It was now well past noon, and Tiffany was sitting inside an underused study room in the bookstore. Everest had a clearly irritated expression on his face. While his teacher had a smile on her face that could scare away murderers.

“I know what happened to your real mother.” The young girl said to Tiffany.

“What are you talking about? My mother is Mrs. Belfour.” Tiffany stated.

“Politics is a dangerous game to get into. A realm of subtlety and intrigue. Especially in the Tetsan Empire, where merchants can buy their rank and nobility with money. Money is power here after all.” The girl stated.

“Why are you telling me this?” Tiffany seemed irritated.

“Because one of our organization’s was in fact a part of her assasination. As by association with someone we wish to make an alliance with you are also an ally by association.” The girl stated.

“What does Kyrion have to do with spies and assassins?” Tiffany stated.

“Fledglings shouldn’t be able to alter the world outside of their general area. I’m sure Gamodren had you lie about your ability to sense mana. It isn’t something that can be taught in a week or two. Yet he was able to see far more than he should for someone of his age. Had we known about him then I’d have made sure to scoop him up before that man got involved.”

“Making clothes doesn’t sound like something he’d like doing.” Tiffany stated.

“No you misunderstand, we have many covers. Tailor is just the most common for those in our organization. Stone is an Armorer believe it or not.”

“But he doesn’t wear armor.” Tiffany was lost.

The girl smiled before moving on. “Your friend has talent, and he clearly knows how to pick up those who also have talent considering his other friends. Your innate ability is high and truth be told, I’d scoop you up as well if I could. But I won’t cross that line.”

“What do you want then?” TIffany was skeptical.

“I want you to learn some of our techniques of course. Some for moving quickly and quietly. More for vanishing from sight, and a few for taking out opponents for good. Your friend needs people to fight by his side and kill when he can’t. Should he make it to expert level without killing any other humans, I imagine his potential will continue to grow exponentially.” The girl stopped.

“I want you to tell me what’s going on first. Kyrion hasn’t told me what’s going on and I don’t like being left out of the loop. I also want every bit of information involving the one you say is my mother.” Tiffany crossed her arms.

“My, you are a shrewd one.”

“Never take a job for free.”

“Fine. I’ll give you a full explanation in six years. That’s when you should reach your age of majority after all. Vengeance is a good motivator but it tends to blind the very young.” The girl smirked.

Tiffany was mad. But decided that it was a better offer than nothing.

Everest didn’t seem to be happy. It probably had more to do with the fact that he had to sit there and stay silent. This wasn’t his deal, and loose lips didn’t last too long in this line of work. Getting up and leading his teacher somewhere else to keep her busy for the time being.

Tiffany moved on to the meditation exercises that Gamodren had taught her to supposedly increase her mana pool. Unlike Kyrion, she didn’t have absurd strength and mana.

Tiffany was also far behind in terms of rank. Apparently, she should already be in or near the practitioner rank at her age, yet she couldn’t skip over her foundation. A lesson becoming more apparent as her friends grew in leaps and bounds. The book in front of her that she didn’t notice until then had a dark leather cover covered in runic symbols.

She recognized it as a codex, a book made by someone who knew their way around runes. One may absorb the knowledge from inside by connecting it with mana, engraving it into their soul. She, of course, placed the book into her bag and started to think.

Sadly a woman in pink robes with black hair approached Tiffany. It was that Damian guy’s teacher.

“What do you want, and what can you give me?” Tiffany didn’t blink twice as the woman pretended to be caught off guard.

“You kids have no respect for your elders. I would like a building or two built in this town. A tea house with a stage, or maybe a theater. Somewhere permanent to hold performances and bring some more light to the town.”

“The land is easy, building is something you’d need to either pay in gold to someone else for or add on to the fee for land as well.” Tiffany said tiredly.

“What can I give you?” Glersora asked.

“What do you have? How important is this to you?” Tiffany asked.

“Not very much. It’s a gamble after all. I also don’t know your abilities so I don’t know what you can do.” Glersora said.

“I don’t believe that you’re completely in the dark. Anyhow, I use a rapier, which is normally a dueling sword, to fight. Mostly stabs and stuff. Sometimes it shoots out light that burns things.”

“And for defense?” Glersora asked.

Tiffany raised the buckler at her side. “This is an item I use to create a shield. Other than that I just dodge.”

Glersora covered her face in frustration. “Your teacher isn’t a swordsman is he?”

“No, I think he’s some sort of illusionist.” Tiffany said.

“That was probably a stopgap measure then. I’ll give you a few lessons to give you some more survivability. Defensive abilities tend to manifest at rank two, though you’ll need to figure out how they work first. The training hall should be cleared. Show me what you can do there.”

“Fine.” Tiffany got up from her seat and led them back to the training hall.

Gamodren arrived at his destination, which was Drisil. Across the map, and it only took him a few days of travel. After he passed through the front gate, a man with black hair and sunglasses appeared in front of him.

“Father, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Gamodren said.

“Just wondering why my son is keeping one of my students away from the school.”

“The first few months are boring and the classes they need to take didn’t start until this month anyway.”

“They?” The black-haired man asked.

“One practitioner ranked, Deep Dragon, with no life experience or training, one sharp young lady with an unfortunate past. One kid who seems to recruit everyone he gets along with.” Gamodren said.

The man with sunglasses shook his head with a smile on his face. “Must be genetic then when you think about it.”

“How so?” Gamodren asked.

“Ah. Right, why are you here exactly?” The man unashamedly changed the subject.

“A delivery to Brion. How is he doing?”

“Decent. He’s hard headed and determined. He’s rank three in both fledgling and in combat ability for his age group.”

“So. Kyrion pulled this legendary sword from a stone.” Gamodren sighed. Tossing the man a sizeable unusable sword.

“Was this apart of your plan?” The man asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I let him try. Didn’t expect him to pull it. I wasn’t able to go in for obvious reasons.”

“A divine sword…Did he not want it?” The man asked.

“From what I can infer he read, the Accounts of Edgegar Mclord, wielder of the divine dark blade.”

“Hilarious and not how swords like this work. I imagine you didn’t try to correct him.”

“I am not a swordsman, nor can I teach him how to fight with one. It would also clash with the abilities he already has.”

“And he doesn’t need another sword at his side.”

“I tried giving him various durable staves, and most broke in his attempt to use them. The iron oak is hardly intact.”

“You don’t want him to be a brute.” The man smiled.

“He has the mark. The biggest mark I’ve seen. Like a well done tattoo on his back. Given his mana pool it makes sense. Had he just had wind, I imagine Lingar would have been more suitable.”

“Wind, water, life, and plants. Lingar is more focused in the wind aspect. You, my son, have a versatile skill set. While your abilities are quite different, you know how to bring out his potential. People like us need to be creative sometimes.”

“Yeah. I think that’s lost on him. He prefers to beat his opponents into submission.” Gamodren shrugged.

“Hopefully, he’ll grow out of it. Opp. Time to go give this to Brion. Good luck.” Gamodren’s father vanished right in front of him, leaving behind a tiny reflexive surface.

A hand grabbed Gamodren on his shoulder, and he turned around with a horrified expression on his face.

That night Kyrion heard a knocking sound on his window.

“I’m sleeping, go away!” Kyrion responded to the knock by covering his head with his pillow.

The knocking repeated ten seconds later, which cemented the fact that the knock was real.

He climbed out of his king-sized bed that he may or may not have personally picked out from the selection of mattresses from the houses shot out by the backpack gremlin. He brought a rather nice pillow with him as well. Nice, soft, and surprisingly sturdy, If he could have a favorite pillow, this would be it.

Still, the boy dragged his feet on principle. He was having a sweet dream about…Kyrion tried to recall the dream but came up empty. He scowled.

The knocking sound came a third time, followed by a flash of lightning and the sound of thunder in the distance. The boy then noticed that he also heard rain. Why did he hear rain?

It hadn’t rained that he’d been here in the past few months. He decided that it would be better to let them in if it was raining. What could possibly go wrong… At that thought, Kyrion summoned his heavy staff, just in case.

He opened the window, prepared to defend himself if he needed to. Turns out he didn’t. The person at his window appeared to be a dryad with blue skin instead of the normal green. A rose lay in what could be interpreted as hair.

The creature entered his room and sat in a chair, bringing along a pool of water wetting the nice carpet he had imported from the mansion. Kyrion realized he was spoiling himself. That realization was followed by. I deserve this as much as anyone else.

The dryad coughed into her hand. “Young human. I come bearing gifts from the forest. As thanks for your generous donation.” The women produced a small humanoid creature with butterfly wings. It was wearing yellow overalls made from stone and had a beard made from rock.

“What’s this?” Kyrion asked.

“An earth fairy. I wish for you to make it a part of you. Like you did with Undine.” The dryad said.

“What do you mean? Aren’t fairies masters of illusion?” Kyrion eyed the dryad with suspicion.

“That is the case with only wind fairies. Earth fairies shape the earth and create defenses for creatures under their care. It would give you a bit of power over your control over earth.”

“A bearded fairy.” Kyrion eyed the creature curiously.

“It’s something all earth fairies tend to have.” She said vaguely.

“Didn’t I see you earlier today?” Kyrion asked, scratching his chin.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It lay not even looking Kyion in his eyes.

Kyrion looked at the rose sticking out of the plant creature’s head. He saw it earlier that day.

“You were that rose bush weren’t you. You’ve been following me around all day haven’t you.” Kyrion crossed his arms.

“Humans normally can’t tell the difference between us.” The dryad did not answer his question.

“So your great spirit. Can you absorb the earth fairy in a similar way?” The dryad attempted to change the subject.

Kyrion rubbed his chin. “What do you mean like I did with Undine?”

“When a spirit willingly joins you, they keep their physical shape. You don’t have to kill spirits to obtain their cores. The stronger the creature the stronger your connection to the elements. If you kill the spirit then you just get their basic powers and have to work on improving the ability your own way but growth is much faster early on. Willing creatures weaker than you will grow with you. Willing creatures stronger than you will give you great power, but won’t get any stronger until you surpass what they could do before. After that growth in that element will be exponential.” The dryad explained.

“So. Undine is still conscious in my core since she wanted to join me?” Krion blanched.

“Yes. Haven’t you spoken with her? It should be an honor to obtain a great spirit.”

“I have been a bit busy, it’s been a long day. Mind if I absorb the fairy later or give it to a friend of mine? I need to ask my master about it as well.” Kyrion eyed the creature in his open palm and set them down on his dresser.

“Do as you wish. So long as you aren’t cruel to the creature it will be willing to join your side.” The dryad answered.

Kyrion stood there in silence, waiting for the creature to leave. When it did not, Kyrion gave her two of his walnuts.

Its eyes widened in shock.

“I can truly have this?” It asked with a strange excitement.

“Yes.” Kyrion answered.

The creature bowed and then left the hotel as though she thought Kyrion would change his mind.

“Now what to do with you.” Kyrion muttered aloud.

“Ya could get me a thimble of ale and we can discuss a partnership.” The fairy said with a gruff voice.

“Sure. In the morning. I can’t exactly enter the tavern before it opens up.”

“Guess ah cann wait. Shouldn the tavern be open though?” It asked dejectedly.

Kyrion fell asleep on his giant bed, not having the brainpower to answer just how wrong his thinking was. “This is a problem for, the me, from the morning.”