Jean, by virtue of his position, had long noticed that all n.o.ble ladies smell nice, but the scent of that lady was outstanding. A gla.s.s of booze an hour before the session became a good tradition: it helped to keep it cool, but with every pa.s.sing day, he found it harder and harder to keep it together. Well, Yurisch's daughter is a beauty, no doubt about it. There's a reason why she became a symbol of the family after Elsa's escape, even if everyone had heard of her charm before.

«That's right. … Good girl! … Very good, and can you do this?» - his praise raised again and again. He purred every now and then - the man was immensely pleased, and the girl's success was not the only reason.

Jean understood that Juno was way out of her league but he was quite content with indirect contact. The smell... Grace ... Her cute face ... Contemplation of her slender flexible body ... He was having time of his life, and then at night he would empty out the tension acc.u.mulated during the day. Luckily, the moons, the only witnesses to his weakness, are not inclined to reveal the secrets of those who trust the cover of the night.

Less than five minutes later, the girl stopped the fight and wiped sweat of her forehead.

«Маster Jean, my energy is running out…»

But master was "unrelenting":

«Just a little more and that's it!»

One minute of fight and the girl lost her speed, her attacks became equivalent to the fragility of the little body of hers.

Another moment and she lost her balance, her nose inches from the master's chest; the latter, taking advantage of her weakness, held her tight and got away with it – it was the boost he needed for a couple of days.

Kyon snorted with contempt. {Sick b.a.s.t.a.r.d… You, little b.i.t.c.h, however, deserve such a master.} Juno is surely unaware of the man's motives. Is it childish naiveté, or simple stupidity – it had to be sorted out. At the age of 13, the mind is usually still in process; this girl is of n.o.ble blood, though, she is supposed to be smart.

Jean exclaimed smarmy:

«Excellent! My Lady, I admire you. Take a rest, in two hours we'll resume our practice.»

Juno nodded.

«Yes, master!»

Kyon observed that the girl had excellent upbringing, judging by the respect she paid to her master - even if he was inferior. Look up to your teacher, that sort of thing. Traditions and customs of patriarchal families are highly appreciated here. {What the deuce did you swear like a fishwife when taking to Flitz?!}

Juno left the training ground and went to the mansion, and the man set right his uniform and decided to take a walk in the park, whistling something under his nose.

Kyung slipped out of his hiding place and followed the master in the shadows - time for his perfect plan. Catching up with the man, he said respectfully:

«Great master Jean, tell me, please, how high is your rank in the family?»

Master glanced over slave with contempt, lingering at his face bruised all over, and waved him off as an irritating fly.

«Stay away from me, sc.u.m.»

Кyon was taken aback and fell behind. The little people are not welcome here. It's like in the Middle Ages, when the n.o.ble look down on their servants.

Kyon bit the bullet and caught up with the master.

The man turned quickly and was about to punch the insolent boy in the nose when stopped short as if stuck to the ground.

The young man, his head bowed, was humbly stretching a piece of snow-white cloth, spotted with blood stains here and there.

«Sir, this handkerchief belonged to my lady, but I am willing to give it to you, so that you can hand it to my lady and prove yourself a true gentleman.»

Jean s.n.a.t.c.hed the handkerchief, turned away, and pressed it to his face - he smelled it noisily. His whole body s.h.i.+vered with excitement, delight, happiness ... He was in seventh heaven from this c.o.c.ktail of turbulent emotions.

Once Kyon wondered what's the point in smelling dirty underwear or lingerie? Science had given him a simple but intelligible answer. In the groin and armpits of any man or woman are located pheromones to attract the opposite s.e.x.

What are they for from an evolutionary point of view?

- You get more looks and smiles from the people you know and complete strangers, as well.

- Everyone will say you are the hot one.

- Love experiences will be way more pa.s.sionate.

- The opposite s.e.x will constantly be attracted to you.

He found out that it is desirable not to wash earlier than 3 hours before going on a date in order to maintain the concentration of pheromones. The smell of stinking sweat will not have time to develop in such a short period of time.

Pheromones are odorless. When they get into the vomeronasal organ in the nose and take hold there, different feelings arise: from affection and pa.s.sion, to love and blind wors.h.i.+p.

These pheromones are well absorbed into clothes, sniffing which, men can get pleasure; so in a sense, Kyon understood Jean's maniacal desire to smell Juno's things.

The man hastily hid his prey in his pocket, like a thief. When Kyon uttered "Hmmm", he turned around and said with almost no neglect in his voice:

«I like boys like you ... Your name is Kyon, right?»

Kyon nearly collapsed at his words - he liked him, sure thing. But, pulling a sweet smile on his face, he bowed his head respectfully:

«Yes, sir. May I ask you… Tell me if I can do any favor to you and in return you will give me the baseline of pure force?» - Kyon took the bull by the horns; he couldn't miss the moment of good nature this master of hypocrisy deigned him. As he understood, pure force was the most simple yet significant element.

The words of the slave perplexed Jean for a moment and then outraged him: how dared this sc.u.m ask him for the baseline of pure force ?! It was a great sin and humiliation for any master to give anything which concerned development to anyone but his own student!

He wanted to send this "obliging dog" to h.e.l.l, but there was something in his words ...

«What do you mean by favor?»

Kyun answered immediately:

«I can do anything for you… I often stay close with my lady which you can easily tell by face…» - a giggle. - «She happens to allow me freedom even if only for a short while… I will get you something from her belongings in exchange for the baseline of pure force.»

Jean, his eyes bulging, grabbed the slave by the neck, shook him roughly, and hissed in his ear:

«Trying to get killed, sc.u.m?! What are you up to!?»

Kyon exhaled and, faking fear on his face, mumbled miserably:

«Master Jean, my lady beats me severely, I hardly can resist her… Once I asked her to give me the baseline of the elements but she turned me down flat! I beg you, give me the baseline, I will give the world for them! Without them, I will die here …» - acting skills level G.o.d: trembling chin, raising eyebrows, at the edge of tears ...

The man gasped, the guy was serious! No kidding! Jean looked cautiously around, put the guy on the ground and even smoothed the collar of his s.h.i.+rt, then whispered:

«Can you really get me a thing which belongs to from Lady Juno?»

The master turned into a new man: an irritated, contemptuous, scathing hater of slaves was now interested in business.

The boy nodded weakly, a single tear ran down his cheek.

Jean scratched his chin thoughtfully, ran his fingers through the hair, swung heel to toe - in short, portrayed the mental process. Let just anyone have the baseline of pure force ... His pride would be crushed. On the other hand, his pride had long been bent in torments of h.e.l.l – he had a crush on his own student! Her place of honor had long been taken by ba.n.a.l l.u.s.t.

It was she who pushed him to this decision. Jean had absolutely no fear that the guy would spill the beans about his plan. No one would ever believe a slave.

Bending over the guy, he said quietly:

«Since the baseline of elements is expensive I will exchange it for an item of Juno's clothing.» - and added to conceal his perversion: - «Actually, I don't need her clothes that much, the point is to check if you're worthy of this knowledge! I am a n.o.ble master, if I see your motivation, of course, I'll let you get stronger. I don't care where you stand, all that matters is what's inside » - a straight finger hit the young man's heart area.

Kyon wanted to throw up but he was trying to save face.

«Yes, sir Jean. I'll do my best to complete the mission till tomorrow!»

The man snorted and patted the guy on the shoulder:

«Good luck in your challenge. Above all, never give up… The force is worth mountains of gold! Just do it in the face of the danger and you will be rewarded. You know, I used to be just like you… And now look at me what I've become, hehe!» - he was about to stroke his nonexistent beard, so deep he got into the character of an old wise man.

Kyon was at the end of his contempt. He bowed, squeezed a smile and asked:

«I am willing to give my life for the Force! Besides, I don't have much choice… Could you tell me more about the baseline of the elements?»

Jean frowned slightly, but nodded, he wanted to keep his image as a master for any worthy student.

From his words, Kyon learned a lot.

What is Force? There are who-knows-how-many areas of soul development, with each next you have ten times more elemental energy, and also a way more developed body, that is, you become much stronger; strength and talent are always a priority when a.s.sessing your status in the society, after all. Wealth, power, beauty, intelligence and position are also important, sometimes essential, but Force is the most solid, ill.u.s.trative criterion.

Each area has ​​10 steps. However, exact numbers are not in use, when referring to one's position we say, for example, "This man is at the basics", "This woman is in the mid of the second area", "This young man is at the end of the highest area", "This lady is among peak n.o.bles (4)"

So, every three steps the name changes "at the beginning/mid/end" and the 10th step is always called "peak".

Jean said that each of the 9 elements have its baseline. And each baseline has three categories: basic, advanced and supreme. For example: basic (1) level of wind elements bending, advanced (2) level of fire elements bending, the supreme (3) level of ether elements bending. The exception is the princ.i.p.al, the lightest and most important element of "energy", which has various names, from spiritual strength to pure energy. key is in the navel.

The thing is that this element has only basic (1) level of bending, which means it has only one category and nothing above, which is logical and makes good sense. And that's what Kyon wanted to learn first of all.

The young man had already set his heart on being all-embracing elemental wizard when Jean added anyone can learn only a few elements, depending on his talent.

One element bender is a mediocrity. A pathetic pract.i.tioner who exists to be defeated, to be a doormat, to be used by the more powerful. Those have a lower limit of development, no one pins any hopes on them. Moreover, in almost one hundred percent of cases, they choose pure force as the first element, as it is the simplest, most multifunctional and is fundamental for any formation, attack, defense, movement technique, military equipment, etc.

Two element bender means a confident pract.i.tioner, able to reach some heights. They are appreciated in any family, they are valuable tactical warriors who can, due to additional element, specialize their attacks. They are not that highly respectable, but some of them are quite talented and even reach certain limited heights.

Three element bender happen very rarely. This bender is destined to become a respectable person. The level of his development is way higher than others'; he will definitely get a high position, he may become a respected formasist or no less respected alchemist (creator of medicine), he may become an unsurpa.s.sed warrior, commander in chief or someone higher. Three element pract.i.tioners are the central part of any family, they are often adopted if they have no surname; good masters take them as students; people are happy to marry off their daughters to them and even happier their sons. Juno bends 3 elements.

Four element bender is a genius who will be cherished and encouraged all the way. They are happily adopted by elders; great masters take them as students, girls are crazy about such guys, and guys would kill for such girls. Four element bender can shake the whole empire, become key persons.

Five element bender is a celestial genius. Few people believe they exist, for the skies are against their existence; they must take too much luck from the sky so that the lightning of justice does not kill them. It's officially confirmed that only the empress bends five elements and it is not a myth, she is respected, honored and even wors.h.i.+ped for this. The Empress is a truly legendary person who deserves her t.i.tle of b.l.o.o.d.y sovereign.

The more elements a pract.i.tioner can bend, the faster he develops, the higher is the purity of his keys, and the grander is his fate.

At Kyon's reasonable question - «Is there any sense in categories above the basic one?» - Jean pulled a face expressing contempt for stupid slaves, replied, however, that the basic category gives only basic skills of element bending. Advanced category enhances the element, skills of its bending, enables you to practice some complex techniques. The supreme category is within power of those masters who have dedicated their whole live to that: they can create a very powerful technique out of this element, making all enemies drop dead just by saying the name. It does not matter what area of ​​development you are at, even the first, you can have all three categories of elements. It's all about talent.

{So, the higher the category of the element, the more powerful it is and there appear more ways you can actualize it.} – Kyon nodded thoughtfully to his own thoughts.

Jean added that learning the basics of some of the elements, the rate of comprehension and limit of understanding depends on the innate talent, race, kin or mental abilities. Everything is as usual ... Get to a good family - and you will rule people.

After the story, the man wanted to go on walking but Kyon asked one more question. Jean was about to strangle the stubborn slave but stepped on his pride instead of smothering the guy and answered.

Technique is something much more effective than usual bending of elements with a use of baseline. You can let out a simple weak stream of flame or create a fiery arrow of high power instead. The difference in power can be enormous at the same cost of energy.

Kyon thought that it violated the law of conservation of energy, but in the end he decided that it did not. Most likely, any technique or just release of elements is somehow constrained by limits in terms of outside power; and the fewer chains (limitations), the closer the energy is to its real power. The chains are removed (partially fall off) by high discharges of elements and skillful techniques. However, the more powerful the technique is, the higher discharge it requires, so it's interdependent.

Jean added that technique can combine several elements at once. For example, strong ice techniques include "water + coldness". Even if you know the basics of water and coldness, it will take time to master the technique.

Accordingly, the higher your rank is, the easier and faster you will comprehend the technique, and the more powerful it will be.

Judging by the man's words, after mastering the technique, there's a characteristic click in the soul, as if you had reached enlightenment. After that, you can use the technique easily enough, almost automatically.

{As if "the program code" of this technique had been engraved in the soul.} - Kyon liked this interpretation.

To put it simple, a high rank of elements makes your life easier, makes you stronger, enables to master the techniques quickly and amplifies these very techniques.

Kyon imagined rubbing his hands with glee and couldn't help licking his chops at the thought of getting the baseline of pure force. One problem: where can he get a thing of Juno's?