Alaric’s arrival was one of those that just didn’t need an announcement.

This was proven when a burly man barged into the orphanage before Alaric and yelled out, “Look who I found!”

No one reacted to LionHeart’s entrance. It felt as though the world had gone silent and time had stopped.

The orphanage replied with a vacuum of silence as a wave of aether swept through the rooms, breathing the news of Alaric’s arrival into every last orphan inside and outside it.

It was an effect Alaric himself wasn’t aware of. No one was about to tell him though.

The words that did cut through the tense silence were from Alaric himself, these making it to the ears of everyone that had gone still, “I’m home.”

“Alaric’s back,” a boy suddenly yelled, rushing out of the boy’s dormitory like a speeding cart.

His red hair was set ablaze in response to his emotions but no one seemed to care. The sight would have stunned Alaric if his happiness to see the boy wasn’t stronger than his curiosity.

Unconsciously bracing himself, Alaric opened his arms wide and caught the speeding boy in a big hug, “Cody!!! How have you been?”

“I’m fine now that you’re here,” Cody responded with a giggle.

His words didn’t go unnoticed but Alaric chose to ask the boy about this later. His trip to the orphanage alone had given him more to think about than he could currently handle. Alas, the news continued to flow into his mind.

In the short moments of their reunion, Alaric noticed how more efficiently the boy’s aether flowed through his body, “Well, you’ve grown more powerful since the last time I saw you.”

Cody chuckled, “I’ve been practising!” the boy flexed his non-existent biceps, “But you’ve grown taller.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed. Maybe you grew shorter,” Alaric grinned.

Cody’s quick arrival had allowed that many sentences into their short reunion before, “Woah, Alaric’s taller.”

A mop of chestnut hair had popped out of the boy’s dormitory. “Hey, Ben,” Alaric smiled. Not a second after, two more children emerged, then Alaric stopped counting as they all loomed in for hugs.

Slowly, the mountain of hugs grew bigger until Alaric had met everyone. Marla was the last to address the boy, still shocked by his sudden arrival.

Aside from the reduced density of the aether in the air, there was no other sign that he would be waking up soon. So this was quite a surprise. Not to mention the fact that the boy had grown taller. These changes had looked fuzzy in the dim lighting of the Ritual Room but now, all of his features were clear to see.

His eyes were sharper, his skin smoother and his features more defined. Still, despite these changes, nothing changed about his innocent expressions and tender personality. Alaric was still Alaric.

For Alaric, it was only after he met the caretaker that he came to terms with the sudden change in his height. The caring woman was now at his eye level which, oddly enough, didn’t bother him.

The boy pulled the stunned woman into a hug, “I’m home.”

“As happy as I am that you are… When?”

“An hour ago… could be more,” Alaric responded with a shrug, “The Five Hills look…”

“Like a Wild Aether Zone,” the woman completed with a knowing nod, “It happened while you were asleep. How are you feeling?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Great! I’m still a bit disoriented by all the changes but I’m alright. Aether Crystals, everywhere,” Alaric mused. This was something that had failed to leave his mind since he woke up. From what little he knew of Aether Crystals, they were a valuable resource that was not only hard to get but also critical in the lives of many. Shaking these thoughts away, he asked, “Need help setting up the table?”

“Oh, just take a seat. We’ll be done soon,” Marla ushered the boy out of the kitchen and to the large hardwood dining table.

Alaric, for the first time, noticed the polished wood of the pristine table. The table had been replaced. Cody, Ben and Jasper were setting up the table, laying brand-new table mats before every chair.

The only problem was, that each table mat was alien to Alaric along with the chairs that surrounded the grand table. The floor was no longer covered in cracked stone and dirt. He berated himself for failing to notice the smooth retouch of marble that made the orphanage feel much more luxurious.

He looked around and noticed the walls were devoid of the cracks and old hues of faded paint that he previously remembered.

The dusty girders holding the renovated roof had vanished from sight as well, hidden from sight by a stylish ceiling adorned with beautiful green colours that gave the room a forest-like touch.

Cody was seated next to him in a matter of minutes, “Your clothes don’t fit.”

Alaric looked down and noticed his exposed ankles, “Yeah… I guess they were made for the former me.”

Garin, who only heard this as he walked in with a tray of warm bread, replied, “Gunther will take your measurements and have new ones made.”

“Thank you,” Alaric returned, still looking around, “Where are Finn and Darla?”

“They are at the Academy. They’ve been quite busy. I heard Darla even joined a party of powerful Slayers at the Academy. They left when you didn’t wake up in time,” Garin replied, “Since you have an S-class guardian, the Academy made an exception and excused your tardiness. That said, be prepared to brush shoulders with a few high-strung nobles who aren’t happy with the way the rules were bent for you.”

“As long as I don’t get more nobles asking to buy Alia, I think I’ll be able to handle them,” Alaric responded with a chuckle that faded quickly, “How long was I… asleep?”

Garin sighed, setting a plate of sliced bread on the table, “You were out for six months. At first, it had to do with your Awakening Orb which was growing smaller too slowly for our liking… but then, even after that, you remained unconscious for a long time.”

Alaric nodded, “That means Finn and Darla have been at the Academy for five months already.”

“Yes, they have. You’ll have a lot to catch up to… but seeing as you’ve already gone through a few stages of Body Tempering, you’ll manage,” Garin explained.

Alaric sighed, “I’m sorry if I worried all of you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, we didn’t really expect you to take a month to go through both the Absorption process and the Body Tempering. The Tower of Seekers had already prepared your case and presented it to the Academy when the time came,” Garin shrugged.

“That’s reassuring,” the boy replied.

By this time, the table was set and the delicious scent coming from the bread, potatoes and tea placed in front of Alaric drew a growl from his stomach.

“You can eat, Alaric,” Sister Marla laughed as she watched the boy staring at the food hungrily, “You haven’t eaten anything in six months though, so eat slowly.”

Restraining himself, Alaric bit into a hot potato, then swooned at the sweetness that exploded on his tastebuds.

‘This tastes a lot better than water,’ Alaric swooned.

Moments after he’d started eating, Garin picked a potato as well, then took a bite only to stop halfway and rush to the kitchen in search of cold water…

LionHeart, who was staring at the basket of potatoes, had made a similar observation. Alaric stared at the potato in his hand. It was indeed hot. Smoking even… but for some reason, the heat didn’t burn him as much as he thought it would.

Out of hunger, he’d forgotten about the temperature of the food and bitten into it. The odd part about this was that he could tell he shouldn’t have been able to withstand this kind of heat.

[Alia, what rank of Body Tempering did I achieve?] Alaric asked.

[You managed to break through the ten levels of Glass Rank and rise to the second level of Wood] the guardian replied.

The boy went pale, [ Wood Rank! I skipped the whole Glass Rank!!!]

This was the second of seven ranks in Body Tempering. The achievement was so great in fact that Alaric found himself doubting his guardian’s words.

“Garin,” he called out to the man who was only just returning, “What Temper Rank are you?”

“Wood Rank Level Four. I’ve been stuck there for a while. Can’t seem to find the time to properly Temper my body,” the man responded with a smile, “Why?”

“Damn! Alaric’s at Wood Rank, Level Two,” LionHeart piped up, his face beaming.

“What?” Garin and Darla both snapped at the man in disbelief. The children, however, were not so quick on the uptake. All they understood was that their big brother Alaric had achieved the impossible yet again.

Of course, Alaric was sure there had to be an explanation for all this. What he didn’t like about it was that there was a high chance he wouldn’t be getting it the easy way.