking guards. There was also a counter at the side to which their master lead them. After greeting the person on the other side she then pulled out a card with complicated musters on it and said, "These two are my students, please make them a temporary entrance card."


    The service person nodded her head and after pressing some buttons two cards were laid down on the counter. They had much less complicated musters than Miss. Kleins and seemed to be more fragile as well.


    "These are your temporary entrance cards. You can use them to enter the upper realm and when you leave they will vanish. They can also be broken to directly teleport you back if you are in a dangerous situation. After one month they will brake automatically and you will be teleported back.", she explained.


    "They can also emit a force field in case of an emergency, which might be able to save your life. But if they do, they will of course break."


    It seemed like these cards were designed to provide as much safety as possible to those using them. After accepting them Ivan and Serge thanked the woman and followed Miss. Klein towards the gate.


    "Ok. Here are some things you have to look out for.", Miss. Klein told them in a serious voice, "First of all, remember that you are somewhere else and the traditions might be different than what you are used to. So it is important that you keep quiet and don''t make a mess. Not only might it be unasked for but it will also be dangerous. Up there you will be extremely weak compared to just about everyone."


    Her reminder was very important since both of them were unfamiliar with the exact situation in the upper realm. "Remember that even little children might be stronger than you since they are more used to the atmosphere there and might already have trained further than you."


    "The atmosphere?", Serge asked confused.


    "Yes. There is a huge difference between the atmosphere here and up there and the reason is the amount of qi in the air. Here it is extremely thin, nearly absent in fact."


    "Then will this have an influence on us?"


    "Yes. The higher density will result in some pressure on your bodies. That is also the reason that normally only people with high enough stats are allowed in the upper realm."


    "So the one month limit is to protect us from damage because of the pressure as well?"


    "Yes. A long time exposure to the pressure can lead to lasting damage. One month has been deemed to be safe."


    "Then can''t we get used to the pressure? And how do the children born there can handle it?", Ivan asked curiously.


    "No. Because they are born there, they are better adapted to the situation so there is no problem for them. Besides that, at around seven or eight they will have already finished Flesh Refining. And only after reaching Qi Gathering will they have entered the road to cultivation. So just about every adult will have reached Pathway Refining."


    Her words made the dangers clear to them. They were only in Flesh Refining and that seemed to be equivalent to the strength of a seven or eight years old. Sure, because of magic and more practice as well as a larger body, they would have the advantage against someone like this. But against any adult, they wouldn''t be able to compare.


    "Then how will those who go to the upper realm do well?", Serge asked. Wouldn''t they be weaker than even the most common adult?


    "If you enter with maxed stats you can speedily absorb the qi and reach Qi Gathering in a few days, because of the stable foundation and the use of mana."


    "So mana can be used to absorb qi?"


    "Yes. And currently, that is the most useful use of it, that is known. That is the reason people from our realm can compare to those born above. Their speed in cultivating is faster than theirs with the same potential."


    "Then can''t they use mana as well?"


    "In their eyes, it isn''t worth it. For the true talents, the time used for developing their mana would be better spent on training their qi. And the others also think they would be wasting their time. Especially since it is harder to train your mana source if the qi pressure is higher.", her explanation gave them a good insight, how it was in the upper realms.


    "So basically, just think of anyone you meet as someone that can easily kill you. So don''t make a mess and keep quiet when meeting someone, except when you are asked to talk. There is also a huge emphasis on hierarchies and generally, older people are to be respected and those stronger have to be called seniors as well."


    With the given information they should be able to stay out of most problems.


    "The pill refiner meeting will be at my sect, so as long as you stay on the premise you should be alright."


    "Oh, right. Serge, you will be my assistant for the time while Ivan will enter the youth competition.", she then threw a bomb onto them.


    "Huh?", both of them exclaimed at the same time.


    "Didn''t I originally say that I would only take you, Ivan? Originally I planned to just take you with me as an assistant since I thought that would be a great opportunity to learn. But later I got the news that this time there will be a competition for beginner pill refiner. This should be a great opportunity for you to collect experience."


    "Can I really take part? Shouldn''t they be much better than me?", Ivan was very unsure of his prospects.


    "It will be fine. You can just participate in a relaxed manner. There is no need for you to stress out.", Miss. Klein reassured him.


    Although it was well-intended and it also worked it also made him slightly upset. Her words seemed to indicate a severe lack of expectations.

 187 Red Lion Station

    While talking they reached the gate and without any hesitation stepped into it.


    After stepping through he had the same feeling, that he had when entering Jacky''s Shop. This weird feeling of space being shifted. But unlike with the store, the feeling was much worse. While it had been a clear shift when entering Jacky''s Shop, this time it was a wrenching feeling as if he was stretched in random directions at the same time.


    Luckily it didn''t hurt him but it seriously messed with his sense of orientation. As such he started to puke as soon as he left the gate on the other end. If the travel time had been longer than he surely would have puked out his guts if he even managed to stand upright and not pass out.


    "What''s the matter?", Miss. Klein exclaimed worriedly.


    "Damn. Why is this travel so nauseating?", Ivan asked as soon as he got himself under control again. Luckily some spell formation had been laid down, which ensured that the premise was clean, so his puke had instantly vanished and the air was still clean and fresh.


    "Huh?", Serge was surprised, while Miss. Klein looked as if she had come to a sudden understanding.


    "You felt the shifting of space?", she asked him eagerly.


    "Mmm.", Jacky had explained it to him before so it was easy to answer the question. If he hadn''t entered Jacky''s Shop before then he wouldn''t have been able to guess the reason for his discomfort.


    "Amazing.", his master exclaimed. "That means that you are very talented in space manipulation."


    "I know.", Ivan responded, "Jacky told me too.", he guessed that with Miss. Klein''s status she would surely know Jacky.


    Once again she was surprised, "You met Jacky? Usually, she doesn''t appear in front of customers." Since she knew about Lara there was no reason for her to be surprised that he had visited Jacky''s Shop before. But meeting Jacky herself was something else entirely.


    "Yes. She even offered to teach me if my mana manipulation gets good enough."


    "Wow, you sure are lucky."


    Only now, that this topic was out of the way, did Ivan have time to look around. They were standing on a big platform on top of a mountain. Around them, there were flashes of light and other people were appearing constantly.


    Unlike them, they were all wearing robes and all of them had an aura around them, which told them that they were dangerous. Below the platform was a street leading down the mountain and that street was framed by all kinds of shops and restaurants.


    Before he could truly take in the scenery a voice interrupted him. This voice appeared directly inside his mind.


    `@€€€EFfD€@DFDFE`, sadly he was completely unable to understand it. It was a language he was wholly unfamiliar with.


    Luckily at nearly the same time, a system message popped up.


    \u003c\u003c Congratulations, you have traveled to another realm. You have gained the title "Traveler (F)" \u003e\u003e


    It was then directly followed by an explanation of the title.


    \u003c\u003c Title: Traveler


    Rank: F


    By traveling to another realm you have done a commendable feat.


    Effects:


    - You can understand, read, and speak all main languages of the realm you are currently in.


    \u003e\u003e


    Although this title wasn''t anything special and just about every traveler would have it, it was highly useful. And its use was directly made apparent when Ivan was now able to understand the words the voice had just projected into his brain.


    `Welcome to Red Lion Station.`


    It was now followed by some more information, `Please clear the platform as soon as possible to make space for others to arrive.


    I''m AIS and I can help you fulfill your goals in Red Lion Station. If you have any questions you can just ask me. Not only can I provide all kinds of information, but I can also direct you to any target you may have.`, while the first sentences were spoken in a cold unfeeling voice. The last one was filled with pride. Pride in this AIS ability to provide help to the customer.


    `Thank you, but I currently don''t need any help.`, Ivan responded with his mind while following his teacher down from the platform.


    `OH. Then if you have any need you can just call out to me with your mind.`, the voice once again sounded in his mind. This time there was a clear disappointment to be heard.


    Both Ivan and Serge silently followed their teacher towards a building that had written `Red Lion Bank` written on it. Unlike the modern building they were used to, this looked much older. While it didn''t seem primitive, it appeared more antique. The materials used weren''t modern ones like steel, glass, and concrete but stone and wood. But the combination of unknown wood and stone still managed to provide an impressive view.


    "You two wait here. Just stay still and don''t get into any trouble.", their teacher told them before entering the bank.


    At first, they were surprised at why she would explicitly remind them not to get into any trouble. But what happened just a few minutes later made her reasons clear.


    Just on the other side of the entrance, two groups seemed to get into a heated argument.


    "How dare you try to make a move on my sister.", a young man spoke towards the three men that had appeared before him. The sister in question had hidden behind him and Ivan was unable to see her from his position but judging from the lecherous look in the three men''s eyes she should be a beauty.


    "Hoho, so she is your sister.", the frontman said while grinning crookedly. "How about you lend us your sister to play and we will give you something good."


    The young man paled. But even though it was clear that he would be unable to contest against these threes he didn''t move, protecting his sister behind him.


    "Go in and look for grandfather.", he told his sister without turning his head around.


    The girl behind him nodded and started to run towards the entrance.


    "Haha, how can we let our pry escape?", one of the three men exclaimed and rushed to intercept her. Judging by his speed it would be extremely easy for him to do so. In fact, it was so fast that he had shortened the distance in half before he had even finished speaking.


    The young man tried to intercept him but was instead intercepted by the one who had talked to him.


    "You stay here. I offered you a good ending but since you rejected it, you will have to pay."


    "Should we help them?", Serge asked Ivan.


    Ivan looked at the other onlookers who just stood aside and watched the scene, before shaking his head. "No. We can''t do anything. Just look at how fast that man is."


    What he said was the truth. With their strength, they would be completely unable to match that man''s speed. Them trying to help would just be seeking their own death. And judging from the fact, that the man hadn''t asked for help, it seemed like nobody else would help either.


    The man had caught the girl easily while the other man had started to fight against the young man. The young man had pulled out a sword and was now swinging it towards his attacker. But before he could even finish his first swing, a heavy fist smashed into his ribs.


    "Urgh.", he instantly folded with a crushing sound that could be heard at even Ivan''s and Serge''s position.


    The first fist was soon followed by a second one and then a third. In the blink of an eye, he had been hit multiple times, each hit as powerful as the last one. Ivan had been unable to count but it shouldn''t have been more than twenty hits when the attacker''s fist burst through the body of the young man.


    "Haha, what a weakling. How dare he stood up against me.", the attacker commented, before shaking off the young men, now lifeless body.


    This was the first time Ivan and Serge had seen such a brutal and ruthless scene. While it wasn''t to the point where they had to puke, it made both of them go pale.


    "Damn. How brutal.", Serge whispered.


    Ivan could only nod. What truly shocked him wasn''t how the attacker had killed the young man but the fact that nobody helped. It seemed like it was truly extremely different here.


    "Haha, let''s go.", the attacker laughed happily. It seemed like what had just happened had been a great source of fun for him.


    Without hesitation, the other two followed him down the mountain. One carrying the girl while the other was just looking around.


    "They were really unlucky to have been noticed by those robbers.", one of the onlookers could be heard.


    "Mm, they always target young girls. Nowadays nobody dares to bring a girl here anymore.", another onlooker commented.

 188 Are in trouble

    While the onlookers talked among themselves, two people appeared at the entrance of the bank. One was Miss. Klein, while the other was an elderly man. The two of them were chatting happily with each other.


    When they stepped out of the bank, the elderly man looked around as if searching for something. His eyes fell on the corpse of the young man that had just died and that nobody had yet gotten rid of. Upon this sight, he shook his head in amusement. "That girl...", although his tone was scolding, from his smile as well as his eyes it was clear that he didn''t mean it.


    He then waved his hand towards the corpse and to the surprise of all onlookers, in a shocking display it vanished, only to be replaced by a broken wooden puppet. The puppet, that then flew towards him, while shrinking in size until it was only about ten cm high.


    He then grabbed it and stored it away, before continuing to chat with Miss. Klein.


    "So it was only a puppet.", one of the onlookers spoke out what everyone was thinking.


    "I think that these guys are in trouble.", another commented.


    "For sure. Did you see how unconcerned he was about the girl being abducted?"


    "Serves them right."


    While the onlookers were discussing animatedly what had happened and were speculating about the fate of those kidnappers, Miss. Klein led the elderly man towards Serge and Ivan.


    "These are my disciples Serge and Ivan.", she introduced them before introducing the elderly man, "And this is Elder Lin of my sect."


    "Greetings, Elder Lin.", both Serge and Ivan greeted at the same time. Their master had told them that there was a huge emphasis on seniority, so it was only right to greet him first.


    "No need for any formalities.", Elder Lin told them in a relaxed manner. It seemed like he didn''t put much emphasis on formalities. "So those are her first disciples?"


    "Yes. I thought it was about time to find some and they appeared, so I thought it was fate and accepted them."


    "That''s good. It would be a shame if your skills in pill refining would be lost.", Elder Lin nodded in agreement.


    "Hah. I''m not that old yet.", Miss. Klein retorted.


    "Well, since my granddaughter has run away to have some fun, there is no need to wait for her.


    Do you want to go back to the sect together?"


    "Sure. It will be more comfortable to take your ship."


    Having gotten her agreement, Elder Lin pulled out something from his storage. It then enlarged to a large ship, that hovered in the sky. It looked just like one of the wooden ships used to sail the sea, before the development of magic-powered steel ships.


    Miss. Klein grabbed onto Serge and Ivan and jumped up onto the, more than 10 meters long, ship. As soon as they landed Elder Lin appeared beside them as well.


    "It will only be a short flight, so let''s stay on deck.", he commented before taking a seat in one of the comfortable armchairs placed in a seating area on top of the deck.


    "You can sit down or stay at the railing and take a look around.", he then told the two guys.


    "You two can look around later, for now sit down.", Miss. Klein on the other hand ordered them to sit down. They followed her order and sat down on the couch.


    "Here.", Miss. Klein then threw a ring towards each of them.


    After catching it, they looked at it in confusion.


    "Use your mind to connect to it.", their master told them.


    As soon as they did so, a space appeared in front of their minds eyes. The ring contained a space, similar to the inventory. The space wasn''t large with only about one cubic meter and there wasn''t much in it either. It contained a robe as well as a small box, which was filled with around 20 crystals. These crystals should contain about 20 EU and should be a form of currency for them to use.


    "These rings are storage rings, which can be used similar to an inventory.", Miss. Klein explained. "Many find them more useful since it is easier to get more space with them, than improving the inventory space. Usually the inventory will only be used for the truly valuable stuff."


    That was something that made sense to them. The price for increasing inventory space would get large soon. On the other hand it was possible to have ten such storage rings on the fingers and thus get a large storage space this way. They could also be given to others, when it was necessary to transfer large amount of goods at the same time. And it seemed like it was possible for them to get much bigger than the ones they had as well. All of this combined made them the premier tool for storage.


    "Its good that Elder Lin is here, this way we can make it official and not just have you become disciples in name only.", she then continued, while indicating to them to take out the robes.


    These robes were white with the only color being the red rose that was on the back as well as smaller over their heart in the front.


    "The sect I''m in is the Red Rose Sect and these robes are the robes for the outer disciples of the sect.", she explained, "Since you are my disciples you are entitled to wear them since you are technically in-name outer disciples of the sect."


    "Oh, so you are planning to make them disciples of the sect?", Elder Lin injected curiously. He had checked on their cultivation before and it was as low as it could be. But he knew that if that girl would take them as their disciple then they would have something going for them.


    "Yes. Although they meet the requirements yet, I''m sure they will do so in the future.", it seemed like she had once again changed her mind about Serge.


    "But I don''t really plan to stay in this realm.", Serge directly replied.


    "You don''t need to. But you should at least get to the Nascent Soul Forming Stage, since the nascent soul can help you refine pill even in the lower realm.", Miss. Klein told him. "And since the requirement only to reach Formation Building Stage, entering the sect will be good for your speed of progress."


    Besides her Elder Lin nodded. Although reaching Formation Building Stage wasn''t hard to do, with some talent it was the threshold for entering the sect as long as someone endorsed them. It would then be much easier to reach Nascent Soul Forming Stage then cultivating on yourself.


    "Alright. Thank you, master.", Serge accepted her suggestion and nodded thankfully. He knew that without his master, he most likely wouldn''t have gotten this opportunity anytime soon, if at all. He then pulled out the robe and put it on. It made him look more elegant than before, since it partially hid his thin frame.


    "You wear your robe as well.", Miss. Klein told Ivan.


    "Isn''t there a ritual that we have to take before?", Ivan asked curiously.


    "No. For an outer in-name disciple the ritual when you took me as your teacher is enough.", she answered his question.


    "Oh."


    Ivan too took out the robe and put it on. It didn''t seem to change his disposition in any way. But he felt a bit more uncomfortable. He was more a fan of the tighter fitting shirt and trousers he had wore before.


    Seeing his discomfort, Miss. Klein smiled. "If you don''t like the robe, you can wear something else if you are outside the sect. But you will have to understand that you will also lose the protection provided by the sect if you do so."


    "Protection by the sect?"


    "Yes. You saw what happened to his mischievous granddaughter, right?"


    They both nodded.


    "That is how the world is. It is cruel and everything is oriented towards benefits. Everything is done in order to get stronger. If you wear a sects robe, this means that you are a member of the sect and it also means that someone acting against you has to weight the risk of potentially angering the sect.", she continued to explain to them. "Although the sect would normally not interfere into matters of the same generation, which means people of similar strength, it would also not allow its members to be bullied by people who are much stronger. This ensures fairness, while allowing the members of the sect to experience dangers and grow up."


    It was a cruel but realistic system. It stopped mighty people from just wiping out their carefully groomed disciples but would allow them to experience danger and the threat of death, thus allowing them to truly grow.

 189 Rose Sec

    Now that they both wore their robes and Miss. Klein had changed as well, she told them, that they are free to look down from the ship to see more of this world. Meanwhile, she would chat with Elder Lin.


    Only now that Ivan stood at the railing of the ship and looked down on the terrain moving below them, he was able to realize how fast this ship was moving. There had to be some shield around the ship, which blocked the wind, or they would have already realized the speed they were moving with. But with it blocked, the only point of reference was the mountains passing by below them and they were passing fast.


    And those mountains were passing by fast. To fast for them to even get a good look at them.


    "What do you think about this ship?", behind them Elder Lin asked in a proud tone. It was clear that he was proud of this ship and in their eyes, he had every right to be. The speed and comfort had won them over.


    "It''s awesome.", Serge admitted with glowing eyes. It wasn''t hard to guess that he too wished to own a ship like this.


    Ivan also agreed, "It''s amazing." But while Serge''s response was filled with amazement, his response seemed to lack something.


    "It seems like you have something you dislike about it?", Elder Lin asked curiously. He hadn''t expected one of them to find a flaw with his ship. One had to know that it was one of the best in the sect, with only the sect master having a better one. Of course, that was excluding the large one the sect used when going for meetings. But that one was a sect level treasure and it was impossible to drive it alone.


    Ivan found the Elder comfortable to talk to so he had no qualm to tell him his true thoughts. "The speed and such is awesome, but I think the design is a bit lacking."


    He pointed at the masts, towering over the deck of the ship, "Just look at these masts. What are they there for? Wouldn''t it be better to remove them to make space for something else? And the same with other parts. The ship gives off the feeling of having been copied from a normal seagoing vessel. But is there a need for such a design? Wouldn''t it be better to optimize the design for one''s own use?"


    Hearing his questions Elder Lin nodded unknowingly. Each of these questions was true. Of course, he didn''t know the answer since he wasn''t able to refine treasures like this, but from his understanding, it should be possible to change the design. But he also knew that every flying ship treasure refined was designed just like seagoing ships. So maybe there was a reason for it.


    "I agree with you. But all flying ship treasures are designed like this, so maybe there is a reason for it.", he told Ivan. "I don''t know enough about refining to make an informed decision, but I think I''ll talk to Elder Qin about it."


    Elder Qin was the head of the refining school of the sect. And he was also the person with the most experience and skill in refining in the sect. It would be interesting to hear his opinion on it. And maybe, just maybe something would come out of it.


    Soon the ship reached their destination. In front of them, a mountain range appeared which was much higher than those before. It was impossible to see the whole mountain range but in front of it was a large plaza which had a large red rose inlaid into it. This plaza was surrounded by a large city on three sides while from the fourth a street lead into the mountain range.


    From the red rose, it was easy to guess that this should be the entrance of the sect.


    "It is forbidden to use ships to fly inside the sect, which means all this mountain range.", Miss. Klein explained to them. "We have to land at the plaza and then we can use our swords or other single person flying treasures to enter the sect."


    It made sense. By controlling the air space, the sect would make attacks much harder and keep the air space clear as well. It reduced danger and gave them control, a perfect combination.


    The ship slowly made its way down towards the plaza. While descending Ivan could get a better feeling of the size of the city and his first guess was that it was even larger than the capital city. It was sprawled out over a large area at the front of the mountain, with fields reaching into the distance.


    Seeing him admiring the city, Elder Lin explained, "This is one of four cities under our sect. Here those who aren''t talented enough can live under our protection. And it is also one of our biggest sources of disciples."


    Ivan was shocked to hear that it was just one out of four cities. Just how many people did the sect have under them?


    "So all of those people are just mortals?", he asked in astonishment. He had learned before that those who could cultivate would call those who can''t mortals while referring to themselves as cultivators. It seemed like there was also a large social distance between these two groups, which could be summed up in just one sentence, "A cultivator was above all mortals and could do whatever they want with them."


    Elder Lin shook his head, "No. Although the largest part is mortals, there are also cultivators who can''t break through any further and who have decided to retire. Then there are those who can''t quite hit the entrance conditions of the sect as well as those who just enjoy life in luxury."


    "Then do these cultivators lord above the others?"


    "No. In our sect''s cities, it is the law that everyone is the same in front of the law. So cultivators and mortals are handled the same. Of course, there is a difference in available jobs which has led to most of the rich being cultivators but there are also plenty of mortals who belong to the richest of the city. Even the Senate is mainly made up of mortals."


    Ivan liked what he described. It seemed similar to how it was back home and it made the sect appear very likable.


    While they were descending, below on the plaza groups of people were looking at the ship while exclaiming in awe. It was rare to see an Elder and with one look on the crest on the ship, they knew that it was the personal ship of an Elder. All Elders of the sect were huge and important figures so just seeing one would make for good talking points while drinking with friends. None of them even hoped to be able to forge a connection with the Elder.


    After setting down, Elder Lin stored the ship and the group made its way towards the entrance of the sect. An entrance, that was guarded by a pair of guards in sect robes which had a blue sword in addition to the red rose. When Ivan looked at them he felt an indescribable danger making him sure that each of them could kill him without even moving a finger.


    When Elder Lin, on the other hand, walked through between those guards they both bowed and greeted him in unison, "Welcome back Elder Lin."


    After the greeting, they straightened up and grins appeared on their formerly expressionless faces. "Hey little sister, you are back.", the one on the right greeted Miss. Klein


    "And you two messed around again?", she responded with a grin on her own.


    The two made a face as if she had poked a wound of theirs, "How could you say that? We are always serious and honest."


    Miss. Klein chuckled at their antics, "Mmmm, and that''s why you are guarding here? And don''t tell me you knew I was coming and were waiting for me."


    They shamelessly said, "Of course, we were waiting for you. Master told us to bring you to her as soon as you arrive."


    "Great, I was planning to meet her anyway. I have to introduce my disciples to her after all.", Miss. Klein responded.


    Following her words, the two''s eyes turned towards Serge and Ivan.


    "Those are your disciples? Aren''t they a bit weak?", one of them asked skeptically.


    "Well, I didn''t take them because of their strength but their talent in pill refining."


    "Ah, that makes sense.", the guy looked as if he understood. "You always put more focus on that than on cultivation."


    "Besides they come from the realm of Mythelem.", she continued on as if she hadn''t heard him.


    As soon as she finished their eyes lit up and they looked at them again," So they are from that realm. Now that makes more sense."

 190 Elder Palace

    "Alright stop it with the nonsense. You two continue guarding and I''ll look for our master.", Miss. Klein told them while chuckling.


    She then continued on with Ivan and Serge following her. The two guys stayed back and continued guarding. Elder Lin on the other hand said goodbye and left first.


    Ivan and Serge were unable to fly on their own and it was banned to summon pets, so they could only walk towards their goal. If they had to walk at their usual speed then it would have taken days if not weeks for them to arrive at Miss. Klein''s master abode. Luckily the robes they were wearing had formations engraved which, when inside the sect''s formation could speed up their movement speed. As such the time needed could be greatly shortened. And with the ways designed for this type of fast movement it wasn''t problematic to really use the formations as well.


    So after walking for about an hour they arrived in front of a palace sprawling at the side of a mountain.


    "This is where my Master and her close disciples stay.", Miss. Klein introduced.


    The pa?ace was too big to see at once. Standing before it, it was only possible to see parts of it, with other buildings vanishing in the distance.


    "Isn''t this a bit too big?", Ivan asked in surprise.


    Miss. Klein chuckled, "This is one of the smaller palaces owned by an elder.", she told them. "And it isn''t as if only master and her disciples stay here. You can say that this is like a small sect. There are all kinds of mortals as well as craftsmen. Just about anything you would need, you can find here."


    "Isn''t that a bit redundant?", he asked confused.


    "Yes and no. The distances here are big and the sect is big as well. There are so many disciples so it is better to distribute them and make secondary centers, which are the elder palaces. For high ranking things you have to go to the center where the different professions have their central pavilion."


    The palace wasn''t guarded but they had to cross a formation that scanned their robes. He didn''t know what would happen if he didn''t have a robe, pass, or something similar, but he was sure that it wouldn''t be anything good.


    The palace was filled with people who were busily running here and there. It was just like a city, with shops and everything. With Miss. Klein leading them they soon arrived in front of a large gate behind which there was just forest to be seen. Like with his villa it seemed like the important people here too liked to live in nature instead of the bustling city.


    A short time later they stood in front of an old-style building. It was built of wood and didn''t have any glass windows. Instead there were formations fulfilling the same function. To Ivan and Serge it looked primitive and uninviting, although it could be said that it had some charm if one liked the style.


    The interior was similarly old-school. There was no modern furniture or anything like this. Instead all functions would be either fulfilled by hand or through magic devices.


    In the center room they finally met Miss. Klein''s master, who was sitting on a hard wooden school in front of a desk, filled with books. Books that spilled over and filled the whole room. It looked like this elder was extremely focused on researching something.


    "Put these books down there.", the woman said while gesturing towards one of the last free spots on the floor. She didn''t even look up and seemed to have forgotten to check who had entered. This was something that surprised Ivan, shouldn''t someone with her power and cultivation is able to easily observe their surroundings even when focused.


    Miss. Klein smiled and said, "Master, you know you shouldn''t lose your focus like this.", she reprimanded.


    The elder looked up and a smile appeared on her pretty face, "You are back.", she exclaimed while jumping up and rushing towards Miss. Klein.


    Her face looked quite young, not older than eighteen or so. And her behavior could be said to be the same. She didn''t behave like an elder but more like a small girl. In fact, the way she started to chat with Miss. Klein made one question the fact that she was the master. Now it appeared more like she was a younger sister.


    The two of them were ignored as the two women chatted happily with each other. They even sat down together on the floor, while Ivan and Serge were left standing at the entrance of the room.


    Ivan saw no reason to stay standing. Their chat was sure to continue on for a while. So he made some space on the ground and sat down as well. He then closed his eyes and started to meditate. He wanted to get a better feeling for the atmosphere here and how, if it would affect his use of mana. With Miss. Klein''s warning fresh in mind he didn''t try to absorb energy into his body with his training skill but that didn''t stop him from trying to get a feeling of it.


    The problem was that whenever he tried to move the energy, similar to he would do back home, where he would then absorb it, it felt as if he was trying to move a mountain. A mountain deeply rooted.


    He didn''t know if it would be dangerous for him if he absorbed energy but he realized that it was currently impossible to even move it. His mind just wasn''t strong enough. Of course, this observation directly led him to another training method he could try.


    Since it was necessary to have a strong mind to influence the energy, then wouldn''t trying to move this mountainlike energy be a great way to strengthen his mind. Just when he thought this far, he instantly started to put his theories into practice.


    First he would try to reduce the amount of energy he was moving even further. Although what he had tried before was already the smallest amount he could grasp, this didn''t mean that with training he couldn''t decrease it. It was just that he hadn''t had to do so before. Back in the realm of Mythelem his goal had always been the opposite. With the thinner energy, it had been his goal to move as much energy as possible at the same time since that would increase his training speed.


    So his training now went in the exact opposite way.


    It was as if small splitter were shaved off from the mountain. They were negligible in the whole picture but still showed that he had made progress. Each time he managed to shave something off, he got closer to his goal. Maybe sometimes if he had a fine enough control he would be able to even absorb some of it.


    The only problem was that doing it required a huge amount of concentration. So it didn''t take long until his mental strength was exhausted and he got tired.


    Being careful he directly stopped as soon as he felt the slightest sloppiness in his thoughts. What he did could be dangerous if he suddenly messed up and absorbed the energy although he wasn''t planning to. Who knew what would happen then. Maybe he would even explode, something he wasn''t willing to risk. Exploding fucking hurt and the damage to his body wouldn''t be completely fixed even with ''Reincarnation''.


    That was something he had found out over time. There were wounds that ''Reincarnation'' didn''t fix directly. Instead, he would have to wait for them to heal like anyone else. These wounds were mostly connected with cultivating and not battle wounds. All of his battle wounds, which he had experienced until now, would always be gone after going through reincarnation.


    When he had first experienced it he realized that the skill wasn''t a safety net for every situation, allowing him to do what he wanted. No, he still had to be careful. Of course, dying in a controlled way could greatly help him.


    Having exhausted his mental strength he felt sleepy and since the women showed no sign of stopping their chat, he kept his eyes closed and let his thoughts drift away.


    Originally he had planned to stay awake and just let his thoughts drift awhile, letting his mental strength regenerate slowly. But who knew that not long after making that decision he fell asleep for real.

 191 Experiments are feared

    He was awoken by a kick against his shin. Although it didn''t hurt much it was enough to startle him awake.


    The first thing he saw when being awoken like that, was the disappointed eyes of his master. "How can you fall asleep like this?", she asked.


    "Um, sorry. I used up my mental energy.", he hurriedly told her. For him to fall asleep here was truly a bit rude. So apologizing was definitely the right thing to do.


    Hearing his response, the disappointment vanished from her eyes and was replaced by curiosity. "So what got you to use up your mental energy like that? Aren''t you normally very good at controlling it?"


    That was something she had found out while teaching him. Ivan had very good control over his mental energy and was always able to determine how much he had remaining and what he could use without impairing his thoughts. So for him to use it until he fell asleep like that, there should be an interesting reason for it.


    Ivan didn''t see any reason to hide it, so he readily explained, "I was experimenting with moving small amounts of energy in the surroundings around.


    You told us that it was dangerous for us to absorb any Qi here since it is to thick and the pressure is too high. So I thought that if I could manage to control just a tiny bit it might still be possible to absorb it."


    "Hoho. You got an interesting thought there.", suddenly another female voice sounded out and a young face appeared in front of Ivan''s face. "Normally people would always try to grab as much energy as possible, so for you to go the other way is quite interesting."


    It was the face of Miss. Klein''s master, whose name he still didn''t know, who had just appeared in front of him. She looked at him in interest, but her eyes made him feel nervous. It was as if she had seen an interesting specimen of an unknown animal and couldn''t wait to experiment on it.


    He instinctively tried to move backward but with the wall behind him, there was no space for him to move to. Her face came even closer and her eyes gave him the feeling that she was looking through him. Especially when her eyes became completely violet. As soon as they did he got the feeling that she had seen all his secrets.


    "Hey, Bea, you are always so lucky to find such interesting things. How about you give him to me?", she distanced herself from him and spoke to Miss. Klein.


    "I''d rather not. Who knows what you are planning to do with him. After all your experiments are feared by everyone in the sect for a reason.", Miss. Klein retorted.


    Her master was a genius in the area of pill refining and with her strong cultivation talent her strength too had reached highs, many would dream of. But if there was one fault she had, then it was the fact that she loved to experiment. And not every experiment of her would be successful. In truth, most of them would fail. And the way they would fail would be spectacular. So when she heard that she wanted to have her disciple her first reaction was to reject her master.


    It seemed like her master could clearly see through her thoughts. With a face filled with disappointment, she said, "What do you think of me. There is no way I would harm your disciple."


    Miss. Klein didn''t buy it, "Then what about the senior sister? Isn''t she still bedridden from that experiment you did on her?"


    "Umm...", there was nothing she could say. What happened to Miss. Klein''s senior sister had truly been one of her biggest failures. She had been so sure that the pill would work. Who could have expected that it would lead to such an end instead? The energy that had flooded her meridians had completely destroyed them. Now she could only lie in bed and hope for someone to find a way to repair them.


    Thinking about it, hadn''t she just found a solution? According to the sects records if a dragon accepted someone as his or her servant and transformed them into a Draconian then wouldn''t all old wounds be healed? Huhu, it seemed like this grand disciple of her would be the solution of more than one of her problems. Thinking this far she was even more determined to convince that disciple of her.


    "Isn''t he the solution?", she asked while pointing at Ivan.


    "Huh?", Miss. Klein asked with surprise. She didn''t see how her disciple could solve a problem like her senior sisters destroyed meridians. After all, all the medical elders in their sect had checked on her and had to admit that they were unable to do anything about it. The most they could do was to get rid of the pain, which the destroyed meridians would constantly emit.


    Seeing her disciples confused expression, the elder had to smile. Truly there was nothing more fun than to tease those little girls.


    "It seems that you don''t know much about your disciple. But who would be surprised? After all, the only thing you look at in anyone is the pill refining skill or talent." In fact, that was something that this disciple of her was famous for in the sect. She was completely blind towards anything not connected to pill refining.


    There had once been a famous, handsome, and rich man who pursued her. But when he admitted that he had no skill in pill refining everyone had told him to give up. Even his best friends who would normally support him in everything had told him that it was just a waste of time. But that man hadn''t accepted their advice. Instead, he had tried to win her over with rich gifts and his skills.


    But just as everyone had expected, it was in vain. She hadn''t even looked at him. Only telling him that he was a useless bum who wasn''t even able to refine the simplest pill. After that, at first, the guy had tried to prove her wrong but sadly he truly had no talent in pill refining.


    After wasting multiple years, just to learn to refine the simplest pill, finally, his father had beaten him up. Forcing him to stop with his useless pursuit.


    Ever since then she had been known as the ''Pill Fanatic''.


    So it couldn''t bee seen as that surprising that she knew nothing about her disciple besides that he was good at pill refining. Or to be more exact that he had talent in pill refining.


    Even now she just looked at her master in confusion, "Is there something else to know and look at?"


    Her master had already given up on changing her so she could only sigh resignedly and explain, "For you, I guess, no. But to others, there are other things that might be interesting, such as bloodline"


    "The bloodline is important? But it doesn''t make any difference from pill refining."


    This was the first time Ivan and Serge had seen their master like this. Before they had only talked about pill refining with her, so they never had experienced how weird she was in other aspects.


    They both looked at her in amazement unable to connect the picture of the current her with the seemingly knowledgable teacher and master in their mind.


    "Has she always been like this?", Ivan whispered at Serge.


    "I don''t know. I only asked her pill refining questions before.", Serge answered. His whisper was accompanied by a shrug of his thin shoulders.


    "Mm. Me too."


    Although that elder had said that she wanted him, he wasn''t that worried. He knew Miss. Klein and was sure that she wouldn''t let anything happen to him. And from her interaction with her master, it didn''t seem like she could be forced to give him up.


    "So what you want of him has something to do with his bloodline?", Miss. Klein asked, changing the topic. Although she was thick-skinned, she was annoyed by her master questioning her ability to look at anything that had nothing to do with pill refining. She loved pill refining, so why shouldn''t she fully focus on it? What had all the other things to do with her?


    "Yes.", her master was willing to change the topic as well. Although teasing her disciple was fun. It was important to do it in moderation. Only then would it keep its freshness and thrill. "His bloodline is a dragon bloodline, although I can''t exactly determine which one." She threw Ivan an angry look as if she was angry at him for having a bloodline which she couldn''t determine exactly.


    "Anyway, his bloodline is useful for two things. One it can help heal your senior sister''s meridians and it can help me breakthrough." She deliberately mentioned the healing issue first, since she knew that Bea had a close relationship with her. If she hadn''t mentioned it, she would have most likely directly denied her following request.

 192 Strengthen a bloodline

    "But I don''t think his bloodline is strong enough for that.", Miss. Klein directly voiced out her doubts.


    "Of course not. But that doesn''t mean that it is impossible to reach the goal. After all, there are ways to strengthen the bloodline."


    Hearing her words, both Ivan and Miss. Klein looked at her in surprise. Strengthening the bloodline was an important factor in increasing one''s strength. And it was correspondingly hard. Not only would one need a lot of time and energy to do so. Often it would also be necessary to consume certain materials to do so after a certain threshold was reached. This also seemed what had happened to the elder and she was now planning to use Ivan''s bloodline to improve her own and thus breakthrough.


    Seeing their skepticism, the elder smiled at them teasingly. Luckily she didn''t delay her explanation or Miss. Klein just might have hit her, just because of that smile.


    "Alright, don''t get angry.


    As you might know, there are different ways to strengthen a bloodline and extract it for different uses. The most common one is to strengthen the bloodline while raising the strength of the person carrying it and then having that person extract some blood essence."


    Everyone listening nodded. This truly was the most common way to do it.


    "Besides extracting blood essence it is also possible to use the natural way to give a bloodline to someone else, which is how children get a bloodline. For males, this is easier since it can be done with just enough sperm, while for women some eggs have to be removed.", she continued explaining.


    This was similar to Vital Qi and how it could be transferred. In fact, Vital Qi and bloodline were linked on a basic level, since Vital Qi always depended on the bloodline. This was something Ivan already had experienced when Celine had transformed.


    *I hope this won''t go in the same direction.* Sure everyone would be happy to have more beautiful women, but there was a point where it was enough for him.


    "Of course, strengthening Ivan''s bloodline in his body would take a lot of effort and I don''t want to wait so long. So instead we have to extract some of his blood essences and then strengthen this little bit. This will be much easier and cheaper to do, while still fulfilling our needs."


    "So how are you planning to do that?"


    "Well...", she hesitated before answering this question of her disciple, "Normally he would have to just give us some blood essence and I could then use my power and some medical materials to do the rest. But currently, that is impossible."


    "Huh? Why?", Miss. Klein asked in confusion.


    Unlike her, Ivan had a guess as to what could hinder that normal procedure. It should be what had happened during the situation with Celine and his injuries because of the Ancestral Soul. He currently was still damaged from this and he didn''t think that even if the obvious injuries vanished, that he would directly be able to do something like giving someone blood essence.


    And the elders next words confirmed his guess, "Because he is injured he is currently unable to collect any blood essence he could give me."


    "Oh.", Miss. Klein felt dejected. She truly had hoped for her senior sister to be healed soon. Her master making a breakthrough would have only been the cherry on top. But now it seemed like they would have to wait much longer for it to happen. As for why Ivan had such injuries, she wasn''t really interested. She truly didn''t care for much besides pill refining.


    She also wasn''t worried about him, since she knew that he must have understood his situation or he would have surely asked her for help. And since he didn''t seem to be worried, why should she be?


    Of course, her master wouldn''t have brought up this topic if she didn''t have an idea. She too knew that but she was sure that that solution would be more problematic, because if it wasn''t, then wouldn''t it be the common way to do things like this?


    "So, since this way is blocked we can only go with the natural way.", the elder said with glee.


    "Huh?", everyone exclaimed. None of them was dumb and with her explanation before they could easily understand that she meant using Ivan''s sperm to get some bloodline essence.


    Seeing her master''s proud look for coming up with the idea, Miss. Klein could only shake her head. Like herself, her master was completely clueless about the matters of men and women. During her long life, she didn''t even have anything like a boyfriend. Not to mention a husband or lover.


    Miss. Klein, on the other hand, had lived in the Realm of Mythelem, where such topics were much more openly discussed than in the upper realms. She thus had a bigger understanding of the workings of getting blood essence through this way.


    "I don''t think that will work.", she said while shaking her head.


    "Why not? He can just give us some of his sperm and then we will use medicine to boost the strength of the bloodline."


    Instead of trying to explain, Miss. Klein instead asked, "How much do you know about sperm, sex, and how it all works?"


    "Huh? Why do I have to know much about it? Isn''t it enough to know that sperm is used to create children and carries Vital Qi as well as a bloodline essence seed?"


    "Urgh. You should really read some books about it.", Miss. Klein said while shaking her head. It seems like her master was even more naive than herself. She at least knew about what it would mean to extract Vital Qi or bloodline essence from sperm.


    She knew that it was impossible to do this outside the female body. It was weird but if the sperm got into contact with the free air and wasn''t released inside a woman, the Vital Qi and the bloodline essence it contained would vanish into the same air.


    "You are right. I think I saw some books about it in the library.", her master happily exclaimed. As one could instantly see, she loved reading books. Or why else would the floor be filled with books?


    "Great, then I''ll first show my disciples around and you go and read up.", Miss. Klein told her. Hopefully, her master would have all the required information then and maybe just maybe she would even have a plan.


    "Come, I''ll show you the rest of the palace.", she told Ivan and Serge. Who instantly stood up and hurriedly followed her out. It was just too nerve-racking to stay in this room with that weird elder. Especially for Ivan who was the main target of her daring ideas.


    After they had fled from the room, they exhaled deeply.


    "Your master sure is weird.", Ivan commented.


    "Not really. She is just really naive and always focuses on her two hobbits only.", Miss. Klein responded. "But you have to be careful. Once she got an idea in her head she will always try to see it through."


    Ivan shuddered. He somehow didn''t want to become a guinea pig for that woman. Somehow he didn''t think that would be fun.


    "Alright. For now, let me show you around the rest of the palace.", Miss. Klein told them and then lead them towards some small places not far from the elder''s main place.


    Like before they had to walk and Ivan couldn''t help but ask, "Why do we have to walk everywhere? Isn''t there any kind of transportation system?"


    "No there isn''t. The only thing helping with moving around is the formation, which speeds up our travel. There are some reasons for this, such as keeping the sky clean, reduced danger, and the training by moving on foot. Of course, most disciples are of the opinion that all of these are only reasons given to calm the disciples and in truth, there isn''t any real reason for it, except to better display hierarchies, since elders are allowed to fly inside the sect.


    To be honest, I think that reason is more reasonable than the officially given ones."


    The guys had to agree with her. It truly sounded more reasonable and in line with how things usually went in this realm.


    "Right. Remember that everything you want to buy in the sect has to be paid with sect contribution points. They can be stored in the crystals inserted inside your robe''s sleeves. They work just like the bank cards back home.", she then explained to them. "Besides that, these crystals have also other functions, such as being the key to your room and serving as an identifier in general."


    They nodded. It wasn''t hard to understand the functions of these crystals. "But why are they multiple crystals and are integrated into the robe?", Ivan asked.

 193 Personal maid

    "Because they have to form a formation.", Miss. Klein explained. "To be honest a lot of things aren''t as comfortable here as back home. Things here are solved with a formation instead of crystal technology. That''s because nobody who can cultivate would want to waste their time on such stuff."


    When she said the last sentence there was understanding as well as sadness in her voice. It seemed like she understood this way of thinking but wasn''t all that happy about it. Or she had experienced something bad because of it.


    The two guys were surprised. They had expected that with their power, the cultivators in this realm would be able to drastically improve the living standard. But now they had to find out that it was even lower than in their lower realm.


    "Then the reason that everything seems so primitive is...", Ivan started the sentence but didn''t finish it.


    "Correct. Here the cultivators don''t care about the commoners. The difference is too large and with their long life spans, they will soon lose contact with the mortal world. So why would they waste time on them? They think their time is better used to improve themselves."


    "Wow, this sounds sad."


    "Well. To be honest it is also to the benefit of the commoners, or mortals as we call them. You know, even a low ranked cultivator can easily kill hundreds if not thousands of them. In cultivator''s eyes, mortals are nothing more than ants and in the best case a source of new cultivators and resources. So if they aren''t interested in mortals that not only means that they don''t do anything for them but also don''t mess with them."


    Meanwhile, they had reached the smaller palaces. They followed their teacher into one of them which had a sign with her name besides its entry. They were greeted by a couple of young women wearing maid uniforms waiting for them.


    "Welcome home Master.", they greeted Miss. Klein.


    "Hello.", she greeted back and waved at them to relax. After the young women had greeted her, a few older ones appeared. They greeted Miss. Klein with a lot more familiarity. Especially one of them.


    "What do you think, Master?", she asked. While hugging Miss. Klein. Her actions stood in stark contrast to the way she addressed Miss. Klein.


    "Hello, Grandma Si", Miss. Klein greeted her. From the address, it was clear that she too felt close to her.


    After letting go, she then introduced the other two, "These are my disciples Serge and Ivan. Make sure that they are comfortable and have someone explain everything."


    It seemed like she didn''t want to go through the hassle of explaining the daily stuff to them.


    She then turned towards them, "The next three days you can just go around and explore. After that, I will do a special training session until the meeting begins."


    She then turned around, "Ah. I''m going to take a long bath. There is nothing better after traveling than taking a bath. I recommend you''ll do so as well."


    With these words she left, leaving behind Serge, Ivan, Grandma Si, and the other maids.


    Both Serge and Ivan turned towards Grandma Si, fully knowing that she would be responsible for them now.


    Grandma Si smiled at them. "It is great to see Master taking in disciples.", she first said before introducing herself in detail, "You can call me Grandma Si and I work as the current housekeeper for Master Klein."


    "Clara, Tellia", she then called out two names.


    In response two of the young maids came forward and bowed.


    "The two of you will serve the Master''s disciples as personal maids, so make sure to take care of all their needs."


    "Yes, madam", they called out and once again bowed towards Serge and Ivan.


    With just a short look they seemed to have decided on who took care of whom as they both stepped further towards one of them until the stood directly in front of them.


    "Hello, Master. I''m Clara and I''ll be your personal maid from now on.", the girl in front of Ivan introduced herself. The other girl also introduced herself to Serge who looked confused. This was the first time he had to interact with servants and he didn''t know how to react.


    Grandma Si first nodded in satisfaction when she saw how the two maids she had trained managed to select their master without any problem. Then when she saw how Serge looked nervously he couldn''t help but grin.


    "Don''t worry if you don''t know how to handle servants. You will get used to it soon.", she told him. "Just follow her to the room and if she offers you something then decide if you want to do it or not. Don''t hesitate to impose your will."


    "Impose my will?", Serge asked confused.


    "Yes.", she nodded, "I guess you don''t have any experience with servants so you might not know what it means to have a personal maid. Basically she will take care of all your needs and I mean all of them, so you basically can''t do anything wrong."


    "Oh.", Serge still felt uncomfortable and didn''t really know what to do.


    Ivan wasn''t much better. He hadn''t had much experience with servants either. In fact, the only ones he had met before were Madam Tanner and Susan, both of whom couldn''t really be called classic servants like the maids here.


    The maids seemed to know what they felt so both of them took steps to make it easier for them. "Master, how about I show you to your room, and after that, I''ll prepare the bath for you to relax from the long journey.", both of them offered.


    Serge and Ivan were glad for them to take the initiative, so they both nodded gladly.


    Clara led him to a large room which contained a large bed, table, and seating area. One of the walls consisted completely of glass and opened to a small interior garden, which was beautiful and well cared for. It seemed to be the only room leading to the garden and there was a glass door providing access to it.


    The room only had three other doors. One was the door they had entered through while one was the door towards the bathroom. The last one was much more modest and seemed to nearly vanish in the wall texture. If one didn''t look at it nearly seemed to vanish.


    "Master, this will be your personal room from now on.", Clara introduced. "The garden is for your personal usage. You can relax in it and there is also an area reserved to growing herbs. If you spend sect contributions you can also have someone upgrade the space formations, increasing their size."


    "Their size can be increased?", he asked in astonishment. Sure back home in the alliance they also used space manipulation but it wasn''t that extravagant that they would do so for personal rooms.


    "Of course. But it will cost quite a lot.", Clara told him. Although she didn''t directly say it, she still managed to inform him that he would be unable to pay for it anytime soon.


    He nodded and she continued with the introduction, "Behind this door is the bathroom.", she pointed at the door which he had already guessed would lead to the bathroom.


    "And this is the door to my room.", she then pointed at the last inconspicuous door.


    He curiously asked, "Can I take a look?"


    "Of, course.", Clara responded, "Remember, I''m your personal maid so everything that I use is technically yours. The same with my body.", she calmly said these words. There was even pride in her voice and eyes when she said them.


    "Huh?", he was surprised. He had thought that she was just responsible for serving him. Now it seemed more like she was a slave.


    "A personal maid is someone who devotes everything for their master and takes care of all the his needs. In exchange, she will be taken care of and also gains a certain status. For example, now that I''m serving you, my status in this palace is just below Madam Si and whoever becomes Master Klein''s personal maid.", she explained.


    "Being a personal maid is a symbol of status for us servants. And it is also the highest we can reach in the sect since we can''t cultivate."


    "So it is only about status?"


    "Of course not. Just like everything else, there are also benefits.", she smiled at him. "The higher a servant ranking the better the benefits. For example, now that I have become your personal servant I have gotten my own room and I will also get some special pills."


    "I thought you can''t cultivate."


    "I can''t but there are many types of pills that aren''t for cultivations. For example, a popular pill for servants is these that keep the body young which also allows us to live longer. Besides although I can''t, my sister can and although she hasn''t entered the sect yet, I can get pills for her with my servant points.", Clara patiently explained.


    It seemed that just like disciples who could earn Sect Contributions, the servants too could earn points and exchange them for good for either themselves or their family members.

 194 Aqua

    "Thank you for the explanation.", Ivan thanked her. "Is there anything else I have to know?", he then directly asked her. She should know more than him what was necessary knowledge.


    "I don''t think there is much. Tomorrow I will show you around. The only thing you should be aware of is to not anger anyone. From your robe, it is clear that you are only an in-name disciple of the sect so your status is about the lowest it could be in the sect. So you should greet everyone you meet first. But I will tell you if there is something special you have to take note of."


    "Thank you.", he once again thanked her. It seemed like having her by his side during his stay here would truly make things much simpler.


    "Then I''ll prepare the bath, please wait here.", she told him before going into the bathroom.


    Curiously as to how she would prepare the bath, he followed her. From Miss. Klein''s words he had gotten the impression that the living standards were really primitive and the only solution to many things was formations. So how would Clara who couldn''t cultivate fill the bathtub and heat the water?


    Clara didn''t say anything to him not listening and instead of waiting, following behind her. She just silently did her work.


    The bathroom was dominated by a large Marmor bathtub. It had more than enough space for two or even three people to relax in it. Besides the bathtub, there was also an area to just wash up, which consisted of a table, a sink, and a mirror.


    The large bathtub was currently empty and while he was still wondering how she would fill it, she pulled out a small bag from somewhere. She then opened it and a small sea horse appeared above it. This sea horse was about ten centimeters high and had a beautiful blue color. It levitated in the air when it appeared and was able to move up to rub its face against Clara''s cheeks.


    In response, she smiled beautifully and too petted the sea horse. From their interaction, it was clear to see that they were close to each other.


    "Could you please fill the bathtub for me?", she asked in a sweet voice.


    The sea horse didn''t answer but under Ivan''s surprised staring, the bathtub instantly filled with water.


    "Thank you."


    After receiving another pet, the sea horse vanished and she closed the bag again.


    Sensing his curiosity, she then explained, "This is Aqua an Aquatic Sea Horse. Aquatic Sea Horses are a type of spirit beast that the sect raises. They are very useful since they don''t require much food and space but can summon up to twenty cubic meters of water with a temperature of up to 100 degrees Celcius.


    Many servants will get one since it removes the need for hauling water and it requires only one Servant Point each month in maintenance."


    "It sounds like something extremely useful.", Ivan agreed while thinking about whether or not to try to get one as well. But since he didn''t have any Sect Contribution Points at the moment this was a moot point to think about.


    Having finished preparing the water, Clara took out some fluffy towels from one of the cabinets and positioned them in arms reach from the tub. "Would you like me to help you wash, Master?", she then asked.


    This wasn''t something Ivan was used to so he politely declined her offer and waited for her to leave the room.


    Sinking into the warm water he could feel his body and mind relax. The water had the perfect temperature and she seemed to have added some oils which improved the effect even further.


    Because he had used up so much mental energy he had felt tired and stressed, but now he could relax while closing his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the warm water surrounding his body, giving him an extremely comfortable feeling.


    He didn''t know when he had fallen asleep but when he opened his eyes he found himself on his bed. "Seems like someone had to carry me to bed again.", he muttered while sitting up. This wasn''t the first time someone had done so. And it wasn''t the first time someone had to put his pajamas on him. He guessed that Clara had done so this time.


    He didn''t know how but he had barely gotten up when the door to the small side room opened and Clara appeared before him.


    "Master, good morning.", she greeted him with a bow, before going to a cabinet and pulling out a robe which she then carried over to him.


    "It is morning already?"


    "Yes. You have slept through the whole night.", she confirmed.


    "Oh." Well, it didn''t really matter. Even if he hadn''t slept until today, he wouldn''t have been able to do much yesterday anyway. Not with his mental strength exhausted.


    He quickly changed into his robes in front of Clara. Since she had already seen his naked body yesterday he didn''t think to do so mattered. Now that he was rested and felt full of energy he decided to go exploring. But first, it was time for breakfast.


    As if reading his mind, Clara said, "Master, the kitchen has already prepared breakfast. You can either eat in the canteen or I can get your breakfast."


    "Let''s go to the canteen.", Ivan decided. It would be interesting to see how the other disciples were.


    It wasn''t far from the canteen and they soon arrived at a hall that could easily fit tables for at least 500 people. But there were only around 200 available and behind many of the disciple seated on them stood either woman in maid uniform or man in a butler uniform. But while not every disciple had a servant with them, all the servants were standing and not eating.


    "Don''t the servants eat at the canteen as well?", Ivan asked in surprise. From his experience, he had somehow gotten the feeling that it was common for servants and masters to eat at the same time and table.


    "Of course not. We servants will either eat beforehand or later.", Clara explained.


    "So is there a rule against eating together?", he asked. He didn''t want to make a mistake and get into trouble. After all, he was only like a visitor here.


    "Technically no. But it is how it is commonly done."


    "Then let''s eat together next time.", he told her. He was unwilling to stand out here by eating together with her but this didn''t mean that he liked this differentiation and since there was no rule against it, he could just do it the next time in his room. "Let''s find a good spot in the garden to do it.", he then continued.


    He was unable to see it but behind him, Clara smiled happily. She had heard how others treated their personal servants and she was glad that her master seemed to be very affable.


    The food was nothing special and with nobody talking the breakfast was extremely boring. It seemed like everyone just saw it as a chore, which was necessary but undesirable.


    After leaving the canteen, Clara then showed him around.


    This complex consisted of many buildings that housed rooms just like his. These were the apartment buildings and they were arranged to surround a central block, consisting of a large plaza as well as some shared buildings.


    Some things had to be shared by all apartment buildings, unlike the canteen which was present in each of them. An example of such a shared space was public workrooms. While it was possible to install a workroom in your own room if you had enough Contribution Points that was, most disciples had to use the public workrooms. They were well equipped and using them only cost a small number of Contribution Points. One point would allow one to use any of the rooms for 24 hours. It used a charging system so it wasn''t necessary to use it for 24 hours at a time.


    "All the workrooms are equipped with Earthfire which can greatly help with refining materials.", Clara explained. She knew that he was a pill refiner, so telling him this information was useful. "But I don''t think you will be able to use them. They require a large amount of strength to control.", she then continued.


    "Besides the workrooms, there are also training rooms which provide simulated environments for training and cultivation rooms which have a higher energy density and can speed up cultivation. Both of them are much more expensive than workrooms."


    It made sense for them to be more expensive. The workrooms didn''t consume resources to function, besides the initial investment and the small amount needed to keep the Earthfire at bay. But the training rooms needed energy to maintain the simulated environment and the cultivation rooms would surely needed some resources for them to maintain the higher density of energy.

 195 Library

    But for now, all of that was of no use for him. Instead, he was more interested in three other buildings, which she hadn''t explained yet.


    "These buildings are the Library, the Quest Hall, and the Trade Hall.", she told him, before explaining them in detail. "The library contains all the information the sect has. They are stored in crystals and the general knowledge is freely available for disciples. I heard that skills and special knowledge require either tokens or Contribution points. The Quest Hall is the hub for taking and ending quests and the Trade Hall is where disciples can either trade with each other or the sect."


    To the current him, only the library was of interest. He didn''t have anything of worth to trade and he wasn''t able to finish any quests either.


    "Let''s go to the library."


    The two of them wandered over to the library. It was unlike one would expect. There were no books and also no crystals visible. Instead, there was only a row of counters behind which servants stood. There were also hallways going off into the distance with reading rooms on their sides.


    "You have to go and ask for what you would like to read about.", Clara explained how it worked.


    "So I only have to tell them the topic and they will find the relevant material? Can''t I search for myself?"


    "According to what I know, the sect introduced this system because this is a way to control the knowledge of the disciples. There is some knowledge that is dangerous to have if you aren''t strong enough. So the sect decided to take this approach to control the available knowledge."


    Ivan nodded. He understood that there was some knowledge that just having could be a problem. Sometimes knowing too much could either lead to danger from oneself as one would go down the wrong way because of being unable to understand one''s situation. Although this could be seen as a form of patronizing, it would also ensure that the sect could nurture many outstanding disciples and not have anyone but the geniuses die during cultivation.


    And besides the knowledge that was dangerous for oneself, there was also that, which others wouldn''t want you to possess. So if you did possess it, it could very well be that they tried to kill you if they became aware of it.


    Determined to test out this library he went over to one of these counters. Although the entrance hall was full, there were enough counters available, which made the waiting time very short.


    So after only waiting for a few minutes, he could talk to the servant behind the counter.


    "Hello, how may I help you.", the servant asked with an expressionless face. In fact, all the servants working in the library said the same words and had the same expressionless face, making him wonder if there was some form of training that thought them to act like this.


    Banishing these useless thoughts he asked for information on the topics he was interested in, "Hello, I would like information on basic pill refining, pill ranks, pill recipes, and herbs used for basic pill refining."


    The servant seemed to use his mind to connect to something since his eyes seemed empty for a short moment.


    "Please wait a moment.", he then asked before leaving to enter a room behind him.


    Ivan wasn''t able to see what he was doing inside but soon he came out again. He now carried a crystal card in his hands, which he gently put on the table.


    "Here is the information you requested.", he told him, while sliding over the crystal card. "According to the database, this is the first time you have made use of the library. Would you like an introduction, how to use the card?"


    "Please.", although Clara had told him that he could read it with his mind, a more detailed introduction wouldn''t hurt.


    "You will have to connect to the card with your mind and will then have to options. You can either read through the information. Basically it will appear on some kind of screen in your view field. This is useful to browse the information and find what you really need. The other option is to absorb the knowledge. For this, you will need to select a folder and it will then be transmitted directly into your brain. It is as if you have learned all the information before and you just have to remember it. The folders can be found through browsing."


    The second option seemed extremely useful to Ivan. It was as if he had already known the information and just needed to remember it. Wouldn''t that mean that he could practically learn all the information in a flash?


    While he was dreaming about instantly absorbing all the knowledge. The servants next words destroyed that daydream.


    "Directly absorbing knowledge will drastically exhaust your mental strength, so you should use it carefully.", he warned him.


    Ivan had already experienced the feeling of exhausting his mental strength yesterday, so he wasn''t willing to do it anytime soon again. Thus having received his warning he was thankful, "Thank you."


    "If you don''t need the information card anymore, then please return it to the library. You can just throw it into the box at the entrance."


    Although it didn''t cost anything if you didn''t return the information card, the library would still ask for it, since it was cheaper to recycle them than to get new ones. But they wouldn''t insist on it.


    After once again thanking the servant, Ivan left the library with Clara. He wasn''t planning to use one of the reading rooms. These seemed to be mainly used by those who had rented information on skills. They had a time limit and couldn''t be taken out of the library.


    Now that he had gotten a picture of the sect, Ivan decided to go back to his room. To be honest, walking around wasn''t that interesting. Everyone seemed to be focused on cultivating and improving. He had seen all these useful buildings but none that were solely for enjoyment.


    He couldn''t help but ask Clara about it.


    "Enjoyment is seen as a waste of time by most of the disciples. It is seen as something those that have given up, do. And not they, who are oh so hardworking.", there was quite some spite in her words. It was clear that she didn''t share these views. Or to be precise she thought that they were hypocritical.


    "You seem to think differently."


    "Of course. Enjoyment is a good way to relax and it can even help with cultivation. Besides if you see how they act outside the sect you would think that they have completely given up if you use their standards."


    "That bad?"


    "Yes. They often just play around while going out. And they often disregard the rules of the mortals as well."


    This seemed to be a sore point for her, as she continued to rant about their horrible behavior while outside the sect.


    While listening to her retelling tales of how disciples of the sect misbehaved outside Ivan reached his room. Only then did Clara seem to come back to her senses. "Oh sorry for going off to a rant."


    Ivan just shook his head, "No. It was entertaining and also gave me a lot of information."


    This was the truth. To really tell these tales it was also necessary to point out how things were in the mortal world, something he had lacked any understanding of. Now with her rant, he had a much better understanding than before.


    "Thank you for listening to my rant.", she smiled apologetically.


    "Did something happen to you or someone you know, or why are you so angry about it?", he asked curiously. For her to completely forget her position, it seemed like the topic had a large impact on her.


    "Mmm, my family owns a tavern, and one time a cultivator messed around there. Luckily nothing serious happened, but ever since then I just can''t stand their behavior outside. Especially towards mortals."


    "Oh, so that''s what happened. By the way, how come you call them mortals as well? Aren''t you technically also a mortal?", he asked his next question. Since she couldn''t cultivate, wasn''t she a mortal as well?


    "Yes and no. Although I can''t cultivate I''m a member of a sect so I don''t strictly count as a mortal.", she explained. "We servants who can''t cultivate are something in between. Neither cultivator nor mortals."


    It didn''t seem as if this mattered to her. "We are better off than mortals while also not having many of the problems of the cultivators."

 196 Cultivation Realms 1

    "Is there really no way for you to cultivate?"


    "There are ways. But who would waste the resources necessary on someone like us servants?", although her words may seem disgruntled, he tone only showed her acceptance of the fact.


    "So what exactly is the reason for you not being able to cultivate.", Ivan found the topic interesting and since she didn''t seem to have a problem talking about it, he curiously continued to ask her questions.


    "I''m like most people who can''t cultivate. My body can''t gather Qi and even if by some chance I absorb some I can''t keep it. Instead, it will diffuse into the surrounding. Thus I''m forever stuck at Pathway Refining, unable to enter the Qi Gathering Realm."


    "Then is there any way to change that?"


    "I''m not sure but I have heard rumors of two ways this has been changed before. One is by transplanting a bloodline into the body of someone unable to cultivate. But I heard that it is hard to find a suitable bloodline and even harder to find the right supplementary materials.", it was clear that she held no hope towards this method. "The other way is for the System to solve the problem. But I don''t have any clue as to how to do this."


    "So the System can solve it?"


    "Of course. It is universally accepted that there is nothing the System can''t solve. It is just a question of what would be necessary to get to do it. Or to formulate it in a better way. You have to get the right reward from the System or you will gain nothing."


    He had to agree with that. The System was capable of fully controlling the realms, so anything that could be solved with other methods should also be solvable by the System. But he also was aware that the rewards of a quest would depend on the difficulty of the quest. So for something seemingly as difficult as changing a mortal to a cultivator, the quest would surely be highly difficult. So how could someone unable to cultivate successfully finish it?


    The other method, transplanting a bloodline, should be something that only big families or powers would do if strictly necessary. The cost should be just too high.


    "Then are there any other methods, to get stronger.", this was something he was very interested in. He was currently also unable to absorb Qi, so other methods of strengthening were of huge interest to him.


    But her next words were sure to disappoint him, "Not really. Every known method of strengthening oneself requires one to absorb Qi and store it inside the body in one form or another."


    "Oh.", he looked disappointed, "So you don''t train anymore?"


    "No. I continue to use my training skill. Although I reached the limit of how far I can strengthen my body without storing Qi, using the skill will keep my body in the best state."


    While talking they had arrived back at his room. He decided to sit in the garden and look through the information he had gotten from the library. That and refining pills were what he planned to do from now on until the competition.


    "I''m going to read and practice, so feel free to do whatever you want.", he then told Clara. "Also you can use everything inside this room as you want.", the last sentence was something he told her since he felt that she would be more comfortable if she could just use everything inside the room, instead of only the things inside the small room which had been allocated to her.


    He had absorbed a small section about the rules after he had gotten the crystal from the library, so he knew that the servants usually had no right to use anything besides the things in their own small room, except to serve their master. Feeling that it was a waste he gave this offer to Clara, who with this could now relax while he did his own thing.


    "Then I''ll prepare the ingredients for today''s dinner.", she said before leaving the room again.


    Ivan let her do her thing and went into the garden. Although it wasn''t that big, it contained a terrace which had all the seating opportunities one could wish for. A bench, a couch, chairs, and sunchairs. Everything was positioned in a way that looked surprisingly harmonic and allowed a good view of the small green space, which was surrounded by trees and flowerbeds. They were arranged in a way that made the garden seem larger than it was, which was a great touch.


    Lying down on a comfortable chair, he took out the crystal card and started to scan the information contained in it.


    He started with the common knowledge, that he didn''t know about before or didn''t have a clear understanding of.


    Starting off with the cultivation realms. Although he knew a bit about them until now he didn''t have a comprehensive overview of them. But now, the crystal card contained the information about the Foundation Realm as well as how those Realms above were structured.


    The Foundation Realm was as the name said, the first and most basic realm. It also had the most complex structure, consisting of the three basic body refining realms as well as those creating the basics of Qi refining.


    The four basic body refining were, in order, the ''Flesh Refining Realm'' where one would refine the flesh and improve the cells composing the flesh and muscles. This was also the realm Ivan was currently in. Only upon reaching one thousand in all his stats would he be able to advance into the next realm, the ''Blood Refining Realm''


    In the ''Blood Refining Realm'', the blood would be refined and improved. The blood would then be able to transport more oxygen and energy to each part of the body, drastically improving stamina. Of course, with the additional energy, the cells would also be able to function better, once again improving all stats.


    From the ''Blood Refining Realm'', the stats wouldn''t be counted in the same way as before, instead, every thousand points would be called a pebble. For example, 1200 points in strength would be 1,2 pebble of strength. Anything less than a hundred wouldn''t even appear on the stat window.


    After each stat reached a thousand pebble, the ''Blood Refining Realm'' would reach perfection and be seen as finished, opening the way to the next level, the ''Pathway Refining Realm''.


    The ''Pathway Refining Realm'', was the realm where the pathways of the body would be refined. The arteries and the nerves were the focus. Besides once again improving the energy transport through sturdier arteries, the improved nerves would improve reflexes. Now stats were called stones, with a thousand pebbles being one stone.


    This muster would continue on with stones becoming boulders, hills, mountains, comets, asteroids, moons, planets, and so on.


    After the ''Pathway Refining Realm'', the body would be refined and improved to the maximum. The only thing left of where the organs wich couldn''t be refined in the same way.


    Now with the body fully refined, one would have reached the maximum a mortal could reach. This was a huge threshold at which many would be stuck. Only those that could reach the next realm would be called cultivators.


    And the journey of a cultivator would begin in the ''Qi Gathering'' realm. During this realm, the cultivator would slowly absorb Qi and gather it inside its dantian. There it would be stored in an invisible, intangible form.


    This Qi couldn''t be used directly but it could flow through the body to improve its performance drastically.


    A cultivator would continue gathering Qi until the dantian would appear to be full. At that step, the Qi had then to be compressed during the ''Qi Condensing Realm''. By compressing the invisible, intangible form, it would slowly condense into something akin to mist. A mist that was basically condensed energy and that could be emitted outside of the body and thus fuel all kinds of spells.


    The Qi mist would freely fill the dantian until it reached saturation and would rain down in the form of a liquid that would form a pool at the ground of the dantian. This would mark the entrance into the ''Foundation Building Realm''.


    The ''Foundation Building Realm'' focused on improving the foundation by increasing the quality of the Qi. For this, the liquid-like Qi in the dantian would go through many cycles of refinement until it was completely free of impurities, making it a clear see-through liquid. At least that was how it was supposed to work in theory. In reality, every cultivation technique would be incapable of filtering out all impurities. Instead, some types of impurities would be left behind, giving the Qi characteristic properties and color, depending on the technique.


    The types of impurities and the mixture would determine the class of the cultivation technique. Although there was no universally accepted standard of which color of Qi was the best, gold was always preferred over other colors. It seemed like humans just liked that color.

 197 Cultivation Realms 2

    In the end, when all the Qi inside the dantian has been refined it was time to once again increase the amount. This was called ''Foundation Strengthening'' and it would continue until the dantian was completely filled with Qi.


    During this time it wasn''t as simple as just absorbing Qi. It had to be directly refined with the cultivation technique or it could lead to instabilities in the foundation because of impurities.


    The ''Foundation Strengthening'' realm was also a realm where the natural talent had a huge impact on the results and the progress speed. The dantian was something seemingly intangible and its size could vary from person to person. The larger it was the more refined Qi would be necessary to fill it completely up and take the next step.


    And while a larger dantian meant that the cultivator would have a larger reservoir of Qi available, thus increasing the stamina during fights, it also meant that it would take longer to advance. The common view was that there had to be a balance between dantian size and Qi absorption speed. A balance that basically meant that the size of a dantian should be as large as the Qi absorption speed allowed.


    People with a low absorption speed should also have a smaller dantian, while those with a higher absorption speed should have a larger dantian.


    The combination of these two factors determines the talent.


    After having finished filling up the dantian came the next step. A step that was of huge importance, so one should only try it after having truly finished the ones before. While it wasn''t really possible to fail in the steps before, as long as one had even the slightest talent, it was different for the ''Core Formation'' realm.


    While the name might suggest that the whole realm focused on forming a core, in truth, forming the core was the step one had to tale to enter this realm. The rest was more of an initial strengthening of the core.


    To form the core, the Qi inside the dantian had to be compressed until it reached a solid form. This form would usually be round and look like a ball, but there were also other forms, which would be the result of special circumstances. During this progress, if the Qi wasn''t pure enough the core could shatter. This was a form of failure that would result in one forever failing to enter the ''Core Formation'' realm, making it a huge deal.


    After the core had been formed correctly, it could then be put into rotation, drastically speeding up the Qi absorption speed of the cultivator. This effect was useful for battle as well as cultivation.


    During the rest of the realm, the core would then be further stabilized and reinforced.


    After having reached a certain amount of stability it was then possible to carve runes onto the surface of the core. This could further strengthen the core and was the focus of the ''Core Strengthening'' Realm.


    Each core would have a different capacity for runes, depending on the purity of the Qi used to form it, the amount of Qi used, and other factors.


    After the core was fully carved with runes, it was time for the last major step in the foundation part. The forming of the nascent soul, to enter the ''Nascent Soul Forming'' realm. To enter the realm, it was necessary to use Qi extracted from the core to form a small nascent soul seed.


    During this progress, there were two main sources of failure. One was that the core was destabilized by pulling out too much Qi, which in the worst case could result in it shattering and one''s cultivation regressing to the ''Foundation Strengthening'' realm. And the other was the seed not forming, something that would result in the cultivator not being able to enter the ''Nascent Soul Forming'' realm.


    The second failure was more forgiving since it was possible to repeat the attempts. Of course, each attempt would permanently consume Qi form the core, thus weakening it. So it might be necessary to reinforce the core between attempts.


    After one had managed to form the nascent soul seed it was required to slowly nurture it. Form a seed into a baby into a child and finally into one''s mirror image. After one had reached this stage, one would have reached the end of the ''Nascent Soul Forming'' realm and one could begin to strengthen the nascent soul, resulting in entering the ''Nascent Soul Strengthening'' realm. A realm, that was the last of the foundation and also the last, which had detailed information contained inside the crystal card, Ivan had gotten from the library.


    There was also some information about the nascent soul and its uses. The nascent soul was basically a second you, that couldn''t leave the dantian. But it could cultivate and work on improving Qi. It was also capable of training skills, which would be synchronized with oneself. Basically it was like getting a second you, with slightly limited capabilities.


    Reading through the description of it, Ivan found it extremely similar to his ''Soul Divison'', skill. Both practically provided one with a second you, that could fulfill certain tasks. It was just that ''Soul Division'' seemed to work in a slightly different way, since it used the soul as the basis, while the nascent soul only contained Qi and awareness.


    He currently wasn''t capable of determining which one was more useful, but his gut feeling told him that it was the ''Soul Division'' skill.


    Now that he had gotten a good overview of the cultivation realms, he turned his focus onto other things. Such as the general geography around the sect and other general information. He was still browsing through the general information, reading whatever interested him, when a delicious smell wafted into the garden.


    The scent made him aware of the fact, that it had already become evening. Looking at the time it wasn''t hard to guess that it had been Clara who had cooked and thus created the delicious smell.


    "It seems like she is a great cook.", Ivan muttered to himself.


    Following the delicious scent, he entered his room and as expected, his table was filled with food. When he entered, Clara was just carrying over the last bit.


    "You are here, Master. Come and please enjoy the meal.", she told him respectfully.


    She didn''t have to say it twice since she had barely finished speaking when Ivan had already sat down on the table. Eating delicious food was something he really loved. And judging by the smell, this food should be very delicious.


    "Today I made ...", Clara started to introduce the food she had made, when Ivan interrupted her, "Don''t tell me. It is more fun to try it out." He then pointed towards the seat opposite to him, "Come sit down and eat."


    Since he had already told her about eating together in the morning, she had already prepared a set of tableware for herself. Not willing or motivated to go against him, she sat down as well and both of them started eating.


    The taste of the food was just as the smell promised, delicious. He fully focused on enjoying the taste of the food, even ignoring the weak energy that appeared inside him, when he ate it.


    She had prepared a lot of food since she was unsure of his preferences and even with their healthy appetite, they were unable to finish it all. Ivan too wasn''t choosy and he tasted everything she had prepared, finding everything delicious.


    "Wow, this was awesome.", he said, while patting his full stomach.


    "Thank you."


    "What are you going to do with rest?"


    "Usually the servants will get the leftovers.", she explained. She too had leaned back satisfied. She had eaten even more than him and it was clearly visible that she had relaxed the way she acted around him.


    "So the servants only get to eat leftovers?"


    "Not really. Everyone is always happy if there are leftovers. After all the food for the disciples is made of better quality materials. You should have felt some energy entering you when eating right?"


    Although he had ignored the fact, Ivan had still felt it, so he nodded.


    "This energy is a result of the materials used. All of them contain energy and are of a completely different tier than usual ingredients. And these ingredients are only used for the disciple''s food since they are much more expensive than normal ones."


    "Oh, so the leftovers also contain energy which is beneficial for the servants as well.", Ivan understood where she was going.


    "Correct. This makes the leftovers extremely desirable. "


    Ivan looked at the large spread of dishes on the table and asked, "Then is there a problem with you cooking so many different dishes?" After all, these dishes should have used up a lot of ingredients.


    She shook her head, "Not at all. Each disciple has a certain amount of ingredients available each month and with you only staying for a short time, there is no problem with wasting some."

 198 Competition 1

    "Then when I leave, the contingent would be set to zero?"


    "No. The contingent is independent of you being here or away. Once you have become a member of the sect, even if it is only in-name, then you will be a member until you die and you will always have the things available that you are entitled to according to your rank and position."


    "So they would go to waste when I''m not here?"


    "Not really. They just will be used somewhere else."


    "So can''t you use them?"


    "That wouldn''t be a good idea. These things are prepared for the disciples and if they were used by the servants it would be seen as a waste. Eating together and eating the leftovers is fine, but especially preparing stuff for us servants would lead to problems."


    "Oh.", although Ivan was slightly disappointed, he accepted it as being the standard here. If not, he would have given all these things to her, after all, he couldn''t use them.


    They continued eating their food before Clara went and did the dishes, while Ivan once again started reading. There was still a lot left for him to read through.


    The following days were spent just like that. He continued trying to reduce the amount of Qi he could control, he read through the information he had acquired from the library, and he practiced his pill refining. He would also eat the delicious food Clara made and use the opportunity during the meals to talk with her.


    Through these talks, he could collect a lot of knowledge that wasn''t contained inside the library information, since it had a different viewpoint. The library information was mostly from the point of a disciple or cultivator. It didn''t really look at things from a mortal perspective. After all, everyone who would read them would be a cultivator.


    His preferred place for reading was in the comfortable chair in the garden. And after a few days, Clara started to copy him. It seemed like now, that she had become his personal maid, she didn''t have as much to do as before anymore. And in order to always be ready to serve him, she had decided to use her free time to either research new dishes or to read entertainment literature.


    They leisurely spent their time together, only interrupted by the lessons given by Miss. Klein to Ivan and Serge. Until finally, it was time for the competition to be held.


    That morning, Ivan woke up as usual. This was followed by the usual breakfast and then he got ready to leave to meet with Miss. Klein and Serge.


    "I don''t know when I''ll be back, so you don''t have to wait for me.", Ivan told Clara who nodded in response.


    MIss. Klein hadn''t told him the complete format of the competition but it seemed like it might last a long time, depending on how far he could come.


    Miss. Klein had told them to meet at the entrance to the place, so he waited for her there. He had arrived first, but it didn''t take long for Serge to arrive as well.


    After a casual greeting, the two of them stood in silence beside each other, waiting for their master.


    They had to wait until the meeting time had already passed for more than half an hour when finally their master appeared.


    "Sorry guys, my master delayed me.", she apologized, while looking exasperated.


    Both of them nodded in understanding. During their stay, this had happened more than once. Their grandmaster seemed to really love their master''s companionship and always delayed her from coming to their lessons.


    "Alright, let''s get going. I have already registered you, Ivan, so later you will automatically enter the competition.", she told them while starting to walk towards the center of the sect. She then continued on, "During the competition, you will enter a virtual room, where you have to solve the problems presented to you on a display. There will also be detailed instructions on how it works, so if you don''t have to worry about the formal stuff."


    "There are also two other screens, one for requesting materials and one for inputting an answer or a result." She had already participated in the competition more than once, so she was familiar with how it worked.


    "The most important thing is to remain calm and not to make mistakes because your rushing too much.", she gave him a final tip.


    "As for you Serge, you will have to assist me during the competition, so it will be even simpler for you. Just follow my orders and you will be fine."


    "So what are the rewards?", Ivan asked a question after she had finished lecturing them on how the competition would run. He was sure that there were rewards, because who would participate if there weren''t? It was just that their master had never talked about them.


    "Well it''s unlikely that you will get any, but I''ll tell you about them anyway.", their master''s response was quite cruel, although realistic. Ivan was well aware that compared to the disciples of the sect who focused on pill refining, he wasn''t that knowledgeable about pill refining. This was something that had been made abundantly clear when he had read the information on the crystal card. But understanding the fact and having been told it by his master was still something entirely different.


    "So your biggest reward will be the opportunity to practice. The virtual room is usually extremely expensive to use, so this is a great way to practice pill refining without having to care about the price of the materials. Because rarer and more complex ingredients are more energy consuming to simulate it won''t be possible to request everything but those relevant for the test can be requested multiple times. So make use of this opportunity to practice refining them."


    So basically his master was asking him to make use of the opportunity to practice. This made him wonder if this didn''t go against the spirit of the competition. But oh well, who cared? As long as this could help him improve, he was more than willing to do something like going against the spirit of the competition.


    "Of course, there are also tangible rewards if you reach a high enough placing. But those only start at rank 1000. Those below don''t get anything but the experience of participating. Form rank 1000 there will be packets that can contain materials, tools, or recipes. Those packets are random."


    It sounded unusual to Ivan. It didn''t seem as much as a clear reward, but more like a loot box, one would be rewarded, with luck making up the real determiner for your reward.


    As if she was reading his mind, his master turned towards him and grinned, "The elder responsible for the competition loves to do things like this. He even named the rewards, ''Normal Loot Packet'', for those rank 1000 to 100, ''Great Loot Packet'' for 99 to 10, ''Excellent Loot Packet'' for 9 to 2 and ''Bombastic Loot Packet'' for the one in the first place."


    When Ivan and Serge heard the name of the loot packet for the first place, they couldn''t help but laugh out loudly. This name was just too ...


    Really there were no words to describe the feeling of coming to know that the best rewards for a competition of this dimension were named ''Bombastic Loot Packet''.


    After they had calmed down again, Serge asked curiously, "Wow, and nobody has ever had a problem with this style?"


    Miss. Klein shook her head, "Who would dare? The elder responsible is one of the strongest cultivators in this realm. So who would risk getting into trouble with him, just because of something like the name for the reward of a competition? After all, although the names are a bit unusual, the possible content of these packets is really good. So everyone just accepts it."


    This was how the world worked. As long as you had the power, you could do whatever you want.


    "Master, you participated in the competition before, right?", Serge asked.


    "Yes. And I even managed to get into the top 500.", she said proudly.


    "Top 500?", Serge asked in surprise. He looked at Ivan who too looked surprised. Unconsciously, they had expected her to do much better. After all, she seemed to be one of the best pill refiners in the sect, so how come, that she had only reached the top 500?


    As if reading their minds once again, she answered their silent question, "The competition isn''t only for members of our sect. Other sects also participate and one of them is fully focused on pill refining. They usually hog all the top places for themselves.


    And besides that, compared to most of the other top participants I''m still young."


    Pill refining was a path without an end. Even the most basic pill, could if enough knowledge, skill, and experimentation was invested, reach unprecedented highs. Of course, just about nobody would invest so much into the basic pills. Making a higher grade pill could provide the same effects, just much simpler and often cheaper. Although the lower prize came from the materials needed for the experiments and not the crafting of the pill. The materials to craft the pill would most likely be much cheaper but development costs would increase the comprehensive price extremely.

 199 Competition 2

    When they arrived at the venue of the competition, which was a large plaza at the center of the sect, there were already many others who had arrived. But as if cursed by bad luck, when they just wanted to enter the plaza, they met another group having the same composition as theirs.


    In the front was a young woman who looked extremely seductive. She had opted to wear a red dress instead of the commonly found robes, and the dress not only hugged her figure but also left many parts of her skin visible, covering mainly the important parts and nothing else. You wouldn''t be wrong to call it half seethrough.


    She was also wearing red high heels and her small feet provided a great contrast with their whiteness against the red of the heels and the nail polish. Her black hair was also carefully draped and fixated with a red hairpin.


    Her outfit may seem slutty on someone else but surprisingly she managed to wear it in a way that screened seduction but still maintained a feeling of distance, of unreachableness.


    Wherever she walked, the eyes would follow her, but nobody would dare to step forwards to talk to her. Something Ivan thought was an amazing feat. One had to know that even with his immunity towards beauty, originating from being surrounded by beauties most of the time, he couldn''t help but look at her.


    Behind her two young men followed along, who even though they could be called handsome were clearly overshadowed by her and functioned more like a backdrop, highlighting her even more.


    When Miss. Klein saw her two disciples staring at that woman, she humphed coldly, breaking them out of their reverie.


    Surprisingly the woman came to a stop before Miss. Klein and spoke to her.


    "I see you are the same as usual Bea. Your helpers are just as unique as usual.", although her words didn''t seem that problematic, her tone and facial expression made it clear that she was looking down on Ivan and Serge. Or maybe she just wanted to strike at Miss. Klein and that was why she said that.


    Of course, compared with the two guys behind her, Ivan and especially Serge couldn''t compare in the looks department. But neither of them felt hurt by her. They both didn''t care much about their looks.


    "Oh hello, Serene. I see you are the same as always as well. Only looking at the outer appearance while ignoring what''s on the inside.", Miss. Klein responded while looking at the two men in disdain.


    Unlike Ivan and Serge who had stayed calm and hadn''t said anything, the two men behind Serene didn''t do the same. Both of them got angry and the one on the left even opened his mouth, "You..."


    Before he could even finish, or even really start whatever he wanted to say, a glare from Serene shut him up.


    Miss. Klein shook her head as if disappointed, but her voice was gloating, "It seems like you haven''t trained your little helpers this well yet."


    Since Serene couldn''t refute it, she could only choose to ignore it. Thus she acted as if nothing had happened, "We will see about that." She had carefully chosen her helpers for today. Not only were they very handsome but they also were quite skilled in pill refining. She had checked up on the two behind her opponent and she had found out that they had just come from a lower realm, so how good could they be? They didn''t even have Qi fluctuations around them.


    "Oh, so would you dare to make a bet?", Miss Klien asked. She was clear on how good Ivan was at pill refining. She reckoned that he should be better than either of the guys behind Serene.


    "A bet? You would dare to bet with that disciple of you?", although Serene''s word where full of mockery, one could see some uncertainty in her behavior. Ivan guessed that she should have made bets with Miss. Klein before and from her behavior they didn''t go well.


    "Of course. They are my disciples so why shouldn''t I bet on them.", Miss. Klein announced proudly, "Don''t tell me you don''t trust yours?" The last sentence was clearly designed to infuriate her, so she would accept the bet. And even if she didn''t, Miss. Klein would have managed to create a rift, however small between Serene and her disciples.


    And predictable, Serere laughed out and said, "Of I course I dare. Let''s bet on whos disciple gets the higher place." She also proposed a simple condition for them to bet on.


    Miss. Klein didn''t hesitate to agree to the bet, "Alright. But what are we betting on? How about you bet that pill recipe you got not to long ago? That for the ''Chasing Sun Pill''?"


    The ''Chasing Sun Pill'' was a rare high-grade pill, whose recipe was extremely expensive. While many pill recipes were readily available on the market, with the low-grade recipes even being public knowledge, the higher grade pills would often be worth so much, that the creators would be unwilling to just share the recipe. And anyone else who got the recipe would be unwilling as well. After all, sharing the recipe could reduce the income one could generate from the pill. Or it could destroy an advantage one had.


    So these pill recipes were traded for a high price. Some couldn''t even be gotten with just money. These recipes were often protected by a system block, which ensured that only a person who had the recipe could refine the pill and the recipe couldn''t be replicated. So it was impossible to just write it down for someone and allow that person to learn it.


    Those recipes often had a master recipe that could create new recipes, which were either bound to a person and could then be used by only this person. Or they could be transferred, the recipient would then be able to refine the pill, while the former owner would lose the ability to do so.


    This could ensure a strong control over the pill recipe. And it was something that was the case with the ''Chasing Sun Pill''. The recipe couldn''t be bought for money but it was sometimes rewarded for complicated tasks issued by the Sun Sect.


    Serene had successfully finished such a task and gained a transferable recipe for the ''Chasing Sun Pill''. She had then proudly boasted about it, which was why Miss. Klein knew about it.


    Although during the years quite a few recipes had gotten into circulation, it was still a valuable recipe. So for Miss. Klein to make it the object of the bet made it clear how sure she was about Ivan winning the be.


    Ivan had seen the recipe mentioned somewhere in the information he had read, so he knew about its value, and his master is willing to do a bet like this, made him feel proud. And he was also extremely motivated to win the bet. From his understanding of his masters personality, if he won, he would receive something great as well.


    Sadly Serene rejected the offer. "No way. The recipe is worth too much for me to bet on." Miss Kleins taunt beforehand wasn''t able to shake her mind. She retained her rationale. She had fought with Miss. Klein for a long time now and she knew that this woman wouldn''t take to much of a risk. And her putting the bar so high for their bet made it clear that she didn''t have the feeling that she was risking so much. So the only other option was, that she was sure in her victory.


    Serene didn''t know about Ivan''s level of pill refining and she wasn''t able to calculate it either. But she knew that Miss. Klein herself was a monster and she demanded of others to be the same as well. Back then someone had asked Miss. Klein if she could become her disciple. In the end, the harsh words she had received were enough to send her packing and fully focus on something else than pill refining.


    Even her students, who had fewer requirements than the disciples were ofter pushed towards the brink of insanity by her requests.


    The combination of these facts made Serene unwilling to make the bet. "Let''s just have a fun completion and not be so serious about it."


    But while she wanted to defuse the situation and pull back from the bet, the man who had spoken before didn''t think the same.


    "If you don''t want to bet, then I''ll do it.", he announced proudly, while pulling out a crystal card.


    Everyone looked at him in surprise. Since his master had pulled back, shouldn''t he do the same?


    Serene glared at him in embarrassment. These guys weren''t really her disciples. They were just her students but it was still shameful for one of her student to speak like this.

 200 Competition 3

    "Sorry, but I don''t have anything to bet.", Ivan tried to refuse him.


    But the other man either didn''t understand his intent to defuse the situation or he just blatantly choose to ignore it. So instead of gracefully accepting his refusal, something that if done right could make him appear in a good light, he started to mock him instead.


    "Hah, so you don''t even have anything of worth. Aren''t you just a poor worm.", he said derisively. "How did you even become her disciple if you are unable to afford anything?"


    Now that he had gone that far, Ivan had lost any reason to hold back. Serene also had turned away from that guy, a clear indicator that she didn''t want anything to do with him anymore. Him going against her like this had clearly enraged her. And although she had chosen to hide it, this didn''t mean that she would forgive him. So even the last straw to hold Ivan back had been broken.


    "Oh, so you have only become something because of money? I guess it is true that whatever the talent, as long as one just throws enough resources on it, it may become something one day.", he shot back. Clearly indicating that that guy had only become what he was now because of money and not talent.


    But what was out of his expectation was that the guy just owned it, "So what? I have money and that''s my talent. And I know how to spend it effectively. Now I am something, but you? Even if by some miraculous circumstance you have got some talent you are still poor and unable to advance. Just look at you. Even at your age, you didn''t even reach the Foundation Building stage. Aren''t you ashamed of yourself? And you call yourself a talent? In my opinion, you are just a boy toy your master has taken in to satisfy her lust.", his words managed to enrage just about anyone around him.


    Miss. Klein and Serge were enraged because of him calling Ivan a boy toy and indicating that she had only taken him in to satisfy herself. And Serene was enraged because that guy had just made everything worse. If he didn''t know anything, then why would he talk? Just because he wasn''t aware of them coming from that lower realm, he mocked them because of their cultivation? Didn''t he know that someone that could become an in-name disciple of a sec like the Rose Sect would not be a weak talentless anybody?


    A sect of that size would always have a good reason to take in someone like this. How stupid could someone be to think that they would just accept someone who was talentless? Even if he was the boy toy of an elder, it would be impossible. And Miss. Klein wasn''t even an elder.


    She fought the desire to hit that guy herself. Instead, she distanced herself even further from him, by increasing the space between them. Her action screamed, "Hey, look. I don''t have anything to do with this crazy guy anymore."


    Ivan too was enraged, "Oh, so you have something great to use as collateral for a bet?"


    Since his master was confident in him, then there was no reason to not be confident in himself. Just look at how he would milk that guy.


    "Of course.", the man proudly proclaimed and took out something that looked like an old root.


    "This is?", Ivan asked confused. He hadn''t seen anything like this before. He guessed that it should be an expensive ingredient but he didn''t know what exactly.


    The man snorted and once again looked at him in disdain, "How could you not recognize the ''Old Retient Galllow Root''?"


    Now that he had spoken out the name of this root, Ivan knew what it was. He just hadn''t recognized it because it looked different from the image he had seen in the information. Taking a closer look he understood the reason for it. The root in the image had been a fresh one, while the one being held up by that man was a dry one.


    Although a dry root would have lower effectiveness than a fresh one, for rare things like this root it was already impressive to own a dry one.


    Of course, it was still nothing to experienced pill refiners such as Miss. Klein and Serene. But for people like Ivan and Serge, it was great material for refining lower-ranked pills which could increase cultivation speed. The ''Old Retient Galllow Root'' was very useful to create pills, which could increase the absorption rate of energy by the cells. It was thus one of the main ingredients for many body refinement pills.


    Going through the information he had on it, Ivan realized that he also had a pill recipe making use of the root. So for him, getting the root could be seen as something fortunate. The question now was if he had something of similar value for the bet.


    Seeing his troubled look, the man once again snorted in disdain. But he didn''t interrupt his thoughts. Clearly he was waiting for him to admit that he didn''t have anything of similar value. Then he could once again mock him and take out something of a lower value. Once again striking his weak point.


    But he was destined to be disappointed. Although Ivan truly wasn''t rich, something like the ''Old Retient Galllow Root'' was still within his means.


    He carefully pulled out a fresh grass from his ''Herb Ring''. Although it wasn''t possible for herbs to grow in this kind of ring, it would still keep the herbs stored inside fresh. This grass was a ''Blue Veined Snake Grass''. Something he had found by luck during his last adventure into the mountains. Although its value was below that of ''Old Retient Galllow Root'', it was still fresh, so its value should be extremely similar to the dried root the other man had presented.


    "Then I''ll bet this fresh ''Blue Veined Snake Grass''.", he announced. This grass was the most valuable herb he had in his possession and if not for his master''s confidence in himself, there was no way he would have taken it out. Before they had come to this realm he hadn''t known of its value and he had only assumed that it was a slightly mutated version of a more common grass. Only after reading through the information provided by the Rose Sect had he realized its true value.


    While the ''Old Retient Galllow Root'' was especially useful for the body refining stage, the ''Blue Veined Snake Grass'' was more focused on the ''Qi Gathering'' stage and above. It too was a herb that could be used as the main ingredient for a cultivation pill. But this pill would simply speed up the absorption of Qi from the surroundings. It was hard to say which pill was more useful but the one refined from the ''Blue Veined Snake Grass'' could theoretically be used at any cultivation above ''Qi Gathering''. Of course, for those with higher cultivation, the increase in the absorption rate would be nothing more than a drop in a bucket or even lake. Completely negligible.


    But this long term use made the pill at least as expensive as the on refined from the root, even though the effect was slightly weaker.


    "This is a fair bet.", Miss. Klein announced and Serene nodded in agreement. Although she didn''t like Bea, she was at least an honest person, so she wouldn''t lie about something like this.


    Seeing Ivan pull out a herb of similar value and having his teacher and Miss. Klein agreed on that fact, the man had to swallow the scolding words he had already prepared. How had this country bumpkin gotten his hands on something this good?


    "Then let''s both give our herbs to my teacher and the one who gets the higher placing will get both of them.", he proposed.


    Ivan sneaked a glance at his master and seeing her nod he carefully gave the herb in his hands to Serene. Unlike what he had expected, she didn''t directly put away the grass but instead carefully studied it first.


    She then nodded, "Not bad." Turning towards Ivan she smiled at him. This was the first time she had shown him a friendly smile, surprising him, "How about you become my disciple?"


    He stared at her in surprise, as did the others. Everyone except Miss. Klein who seemed to instantly understand her thought process. She didn''t say anything, instead, waiting for Ivan''s response.

 201 Competition 4

    Ivan neither agreed nor rejected. He was aware that it wasn''t an offer easily made, so rejecting it would be unwise. Not only because it could slight Serene but also because it could mean that he would miss a great opportunity. And just agreeing wasn''t smart either. He didn''t even know the reason she wanted to make him her disciple. It seemed to have something to do with the herb he had given her, but that was all he knew.


    But before he could think more about it an angry voice interrupted his thoughts. "Teacher, how could you ask someone like him to be your disciple?", the voice belonged to that annoying man who had insisted on having a bet with him.


    "Shut up!", Serene reprimanded him, "Haven''t you ridiculed yourself enough yet?"


    Knowing that he wouldn''t agree that easily, she then turned back towards Ivan and started to explain. "From the way you have handled this herb, I can see that you didn''t know what kind of herb it was when you harvested it. But even so, you managed to nearly perfectly conserve all its medical effects. This isn''t something that can be done just by learning. Instead, it requires a certain talent.


    Unlike your master Bea here, I don''t really focus on pill refining. It is more of a side hobby for me. Something I picked up to improve my true passion which is growing herbs."


    Miss. Klein nodded. "She is truly talented in this area. Still, her talent in pill refining sucks.", although she agreed with the part about herb growing, she also took the opportunity to strike her opponent.


    Ivan was slightly surprised to hear her speaking out for Serene. Did that mean that she thought he should accept the offer? No, he shouldn''t just accept the offer like this. As mentioned before, taking a master was something important so he shouldn''t make the decision hastily.


    "Could you let me think about it?", he asked carefully.


    "Of course.", Serene agreed. She too knew that it wasn''t something that should be done hastily. If she didn''t have such a good understanding of Bea she too wouldn''t have made an offer like this so soon after meeting. But since that girl had accepted him as a disciple, that could only mean that his personality was good enough.


    "How about I come with you to your realm, when you leave? Then I can start teaching you about herb cultivating and you can make your decision better.", she then offered to everyone''s surprise.


    "Don''t you have anything to do?", Miss Klein asked her. There was a slight annoyance in her voice. But it seemed like she was a bit happy as well.


    "Not at all. And it isn''t like anyone can say anything about it.", Serene responded, before grinning at Miss. Klein, "Don''t tell me you don''t want your aunt to visit you."


    "Hmpf, who is my aunt."


    "Huh?", everyone exclaimed. None of them would have guessed that they were related, seeing how they had gone against each other as soon as they had met.


    "What can''t members of a family fight each other?", Serene asked.


    Everyone hurriedly shook their head. No wonder their interaction had been a bit weird. It wasn''t really as if they were foes. There hadn''t been any true hostility shown. But everyone had only thought that it was because they were rivals.


    "But they look completely different.", Ivan lightly murmured to himself.


    He hadn''t even finished, when a death stare focused on him. "Did you say something?", his master asked him in a sharp voice.


    He hurriedly shook his head. "No, I didn''t say anything."


    "Oh? Is that so? I could have sworn I have heard a certain someone say that I look very different from her. Don''t tell me you think I''m too small to be her relative?"


    Ivan shook in fear. Normally Miss. Klein was very nice. But there was something she was sensitive about and that was her size. Anyone who mentioned it in front of her was sure to receive her anger.


    Luckily the sound of a bell stopped her from really lashing out against him. But he knew that she wouldn''t forget the words he had murmured in his astonishment that easily.


    The sound of the bell rang through the whole area and with the third ring, the participation tokens lit up. On the fourth ring, the sight before Ivan''s eyes completely changed.


    He now stood in a room, which was just as his master had described. On the screen in front of him, a row of words appeared. "Welcome to the Pill Refining Competition."


    The row then vanished, only to be replaced with a counter, counting down from sixty. Ivan knew that it was counting down until the start of the competition. Although it wasn''t truly necessary for everyone to start at the same time, for the sake of the observers it was done like this.


    At another avenue, many large screens lit up at the same time Ivan and the others appeared in the virtual rooms. These large screens displayed the inside of some of the rooms. They were currently focused on the highest placed contestants of the last competition.


    "Welcome, everyone to the Pill Refining Competition.", a female voice, that was cold and clear as water sounded out.


    The avenue which was filled with cultivators quieted down at the sound of her voice. Although the owner of the voice hadn''t appeared, she had managed to pull all attention to herself. Or to be exact to the screens hovering in the air.


    "Let the competition begin.", the voice sounded out again as soon as the countdown in the rooms had run down. This was also everything she said. The competition didn''t have anyone commenting. Instead, everyone had to use either their own knowledge to understand what was happening or find together in a study group.


    Throughout the avenue, there were many smaller groups, which surrounded smaller screens, where one person was commenting on what was happening on the screen, while the others were attentively listening. It was a rare opportunity to see higher skilled and ranking pill refiner in action.


    In his small room, Ivan was confronted by the first question. It was a fundamental question.


    "The purity of a pill is defined by which factors?"


    Although it was a fundamental question, this didn''t mean that it was easy to answer. The most basic and easiest answer was, that the number of impurities in the pill defined the purity. But this answer wasn''t complete. Because even with a number of impurities, a pill could be called perfectly pure. This was because an impurity didn''t necessarily reduce the medical effect of the pill.


    So was the purity of the medical effect the best factor for determining the purity of a pill? Not at all. To craft a pill of a certain rank, it might even be necessary for the medical effect to be impure. This was because a medical effect that was too pure could lead to too much energy contained in the pill.


    It could thus be said that although the basics of this question were simple, to truly answer it wasn''t easy at all.


    This was also the reason for the question of asking for multiple factors. That was because just one wasn''t enough. Instead a combination of factors had to be used. Not only the two mentioned before but also some others, such as pill structure and pill aura.


    The following questions were the same. They were questions on fundamentals. Some of them simple while others were exceedingly complex.


    During this part, the first participants had answered five questions wrongly. They were then thrown out of their respective rooms. They had failed in the competition. They would later be ranked according to the number of correct answers and the time used. But all of them would be at the lowest end of the ranking.


    And if they came from a sect focused on pill refining they would definitely be punished. To already lose during the fundamental section was seen as a shame for those coming from these types of sects.


    In fact, most of those who had already lost where cultivators which didn''t have an orthodox understanding of pill refining. They were wandering cultivators who hadn''t come into contact with real pill refiners and were mostly self-thought.


    Of course, there was also the occasional disciple of a sect, who had gotten an answer wrong. Mostly this happened because they had been too nervous to think straight. They had let their mind defeat them.

 202 Competition 5

    The foundational questions were then followed by questions concerning low-ranked grade 1 pill. This would then be followed by refining the pills before increasing the rank or grade. This pattern would be used throughout the competition.


    It was easier and more efficient to first weed out those who didn''t even have the theoretical knowledge before letting them refine the pills.


    Simulating pill refining cost much more than just asking some questions. And since the formation would consume massive amounts of energy it was much cheaper to reduce the simulation of pills to the minimum.


    With the theoretical knowledge drilled into his brain by his master, Ivan didn''t have any problem answering the questions concerning grade 1 pills.


    Questions such as, what ingredients the Lesser Healing Pill required or which step during refining was especially important for the Lesser Bloodreplenishing Pill. Even more difficult questions such as the possible side effects of the Lesser Absorption Pill were answered effortlessly by him.


    Following this section was the practical part. Something where his method was highly different from those other participants.


    Just about every participant was a cultivator with the cultivation of Foundation Building or above. This level of cultivation was required for them to use their Qi outside by infusing it into a pill furnace. With lower cultivation, it was impossible to exert one''s Qi outside of the body, making pill refining for them impossible.


    But Ivan and all the other low cultivation pill refiners from his home realm worked differently. They didn''t use Qi for pill refining but instead used the mana produced by their mana source.


    Both forms of energy were capable of controlling the medical ingredients and refining them. They also could facilitate the pill condensing and providing the necessary energy to make it a success. In the end, they were both energy and that was what the process of pill refining required.


    But while both could be used, technically it was better to use mana. In the end, it was something generated by oneself and thus provided a much better capability of control, while Qi was, in the end, something that had been absorbed from the outside before it had been made into something under control.


    Of course, it was also much easier to increase Qi which meant that mana would become exceedingly unimportant the higher the cultivation. Especially since with higher cultivation, there generally was also an increase in the ability to finely control Qi.


    But during the early stages, using mana provided a huge advantage to Ivan over the other normal cultivators. Using his finely controlled mana together with the technique taught by his master, allowed him to speedily refine the grade 1 pills.


    The points from the practical section of the competition were calculated according to the purity of the pill as well as the speed at which it had been refined. This allowed Ivan to collect a lot of points during this section since he was able to refine faster and more precise than his counterparts.


    It was only when it came to refining pills of the second grade when he started to have trouble. The theoretical part was still easy but the practical refining part brought him to his limit. He just didn''t have enough mana.


    Between refining, the formation would simulate a refill of all kinds of energy, allowing the participant to start the refining at the best possible state. This was done to ensure fairness. But something that couldn''t be done was to keep this status during pill refining. It would have messed up the process of refining too much.


    And this meant that the energy could run out during the process of refining a pill


    Now with the second-grade pills, this flaw was shown with Ivan. He just didn''t have enough mana to finish the forming of the pill. During the forming stage, a pill would absorb a large amount of energy in order to stabilize its structure. Even a slight imbalance of energy could completely mess up the structure, leading to failure.


    By finely controlling his mana and applying it in the most optimal way, Ivan was capable of reducing wastage during this process but if the minimal energy required for the pill to form was above that he had available, then even without wasting anything, he would still be unable to finish the formation of the pill.


    And that was exactly what happened to him with the second pill he had to refine. He was just unable to supply the necessary energy, meaning he could only give up.


    He still tried three times, which was the maximum number of failures allowed, showing that he hadn''t failed before. But even with trying out every trick he knew, he was unable to form the pill. It could be said that he had reached a part of the competition, that was above what he should have been capable of. Now he had been removed because his cultivation just couldn''t support his skill anymore.


    "I really have to improve myself.", he sighed. Of course, that was currently impossible but this situation still served as a powerful motivational factor for his future will of improvement.


    After failing his third attempt, the simulated room vanished and he found himself in a room filled with screens instead. Until the end of the virtual part of the competition, the participants would be unable to leave this room, but they would be able to watch the other participants.


    He checked out this guy that had made the bet with him and found out that he too had stopped participating. But since the points would only be announced at the end, he couldn''t be sure if he won or not.


    The competition continued on and while watching those still in the race, Ivan was able to learn a lot. Especially since their method of pill refining was so different than his.


    Although the basics of pill refining were all the same in the end, consisting of freeing the medical properties, merging them, and finally forming the pill, the method with which this was done could differ extremely.


    He hadn''t learned about refining pills with Qi and a furnace before, so all these methods were completely new to him. It seemed like there were many different techniques, all of which had different methods of archiving the same goal. And all of them were impossible to understand from just watching. If one didn''t know the method of controlling the Qi one would be completely unable to imitate them.


    But that didn''t mean that it was impossible to learn anything from it. The timing of adding herbs to the furnace, the temperature of the furnace, and many other things could still allow one to learn a lot about pill refining as well as the herbs used.


    So Ivan and many other participants who had already lost were now watching the ones left continue refining pills.


    Ivan especially focused on his master Miss. Klein as well as Serene. Both of them showcased a strong skill in pill refining. Ivan wasn''t skilled enough to see where they both made their minuscule mistakes but the formation was and as such the points they gained weren''t the maximum. Still, they both were close to it. Sometimes it was Miss. Klein who was better and sometimes it was Serene.


    It was only when the difficulty reached the fifth grade that there was a change. From then on, Miss. Klein''s pill consistently got more points. But it still started to go down from the upper limit of available points, with the pill quality constantly worsening and the time needed for refining increasing.


    It seemed like this was the limit for both of them, with Serene approaching hers faster than his master. It also showed that his master was just slightly better.


    Besides those two there were still many participants left. In fact, there were still more than a thousand left, with some constantly dropping out. With each new pill, at least one would fail and be removed from the race to the top one hundred.


    It was at the second of the sixth-ranked pills that only the top one hundred were left. Everyone else had failed in the first one, which seemed to be some kind of barrier. Both Serene and Miss. Klein had barely managed to get enough points for the first sixth-ranked pill. In fact, Serene had only gotten one point more than required while Miss. Klein still had ten more points.


    It seemed like this was about how far they could make it. But reaching the top one hundred was still a good result for both of them. Last time neither of them had managed this, getting stuck in the top five hundred instead.


    And then at the third sixth-grade pill, both of them failed, leaving behind only slightly more than fifty contestants. All of them were old and experienced pill refiners, with the exception of only one man and woman, who both were much younger. In fact, they didn''t seem much older than either Miss. Klein nor Serene.

 203 Competition 6

    This also marked the end of the competition. The difficulty in refining the pills increased extremely at this level. Soon even the best pill refiner had failed their three tries and the competition came to an end.


    Now it was time for the points to be calculated and then displayed. Everyone was intensely staring at the screens which would soon display the rankings.


    As usual, the first ten rankings were occupied by representatives from the large pill refining sects. They also had many members in the other high ranks. But here members of other large sects or smaller pill refining sects appeared as well.


    It was only below the top one hundred that the first pill refiner, that didn''t belong to a sect as this appeared.


    And only much farther down did a pill refiner that didn''t belong to any sect at all appeared.


    As for the contest between Miss. Klein and Serene, Serene had won it by an extremely small number of points which she had gotten through her better understanding of herbs.


    And for the bet between Ivan and that man, Ivan had won by many points. The other had already failed at the hurdles of second-grade pills, not even managing to refine the first one. He had also lost many points before because of small mistakes.


    Now that the completion had ended, everyone left their simulated rooms and appeared back in the real world.


    There Serene gave the herbs, which were the object of the bet to Ivan while glaring at the man who tried to protest.


    "I''ll come by later.", she then told them before leaving.


    The man who was still indignant about losing the bet tried to stay behind to once again find trouble with Ivan when she grabbed him by the neck and carried him along. Seeing her carry a grown man by his neck looked extremely comical and everyone who saw it could barely stop themselves from laughing at the man. In fact, only pure respect for Serene stopped them from doing so.


    "Alright, let''s go back.", Miss. Klein announced. "Also we will leave tomorrow, so if you have anything left to do here, do it today."


    This didn''t come as a surprise. They had stayed here for a relatively long time already, which had enabled her to finish everything she had to do. She had only wanted to wait out the competition before leaving.


    "What about the rewards?", Ivan asked her curiously.


    "This competition does focus on the skill of the participants and the organizers have always held the opinion that one shouldn''t make a show out of giving the rewards. So they will just be send over until this evening.", she explained.


    "So did you learn something during the competition?", she then asked both Serge and Ivan.


    "Yes. It was truly great to see you refine all these difficult pills. Although there were many things I didn''t understand.", Serge started. He also wanted to directly ask about some things he hadn''t been able to understand when their master stopped him. "First think about it some more and if you can''t find the answer ask me again and I''ll explain."


    It seemed like this was exactly what she had expected. After all, he had been by her side during the competition, so she would have gotten to see his state during the refining of the pill. Even with her focus on the refinement process itself.


    "What about you?", she then asked Ivan.


    He wasn''t sure what to say. Although he had learned a bit during the questions and had to think about some things he hadn''t thought about before, it didn''t seem like he had truly learned a lot. His skill and knowledge hadn''t truly been challenged before his energy had already given him the boot.


    "I don''t know. There are a few things but before the truly difficult things came, I ran out of energy and couldn''t continue.", he admitted in embarrassment.


    His master smiled at his words. "That''s great. This is something many pill refiner will only understand much later. Sometimes when it is already hard to rectify. Pill refining requires equivalent cultivation. Just focusing on pill refining will only lead down a one-way street. In the end one will hit a roadblock, unable to advance. And for many pill refiners who have reached a certain high, it is extremely hard to once again focus on something as mundane as cultivating a perceived low realm. If you can refine pills for the Earth realm, then why would you want to cultivate the Mortal realm? Wouldn''t it seem to be beneath you?"


    "So you say I should focus more on cultivation?", Ivan asked.


    "Not really. Currently, it is impossible for you to do so. Don''t forget that your stats are still locked. But after that, you should absolutely try to improve your strength. And it doesn''t matter what strength. The most common way would be to improve all your stats until you reach the end of the Flesh Refining Realm and then come back here and continue to cultivate with the techniques available here. But another would be to fully focus on improving your mana. It all depends on what your goal is."


    "Then can''t I do both?"


    "You can try. But without massive talent, this will only lead to you lacking behind. It has been shown that Qi cultivation is much faster than Mana cultivation. And doing both at the same time will mean that you have less time you can invest in either."


    Her words made sense, but Ivan didn''t want to give up either. He had experienced what was doable with Mana. Just look at the owner of Jacky''s shop Jacky. She was someone who was able to control space with her magic, based on mana. Something he was sure of since she had told him that the requirement for learning from her was to have a high enough level of Mana Manipulation.


    And then there was the Qi cultivation. Something he had understood much better now that he had gotten so much information about this realm. Qi cultivation would allow one to gain control over the world, creating wind and rain, raising and flattening mountains, and in the end, even control space.


    "But in the end, the most important thing is to evolve your blood essence.", Miss. Klein''s voice interrupted his thoughts. "Because only this can improve your potential, something that will enable you to continue on on either path and will also increase the speed at which you can move along them."


    "So if I focus on cultivating my blood essence, then I can progress at the other paths as well?"


    "The blood essence is the basis of all known systems of cultivation. Whether it is Mana, Qi, or Body cultivation. In the end, all of them have blood essence as the basis. But without either of them, the cultivation of blood essence is meaningless as well since it can''t be used to display any form of strength."


    It was just like the foundation of a building. If you increased the size of the building or added something to it, the foundation would have to be able to support the change. But with the foundation being down in the ground it wouldn''t show any of its power as long as nothing went wrong. This was left to the building above.


    If the blood essence was the foundation everything stood upon, then the building was an expression of the other types of cultivation. If the foundation was solid and large, then a large building could easily be constructed. If it was narrow and small then the building couldn''t be build to large without risking a catastrophe.


    "Then if I focus on my bloodline cultivation, can I train both Mana and Qi?", Ivan saw a shimmer of hope.


    "Maybe. If your bloodline is good enough. I have heard that there are bloodlines, which could support multiple kinds of cultivations at the same time. When they train one kind of energy, they can simultaneously train another as well, without reducing efficiency. After all, in the end, all these energies are different."


    "But aren''t they all energy in the end? How can they not mess with each other?"


    She chuckled, "How could a single man hope to have a large enough influence on the energy in a realm, for that to make a difference? Although they are all energy, they exist separated. Take Mana. It comes from the inside. We see it as being generated by our mana source, but in reality, this energy has to be absorbed beforehand somehow, before it is reformed and then released as mana by our mana source. But what we absorb isn''t Qi. That is something that has been demonstrated by many experiments.


    The same with Vital Qi which is the result of body cultivation. It is a form of energy stored inside our cells. And it''s main source is food, but it can also directly absorbed if you have the right skill. It too doesn''t come from the same energy source as the other two."


    "But aren''t they interchangeable, like during pill refining.", Ivan asked confused.

 204 Cultivate our bloodline

    "Yes and no. These energies can have the same effect on the world but they aren''t the same. Strictly speaking, a pill refined with Mana and one refined with Qi isn''t the same. But the effect comes from the medical properties and their structure. This is the only thing that matters in the end, not which energy is responsible for stabilizing these. And that is the only use of the energy we inject into pills.", she explained.


    Both Ivan and Serge were able to learn a lot from this sentence.


    "Then wouldn''t it be possible to mix these energies? If I run out of Mana couldn''t I use Vital Qi?", Ivan asked with surprise. He had a way of using Vital Qi, although it was only a skill, which meant that he wasn''t able to truly control it. But what if he used Vital Qi for the rough structure and Mana for the fine one? Wouldn''t he then be able to at least reduce the problem with not having enough energy?


    "In theory sure. But do you have any idea how complex it is to mix these energies? It requires an immense amount of control, something you are sorely lacking."


    Even though it seemed to be impossible for the current him, it didn''t mean that the knowledge would be completely useless. Maybe he could still find a way to use it.


    "Master, how would we cultivate our bloodline?" It was Serge who asked this important question.


    "Currently, not at all.", Miss. Klein''s response disappointed the two of them. "While blood essence cultivation is in principle easy. One just needs to pour energy into the blood cells. In reality, each cell has a barrier that has to be broken first, before it is possible to inject energy into the cell. And the energy required to break this barrier is more than either of you have currently available."


    "Oh.", Serge sounded disappointed, but he soon perked up again, "Then what if we could temporarily increase the energy? Couldn''t we break the barrier this way?"


    "Theoretically yes. I don''t know if it works since nobody has ever made much effort to do research on how to break this barrier. The barrier isn''t that strong after all. Those that need to improve their blood essence will always have enough energy to do so.", she admitted.


    It was already possible to break the barrier with just the energy available to someone at the Foundation Building stage. And only during the Earth Realm would it truly be necessary for most to cultivate blood essence. So why would anyone do research into something like this?


    Or to be exact, why would anyone who had the resources required for such research have a problem that required them to do so?


    "So I could try to find a way? After all, I can''t increase my stats currently. So working on it wouldn''t delay me in any way, right?"


    "You can do that but I doubt that you will be successful."


    The next day, it was time for them to go back. Ivan had already said goodbye to Clara the night before. So there was nothing more to say than just a simple "Goodbye.".


    As for Serge, who knows what had happened since his personal maid didn''t even show up. Now they were only waiting for Serene who had announced that she would come with them. To the question of why they were waiting for her, Miss. Klein just responded, "Because she got a great transportation tool."


    This cleared some doubts in Serge''s and Ivan''s mind. The relationship between these two women was really confusing. Sometimes they would fight like the biggest foes. Sometimes they would bicker like friends or family members and sometimes they just got along. Who knew what would happen if you put them together. Every time would be a new experience.


    Just yesterday, she had acted all annoyed that Serene would want to come with them, but now Miss. Klein was even waiting for her.


    Luckily they didn''t have to wait long. Soon Serene appeared in front of them. Today she wore more comfortable and practical clothes. Under her open robe, it was possible to take a peek at a simple shirt and trousers. Although her high heeled over knee boots were still quite impractical.


    She walked over happily and greeted everyone with a loud "Good Morning".


    Before anyone could respond to her greeting a grumpy voice stopped them from doing so, "Great. You are finally here. Now get out your ship and let''s go."


    "You are just like always.", Serene pouted. But she did as she was told while murmuring, "I''m only doing so because its the right thing to do, not because some little girl told me to."


    Just like Elder Lin''s ship, her ship was created after the image of a sea-going wooden vessel as well. Judging by the design it was made by the same person or sect as his as well.


    But it was even more impressive than Elder Lin''s. Its wood was of chocolate color and the sails were kept in blood red, giving the whole ship a more evil tone. Together with the intricate silver decorations, it made for an impressive viewing experience.


    "Wow.", Serge couldn''t help but voice out impressed.


    "Yeah. It is a beauty. I''m impressed every time I see it.", Miss. Klein agreed. She was looking at the ship with desire.


    It was only Ivan who didn''t seem impressed. Serene who saw this asked him curiously, "You aren''t impressed with this Ship? Do you think its lacking anything?"


    He hurriedly shook his head, "No. I think it looks impressive. It is just that I dislike the form. I think there should be much more impressive designs possible to create a flying ship than to just copy a sea-going design."


    "Maybe. But none of us could refine an artifact of this size and there is no other design on the market.", Serene said.


    She then used an inscribed formation to transport all of them onto the ship.


    "Alright, let''s go.", she then announced spirited.


    "Um, why am I here?", suddenly a nervous voice interrupted everyone''s spirit.


    Turning towards the source everyone was surprised to see Clara standing on the ship alongside them.


    "You stupid bitch. You transported someone on the ship again without checking.", Miss. Klein directly cursed at Serene. This outburst earned her stares from her disciples.


    "What? I can curse too.", she snapped at them.


    "Alright, Alright. Calm down.", Serene tried to calm her down. "My bad. I thought she would come along since she stood there with everyone.", she then explained.


    "So do you want to come along or do you want to go back down?", she then asked Clara.


    "I can come along?", Clara asked in surprise.


    "Sure. Even though you are only a mortal, it is in fact quite safe for you down there. The only problem is the time limit, for how long you can stay there.", Serene told her.


    Clara looked at Miss. Klein questioningly. In the end, she was her boss and was the one who should make this decision.


    Miss. Klein nodded. "She is right. You can just come with us and take a look. And if you like it there, I know of a few ways you can stay permanently."


    "Someone from the upper realm can stay in our realm permanently?", Serge asked in surprise. "I thought that was impossible."


    Miss. Klein chuckled. "It isn''t impossible. It is just that the price is your freedom. And that is the case for all known methods. Basically it works by using the fact that something that belongs to someone is treated by the same rules as the owner."


    When he heard that, Serge suddenly got excited. "Can I ask Tellia if she wants to come with us?"


    Seeing his unusual excitement, both Miss. Klein and Ivan wondered about what had happened between these two.


    Feeling their questioning stares, Serge blushed. "We kind of got together.", he admitted while blushing even stronger.


    "Ah.", Ivan exclaimed. That explained why she hadn''t been there to say goodbye. It was too hard for her to do. After all, Serge hadn''t initially planned to come back, so in their mind, it would be a permanent separation.


    Hearing his response, Serene''s eyes lit up. "Of course we can ask her.", she grinned. It seemed like she was happy to find out about something like this. "This is a great story.", she continued on. "Think about it, two people falling in love and one giving up everything to follow the other."


    While she was still talking dreamily, Miss. Klein just shook her head, seemingly used to it, and then jumped down from the ship. "I''ll go get her."

 205 Really come with you?

    Not much later, she once again appeared back on the ship. This time she was carrying Tellia in her arms. Something that looked quite funny. She didn''t have a large frame and it would be correct to call her lolita but now she was carrying a fully grown woman in her arms.


    As soon as she sat down Tellia, she hurriedly ran towards Serge, "Can I really come with you?", she asked eagerly.


    Before he could even respond, his master already answered the question, "Of course. Short time visits aren''t much of a problem and for you, a long term stay isn''t that hard either."


    "Really? I heard that it was nearly impossible to come to our realm and stay there for a long time.", Serge asked with surprise. This was, what he had heard and also the reason why he had decided to split up with Tellia. He didn''t want her to live a life of only waiting for him. Only being able to meet him whenever the System allowed it, or he came up to this realm. And he wasn''t ready to forsake his family to stay with the woman he loved, something that she had been extremely understanding of.


    "That''s because you have to basically belong to someone from the lower realm to stay there long term. In your example: If Tellia marries you, the marriage contract has to be so much in your favor that it allows her to stay. I guess, that you have to include things, like that she is unable to divorce you and that she has to follow a certain set of orders from you.", Miss. Klein explained.


    Hearing that, everyone nodded. Which cultivator would be able to give up their personal freedom for a chance to go to a lower realm? If it was a higher realm than there wouldn''t be much problem finding some. The same was if there were benefits for their cultivation, something that was completely absent in this case.


    "Besides that, the person also will lose all talent and cultivation.", the next sentence was a true death sentence for any cultivator wanting to proceed on the path of cultivation. Of course, for a mortal like Tellia, this was no problem at all. It wasn''t like she would lose anything.


    "So you can just come with us for now and if both of you are happy you can make it permanent.", Miss. Klein smiled at the young couple.


    "But will your parents accept me? After all, I''m just a mortal.",Tellia asked Serge in a worried tone of voice.


    This question earned a smile from everyone else on the ship beside Clara, confusing Tellia. In her mind, Serge was a cultivator and as such had a completely different status from her. So for him bringing back a mortal, wouldn''t his parents disagree?


    "Haha.", Ivan couldn''t hold back and laughed out loud. "I don''t think you have to worry about that. Instead, worry about them being too happy."


    This earned a nod from Miss. Klein while Serene looked questioningly. She didn''t have any contact with Serge''s parents or Serge himself for that matter, so she didn''t understand what he was talking about.


    Serge on the other hand looked embarrassed. His parents and especially his mother had always worried about his lack of a girlfriend. Before he had still been able to handle her, but after she had gotten to know Ivan and the fact that he already had a child, she had become much more difficult to handle. At this point, she would gladly accept anyone as long as she could get a grandchild.


    He lovingly stroked Tellia''s hair and nodded, "Yes. You don''t have to worry about that. I''m certain that my parents will be extremely happy."


    Hearing him say those words, she relaxed and melted into his arms.


    Serene looked at the sweet couple and sighed. How come she hadn''t found a partner. Suddenly her eyes swerved towards Ivan and lit up. Instead of a partner, how about a child? Hmm, she would have to think about it carefully.


    Not knowing what weird thoughts his potential master to be had, Ivan sat down relaxed on one of the chairs.


    "Would you like a cup of tea?", he had barely sat down when Clara asked him this question. She had gotten to know him well enough to understand that he loved drinking tea while relaxing.


    "Sure. If it isn''t to much work.", he responded while proceeding to close his eyes. He still hadn''t finished fully going through the things he had experienced during the competition.


    Having gotten his response, Clara turned towards the others and asked them as well. With everyone saying yes, she then asked Serene about a place where she could cook.


    Surprisingly Serene didn''t just tell her the way to the kitchen integrated into the ship, but directly took her there.


    During the walk, she began asking her some questions about Ivan. Although she hadn''t known him long and was his servant, so she couldn''t talk about everything, her responses still allowed her to get a better understanding of him.


    While Clara was brewing the tea and preparing some snacks, from the things she found in the pantry, Serene helped her. This lead Clara to asking a question that had been in her mind ever since she had come into closer contact with Ivan.


    "How come all of you are so different from other cultivators?", she blurted out, before hurriedly adding on, "I don''t mean in a bad way, but all of you are so friendly to mortals like me and Tellia."


    Serene didn''t even have to think about the answer. "This is because of the realm we come from.", she started to explain, "There aren''t any, or at least not many differences between cultivators and mortals there. In fact, neither of these words are used. Everyone is just a human or a citizen. This leads to a different view on things like cultivators and mortals.


    With the strong differences between cultivators and mortals, here and in other realms, it has led to members of both sides, seeing the other as something different. Mortals see cultivators as something special, something that is above them. A view that isn''t that problematic and can even lead to them being safer.


    But from my perspective, the problematic thing is that cultivators have started to think of mortals as something lesser. Something that they can use and play around with, without consequence. And during the process, they often forget that in the end, they both are human or whatever race they belong to. Something that isn''t helped by the existence of cultivator families. "


    "So you don''t see these differences?", Clara asked curiously.


    "Of course, I do.", Serene answered, "It is hard not to see them if you are capable of easily outliving all of these mortals. Or slaying hundreds or thousands of them with just a thought. All of these enforces a feeling of difference. But for those who come from the lower realm, the views aren''t as ingrained into our thinking. We have grown up without looking at these differences. And if we go back, then these differences once again are reduced. All of this helps us to stay anchored. To not get lost in the feeling of power.


    Of course, there are also many people who have come from our realm but during the process of getting stronger have changed. But those aren''t people who will come back to our realm. They can''t because they won''t be able to stand the feeling of losing their strength, of becoming something like a mortal again."


    "Oh. So that''s why none of you felt that there was a problem with bringing Tellia back.", Clara suddenly exclaimed.


    "Yes. But from everyone else''s reaction, I guess that this isn''t the only reason."


    "Oh, then what do you think could that reason be?"


    The two of them started to excitedly speculate about the reason why everyone thought that Serge''s parents would be extremely happy over Tellia. To them neither the difference between master and servant, nor the difference between cultivator and mortal, mattered. The only thing that mattered, was the fact that both of them were women who loved to gossip. It was as if they were a match made in heaven.


    Luckily neither Ivan nor Miss. Klein saw this scene or they would have hurriedly tried to create some distance to that pair. They truly couldn''t stand those gossipy girls.


    Clara felt that the time required to prepare tea and snacks had been too short. She had just started to truly enjoy her conversation with Serene when both had been finished.


    Seeing her disappointment, Serene grinned and said, "Don''t worry, we will have more than enough opportunities to have fun together. Just wait, when we arrive I will take you out to have some fun."


    She had completely taking Clara as her friend.