I hurtled through the air like a ragdoll, until just a minute later, I hit the ground hard.
CRACK!
RUMBLEEEE!
A small crater ford under , and a few of the nearby boulders Aliyah had told to gather began rolling into the crater.
Even though my legs were broken, I blasted forward with my arms, just barely dodging the boulders from crushing as they collided.
BOOOOOOM!
The sound made my ears ring, as it was the sa as a grenade literally going off in my hand.
Since I wasn’t in any danger at the mont, I decided to rest, letting my regeneration do its thing.
Though I really wished I could’ve at least used my Atomic Stabilization.
Actually feeling damage like this was... not nice.
Still, now that I had so ti to myself, I looked over the quick tiline of the ga.
If I went based off the canon tiline, there were around three or four months left until the demons descended.
So sparing a month in exchange for getting coached by soone like Aliyah was definitely worth it.
But I also kind of hoped I would be able to work on my other Gifts.
After all, I wanted to try rging Red Lightning and Lightning Manipulation, and see what that would produce.
Or maybe Red Lightning, Lightning Manipulation, and even Pyrokinesis into one?
Hmm...
I’ll see in a month, I guess.
Ten minutes flew by fairly fast, and once I felt like my body was back in tip top shape, I stood up and glanced around.
I honestly expected this place to be a forest.
Instead, it was a rocky area with a bunch of boulders and even one or two geysers.
It was surrounded by mountains, and aside from going back up the way I ca down from, there was no other way out.
How barbaric...
Even so, as much as I’d like to be a complaining pussy about it, I approached one of the giant boulders and tested my strength.
I needed both hands to move it.
But honestly? I was more surprised I could move it in the first place.
I put my hips into it and began pushing it.
I soon arrived at the mountain I needed to scale, and yeah... from down here, it really did look vertical.
Digging my heel into the rocky ground, I positioned myself under the boulder and began rolling it up against the mountain.
There were a couple of ledges I used to climb higher, and despite what I expected at first, I was making decent progress.
5 ters, 10 ters... eventually 50 ters.
Yet as it felt like I might actually do it on the first try...
CRACK!
The ledge under decided to cave in.
I lost my footing, and the boulder slipped out of my grasp and began tumbling my way, leaving no choice but to push myself away and just narrowly evade it from crushing .
RUMBLEEEE!
BOOOOOOOOM!
The mont it collided with the boulders on the ground and slightly cracked, I realized that I might actually be just a teeny tiny bit screwed.
***
One week...
It took one whole week to carry every single one of those boulders up to the top.
At first, I kept trying the sa stuff over and over again, but after I made my own ledges where I could place my feet, it beca a lot easier.
...Though still as ti consuming.
Not having slept for a week straight or eaten any food, I dragged my exhausted body back to Aliyah’s place.
I looked like a skeleton.
And I really~ needed a bath.
When I finally arrived back at Aliyah’s place, Clentine was already there waiting for .
She blasted off the ground and reappeared in front of , hugging tightly.
"That evil woman... She wouldn’t even let visit you or watch you from afar!"
"I swear, when I get stronger, I’m going to teach her a lesson on manners."
I let out a chuckle and brushed Clentine’s hair.
Only then did I notice how dirty my hands were, so I tried to back away.
But instead of letting , Clentine hugged even tighter, as if she’d never let go.
She leaned in, gave a kiss, and then burrowed her head into my chest.
I really missed her.
And so, I decided to indulge her by hugging her back, and then eventually picking her up in a princess carry as I brought her into Aliyah’s ho and set her down at the dining table.
She imdiately picked up the nearest dish and began to feed , which I obviously didn’t refuse.
It looked like Aliyah was out again.
Though Eric was still there, just chilling with his feet up on the sofa, fully imrsed in the history book in his hands.
But when he felt my gaze, he turned to with a cheeky grin.
"Big sis told to train you until she cos back. Finish eating, and then go wash yourself off. After that, co outside of the cave."
"You’re going to train ?"
Is this so kind of joke?
"She said if you say sothing like that, I’m allowed to hit you with a stick."
"..."
This fucking family.
With Clentine’s help, I quickly finished eating, downed a few glasses of water, and then entered their indoor pool that was pretty much an inner waterfall.
I washed myself up, changed into so basic clothes, and after drying my overly long hair, I looked at my reflection in the water.
I had a beard now, though no moustache.
Although I liked it a bit, Clentine’s probably going to force to shave it.
Stepping back out into their ho, I realized Eric had already gone outside, and as for Clentine, she sat at the dining table and played around with the Soul Sewing Needle, as well as one of her Soul Weapons.
Seeing that, I walked up to her and brushed her hair slightly.
"How’s your progress? Or were you lazing around for the whole week?"
Clentine pouted.
"As if. I reached Grade 40 yesterday, and I figured out how to strengthen my Soul Weapons with this needle. I enhanced a couple thousand of them, though I still have a bunch left."
"Oh? I’ll let you do your thing then," I replied and kissed her on the cheek.
Right as I was about to leave, I glanced at the second dinsional ring on my finger that belonged to Vincent.
I took it off and placed it on the table in front of Clentine.
"Clentine, when you’re not busy, could you check what’s in the ring? It’s Vincent’s, so there might be sothing valuable in there."
"Mmm... Sure. I’ll check it out tonight then."
I nodded at her, and then headed outside, spotting Eric by the valley wall.
He held two wooden training swords, and when he finally saw , he tossed one wooden sword on the ground and turned his back to .
"Pick up the sword, junior."
Junior?
?
"Don’t get ahead of yourself."
I picked up the sword, and after waving it around a few tis, I nodded at him.
"So what’s up? What do you want to do?"
Eric turned his head slightly and smirked.
Then, he pointed at the thick valley wall.
"I want you to split the wall in two. If you break the wooden sword, I’ll tell my big sister."
"...Eric."
He wagged his finger at .
"No excuses. You have all the ti in the world, so get to it!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers