It was too late in the evening for training, so Gaius could only go to bed and then sleep and wake up earlier. He did exactly that… After waking up one hour earlier, Gaius grabbed one of the training spears after heading to the training grounds and began to practice his most basic moves. If another war was going to start soon, simple moves that were highly effective against small fries would be better to decrease their numbers. Gaius also wanted to learn some other techniques with the spear, but he wasn't going to learn that from anyone when five instructors had to teach five hundred kids.

Regardless, in the next month, Gaius made some progress thanks to that extra hour of training… While the third years tried really hard to endure the spars that they had with Gaius, they always would end up dropping their weapons or they would break after a few direct hits. The trick behind it was to attack the same spot several times in a row and there was no counter aside from running away or trying to dodge all the hits… which was very unlikely.

In the end, the semester of training ended and after a brief ceremony, the instructors gave the recruits one month off… a few of them lived out of the capital, but they soon left the place since they made their preparations to leave over the last few weeks.

"I guess this is a good thing, but… I was just starting to get immersed in the training," Gaius thought since that was also a time for the instructors to have some time off, so no one could stay in it alone in the dorms. "I guess I will show my face at home and spend those weeks training there as well."

Gaius walked for a few hours until he was far away enough from the capital before summoning the Hawk and then jumping on his back. The creature hunted a lot in the last five months, but he didn't get much that stronger either.

Hawk Lv 36 (25.555/36.000)

Cost: 9300 mana

Charge: 00

Loyalty: 100/100

Health: 230/230

Mana: 85/85

Stamina: 520/520

Strength: 23

Endurance: 23

Adaptability: 12

Magic: 05

Resistance: 12

Wisdom: 30

Dexterity: 50

Perception: 57

Luck: 14

Free points: 00

“I guess I got too used to that leveling speed in the war… anyway, you are stronger than Relia now,” Gaius patted his Hawk on the head. “Don’t get too carried away since she is focusing more on gathering intel.”

Gaius didn't know if his pet understood the message… even though he squeaked a bit. Nevertheless, Gaius felt like talking a bit more since in the last six months he didn't talk a lot… he only received orders from the instructors and the other kids grew more pissed at him over time. They felt like their hard work was being made fun of by Gaius and his talent… he felt bad for them, but he had his own goals and their pride wasn't even on the list of his priorities.

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In the end, Gaius returned home after just three days… he had a bunch of things with him, but the Hawk didn't mind it at all. He had gotten strong enough to carry all that and Gaius who had grown a bit as well… Aside from a few necessary breaks, the trip had been pretty uneventful and that was good for a change. Still, that made Gaius' spidey senses tingle. It felt like the calm before the storm.

"Maybe I am just thinking too much about this... even if something happens here, I can handle thanks to my growth and skills," Gaius thought.

In any case, Gaius landed a few kilometers away from home and then crossed the rest of the distance on foot and reached home around noon. Much to his surprise, he found several watchtowers around the fields that the people were working in… Gaius also could see some of the villagers patrolling around. Some of them were the kids of the village who were learning a few things from their parents.

Some people recognized Gaius and waved their hands, but he also did the same in a more clumsy manner… it was weird to greet people that he didn't know the names of.

When Gaius reached his home, he noticed that things were quite silent inside… that couldn't be a good sign. His father must have been working since noon and he was the captain of the guards of the place, and his mother usually worked at home. While he was thinking about that, Gaius entered the house and noticed that the interior had changed a bit… It had a lot more things than before, like some vases, curtains, and even a couch… those things were expensive in that area.

Regardless, that wasn't the important part, what was important was the fact that Kaira was taking a nap there… and she seemed quite chubby. Gaius raised his eyebrows since that never happened before, but maybe the peace made her able to relax a fair bit.

"... Ah…" Gaius facepalmed when he noticed that his mother's belly was quite big. "It looks like my little brother or sister probably will be born the next time I return. This time I will be the big brother, huh? I can't imagine anyone looking up to me. Oh well..."

Gaius didn't recall that his mother had gained some weight after his birth, but maybe the situation was different than before… in any case, it was time for lunch and Gaius was kind of hungry, so he went to cook something and his mother woke up when she began to smell the stew almost ready.

"Gaius! You are finally back!" Kaira said and almost began to run, but then she recalled that she couldn't do that.

"Yep, you look well, Mom," Gaius said while he tasted the stew and confirmed that it wasn't spicy enough.

"Did I even teach you how to cook?" Kaira furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought boys didn't like that…"

"Well, I learned by watching you," Gaius forced a smile.

In the end, Gaius waited for his father to give his parents a report of what had happened, but he didn't return for lunch… he had thought that things in the village would be calm enough for that, but it seemed that he was wrong again. His spidey senses never failed him, and it seemed that he was right once again.

Once he was done with eating, Gaius went to train at the back of his house and his mother went to take another nap… it looked like she was at that period of her pregnancy.

"Leaving her alone now is dangerous, but since she isn't doing anything too harsh I guess it is fine… still, I thought that Dad wouldn't leave her alone most of the time," Gaius thought while he was training. "He must be busy for a good reason."

Gaius spent the afternoon training, and he only stopped when he noticed some people arriving in the village. When he went to check, he saw some guards and his father with them… all of them looked exhausted.

"Oh, hey Gaius… you really came, huh," Zairus said while forcing a smile. "Knowing you, I thought you would stay there and spend your money with the women of the red light district."

"Is that the image that you have of your nine-year-old son?" Gaius furrowed his eyebrows. "Anyway, it seems that you and some others have been busy…"

“Yes… the population of desert wolves decreased a lot in the last few years, but a new species of troublemakers are coming from the West and they are hard to deal with,” Zairus explained. “Anyway, it isn’t much of a real problem, we didn’t lose anyone from the village and no one got hurt either, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

His father looked tired, but not hurt, so perhaps the problem wasn’t much of a big deal… Still, if a new monster arrived in the area, Gaius would want to get one for himself for collection purposes. It has been a while since he got one… Moreover, a new creature could improve his plans considerably, so he thought of checking the new species eventually.

“Anyway, we don’t have to talk about this, let’s talk about what you did in the last five months,” Zairus said while sitting on the couch.