~ Chapter 33: Review of the past nine years ~

[Leonidas' point of view]

 Ten years seemed to have gone by in a flash, and it was only one year ago when I requested my dear father to release Luthecia from her slave contract. Now, she was living together with us as our legally employed maid.

I was happy that I was able to help her regain her freedom. Without a doubt, the gods had something good in store for her. Maybe an unexpected meeting with a handsome prince or a role as someone who was going to change this country? There were quite a lot of opportunities to choose from, but in the end, most them were only my overzealous delusions.

This feeling I had of her being a destined person could have just been a simple whim of mine for what I wanted her to become.

Either way, ever since the case with Luthecia, I had never seen that strange golden aura around anyone else again. As for me and Cassandra, we kept training diligently with our aunty Eliza until we reached some rather absurd levels for a pair of ten-years-old.

In father's words: we were two little monsters, but in a good way. Especially me who somehow managed to strike him by accident whenever I let something slip out of my hand. It had literally turned into a running gag, and father was the only one to suffer so far. Luckily for him, the strikes were never powerful enough to cause him to go unconscious, they couldn't even give him a bump on the head.

In regard to this, some of the accidents were caused by my telekinesis while the others were downright unexpected even for me. I could only wonder if maybe this wasn't some sort of prank played by a rather mischievous god. With all 118 Blessings I packed, there might be one that fell into this category, but nothing showed up on my status. Although, what sort of ridiculous blessing would that have been in the first place?

'I bless thee to hit your father in the noggin' whenever something slips from your hands!'

This sort of ridiculous thing was impossible, right?

Anyway, using my [Status Window] spell, I was able to confirm just how much I actually improved my abilities, and to be fair, I never did use this one as often as one might think. There was simply no reason why I had to use it in the first place.

I couldn't tell anyone about it either on account of me sounding crazy, but no, the actual reason for this was because if found out it might hinder the wellbeing of temples and churches all over the world, and I really had no desire to make myself Public Enemy Number 1 by igniting their wrath. At least, not now when I had yet to acquire the power and fame needed to prevent such a tragedy from happening.

As such, these were my stats:

[Name]: Leonidas Drakarys

[Age]: 9 years (11 months and 21 days)

[Species]: (Evolved) Human

[Level]: 5

[Strength]: 112+50

[Speed]: 98+50

[Cognition]: 138

[Magic Energy]: 3894 out of 3844+50

[Magic Affinity]: All Elements

-The following data is available only to the caster-

[Divine Skills]: [Oracle Eyes]; [Divine Contract]

[Known Magic]: [Status Window]; [Fire](+); [Water](+); [Wind](+); [Darkness](+); [Light](+); [Nature](+); [Spirit](+); [Summoning](+); [Holy](+); [Martial Arts](+); [Sword Fighting](+)

[Hero Potential]: 321 out of 12870466 (This skill will not activate until the previous value has been surpassed)

The +50 before each stat represented the added value after leveling up. It didn't appear until I reached Level 2. It also meant that I could more or less lift 162 kg worth of weight in one hand and run with a speed of 148 km/h.

Yup, I was a superhuman child who could also heal faster than anyone else without being assisted by magic.

Speaking of which, my Magic Energy was more or less at the same level as my aunt Eliza's, who was an Emperor Rank Adventurer.

As one would expect, I did ask my parents if we were abnormally strong. The reply from them was unexpected. Our muscle strength was around average. Our intellect was quite high, but not abnormally high, the elves toppled that. Our speed was great, but was overshadowed by many species, including elves and relliars, or beastkin in other words. Our Magic Energy pool was impressive, but if we were to compare ourselves with the average mage, then we were far below them. Aunty Eliza was mostly a melee damage dealer and sometimes a vanguard, so her use of magic was limited.

Of course, these were all values when compared to adults double or triple our age. Apparently, father could topple us in all categories, mother only in magic. This meant that our potential was astonishing. We were going to become very powerful by the time we were of marriageable age, which for us as nobles was 18.

Aunty even said that becoming a Supreme was a possibility as well if we kept training for the next twenty years or so. It sounded like a long time, but those who held this rank were insanely strong.

Honestly, I had the feeling we were going too far surpass any of their expectations because as of right now, we didn't have our growth spurt. Last I remember, this was the period when the body of a human changed the most, the muscles become stronger, the bones thicker and sturdier, the inner organs grew and fully developed themselves, and all the good stuff happened.

When it came to Magic Spells, the [Status Window] didn't display ALL of my learned spells and skills, but if I focused on the (+) sign, a drop-down menu would appear with a list of all known spells that entered that category. Whatever I was able to cast was clickable, what I wasn't was shown in gray. As such, these spells could also be cast through this menu itself, but it took far longer than it did the normal way, making it rather redundant in an actual battle, where being slower even with one second could mean the difference between life and death. On the other hand, it was the best thing to use when in a situation where I couldn't use my hands or didn't wish my opponent to hear what sort of spell I planned on using.

Even so, the list was fairly impressive if I had to say so myself, but my sister's list wasn't that different from mine, actually it was longer. She also probably grew a couple of levels, but as far as I could tell, she was both stronger and faster than me, but not as smart.

Since I never saw her Status and I couldn't cast this spell on her, I ended up only guessing this sort of info. It could end up being 100% inaccurate.

Levels could go up by killing monsters too, so about half a year ago, aunty Eliza took us hunting in the Chedelle Forest. We were strong enough to fight even a pack of goblins on our own, but we took things step by step, one monster at a time so we could understand the strategy and positioning outside of the theory. We tried to prolong the lives of the poor chaps as much as we could, but it didn't always turn up for the best. This was also a training session through which we learned to control our strength.

The result of this training hunt was that we completely overpowered the goblins and when it came to other creatures, wild beasts and such, they still weren't a match. By the time we returned home, I was beginning to suspect that aunty Eliza was making sure we encountered only the least dangerous ones.

Neither of us was used to the gore and flying body parts, so after the first kill, sister walked up to me with a wry smile and then... puked on me. As a result, I turned green and emptied the contents of my stomach on the empty grass spot next to me.

In a way, this was a training method for our weak stomachs as well. We were children, it was natural for our bodies to react like that. It didn't even matter the fact that in my previous life I've seen things that were far more disgusting and disturbing than a goblin's skull smashed to pieces, with his brain matter splattered all over the place; puke was puke, gore was gore, and a bad smell was a bad smell.

Although aunty Eliza made sure not to force us too much, we could barely stand after the first few kills. It wasn't because we were tired but because we felt sick and nauseous. Out of worry and consideration for us, our training sessions within Chedelle Forest were going to be kept at a bare minimum until we got used to seeing gore.

Thanks to our stomachs that refused to keep the food in, we barely managed to level up and definitely not as fast as I was expecting to. So far, we had only reached Level 5...

Aunty Eliza ensured us that as we grew older and trained more, our power was going to increase at an unexpected rate. What happened to us: puking, being unable to control our strength, stumbling on our feet during an attack or retreat, getting too excited or freezing in our spots out of fear or worry, these were all things experienced by absolutely everyone! It was normal to go through them and apparently only prodigies and those worthy of being called monsters wouldn't make these mistakes.

On the bright side of things, when we returned from the monster hunt, Luthecia made us something sweet to eat, so all was good.

In the end, all of these past nine years had been spent rather leisurely, and although I terribly missed being able to surf on the net and play some games on my computer, there wasn't that much I had to worry about. Our family went on about their daily lives without any extraordinary events taking place. There were no unexpected attacks or legendary individuals showing up at our doorstep. We had good food, a shelter, a comfy bed, things to do, and toys to play with. We didn't felt like we were lacking anything.

It was at the point where I felt like this world knew not what conflict was.

Unfortunately, this wasn't true... There was a Demon King out there who threatened the peace; a Demon Species bent on conquering all the lands; conflicts between multiple sapient species, including the relliars and elves. The dwarfs were neutral. As expected, the human species had the worst political relationships with most of the others out there.

On the bright side of things, according to mother, the demon side was overwhelmed by internal conflicts, which made it almost impossible for them to attempt to gather and launch an invasion of the human lands. As for the renowned Demon King, that was merely a title given to the rulers of the Demon Kingdoms. So, no cliché story about a superpowered mystical enemy with cheat-like abilities, the Demon King was just a politician who claimed to own the place.

Well, these matters had nothing to do with me, but it was basic knowledge, so my dear mother hammered it in my brain. What I was currently worrying about was my sweet little sister's imminent departure to some famous academy, where I could only dream of being able to go to.

In society's eyes, I was a child with only one Blessing, which from the start made many judge me as useless and untalented when compared to my little sister, who had three.

Although, I could visit her at the academy in the weekend, and she could come over on holidays, it would have required me to be able to study at a nearby academy that didn't put so much pressure on Blessings. Again, I wasn't able to do so because I didn't have the required 'specs'. This time, the reason was my father, who was on bad terms with the majority of the nobles who held a considerable political influence in the area. If they would have 'advised' the teachers at the academy to decide against accepting me as a student there, they would have obliged, no questions asked.

When I was told this, I couldn't help but ask “Father? Just what did you do to make all of those people hate you?”

To this, he replied with a shrug and walked away.

Thus, while I couldn't join my little sister at a Magic Academy meant for children, we could still both get accepted in the same High Magic Academy of Lukrentia Kingdom.

There was only a small problem regarding this part. In order to be accepted at the SAME school as Cassandra, I had to go the extra length and manage to gain several recommendations from the tutors at the Magic Academy for children I was going to. If I wasn't able to do this, then I had to earn some great achievement such as reaching Emperor Rank in the Adventurers Guild. If this was out of the question, then I had to somehow gain the trust and support of a really powerful noble in the kingdom. Through his influence and recommendation, I could get accepted, but if this one was a bust as well, then I was left with only one chance. This one was the easiest to accomplish, but which would leave me with a nasty taste in my mouth. Basically, I had to be sent by an official, state-recognized Oracle who received a message from one of the Major Gods.

The last one required me to get in contact with S.A.R.G.E, but I didn't want to do it, and it felt like cheating. The others were more challenging to do, however, if push comes to shove, I wasn't going to stubbornly say I wasn't going to use it. On the contrary, this was my trump card if ALL of my other plans went down the drain.

The third option was somewhat difficult and depended on how powerful the influence of said individual was. This was quite risky because it could easily backfire on me. Now, getting a recommendation seemed to be the most plausible one of them all, while trying to become an Emperor Rank Adventurer was clearly impossible for me. Well, not exactly impossible, but I wasn't planning on spending my next four years grinding monsters and quests in order to level up. Not to mention the fact that I had to gain the trust of many other adventurers who recognized my skill as being worthy of that rank. But there was another absurd barrier that stood between me and the Emperor Rank, it was my own age. This Rank required that the said adventurer was at least 18 years old and had at least three years of activity within the guild.

So, while I didn't have all of my paths blocked, it wasn't going to be easy either. That being said, a High Magic Academy didn't have an age restriction for joining. Finishing the courses there allowed the students to gain a recognizable status within society and in some case several job offerings. For others, it was also a chance of finding a suitable marriage partner.

And just like that, I found myself stuck again. Even though both my parents and aunt said I was worrying too much about it. The years of childhood would come and go before I knew it. One day I was training with my little sister in the backyard, the next I was seeing her married off to some joke of a human being!

I didn't want to let something like that happen! Not while I was still alive and kicking! So true, I was worrying a bit too much, but this was also the main reason why I wanted to go through all the trouble of getting into the same High Magic Academy as her. I had to make sure no vile noble dared to lay his hands on my little sister!

Sadly, it never occurred to me that I may have been just a tiny bit overly attached and protective of my little sister... but it wasn't like I had the intention of shackling her each and every move, I just... sort of wanted to make sure she wasn't stepping on any land mines on the way to achieving her dreams!