George looked at the list, his eye twitched slightly.

"Soul capacity: seven."

That drew more reaction than Silver expected.

Confusion, because it contradicted what everyone had expected. He was also just as confused since he had expected far worse.

"A Seven?"

"I thought he awakened average..."

"That’s still shaper potential..."

Even the patriarch looked mildly surprised. A rank seven soul meant four beast tattoos eventually.

Four.

This was enough to become a significant contractor one day, to stand on your own. That is if you can really manage to tame the beasts.

But besides fifteen, it seemed entirely small almost insufficient.

George continued.

"Tattoo compatibility: seven. "

"Estimated skills to be harnessed: four to eight abilities. "

There wasn’t the usual applause or an exclamation of surprise that usually followed. The moment simply... settled awkwardly.

His results were objectively good, just not good enough to compare to hers. But most of them if not all of them had forgotten the type of stone each of them had used to awaken.

While silver had used the lowest quality and still managed to achieve such results, Cruella had used the highest quality. If talent were to be compared, he was almost at the same wavelength as her. He had just been dealt a bad hand from the beginning.

But still, comparison decides value.

One of his uncles clicked his tongue lightly." At least he inherited something useful. "

Another scoffed." Seven is decent. Shame about everything else."

Soft laugh followed briefly.

Silver looked up to the side. Cruella stood surrounded again but her gaze was discreetly on him. Their eyes met but she shifted hers away immediately, a blush blooming on her cheeks.

Silver walked back to his former position but his mind still wasn’t functioning properly. The results were just not real.

The former silver had gotten a soul capacity of three and had been thoroughly mocked for it. It seems that his reincarnation had finally caused the dreaded outcome every reincarnator was scared of.

The butterfly effect.

He had expected to at least try to follow the routes but with how things seemed to be changing, it didn’t seem viable.

He was already forming countermeasures in his mind when a loud cough quieted the hall down.

George handed the tablet to another attendant.

"The first stage of awakening is complete."

His voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"Tomorrow at dawn, all successful candidates will depart beyond the outer wall."

This pulled everyone’s attention immediately because the second stage mattered more. At the moment, what everyone had was an empty soul.

A contractor without a contracted beast was incomplete.

"You will hunt and integrate your first beast essence," George said," only then will your awakening be fully stabilised. You will then be known as Contractors."

The patriarch finally spoke again from his seat above.

"Prepare yourselves accordingly."

They were all dismissed. The gathering slowly dissolved afterwards into conversations, excitement, and speculation.

Silver left without speaking to anyone. His servant, Sander, tried to follow after him but Silvers’ glare was enough to stop him.

He nodded and stepped back, letting his master leave alone. No one else tried to stop him.

.

.

.

The long corridor leading to his room remained empty, sunlight spilling through the tall windows in pale gold sheets that stretched across the polished floors. Dust drifted lazily through the line, unaffected by the turmoil happening around it.

Everything felt strange, distant even. The voices in the hall, her crying, the praises surrounding her, and the laughter of his uncles.

It all seemed muted now. Because the moment he stepped out of the hall, his attention had settled completely on the box in his hand.

His parents’ inheritance.

The same box the former Silver had carelessly tossed away. It still irked him to this moment. When his parents passed away, it had been too sudden and the only thing in their name had been the same apartment he had been living in.

The memory made him feel stuffy. At the moment, he was only going with the motion to survive, get out of the toxic environment he had found himself in, and also save the most innocent victim in this whole saga.

He only planned to get Ravenna out of the protagonist’s sight and probably send her to a more secure sanctuary.

He would have tried to be with her but he didn’t know how to broach the subject and try to worm his way into her life with Silver’s reputation being well known.

That would be an impossible mission. With her character, she would probably kick him to the curb if he ever tried to make any stupid approach.

He wasn’t really that good with women either, he’s been dumped enough times to know his luck with the opposite gender was shit.

Silver pushed open the door to his room and stepped inside quietly.

Click.

The door shut behind him.

Just like the rest of the estate, his room carried unimaginable luxury. A large king bed draped in silk sheets, a desk by the window, a large couch to lounge on, and a wall filled with the finest wine that could be found. The faint scent of mint and luxury clung to the air.

Silver walked to the bed slowly before sitting down with the box resting across his knees.

Old, with its color slightly chipped almost unremarkable but Silver couldn’t place it which made it stranger because now that his soul had awakened properly... he could feel something inside.

A small faint pulse, almost like a heartbeat buried beneath the layer of clothing and wood.

Silver traced a finger across the lid.

"What exactly did you leave to your son?"

For a moment nothing happened but then, the lock clicked open by itself as though responding to his question.

Silver’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’Interesting’

He lifted the lead slowly, pulling the small cloth cover with it. Inside, resting against a faded black cloth was the stone.

Multiple coloured.

It wasn’t as bright as depicted in most tales but Silver could already attest that it was a multi coloured Origin stone.

Colors moved beneath the surface in slow currents, shifting between silver, crimson, violet, blue, gold... never remaining the same colour any longer than one second.

The moment he looked directly at it, his soul reacted violently. Pressure spread through his chest almost like recognition that happens almost instinctively.

Silver breath slowed.

"... so this is what a Multi coloured stone is?"

It seems the former Silver had truly destroyed all his chances. He was a third-rate villain through and through. Just from how well preserved it had been kept, it seems his parents must have gone through a lot to get it.

Only four Multi coloured stones are known to have been found but no one knows who has them.

Cruella had probably used it on herself or given it to the protagonist. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

How sad.

The woman seemed to have really drained the former Silver dry.

A thought surfaced at that.

’Does she even know what is inside’

He shook the thought away. If she had known, she would never have given it back.

’Probably a plot device’

If he was right. She would have opened it just like him and gotten the surprise. How she used it after that, he didn’t know.

Silver reached towards it carefully. The instant his fingers touched the surface... the world stopped not literally but perpetually.

The sunlight froze and the drifting dust particles halted.

A voice emerged inside his mind. It was cold, precise, and completely emotionless.

[Compatibility confirmed]

Silver’s expression sharpened slightly, he had read enough web novels to know.

’There it is.’