Their attention was briefly caught by the sight of a large black creature dragging something out the door, then leaping directly onto the third floor balcony.

"It seems my daughter has some training to do with her new pet." The Elder noted.

Karl laughed. "I suspect the issue is that the relationship runs the other way. Shade views her as the pet, not him. So, when she didn't go where he wanted, he simply picked her up and moved her."

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"From the moment that I started speaking with him, yes. But it's fine. They will work out an arrangement, just like all other ranger and beast pairs do. It's just that she has bonded with an especially strong Divine Beast, with an equally overbearing personality.

Trying to break him will only make him bitter and make life difficult for everyone involved.

But they're still young, there is no big rush to have them combat ready and headed out on missions. Miss Anilla isn't even going to look like a proper human high schooler for at least four or five years yet."

However, the Elder knew that it wasn't a matter of appearance, it was matter of keeping up with her age mates, her peers in school.

When they started to go out on missions, they would expect her to do it as well, no matter how late she was to develop.

Which was going to be an issue on its own.

{Karl, I need your skill. I can't put my Elf away.} Shade called from the window. "She got the class, she hosts the space. That's how it works." Karl called back. The Elder sighed. "Speaking all forms of beast really is an advantage. Now, back to business. I have an idea of proper payment for unceremoniously dragging you away from your day."

Well, at least she was self-aware enough to realize it.

{Elder Xiao Bai Offers Knowledge) Skill [Ancient Wisdom] will be transferred to The Karl.

[Ancient Wisdom] Immortal Rank, Epic Grade. Allows the caster to grant one skill usable by themselves or an active summon to their entire Party. {Usable as a Guild Skill}

Karl stared at the System notification.

"If you could do that all along, why did you need me to use it?" He asked.

"If I did it for her after her awakening, it would be blatant favouritism, as I refused to do it for my other children. Making them work for their gains teaches independence and critical thinking.

However, what do you mean, I can do it as well?

That skill can only be used after awakening. Believe me, I did consider using it on that daughter of mine to get her started toward a class. Do you have a way to make it work for everyone? Or did you have the beast bond her first to trigger the System Interface, then grant her the skill to gain a Class Option?" Karl realized that he might have done something stranger than simply causing an awakening.

She had said that she knew his Class, so he assumed that she knew he could cause an awakening. Now, however, it appeared that she had assumed that he was going to bond the beast to the girl to cause the awakening, not grant her a skill to cause the same effect.

Either way would have worked, but Karl had wanted to give her the best matched one to go with her new cat.

"The System Message that I got is the same one that I get when I cast [Follow Me, Little One], so I assumed it was the same skill." Karl began.

"Wait, what did you call it? What I cast was the Peerless Grade skill [Skill Transfer]."

Oh, now that made a lot more sense.

"Uh, it's a Beast Master Packmaster Skill, from my previous class. Essentially, the same effect as Skill Transfer, I assume. It has to be a skill that I know, and that they're compatible with."

"That name implies something unsavoury," she replied.

Karl laughed at the suspicion in her tone. "In the defence of the skill, it wasn't intended to be used on other people, it's supposed to be to bribe new beasts to join my team."

The Elder relaxed a little as she realized that it was a slight repurposing of a perfectly normal skill for a Beast Master to have.

Beasts wouldn't have a Class when you met them, and likely wouldn't get one after bonding with a Beast Master. So, granting them a skill to buy loyalty was an excellent talent for the Beast Master to learn.

The fact that it could be used to awaken Classes was a bonus.

One that she would prefer to keep secret.

She had no intentions of being the one tasked with protecting Karl should her actions cause the secret to leak, and other Sects start hunting him to "recruit" him for their factions.

Karl paused for a moment and used [Earth Manipulation] to create a small Earth Element stone, and began to quickly carve runes into it. "Are you perhaps making an awakening day gift for Anilla?" The Elder asked. "For Shade, actually. He requested something special just a moment ago." The Elder laughed at Karl's open bias towards keeping the beast happy, but wondered just what it was that he was making.

Karl finished the [Villa Stone], and then attached it to a black leather collar that Rae had created.

There were plenty of similar ones, mostly with strength buffs on them, which

would be somewhat less than perfect for Shade, but even the stealthiest of beasts could still use a bit more strength.

"Here, catch. That should solve your dilemma." He called, then hurled the collar toward the cat.

Shade caught it in his mouth, and quickly equipped it. He tugged in annoyance

at the collar around his neck, then sighed and gave up. If that was the price to

get what he needed, he would wear the collar.

Then, he stuffed Anilla into the Villa space, and followed her in, vanishing from

the balcony.

"That's going to be problematic. The Elder noted.

"It's a low-grade barrier. If you know where they are, someone as strong as you can surely pull them back out."

"I would rather not play hide and seek with an invisible cat who can vanish into

a separate space."

"He can do that anyhow. The stone I gave him is so that he can put Anilla into a separate space to rest and study.

If I'm not wrong, Shade intends to begin intensive training right now, and not wait for nightfall."