Ezra walked closer to the egg that was placed at a separate corner.

He stood three feet away and watched as the egg throbbed.

*Crack*

Lo and behold, the egg cracked and the cracks grew wider from there.

Soon enough, the egg shell fell apart and from within came a snake\'s head.

Ezra concealed himself, watching as the snake looked around with drowsy eyes before slithering out of its shell ever so slowly.

Once the snake got a foot away from the egg, Ezra revealed himself, startling the snake.

With swift hands, he grabbed the snake with both hands and sat down.

The snake sought to struggle, but Ezra\'s firm hands didn\'t allow it any movement.

Instead, he previewed it.

Its skin was black and white. Black was the prominent color, while white was represented by lines zig-zagged from its left eye to its tail.

\'Look\'s menacing. Good\'

Ezra brought out a transparent orb from within his ring.

It was an affinity orb. When giving them to Fredrick, he had saved two for himself.

He pried the snake\'s mouth open and used it to touch the orb.

The orb brightened and, from it, particles of Darkness came about.

\'It has the darkness affinity\' Ezra nodded.

\'Then-\'

His stare became deeper.

\'-does it have the other one?\'

At this moment, sparks came about.

Ezra smiled. It was a success.

The snake gained both Darkness and Lightning affinities.

Unlike humans, affinity grades didn\'t mean much to beasts, it was mana capacity and the beast\'s core that mattered.

One thing did bother Ezra though.

\'After absorbing all that mana, it\'s still this small. I was expecting it to be a bit bigger\'

He shook away such thoughts. One ought to be content.

At least its usefulness had been confirmed. Raised well, it would be a beast among beasts.

\'Now I need to bind it\' thought Ezra.

There were two ways - or maybe more, Ezra didn\'t know - to bond with beasts. The traditional way was bonding with it over time.

Then the other way was binding.

Ezra came to know of this method during his tenure of studying runes.

When binding, man and beast form a connection, allowing them to connect at a much deeper level.

With this method, training beasts was easier, and the rate at which it could turn against its owner decreased.

There existed those who could control beasts, and Ezra didn\'t want to be unprepared if he ever fought against one of them.

Without delay, he brought out two parchments with runes drawn by him on them.

He took a parchment and placed it on the snake.

Infusing mana into the rune, the snake began wriggling as the rune was carved into its skin.

Two minutes later, it was done.

Ezra placed the snake down, took the second parchment and placed it on his arm, before infusing mana into it.

"Hmm!" Ezra forced his lips close as he felt the rune burn into his skin like hot metal.

Three minutes later, it was done.

Ezra calmed himself and regulated his breathing.

He then infused mana into the rune.

An outside force came upon him, and somehow, he could understand the snake.

He could feel its fear after having its skin burned as it hissed, looking around with eyes glazed with curiosity.

Its darkness affinity allowed it to see in the darkness like Ezra.

Surprisingly, its eyesight was far better than that of a normal snake.

\'Why though?\' wondered Ezra, but then it clicked.

\'The absorbed mana, it must have increased its capabilities\'

The snake tilted its head, feeling Ezra\'s emotions.

\'What do I call you?\'

His gaze and that of the snake matched.

\'Rerend? No. Wesaciy? No. Sazevant? No. Hmm, Severus…\'

\'Severus it is then\' he nodded.

At this time, someone knocked on his door.

\'Who is it?\'

They knocked again.

Opening the door, he saw the guard.

"I thought I said I was not to be disturbed?"

The guard fumbled with his words at first, before replying…

"Her Highness requests your presence"

"My mother?" Ezra was intrigued.

"No, your highness"

"One of those three?" his disdain came clear.

"Yes"

"Who-no, never mind" he stopped himself from asking which of the three requested his presence, rather wondering the reasons for his summons.

"Hmm…"

Pondering a bit, he decides to grant the request. He needed to know what those witches were cooking up.

"Lead the way" he said.

"Of course"

They arrived at a room at the edge of one of the corridors, where the third witch resided.

"She\'s in there?" he asked.

"Yes, your highness" a guard answers, one different from the one before.

He looked over the door and the guards standing at its sides.

"Inform her of my presence"

"Oh yes, I will-"

He halted, looking at Ezra.

"Prince, you are required to enter"

He shook his head.

"I\'m not entering, my mom warned me not to. So please, inform her of my presence. And that I shall be leaving in but a few minutes"

The guard was left speechless. Obviously, he could not tell such words to an Empress, lest he risked being thrown in a cell.

"I\'d hurry if I were you, lest I leave"

At that moment, the door split open and the graceful visage of the third Empress came into view with a green grown to match her green eyes and a green fan covering her lips.

She was Gwendolyn Miller.

She looked about, moving to act surprised.

"Ah, it seems you\'ve arrived. I was just wondering what took so long"

Ezra sneered within while keeping his gaze to the ground.

The guard pointed to Ezra-

"I have brought him"

-and marches off.

She looks at Ezra, her eyes warm and caring.

"If it is not the legendary child"

Ezra stared blankly and denied her a reply, turning the situation awkward.

Coughing away her embarrassment, she sought to grab his hand.

"Come in my boy. I have a lot to discuss with you"

Ezra moved back.

"Whatever you have to say, please, say it here"

"Excuse me?"

"My mother told me not to go into stranger\'s rooms"

She popped a vein.

\'This little thing!\'

But she quickly suppresses her anger.

"Is that so? I don\'t like keeping guests on their feet though"

"Think nothing of it" Ezra waved his hands.

She nodded.

"I\'ve recently heard that you were training. Is it true?"

"It is"

"Oh, who\'s teaching you?"

"No one. I\'m self-taught" he shook his head.

"I see" she said, while her mind ran calculations in the background.

\'Wonderful, gaining his trust should far easier\'

She continued…

"Then, your training? How is it going, you must have gotten much stronger, yes?"

Ezra chuckled inwardly while lowering his gaze.

\'If only you knew\'

His expression became saddened, touching his hands as he cried out.

"It\'s soooo hard! My body became much bigger, but I\'m not strong at all!"

Her eyes lit up as Ezra wiped away fake tears.

"Oh, you poor thing" she said, rubbing his hair.

Ezra had to suppress the urge to hit her hand away.

Once done, she straightened herself.

"You know, what if I got you a good teacher?"

Ezra shook his head immediately, crying out…

"No, I don\'t want any teachers, the last one almost killed me!"

\'Heh, as if I\'d let you monitor my movements\' he thought underneath.

\'This is troublesome\' she was stumped.

She racked her brain for something else she could give him.

\'There is that thing…\' something came to mind.

\'Shall I have him crippled?\'

But she threw away such thoughts. If she did that, there was no telling what the Emperor would do.

So, she continued with her original plan.

\'Something, something…\'

Her mind landed on something she thought disposable.

\'Yes, let\'s give him that\'

"I have something" she said, closing the doors and scourging out a bunch of vials containing purple liquid.

"What are those?"

"Oh, these? They\'re growth potions"

"Oh!"

His eyes grew eager.

"What do they do?"

"You see those weak muscles of yours, they\'ll make them harder and stronger"

"Oh wow!"

"Here you go" she handed them to him.

"Thank you" he took them and promptly turned around.

"Bye-bye now. I have to go back to training"

"Wait, take these as well" she said, placing nine more of the same potions in his hands.

"Thank you!" he beamed and subsequently left, arriving at the training chamber soon after.

He took a good look at the potions, before sucking them into his space ring.

Regardless, Bard was more than enough if he needed potions, and they would be of a better quality.

He threw the matter to the back of his mind and brought out Severus from his ancient space ring.

Severus came out with its mouth swallowing a piece of meat from among the bodies of numerous beasts Bard acquired for him.

He took off the pin-sized Skyfall from his cloth and enlarged it.

\'Let\'s see what both of you can do\'

Elsewhere, Ezra\'s mother went through her routine training, sparring against her instructor.

*Clash*Clash*Clash*Clash*

They stopped.

"As tough as ever, Gabriella" said Kiara, wiping her sweat away.

The instructor, a woman not muscular yet not skinny, waved away the comments.

"You flatter me. Your skills have improved so much I\'m jealous. You\'re almost at my level"

Someone knocked on the door, drawing their attention.