Third Person POV

“Lady Elowen?” a chipper voice called from the doorway.

“Yes, Lily. Come here,” Elowen said without turning, her tone calm as ever.

“Did I just hear you right? I am supposed to put my hand into this?!”

“Mh-hm,”

‘“Mh-hm” this ass of mine. She is gone senile,’ Alaric was practically screaming in his head.

While Alaric was contemplating his situation Lily approached them. As always her way of walking had a little bounce to it, her short auburn hair would bounce as she walks. Her chocolaty eyes were normally wide open as if they were a depiction of her ever-energised self.

Lily reached behind Alaric and bent ahead to peek at what was happening and her lips that were curled in her small signature smile, curled into an ‘o’.

“Oh, Blitzscales?” The girl said. Her round face and short stature gave her the look of fluff.

“Yes. Lily, catch one. Show Alaric how it is supposed to be done.”

Lily’s excitement drained from her face faster than the Blitzscales darting through the tub. Suddenly, the water didn’t look so fascinating. In fact, it looked downright terrifying.

“You weren’t slacking off, right?” Elowen added casually, her tone light but laced with unspoken warning. “Because if you fail on your first try, you’re going to sit down and train with him, too.”

Lily’s face paled, her lips quivering. Alaric, watching her squirm, couldn’t help himself.

“Heh.” He scoffed, right under her. Lily looked down at the kid, his smirk irritating her. Alaric needed no words, his face alone said that he was underestimating her. No, he made sure that she knew he was looking down on her.

Alaric considered Lily the perfect mix of cuteness… and stupidity. Both of those traits were expressed as she stared down at him.

Joining his hands in mock prayer, he muttered loud enough for her to hear, “Please, dear goddess, let her miss. A small earthquake would be lovely right about now.”

His whispered, secretive prayers were clearly audible as both Elowen and Lily watched him turn into a devotee.

“Lily,” Elowen prompted, “go on.”

Lily's lips pressed into a thin line as she heard Elowen speak. She was definitely more scared of what Elowen would do to her if she missed than the murderous fishes swimming around inside but she didn't have any way out of this situation.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself. Her eyes narrowed in focus. Alaric leaned in, watching closely. And then—

*Splash*

In the blink of an eye, her hand shot in and came back out—with a fish that had somehow turned the same color as her skin.

Alaric looked at the flapping beast in her hand. A Rank-6 beast captured by a girl who had entered the Dark-Green stage very recently. Alaric watched Lily’s facial muscles loosen up as she dropped the Blitzscale on the other tub that Elowen had removed the lid off. It was empty, unlike the one they were all kneeling beside.

Alaric’s shocked face though followed the fish that was now swimming at a wild speed in the other tub. Lily noticed this and huffed, her hands darting out to grab his cheeks. Stretching them mercilessly, she said sweetly, “What were you saying again, you cheeky brat?”

“Whaf duo you mea?” Lily let go of his cheeks, “I said it because Lily is very clumsy. I have seen Nessa not allowing you to work with fragile things or sharp stuff. Even I don't get a warning for that.”

Lily pouted at the unbeatable smug grin on Alaric’s face, “You’re clumsy… but you never give up,” he added with a small smile, catching Lily off guard.

Lily, just like others, adored Alaric but she also noticed that he had a certain way of talking to her. Only her. Which wasn’t really a good and respectable way but she assumed that since she appeared the youngest, Alaric must view her as someone close to his age and talked to her in a very casual manner.

Coming from Lily, that assumption was one of the rarest smart thoughts she has had.

“That’s why people give up for you,”

Sadly, Lily’s assumption wasn’t the complete truth. Alaric simply had Lily totally figured out.

Lily growled, her arms snaking around him in a chokehold. “You little—!” Her knuckles dug into his skull as she gave him a ferocious noogie, twisting her fist mercilessly.

“AHH! Stop! STOP!” Alaric wailed. “You’re ruining your cute image! I just wanted some company!”

Lily froze mid-noogie, her mind racing. She eased up, mumbling, “Hmph. You’re lucky I’m nice.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Anyway,” he continued, brushing himself off, “I have a question.”

“That fish you caught, the color of its scales was slowly changing… can it, by any chance, also camouflage.”

Lily blinked, momentarily confused. “Oh, yeah. Blitzscales aren’t named for their speed but for their ability to blend in. Their scales change color almost instantly to match their surroundings.”

Alaric wasn’t sure what was more surprising, Lily having some sort of information or the beasts in front of him.

“You are telling me these things can change colors too?” Alaric threw his hands up, pacing back and forth as he glared at the tub of water like it had personally insulted him.

“That’s straight-up an unfair play by nature itself! They’re blindingly fast—like, cheating fast—and that’s with perfect control over their bodies! they swim in a way that doesn’t disturb the water at all even though they are so close to the surface.”

Elowen nodded sagely, watching him with mild amusement.

“And then, on top of all that, they can also change colors! You can’t see them at all until—bam!—you’re watching them with god!” He threw his arms wide, his voice escalating into a dramatic wail.

“Yep,” Elowen replied with an infuriatingly casual shrug.

Alaric froze mid-rant, narrowing his eyes. In a flash, he zipped in front of Elowen, his movements as quick as lightning. He clutched her sleeves with both hands, his face the picture of faux innocence.

“Granny,” he began sweetly, shamelessly batting his eyelashes, “are you sure a little kid like me should be sticking my hand into something that dangerous? Can’t I, I don’t know, catch something a little less likely to maim me?”

Elowen raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“They’re not that dangerous,” Lily said from the sidelines, “They only swim near the surface, so you won’t be putting your hand deep enough for anything unfixable. The worst I’ve ever gotten was seeing the bones in my knuckles.”

Alaric froze, his expression shifting to one of pure, deadpan disbelief. He stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. ‘Does she not realize that what she said would only scare a child more?’

Elowen shook her head, bringing Alaric’s wandering gaze back to her. She gestured at the tub with a small, knowing smile.

“Blitzscales are surely a menace,” she said, her tone calm yet deliberate. “They’ve got everything going for them—not just the camouflage or speed. They’re one of the rare ranked beasts that can even grow stronger. The strongest one ever recorded was Rank-8. Scary, isn’t it?”

Alaric’s eyes widened as he whipped his head back toward the tub. He stared at the water, then at Elowen. “So… they can hit a fish gym, bulk up, and be strong enough to rip a Blue-stage cultivator to pieces?”

“Mhm.” Elowen nodded, her cheerful smile unfazed by his growing panic.

Alaric’s face twitched. “And you want me—a perfectly normal child with a bright future ahead of him—to stick my hand in there?”

“Of course.”

“I feel like this is bad care-taking.”

Elowen placed a steady hand on his shoulder, her gaze locking onto his.

“Stupidly strong powers alone are never enough, Alaric. You need the right mindset. The Blitzscale has everything—strength, speed, camouflage, teamwork—but they’re cowards to their very core.”

She gestured toward the tub, the shimmering water masking the hidden creatures within.

“Sure, they’re fast breeders. They remember every single one of their kind. They’re clever enough to outwit most predators, and their camouflage is second to none. But what do you think happens when one of them is missing or gets captured? It is not a rescue, they leave one of their own behind, fleeing and forgetting about it. That’s why Lily’s hand is scratch-free. The rest panicked and abandoned the blitzscale she caught."

“Don’t you think, if they ganged up on Lily she would be handless right now?”

“We could have called her Li.”

“What is wrong with your humor?! You turned eight freaking yesterday,” Lily said after being shot with a stray remark.

Elowen giggled, her hand that was on his shoulder slipped down and she pressed her forefinger on his chest where she felt Alaric’s little heartbeat. "Always keep this calm, and don’t let your head get hazy."

Alaric stared at her for a while before sighing, "How many do I have to catch?" Alaric asked.

Elowen smiled.

"All fifty of these one by one."

"What?!" Alaric glanced at the one who screamed. Lily.

"N-Nothing," Lily stammered. "It’s just… In the wild Blitzscales are found in a group of hundreds at the very least but these are ones that they have caught in the wild and decreased their number by half. Not only that, these Blitzscales are all unable to breed, so their survival instincts are always kicked in and that is why once you catch one of them they get petrified and don’t calm down for minutes. Not to mention, they also get even more aggressive as their number decreases. I remember by the time I reached eight catches the ninth seemed almost undoable. Even after training a lot, I could only catch ten of them in a streak. After fifteen it’s nearly imp—"

"Impossible to keep track of,” Elowen finished Lily’s sentence, “Well, maybe that is true. But that’s just because no one’s tried yet. Leave it like that, and someone else will make it possible. Do you want someone else to do it? Or do you want to be the one who proves that it can be done by anyone with enough grit?" Elowen prodded, her eyes watching Alaric closely.

“How do I do it?”

Elowen hid a small smirk behind her solemn expression as Alaric, unfazed, stared into the tub.

"Just catch them one by one. Every time you catch one, toss it in the empty tub next to you."

"Alright," Alaric simply breathed out, plopping down on his butt on the cold floor.

"Wait, there’s more," Elowen said, pointing to the training equipment in the corner. "Lily, bring the weight-replicating artifact."

Lily nodded, quickly bringing what Elowen asked and handed it to her.

"Turn around, sonny."

Alaric stood and turned around as Elowen quickly fastened a belt around his waist. It felt as hard as metal, with a circular buckle in the center. When Elowen pressed the center of the buckle, black cloth shot out, wrapping around him like a vest. Alaric was startled but calmed down almost instantly before trying to move his arms, testing his range of motion—it wasn’t restricted at all. He didn’t notice the small rotating controller that emerged from the buckle after being pressed.

Elowen twisted it twice, and Alaric's body arched as he struggled to stand straight.

"This is a weight-replicating artifact.”

“That’s actually the name?”

“Unfortunately so.”

Alaric looked at the artifact with a disappointed look.

“It’s currently set to replicate the weight of twenty-kilograms," she explained before he could ask. "Your task? 1500 push-ups, a 20-minute plank which by the way is the easiest thing until now, 1000 pull-ups, and 1500 sit-ups. You need core strength for the more flexible movements that you’ll be training for soon. Spend four hours a day catching those Blitzscale, then work on these exercises for the rest of the day. And don’t even think about turning down the weight."

Elowen got up, leaving Alaric on his own.

Lily trailed behind Elowen, her expression wry. Once they were far enough from Alaric, she whispered, “Lady Elowen, those numbers you gave him… they’re absurd for a Black-stage cultivator.”

“They are,” Elowen replied nonchalantly, her tone almost cheerful. “I won’t be surprised if he fails. In fact, I hope he does. He needs to learn how failing feels too.”

"Was Master able to do that much?" Lily asked.

“To be fair, Novius as a Black stage was quite literally stronger than Rank-2 beasts… Novius was older when he formed his core and he also has the largest core I have ever seen. Comparing a child, although gifted, to someone who was a freak from the beginning,” Elowen sighed, “Novius and Alaric. They are different.”

"I kno—"

“Not different as in ‘everyone’s unique’, Lily. He is outright disturbing,” Elowen and Lily were outside already, she grabbed Lily’s shoulder and shook her, “Have you seen Alaric run?”

“Y-Yes,” Lily stammered, thrown off by the sudden shift in tone. “I watched him a few times when he was starting his training, but Miss Aurelia was usually there, so I stopped—”

“And what did you see? What should he have improved?” Elowen’s face was now so close to Lily’s that Lily leaned back instinctively.

“Well… uh… his pace was all over the place. Sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow. His breathing would get shallow, and for the distances he was running, he barely had any stamina.”

Elowen released Lily’s shoulder and resumed walking, her tone suddenly light again. “Exactly. And yet, he ran more than twice the distance of your personal best. He must have fixed all that, right?”

“Yes, otherwise that distance isn’t something you can cover at once.”

“He hasn’t.”

Lily stared at Elowen’s back, her jaw dropping slightly. “B-but didn’t you teach us that we had to fix those things to run long distances?”

Elowen chuckled, waving a dismissive hand over her shoulder. “First of all, I only had to tell you.”

“I am being made fun of so much today,” Lily muttered, puffing her cheeks in a pout.

Elowen grinned and reached over to ruffle Lily’s hair. “It’s fun teasing you.”

“When Xironia saw him running, she definitely wasn’t paying attention to his running. She is his mother, an irrationally dotting one. Can’t even blame her. She was concentrating on Alaric’s accomplishment and celebrating it since it was Alaric’s first one and it was a bullshit target he achieved.”

Lily closed her eyes and hummed, “Thinking back, she basically threw a party.”

Elowen chuckled at Lily before continuing, “Alaric has decreased his mistakes, that’s for sure but to complete that target. I don’t know what to say except I can’t even take a guess about the ‘how?’.”

Lily and Elowen reached the entrance to the mansion, both of them parting ways. Lily left for her maid duties and Elowen started walking toward Xironia’s study.

“I need to find out how he did that.”