In a cold and damp cellar, a handsome boy sat cross-legged as countless glowing particles rushed toward him and covered his skin non-stop.

The young man was none other than William.

Chains lay before him, being the chains he had removed, freeing himself from his imprisonment.

William opened his eyes slowly as mana burst out from his body.

He got up and stretched his limbs, not glancing at the room around him, and headed towards the door. Extending his finger, he inscribed another magic circle on the door lock since he couldn't cast spells mid-air.

Opening his mouth, he uttered one word.

"Open"

Mana rushed into his hand as it pushed through his palm, creating a small hole in the lock that would let him escape the cell. The mechanism was thus destroyed, letting him open the door without much hassle.

The odd part was that no sound was produced from this action.

"Sound Isolation magic is as useful as ever…"

He muttered as his body exited the door calmly. He had also created a sound isolation magic circle when he cast the first rank spell, adding it as a supporting hex.

He looked around him, finding three bodies on the floor, foam coming out of their mouths.

This was the actual state of Kirk, Homer, and Tyler.

They had fallen under an illusion spell, their bodies lying on the floor, not knowing the truth.

William said nothing, mana congregating on his hand and creating sharp needles.

He shook his hand, and three distinct spikes shot out, plunging into the trio's skulls.

They had died just like that. Even though they were fighting countless undead in their dreams, in reality, they had perished by a single mana spike.

William clicked his tongue, not glancing at them, and headed over to another cellar door.

His body had entirely recovered from the backlash. He could tell that at least five hours had passed since he cast the first-tier spell [whisper of the damned].

Although it wasn't a powerful spell, he was still a third-stage apprentice mage, so casting it was extremely taxing on his body.

Since he had created a mana brain instead of a mana heart, his mana capacity was much larger than other mages of his stage so that he could cast the spell without any significant repercussions.

Thankfully, the trio had fragile mental defenses so that he could recuperate without any worry. Sadly he couldn’t yet recover his mana storage. All he could do was treat himself with his remaining mana, draining it further.

Although his strength hadn't increased, he was now at peak condition.

He could have fought with the trio directly, but even sound isolation magic could not disguise a significant fight due to his low level. Sound isolation was an apprentice-tier spell, after all.

Reaching the cellar door, he pulled the bar that held it closed and opened it.

His sight was greeted by a handsome young man who had already taken off his chains, prepared to lunge at him, but stopped mid-attack.

He looked at William with disbelief in his amber eyes.

"Will? What is going on? Where are those damned bastards? How did you get free?"

Shouted the young man, grabbing William by the shoulders and hugging him.

William smiled bitterly and hugged him back, his eyes tearing up slightly.

"Big brother, you have no idea how I missed you."

He muttered, hugging him tighter.

This was William's elder brother, Adam Virtu.

It was clear from Adam's situation that he was about to do the same thing he had done in William's past.

He was about to sacrifice himself for the sake of his younger siblings, dying a horrible death being squashed by the building and not even managing to kill the trio.

Thankfully, William was different this time and took care of everything directly.

Adam, who had shut his eyes after hugging William, slowly opened them and looked at the situation outside the cellar room.

The lifeless bodies of the trio lay there motionless, three round holes evident on each of their foreheads.

"This-"

He exclaimed in disbelief, not comprehending the situation.

William glanced at him and noticed that he was looking at the trio.

"I killed them."

He said casually.

Adam's eyes widened even further, not understanding William's words.

"What was that?!"

He exclaimed.

"I killed them using magic, mana needles to be exact. Oh before that I cast a tier one illusion spell though, just to make sure I didn't cause a commotion."

Said William, not hiding anything.

Adam looked at him weirdly.

'Magic? Will used magic? We can't even find his aspect attribute, what magic is he talking about. Isn't he just a normal kid?'

Thought Adam, not believing a word his little brother had said.

William said nothing more and headed towards a third cellar door, mana gathering on his hand and forming a ball in the air.

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This was a tier zero spell, [Mana ball]. It had basic requirements and was easy to cast, but many used it as an identification tool for the rank of low-grade magicians.

The size of the ball determined the rank of the magician.

William's was massive, and it could almost be compared to the size of a stage one magician.

Seeing this scene, Adam didn't know how to react anymore.

He didn't understand how his little brother could become so strong without anyone in the family knowing, but he didn't probe further and followed behind him.

William trusted his family the most. He had nothing to hide from them but wouldn't expose all his secrets. It would put them at too much risk if they knew.

Exposing his current power was enough for now.

Reaching the cellar door, William opened it and saw a little girl huddling in a corner, her hands clutching her knees tightly. She was shaking in fear, almost having a breakdown.

The little girl was pretty, with long brown hair and round green eyes. She was also almost naked, covering herself with the chains to hide her body.

"Rose, its me."

Said William, anger rising in his heart at her condition.

'The Illusion was probably not enough of a torment for those bastards. I should have cut their flesh bit by bit for what they did to us.'

He thought, a chilling light shining in his ruthless-looking eyes, but he quickly shook those thoughts off.

"Will! Adam!"

Shouted Rose as she looked at the duo with glee.

She was so scared that her body hadn't stopped shaking even after realizing her two brothers had arrived to save her.

William chanted and directly removed the chains that bound her without any trouble.

Rose rushed towards them and hugged them tightly, tears constantly flowing from her eyes.

William patted her head and channeled mana into it, calming her nerves.

Adam patted her back, consoling her.

After a while, William spoke.

"We should leave now. The trio aren't the true culprits of the kidnapping, they are just following orders. First however, lets recover our belongings."

The others nodded and followed suit.

William looted the key from Tyler and headed outside the stairs that led to the dungeon.

He unlocked the door and stepped out, the two siblings following him.

An average-looking medieval house greeted their eyes, the fire slowly burning in the fireplace.

A pile of items lay bare on the dining table, almost spilling over.

"And that's our stuff…"

Said William, smiling bitterly at the pile of clothes.

They headed over and started dressing appropriately, their aura changing along with their appearance.

In the past, William was unable to get back his belongings after escaping with Rose, so they were destitute and almost naked for some time. They only made it through singing and dancing in the streets, buying whatever food and clothing they could at the cheapest prices.

Looking at his clothes, a sense of nostalgia overcame him.

These were luxury silk clothes, with gilded gold patterns covering each part, and were worth a few gold coins. He truly felt like he returned to being a kid again.

He was just a 12-year-old boy; he was a kid again.

If things went as they did before, William Virtu, the second son of Malcolm Don Virtu, baronet of the Thelwedean empire, would have lost his identity as a noble, becoming a wandering bard.

The items were crucial in recovering their nobility since, previously, the trio had sold them off, and their identities became nothing.

William had to scramble for most of his life to compensate for this situation.

'Well, even if I had my items, it would've been impossible to recover my noble status due to father's execution.'

Remembering the past, killing intent permeated his whole body, causing his siblings to shudder.

Shaking his head to calm down, he started thinking of a plan, his siblings heaving a sigh of relief and staring at him strangely as if it was the first time they saw him.

Now that they had recovered their items, it was easier to come up with possible solutions.

Rose, silently wearing her clothes all this while, suddenly spoke.

"Should we go to grandfather, just like mother said?"

Her voice was timid, yet at the same time committed. The clear light of intelligence shone in her emerald eyes.

Adam nodded at her question and spoke up.

"I think we should head to grandfather as well. He is a merchant king, so we should be able to seek refuge there."

The room remained silent for a few seconds, the two siblings looking at William probingly.

Glancing at them, William shook his head in disapproval.

"Grandfather is probably dead, or hiding. It will be impossible for us to seek refuge there. I'm pretty sure that our enemy has an ally at the merchant's alliance, so they wouldn't attack our family before removing any obstacle. Grandfather is the most crucial person they had to get rid of."

Hearing his words, Adam's eyes opened wide while Rose started crying.

"No! I refuse to believe that grandpa is dead! I'm going there now!"

Said Rose, making a ruckus, trying to go outside but being held back by Adam.

Adam realized the hidden meaning behind William's words.

"So, you are saying that we are surrounded by all corners, with absolutely no backing? Don't tell me that father also got…"

His thoughts reached that point, and a solemn expression appeared on his face.

William nodded at his thought process.

'As expected, intelligence runs in the blood.'

He thought while looking at his two siblings.

They were both brilliant for their age. Although Adam had perished, Rose still became rich and powerful even after they went their separate ways, though her ending was tragic.

Looking at Adam's pondering expression as he tried to devise a good plan after realizing the truth of the situation, William smiled and decided to take action.

"For now, we will disguise ourselves as the boorish trio downstairs.'

Hearing his voice, the disheartened Rose and the pondering Adam looked at him with confusion.

Again, William extended his hand and inscribed a magic circle on a piece of fabric without saying anything.

Placing the garment under his clothes, he chanted.

"Apprentice tier spell: Disguise"

In front of their eyes, William's figure suddenly changed, becoming taller and bulkier, as if it was a balloon inflating.

After a few seconds, a man with the exact features of Homer appeared.

The 'Homer' opened his mouth, William's voice coming from it.

"This is an Illusion spell. Although I look like homer to the two of you, in reality, my body hasn't changed at all, just your eyesight has been altered. We will use this spell to disguise ourselves as these bastards and head out."

Adam's mouth opened wide while Rose's eyes sparkled at her brother's powers. She liked magic tricks.

"Do it to me too! Do it, do it, do it!"

She shouted excitedly.

William looked at her, stunned.

'She really is just a child… This brings back memories.'

Shaking his head, he inscribed two other garment pieces, giving one to Rose first and casting the spell.

Her appearance slowly warped as she transformed into Kirk.

She clenched her fists, confusion written on her face.

"I haven't changed!"

She shouted at William, prompting him to laugh.

"I told you, this is just an illusion, you wont really transform. You just look different to others."

Her shoulders slumped, making 'Kirk' look like a child who was reprimanded.

Adam also laughed at this scene, shaking his head.

William gave the other piece to Adam, activating the spell and turning him into Tyler.

"Now what?"

Asked Adam as he looked at William.

"We burn the place down."

Said William, a mischievous smile appearing on Homer's face.

The two siblings looked at him with astonishment.

"But, we don't even know where we are, shouldn't we scan around the area first?"

Said Adam in worry.

William didn't say anything and headed downstairs.

The two siblings followed behind him, trying to understand what he was doing.

He approached the corpses and took off all their clothes except for their underwear.

The siblings stared at him strangely, trying to avert their eyes from the three corpses.

Again, William headed upstairs and threw everything the trio was wearing into the slowly burning fireplace, except for their footwear.

A burst of heat came from it, but he remained unfazed.

Turning around and looking at his siblings, he said.

"Wear these shoes on top of your shoes. Although its not perfect, it will be better for us to distract them. If they don't fit well, add some cloth to fill them up. Although you won't be able to walk properly, it will make enough of a footstep for our assailants to follow, completely hiding our existence for the time being."

Adam finally understood what he was doing.

William wanted to essentially 'kill' them. He was burning the place down, disguising themselves as the people who had imprisoned them and essentially 'killing' their identities.

"But, William, won't they be able to discern that we weren't the ones that got burnt if they look at the corpses, even after they are burned?"

Asked Adam, finding an apparent flaw in William's plan.

Hearing his words, William smiled, nodding at his brother's wit.

"Indeed, that is exactly it. We are letting them know that we didn't really die. As for the reason, its too long to explain now, we don't have enough time. I'm going down to alter their bodies, buying us a few more days to get things ready. You take Rose and go outside, the spell won't last too long and consumes a lot of mana to cast."

Saying so, he headed downstairs again, closing the door behind him.

He couldn't let them see what he was about to do next.