Rollo was quite the interesting man. As an adventurer from the Capital, he had accepted a mission to come here to the Deshar county. Becoming quite high profile after completing some difficult missions, he had become quite sought after target. Because of this, he had assumed it was an easy trip down to the countryside and back. However, this short trip became quite dangerous after suffering from an ambush, leaving him injured and stranded in the wild only after barely managing to drive off his attackers. He would have died if Stratos's mum, Inzel, hadn't found him as she was returning from secluded training in the wild.
Being one of the most talented in her generation, even amongst the whole Deshar county and surrounding territories, the family had already pegged her to marry the heir apparent of House Deshar, in order to further strengthen and consolidate their bloodline. She had originally seen nothing wrong with this, after all, she knew the importance of strengthening the bloodline for future generations.
There hadn't been someone who had achieved Nirvanic Rebirth in the family since the days of the founder, and that was the minimum realm required to fully activate and strengthen the bloodline within oneself. But in one generation, 2 people had appeared who had a chance of achieving this realm. Even if they didn't, a union of such talent would definitely produce offspring with a much higher chance of doing so.
Without seeing an expert of that level for so long, House Deshar, which should have been a Gold 1 power, remained at the Silver 2 level for a long time. And although their overall power hadn't weakened, without those higher realm experts their strength hadn't seen a qualitative increase in a while, so they had to watch as both their rival and vassal houses began to strengthen and catch up to them. So when the elders of the previous generation saw 2 people with such talents, they couldn't help but to put them together.
Growing up in this atmosphere, from a young age, Inzel had recognized the responsibility that came with holding the potential to bring House Deshar out of this worsening situation. Because of this, she had become extremely focused, holding little attention to things outside the practitioner path. She had already ascended to the 4th Step on the practitioner path by the age of 16, a talent that was rare to see, even among noble families. This one track mind that she had cultivated made her quite desensitized to most things, and she would normally haven't paid any mind to someone like Rollo.
But there was an aura that felt quite familiar, yet inexplicable to her, which existed around Rollo. This led her to rescue the young man and bring him home to discover what it was. But in the process of getting healed, you know how these things go, they ended up falling in love and getting married.
The clan elders, when they started to notice the two of them getting closer, originally moved to stop it. Strangely enough, the patriarch, with the support of the heir apparent, voiced their objections to any actions being taken. Because of the resistance, the elders backed off. After all, they wouldn't want to offend a future practitioner who had attained Nirvanic Rebirth.
But after his injuries, Rollo no longer seemed to progress, even becoming slightly weaker. Even Inzel seemed to be affected, without any obvious increases in her strength after so long. Seeing this, the elders became enraged and began to supress the couple, leading to their current situation. Now, even someone like Amoreta could use her husbands influence to try and kill Stratos, just because of the jealousy she felt over Inzel's favoured days.
But all that was in the past, and this is now.
.....
'Damn, seems like I'm stuck with a brute of a Father. Making a young child like me do such strenuous activities, you would think he was training an army soldier, not a son.'
"Not bad though, you seemed to have caused a good amount of trouble for that skank Amoreta and her dog Zarel, hehehe just like I taught you. Come here and give your old man a hug"
Before he could get back to his feet, he already found himself being wrapped up in the massive tree trunks that were his Fathers arms. Although he inherited the scarlet hair and eyes from House Deshar, he didn't get much of their facial features, so he always hoped that he inherits the hulking physique of his dad, who towered over anyone else that was in a room with him. Although his Father came here as an adventurer, he had been in the royal army before, where he had the role of a heavy armoured vanguard, until getting the required rank of an Earth step practitioner to retire from duty.
Memories of the stories his father used to tell him when he was still quite young rushed into his head, of the various Military incursions into the Wild Lands he had participated in, winning glory as they successfully managed to expand the kingdom. These stories had framed his thoughts as a child, which is what motivated him to go through the tough training his father put him through, granting him skills and a physique above the others in his generation. Even though those memories came from this previous body, he couldn't help but to get a warm feeling at that familiar embrace.
"Hmm, what's this? Your soul seems to be damaged, its in quite the weird state. Were you in the forbidden grounds?"
Stratos panicked for a moment, thinking he was discovered. Thankfully, he recalled that it also the effect one could get from being in the forbidden grounds in the Mortal realm. This gave him an excuse to hide his status as a transmigrator in the future, as exposure to the volatile energies there was known to change an unprotected soul. Feeling more at rest, Stratos told his dad what had really happened back there, barring some things that would have exposed his status.
After finishing, he could see the expression of his Father twisting, as he struggled to control the rage that he heard from hearing what his son went through. Seeing this, Stratos once again quickly ensured him that he was okay, until he calmed down. He didn't want his dad getting angry and rushing off to attack Amoreta. After all, he knew what status they had in the family, and without any concrete evidence the elders would just use this as an excuse to further punish them, claiming some rubbish like slander.
"Well, if you're sure, then that's fine. I'll handle this with tact, trust your old man. Just don't say anything to your mum about this, you know how she wor..", but before Rollo could finish his sentence, he had to quickly block the kick suddenly coming at his back.
"You know how she what? 2 of you, always whispering behind my back, with my senses you think I didn't hear what you guys where saying. Stratos, don't grow up a dumb muscle head like your father" his mum Inzel had rushed out. She was just as agressive as he's dad, retaining the pride from being a top talent. Although she was no longer the star girl, she still maintained that noble demanor that vastly excceeded those with lower talents.
'Sigh, like Husband like Wife'. Stratos was already used to such displays of violence like this, so he wasn't surprised to see his mum coming at his dad like that.
"Damn Woman, are you trying to break my spine. And who are you calling a muscle head? Doesn't that mean you married an idiot? So who's the smart one here for making you fall for a fool like me." With a sheepish grin, Rollo started to rub Stratos' head like he does whenever he gets nervous around Inzel.
"Mum, speaking of not being a muscle head, I was wondering if I could borrow your clan token to get into the library. I know I'm not supposed to do so until after the induction, but all my cousin's are getting help and I don't want to fall behind."
"Hmm, of course. And if anyone tries to kick you out, just let me know. I still have some tricks I haven't used, so those old codgers better not force me. And thats what I want to hear from you boy, I don't want to just see you practicing all the time, or you'll end up unbalanced like your father."
"Thanks mum!", with that, Stratos had gotten one thing he needed to quickly consolidate his knowledge and start improving his strength in this new world. Once he got the token from his mum, he immediately headed out towards the library. He only had 3 months to get ready for a good showing at the induction, so he wanted to prepare.
After Stratos stepped out, Rollo quickly came behind Inzel, hugging her tightly.
"That damn Amoreta. I should go and rip her head off. She knows she can't do anything to me, so she dares go after my Son. Rollo, don't stop me from getting back at her"
"Sigh, Inzel, I know its tough. But we're almost there. Once we manage to complete the task, we can finally drop all pretences and give that skank a good showing. But until then, we have to hold it, lest we expose ourselves"
"I know Rollo, I know. I just wish it wasn't so"