[ My my! You’re quite the charmer, Alaric. ] Alia cooed. Alaric felt his eyebrow twitching. The fact that he could feel the satisfaction Alia derived from teasing didn’t help at all.

So what if he had just received gifts yet again from a powerful individual? It didn’t mean anything.

The people of Jack’s Fall were just a bit… extra. It wasn’t his fault they were drawn to him. This whole situation wasn’t in any way related to what had happened at the Tower of Seekers.

[ Of course ] his guardian snickered, [ Gregory just slipped and dropped a few hundred gold coins from his wallet into your Storage Bracelet. ]

[ We’ll talk about this later ] the boy seethed, then turned his attention to the two people who had sheltered him that night.

A warm feeling of gratitude spread through the boy’s chest. He’d miss Jack’s Fall and all its eccentricities. It had been a long time since he’d let his guard down… Four years, to be exact.

Ever since they stepped into Jack’s Fall, Alaric’s senses had gone completely dull, something he didn’t even think was possible. What kind of place existed without some sort of danger?

‘Trust your intuition,’ his guardian would always say.

Alaric’s intuition was telling him this was the safest place on the whole Valerian Continent and he didn’t even know why.

Not only that but he even felt free enough to go frolicking in the woods and dancing in the fields. This place was simply oozing with goodness and warmth.

[ Frolicking is beneath you, Alaric ] Alia murmured at the back of his mind.

“I’ll be just a moment,” the dark-haired boy said to Garin and left the departing party to talk to Master Jill. Curiosity rose in the hearts of those watching and a palpable silence settled over the world.

It was one of those moments Alaric was forced to notice the way the world easily bent to Master Jill’s will.

Naturally, everyone expected Alaric to bow his head in respect and thank the old man for all his hospitality. It was the natural thing to do after the kind of special treatment Alaric had been subjected to.

Then it happened.

Alaric engulfed the elder of Jack’s Fall in a big hug. Garin’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets with shock, ‘What’s that brat doing?’

To the man’s surprise, however, Master Jill returned the hug with a warm one of his own, even closing his eyes as though he enjoyed the moment.

“Thank you, Master Jill… For everything.”

The rest remained unspoken…

How could Alaric thank the man for food, clothes, fun, clarity, a home, the gifts in his bracelet, the festival, a new friend and a better understanding of his abilities…?

It was a lot for Alaric… and while the old man withheld a lot of information from Alaric, he’d helped him find the clarity he needed to let his story unfold naturally. Perhaps one day he’d return and ask for the rest... For the story of Jack’s Fall.

Master Jill gave Alaric a gentle squeeze, “Jack’s Fall is a part of your past… and might or might not be a part of your future. But I know one thing: It will be here for you when and if you ever need it. Don’t be afraid to ask us for help. Now get going, Lord Alaric.”

As the man said the boy’s title, his shoulders seemed to relax a great deal, releasing a pressure Alaric hadn’t noticed.

[ He’s been holding back on calling you that since we arrived, ] Alia noticed.

Alaric pulled back when their embrace was done, nodding in response to the man’s words. So what if the people of Jack’s Fall were weird? That weirdness was also what made them so damn memorable… and cool.

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“You have a bit of… a tear, tears… Oh, whatever! Get going before you make me tear up,” Master Jill threw his hands up in defeat.

One tear on Alaric’s face had turned to five and before they knew it, prominent streams of tears flowed… and yet, there wasn’t a crease of sadness on the boy’s face so he never looked wistful at any one point.

Alaric was happy.

As the stingray sailed into the air and shot away, Hail couldn’t help but speak up between his sniffles, “He’s a special one.”

“More than you know,” the man responded.

“Patrols found vines growing around village borders and there were several reports from the townsfolk of Alaric offering help whenever he saw someone struggling. He even packed food for the orphans back in the Five Hills,” Hail reported.

“Hmm… That was all to be expected. May the Guardians be with you, Lord Alaric,” Master Jill breathed.

……………………………

When Jack’s Fall was nothing but a speck, Alaric rubbed his eyes clean. Their emergence from the barrier had turned his hyper senses back.

The ever-present sense of danger was a welcome reminder that he was to protect himself and his friends, ‘Right, we have work to do.’

The boy turned to the knight at the stingray’s reins, “Garin, I’d like information on Body Tempering.”

“How much information?” the man asked.

“All you can give me,” Alaric replied.

“Right… Since you’ve asked, you must know that the power of a guardian is limited by the power of their master. No matter how powerful a guardian is, their true power can never be expressed if their master is weak… and that’s what Body Tempering is for,” Garin explained.

The three children listened intently, “This topic is not discussed a lot because of how hard Body Tempering really is. Some masters go years… decades even before they manage to achieve the body required to express the full might of their guardians.

On top of that, Body Tempering is divided into seven stages known as Body Temper Ranks. At the bottom, we have Glass followed by Wood, Stone, Steel, Diamond, Saint and finally Divine.

You’ll rarely find anyone in the last three kinds. Those ranks are beyond anything anyone has been able to achieve in centuries. As you can already tell, each stage pushes someone away from being human and closer to being something greater.

It is said that the Divine Rank can be compared to achieving actual godhood… Pfft! Like anyone could believe such rubbish. Not even the Emperor of Valeria is at the Divine Rank.”

“Really? What Rank is he?” Alaric’s eyes opened wide.

“No one knows… It’s difficult to appraise the rank of someone more powerful than you. So, no one knows for sure,” Garin shrugged.

“That doesn’t make sense. How do you know he’s not at the Divine Rank then?” Darla blurted out.

“Because the Demon King is still alive. The fact that the Emperor won’t rid this world of that fiend tells me all I need to know. Even he’s not strong enough,” Garin announced sternly.

“Enough talk about the Emperor. Talk about him long enough and he’ll hear you,” Gunther warned the group.

[He’s joking] Alaric shivered.

[No] Alia whispered back.

“Anyway, let me shed some light on the importance of having a good Temper Rank. The mercenary Alaric fought in the woods started off with Wood and Glass Temper Rank bodies before his body copies merged back into his original Stone Rank. Even without the power of his guardian, he was incredibly powerful.

That’s just the difference between the average human and someone who’s gone through Body Tempering. Not to mention the fact that Body Tempering enhances one’s Innate Ability.”

Alaric perked up, “How so?”

“That man out there in the woods. I mentioned all his body copies were Wood Rank, some were even Glass Rank… and he had around twenty copies in total. By the time we were done rounding up the rowdy bandits, there were only six of them that didn’t turn into black mist. Meaning he’d split himself into many different people and even imitated some guardians to throw us off their real numbers.

Pulling that off with an ordinary body would have been impossible since splitting himself means his power is reduced among all those copies. With a Stone Rank body, the number of times he could clone himself increased drastically and so did the distance with which he could maintain that ability.”

Alaric listened intently, making sure he understood what was happening. If Body Tempering was that important, then… the boy froze.

“Does that mean I won’t feel pain when using Thomper’s power?” he wondered.

“Not just that. That man uses Illusion magic on all his clones to make them look different, which means your aether reserves would also grow deeper and the range of Thomper’s power would increase,” Darla added her layer of deductions.

“Interesting. Can the Awakening Orbs also help with Body Tempering?” Alaric asked the guardian.

“You want to perform the Awakening Ritual together with the Tempering Ritual?” Gunther was the one to ask this time.

“Yes. Can it be done?” Alaric asked.

“Yes but… You’ll increase the time it takes for you to absorb the Awakening orb. And you don’t want to be late to the Academy,” Gunther explained.

“Then we’ll just start early. As soon as we land in the Five Hills, we’ll get started. You can tell the Tower I’ve accepted the patronage and that we’ll discuss the terms in detail at our earliest convenience,” Alaric’s voice was urgent and commanding.

LionHeart laughed loudly at the sudden string of commands that came his way, “You sound like you’ve made up your mind.”

“I don’t support this,” Gunther warned.

“Well, I do. Something tells me we’ll see something interesting. I’ll also stay in the Five Hills for the whole process. You’re welcome to join me,” LionHeart’s voice boomed with enthusiasm.

Gunther sighed and looked away. Their originally short trip had turned into a lot more than a simple errand, “I’ll think about it.”