Althea was puzzled.

The books agreed with her. The Apprentice stage was easy to level up in, it was about practice and control of mana. And people that had been stuck in the Novice stage for decades, or had trained excessively, had that in spades.

There were many in the Empire that passed through the stage in a year. The same people took a decade to get through the Journeyman stage. And many of them could not breakthrough to Master at all. After all, Master was the stage when a Skill became normal, and the System's true influence started to weigh in. The class and cultivation manual started being relevant then.

"Althea, did you feed them potions? Where did you buy them from? The herb density in certain underground potions is low, and at times the potions can be switched-" the Empress began.

"I didn't even know potions existed." Althea said.

"A potion is simply herbs in a pot of water, not really alchemy but still a way for humans to absorb mana." Pulsie chimed in.

"Oh, I know now." Althea said. "Pulsie told me."

"Pulsie contacted you?" The Empress' surprise hadn't faded yet. The image flickered, the Empress suddenly disappearing from the orb and appearing before Althea instead. What the heck? When did the Empress learn teleportation? Or had she had it this entire time?

A black fog followed her, dancing in the air. Althea stepped away from it, feeling uneasy just being in its presence. The Empress waved her hand and the fog disappeared, but her attention was clearly elsewhere.

"The mana density has increased." she stated. "Can you sense it?"

Althea frowned again, at the rate she was frowning, she would get frown lines. But she could barely sense any difference. Perhaps she just wasn't skilled enough. And she did not really know what to look for either.

The Empress just shook her head. "The difference is hard to notice if you have been there for a long time. But there is a marked difference. The amount of mana has increased greatly since just a few days ago. I will have to get someone to sense it. A rapid increase in mana means some powerful beast horde has moved in."

"That would match our guesses." Althea said.

The Empress shook her head. "No, Althea, not that kind of beast horde. What you will be dealing with aren't rabbits or beavers, but a predator. A pack of predators, but even then…why would they expel so much mana? There shouldn't be anything that requires them to do things like this. I will need someone to investigate."

The Empress turned to her. "A person will arrive to investigate this soon. An expert." she looked concerned as she looked at the air blankly. "If the mana increases even more…then we may have a beast tide on our hands. A weak one, but still a beast tide.

Althea did not even have time to react before the Empress disappeared, the communication orb shutting. Well that was…something. But she had questions. A beast tide was the stuff of legends. A kind of beast horde that targeted cities, and could take them. The records spoke of there being so many beasts that they would trip over each other to kill humans.

And was there something wrong with how fast people were breaking through?

Why couldn’t the Empress just stick around a little bit longer? Well, it looked like she would just have to ask Steward Ven. The two had been cordial since the incidents a couple days ago, but she couldn’t afford him being angry at her. The county still needed his power. The Steward...didn't really need them.

Sighing at her situation, Althea stepped out, giving a smile to the villagers walking around. The village was far more populated than just a few hours ago. The villagers had probably been hiding somewhere. But looking closely, even this village had a lot of people at the Apprentice stage.

The stage was easy to reach once you had a manual, but still. A little over half of the people walking were approaching peak Novice. Althea had little doubt most of them would be Apprentice by the end of this week. The situation in the more prosperous villages was sure to be even better. In a month, she would have a population that was far more powerful than before.

The difficulty was surviving till then. The beast hordes were already a problem, this beast tide was another beast entirely. But she could do little but plan, plan and plain. Well that and worry more than a little.

What would happen then, she did not know. Althea thought over the events of the last hour as she sat in her carriage. The first item on the list, Pulsie and his new ability.

"Pulsie?" she tried using the bond. The message went out, losing energy as it went. But instead of stopping the message instead found itself supported by the surrounding mana. The message reached its destination, receiving a quick answer.

"Yes?" Pulsie asked.

"Do you know why this is happening?" she asked.

"Not really, but I have guesses. But first, can you try to hear what I am? Just reach out, there should be an answer." Pulsie asked.

Althea followed his ask, closing her eyes as reached out, quite like she reached out for mana. The mana answered her, a strange power blowing out as her call travelled through the air, once more using the surrounding mana, and reaching Pulsie.

There was a burst of something like static, and then she heard it. The volume was low, barely audible. But she could hear, and even make out a hazy image of two gardeners speaking as they took care of the garden.

The connection cut off as Althea withdrew, suddenly feeling tired.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"As I thought. The bond has unlocked a new function." Pulsie said.

"What?" A new function. But the bond shouldn't have levelled up, they hadn't grown closer. Or suffered through a moment of great change.

"The bond should have already had the function." Pulsie mused. "But there was something missing, perhaps the mana. Or just us trying to do it. There is too little information on familiar bonds with Silverbirch trees. But I think it is safe to assume that what happened had something to do with mana rising."

Althea nodded. "Yes, that is likely.” But her mind was already drawn to another thing. There were a lot of changes. A lot of changes in a very short period of time. A beast horde. Perhaps a beast tide. The half-Elves. The Fae caravan. The Admiral dying and his family falling into crisis. The famine that is currently sweeping through the continent. There sure were a lot of things happening.

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed to be connected. Hmm…wait a second. The Diery county had a lot of food. The Admiral protected the Empire's trade. There was a famine that could be relieved at least a little by the county. But if the country was facing a beast tide and the Solerian Empire’s navy was too weak to protect its ships, then the famine would stay.

But the half-Elves did not fit in.

"The half-Elves are the only ones that do not directly harm the Empire either." Pulsie chimed in.

Hmm, yes. That was true. If the Elves could be presumed to be separate, then it fit. There was someone trying to weaken the central kingdoms by a famine, and the Solerian Empire was in the way. So they dealt with it.

"The Solerian Empire is hurting massively. The loss of the Admiral alone will affect us for decades. The entire navy might need to be rearranged."

"Yes." Althea murmured. So basically every nation on the continent was being weakened. Althea did not know the details of the situation properly, making this just guessing. But the evidence was compelling. The question now stood, who was behind it?

Althea doubted she was the first to figure it out, in fact, it might explain the Empress' fatigue. Perhaps she was aware and trying to find out who was behind it too.

"Think of the scale though." Pulsie said. "Moving a beast tide level beast horde into the Diery county from somewhere. Killing one of the most powerful people on the continent. If someone had this kind of power…they would have taken over the continent. Or be in the process of doing so."

The words stuck in Althea's head. The trick in play here was the same as the one used in the burning just with food instead of cultivation manuals. Althea sent the rest of the ride going through protections and plans with Pulsie.

If there was going to be a beast tide, and if there was a threat to the county, they needed to be as prepared as they could be. And that meant having a talk with Steward Ven.

But plans could not keep up with reality. Althea knew that something was wrong when she found the palace gates a bit too crowded by maids. The palace was usually quite organized and overly concerned over its image. In this world, servants were supposed to be hidden, not found gossiping on the front door.

Althea debated saying something, but seeing the maids' already terrified expressions, decided to let it be. Steward Ga was waiting for her inside.

"What happened?" she asked, worried. The Steward was very organized, and had barely communicated with her since she came here.

"A courier just informed us that young master Leo is nearly here, you grace." the Steward said. "As I understand it, your granduncle is with him."

Wait, granduncle? The Steward must have realized something from her expression because he said, a moment later.

"The Empress' birth father, your grace. As I understand it, master Leo is his heir." he said.

ALthea nodded, the Empress had already told her about him.

"Why didn't he take me in five years ago?" he asked curiously. The Steward avoided her eyes.

"The Barony said that you would be better suited in the march with your future husband, your grace. And the only reason young master Leo is his heir is that the title passes to the highest ranking relative in the absence of direct heirs. " The Steward said.

"I see." Althea said, keeping her voice neutral. "What do you think of the Barony?"

The Steward was old right? Perhaps even older than the late Countess. The guy was sure to know many of the palace's secrets.

"The Baron has looked down on us for a long time. After all, we were in a steep decline for centuries." the Steward replied. "The Barony itself is quite influential, and has one of the major cities of the Merta Duchy in it."

The Merta Duchy. A small, but wealthy duchy in the center of the Empire. The duchy was also not a member of the royal council, but had released their manual to the public. But it had just ten Barons in it, and not a single higher ranking noble. Althea did not know what was up with that, but there was surely something. The Empire was full of exceptions and variations at practically every nook and corner.

The nobles had far too much leeway in deciding their manner of governance, causing there to be significant variation in how territories grew.

"How far off are they?" she asked.

"The young master should arrive by the time we walk to the gate." the Steward Ga said. That level of accuracy was uncanny.

Althea tried to sense what cultivation the Steward Ga had, but he was just a Novice as far as she could tell.

As predicted, there was a little kid getting off the carriage when she arrived. But she did not see the old man that she had expected. There was only a young woman that the boy held onto. The way she was dressed, Althea was pretty sure she was just a nanny. So, the Baron had not arrived.

Althea crouched down, looking at her brother. In her previous life, she did not have any siblings, and barely any friends. Karen was perhaps a sister to her, but just because they had shared a room for so long. And because she is so bloody kind and helpful.

But that left her staring at a five-year-old kid with no idea what to do.

"Hello." Althea said, dumbly. "I am your sister, Althea."

"I know." the boy replied.

Althea raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?" The boy should not remember her…they had not met. The Bern arch had taken her before she could even meet this little brother of hers.

"The maids are scared of you," he said. "The maids are scared of grandpa too, and he is a noble like you."

Althea grinned. "I could just be someone scary. Perhaps I am a murderer and the maids are scared that I will kill you before your real sister gets here."

The boy resolutely shook his head. "No, they're not that scared of you." Then he turned to Steward Ga. "That one is very calm. And he scares the maids even more than you."

Althea laughed. "Why wouldn't he be the noble then?" But she knew she was wrong the second the words left her mouth.

The boy asked, looking at her closely as if to check if she was stupid. "Does he look like an eighteen-year-old?"

Althea laughed harder, suddenly feeling a lot lighter. Was this laughter therapy?

"Ok fine, you convinced me. Now come on, it's time for dinner." Althea led the little boy and his nanny, who seemed to be the most terrified person in the room, to the dining hall. The one she hadn’t used yet. But it was time she did. After all, she had someone to actually have dinner with now.