3 CHAPTER 3 - JUST IN TIME

*SFX of an Arrow hitting the target* *Valun was practicing his shots but wasn't focused, usually he takes a deep breath before every shot but now he's just shooting without any intent. His body was here but his mind was somewhere else, and after he shot his last arrow and stared at his empty quiver, he recalled what he saw and heard outside the room, *Valun stood outside the door of the lobby just after meeting Analita, and when he used his Ether eyes to look at her information he saw something he was curious off, (Status: Happy, worried, angry, conflicted, scared and secretive) at first he didn't really mind this as he has all knowledge from the Novel, but what was irritating Valun was that she acted weirdly when she talked about my injury, it's one thing to be worried about a brother and another thing to look like you are going to hunt someone. 

But even though he knew everything from the Novel, the novel really didn't elaborate on Valun and Analita's story and who else was connected. Valun thought for all he could know the injury could also be a result of Mr. Shin bringing him into this world. There are too many probabilities but few solid alibis to come to a proper conclusion, of what caused the real Valun's death, and what could someone gain from killing Valun. Could it be Exodus? No, as they haven't shown themselves yet, not when Sage Alan and Father are still around, they wouldn't want to mess with the strongest people on earth, in the Novel, Exodus made an appearance in the 5th chapter, after killing the Aranzyde family, and Kaiser escaping with the help of his teacher. Who co-* 

Kaiser: *Kaiser arrived at the training grounds to find Valun looking at his quiver but tried calling him out from afar just for it to fall on deaf ears and finally shouted Valun's name* "Valun,Valun, Valun, Oi, VALUUUUN!!"

Valun: *Valun caught himself from falling, due to the sudden exclamation of his name which was hard to hear due to all the thinking his 6-year-old brain is doing. * "UWAH, Brother Kaiser you scared me, why did you shout my name like that, couldn't you have called me normally? Ahhh, my ears." said Valun with a pout.

Kaiser: "Huhh? I've been calling you for the past few minutes and you've not heard me once, let alone see me, what's got you sleeping in broad daylight?"

Valun: *Dammit, I keep losing focus, it's quite annoying to not know stuff which you're supposed to know, Mr.Shin is a pain in the ass. * "Oh, sorry sorry, I was focused while practicing and didn't really hear you."

Kaiser: "Focused? Focused on what your empty quiver?" Kaiser chuckled after the question.

Valun: "Huh, where are my arrows? I had more than 20 arrows here." *Valun was looking around while Kaiser was pointing his finger towards the target, which was full of arrows in the center. *

Kaiser: "Really though, what's gotten into you? Did Sister Analita scold you? She could be a real eye sore you know? I totally understand if that's the case, she keeps bragging about herself as a top ranker in the academy *Valun suddenly saw Analita behind Kaiser, and she was making a very scary smile, and a finger on her lips signing Valun to be quiet, Kaiser raised both his arms as if he was tired of Analita's antics, as he didn't know she was right behind him, Valun was frozen in fear.* when we all know she is just a Battle brainiac, and a monkey is smarter than her." *An earth-shattering meteorite fell straight from the heavens onto Kaiser's head in the form of white gloved fist. * "Who the hell did that HUH?".

Analita: *looks at the shell shocked kaiser with a scary endearing smile* "Oh, please continue, I want to hear about this so called "Battle Brainiac" who is dumber than a Monkey, I would love to know more about this person." *Analita started to chase the running Kaiser, who was calling her names which only he could call and be safe with just a punch to his head*.

Valun: *Ahhh I still don't understand how and why, but I guess it's not yet time to ponder, as I should still investigate Ana's connection to this case and what she's hiding. * "Brother, Sister, it's time for dinner let's go and have some food, Kaiser is going to starve from the amount of running he is doing."

Kaiser: *The chase was halted by Valun's call, Kaiser suddenly ran behind Valun as Analita stopped chasing him. * "Booo, booo, brainless monkey." * Kaiser kept taunting Analita which just made all three of them burst into laughter after a pause. *

Merida: *Walks up to the training ground. * "Yeah, we've all had enough fun, let's wrap it up and have some food, shall we, Young Masters and Ms.Analita?" *Merida says with a cute smile. *

Analita: *Suddenly appears behind Merida and hugs her from the back* "Aww, my cute, tiny, little, and sweet Meri-Meri, did you miss me? Did you miss your big sister?" *She acts cute in front of them while pulling on Merida's cheeks like rubber, just to feel a glare emanating from Merida*

Merida: "Ms.Analita, you are 15 years old now, and an ace of the Royal Academy, please act your age, *With a twitch of a vein on her forehead and a sinister smile*, and Young Master you should get going with Mr. Kaiser, as dinner might get too cold, if you don't."

Valun: *Valun got chills looking at Merida being pissed. * "Ye-Yes, yes, I'm really-really, hungry, I will get going Big sister, you should come quickly too before me, and Kaiser finish up the food." *Valun and Kaiser, escape Merida's sight before getting a lecture like Analita did. *

Somewhere else in an unknown area, there was a chair with its back facing the desk and the front facing a painting, which is more than partially covered, but only a sliver of the painting was visible, and it was someone's hand with a "A Red sun eclipsing a dark abyss, with tendrils reaching out and curling onto a sword stuck through the sun.", and a ring which had the symbol of Pheonix on it. There was also a person sitting in the chair, who was looking at the partially visible painting so intently, and just before he could do something a person entered the room:

Person in Chair: "I don't think I've called you nor do I remember inking you an invitation to my chambers at this time in the night, and yet you dared to do so?" *The person's voice sounded serene, but it was cold as a glacier. * 

Masked man: "I'm extremely sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect, we have some important information which you would have to hear." * The masked man kneeled and replied. *

Person in Chair: "If the news I hear is not as important as you claim it to be, I will personally crush your head." *The man said with a laugh at the end."

Masked man: "Valun Aranzyde, is alive and he has already recovered, and apparently, he recovered in just three days after the accident."

Person in Chair: "WHAT? What do you mean Valun is still alive? He is a 6-year-old weak boy, how could he survive a fall like that? What about the one who did it? Wasn't he a Rank 4 Assassin?" *The man was furious but kept his composure and questioned*

Masked man: *Hesitating a little, before he spoke* "The person who orchestrated the accident is no more, nowhere to be found, nowhere to track, he just vanished into thin air, no, not even thin air, our trackers could track scent even in air, but that person is missing currently, even if he was dead we could've found him, but it's as if his existence itself has been erased."

Person in the Chair: "What? Is this a joke? Am I a joke to you all? You are telling me somehow Valun survived a fall even a veteran soldier would die too, not only that a Rank 4 Assassin of "The Covert Dagger" is nowhere to be found, but I also find it hard to believe that this is just a coincidence. If I find that you are lying to me, this won't end with you, your whole organization will turn to ashes. I will give you 5 nights of time, if you don't find out what and how it happened, there won't be a place to comeback to."

Masked man: "Yes sir!" *The masked man bowed and vanished into his own shadow. *

Person in the chair: * He breaks a paper weight with his bare hand in anger, wearing the same ring and the symbol on the back of his hand. He suddenly started talking to himself in his mind. * "Who could have done it? Who is watching over Valun from the Shadows? Is it Lecion? Or is it, Svetlana? Could it be "him"? No, "he" probably isn't even close to the continent currently so there's no way he has someone watching over Valun, but even if he somehow survived, the curse and the poison should have killed him, there's no healing magic or potions that could save "that" curse, and if even that by some miracle didn't work on him properly the Seven-headed serpent's poison should have him bedridden for eternity, so how did he recover in 3-4 days? *Valun, in his room sneezes suddenly, reassuring himself by saying "someone must be thinking about me a lot." *

Person in the chair: "Rieft!"

Rieft: "Did you call my lord?"

Person in the chair: "I want to know exactly what Valun's doing and what he's been doing ever since the day he recovered, I want to know from the smallest details to the largest. Do not leave a single thing."

Rieft: "At your command, should I stay discreet? Or should I just be as usual?"

Person in the Chair: "Just be as usual, you wouldn't want to be discovered by Raven would you, that old man is someone even Lecion and Felicia feared, so be cautious and normal."

Rieft: "Understood my Lord, but I have one small question, if he was someone that strong, how did the accident of Valun even take place? Please forgive my insolence if I've crossed the line, My lord."

Person in the Chair: "HAHAHA, if it's you I don't mind telling you, if that old man is at least 50km (about 31.07 mi) far away from Valun, he would be able to tell where Valun is and still protect him in a minute. God must've been on our side, the old man one day was not only farther than that, but he was also stuck fighting a demon terrorizing a village, in the end he did save the village with not a single person harmed but wasn't able to save his young master. Alright you are good to go now, we don't have much time."

Scene changed,

Valun was tinkering with his abilities and suddenly hurt himself in the process. Before he could do anything, the wound was gone and healed, but it didn't faze him as he was used to his new body's healing prowess. While researching his abilities Valun wanted to try something he was always a fan of in the Novel "the Path of the lonely swordsman" and that was creating a clone of himself, Valun loved this very much, but the person who used this technique didn't actually reveal the technique but just revealed its properties, which isn't much of use as even if he has the magic to do so, it's not really possible if he doesn't know the method to create them.

Unfortunately for Valun he didn't have any idea of how to use and control mana as he hasn't learned a breathing method to do so, *Valun's face was puffing up from trying to force himself to exert mana out of his body, his face turned into what you would call a suffocating pufferfish's face. After giving up, he used Ether eyes to make an image of himself in his mind, the second he did Valun felt drowsy and almost fell unconscious, he felt as if his energy was drained out like a leak in a tank. Valun caught himself from zoning out, while doing so he heard a thud on the floor, and turned his head to see something which astonished him and scared him at the same time, a body of a kid is on the floor right behind him, and it's not just any kid it was the exact copy of Valun in flesh. 

Valun kept rubbing his eyes to see more clearly, and to confirm that what he was seeing wasn't a hallucination.

Valun: "I did it!! I actually, did it? I created a clone, but how though I can't even use mana yet, and neither do I know the technique used by that man. Is it because I used the Ether eyes?Aghh fine let's deal with that later, let's see if I could summon one more. * Valun tried doing the same exact thing he did before creating this one, but he couldn't, he tried to mimic the process exactly but let alone create one more he couldn't even remember how he created the last one.

Valun realized after trying multiple times to create a new clone, that one was his limit for now, and he suddenly remembered Mr.Shin and sighed as a sign of giving up on more clones for now. He shook his head and then once again turned his attention to the clone. * "Hmm, I should probably use the Ether eyes to check if this is a real clone or just an illusion." *Valun activates his Ether eyes, which makes his cerulean eyes turn golden and shine, he sees the information of himself through the clone, it was as if he was looking at a mirror, the clone had the exact same powers and abilities as Valun, but he had one thing different from Valun and that was the ability "Growth Synergy", so whatever the clone achieves, Valun can replicate, and vice versa. Additionally, any skills or knowledge acquired by the clone are shared with Valun, creating a symbiotic relationship, reminiscent of a certain blonde Ninja's clone technique, albeit with a growth function interconnected with Valun's progression. *

Valun: "So does it grow stronger the more I use it? I guess we can test it out! But what should I name you? I can't just call you clone or Valun right, yeah that would be weird, alright I will call you Vlad." *

***Knock Knock***

Raven: "Young Master, is anyone in the room with you? I just sensed some intense mana, did the patriarch visit you? I am going to barge in if you don't reply."

Valun: "No, no, I'm good I just had a bad nightmare, no one's here, I am changing currently, could you bring me breakfast Uncle Raven, I am hungry." *Valun was panicking so badly he was stumbling upon everything in the room trying to think of a way in hiding Vlad. * "Vlad, can you hide somewhere? Or can you go invisible? You have the same abilities as me, right? Wait, never mind I didn't learn how to do any of that. UGHHH! Raven will be here any minute. I must hide him; Raven could sense him if I hide him normally. Wait I can just unsummon Vlad?"

Vlad: "I can just go back into you, if you wished, and you can just summon me back, just say retrieve for now and to call me back, just call the name you've given me, and I'll be there." *Vlad spoke suddenly out of nowhere. *

Valun: "Wait wait wait, you can talk? No, that's not important now, all right retrieve." *Vlad turns into light particles and goes back to Valun. * 

Raven: "Young Master, I've brought breakfast as you've asked?" *Raven was waiting outside the room with breakfast on a stroller beside him. *

Valun : "Please come in Uncle Raven, I'm starving!" *Valun let out a sigh of relief, as he successfully hid Vlad without any trouble. *

Raven: "would you be training with Ms.Analita and Mr. Kaiser again today? Also, Madam Svetlana will be visiting the Red House (Valun and Analita's House and land) today, I would suggest getting ready to meet her if you are interested, she is probably here to meet Ms.Analita, but she might drop by to meet you to see how you've recovered." *Raven speaks as he pours water in Valun's glass. *

Valun: "I would rather not, don't tell her that I have recovered, tell all the servants to be silent about it, this is not an order Uncle Raven, this is a request." * Valun left for the training grounds as soon as he finished his breakfast. *

In the training grounds, 

Valun: "Vlad!" *Valun calls out to Vlad, who then emerges from Valun as light particles and is back to normal form but this time, Valun didn't feel the exhaust nor the drain of energy while resummoning Vlad. *

Vlad: "Ahhh, I am out again! Why do you take that long to finish eating food? Well that aside, why did you summon me again? Did you want to talk or something?" *Vlad was lying on the bench beside the training ground, yawning. *

Valun: "Okay, okay, first I was surprised that you could talk, and secondly how did you know that I could summon and unsummon you, and even if I did how are you the same clone?" *Valun was thinking to himself in his mind, 'Man, this is awesome imagine if I could someone 1000's of them.' and before he could birth another thought, Vlad cut him off*

Vlad: "I am a clone it would be weird if I can't talk, 2 it's not that I knew and you didn't, if you knew the technique you used then you would've known the usage of it, but because you used Ether eyes to create it by imagining it and since Ether eyes can find information about anything you visualize or it sees, since you knew the properties of the clone technique due to the Novel, Ether eyes made the clone's "blueprint" if you could, and used the mana from your body subconsciously."

Vlad: "But don't be mistaken, this isn't the same type of clone technique that person used, as that's primitive and it doesn't even have mass, it's just a mimicry of our technique, so no, you can't create 1000s of clones like a certain blonde haired Ninja, even if you have enough mana to do so, at best even if you grow to your strongest form in the future you can only summon one more other than me because we are nearly as strong as you and Mr.Shin has put a secret restriction on that apparently, in all honesty he was right to do so because otherwise that would be too reckless., *Valun was shocked and again started talking to himself in his brain 'How did he know about what I was thinking'* yeah, I can read your mind, thoughts and same emotions, these are the side perks of the "Growth Synergy" ability I have, you can do the same."

Valun: "Okay that's just awesome, wow then that means we can be in touch even if we are apart? It's like using satellite communications, but in fantasy."

Vlad: "Yeah, something like that. But it's surprising that you used mana, at the age of 6, most people in the world if they have mana, can only start feeling mana at the ages of 8-9. Never mind, I think I know what happened, Ether eyes probably forcefully made your body absorb mana from outside, and then use that to create me."

Valun: "Yeah, I read that in the Novel, and I was surprised at first, but I guess what you said also makes sense. Let's leave that aside, and do some training together, you follow the strengthening routine, and I will practice my Archery skills for now."

Vlad: "Sounds good!" *Both Valun and Vlad started training together, while Valun was practicing his shots, Vlad was practicing his horse stance to strengthen the lower body, they followed the usual training methods and trained for 4 hours straight. *

In the afternoon, Valun was in his room finishing up his lunch, which is quite hefty and extravagant for a 6-year-old, but considering the amount of training he's been doing it would make sense for him to eat that much. While he and Vlad are stuffing their mouths with food, they heard a knock on the door once again,

Raven: "Young Master, Madam Svetlana has arrived, and is currently eating with Ms.Analita and Mr. Kaiser, would you like to go too? If so, I could tidy you up quick (tidy him up in the sense that dress him appropriately while meeting the matriarch of the family)."

Valun: "No it's alright, I am ready to go, I will be out there in a second, *Valun Whispers* finish up the rest of the food quick, don't let Uncle Raven see it, I'll be back, and try to listen into our conversation if you can." *Valun left quietly to the dining room. *

In the dining room,

Analita, and Kaiser were sitting together on one side of the table and there was one other person who was sitting at the head of the table, which is usually where Valun sits because he was the man of the House. 

Valun walked up front to greet that said person and as soon as he saw her, he froze, even though he saw some comic drawings of her as Ryu Seonu, meeting her in person was not something Valun was ready for. She was astonishingly beautiful, the face of an angel which perfectly matches her long braided dark blood red hair, and Golden green eyes which are sharper than black iron swords, and her aura speaks for itself, befitting to be the Matriarch of the Aranzyde's House. 

Valun: "Good Afternoon Head Mother, it has been a long time, I am very grateful for your appearance here and forgive me for being late in my greeting, I've not been well lately."

Svetlana: "You don't really have to worry about it, I didn't come here to meet you specifically and it seems you've been doing better than what I've heard, that's good to see, take a seat if you don't mind."

Valun: "Thank you Head Mother!" *Valun draws a chair from the table and sits down. *

Svetlana: "So, Analita, I've heard that you currently rank No:1, in the Royal Academy for combat and practical expertise. That's really a great achievement at your age, your father would be proud to know that, unfortunately he's not here directly to meet either of you due to the circumstances near the border. But well, it's not like he doesn't want to, if Verion wasn't there to hold back the Patriarch, Patriarch himself would've been here when he got the news of your accident."

Valun: "I wonder when I would be able to meet father, it has been quite the long time since I've met him and Uncle Verion." * 'I want to meet both Uncle and mainly father as he's going to fall ill when I turn 9 if I'm not wrong. I must find a cure for the disease if that happens or prevent him from getting ill.'*

Vlad: * Vlad talks to Valun via Telepathy* "Oi, oi, oi, how dumb are you? Did the damage to your head not heal? The reason Lecion got ill wasn't because of some random illness it was a curse used by an executive from Exodus, that was revealed in volume 7. How can you forget that, anyways you just have to either kill that executive before Lecion kills him and gets the curse or let lecion kill him and you can cure the curse with Holy magic."

Valun: "Vlad stop scaring me like that, I am still not used to this telepathy communication, if you do that once more then I will get a heart attack in the near future." *Valun almost spat his food out and had a sweat drop on his face as a worry, as he could've been suspected by the people in the dining room. *

Svetlana: "Is the food to your liking Valun? You seem very absent, is eating with us boring you perhaps?" *Svetlana remarked as Valun looked concerned that he would get caught and was also sweating due to almost being caught. *

Valun: "No no, I have eaten a lot for breakfast so my appetite for lunch was less than usual. So, I will take my leave as I would like to train for some time if you don't mind Head mother." *Valun got up and then bowed his head and then started walking back. *

Analita: "Valun! Wait a minute, let's train together, I am going back to the Academy in few days, I want to spend those days training with you please?"

Valun: "Okayy, Big sis, if you want to train, we can!" * Valun suddenly saw a glimpse of his late sister from his past, when looking at Ana's smiling face, and he felt a bit sad but happy at the same time of seeing his sister. * 

Svetlana: "Then I will take my leave too! I've come here to check on you three, and looks like you all are doing good, Raven, please take care of the security measures more from now on. You wouldn't want the Patriarch getting mad." *Svetlana said with a stoic and a stern face. * 

Raven: "Yes, Madam! I will attend to it right away." *Raven bowed and answered back. *

Valun, Analita and Kaiser: "Then, we'll take our leave, Head mother." *Valun, Kaiser and Analita, all bowed for a goodbye. *

Svetlana: "Mhm, I will be leaving, then." * Svetlana left in a carriage after being seen off by all the people of Red House. * 

Later in the evening,

Vlad was doing body strengthening training in the room, while Analita, Kaiser and Valun were training in the training grounds. 

Analita: "Valun you have to be on the move while shooting, as if you are stationary for too long in combat, you would be either ambushed or your opponent might close the distance between you two. So, be on the move every shot." *Analita sidestepped to the right from the dud arrow which Valun shot and sliced the other arrow with her wooden training sword from the left and closed the gap between Valun and herself while aiming the sword at Valun's stomach. *

Kaiser: "Hyaaa! Take this you Battle brainiac." *Kaiser jumped up high and tried to slash down Analita with his wooden sword when she was focused on Valun. *

Analita: *Analita spun to the side and hit the Kaiser in the side of his abdomen. * "If you were going to strike me when I'm caught off guard, don't shout like a monkey, you thickhead." 

Valun: "But big sis, you are out! Hehe." *Valun was behind Analita and had his arrow drawn to her neck. * "You are the one who told us to be cautious in combat, thanks for the help brother Kaiser!" *Kaiser got up smiling brightly while rubbing his nose. *

Analita: * She was surprised by their teamwork and can't believe that she lost to a couple of kids when she beat peers in her age who are way stronger. * "Ahhh, fine, it's my loss, my loss! *Analita grabbed both Valun and Kaiser close and shrugged their heads, as if she was petting them. * "You guys are really smart and strong for your age."

Kaiser: "Get off! You musclehead! You're crushing my head." *Kaiser was yelling while shaking his hands up and down, just for Analita to tighten the grip on his neck. * "Ugh, I-I can't- bre-breathe!"

Valun: "Hehe!" *Valun and the other two were laughing together. *

Before sunset, Rieft landed outside the premises of Red House, just after Svetlana left, Rieft was observing Valun's actions but didn't know anything about Vlad, as Vlad didn't come out of the room once. Rieft noticed that Valun started practicing Archery which is unusual and Svetlana's sudden appearance which is not only weird but concerning as the security might've been increased.

Rieft: "Shit, I should be even more cautious, Svetlana Aranzyde has never once visited Red House once from the information provided by Covert dagger, and why has the youngest son of the Strongest Sword Paragon using a bow? I am sure something's up, but that old man is still here so I can't act rashly."

At the same time when Rieft was observing the siblings train, Vlad who was training had his Ether eyes on the whole time which was to properly train each part of the muscle, and when he got up to drink some water, he saw someone new and found Rieft spying from the stable watching them, and when he used Ether eyes he found out that Rieft has infiltrated for Phoenix Arm (Person in the Chair). 

Vlad: "Ahh, this is getting interesting isn't it now."

[Note: This is a work of fiction any relations to reality, or real-life aspects is just used as reference and not meant to harm any specific groups or people or their respective aspects I have referenced, Thank you.]