Lily held her breath as the violent blow took the adult down by striking at his most vulnerable region and left the bystanders staring at the crazy kid with their mouths open. Lily’s mouth was half open too, and she was beyond stunned.

“What are you waiting for?! Run!” The kid shouted at her.

…

Lily’s breath was ragged as she used the wall of a house to hold herself upright. Among the general confusion, they had managed to actually make a run for it.

She studied the kid with the wooden sword as he examined the road from behind a corner, checking to see if anyone was looking for them.

“We won,” the kid recited as he came back to stand in front of Lily, his faithful wooden sword fastened to his little belt. “I’m Elysium; nice to meet you.”

“We have already met,” Lily smiled at the courageous young boy she had met in the cradle a few years prior. “What were you doing there?”

“I look for baddies in the Citadel and attack them to level my skills,” Elysium offered, “I just got another level – that baddie must have been pretty strong.”

He squinted, putting his hand on his chin as he examined his knee. There rested a bad scrape that he had probably gotten on one of these little adventures.

Noticing the wound, Lily raised an eyebrow and brought her hand over the kid’s injury, who immediately tried to get away.

“Don’t move,” she said, using [Minor Healing] and quickly healing it.

“AHA! You are a [Healer]!”

“Not a [Healer],” Lily smiled. “I’m not even three yet.”

“I need a [Healer],” he mumbled thoughtfully. “I fight, you heal?” He offered, suddenly shy.

Lily thought about what this crazy kid had just done and actually laughed and nodded in response.

“Sure. My name is Aurora. But please, call me Lily.”

...

Three Years Later

Lily ducked and bobbed in the courtyard of her house as she shadow-boxed under the harsh sun, sweating buckets. Now a head taller than most kids her age, she sported an athletic physique, which starkly contrasted her former, smaller frame. Notably, she had surpassed Elysium in height, a fact she teased him about endlessly.

Speaking of Elysium, she was currently practicing for their next spar. The boy was an absolute fighting fiend who had gotten her to embrace his violent ways, even though she was being trained as a run-of-the-mill [Healer].

It wasn't just about Elysium’s influence, though; the years had changed her perception of healing. With the variety and volume of patients she had attended to, her skill levels had soared. Yet, healing had begun to feel more like a chore.

She started to slack, often seeking out excuses to avoid her healing duties. It was the thrill of battle, the rush of adrenaline, and the sheer unpredictability of a fight with Elysium that attracted her more these days—sometimes, they even got into scraps with other kids and quickly healed them up afterward, double-scooping on her levels for [Minor Healing]. The dichotomy of her life was evident: in one moment, she was meticulously mending wounds, and in the next, she was enthusiastically sparring, creating them. A part of her relished this dichotomy, but another part was conflicted.

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I played hooky with the Sanatorium again, she thought guiltily. Being a doctor has always been my dream, but...

Tomorrow, she was supposed to meet Elysium for an under-the-radar operation that they had been planning for half a year now. She had wanted to be extra safe, but even her cautiousness had been appeased by their relentless practice.

Absorbed in her thoughts, Lily suddenly launched a fierce left-handed strike.

[*Ding!* Skill - Boxing level 14!]

“Fading glow’s grasp, Aurora Claudia!”

“Darn it,” Lily froze, turning in slow-mo.

Adriana Claudia, hands on her hips and a scowl that would put a [General] to shame, looked at her incensed.

“Hey, mom, this is really not what it looks like,” Lily coughed, embarrassed. She had thought they weren’t bound to be home for at least another week and that she could practice in peace.

“You did not miss your Sanatorium duties, did you?!” Her mother phrased it as a question, but she was already trembling in rage.

Adriana Claudia was a woman beautiful beyond understanding, blonde and with the complexion of a fairy. But Lily often thought that even though her mother looked like a fair maiden not older than eighteen, she had the soul of a crooked mother-in-law. And that made her even more terrifying.

Another thing about her mother was that physical punishment was not something she shied away from.

Already knowing the routine, Lily walked up to her mother. And Adriana Claudia had already taken out the cane.

...

“What did I tell you?” Adriana spoke with vengeance.

“I can’t waste my time on physical skills because I need to maximize the chances of getting a [Saint]-adjacent class as my first class,” Lily grunted in pain.

Her outstretched, bleeding limbs received another lashing.

“What did I tell you?” Her mother’s icy voice came again, contrasting with her angelic face.

“I need to maximize—”

Another slash of the whip came down on her arms and caused Lily to shed tears of pain.

“Your father has been too soft on you!” Adriana Claudia shouted, beside herself. “Do you have any idea how many levels you are missing out on by skipping practice?!”

Lily’s arms received the caning again.

“Do you think our Lord watches over selfish girls, by the dimmed star?!”

Two more lashes fell upon her, further wounding her hands.

“Aurora,” her mother’s voice turned even more rigid, “you foolish girl! Do you know what the stakes are?! What do you think your father is doing on the front?! By His shimmering grace, do you want your father to lose his life on the battlefield because his selfish daughter didn’t bother to practice?! Do you have any idea how happy I was to have a child!? Is this how you repay me for putting you into this world?!”

“I—I...”

“Hands on the wall!” Adriana barked, and Lily obeyed.

This time, the cane fell on her back.

[*Ding!* Skill – Physical Resistance level 19!]

The level-up was a miserable reminder of how harsh her mother had been with her so far.

While in the blinding pain, Lily was having several thoughts. The day she would turn thirteen, Lily would get several class choices based on whatever skills she had managed to amass in the years leading up to it. The first class you got pretty much decided your entire fate, which was why her mother was so obsessed with it. Being such a prodigy, she had a shot at some powerful healing-based classes if she played her cards right.

Nonetheless, Lily was frustrated. She wished her mother could understand the need for a child to have something… theirs. She had always dreamed of being a doctor – even a fantasy-world one – but that didn’t mean it had to be her whole existence, did it?

That was when Lily heard the voice of [Cardinal] Atticus intrude the courtyard where she’d been receiving her punishment.

“Adriana.”

“Atticus?” Adriana Claudia spun around and looked at the man with wide eyes, who seemingly paid no attention to the gory scene and the blood on the ground.

“We have important matters to take care of—clean up the child. Your instincts were correct. Your presence as the acting head of the Gens Claudia is mandatory. The execution is today. Bring Aurora along.”