Dara knocked on veric’s door however, there was no answer. Hurriedly she knocked again with a bit more force this time.

“Master Veric, are you inside? May I come in?” She asked with a raised voice.

There was no reply again, which was quite odd, normally she would wait a bit longer for the reply or knock once more however, the recent events made her slightly paranoid for his safety. She hesitated for a moment and pressed her trembling hand on the door handle, praying not to see Veric in a bad state.

“Master Veric. I brought you food.” She said while slowly opening the door. A gentle gust of cold dry winter air hit her face. She raised her eyebrows at the phenomenon and opened the door fully to see what is happening inside.

What she saw shocked her slightly.”Oh my…” She muttered when she saw the state of the room. Veric was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room with his eyes closed. There were chunks of glass and ice on the floor next to him. His right hand was covered in dark dry blood. The most bizarre thing about the room were numerous handprints made out of hoarfrost. They covered the walls, the floor and the furniture.

Dara left the trolley with the food in the corridor and entered the room very slowly so as to not disturb him. She recognised the expression on his face and the position he was in. While working for his mother she learned about the meditation some mages would partake in to regenerate mana. Based on the condition of the room as well as Veric’s loose facial muscles she assumed that Veric was meditating.

When she was working directly under lady Gaelia she was instructed to never touch or disturb her in any way, while she was meditating. She wasn’t planning on touching him now, instead she decided to collect all of the broken glass and ice off the floor before it melts.

“It’s a good thing my boy wants to be a blacksmith like his father.” She said while picking up the last piece of glass. She was about to start collecting the chunks of ice however, she stopped herself. Something didn’t look right about the ice. It took her a few minutes to skillfully collect all of the tiny pieces of glass without cutting herself, yet the ice didn’t melt in the slightest. It looked dry and was covered in a layer of small white ice crystals. As if, new layers of ice were growing on top of the already existing ice.

She remembered how, while working for lady Gaelia an inexperienced maid went to wipe a spilt potion off the floor and ended up with her hand stained black for the next few years.

She looked up at Veric again and decided to ignore the strange ice for now. “I am not going to end up with frostbite in the middle of spring, magic is definitely not to be trifled with,” She said and focused her attention on the cuts on his right palm.

“One long one and four smaller ones. They look very nasty with all that blood around them, but the bleeding seems to have already stopped. Luckily Veric is young so there will be no scars. But I should go and get a bandage to keep it clean and some alcohol to disinfect it.”

She walked over to the trolley and deposited the broken glass onto a piece of grey cloth. She then took the tray with the food and placed it on the table. After making sure that Veric’s breathing was ok, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

Veric opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling in defeat. “Do you really have no idea why I can’t do the inverse attunement?” He didn’t know whether his mind was that fast or whether time moved slower inside of his soul palace but it felt like he fruitlessly spent hours trying to create fire or at least heating magic.

Kinslayer

Affirmative.

‘I know the principle behind it, it should just be the opposite of cooling magic. I understand the process perfectly, so why can’t I do it? Every time I try, it feels like something is missing and I end up with my own natural mana useful for pushing and grabbing things. Additionally, the [ Veric’s Freezing Touch ] is a bit underwhelming when it comes to its range. The mana becomes extremely difficult to control outside of my body, at best I can freeze a layer of matter 1 mm away from my hand. The system didn’t joke around when it described it as a short-range spell.’ Veric rubbed his eyes with his left hand and relaxed his shoulders.

‘Wait a second... Where did the broken glass go? Was Dara here?’ He thought and looked around the room. He found the tray of food on top of his table and decided to finally fill his stomach. He got up and sat at the table. He lifted the metal dome and saw a large bowl of soup.”French onion? Well, I don’t think they have a country called France in this world, so it is just an onion soup.” He said and picked up a spoon with his left hand. He wasn’t ambidextrous or even very dexterous with his meagre 3 points of dexterity however he took it slowly and managed not to spill any on himself. He decided to use his hand instead of telekinesis because after spending so long in his soul palace he wanted to use his body a bit more.

The soup was rich, sweet, comfortingly savoury and most importantly warm. Even though the windows were open to let warm air inside it was still quite cold in his bedroom. The soup warmed up his stomach and improved his mental state.

‘If I want to make progress with magic I probably need more scrolls with spells or a teacher. There is also an academy for mages so maybe I could learn more there?’ Veric thought while finishing the meal. He got off the chair and walked over to the window. He liked the view of the town and the expansive greenery beyond the walls. Watching the movement of people and trees swaying in the wind was more entertaining than watching television on Earth.

‘Elora said that my mother's notes were preserved, so maybe I could learn more from those, but I will need my father’s permission and the key in order to read them.’

Right as he was about to go back to practising mana attunement he heard a knock on the door.

“Come in.” He said expecting Dara to enter he turned around and the door opened.

Instead, a man taller and wider than a door frame entered. He walked sideways due to his broad shoulders, he had to lower his head and bend his knees in order to fit through. His movements were slow and meticulous, he looked like if he wanted to, he could walk in unencumbered by the door or the stone wall. Breaking through them with ease. A single leg of that man was longer and thicker than Veric’s entire body. His beard and long platinum blond hair were braided and reached his navel. They looked like thick ropes used by sailors. His clothing was very simple. He wore dark brown trousers. Large leather boots and a clean white shirt with no embroidery or decorations. The sleeves of the shirt were short exposing his veiny forearms covered in scars. The muscles under his skin didn't look like regular muscles but lengths of thick steel wires. The giant man wore no jewellery except for a single golden ring on his left ring finger. The ring was a perfect fit for him but it could easily be used as a women’s bracelet if that woman was of pure human blood

Veric became stunned. ‘I saw him in Veric’s memories but seeing him in full glory is something else. A real goliath of a man… even with a slingshot David would get squashed.’ Veric was silent for a few seconds before he greeted his father.

“Good afternoon father. I am glad to see you.” Veric said with a fake smile, trying to hide his surprise.

Krado didn’t reply; he stepped aside from the doorway and Dara walked in from behind him, carrying a small bottle of strong clear alcohol and a white bandage.

“My lord. May I?” She asked, pointing at Veric with the hand holding the alcohol.

Krado gave a shallow nod and pointed at Verick invitingly with his right hand. Dara walked over to Veric and got on her knee.

“I will take care of your wounds now young master,” she said. To Veric she looked somewhat uncomfortable, maybe due to the baron's presence.

“Thank you.” He replied. She rolled up Veric’s sleeve and poured a liberal amount of alcohol on his cuts, they started to burn. Veric almost winced from pain but for some reason, he felt like showing any weakness in front of his father was undesirable.

Veric remained still, paying attention to the baron who in turn looked around the room paying attention to the icy handprints and chunks of ice on the floor. Lastly, he looked straight at Veric. His expression remained calm and collected the whole time, he was neither impressed, surprised or annoyed at what he was looking at. He was simply indifferent. An insignificant act of a child, not worth mentioning.

Once the wound was sufficiently disinfected and clean Dara wrapped his hand in a bandage. The bandage wasn’t too tight or too loose. His hand was wrapped by the delicate hand of an experienced mother and wife. Veric looked down at her and thanked her with his eyes.

“I shall leave now my lord.” She said to the baron who once again replied with a nod. Dara left, closed the door and both of them remained in silence. Veric didn’t avert his eyes and kept eye contact with the baron.

Seconds went by and they remained in absolute silence. Just as Veric was about to speak the baron interrupted him.

“I have always hated you… Ever since you were born. Every day, for years I have committed that sin. Your mother and I got married for political reasons. Yet over the years of cohabitation, I have developed deeper feelings for her… As time went on my hatred for you slowly evolved into indifference, you were always in bed festering like an old, dirty wound.”

“You were weak and I have imagined that if left to your own devices you would most likely die. Quite recently I was certain that you were going to die. I made my peace with that thought, yet you survived. I was not sure how to react to the news from Elora. She said that you looked healthier and that your mood has improved, you started doing exercises of your own volition and asked her questions about classes and magic.”

“I left the castle and while I was gone you have strived to achieve something. Now I see that in that short amount of time you have achieved a class of your own and even learned some spells. Actions worthy of a genius, of a driven man.” The baron said and walked over to one of the icy handprints.

He touched one of the handprints with his index finger. The ice released a sharp, high pitched cracking noise, not due to excessive pressure but the temperature difference. “A spell worthy of your grandmother's renown.” He said and turned back to look at Veric.

“You have changed and I would like to know why.” The baron stated which caused Veric to panic slightly.

‘Were my actions too suspicious? No, he doesn’t know anything. I am sure that the change is just surprising to him. I can talk my way out of it.’

“After the fever passed my bloodline awakened and my connection to mana became stronger. That is why I would like to ask you for your permission to learn from my mother's notes.”

After a moment of silence and beard-stroking, the baron finally replied. “It seems Dara is more loyal to you than she is to me… The only way for the Nessari to awaken their bloodline is to use the potion. Your mother brew it in case one of our children inherited her bloodline.”

‘Fuck. Is Dara in trouble now? I should have been more carful with my words.’ Veric thought while feeling stupid for saying what he said, without thinking it through properly, but the pressure that baron’s presence exuded made him nervous.

“Based on your deminour I am guessing that you are worried for Dara? Don’t be, she might be more loyal to you than she is to me but that is only natural. I am a horrible father to you, without her you would be dead by now. She will receive no punishment.” The baron replied as if it was completely natural that he was indifferent about his son’s wellbeing.

“Anyway, there is a different reason I came here. If I recall correctly, you have received the proper education and judging by the state of the room you must have quite a few points of intelligence. Now, tell me what is the most valuable resource in this world?”

“One of the books I have read mentioned the existence of mana crystals. It said that some mana crystals are worth many times their weight in gold.”

“I don’t think you could be more wrong.” The baron replied and shook his head.

“Think properly this time, You have come across it already. It is ever-present yet there is never enough of it. The more you have it the more you need it.” The baron said.

Veric thought about the conversation he had with Elora and remembered that to reach the third tier he would need an astronomical amount of XP. ‘The higher your level the more experience you need to level up.’

“Experience points.” Veric finally replied.

“Correct… Three months ago I discovered a dungeon, a gold mine of experience points. Legally I am allowed to keep full ownership over this dungeon. It is a great blessing and a curse. Every surrounding noble will become envious when they find out about it, the knights under me will not be enough to repel their greed. That is why I am creating the military academy. I need more troops to defend it from potential annexations and that is why you are joining the military school. Oswyn and Elora will be gone soon, I will be left with only Rigon and you to represent our family. You cannot remain weak any longer. The family needs to look strong and you are a part of this family. You shall receive full military training as well as additional swordsmanship training from Elora. From now on I shall have greater expectations of you. Do you have any questions?” Baron said and stroked his beard.

‘Based on his explanation, I see that a storm is brewing and he needs all hands on deck.’

“I understand, I will not disappoint you. Will you allow me to learn from my mother’s notes?”

The baron looked around the room and replied. “It looks like Dara already stole a spell for you… Focus on swordsmanship first or you will spread yourself too thin. Once you learn the basics, I shall grant you that privilege. You will learn more about the school tomorrow. Clean up this mess and get some rest, don’t stay up all night practising magic. You will need to be well-rested for tomorrow.” The baron replied and left the room