Outside Tibu's castle.

*Bam!*

*Bam!*

"I said I am sorry…"

*Bam!*

*Please forgive me….wuuu…"

*Bam!*

Arlo sat on a miserable Joe as he hurled punches after punches on him.

No matter what Joe said, he refused to stop. "If I don't teach you a lesson today, then I am not your friend."

"Who said you are my friend?" Joe suddenly grumbled in between his sobs.

Arlo stopped his launching fists before he spoke with narrowed eyes, "If I am not your friend, then what am I to you?"

Joe flashed him an innocent smile, "You are my big brother. Senior brother, this junior loves..." he didn't get to finish his words before he received Arlo's reply.

*Bam! Bam!*

*Bam!*

The banging sounds increased in frequency.

Arlo was just about to throw another fist when a feeling of danger enveloped him.

*Booom!*

Arlo and Joe's bodies were thrown a few meters above the ground before they fell beside each other, their eyes facing the sky.

"What the hell do you brats think you are doing?"

A disgruntled old voice drifted into both their ears.

Raising his head with a bit of difficulty, Arlo saw a man covered in a black cloak standing in their previous position.

'A peak-level advanced mage.'

With his current strength, he could estimate the strength of those a few levels above him in strength.

"Do not cause any more disturbance." After saying that, he vanished from the spot.

'He must be the vampire left to watch over the castle,' thought Arlo as he turned his eyes to Joe, '...and him.'

Letting out a light breath, Arlo checked his body condition.

Aside from his depleted Ki, a few of his bones got broken from the previous attack.

However, to him, it was nothing.

With his current body, it would heal in no time.

The same went for Joe. As a magical beast, he had high regenerative ability.

<< Are you done? >>

'Huh?' Arlo blanked out before he asked in his mind, 'What do you mean?'

<< Has the excitement finished coursing through your veins? >> Old bro asked again.

Blushing from embarrassment, Arlo responded, 'Yes! Sorry about that.'

<< We have a problem. >> Old bro's voice suddenly turned serious, << Are you not forgetting something very important? >>

Arlo thought deeply, but even after a minute, nothing came to mind.

So with a serious expression on his face, he asked, "What is it?"

<< I told you before that once a warrior breaks into the first-star stage, they gain an affinity to a law. Although their usage of such a law would be far restricted compared to a mage, they would still be able to use it directly on their body or at most their immediate environment. >> Old bro stopped before continuing, << So far, do you feel an affinity with any law? >>

Arlo's eyes widened from realization. He had been so excited about having nine summons, Anita, and his own raw power, that he completely forgot about this point.

In his anxiousness, he voiced out his concern, "What is the problem? Why can't I use a law?"

Joe that was lying at his side looked at him in confusion, "Are you talking to me?"

However, Arlo ignored him and continued to pester the artifact spirit in his mind for an answer.

<< Calm down! >> For the first time, Old Bro's angry voice resounded in his mind.

It served its purpose as Arlo felt clarity return to him.

<< Feel the surrounding Ki. If you are truly connected to a law, you will feel it. >>

Arlo closed his eyes and did as instructed.

He didn't want the Ki to enter his body, instead, he observed them.

Sure enough, after thirty minutes of trying, Arlo could barely make out countless invisible threads connected to him through Ki.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

However, no matter how he tugged at them, what lay on the other end refused to come.

After informing Old Bro about this discovery, the artifact spirit responded, << That is good. You definitely have a law. Be patient! Many laws require certain conditions to be fulfilled aside from great affinity to them before they can be accessed. >>

Arlo's anxious nerves finally relaxed.

If he had a law, then there wasn't a problem.

Besides, he now had many abilities that he had yet to grow accustomed to.

What Arlo didn't know was that the artifact spirit had lied to him. There was no such thing as a condition to be fulfilled before one could use the power of a law.

Lost in his thoughts, Old bro muttered, 'What the hell is this boy connected to?'

Arlo decided to spend another thirty minutes recovering his entire Ki before heading back into the castle.

Besides, Joe's injuries were a bit serious, so he needed more time to heal fully.

Not wanting to waste any time, he closed his eyes and felt the surrounding Ki.

He decided to use this short time to connect with his innate law.

…..

After twenty minutes.

*Tap tap* *Tap tap*

Arlo's eyes snapped open from his meditation, as light footsteps drifted into his ears.

Turning his head to the side, he saw an enchanting and beautiful Arianne walking towards them.

He thought the guard vampire had returned, but once he saw it was Arianne, his tense nerves relaxed, and subconsciously a smile formed on his face.

"Hey!"

"What are you doing lying on the ground?" Arianne asked when she reached his side, her face filled with puzzlement.

Chuckling, Arlo responded as he raised his hand, "Why don't you help me up instead?"

Arianne eyes flashed strangely when she saw Arlo's healed arm, however, she didn't hesitate to receive his hand, something she would never do to someone outside her family, and she pulled up.

Dusting his clothes, Arlo spoke, "Things happened."

Seeing that he didn't want to expatiate his words, Arianne let the matter drop as she looked in front of her.

This was the first time her gaze fell on Joe. if it was before she would have just ignored him. In fact, she would have killed him a long time ago after the stunt he pulled.

However, this past week, Arlo had tried to bring these two friends of his together. He really wanted them to get along.

He explained to her that Joe was a good boy at heart, and didn't really have any evil thoughts toward her.

Even though she didn't believe his words, she still wanted to trust Arlo so after a moment of hesitation, she asked, "Hey! Are you okay?"

Joe's body shook. Arlo had tried convincing him several times to befriend Arianne. However, whenever he thought of her eyes that day, a primal fear would engulf him.

Seeing that Joe didn't respond, Arlo was inwardly disappointed.

Arianne on the other didn't seem to mind, as she looked at Arlo and asked, "I have been waiting for you for almost an hour."

Arlo suddenly realized that he usually would have gone to the city a while ago, but out of excitement for his newfound powers, he momentarily forgot about it.

"Sorry," he said in embarrassment.

Arianne smiled lightly, "It is nothing. Do you still plan on going?"

While they were discussing, Joe was having an inner struggle.

'I am no more 'me' from over a week ago. I am no more a coward.'

Steeling his nerves, he inched closer to Arianne, intending to ask her to also draw him up.

However, what entered his eyes were pale white legs hiding underneath a red dress.

Looking at the lower thigh that was barely visible, Joe subconsciously swallowed his saliva as he thought, 'Might as well see it through.'

Arcing his head further back little by little, two enticing thighs were starting to be revealed in their full glory.

However, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

'Why can't I hear any voice?'

Lowering his eyes to look away from those thighs, two pairs of eyes entered his vision.

One was looking at him in horror and the other with immense anger.

'Shit.' With that thought he wanted to explain himself, "I didn't mean…"

However with a loud…

*Bam!*

His words were cut short as half his skull caved in from the overbearing strength.

Arianne raised her little leg once more, intending to finish the job, when Arlo finally collected himself.

He quickly held onto Arianne from behind, as he spoke, "Wait, are you trying to kill him?"

"Let me go!" She screamed in anger.

If not that Arlo was also physically strong, he would have been thrown far away by her struggle.

"Please don't kill him!" he pleaded.

While Arlo tried his best to restrain Arianne, Joe's remaining eyes looked at the sky.

Suddenly he felt like an old man on his deathbed.

Did he regret it? He didn't know.

However, will he go like this?

Certainly not.

With one last struggle, he raised a finger and pointed at Joe, and with all the energy he could muster, he muttered, "Arlo told me to do it," before he fainted.

Though what he muttered could barely be heard, to the two present it was like a clap of thunder echoing in their ears.

The place suddenly turned quiet.

'Bastard.' The corners of Arlo's mouth twitched.

Smoothly removing his hands from her waist, Arlo raised both hands in surrender as he looked at the turning Arianne, "I can explain."

However, Arianne didn't seem to want to hear him out as she pounced on him and held both his hands down.

"Let me go! I can explain." Arlo urged as he tried to break free.

<< Hehe! Little boy, as small as you are, you already have a girl riding you. >> Old bro's lewd laughter resounded in his head.

Arlo's face suddenly flushed red.

He might be mature in mind, but he didn't know how to handle girls.

Looking at her face, he could tell that she wasn't really angry at him. Instead, she seemed…conflicted.

'She isn't contemplating beating me up, is she?'

With that thought, the embarrassment he felt disappeared like smoke and he started sweating buckets.

Suddenly his mind lit up with an idea, and not even hesitating for a second, he sent his Ki into the slime seal and summoned her.

*Pop!*

A blue slime suddenly seemed to pop out from nowhere on Arlo's chest.

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

Three figures stared silently at each other.

Anita stared at Arlo, Arlo at Arianne, and Arianne at Anita.

"Why did you summon me?" Anita voiced out in confusion.

What happened to keeping a low profile?

Arlo didn't reply and instead looked at Arianne expectantly.

"Kyaa!"

Sure enough, after a few seconds, an excited cry left her mouth as she let go of Arlo, and with unmatched speed, held onto the slime.

Anita was dumbfounded while Arlo let out a breath of relief.

Caressing the little slime, Arianne felt her slippery texture and asked in excitement, "Who are you?"

Anita had long left her stunned state and was now giggling happily under Arianne's caresses.

"I am Arianne."

"What are you?"

"I am little Arlo's guardian." She said with a sweet voice.

Hearing her reply, Arlo's mouth twitched slightly.

Getting tired of Old Bro's continuous lewd taunts, Arlo finally voiced out, "Can you get off me?"

"Huh?" Arianne was stunned. In her moment of anger, she didn't know when she got on top of him.

With her face flushed red, she was just about to get off Arlo when Anita jumped out of her embrace and onto her shoulder. She seemed to be whispering something.

Arlo suddenly had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, Arianne's eyes twinkled like stars in the sky as she looked at Arlo.

He was just about to throw her off with force when Anita jumped on his face, successfully distracting him for Arianne to tickle him at the sides.

"Hahaha….stop….haha…please stop..." In between his pleading and laughter, Arianne and Anita's giggles could be heard.

Waking up from the noise, Joe with difficulty shifted his remaining eye towards the sound, only for it to pop out of its socket when he saw Arianne resting on top of Arlo.

'I have been betrayed.' With that thought, he fainted once more.

*****

AN: Wow! That was a very long chapter.

Some of you must be wondering why the book is called 'Family Above All'. It will start becoming clear in the next chapter.

In addition, there won't be much comedy from henceforth, at least for a while.

Thanks to all those who are following the novel. Let's keep it up. <3