As soon as I was visible to the others, Jasmine ran up and embraced me.

"Again?" She asked.

I nodded. "Again."

"What happened?" Vincent asked, face pale. There was a wet spot on his crotch. Adam matched him.

"Bathroom ninjas," I said sarcastically.

Jasmine elbowed me in the ribs and said, "Panic attack. Must've had a trigger."

Arthur was the one to notice that it made little sense. "Excuse me, but what would trigger an adventurer in a noble's house? I don't mean to pry, it's simply to avoid it happening again."

I pointed to Vincent. "He reminds me of someone from my childhood. I don't know who, I just know it wasn't good."

'No- Arthur, stop prying! Stop! No!'

My mind was racing to find a way to get him to stop. From the pleading look on my face, he took that chance to shut up.

"So anyway, brat, what stage is your core at?" Adam asked Arthur, an evil grin spreading across his face.

Arthur looked at him and grinned. "Light red. Plenty enough to beat your ass."

Alice frowned, hitting Arthur on the back of the head and saying, "Language!"

"It seems we have two anomalies here! Hope the G-" Helen looked at Raptor and paled. "The, uh, the royals don't find out."

Raptor went and sat on the couch, using fire magic to burn the sweat off his face.

"Why didn't you say their name?" Vincent asked quietly. Without the poor hybrid noticing, the whole of the Twin Horns, including myself, pointed at him.

'Former slave' I mouthed to Vincent so he knew.

His eyes grew wide. "Former what?"

His shout alerted Raptor to our conversation.

"I used to be those bastards' best battle slave," he said, throwing the others off.

"But-" Durden started.

"Words and auditory cues usually don't trigger me, not anymore," he said, waving his hand lazily at us. "It's visuals. Visuals and physical sensations are the worst."

We nodded. With that resolved he turned his gaze to Arthur.

"Wanna spar? You're a bit of a beast."

Arthur nodded. "I can't sense your core, so I'm assuming it's at a higher stage than my own."

"Initial silver," Raptor said, standing up.

"Backyard?"

"Sure, why the hell not."

I watched nervously as the two boys went outside, prepared to fight.

As Arthur stretched, Raptor's eyes widened. "Damn, son. A beast's will at eight, and a bond? You're pretty lucky."

Arthur’s eyes widened. "How did you know?"

Raptor chuckled, a smug grin on his face. "I'm just built different."

All my instincts screamed at me to run.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

I almost did when he said, "I'm just built different."

My father was officiating the duel, because according to Jasmine, "Raptor doesn't start well," whatever that means.

"Three, two, one, begin!"

I activated Thunderclap Impulse, but even that wasn't enough to see him as he seemingly teleported in front of me. I was barely quick enough to block his palm strike, which sent me back quite a bit.

"Right, kid," he muttered to himself, getting into a fighting stance.

We circled one another, neither attacking.

Taking advantage of his hesitation, I conjured a rough stone sword, the reach and weight roughly adjusted for my underdeveloped body.

I studied his aura, not able to detect his core but being able to detect affinities, and froze.

I don't know why, but it was very similar to Sylvia's. Along with a large amount of fire and wind mana in him, I detected large amounts of the fifth element, the one emitters, diviners, and dragons were able to use, and it acted similar to the way Sylvia's did.

I jumped at him, swinging my stone scabbard. He raised his arms to block, not expecting a swing as powerful as mine. It cut into his arms, making him grimace.

I swear he was mouthing to himself, "Do not moan" over and over again.

Retracting my blade, I stabbed at him. This time he was able to block properly, kicking my weapon away.

Using my forward momentum I punched at him, my fist covered in fire. He blocked the punch, and I heard my father whoop.

"Dual elemental! Hell yea!" He shouted.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to beat him with only two elements, I decided to bring in a third.

Taking water from the air around us, I formed an ice spear and thrust it at him.

He deflected it, and I caught a glimpse of a crazy grin on his face.

"Good, seems like holding back isn't worth it for you. Be warned, I'm a sound mage."

I immediately reinforced my ears as he send a shrieking noise at me.

"Dang it!" I shouted as the sound blast sent me flying.

Getting out of the dirt, I created a wind barrier to protect against the blast of blue fire he sent at me and retaliated with my own blast.

He took a weapon out of his ring, a basic short sword, and threw it at me. He then took his own out. Unlike the short sword he threw at me, his was only single edged and had no curve to the blade. It made me think of a sword from my world, the ninjatō.

I took the sword and grinned. 'Finally, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary!'

He rushed at me and I quickly blocked. I used one of my techniques to quickly maneuver behind him and slice at his back.

He turned around just as quickly, and with a blink he was behind me.

Damn, I had to stop time twice…

I was nearing backlash, and knew I probably couldn't win, but I was just that curious.

"Use your Beast's Will!"

Raptor's shout surprised me, but I complied.

I knew I wouldn't be able to use the first phase on him, so I had to go full power.

I activated my second phase.

The world turned monochrome other than the particles of mana, and my hair grew longer and turned white. Golden runes like Sylvia's went along the length of my back and my arms, only they were much more complex than usual.

I looked at Raptor, who was staring with utter surprise.

"What?" I asked, grinning.

Suddenly, he entered the same form, now dumbfounding me.

"How the fuck do you have Realmheart?"

I exited the form, as did he, and he sighed.

"What beast was that from?" He asked. "Don’t lie, please."

I coughed nervously. "Heh, uh, a dragon."

"You're a legacy tamer?"

"Uh, yes."

"If Khione's alive, I owe her twenty gold."

***

Later that night, after the auction and the debacle with Blaine, I was eating with my family, wondering exactly what Raptor was. He had worked to avoid the gazes of the royals, but Queen Priscilla had spotted him and paled. She didn't tell her husband, which surprised me.

"Who was Raptor, exactly?" I asked.

Father shrugged. "All we know about him is that he used to be the Glayders slave and that he's half elf, as well as being Jasmine's childhood best friend."

Mother softly socked father's arm. "Honey, don't lie to him," she scolded, looking towards me. "Raptor is what is called in the Adventurers Guild a 'High Profile Anomaly' or an HPA. HPAs, historically, are the slaves of the strongest noble families, or, if unlucky enough, directly owned by the royal families. Raptor and his siblings are the only ones who are known to have escaped."

I was captivated as she continued.

"Raptor and his siblings escaped when he was young, only ten from what I know, although they had temporarily escaped multiple times previously. Along with Jasmine, who was nine at the time, they fled to the Beast Glades, where they've lived since."

"What were his siblings like?"

Mother smiled. "That's what I'm getting to. Raptor is considered an HPA due to being from a long line of elven HPAs. His mother, a powerful elf mage by the name of Syl Embers, was also born with her mana core, and was the only known elf with a fire affinity. She was the only known HPA in the last hundred years to be born free and stay that way most of her life."

"Most?" Ellie asked, her eyes sparkling.

"She was enslaved by the Glayders about forty years ago. They enlisted a member of House Bladeheart to make her bear offspring. She bore three. Not long after Raptor, her youngest child, was done nursing, she was killed. Her firstborn son, Kipling, was the most powerful emitter ever recorded, being able to heal others' lost limbs and even bring back those who died recently. Her middle child, Maily, was a powerful ice mage despite her lineage. She could even give members of House Aurae - a noble house known for their ice mages - a run for their money. Finally, you have Raptor. He can teleport short distances and has learnt to use his dual elements to compliment one another. When it comes to silver cores, he's by far the strongest."

I nodded at this information. "Why isn't he famous?"

Mother shrugged. "He says it's to hide from the royal families, but I don't see why he can't just fight them off."

Father pointed his fork at me. "No, this I know. I'm not supposed to be saying this, but the royal families supposedly each have two white cores cursed under their control every generation or so. He says the human ones have kicked his ass too many times for him to go in the spotlight."

I understood by now. "That makes sense. I met the white cores in Elenoir. Rather nice people, too."

I yawned, not paying any mind to how Jasmine was sleeping on my back, her arms around my neck, her breath slowly ruffling my hair and making my neck warmer.

No mind paid at all.

"Hey, Raptor, want to switch?" Durden asked, Adam AND Angela on his back.

I shook my head. "Nah, Jasmine's a lightweight."

He sighed. "Damn."

Helen chuckled. "Don’t worry, just one more hour and they have to carry us."

I shuddered, remembering Durden's weight. "I think that's a bad idea. We have a six foot gorilla of pure muscle mass here. Maybe if he lost an arm, they could carry us."

We all took a good laugh before I grunted in pain.

"What?" Helen asked.

"She's wrapped her legs around me," I said, taking the moment to let in a breath.

Durden and Helen looked to see both of her booted feet directly in my crotch.

"That's it, I'm rushing ahead," I told them. "Say what you will, but I also have all the camping gear. You all stroll while I set the shit up."

"Wait, no-"

I activated Realmheart, pain clouding my mind to do anything else, and I dashed forward.

My legs, and my crotch, were augmented, so I didn't worry much about the fallen logs I shredded through.

"Mm, too fast," Jasmine muttered. I could tell the speed was probably affecting her dreaming.

"Sorry," I grunted out.

"Raptor, I'm not ready for kids!"

I tripped, face planting in what I assume was wyvern shit. Jasmine's nose made hard contact with my skull, breaking it and waking her up.

"Augh! The fuck?!" Her shout wasn't loud, but rather more of a hiss.

I lifted myself out of the shit and said, "What the hell were you dreaming about?"

She grew red, both from blood and blush.

"Oh my gods, it was a wet dream!" She actually shouted. "Why are you so red? We've had sex before!"

"You never mentioned kids!" I put extra emphasis on the word "kids."

"I never had the talk! Helen had to give it to me last week!"

"You're kidding me! Didn't Khione tell you?"

"She just said sex was one of the joys of life, nothing else!"

I shuddered and sighed. "All right. Now I have to get this shit off my face."

The laughing was the worst part of it.