"A man who waits for permission will find the door locked. A man who does not will find the curtains already parted."
By midnight, the Ravencrest estate had fallen completely silent. The iron gates were locked, and the armed guards walked their standard patrol routes along the outer walls.
Adrian stood on the balcony of his own bedroom, staring out into the dead of night.
No one knew what what was going in his head, but then without a sound, he vaulted over the edge, landing lightly on the stone ledge a story below.
Rather than scaling down the wall, he simply dropped again, landing gracefully into the inner garden, and began to walk towards the East Wing.
And just then a familiar holographic panel unfolded in front of his vision.
[An evening stroll, Master? How romantic. But in case you have forgotten, Aunt Beatrice’s boiling soup is still on your trousers in spirit.]
Adrian did not look at the glowing text. He kept his eyes on the shadowed path.
"Hey tell me. If I take Beatrice tonight, what will happen?" Adrian did not care about the teasing from his system and asked.
[Aunt Beatrice is B-Rank Wind, Master. And Wind is an entirely different element from Earth.]
[So it will not affect your Earth Elemental Affinity but elements do stack.]
[Conquering her means you would not lose the Earth element Eleanor gave you; you would simply gain the Wind element on top of it, provided you actually finish what you are walking toward right now.]
[If you claim a woman with a higher element, it overwrites your weaker one. If you claim someone weaker, it doesn’t drag your current power down. You only climb.]
[However, she is not assigned to one of your three Harem slots yet. A single night of conquest yields temporary spoils and base points.]
"You certainly talk enough for both of us," Adrian muttered.
[Someone has to explain the rules, Master.]
[By the way, Master. There is no time limit. You could have waited, you know.]
[Instead, you are casually strolling toward a Gold Stage Commander’s marriage bed barely five hours after forming your Mana Core. I must admit, you have balls of absolute steel.]
"I am not fighting Arthur. I will be wrestling my aunt."
[Very subtle. A true, shining credit to House Ravencrest.]
The garden narrowed as the path transitioned toward black stone and creeping ivy. Adrian slid his hands into his pockets, letting the last of the System’s mechanics settle into his mind. The timer ticked away in the corner of his eye, quiet and relentless. Find the original chapter at g.com.
[Timer: 66:18:12 remaining.]
"Is Beatrice really worth this risk?" Adrian asked calmly. "You could have generated a quest for someone easier."
[Not eveything is about it being worth it or not. I am more interested in something else. She is worth the look on her face when the ’trash’ from the dinner table makes her beg for mercy.]
"You are a degenerate."
[I live inside your head, Master. Whatever I am, I am just a shadow of your own great mind.]
"Whatever!" Adrian ignored the System’s commentary and kept walking. The path soon opened onto a strip of bare, loose earth between two towering hedges. Adrian stopped and flexed his fingers.
"I should test out a few things first." He turned his palm toward the soil, focusing patiently at the ground beneath him.
As if the earth itself was eager to answer his call, six lumps of dirt pushed upward. They were no bigger than his palms, quickly packing themselves into crude little humanoid bodies with stubby legs, stone-chip eyes, and arms molded with rocks.
They stood in a crooked line, trembling under the weight of their body on their tiny legs.
Adrian looked at them and smiled. And with a casual flick of his fingers, the line broke. Three of the miniature golems charged forward, slamming into the other three, and the sound of stone grind against each other rustled through the silent garden.
One golem lost an arm upon impact but kept swinging relentlessly. Another headbutted its opponent repeatedly until both of them collapsed onto the ground, scattered into pieces.
One of the remaing leapt through the air, missed its mark completely, and flattened itself into a muddy brick on the stones.
In no time only one of the golems was "standing" while the rest five were scattered on the ground like ordinary pebbles.
[Magnificent, Master. If you ever take this comedy act to the royal court, do charge them premium prices for tickets..]
"Do you mind? I am trying to get the hang of mana manipulation. I am just happy I can make them move at all." Adrian was starting to find this system of his annoying. But nothing could be done now. He was stuck with this annoying thing.
[They flail, Master. Moving implies a creature actually knows where it is going.]
Adrian tuned the System out and rebuilt the golems with a single focused thought, pulling the collapsed mounds apart and snapping the earthen limbs back where they belonged.
This time, his control was tighter.
One golem fluidly caught another around the waist, lifting it up and slamming it into the path hard enough to crack a paving tile.
Adrian watched the display of concentrated force for a while, and when he was satisfied with the improvement, he let the spell go.
He walked forward, and the cracked paving tile seamlessly sealed itself under a thin skin of earth, leaving no trace of the miniature battle.
At the next turn, he tapped his heel lightly against the ground. Instantly, sharp spikes punched up ahead of his boots; first one, then two, then a flawlessly clean row of stone blades running twenty paces down the path. Each blade was razor-sharp and came exactly to a man’s knee.
[Show-off. I would clap, but I lack hands, and you would only let the praise go to your head.]
"You sound jealous to me," Adrian replied smoothly. He closed his fist, and the stone spikes reverted back down where they stood.
The soil smoothed itself over perfectly, and in three breaths, the path was entirely clear again, looking as if the garden had never been disturbed.
By the time Adrian was done testing out his Earth Element, he was standing below the stone wall of the East Wing.
Warm, flickering light spilled from the third-floor windows, and the heavy velvet curtains were already visible just behind the marble railing.
Adrian did not stop walking. He simply lifted his hand as if warmly greeting the stone architecture.
Immediately, a thick slab of earth shouldered its way out of the base of the wall, sliding flat to form a perfect stair.
His stepped on it without him even having to look down.
The next slab grew smoothly as he stepped up, and then the next, each platform blooming directly from the wall a split second before his next step arrived.
He walked up the side of the towering wall without breaking his stride.
[Architecture now, Master? Should I send your uncle an invoice for the masonry work and sign it in your name?]
"Stay quiet. You are starting to give me a headache."
[Yes, Master. I will stay perfectly quiet until you...]
Before the System could finish its sarcastic remark, Adrian mentally waved his hand, forcing the interface to mute itself.
The final earthen platform pushed him level with the third-floor balcony. Adrian stepped lightly over the ornate marble railing, and the staircase of earth silently folded back down into the wall behind him, tucking itself away like a closely guarded secret.
He crouched low in the shadows of the balcony.
Thick velvet curtains covered the grand glass doors leading into the master bedroom, but they were parted just enough to let a sliver of dim, warm light spill out onto the stone floor where he hid.
He leaned in close, pressing his back against the cold wall to listen. Almost immediately, he heard his aunt calling out to his uncle in a sweet suggestive voice.
"Put that away, Arthur, and look at me!"