Lev and Alec sat in silence for a while.

"Both of them are better than I expected. Especially the second one."

"Better than the extra General Skills?" Lev was pretty sure humans only had seven general skill slots before the first threshold.

"Much better. Willpower will not only allow you to control mana better but also control much more of it. You can imagine how useful that is when the amount of arcane constructs is limited by how many you can handle at once. Willpower will increase both the amount and their potency indirectly, regardless of how minor the bonus is."

"Hold on, aren't you downplaying the importance of more general skills?" Surely having a larger number of general skills would be a huge benefit in Lev's opinion.

"The issue with General Skills is the difficulty of obtaining passive skills. There are only a few well-documented passive general skills, and all of them are either for utility, professions, or physical fighters. They are also far weaker than class skills without the class benefits backing them up.

"Moreover, adding more active skills is not a boon for us. Can you guess why?" His mentor finished while looking at him with a small smile. Lev was starting to see that he was a pretty good teacher with how he asked Lev to contribute to each discussion.

Barrier mages are versatile. Too versatile really. Pretty much cursed with endless variations of constructs, further amplified with different mana types and enchanting.

"Because our class can already do too much-"

"Which means adding general skills unaffected by class benefits is only a hindrance." Alec finished for him with an approving nod.

"I asked around in various inns and parks before coming here."

"So you're aware of arcane barriers?"

"Yeah. Pure mana barriers that don't utilize any ambient mana. They can also use any other mana type and also make for great enchanting material because of their nature." Lev recounted his discussions with various hunters.

"The downsides?"

"High mana cost and difficulty in controlling them. Damn, I am uniquely suited for this, aren't I?" Lev finished with a thoughtful frown.

"Suited?" Alec chuckled. "It's perfect for you."

****

The next few weeks saw steady gains in Mana Manipulation and his attributes. Lev worked with the ball for more than an hour daily before his mana ran almost dry, then on training his small body gently.

Alec forbade him from trying any rigorous exercises. Lev's training was limited to light running and parkour on barrier obstacles, which were far more fun than they had any right to be.

Since the early attributes came quickly, Lev could feel himself becoming faster and smoother in his movements, able to challenge bigger and bigger courses before the growth slowed down to a crawl.

Now, he hadn't seen a single increase in the last three days but that was fine by him.

He finished training with the ball for the day and walked back to his teacher's place. Lev had recently found out that he was the first disciple his teacher had ever taken under his wing, which meant that his friends were curious.

His walk slowed down before coming to a halt a few dozen meters away. There were two new auras inside the cottage. Both of them were restrained to an incredible degree, no doubt for him, but he was still frozen in his tracks.

There's an Exalted in the cottage.

Lev was debating turning around. The thought was irrational, yet he barely kept his knees from trembling. The first aura was vast, like a smoldering landscape. It felt like standing in front of a controlled volcano, ready to erupt at a moment's notice at the person's whims. He was powerless, thoroughly incapable of providing even a minor resistance. The woman could just look at him and he would cease to exist.

Yet all of that paled in comparison to the second aura. The Exalted, if Lev's guess was correct, was like a natural calamity. Swaths of lightning swirled at her will, capable of destroying mountains and towering monsters alike. It was a never-ending storm, ready to rain death and destruction from incredibly far away, the attacker unknown to their victims-

Someone jerked Lev out of his dazed terror. He belatedly realized he was lying on the ground before he registered the person in front of him.

With long, bright red hair that fell to her waist, Lev witnessed the most beautiful human he had ever seen.

She wore simple clothes, a thick green shirt covering her arms and neck, and similarly simple blue pants. That did absolutely nothing to diminish her dazzling beauty, however, and Lev found himself having trouble breathing.

Mostly because of her aura. She was undoubtedly a fire mage or something similar, and it was suffocating.

"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Her velvety voice reached him. Lev shivered, even the voice was breathtaking.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lev answered, trying not to look at her. His young body felt nothing from her, but his mind was going in all the wrong directions. "I just, uh, wasn't expecting such strong auras."

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The woman frowned slightly. Lev understood too. Humans weren't supposed to be this sensitive to auras. Was it his different soul making him more perceptive to them?

It was also the first time he had been close to someone so unbelievably strong, so maybe not.

"I'm fine, really," Lev reassured her. "It will pass in a few seconds." Passive auras gradually got easier to handle. The first impact was always rough.

"Still, this shouldn't have happened…" she trailed off as she helped him up. Lev was grateful for the hand before she casually lifted him into her arms.

The walk to the cottage was the most awkward moment of his short life by far. Lev's mind ran a mile a minute to come up with some excuse to get down and break the physical contact.

"Let me down, please. I don't like being picked up," Lev said, the best he could come up with at the spot. Thankfully, the woman obliged.

"There you go," She giggled. "What's your name?"

"Lev."

"That's a sweet name."

This is going to take some getting used to. Lev sighed internally.

"Just roll's off the tongue."

Monarch help me, that could've been worded way better.

"Why are you not saying anything?"

Why do you put all supermodels to shame equally? Lev didn't think that out loud. Seriously, how can someone be so beautiful? It's almost inhuman.

"No particular reason," Lev lied. "I just like peace and quiet," That was at least true.

The woman hummed but didn't say anything else. Lev pointedly only looked forward. Entering the cottage, Lev wanted to cry. The Exalted was also a woman, and she was no less pretty.

She had long black hair, going slightly past her waist. Lev couldn't quite find the words to describe her face. Her features, except her eyes, were quite normal yet they still looked extremely attractive. The eyes, however, glowed. Her pupils were blue with white edges, faithfully representing her element.

There's got to be some skincare General Skill. Lev thought, half convinced.

He took the fourth and last empty sofa for himself and steeled his mind to converse with the two powerful women.

The more he thought about it, the more his priority changed. These two weren't just powerful, they were some of the strongest humans on Monarch. The Exalted might just stand at the peak of strength for all he knew.

"Do you want to guess their identities?" Alec asked Lev.

"The Flame Legion and The Galvanic Sniper?" Lev answered, pretty sure that he was correct.

"Yeah, they're far too popular for that question to work," Alec chuckled. "The redhead is Orianna and the other is Sherron. Both of them are my pride and joy, so you better treat them well."

Lev gave his mentor an incredulous look. He? Treat them badly? That sounded like a death sentence. Already, the lightning lady was looking at him rather coldly.

His mentor gave him a look, telling Lev that introductions were up to him. He seemed to trust them with his life, so Lev decided to do the same.

"Hi, my name is Lev and I'm 7 years old. Before I say anything, why are you looking at me like that? It's quite scary." Lev finished looking at Sherron.

"Something's off about you," She replied. "But Alec doesn't seem to be worried about it. Care to explain?"

That sounded like an order and it probably was, so Lev gave them a proper answer.

"It's pretty simple. I remember living another life. Which unlocked my System early. I explained my circumstances to your friend and here we are."

Pin-drop silence reigned in the cottage for a few seconds. Lev couldn't see any changes in the expressions of the two women, neither could he hope to anytime soon. With their insane perception, time moved far slower for them, which meant that his perception was wholly inadequate to observe anything.

"So… you're just trying to avoid dirty thoughts?" Sherron concluded. Lev choked on air when he heard that. Obviously, he couldn't have hidden how he tried not to look at them.

"Yes," Lev stated simply, trying not to let his embarrassment show. "People of earth were far from being all prim and beautiful. This will just take some getting used to."

That at least seemed to ease her suspicions. Lev noticed Orianna lost in thought still, her thoughts a mystery.

"The second main reason I took him as a disciple is because he wanted to learn a barrier class," Alec said. "Both of them combined, it would've been a waste not to. His titles might answer a lot of questions as well."

"Titles?" Sherron asked and even Orianna seemed interested.

Alec nodded. "If the widely accepted theory is correct, Lev here should be able to get a Wisdom Boost."

Lev broke out in a coughing fit again. This was the first time his teacher had mentioned anything about that.

Isn't that supposed to be the stuff of legends? Only Queen Marth used to have one, and even that wasn't verified, just hinted at.

The two strongest humans in history were Emperor Blaine and Queen Martha, the first Exalted. They were martyrs who had stayed behind to let humanity escape the Endless Tide, giving them a chance to find safety.

They and their support squads had single-handedly defended The Empyrean Capital for years. Several ships had been rapidly designed and built in less than a decade under their protection, which was the only reason why humanity had been able to reach Monarch.

Despite their power, the Empyrean Empire had been devoured by the tide. That only served to further embellish their legend, and even Lev deeply respected their sacrifice. The survivors borne of their efforts were now sitting next to him.

Which made it doubly weird that Lev could acquire something so extremely rare only she had.

To answer the questioning gazes, Lev read out his titles. Sherron looked convinced but Lev was worried about Orianna. She had been absent-minded from the start now.

"Can you please tell me if something is wrong?" Lev asked, almost pleading. "I don't want surprises that have even you distracted."

"It's nothing bad," Orianna chuckled. "You will see if something ever happens. It will only be beneficial." Lev wasn't pleased with that answer but he still accepted it.

"So, you're like a young adult within a child's body?" Sherron asked, still trying to understand his circumstances.

"Pretty much a seventeen-year-old by Monarch's standards," Lev agreed.

"Huh. That's much younger than I thought," She mused. "What was it like?"

Lev sighed mentally before starting an oversimplified retelling. The next half an hour passed without interruptions, requiring him to drink water several times to keep his throat from going dry.

Orianna was visibly moved, able to decipher the hidden meanings from his life as an Orphan. Even Sherron's eyes were much softer now.

"I'm so sorry," Lev found himself in Orianna's embrace. "That is still so young and you didn't even get to enjoy life."

Lev didn't try to pull back this time. The woman obviously cared greatly for kids, and he didn't seem to register as anything else to her.

"Eh, could've been worse," Seeing her stern look he hurriedly added, "I mean, everyone has treated me very nicely here and I found the best teacher I could ask for. That is already far more than anything I expected."

That didn't seem to be the answer Orianna wanted to hear but she still accepted it.

"That's just the bare minimum everyone deserves."

Lev shrugged. "We didn't have an apocalyptic planet trying to make humanity go extinct to unify us."

"That alone wouldn't be enough, not for something to this extent," Sherron scoffed. "I won't say the Empire was much better, but everyone was given the basic necessities for little cost. Monarch is an exception among exceptions, which is why everyone just wants to survive and help each other."

"It is what it is, I guess." Lev shrugged again. He didn't want to continue this discussion.

All three of them were unhappy with that attitude but what could he do? The past had already happened. There was no changing that.

"We will talk about this later," Orianna said, her tone final. "You said you wanted to a barrier class?"

He accepted the topic change gratefully, and explained what he had in mind. It only got better after learning about a potential Wisdom Boost.