Jack told Thomas and Agos to come to the training field after school. As for himself, he went back home to find the luggage chest the Corvus had left for him.

He entered his room, found his way to the closet on the other side, opened it, and started searching. After digging up all the clothes above, making a mess on the floor, he finally felt the surface metal of the chest hidden in the deep corner.

Pulling it out with all his strength, Jack dropped it on the floor with a loud thud.

3, 2, 1, Jack counted down in his head.

The door opened up and Edward ran into the room

“Master, are you alright?” The butler asked.

“Ed, what could possibly happen to me in this house?”

“Everything, master Jack.”

Jack turned back to his chest, struggling to drag it to the middle of the room.

Seeing that, Edward walked forward and lifted it up for him. Jack signaled to put it on the table by the bed and Edward obliged.

The black chest was an arm in length, decorated with golden outlines shining under the daylight flashing from the window. Its lid was carved with the emblem of the Corvus, a raven standing on a straight branch. Since knowing about the Nightblade, Jack had seen the symbol differently. Hidden behind the harmless image of a tree branch was a dagger, waiting to slit the throat of its unfortunate victims.

Jack shook his head, looking at the lock with a circular hole in the middle. He put his index finger into it as a small needle hidden inside emerged, pricking the tip of his finger. A few seconds later, a crack came out and the lid opened.

“Why do you need to access the chest right now, young master?” Edward approached.

Jack frowned. This wasn’t something a butler should question his master.

Seeing Jack’s annoyance, Edward explained.

“I was hoping you would put on the necklace your father gave you the day you left.”

Jack wasn’t compromising. Mentioning the necklace only made his blood boil even more.

“How many times have I said, Ed? Do not mention that.”

Edward bowed and took a step back, his face covered by a curtain of drooping hair.

Jack pushed the lid up and looked into the chest. Before his eyes was the necklace Edward had mentioned. The pendant was a piece of emerald in the shape of a teardrop. Inside was a black liquid moving unnaturally in a strange pattern. Looking closely at the lengthy stains left behind, one could see the vague image of a raven spreading its wing, the symbol of the cadet branch of the Corvus. All the subordinate powers had to treat whoever owned these necklaces with the utmost respect. Even as an outcast, the item granted the person all the privilege to live a luxurious life. Just another reason for Jack to despise his surname: his family was but a bunch of hypocrites.

Jack pushed all of his thoughts aside and looked for other stuff. Golden rings, diamonds, jewelry,.. there weren’t enough. After all the years, they still shone brightly as Jack’s eyes darkened.

“Why is there less in the chest than before, Edward?” Jack asked without turning his head around.

“Young master,” Edward’s voice shaken, “it was me who took them. During the two years of your coma, the business situation of the Harper hadn’t been very fortunate. Therefore, I had deliberately used your finger to open the chest and used the wealth to compensate for some of your medicine and supplements costs. I’m sorry for not telling you this sooner.”

Hearing about the burden he had been to his parents, Jack hunched over discouragingly, not even caring to scorn Edward for the late information.

Jack did some quick calculations and figured that the amount of jewelry here was only enough for some ten mana crystals. He took out a small amount and gave it to Edward.

“Ed, exchange these for a Lesser Mana Crystal today or tomorrow. The leftover, you just reward yourself with a cup of beer or a hefty meal. The last two years must have been difficult for you, isn’t it?”

“Yes, young master!”

Edward received his share and left, not giving out any comment.

“Like a Nightblade in training, so taciturn,” Jack whispered.

When Jack arrived at the training field, Thomas had already been working while Agos was lying on the grass, just like the day before.

Jack signaled Thomas to continue and walked toward Agos, who was still enjoying his nap, unaware of his surroundings.

Working on his eighth posture, Thomas screamed.

“AGOS!”

The fat kid jumped up; his body sounded like a drum.

“What? What? Is the food here?”

“Something even better!” Jack said, smiling.

Jack sat down next to Agos, pulling out the mana crystal father Abraham had given him this morning.

“Wowww, a mana crystal,” Agos said in admiration.

Thomas tried reaching his head out to look, even though his posture didn’t allow it.

“Focus on your training, Thomas,” Jack said, “You’ll get to use it later.”

Agos’ excitement was off the roof.

“I will get to use it? People say that if you use the crystal regularly, your body will be more or less improved. So, I don’t have to stop eating like you said, right?”

“No,” Jack shook his head, “what I’m about to do is a waste. It’s hard to explain this to you.”

Agos’ face was full of confusion.

“Okay, do you know how mana was absorbed into the body?” Jack asked.

“Yes, everybody knows that. You either crush it to absorb through your lungs or hold it to absorb through your skin. However, the teachers say that breathing them in is better because your lungs will deliver mana to every corner of your body naturally like how it did with air.”

Jack nodded.

“That's for normal people. not you.”

“Me?”

Jack pointed at Agos' fatty belly.

“Mana is going into this belly and staying there.”

Hearing this, Thomas almost fell from the stake he was standing on.

“If mana was absorbed naturally, most of it would be wasted during the body’s natural rejection process. Therefore, you need to practice a mana circulation mediation method. Using it, absorbing through skin or lungs will make no difference because you know where in your body to bring the mana to. Maybe through the skin will be even more effective.”

“That’s how you managed to control the cobblestone better than Patrick, even though you have disappeared for two years,” Agos’ eyes brightened up.

“Yes!”

“And you are going to teach us? Houses don’t share their secrets like this, especially something this valuable.”

Thomas grumbled from a distance, wanting to fly there and knock on his big pal’s empty head.

Everybody knows that, but nobody says it out loud, Fatino!

Jack shrugged.

“I’m not bothered by the business between houses. Besides, if I don’t show any goodwill first, I can’t ask anything in favor from you two, right?”

“What can we possibly give you?” Agos asked.

Jack gave out a big smile.

“Your innocence.”

Agos tried to think about it but quickly gave up. He concluded he would just do what Jack told him.

After that, Jack asked Agos to follow his instruction.

Firstly, since all three of them didn’t have the strength to break the crystal, Jack had to find a hammer and a nail in the storehouse.

With everything set, Jack put the crystal on an uneven stone, signaling Agos to sit close by. His eyes were wet with red tears as he thought about what he was going to do.

“Suck in all you can, Agos!”

Having said that, Jack raised his hammer high and smashed into the nail pointing toward the crystal.

Crack.

The crystal shattered into many small pieces as a blue smoke swirled up. Jack stopped himself from immediately entering meditation but instead moved closer to Agos, who was breathing in the mana smoke. Surprisingly, he was able to absorb a decent amount before they dispersed into the air.

Jack put two fingers on Agos’ neck, closing his eyes in concentration to direct a small amount of mana to his fingertips, creating a connection between the two mana flows, his and Agos’. It helped him feel the pathways and organs that mana would travel through inside Agos’ body.

His hand slowly moved from Agos’ neck to his belly. Indeed, unlike everyone else, only a small part entered his lungs. The rest automatically permeated into his blood veins leading to his stomach, where it was absorbed into his body fat, becoming a reserve.

Jack had to stop his mana directing when his temples began aching. In general, he had figured out how Agos’ body functioned. The information would be used as a foundation for his own meditation and circulation method.

Looking at the crystal crumbs, Jack’s lips started shaking. Thomas had left his practice and ran to the sight, his eyes all red.

“You wasteful fat f…,” Thomas yelled.

“Serve yourself,” Jack said.

Leaving Thomas wondering, Jack grabbed a few crumbs and exercised his absorption method.

Thomas cursed himself and quickly picked up the rest of the crumbs, put them closed to his nose and breathed in all he could. Luckily, there was still enough left for the two to scrap.

Agos sat beside them happily. He had never felt so full and comfortable all his life.