Early in the morning, around 7 o’clock, a horse rider reached our Rovandel. He was the scout and front bearer of the caravan. His job was to ensure the villagers had everything needed to receive the instructors and the recruits that followed prepared. The caravan usually reached at noon, and they stayed the night. So, there was a need to prepare for horse care, food, housing and be ready to greet the instructors.

  Now all the fuss was not a big deal here, however other villages didn’t have our capital and number of practitioners. The instructors coming wouldn’t dare act mighty in front of master Fjorn, Hale or some other villagers. In fact, even father seemed to invoke some fear in them, probably related to my grandfather…

  The arrival of the scout caused a lot of noise. Those between the age of eight and thirteen years were all very restless. After all, if they were strong and had some potential for aether they would be selected… This mostly applied to boys. The girls were much calmer. Unlike the boys most of them preferred the village life. Quiet and calm with no one to harm them…

  I regretted the fact that in all these years I didn’t manage to find some snacks suitable for eating while watching a show… With the talent I displayed at the age of three, last time the caravan was here, I was the calmest. I already knew I’d be leaving, no suspense there. As such I could lie back and watch the show made by the others.

  My calm did not continue for long however…

  The caravan soon reached the village. Several carriages pulled by strong horses with aetheric aura flickers coming out of their noses at every exhale. It was the very first time I saw tamed aetheric beasts. They truly lived to their reputations of looking fierce. Perhaps I’d have been more scared or impressed if I didn’t know that all horses were basically running on their tip toes...

  Before the carriages had even rolled to a complete stop, the door of the central one burst open and a young girl jumped out, displaying graceful athleticism. She was dressed quite exquisitely, with clothes made of what I could only assume was white satin… Her hair was blonde and her eyes golden. Smooth white skin, well defined round features and the puff of her cheeks was not yet gone.

  She threw a curious look around. The strange part? She seemed to be looking for something or someone specifically. This caused some whispers among the boys, after all she was quite pretty and had the makings of a beauty.

  “Young lady please be careful! How would I explain to the lord if you injured yourself like this?” An aged female voice carrying a hint of helplessness came out from inside the carriage.

  “Right, right…” She answered, her eyes still scanning the crowd. I guess I stood out as the only one that was overly relaxed because her eyes stopped on me. We looked in each other’s eyes, neither backing down. Her gaze was inquisitive while mine was unbothered.

  “Are you Cato?” She asked after a few moments.

  This question left me dumbfounded. Why the hell would a noble little girl know of me? Even if I made some noise there due to my talent, that would be a topic for the adults not for a little girl… I didn’t answer, but the commotion the other kids were making and the expression of the adults were enough answer…

  “Come here, you don’t need to bother with the assessment anyway.” She said then got back in her carriage and closed the door.

  I shook myself out of the stupor and went to the carriage too under the envious gazes of the other kids. As I got close to the door of the carriage I heard her voice from inside.

  “... and he looks dirty, why do I have to care about him?”

  The corner of my mouth twitched. I really planned on entering and getting to the root of this, but now… I was annoyed by her and I suddenly didn’t feel like entering the carriage. I turned around and went behind everyone, sitting on a remote bench no longer caring for her. I closed my eyes but I was fuming. ‘It’s not my fault the freakin’ paint wears off… Whatever what she thinks has nothing to do with me.’

  Of course she did not take nicely to this. A moment later, the door of the carriage flew open. Her graceful attitude mannerism was gone and she jumped out like a battle hungry, blood thirsty ape.

  “Where is he? I want him here now! How does he dare go back on his own word like that!? Making a fool out of me!” As she shouted this the people parted ways and I came into her view.

  Of course I did not open my eyes. ‘So what if your some princess? I hardly care, but if you talk badly and in a rushed manner about me behind my back you can forget about me being nice.’ I embraced my favorite strategy: Acting like a turtle. If I say nothing and show no reaction then the one arguing can only make a fool of themselves.

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  But I forgot something. So what if I’m a sagely turtle? The ape will still grab the turtle and bash it hard… Similarly the girl wasted no words and rushed towards me. Her strength was at the condensation stage. Her charge was quick and her fist was ruthless. Too bad that the turtle she picking on was harder… Her full force fist collided with my face. Of course I did not just let it happen. I had reinforced at full force my face beforehand. I also used my aether to anchor my body well and disperse the force by fully taking it.

  Why was this scene so familiar? A girl was wriggling down on the ground while holding her hand in pain. Oh yeah… Another idiot did the same. Only then I had hard rock behind me, not wooden planks… Anyway, once again I was soft hearted and I helped her up. But I have to say… Both of them suffered for their ruthlessness… Had they not used full strength and body weight to strike they would have suffered less…

  “Okay, okay… Stop crying look what kind of scene you caused, you still want to have everyone pay attention to you?” I took her hand and did my best to mend the broken bones. She was not Torsten and was a little girl, of course I held nothing back.

  The wound was also less problematic, after all she enhanced herself with aether. Not only that but she definitely received combat training and was older. Probably eleven. She stopped crying fairly quickly as I started treating her. She gave me a confused look as if she was reevaluating me. I finished quickly, but the way she looked at me changed anew and her cheeks were a bit flushed or perhaps it just seemed so to me.

  To me she was still a little girl so fearing any strange development I whispered deviously to her.

  “Who’s the dirty one now?” I smirked. Her face reddened and she punched my gut with her other hand, but I never stopped reinforcing myself so the result was similar… Luckily this time she did not use her full strength so aside from a pained grunt there was no problem.

  “You’re a jerk.” She mumbled and went back to the carriage. I followed her closely this time.

  “Right back at you!” I told her.

  Of course this did not mean that the rest of the world stopped for her or us. No no, as she jumped the second time the instructors also came out and arranged the needed artifacts. One of them stopped us.

  “I’m sorry my lady, but it would still be good to measure Cato, don’t you agree?”

  “Useless. He’s capable enough.”

  “I don’t say no, but out of curiosity… What if it’s just a fa?ade? Being fed high level monsters since young his pool of aether could in fact be unstable and poor in quality, yet his body will be strong?”

  “Nonsense… But I’m curious…”

  “Stop talking as though I’m not here… Can your equipment resist core formation strength?” I intervened feeling slightly annoyed for how this guy just intervened but ignored me.

  “Core formation? Stop joking just come and be measured!” The instructor scoffed.

  It took me a second but I launched a semi-solid aether shard past his face. A small and sharp piece, enough to draw some blood from his cheek. With people that looked down like this it was more useful to directly show off.

  “Heee!” He made a sound like a pig being slaughtered and quickly retreated. He was truly not expecting me to have the strength I claimed. Not just that but I did not make a large commotion for it. It could be considered a surprise attack. And yet I could only consider that damn squeal fueled by fear pathetic.

  ‘What a good way to lose face… First the little princess then the instructors. I consider myself bad and lacking in fighting experience, but this guy came and insulted me to my face yet didn’t prepare at all despite knowing I was considered a genius… If the world outside was filled with this kind of fools then… He he…’

  But everyone was looking at me strangely my parents also rushed forward. They were previously in the crowd, talking and helping the other parents calm down. After all they had five years to mentally prepare. It wasn’t easy for them even now, but at least they accepted it. In fact if not for the fact that I chased them away I’d still be showered with their worry.

  “We’re very sorry! Please forgive our son…” They stopped not knowing what to say… Well from my point of view it was indeed a troublesome situation, but there was no need to be so panicked…

  The guy’s eyes were locked on me while he held his cheek.

  “You! You hurt me!” He said indignantly. His tone was filled with an air of disbelief and superiority. It was obvious he looked down on everyone here. But I wasn’t about to back down in front of an adult as stupid and childish as this.

  “No shit.” I spat out in a cold tone. “You came to find trouble with me, but expect me to just stand? Be grateful I did not send the shard through your eye into your skull!”

  His face turned red with anger, aether was flaring around him, his strength was at the late gathering stage close to core formation, but it felt like a small flaming drop to me. He was ready to have an outburst but I liked to thoroughly suppress those that oppose me.

  “So old and yet so useless…” I also used my aether to douse his outburst, directly letting my huge reserves to press down on him. The air changed as my aether spread, turning purplish, heavy and dense radiating strength that made everyone hold their breath.

  Under the spike of blood pressure from his own rage and especially under the crushing weight of my aetheric pressure, his eyes rolled back in his head. The combination was too much for him. He crumpled to his knees, then tipped over onto his side like a poorly placed sack of grain. ‘Truly useless… I wasn’t even done with him yet…’ I regretted it… until now all the ones I interacted with were kids that even if annoyed I couldn’t go all out with, or couldn’t, in good faith and while maintaining my pride intact, contend with…

  “I think I broke him…”

  My parents were giving me mean looks… ‘He started it!’ I felt like saying childishly, but I knew better than to voice my complaint… For now I could only shut up and look remorseful… ‘Well, I’ll remember to never use my aether on those below my level unless I want them knocked out…’ Yet, now I had to await the inevitable reprimands.

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