Great Morning  

At long last, after years of suffering, the employed guards of the Aria Estate had finally gotten the sweet relief of peace. Gwen's antics caused many of them to suffer greatly as the spells that Gwen tried out were always troublesome and unpredictable, even the weakest spell in her arsenal, a Tier 3 spell, could wreak havoc if not dealt with properly.

Although the children of the Aria family have all been quite terrifyingly talented, Gwen was on another league on her own. While Rachel was Gwen's age, she could only cast Tier 7 spells as a Tier 5 Mage, yet Gwen, despite being only a Tier 2 Mage, could cast Tier 9 spells given that she had enough mana. She was a being that broke through common sense, being unrestricted in casting any spell under the Archmage tier.

As powerful as it seemed, the higher the Tier she cast, the weaker its effects would become, this information made most of the guards sigh in relief yet for some odd reason, Gwen was tricky enough to bypass this requirement by using Death Artifacts as the power source of her spells. This caused an even greater outbreak within the Aria Estate, this essentially made it so that Gwen had no weakness.

Every time a new Grimoire showed up within the Aria Estate, countless guards trembled in fear as they knew that it could be their turn to be the 5th child's lab rat. And every time she showcased her new spells, rumors would come out that she's slowly becoming more and more unrivaled. Some even speculated that Gwen could possibly fight against Finn on equal terms, a monstrous achievement.

As everyone knew, Finn was at the peak of Tier 9, only needing that tiny nudge to completely break through to the Archmage realm. For a Tier 2 Mage to beat a Tier 3 Mage was already quite an achievement that would warrant noble households to recruit them. For a Tier 2 Mage to beat a Tier 9 Mage, it was completely unprecedented, possibly only Nio would've been able to achieve such a feat. For a Tier 2 Mage to rival a Tier 9 Mage that has the Aria bloodline within them would basically be giving rise to a new era.

Of course, all of this was only speculation, as for how powerful Gwen or Finn was, no one knew except for themselves, and Nio, who was carefully observing all his children's growth with a keen eye. He noted down their strengths, weaknesses, habits, and opportunities, to use for future reference. He would then create schemes that would 'naturally' let his children earn enlightenment.

"Finn still needs to find his specialization and motivation, he's far too at ease. Let's see… bloodshed should be enough. Now what kind of war would spark his heart ablaze…" Nio manipulated his crystal ball as he started either communicating or brainwashing countless people to set up a specific scenario.

After finishing his plans, he set his eyes back on Gwen, "Even until now, you've been growing fast, far too fast, so fast that I'd actually have to stop your growth. Let's see, Gwen loves sweets, why don't I just…" Nio used his own people to contact a few merchants in Jiana Kingdom, investing a ludicrous amount of money to create a festival where these merchants would show off their wares and goods, mainly focusing on pastries and candies.

After finishing his preparations, he set his eyes on his 2nd child. She was currently sitting down below a waterfall, letting it wash over her without any sort of resistance. She was wearing nothing but a simple set of clothing that wasn't fancy or luxurious, something that a normal farmer would use. Despite this common attire, her blazing purple hair and deep black eyes clearly showcased her immense beauty. There was a sword sheath in front of her, levitating above the ground, oddly enough there was no mana doing so, it seemed to have been floating on its own.

"Father, what did I say about peeking at me? I already left the Aria name behind, there's only the Way of the Sword in my heart now." The 2nd child coldly spoke, clearly already having made her stance. She still had her calm and serene expression on her face yet the surroundings started to vibrate, as if a great predator was preparing its move.

"Gwendolyn's taking her first steps outside the Aria Estate. Don't you want to meet her soon? If you head to Jianna Kingdom, you'll be able to finally say hello. I know you still care about your siblings even if you loathe me."

"Tch," The 2nd child raised her hand as the floating sword sheath unsheathed itself. She swiped her hand down as this pristinely crafted sword slashed down at the same time, the great void seemed to have been cut as the destructive force behind it caused the crystal ball that Nio used to crack apart.

"She's getting close to unlocking the first condition. That's my girl," Nio warmly smiled as felt satisfied that his 2nd child found her path amidst the cruel world. "Meditation, that's not a bad method either, though…"

The 2nd child stood up from under the waterfall and stretched her limbs, each of her movements showing the grace and beauty of near-perfection. She seemed to have slowly walked forward yet her speed was well beyond what any mortal could comprehend. Countless trees and rocks filled her vision as this environment was extremely peaceful. As she finally reached a certain point, the illusion of peace finally shattered, the outside world of this fragmented dimension was filled with countless corpses, the bodies filled the horizon as every single person here had their limbs cut off and their head dismembered. Every single person here died the same way, with perfect and precise dismemberment.

The 2nd child muttered under her breath, "Nothing can go wrong with this much blood this early in the morning."

Nio continued on, "She's too prone to bloodshed."