"..."
"...Just how long have you had this ’crush’?"
"..." Ryan froze as the bitter smile vanished from his face, realizing the trap he had walked into. "Brother Soren... that is not the main point of what I just said."
"It’s the most interesting point," Soren replied with an insufferable smirk. "Come on. You said ’childhood.’ How far back are we talking here?"
Ryan rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks flush again. He glanced around nervously, avoiding Soren’s gaze, in a desperate attempt to find an escape before he finally gave up with a sigh of defeat.
"Since middle school," Ryan muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "We went to the same academy back before we even awakened. She was already popular back then, and I was... well, nobody. After awakening, she became even more popular, while I... remained a nobody."
"I see..." Soren’s grin faded a little, but his eyes remained playful. "So... you’ve been carrying that torch for years."
"I haven’t been ’carrying a torch’!" Ryan protested quickly, throwing his hands up. "I told you, it was just a stupid kid’s admiration! Besides, we’re on completely different paths now."
"Well, paths can cross," Soren noted casually.
"Brother Soren, please," Ryan pleaded, looking completely exhausted by the teasing. "Can we go back to talking about the Bureau, the Tower, or literally anything else?"
Soren let out a chuckle, finally mercy-killing the topic. "Alright, alright. I’ll drop it for now. But once we finish gear shopping tomorrow, you’re buying drinks."
"Fine," Ryan groaned, though a small smile still flickered across his face. "I will even treat you to a meal, just don’t bring it up again, please. And, is there anything we need to cover for today?"
"No, that’s all for now." Soren shook his head, took out a neatly wrapped container, and slid it across the table to Ryan. "Here, today’s meal is on me. I made it a while ago, so it should still be warm. Make sure to share it with your family. It’s useful for ordinary people too, so there should be no problem with your little sister eating it."
"This..." Ryan paused, looking at the container in surprise before a warm expression crossed his face. Then, he reached out into his own storage ring and pulled out a container of his own, setting it down in front of Soren. "Actually, my mother made this for you in the morning after hearing you were in the hospital. She asked me to send her greetings and hope you recover quickly."
"You have a great mother," Soren chuckled softly. "Please, make sure to pass along my gratitude when you get back."
"I will," Ryan smiled brightly before standing up to leave.
Soren saw him off to the gate, waiting till he rode into a taxi, and headed back inside.
’...Gulp.’
His eyes naturally fell to the container on the table, and in an instant, a sudden urge to sneak a few of those dumplings right then and there swept over him. Thankfully, he managed to resist the temptation, because he knew it would taste even better when eating with Ethea later. Smiling, he put it in his inventory and headed to the bedroom.
Inside, he noticed Ethea ’sleeping’ peacefully on the bed. Not wanting to disturb her, he stepped back outside, found a spacious corner, and spread out a big mattress.
Then, he summoned the massive stash of items he received from his father-in-law on top of it. And, for the next thirty minutes, he painstakingly inspected each of them one by one. To ensure nothing was wrong with them or to see if any item had hidden potential, he didn’t forget to secretly use Advanced Appraisal on every single one of them.
When he finally finished, Soren looked over his handiwork with genuine satisfaction.
Ethea’s words proved completely true—Darius really was capable of immense benevolence when he chose to be. Among the haul sat five distinct A-rank artifacts: one powerful offensive piece alongside four high-grade defensive ones. Beside them rested a collection of rare, high-ranking consumable treasures and elite potions, accompanied by two separate storage rings packed to the brim with mana crystals. Best of all, his appraisal confirmed there were no hidden curses or trackers attached to any of it.
"I should sell a few of these tomorrow," Soren muttered under his breath, neatly categorizing the gear before storing it away into separate inventory slots.
With that out of the way, he spent another twenty minutes putting together the compensation he had promised for the incident. He sorted through his funds and resources, setting aside generous monetary compensation for the families of those who had lost their lives, while preparing high-grade healing potions and financial support for those who were injured.
As for the hunters who were critically injured... he held back on their payout, keeping a far more specialized plan in mind for their recovery.
With everything sorted and accounted for, Soren finally rose, stretching his stiff limbs as he let out a long sigh. Feeling pleased with a productive afternoon start, he quietly headed back toward the bedroom.
Making no sound, he pulled out another mattress and set it down quietly beside the bed. Crossing his legs as he sat, he closed his eyes. Instead of beginning his usual cultivation routine, however, he mentally summoned his interface.
’Status, open.’
════════════════
[PERSONAL INFORMATION]
Name: Soren Everly
Age: 23
Rank: Third Circle (Early Stage)
Mental Cultivation: Sovereign Soul-Refining Scripture — Stage 1: Intent Foundation
Potential: ???
Hunter Rank: E
[CORE STATUS]
Mana Capacity: 63,580 / 160,000
Mental Power Capacity: 30740 / 50000
Core Stability: Stable (Recovering)
Pathway Integrity: Recovering (87%)
Affinity: Ice (Grade 7 - S Rank) | Wind (Grade 5 - B Rank) | Darkness (Sealed) | ??? | ???
[ABILITIES]
• Hyper-Recovery (A-Rank)
• Everfrost Tyrant Body (A-Rank)
• Sovereign’s Fortitude (S-Rank)
• Cold Resistance (D-Rank)
• Adrenaline Burst (A-Rank)
• Indomitable Soul (S-Rank)
• Intimidation (C-Rank)
• Fire Resistance (C-Rank)
• Life Force Resonance (B-Rank)
• Core Purge (A-Rank)
[SPECIAL ABILITIES]
• Soul-Binding Symbiosis
• Guardian’s Resolve
• Amplification
[TECHNIQUES & SKILLS]
• Glacial Emperor Scripture (Foundation Stage)
- First Star: Frost Palm Strike (100% Mastery)
- Second Star: Winter’s Barrier (100% Mastery)
• Glacial Edge Spear Arts
- First Form: Frost Piercing Thrust (100% Mastery)
- Second Form: Glacial Sweep (100% Mastery)
- Third Form: Glacial Descent (97% Mastery)
• Heaven-Treading Flash
- Quick Step (100% Mastery)
• Cooking Mastery (Intermediate Lv. 10)*
• Pathfinder
• Perceptive Eye (D-Rank)
• Binding Threads (C-Rank)
[EQUIPMENT]
• Tether Bond (Bound to: Ethea Everly)
• Hunter’s License (Standard - Grade E)
• Ring Of Boundless Void
[INVENTORY]
[CREDITS]
[INVESTMENTS]
════════════════
’Let’s see what changed after the upgrade,’ he thought, scanning his newly formatted interface.
His eyes swept over the additions, immediately noting the newly unlocked Mental Cultivation category displaying the Sovereign Soul-Refining Scripture. But his gaze paused at the line directly below it.
[Potential: ???]
A single eyebrow twitched. ’Question marks again?’
Though a faint flicker of curiosity rose in his mind, he quickly brushed it off. He was practically used to the authority hiding everything like that by now. Shifting his attention downward, his eyes locked onto the Mental Power Capacity line—and he froze.
[30740 / 50000]
Soren stared at the number, doing a double take. It was already well over thirty thousand. If he remembered correctly, Ethea’s mental power had hovered around fifteen thousand right after her breakthrough back then. Since he had acquired his mental cultivation through the returns from investing in her, his baseline capacity should have matched hers almost identically. Yet here he was, sitting at more than double her amount.
’...’
A heavy silence settled over the room as he processed the gap.
’It has to be from that battle against the curse,’ he realized, the memories of that brutal ordeal surfacing. There was really no other logical explanation. Surviving that nightmare had demanded everything from him, forcing him to execute the Imperial Forge method repeatedly under extreme pressure just to keep his mind intact. Pushing his mind to the limit over and over had clearly forged his mind into something far stronger in the process.
’I guess we can call it a blessing in disguise.’
Honestly, though, he never wanted to experience that kind of torture ever again. Surviving that mental meat grinder felt like nothing short of a miracle. And, looking back, he knew he couldn’t take all the credit — it was largely thanks to Soul-Binding Symbiosis, Guardian’s Resolve, and the grounding anchor of Ethea’s presence that he had managed to push through to the end without breaking.
With an internal sigh, he decided he would dedicate time today to thoroughly understand the mechanics of mental cultivation.
Setting that thought aside for the moment, he continued scanning down the list, only to freeze once more when his eyes landed on the Affinity line.
[Affinity: Ice (Grade 7 - S Rank) | Wind (Grade 5 - B Rank) | Darkness (Sealed) | ??? | ???]
’...So I had a darkness affinity all along?’ He swallowed hard, processing the revelation. ’But it’s sealed... on top of two completely unknown ones.’
His thoughts raced, piecing together the subtle details he might have overlooked until now.
’...Could it be... Could this be all connected to Raine?’