Chapter 24：News

Caylus stared blankly at the frill hanging off the target. He expected that Icarus would be able to achieve mastery and he had absolutely no doubt in his mind about the fact that he would hit the target. Never in his dreams, however, did he imagine such a situation. Trying to reign in his surprise, he stared at the empty quiver and then at Icarus, thinking about the schedule he had designed and what changes were necessary now. Even whilst all this was going through his mind, his face didn't show a single change in expression. It only took him to formulate the changes in the plan. 'Good job young lord.' He nodded at Icarus, 'How about we try something different?' Icarus nodded as he received the arrow-filled quiver from Caylus.

'Bang!'

Ten minutes later, Caylus was throwing clay disks whilst Icarus was shooting them down using his arrows from a distance of a hundred meters away. 'Good job lets up the pace.' Caylus shouted at Icarus before beginning to throw multiple disks, in a faster manner, up in the air. Icarus was too focused to care about exactly how Caylus was achieving everything with such precision and accuracy, given the fact that he was just a simple farm hand. In fact, he was enjoying the feeling of being engrossed in the activity so much that he didn't even notice that the quiver that was given to him by Caylus had long since run out and been replaced by another farmhand twice already. It was only when the discs stopped flying up did Icarus snap out of it and realise that the sun was setting. Icarus simply scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as Caylus walked over, laughing to himself. 'Its good to get engrossed in practice young lord, just make sure that you don't lose track of your surroundings whilst doing so.' Icarus nodded and followed Caylus to the stable where they had tied their horses. Soon they were on their way home. The majority of the journey was passed in silence, until Icarus' home was finally in view. 'Tomorrow we will be going hunting. Young lord can ask the lord about it.' Icarus nodded and when inside, where his mother was waiting for him on the dining table.

'So? Any new observations?' Daedalus was waiting for him on the edge of the forest. Caylus nodded. 'I have observed that even though the young lord is able to increase his skill level using the karma from his bloodline, the skills aren't fluent.'

'What do you mean?' Daedalus asked with a raised eyebrow.

'Well,' Caylus rubbed his chin in thought before looking up at his lord, 'let us take the archery skill he mastered as an example. We know that a master archer has at least four types of skills; split shot, rapid shot, dynamic shot and multi-shot. Young lord is able to use all these skills yet…they aren't fluid.'

Caylus nodded, 'I think even the young lord doesn't realise exactly how mechanical and robot like his actions are.'

'It does make sense, since he has never seen an actual Master Archer in practice, so he doesn't have anything to compare himself to.'

'I think this might actually be detrimental to the young lord's patience and perseverance. The only upside is that because he already has the technique inside his head, he doesn't require that much practice to come up to par.'

'Hmm…I can see where your concern comes from Caylus. Just let it be until we come with a better alternative.' If Icarus was here, he would have been scared witless from the fact that his father and uncle Caylus were able to decipher his ability just from a simple mistake he made of not hiding his ability well enough. Even more baffling was the fact they were able to spot a short-coming when the holder of the ability in question wasn't even able to do so.

'Very well then, I will talk to him about the hunt tomorrow. Take him out to hunt the Titanic Boar.' Caylus' eyebrows shot up but he didn't say anything, simply nodding before walking off. Daedalus just sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose before walking towards the house.

Icarus was staring at his mother who was smiling at him mysteriously from across the table. She had told that him that they had a surprise for him. He had been trying to decipher the secret for the past ten minutes but he just coming up blank. That was when he heard the door open. Swivelling around, he spotted his father walking in. As soon as he saw Icarus, he had the same mysterious smile on his face. Icarus puffed up his cheeks as he stared at his father who only laughed heartily and ruffled his hair before sitting next to his mother. 'Well Icarus, I'm sure your mother told you about the surprise we have prepared for you.' His father paused for dramatic effect before he asked her, 'are you ready?'

Icarus simply nodded his head, puffing up his chest. His father laughed heartily before finally speaking. 'You are going to have a little brother soon!'

It was like thunder in broad daylight. His father's voice echoed in his ears for a while before finally fading away. This changed a lot of plans he had but more than anything else, the white-haired man's words echoed through his mind. 'It is possible but there will be a price.' His redemption was finally here. He felt happiness bursting out from within his chest, causing a huge grin to spread across his face. His parents were naturally happy to see their son being so happy about having a sibling. 'Did you think of a name yet?' He asked his parents.

His mother nodded. 'His name will be Lapis.'