Ryan and Sera walked through the Royal corridors towards their personal gym. But before they could reach there, they were stopped by an unexpected visitor.
A young man with flaming red hair and similarly shaded eyes.
Ryan squinted his dark eyes.
The Prince of Fire, Aidan Armedius.
What was he doing here?
At first sight of the youth, Ryan felt an immense distaste. Not to mention the fact that this guy was openly known to court Seraphina, why did he look more like Seraphina's twin than Ryan himself?
That fact had always annoyed him, and the moment he met the Prince, the distaste became much more pronounced.
Seraphina, who still had her hand wrapped around his wrist, immediately noticed his distaste and thoughts.
'Idiot, only his hair color and eye color is the same as me. While we both have the exact same facial definition. Just look at our noses, it is basically the same.'
Then, she ignored the Prince of Flame and walked past him in silence. Ryan yawned as he passed by.
Aidan clenched his hands. "Lady Seraphina, am I not worth even basic greetings?"
Ryan chuckled. "Yeah, we will greet you later. Don't worry."
Aidan frowned.
Then, he turned to look at a painting on the wall.
"Lady Seraphina, I don't know when you will understand me." He took a deep breath. "But I am a patient person, so I shall return another time when certain unpleasant individuals are not present."
Then, he silently walked away.
Ryan looked at him with a deep gaze. Appraisal.
[Class: Mage]
[Level 10+???]
[Skills]
Aidan looked back at Seraphina, crimson eyes glinting sharply. Appraisal magic?Did Seraphina awaken more runes?
"Lady Sera, isn't using your appraisal on me too rude even for you?"
Seraphina's expression was unreadable. When me and Ryan is in contact, our auras are basically the same. Of course he wouldn't notice it came from Ryan.
She let go of Ryan's hand and placed a hand on her own chest.
"I was just curious, Prince of Fire. Indeed, your senses are sharp."
Aidan smiled. "As graceful as ever."
With that, he was gone.
"What do you think about him?" Sera asked.
"He ignored my taunts, at least, he is not your regular young master template."
"Of course, he is a trained prince. He wouldn't act out of place anywhere." She then rolled her eyes. "People like him have guidebooks by which they live. Like, you won't believe how well they are trained."
"Nerds."
"Well, you can call him that but in most facets of life, he would utterly dominate you. If he is a nerd, you are a loser."
"Uh, that hurts."
Ryan just gave her his hand. She took it again.
'But you are a loser with a winner sister, so don't worry. I will turn you into a winner real quick. Let's go to the gym first.'
…
The first thing Ryan noticed after entering the gym was a young butler. It was a boy of about 15 years old with pretty features that almost made him look like a girl.
Curious, Ryan turned to Seraphina with interest. "This is?"
The boy bowed gracefully. "Prince Ryan, I am Miguel, the sole son of Barbezz."
"Oh? That old stone had a son?"
"Unfortunately."
'So why is this kid here, sis?'
'Obviously, he is your today's Plunder Target. I called him here because he has an absolutely vital skill that will make all your training much simpler.'
Ryan's heart skipped a beat inwardly.
'Won't he notice and make a scene? Don't tell me you plan to silence him as well.'
'Don't worry. I prepared something very precious for today. Just touch him and absorb his skill covertly. He is still weak, so he only has one skill and that's the perfect skill I wanted.'
Damn. She was ruthless.
The boy was so polite and had only a single skill, and he was going to steal it?
Ryan felt uncomfortable immediately.
'Don't worry, he swore his life to our family when he became 15. It was out of his own loyalty. Thus, his strength belongs to you. And this skill is too important to miss, not even all the Martial Artists I know have this, so it will be a big advantage for you. So don't you even dare act righteous.'
He looked at the youth and activated Appraisal.
What was the skill that Seraphina was so boastful about?
—
[Miguel Barbezz]
[Martial Artist] [Level 1]
[Skills] (Martial Art).
[Inner Authority (Lv.1)] (Passive)
—
He really is weak, Ryan thought. It was refreshing to see someone so weak after being surrounded by monsters all the time. For the first time, his Appraisal skill did not seem weak at all. In fact, he immediately saw through the use of the skill "Inner Authority."
It was indeed an awesome skill.
[Inner Authority] (Lv.1)
[This skill allows its user to control physical strength or mana below 100 stat points with needle precision, reducing mana cost of all skills by 10% and increasing physical strength by 50%]
Ryan hesitated inwardly. His heart did not work this way—he could not slap a smiling face. From Seraphina's words, it was clear that this skill was a game changer. If he absorbed it, he would ruin this kid's potential.
This smiling, happy kid's potential.
Unlike the assassin, this kid had never hurt him. Unlike the pigs he slaughtered, this kid was a person with emotions, love, desires. He was human.
Was this skill worth ruining much of this kid's happiness?
Was growing a bit stronger worth abandoning part of his humanity?
Ryan was reminded of one fact again.
Seraphina was so cold to people outside her immediate family.
She held his hand, feeling his struggle without saying anything about it.
Some things, people had to choose for themselves.
What did he care about more?
What did he want?
Strength, or humanity?
'Sera, Barbezz is a loyal subordinate of our mother. This is wrong. Can't we find this same skill somewhere else?'
'Subordinates are meant to be used by the master. And no, all of the people who have this skill are considered elite talents among Martial Artists. They are not going to be among slaves.'
'People will guess we did it. At least, Miguel himself would wonder why he lost his skill right after meeting us out of nowhere.'
'Don't worry, I told you I prepared something precious. I have a memory wipe potion and after using it, he will not remember anything.'
Ryan took a deep breath.
The memory of being limited to a mere 105 kilos in weightlifting flickered through his mind. If he had this skill, he could boost that by 10% immediately. Not to mention, once he levelled this skill up, it would become even stronger.
He gritted his teeth softly.
What should he do?