We didn’t talk about that after that day. She had made me promise I would tell no one, so I won’t.
She has been teaching me with her full attention, and I too have been so focused that I have been training even after my training sessions with her.
The result of that was shown in my eyes.
[Novice Swordsmanship Lv.5 / 5]
[Novice Footwork Lv.5 / 5]
[Fire Arrow Lv.3 / 5]
I had made some progress but I was still rough around the edges.
But it's not like I was unhappy, rather I was over the moon right now.
“A-An… you… how?”
As I displayed my swordsmanship, my footwork and a glowing stick of fire floating above my hands to my mom, she couldn't help but stare at me with stupefaction.
Novice swordsmanship and footwork mastered, and a good halfway to completion for fire Arrow.
She was only hoping to see me get the skill
But seeing all this progress, she realized the potential I had.
“I-I mean, g-good j-job, son, I knew you could do it…!”
She was trying so hard to not praise me too much. It was kind of funny to see actually.
I know she was trying to make sure I don't get too arrogant but seeing the stupid smile she has on her face right now, I could help but laugh out loud.
“You brat, who’re you laughing at huh!?”
“Oh, come on mom, you can praise me a little you know, I know I'm a genius!”
Her face twitched seeing me brag like this.
But she still has the dignity of an adult so she quickly added.
“Yes, yes, my son is a genius. Happy now? Now go and rest, tomorrow we leave for the ceremony!”
She basically pushed me in my room and slammed the door shut.
“Well, ain't she adorable.”
Whatever, I better go sleep, my body is killing me.
She stopped giving me pills after the third day, saying it was important the body learns to heal itself as well, and the result of that?
[Fatigue Resistance (0.5%)]
[Inferior Regeneration Lv.1 / 5]
“Hey, system. How come the proficiency requirement is this high for the resistance skill?”
[All resistance skills are non-upgradable. As long as the proficiency is maxed, this skill will be mastered.]
“So if I max out this proficiency, then I will never get tired?”
[In theory, yes.]
‘What do you mean, in theory?’
[Fatigue comes in many different forms, soul fatigue, magic fatigue, physical fatigue and so on. The skill the host has acquired only covers the physical part, so you can still be exhausted in other ways.]
“The world is full of broken skills huh? Makes me feel less guilty for having a system.”
I also looked at my changed stats.
[Physique - 11] (+7)
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Magic - 20] (+5)
[Control - 10] (+4)
The greatest boost I got was for my body. All that footwork and sword practice really paid off.
From what I understand, a ten in physique stat is the standard for a normal human adult. And it's five for the magic and control stat for an unawakened individual. I asked all this to the system, of course.
So I have the physical strength of an adult man in the body of a nine year old boy and above average magic ability. Awesome.
As the blood red status screen disappeared and I got ready to sleep, I was interrupted by a loud notification right at that moment.
Ding!
[Target - Lily Chambers, has made a minor realm progression in her innate ability
Boom!
The notification started bleeding as the text changed to be written in blood itself as it read.
[The insatiable system demands more - 100x reward boost applied]
[Innate skill
A loud explosion happened with me at the center and all the furniture in my room was reduced to cinders as a fire I couldn't control started from my body.
“Hey system! How do I stop this!?”
[The system can suppress the effects of the change inside the Host's body, but doing so may cause some discomfort. Proceed? Yes/No]
“Just do it!”
The fire ravaging the room disappeared inside my body as my body turned into a black hole that sucked all the surrounding fire back into me.
I felt like I was burning up inside but I didn’t scream. Thanks to two lives of experience, I was sadly too used to pain. This couldn’t do anything to me.
The commotion had been contained but the damage had been done, the room was completely destroyed, thankfully the walls were reinforced with magic energy so they didn’t catch fire easily.
‘Still, it was only a matter of seconds befor-’
The door of the room burst open and mom came rushing in.
A wave of icy winds blew all the remaining heat out of the room and I felt myself cool down a little.
“Anshe!”
I barely managed to get some words out of my mouth through my gritted teeth.
“Hey… mom… hahaha…”
I laughed awkwardly.
She didn’t look at my expression and just started checking my face, my head, my hands to check if anything had happened.
“It’s okay…mom…you can stop now…sigh…”
“What happened? Anshe!”
…
A few minutes before Anshe got his new innate skill.
Eshreal was preparing for the awakening procedure tomorrow. She knew tomorrow they had to act out in the way they discussed. Nothing could go wrong or she might end up losing her son to those vultures.
She would never admit it, but knowing her son was powerless was very comforting in a way, he was out of those people’s crosshairs.
But she also knew what being powerless meant in this world. She had experienced it firsthand after all. If she had to choose she would still have her son be awakened, but as a mother she couldn’t help but worry.
She was very grateful to have her boy understand her pain. He had not asked her what happened on that day after that.
He knew he couldn’t ask, so he didn’t.
She knew why he hadn’t asked. He couldn’t hide his eyes filled with fury and worry as well as he thought he could. She could feel him looking at her with worry every now and then.
He had already made a decision. A decision to be involved in his parent’s mess, and she knew she couldn’t stop him. She had tried though.
Back when she woke up after being passed out for a few hours, she tried to convince her son to not pry into anything. She had asked to let her be and live his life, but the look in his eyes, that determination, that anger, it reminded her of his father. She couldn’t say no.
If he was going to be involved, then so be it. It was his choice and as a parent all she could do was guide him and be there for him.
She remembered the surprising display of skills he displayed to her today, and her heart welled up with pride.
‘Our son is a genius!’
She thought proudly.
‘Sometimes I wonder, what did I do to have such a good son? If only his father could see him like this, he would be so proud.’
Her eyes clouded over once again. But she quickly refocused.
‘One day.’
Sighing, she tried to focus back on her work, but it was all interrupted suddenly.
Boom!
“Anshe!”
She had a dreadful feeling covering her entire body.
“Such power shouldn’t be here!”
The place she had been hiding in with her son, she had chosen very deliberately. She knew she could protect him from whatever may try to harm him here.
But this power. It didn’t belong in this small region, and especially not in this third-rate sect.
She flew towards her son’s room, fully prepared to break the oath she had taken when she had made the deal with her family.
She knew she was being watched. That was why she had told her son to hide his power. Thankfully this happened under her watch in this house, which was completely covered in her power, no prying eyes could look in here. But that still left the question of who it was in her son’s room.
She broke open the door, her hands manifesting the strongest spell she had in her arsenal. She was ready for a fight to the death, but what she saw surprised her to no end.
“Anshe!”
She didn’t know what was happening to him, but at least she was relieved that it wasn't an outsider attacking them.
She cancelled the spell she had in her hand and moved to her son.
Her son was gaining something that could be considered beyond her. Even at her strongest, she could count on one hand the people who had Mythic abilities.
Her son kept surprising her. Looks like they needed to have a talk again.
Inferior -> Common -> Novice -> Adept -> Advanced -> Expert -> Elite -> Royal -> Epic -> Mythic -> Legendary
These apply to both Innate and Acquired Abilities.
If you’d like to read ahead or support the story, you can do so on Patreon. Thank you for reading!
:)