Hearing those words from her father’s mouth had come as quite a shock to her young self.

Back then, Aristeia had thought that her father would be really happy to know that she admired him and her mother. But he had looked disappointed in her.

So reluctantly, she stopped trying to chase after their shadow and started working on improving herself instead. And she had to admit that she wouldn’t have been able to catch up to her current self if she hadn’t done that.

More than that, when she stopped admiring the two of them, she was able to see that the parents she had thought of as perfect were actually both flawed individuals.

"Elias, when you stop admiring Adrian, you will see that he is also a flawed individual."

In fact, she believed that Adrian was the most flawed one in this family. He had been since he was little.

There was a thoughtful look on her younger brother’s face, and she waited for him to sort his thoughts. But then, his lips suddenly curled up into a smile.

"Sister, I understand what you are trying to say. But I don’t believe that you are correct. You see, just as Father had told you that story, Brother had also told me a story once. I hadn’t really understood the meaning of that story back then. It had sounded as though Brother were trying to mock me. Of course, I knew that wasn’t the case."

There was a reminiscent look on the boy’s face.

"But after growing up, I have come to understand what he was trying to say to me back then. I didn’t really want to win that duel. I just wanted others to notice me. There were several other ways to do that. In the end, everything that had happened back then was because Master Joran had convinced me. I had no reason to go through that experience in the first place. I had indeed miserably lost that duel, and that wouldn’t have changed. If my failure had been inevitable back then, I would’ve wanted it to be because of my own choice and not because of someone else’s decision."

He looked directly into her eyes.

"Sister, I already know that there is no way I can be like Brother and that I can achieve better results if I were to work on my own strength. Still, I am doing it because it’s something I want. If I fail, then that’s it."

Aristeia paused as she heard his answer. She realized that perhaps her youngest brother was no longer as childish and naive as he used to be.

Breaking eye contact, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"On another note, aren’t you acting a bit... strange, Sister? I’m not trying to be rude or anything; it’s just that... you don’t usually—"

"I know." She sighed. "You don’t need to say it."

She knew that she was acting strange. Usually, she would’ve outright ignored him even if he had intentionally come to talk to her.

But ever since she heard the news of Adrian’s death six years ago, she had been feeling strangely numb. Aristeia had spent those five years thinking about how she could’ve done things differently. From time to time, she had wondered what he had thought of her during his last moments.

...Or if he had thought of her at all.

These thoughts had always occupied her mind during those five years.

And when she had seen him once again, alive, she had felt... incredibly relieved.

Only then did she realize that Adrian and Elias were never her enemies or obstacles on her path. They were her siblings, her... family.

Even though she was supposed to be the eldest of the three, she had always been childish and petty. Never had she been a dependable older sister for either of her brothers.

’But it’s not too late yet. I can still set things right. I need to have a proper talk with Adrian once he returns to the mansion.’

***

Adrian stood surrounded by trees of various sizes. He had his eyes closed with an expression of utter focus.

Taking a deep breath, he whispered.

"Aliasardrc."

In the next moment, the black bird materialized above his head. Without a command from him, it began to divide itself, and the incarnations flew toward the sky.

Adrina channeled his mana into the engraving on one of his forearms and disappeared from his spot the next moment, reappearing beside one of the black birds a few meters above the ground.

Before the gravity could pull him down, he disappeared from that spot as well, reappearing a few meters above once again.

The Shift spell had a really small range, but on the upside, it also had an incredibly short casting time and low mana cost, which meant it could be used repeatedly. With its greatest flaw fixed, it was an amazing spell for mobility in close combat.

After repeatedly using Shift, Adrian was now about a hundred and fifty meters above ground.

Unsheathing his sword, he sharpened his focus to the absolute limit. Moments later, the blade was covered in a starlit black energy. But unlike before, when he would simply slash down with his sword covered in this energy, he began to control the energy enveloping the blade.

It was an action that required immense focus.

As the gravity pulled his body toward the ground, Adrian tried to compress the energy covering his blade. The thick layer of mana enveloping the blade shrank. Moments later, it nearly disappeared. All that was left was an extremely thin layer of starlit black over the blade, looking almost like paint.

Adrian gritted his teeth as he gave his everything to holding it together.

Adjusting his stance midair, he pulled back his blade.

’Level four: Severance’

But just as he was about to slash towards the ground, his focus finally snapped. With the force holding it together gone, the tightly compressed space element infused mana that was covering his blade went out of control, devouring the blade itself.

’Shit!’

Channeling his mana into his forearm, Adrian teleported to the incarnation of Alisardarc that was on the ground, landing successfully.

He glanced at the sword in his hand.

No, it could no longer be called a sword, since everything above the hilt, including the guard, was gone. The sword had been reduced to a tiny chunk of metal wrapped in leather.

Tossing the piece of metal away, Adrian let out a tired sigh.

"It doesn’t look like learning the fourth level of my infusion art is going to be easy."

Since Greythorn’s legacy was a level-five infusion art, there were only two levels left for him to learn.

Having reached Phase Four during the island exploration mission, he now finally had enough mana and control to try learning the fourth level.

The fourth level was called Severance, while the fifth level was called Dimensional Slash.

Leaving the fifth level aside, the fourth level was a move where one needs to compress the space element-infused mana to an extreme degree and then perform a slash.

It was a simple move, but it supposedly had the power to cut through most things. Even using mana to defend against it was very ineffective.

’But it’s just too difficult to learn it. And even if I learn it, how am I supposed to execute it in the middle of an intense close-range battle when it requires so much focus?’

Adrian clenched and unclenched his palm. He could clearly feel the strength increase brought about by Phase Four. And it was indeed far more than what he had gotten on the previous Phases.

He turned around and began walking through the jungle with unhurried steps.

Well, it wasn’t really a jungle. The borders of the academy city covered an area that was as large as a small city. But there was a small part inside the borders where nothing had been built yet. That part wasn’t tended to and was basically a jungle.

Since nobody came here, this place was a good spot to train in silence, so Adrian had started coming here regularly.

Walking through the maze of trees, Adrian raised his head and looked toward the sky that was partially covered by the dense leaves of tall trees.

’Just what happened to Evangeline in that castle?’

It had been more than a week since they returned to the academy. The journey back had been rather smooth. There were no storms, and they only had to face two attacks from sea creatures. And since Adrian had reached Phase Four, that wasn’t a problem either.

They submitted a simple report of what they found on that island, not mentioning anything related to the mansion.

Things had gone back to normal after that, except for one individual.

Evangeline.

Ever since she returned from the mission, she had been quiet and reserved with a lethargic look on her face, a stark contrast to her usual cheerful demeanor.

Moreover, she had started spending most of her time locked up in her room and had not even attended lectures. She wouldn’t even properly talk to him.

’At this point, I am almost getting worried.’