Adrian just sat on his bed. He stared at the wall and formulated his plans for an entire hour before he finally got up and walked down the hall to his private study.

He opened the door to see a young woman standing near the bookshelves.

’Serena Ashford...’ he thought as he looked at her.

The webnovel never included official character art for her and due to this, Adrian had absolutely no idea what she looked like until now. But now he knew.

She was twenty one years old but she looked incredibly cute. She had soft features and big, nervous eyes. Adrian looked at her and instantly understood her horrible social standing. She had the kind of overwhelming, fragile aura that triggered two very specific reactions in people.

You either got a violent urge to protect her, or an incredibly cruel urge to bully her.

And high society nobles usually picked the second option.

Serena turned around. She immediately pinched the sides of her skirt, lifted it slightly, and dropped into a perfect, ladylike bow. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"There is no need for all of this etiquette stuff." Adrian waved a hand. "Make yourself comfortable."

He sat down in his leather chair.

Serena awkwardly took the seat across the desk and soon, her hands were literally shaking in her lap.

"Why are you here?" Adrian asked directly. "What are you expecting to gain from coming here?"

"M-my father told me you can help me." Serena stuttered. "A... way to rank up my mana veins. I will do anything to make it possible."

"Why are you this nervous?"

"I do not know." Serena looked down at the floor. "It always happens whenever I try to talk to people."

Adrian sighed. "Do not worry about it. When did you start learning magic?"

"I was six years old." Serena whispered. "It took me four years just to form my first magic circle. And I am still stuck there."

Fifteen years of non stop grinding just to sit at the absolute bottom of the magic ladder.

Adrian completely understood her pain.

"Listen to me." Adrian leaned forward. "Your mana veins and your magic circle limit are directly connected. If you have F rank veins, your absolute maximum limit is the second circle. And reaching that limit takes decades of raw effort."

Serena just nodded sadly.

"I was born with E rank veins." Adrian said calmly. "I was incredibly frustrated too. Because first and second circle mages are basically useless. You need to hit the third circle just to be able to fight in small skirmishes, and the fourth circle to actually be impactful in a real war."

He tapped the wooden desk.

"But I got lucky." Adrian said. "I found a way to increase a person’s mana vein rank. There are two viable methods that have the least amount of drawbacks."

Serena looked up quickly.

"The first method is something you do completely on your own." Adrian explained. "The second method requires my direct help. It is much faster, but it is extremely painful."

He stared right into her eyes.

"You will not even be able to scream." Adrian warned her. "And if the person helping you does not have perfect mana control, they can permanently damage your mana veins. The choice is yours."

Serena swallowed hard, looking completely terrified.

"There are other methods." Adrian added. "But they are highly conditional, require specific requirements and they are much riskier because they are not the correct way to do things. They come with severe drawbacks."

"Can you at least tell me about them?" Serena asked quickly. "So I can pick on my own? I do not like pain. But if none of these other options are viable, I will pick the second option."

"Fine." Adrian sighed.

He opened a drawer and pulled out the thick book.

He spent the next few hours reading the contents inside to her. He explained the sacrificial methods involving animal and human blood. He told her how it generated massive amounts of negative Karma and how karma did not stop the magic from working, but it acted like a magnet for both good and bad luck.

Then he read about the emotional absorption techniques.

"You drain the emotional energy from people around you." Adrian read the text. "But the drawback is harder to control than Karma. You absorb their scattered emotions and change into a completely different person. You lose control of your own mind."

They talked until the room slowly went dark and both of them looked incredibly tired. Serena rubbed her eyes as her posture slumped.

Adrian took out a magical lamp that Aria had created, which lit up the room almost instantly.

"Can I have the book?" Serena asked quietly. "I want to read it myself. I will give you my answer soon."

Adrian thought about it for a second.

"Sure." Adrian said. "But you need to promise me you will not tell anyone about any of these methods."

He pulled a blank Soul Contract and wrote down the specific clauses. If she accepted him as her mentor to rank up her veins, she had to keep every single thing he taught her a total secret. Nobody was supposed to know, and she was strictly forbidden from helping anyone to cause harm to his territory or his people or do it herself.

That was basically it.

Serena did not even hesitate. She sent her mana into the parchment and sealed the contract.

Adrian handed the heavy book over.

She thanked him and quietly left for her guest room in the mansion. Adrian was completely exhausted too, so he just went straight to sleep.

The next morning.

Adrian walked out to the edge of the training fields. He found Burke and ordered him to bring in the civilian squad.

Burke ran off and returned a few minutes later with a specific group of two hundred men.

These men did not wear heavy steel armor or carry swords. They wore plain, regular clothes instead.

They were the recruits who totally failed the knight training. Their bodies just could not handle the mana circulation. So Adrian gave them a different job.

They were the undercover police force.