{Rich n.o.ble people can do anything they want, the world is their oyster. All roads are open for them: to the best schools, tournaments, and compet.i.tions with good prizes, to elite libraries, to the battle halls with techniques and superior categories of elements. And Juno is an ideal means to achieve my goal. I will become a high-ranking Stone.}

His thoughts flashed in a split second. His main goal had been set, now all he needed was to divide it into segments.

Juno angrily pushed his hand away. «DON'T!» - She rose to her feet and said with hatred. - «Why don't you just leave ?! You've taken all my money, that's enough for several lifetimes! What else do you need?!»

Kyon remembered 10,000 that he'd taken from the girl and just laughed. «Stupid girl, you want me to just walk away? It would be a crime not to take advantage of your position for my own personal gain. You are the daughter of the missing patriarch, granddaughter of the present one. Your possibilities in the family are really endless, and, most importantly, you belong to me, isn't it wonderful?»

Those words made Juno s.h.i.+ver - she belonged to him. A rotten crazy guy, with no past and no future thinks of her as his toy. – {d.a.m.ned worm, just wait, I will find a way to get you.} - she turned away with a wry smile, she didn't see fit to give him an answer. The main thing was that she hadn't been dishonored, and also the hope that everything would end soon and get back to normal. She'd forget everything else, take her ease in intensive training, clean her body and mind in the hot springs under the full moon.

«Tell me about the party that Yegorka mentioned once.» - All of a sudden, Kyon interrupted Juno's thoughts.

From her words, the guy learned more about the party.

How nice of Grandpa Bai to organize the best evening in the world for his beloved granddaughter, when she would have to find her love. The younger generation will be there, and, as he expected, the most honorable, rich, and distinguished guests were going to arrive. All that to show off in front of the girl, win her favor, get her to dance and ...

Juno frowned and against her will added that her grandfather was greatly mistaken in the number and quality of the future guests. The point is that after her father disappeared, the family began to lose their power, influence, and authority in the kingdom. The younger generation began to deteriorate, everyone was worthless, unless maybe, promising Yegorka pleased the elders. At the next tournament of families, where strength equals high rank, they predicted her family the 5-10th place, which means they were going to lose the 1st rank to the Browns, as almost everyone was pretty sure of. The reign of the Stones was verging to its close. In addition to that rumors had been flying about Timofey, who'd switched his interest from the "runaway" Elsa to Juno.

All things considered, the importance of the party was compromised. However, Bai was completely unaware of that or didn't want to face the harsh reality. Anyone who is in the know about the future event must have heard something along the lines: «Patriarch Bai wants to give his worthless granddaughter to someone of high status before his family has lost their t.i.tle! Who will ever fall for this? That's unfortunate! He should be ashamed of himself.» … «This is madness! No, I don't want problems with Timofey Brown. I have enough on my plate. No, I am not going to the party... "

Kyon saw that Juno told him the truth: talented young people couldn't be expected at the party, they wouldn't descend to that level. Besides, many were afraid of Timofey Brown. However, the best young people from the Stone family were surely coming, they simply had no choice - the patriarch had ordered them. Her brother XiaoBai was coming, too.

Kyon learned even more details: there were no good parties without fights in that world. Usually, the winner would be the king/queen of the party and get a reward.

Juno did not have a clue what kind of prize it was, but a tournament without a reward is no tournament at all. Her grandfather must have prepared something valuable.

{I see... It would be a great way to make a statement in front of the Stones about yourself. I don't want to not miss this opportunity. I must take advantage of it. I need to take the first important step on the path of becoming an elite Stone. I have to get stronger in just two-plus weeks...}

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

«What do you care about what's going on in my family?» - Yuno interrupted Kyon, completely immersed in her thoughts.

He slowly turned his gaze to the girl, back to reality. «I want to get higher up in the family.» He answered indifferently.

For a few seconds, Juno stared at him, then she burst out laughing charmingly, covering her mouth with her little hand. «He wants to get a high position! I mean, seriously?! No way! You are not strong enough to beat me in battle! You're ridiculous! It's easier to go to the moon than to carry out all your plans!»

«That's funny coming from the girl who so painstakingly overpowered me.» - Kyon reminded her spitefully.

Juno pursed her lips and turned away. «Anyway, I am very talented, and I am better than you in the speed of development, you miserable fraud... Sooner or later, I will be not only the number one in my family, but I will also gain such power that my sister never dreamed of. And you will achieve nothing because you are just a slave…» - she saw Kyon change in the face and added frightened - «Former…»

«You're... a complete dupe, aren't you? I connected with the spirit a month ago, now I'm at the 4th peak of baseline. And you think I don't have a talent?»

Those words cast a shadow of a grin across Juno's face. {A month ago?! I can't believe it! A lying b.a.s.t.a.r.d!} - but she said nothing.

Kyon was amused by her silence, he grinned, and, not wanting to miss the opportunity to belittle her, added:

«Pretty soon, after your crus.h.i.+ng defeat, I will make you collect all the tears you wept from sorrow and grief and drink them up. And now you're free to go, get lost!» - He waved her off like an annoying fly.

Juno was steaming with outrage, but she swallowed the insult and hurried out. It revolting to be around that madman like he was a rotting corpse. She had to figure out how to escape.

«How should you say goodbye to your master?» - Kyon asked coldly in her back.

Juno could feel gooseb.u.mps rise on her skin, she turned around, frowning.

The silence seemed to last forever.

The guy stretched his hand graciously and made a reasonable remark:

«Well, if you want to practice with me, I'll gladly teach you... It's not difficult at all, I know a lot of positions.»

Juno jumped out of her skin. The angry expression on her face turned to one of utter despair. There was confusion in her eyes: the girl was trying to find an answer. It was impossible for her to do something so degrading without an order to the formation. It was like stabbing herself with a knife, but... She had no choice. Her lips quivered, half opened, she smiled insincerely and answered in a sweet, trembling voice:

«Goodbye, dear m-m-master... Have a good time…»

Kyon immediately broke into a tender, approving smile, and with a satisfied nod, he let her go. {Right... I will rehabilitate you.}

He was having his doubts as for ever forgetting how he was starved, ordered to knock his teeth out, that he had no shelter for the night, that she tried to kill him so many times. Thus the girl's long suffering was not coming to an end.

Outside the gate, Juno blushed like a ripe red apple. All she wanted was to scream from the humiliation and devouring hatred of the arrogant slave. {Only one of us will remain in this world! I swear to heaven. And may the G.o.ddess Danna be the witness of my oath!}

Left alone, Kyon sighed and looked into the cloudy sky. A little more than two weeks remained before the party, he needed to improve the quality of his force as soon as possible - among others, he had to master the baseline of all the elements, choose a unique body, invent the ideal technique of movements and, maybe, learn a couple of combat techniques. He shouldn't put off memorizing the books, he still knew too little about the world.

At the same time, he had to beware of the maids. He'd already taken over Juno, so everything should work like a charm. The trick is, when someone sees him with the "lady," he should not cause suspicion and play the role of a servant.

Kyon went to the center of the arena. When he had to choose the baseline of which elements to study next, he remembered the power of the lightning cast by Juno. He almost lost to her a couple of punches later. It had been decided at once. His second element would be ether.

Jean once gave him the baseline of each element. He swallowed the cloudy stones, the information in his mind was formed in the form of neural connections, which he planned to study with the help of Synergy.

He didn't really care for any restrictions on the number of elements the local pract.i.tioners had. Four elements meant a genius. Five stood for a heavenly genius. He was going to bend them all, with no exception, they could call him even the G.o.d himself.

Learning neural connections with the help of Synergy excludes any chance, forget about enlightenment.

It took him a week to master the baseline of the simplest element - pure force (it's also the inner energy). He thought it would take him longer to learn a more complex element of the ether, but it didn't... He had a guideline, it remained only to apply it to the ether.

After two hours of vain attempts, Kyon frowned. The element of ether refused to respond. It was complicated and unpredictable, the neural connections were incomprehensible. The energy was erratic and complicated the a.n.a.lysis. Not a single lead to neural connections.

Hour after hour, the time pa.s.sed. It was getting dark. He took short breaks to grab a bite, answer the call of nature, and take a nap.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up with a spark of awareness, and we managed to find the first lead! It's all downhill from here - he just had to put the whole thing together - the baseline of the ether.

The sky was overcast with dark gray clouds, there was a clap of thunder, a bolt of lightning. A strong hurricane wind rose. Small but fast raindrops crashed against his face, the wind tousled his hair, he was one step away from bending the element.

* knock *

At that short moment, when he understood the essence of the element, he brought home to his mind all the information he got. It connected with his soul, becoming one. All Kyon's body heard an unusual and funny sound, which meant that now he'd mastered the baseline of ether once and for as if he knew it from his birth.

*BOOM*

The menacing bright lightning broke at the barrier and disappeared without a trace.

Stretching out his arms like Moses, the boy laughed. {The heavens themselves support me! They grant me their blessing! Hhha!}

He took a second step on the path of becoming a powerful magician - he'd mastered the baseline of the second element. The feeling that he could control ether that it was so natural and easy to understand was intoxicating.

It usually took the most avid adept from six months to ten years to master the ether. Juno, thanks to her talent, learned it in a month. If someone found out that it took Kyon only eight hours to do that, they'd seethe with envy.

The weather was calm after the thunderclouds swept away, the drizzle and wind disappeared. The clouds were melting in the twilight.

The young man wiped sweat from his forehead, sat on the bench, stretched out his hand, his fingers in a circle as if holding a sphere. Violet, dangerous bright lightning, fired from his fingers, focused in the center, making a loud and cracking sound.

{My guess was right. The element of ether is the creation and control of charged particles!}

The guy began to text the new element right away. He noticed at once that his attacks with ether were more powerful than those of Juno but not much, by about one stage.

In the battle before last, he found out that the purity of his keys made him higher than any enemy by five stages. However, it just didn't add up. If Juno were five stages higher than him (the 9th), she'd have topped him in power. The question is why?

The answer came promptly - the girl had an advanced category of ether, and he had the baseline (1). That is why the power of their ether now defies the rule of five stages. It seemed more that the difference in three stages would make them equal in power.

{So, the difference in the power of the baseline and the advanced category equals two stages?} He came up with an interesting notion. If he was fighting with an equal in development and he had an advanced (2) category of ether while his enemy was at the baseline, the difference in the power of their electricity would be seven stages! An enormous advantage, indeed.