007 - Mythic Ability

After all that had happened, my plan of initially laying low was thrown out of the window before it even began.

Right now I was in my mom’s study and we were just sitting across from each other without speaking.

I thought this awkwardness might go on for some more time, but I heard my mother sigh, before she once again erected a sound barrier the same as before.

I suddenly had goosebumps.

I remembered what had happened the last time we had a talk in this environment.

I hurriedly put my arms up and shouted.

“Mom! Stop, I don’t want to hear anything!”

She was a little surprised seeing me jump like that, but her gaze turned warm as she started talking with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I won’t speak of anything I am not supposed to. Rather, I want to ask you a question. What happened back there? Did you awaken your innate ability on your own?”

I contemplated what to tell her, I couldn’t really say that it was the system that gave him this power, I wanted to hide the existence of the system until I figured out what it was and why it was here. So I had to quickly think of an excuse.

She thinks it is a natural awakening, something that usually happens later in life if not awakened during a ceremony, but it does happen eventually.

But I knew it wasn’t an awakening; I had taken this ability from Lily.

‘But I can't really say that now, can I?’

‘If only it hadn’t made that huge scene, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Tomorrow something like this may happen once more. How do I stop it?’

[The system can hide any changes happening inside the user’s body.]

‘Why are you telling me this now!?’

[The host never asked.]

Anshe resisted the urge to groan.

‘You could’ve informed me about this in advance though!’

[The System operates according to the host’s commands. The host’s failure to specify instructions earlier is not the System’s responsibility.]

‘Please try to suppress anything I get in the future. Can we control this to the abilities I will get on my own tomorrow?’

[No, the system cannot hold off abilities the host learns on his own, the system can however suppress the effects shown outside.]

‘Then please hide the abilities I get tomorrow from anyone looking in. Also can we manipulate the rank of the ability I show tomorrow?’

[Understood. And yes, the system can manipulate the host’s physical body to display any realm lower than the current realm of power.]

Seeing as I wasn’t responding to her, my mom asked once again.

“Anshe?”

“Uh, sorry, this is a little too much, just now I think I awakened my ability, but I don’t think this is it, I think I can awaken another one, I am sure of it.”

Then, to my growing concern, she exhaled heavily and rubbed her temples.

“Of course you can,” she muttered dryly. “My son miraculously heals after years of being crippled, and now he can awaken multiple abilities. Why am I even surprised?”

She looked tired. I even felt a little guilty, just a little though.

“So, what ability did you awaken?”

I contemplated for a second but decided to answer honestly. I have no reason to hide it from her.

“”

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Silence.

“Excuse me?”

“”

“...”

“...why am I even questioning it anymore.”

She sighed and leaned back in her chair staring at the ceiling.

“But this is a problem.”

“What is?”

She looked down, her eyes staring into mine as she continued.

“I was planning to hide your real ability by making you display a weaker Fire Control skill. But a Mythic ability? That’s worse than…”

She looked exhausted as she talked, I could see the gears moving in her head trying to come up with a solution for this.

‘Hey system…’

[?]

‘Can you manipulate the realm of this ability so that it shows as an Advanced rank ability and not a Mythic rank one?’

[Yes, that is possible.]

I smiled as I called out to her.

“Hey mom, let me show you something.”

I lifted a hand and let a small ball of fire flicker to life. The flame was majestic, dangerous and beautiful.

Then, with deliberate precision, I gradually dimmed it, reducing its intensity.

It slowly lost all of the luster it had until it reached a level which would fool someone into mistaking its rank.

The visible strength of the flame lowered before it was just barely stronger than an Advanced rank ability, even if someone thought that I was trying to hide it, they would at most assume one rank higher, not a Mythic ability.

Her attention was captured instantly, as I reduced the intensity of the fire slowly before she called out.

“This… how did you… You have this much control already?!”

“Actually I think I reached perfection in [Fire Manipulation] the moment I got awakened.”

Her smile froze.

"...Of course it did."

I barely managed to hold back my laughter.

Yep. Her mind is broken. I think if I were to tell her about the existence of the system now, she would gladly accept it.

But now is not the time.

She finally sighed with some relief.

“Since you can control your fire precisely, there is no need to worry about tomorrow. You can sleep in my room tonight, since yours is destroyed.”

She sent me out of her study, looks like she won’t be sleeping tonight as well.

“Goodnight, mom.”

Saying this I left the room, but not before wondering why I hadn’t seen Lily all week.

…

In her own personal courtyard near the Shining Cauldron’s peak, Lily could be seen sitting cross legged as she practised her fire control ability.

She knew Anshe was working hard to train for this awakening tomorrow. So she too had been working hard.

She barely managed to reach Half-way on her ability.

“I cannot believe I am having such difficulty in training such an inferior ability. If those people saw me now, what would they think?”

You see, Lily too had a secret she hadn’t told anyone. She had memories of her previous lives as well. She was once the Eternal Flame Empress.

Her goal was to evolve this skill from advanced to Expert realm and then even further beyond. She had done it once, she could do it again. So what if this body was born with inferior roots compared to her previous lives, in this life she would drag herself from the bottom and reach a realm she had not reached even in her previous life.

He had done it to reach where she was, so she could do it too.

It had taken her so long to find him in this life, but it was good, she had found him when he was still young. She could protect him now like he had done for her in her previous life.

‘Who knows how many cycles of reincarnation have passed since then… but still, I was able to find him… I will not lose him again!’

After Anshe officially becomes a disciple, Eshreal might not be able to keep an eye on him, but that was not the case with Lily, unlike Eshreal, she was a student just like him, there is no problem with them interacting.

Her body quivered as she thought about him.

“Ah, calm down, I can’t show such a shameful appearance in front of him… haah…”

Although she had maintained the image of a reliable big sister, it was not the real Lily.

In reality, she was madly in love with Anshe, not only was her love powerful but it was also extreme. A love which had not only crossed dimensions but time itself.

Anshe had no idea of the things she had been doing behind his back.

The reason no one dared to bully him wasn’t because of Eshreal, but because of her. The number of people she had sent to the infirmary after violently beating them up couldn’t even be counted.

Eshreal knew about it too. Lily was her only student, none of her activities went unnoticed by her. But why would she stop her, and frankly, if given the chance, Eshreal herself might do something worse.

So they stayed away from Anshe, because of what she might do to them. Otherwise someone like Anshe was a prime target for bullying no matter who he was related to.

She wanted to stay by his side forever. Although she lost him before because of her hesitation, she wasn’t going to lose him now. She was holding nothing back in this life.

She was ready to be with him even when he was powerless and now that he awakened, her dreams had reached the skies.

“I was going to look for ways to heal you after I had gained some of my powers back, but you healed on your own… I knew you were amazing in this life too…”

She looked forward to seeing him tomorrow even if he didn’t remember her. She was excited for the new memories they would make together in this life.

“Sigh… if only you remembered me as well…”

A tinge of sadness could be heard in her voice.