Alan absentmindedly watched Lily chase Fern around the room. For such a small creature, the cat was deceptively fast. It waited for Lily’s fingers to close around it before vanishing into thin air and reappeared on top of a tabletop at the other end. The failure didn’t faze his sister one bit. With a grin on her face, she hastened after it.

He didn’t have the energy to comment on her actions. Too many thoughts rolled in his head and collided against each other, leaving confusion and chaos in their wake.

When Lily didn’t look like she was going to let up anytime soon, Arlo coughed. “Lady Lilliana, please settle down. Now that you’re a squire, there are many things you need to learn. As per Her Grace’s instructions, I’ll explain what a bonded means and some other things you need to know. Lord Alan, you should also pay attention.”

The butler didn’t miss how distracted he was. It didn’t come as a surprise. He wasn’t trying to hide it in the first place.

Lily moved her eyes from the prize and glanced at the butler in irritation. “We can do it after I catch Fern.”

Going by the number of failed attempts, it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Fern saved Arlo the trouble of convincing his troublesome sister by materializing on her shoulder and tapped her face. “Meooowww.”

“Okay then.” She climbed onto the sofa beside him. While she appeared ready, her hands never stopped stroking the cat, and her impatience was obvious to see.

He watched the strange interactions with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t know how Lily understood the ‘Meooowww,’ but it sounded like a lazy cat’s yawn to him.

Arlo didn’t waste any time and dived right into the topic. “In our military system, those who can use Ki train in different paths. Knights, warriors, archers, priests, and assassins are the archetypes, and they encompass a wide variety of roles. Every person is suitable for a particular class, and the duchy assigns soldiers to the respective training camp. It’s more of a suggestion and isn’t mandatory, so some people reject the offer and join a different program. They’re always the ones left with regrets. Some of them had great talent and potential. It’s such a waste.”

Alan didn’t miss the undercurrent of warning in his tone. If it was meant to dissuade any rebellious thoughts, it failed. In the past six months, he learned a lot about the different classes and knew the knight path didn’t suit him. It may have been the optimal choice when his parents tested during his younger year, but a lot had changed after he took over Alan’s body. He wasn’t going to stop hounding his parents till they changed their minds.

“While you’re a squire, Ki will be restricted to your body or any weapons and armor you wear. Let me demonstrate.” Arlo lifted a palm displaying the olive-colored skin that acquired a red tint. The color became lighter but more solid before turning blown-glass orange. Using his other hand, he removed a ring in the likeliness of the Ross family crest. It looked like a dove’s outstretched wings with every feather painstakingly crafted in great detail.

Alan did a double-take when Arlo dropped the ring into the glowing palm. It melted within seconds. The terrifying intensity of the heat was on clear display, and it exceeded his expectations by a large margin. Still, he was more concerned about the loss of the ring and lamented such wasteful usage. A simpler object would’ve sufficed for a show.

Arlo smiled at their disappointed expression and tilted his palm. The red hot liquid fell towards the rug beneath his feet.

“Look out!” Alan shouted. If it fell, a destroyed carpet would be the least of his worries.

The molten metal didn’t reach the floor and paused midair. It formed a ring with the same proportions as the original one and gradually morphed, with outlines of feathers appearing on it. The plain ring slowly transformed, turning into the masterpiece it was before. It was like watching a time-lapse video of an artist creating a beautiful piece of art. The ring hadn’t solidified, but Arlo somehow managed to hold it in place.

“Wow,” Lily gasped.

What a sly old fox. Despite his chaotic mind, the old man’s display nabbed his attention. Arlo knew what he was doing when he put on the show. Years of experience must’ve given him plenty of knowledge on grabbing other people’s attention. Though Alan knew the mastery and display of skill took many years to master, he couldn’t help salivating after it.

“What kind of ability allows you to manipulate metal like that?” he asked. “I’m sure earth element can’t do that. Are there more elements?”

Arlo laughed. “Patience, Lord Alan. How can I answer your questions when you lack the required knowledge? We’ll have plenty of time to discuss these after I finish my explanation.”

Alan saw his answer coming from a mile away, but he couldn’t do anything. Snorting unhappily, he resigned himself to listening to the tedious explanation.

“Can you show another skill?” Lily pleaded.

“Certainly. Let me finish my explanation, and I’ll show you something amazing,” Arlo paused for a moment before continuing with the previous topic. “As a squire, you won’t be able to control Ki outside your body. Once you gain the control necessary to do it, you’re classified as a knight.

“Another important part of your training is skills. As you know, everyone is born with an affinity for particular elements, and it increases through training. The basic requirement for learning any skill is your elemental affinity. Higher the value, the more powerful the skills you can learn.”

“What happens when you reach 100% affinity?” Alan asked. To him, understanding more about the elements was the top priority. His life depended on it. Every fragment of knowledge helped him get closer to a solution.

“For starters, you gain a domain which amplifies the corresponding elemental skills while weakening the enemy’s abilities. It gives other advantages, but that’s a discussion for another time.

“The final topic you need to understand is about being a bonded. In essence, it’s a contract between a human and a beast. Unlike us, they can’t control the elements but grow stronger through mutation. It changes their body, giving them unique abilities. Grand knights can absorb the beast shards and undergo a similar mutation. Another less known fact is they have an ability called a World Spell that falls outside the purview of the elements. Only a few beasts gain such skills, but every one of them is terrifyingly powerful. In fact, the beasts represent the most powerful faction on the continent. Were it not for their aggression against each other and underdeveloped minds the other races would’ve fallen to their might. And that is where the contract comes in. It melds the minds of both parties, helping the beasts gaining knowledge and wisdom whilst the human counterpart acquires a chance to learn their World Spell. The frozen darkness you saw outside, it’s a result of Fern’s World Spell. I don’t know what it does or how much Her Grace mastered, but it’s one of the prime reasons people are afraid of her. Even among World Spells, it stands in a class of its own.”

He peeked at Fern that was resting between Lily’s palms. Its tiny body and drowsy eyes didn’t do justice to the butler’s exaggerated description. As far as first impressions went, it looked harmless and seemed more like a plush toy.

“Once Lord Alan becomes a squire, the two of you’ll enter the beast forest to choose your companion. But the entire journey will take seven months, and the delegation is about to arrive, so I don’t know if Her Grace plans to postpone it.”

“What?” Lily gazed at Fern and pouted. “No! I want one now! I’ll go talk to mom right now!”

“Please wait, Lady Lilliana. Your mother is busy right now and will join you soon. In the meantime, why don’t I show you the skill I talked about?”

Lily hesitated, but curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to wait.

Arlo nodded in satisfaction and snapped his fingers. Both of them waited in anticipation and …… nothing happened.

“I think your attempt failed,” he hesitantly said. “Why don’t you try again?”

Someone tapped on his shoulder, making him jump out of his skin. “What the ….?”

Behind him stood another Arlo. He turned back and saw Arlo standing in his original place. Glancing between the two of them, he didn’t notice a single difference. It was a perfect copy down to a tee. “Did you replicate yourself?”

“Not quite, but close,” Arlo replied.

The clone walked towards him with perfectly natural movements. Appearance-wise, it looked solid. “Can it use physical attacks?”

He shook his head. “The tap you felt was the maximum it could do. It’s not for scouting either, as I can’t share its senses. I can only tell you this much: it’s a result of a World Spell, fire and light magic.”

“You can’t explain more?” he disappointedly asked.

“Explaining more involves revealing my World Spell, and it’s forbidden by the contract.”

I guess, there’s no getting around it. He wondered if his parents would be able to reveal their World Spells to him. He could ask them and see how it goes.

“Can you create any shape?” Lily asked. The clone grabbed her complete attention.

The distraction came as welcome news to Alan. He didn’t want her pestering Alaya to send them to the beast forest. The perpetrator of the assassination attempt was still on the loose, and he didn’t want to go on an adventure with a guillotine hanging over his neck.

Another reason was the time he would have to spend on the road. To him, every moment was precious, and he wanted to use it productively. Too many things troubled him, but he didn’t any answers to a single one. It was time to set his priorities straight. Figuring out a solution to his ailment was the most important task. Instead of randomly searching for answers, it would be better to follow the training regime. Gaining a systematic understanding of the world’s power system would help him find a direction. No matter how amazing the World spell sounded, importance-wise, it ranked at the bottom of his list.

At the moment, his topmost priority was reaching the squire stage. He called upon the system to display his stats. Instead, what he got was a completely unrelated pop-up.

[System recently devoured a Darketh]

[Please choose a container before proceeding forward]

Now what?