Ethan moved away from the mirror.
He walked to the window and looked outside.
Varentis spread wide and far out in front of him like a painting. Cobblestone streets running between stone buildings. Market stalls opening up for the morning. People already moving around down below merchants, servants, children, guards. Horses pulling carriages along the main road.
And far in the distance, sitting on top of a hill like it owned everything below it a palace. White walls. Tall towers. Cold and massive against the morning sky.
He stood there and just looked at it all.
He had seen busy cities before. Loud ones. Crowded ones. But this felt different. There was something underneath all the morning noise. Something quiet and heavy. Like everyone in the city was holding their breath about something they didn't talk about out loud.
He filed that away.
The memories from Caden's life helped him understand the basics. This world ran on magic. Not the kind anyone could learn. The kind you were born with. Bloodline magic passed down from parent to child like money or a family name. The stronger your bloodline the higher you stood in this world.
It decided everything. Your rank. Your marriage. Your future. Your worth.
And Caden had none of it.
Tested at thirteen like every noble child was. The whole family watching. His father standing there with that look on his face the one that was already preparing for disappointment before the test even started. And Caden had stood in the middle of that room and produced absolutely nothing.
Not a spark. Not a flicker. Nothing.
His father actually didn't speak to him for a week after that.
In a world where magic was everything Caden had been born with no magic.
Which meant Ethan had inherited no magic.
He pushed his forehead lightly against the cool glass of the window and stared at the palace on the hill.
*First figure out the rules ,* he thought. *Then figure out how to break them.*
That was when everything changed.
It began with a sound he felt more than he could actually hear. Low. Quiet. Like a hum sitting just underneath silence. It was after then something warm moved across his chest not painful, just there. Almost like something that had been dormant for a very long time was slowly and finally waking up.
Then the screen appeared again.
But this time it wasn't just the welcome message. New words were forming. Line by line. Slow and deliberate. Like whatever was writing them wanted him to read every single word carefully.
**[ COVENANT SYSTEM — FULL BRIEFING ]**
**[ This system does not work like others. ]**
**[ There are no combat levels. No magic stats. No skill trees to unlock by fighting. ]**
**[ This system grows through bonds. ]**
He read that line twice.
**[ Every genuine connection you make with another person feeds the system. Trust. Friendship. Loyalty. Love. Rivalry. The more real the bond the more powerful you become. Fake connections produce nothing. The system knows the difference. ]**
**[ As your bonds deepen new abilities will unlock. These abilities will match the nature of each bond. ]**
**[ Warning: Bonds can be lost. If a genuine bond is broken the system will feel it. ]**
**[ Current bonds: Zero. ]**
**[ Current abilities: None. ]**
**[ The world will not wait. ]**
Ethan looked at the screen for a long while after it finished.
Then he let out a slow breath.
*Bonds,* he thought again. *Real ones only. And if I lose one it actually hurts the system.*
He turned that over carefully in his head.
Most systems he had ever read about in his old life in novels, in games they gave you power by fighting. Kill enough enemies. Complete enough missions. Level up enough times. Simple.
This one wanted something completely different.
It wanted him to actually care about people. To build real relationships. To invest in human beings genuinely and let that investment turn into power.
He almost laughed again.
In a kingdom full of nobles who used people like chess pieces who smiled at dinner tables while planning each other's downfall a system that only responded to genuine connection wasn't just unusual.
It was dangerous.
Because everyone here knew how to pretend. How to perform friendship. How to act loyal while being anything but.
Nobody was going to know how to fight against something real.
A knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts.
Same servant as before. Same practiced voice.
"Lord Caden. Your father is still waiting. Breakfast is getting cold."
Ethan looked at the screen one more time.
**[ Zero bonds. Zero abilities. ]**
**[ Start somewhere. ]**
He almost smiled at that last line.
*Start somewhere.* Like it was that simple.
He pushed off the window. Straightened his collar. Rolled his shoulders back.
The dining hall was waiting. His father was waiting. A whole kingdom full of people who had already decided Caden Ashveil was nothing was waiting.
*Good,* he thought.
*Let them keep thinking that for now.*
He walked right to the door and opened it. The servant jumped a little because basically he still wasn't used to Caden actually responding like a normal person.
Ethan gave him the same nod again as before.
"Let's go," he said.
The servant blinked slightly. Then turned and led the way down the corridor.
Ethan followed. Hands relaxed. Mind already working.
Zero bonds. Zero abilities.
But every journey started at zero.
He had done harder things than this.
*Actually,* he thought, *had he?*
He almost smiled again.
*Doesn't matter. Starting now.*