Eddine was left alone. He exhaled slowly, rubbing his face with both hands before standing and walking to his coffee machine. The hum of brewing filled the room.
Mug in hand, he leaned against his desk, eyes distant.
'I don't get it. Leon was always so focused, so driven…'
He took a slow sip.
'The only reason I can think of is… maybe he increased the trial's difficulty? But no. That would be insane. Not only would he definitely fail—he'd be severely punished afterward if he managed to clear it by luck.'
Another sip. As he frowned deeper.
'Then what? Maybe he didn't awaken a talent at all? But that doesn't make sense either. Both his parents are talented unless...'
Eddine froze.
'Unless they're not his real parents.'
He dismissed the thought with a shake of his head. it was too speculative.
He returned to his desk and placed the mug down, gently.
Whatever the case, it no longer mattered. Leon had passed. He'd made it. That was all that counted now.
"All I can do," Eddine muttered, reaching for his data pad, "is wish the kid well. He earned that much."
And with that, he started the work of preparing the new year's training—hoping, just maybe, someone in the next batch would be everything he had once expected.
****
The Kael Estate was still cloaked in darkness when Leon's eyes opened.
4:00 a.m. sharp.
No alarms. No noise.
Just his body responding to the discipline hammered into it over years of relentless training.
A habit born from desperation and ambition—one that had started the day he realized this world wasn't Earth.
Here, power was real. Flight wasn't fiction. Monsters weren't myths.
He threw off the covers, rose with a silent breath, and padded barefoot across his polished room. After brushing his teeth and splashing cold water on his face, he glanced at the mirror.
There was no tiredness in his gaze. No grogginess. Just habit, ticking like a machine.
He stepped outside, the estate's quiet grounds stretching into the distance. Moonlight bathed the path as he made his way to one of the private training fields behind the main residence.
He'd trained on every one of them—blades, strength, reflexes, technique—he'd left sweat and blood on every inch of Kael soil.
By the time the sun would rise, Leon would have already completed a full rotation of high-intensity drills. Enough to leave a normal human or Grounder, as they were called—shattered and breathless.
But that was no longer the case.
Leon stood at the edge of the sand pit, panting lightly as the final notification ticked in.
> [Attack points: 10,000/10,000.]
He stared at it for a moment, then nodded to himself. No need to push further.
Not anymore.
With his talent awakened, he no longer needed to grind endlessly for progress. A single day of accumulating attack points outpaced what three months of brutal physical training could achieve.
It almost made all the years of pain feel...pointless.
He walked back inside as the estate's automated lights turned off with the faintest click.
For the first time in years, he climbed back into bed after training. No stretching. No tactical reviews. No extra sparring sets.
Just beautiful Sleep.
The pillow felt softer now, the sheets warmer.
Ever since the Trial, Leon had been feeling this strange calmness settle over him. Like a storm he'd been living in had suddenly passed.
When he'd first arrived in this world, there had been no time to rest. As a reincarnator who had read many novels, he'd seen what others didn't—the scale of the threat. Demon invasions and system awakenings mostly lead to worlds ending.
So to be safe he started training before he could even walk properly, dragging himself through pain and pressure before other kids could pronounce "resonance."
Because deep down, he didn't want to die again. He didn't want to be powerless.
At first, he trained for survival. Then, for power. And then...for them.
His mother, His sister, Elizabeth, and His father.
He wanted to protect them—not out of duty, but love.
And now?
He was already stronger than anyone his age. Strong enough that rest wasn't a risk anymore.
And he was quickly catching up to those ahead.
As his eyelids grew heavy, Leon thought briefly of the others—training, scrambling, burning their energy in hopes of catching up.
While he was already miles ahead.
A half-smile tugged at his lips as he drifted off.
Let them chase me.
And with that, he fell asleep again the kind he hadn't known since the day he was born into this new world.
****
It was 8 a.m. when the door to Leon's room creaked open.
Mary stepped in, humming the Federation's anthem under her breath, the soft tune rising and falling like a well-worn lullaby.
She wore the standard Kael Estate maid uniform: crisp, black and white with neatly folded sleeves. Her brown hair was tied into a tidy bun, and her petite frame moved lightly across the floor as she began her usual cleaning routine.
Dusting shelves. Straightening books. Adjusting curtains.
She moved with practiced efficiency, her brown eyes scanning for anything out of place. When she reached the bed, she smiled faintly.
As she reached to straighten the duvet—
A sudden movement beneath the covers.
Made mary to yelp and jump back, heart hammering in her chest. As Her scream echoed through the room.
A blur of silver light answered her cry.
Leon shot up from under the blanket, eyes sharp with instinct, and in a single motion, a gleaming sword appeared in his hand—drawn from his inventory mid-motion. Its edge pointed straight at her throat.
Mary froze mid-scream, breath caught.
Then silence.
Leon's vision cleared, and his tensed muscles relaxed when he recognized her.
"…Mary," he sighed, lowering the sword. With a flash, the blade vanished back into his inventory. "Don't scream like that. If it had been someone else, you might be dead already."
Mary didn't respond at first. Her wide eyes and pale face said enough. To say her soul hadn't just tried to leave her body would be a lie.
She placed a hand on her chest, taking a shaky breath as the pounding in her ears faded.
After calming down, Mary blinked as something registered.
'Wait... the young master is still in bed?' At this hour?
Her gaze shifted to the clock on the wall. Eight.
Leon was never in bed by this time. Normally, he'd already be deep into combat drills or sprinting laps around the estate's training fields.
'He's not sick,' she thought. 'Even when he was sick, he trained like a madman.'
A creeping doubt formed in her chest.
'Did… did he give up because of his ranking?'
She frowned slightly, biting her lip, lost in her thoughts as Leon suddenly called out to her.
"Mary is breakfast ready?"
She snapped out of it and nodded unconsciously.
Leon's expression brightened. "That's good. I'm really parched."
He gave a lazy yawn and moved toward the door. "Alright, I'll leave the room for you. Clean it well."
He was halfway through the door when her voice stopped him.
"Young master."
Leon paused as he turned his head slightly, brows raised in mild curiosity. "What is it?"
Mary hesitated, eyes cast downward, fingers gripping her apron tightly. Then, with a deep breath, she found her voice.
"No matter what… never give up."
The words hung in the air like a fragile thread.
Leon blinked. For a second, he didn't understand.
Then the meaning hit him.
A small smile tugged at his lips. He turned his head fully and met her eyes.
"Don't worry," he said softly. "I don't plan to do that."
With that, he stepped out into the hallway, the scent of breakfast in the air, leaving a stunned but relieved Mary behind to finish cleaning.
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A/N: Well it seems we are already half way through the novel. Okay I'm kidding we haven't even scratched the surface yet but in order to do that I will need you guys support. And the way you guys can do that is by adding the book to your library (after all you have reached this far already), Leave a comment or review, send power stones, Golden tickets and even gifts all this keeps me motivated to keep on writing.
And thank you so much for reading you guys are EXceptional (≧▽≦)
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