Ivan came down to the large living room some time later, his mother and elder brother were already waiting for him.
Ivan stared at his mother, the beautiful golden-haired Elena Castellan, the lady of the Castellan family, and she gave him a heartwarming smile upon seeing her second son.
Ivan couldn't help but remember the last time he had met his mother before being reborn; he wasn't a human at that time, and their relationship wasn't friendly at all.
'Let's not think about that now, all of that doesn't matter anymore; we're a family now and I'll keep it that way.' Ivan thought to himself before shifting his gaze to his elder brother.
Ethan Castellan, the first son and heir of the Castellan family. Unlike Ivan, who got their father's eyes and mother's hair colour, Ethan got both from their father, but their facial resemblance could still be seen.
Ethan, who was now in his thirties still looked very young and one could easily mistake him for someone in his twenties; he looked only a few years older than Ivan!
One might think that those from the Castellan family would stop aging once they reached twenty.
"You finally came down, my dear brother," Ethan said with a warm smile. He had always been fond of Ivan ever since the latter was born, especially after what happened on the day of Ivan's birth. This had caused the entire family to cherish him dearly.
"Good morning, brother." Ivan voiced out in a respectful tone.
"Come, mother and I will be the one to accompany you for your awakening since father couldn't make it back in time," Ethan said, his tone turned a bit sad towards the end of his words.
"It's fine, father must be very busy not to come personally," Ivan said thoughtfully, hoping to improve his brother's mood.
He knew that just like everyone else in the family, his father doted on him as well. For him not to be present during his first awakening, the man must be in a situation where he's unable to leave casually.
"Alright then, the carriage is ready, let's head off for the academy!" Elena announced and then proceeded to pull her two sons out of the living room, a warm smile plastered on her face.
On their way to the academy, Ivan stared at the sky through the window, his mind filled with thoughts.
Growing up, he had learned that on the day of his birth, strange creatures had appeared on the planet through one of the dungeons and had asked the people of this planet to surrender or prepare for battle.
A huge fight had broken out between the people of this planet and the creatures from the dungeons. Although Earth had won, it was at a huge price; lots of people had died in that battle, and even Ivan's father had been injured.
Ivan was all too familiar with this event; this wasn't the first time it had happened after all.
Now that he was seventeen, it means that seventeen years have passed since the Skrivaloks discovered Earth.
'If there aren't any changes, Earth only has twenty years left before the main forces of the Skrivas arrive on Earth. With Earth's current strength, it'll be no different from what happened the last time.' Ivan thought to himself, his eyebrows turning into a frown.
He didn't know if his being reborn as a human would affect the original plot of what happened last time. It took the Skrivas 37 years to prepare Earth for their main forces, meaning that some Skrivas were really hiding on Earth!
Even at this moment, the strongest human was still only a level six warrior. Earth would be doomed with such strength if the Skrivaloks arrived in twenty years' time.
'No way I'm going to let that happen. Since they betrayed me the last time, I'll make sure they do not succeed this time.' Ivan decided inwardly.
But he knew that to prepare Earth, he needed to get stronger first or else no one would believe a thing he said.
Even his father might not take him seriously without any proof. To them, they thought that they already wiped out all of the skrivaloks that came to Earth, not knowing that there were already thousands hiding all over the planet.
Ivan needed strength if he wanted to show proof that the skrivaloks were still on the planet and that Earth was in danger.
Luckily, he was once a powerful skrivalok, twenty years was plenty of time for him to get stronger and prepare Earth for war.
It's all thanks to the very reason why the Skrivas had invaded Earth; the planet was full of resources, but humans didn't know how to use them or had yet to discover them. But Ivan had all of the knowledge as a former general, he planned to get stronger quickly and become a blockade to the Skrivaloks!
"What are you thinking so hard about, brother? Don't be nervous, our Castellan family is a family of elementals. No matter what form of element you awaken, you won't change in our eyes."
Ethan's voice sounded in Alex's ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. At the same time, Ivan felt a palm on his head. It was Ethan's.
"Fufufu, don't be so nervous, dear. You don't need to awaken a powerful element, just go along with the process." Elena giggled from the side. Seeing her two sons getting along made her very happy.
"I'm not nervous, I was thinking of something else." Ivan expressed, shifting in his sitting position.
"Oh, is that so? Care to tell what you were thinking about?" Ethan asked with a teasing look, he thought that Ivan was trying to lie about being nervous.
"Those creatures from the dungeon seventeen years ago, what if there are more of them hiding on the planet and more are still coming, stronger ones?" Ivan stated, he wanted to see how his brother would react to this information.
Upon hearing this, Ethan's eyes flicked with a cold intent which was to hide his killing intent from Ivan and their mother. His expression turned cold as well and faint lightning arcs cracked around his fingers.
"Then I'll hunt them to the very last one." He said in a deep tone. His response stunned Ivan, he thought that his brother was starting to understand the conspiracy. But before he could say anything else, Ethan's expression turned casual.
"But you don't have to worry, we killed every last one of them and even scouted the dungeons, there aren't any more of those creatures left. Besides, we killed their stronger ones already." Ethan said calmly.
Ivan "..."
"All right,"
'You have no idea how wrong you are,'
Not saying another word, Ivan returned to staring outside through the window of the carriage as his mind drifted into thought again.
The carriage soon arrived at the Red Star Royal Academy.
The Red Star Royal Academy was the biggest academy in the whole empire, and it was everyone's dream for their children to study here.
Of course, not everyone can enter the Red Star Royal Academy; only children of emperors, those from top-rated families or with connections and some extremely lucky few could enter.
The carriage of the Castellan family stopped at the waiting area and three figures stepped out.
"Come, let's go in. Remember, just relax and let it flow." Ethan looked at Ivan and said with an encouraging smile.
Ivan "..."
"I'm not nervous,"
"Sure, sure."
"Fufufu."