In the middle of the moonlit street, the mother and son stood alone.
"You can try your skill, Blink, here," Lara said softly. "Let's see what it can do."
"Mom, you should stand back. I don't want to hurt you if something happens." Ysaac glanced at her warily.
Lara chuckled, her tone light. "Don't worry. With a name like Blink, it should be a movement skill. If I'm right, it's a short-distance teleportation."
Ysaac nodded. His mother always seemed to know things he didn't, so he didn't question her. Taking a breath, he shouted, "Blink!"
The world shifted. In an instant, Ysaac felt the space around him—five meters in every direction—like invisible threads connecting him to his surroundings. He focused on a point directly ahead.
He vanished and reappeared five meters forward, exactly where he had pictured himself.
"Woah! I can really teleport!" Ysaac shouted, his grin stretching from ear to ear.
Lara, however, was already analyzing. "Is that the farthest you can go? Do you decide the direction? Or do you just… blink randomly?" A cascade of questions spilled from her lips, sharp and precise.
Ysaac rubbed the back of his head. "I think I can control it. Right before I teleported, I could feel the space around me—like a map in my head, five meters wide."
Lara's lips curved in a smile, but her eyes flickered. The standard Blink skill, one sold in the System shop to every awakened, allowed forty meters of distance. Her son's version barely reached five.
She forced her smile to stay, but a faint shadow lingered in her gaze. So this is his Seed of Power… Not S-rank. Not even close.
"Okay. Rest for a bit. Wait for the cooldown, then try again," Lara instructed.
"Sure, Mom," Ysaac replied—only to vanish and reappear right beside her in an instant.
"What in the goodness gracious?!" Lara stumbled back, her heart leaping into her throat. She had not expected him to Blink so soon. "You… you already used it again? What's the cooldown of your skill?"
Ysaac opened his system prompt.
---
SYSTEM
Name: Ysaac Van Risk – Lv. 1
Age: 15
Seed of Power: Space Walker
Stats
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 10
Durability: 10
Free Points: 0
Luck: 55
HP: 100
MP: 90/100
EXP: 0/100
Skills
Active: Blink (Cooldown: 00:00:19)
Passive: None
Inventory
Gold: 0g
Shop: Available
"I think it's thirty seconds, Mom," Ysaac said, grinning.
"Thirty—!?" Lara's eyes widened. "And the mana expenditure?"
"Well… I had a hundred MP. Now it says ninety. So, five mana per Blink."
Lara's mind reeled. The standard System Blink consumes twenty mana with a two-minute cooldown… but his…
"Try it again. Quickly, then check your system." Her voice was sharp now, almost commanding.
Ysaac obeyed, vanishing and reappearing a few meters away, before checking his prompt again.
"Yep. Five mana. Thirty-second cooldown. Consistent." He was practically glowing with pride.
Lara, meanwhile, could only stare at her son. Her earlier certainty wavered, replaced by a cold unease. This isn't the standard Blink. It's weaker… and yet far more efficient. Just what kind of Seed is Space Walker and a hundred mana?
The next morning, Ysaac made his way to school, nerves buzzing beneath his skin. After today, everything would change. At lunch, he would head to the Academy's testing hall, where his Seed of Power would be registered and appraised.
The results would decide his future.
If he scored an F or E, that was it. He'd be finished—condemned to live the life of an ordinary human, locked out of the dungeons and the world of adventurers.
A D-rank would let him scrape by in the town defense squad, patrolling borders and keeping stray monsters at bay. Noble work, but thankless.
A C-rank could earn him a place in small-town guilds. Maybe, with enough grit, he could claw his way into a bigger guild if he proved himself against the odds.
B-rank meant the gates to the top guilds would open—but not for glory. He would be cannon fodder, thrown into the meat grinder of dungeon raids.
An A-rank? That was different. An A meant power. Respect. A place among the elites, the kind of strength entire guilds relied on. A core member of every party.
And S… S was everything. S was legend. With an S-rank Seed of Power, guilds wouldn't just welcome him—they would beg for him. Entire nations would bend to his presence.
That was the dream. That was what he wanted. To claim the glory and prestige, to show the world that the son of a fallen legend could rise again. The world didn't know the truth of his relation. But Ysaac knew. And he intended to live up to the name of the man who had once shaken the earth with his power.
As Ysaac stepped into the classroom, two massive arms suddenly hooked under him and lifted him into the air like a princess.
"Hey, princess! How come you didn't update your best friend in the whole wide world?" boomed a deep voice.
Ysaac groaned. The culprit was none other than John Maximus Smith—a towering giant of a boy built like a bodybuilder. More than once, people had mistaken him for a grown man sneaking into the Academy.
"John, put me down!" Ysaac protested. Instead, he twisted free and Blinked out of the bear hug, reappearing behind his friend. With a grin, he kicked him square in the butt.
Bad idea.
"Urghhh!?" Ysaac stumbled, clutching his foot. "What the hell, John? Why is your ass so hard!?"
The class burst into laughter.
John threw his head back and roared. "Hahahaha! That's what you get for ignoring me your best friend in the whole wide world. If you'd been paying attention, you'd remember my foundational passive skill: Ironhide Body. Makes my defense tougher than any armor. My butt, my fists, my whole body—it's all built like steel."
Still limping, Ysaac gritted his teeth. "Yeah, yeah, you big oaf…"
But John's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait a sec. Did you just—did you just Blink?!" His jaw nearly hit the floor. "Wow, I didn't know you were loaded enough to buy that skill as a student!"
A sly grin spread across Ysaac's face. "Correction, Mr. John Maximus Smith—I didn't buy it. Not to brag, but I awakened it. My Seed of Power has spatial affinity."
The words hung in the air. For a moment, John's usual boisterous demeanor faltered—then his grin split wider than ever. He grabbed Ysaac by the shoulders, shaking him like a rag doll.
"Spatial affinity?! Are you kidding me!? Bro, you might actually be our school's first S-rank!" John bellowed proudly, loud enough for half the class to hear.