"Ah, it's nice to see you again, Girawk," Rarsu said with affection as he caresses the male hawk's head.

The hawk whose name is Girawk was indeed enamored by the gesture as he rubs his head adoringly at the Druid's hand.

"I have a favor for you, old friend," Rarsu requests as he shows the parchment to the hawk. "Make haste to Everfall at the Arkanos University and deliver this letter to the headmaster. It's important that you fulfill this vital task without delay."

Girawk screeches approvingly in response as he received the letter with his beak. He then flew off outside through the window as Rarsu stares at the hawk's retreating form in the beautiful horizon.

With Rarsu's duty accomplished, he immediately set foot outside of the room to find his new elven apprentice for the tutelage.

As he arrived at the living room, he witnesses Gray and Selena playing some sort of hand game.

"As I mentioned earlier, Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beat Paper, and Paper beats Rock." Gray lectures the Sentinel child. "It's a simple yet exciting game to pa.s.s out the time or as a way to settle arguments. Now let's try again."

Selena nods vigorously with her eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. Despite her concrete lack of emotions, Gray can still see the curiosity that she is currently displaying, shown by the look of intent that she is giving to him.

Rarsu opted to observe their interactions as he seemed to be quite intrigued by mortal-like sentience being shown by the Sentinel.

'Fascinating.' Rarsu thought with interest. 'In just a few days since she was activated, the girl has been emitting awareness never before seen by the other Sentinels that I have created. I can only theorize that Gray's soul is the cause of all of this.'

As Gray turns his head, he notices the lizardling at the corner as the latter merely observes them.

"Oh, Rarsu, I guess you are finished writing the letter, huh." Gray grins as he greeted the Druid.

"Yes." The lizardling answers. "So, what are you two young ones up to during my absence?"

"Well, we first grab something to eat as you suggested," Gray said. "Then, I completely forgot that Selena is actually a magical construct as she refused the bread that I offered to her. For the rest of our free time, I just had some leisure chat with the girl while checking up on her stats and skills. Her Intelligence, I can understand maybe, but her Strength and Dexterity are quite big with her Speech locked. Is that normal?"

Gray remembered Selena's attributes as he asks.

Selena

Lvl 13:

Health: 1159 / 1159

Mana: 2351 / 2351

ATTRIBUTES:

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 29

Endurance: 19

Intelligence: 37

Willpower: 14

Speech: 7 (Locked)

Luck: 10

Indeed, Gray wonders why the attribute of Speech is locked in Selena's case, showcasing the icon of a lock beside the said attribute.

"Yes," Rarsu responds. "Although their attributes vary depending on the type, the one thing that all Sentinels possess is their redeeming factor of great Strength with some touches of magic in their deadly a.r.s.enal. I manage to tweak her in the intended configuration during creation despite her small figure, thus still granting the usual combat traits of a normal Sentinel. A Sentinel normally is also incapable of vocal coherent language, and as such, the Speech attribute for them is impossible to increase."

"I see." Gray seemed to have understood more or less regarding the Sentinel's circ.u.mstance. "And about her gaining semblance of emotions, is that also normal?"

"No." Rarsu answers while shaking his head in disagreement. "Sentinels are incapable of it, at least the common ones that I know of. Perhaps the reason is that the girl is a product of your soul. Even more so with you being the Paragon. Let me cast a spell to inspect the state of her soul so we can find out the mystery that surrounds our little Sentinel here once and for all."

"Alright." Gray agrees as Rarsu approaches the girl and touches her shoulder. The lizardling closes his eyes as the spell that he is about to cast requires deep focus without any interruption.

The lizardling's hand suddenly emits a glowing white light as Selena flinches slightly in response to his actions.

After a minute has pa.s.sed, Isamu was eventually done with the spell as he releases his hand with the light disappearing.

"R-remarkable." Rarsu stutters slightly in his speech as he stared astonis.h.i.+ngly at Selena.

"Well, how goes the check?" Gray asks in antic.i.p.ation.

"Her soul." The lizardling answers with an awe-stricken tone. "It's already complete. The partial state of her soul has completely reformed, turning it into a proper force of life that houses the body of a construct."

Indeed, Gray was surprised by the new-found revelation that Rarsu stated.

"W-wow." The elf simply was taken aback. "How is that even possible?"

"It's most likely your Paragon soul." Rarsu answers with his arms crossed. "Your soul is capable of recovering at an absurd rate the last time I remembered. The portion of the soul that you have transferred to the girl's vessel may possess the same characteristic, resulting in her soul regenerating similarly fast and forming into an authentic one."

"That's freaking awesome!!" Gray yelled with a huge grin as he fails to hold back his excitement. He next faces Selena with the same bright smile. "Isn't that great, Selena? You are a real person now with genuine feelings. Hmm, since you do have my soul, then I suppose that you are technically me?"

Selena simply nods in response, but it's pretty obvious that she too was thrilled at this prospect, evident by her eyes that seemed to be s.h.i.+ning with nothing but sheer exhilaration and her face sporting a subtle blush at the compliment received by Gray.

"Heh, I never really had a sibling back at my original world," Gray said. Then, he raises his arm horizontally as he shows his closed fist. "It's settled, from now on, I hereby declare you my soul-sibling!!"

[+12 GOOD]

Selena tilted her head in confusion at the elf's unfamiliar gesture of the hand.

"Oh, right." Gray realizes the girl's lack of significant common knowledge. "It's called a fist b.u.mp. It's a friendly gesture that marks companions.h.i.+p and rapport between two people. When one offers this gesture of kindness, you simply return it with the same act and lightly tap his or her clenched fist."

Indeed, Selena was feeling cozy and warm inside her core by the kindness being displayed to her by her master. Even more so when he said that he considers her as a sibling and not some mere construct that is simply to be ordered around.

For the past days ever since she was activated, the girl was contemplating the meaning of her existence.

Of course, Selena all too well knows her role the moment when she was born from the ritual, a Sentinel that is dedicated solely for the bidding and protection of her master. The magic and configuration simply program her to perform such actions.

But ever since she has started to slowly gain some self-awareness, she started to question the very role that was laid down to her.

Was it really all that there is to it? Your whole life solely in becoming a mere insignificant slave who is only perceived as tools by society in the fulfillment of someone's self-interest?

With such reflection to herself, she then observes the new elven master that was configured to her by the lizardling in her ventures of curiosity. In the span of their every meeting, she could not help but be puzzled as to why the elf is showing nothing but only kindness to her.

The elf even goes so far as to name her after someone that she believed is precious to the lizardling.

And let's not forget about the affectionate head-pats that she received from the elf, an act that caused her internal core to act all warm and comfortable.

Yes, she will gladly and whole-heartily accept him.

Going back to the current situation, Selena gazes at the elf's black eyes, only seeing the sincerity behind it as it shows no ounce of deception underneath.

'B-brother.'

Timidly, Selena slowly raises her fist as she willingly accepts the gesture in return, an act of destiny that marks a brand-new beginning of a bond between soul-siblings, a dynamic duo that will shake the heart of Silverhart itself in the coming days.

In the background, Rarsu only stares at the wholesome scenery with a smile of his own. He could also not help but witness a remarkable amount of semblance between him and Amirah, seeing the silhouette of their younger selves in the two soul-siblings with their fist-b.u.mping.

'Heh, it appears that the G.o.ds have made the right decision in choosing the elf.' Rarsu thought as he definitely felt a.s.sured in the elf's personality. 'He truly is the Paragon that we need in the darkness that will befall to us in the near future.'