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[Name: Alan Zevril]
[Titles: —]
[age: 14]
[core rank: 2 (Resonant) ]
[Affinity: Ethereal Ember]
[Soul weapon: —]
[Soul armour: —]
[Innate skill: Instinct, Intuition]
[Skills: Mana breath, Reaper]
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"Ah, love to see it."
Atop a large corpse of an orc, sat a boy in the middle of his growth.
His lengthy dark hair layered with that distinctive purple backdrop swaying freely behind him, yet never covering his face, they seemed to dance around him as if to frame his face.
He was dressed as if he just stepped out of his bedroom, wearing a casual black tunic and matching black pants, he still had the amethyst necklace hung around his neck.
It was Alan, now 14 years old, his body was rapidly growing, his once short stature was now slowly changing, standing at a height of 5'8.
His body was lean and packed with dense, functional muscles efficient for optimal movement and combat.
It's been four years since his daily visits to the knight's order, and plenty of things changed.
Last year, both Alan and Lucian broke through to core rank 2.
The change was big, his mana capacity seemed to multiply, his quality seemed purer and his body became more robust.
Both him and Lucian were already considered monsters and already well known for being capable of fighting beings a rank above them, as such, they had been sparing with stronger soldiers than before.
[Reaper]
It was a new skill he learned from a manual he received from Gavin.
After each kill, he had the choice to either directly absorb the mana core, or leave it.
This helped him heaps, it saved time for him as he didn't need to physically rip the heart out anymore.
Still, Alan felt his rate of progress was fairly slow, it was to be expected, he had only allowed to hunt rank 1 and 2 beasts, rather than any higher ones, even the orc he was currently sitting on was a rank 2.
Rank 1 and rank 2 offered the least changes, as such it took three years for him to advance.
"Get down from there, you worthless bastard! You're gathering even more filth than you already have!"
A somewhat familiar voice called to him, it sounded slightly weird, as the person was amidst their puberty, his voice seemed to be becoming deeper.
Alan looked down to see who was calling for him.
And unexpectedly it was Alden, the direct line of the Zevril family.
His black hair was longer than before but neatly groomed and tidy, unlike Alan's messy hair.
He was dressed in black leather armour, which allowed him to move without many restrictions.
And taller than before, annoyingly he was taller than Alan by an inch, Alan still had hope he would beat him by the time they become adults.
For the past four years, Alden repeatedly challenged Alan, day after day, and every time he lost.
One might expect someone to change after being knocked unconscious so many times, but nope, Alden was still as arrogant and haughty as ever, never changing his manners.
Even his insult vocabulary was still limited, for some reason the boy wanted to remain elegant even when insulting someone.
Since two years ago, Alden started coming to the forest to hunt along with Alan after Gavin judged he was strong enough.
"Is it time to go back?"
"Yes, don't you know timing? This is why you're a disgrace."
Alan merely nodded, then hopped down from above.
He was already used to Alden's way of talking, his words were laced with arrogance, it sounded as if he was always looking down at whoever.
But there was no hostility or negative influence behind his words, which was weird, why even bother insulting them if you don't mean it.
Once down, he quickly noticed Lucian.
His hair was neatly styled to look like a nobleman, and he was about the same height as Alan.
You might ask why his hair was styled like a noble, it was because of the person in front of him.
"Are you tired? Here is a towel, do you need water too?"
It was Alessia, who also tagged along for the hunts, although she spent the majority of her time just fawning over Lucian.
Her twin tails were tied in a long ponytail to not distract her in battles.
For some absurd reason, Alessia was actually stronger than Alden, which Alden even admits himself.
Which really makes you wonder why she is so obsessed with Lucian, she gives him noble clothes, dresses him up, cuts his hair and is simply there for Lucian whenever.
Someone might have been appreciative about this, but Lucian was extremely burdened and wanted nothing more to make her stop, but he literally couldn't.
"Alright, that's it for today, let's head back." Edward approached, he still looked the same as always, only slightly taller than before.
He broke through to rank 2 just a week back at age 19, and had been smug about it, until he fought Alan again and lost.
Although sometimes Edward did wonder why he was even escorting this group when two people in the group were stronger than him.
Well, he didn't mind, he got to rank up because of it and gain experience.
"Yeah, let's go."
At Alan's signal, everyone departed.
***
The training grounds also changed a lot over the past four years.
The most noticeable change was.
"Everyone! Come get your lunch!"
A fucking restaurant, right next to the training ground, not just a small comfortable one, no it was giant.
You might ask who the hell in their right mind would do something like this.
"Here you go!" It was Miya, Alan's mother, who was actively serving food to fatigued soldiers.
Some of them didn't even look tired, they were there just for the food.
Well, who was he to talk, the moment he got there he lined up in the queue, along with Alden, Lucian, Alessia and Edward.
His mother's cooking was just that good, that even Alden put his arrogance aside to eat.
After a bit of waiting, they reached the front.
"Oh dear! You're back!"
Miya greeted him with a blooming smile, Alan was now taller than his mother so she had to look up at him.
Then shoved a lot of meat and vegetables onto his plate... too much vegetables.
"Mom..."
"Alan." Her cheerful demeanour shifted and she had a faint frown. "You are growing, so you need to eat your vegetables."
"But mom, meat is better for gro—"
"Alan." She frowned, then shoved even more vegetables onto his plate. "Eat."
Defeated, Alan could only pout, carrying a hefty plate of vegetables as he left.
Then Alden stepped up.
"This noble body requires immense protein for quality development."
"Mhm." Miya nodded with a smile.
In the end, Alden also left, carrying a hefty plate of vegetables with a pout.
"Ah, Lucian dear, have some!"
Lucian didn't complain, as a result he received more meat than vegetables.
"That fucking bastard." Alan could only grind his teeth watching this.
Next, Alessia walked up.
"Good afternoon, lady Miya, you are as beautiful as always."
"Fufu~ no need to flatter me, dear."
She walked away with a bunch of meat, it seemed she completely figured his mother out.
Next, Edward returned with equal meat and vegetables, as Miya had a favourable impression of him.
He was practically her personal butler a few years back.
"Next time, I am standing up for myself." Alan grumbled while shoving food into his mouth.
"Uh-huh." Everyone else just dismissed it, after all, this was his twentieth time repeating the same words.
As they were eating, Alan glanced up at his mother who finished serving food, and was talking to Gavin.
Lately, his mother's been smiling a lot more brightly, normally he would be happy about it, but something was suspicious about this.
He looked at his mother smiling happily, then at Gavin who was also smiling... wait why was he smiling so much.
It wasn't like Gavin didn't smile, he just never smiled to the point his eyes were too.
Alan narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Gavin... lately the two of them had been talking a lot more frequently.
"Shit." He was panicking, there was no way this was happening.
"What's wrong?" Lucian asked.
"Hey... have you noticed anything about my mom and Gavin?"
"Hmm..." Lucian pondered for a moment. "Well, they do look closer than before."
"Oh no..." Alan's world was crumbling, there was absolutely no way Gavin was pursing his mother.
As he was drowning in despair, a commotion made its way over to Alan's ears.
At least the commotion distracted him from his reality for a moment.
"What's going on." Alan asked.
"Hmm." Alden stood up and narrowed his eyes. "It's the first battalion?"
Everyone at the table froze.
The first battalion had left with the patriarch on some sort of mission about seven years ago.
In fact, whenever the patriarch left, the first battalion followed, and if the first battalion returned, that meant...
"He is back...?" Alan muttered.
The patriarch must've returned as well.
...
Gavin approached the man, leading the numerous soldiers behind him.
Each one of those soldiers was much stronger than the soldiers of the third battalion, after all the first, second and third battalions were based on strength.
"Vane, is that you?"
Vane Vandal, Gavin's older half-brother, as well as the commander of the first battalion, and a core rank 6.
He had short blue hair, but also had the same blue eyes as Gavin.
"Hey, long time no see." Vane lightly greeted Gavin.
"If you're here, I take it the patriarch has returned?"
"Indeed." Vane nodded, then tilted his head. "On my way, I heard something interesting."
"Oh? What was it?"
"That the bastard of the Zevril family was training he...re..." Vane's words trailed off as he noticed something.
"What on earth is that, Gavin?"
It was the giant restaurant Miya worked in.
"Oh, that? It's the—"
"Never mind, I can see the sign from here..."
It read 'The grand restaurant.'
"Anyway, is that sheltered youth here?" Vane asked, inquiring about Alan.
Just as he asked, from behind Gavin, Alan along with Alden, Alessia and Lucian appeared.
Vane immediately focused his attention on the strongest presences, Alan and Lucian, he could immediately tell the both of them were rank 2.
He was honestly quite impressed by the two of them, to possess such strength at that age was incredible.
'White hair, teal eyes.' He assessed Lucian as someone he didn't recognise.
'Violet eyes...' For a moment, he almost made the same mistake Gavin first did, thinking it was Alden.
But he picked up the purple backdrop in his hair and the vertical slit pupils, features he didn't previously see in Alden.
"Hmm, I take it you are Alan?" Vane directly asked, looking at Alan's eyes. "But why does your eyes resemble the Caelis...?"
He mumbled to himself, but everyone clearly heard it.
The only Caelis he could be referring to would be one of the three grand duchy, house Caelis.
"Caelis? Why would my eyes look like theirs?" Alan asked back.
It was quite absurd, the house of Caelis had their own trademark just liked Zevril's family did, it would be their golden eyes.
But Alan's eyes were clearly violet, was this guy mental or something.
"Ah, never mind that, I was just thinking to myself." Then Vane looked over to Alden and Alessia.
"Long time no see, young master Alden and young lady Alessia."
"Likewise." Alden replied with a simple nod.
Vane raised his bowed head.
"Actually, this is a great timing for you all to be here."
"Why is that?" Alden raised a brow.
"The patriarch requested for the two of you to return to the main estate."
Vane paused, then looked at Alan.
"Along with Alan and lady Miya."
Alan's eyes twitched.
"What?"