It took barely a few hours for the Shadow to gather enough intel.

Of course, if his father knew of his exploits, he would have been mad. However, his grand-father was ok with them, so there wasn't much to worry about.

And anyway, spying on his own family; it was not that big of a deal, in his opinion.

His notes to himself red:

Notes of Darte Reevers, Shadow, Level 87

Finding the supposed Herald has been the easiest mission I've ever received from the house; however, if father found out about my methods, he would have had me flogged.

Retrieving Gaia's diary was the hardest part, meaning that it took me exactly twelve minutes and waiting for her to leave her room.

Since it was already night, I just had to imitate Gaia's voice to call for her personal assistant; she had the clearance to enter the room without triggering any of her traps. (I swear, since I've classed up to Shadow, she has become so distrustful and envious of my ability that it would hurt me if I really cared about it).

The rest was as simple as breathing. I used a scroll of Duplicate and printed a copy of it before the time expired.

I got names, addresses, and knowledge of situations that will definitely be handy for later uses.

Gabriel Walker is the target's name.

It seems father knows about his existence but doesn't trust him to be the Herald.

Gaia does, firmly.

She's certain of his ability to "see ley lines" before being Tethered. The concept itself is so ridiculous that it made me snort upon reading.

It would mean that in him flows blood so old that it would go back to men's appearance and Alter's discovery.

The very concept is laughable; that kind of blood would have become so thin that manifesting an ability such as seeing ley lines without having been Tethered first would put him at the same level as the Gods themselves, or so that is what the Elder says.

No one wants another Tom accident.

I've been watching this Gabriel since yesterday evening.

He seems to be an average person under every aspect, character, pose, appearance, background, and sleep patterns; his lizard is tiny though, I don't know why it is so small, but maybe there are some factors in Spirit growth, should I have him checked? Is his Affinity that low? How did he get clearance from the Ley stone if so? It requires 9 Affinity for it to function independently.

I think I'll need to run at least a thorough check on him, one different from what the Elder will use. So I'd need to pay someone and then make him disappear, which is not ideal right now. Those kinds of resources are costly. And I have yet to receive my pocket money.

Anyway.

He seems to be slightly sharp when he is not entirely deficient in attention.

Today I shall only observe his activities. Tomorrow I'll act upon the results.

It seems he has found some sort of interest in the girl he met yesterday, Olivie Wanderlust.

I shall report here the hot topics of his conversations.

***

Gabriel walked in with barely the will to walk. The previous day, he had been up all night to study the information about Attributes and the different soft-caps between races that Varcivald Veronica and Bartholomew had whispered to him.

He noticed the newcomer, Olivia. She had skates on and was already working since the morning.

So much energy, it reminds me of mom… Damn, just let's not think about it, he thought.

Though the Salamander waited by the counter, she patted him every time she passed through, if she had a free hand.

It was morning, yet Gabriel noted that the number of people in the common hall was mind-blowing; they did not have enough seats for all the guests.

"Why are there so many people?" He asked Liz, which simply shrugged. Of course, if he didn't know, neither would she.

"It's raining; it has been since yesterday night, which means that the Yggdrasilians’ dogs are cleaning the fields around the Cradle, so most adventurers and hunters need to wait for them to finish," Olive said. She had gotten closer to tidy one of the tables near him.

"Oh, of course, it doesn't rain inside… I like the rain. Anyway, what are these Yggdrasilians? Monsters?" Gabriel asked, curious.

"Yggs-dogs? Huge plant-like behemoths, half-ent, half-wolves, never seen 'em?" Interjected one of the regulars, "Where does he come from?" He asked, turning toward the ever-passing Oli.

"Yeah, my family invited me a few days ago; but hasn't got the logistics and time to teach me stuff, so… anyway, Gabriel Walker, pleasure meeting you," he said.

After a bit of brainstorming with his lizard, where unsurprisingly he did most of the talking, they had come up with this fancy idea for justifying his lack of knowledge to quell that continuously popping up thing about Heralds and such...

"Bruce Garkinson," said the other, getting up and swiftly offering him a hand.

Gabriel remembered noticing him before, he was one of the fellows shouting at the game, or maybe his mind was just plaything tricks.

"So, that is not exactly gentle of them, you know?"

"Yeah, but at least they're paying my rent here. I love the place. These Yggs-dogs, though, do tell me about them. And thanks for the introduction, Oli."

"Well, giant monsters, they eat Yggdrasil's waste; the only ones allowed to do so."

"The only ones?"

"Yes. They feed on its lymph. They do house managing, well... courtyard managing. Yggdrasil conceives them so…" Shrugged, Olive, "If we did it though… their work I mean, she would probably have to cull the Cradle's population," she added, after serving.

"Wow...she?" Gabriel asked, arching a brow.

"Yeah, hey, she's a God. It's not like she goes around saying, "Hey, I'm a male! Or a female! Oh, no, wait, I'm transgender!" Olive said, convinced.

"Alright, alright... touchy argument? Let's skip it." He faked a swipe in the air.

She just glanced at him. A difficult gaze to interpret.

"I think she's changed," Bruce said as she watched her leave delivering another order. His raccoon looking spirit crept up his back, nodding at his saying.

Holy shit… where was that thing…

The raccoon had practically camouflaged with his shirt.

However, Gabriel simply continued on the Olive related line, "Yeah? How so?"

"I don't know, she's lost something. Those eyes were so full of life, they glittered, now she's… colder. She was so pleasantly naive last year," he continued.

For a while, the talk went on, Gabriel trying to understand the most he could, but not about Olive, about the Cradle.

Lost in his stupor and his search for a way to escape, he had entirely missed out on actually trying to visit it, other than passing through it.

Time flew by; while other people grew interested in telling him about it, most of them just interested in making time go by.

As it seemed, the rain outside was no joke, and the Yggs-dogs were on a rampage; few dared step outside The Cradle, and those that did were probably strong enough to take on the Yggs-dogs by themselves in case they attacked.

He even thought about getting to the edge of the dome to take a look at these fantastic Yggs-dogs. But people had driven that desire out of him. It seemed that on such occasions, the police were quite active, checking for levels and asking for permission to 'Analyze' the interested if one insisted on putting himself into danger.

Analyze did exactly what the word meant; it was done with the use of an ability or something. Did they call it a Perk? Anyone using it could get to know everything there was to know about an individual or an object; the details of the information was, of course, based on the level of the caster.

So, no privacy then, nice…

He wanted to expand on the evolution thing once again. The conversation had taken other turns, though, shifting to talks about an expanding market of transformable weapons and such, taking the Cradle in a storm. Some had even shown their new toys about, but other than sparkles and movements too fast for his eyes to follow, Gabriel hadn't managed to gauge much.

There were many other things on his mind, mostly her mother and his work, but, he had to be honest, Olive as well, took some space in his mind.

She moved like water and was enough of a beauty to drive many stares.

Some commented on how she had changed, but many more commented on how welcome her return had been and how good her new, longer haircut embellished her traits.

As it seemed, she had shorter hair the previous year, though it now reached below her butt, a thing at which Gabriel could only shake his head in disbelief. Liz just shrugged.

"Oh, you have no ground to speak on; if there's something weird right now, that is definitely you."

And as she stood tall and was about to reply, Gabriel hushed her with a piece of sausage taken from his plate, shoving it in her mouth.

That will shut you up.

And it did.

The lizard gratefully chomped on the piece, gulping it down after a few seconds, tongue whipping out satisfyingly as her eyes looked dumbly on the ceiling. It drew a chuckle out of Gabriel.

There were too many things for him to learn already, so in the end, he decided to remain at the inn for the rest of the day, engaging in conversation and getting to know people and their opinions on this new reality of his.

***

I might have chosen the wrong day to ascertain the subject's real abilities, it's still pouring, and it's almost evening now. I don't think anyone below Tier 4 will head out today, so even if he's creating ties to owner Commodo and his entourage, I doubt he will leave.

I think I'm going to buy a Ramen... when was the last time I had one? Gosh, it must have been months- no wait, it was last week… I can wait.

.

.

.

I'm gonna get a Ramen. Gabriel can wait.

.

.

.

Alright, the Ramen wasn't bad; it just… no, it sucked. It just sucked.

And I'm mad now.

I think the owner has hired someone to cook in his stead… it's rather disappointing… I think I shall kill him, maybe make him disappear, maybe I'll spare the owner this time, or who's going to cook it? He's the only one in the Cradle.

It's decided.

…

Be right back.

...

Alright.

Maybe I should have waited until night, but… that was too bad, way too bad to let it slide.

Bad Ramen will be punishable with death when my empire arises.

Back to Gabriel.

He's gotten drunk. Of course, his lizard is drunk too now, and she's kinda- pfft. What was that? Hahaha!

She's trying to juggle a mug on her tongue! But she's too small, hahaha!

Now she's jumping on Gabriel's face! What kind of relationship does this man have with himself? Hahahaha!

He's trying to swat her now; does he think she's a fly? Oh no! They're dancing now! How did it get to that?

…

Oh, it's slowly turning into a sad drunk; bad, too bad; I was almost having fun- pfft! He was faking it!

I can't believe it! He's slapped Olive's butt!

Oh, she's knocked him out!

It wasn't bad. I think that's The Deep-made Flowing Discipline, not bad at all for a commoner.

She's learned it quite fast to get to that level in one year and for being unbacked. I might have to set a watch for her. The girl has appeared out of the blue, almost exactly with his return. She might be an operative of the Pearlheart, or the Myriads. Gosh, I hope she has no ties with Tiamat himself, though. Hope I'm not jumping to any gun.

...

Alright, he's fine now. Commodo is bringing him upstairs, personally. From the way the dwarf treats him, I think he has his sympathies. I wasn't even born before he got here, but that dwarf was one of those opposing my father's lineage from accepting the offer as a Champion.

He's not to be fought, though. The Traveling Hearth is an institute in the Cradle.

Time to leave the site, I should go grab something to cover myself with. Tonight is a couple degrees lower than I like.

He sleeps like a bear; who sleeps like that? And the lizard, she does exactly the same things, a fresh Bond it is. It is weird to see someone that age having such a young Spirit Bond; isn't it Death?

Yes, I know.

What? The Ramen? It's closed now, I mean, it should be?

Want a second? Didn't I leave you all day long to hunt as you wished?

What does dessert have to do with all this!?

Come on, Death! The transcriber is writing everything I think and say here; you can't just-

Though, that does seem interesting...

New kind of ramen? Really?

Be back in an hour. No. Make it half.

…

So, as I was saying.

Let me just check real quick.

Yes, still there, sleeping, the pulse is regular.

As I was saying, their Bond is so new that they don't even know how to properly communicate with each other… he must have an abysmal Affinity too.

He will probably breach level 20 before his lizard manages to start uttering a few words. Of course, that is if he survives tomorrow's encounter.

I've prepared a few of my pets for him to face. Whichever road he'll choose tomorrow, I shall have him thoroughly tested. Of course, if he's a Herald, then it'll be a breeze facing a pet just ten levels higher than him. It should not give him much problem. If he isn't, though, maybe his welcome into the Den will be a short one.

There he is. He's chosen to enter that place after all. Stupid move, not that he would know.

My little Kate is waiting for him there; she has the highest level among those I've placed around; although Gabriel's lucky in which she's still just left her mother. She doesn't have that much experience.

Now, let's see how he fairs.

...

He's definitely no Herald... that much is clear, but...

Why isn't he dead?

This needs reporting