As quickly as the butler had brought the letter they once again found themselves on the other side of Sir Fulsin.
"I'm told you're ready to accept my offer?" Fulsin spoke with a shit eating grin. He obviously expected them to accept and for whatever reason he seemed overjoyed that they would be working for him.
"I think I speak for both of us when I say yes. So what now then?" Castus replied.
Fulsin poured himself some tea that the butler had brought. "Well first off I want to develop both of your talents. I know most transplants receive some form of blessing that is normally rare or never before seen. I would like you both to show my your status screens." Fulsin requested. He acted polite, but both Shi and Castus looked at him fearfully.
One thing they had both learned was that status screens were private information that was to be guarded. Openly sharing that with others was a sign of extreme trust. They looked at each other and then back to Fulsin, hesitant to share the information. The church already knew and they would prefer that no one else besides their closest confidants would ever see it again. The more remained hidden, the better for their chances as they grew.
Fulsin sighed seeing the hesitation. Shi spoke. "Sir, no offense, but that's very private information."
Fulsin seemed annoyed at their lack of trust. "Fine, as an act of trust I will show you mine."
Fulsin revealed his status screen.
Frederic Fulsin
Race: Intellect Focused Human
Level-52
[Attributes]
Strength-2803
Vitality-2931
Dexterity-3150
Intelligence-4012
Luck-92
Mana-22531
Stamina-13985
[Skills]
{Passive}
-High mana efficiency
-Minor regeneration
-Persuasion
-Minor Poison resistance
Press to show all|
{Active}
-High healing magic
-Empowered strikes
-Mana void
-Self manifestations
Press to show all|
{Racial}
-Intelligence growth booster
-Intellect glutton
{Blessings}
-Blessing of Healing: The blessing owner is far more Intune with their own body and the anatomy of others granting easier use healing magics and manipulating their bodies.
Stat points: 0
Skill points: 23
Castus and Shi nearly shit themselves seeing the absurdly inflated numbers on the screen. Fulsin explained. "You must realize that your power grows exponentially as you get higher in the levels. Just the same it gets more and more difficult to level up. Most 15-16 year old noble children will average around level forty. Level forty is the second evolution and also the break point for leveling up. Every level past forty, one has to fight tooth and nail for."
Fulsin took a long sip from his drink, savoring the flavor. "Now I hope this is sufficient enough for you both to trust me."
Castus and Shi both sighed and opened the screens. Fulsin placed the tea down swiftly and made his way over to look. His eyes widened at Shi's race. "False human, hmmm. I have only seen that in stories, but normally false humans are at least past the first evolution." Fulsin talked to himself.
"I fell down a number of levels in an umbral before we managed to get here." Shi quickly explained. Fulsin's face grew a devilish smile hearing that.
"We have an unprecedented opportunity here then. It's very difficult to fall in levels. We can further refine your quality and push you into a tier of power for your level that is not normally seen. Your blessing also offers immense opportunities." Fulsin nodded his head approvingly at Shi status screen. Shi put it away and Fulsin made his way over to Castus.
He took a long look at the screen and even opened up a few of that tabs on there, including the materials tabs. "Now this is far more complex, but it also offers some more interesting things we could do. I am surprised that your only human. I figured Tyrus was definitely some strange race, but I guess he just had some stunning eyes. The low growth modifier complicated things as well, but it does mean something." Fulsin rubbed his chin. Castus looked at Fulsin curiously though. 'Just human? Did he not see the asterisk in the tab?' Castus held the thoughts in for now though.
"Sir Fulsin, what do you mean by the growth modifier means something?" Castus warily asked. Afraid of what the answer might mean.
"While your growth modifier may be low it signifies potential. Most high end blessings have a restriction like this. Think of it like a scale. It's ok for some beings to receive more positives than negatives, but if they get too much of a good thing the scales will balance themselves back out with a negative. For you to have received that big of a negative means that your blessing was deemed an extreme positive." Fulsin explained. Castus looked at all that his blessing did and scratched his head.
Based on what Fulsin was saying it seems like he was underutilizing himself.
Fulsin walked away and Castus put the screen down. "Very good. For now I will work on devising a way to train and develop you both. I want you both to be able to handle yourselves and protect the girls. Don't get me wrong they are strong in their own rights, but if I'm going to be handing them off to you, I want to make sure they are in safe hands. It's a promise I made to dead friend after all." Fulsin gave a smirk and looked at Castus. "For now get some rest. It is late after all." Castus and Shi stood and made a short bow and left.
Once they were almost back Castus pull Shi into his room. He quickly opened his status screen and pushed it over. "Shi, what race does it show when you look at this." Shi looked at it quickly and responded. "Human."
"No, like look really closely." Castus insisted. Shi frowned and looked back at the race, giving it a much longer look. "No, its just human Castus. Nothing else. Sorry if you wanted to be something different. Maybe evolution could change that, kinda like Fulsin."
Castus put on a fake smile. "Yeah your right, sorry. I did want to be something cool. Human is always so boring you know." Shi gave Castus a weird look and left the room. "Get some rest Castus, I think you're going stir crazy."
Castus smiled and watched Shi leave. He sighed and collected his thoughts. What Fulsin had shown them made Castus realize that he wasn't just weak, he was the bottom of the barrel. He would certainly take the training seriously. The racial thing was also strange. Popping the window open again he looked at the race section. He could clearly see the asterik and when he opened it, it displayed the same message. 'Race set to appear as human.'
Castus scratched his head. Why couldn't other people see that? What did it mean? He sighed and took Shi's advice. He could definitely use some rest. Especially because things looked like they would be ramping up soon.
At the ass crack of dawn, a loud knocking woke up Castus. He groggily got out of bed and pulled on an outfit that had been laid out for him. Leaving the room he was greeted by the same butler as usual that brought them to Fulsin's office for a third time. Entering the room Fulsin was currently swimming in paper.
"Come in take a seat, I'll be just a minute." Paper was thrown in multiple different directions as he moved. His arms were barely observable as they flipped through pages so fast it made a breeze. Fulsin finished up shortly after and walked out from behind his desk.
Sitting down he took a sip from a cup that rested next to sofa. Fulsin frowned and Castus noticed it was the same cup from the evening before. Fulsin dumped the cup out into the fire and then turned to the two of them. "I have made all of the necessary arrangements for both of you. Both of you are now adopted servants in service of the Fulsin household. For the next year I will be training you in preparation for you to join the same school as your sisters. I know you are both a bit young to join, which is why I lied about your age. You'll be a bit shorter than the rest, but it should be fine. The school allows for personal servants to also train at the academy alongside their intended noble masters. Originally I had been looking for a good servant for both of the girls, but you have to use what the world gives you." Fulsin chuckled at his own joke.
"So what do you want us to do?" Castus asked. Fulsin spoke a big game, but he hadn't provide much in the way of details. His question caused a smirk on Fulsin's face. "I believe a demonstration is the best way to help you understand." He stood and opened the door for both of them.
Leaving the room, Fulsin led the two of them to a stairwell down. Going down Castus noticed a number of engravings on the wall that reminded him of enchantments. At the bottom the room opened up into an arena. Fulsin swung his arm out wide and with a bow and introduced the arena. "Welcome to your new training ground for the next year. This is the Ouroboros arena. It was designed and made by an ancestor of mine, before my family's house fell from being dukes to were we are now."
Fulsin ushered them in. On the side of the arena was a small seating area. He began walking over to it and asked. "So who wants to go first?" He looked in anticipation at both of them.
"Please let me go first!" Shi raised her hand. During their pseudo house arrest Shi had told Castus about how she wanted to get strong enough to never had to worry about being under someone else's control again. Her enthusiasm was showing.
Fulsin nodded and pulled a lever next to the seating area. A semi transparent barrier appeared and separated Castus and Fulsin from Shi. Fulsin spoke. "Fight until you cannot anymore."
Before the meaning of that could settle in a circular formation glowed in the floor and out of it came a rather large beetle like creature. Fulsin took a seat and motioned to Castus to do the same.
"Watch Closely Castus. You both will be locked down here for the next year after all." Fulsin pulled out some small nuts from an unknown location and began snacking while the fight between Shi and the creature was about to begin.
Castus looked at Fulsin with confused eyes. "Sir, what do you mean locked down here?"
Fulsin didn't turn his head away from Shi. "I mean that you and her will be stay down here for a year. I will have food and water brought to you both, but you will continuously fight and level up for the next year." Castus looked at Fulsin with fear. That sounded like hell.