- POV Rain
I sat down in the car.
The comfortable seat made me remember the rocky floor in the cave.
Suddenly a system screen appeared in front of my eyes.
________________________________________
[MISSION COMPLETED]
-Survive the Frost Forest.
[Time Limit]: One week.
[Reward]: Casual Combat Technique, 500 SP.
________________________________________
I clicked on "Casual Skill" and a wheel with many different colors appeared.
The wheel spun for a few seconds and then it stopped.
[Tide Spear] ★★★
This is a three-star spear technique that uses water magic.
"Not bad." I thought.
Combat techniques had six different star levels.
If a technique was stronger, it was also harder to learn.
The Glaciels were famous for their skill with swords.
They had many combat techniques but they didn't want to give any to Rain.
They thought it was just a waste of time.
Three stars was not the highest level, but I was still happy.
You should not underestimate a three-star technique.
All techniques are powerful no matter their level.
The most important thing is to use their power perfectly.
Because of this, the technique is actually quite good.
Now I had to improve my water magic skills to use this technique in the best way.
The Glaciel mansion was on a big mountain. We arrived there after a few minutes.
I got out of the car and I felt people watching me.
I went directly to my room.
Luckily I didn't meet any of my brothers. Lester told me that my mother and sister were not at home.
They would come back in three days.
I lay down on the large bed.
My muscles relaxed and then everything went black.
When I woke up, I looked at the small digital clock on the bedside table.
18:26.
I slept for an hour.
The tiredness I felt every day in the forest was almost gone.
I took a hot shower and I put on some comfortable clothes.
The sun was going down.
I sat at the dark wooden desk.
It was getting dark so I turned on the lamp. Then I opened the bottom drawer on the right.
I took out a simple black phone.
It was Rain's phone.
Rain stayed in his room after the accident. He put the phone in the drawer because he didn't want to talk to anyone.
Zero unread messages.
I was not surprised.
Rain had a bad reputation with his friends. Most of them probably blocked him already.
"Status," I whispered.
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STATUS
Name: Rain Di Glaciel
Age: 16
Race: Human
Talent: SS
Level: D-
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Strength: F+
Agility: D-
Constitution: -D [up]
Mana: D+
________________________________________
Active Skills: Ice Magic lv. 9, Water Magic Lv. 1, Frost Aura lv. 1, Frozen Eyes lv. 1.
Technique: Tide Spear (0%).
Body Condition: Good.
[Shop] [Quests] [Inventory]
________________________________________
The physical stress after fighting the obsidian snake brought some progress.
I clicked on "Shop" and a new message appeared in front of me.
[SP: 500]
[THE SHOP HAS BEEN UNLOCKED!!!]
I looked at the huge catalog for a moment. Then I took a few seconds to think about how to use the 500 SP.
I realized that I could only buy low-level items right now.
So I decided to wait and collect more points before spending them on something useless.
The night passed quickly.
The next day I woke up early.
I put on simple clothes, a white short-sleeved shirt and gray pants.
I went to the elevator for the basement.
This world had many technologies from my old world, but most of them used mana for power.
The elevator doors opened and I saw a huge white space.
There were several training rooms and some were very large.
Nobody was there.
I was alone.
I went to one of the smaller training rooms.
I closed the door and spoke in a low voice.
"Level 1."
The white space changed slightly for a few seconds.
I took a spear from the wall on my left.
Dark shadows started to appear in the room.
[Goblin] (Rank F)
Three green monsters moved together to hit me.
I took the spear from my inventory and attacked them.
[Tide Spear]
The blade of the spear was covered in a thin layer of water.
The weapon became lighter.
Slash.
One head flew off and the body disappeared.
I swung the spear again and the other two goblins died.
I did Level 1 many times.
After about two hours the room smelled like sweat. I went back to my room and washed.
I put on my usual white clothes and went to my father's room.
I stopped in front of the door.
Knock, knock.
"Come in," I heard my father's voice and I opened the door.
- POV Edward Glaciel
I was organizing some documents when I heard a noise at the door.
I frowned and after a few seconds I answered.
"Come in."
A boy with long light blue hair and eyes of the same color walked slowly toward me.
Rain Di Glaciel.
He was the talentless one of the family.
He was a shame to our name for years.
"What are you doing here?" I asked with an indifferent voice.
Actually I was very curious about his visit.
I didn't expect him to come back alive from the Cold Forest.
Bu I was surprised by the look in his eyes.
In the past he couldn't look me in the eye, but now he didn't seem afraid of me.
The boy in front of me was different from the Rain who cried for my forgiveness a few weeks ago.
"Father, I have a request," Rain answered.
I looked at him for a few seconds.
"What is it?" I asked while looking at my documents again.
The silence didn't last long before he spoke.
"I want to attend the Exas Academy."
My hand stopped moving the papers.
I raised my head and looked into Rain's eyes.
"Do you realize what you are asking?" I said with a cold and strong voice.
A freezing aura filled the room.
I saw Rain's body shake because of it, but his eyes stayed on me.
He was waiting for an answer.
"Yes, father," he answered while he struggled to stand.
I looked at him and increased the pressure of my mana.
"All right," I answered after thinking for a few seconds. "Anything else?"
I thought he was finished. That request was already crazy, but he wasn't done.
"Father, I want a second evaluation," he said with a firm voice.
A second evaluation?
My mind went blank.
I wondered why he asked this until an impossible idea came to my mind.
"A double awakening," I whispered.
Rain nodded his head.
I called a small globe from my ring and put it on the desk.
"Put your hand here," I told him. My curiosity was growing.
Rain walked to the globe and put his hand on it.
A glowing screen appeared above the globe.
When I saw it, I lost my calm completely.
The screen above the globe showed a letter that I never expected to see for my son.
Talent Rank – SS.
My heart skipped a beat.
This was impossible.
Rain was born with almost no mana.
He was the weakest child in the history of our bloodline.
But now the globe was shining with a light so pure that it hurt my eyes.
"How is this possible?" I thought.
I looked at Rain.
He was standing there with a calm expression.
My mind was full of questions.
A double awakening is very rare and it usually happens to geniuses.
If the world finds out that the "trash" of the Glaciel family is actually an SS-rank talent, everything will change.
The other noble families will be afraid of us.
But more importantly, Rain is now the most precious person in this house.
"You may leave," I said.
I tried to keep my voice steady but my hand was shaking slightly.
Rain bowed his head politely.
He didn't say a word and walked out of the room.
I sat in my chair for a long time and I looked at the empty space where he stood.
I had to change my plans for the future.
- POV Rain Di Glaciel
It was lunchtime.
I asked Lester to bring my food to my room. Several books were on my desk.
Introduction to Mana.
History of Dungeons Vol. 1.
Magic Engineering Vol. 1.
Monsters and Beasts Vol. 1.
The Exas Institute is the most famous academy for Awakened people in the Areus Empire.
It is a prep school for the Star Academy.
That is the place where the main story begins.
To enter the Exas Institute you must be an Awakened and have at least a C-level talent.
There are some exceptions though.
Most students are children of important families.
The education there is the best in the empire.
Of course I could stay in the mansion and have private teachers.
But...
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[MISSION]
-Enroll in the Exas Institute.
[Rewards]: 300 SP, Universal Language.
________________________________________
I didn't have any reason to stay away from the Exas Institute.
We are talking about 300 SP.
But more importantly, there was the Universal Language skill.
This was a skill used by one of the heroines in the novel.
It allows you to speak all languages.
It also helps you understand not only spoken words but also written text.
The academy would start in a few days.
My father probably already finished all the paperwork.
I just had to wait.