It had been a year since Frank had started training Aiden and Flynn and if there were a few things he could say regarding the two young masters, it was that asides from being exceptionally talented, they were more hardworking than he could ever have anticipated.
Aiden was already someone who most of his peers could never catch up to even if they wanted to, solely based off of how fast he learns and adapts but Flynn seemed to have an even crazier aptitude for learning and adapting.
In just over a year, Flynn had advanced from low-tier C rank to high-tier C rank, something that was unheard of, even from unrivalled geniuses.
This was news that would shake all off Arcadia to its core but that information was something that was kept within the confines of their family and Sebastian who was a close family friend.
Aiden was also not lagging behind by any means as he was soon about to breakthrough to low-tier A rank. This was also a big news that would make just as much of a big splash as Flynn's.
The world had never heard of a seventeen-year-old at A-rank before so this was going to be a massive achievement for Aiden.
Their family had been in really high spirits lately and the happiest was the Duke.
He had never been as talented as his kids when he was growing up but seeing his offspring's being so talented, coupled with their insane hardwork and dedication, made him so proud of them and their achievements.
There were a few more times when he had joined in and substituted for Frank with their spars and just like the butler would, he would adequately beat the crap out of them.
Aiden especially, learnt quite a lot from his father's magic spells and combat moves considering how similar it was to his and even incorporated some of it into his own style.
Next in line was Anna and it was evident just how happy she was from the way a smile was always present on her face, along with her beautiful hums and the piano she began to play a few months ago.
This gesture of hers always seemed to put the mansion in a warm and comfy environment whenever she was at home.
Aiden and Flynn had opted to learn the piano from their mum due to this and they would often sit with her from time to time to learn it whenever they were free.
Often times, they would even sing along to her hums if they knew the song she was humming to. This made Anna even happier as she really loved and enjoyed bonding with her sons.
Unknown to any of them though, asides Flynn and Aiden of course, the reason for their rapid progress happened about a few months back.
The two brothers successfully completed the formation of the mana veins and immediately they both did, they felt its full effect at once as the rate at which they took in mana from the surroundings to train their mana core increased drastically, which in turn then allowed for even faster rank ups.
Anna had also really come to take Ivar and Ivelia as her own children over the past year and the twins had also opened up to her a lot, specifically Ivelia.
The reason for this was pretty obvious.
Anna had been the only female in a family full of males so Ivelia was a very welcome addition to their family. They would discuss about so many topics and Ivelia learnt so many new things just by conversing and being around Anna.
Aiden and Flynn had also been to The Tower again, this time along with the twins to see Corneo who had now been held in a secure underground prison room that The Tower held a lot of their worst offenders in.
Much to Aiden and Flynn's amazement, Corneo was a fatty.
Fatty would even be an understatement because asides from being ridiculously fat, Corneo had a bulging stomach and his legs seemed like they would collapse from his weight whenever he moved.
Ivelia had asked if she could be allowed to speak to him, to which the Tower agreed to by taking him out of the prison room, still with a transparent handcuff made of mana that was attached to his legs and hands.
Ivelia upon seeing him, quickly walked up to him and just like Ivar, jammed a powerful kick into the middle of his legs, effectively breaking his balls as was evident from the cracking sound and Corneo's painful cry that echoed through the long corridor housing the prisoners in the underground prison rooms.
Aiden, Ivar, Flynn and even Leopold and Sebastian had never expected Ivelia to be so feisty but judging from the contented and shameless smile she had on her face after ruining his manhood, they realized that this was what she had always wanted to do this to him from the moment she had requested to see him.
Aiden and Flynn gulped at the sight before them and made a mental note not to piss Ivelia off no matter the circumstances.
The twins also made significant progress on their research and experiments considering that they had brought up the healing potion to an efficacy rate of 98% but getting to that last 1% was really putting them through the wringer. Especially Ivelia.
Ivelia due to her complete dedication to ensuring that the Belmonts did not regret taking them in had been pushing herself so hard, so much that she now had a completely messed-up sleep schedule.
Her eyes continued to house dark circles underneath it every day and although everyone had told her to relax every now and then and take it easy, she was still dead-set on reaching that 99% efficacy as soon as possible.
Another strong reason for her absolute dedication to the Belmonts asides wanting to make her father's work known to the world, had to be Briar.
The Duke had ensured that she was transferred from the small hospital that she had been in and over to a very expensive one where she received one of the best treatments.
Although it bit into their family's wealth reserves by quite a lot, Leopold didn't mind at all.
"It's being used to save a young child's life. If that's what I'm using it for, then it's definitely worth it". That is what he had told himself.
The hospital had also informed them that in about a few months from now on, she would be fully cured.
They had all also gone to the hospital a few times to check up on her and ensure that she was really being treated properly.
Flynn and Aiden had also been brought up to speed on all the things that the twins had discussed with Sebastian regarding their Father.
This news had been an eye-opener for both brothers because they now understood how the twins were able to create the healing potion.
A backstory like that had never appeared in the novel so they were really surprised to find out that both Ivar and Ivelia were nobles from the Steelblade family, albeit disowned and that they also had a younger sister, even though she was their little cousin.
Due to this fast progress in Briar's recovery, Ivelia spent so much of her time researching and would often times sleep off in the laboratory.
Every time she did so though, Flynn would go and carry her into her room with a few rare days been an exception as either Anna, Ivar, Aiden or Butler Frank would be the one to drag or carry her back into her room.
Considering how Flynn had now made it part of his daily routine to check up on her every day, the entire family had now mostly left it to him to check up on her most of the time.
Ivelia would then usually wake up the next morning while looking for Flynn and apologizing to him, to which the latter would then scold her for overworking while either giving her a light head chop with his hand or stretching her cheeks painfully or on one of those rare days, tell her who it was that took her to her room.
She would then proceed to also find said person and apologize again.
Ivar on the other hand had been very hard at work too, effectively splitting his time into training with Aiden and Flynn along with Butler Frank recently in the mornings while also helping his sister with their research in the evenings.
He was always exhausted everyday but he still kept a good sleeping routine and as a result, had also broken through to low-tier C rank from his previous high-tier D rank and was steadily advancing forward in mastering his weapon art.
As much as he wanted to ensure that their dad's life work came to fruition, he also wanted to become strong enough to protect his sister.
He knew he was not suited for combat but the reality he faced a year and some few months back at his helplessness to save his sister kept pushing him to be better and stronger without also losing his passion for alchemy.
All in all, the young teenagers were all advancing steadily in their respective endeavours and they were going to keep growing even in the future.
Ivar and Ivelia were just as much of a hard worker as Flynn and Aiden were and it was evident from the way they all did the best they could with such an immense dedication and intensity.
A/N: Guys, please, leave a review! Let me know your thoughts about this book. Where I should improve upon and how to make it better. Generally anything you feel like I should work on. It would be super helpful!