The Golden Cage's darkness was still and quiet. Lucen willed the system to explain his new skills.
[Comprehension: understand simple patterns in mana to improve casting speed and strength.]
[Breath: controls the movement of the Life mana in your body to enhance physical function.]
So, less pain when he read Runes? He would have to try it later, now the Runes would have gotten too complex by now.
Meanwhile, Breath was using his internal mana to become stronger briefly. Playing around with his Life mana didn't sound like a good idea, but skills could make things easier.
What are the missions?
[First mission: Find and kill three Lurker Hounds.]
[Second mission: Draw your Life mana out of your body and breathe in the Life mana in the world around you.]
The first mission was impossible for now, and the second sounded like a way to kill himself by mistake.
Nothing else to do then. Lucen let out a loud cry, prompting Koril to enter and return him to his pale mother.
For now, he would set the foundation. Maybe he could reach a higher level of comprehension by himself and slowly get used to controlling his life mana.
Progress was a slow street, and right now he couldn't walk it. But he crawled forward, just a little.
■——■
Years passed so quickly that it felt slightly horrifying to Lucen. As a baby, he slept a lot, so he couldn't expect much, but as a toddler, time seemed to flee before his very eyes.
On his eighth birthday, Lucen sat at the wooden table of their room with his mother, eating a warm cake she had baked this morning.
Selene raised a forkful of the fluffy brown cake to his mouth. Lucen side-eyed her, making her laugh and ask.
"Has my boy grown beyond his mother's pampering?"
Lucen's squeaky voice dismissed her, "We both have forks, mother."
Selene was the only person his heart could tolerate being around.
Selene pushed the cake against his cheek until he bit it and tugged the fork from her hand. She squealed, jumping on him, and tickled his sides while she reached for her fork.
Lucen never liked considering how old Selene really was, it put a bitter taste in his mouth, but she was so childish at times that he found it hard to take her seriously.
"How have your lessons been?" Lucen said, conceding her fork back to her.
Her girlish giggles receded as joy glowed from her eyes. Selene was training to become a librarian; she loved the old stories of heroes and their maidens.
She was taken under the wing of a kind tutor and planned to use them when Lucen had to leave the Grey Keep.
"Did you know we get most of our grain from Thornspear?" She beamed. "It's one of the reasons Ur-Kal hasn't fully attacked us yet."
"Thornspear… I want to see their Glittering Gardens one day," he murmured.
Selene grinned. "Me too, Lucen. Not just that, but the Mirrored Lake—if the great demigod bows to the Veiled King."
Thornspear was possible, but the Mirrored Lake was home to a demigod who did not attend the Veiled King's crowning ceremony.
The more he learnt of this era, the more Lucen wished he had been born earlier. But he was also more sure that the Devourer system was made just for the war coming.
Everything Lucen killed—rats, birds, and lizards—gave him small contributions. By killing enough of them, he could gain their skills…
[User requests information on growing skills…]
Night vision: gain the ability to pierce the veil of night. Wall climbing: improved ability to scale walls and cliffs.
He may have been reborn just for this war, the Devourer system was unwilling to tell him anything. But hopefully, it wouldn't start in sixteen years.
He sighed.
"Tomorrow I start learning with Master Warren."
"You'll fit right in," said Selene, "You're terribly smart for a child, especially a boy."
Lucen's annoyed glare made her giggle once more. He stood, looking out to the Crystal Dome, the building where children were taught.
More importantly, he needed to start the missions soon.
There were only eight years left until inescapable danger found him.
■——■
The Crystal Dome was a marvellous place. The roof was sturdy, clear glass, and the circular room was lined with desks around a simple podium.
The hall had many entrances, with walkways connecting it to the different sections of the Keep.
A mannered man stood atop the podium, dressed in a green and white coat and trousers. His hair was a greying brown, and his eyes a steady black—Master Warren.
Lucen was among the first to arrive, and others trickled in over the next half an hour. It was frustrating, he had hoped to finish his lessons early and then find a way out of the castle.
A boy sauntered in, a great smile on his face. His black hair was well-kept, and his golden eyes held an inner light that spoke of nobility.
Set, Lucen's stepbrother, with his twin sister, Ymir, close behind.
Set gave him a cursory glance before reaching his seat, lips curled in disgust.
Finally, the class started. Master Warren said.
"I have been tasked with imparting to you children the manners and knowledge that someone serving under this House must have."
The class started with the history of the Lightcloaks.
The family had been tasked with the protection of the Heart of the Halo, a treasured duty that set them apart from the Great Houses or the minor ones.
So the Lightcloaks did not attend the social events of the empire or mix with the other houses to ensure their incorruptibility.
The lesson was quite interesting, but Lucen would find himself drifting off sometimes, despite his constant note-taking.
It wasn't like Warren was boring, he thought. Why was it so hard to concentrate?
"You must be courteous to other nobles. Greet your equals with a firm nod and salute," Warren explained, "and your superior with a bow and salute."
The salute was simply running four fingers across your forehead, but Lucen made sure to write it down. He was one of the few people taking any notes.
"To greet the common-born and Halfbloods," said Warren carefully, "you must await their bow, then offer them a salute."
Warren's eyes lingered on him, but he pretended not to notice. Half-blood, mudborn—these were some of the names given to bastards in this world.
Lucen often wondered how the Church of the Halo tolerated Heimar.
In the books available to Selene, Lucen had read that to embark on the path of Knighthood, one must devote oneself to a partner.
Someone whom they could consult and rely on. The Blessing of Two, it was called. A divine law that empowered lovers
Lucen resisted the urge to make vomit sounds and focused on the lesson.
"One must fight with honour and partake only in what you can do in the light," Warren continued, "Any deed that you must hide from light is evil."
Warren left his podium, walking down to Lucen.
"Do you agree?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why?"
Lucen almost flipped the table in annoyance.
"The light of the Halo purifies all things. When men die, they return to it. When children are born, their names, their souls, are imparted under its light. Any action you must hide from light is born from the darkness in your heart."
Warren's jaws tightened. "What are these dark sins that fester in our hearts?"
"Greed, disobedience, dishonour—of both ourselves and others. Forgetful—"
"How would one dishonour others?"
Lucen was silent for a while. He faced Warren, eye to eye, and smiled. The light faded from the room as a cloud covered them.
"Lying, stealing, adultery, insu—"
"And the children of adulterers?"
"Servants. Blemishes on their mother."
"Good, so you understand?"
"Yes, they are unlike us."
The light returned, pouring down. Warren's grim fury, Lucen's little smile. The room stayed deathly silent.
"Us?" asked Warren tightly.
"Those blessed by the grace of the Halo's light," said Lucen proudly, "we are named by god, to fulfill destiny. I am named Lucen—Light."
Warren turned away sharply and continued his lesson. Lucen returned to his note-taking like nothing had happened. Set had a furious look on his face but remained silent.
The class ended a little too quickly for a three-hour class. Time passed like dust between his fingers, and Lucen was left feeling he had forgotten something.
He couldn't think about it for long, unfortunately.
Set confronted him on the walkway to the main family building.
The crisp wind and lonely rays of light fell on the narrow stone bridge. Lucen's eyes glossed over the misted castle, the low sections surrounding the tower block where the Lightcloaks resided.
Set's voice cut through the chill. "Stop there, Halfblood, and bow your head."