"Finally home." Adeon muttered as he stepped into his modest apartment. Walking back home had been a struggle, his muscles ached from the sprint, and his legs felt like lead. Leaning against the wall he let out a long breath before dragging himself toward the old sofa. The time said 1:20 p.m. The imperial guards had left around noon and with no other classes scheduled, he had rested for 30 minutes before heading home.
Not like the 30 minutes were spent in peace, Kara had kept bugging him, asking how he trained his pet beast, why he wasn't scared when the direwolf was coming at them. He tried to brush her off, but she kept on coming with more questions, finally he couldn't bear it anymore and he asked exasperatedly
"Don't you have a home to get back to?"
He remembered the way her smile dimmed slightly before coming back radiantly again.
"I don't have anyone waiting for me."
The guilt that followed hit him harder than a fully armored military truck. He apologized, although she said she didn't mind. Faster than switching a light bulb on her mood changed again as she bombarded him with questions all over.
Remembering all this brought a smile to his weary face. ' that reminds me I didn't see Sylv today… I'm feeling awfully sleepy'
The cushions sagged under his weight as he sank onto it, the fabric cool against his sweat-soaked shirt. He didn't even bother to change or wash up; the exhaustion swallowed him whole. His eyelids grew heavier with each blink until, finally, sleep claimed him.
When he woke up, the room was tinged with the warm orange glow of late afternoon. The wall clock ticked steadily—5:03 p.m. Rubbing the stiffness from his eyes, Adeon pushed himself upright, the nap having dulled his fatigue ' I have to study'
The forger exam. Although he was a top student and he had been perusing forge related materials, his ambition at that time only lay at being an assistant, not taking the exam himself, but now it was different.
He reached for the battered stack of manuals and notes on the low table beside him. Their corners were frayed, some pages marked with hastily scribbled annotations. Pulling one open, Adeon steadied his breathing and began to read. The room fell silent save for the faint scratching of paper as he jotted reminders to himself. Tired or not, he couldn't stop… not this.
He finally put down his put down his pen after four long hours, his wrist ached slightly and his stomach rumbled, reminding him, he hadn't eaten anything.
Whipping up a quick meal, he ate in silence, then summoned his grimoire.
"Genesis," he whispered.
At once, a swirling vortex unfurled before him, pulling at the air around the room. Without hesitation, Adeon stepped through.
The moment he crossed the threshold. A rush of air surged towards him. He drew a sharp breath as threads of energy seeped into his body, weaving through his muscles, mending strained tissues, and soothing the ache in his bones. The lingering soreness melted away, replaced by a subtle strengthening of his body.
Adeon frowned. "What's going on?" he asked.
Ysira didn't answer immediately, merely observing him with her calm, analytical gaze. When she finally spoke, her tone carried the clarity of a teacher.
"One of the primary principles of training is the cycle of wear and repair," she began. "I observed your exercises today. Captain Sanders' method is crude, but effective—he understands that progress for low-level awakeners must be forced through the body." She tilted her head, as though testing whether Adeon was keeping up.
"Tell me, how are muscles strengthened?"
"By exercising," Adeon replied.
"Correct," she nodded. "But more precisely, exercise inflicts micro-tears on muscle fibers. Those tears are what cause your soreness. When the body repairs this damage, it overcompensates—rebuilding the fibers denser and stronger to resist future strain. This principle is universal, even for awakened."
She gestured around Genesis, where energy pulsed faintly in the air.
"However, unlike ordinary humans, Auron is a fundamental part of the miscoe.demsity of low level awakeners. You lack direct energy manipulation at your stage. That means the fastest path to growth is not through technique, but through repeated cycles of damage and accelerated recovery. What you experienced today—pain, fatigue, soreness—is the price of advancement. The energy here simply amplifies the healing process."
After a couple of minutes the airflow around him subsided, leaving him with a newfound sense of strenght. Sensing the flow of energy in him, he noticed the thread like energy circulating from his head through his body had grown noticeably thicker, from it's thread like state it was now as thick as a pinky.
Without needing to be reminded, he summoned his grimoire.
Host: Adeon Taloba
Rank: initiate (Leather)
Progress: 10%
Tamed beats: Thornling
Innate Talent: Genesis Hollow
Guardian Beast(s): Allmother
Allmother spawns: Argen fang, Aegis ward
'Whoa… my progress went up by 9% without a need for meditation.' Looking straight up at Ysira, he asked: "does that mean there's no need for meditation".
With a shake her head, she replied "as far as I know, meditation yields little to no effect for leather tamers, but starting from the bronze grade, your physique starts to become inhuman"
"Inhuman as how…"
"I'll leave that to your teachers to explain"
"How do you know so much about humans" he asked curious, "I was taught" she gave a curt reply, clearly not interested in going further.
{Papa, carry}
A faint, shy voice sounded in his head through the bond, gazing down, at his feet was a pitch, black snake, her scales gave off a metallic, solid feeling as it reflected the light 'hmmm… light'. He gazed up at the sky and was surprised to see a ball of light, which appeared to be the source of illumination 'so there's a sun'.
Bending his waist slightly, he picked the snake up, she curled around his arms as she nuzzled her scaled face against his.
{Papa no take Ourus out, Ourus angry with Papa},(ᗒᗩᗕ)՞
Although she said that, her face was still nuzzling against his. This was Ourus, Valeryss twin sister and his second daughter, she was the complete opposite of Valeryss, but even more clingy.
{I'm sorry Ourus, but for now papa can't summon you and Valeryss at the same time, papa will work even harder so that he can bring you out, okay}
(๑>◡<๑)
she hummed in satisfaction,
'easy, whoever said coaxing a child was hard is a liar'
{Papa, Mama is scary}, (;ŏ﹏ŏ)
Hmmm…?
Gazing at Ysira's expressionless visage, Adeon scratched his neck awkwardly as he said "uhm… you're scaring her."
Ysira, didn't reply, just gazed at Adeon, He felt a shiver down his spine, 'dear daughter, papa is also scared of mama.'⊙﹏⊙
An awkward silence came over them. Ysira turned around and said "I've confirmed what I needed to confirm, from tomorrow onwards you can take Ling with you"
"Uhm… isn't there a need to conceal the fact that I have a guardian beast?" Adeon asked.
"There's no need to do that, concealing such will only prevent you from receiving resources that will aid your growth... Starting from the bronze grade, you will need meditation manuals to progress more, and revealing you have a guardian beast will undoubtedly place you as a priority."
Having said that, she turned around, and started walking towards the mist. "That's all for today" she said, before disappearing into the mist.
"Ohh and one more thing" Ysira's voice carried over from behind the mist.
"You aren't allowed to summon Valeryss or Ourus except in a truly dire situation"
"You need to start training with Ling"
"And she's gone…" Adeon muttered. With nothing left to do he spent about 30 minutes playing with the beasts, after which he returned to his living room. Checking the time, it was already some minutes past 11pm.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The familiar tone of his Skydrive rang out, with a confused expression he moved towards it. No one generally contacts him except his sister, and she had contacted him two days ago, the day before his birthday. Flicking a button by its side, the device's screen flickered to life.
'Sylv messaged me' he thought with raised eyebrows. 'Probably because he didn't see me today… I haven't even told him I awakened yet.'. He tapped on the message to see what it was about.
After reading through, a wistful expression appeared on his face. He hadn't expected that the reason he didn't see Sylv at the school gate wasn't because he had gone in before him, but rather because Sylv had changed schools.
His family had moved all the way from the Blackwood stronghold to the Centre, although he knew Sylv's parents were influential figures, he never imagined they had the resources to move to the Centre.
Unlike other stronghold, the Centre was where the power of the Aricarr region was concentrated, like its name, it was the true center of power. Any ordinary household in the Centre, would be many times more wealthy than ordinary rich households in the 5th base.
SIGH
Adeon let out a long sigh, Sylv had been his only friend, although he had only joined Adeon's class at the 11th grade, they had gotten along well, with Sylv's almost borderline girlish behavior, earning quite a lot of teasing from Adeon.
Adeon replied the message, first telling Sylv he had awakened, then going on to narrate how the imperial guards had come to teach them and how the captain had released a direwolf at them.
After sending his reply, he lay on his bed, scenes from the past day replaying over and over again in his head.
Only a day had passed but so much had happened.
**********
Aricarr Region: Centre
At the easternmost part of the base, a crown of mountains stood tall, their peaks piercing into the clouds, like divine swords pointed against the heavens. They stood side by side like divine armaments, constructed to bar whatever lay on the other side.
But at the feet of the mountain ranges stood a small hill, only about 25 meter in height, a stark contrast to the towering mountain ranges behind it. But yet it was the most eye catching. From the base of the hill to it's summit stretched a staircase, each step seemingly carved from the hill itself. On either side was a dense array of blooming flowers, from the top all the way to the bottom, each step was littered with fallen silver petals, adding to the aesthetic beauty of the hill.
At the summit of the hill, lay a simple cottage, it's courtyard covered in flowers of vibrant array, each of them glowed with a soft hue, adding colour to the silver illumination of the night.
In the midst of the courtyard sat a lady, head overflowing with shoulder length, silver hair, her features were exquisite, as if carved from jade, yet her face was dangerously pale, like someone drained of blood.
A faint smile hung on her face as she delicately sipped from the teacup in front of her, her gaze distant as if lost in memory. If any one saw her now they would be stunned speechless.
This was Yue Qui, one of the three Grandmaster forgers in the Aricarr Region, she was popularly known as frozen beauty, due to the frigid expression always on her face.
The sound of a door opening shattered the fragile silence in the courtyard as two people stepped out of the cottage.
The first was a woman draped in flowing silver robes, a golden crescent moon embroidered across her chest. Following behind her was a girl, green hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, her eyes like emerald glimmered with mischief, upon closer look one would notice her ears were longer than normal, their tips pointed.
"The Young Lady has been escorted back safely." The lady said with a light bow of her head.
"How many times have I told you" Yue Qui said, her voice soft: "There's no need for such formality when it's just us."
Before she could respond, a joyful cry rang out "Mother". The green haired girl launched herself without hesitation, wrapping her arms around Yue Qui. The force of the impact causing both of them to fall into the sea of flower.
Yue Qui's lips stretched into a smile, a sight so breathtaking it could have captured the hearts of many. Pity there was no one else there to witness it.
"Silly girl… How many times have I told you not to throw yourself at me without warning?" Yue Qui said amid soft laughter, her hand gently stroking her daughter's green hair.
At this, a wry smile tugged at the attendant's lips. _My Lady_, she thought, _even if a thousand young ladies were thrown at you, not one could make you budge… Still, it is good to see you smile, to remember you are human once in a while._
Pulling herself away at last, the girl mumbled, "I'm sorry", though her mischievous expression betrayed anything but remorse.
Yue Qui tilted her head, a slight smile playing at her lips as she raised a delicate brow. "I thought you were angry at me... Wasn't that why you ran away from home?"
Sylvette puffed out her cheeks, turning her face aside like a sulking squirrel. "Hmph… I decided to forgive you."
"Ohhh…" Yue Qui's knowing smile deepened. "So, Sylvette… how is your little crush? What was his name again… A—"
"MOMM!" A shrill shriek cut through the night as Sylvette lunged, both hands flying to cover her mother's mouth. Her entire face, down to the tips of her pointed ears, burned crimson.
At the sight, a melodious laughter spilled from Yue Qui's lips, bright and clear, ringing through the courtyard like the chime of silver bells.