Leo spent the next few days walking around the manor. She had asked for each maid to invite a few of their friends.
Then, she had them gather in groups throughout the manor. She visited them one by one, using her cuteness to make them do things without being aware.
As she continued doing this, she was rewarded by her persuasion skill advancing a step.
If she kept it up a bit longer, she would take another step forward and achieve Greater Persuasion.
Fae had left in order to deal with her problem, meanwhile Leusa stayed behind and spent some time talking with Veronica, gaining some insight.
Veronica also shared a few things about Leo after Leusa asked dozens of times.
After a week Leo had accomplished what she set out to do.
Standing in a gazebo, Leo looked at a young married couple. They were the brother and sister-in-law of a maid.
"Tell her you no longer love her." Hearing Leo's words, the man turned to his wife and did as instructed.
"Act sad, then walk into the mansion and tell Sabien you wish to apply for a position in the kitchen."
She also did as she was told.
Seeing this, Leo was just a tad bit excited. She could guess that her recently acquired skill would also need some work.
Luckily, she would have a lot of time and opportunities to work on it.
One such opportunity was fast approaching.
Half a week after acquiring Mind Control, Leusa received a message by hawk.
The workforce was no longer able to function efficiently. They would soon begin to suffer.
Hearing this, Leo smiled.
She spent the next few days working non-stop.
Ferris was also working, which was necessary for her not to pester her daughter.
Leo needed all the time she could get to increase her mastery of Mind Control.
She soon had tripled the number of people working in the mansion. Better yet, this labor was completely free.
Her Mind Control also wasn't affected by focus. She was able to influence people from afar, due to Greater Understanding, and could control them with ease.
"Alright. Now for the test."
Leo brought before her a woman who was an experienced cook.
She wanted to test the limits of her mind control.
Leo also got a block of wood and some simple tools for sculpting and carving.
"Make a cat."
The woman did not hesitate to pick up the tools and begin her work.
Leo was delighted to see the sculpture take shape.
"Perfect."
That action had caused her Mind Control Mastery to advance.
The complexity of the action was indeed a factor in levelling such a skill.
If she made someone do something they had no experience doing, that would cause her to advance even faster.
This got her to think of all sorts of possibilities. What if she decided to do something that transcended human limitations?
Thinking such, Leo went about doing similar things to people.
She soon reached a plateau. She was one advancement away from total mastery and unlocking the mastery skill.
However, nothing she did seemed to work.
She expected this, and finally decided to try out her most outrageous idea.
"Levitate five feet off the ground and stay there."
The young lady standing before Leo had no response.
Leo sighed, thinking it had failed, but then she felt a strange wind strike her from behind.
This wind was blowing toward the woman, and was amazingly coming from every direction.
The woman was sucking in some kind of force with her entire body.
With rapt attention, Leo watched as the woman continued this for half a minute, then easily lifted her feet and folded them.
Of course, she remained suspended in the air.
Leo was able to understand that the woman had been absorbing energy. This energy allowed her to perform a magical task like levitation.
Using Understanding, Persuasion and Admiration, Leo gained the woman's experience. She was now able to understand how exactly to absorb the energy.
She immediately tried, but broke out into a cold sweat and hurriedly stopped.
It seemed her body was currently unsuitable.
This led her to think about the possibilities of strength and endurance training, and also the kinds of skills she would unlock.
However, she had to grow quite a lot before she began that. She did not want to hinder her natural development one bit.
Leo then went out with Veronica and controlled the minds of hundreds of people. She sent them all to Leusa, who was awaiting their presence at her headquarters.
Now, they had scores of workers that would never betray them.
Veronica was also happy to see that well paying applicants were vying for her apartments.
After all, who doesn't need a place to stay-- at least for a time.
With a similar swiftness, time went by.
Business flourished and Veronica saw more income than ever before.
Leo was focused on other things, however.
Having grown into quite the fetching young creature, Leo was preparing for the next step in her growth.
She would go to school.
"I'm ten years old, so I'll start off at a higher level."
Leo brushed her waist-length golden hair in front of a mirror. Her room was perhaps the size of a small house, and in it were a variety of things.
One such thing was Veronica, lying naked on Leo's bed. Her face was flushed red and she was out of breath.
"Not to worry. I've already made arrangements."
"You'll be going to the Northern Cloud, the academy for nobles. This particular school is rumored to be the school that the young prince and princess will go to."
"That makes sense. The headmaster is the Queen's mother, right?"
"Right you are."
Leo stood up, her little blue nightgown outlining her developing figure.
"Don't be too harsh, darling. They are, technically, your family."
Leo bent over and kissed Veronica's cherry lips.
"I'll just toy with them a bit, then it's strictly business. We might be related but that won't stop me from doing what's necessary."
Veronica sat up.
"You don't require a uniform, so I took the liberty of buying something nice for you."
Leo instantly read her mind.
"Why thank you. I'll go get it from your room then. You stay here and rest."
After removing her nightgown, she put on underwear and left her room.
She went all the way to Veronica's room and found the outfit on the bed.
A short black and red skirt, a top of similar color and red leather boots.
She smiled sweetly, then put them on.
Shortly after, Leo exited the front door.
"Oh, my baby. You sure you don't want me to go with you?"
Ferris knelt at Leo's feet and adjusted a few things.
"You have to remember that skirts like these have to be pulled down a bit more. You're an Eslon, you know."
For some reason, Leo didn't want her mother to know about who she really was. She preferred the way Ferris treated her like a kid.
"Don't worry, Mommy. I asked Sabien to take me to the ferryman. I know the way from there."
As Leo said this, she cast her eyes on the floating kingdom.
Sabien had already readied the horses and brought the carriage outside of the gate.
He called for Leo, who received a few kisses from her mother before leaving.
She had to wipe the glossy residue from her cheeks afterwards.
They rode for a few minutes before they entered the more densely populated area. Leo looked out at the people walking about, or cleaning around their houses, or perhaps selling stuff on the side of the street.
She even saw people dressed in armor with various weapons at the ready.
These were the Raiders, Adventurers, Travellers and Guards.
Leo had heard about them from Veronica and Leusa, even Fae had seen them out on the plains.
They usually did work for nobles, but a few of them worked exclusively for the royal family.
Leo knew that their strength would vary, so she wanted to see how her mind control would fare against them.
Still, that was a matter for the future.
Sabien drove straight toward one of those massive chains.
Previously, Vorya had climbed down one of those chains in order for Ferris to get home.
The anchor at the end of the chain was hanging over a large empty courtyard.
Nearest to the anchor was an old man laid back on a chair, a large bamboo hat over his face.
"I thought there'd be more people here." Leo exited the carriage as soon as Sabien stopped.
"Well, milady, not a lot of people go up there, and no child from down here has ever gone to Northern Cloud. Southern Cloud is where the commoners all go."
Sabien saw Leo wave and say, "I'm good from here. Thank you."
He said his goodbyes and drove away. Leo watched him disappear into the city, a small smile on her face.
She adjusted her top and pulled down her skirt, then walked over to the sleeping man.
"Good morning."
There was no response, save for a snore from under the hat.
"Kind sir? Do wake up now."
Still nothing.
Leo frowned.
"Alright then."
She stepped forward, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Wake up."
After entering the man's mind, she looked around and found out a few things about him.
One such thing, for example, was that he was a retired raider. What excited Leo was that, from the memories she saw, he had worked for nobility.
This could mean that he was a powerful figure, and if she could mind control him then it meant that she could also control others like him.
The man immediately woke up and stood tall. Leo rejoiced in her heart, then gave him his orders.
"Take me up."
The man nodded and walked over to the anchor. With a single jump, he all but flew onto the giant anchor. This was a jump of about eighteen feet that he made look like nothing.
"Shrink."
With a word, the anchor suddenly vibrated a bit before magically shrinking down to a more regular sized anchor. Even the chain shrunk with it.
Now the anchor was a few inches off the ground.
He put his hand out for Leo to take, then pulled her up onto it.
"Up."
The chain was then pulled up, and the anchor with it. Slowly, they began to rise into the air, heading toward the floating kingdom.
"How does this work? Is there a spell?" Leo marvelled at the anchor and chain.
"Yeah, a spell of my own design. You might not know this, but before I came here there was no way to go up."
"The nobles found out and tried to stop me, but even they couldn't undo the spell."
As he spoke he pointed to a small inscription on the anchor. It looked like an 'f' with wings and a hat.
"That's a rune?" Leo asked, her interest piqued.
"Indeed it is, little lady."
Leo looked at the rune and immediately her understanding kicked in.
She saw every hidden detail and immediately understood everything about it.
"They couldn't remove it because they thought it was of a magical nature. They didn't know it was made using natural energy."
Leo smiled slyly.
The man would have been surprised, but under the mind control he simply nodded and said, "It is as you say."
"To remove this, you would simply need to burn it off. Of course, those magic fanatics would never think to try that."
"I see." Fascinated, Leo took a closer look at it.
She knew about magical energy, but natural energy was different. She would have to take some time to learn about it.
She sensed that the man was worried about something, so she laughed and said, "Don't worry. I won't tell the nobles how to undo it."
Immediately he was relieved.
The wind began to grow stronger the higher they went, but the man was prepared for this.
"Shield."
An invisible wall seemed to appear around them, blocking them off from the harsh wind. Only a gentle breeze could be felt.
"Can you do other things with natural energy?"
When Leo said this, she didn't wait for a response.
She merely asked the question so the man's brain would begin to think about natural energy.
That would make it easy for her to read his mind and find everything he knew about it.
After that, they remained in silence.
Leo was in deep thought. Natural energy could only be acquired with a tough body, same for magical energy.
However, the requirements for obtaining magical energy were far lower.
If she wanted to make use of natural energy, she would need to work even harder.
However, once even a tiny amount of natural energy was formed in the body, then the energy would begin to strengthen one's body instead.
This excited her.
Finally, they reached the top.
"Tell me your name."
"Fil Lancer." The man took off his hat and gave a small bow.
"I am Leo Eslon. From today you will belong to me."
As she said this, she reached into her pocket and took five gold coins out of a small bag.
"Work for no one else, unless I tell you to."
The man nodded, then began his descent.
Leo had stepped off onto the solid ground of the kingdom in the sky.
Looking around, she saw that this area was also an empty courtyard, but the ground was smooth and tiled, surprisingly clean and shiny.
As Fil went down, he sighed.
"Kids are really terrifying these days. Mind Control? Sheesh! Luckily I'm an expert actor."
He glanced upward, a confused look on his face.
"I'll play along, little lady. Don't bore me." With that, he made the anchor grow and then laid down on it, taking a nap.