"Did you have a good sleep, yesterday's training might have left you tired." Victoria said looking straight into her brother's golden eyes.
"Oh.... You seem to quite worried for me, Or were you expecting me to perish in those woods. That would have been quite a good news for you, wouldn't it?" Lucifer replied.
Amelia could see the conversation between her elder children going in quite a sour direction, as she could remember what John had said about Lucifer's changed behavior.
Victoria was speechless for a moment, but then composed herself and said, " Anyway tomorrow we have to leave for the academy, you should start packing your stuff and be ready by 6 in the morning."
"Mind your own business, you don't have to tell me what I should be doing Miss Vice- President" Lucifer replied sarcastically.
Victoria knew that further conversation would be pointless so she dropped the topic altogether.
"Brother we should be in the same class, right?" John asked Lucifer sensing the heavy atmosphere in the surrounding air, trying to ease the conversation.
"We could be, who knows," Lucifer muttered nonchalantly while eating the bread.
"Well I have heard that all the teachers at the academy are at least at Masters rank, means around level 150. And these great people would be teaching us. It would be exciting!"
Lucifer started contemplating his future plans after hearing what John had said.
He would have to bring a teacher on his side to tutor him personally, so that he could hone his sword skills at a faster rate.
Going to academy would be the best choice for now.
Alicia was silent for the entire conversation, only glancing between her sister and brother, without saying a word.
She was still afraid to talk to her elder brother after he had shouted at her.
And after hearing John's opinion about the change in her brother's behavior, she was trying to think hard, to come up with a suitable solution for the problems looming in her family.
She wanted to talk to Lucifer, understand what he feels and help him in anyway possible, to the full extent of her ability.
But she lacked the courage to talk to him, afraid that he would scold her for meddling in his life.
"Lucifer I think you should pack your stuff as Victoria suggested so that there would be no delay tomorrow." Amelia advised her son who didn't seem to care what she was talking about.
And so everyone silently ate their share of the food without uttering another word, and this concluded the morning at House Faldia.
*******
After finishing his breakfast Lucifer went out for further training as he only had a day before going to the academy.
He wanted to grow as strong as he can in this period of time, and so he dived again into the forest of Azure for levelling up.
******
This time Lucifer avoided using magic to reinforce his body as he wanted to develop his raw physical power.
Most people valued using magic to make the body stronger, instead of physically improving it.
But lucifer knew better, about the importance of raw physical strength without the use of any magic.
If your mana reserves are depleted on the battlefield, then only your own physical strength can help you survive in such a critical time.
***********
Aside from magic, the Qi in your body was another form of energy which could be used in place of magic for fighting.
It was generally used by people whose mana reserves were too low to be actually used in battles.
As a son of the duke, Lucifer had huge mana reserves, but he still wanted to improve his Qi control so that it could serve as a backup.
And to accomplish the same, he was currently sitting in the middle of the forest, focusing on improving his Dantian.
He could feel a purple colored energy moving across his body and gathering at the source, at his dantian.
He was condensing the wild Qi in his body and using it to make his dantian bigger and stronger.
The more strong and condensed dantian a person has, the more Qi his body produces during a fight.
To improve one's dantian, one has to develop rings around it like a solar system with the sun at its center, keeping all the planets in a circular pathway using gravitational pull.
Improving your mana core requires the same process.
And as Lucifer wanted to make both of these sources strong, he needed to put double the efforts required by a normal person.
It wasn't an easy process either, but with enough determination Lucifer continued his training.