The chair turned around, revealing an old man with a stern expression...

...

Erik's arm moved.

The sound of metal hitting metal could be heard.

The boy had blocked the final javelin with his bracelet, rather than dodging it.

It was as if something had clicked in his mind.

He now had a solution for his current situation.

As more and more javelins flew towards him, Erik did not simply just dodge anymore.

Voicing the words 'Golden Core' with his mind, the bracelet became a gauntlet.

He slapped the javelins he couldn't dodge out of the way.

Grant sneered, increasing even more the amount of javelins thrown.

To the professor's surprise, however, Erik didn't simply just block them.

Turning in the air, Erik looked towards a javelin and grabbed it.

Using the centrifugal force of his swirl, he let the javelin go at the right time.

It flew in the direction of Grant, who said, "Now you're taking this seriously!"

Grant dodged the javelin, turned it in the air and threw it back at Erik.

It became a fierce battle. Erik dodged and deflected most javelins, but occasionally he would pick up one from the air and throw it back at Grant.

Successfully distracting the Air mage, the speed of the javelins would decrease or change direction midway, allowing him some rest.

It went that way for five hours. By the end of it, Erik was mostly unscathed.

The javelins that were still in the air stopped moving, falling down.

Grant said, "You did great. As you can see, you don't have to just dodge what's thrown at you. And for attacking back, I give you full marks. Let's rest."

"Yes! Thank you, professor!"

Grant smiled, then walked towards one of the arena's seats. Erik followed him.

The professor handed him a bottle of water. The two were done for the day.

...

In the mansion back at the palace.

It's morning time. After downing the breakfast that was left on the table, I put some casual clothes on and went outside.

Olaf had come back to go search for the traitor with me. Mom and sister Lin were talking to him.

They heard my footsteps.

Big sister Lin spoke to me, "Good morning brother, Olaf said you're going to the city with him today."

I replied, "Good morning, big sister Lin, mom."

Mom approached me. She was carrying a backpack on her hand.

Shoving the backpack at me, she said, "Take care of yourself. If you die, I'll change my mind and you'll be going to the army anyway. I won't give you a choice on the matter anymore."

Great. Now I can't rest in peace even if I wanted.

I grabbed the backpack as I replied, "Thank you for the concern, mom. I'll take care."

There were many ways to resurrect a dead person, but most of them were horrible. Becoming an undead was one of them, but from then on, your will belonged to the necromancer who had raised you.

Olaf spoke, "Hey there Sloth. I got us floaters, here."

He threw two shoes at me.

Floaters responded to the magical power of the user, allowing you to float in the air the more magical power you spent.

They aren't enough to fly high in the air, but it did make on foot travel more convenient.

I got down to put them on. Injecting magical power on them, I felt my feet being pushed from below.

It was hard to control yourself in the air, which is why you also had to buy a stabilizer anklet.

However, I could stabilize myself in the air by controlling the wind around my body.

As for Olaf, he was wearing a stabilizer on his ankle. It created a small field of compressed air around the wearer's body, allowing them to not fall.

He caught me looking at his foot and said, "I didn't bring you one since you probably don't need it."

"I figured. Are we going now?" I asked as I put my backpack on.

"Sure." he replied.

I looked at my sister, bidding her farewell, "Bye, big sister Lin. Can you take care of yourself without me?"

She sneered, "Aren't I the one who's supposed to be asking that?"

"That's why I took the chance from you."

"Bye brother. There's money on the backpack, use it only for what's necessary."

Mom also looked at me, "Control your diet. If you come back a baloon, I'll roast you like a pig and feed you to Brutus."

I looked at my mom, speechless.

Why do you only treat me like this? I don't see you saying these things to big sister Lin.

I replied, "I love you mom. Goodbye."

Olaf also said his goodbyes, "Goodbye miss, goodbye Lin. I'll take care of Sloth. Let's go."

He activated his shoes and quickly floated ahead. I followed after him.

As we passed by, the servants looked at us with envious eyes.

"My, what luxury."

"I tried to buy one of these for my son to go to school, but it's so expensive!"

"Why wasn't I born in the palace..."

Olaf probably heard them talking, since he suddenly put his chest forward with a pose of authority.

I remained with my same lazy expression.

As we travelled towards the gates that led outside the palace, I thought about the people I've been observing.

So many things were happening both outside and inside the palace.

I knew my peace here would eventually be no more.

I needed a plan.

Erik... I could use him.

But first, there were many improvements I needed to make.

My artificial consciousness needed to not only function exactly like me, but I also needed to remember what it did while I was away.

I also needed to become capable of reading minds.

Monica would be the perfect subject. Her mind is unprotected, unlike the others.

I trusted that the monster, Gabriel, would do his job in preventing whatever war was coming.

Meanwhile, matriarch Lydia is soon going to lose control over the palace.

I don't have a choice. I need to join the empress' faction to survive.

Whoever remained neutral was either going to be forced to join or be eliminated.

And that nuke...

I wondered what plans that seer had for planting a nuke here. Since it hadn't detonated yet, it meant it currently served as an unknown threat that could somehow be activated at any moment.

She has an inside person. Without a remote, someone would have to detonate it directly.

I remembered how quickly matriarch Lydia had given up on coming to the palace. She was supposed to be arriving soon, but not anymore.

Eventually, I crossed the entrance gates with Olaf. We had left the palace.

...

"Mother-in-law has changed course?" said the empress.

"Yes, your majesty. She won't be coming." replied concubine Ophelia.

The concubines of the empress' faction were reunited in the Marble Mansion's meeting room, home to concubine Talia.

The empress was sat at the head of the table. She put back her glass of tea on top of it with a thud.

Concubine Essea questioned, "Maybe she heard about what happened to her agent here?"

"Ha, she probably turned tail after Invicta died!" replied concubine Helga, chuckling.

"How did she find out, though?" wondered concubine Dalia.

"Roses. I told you we had a spy! Can't trust those beastmen!" concluded concubine Judith with an irritated expression.

The empress swirled the contents of her glass, then took a sip.

Concubine Talia spoke calmly, "Soon we'll conclude the elimination of the matriarch's faction from the palace. Your majesty, once we're done, we'll establish the new tax plan right away, I trust his majesty is aware?"

The empress replied, "Of course he is. What I'm worried about right now is why mother-in-law left. She's not the type to run away. Concubine Invicta or not, she'd still try to put up a fight."

Concubine Helga spoke, "She's growing senile, your majesty. She has to take care of her health. She wouldn't dare to cause trouble at her age."

"That's because you don't know her." replied the empress.

The empress downed her cup with a worried expression.

She ordered, "You all are to stick to your roles. Continue converting the rest of the neutral party and finding fault in those of the matriarch's faction. As for new measures..."

She had an evil smile as she said, "Since we'll soon have the whole palace under our control, we'll get ready for the implementation of the surveillance plan."

Everyone was stunned.

Concubine Essea asked cautiously, "So we're really going to implement it?"

The empress frowned at her, "Why? Do you oppose?"

She quickly replied with a frightened expression, "Not at all! But won't the matriarch catch our move if we suddenly order a large amount of security equipment?"

The empress quickly stood up, slamming her fist on the table.

She shouted, "I want to know about every transaction, every medical history, everything! I want to know what the citizens are having for breakfast, what products they are buying! Soon, the whole empire will be under my control. If you oppose me..."

She pointed her palm at concubine Essea.

The concubine spoke, teary eyed, "No, please..."

The empress' hand closed into a fist.

"Urgh!" concubine Essea began to choke.

The empress was pressing her throat from a distance.

Telekinetic attribute.

With the Telekinetic attribute, a mage could move anything from a distance. Unlike an Air mage's limbs of air, the Telekinetic mage controlled things directly, without relying on the elements.

It could go through barriers.

The other concubines refused to say anything, most of them having lowered their heads with a frightened expression.

Eventually, concubine Essea's arms fell back at the table, holding it as she gasped for air.

She said with a hoarse voice, "I was wrong... Forgive my ignorance... Your majesty."

The empress floated as she left the room. The double door opened itself for her as she left, probably since she used her magic to open it.

Most concubines kept their heads lowered as concubine Essea stabilized her breathing.

On one of the chairs, a concubine dressed in white chuckled.

Concubine Talia had an aggressive look on her face as she looked in the direction where the empress had left from.

"Just you wait..." she muttered.

...

I felt a finger on my forehead.

I asked, "What is it?"

Olaf replied, "I just asked you if you wanted some chocolate, but you just stood there looking at me."

"No, thank you. I was thinking about things."

"Right."

He took a bite out of his chocolate bar.

This time, I had ordered the artificial consciousness to follow Olaf and use Air attribute magic to remain stabilized in the air.

It seemed to have done well so far, but it still couldn't communicate, and still gave back no memories of the whole trip.

I looked around. We had traveled far. Soon, we would arrive at Maroon District.

These floater shoes were fast.

"You're fine, right? Do you have any problem I should worry about?" Olaf asked.

"I'm one hundred percent healthy, why?" I replied.

"I don't know, it was pretty weird, the way you just stood there, staring at me."

"Like I said, I was thinking about things."

"What things?"

"Does your mom have a good relationship with her majesty?"

Olaf raised an eyebrow.

He asked, "Huh? Why are we talking about my mom all of a sudden? Why are you thinking about her?"

"I like to think about things."

"Uhuh. Well, they're fine. Mom works together with her. They even drink tea together. Why?"

"Your mom must have a lot of value to her majesty if they drink tea together."

"Yeah. Instead of thinking about my mom, you should be thinking about my sister."

He took another bite off his chocolate bar.

Olaf asked with a smirk, "What do you think about her?"

"Who?"

"My sister, I just said it."

"Oh. She's nice to me."

He grinned and asked, "And?"

"What 'and'?"

"That's it? Do you like her?"

"She's nice to me."

"You already said that."

I simply kept looking at him. He soon showed a confused expression.

He asked again, "So, do you lik-"

"She's nice to me." I interrupted him.

He was speechless.

Olaf asked me with an irritated tone, "What are you, a broken record!?"

"W...t's h... de...l..."

I got something. So anger also works.

I blinked once, with the same lazy expression as always.

Then, I asked, "Are we there yet?"

Olaf sighed. He replied, "No. Listen if you didn't want to talk about that you could have just told me."

"Talk about what?"

"Forget it. Let's go."

He floated ahead with an unhappy expression.

Artificial Sloth. Sight Voyage.

...

The sounds of metal clashing with metal echoed inside the arena room.

Erik deflected Grant's sword strikes with his gauntlet.

The professor went for a pierce move, almost hitting Erik's eye, but the boy quickly tilted his head to the side.

Erik then grabbed the sword's blade. He felt his gauntlet absorb magic from it.

The boy spoke loudly, "I knew you were using magic! You were moving so fast!"

The professor replied with a laugh, "Haha, you caught me. Can you release the sword, please?"

Erik's strength had multipled after absorbing the magic from the blade.

The sword was stuck on his grip.

The boy decided to continue the battle, yanking the blade away from Grant's hand, disarming him.

And so, the professor shot a blast of wind at Erik's body from his other palm, throwing the boy away in the air.

Grant sneered, "Just because you disarmed your opponent doesn't mean they're now defenseless. They can still use magic."

Erik sat up with a groan, "Yeah..."

The professor picked up his sword, which had fallen on the ground. Erik also got up.

Grant spoke, "Listen Erik, classes will be starting as soon as the day after tomorrow. We won't be able to train so often anymore."

"Oh..." Erik had a stunned expression.

"But don't worry, we'll still be able to train in the evening. However, in the meantime, I'm going to need to figure out what to do with you."

"Can't I just keep studying here? I look completely different now."

Grant thought about it.

Then, he spoke, "If I did that, they'd link an unknown boy showing up under my tutelage with the boy who escaped the palace, since I'm from the matriarch's faction. It'd be too suspicious."

Erik lowered his head.

The boy asked quietly, "So what am I going to do about Monica?"

"Monica?" Grant had a confused expression.

Erik explained, "She's the girl I came together with. I promised I'd stay with her."

Grant showed a look of realization as he replied, "Oh, I see, I remember them. She's from the family you travelled together with. Well, let me think..."

The professor held his own chin with one hand as he thought.

Grant eventually spoke, "I'll speak with one of my friends and see if they're willing to adopt you and get you an identity card. If so, we'll find a way to put you in the same class as her. Would that be fine with you?"

"Yes! That'd be perfect! Thank you, professor!" Erik had a huge smile on his face.

Grant smiled at him, then lifted his sword and pointed at him.

"Come on, let's continue." the professor spoke.

"Yes, professor! Please advise!" Erik replied with a motivated expression.

...

The two of us had arrived in the front of a big building.

Olaf spoke with a serious expression "Sloth, pay attention. I'm going to go in and you'll follow right behind me. Look out for anyone who could pose a threat to us and be ready to fight."

I tried to calm him down, "Olaf, they're poor, not savages."

He ignored my comment as he continued, "We'll be walking inside, so turn the floaters off. They won't steal it from us if they think they're just normal shoes."

"They probably have informants all over the city and already saw us. This is the Information Guild after all."

"Blast. You're right. Then look out for anyone walking on all fours, they might try to take our shoes and run."

"What." I was speechless.

"Come."

He walked towards the building. I followed after him.

The inside was nothing special. The walls were made out of dark brown wood planks.

It was a typical bar. People talked and drank alcoholic beverages as they listened to the bard playing music on the corner.

Olaf looked extremely suspicious as he looked around. No one paid him any attention.

Eventually, we arrived at the counter. The barman was wiping a glass with a piece of fabric as he glanced at us.

Olaf spoke to the man, "I'd like a watered down storm night."

The barman replied, "We only serve it pure or heavy."

Olaf continued, "Watered and iced. Period."

The barman looked at the two of us, then stopped wiping the glass on his hand and put it below the table.

The barman pointed to a man guarding the stairs.

He instructed, "Tell that big guy standing over there that you're good to go."

Olaf thanked the barman, "Thank you."

I followed after him. After Olaf told the muscular guy guarding the stairs that we were good to go, the man went up and guided us to a door.

Opening it, he gestured we could go inside.

We walked forward.

Sight Voyage.

I had a gut feeling that we had gone through a portal.

The door closed behind us.

I was right. Behind the door that just closed, the bar vanished. It leads to a corridor now.

We kept moving forward. It was a room. Inside, there was a woman wearing glasses.

She approached us with a greeting, "Welcome to the Information Guild. Please, take a seat."

The woman pointed her palm at the two chairs in front of the office table.

The person behind the table wasn't visible, as their chair was facing the window to the front.

I could see no reflection on the window, but with Sight Voyage I could see that it was an old man that was sitting there.

Olaf and I took our seats.

A deep and aged voice spoke, "What are two brats from the palace doing here. Do you two think this is a playground?"

As expected from the Information Guild. They know who we are.

Olaf looked clearly nervous. I remained with the same lazy demeanor as always.

The woman left the room, closing the door behind us.

The boy at my side was clenching his fists. They were becoming pale.

I spoke, "We came to buy information. Are you the information salesman or something? How should we address you?"

Olaf glanced at me with a thankful look.

The chair turned around, revealing an old man with a stern expression...