Chapter 42: Arthur Advanced

The grand, sprawling corridors of Sterling Manor echoed with the quiet footsteps of two young men.

Kael, now a tall, brooding fifteen-year-old, carried himself with an air of suppressed tension.

His raven-black hair was tied back in a neat, aristocratic half-ponytail, framing sharp, striking yellow eyes that constantly darted around the shadows.

He wore a high-collared dark velvet jacket adorned with silver trimmings, emphasizing his lean, athletic frame. Walking shoulder-to-shoulder with him was Lumian, sporting his signature messy black hair and piercing green eyes.

"Trust me, Lumian, I’m not crazy," Kael muttered, his voice laced with lingering paranoia. "There really was a ghost in my room. A white figure... and out of nowhere, its face split open into writhing octopus tentacles! It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen."

Lumian side-eyed him, a mixture of disbelief and dry amusement on his face. "An octopus-tentacled ghost in the middle of Sterling Manor? You must have hallucinated. Though... you did explore that ancient temple with your little adventuring group a while back. Probably brought some cursed spiritual remnant back with you. I told you not to recklessly charge into ruins."

Kael thought about it as well, but he didn’t think there could be anything wrong inside those ruins, especially the Temple Ruins.

But it was a good thing that this ghost seemed to be relatively weak. The moment his Shadow Monster attacked it, the ghost immediately fled.

If it had been that Fog Monster—the one that appeared at his house when he was a child—it would have been a completely different story.

He swallowed hard, a cold shiver running down his spine as he remembered the towering, fog-shrouded figure that had kidnapped his mother and sister years ago. Whenever he thought of that terrifying entity, a deep-seated dread gripped his chest.

Lumian watched him warily. Over the past decade, he had spent countless hours observing Kael.

When Kael had first arrived as a child, Lumian had expected a bitter rival for Rose’s affection. Instead, he quickly realized Kael possessed an uncanny maturity far beyond his years—a transmigrator, just like himself.

Though Kael lacked a system, he clearly harbored hidden advantages and secret ambitions.

More importantly, Lumian still felt a creeping sense of disgust whenever Kael looked at Rose. Kael’s gaze toward his stepmother carried a distinctly perverted, possessive undertone. Not that I have much room to talk, Lumian thought bitterly, fully aware of his own illicit, obsessive fantasies toward the woman who raised him.

Yet, over the last ten years, something strange had happened. Rose’s attention toward lumian had plummeted to absolute zero. She barely spoke to him, spending almost all of her time either managing the estate or doting on Seraphina.

"By the way," Kael asked, breaking Lumian out of his thoughts, "what is Seraphina up to? Is she still wasting her time tutoring that orphan, Ethan?"

A sharp flash of jealousy cut across Kael’s yellow eyes. Even though he didn’t usually care for young girls, Seraphina had blossomed into a breathtaking beauty—inheriting Rose’s enchanting genetics.

Kael desperately viewed her as a potential fated opportunity, yet she remained stubbornly out of reach.

Lumian let out a dry sigh. "She isn’t teaching Ethan right now, but they’re likely together. He is her betrothed, after all. Though I still don’t understand why Mother arranged for an orphan from the lower districts to marry my sister. Sure, he awakened a high-level flame element, but we could have given her to a proper noble. I’m a second-rank water mage and a high-level water element awakener myself, while Ethan is still struggling in the lower ranks!"

Unbeknownst to the two young men, floating silently just inches above their heads was a tiny, ethereal red butterfly—an advanced scouting summon controlled directly by Ethan.

Inside in his chamber deep within the manor, Ethan sat relaxing in his chair.

Seated right across from him was Mia, and the two were currently locked in a casual game of magical chess.

Hearing Lumian and Kael’s conversation piped directly through his spiritual link, Ethan let out a soft, amused chuckle.

Across the board, Mia pouted as Ethan gracefully maneuvered his knight to corner her queen, checkmating her in a single fluid move.

She puffed out her cheeks, crossing her small arms. "Brother, you always win! But you don’t have to laugh out loud just because those two idiots are whining outside."

Ethan smiled, reaching out to gently flick her forehead. "I’m not laughing at them, Mia. It’s just amusing to hear two indiots whining like schoolboys while thinking I’m just a harmless, rank-one low-level mage."

In reality, Ethan had long since broken through to the Early Stage of Rank 3, while his overall combat output and spatial-temporal mastery sat comfortably at the Peak of Rank 5.

Yet, whenever he attended the school, he deliberately put on a masterclass of acting—pretending to struggle with basic spellcasting, reciting incantations at a snail’s pace, and letting the faculty believe he possessed only mediocre talent.

To Kael and Lumian, who had barely scraped their way into Rank 2 without fated minor opportunities, Ethan remained nothing more than an ordinary, unremarkable peer.

Suddenly, sharp footsteps echoed down the hall.

Ethan raised a hand, pulling a small, pristine white jade pagoda from his spatial inventory. He looked down at the young ice mage. "Mia, slip inside for a moment. Kael and Arthur is heading this way, and there’s no need for you to deal with his whining yet."

Mias nodded knowingly. Arthur’s arrival wasn’t much of a problem for her.

Keal’s arrival, however, was a completely different matter.

Now that she knew the truth—that Keal had tried to sexually assault her mother when she was paralyzed, and that he wasn’t even her real brother—she couldn’t stand being around him.

A look of disgust appeared on her face whenever she thought about him.

She didn’t particularly like staying inside the White Pagoda either, but there wasn’t much she could do for now.

She didn’t want to face Keal.

On top of that, her mother had recently told her not to go outside too often.

For the time being, staying inside the White Pagoda was probably the safest choice.

Click.

The heavy oak door swung open, and Arthur stepped into the room.

Arthur had changed dramatically over the past decade. The relentless training of his high-grade flame cultivation technique had infused his features with a sharp, rugged edge.

His hair had completely transformed into a vibrant, striking shade of fiery orange, and his blue eyes now flickered with an internal, molten warmth, carrying the fierce, restless glow of caged fire.

A triumphant, wide grin spread across Arthur’s face as he crossed the threshold. "Brother Ethan! I did it!"

He reached inward, channeling his spiritual awareness to project a miniature window of his spiritual sea. Inside his crimson-tinted mind space, two distinct, glowing red mana rings orbited each other in a rhythmic, harmonious dance—one smaller, denser ring locked in a stable orbit around a larger, wider primary ring.

"I’ve officially broken through to the Middle Stage of Rank 2!" Arthur declared proudly, his chest puffing out with adolescent pride.

Ethan was genuinely shocked when he saw this.

How is Arthur leveling up so quickly without even receiving any notifications?

However, he didn’t let any of that shock show on his face.

He simply remained calm, as though nothing unusual had happened.

Ethan leaned back in his chair, a warm, approving smile touching his lips as he looked at his fate point chest.