The following wait was a little nerve racking, a mix of anticipation of how Evelyn’s fight had gone mixed with the fact that he was waiting to meet the king. While the wait itself hadn’t been longer than another twenty minutes it felt much longer to Ajax who ended up pacing for the last five minutes of it.

“The king will see you now.” A different guard, one with much fancier armor entered the waiting area and invited Ajax inside.

As Ajax was led into a small throne room he could see that he and the king wouldn’t be quite as alone as he expected. Present inside the room were almost two dozen other people all of who exuded a powerful aura, Ajax recognised the members of the Eighth as well as Evelyn who looked like she had gone ten rounds with a feral cat from the number of shallow cuts she had on her. Despite all of the shabby clothes the smile on her face informed him about the outcome of the fight.

The residual mana combination of curse and holy hanging around another of the people let Ajax know who her opponent was as well as the tactic she had used to gain her victory. One of the crueler methods they had come up with, first infecting a curse and then using the interaction with holy mana to cause excruciating pain. The method was particularly effective as the healing was considered positive by the system so the second part of the combo would bypass most shields.

“Your Majesty.” Ajax greeted with a deep bow once he entered the small throne chamber.

“You must be Ajax.” The king was an old man, despite the wrinkles on his face and his white hair however he appeared a lot more like the old men from asian animated cultures than those seen in western media, with a strong tall build that showed that he still possessed a lot of power despite having aged past his prime. “I have to say I have heard a lot about you in the last year, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“While you might know Evelyn here,” he said with a wave of a hand towards her. “Everyone else taking part in this meeting is a part of the Third, Fourth or Eighth squad, you can be sure that the contents of this meeting won’t be leaked.”

“I appreciate that Your Majesty,” Ajax said as he wrung his hands a little nervously. “There is something I was hoping to share with you at this time that would not be spread.”

“Would that be your ability to use a curse skill?” The king asked. “Surely you can’t have expected Evelyn not to inform me of your capacity in all this time?”

“No Your Majesty-”

“Please call me Terenas, at least for now.” the king interrupted. “King Terenas if you must.”

“Ofcourse Your Ma- King Terenas.” Ajax corrected. “And no my [Curse Slash] skill is not what I was referring to, I did in fact believe that you were already informed of that.”

“Oh, another surprise.” The king seemed giddy like a kid on Christmas morning at the news.

“Yes, it is about my Legendary skill.” Ajax said.

“A lot of people are aware of the fact that you possess [Enigma], though there are a few differing theories as to the trailblazing skill that allowed you to gain it.” the king deflated a little at the topic. “Would you be inclined to shed a little light on that debate?”

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“Not at this time, King Terenas. There are still a few things I am investigating regarding that skill.” Ajax said as he shook his head. “I also wasn’t referring to [Enigma] but my combat Legendary skill.”

That statement got everyone to freeze for a moment before everybody in the room was fighting a smirk, though a few of the participants did place a hand on the handle of their weapons. The king took a moment to unfreeze before he was shaking with excitement.

“That is quite the news, I had expected that this meeting would be quite something, which is why I made sure we would have a certain level of privacy but this has exceeded my expectations.” The king said. “How much would you be willing to share regarding this skill?”

As a future high ranking noble the king definitely didn’t want to pressure Ajax before he had a chance to set down some deep roots inside the kingdom. He was in fact even thinking of a way to tie him to the royal family through a marriage.

“I am willing to disclose a few general aspects as well as how I managed to achieve the skill.” Ajax said.

“Please, by all means.”

“The skill is called [Mana Syphon]. The essential of the skill is that it allows me to absorb any mana from my surroundings and convert it into increased physical stats.”

“Sounds like an upgraded version of my [Mana Physique].” the man Ajax assumed to be the leader of the Third said. “Being a Legendary skill I am guessing he gets a much better efficiency than I do, possibly even has a higher maximum input.”

“I doubt the efficiency is higher,” Ajax said as he had come across [Mana Physique] in his research “I actually suspect that it is a bit lower, though the maximum input is likely higher for comparative skill levels.”

“That wouldn’t be enough to make the skill Legendary.” another member argued.

“The Legendary aspect of the skill is also the one that gives it its name syphon.” Ajax explained. “Unlike [Mana Physique] I am not limited to only consuming my own mana but any mana source that is close enough. This includes high mana density in the environment as well as casted spells.”

“That is quite the upgrade.” The king acknowledged. “You said you are willing to also disclose the method by which you obtained it?”

The next fifteen minutes devolved into a recap of Ajax’s encounter with the vampire as well as his self-taught method of learning magic from monsters. Much to the king’s surprise the Eighth were actually able to confirm part of the story.

“While this is certainly interesting, and definitely something we should investigate, if only for the chance of getting some of the lower rarity skills with the mana syphon effect it is a matter for another time. We have gotten quite a bit sidetracked I must say.” The kind said. “We are here to grant you your noble title, if you would present your sigil.”

Ajax did as he was asked and he presented the sigil his father crafted. To his surprise the king tried to suppress a small chuckle.

“You geniuses sure are alike.” He commented as he observed the sigil. “Duke Manashaper sigil is also highly detailed and not very suited for branding. While I do accept this as your sigil I do suggest you come up with a more common mark, possibly even a specific color scheme to represent your house as mass producing such sigils does end up being quite the challenge.”

It was at this point that Ajax had to fight very hard not to facepalm at this oversight. He had put a lot of thought into what he wanted the sigil to signify that he had forgotten almost all noble houses displayed their sigil on anything and everything that had a connection to them and that being simple enough to produce was also a factor.

“Kneel please Ajax.” The king said as he stood up from the throne and approached him with the sword in hand.

Ajax did as the king said and went down on one knee, his [Danger Sense] being absolutely calm was the only reason he was able to calmly get through the procession of having the sword placed on his shoulders and then stabbed in the ground an inch from his face.

“Rise now Ajax as a Baron and the head of House Hearthbound.” the king announced in an official tone that echoed throughout the chamber.

Ajax found that he was happy with the name. In all honesty he had expected the name to have more to do with his discovery or the Legendary skill he had just revealed but he was glad that the chosen sigil had so much more sway. He was also sure that the king hoped the name would foster more loyalty towards the kingdom but Ajax was sure it would be a name his family would also be happy with.

With that Ajax rose up to the thunderous applause of the two dozen Squad members present.

“I do hope your house will prosper for a long time to come.” the king said as he returned to his seat.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Ajax replied.

“Now that you are officially a noble I will assign you the land plot A231 from the noble district, for you to build your mansion and for it to serve as your land.” the king said.

There was a mixed reaction to this from the members of the Squads as they processed the king's intention. Plot A231 wasn’t all that special aside from the fact that it was empty and anything could be built on it. The important part was that it was one of the plots neighboring a certain Viscount House that just recently lost its noble title. The king's intention clearly being to grant that plot to Ajax as well when he raised his title from Baron to Duke in the near future.