Blaze and Kana bury the body. It takes them almost four hours to complete the job.
To make sure no keen eye will find the mound of dirt suspicious, Blaze has an idea to put a plant on it.
Since his mother already has the excuse that they were digging for a new plant, Blaze feels like they should do it for real.
This can avoid so many problems in the future.
It's almost midnight now. Sweat covers Blaze's body after the fact.
He stands up straight for the wind to blow on him, the addictive sensation of coolness washes over his body.
There isn't a tiny bit of regret or remorse growing inside him. That pig deserved to die.
There's only contempt for Phuc inside Blaze and delightfulness for his death.
Kana is tired to the bone. She sits down on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees.
"Will someone be looking for him?" Blaze says.
Kana shakes her head.
"I doubt it. Apart from the fact that he is an Awakened, he is still a loser.
He has no friends, no family, and his old colleagues hated him."
"So no one will remember the pig. A suitably pathetic end for him."
"It does. But his credit code is what saves us. We can only use his code for a week before it expires.
We're going to need to register you before that."
"Don't worry, Mom. I have powers, we can deal with that quickly."
Blaze goes inside the house. He stops at the door when he sees his mother stays still.
"Are you not going in, Mother?"
"It's been a while since I felt this free, kiddo. I want to enjoy it a bit."
Woman, do that. Woman, do this.
That was what Kana's life had always been with Phuc. She didn't even have time to breathe properly.
Blaze goes inside the house and returns with a blanket. He put it on his mother.
"There's nothing to rush, Mom. Take your time. Take tomorrow off if you need to. We don't have the pig to feed anymore.
I'm going to go check my powers now.
I'll tell you about it tomorrow."
Blaze gently kisses his mother's forehead.
"It's been hard. But I will take care of everything from now on."
Kana's eyes are filled with tears. She rubs Blaze's head.
"You really have grown up."
Blaze leaves Kana to sit in the garden. She seems fine, only needs time for herself to process.
The kid goes to shower again.
This time, he does it thoroughly and makes sure no blood or dirt remains. He puts on his black shorts and gets on the bed.
It is now time for what he has been waiting for all night long, checking his reward.
First, he must experiment with the hologram window that only he can see. He must know how to use it properly to avoid unwanted issues.
Blaze tries to flick his fingers. Nothing appears. He tries to focus and imagine the window, still nothing.
Window. Blaze speaks inside his head.
The transparent window suddenly materializes.
This time, it's not only just words and sentences like previously. Instead, there are three icons visible on the hologram.
One is a simple, geometric silhouette of a human outline. It's like those stick figures that children used to draw.
Second is an icon of a backpack.
Third is a quill pen with white feathers.
"These should be the Status, Inventory and Quest."
Blaze reaches out and touches the Status icon.
[STATUS]
[Name: Blaze Singer]
[Species: Human]
[Age: 16]
[Attributes]
Strength - 4
Stamina - 5
Agility - 6
Dexterity - 3
Perception - 5
Endurance - 7
[Power: None]
[Equipment: None]
[Experience: 10]
A window pops up with all Blaze's details.
It even has an attribute section that evaluates his current body. The name of each attribute is self-explanatory so Blaze easily understands it.
He then closes the Status window and taps on the Quest icon.
[QUEST]
[Ongoing]
None
[Failed]
None
[Completed]
Kill your stepfather.
The quest window is simpler than the status and only has three different tabs for ongoing missions, failed missions, and completed missions.
Right now, Blaze only has one completed mission.
"It looks like I will have lots more things to do in the future."
Blaze closes the Quest window and finally opens the Inventory.
As before, the Inventory is a grid-based window with eight available grids, and three of them are taken.
[INVENTORY]
[Beginner's gift]
[The Weapon]
[Superpower Blindbox]
Blaze clicks on the Blindbox.
[Opening Blindbox…]
[Congratulations, you have received Force Strike (E-rank)]
[Force Strike: Your palms can shoot out a short-ranged, invisible force that pushes objects or people away.]
Rank: E (0/200 EXP)
Blaze inhales deeply. He can feel a tingling and burning sensation in his hand.
The inside of his palms glows a faint blue color and radiates translucent ripples like heat distortion.
The kid calms down and closes his palms. The blue haze disappears along with the weird feeling inside the muscle fibers.
That was his Awakening. Simple, short, almost unnoticed.
Blaze thinks the reason for the difference is that it is a superpower given by this mysterious system instead of a naturally born one.
Blaze thrusts his palms toward the window of his room.
A low thump rings out, and the blue haze shoots out from his palm.
The windows swing wide open and slam on the wall.
His palm stings for a bit, but the feeling quickly goes away after a few seconds.
Blaze tries again, this time repeatedly using the power.
The blue haze shoots out like flickering light.
After about five times consecutively, Blaze's entire hand cramps, its muscle tightens like rock, and the fingers lock themselves in place. The blue haze stops shooting out and only creates a small distortion around the hand.
The worst feeling in the world is muscle cramps. Blaze grimaces but tries his best to stay calm and relax.
His palm releases itself after around thirty seconds, a wearout sensation clings onto the muscle of the hand.
"Repeated use in a short time will cause contraction in my hand and muscle wear…"
Blaze mumbles, calculating the limits of his newfound power.
"I should be fine if I distribute the use logically. Five seconds for each strike should be good."
His new superpower is only E-rank. The rank is not entirely useless, but it has no usefulness in working or combat either.
His Force Strike can push a window open but cannot push a cart or even a grown adult.
The power of the push is comparable to a teenager at best. It also limits the ability to push and not pull, or precise control.
A precise and more powerful version of this power should be the Telekinesis (A-rank), the power everyone dreams about.
But not all hope is lost.
Because under the Force Strike details, there is an experience bar.
Blaze immediately tries to put his little amount of experience in. Ones that he received from killing Phuc.
[Force Strike (E): 10/200 EXP]
And as he thought, the experience can be used to upgrade his powers. Blaze smirks, barely able to contain his excitement.
He then continues to open the two other items.
Next, he clicks on the Beginner's Gift.
[Opening Beginner's Gift…]
[Congratulations, you have received x1 Tattered Cloak, x1 Lantern of the Damned, x1 Grappling Hook]
"What the…" Blaze is visibly confused. He clicks on each item to read its details.
[Grappling Hook]
- Type: Equipment.
- Description: Small, compact device to be placed on the wrist. The arrow is attached to the rope and can stick to any surface.
[Lantern of the Damned]
- Type: Equipment.
- Description: A lantern of unknown origins that uses soul for oil.
[Tattered Cloak]
- Type: Equipment.
- Description: Torn and worn-out black cloak. Especially useful in darkness.
Blaze's frown deepens. The Grappling Hook is self-explanatory, but the Lantern and the Cloak seem extremely suspicious.
Better try it out.
Blaze press 'equip' for all three of the items. A black fabric materializes and entwines his body.
A blink of an eye later, a mysterious figure covered in a shabby black cloak replaces Blaze in his position.
Its entire body is covered by darkness, and in its hand, a yellow light lantern is dangling. On the figure's wrist is a small device covered in leather.
Back in the garden, Kana is already gone.
But under the mound of dirt that is Phuc's body, a yellow fireball that is the size of a baby's palm suddenly appears, and it screams out a shrieking, deafening cry.
The face of Phuc can be seen trapped inside its yellow shade.
The yellow fire bolts onto the second floor and goes into Blaze's room. It is sucked inside the lantern, making it shine brighter than before.
Blaze, with his new appearance and darkness face, looks into the lantern light.
Inside, Phuc is suffering and agonizing by the fire of his own soul.
The black figure shares a devious, haunting smile with the poor trapped soul.