"Mom, I'm back!" Auric opened the door, announcing his return. He had come home a bit too late, so he needed to let her know he was fine.
There were footsteps rushing downstairs. They might not have been extremely wealthy, but they were fairly well-off.
Their house wasn't big. It was just a two-story house, but it was located in a good neighborhood.
"Welcome back. How was your ceremony?" His mother was a beauty.
Even though she was already forty, there wasn't a single wrinkle on her face. In fact, it wouldn't be weird if people mistook them for brother and sister.
People often said he inherited his mother's genes.
"Well, my case was a bit unfortunate. I couldn't awaken any avatar." Auric scratched the back of his head.
It might have been due to her following her husband's line of work that she was somewhat knowledgeable about the ceremony.
"That is weird. Everyone should be able to awaken one, so why couldn't you?"
"I don't know either. Maybe I just don't have any talent in that area."
His mother, Natalia Elfe, wasn't convinced, but there was no other possible explanation either.
'Did he cry somewhere?' Natalia misunderstood his situation. It was normal for people to dream of awakening a powerful avatar, so Auric might have cried somewhere else before going home to avoid making her worry.
Natalia grabbed his arms and pulled him inside. "Let's go. Let's go. Who cares about the ceremony? You can do a lot more. Mom has cooked a lot of food for you. Let me heat it up first."
"Mhmmm." Auric smiled.
Auric ate with a smile, not showing a single shred of disappointment. The result didn't matter much to him. In fact, after learning what he could actually do, he became a bit more excited.
Still, there was one thing that kept bothering him. It was the black dragon that had been flying around the house.
His existence was too unique and mysterious. Considering that the black dragon was his father's avatar, he thought his mother would know something about him.
"Mom. Where is Dad working right now?"
"Overseas. Why?" Natalia tilted her head in confusion.
"I mean, do you know anything about Dad, such as his avatar?"
Natalia looked confused about her son's question. "He has a black dragon. Why do you ask?"
Auric felt something was off. 'Does she not know anything about this?'
Even though his mother had been married to his father for over 18 years, it didn't seem that his father had told her anything. 'Is my dad that mysterious?'
Auric kept recalling all the memories he had with his father, but there didn't seem to be anything mysterious.
However, Lindwurm clarified that something was going on and he couldn't explain it.
'Why would my dad leave so suddenly?' Auric knew that he couldn't find the answer right away. Rather than making his mother worry, it was better for him to take care of her for the time being. "Maybe I just miss him, even though it hasn't even been a day. It's just too sudden, you know?"
"I understand that."
"When will he be back?"
"I'm not entirely sure. He is going somewhere far away, so I can't contact him. This is important business, so he has to be away for a few years."
"Is that so?" Auric felt suspicious, but he would figure it out later. It wasn't as if he could get any clues from the people around him.
"Don't worry. He has left money for your college expenses, so you don't have to worry about getting into college. Let's see… I will try to find the best normal college for you."
"Actually, I'm thinking about continuing Dad's store. There is no need to go to college."
"That won't do. You have a bright future ahead, so I need you to attend college. Besides, you can enter a business major. It would be good for managing the shop."
Auric smiled wryly. This was just the beginning, so he didn't know the full extent of his potential. Therefore, he shouldn't argue with his mother here.
"I understand. How about this? I'll tell you about my choice in a few days."
"That's fine as well." Natalia nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, I'm full." Auric hurriedly grabbed the plates, but his mother snatched them away.
"What are you doing? Let me handle all these tasks. Go back to your room and take a bath."
Auric just smiled and didn't argue with her. Besides, there were a lot of things on his mind, so he was fine with returning to his room. "Okay."
As soon as Auric entered his room, he jumped onto his bed and looked at the ceiling.
The chubby black dragon hovered above him. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking about you, but it's not like I'm going to get any answers, right?"
Lindwurm smiled wryly as he couldn't reply to that question.
"See? In that case, I'd rather think about something else." Auric sighed. "Still, it's quite interesting to use the flaw of the battle technique to gain power. But there is something I don't understand. If they can gain power that way, why can't they notice the increase?"
Lindwurm shook his head helplessly. "Most of the time, you check your progress after absorbing energy from any source, right?"
"Indeed. But there are times when you just want to check your progress."
"That might be true, but there are cases where their elements increase because they haven't fully absorbed the energy, right?"
"That's…" Auric had heard a lot of cases about this.
"To put it simply, there is no way for people to differentiate it."
"That makes sense." Auric was probably the only one who could differentiate it. The next thing they realized was that their elements had reached a certain point.
"In any case, you should learn how to control your element. After you can create a certain pattern, it will be counted as a battle technique."
"Or I could just learn other battle techniques or use the one from earlier."
"You can do that as well."
Auric nodded. "Still, this time we have a battle technique with a flaw, which can be utilized to get an element. What if there is no flaw?"
"The battle technique always has three parts: circulation, channeling, and manifestation. If there is no flaw, you just have to create one among those three."
"Creating a flaw?"
"Let's use that girl's battle technique as an example. The correct way is to use the right arm as the anchor, right? But that won't result in such high firepower. However, if you change the channeling part, it will result in that flawed battle technique."
"Oh! In other words, a simple adjustment."
"That's right. Then, you just have to direct that energy to your heart."
"Still, both shoulders are the anchor points for that battle technique. Can I change it so that the left arm is flawed as well? Will it increase the limit?"
"Yes. It will."
"What?" Auric dropped his jaw. "Why didn't you tell me about it earlier?"
Lindwurm rolled his eyes. "Listen here. Have you ever listened to me until I'm done?"
"I can multitask," Auric proudly declared.
Lindwurm's eyebrows twitched. "If I could touch you, I would have bitten you in the ass."
Auric shrugged. "You can't touch me, but you can fly away, right?"
"Yes, but I can't leave you."
"My father again?"
Lindwurm didn't clarify, but it was enough for an answer.
Auric sighed before getting up. "Since you're not going to tell me anything, I should try what I learned today."
He approached the wooden table like he did in the store, trying to use the left shoulder as another anchor point to increase his element further.
"Remember this. Every battle technique has its own limits. One battle technique might give you only 10%, while another can give you 20%. So, you'd better choose carefully. Before you say anything, I wanted to tell you about this risk, but you had already used that battle technique."
It was not a problem for Auric. "Well, you have to start somewhere. This plant element will become my foundation for the next one. It leads me to a question. How do I know how much magical energy I will gain?"
"You can sense it to a certain extent as you grow as an evolution master. To put it simply, you have to experience or test it yourself. If you just want a rough estimate, the more powerful the battle technique is, the higher the value."
"So, it's better for me to learn a powerful battle technique." Auric nodded in understanding. "But will other people achieve the same effect? If I want to sell it, I should know this, right?"
"To put it simply, they will receive the same benefits. However, the speed at which they will achieve the limit is different. Obviously, those with better grades can achieve it much faster."
"Understandable, but if it's going to give the same result, this will be extremely useful. For those with talents, they are simply getting stronger faster, while those who are more ordinary will be able to achieve their goal at double speed."
"Your case is slightly different. You don't have any affinity, so in terms of absorbing it, you might be the fastest. At the same time, you have to absorb energy for other elements, so it can also be counted as slower."
Auric chuckled. "It doesn't matter. Let's check this first, shall we?"
Without wasting any more seconds, Auric began absorbing the energy again. Unfortunately, he couldn't reach check the speed, as ten minutes later he suddenly heard his mother shouting from downstairs.
"Auric. Hurry up and wash yourself."
"…" Auric smiled wryly. She always supported him, so he replied out loud, "Coming!"
While grabbing his clothes, Auric checked his progress.
Name: Auric Elfe
Avatar: None
Grade: None
Affinity: None
Element: (Fire 0%) (Water 0%) (Lightning 0%) (Wind 0%) (Earth 0%) (Plant 13%) (Light 0%) (Dark 0%) (Unique 0%)
To his surprise, the number had changed even though it had been barely ten minutes. "It has already increased?"
"What?" Lindwurm looked at him.
He had been able to progress earlier due to the rare wood, but this time was different. The floor looked like wood, but it was just synthetic wood plating. The same applied to the table. So, nothing was supposed to aid his progress.
Yet, it only took him five minutes to gain 1%. It would take him about an hour to reach the limit.
It was indeed slower, but he couldn't say it was slow either.
Then again, Lindwurm mentioned that his speed was the fastest because of the lack of affinity.
When he took another look at the general situation, ordinary people might be able to get 1% from one hour to one day, depending on their affinity. At least, this was what he speculated.
Unfortunately, he lacked understanding about the difference in people's affinity grades. So, this speed might be far from reality.
Nevertheless, the effect wasn't bad, so he knew the marketability of this knowledge.
"I already gained that 1%, by the way."
"What?" Lindwurm was shaken. He knew what he had said earlier, but the effect was much faster than he had originally expected.
Still, he had gotten 'slapped' by Auric a few times already, so he snorted and said, "I told you. Your speed is the fastest, but you need to get other elements as well, so don't get complacent."
"I know that." Auric waved his hand, telling him not to worry.
Lindwurm stared at his back while muttering inwardly, 'What kind of monster did you give birth to? But this might be interesting as well. I want to see how far this kid can go.'