It's been three months since Alan and the group started going to the knight's order, and there's been a few changes in Alan's mornings.
First and foremost.
"Young master, wake up."
This annoying piece of shit that wakes him up the moment the sun rises.
"Fuck off..." Alan grumbled before burying his head in his pillow.
Before Lucian started living with him, he always slept peacefully while cuddling with his mother.
Now he has to share a room with this guy, who for some reason has the military schedule drilled into his brain.
"No can do, discipline is extremely important."
"I want to go back to my mom..."
"You need to wake up for that."
"Man, shut up!"
Once Alan wakes up out of anger, the two of them head to the dining hall to have breakfast with his mother.
"Good morning dear!"
"Good morning..."
Why on earth does his mother even wake up this early.
Either way, they eventually make their way to the knight order's training grounds.
"UWAAAAA!!!"
The soldiers don't even greet them with a good morning any more, instead just start yelling for no reason.
"Were the soldiers here always like this?" Even Lucian seemed to question their behaviour.
"Good morning." Gavin approached the group.
Behind him, Edward appeared, then smoothly led Miya and Lana to their 'resting spot', it evolved for simple chairs and sofa, to an entire outdoor lounge, it even had a kitchen.
Ignoring all the questionable changes to his life, Alan started his training alongside Lucian.
Currently, his goal is to develop his body, it is still too young and fragile by his standard, right now, he stands at a height of five feet, while Lucian was a little taller than him.
Leaving his thoughts aside, Alan ran in a full sprint across the five kilometres racetrack while simultaneously refining his mana core.
'I need to go beast hunting...'
The best way to refine and grow your core was to kill other beings who had mana cores, and make their mana your own.
You could kill a fellow human and drain their core, but it has long been classified as illegal, if caught, you get a straight death sentence.
Either way, in this world, beasts were classified into two categories.
Mana beasts, these were animals with a mana core of their own and can progress and grow just like humans can.
Abyssal creatures, however, were a different story entirely, they were better called monsters rather than beast.
The four continents of the world, North, East, South and West are separated by a vast ocean in the centre of the world.
And five hundred years ago in the centre of the ocean a hole appeared, a pitch-black pit that acted as a passage to a place that didn't belong on this planet.
People named it the Abyss, a swirling gateway to a place of demons.
Five hundred years ago, creatures poured out from the Abyss, ravaging the world, an entire worldwide war broke out against the creatures to protect the continents.
Abyssal creatures had different species, but they all had something in common, the stronger they became, the more closely they resembled humans.
A rank 1 abyssal creature may look like an eldritch horror, while a rank 6 abyssal creatures might get mistaken for a noble man, the high ranks were called demons.
The Southern continent was the first to fall, abyssal creatures swarmed the continent and seized it, even to this day the continent is overtaken, now called the Demons continent.
Five hundred years ago, four heros appeared, three humans from the northern continent and an elf from the eastern continent.
These four were also the first recorded core rank 7 humans and elf to walk the world.
Together, they drove the creatures into the Abyss and restrained them into the Demons continent.
But even that action has weakened over the years, though he didn't know what was happening, Alan knew from the little bit of the novel he read.
The Abyss was once again stirring, and abyssal creatures were gradually increasing throughout the world.
This was one of the reasons Alan was quite desperate to become stronger, if the abyssal creatures break through the continent, how would he and his mother stay happy?
Anyhow, after the three humans returned to the northern continent, the emperor granted them the highest imperial authority that even the emperor himself couldn't refuse.
Not only that, he granted the three humans a large plot of land in honour of their name and gave them the first-ever grand duke titles, as well as proving them with middle names.
Astra Fen Soldant, the first patriarch of the grand ducal house of Soldant.
Noah Wyn Caelis, the first patriarch of the grand ducal house of Caelis.
Lyra Nyx Zevril, the first matriarch of the grand ducal house of Zevril.
After twenty years of settling on the continent, the three heros vanished without a trace.
No one knows what happened to them, of course many believe they have passed away, but very few still hold on to hope they are alive somewhere.
And even after four hundred and seventy years of absence, their legacy still remains in the three grand duchy on the continent.
That's why the grand dukes are held in such high prestige, they were the descendants of literal heros who once protected the continents.
Though now, Alan finds the prestige of the clan to be utterly disgraceful, he feels no attachment to the Zevril bloodline he carries, and even finds it an insult to the hero.
Thump Thump Thump
As Alan was mindlessly sprinting on the track, a sudden rush of footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts.
Alan slowed to a stop and looked to his side, all the knights were gathering towards the entrance.
"What's going on?" He asked Lucian, who also stopped beside him.
Lucian narrowed his eyes then whispered. "Seems someone from the Zevril family is here."
"Oh?" Alan smiled. "This might be fun then."
...
Gavin kneeled in front of all the soldiers and addressed the newcomer.
"I, Gavin Vandal, commander of the 3rd battalion of Zevril knights, greet Alden, the young lord of the Zevril family."
Gavin repeated exactly what he said three months back, this time Gavin didn't mistake the person in question, the one who came to the training was literally Alden Nyx Zevril.
There stood a young boy who somewhat resembled Alan.
Alden's hair was a deep, ink-black and neatly styled to a noble degree.
He also possessed the iconic Zevril violet eyes, though Alden's eyes held a circular pupil at the centre of his iris.
Gavin turned his eyes besides Alden.
"I, greet Alessia, the young lady of the Zevril family."
Standing next to Alden, was a young girl with similar height to Alden and long hair styled into a twin tail.
They looked extremely alike, well, that's to be expected, after all they were twins.
"And, I greet lady Tanis."
Tanis the mother of Alden and Alessia, and the second wife of the patriarch.
Long blonde hair that fell to her waist and emerald green eyes, she was dressed in extravagant clothes befitting a lady of her status.
"May I ask, what brings your presence to these grounds?"
Alden stepped up with an arrogant expression.
"Me and my sister have come to these training grounds to gain experience." He started. "At only age ten, we have awakened our mana cores."
He ended his sentence with a haughty face.
'Oh that's nice.' Every soldier thought the same thing.
Awakening at age 10 was something deserving to be called a genius, but they have already experienced something far mind-blowing than just this.
That being Alan and Lucian.
"I see." Gavin calmly nodded.
For a moment, Alden knit his brows towards the heavy lack of reaction, but nodded anyway, believing the commander must have expected such results.
As he was about to speak, new presences walked towards them, the only ones not kneeling.
At the back was a beautiful lady with long brunette hair, it was Miya, her face was remarkably calm.
Next to her was a young boy, with pure white hair and a pair of glowing teal eyes, it was Lucian with his usual expressionless face.
Alessia's eyes sparkled the moment she saw his face, then fell into a daze as she stared at him.
Then everyone looked towards the boy leading the two, with an extremely aloof face.
His onyx hair fell to his shoulders, hiding the purple backdrop, that shimmered whenever he moved.
But it was his eyes that truly set him apart from the rest of the Zevril line.
They were brighter and more vivid than Alden's, at their centre instead of the calm circle Alden possessed, Alan's pupils were narrowed into sharp vertical lines.
Alden, Alessia and even lady Tanis were momentarily captivated by his eyes, before their eyes widened in recognition.
Alden's lips curled into a condescending smile, making no effort to hide his mocking gaze.
"Ah, I think I heard something about the bastard of the family being here." He laughed. "To think someone as worthless as you would actually be here."
Alden stepped up and walked towards Alan.
"You're a stain on the bloodline, did you think a filth like you could be any use, just if you act like you are doing something?"
Alessia giggled to herself, while lady Tanis opened a fan to cover her mouth, though it did little to hide her belittling eyes.
Alden now stood just a bit before Alan.
"Did you think you would gain the family's recognition if you became any use, you filthy ba—"
"This might not be the best time to ask." Alan cut him off. "But who are you?"
Everyone froze and stared at Alan wide-eyed, Alessia and lady Tanis too were at a loss for words.
But Miya covered her mouth to hide her laugh.
"Seriously, you're pretty damn immature." Alan continued. "And why is your insult vocabulary only limited to bastard and filth?"
Alden snapped to his senses and his face quickly twisted into a horrible scowl.
Did a lowlife just insult him?
"You filt—"
"You're just proving my point." Alan tilted his head innocently.
"You... you don't seem to know your place, you fool." Alden pointed at himself. "I am Alden Nyx Zevril, kneel before me!"
"Ah, cool." Alan smiled and waved. "I'm Alan, though I do have a surname, I don't really like using it."
Alden's composure shattered. "Don't act as if we are equal, I am of the direct line of the family and an awakened, but you're just a—"
"Just a what?" Alan asked back. "And I'm not acting as if we are equal."
Alan paused before offering a slow mocking smirk.
"I am acting as if you are beneath me."
Alden finally snapped, losing all sense of reasoning.
"You need to be put into your place!" He roared, lunging forward.
He poured his mana into his fist, the air humming with the sudden surge of energy.
Furthermore, he was certain that Alan couldn't dodge this, how could he? Alan was just a sheltered bastard hidden away in the annex his whole life.
Thinking along these lines, Alden felt confident and shot his fist straight towards his nose intending to break it.
Thup
The violent momentum came to an abrupt halt.
Alan caught the mana-infused punch in his palm as if he were catching a falling leaf, the impact didn't even make him flinch.
"Man... I really do love making people mad." Alan said, his tone casual.
Alden's mind went blank, he stared at his trapped fist, unable to process how his strike had been stopped so effortlessly.
Lady Tanis slowly lowered her fan, her expression turning dangerously serious, beside her, Alessia tilted her head in curiosity.
"Ah, don't get me wrong, though." Alan's languid eyes suddenly narrowed. "I absolutely hate it when people piss me off."
For the first time Alden felt fear, but he refused to accept his emotions and tried to move, but it was too late.
Still holding on to Alden's fist, Alan returned the gesture with a punch of his own.
Alden couldn't even see it, and just a moment later.
Thump
Alden's eyes rolled back as he collapsed onto the concrete floor, unconscious, before he even realised he had been hit.