Time had flown by since our adventure in the forest with our parents' wolves. In these four months, which are almost half a year, my cousins and I had experienced many new and exciting things. Life in the castle had acquired a frenetic pace since they arrived, full of training sessions, group studies, and occasionally, explorations outside the castle.

Although our parents had scolded us for leaving the castle without permission, which I didn't expect since I thought they would give us a more severe punishment, they said that as long as we were with the wolves and didn't stay out too long, we could go out whenever we wanted, as long as it was during the day and accompanied by a servant. Even Brian has accompanied us outside the castle to show us how he hunts monsters.

Besides that, Gedric's lessons on handling the halberd had become a daily routine. I had grown accustomed to feeling the weight of the Red Guillotine in my hands, and my movements had become more precise and fluid. Every day, I felt closer to mastering it completely.

My cousins had also made progress in their respective interests. Crin, after receiving permission from our parents, had joined the knights' training. His energy and enthusiasm were contagious, and he soon became one of the most promising apprentices.

Melody, on the other hand, had deepened her knowledge in books, learning about history, potions, and magic, although this wouldn't be of much use unless she manifested magic, which is similar to aura and only awakens naturally. She wants to consolidate her knowledge about magic, similar to those who train their bodies to manifest aura. She also studies books on alchemy, mystical creatures, and monsters.

Although she doesn't like training, our parents force her to keep at least a bit in shape, even if she does it reluctantly. Apparently, our parents know she has talent with magic because when she was born and found to have a weak constitution, they used a sphere that detects magical power and the primary attribute of that magic. My parents told me they did the same with me because I was born with a weak body, but I didn't have such talent with magic, only with aura.

Putting Melody aside, Alian had joined the knights' training along with Crin because he was forced to. Apparently, he wants to become an adventurer, a profession that involves exploring the vast undiscovered world. Many places are uninhabitable for humans due to monsters, magical creatures, and adverse climatic conditions, along with many other factors that only allow very prepared or very powerful people to stay in those places temporarily before dying or moving to a human-habitable area.

Although it's possible to inhabit these places for other humanoid creatures like Lithosians, who can live in areas with little oxygen and have skin with a texture of different minerals depending on the minerals they absorb, or Oneiromtes, who live on very high mountain peaks, inaccessible due to their steep shape and the monsters that attack those who approach. Oneiromtes can fly thanks to their winged bodies instead of hands, like harpies, though these don't exist in this world or I haven't read about them. They are also born with a kind of rune on their chest that allows them to store oxygen from lower areas before returning to their homes.

The vast number of humanoid species is overwhelming, and almost all follow various gods, which almost gave me a stroke when I saw the theological book recommended by the librarian.

Now with Cerlia, although she behaves shyly with people she hasn't known for a long time, she is generally a pleasant person and speaks little, unless it is about animals, magical creatures, or monsters. She gets along much better with Melody than with her own brother Crin.

Father told me that she was born with an affinity for all kinds of animals and it's possible that she was born to be a contractor, a person who manifests a core of energy called Anbima, similar to mana or aura, allowing her to form contracts with animals, magical creatures, or monsters. Since there are very few people who manifest this energy and those who have the talent to manifest it don't get involved with animals, magical creatures, or monsters, they never manifest it, which is why there is little information and a sphere to measure this energy hasn't been made yet.

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Interestingly, the same applies to aura, even if you have talent, if you don't train your body it won't manifest, and mana has a similar issue, if you have no knowledge of magic or can't understand how it works, a mana core will never manifest.

Father told me that this is the first time more than one talent other than aura has appeared in our family, which is a very unlikely event because it has only happened very few times in the last 600 years since our family was formed.

Putting all that aside, right now I am being accompanied by Marcy and the wolves to hunt monsters, or rather, for them to hunt and leave the finishing blows to me with my halberd. Apparently, Marcy or my father's wolf informed him of what I was doing, and he asked me the reason during one of our family meals.

I had to give the excuse that I wanted to be a monster hunter, and to prepare for it, I let the wolves leave the monsters on the brink of death for me to finish off. He had a distressed expression for a few seconds, as did my brothers, while my mom and uncles laughed for some reason, as if something my father or my brothers had planned was completely ruined.

Now I go out hunting with my father's wolf and my uncles' wolves once a week, which is equivalent to once every ten days or sometimes twice a week when I go out for walks with my cousins.

"Young Lord, aren't you exaggerating a bit?" Marcy asked me as I buried my halberd into a monster that was much larger than me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked because I wasn't sure what she meant.

"I mean you've already finished off twenty-three monsters today. We have moved a considerable distance from the castle due to the great decrease in monsters that you've killed with the help of the wolves." I heard her as I carefully drove the halberd into the monster's skull and, after opening it, started to grab a kind of deformed transparent crystal that, upon pulling it out and moving several meters away, the monster's body began to disintegrate into a black miasma along with the black blood covering my hand, being absorbed by the transparent crystal before turning completely black.

Apparently, it's possible to extract this kind of crystal from monsters to cleanse them. They can also be destroyed directly, leaving the monster's corpse intact, but the flesh of monsters is poisonous, and once it has been dead for some time, the corpse begins to decompose and contaminate an area of several meters.

I didn't know this information because I had focused on learning about other topics and didn't think I would involve myself with monsters until I was at least ten years old, but Marcy gave me this information before returning to the castle the first time I came with my cousins because there were still some corpses that hadn't been erased by the aura ball my father's wolf had launched. Leaving them in this place would be harmful to the nearby areas.

"Howlll," my father's wolf howled.

"He says he's having fun defeating monsters without killing them and that it's very boring to stay too long in the castle or nearby areas," I explained to Marcy what I understood from my father's wolf's howl. It's becoming easier to understand what they're trying to convey when I spend time with them and Artic Sky.

"Is he really saying that?" I saw Marcy give my father's wolf a death stare, but he just turned his head arrogantly to the side, signaling that he was ignoring her.

I ignored them and looked at Red Guillotine. I feel it's much more powerful thanks to the immense number of monsters I've finished off using it, which I find amusing because I didn't know if it would work at all. It's like finding a bug in a video game.

But the most amazing thing is that it seems to be developing special characteristics from time to time. I don't know how to use many of them or what they do, but at least I've managed to understand some, like one that allows me to store it in my hand, transforming it into a mark, which I obtained after finishing off several monsters that looked like abominable armadillos that shrank and returned to their large size at will. Besides that, there are many characteristics, like temporarily increasing its sharpness, causing wounds that bleed by applying a small curse that slows healing or completely prevents it depending on the strength of the healing or regeneration, which was obtained by killing certain monsters.

Although not everything is perfect, when I use Red Guillotine, I get tired very quickly despite feeling it light, which makes it impossible for me to use it for a certain time because I start to sweat and feel fatigued as if I were in a marathon.

I left that thought and turned my gaze to Marcy. "Let's head back before it gets dark and my family gets angry."

"Of course, Young Lord," said Marcy with a beautiful smile before mounting my father's wolf. I got on behind her and held onto her waist before my father's wolf started running along with my uncles' wolves. I could feel the immense pressure of the wind and had to tighten my grip, even though Marcy was holding on the most.