Jon walked into the Albion Hotel, accompanied by his two younger sisters. The volume of noise that emanated from within the pub was capable of being heard even from the front door, the rambunctious nature of its patrons something Jon was all too familiar with.

  Although it was a Thursday evening, Jon remembered that it was still school holidays. Lydia and Ariel stepping into the establishment, all three of them noticing the large number of older teens that sat scattered amidst the stools and tables, alongside numbers of families with younger children.

  Jon had reached into his [Red Archives Of Mars Quirinus] and retrieved the pair of prescription glasses that he had once worn. Although Jon knew that with his odd-coloured hair he was bound to stand out, he decided to wear glasses similar to one he wore before entering the System Introduction.

  If only to reassure Ariel and Lydia that he hadn’t changed too much since his “accident.”

  Golden-green eyes glancing around the semi-open floor, mouth scrunched up in thought as he tried looking for their table. The sight of the waiting staff rushing between the ‘pass’ and the ‘floor’ caused Jon’s fingers to twitch, Ariel noticing the slight movement and nudging his shoulder while flashing him a wide smile.

  “You had a booking for six pm, right Jon?” She asked, Jon responding with a slight nod of his head.

  “Yeah, I mean, I asked one of the other employees to save a table for me, so it might be possible that-.”

  “Jon! Is that you!?” Jon felt his [Bestial Intuition] stir for a moment before turning around, hearing the familiar sounding voice. The somewhat awkward expression on his face, shifting, as his usual, smile swiftly replaced it.

  “I thought that was you!” Kate exclaimed, smiling at him while holding a few empty pint glasses in each hand, “You’re looking for your table right? The one you asked me to reserve.”

  Kate pointed towards a relatively isolated corner of the establishment, cheeks flushed slightly red. Her eyes glanced towards Lydia and Ariel standing behind him, taking note of their similar appearances and the shared colouration between their eyes.

  “These are… your younger sisters right? The ones that you mentioned before?” Kate guessed, watching as Jon nodded, placing his hands on both of their heads. Both girls rushing to brush his hands off their heads, glaring at him, while checking each other for any stray strands of loose hair.

  “It’s the first time we’ve seen each other in a while,” Jon said with a smile, “I just got settled into my new place and wanted to show it off a little. Although I wish we would have gotten Cain to come around too but…”

  Jon trailed off towards the end, Lydia and Ariel sharing a glance for a split second before the former flashed her twin a sinister-looking smile. Ariel mimicking the action, latching onto Jon’s arm before giving Kate an innocent smile.

  “Jon’s new place is huge! Less than two kilometres from here right!? Just a little ways-away from Carlton right Lydia!?” Ariel beamed, watching as Jon turned his head to peer down at her, gesturing for her to ‘shut up’ with his eyes.

  Lydia repeating the action, tilting her head backwards, nodding it in affirmation.

  “Three-stories. Close to four-thousand square feet. How many bedrooms was it again Ariel?”

  “I do believe that it was nine bedrooms Lydia. And five bathrooms on top of-.”

  Jon placed a hand over both of their mouths, ignoring the feeling of gnashing teeth trying to chomp down on his fingers. Holding both Ariel and Lydia back, he gave Kate a slightly awkward-looking smile gesturing with his head towards the table she had reserved for him.

  Although he did his best to ignore it, [Bestial Intuition] could not help but catch the slight twitching of her eyebrows, nor the slight racing of her heart when he talked to her.

  “I’ll get these two settled and then I’ll come up to the bar to order.”

  “Thanks again for the reservation Kate, I mean it.” His voice was about an entire octave lower than what it usually was, causing Lydia and Ariel to glance at one another, watching as Kate tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  “N-no problem!” Kate said, “I’ll come over latter with your drinks and whatnot. And I’ll let the others know to give you the staff discount. I’ll see you later, alright Jon?” She waved goodbye at him, swiftly moving back towards the bar. The soft, but unmistakable sound of dinging summoning her back towards where the kitchen met the front of house.

  His eyes watching her figure until she turned a corner, vanishing amidst the crowds of customers. The corners of his mouth curling upwards before-.

  “Ow!? What the hell was that for Lydia!?” Jon exclaimed, feeling something pinch his side.

  Both his younger sisters staring at him, each still wearing their oversized hoodies. Ariel stood, hands at her waist, while Lydia frowned at him, arms crossed right in front of her. Both girls giving their older brother an unimpressed look shaking their heads in visible disappointment.

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  “… You’re such a man, you know that?” Ariel said, softly sighing before walking in the direction of their table. Lydia nodding her head in agreement before following her twin, walking through the narrow gaps between each table.

  Jon took one last glance in the direction where Kate had walked off in, scratching the back of his head. Eyes turning towards Lydia and Ariel, seeing his two sisters take their seats at the table, both immediately moving to flip through the menu.

  ‘Thankfully, not much has changed for them over the past couple months…’ Jon thought to himself, moving to take his seat beside his sisters. The general hubbub of the Albion Hotel was relatively rambunctious for a Thursday evening, but still quieter than most Friday and Saturday nights.

  He had yet to hear the sound of a glass smashing against hardwood floors, nor the bellowing, half-drunken laughter of a middle-aged man.

  Taking his seat opposite both Lydia and Ariel, Jon watched as the two pointed towards various options on the menu, “oohing” and “aahing” at the multitude of different options available to them. Neither one seemed to notice Jon sit down, nor adjust the positioning of his glasses, switching out his ordinary uninitiated pair for a pair of Knight Ranked Extrasensory-Observation Glasses.

  The effectiveness of [Bestial Intuition] and [Eyes Through The Looking Glass] increasing tremendously, boosting his instincts and five senses beyond their passive enhancements.

  Given the shift in environment from the System Introduction back to Melbourne, Australia, Jon was still getting used to the sheer volume of noise and sensory data that he was able to perceive with his Knight-level senses. Although Jon had taken the kitchen hand position at the Albion Hotel in order to blend back in with human society, he had also done so in order to help practice controlling his Fragment Of Instinct and Fragment Of Eyes.

  If Jon overloaded [Bestial Intuition], he was capable of hearing the sound of a human heartbeat from more than thirty metres away. He was quite literally able to perceive all the conversations going on around him all at once, and the scents of numerous different kinds of cologne, herbs, alcohols and body odours all gathered within his nostrils, giving him the urge to gag.

  The Fragment Of Beast that he had integrated into it only amplified the Mortal-Ranked effect, increasing his reaction speed and improving specified resistances.

  [Fragment Of Instinct]

  [Bestial Intuition]

  (Knowledge, Passive, Ability, Enhancement, Sensory, Perception)

  (Beast)

  Effect (Mortal): Dramatically increases the effectiveness of natural instincts and intuition. Moderately increases memory retention and effectiveness of the five senses. The more “knowledge” you can grasp on a target, the greater the effectiveness of this ability.

  Effect (Knight): Dramatically increases natural reaction speed and physical agility. Further increases the effectiveness of the five senses. Increases resistances towards mammal-related and beast-related damages, afflictions, and debuffs.

  Jon had experienced what was possible when manipulating multiple Fragments Of Mind all at once. His conscious and subconscious minds were immensely expanded, manifesting in shapes and forms that he never thought possible.

  Although he was unsure of their specific effects, Raflea’s Fragment Of Multicoloured Mind was particularly useful in regard to “accelerating” thoughts. Whether it was the speed at which his neurons fired, or through some manipulation of spiritual energy that he did not yet understand, his thoughts were near instantaneous, moving at sub-light speed.

  It made his actions just that little bit faster, improving his combat effectiveness just that little bit further towards something similarly beyond his understanding.

  Now back on Earth, devoid of partners that he could spar with and Dungeons that he could delve into, Jon was forced to search for… alternate methods of refining his abilities.

  Even passive abilities, whose effects he had long since pushed to their limits.

  Teeth gritted ever-so-slightly as Jon further stretched the limits of his Fragment Of Mind. The voices of dozens of young men and women echoing out all around him, some drunken and overly rambunctious, while others restrained, muted as if trying to mutter a whisper.

  Tabitha-Cedarspear Arm clenching into a fist, as he ignored the ongoing conversations all around him, staring at Lydia and Ariel while adjusting his glasses.

  “Have the two of you decided what you both want yet?” Jon asked.

  Ariel furrowed her brows at him, Lydia nodded her head, gesturing towards multiple different entrees.

  “Ariel was thinking about the beef sliders and the garlic bread while I was thinking about choosing either the arancini or the bruschetta,” Lydia twisting her lips in thought, “Neither of us were thinking of having a proper meal, if anything we’ll just take the chips of whatever you end up getting Jon.”

  Her grin could have illuminated an entire room with how bright it appeared. Her green-coloured eyes possessed a hint of gold to them, something that was shared by all four Guilliman siblings.

  Minerva-Infiltration Eyes shifting the colour of Jon’s irises closer towards gold, giving them an almost mesmerising appearance.

  Jon just shrugged his shoulders, planning on ordering just an ordinary steak sandwich for himself. Lydia or Ariel were never ones to eat that much, but if the food was placed in front of them, the two of them would often finish whatever was placed on their plates.

  “That’s fine with me, do you want me to order, or do the two of you want to-.”

  [Bestial Intuition].

  His breath hitched, sentence paused as he head whipped towards the street behind him. Minerva-Infiltration Eyes contracting, watching as an illusory wisp of time natured spiritual energy flickered past in the corner of his vision.

  The familiar scent of scaled-musk tickling the back of his nostrils.

  ‘Not familiar but…’

  The rhythmic pounding of dual-hearts echoed in the distance.

  Muffled curses muttered in a language that Amadeus and Verti had taught him prior.

  Fragment Of Mind blocking out all the streams of knowledge and information that flowed into his Three Seas Of Knowledge. Focusing solely on the dissipating traces of time natured spiritual energy that saturated the earth and air, roughly two-hundred-metres away from his current position.

  “Order me a steak sandwich please. I’ve got something to take care of for a moment.” Jon said, allowing his chair to scrape against the hardwood floors beneath him, Extrasensory-Observation Glasses removed and placed back into his [Red Archives Of Mars Quirinus].

  He was already walking towards the doors when Ariel called out to him.

  “Wait Jon!?” Ariel shouted, “Where are you going!?”

  His figure pausing, half-turning his head to wink at them before giving them a reassuring smile.

  “Think I just saw an old friend. Just going to pop out and say hello for a second.”

  He was already halfway out the door, voice still booming from one side of the pub to the other.

  “I’ll be back in a minute, I promise.”