As for the boys, they could already tell that they would live in a living hell. In small conflicts, they would be used as cannon fodder. If they escaped that, they would be trained in a stupid way by officers who were essentially spoiled brats with some blood relation to the lord. It would be a miracle if they survived to become twenty years old. Or so Gaius assumed; anyway, he didn’t have enough information to tell if it was true or not.

"I will be back in a month," the long-haired man said. "Any delay won't be forgiven."

Just like that, the entire village gave up half of its freedom to someone they hadn't even met… that guy's lord. Still, when the long-haired man turned around and left the village, he suddenly fell from his horse when the horse reared up on its hind legs.

His soldiers thought that their leader had been attacked, but soon they saw a snake biting the legs of the horse and killed the snake. The long-haired man looked a bit confused but soon jumped on his horse again… Gaius watched all that while smirking. He aimed at the wound of the creature and then fired a poison bullet on it as well.

"This will be enough… for now," Gaius thought, showing a devious smile.

The whole village returned to their daily tasks… they had a lot of work to do now since they needed to produce more food than they ever did before, hoping that everyone would be fed… at least fights didn't break out among the people.

"Sorry for all of this, Gaius," Zairus said when he arrived from another day of work and saw Gaius walking by himself in the house, even if it was a bit slow. "I wanted to show you that you could be free in this world, but I am not strong enough to show the path to becoming free… you will have to find that path by yourself or forge it if you have to."

Gaius paid attention to the words, but he didn't react in any way. It was hard to say if he was close to his new parents since he had his old memories and his old parents he didn't forget. Still, he could feel their anger and frustration for being unable to build the future for him that they had dreamed of. That was annoying no matter the circumstances.

"You guys have already sacrificed too much… let me solve this situation for you," Gaius thought. "Just give me five years, and then you won't have to respond to some asshole."

(The Horse was added to your summoning list.)

Horse Lv 0 (00/1000)

Cost: 500 mana

Charge: 00

Summoning Bonuses: Endurance +01

Loyalty: 100/100

Health: 40/40

Mana: 25/25

Stamina: 40/40

Strength: 04

Endurance: 04

Adaptability: 04

Magic: 03

Resistance: 02

Wisdom: 05

Dexterity: 04

Perception: 04

Luck: 04

Free points: 00

Gaius had to wait for three days, but the horse of that piece of shit died. He felt a bit bad for letting the creature suffer and for sacrificing the snake once, but he didn't regret it. That world was a dog-eat-dog world, and he couldn't give up with only that much… Besides, he had to think about how he could summon that horse and make it level up without drawing the attention of anyone nearby.

In the end, Gaius pulled that off when he made some birds fall from the sky again, and his mother went to check things alongside everyone else. Gaius summoned the horse and made it leave the village when no one was looking…

"My next long-term goal is to make sure people from outside won't come and do what they want here… and I have five years to pull that off," Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "My next short-term goal should be killing an actual demon."

Sneaking out from his home was probably impossible without risking giving Kaira a heart attack… even though he could already walk well, being only ten months old. So, Gaius had to think of a method of finding one… but did he have the strength to kill one?

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(You have leveled up.)

(You obtained 05 status points.)

"Maybe Angela can help me with that," Gaius thought.

"We meet again. You have been coming a lot faster than I expected these days," Angela said when Gaius appeared in his spiritual form in that place.

"Sorry for cutting to the chase, but we don't have time for chitchat, right?" Gaius asked. "I have witnessed what you said about being cattle, and I have been thinking that I need to do something about it. Are you really fine if I end up killing some people?"

"As long as you don't keep them here for long and are strong enough to force them to submit to your will, I won't mind," Angela replied. "We more or less share the same opinions when it comes to certain types of people, so killing scum is something that I would also do in your place."

"I see… Well, right now, my army is growing well, but I think I need a boost soon to make my plans move faster," Gaius said after nodding. "Do you know any way that I can use to find and defeat some of them?"

"Demons are different from animals, but not that much," Angela said. "You will only be able to capture one per species, so you won't achieve what you want soon. Also, you are a bit weak to face them. The current level of your magic isn't enough to kill them unless all the conditions for a critical hit are perfect."

In the end, that didn’t surprise Gaius. He was only level eight, after all. While he couldn’t tell yet, he was certain that adults were stronger and had more parameters than him… his only options were to keep increasing his magic while leveling up and training his spells that weren’t related to the system in order to become more powerful.

"While I can't give you the details yet, it looks like one important mystery is approaching you, so I will be looking forward to the results that you will obtain," Angela said.

"At least give me more details…" Gaius said and then sighed. "Well, you probably can't… putting that aside, why didn't you tell me that my summons can also grant me some abilities aside from parameters?"

"I imagined that you would work harder if that were the case," Angela explained.

Gaius felt like furrowing his eyebrows, but that made sense… Since he couldn’t level up those skills by continuous use, it was better to focus on what he could improve with daily training.

"Our time here is ending, so I will be waiting for your next visit," Angela said and then waved her hand.

When Gaius opened his eyes again, it was the morning of the next day… he was starting to get tired of the sudden ending of those calls.

"Let's see… it looks like the horse is going to level up in just a few days," Gaius thought. "Should I tell him to bring some creatures as well?"

Maybe that would be too much since they were near the demon's territory. In any case, over the course of the next month, the village was forced to pay taxes to the master of that long-haired guy. The first month had been tough on everyone since they had to push their limits.

Zairus asked him if they could help with the demons, but the annoying guy just smiled and told them that it was their job to defend those lands… they weren't receiving a single thing in exchange for the taxes.

During those months, Gaius was also able to speak more freely, and he was also able to walk without any trouble. It was still too soon for him to push his body to the limits, but at least his magic and his body were getting stronger.

Gaius Lv 16 (598/16,000) - Limitless Summoner

Health: 80/80

Mana: 60/60

Stamina: 50/50

Strength: 06

Endurance: 01 + 08

Adaptability: 01 + 04

Magic: 11

Resistance: 01

Wisdom: 16 + 04

Dexterity: 01 + 04

Perception: 01 + 08

Luck: 01 + 06

Free points: 50

Summoning List: Ant Lv 05 (Perception), Gray Spider Lv 02 (Dexterity), Worm Lv 04 (Perception), Lizard Lv 03 (Adaptability), Bird Lv 03 (Wisdom), Hawk Lv 05 (Luck), Poisonous Snake Lv 06 (Poison Bullet), Horse Lv 07 (Endurance)

When he was one year and six months old, Gaius confirmed that, aside from the horse, all the others were having a hard time leveling up. It was probably because he told them to pick fights that they could only win since summoning them again was a pain. He had gotten a bit stronger, and now he had some more freedom, but the fact that his summoned list hadn’t increased in half a year was a problem.

In those few months, Gaius saw some kids move to the territory of the lord where they were supposed to be trained, and in all those months, they didn’t have the chance to return even once.

Little by little, Gaius began to move around the house with the excuse that he was just playing and exploring. At first, his mother kept a close eye on him, but since Gaius barely left the area or disobeyed her, she began to trust him a bit more. Thanks to that, Gaius also made sure that he was always near his mother in case of danger.

The time came when he decided to confront a demon with a bit of strategy… but it seemed that the demon was too difficult to beat with just his current powers. For now, it would be better to focus on leveling up his spells and his summons, and so he prepared to confront some new demons once his magic was at the maximum possible level for his current stage… a spinning magic arrow.