The maid, Aria, looked at her young master with a small frown on her face.

The young master she knew would never have come here, after all, it only worked to remind him of how useless he was.

So what the hell happened with him?

Orion left the library a moment after the system rewarded him a new skill and he was now standing in the empty training grounds with Luna opposite him.

The cat had a small frown on her face, after all, her master had requested a spar.

She outright rejected at first, but the promise of a reward of her choice was too tempting to let go of, so she finally gave in.

Though, she planned to hold back as much as she could, to avoid hurting him.

Orion, on the other hand, had a small smile on his face before muttering, "system, show me Luna’s status."

An interface a lot more detail than previously, appeared in his view.

[CONTRACTED STATUS]

[Name:Luna]

[Race: Mythic Feline]

[Rank: Elite]

[Classification: ???]

[Growth Stage: Early]

[Core Attributes:]

- Agility: A+

- Strength: B

- Perception: S

- Mana Affinity: A

- Adaptability: S+

[Innate Traits:]

- Absolute Loyalty

- Predatory Instinct

- Adaptive Evolution (Sealed)

- ??? (Locked)

[Skills:]

- Shadow Step

- Lunar Claw

- Night Domain

- Instinct Override

- Regeneration (Passive)]

"..." He looked at the status panel with a blank expression for a short while before turning back to Luna.

"You’re more amazing than I thought," he let out, catching her a bit off guard and causing a blush to appear on her face.

But before anything more could be said, he spoke up again as he looked at his red faced summon.

"Alright," Orion said, rolling his shoulders slightly as he stepped forward into the training ground.

"New rule."

Luna’s ears perked up.

"No lethal attacks," he continued, "but don’t hold back too much either."

"Alright master," she nodded with excitement.

Orion then turned back to the interface and finally chose a skill. Since this was only to try the skill out, he didn’t put much thought into it and selected,

[Shadow Step]

The moment he did, it was as if a new set of information was being dumped in his head, as the next second, every detail about the skill was made known to him.

"Damn it, I should’ve expected that," He muttered as he felt a bit of headache hit him.

"Are you okay, master?" Luna asked noticing the slight change in his expression.

Orion raised a hand, waving her off lightly as he exhaled.

"I’m fine," he muttered, though his brows were slightly furrowed, "just... information overload." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

That wasn’t an exaggeration.

It wasn’t just knowledge.

It was experience.

The way Luna used Shadow Step, the timing, the instinct behind when to activate it, even the subtle shift in mana flow—it had all been forcefully engraved into his mind in an instant.

Like he had practiced it for years.

"...This system is ridiculous," he whispered.

Although he hated to admit, that old bastard really did him a solid.

[Skill Copied: Shadow Step]

[Compatibility: 41%]

[Warning: High Mana Consumption]

"41%?" Orion frowned slightly.

So that was the catch.

He could use it, just not efficiently.

"Well," he cracked his neck slightly, "guess we’ll find out how bad that is."

He raised his gaze toward Luna.

"Come at me."

Luna tilted her head slightly, "master?"

"Full intent," Orion added calmly, "don’t worry, I won’t die."

A pause and then a slow smile spread across her face.

"Hehe... if you say so," she immediately vanished.

Orion’s eyes widened at the spectacle and the next second, she reappeared by his side with her hand swinging towards his face.

Fortunately, she was moving slow enough to all him to react and just before the hand could reach him, he also disappeared.

[Shadow Step]

Luna’s eyes widened as she is at he’d her master disappear, and from the mana energy he let out, she immediately recognized that it was her skill.

Orion reappeared a distance away and dropped to one knee, gripping his chest as his breath hitched.

"...That... is not how you do it," he coughed.

"...You used it." Luna let out in surprise,"you used my skill."

Orion let out a shaky breath before looking up at her.

"Yeah," he smirked faintly despite the pain, "ugly version, but it works."

"As expected of my master," she muttered with the proudest expression she could.

Orion smiled a bit at that, but the satisfaction was far from done, as the system screen suddenly popped up.

[Compatibility Increased: 41% → 48%]

"So the more I use it, the more my compatibility increases," he said with a grin as he stood up straight again.

"Alright Luna," he turned to his summon that was still proud of the fact that she shared a skill with her master, "come at me again."

***

Meanwhile, at an unknown part of the Ashbourne main estate, stood one of the elders with a frown on his face.

"It seems the useless one has gotten a bit lucky," the elder muttered, his gaze fixed on the distant training grounds.

The other elder beside him gave a low chuckle, though his eyes remained cold.

"Luck?" he replied, folding his hands behind his back. "You felt that pressure yesterday. That was no luck."

The first elder’s expression darkened slightly.

"An Elite-ranked summon appearing out of nowhere, and now he’s suddenly confident enough to train openly... something has changed."

"Something dangerous," the second added quietly.

They both fell silent for a moment, watching as a faint ripple of mana spread from Orion’s direction, even from this distance.

The first elder clicked his tongue..

"If this continues, the Patriarch’s attention will shift completely."

"It already has," the second elder corrected. "And that is exactly the problem."

There was another pause,

"We cannot act directly," the first elder said, his tone more controlled now. "Not while the Patriarch is observing him."

"Of course not," the second nodded. "That would be foolish."

His lips curved slightly.

"But... there are other ways."

The first elder glanced at him.

"...Go on."

"The selection trial."

At those words, the first elder’s eyes flickered slightly before narrowing.

"The academy recommendation?"

"Exactly," the second elder continued. "Every year, the Patriarch selects a handful of candidates from the family to be sent to the Imperial Academy. It is the one event where all branches gather... and all eyes are present."

"And?" the first asked, though he already seemed to understand where this was going.

"And," the second elder smiled faintly, "it is also the one event where we will have a chance to act."

The implication settled in immediately and the first elder’s frown slowly eased.

"You mean..."

"Exactly," the elder said with a grin, "a single accident is all it will take to make him the useless one again."