Chapter 4：Combat Techniques

The days continued like this for a few months. Kaden would get fed, sleep and be annoyed by relatives. But it all changed when the first miss gave birth to her child. It was another boy, with very good potential, all though it was a lot worse compared to Kaden's. The boy had A-Tier gene potential and B-Tier spiritual power, just one grade below Kaden's. He was given the name Zandr.

Even though Kaden was the eldest, Zandr was the son of the first wife. A woman named Sabrya who was the daughter of a family far more prestigious than Kaden's mother.

Kaden's mother was also merely the third wife, her status in the mansion had not been all that high before she had given birth to a son with tremendous potential. With all these factors in play, the grandparents naturally eased down on their fussing over Kaden and diverted most of their attention to Zandr. The family politics were truly messy.

If not for the implications of this, Kaden wouldn't have minded. In fact, he had been hoping for those grandparents to piss off for a while. Unfortunately it was certain that the family would dedicate more of their resources towards Zandr than Kaden.

"At least I have this system." Kaden thought, whatever that was worth. The system was still refusing to tell him anything concrete, and was refusing to let him practice yet. He'd already been a baby for five months and frankly, the experience was driving him nuts. Even more so when the only person he could communicate with was this stiff system.

He'd manage to make the system tell him his age in his past life. It turned out he'd only been fifteen when he died, not exactly an age where one would have amassed a lot of patience.

But with nothing else to do, time kept turning at a frustratingly slow pace. Soon he was one year old, celebrating his first birthday. A big celebration for a well-connected family like his. He'd learned that his father, Lynwood Arkatal, was a general in the army. His grandfather also occupied a high administrative post within the military bureau.

Still, it turned out that his birthday wasn't all that big after all. When Zandr's first birthday broke out a few months later, all the stops had been pulled. Local residents of the Aldera planet and esteemed officials from all over the Blacktop Empire showed up, eager to mingle and get in the good books of the Arkatal family. It was clear that the family was pushing Zandr as the family heir.

It invoked a sort of greed within Kaden. All of this, all of it, every tiny single bit of it should belong to him. He had no interest in lowering himself to some random kid. But there was nothing to do about those grievances except wait.

…

Through the years Kaden's status didn't improve much. The fact that he was so distant as a kid didn't make anyone give him extra attention. In comparison Zandr was a very clingy baby. Of course people were hopeful regarding his talent and future accomplishments, but no-one had any interest in recognizing him as the family heir.

Finally at four years old, his speech was fully developed. It was then decided that the family steward would start teaching both Kaden and Zandr in the family's combat technique and the method to cultivate.

The family steward, Edward, was a gray haired man in his late fifties. He'd been serving the family his whole life, just as his father had before him.

The three of them were gathered in one of the mansion's practice rooms as Edward began to instruct.

"Our Arkatal family's combat technique is called the Gold Piercing Fist. It was created by the family progenitor 200 years ago, it was then continually passed down with most family heads improving on it where they could." After speaking about the history of the technique for another ten minutes, Edward finally looked up and glanced at the two boys. A frown instantly came over his face.

Zandr had been standing upright and listening intently, clearly taking it very serious.

On the other hand, Kaden was yawning. He was excited to finally learn some skills, but he hadn't asked for the history lesson.

"First young master, is it too much to ask for you to pay a little attention? You should be more like second young master, look how concentrated he is." Edward gestured, "You may have talent, but without hard work you won't be able to achieve much. Hard work always beats talent."

"Yes yes Edward, I get it, I'll work hard." Kaden waved his hand. Even if he couldn't remember himself, he'd always been a lazy person in his past life. He did poorly in school and had no hopes of going to college in the future. It was a coin-toss whether he'd even be able to finish high school.

"You!!" Edward got red in the face and clenched his fist, "Are you even listening to what I'm saying? Don't dismiss me like this."

"I told you I get it so relax." Kaden said, "I'm paying attention okay?"

"Brother…" Zandr hesitated with whether or not to say something.

"Arghh no matter." Edward sighed, "Let's just get on with it. You'll see what I'm talking about later."

Edward went back to instruction, after another few minutes he ended the history lesson and began to demonstrate the Gold Piercing Fist.

Kaden perked up at this part, it was what he had been waiting for this whole time. Zandr also straightened his back a little more, eager to take it all in.

Edward went ahead and displayed the movements one by one. It wasn't the most impressive technique, but strength hiding behind each move was clear to be seen. Mostly it was about adaptability though, a wide set of moves to deal with any situation.

Finishing his display, Edward looked at them proudly, "See! This is our Arkatal family's glorious Gold Piercing Fist!"

But at the exact moment after Edward had finished displaying the combat technique, a ding rang out within Kaden's head and he heard the familiar robotic voice speak again.

"System evaluation, the Gold Piercing Fist can be considered a mid-class combat technique. Host is recommend to learn the system's supreme-class combat technique instead, the Five Flowing Arms." The system said.

"Now you tell me? I've been asking you to teach me something for years now." Kaden replied, exasperated at the system's behavior.

"Host's body first had to develop to a suitable level before you could train in combat techniques."

"I'll let you off. But now I need to learn the Gold Piercing Fist. I can't very well just run off now. Will there be any problems in learning both?"

"There is no issue. Although a waste of time, Host can simply learn the Gold Piercing Fist now and the Five Flowing Arms later."

"It's not a waste of time, the family obviously wants me to learn this technique. I can't really explain how I don't need to."

"First young master pay attention please! I am now going to be teaching you both how to perform this technique." Seeing Kaden lost in his own thoughts, Edward flared up again.

"Right right, I'm paying attention." Kaden hurriedly said.

Edward gave him a look and then continued instructing.