Shades of the New World

Chapter 28: Cosmic observer and Nine Months

It was something to note, so he quickly memorized the information and asked the Felines:

"So, what will happen next?"

"Well, first of all, let's make the Contract on tutelage. You can talk about it in detail with Rith afterwards. I will go back and start implementing your banking ideas. Don't worry about the matter not being accepted by the others of my kind. As for your payment, we should start to make some profit after a year or so. Until then, you will have to make do with this," Abvelgail said and gave Evin a purse filled with gold.

Evin tried to take it, but found it hard to even keep the thing in his hands. He put it on the ground and opened it. He found 50 gold coins, minted and clean, inviting Evin to hold them in his hands. As he did so, an involuntary smile appeared on his face, content with his profits.

He then held one of the coins in his hand and observed it in detail. The coins were much thinner than any other he saw - it was basically as thin as paper, but Evin could see why.

'At first I calculated that a gold coin would be worth one thousand or so dollars, but apparently i was wrong. Its value should be much lower than that, since there are so many of them in the circulation. After all, there are millions of these things running through the market, judging from the numbers that Abvelgail mentioned,' Evin thought in his head seriously, but he still couldn't stop the grin that creeped out soon after.

'I judged the Empress for stealing the measurement units of Earth, but only a month later, I'm stealing ideas from the same place. Forgive me for my impudence,' Evin offered a small prayer for the Empress, and turned to the Felines.

"I'll tell my parents that you've taken me on as your apprentice, but I hope you won't tell them about the bank and reincarnation for now"

Evin didn't mind outsiders knowing his secrets, but he still felt reluctant to throw the matter out in the open when it came to people he cared about. The fact that such actions would confuse his parents greatly was not outside his fears. But deep down inside, he knew that he was simply afraid of the outcome. The fact that Evin spent three centuries alone did not make him forget about his humanity. On the contrary, it made him too aware of it.

The subject made him uncomfortable, but he knew he had to face it someday.

'But not yet,' Evin thought with slight guilt.

"If that is your choice, then I shall not interfere," Rith replied with an enigmatic smile.

Evin realized that her monitoring has already begun. The thought made him slightly uncomfortable, but he understood it wasn't something he should focus on. Instead, he wanted to know what exactly Rith could do to help the child when she was monitoring him.

"Could you please tell me what you are allowed to do when you're monitoring me?"

"Ah, I won't be able to help or give you any information if that's what you're asking. This is supposed to be a test of your character and capabilities. If your every action was done with my help, then the test would not be fair, no?" purred the Feline.

"So, you're just going to be living around me, watching my every move?" Evin asked.

'Not going to lie, I was expecting a few perks from you, though,' Evin thought, disappointed.

"Basically. But obviously, I won't just stand by as you get slaughtered by a group of enemies, so don't worry too much. And sometimes I might affect the situation a bit to force random situations into your lap, to see how you react and all. Please remember that I don't have to moral guidelines of humans, so if you feel that I've stepped over a certain line, do make sure to tell me. And so, to make my job easier, I'll have to assume the form of a cat and live as your pet for a few years," the Feline replied while stretching.

"You won't even answer a few questions from me?"

"Depends on the information you want. But you should expect that I won't give you any substantial intelligence. But I can be your chatting partner, and also, you can still hire me for my services regarding the World of Space," purred the Feline gleefully.

"Okay, that's good enough. Let's leave the World, I still have my parents to talk with. Do you have anything to add, Abvelgail?" Evin asked as courtesy.

"Nothing for now. I'll open an account for you in the bank and send your shares to it. You can take it from Rith, if you find a need for the money. She will work as your personal bank accountant, so you won't have to enter a bank at the age of two years, catching everyone's attention," explained Abvelgail.

"Much appreciated," replied Evin with a smile.

The Feline soon left after exchanging pleasantries, and the two were left alone in the World of Space.

"We should also leave," Evin reminded.

"Hm, yeah Wait for me on the main World, I won't be long," Rith said, a hint of apprehension in her voice.

Evin did not press the matter and left the World. A few dozen seconds later, he heard a crackling sound, and a tad large cat plopped out into existence.

"Rith?" Evin asked with surprise.

The Feline's body, which used to be a disorienting mass of black covered in orange stars, was now a ginger colored fur with tinges of white streaks running across it.

"Ugh, I'll never get used to this transformation" said the cat with a grimace on her face.

She then suddenly lurched, looking like she was about to vomit. Evin panicked at the sight, genuinely worried about the cat, but also not wishing to clean the vomit afterwards.

Thankfully, Rith managed to take control of her body, soon adjusting to her new state, albeit not completely.

"Are you okay?" asked Evin soon afterwards.

"Yeah, don't worry, happens every time I turn into a normal cat. I can't stay as an astral being for long in the main World. So, I need to fill in my empty body with flesh, bones, and organs, which feels like I'm giving birth to myself," the cat replied.

Evin did not expect to hear such a brutal answer and could only nod solemnly for her.

"Let's go meet my family," Evin said, after the cat calmed down, soon after. It was already evening, since only the World of Thoughts had the benefit of slowing down time for its guests.

"Sure."

Evin pocketed a couple of gold coins from his purse, toddled outside the room with Rith in tow. But the two did not find anyone inside the house. Evin checked the bakery and still hadn't found anyone.

"Hmm, I guess they went outside for something" Evin muttered and brought the cat outside.

Lora and Elina was outside, seemingly butchering some animal. Getting closer, Evin found that it was a chicken. Elina noticed the two after the door opened, curiously eyeing the cat that came out of the door.

"We're celebrating something?" he asked, approaching the two women.

"Oh Evin, we're celebrating you becoming getting discharged. We had customers in the day, so we couldn't do it then. Don't come near, child. We don't want the blood to fall on your face," answered Lora, but thinking of the massacre that took place at Liza's house she frowned slightly.

Turning her head, she saw the cat next to her child and exclaimed: "Oh, where did you find that cat?"

"Mom, put down the knife for a bit, you too, Elina" Evin cautioned, afraid his mother would hurt herself.

"What did you want to say?" asked Lora, doing as Evin instructed, Elina followed as well. Evin gestured towards the Rith, drawing the ladies' attention towards the Feline.

"Please do not panic," said Rith in that soothing, gentle voice.

Hearing the cat speak in human, the two did not panic, instead only showing interest and fascination.

"Is that a Cosmic Feline? Oh shit, I'm sorry for calling you a cat before, what's your name?" Lora asked, respect filling her voice.

"I've thought the Cosmics looked like the starry night sky, though?" Elina asked with a pondering face.

"Shush, that would be her true form. They look like normal cats- uh, felines when they walk the land of us flesh bearing mortals," answered Lora, clearly experienced with the matter.

But one word from his mother's answer took hold of Evin's attention.

"You're immortal?" he asked in wonder.

'Why couldn't I have been born as a Feline?' he thought inside.

"Not technically. Some song says that after we die, our body turns into one of the stars, living on as a beacon in the darkest of times But no, we do die. And we don't turn into stars," explained Rith patiently.

"More importantly, where did you make friends with a Cosmic, Evin?" Lora asked inquisitively.

"We met a month ago, and today I asked her to teach me some of her magic. She agreed, but she must spend some time with me, to see whether I am worthy of learning magic from her," Evin explained briefly.

"Is that true?" Lora almost yelped.

"Yes, I'll be spending some time with your child, please don't mind me. And don't worry about me freeloading your household. Our Elmes Group will pay a small sum for your troubles," Rith spoke smoothly.

As if on cue, Evin took out the gold coins from his pocket, showing it to his mother.

Recognizing the gold, Lora's hands went to her mouth, though it failed to cover her gasping mouth fully. With the chicken's blood on her hand, it made quite an interesting picture. Elina was also shocked silly with the sight, probably the first time she ever saw a golden coin.

"The rest is inside, come along," said Evin, unable to stop his urges of teasing his family.

"There's more?!" Lora was even more shocked, her legs started to give out, almost falling down.

"Come on, let's get inside. You can leave the chicken out for a little while. Come on, Elina, help mom get inside," Evin said, suddenly feeling bad for the tease.

Perhaps Evin should've told his mom that there would be five dozen gold coins inside the purse, but nevertheless, Lora was taken out of commission by the sudden surprise. Elina was also very excited about the prospect of the family getting a lot of money.

Even though her title was of a slave, the entire family treated her like the eldest sister. So whatever money the family got, she would definitely be happy with it.

Evening came and the same thing happened to Theor. In his case, he was even more excited than the two women combined, though he didn't fall unconscious like Lora.

Evin's family went through lots of changes after the sudden infusion of money. Lora was a bit afraid that the other families would be jealous of the sudden acquisition of wealth, so she would advise the other family members to stay humble and frugal. But Aran solved the problem quite easily. He officially declared Evin as his disciple, putting him under the wings of the Kingdom. The family could then openly spend their money, using it to decorate their home and yard a bit better than the rest of the commoners.

The Kingdom's care for mages was common knowledge even between commoners, so none dared to make trouble for the young mage's family. Even though mages couldn't outright bully commoners due to law, they could certainly make life much harder for them. Even idiots would not want to shoot themselves in the leg, just because they felt jealous of a family having born a mage and a Child of the Empress at that.

Evin felt quite dubious about the kingdom's protection, but Aran explained that the case with Kens was an isolated incident. The kingdom was actually trying many things so that Aran would impart his knowledge about his deadly spell, but failing. They were currently trying to pressure Aran into giving up the secrets by sending him into wars and battles.

So, in their eyes, Aran getting a disciple was a commemorative thing, as they could send Aran to some war and start pressuring Evin instead. It would mean that Evin's life would become slightly troublesome at some points, but it also meant that Evin would be under their protection during that time.

Aran, seeing Rith accompanying the boy, sent Evin a knowing glance, understanding that whatever the boy tried had worked wonders. But he couldn't really ask about the details as it would be protected by a World Contract or something similar.

Rith went on to act as the family's pet, with Lora and Elina practically worshipping her. After Evin heard about the legends of Cosmic Felines from the two women, and could only marvel at the imagination of the bards and poets that first sung those legends. Rith was a bit uncomfortable at first because of the fanaticism, but then she gradually started acting like a normal cat, letting the family pet and feed her. Rith showed such a great contrast between the legends and reality to the fanatics, so they also calmed down after a bit of getting used to the Cosmic's behavior. Though they still didn't want to casually pet her.

Rith also joined Evin in hating Arza. The wild kid became stronger and stronger, starting to actively punch and tussle with the Evin and the feline, until both Evin and Rith could not simply ignore him. Now they avoided the kid like a plague.

Evin, on the other hand, was diligently studying the arts of magic. He hoped that either Aran or Rith would give him something to help, but his two supposed masters only answered, "No," and waltzed away.

This made him feel that taking the risk of making a deal with the Felines was a mistake, but he could not do anything with the situation. He diligently practiced his magic in every moment of the day, trying his best to increase the efficiency of his mana-core, while also practicing his magical proficiency. He had Rith buy him twenty 2 kg crystal-grade lodestones, so he could practice infusing mana in his spells without a break. He could feel his mana-core's capability to store and filter mana was getting better and better every day.

There was not a big improvement in Evin's usage of the Worlds. He only tried his best to perfect his already existing usages. He managed to make his Air Blades a bit more deadlier, but making them more concentrated and calling them Air Bullets.

Another thing he managed to achieve was his ability to float thanks to the Heavy World, and move about using the World of Storms. He spent most of his time trying to improve this new flying ability of his, since it was his main way of moving about.

With everything that's happened, another nine months passed in the blink of an eye.

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