The rain finally stopped.
The estate of House Valemont stood calm beneath a pale sky, as if nothing beneath its surface had begun to fracture.
Aruford sat cross-legged in the inner garden.
Alone.
On purpose.
Secret Experiment
He placed both palms on the ground.
Closed his eyes.
Breathed.
Slow.
Even.
He did not reach outward this time.
He reached inward.
There—beneath his pulse, beneath thought itself—he felt it:
Threads.
Fine streams of mana brushing against his skin like invisible current.
Effector: Passive Absorption detected.
Chosen One: Control Subroutine initiating.
He exhaled slowly.
The absorption slowed.
The threads thinned.
So it could be controlled.
Not fully.
But enough.
He adjusted again.
This time intentionally pulling.
The air around him felt heavier.
Cooler.
The grass near his knees bent slightly as mana condensed.
A faint shimmer gathered around his hands.
His heart rate increased.
Too fast.
Too much.
The threads thickened sharply—
His vision blurred.
Pain stabbed behind his eyes.
He released it instantly.
The shimmer vanished.
He collapsed forward, breathing hard.
Effector: Capacity limit reached.
Mana Channels: Minor strain.
He stared at the dirt.
So there was a ceiling.
For now.
He smiled faintly.
That meant it could be expanded.
Watching Eyes
He didn't notice the shadow on the garden wall.
Didn't see the gloved hand withdraw from the edge of the roof.
But someone had.
The Second Beast
It happened three nights later.
Too coordinated to be coincidence.
The estate guards rotated at midnight.
A supply cart "accidentally" left the side gate unsecured.
And from the forest—
Something entered.
Not one.
Three.
Corrupted beasts.
Their bodies veined with blackened mana.
Eyes vacant.
Controlled.
Not wandering.
Directed.
The first scream came from the outer courtyard.
Aruford woke instantly.
Not from fear.
From resonance.
The corruption felt wrong.
Like oil poured into clear water.
Chosen One: Threat Recognition engaged.
He sat up in the darkness.
The voice stirred faintly.
"…This is deliberate."
Aruford slid from his bed.
He did not hesitate.
Courtyard Chaos
Guards clashed with the first beast—a twisted boar nearly twice its natural size.
Steel rang.
Mana flared.
But corruption made it relentless.
The second beast leapt onto a guard tower.
The third slipped past the confusion.
Toward the inner estate.
Toward the children's wing.
Toward Aruford.
He stood alone in the hallway when it arrived.
A serpentine creature of bone and muscle.
Its body moved unnaturally, like joints bending where they shouldn't.
It lunged.
Aruford did not retreat.
He inhaled.
Not greedily.
Precisely.
Mana flowed into him in controlled streams.
Not the wild surge from before.
Measured.
Balanced.
Effector: Output optimization active.
Chosen One: Combat Adjustment engaged.
The beast struck.
Aruford pivoted.
Cleaner than before.
Sharper.
His wooden practice blade—kept beside his bed—met its jaw at a precise angle.
Crack.
The force traveled not from strength—
But alignment.
The creature recoiled.
Aruford stepped inside its guard again.
He remembered the wolf.
But this time—
He was ready.
He drew in one final controlled breath.
His palm struck forward.
A pulse of condensed mana burst from his hand.
Not refined.
Not elegant.
But enough.
The beast slammed into the wall.
Its skull fractured.
It went still.
Silence.
Aruford swayed.
He had not exceeded his limit.
But he had touched it.
The Aftermath
By dawn, the courtyard was stained again.
Three beasts.
All corrupted.
All traced back toward the same forest region.
But this time—
There were marks near the outer wall.
Human boot prints.
Light.
Professional.
Not bandits.
Not amateurs.
An infiltration.
Inside job or outside force?
The elders convened again.
The tension was no longer subtle.
"This is no coincidence," Elder Marthis said.
"Someone is testing us," another replied.
Aruford's father remained quiet.
But his gaze shifted briefly toward his son.
Not with fear this time.
With calculation.
A Growing Ceiling
Later that day, alone once more, Aruford examined himself.
He could feel it clearly now.
After absorbing controlled mana in battle—
Something inside had widened.
Not drastically.
But measurably.
Effector: Total Stats +3
Astrite Count: Increased.
The word Astrite lingered in his mind.
He did not know what it truly was yet.
But he knew this—
Every life-or-death moment accelerated it.
Pain was a catalyst.
Danger was a trigger.
"…They will escalate," the fragment whispered faintly.
"Because I survived?" Aruford asked.
"Yes."
"Good," Aruford replied quietly.
The presence paused.
"…You do not fear it?"
Aruford looked toward the distant forest.
"No."
Not because he was brave.
But because somewhere deep inside—
He felt something waiting.
A threshold.
A wall he had yet to hit.
"You said I'll die once," he murmured.
"…Yes."
Aruford closed his eyes.
"Then they'll have to try harder."
For the first time—
The fragment almost sounded amused.
Far Beyond the Estate
In the ruins of the obsidian shrine, a cloaked figure knelt before the cracked altar.
The scrying orb hovering above it flickered with the image of a small boy standing over a broken serpent beast.
"Incredible," the figure whispered.
"Adaptive absorption at that age…"
The orb dimmed.
A faint smile formed beneath the hood.
"Prepare the next phase."
The air around House Valemont grew heavier in the days that followed.
Not louder.
Not obvious.
But coiled.
Like a drawn bowstring waiting to snap.
And Aruford—
Without realizing—
Had just proven himself worthy of being targeted properly.
End of Chapter 9