"Umm..." As soon as Eldric reached the City Lord's castle in the carriage, the first thing that greeted him was the four figures already standing there.
Other than Lucius who had a constant smile on his face, the remaining three were covered in gloom. If one didn't know any better, one would have believed that these three were in mourning due to the loss of their fathers.
"You are here!" As soon as Eldric walked out of the carriage, he was greeted by the smiling Lucius who then hugged him tightly as if Eldric was a long-lost friend.
"Uh! Okay..." Greeted with such enthusiasm, Eldric was at a loss for words. It seemed that after his small conversation with Lucius, the boy stopped being a wuss and decided to confront those evil bastards. And judging from his smiling face, the results seemed pretty satisfactory.
"They are still stuck up on yesterday's events?" Looking at Balor, Thorne, and Darius, Eldric couldn't help but click his tongue. Looks like they were still carrying the hatred of yesterday's humiliation.
"....." As soon as Eldric spoke, the three of them looked at him with red eyes. It was one thing to know, but this bastard even mocked them.
Balor's eyes were stuck on Eldric, wishing to eat him alive. But looking at the old butler standing there, he suppressed those thoughts. Now the only thing he could do was to wait patiently.
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"You look relaxed." Inside the room, Eldric spoke while separating the stones into groups. He still wanted to know what happened after he and Lucius departed ways.
"Umm..." With a smile, Lucius nodded while picking up the fist-sized stone from the ground. "I got my house back."
It was a short sentence, but it was enough to tell Eldric everything that he needed to know.
"Good." With a nod, Eldric congratulated him further. "I am happy for you."
This was his true thoughts. After listening to Lucius' story yesterday, for a moment, Eldric himself wanted to take action. But this thought disappeared the moment it arrived. He didn't know Lucius that well and even if he knew, Eldric wasn't going to take any risks for him.
Lucius didn't tell Eldric what he did and even though Eldric was curious, he didn't ask. For a while, there was a mutual understanding between the two of them.
But while the two of them were slowly getting closer, the remaining three in the room weren't too happy with the ongoing events. Especially Balor, who believed that Eldric wasn't worthy of standing with them, much less working together. And Lucius who was getting all friendly with him was a traitor. Unknowingly, with every passing second, this feeling inside him grew. By the time, it was evening, Balor's eyes were red. Looking at Eldric's back, he wanted to rush ahead and tear this bastard to pieces.
This change of his didn't elude Eldric whose senses were now far beyond the limit of a normal human. He could perceive the constant angry glare aimed at him but didn't think too much about it. Even if the three of them took action against him, it was hard to say whether they could even harm him.
"Wanna get a drink?" As the five of them walked out of the room, Lucius was the one to speak.
"I don't drink." Shaking his head, Eldric refused his proposal. Were it any other day, he might have perhaps accompanied him, but now that he was at the critical junction, he didn't want to waste his precious time.
"What I mean is..." Looking at Eldric's face which had an impatient expression, Lucius didn't complete his sentence but shook his head. "Forget it."
Waving his hand, he bid farewell to Eldric who soon sat in his carriage before departing from there.
"Good riddance." It was at this time that the voice of Balor sounded from the back.
Before Lucius could speak, he slowly walked and stood beside him. Looking at the departing carriage which soon disappeared from their vision, he let out a sneer.
"I didn't expect you to be this friendly with that trash." It was a sentence that made Lucius frown whose eyes were soon covered with frost. It was one thing if he didn't hear it, but now that Balor spoke ill of his friend in front of him, how could he stay silent? Turning around, he let out a snort.
"Then what are you who is working together with him?"
"YOU!" It was a rebuttal that made Balor's face twist in anger. Gritting his teeth he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"So, that bastard whom you met two days ago is now more important than us who have been with you for so long?"
"Heh." Lucius scoffed at the question. "Picking my friends is hardly my biggest concern. And I don't need advice from anyone, especially not from a 'Whipped Slave.'"
"YOU BASTARD."
"YOU ARE DEAD."
"SON OF A WHORE."
The moment Lucius mentioned the term 'whipped slave', Balor, Thorne, and Darius flew into a rage. If it had been about Eldric before, it would have become personal from this moment on.
Getting whipped in front of the City Lord's castle just a day after joining has become a shadow in their heart. This humiliation was something they never expected from this place. In their eyes, working in the City Lord's castle just after completing their High School was a golden opportunity. It was something to be proud of, something to show off. After receiving the free benefits of restaurants and brothels, they were even more complacent. And in their arrogance, they enjoyed themselves a bit too much and arrived late for their second day of work.
But never in their wildest dreams did they expect such harsh treatment. How was it a City Lord's castle!? It was more like a devil's den. But even after going through such humiliation, they didn't blame the City Lord, instead blamed themselves for being late. They even wanted to forget this dark chapter of their life.
But after Lucius directly pointed out the very thing they wished to hide, they were filled with rage.
"ENOUGH."
Just before the situation could become tense, the sound of the old butler echoed in their ears, halting their footsteps.
"Unless you all want to get whipped again, go back to your home. I will not tolerate any infighting." He spoke with a calm voice as if telling them a bedtime story. But his words were enough to send shivers down their spines, especially Balor and the other two who had experienced it personally.
This sentence of the old butler was like pouring cold water down their head, letting them be clear-headed for once. But this didn't last long as Balor looked in the direction Lucius was going with clenched fists.
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"Is there no way out?" After the dinner, Eldric was enjoying the rare peace while sitting on the balcony. The constant mind-numbing work that he had to do was too much for him. He was working against his will and was forced to waste his precious time there when in fact, he could be doing more important things. After reaching the second tier of his life profession, and testing its power, he was still in doubt whether he was strong enough to take on Garric and the City Lord or not.
Eldric didn't have the proper knowledge of the power structure of the city and judging by the words of Ellina, there were around five tire two Evolutionaries and the City Lord was obviously one of them. As for Garric, since he was the principal of Atheria High School, he should be pretty capable too, perhaps, he was similar to the City Lord in strength. Theoretically, he could try to take either Garric or the City Lord after evolving his Life Profession to tier two, but in case he fails... the results would be disastrous. He didn't want to take any action unless he was absolutely certain of achieving success.
"Ellina told me there were around five people in this city who have stepped into the second evolution." Thinking about it for a while, he then shook his head decisively before coming to a conclusion. "I can't completely trust her on everything she says."
Eldric had already experienced how Ellina seemed to be hiding a lot of things from him. If that was true, then perhaps the number of people on the second evolution was higher than what she said.
Now he was looking forward to the night's lesson even more.
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Time passed in the blink of an eye and it was already the time for the lesson.
Sitting on a chair, Elrdric looked at the middle-aged man with a stoic expression in front of him with satisfaction. Compared to Ellina who always seemed to be in the mood for jokes, this person seemed rather serious.
"If you have any questions you can ask." Just when Eldric was comparing the man to Ellina, he heard a calm voice.
"I wanted to know everything about creating your skill before going through the second evolution."
"...." As soon as Eldric asked this question, the man didn't answer immediately but looked at him for a long time. Seeing the mask along with the robe, he didn't know the appearance of Eldric, but judging by the sound, he was sure that it was a rather young boy asking the question.
Unlike Ellina, he didn't retort or tell him to focus on the small goals first but directly answered his question.
"It is not exactly creating the skills, but more like absorbing the skills of the evolved beasts." With a short pause, he continued further.
"You might already know that we humans have a limit and need to merge with the beast's essence and inherit their skills to progress further.
In a way, this is true, but it's not the entire truth."
"Sure enough." As soon as the man finished speaking, Eldric nodded his head. Just like he thought, there were many things Ellina never told him even though he paid her a hundred tokens for those classes.
"The trick for the second evolution is rather simple.
The stronger your bloodline, the easier it is to absorb the essence and understand the skill of the beasts."
It was a rather simple sentence but it was enough to halt Eldric's breath. With eyes flashing, Eldric thought about the bloodline reward he got after he completed all the trials. At that time he didn't know its use, but judging from the man's way of speaking, the bloodline was anything but simple.
Sensing his doubts, the middle-aged man chuckled while shaking his head. "Don't be discouraged if you can't gain the skill instantly. Even those with the strongest bloodlines usually take anywhere from a year to three. Take your time and patiently choose the evolved beast essence that you want to merge with."
"Huh!?" Eldric furrowed his brows. He didn't think he needed to carefully choose the beast. Though there were skills much more powerful than the Green Bull's, Eldric wasn't sure if he needed them. After all, he could evolve his skills. So, sooner or later, that simple bull skill was going to be stronger than any skill he could merge with at the moment. He just didn't know whether it was worth the effort to go through the trouble of finding and hunting the strong beasts.
"Does it matter which evolved beast I choose?" Without the knowledge, he could only seek the answers from the man in front of him.
"Yes, it does."
It was a simple yet direct answer. The middle-aged man then took a deep breath and slowly began to explain the role of beasts when merging with the skills...