After some serious interrogation over dinner about Wan and Elias, Drew was glad that Elias returned to his former self, laughing along with his parents about lighthearted topics, like a normal family. As he finished washing the dishes, Uncle Ryhard tapped Drew on his shoulder. 

“I would like to speak to you.”

He nodded.

“Okay.” 

Placing down the towel. Drew followed Uncle Ryhard down to the shop level. The lights were off and it was dark outside but Uncle Ryhard didn't turn them on. Instead, he brought out a small kerosine lamp from underneath the reception desk and lit it. The flame in the lamp, danced around as it was the sole source of light in this darkness. Then, he dragged over two stools and locked the door that leads upstairs with his key. Taking a seat down on one of the stools, Uncle Ryhard gestured to Drew to also take a seat. Drew followed, dragging the stool under him before taking a seat. 

Letting out a heavy exhale, Uncle Ryhard began the conversation.

"You already know what I'm going to talk about." 

Drew swallowed a large mouthful of saliva then nodded. 

"About my father and Uncle Winter's will." 

"Yes. So I'll make this short."

Drew adjusted himself on the stool, trying to anticipate what Uncle Ryhard will say. The darkness of the night did not help with this. It was unpredictable. 

"I was your father's bully." Uncle Ryhard said bluntly. "I was jealous of him, to be honest with you. He was good at everything: academics, combat, you named it and he could do it." 

He laughed and Drew just watched, as the middle-aged man told his story. The darkness surrounding them, the eerie silence, the unknown. What was next?  

"I was top of our class but your father overtook me and I was pissed. Mainly because he was from a prominent family while I came from an average family. So I beat him up over multiple occasions. I saw him as an enemy but he saw me as an equal. I could recall the day clearly when he stood up against me and knocked me down. Those eyes full of honesty, then I realized he never intended to put me down, he never intended 'defeat' me. To him, he saw someone who had worked hard, through his own efforts, to get to the place he was on that day. He admitted it to me that he was the jealous one. Your father then told me his story. He was from the main branch of the Winter family. He was the first son, the sole heir to the Winter family. As a kid, he was pampered but he hated it because those 'gifts', those 'privileges', that were bestowed upon him prevented him from having the one thing everyone else had-" 

"Freedom." Drew interrupted, "Freedom was what he lacked." 

"Yes. He lacked the freedom from his family's constraints. His 'friends' were chosen. His 'talents' were selected. His 'future' was dictated all by them, unlike mine. My family allowed me to pursue whatever I wanted and my 'talents' were invested in it. I had the 'freedom' to decide my future while he didn't."

"Is that the reason why he entered Star?" Drew asked. 

Uncle Winter nodded. "Indeed. Gareth believed that once he became a General, his family would no longer have any control over him. Why do you think that is?" 

"I'm not sure..." 

"Because Generals can no longer be bound by the laws of the Orion Alliance. Your father was bound by a Contract connected deeply to these laws. These laws were also the ones that prevented him from disobeying his family's wish." 

Drew was stunned. Contract laws were abolished twenty years ago because they were considered immoral by Intergalactic Law. Contract laws only applied to families in the upper echelons as these families were too big to be solely managed by a single-family head so the government intervened in order to lift this burden. Large families would sign a Contract binding their family members to the family to prevent any betrayals or backstabbing of any sort. If any of the clauses in the Contract were broken, it would often result in death which would be carried out by the government. Additionally, these laws allowed the government to garner support in these larger families for certain laws/acts to be passed. Some politicians in the past have used these laws to their advantage to win elections and that was the main reason why these laws were abolished. The others were that families, like Drew's father's, were using this to brainwash their family members.

Drew shook his head placing his forefingers on his temple. 

 "I had no idea that my 'family' would do such a thing." 

"They did that because your father was the sole heir of the Winter family. The main family didn't want the side branches to have a chance of taking over the family so they did everything they could to keep your father above the rest. Of course, later down the line, your father rebelled against their orders." 

"Is that one of the reasons why that dumb conflict began?" 

Uncle Ryhard let out a dry cough. 

"Yes but there are many others. But the main reason was due to your birth. Both the Winter and the Night family wanted to claim you as their heir in order to break their stalemate. However, the Winter family won and the Night family couldn't accept that loss fairly so they attack the Winter's. The Winter's fought back in defense and this lasted for a few months before your parents intervened. Both your parents were idealists and they believed they could unite their families with some convincing. Unfortunately, this failed and lead to their deaths." 

"So it's all because of their 'families' I'm in this mess." 

"Precisely," Uncle Ryhard nodded, "before your parents passed away, they gave Linus and I clear instructions to take you to Kraus along with their will. You were supposed to receive it when you turned eighteen but that happened sooner thanks Linus sacrificing himself to misdirect all other powers that were after you once the Winters and the Nights wiped themselves out. " 

"So am I safe?" Drew asked. 

"Technically speaking, yes. However, if the other powers have at least some IQ, it would take them at least a decade to find you with all the fake information Linus had made in advance. Linus hoped for you to become a C-Class Genetic Warrior at your original pace but it seems like that will happen sooner than expected now that you're here."

Drew's brows scrunched up. 

"What do I do once I become C-Class?" 

Uncle Ryhard place his large hand on Drew's shoulder. 

"You will know when you get there. It's not safe if I say it now." 

Understanding his words clearly, Drew did not dig into the matter any further.

"Well, let's move on. I will talk to you about your Abilities now that you have reached F-Class and I will continue to do this until you reach C-Class. Linus did some research about the Night and the Winter Family Abilities as well as some complex genetic calculations to determine your future Abilities. He also made that program in your communication device to help you keep track of your Abilities. Judging from where you are now, you must have awakened your first Bloodline Ability and according to Linus, it must have been from your mother's side."

Drew's eyes widened.  

"You're correct."

"It must be [Shapeshift] because that ability is a basic ability that all Avians have but how specific the [Shapeshift] is depends on the Avians ethnicity. Since your mother was a Nightengale, it must be extremely specific, the most you can change is your hair and eye color. The change can last however long the user needs it to stay but the casting cost is pretty high at your level so use it only when necessary." 

"How high does the casting cost?"

"It would cost you 200 Krasos no matter how slight the change is." 

Drew suddenly felt like he chocked on some invisible piece of food. 

"200! That's high!" 

"That's why I said, use when necessary but here, you can practice. They don't teach you a fast recovery method until you enter Star so I'll teach you it now. It's very simple and I've already taught it to Elias. So try using [Shapeshift] first to drain your Otrio." 

"Okay." 

Drew closed his eyes, he felt the Otrio particles inside the shop. The sparkling blue and green particles began to condense in the air. Watching the particles appearing before his eyes, Uncle Ryhard smiled then turned back to Drew. Concentrating hard, Drew imagined the particles flying towards him. Suddenly, the Otrio particles in the room flew over to Drew as if a magnet were pulling them. Feeling the concentration of the particles increasing, Drew tried to gather them to his hair and his eyes. The particles began to swirl and swirl till a small vortex formed in the room, covering Drew's head like a swarm of bees. The wind created from the small vortex was enough to tip the kerosine lamp over the counter, which Uncle Ryhard caught upon reflex, the glass cracking a bit. Moments later, the vortex subsided and Uncle Ryhard could catch a better look at Drew. Holding the lamp up to Drew's face he noticed some substantial changes had occurred. Drew's hair had changed from dark green to sky blue. [Shapeshift] had worked! 

Opening his eyes, the first thing Drew saw was Uncle Ryhard holding the kerosine lamp straight at his face. 

"Um, Uncle, can you move the lamp away." 

Uncle Ryhard snapped out of his own shock. 

"Oh, sure!"

He quickly moved the lamp from Drew's face and noticed that his eyes have also changed color. They were glowing a frosty pale blue hue. 

"Did it work?" Drew asked unable to locate a mirror on the dark floor. 

"Yeah, it did." Uncle Ryhard replied walking over to a light switch.

Turning on the lights, Drew could finally see the shop floor. Now that he was able to see everything, Drew found a small mirror on the reception desk and took a look at his appearance. [Shapeshift] had worked! Opening his communication device, he looked at the program Uncle Winter had installed. The amount of otrio had gone down from 250 Krasos to 50 Krasos. It was as Uncle Ryhard said! Too bad he could only use this once since it takes too much Otrio to cast plus, he was sweating. It took to much energy to use. Closing his eyes once more, Drew dispelled the [Shapeshift], and his hair and eye colors returned back to their normal green.

"Glad that worked," Uncle Ryhard said handing Drew a small towel to wipe off the sweat. "Are you ready to learn the recovery method?"

"Yeah." Drew nodded after catching his breath a little. 

"Alright, it's simple. You just have to create a small vortex, like you did earlier, but instead of casting something, you have to imagine yourself absorbing the particles, specifically at your chest where your core is. This is also the very same method used to increase your Otrio Capacity, however, increasing your Otrio Capacity is harder than recovering since you need to slowly build your Core to be able to handle the increase in Otrio." 

Drew scoffed.

It was that simple! No wonder why the Military Academies don't teach it until one enters the academy. Those flippin' scammers!  

"I get it." Uncle Ryhard laughed. "It's too simple." 

"I'll focus on recovering first, then I'll worry about expanding my Otrio Core."

Closing his eyes for the third time, Drew created a small vortex but this time it circulated at his chest. Swirling the vortex faster and faster, the vortex grew, gathering more blue and green Otrio particles. Felling the particles accumulating, Drew commanded the particles to flow into his body. Like a sharp knife, the particles penetrated his body and to his core. His core, which went dim when he cast [Shapeshift] earlier, glowed. It glowed like the sun and similarly to the vortex, it expanded. The particles swirled around the Core, slowly attaching themselves on to the glowing blue and green until Drew felt a pop. That's right a pop which signified that his Core had reached maximum Otrio capacity. Opening his eyes, again, Drew saw Uncle Ryhard sitting in front of him with a proud look on his face. 

"How long was I recovering for?" 

Looking at his watch, Uncle Ryhard face curled into a wider smile. 

"You took ten minutes to recover meaning that you can recover 20 Krasos of Otrio per minute which is considered above average in Intergalactic Warrior standards." 

"What is average?" 

"Average is around 15 Krasos per minute." He replied. 

"What about Elias?" Drew asked out of curiosity. 

"His is around 18 Krasos per minute meaning that his recovery is slightly slower than yours. Mine is around 40 Krasos per minute." 

"40! That's fast!"

"Not as fast as your father's. His was around 50 Krasos per minute which is considered Genius level." 

Drew sucked in a mouthful of cold air." 

"Nicholas Goujian's, if I remember correctly is around 45 per minute. I didn't understand what that meant until now but that's S*nic the Hedgehog fast." 

"To be considered a Genius, one must have an Otrio Recovery rate of 40. The highest known in history is 60."

"Are there any ways to increase one's recovery rate?" 

"There are but they're dangerous or expensive. The fastest way is to kill Genetic Beast and absorb their Cores but Cores that can do that can only be found in Genetic Beast C-Class or above. The other method is to purchase a ton of genetic regiments but genetic regiments that can do that are very rare in the market and even one that could increase the Otrio Recovery Rate by 0.1 can cost up to 500,000 Kalas. The best one known to date can increase the Otrio Recovery Rate by 1 Kraso but the man who creates them only releases one every three months and each one can fetch up to 200,000,000 Kalas on average. Of course, the recipe is top secret and is only known by the creator himself. You probably heard of him before." 

Drew knew who he was talking about. The man was all over the media and ranked number one in the Alchemy circle. The Third Prince of the Royal Family of Kraus, Zachary Heartman. Heartman is a one in a trillion Genius Alchemist who invented the 'Morning Dew', the gene regiment which can increase a person's recovery rate by one Kraso, permanently. No one else had created such a regiment before in all of the Orion Alliance's history. 

Drew was crestfallen. His disappointment was painted all over his face. 

"So there isn't much I can do until I become stronger." 

"That or you could start learning Alchemy if you are willing to invest the time." He said as he unlocked the door to the stairway,  "I have a lot of things you can practice with if you want plus I can personally teach you myself. How about that?" 

"Sure," Drew replied immediately. This was a good chance for him. "I'm willing to take you up on that offer. When can I start?" 

"How about in two days?" Uncle Ryhard asked. "I have to get all the equipment out and set it up in the backroom." 

"Sounds good to me. By the way, how did you come across learning Alchemy?" 

"I guess I didn't tell you, I was the Field Alchemist on your father's team before I came to own this small shop." 

>>>

Field Alchemists are different than regular Alchemists. Field Alchemists are a class of medics who are able to conjure medicine and regiments quickly and effectively in times of emergencies. While regular Alchemists focus on creating new formulas, Field Alchemists recreate known formulas but under time pressure since someone's life could be at stake. The qualifications for becoming a Field Alchemist were a lot hard than those of a regular Alchemists as a Field Alchemists was required to memorize over fifty regiment formulas. Most of those formulas were basic gene regiments used to heal minor wounds but there are a few high ranking gene regiment formulas that one needs to memorize such as Regeneration, a regiment used to rebuild limbs that have been chopped or ripped off. 

>>>

Drew was in awe.

"That's pretty hard position." 

"Someone had to do it and I had the best Alchemy talent on the team so they put me in that role. I actually enjoyed it despite the high-stress levels I had all the time." 

"But how did you learn Alchemy?" Drew asked once more. 

"If you get into Star, you have your General Education classes which include math, sciences, history, language. You also have your Position Classes which vary depending on your position. My real position was a Scout and the Scout Class required me to take some Alchemy classes so that's how I learned."   

"Are Positions assigned by how well you did on the exam?" 

"Sort of but most people already have their predesignated positions because of their families." 

"I've never tried to figure out what position I'm suited for," Drew admitted scratching the back of his head. 

"It all depends on what you're good at. From my observations, you have the qualities of a Scout." 

"How so?" 

"The first one is your race. You're an Avian and Avians are known for being excellent Scouts. Second is your build. You have a slim build meant for speed. Judging from the way you walk, you must also be pretty flexible and the way you handled a knife while helping out Aunty shows that you are dexterous. The third is your Abilities, the Scout Position falls under the Stealth Class, besides Assassin and Spy, and you have the Ability [Shapeshift]." 

"That's correct. Anything else I need to know for Scouts?" 

"Yes. Scouts are mid-rangers meaning they are equally proficient in both long and short-range combat."

Drew laughed. This position was practically built for him. 

"Are you kidding? This is basically the most ideal position for me."

"That's why I brought it up." Uncle Ryhard laughed.

"What are the weapons of a Scout?" 

"Mainly short swords around 50cm accompanied by some sort of lightweight defensive equipment." 

"Where could I purchase these?" 

"You could obtain them in the second-hand weapon shop across the street."

"Alright. I think I'll do that soon."

"Good. We should end here tonight. It's getting late." 

"Anything else I should know now?" 

Looking up at the ceiling, Uncle Ryhard recalled one more thing. 

"When anyone asks you for your Race, specifically, tell them that you are a Nightengale. If you say you're Nightengale, most people will just regard you as a normal Avian rather than you saying you are mixed with Snowhawk blood." 

"I'll keep that in mind."