Chapter 778: Wishful Thinking

Leander POV

After he dropped Julius off at the rift, he returned to the estate. He’d been tempted to stay and watch over the rift just in case the boy came back sooner than expected. But he had a feeling Julius wasn’t going to rush this rift delve.

And so he gave himself several days to relax at the estate while he waited. Still, he wasn't completely unaware of what was happening inside the rift. Thanks to Old Man Rivers, they could somewhat track Julius’s progress. Enough to know that he had taken his time going through the first two floors.

Speaking of Julius, he looked down at the token and noticed that Julius must have entered the third floor recently. The token indicated that a lone person was on the third floor. Considering that nobody else was inside the rift, it was obvious who that person was.

He sighed, unable to help worrying about the young teen. He ran his fingers through his hair, faintly noting that he needed a haircut soon. Hannah would probably be the first to remind him of that when he saw her in a bit.

He knew that Julius was really strong for his age. The fact that he hadn’t lost any spars to Phoebe was more than evidence of that. But sparring wasn’t the only indicator of strength. He knew people who never lost a spar and seemed unbeatable in combat, only to die in a rift.

A rift tested one's abilities in virtually every way possible. You might not have supreme combat skills, but if you were skilled at scouting or other survival skills, you would succeed more than someone who only swung a sword all day. Some mages could level an entire city given enough mana and time. But stick them into a rift that didn’t suit their paths or skill set, and they could really struggle.

He didn’t know enough about Julius to determine which type he was. But since Cain was his master, the boy likely had some survivability skills. The fact that he had a life spirit suggested that too. The last thing they needed was for Master Cain’s disciple to die inside one of their clan’s specialized rifts.

“You know that stress is the leading cause of premature balding, right?” he heard a warm voice call out to him as he walked into the courtyard.

He took his fingers from his hair and turned to see Hannah leaning on the windowsill. Her red hair shimmered in the soft sunlight, framing her soft, delicate features. A smile bloomed on his face.

“Luckily, I know of a good alchemist who can make me a potion to help that,” he said and walked over to her.

“No self-respecting alchemist would ever make an anti-balding potion for a Tier 5. It would be a waste of valuable materials and time,” she muttered, finally turning around to look at him with those gorgeous red eyes of hers. The ones she had gotten when she advanced to Tier 4 all those years ago.

He grinned. “When did you get back?”

“Just a few hours ago. I had to go and see my mom real quick. I also saw Phoebe while I was over there too. Apparently, she was trying to get my mom to make her some of these cookies someone had given her. But I left them to it.”

Leander stifled a laugh, knowing exactly who that person was. The cookies in question were pretty delicious, so he didn’t blame his sister for her sudden obsession. If Hannah’s mother managed to recreate them, he’d make sure to ask for some.

“Did everything go alright?” he asked her. He didn’t know the full extent of her mission, but as an alchemist, she could have been called on for many reasons. From the slight droop of her shoulders, he suspected her task had worn her out more than she wanted anyone to know.

He went over and sent some of his aura into her, infusing some of his Concept of Balance to increase its calming nature.

She let out a soft sigh. “Yeah, as well as I could have hoped anyway. I hate dealing with idiots, though. They don’t seem to understand the word no.”

“Still people trying to buy your services?” he asked with a knowing smirk.

“No, this one seemed more concerned with buying me as a whole,” she said with a disgusted expression.

He grimaced. Hopefully she hadn’t hurt the guy too badly. She had been there on official clan business after all.

“Enough about that. What is this stuff I am hearing about all over the estate?” she asked, pointedly staring at him with her intense red eyes.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he said evenly.

“You don’t? Huh, how weird. I would have assumed you would know, considering that I have caught several staff members, clan disciples, and servants who have been whispering about it since I returned.”

He looked away. “It should be all handled now… hopefully.”

She crossed her arms and tapped her fingers against her bicep. “So who is he?” she asked, her glare sharp.

He sighed. There was no point in hiding it from her. She would find out quickly enough if she asked around. While it wasn’t open information to everyone in the estate, rumors could still spread. People already had a pretty good idea that Julius was the son or disciple of someone important.

If she tried to dig deeper, she would find out his true identity easily enough.

“He’s Master Cain’s disciple,” he explained to her.

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However, a flash of confusion crossed her face. In that moment, he realized she had no idea who Master Cain was or remembered what he’d said about him. To be fair, Leander had been purposefully vague to fulfill his promise as best he could.

The only reason why he had mentioned Cain to her in the first place was that she was his best friend.

“You don’t remember who that is, do you?” he said with a sigh.

She laughed awkwardly and scratched her head. “Should I?”

He shook his head. “Does the Lord of the Shattered Throne sound more familiar to you?”

The embarrassed expression quickly morphed into one of panic.

“What?!”

Yeah, that seems more appropriate as a reaction, he noted to himself, and in response to Hannah’s panic, he saw a swirl of flames appear over her shoulder.

Pyrex, her fire spirit familiar, must have sensed her unease and came out of her soul. As usual, he took the form of a small salamander. His red scales glimmered with the same red iridescence as her eyes.

Pyrex nudged Hannah with his head, as if asking if she was alright. She reached up instinctively and lovingly rubbed the single little orange stone protrusion on his forehead.

The spirit then turned to Leander and gave him a boastful smirk. Leander held back his face from twitching in annoyance. Pyrex might have been really cute, but he also was very greedy for Hannah’s attention. He didn’t like Leander because of Hannah's close relationship with him.

That being said, the little lizard was also quite a powerful and useful companion. His bond with Hannah allowed her to create some of the best elixirs, potions, and other items in Tier 5. Of course, her own talent played a big part too.

If she didn’t have natural talent for alchemy, the Pure Jade Alchemy Hall wouldn't have welcomed her into their ranks. Furthermore, Pyrex was also a big reason she remained dangerous in combat despite her focus on alchemy. He was more than enough of a threat to handle most Tier 5s. His evolution when Hannah advanced to Tier 5 helped a lot.

He was truly Hannah’s guardian spirit. And while Leander didn’t get along with Pyrex, he couldn’t help but envy someone with such a powerful companion. That envy grew when he saw someone like Julius have an adorable life spirit like Drasil.

Perhaps he should look into getting one of his own someday. He heard rumors of someone who found a force spirit not too long ago. Maybe he would be lucky enough to find one for himself.

His dreams were interrupted when Hannah's fingers brushed through his hair.

"You really need a haircut," she muttered as she played with his dark blue hair.

He found her eyes, and a brief flash of something more intimate passed between them.

She abruptly coughed and pulled away before focusing her gaze on him again. Her face was still a little flushed, but she quickly regained her composure.

“So what is someone like that doing here?” she asked after a few moments.

He sighed and scratched his temple. “You know that brat, Soren?”

She nodded and grimaced. “Let me guess, he did something again.”

“Yep.”

“Shocking,” she said, rolling her eyes sarcastically. “So what? He’s here because he’s pissed off or something?”

Leander shook his head. “He’s here for the kinetic rift.”

She narrowed her eyes. “He’s here to increase his affinity?”

“Yep.”

She tapped her lips. “You would think that someone who is apprenticed to the Lord of the Shattered Throne would have a good enough affinity not to worry about something like that.”

“I was surprised too, but Master Cain had never seemed like the person to really care about stuff like that.”

She nodded and a few moments of comfortable silence passed between them. “So what’s he like?” she finally asked.

“Who? Cain or Julius?”

“Both?” she said with a shrug.

He frowned and thought about it for several moments. “Actually, they are both sort of similar. They are both kind and straightforward people who wear their hearts on their sleeves. They both do what they want and are eccentric in their own ways. Each goes about their path the way they want to, not how someone else tells them to. They also hold themselves to merciless standards. In fact, I can easily see why Master Cain took Julius as his disciple. They are a good fit for each other.”

Leander didn’t mention the other stuff like the training habits or somewhat crazy methods Julius used. Hannah didn’t need to know that much. It would only mislead her opinion of him. Or worse, she might like Julius even more.

Hannah had always been a little… experimental with her skills and potions. He actually had a bad feeling that the two of them would get along exceedingly well if given the chance. She was always looking for someone to try her new experiments, and he got the impression that Julius would be more than willing to help her if it meant he got something out of it.

“So how strong is he?” she asked curiously.

He paused, narrowed his eyes, and chewed on the inside of his lip.

“Ohhh. So he’s that impressive.”

He looked up. “I didn’t say that.”

“No, but your face did. He’s that strong, huh?”

“I mean, yeah, he is apprenticed to one of the most destructive combatants on the continent. It would be weird if he wasn’t strong,” he said with a shrug.

“Is he already inside the rift?”

“Yeah, he just made it to the third floor, so he should be right in the thick of it,” he said with a worried frown.

“Concerned about him? I thought you said he was strong.”

“He is, but as you might already know, that rift isn’t a normal rift. There are a lot of dangers in there that a Tier 4 should never have to go against,” he explained while his mind drifted.

He recalled the last time he went in there. If he remembered correctly, the third floor was where the guardians started to appear.

“You thinking about that last time you went in there?” she asked. Like always, she knew what he was thinking. When he was younger, he hated it, but now that they were older, he found himself used to it.

“Yeah, remember that monster I told you about?”

“Which one? That massive undead that you had to run away from?” she asked with a chuckle.

He grimaced. It was embarrassing; he’d gotten a little cocky after returning from the Northern Regions. He thought himself strong enough to take on the rift again, but apparently the guardian wasn’t something he was supposed to kill in the first place. It was simply something one needed to avoid long enough to steal the fruit from the tree. That being said, it didn’t stop him from trying and failing miserably.

The thing was practically immortal, and he was forced to run away with his tail between his legs.

He hoped Julius wouldn't repeat his mistake and try to take on the beast alone. Hopefully he was smart enough to just sneak past the creature and steal the fruit before continuing onward.