One year

Time passed by. After a short time the Shmidt family provided the construction services only for commoners. Leo understood that he could not build difficult structures that will be appropriate for nobles. After building a few houses he understood that he needs to get stronger before he could build something more complex. His control over the earth elements was not sufficient. He was a realist. He needed to increase his power. He needed time. A ten years old child could not express his real potential. He needed a couple of years to grow. He did not visit the mage association after his first time. He did not want to draw attention to himself. Not many people saw him and knew who he was. He wanted to keep it that way. The fact that the Shmidt's established a new company was known but it did not draw much attention. They knew that they had some new family member and he was a young mage. Not many people saw him build homes to commoners. He was getting more known by the commoners than the nobles because he had no interactions with them. Mages and nobles did not really interact with commoners and because of that the information did not really spread. Also the city was pretty big and it took a month to build around 15 houses for commoners. It was not much interaction with the outside world. It took all his free time. He did not go with Elly's older brothers for missions. Also he asked Elen to not go for missions anymore. It was more important for Leo that Elen will stay and keep an eye on Elly and the household. Leo made around 3 gold coins per month with his works. After a few days he had a schedule for few months forward because the commoners got the information about the discount and the fact that this noble family hold their word and acted to the commoners like people. The more important thing for the common people was the fact that the Shmidt's kept their word. They did not extort the helpless commoners. Building a home took all the saving of those people and if they will get stolen that was basically the end for them. Because they saw what they could get for 20 silver coins a lot of people queued up for the services. The amount of coins spent were around 20-25 silver per deal. The money made by Leo allowed the Shmidt's to buy a lot of elixirs for the brothers duo to increase their cultivation speed by a few times. Elen made them give him a word that they will not speak on this fact at all. They often clashed with the younger generation nobles of the other families. The Shmid's were not that strong and if one of the brothers will get hurt or crippled the Shmidt family will receive a huge blow. The brothers sometimes got injured and they needed more elixirs for healing their bodies. Elen was enraged but Leo did not let him act. He started to give the brothers more elixirs and after a few months they both were in the ninth circle of a knight apprentice. They quickly approached the threshold of becoming official knights. After the fact that they were getting attacked more was discussed at the family meeting it was decided they will not leave the territory and protect Elly while Elen will "protect" Leo. They needed to insure that Leo could work like he did before. They needed the brothers duo to get to the knight level as fast as possible. It would allow the family to greatly increase their power and influence. No one could really attack in the city because the guards of the city had a great status and backing. It was a very bad idea to try and do something stupid in town because if those nobles were caught their noble title may be stripped. It was true to all the family members of the noble charged guilty. Because of that the young nobles did not go overboard. Such acts could happen if their only be a life or death hatred born between two opposing groups and it was not the case. In that time Elly just cultivated day and night. She was aware of the fact that she had magic talent but it was low. If she wanted to be of use for the family she needed to get to the level of a mage apprentice to be able to perform spells. That's why she just used the breathing technique that Leo taught her, had a good sleep every day and ate at the right time. She did not really do anything else. Elen was a little worried but he understood his daughter's determination. They were now on a crossroad. They needed to be careful. The brothers had to get to a knight level of strength and Elly had also needed to get to an apprentice mage power and the family will just straight ahead rise to one of the stronger families in the city. Elen knew that when his children will get to their goal and with Leo around them they could go and explore the dungeons and just continue living without fearing for their lives. Many nobles would not want to have a rising of a new force. Because of that they needed a few more months. Time passed by. Leo continued to work hard every day. The work helped him increase his control over the earth element. After work he rested while cultivating his breathing technique. After a couple of months more the family was ready to get a boost. Elen purchased two alchemical pills that increased the chance of breaking to the knight level. With the brothers talent and the help of the pill their chance of getting to the knight level was very high. Elly was also showing signs of getting close to getting to the apprentice level. Leo already gave her the healing spell for study. The spell had a simple name - "healing". Leo also had a good progress after all that year of work and cultivation. He was also promoted to the level of 4 apprentice mage a couple of months ago. Elen, the Shmidt brothers duo and Elly knew of this and they were dumbfounded by his progress. He was already stronger than Elen, but he still was "protected" by the family head. It was funny. After all that time the Shmidt family were ready to ascend.