One month of doing menial work passed by with a blink of an eye. All the other butlers as a way of initiation taught him all of the work needed to be done around the house and dumped their responsibilities onto him. With their higher positions, there was really nothing he could do.
As he found out, there were 5 main servants under Madam Cherry excluding Albus and with his training, he was going to be the 6th. Spindle was currently sitting against the wall watching Soru attend to the guests that Madam Cherry was having over.
Today was his shift to do so, but why do that when he could make the new kid do it? His red hair stood out against the wall as he watched Soru's every move. If Soru made a mistake, he will have to take responsibility for it.
Soru gently placed down the plates full of food in front of Cherry and her guest and patiently waited on the side.
"Your new servant is getting taught well Aunt Cherry, What is it, your 6th now?"
'So this is the famous nephew huh?'
Gran Cherry. From what rumors Soru has heard around the house, he was the reason why Madam Cherry had so much power and money. With his cultivation achievements, it's an easy life for him and his relatives. The true cultivation dream that many aspire to achieve.
This is the first time he encountered the young man immediately becoming the butler to serve him during dinner. He didn't know if he should consider his arrival unlucky or not since it was only a week till his 16th birthday.
'Like I am staying here for that, I couldn't live with myself if I was also named by a berry. Looks like I'll have to adjust my plans...'
With Gran's schedule, he was planning to stay with his aunt for at least a week making everything ten times more complicated.
"Have you thought of a name yet Aunt Cherry? I heard his birthday is in a week or so. I hope you won't break him as you did to the others."
Spindle's brow twitched up erratically remembering when he also first joined and started to feel some pity to the young butler. Soru on the other hand had a stone-cold face as he was awaiting orders near the dinner table. Spindle didn't know if it was a curse or a blessing that the young man didn't know what they were talking about.
"I have been thinking of some, but I got the perfect one in mind already." She chuckled softly immensely glad at how obedient and well trained her new servant was.
For the rest of the dinner, they chatted about recent affairs and Gran's life as a cultivator. Soru absorbed it all like a sponge wanting to increase his knowledge of the outside world. After finishing their dinner, after cleaning the table, Soru was dismissed into his room.
Entering his room, he smiled at how everything was perfect for him to set off. He blended in with his utmost sincerity to not throw off the scent and learned everything Albus taught him from simple writing techniques to the inner workings of being a servant. He memorized the entire layout of the mansion beside a few restricted areas.
Quickly getting into a position to cultivate for the last time in this mansion, he could feel something within him change. The first stage of his cultivation manual, Shadow Camouflage was nearing completion. Working incredibly hard the entire month, he made barely any leeway until two days ago. With his continuous cultivation, broke through to the next realm, Sensory Refinement.
Although he was at the first stage of the realm, he could feel all five of his senses become more sensitive and overall greater. After advancing, he went back and practiced Shadow Camouflage and realized how much more progress he was able to complete.
'Sensory Refinement was the minimum needed to practice Shadow Camouflage. If I had focused all my attention on cultivation and didn't split it with trying the first stage, I would have completed this much earlier.'
It was obvious to say that after the consumption of the strange liquid, his cultivation talents skyrocketed. From not being able to reach the second stage of Power Realm with a basic cultivating technique to reaching Sensory Refinement in weeks with his special manual.
Because he was unaware of how much his talent has changed, he didn't think that he would reach Sensory Refinement in time and tried to do the impossible by reaching Shadow Camouflage in Power Realm. Regretting his past actions a little, he forgot all about it with the prospect of escaping servitude.
Soru focused within himself and looked at the Star Diagram inside him. The top left point was illuminating furiously showing its completion while the bottom left point was glowing dimly. He put his arms forward and strangely, darkness emitted from his hands towards the Star Diagram.
The darkness spread throughout the entire Star Diagram reaching every corner of the star. Soru was soaking in sweat at the exertion but did not stop. He needed to finish this no matter what.
Eventually, the entire star was covered in darkness and like a heartbeat, it pulsed sending shivers down his entire body.
Once.
Twice.
Each pulse felt like his bones were changing his blood and resending it out to his body. His body was changing down to his cellular structure injected with the power of darkness. Soru didn't have time to be excited with his changed and pushed his body to the limit.
Letting out a silent scream inside his mind, a burst of darkness jutted out from his body and he fell on his back gasping for air. Recovering from his lightheadedness, he slowly brought his hand up to his face to see if anything changed.
'!!! I...my hand! I can't see it!'
Turning his hand back and forth yet seeing nothing, he moved his other hand and grabbed the missing limb. Instantly, the illusion faded revealing the missing hand.
Although he knew what completing this stage would entail, he couldn't help but feel excited regardless. Testing his new skill in the moonlight, he found out he wasn't entirely invisible. Being directly exposed to light would make his skill useless and therefore caught.
'I can make myself invisible as long as I follow the shadows. Perfect.'
He laid in bed looking up to the ceiling. He mentally kissed that bare ceiling goodbye deciding to make his escape tomorrow night.
---
Soru was tasked to do the latest night watch. He was standing guard in front of Madam Cherry's quarters making sure no one disturbed her sleep. Usually, he would hate this job listening to her intense lovemaking with the other butlers but this time he volunteered for this role.
Glad that he was taking an active role in the house, Madam Cherry agreed to station Soru outside her bedroom to get him prepared for what was to come. Soru had a face of disgust as the pig took advantage of the other butlers until midnight came by. He made sure no one was in the halls watching him before he blended in with the darkness of the halls.
Not hearing the pig moan anymore, he needed to make this fast decreasing the chances of him getting caught. Fast walking while still following the shadows, he slowly made his way to the control room for the first part of his plan.
Turning one last corner before reaching the control room, he didn't see anyone on the other side and nearly bumped into someone. Panicking, he hugged the wall trying his hardest to not make any noise.
The petite girl walked past him seemingly unfazed by the sneaky butler that was hiding right beside her. She kept on walking but Soru held still until he couldn't see her anymore.
'That was close. Wasn't that the maid that came with Gran Cherry? What is she doing up this late? It looks like she is headed towards Madam Cherry's bedrooms...'
He gazed down the hall for a bit, deep in thought at the new situation before going back to the task at hand. He was just a few more steps towards freedom.