I left the red-haired girl near the adventurers' guild. The guards were close, so it was a good enough place to leave her.
I quickly ran back home and switched with Malik, who had gone to 'use' the bathroom.
As soon as I absorbed his soul, the replica fell to the ground, once again becoming a lifeless husk.
I hid the replica in a cabinet in my room. I'll be using it a lot, so I'll keep it for now.
After dinner was over and everyone had gone to bed, I snuck out of the mansion and ran back to the forest for more training.
I've been acquiring more stat points from hunting than I ever did with the daily task. I could work my butt off on the daily task, and at the end of the day, I'd earn only 0.1 stat points. It was—and still is—pretty infuriating, but now—
[ Stats ]
[ Strength: 20 → 23 ]
[ Agility: 15 → 18 ]
[ Intelligence: 10 → 13 ]
[ Mana: 24 → 27 ]
[ Luck: 7 → 10 ]
After killing just 10 goblins, my stats increased by three points. Not to mention—
[ Level up ]
[ Level up ]
[ Level up ]
[ Level up ]
I've been gaining a crapload of EXP.
[ Level: 30 ] [ 0.23% of original power ]
I never actually noticed this—mostly because I didn't need to before—but it seems like the system's main goal is to help me recover my original power.
What will happen if I reach my original power? Would the system disappear? How do I still have access to it in the first place?
I have so many questions, and no one to answer them.
It's not worth dwelling on these questions. My goal right now is to get stronger—strong enough to defeat those treacherous gods.
And that's all I've been doing for the last few weeks, so I was pretty tired this morning.
But that older sister of mine dragged me out of bed and into the courtyard. We've been training for the past hour or so.
Should I show a bit of talent, just to satisfy her?
If I'm being honest, I've always wanted to fight Claudia at her best. I want to fight her while I'm at full strength.
There is one way for that to happen, but it's risky. One wrong move and my secret would be out.
---
Clang
Clank
Clang
The sounds of Abel and Claudia's swords resonated through the mansion. It caught the attention of their father, Lucius MorningStar, the current head of the MorningStar family.
He was a young man at the age of 31. He had blonde hair and wore a black double-breasted blazer with a white dress shirt and a black tie.
He stood inside his office, watching from the window as his two children fought.
There was his daughter, Claudia—a genius among geniuses, proficient in both magic and the sword. Then there was Abel, the youngest of his children. He possessed no talent with the sword and was even worse at magic.
Yet, for some reason, Lucius always had the sense that Abel was much more powerful than he let on, but his son had never shown any signs of talent. One might call it a father's intuition.
Today, though, he could tell something was different. Claudia usually had a smile on her face every time she trained with Abel, but today, she looked disheartened, as if she had started to give up on him.
---
The moonlight filtered through the tall windows of the mansion as Abel stood over his sleeping sister.
With a flick of his wrist, the world around them distorted.
[ Skill: Infinity's Domain Activated ]
The bedroom walls melted into a dark, endless void. This was Abel's territory—a place where he could exert his true strength against his sister.
As he looked down at his sleeping sister, he placed his palm on her forehead.
"Traumstyra."
His palm began to glow with a bright purple light.
When the light faded, he removed his hand from Claudia's forehead. His sister opened her eyes and stood up.
"That worked," he said.
'Traumstyra,' a B-rank spell used to manipulate one's dreams. With proper control, this spell could be used for mind control—and that's exactly what Abel did. He made his sister believe she was dreaming of fighting an older version of him.
---
Lately, Claudia had been pondering something.
From the very day she was able to hold a sword, she had trained from morning till night, rarely ever taking a break. It's not that her parents forced her—she chose this path of her own will.
Her father, Lucius, seeing her talent, arranged for her to train under the best swordsmanship teacher in the estate.
When the swordmaster arrived, he took one look at Claudia and decided she wasn't worth his time. He would teach a few moves, take his money, and leave.
But the moment he saw her train, he realized this little girl would change the world. If he played his cards right, he would be known as the swordsman who guided her. In that moment, he decided to teach her his sword style.
But as fate would have it, within a few weeks, young Claudia had already created a sword style of her own—one that greatly surprised the swordmaster. He quietly packed his things and left.
For the next year, she trained her sword style, perfecting it to its very core.
At the same time, she had also started learning magic. She was expected to learn light magic—it was their family specialty—but while she excelled at it, she developed a deeper interest in ice magic.
Ice offered both defense and offense—something that would greatly complement her swordsmanship.
When she realized this, she dashed to the training hall. With her sword in hand, she began to swing while chanting different ice spells. She rearranged the spells and channeled her aura in different ways to suit her swordsmanship.
And thus, the Moon Blade was born.
It was a technique that left everyone speechless. Other swordsmen heard of it and attempted to learn it, but to do so, they would have to defeat Claudia.
Unfortunately, not a single one of them stood a chance.
It disappointed young Claudia—no one could give her a proper fight.
All until the birth of her little brother, Abel.
When he was born, she sensed vast potential in him. Maybe—just maybe—he would be the first to challenge her.
And so, for the next five years, she trained Abel in her swordsmanship. But to her dismay, Abel turned out to be worse than the other swordsmen she fought.
Sure, she was only five years older, but she expected him to at least be above average. Instead, he seemed below average—for some reason.
Still, she didn't give up. She continued to train him.
But she began to question herself.
Was her brother really talentless?
That's why this dream—this vision of an older Abel holding a sword before her—felt unreal.
He was taller than her little brother, though still shorter than her current self.
The only thing telling her this was Abel… was his yellow eyes.
Dreams were supposed to be built from memories, and aside from Abel, she had never met a swordsman with yellow eyes.
In this dream, Abel pointed his sword at her, brimming with confidence. He tossed a sword in front of her and smiled.
His smile meant only one thing: pick it up.
If this truly was a dream, then it meant Abel was a projection of what she wanted him to become.
If that was the case…
She picked up the sword, took one more look at him—
—and lunged.