Character Information - Who is who?

Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven't. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!)

Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* Transmigrated from the Earth and the MC

* The fourth child of the current Leonandra household

* Golden eyes

* Snow-white fur and hair color

Sarah M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* The third child of the current Leonandra household

* Spezialized in shield

* Sister of the MC

* Green eyes

* Pastel-greenish fur and hair color

Marisia S. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* Lady of the Leonandra household

* A user of the wild-demon energy

* Mother of the MC

* Golden eyes

* Crimson red fur and hair color

...

Training ground, Leonandra Estate

'Why does the ground outside the estate feel so comfortable suddenly?'

Sarah lay on the ground, huffing and wheezing, barely catching her breath. She was drenched with sweat, so much that it felt terrible as the leather armor parts, like the breastplate, shin- and wrist-protectors, were rubbing heavily against her skin or the cloth, which was just moist. It felt icky.

'This is too much! I said I wanted to get stronger, but this is too much!'

Standing before her was one of her teachers, Lukri, a shield master from the snail-kin race. He had a swirl on his head, reminding Sarah about the whipped creme they occasionally had.

This swirl looked like hair but was actually his head form. She fell into thought while resting, 'Do I look weird to them with my tail?'

Beast-kin looked similar, but depending on the subraces like wolf-kin or snail-kin, they all had certain body parts that differentiated them. Not only superficially but also internally.

Wolf-kin had a fantastic sense of smell, and snail-kin had great defenses and race-specific skills, increasing their defense and flexibility.

Lukri interrupted her thoughts, "What is it? Do you already give up?"

'This...' Sarah gnarled her teeth and was ready for more, "No! Another round!"

She stood up and raised her abused iron shield. She was ready to fight again. It was weird for someone from the Leonandra household to fight with a shield or even a weapon. However, all children learned to fight with every weapon to some elementary level, but not to the extent Sarah was doing right now.

Learning [X Arts] like [Mace Arts], [Shield Arts], [Martial Arts], and so on, was important not only for fighting with them but against them, too. By learning them, they automatically learned how someone used them in battle if they fought against those weapons and their wielders.

The Leonandra knightage had a tradition of teaching their children close combat and, by proxy [Martial Arts] with many different movement skills. So, it was weird that Sarah loved using a shield since she started training with different weapons. She didn't know what it was, but it was as if the shield was perfect the moment she touched it, like another tail.

After telling her mother about it, she got her a prominent shield master, a mercenary from Wolfsteeth as a teacher. If someone felt like this towards something like a weapon, art, or craft, it was an essential indication of where primarily the talents were. So, losing time on it was a no-go. Especially before they go through their legacy.

Sadly, most didn't have the luxury Sarah had, as she was a noble and could hire good teachers immediately, while others would be lucky to even watch the training.

However, as she started her intensive training, she never regretted it and felt pure bliss. She believed this was the absolute right choice to concentrate on the shield.

The last months when she trained were the most fun she had overall, even though she was practically beaten up at every of her training sessions.

Sarah threw her thoughts to the back of her mind and got herself ready. She needed to learn how to block correctly and read the opponent. All she did the last weeks was block training, and she learned a lot of great skills.

There were shield masters who only used shields without any additional weapons. They were living bulwarks who could block everything and were able to redirect their attacks toward others to create carnage. She loved the idea of it.

After waiting for Sarah to get ready, Lukri dashed forward, not too slow, but fast enough for her to notice, and diagonally slashed with his wooden sword. A loud clank resounded. She blocked it, but the next hit came almost instantly, and he changed his grip this time.

Another clank was heard. This time it was horizontally and close. Sarah moved diagonally backward to direct the force away from her body, 'Hold the shield steady.'

If she didn't hold her shield tight enough, it would fly away, but if she didn't hold it flexibly, her arm could brake.

A clank. The next slash came vertically from above. Sarah held the shield directed to the slash and tilted it sideways so the force would be diverted while stepping in the opposite direction to not lose balance. The slash would be led down.

Clank. Another successful defense as a stab toward her throat was averted. As it stabbed the shield, she tilted it slightly, stepping sideways to direct the force away.

Through the whole training ground was a clanking heard for the entire afternoon, followed by screams and motivational insults.

As the sun moved to the zenith, the wolf-kin girl fell to the ground after her teacher hit her legs, "Argh!"

She couldn't stand up anymore. All she did was lay on her back while inhaling and exhaling strongly. It felt to her that there was not enough air around her, 'Too tired.'

"Good job, you are learning fast, and you are learning skills like a genuine prodigy - next time, though, we will do our basic training again. You need a steel-like body, which means: physical training."

It was nothing unusual to train her body to the maximum since, at her age, it was the perfect time to get the most out of it. The only downside was that she would lose her girly figure, which she liked, as her muscles would build up even more, and her food intake would at least double. It wasn't bad to eat a lot, but she would need to concentrate on getting the most out of it since she couldn't have the chiefs of the estate cook for her fancy stuff six times a day. Sometimes a roasted chicken would be enough, and this thought was sufficient for Sarah to try to stand up again.

When she was upright and tried to beat the dirt away from her clothes, she saw how Lukri took out a long smoking pipe. He took some salt and other herbs, put them all in, and held a mana crystal toward the head of the pipe to turn the heat on.

The pipe looked brand new, which meant he bought it with the coin from his teaching here. Sarah had no problems with it, but she heard servants gossip about him and say that the drugs he used were very potent.

Without even looking at her, he started a conversation, guessing what she thought, "Don't worry, as a tank, you have an incredible [Constitution], which means that most common drugs won't even work on you, and let's not talk about alcohol. I already gave up on it."

Standing up, she looked curiously at the pipe. 'Maybe trying once is fine?'

"No."

She was a little shocked by such an answer, like he could read her mind, "You are too young and not strong enough. This stuff I smoke could knock out a peak Tier 1 warrior without any problems."

He looked at her while puffing, felt more relaxed, and smiled, "This means no."

She shrugged, 'Whatever, thought it would be interesting.'

If it is that dangerous, even out of interest, she wouldn't like to try it then, "Fine, so I will get myself ready for dinner. Will I see you tomorrow morning?"

Sarah wanted to invite him for dinner, but it was a big no. As long as her little brother was so vulnerable, there was no way that her mother would let someone foreign inside the estate, even if he was an old friend of her father. Especially since the news came out that the Leonandra household was looking for a mage as a teacher. The whole of Wolfsteeth basically knew for whom they were looking the teacher as they knew the three other children pretty well, so only one remained.

For some reason, her little brother could use mana skills, which he told and showed. Well, he tried to show it, but since nobody really could sense it, they identified them through other means. Alexander was, in her mind, already an old soul since all he did was learn, which motivated her, too, to train much more.

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow," Lukri left pretty fast, and Sarah walked towards the main mansion of the estate while trying to ignore her sore body.

'Hmm, maybe looking at my progress will distract me? System, open yourself!'

[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Remade_Sarah_Chapter_5.svg]

'Looks really great! I increased my skills again so quickly, hehe.'

While she walked through the estate, she hopped at every second step as she saw her progress which was excellent in her mind.

'Since I started training with the shield, my skill levels jumped like a kangaroo-kin... hehe.'

But she also knew she needed to calm down and digest all these skill levels first before leveling again. She also knew that her teacher also knew this. Thus, the next training sessions would only be physical training.

But even then, her [Constitution] rose like the sun, 'Nobody can stop my progress!'

As she thought about rising skills, she wondered how the puppy was doing? As he was learning to read, he suddenly read so fast that even Salyna, their head accountant, was shocked.

But Alexander wasn't only training his mental skills. He also did physical training, which was funny to watch as he could barely do anything other than a little running or rather fast walking and some body-strengthening exercises. It looked hilarious and cute to everyone who watched him.

'I should visit him later and see how he is doing. I saw him a week ago, and he looked exhausted... I wouldn't be surprised if he already had a skill test. Maybe I can help him?'

She went through the same phase as him, but she was not even close to as young as he was now when she was obsessed with training and getting her levels up.

But her thoughts quickly changed as she walked through the mansion and heard servants calling her little brother: The future Arch-mage or The Arch-mage puppy.

This brought a smile to her face.

...

Alexander's bedroom

Alexander was sitting in his dim-lit room, on the floor, surrounded by dozens of books he had read over the months, 'If the tower of books fell, would I be squashed? Note to me, be more careful.'

He reviewed his Compendium, which he wrote about the system and its aspects. Alexander wanted to create a small manual explaining how the system worked. Why did he want to do it? Because he researched it, and while doing so, he tried to help his family and future generations since they had nothing like that.

Close to him was a plate with food that he had earlier gulped down, 'I was never a foodie, but the food was delicious.'

It was really basic mush that tasted fruity and meaty. He wanted more solid food but was denied, 'I can't wait to have real food.'

He looked to the side, where one of his maids sat on the couch. This time, Cloelle was looking after him. His maids built a stringent shift system for looking after the puppy.

'I feel like a prisoner...'

He was watched every single minute of the day, and in the beginning, he liked it since they would answer many questions, but this wore out very quickly. He last asked for help in reading or writing two weeks ago.

Alexander trained for the last months all his skills to an extent where he reached what he assumed was a high level. He was really proud of himself, 'I bet I can reach level 50 before I am ten years old!'

Every new ring he heard was an endorphin shot to his brain, and he loved it. This was super addictive. The only problem he felt was that he was unfocused and could have higher levels of specific skills if he concentrated on them.

But he also didn't know what he wanted to do in the future since he also didn't know what the hell this world was. In that sense, he tried to concentrate on getting as many skills as possible and, later on, be strong enough to at least defend himself.

With this in mind, he also read and gathered information, trained his mana skills, and did his physical workout. Of course, there was also the aspect of curiosity since this world was brand new, and the system it employed was novel to him. Sadly, he was forbidden to share his window with others as this was deemed the most private thing one had.

'Well, another world (dimension?), another customs, I guess.'

He also had some skill tests, but nothing fun like the algorithm test. They all were super basic. Even his teacher was visibly bored and took at some point a test away when he rechecked it for the tenth time and just gave full points.

When he always fished for information while in those tests, her answers never helped as they were cryptic at best, 'Well, maybe I find here something?'

While looking and noting everything down, his reading speed went through the roof, and his skill level increased fast, and since he was also compounding the information, he got new skills like [Writing], [Deduction], [Analyzing], etc.

All these skills helped him think in the most scientific way possible, but this only was relative and depended heavily on the information available. With the wrong data, he could easily conclude that the planet was flat.

Skills only aided someone and weren't really something that automatically made him overpowered. In that sense, they could be very unproductive if he wasn't trained enough to reason through their veil of deceptive ability gain.

Alexander remembered the saying that one should learn how to walk first before running, and it fitted well toward skills and their effects. If you got the skill [Running] before even knowing how to breathe or move correctly, it would become suboptimal in the long run if the skill didn't correct it later on.

However, this system also brought one to a decent level right out of the gate, and there was a perk that wasn't directly visible, but one could conclude easily. Creativity was greatly rewarded if one tried to think outside the bounds of the information the skill gave.

Also, Alexander sometimes just received skills by pure coincidence and would later write down how he acquired them for others. When he learned [Calligraphy], for example, he immediately knew why. He lay down the parchment sideways as he wrote, so the writing would become automatically cursive and voilà, a new skill.

He wasn't one to hoard skills for himself or how to get them. This little personality trait came from his time as a coder, where he openly put all of his source code online for everyone to see and copy. It was actually not unusual to do it in the industry since most programmers had some kind of idealistic tendencies.

Unluckily, in the new world where he was, the ones who analyzed their system didn't have such tendencies, so he would need to discover most things by himself or probably buy them somehow.

There was, of course, common knowledge, but more was needed in his eyes. Some information was very straightforward, which everyone could find out by themselves. For example, the [Divinity Line] will be unlocked when reaching the age of ten. Easy so far.

The impossible part was determining it: The [Divinity Line] and the [Mystic Skills], which would unlock, will be determined by the morals, skills, levels, etc. Or how Alexander defined it: The whole being of the specific individual. Someone who has a love for cooking but is strong and brave, what [Divinity Line] will one receive? The one they desire or the one which fits the best?

This was an existential question, and no one could answer him. His mother was a little reserved and barely had time as she was the lady of the estate. His siblings weren't helpful, too, since they treated him like a toddler, which he was, and his servants were confused.

'Was this called determinism in philosophy?'

He wanted to know how to determine his [Divinity Line]. Still, the only information he got was that as a child of the Leonandra bloodline, he would get a chance to get a wild demon [Divinity Line], which he also needed to find out what it was exactly.

All he knew was that his family [Divinity Line] had something to do with killing demons. Still, he also understood that he was too young to be taught such complicated topics, and his mother was already looking for a teacher.

'I get it. If I had a child who suddenly was a genius but also almost died multiple times, I would only get a teacher after checking their background thrice.'

Alexander sighed and ruffled his hair in annoyance. Many more problems irritated him as he read all the books: There was no scientific method in this world, and most nobles would hold onto their information and even take them to their grave. So, he had only anecdotes, which were very biased self-reports, and only from their family. This made the puppy incredibly angry and frustrated. More than usual.

There could also be more books he had no access to, but he was told there was only the library he already had access to and an archive, which even the lord and lady had restricted access to. The only one who had access was the archivist, who was more or less a neutral but loyal party inside the estate. It was designed to protect their workers' information and increase thus loyalty.

'Well, luckily, none of the companies from my previous life are here. They would salivate at the thought of system windows.'

After the bad joke, he thought about the following question how his family would secure the specific [Divinity Line]? He didn't need research to get an answer as he guessed that they would usually just pop one child after another until at least one had it. Still, sometimes it can jump a generation, and parents from side families who hadn't such [Divinity Line], get a child with it.

'So, genetics are a thing too... I guess?'

This made him smile since he remembered the same problem as in his previous life. It was the question of nurture vs. nature. How would one's personality determine? By genetics or the environment? So the question was unanswerable, at least for him at that moment, but he hoped it would be in a world full of magic.

'At least I can determine my nurture part as I can easily become spoiled with all the treatment.'

As a child of a knightage household, he had three maids, who tended to all of his needs, and they were not thrilled by their looks. Not because they didn't like it but because he overworked himself regularly and sometimes fell asleep while reading. They were probably frightened every day when they reported to his mother.

Alexander shrugged inwardly. Commoners had too much fear of nobles. Also, he trusted that his mother would never do something radical toward them. Instead, she would probably put him in chains. So, he understood them but didn't care.

'Knowledge is power, and right now, I need power! Who knows what will happen in years to come?'

He knew from Earth's history too well that making nobles a few inches shorter was standard. And he has yet to learn how they were treating their subjects. This was politics, though, a topic for later when people could take him seriously.

Right now, he was more of a furball, 'My tail is so god damn fluffy!'

He fell into a trance for some minutes and played around with his tail and ears. It was fun for him, but he got himself together after a moment, 'Where was I? Right, something about the system.'

He looked at his parchments, feather, and ink and sighed, 'Back to work.'

[Divinity Line]'s. He barely knew anything about them, so he decided to do the most pragmatic thing. He ignored them for the time being.

'What should I review next... right, Tiers.'

There was an infinite amount of Tiers, which followed a specific pattern depending on the general level.

Tier 1: Level 1 - 50.

Tier 2: Level 51 - 150.

Tier 3: Level 151 - 300.

...

'Next is experience.'

The needed experience per level in specific Tiers also followed a particular pattern, and after every level up, one would receive a free status point.

Like with Tiers, where the levels to the next Tier increased with every new Tier, the needed experience for a level-up also increased with every Tier.

Tier 1: Level 1 - 50.

-> 100 Exp per level-up.

Tier 2: Level 51 - 150.

-> 200 Exp per level-up.

Tier 3: Level 151 - 300.

-> 300 Exp per level-up.

...

'Thank God there are no damn tests for increasing one general level or Tier.'

There were also more perks for reaching the next Tier. One was an attribute multiplier increase of 20% and an additional mystic skill.

Tier 1: Level 1 - 50.

-> 100 Exp per level-up.

-> Attribute multiplier: 1.0.

-> Total [Mystic Skills]: 3

Stolen story; please report.

Tier 2: Level 51 - 150.

-> 200 Exp per level-up.

-> Attribute multiplier 1.2.

-> Total [Mystic Skills]: 4

Tier 3: Level 151 - 300.

-> 300 Exp per level-up.

-> Attribute multiplier 1.4.

-> Total [Mystic Skills]: 5

...

'Hm, should be everything about leveling up the Tier... what was next? Right, attributes.'

It was fundamentally pen and paper with some twerks. Alexander didn't get why this was the case, but this question was also very philosophical. Was the god of this world, or whatever deity, a nerd? Was this designed or developed naturally since something like mana changed everything?

This was an incredibly fundamental question that he probably wouldn't find an answer to in the library of a knightage family who specialized in killing swarms of demons. Still, he was sure that he would fill it up with questions for future generations could contemplate.

'Fuck it, right now I need to review the practical reality for me and create a small guide for future generations.'

He also wanted to put this as public as possible. This was where his idealism played a decisive role, but he remembered something else from his previous life: In the age of nobles, most commoners couldn't read in his last life, and he didn't know how it was here.

All of this was unimportant for collecting practical information, so he ignored it and returned to the topic of the practicality of the system.

He was a little tired and forced himself to concentrate, 'Attributes... come on, don't get weak on me, Alex!'

Attributes grew naturally, like if someone trained physically, [Strength] would increase. Still, there were also ways to increase them unnaturally through the system, and this is where the three categories for different attributes came into play.

The unnatural increase will only be possible after receiving the legacy at the age of ten. Alexander had no idea why and this was again some weird rabbit hole of a philosophical conundrum he wanted to avoid going into.

The three categories were also indirectly described in the literature, so he couldn't make them out too well. Still, luckily the servants told him what commoners called them: Standard, special, and conditional attributes.

Standard attributes (STA) were the basic ones: [Strength], [Dexterity], [Constitution], [Spirit], [Intelligence], and [Perception].

Special attributes (SPA) were: [Charisma] and [Luck], while conditional attributes (CA) were: [Aura], [Defense], and [Essence].

For Alexander to decipher what they did, he asked a lot around since the literature was crap, and came to an unsatisfied conclusion, 'Whatever the fuck one wants, arguably.'

STA's like [Strength] was mentioned as muscle power but also to increase one's health. Others said that after they raised it, they felt like they could better work on their crafting-like hobbies since the strength of their hands increased, and with it, indirectly, their dexterity improved.

It was a clusterfuck for him, but he could understand that he wasn't in a game where a simple attribute increase only resulted in simple-minded betterment of certain things.

'What was this shit called again? Intersectionality from the social sciences would fit pretty well in here.'

If someone increased their [Constitution], it meant their body would become healthier and sturdier. With it, they could think much better, which meant an indirect increase in intelligence without putting any points into [Intelligence] in itself.

Luckily for him, CA's were much more straightforward. In his opinion, they increased one's so-called energy output, which could be used mostly for fighting.

[Aura] was destructive, [Defense] was protective, and [Essence] was, as described in books and by the servants, something mages used.

[Essence] was very unique in the sense that it was not as destructive as [Aura] and not as protective as [Defense], but it always had some unique effect, which depended on the individual. One would know after receiving their legacy.

There was also a dire warning to never mix different kinds of energies, which the specific CA's produced. They don't mix together well, and backlashes were recorded, with the worst of them could lead to death.

What about SPA's, like [Charisma] or [Luck]? The funny thing, though, which the puppy didn't find funny, [Charisma] was the same as STA's. As one puts points into it, one could increase one's appearance but also not. It could also give out an aura of a particular inner feeling one had, like authority, innocence, competence, etc., and influence others.

He wouldn't even want to try and define [Luck], but he remembered a servant telling him: I increase [Luck], so I find more coins on the street randomly, 'Well, not like I can talk about my life choices since I already died once and he is alive and well.'

Alexander ruffled his hair strongly and bit with his baby teeth into the third feather since he had chewed the last two away. He could formulate the attributes, but it would take him hundreds of pages, so he didn't, as he was already getting increasingly tired.

He understood that having such explanations for the attributes, even if their use was a little fuzzy, was important and could be used to define future builds of oneself. So, he would write them down and describe them to the best of his abilities later.

'Next time, let's go to the more practical notion of how to increase them.'

The increase of them all was different but had some similarities, like they all could be increased by Free Stat points one received by leveling up.

He remembered that most servants in the estate had no need or interest to fight against bloodthirsty monsters or ravaging bandits but also didn't need to craft and were mainly here to serve. So they increased them with their [Free Stat Points].

There was also the possibility to increase some attributes with the experience of killing or leveling up one's skills.

For example, if one wanted to increase the standard attributes, one needed to use the equivalent of the attributes level in experience to increase it by one.

[Strength | 1] -> [Strength | 2], cost: -1 Exp

[Strength | 2] -> [Strength | 3], cost: -2 Exp

...

Conditional attributes, though, as the name suggested, were restricted till something was acquired, and then one could increase them.

To even acquire the possibility of increasing them, one needed to have two specific STAs to reach the sum of 50. For every further increase by 1, one would need to increase first the sum of the two STAs by 10 or put Free Stat points in them, with whom one could increase them indefinitely.

[Aura] would increase by the sum of [Strength] and [Dexterity]. [Defense] worked with [Constitution] and [Spirit], while [Essence] needed [Intelligence] and [Perception].

Also, depending on the allocation, the specific energy would change accordingly. How? Nobody really knew since this was also something very individual.

'It will look like this, I guess?'

STA:

Increase by experience.

Increase by Free Stat points.

CA:

Increase by experience.

Increase by Free Stat points.

SPA:

Increase by Free Stat points.

...

Alexander wanted to compare his information as he saw this as very beneficial for everyone, but he was looked at like he was some freak.

'Can't really blame them, though.'

He could freely talk early on and started to read and write much earlier than others who would learn it only if needed. His family accommodated him and never judged, but he could see how weird he was in the eyes of the servants.

'I am already a sucker for my family.'

The bond was incredible between him and his family, and he already forgot that he was actually an outsider to this world. This is why he didn't even try to hide abilities or anything of the sort and just told outright that he could sense mana and his other skills, which had the prefix mana.

They were initially a bit perplexed, but after a moment, his mother's smile grew so wide that he thought he would see her headshot someone with a pencil by doing a magic trick.

He was told he would be the first Leonandra to be a scholar or mage. He didn't know if he should feel so proud, but his mother explained that they were essential for every fief.

They had a dragon-kin mage or two, but they were not part of the household and only acted as hires. They would need to contact them in advance if they needed something done, which would cost quite a bit.

There was also that the only beast-kin subrace that had mages were dragon-kins. So they would be arrogant and act like a tight-knit group.

The whole estate went actually crazy about it. For beast-kin, having a mage in the family was very prestigious, even if they were low-level ones. Mages were incredibly versatile, as they could cast spells freely without having the specific [Mystic Skills].

This was the whole crux. Alexander thought, for example, that some servants could use magic too, not aggressive magic but lifestyle ones. But they were actually using [Mystic Skills].

He asked a bit around to get a broader picture, and Francesca, one of his maids, said that mages for beast-kins were like saints since they were scholars, researchers, inventors, artisans who made mana items, and so on.

But he needed to be mindful of what the servants said since his mother told him something different. He guessed that the perception of commoners was usually one of a lot of smokescreens, while nobles would have a better grasp on the information. The picture painted for commoners seemed a little extreme, especially in areas like theirs, where almost no mages existed.

'Now I need to be careful not to get an ego big enough to play football on it. Thankfully my family is helping me with that.'

Sarah was one who just ignored everything else and saw him as a pup. She played all the fun games with him, which he also liked for some reason.

His mother was having trouble because she saw him as a pup, too, obviously, but she sometimes talked with him like with an adult because of how he spoke and acted. But it was by accident, and then she remembered who she had talked to. She quickly switched back to her motherly voice.

His older brother Narsiz looked at him always like he had something stuck in his commercial district, but in the end, he always helped. Alexander could feel that he was a bit perplexed by him, so he stayed neutral until he could wrap his head around it.

Sadly, he didn't see his older sister Lorient and was told she was traveling and gathering experience. All of them smirked when he asked this, as they probably couldn't wait to see her face when she would be back and speak with Alexander.

He sighed and went back to end the collection of information. Now he only needed to write down some general things for himself. Things like how [Experience] was gained were ignored since it was the first thing he wrote down. The only thing he could add was maybe how much [Experience] one gained by killing monsters, but even this was convoluted at best.

He only found that [Experience] could only be gained by killing if someone did it all by themself. If you were in a group, it would be split up, and the amount would decrease heavily.

Even if someone killed a monster by themselves, but there was someone behind you who would jump in if you got in danger, the system would somehow know and decrease the [Experience]. So, slaughtering infants so they could reach higher Tiers was impossible.

His headache was getting worse, but he wanted to push through with the general information about the world. Afterward, he could take a break.

Alexander discovered that the calendar system was much more to his liking. 13 months, 520 days per year, and 8 days a week. It was much more logically built.

'If I am here ~1 year old, on earth, I would be around 1.4 years old. There is also the feeling that the day is much longer... well... argh.'

Alexander rubbed his temple as the headache was getting worse, and it didn't help that all the information was scattered around in dozens of books, 'Why would they just not do the same I did and make a short lexicon of sorts? I read so much useless shit... damn!'

The headache worsened, which irritated Alexander to no end, "Cloelle?"

A bored voice came from the side, "Yes, Mr. Alexander?"

"Could you bring me, please, some water?"

She nodded and left the room immediately.

'Ah, silence.'

Even if it was silent all the time, it felt like he could hear her breathing, 'I am so sensitive right now... am I just too tired?'

'What would a noble do in this situation? Behead the maid and have intercourse with the wall? Sounds like a plan.'

Alexander lay on the ground and giggled about his own joke. He enjoyed the freedom and silence at this moment. Even if they didn't restrain him, being observed 24/8 was stressful.

He heard the door open and wanted to open his eyes and thank Cloelle, but he could sniff out that Sarah was visiting him before that.

As he stood up, he saw that Sarah looked shocked, 'What happened?'

"What happened, Alex!"

'I actually wanted to ask that...'

Alexander waved his hand in dismissal and yawned. He answered her honestly, "Sorry, I was reading too much and making notes about all the system window stuff. I am just tired."

He did his I love you so much smile to calm her down since she looked agitated.

What happened next was unexpected. As Cloelle returned, Sarah looked at her sternly and commanded, "Bring all the books and parchments back now! For the following weeks, he is not allowed to read!"

Alexander's eyes widened. He couldn't believe what she said, "Wai..."

Before he could even say something to Cloelle, she acted like a whirlwind, and took all the dozens of books, put them inside a box, and brought them out, probably to the library.

'What the fuck?!'

He never saw butterfly-kin being so fast, but this was the last of his worries as Sarah looked at him angrily.

'Huh, did I fuck up again? I slept when I was sleepy. I ate well and was physically active.'

Alexander asked her softly, "Big sis..."

But was instantly interrupted, "Don't big sister me! Have you looked at yourself?!"

He shook his head. The last months were only intense training and research. He would go even so far that..., 'Oh, I see the problem.'

He wanted to apologize, "Erm, I..."

But was immediately interrupted by a Sarah who suddenly opened her eyes wide open like saucers, "Are you training right now, your mana!?"

'How? She can't even fucking sense Mana like me?!'

"Don't look at me like that. Mana has no smell but will neutralize every other scent."

'Oh.'

He quickly stopped the combination of [Mana Sense], [Mana Absorption], and [Mana Emission], which he would always train passively. It was not the same as before when he almost died. He just tried to widen his [Mana Sense] while emitting and absorbing ambient mana. It worked well enough so that two of the three skills increased at a nice pace. [Mana Emission] stuck, and he probably would need to use it in a more specific...

Before he could finish his thought, she crouched right before him and inspected his eyes while holding them open, "I knew it."

Alexander wanted to ask what the hell she knew, but before he knew it, Sarah grabbed him suddenly and dragged him away in her arms, princess-style, "Sis, I can walk..."

She didn't even spare a glance and angrily retorted, "Shut up! The following weeks you will be following me!"

'She is really rough sometimes. I pity her future husband.'

He put the jokes aside and understood it. He needed some leisure...

Before he could finish his thoughts, Sarah interrupted them again as she screamed at a maid somewhere in the distance, flirting with some butler, "Hey, you! Call Mama! I need to see her in my room. Say it is about Alex!"

The maid ran off like she had bees in her backside.

'Welp, don't need to think about what I did. I will find it out in a couple of minutes.'

...

As Alexander was inside her room, he wanted to say it was chaotic, but he decided against it. Though, he decided to take a mental image of her room as this was the perfect analogy for entropy. She laid him down on her bed and stood beside the door like some mafioso, waiting for the executioner.

He got frightened, "Big shishder, I love you soooo..."

She looked at him sternly and didn't even let him finish the obvious try to manipulate her, "Don't."

He clicked his tongue inwardly. Something cute would actually work on his big sister with a giant colorful bow around her waist.

After some minutes, their mother came in with a more or less grim facial expression. She looked between Sarah and Alexander a couple of times. After a moment, she ignored him and started talking with her.

He wanted to try the same trick on her, "Mo..."

Without even ending the first word, she held her hand up while talking to Sarah, interrupting him, 'I feel like a child... well, I am more of an infant, but... come one!'

After a moment, Alexander could hear her saying, "Mama, look at his eyes and smell him."

His mother came close, looked into his eyes up close, and smelled him more intensively, 'I always forget that we are wolf-kin, so smelling is one of our most vital assets, and I also feel it. Our [Perception] attributes are over the roof.'

This was actually crazy since he could basically smell what his maids had eaten over the day, who they met, and where they were. Alexander couldn't describe the places or persons, but he could keep them apart. It was sometimes confusing that his best sense was the sense of smell and not sight anymore.

His mother nodded after checking and looked back at Sarah, "I need the anti-mana collar."

Something inside of Alexander cracked as he heard it. He was already sensitive for the last few days, but now it was enough. He wasn't some fucking puppy. He was a grown-ass man and wouldn't let them put a shit-ass collar on him.

'Fun is over!'

He jumped up and started to instinctively growl at them.

'Nope! Just fucking nope!'

Alexander didn't need to be a genius to know what an anti-mana collar was, "There is no way in hell I will let you restrict my mana!"

He let his mana run wild. They looked at this puppy, but he couldn't discern their facial expressions anymore. Did they look angry? Sad? Disappointed? He didn't know.

The headache also worsened by the second, 'I am so damn tired.'

"###### ####### ### ###," One of them said something, but all Alexander could hear was only a ringing sound.

Sarah was cautiously moving towards him, "###### #### ####."

Even though he was delirious, he could control his mana excellently, so he pushed it out. As he emitted his mana outside, he consolidated it like trying to protect himself. In his little bit of clarity, he imagined how the gaseous molecules moved with his mana. He pushed them together, and with every moment, they became tighter and tighter.

Suddenly, he felt extreme heat forming, and a blue, almost transparent, film materialized before him. He could discern a certain ring inside the constant banging he experienced.

Everything started to look spongy in front of him, and shortly before he lost consciousness, he had a clarifying thought, 'I guess I overdid it... why did I do this again?'

...

Hours later

A particular puppy was rustling under a blanket inside Sarah's room, moving uncomfortably.

Alexander woke up as he felt a headache. It got worse by the second until it was so bad like he had never felt before, "Argh!"

He held his head and went into the fetal position, "Damn it!"

Shortly afterward, nausea invaded him, 'What is this strong smell?!'

It was not a bad smell, but it was so overwhelming that he needed to concentrate to not throw up instantly.

A soft voice greeted him by whispering, "Good morning Alex."

He barely opened his eyes and tried to look at whoever was screaming at him, 'Why is it so bright?! Has someone brought the fucking sun into my room?!'

Alexander saw Sarah sitting on a chair in front of him, and with it, all the memories came back of what had transpired, but he didn't care.

He felt so bad that he would instead get stabbed again as to living through this torture, "ASS!"

She tilted her head and frowned, thinking he was cursing, "What?"

He started to growl in pain, "Give me a damn ASS or Ibu. My head is killing me!"

Even saying this, felt like someone banged his brain with a sledgehammer.

She shook her head, "I don't know what it is."

Alexander tried to move his body. His muscles felt sore and hurt like hell, 'Why am I feeling like this?!'

"You need to lie in bed for a couple of weeks."

As he moved, the ringing came back, and even the slightest light almost blinded him, "What? Wh... argh!"

Sarah sighed with a mixture of relief and concern, "It is a wonder that you actually could use mana skills in the end."

"What do you mean?"

As he squinted at her, she pointed a finger toward her eye.

"Let's say it like this: A fragile body like yours can't handle the mana overuse, mental exhaustion, and other things, but you are lucky I found it in time otherwise..." She stopped and made a horizontal line around her neck.

'I would die?!'

She stood up and came over to sit down on the bed. Sitting beside Alexander, she caressed his head while talking with him in a concerned voice, "It will have incredibly negative effects up to death."

"It was pure luck that I saw yesterday your eye and could smell you."

He remembered that his eyes did hurt, but it wasn't anything concerning in his mind since he knew what it meant to sit in front of a PC for hours, but he was wrong since she obviously meant something different, "My eye?"

"Yes, you had glowing blue eyes with red inside them..." she sighed again, but this time more heavily, "Talent is a curse, little pup - we all know what you can do, but you need to calm down. What happened could've killed you."

"But..."

She laid her hand on Alexander's mouth, "Don't talk, and just close your eyes."

Alexander did what she said while she kept on talking in a very soft and quiet voice, but it sounded nevertheless loud to him. Very loud and irritating.

"Your senses are right now extremely sensitive, so we remodeled the room and put an anti-mana collar on you, so don't use any of your skills."

Alexander started frowning, 'Welp, fuck me, I guess?'

Sarah giggled as quietly as possible, "You were so cute yesterday while trying to go against us, but the restraint is necessary so that you can heal fully."

'I get it. It's like one of those cone things for dogs so they don't scratch their wounds. Otherwise, I would try like a moron to keep on training.'

He just lied there. Even if he wanted to use a mana skill, his headache, and the collar would prevent it.

Sarah tried to distract her little brother from the pain, "By the way, what was this ASS and Ibu?"

'Oh, right. I said it out of reflex and totally forgot where I was.'

He lied, "Secret alchemical solutions that elves invented against headaches I read about."

She tapped her chin with her index finger and was a little in thought, "Hm, alchemy was never something I was interested in."

'Hmm, maybe I can create it at some point? I remember how to make it...how was it again?'

As he thought about it, he felt an enormous headache coming, "My head!"

Alexander crawled closer toward Sarah, "Don't try to level up your skills either. It will worsen your pain."

She smiled sadly, "You know, I also went through the same kind of struggle."

"You...," she interrupted him by laying her hand softly on his mouth.

"Psshhhh, I said no talking, and yes, while I was not as young as you now... well... I doubt anyone can have a 1:1 comparison to you...." she giggled lightly, "...however, I started running when I was 2, and at that point, my skill levels shot up, and I got new skills after new skills."

Alexander listened attentively and expected that he was not the only moron in my family, "I also sparred against Narsi and Lori very often, and when they had no time, I would train till I lost consciousness out of exhaustion."

'Oh! I have a moron in arms, good going sis!'

Sarah continued, "After doing it for a couple of months, I couldn't suddenly move anymore and needed to lie down for three months in bed. I over-exhausted my body to the extreme. Even two years after that, I couldn't do any regular training. Only after three years could I train again normally."

'So, it was like me, just with purely physical training?'

"You are lucky, as your case is much less severe, and I found it early on. A couple more weeks, and you would end up like me...." she sighed, "....gaining skill levels and skills is addictive and dangerous, as your body needs to adjust to it, if not..." she shrugged, "...well, now you know."

Silence prevailed in the room.

Suddenly, she lay beside Alexander and caressed him, "Try to sleep."

...

East of the Leonandra territory

A giant three-meter-tall brown bear stood deep inside a cave. His tattoos, which were all over his body, glowed all in red while a thin green mist surrounded the whole body. He inhaled strongly, and a savage roar followed, like from the depths of hell. With it, one could see that it affected the opponent before him.

A giant spider's leg shot toward him like an arrow, but he avoided it, and the leg collided with the ground and buried itself inside. Cracks all around the bottom appeared.

The green mist around him started to condense around his body, and the tattoos started glowing even stronger as he grabbed the leg that he had avoided before.

In front of the bear, the enormous four-meter (~13 ft.) spider glared at him with her eight red eyes and shot another of her legs toward him, trying to pierce his body. He caught the leg that flew toward him and held it under his armpit like the other.

A deep voice resounded as he held onto the two legs, and the green mist condensed stronger, "GOT YA!"

One could see a savage grin in the giant bear, "Nature, come and entangle this asshole!"

Roots shoot out of the ground, breaking the hard floor open and entangling the spider, who screeched loudly in annoyance while trying to deafen the perpetrator.

The bear exhaled, and a hot mist came out, "Huuuh, don't worry, sweety, I will end it quickly!"

He roared again and pulled the legs he held onto with a sudden and intense move. A crunching and cracking resounded through the cave. The spider tried to move toward him to avoid it, but the entanglement of roots held it solidly into place as her legs were pulled out.

The pain it felt was unbearable, and it screeched in a high-pitched scream. Green and red liquid spurted all over as the bear pulled them out. The bloodlust he experienced grew so much that even the spider started to fear him and wanted to flee.

The excited bear threw one leg away and turned the one he held onto around. Thick green mist surrounded it as it turned more solid. He charged the spider with a hump, and the ground cracked under him as he ran toward the giant spider, using the leg like a big lance.

He targeted the most challenging part of the spider, and the lance cracked the exoskeleton and went directly into the spider's innards, like a hot knife into butter. More liquids and gut spilled everywhere inside the cave.

The lance buried deeper and deeper as the spider screeched and tried to somehow break free by moving erratically. In a last-ditch effort, it spat poison at the bear, but it had no effects. After a moment of sizzling, it evaporated entirely. Even the steel-like threads all around couldn't stop the maniacal bear. He was like a moving mountain.

After some wriggling and convulsing, the spider stopped moving, and the bear stood before it. He frowned. Somehow disappointed by the enemy.

After a moment, he turned around and walked out of the cave. While walking, he transformed back to his normal form. A male wolf-kin of 2.3m (~7.55 ft.) tall who wore nothing more than cheap linen and leather clothes. For everyone who didn't know who he was, he would look like a simple Lumberjack.

After the fight, he was full of sticky and colorful fluids and innards. At the entrance were other beast-kin, mostly wolf-kin, wearing mostly decent half-plate armor and equipped with different weapons.

They all waited for him, and as he went out, they all screamed and saluted in unison, bowing down with their right hand on their heart, "MY LORD!"

The big wolf-kin waved his hand in dismissal, "The cave is all yours."

As he said it, they all went into formation and went into the cave, exterminating the rest of the monsters.

The wolf-kin strolled towards his camp. Arriving there, a fox-kin came sprinting towards him, screaming, "My lord!" while saluting.

Like before, he just waved his hand and was visibly annoyed by this. He looked at some servant and commanded, "Bring me water. I want to clean myself up."

While waiting for the water, he started undressing in the middle of the camp – most of them ignored it as this was a common sight from their commander and lord. Only some younger female beast-kins blushed visibly.

The fox-kin forced a smile, "My lord, please be more attentive." while looking around at some sniggering servants.

The wolf-kin looked down at the fox-kin, who was normal-sized but looked like a child while being close to him.

He smiled and looked like the devil, full of fluids from the fight, "I am sorry, Sarus, but you know that women can't resist either way, right?"

Silence prevailed in the camp while some started giggling, "GUHAHAHAHA! Calm down! This was the last elimination spot, so you can relax!"

Sarusos visibly frowned and took out some documents, "We got a letter from the Iolya Estate. They are asking for more help as…."

Before he could finish his sentence, a massive bang was heard as the black tail of the lord hit the ground and produced a crater. Intense killing intent was felt around the camp, some could barely walk, and others just sat down and waited it out.

Sarusos, the fox-kin, also just stood there, waiting for his lord to calm down. He knew he wouldn't do anything against him or the other servants and was a little bit impulsive sometimes.

But the pressure was also too much for him, as he became drenched in sweat, standing close to the source of such a killing intent, "We will head back, and I want you to write them something."

The killing intent intensified, and almost no one moved anymore, "He can go fuck himself, and I don't care if he has a problem. If he is trying to send us fewer resources, I will personally eradicate him and his blood!"

An audible growl could be heard. Sarusos tried to stay beside his master but needed to say something. It came out forced and barely audible, "The killing intent."

The killing intent almost instantly vanished, and he smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck, "Sorry, got carried away."

In the next second, he became serious again, but he controlled his killing intent this time, "We already helped them in this thinning campaign. The Iolya Estate can go fuck themselves."

The retainer smiled a little viciously but also frowned in the next second, as he wasn't so keen on writing some lord from another fief a diplomatic letter, "I understand…."

Their chat was interrupted by a servant that came with the water, "I apologize deeply for the wait, my lord!"

He nodded and started to wash the blood and gut from his body, "Did you say I was so dirty that you let me wait?"

The servant became visibly worried, "No, I didn't mean…. Lord..."

Interrupting her was a hand on her shoulder, "Calm down, you are new, right? He is joking. Look at him."

He pointed towards his Lord, and a big smile was seen, "GUHAHAHAHAHA! You are such a mood killer, Saru!"

The servant was visibly confused as something like this had never happened since she served other nobles.

Sarusos sighed and dismissed the servant. He looked back at his Lord, "However…."

He was interrupted, "Don't say anything else about these sons of bitches. Just send them a letter and make it clear that I don't tolerate it and also make clear that the demon run will end at some point, and the Leonandra estate will have more than enough time to look after enemies they ignored till now."

A grim smile was seen on the Wolf-kin, who tried to clean the spider innards from his body.

Sarusos sighed and thought about how he would need to write down the letter, "Yes, my Lord, I am on it."

Before he moved far enough away, the stressed-out fox-kin heard something from behind him, "Don't forget that we have a party today! You need to drink with us! GUHAHAHAHA!"

The Fox-kin stopped momentarily and started walking again while rubbing his temples. A quiet mumble could be heard from him, "It is more likely that a circle becomes a triangle than that I attend a party."

…

After half an hour, the wolf-kin was cleaned. Kairoso had a black and furry tail. Also, every part of his body was full of black hair: chest, stomach, hair, and the only difference were his green eyes. His build and look were that of a barbarian made of steel. Bulking muscles that looked like they could withstand even a giant crossbow.

As he walked naked through the camp towards his tent, nobody seemed to care except the newcomers, who were visibly shocked that a noble would display himself like this.

Arriving at his tent, he put some leisure clothes on, grabbed some meat as a snack, and laid down in his bed, which was made out of dozens of furs from monsters.

While eating, he thought about many things, but the most prominent thought was that he wanted to return to his family. He knew he had a pup waiting for him for a year now, but what could he do?

Someone needed to do the thinning, or else the trade and, in general, the logistics would be disrupted, which would become detrimental in such a giant demon run. Kairoso got the news about it while he was already in the middle of his campaign, so he needed to ensure that Tier 2 and Tier 3 Monsters would be more thoroughly cleaned out.

"Huh, I should also be early enough at the Estate for Narsi's legacy. A Dad should at least be there for this."

As he scratched the back of his neck, he longed more for home and sighed heavily, "I can't believe that being strong actually means less freedom."