Lucian would never be able to catch up to the knights, who dedicated their whole lives to training.
He couldn't follow the convenient path Voice had shown him either.
So, in order to close the gap, he had to take everything available to him.
He could never activate his shackled strength in front of people without his glowing eyes exposing him. He had to find a way to trigger the state without giving away his secret.
Gold's density became his solution.
By increasing the density of his ocular structure to the point of it blocking the light from passing through his iris, he could hide the glowing eyes.
Instead of his body, he had to focus on his eyes.
He could inflict damage to a tier two shackled of iron rank as a child. The assassin would have killed all the guards and the bronze knight if Celine's sapphire knight didn't appear.
Then there was the unfair fight, where 40 shackleds could match 300 knights on the battlefield.
Shackled powers were not to be underestimated, and Lucian had them since he was a child. It definitely made his traveling as a solo trader less dangerous, despite being too young for it.
Lucian put aside the report and switched the hand fanning his son, to the other.
"Father and son time," he said, hearing a knock on the door to inform him of milk's arrival.
He got up and opened the door himself, seeing a servant holding a tray of freshly squeezed milk for his son.
Lucian made sure nothing trampled with the liquid before it reached its destination.
"Thank you," he said, taking the tray and closing the door behind him. He walked over to the table and set it down.
His son cried when the fanning stopped, wanting the cool breeze back, so Lucian resumed his task of gently waving the fan over him, multitasking while feeding his son.
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Just like that, eight months passed by in a blur. Lucian's twenty-one's birthday came and went, and he spent most of his time with his son, his business and his golden's stage training.
His business had stabilized, the income was stable and his investments were paying off. He had enough funds to support himself without working a day in his life, and a few more in addition to his own.
The Golden stage training was a scary thing. He could lose his eyesight if he did it wrong, but he had to take the risk. He did a few experiments on his own to understand density better and how he could manipulate it to his advantage.
He also utilized Loran, who had moved from the Breezy Cove after the gold mines were secured. He didn't mind the move, and was happy with the new experiment Lucian had given him.
A few dead bodies and Loran's research were enough to get the basic idea of the process.
Where he got the bodies from, the war of course. Once every three weeks, Lucian would get close to the battlefield, possess a dead body, then train the corpse's eyes into activating the ore's density (not all corpses were silver rank). His third eye kept track of the light's intensity and the density's progression.
The new research and step by step guide to pass a stage were costly, so not many invested in it and preferred to use the classic routes, but Lucian was willing to pay the price.
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Lucian was currently cleaning the mattress inside his son's wooden crib, leaving his son on his bed.
A dozen of soft toys were dangling above him, enticing him to play with them. They had various shapes and colors, made of the finest silk and stuffed with the fluffiest material.
Lucian's bedroom was filled with his son's items, from toys and bottles to clothes and diapers. It was his son's playground as well, attached to his office, so Lucian could work while watching over him.
"Hey," Lucian rushed toward his bed to prevent his son from falling to the floor, "You little rascal, don't go rolling all over the bed."
The little guy tried to roll around again. His soft blonde hair curled around his head in a fluffy mess, and his blue eyes blinked at his father as if he didn't understand why his rolling adventure was being interrupted.
"..." Lucian gently picked up the little rascal to his eye level, feeling his heart melting with every little blink the baby made. It was hard to believe he had a hand in making this tiny, perfect human being.
He finished cleaning the mattress on the crib, then gently placed his son on his stomach and softly stroked his back, causing the child to roll over again, "..."
The little guy began to treat the crib like a pool, his legs kicked like a frog and his arms flapped like wings as he moved from one end of the crib to the other. On his back at that.
"You are going to get bald at the back of your head if you continue to rub your head on the mattress like that," Lucian laughed. "I'm not saying baldness is a bad look, but I'm saying you are still too young for that."
The baby stopped abruptly in his tracks, his legs and arms spread in four directions, "Bah," then resumed his backward swimming, "Bah bah."
"..." Lucian reached for the silk star above his son's head and started playing with him. The child reached out to the toy with his little hand, trying to catch it. He didn't manage to grab it, but it was a near miss, "Look at you, trying to reach the sky."
The baby opened his mouth wide, making grabby motions towards the toy. Lucian guided the toy closer to him, letting the child touch it, and he did.
The baby's hand closed around the soft toy, pulling at it, "Bah," and chewing it. His legs continue to kick, as if he was trying to backswim with his toy star, "Bah bah bah."
He tried to communicate something to Lucian, but Lucian wasn't fluent in baby language yet, so he just assumed it was something along the lines of 'Look at how fast I can backswim with my star!'
Lucian played with his son until he decided that letting his child rub his head on the mattress wasn't a good idea and turned him on his stomach, which made the baby lift his head up.
The little rascal didn't like that and pushed himself up with his hands, trying to roll over again.
Lucian gently pushed him back on his belly, causing his son to cry out in frustration.
"You have to train your neck muscles," Lucian insisted, gently stroking his son's hair to calm him down. "I'm not going to let you be a weakling."
The baby faceplanted the bed, tears welling in his eyes, as he wanted to be a back swimmer. Lucian was a cruel father who didn't let his child pursue his dreams.
The little guy was so upset that he refused to lift his head up anymore, giving up on rolling over. He looked so pitiful with his head buried in the mattress and his little butt sticking up in the air.
"..." Lucian covered his mouth with his hands, his shoulders shaking from suppressed laughter. The sight was just too adorable.
He went to grab the diary from the table and recorded the scene in it, making a mental note to share it with Celine later.
He let his son play alone in the bedroom for a moment and stepped out to get himself something to eat, 'How to make a child wear a face cover without him taking it off every five seconds' would be another entry in his parenting diary.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Daaamn, we are at 33rd place in power ranking!?!?! I had no idea it would give me such a boost in views and readers. 😭🙏🙏 Thank you so much for helping me reach it with your powerstones!!!
I think many forget that Lucian has always been a shackled, and that he is not as weak as he portrays himself to be. He is just being petty towards Voice. 🤣
There's a five-year gap between his 10 and 15 years of life, so I can imagine him defending himself many times by backstabbing someone in a surprise attack without exposing his glowing eyes.
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