A few months had passed since then and Jaiden was now finally nine years old. He had been extremely absorbed in his training while he taught his youngest brother. 

But as soon as he turned nine years old, his schedule became even busier. There were many reasons for his busy schedule but the biggest reason was the changes related to his force and strength.

First of all, he started to focus on his training since he was already approaching the 2nd Stage. Perhaps some would wonder how he was able to reach the 2nd stage not long after awakening his mana but as far as he was concerned it was all thanks to the simple path that he chose in his swordsmanship.

Since he was training in Basic Swordsmanship, he was able to build up mana in his muscles and bones which began to resonate with his mana heart. It was helping him to grow stronger at a rapid pace. In other words, the imprinting of swordsmanship that he was doing before had helped him promote his growth. 

He wondered if he could continue to focus on Basic Swordsmanship. After all, the restrictions of Basic Swordsmanship were as clear as day. And as his stage continued to increase, the limitations of this swordsmanship would continue to be revealed. However, he believed that even if this path was difficult and arduous, nothing would be more difficult than imprinting a high-level swordsmanship that was not suited to him from the very beginning.

Second, he had already secretly passed an application to join the military behind the eyes of his family. 

The Northern Military Training Camp, although accepting recruits at a tender age of nine, did not need the children’s parental consent for children joining them. Their only reason for this was the fact that there weren’t enough applicants for the Northern Army. Because of this, they were willing to accept people who had stories and secrets that they wanted to keep.

In fact, there were more than enough people who wanted to apply. However, there were also a lot of people who died every time. As a result, the Northern Army always cried out that they lacked people.

Third, he already knew what his incomplete talent was all about. Finding out about this was just a coincidence, but it all started when he was teaching the youngest and he asked him about the divine beast. 

“How does it feel to have a divine beast? I heard that having spirits also has a weird sense of feeling…” 

This was a question that he asked when he felt a bit ashamed. After all, the more he taught him, the more he felt that he was running out of things to teach. 

But the brat answered him as if he was also unsure of how to describe it.

“I think it feels like you’re communicating with nature? But I feel like I’ve also gotten a lot closer with animals?” 

When Jaiden looked at him with an expression that screamed ‘What the hell are you on about?’. Aiden just shrugged his shoulders saying that it was hard to explain it in words. Then, he suddenly found out when he asked the White Lion if he did not have any talent with divine beasts. 

The incomplete family aptitude meant a talent with regards to divine beasts. 

“I also have a talent with divine beasts!” 

“It’s… it’s just that the predatory beasts do not like the weak…” 

“If I’m weak, then what do you think you are?” 

“That… But…” 

Aiden was left speechless that even the White Lion materialized for a bit as he growled at Jaiden. Apparently, the White Lion was trying to say that Aiden was much stronger than him. 

“A… Anyway, since hyung-nim also has a talent with divine beasts then you should go and look it up.”

“Hoo… I don’t even know what kind of talent this is, do you think I can just find out about it? I’ll just continue to do what I am doing.”

“Still… It will be a waste.”

“I’ll look it up when I have the time.”

His memory ended at that. Of course, he had also looked up some animals ever since then. To be honest, he had searched quite a lot. Squirrels, rats, pigs, cows, dogs, cats and plenty of other animals. But the strange thing was that he felt a strange sense of familiarity when he went and looked for a chicken. By that time, he had already given up since he couldn’t find anything anymore but… He thought that perhaps his talent might be related to birds. However, he couldn’t be sure since he did not have the time to check it out completely.

Anyway, after running around busily for days, the date of his enlistment was finally announced. 

‘Enlisting at the age of nine…’

He even joined the military where he was scheduled to serve for 20 years in the frontlines. Of course, he still needed to attend a military academy for six years after leaving the training camp but it was a place that was completely different from other academies. After all, it was a place where everything was so similar to the military that they even called it the children’s military.

Anyway, it was fortunate that his six years in the academy was also counted in his 20 years of service. If it wasn’t for that then he would have erased it from his options since he would take 26 years there. 

“The path of the Lions…”

Jaiden muttered to himself as he rested under the shade of a tree.

At first, he thought that it would be better for him to stay in the family than to serve in the frontlines for 20 years but he immediately erased the thought from his head when he remembered the crazy thing that would happen soon in the Leonhardt Family. 

Taking the path of the Lions meant leaving their young children in the forest filled with predators to survive on their own for more than a week. After that, they would assign missions to them as they continuously sent the children to the forest for longer periods of time. 

The Leonhardts were inspired by the story of the lions dropping their young off of a cliff so they could be strong when they grew up. 

I think this way of nurturing their young is too crazy, but come to think of it, are there any descendants of this bloodline that's normal?

Since many people became stronger with this method of nurturing, some other families also followed them believing that it was a good way of raising their children. 

In fact, the current head endured three months in the forest filled with predators at the age of 13. He even brought 100 orc heads back. The craze came not long after that. But perhaps it was because he had long reached the 4th Stage so this method did not work for the head anymore so he did not participate any longer.

But regardless of that, it was still crazy to let children die just so they could follow the lion’s path. 

“As expected, this place is really crazy.”

The more he thought about it, the more he thought that this place was crazy.

I think staying in the army will be more comfortable.

Right now, he was still young and he was still free from the image of trash. But once the Lion’s path began, then his family would show their true colors. By then, the ferocious natures of his brothers would also be revealed. 

I had already been through that once in my past life so going through that again is…

Jaiden couldn’t help but shake his head at the mere thought of it. 

“Hyung-nim, how about a fight?” 

“I’m taking a break.” 

“Weren’t you resting all along?” 

Aiden had been feeling confident about himself these days so he had been pestering him for a fight. He even pointed his sword at him to provoke him. So Jaiden stood up to fight in answer to his brother’s provocation. 

And just like before, it was still his victory.

“Baby, you’re still a long way off.” 

“Hmph! But I thought it was possible this time…” 

Aiden looked sad since he lost again today. He had been trying to dig into his cracks to find a hole that he could target but since Jaiden was the one who created that gap, he was able to easily secure his victory by blocking his attacks leisurely. 

‘We have quite a gap since I lived a few years in my previous life. But if we continued on and he caught up to me in a few months then I won’t be able to live. I think that it will be unfair.’

It would be a bit embarrassing if he, a man who had reached the 5th Stage, lost to a boy who had yet to reach the 2nd Stage. 

Anyway, Jaiden just lightly pressed against Aiden as he went back and sat on a wooden post to meditate. He needed to fill the mana that he had consumed through mana breathing. In the past, even if he did a lot of sword training, his body would still be filled with mana. But right now, he consumed quite a lot of mana in just a short spar.

This meant that his body was gradually gearing towards and aligning with his swordsmanship. He would use his entire body whenever he used his swordsmanship which in turn would move his mana along his body. As a result, his mana consumption would also increase. If this phenomenon reached the extreme, then he would be able to release his mana as an extension of his body. Once this happened, it would mean that he had already reached the 3rd Stage. 

In other words, his mana consumption increases the more he trained and got stronger. 

“Hoo…” 

After finishing his mana breathing technique, Jaiden continued to sit on the wooden post as he took some sunflower seeds from his pockets. Dried seeds, a perfect snack, were good for supplementing his stamina when consumed with water. 

At some point, Aiden had also started copying him. It was because his training style was the most efficient. 

“Brat…” 

He grinned as he saw Aiden cutely copying him from a distance. But just as he was about to take the seeds to his mouth… A cute baepsae suddenly flew in from the side. 

He felt that it was a bit strange that a cute baepsae suddenly approached him. It even flew close to him as if it was not afraid of humans. 

―Tweet!

“Huh?” 

The baepsae gently landed on his closed palm. It tilted its head cutely before pecking his fist gently. It looked like it was urging him to open his palm quickly.

Jaiden had been watching the baepsae for a while because he thought that it was cute. So when he saw it pecking his fist gently, he slowly opened his clenched palm and made it easier for the bird to eat. Then, the baepsae started to peck on the seeds as it ate them deliciously.

“Ah, this is healing.” 

For Jaiden whose thoughts were running wildly, just looking at the cute baepsae felt so healing that the thoughts in his head disappeared. The moment he met the Magical Baepsae-nim that could clear his head of messy thoughts, he made sure to remember the scene of Baepsae-nim eating to the point that he even forgot to continue his training.

When he watched the baepsae finish eating, the thought of ‘How can such a small body eat so much?’ flashed in his head. But before the thought could form fully, the baepsae had already flown over his nose.

The baepsae nestled on his nose as it stared at him before pecking his forehead with it’s tiny beak.

“Huh?” 

He suddenly felt his senses and his surroundings became strange when the baepsae’s beak touched his forehead. He could feel the wind, which he only felt was cool and refreshing, moving along a flow. He could also feel the tree communicating with the wind. At the same time, he could also feel the earth’s energy responding to the sun’s light. But the most shocking of them all was when he felt the will of the birds that were flying around the area.

“Don’t tell me this is…?” 

Jaiden looked at the baepsae in shock. When his eyes met with the figure of the tiny bird, he saw its feathers taking on a bluish hue. The bluish hue covered the baepsae’s reddish plumes and turned them blue. 

At that moment, Jaiden felt like the baepsae and him were the only ones left in the world as they both stared at each other’s eyes. He suddenly felt strange when he realized that he just felt that they were the only ones left in the entirety of time and space. 

Jaiden was only able to escape from the world where only the two of them existed when a bond was formed between them and their souls had intertwined together. 

Returning back to his current reality, he couldn’t help but stare blankly as he felt the senses that the baepsae was also feeling. Jaiden couldn’t pull himself together after feeling the baepsae’s own senses in his head.

― Your incomplete family aptitude has blossomed perfectly. Your talent is ‘Bird Doctor’.

― You have a keener sense and higher affinity only for bird divine beasts. Please raise Baepsae, your first contractor, beautifully.

― Blue Baepsae (Normal) : Mana Recovery. Has exceptional talents for vitality. If you raise it a bit more, you will be able to increase its internal and external healing abilities.

― The contract between the Normal Class has been filled. You can no longer sign a contract with another Normal Class.

― We will give you a special privilege for letting your first ability blossom perfectly. Rewards: 1 contract space for a Legendary Species.

― Number of Possible Remaining Contracts: Rare (1) ― Legendary (2) ― Mythical (1)

Jaiden kept on staring blankly at the blue letters that were floating in front of him that were accompanied by a mechanical voice. He only came back to his senses when the letters were already slowly disappearing. 

He couldn’t help but look foolishly at Baepsae. He did not expect that his talent for divine beasts would bloom so suddenly.

“You…”

Baepsae, who unknowingly enlightened his ability, tilted its head at him cutely. All the things that he wanted to ask were suddenly erased from his head. It seemed like he was no match for the cuteness of his tiny Baepsae-nim. All he could do was stroke Baepsae’s tiny head carefully with the pad of his finger. 

“Right. What’s more important than this? We already have our cute and beautiful Baepsae…”

***

Notes

[Baepsae] 뱁새 – Korean Crow Tit. It’s a tiny tit that’s white and cute. If you search for it you will realize why Jaiden thought that watching it eat is so healing. I also used the romanization of the hangul since it's weird to call it Korean Crow Tit-nim when Jaiden is not even in Korea. 

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