Rydel sat in a tree branch next to his home, he was sitting there with Naveena.

“I don’t know what to do.” Rydel said.

Neena wasn’t able to respond to him, but it didn’t mean that she didn’t understand the language.

Sometimes, she wished that she could freely speak.

“What my parents said is true, I am too weak right now. However, I can’t just sit here waiting for them. What if something happened to them? What if they die?” Rydel sighed.

“I wouldn’t be able to live with the remorse.” Rydel sighed.

Some of his past life’s emotions that he wasn’t able to give closure to were returning in full force. He felt useless, directionless.

“I only have a chance, the First Trial. If I gain a strong offensive class, I can try to rapidly level up. My foundation is flawless, I can afford to rush it if I rest enough time afterward.” Rydel said with blazing determination.

Neena touched him in a rhythmic pattern.

“You are about to have the First Trial too?” Rydel said with surprise.

Neena nodded.

“That’s perfect! If both of us evolve into E-grade, our chances will be even higher.” Rydel happily said.

He and Neena had developed a communication system that was similar to morse. It was inconvenient and Rydel didn’t want to draw attention to her, so they seldom used it.

He wasn’t afraid of his clanmates, but once a secret was out, there were thousands of ways to discover it. He didn’t want any faction becoming greedy and wanting to hunt a rare intelligent beast.

“Let’s go to the Elder’s house then and see what our next plans are.” Rydel said.

Rydel went to the house where he first met the Elders, it was their usual meeting place. The place was filled with elves that wanted to know the news firsthand.

He squeezed through the crowd and entered the house. Nobody stopped him as Rydel was usually seen with Galather, they thought that he had a task from him.

Having an offspring was difficult for elves, so children were viewed and treated with extreme care. Even if the Clan was about to face extermination, they would be made the priority, men and women would protect them alike.

Rydel approached the table where the Elders were discussing. The conversation stopped as they looked at him.

“What’s a kid doing here?” Grand Elder Pyria said with some irritation.

“Rydel, what are you doing here?” Galather asked.

“I want to know how we are going to respond to this threat.” Rydel said.

He didn’t say his real motives or he’ll be kicked out of the room. However, he still wanted to know how much time he had to prepare.

“You can stay. It will be good for your future.” Galather eventually said after some thinking.

After hearing Galather’s decision, the Elders ignored him. Even Grand Elder Pyria didn’t rebuke him anymore and continued with the conversation. Rydel quietly stood at the side.

“We weren’t able to obtain a full report. We have to make every elf retreat to the village to avoid more casualties.” Elder Vulas said.

He was the Elder that appreciated peace the most. Although he didn’t like their current situation, he couldn’t advocate for trying peaceful negotiations. That ship had already sailed.

“So what if we are outnumbered? We aren’t cowards! We are from the glorious Elven race, no human can ever hope to contend against us.” Elder Aubron said with passion.

He had spent his whole life battling, he was already old and had lost his leg ages ago. However, he would be the first in line in the next conflict.

“We need to contact the capital and ask for D-grade reinforcements.” Elder Roshia said.

“We could invoke the Treaty of Uclar, having as reinforcements the same numbers of D-grade beings that we are being attacked with.” Galather said.

“We still wouldn’t be sure of our victory, it’d be 50/50 chances.” Elder Vulas added.

“We can hire an additional D-grade.” Grand Elder Pyria said.

Everyone drew their breaths.

“That would be prohibitively expensive, it would hurt our treasury.” Elder Kiirion said.

“It’s better than unnecessary casualties.” Grand Elder Pyria's decision was resolute.

They discussed a bit more, but the decision was already taken. What’s left were the finer details.

“Elder Aubron, gather warriors and have them patrolling the village’s border. Elder Kiirion, you are in charge of the civilians. Elder Roshia, have the necessary pills prepared. Elder Galather, contact the capital. Elder Vulas, with me. We will assume a defensive position for the next two months until reinforcement arrives, then we will attack in full force.” Grand Elder Pyria gave the orders and everyone rushed to obey them.

Rydel left after everyone went out. He was satisfied with the incoming date, he will have time to evolve and level up a little bit.

***

Rydel was training and reinforcing all knowledge that he knew when suddenly Naveena closed her eyes and stood still. A blue haze covered her head. Rydel watched her closely.

“She’s facing her Trial!” Rydel said with surprise and delight.

He couldn’t do anything more than cheer her upon his heart. The seconds tickled slowly until the minute mark, when a change happened.

Naveena didn’t open her eyes. However, a new tail slowly grew until it became the same size as the other two. The color of her azure fur became a brighter tone, and her size increased.

Her size had gone from 20cm long to becoming twice as large. A tuft of fur on her forehead also changed to white, its shape was that of a three-jewels crown.

Naveena opened her blue eyes and looked at her surroundings. Eventually, she gazed at Rydel and aimed her tails at him.

‘I can finally talk to you Ryd!’ A childish voice was transmitted into Rydel’s head.

He looked everywhere until he finally noticed the expectant eyes of Neena.

“Can you use spiritual messages?” Rydel was shocked. He still didn’t have the necessary control to use them.

‘Of course! There isn’t anything that my royal self can’t do.’ Neena said.

“Royal self? Do you fancy yourself as a princess?” Rydel looked at her with disdain.

‘I don’t fancy myself as anything! I am a princess. Plebs like you wouldn’t understand.’ Neena twirled her tails in a dismissive gesture.

“Yes, yes, of course, little fennec.” Rydel nodded at her in mockery.

‘If I’m not a princess, then I can also be a queen!’ Naveena haughtily said before sending him her status.

[Royal Lunar Fennec (E): Spirit +30%, Dexterity +20%]

Rydel blankly looked at her race stats. Neena was super satisfied with his reaction and raised her nose in the air.

“Where is the justice! I want to be a royal elf too!” Rydel's voice dripped with envy.

‘It’s not impossible.’ Neena said.

“It isn’t? How?” Rydel curiously asked.

‘It depends on the race. For some, you need to undergo a mutation, for others just upgrading your genes in quality will eventually make you a royal of your species, something as the High Elves.’ Neena explained.

“I know that High Elves are an improved version of elves in a nutshell, but are they truly that much better than us?” Rydel asked.

‘In elfkind the situation is special, High Elves aren’t per se the royalty of elves. They were created after tens of thousands of years of inbreeding among pure-blood elves, with strong warriors being born every once in a while, upgrading the general strength of the genes, until a qualitative change happened. This is the special characteristic of your bloodline, your genetic adaptability.’ Neena explained.

‘However, even among High Elves a royal variant can be born, they are called Monarchs Elves, they are an extremely dangerous race even in the entire galaxy as a whole.’ Neena added.

“How do you suddenly have all this information?” Rydel curiously asked.

It’s not that he thought that Neena was dumb, but she has never tried to actively communicate any of this.

‘My mother taught me, of course. I received all kinds of lessons from her, besides, as a royal myself, it was important to know about how we came to be and how royalty is manifested in other races.’ Neena proudly explained.

“Do you know how can I become a royal?” Rydel asked with shining eyes.

Although he had never thought about upgrading his race, a door just opened in front of his eyes. This was the perfect way to increase his strength without any side effects.

‘Of course not, the secret of every race to become a royal is tightly guarded. If it was known that another being knew their secret, they’d be hunted without minding the cost. It’s a strategic resource of utmost importance.’ Neena said.

‘Anyway, I’m sleepy. I spent too much time inside the Trial, I’m exhausted.’ Neena yawned.

“How was your Trial?” Rydel wanted to speak with her a little bit more.

‘The Trials are always difficult, I can’t tell you many details as they’d be useless for you. Just keep practicing like always, I’m rooting for you.” Neena lazily waved her three tails in cheer, the last tail movement was a little stiff.

“Okay, I’ll let you rest, however, now that you can easily communicate, we have a lots of things to discuss.” Rydel said.

Neena just ignored him before dozing off.

***

Rydel only had a few weeks left before facing his Trial. He was determined to endure inside as much as possible.

The good news that happened in this period was that he finally solved the intermediary cube that Roshia had given him for training. He didn’t want to disturb her as she was occupied with war preparations, but he was incredibly satisfied. There wasn’t any gift inside anymore, not that he could bring any equipment to the Trial.

His spiritual energy control had vastly improved in these last years. Becoming a perfected being, as the system called it, or having cleared his pathways of obstructions made the flow much smoother.

He could use less energy for more efficiency, and the output was stronger. This didn’t mean that he could suddenly kill middle E-grade beasts, as their endurance was formidable, but if you added his power and his new reserves, he could inflict them some nasty wounds.

He had also asked the Elders about his reward for completing his two-year mission. He was told that it would have been a ritual performed with the hearts that he collected, they’d have been used to get rid of some of his impurities. A pity, as it was useless for the current him.

He dueled with his father daily. Rydel had already forgiven him, as he knew that his father just said the truth. It didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt him, being considered a nuisance was still a mental scar that hadn’t healed. But he wasn’t resentful, they were speaking about a life and death matter after all.

Finally, the day of the Trial arrived.

Rydel waited in his home, slowly breathing in and out, he was nervous but prepared. Thalia, Edyrm, and Naveena were there with him, it wasn’t necessary but he welcomed it anyways. Rydel watched the countdown.

[0:00:03]

[0:00:02]

[0:00:01]

[0:00:00]

[Commencing ‘The Trial (E)’]