Chapter 4: The Best In The Kingdom

In that moment, Neo braced himself for the fireball, when he turned it was already too late to make any move to dodge it so he was just going to take it head-on.

He expected it to hurt, that much was obvious from the kind of explosions they were producing but he also knew that it wasn't anything that would hurt him badly, or else his mother wouldn't have put him in there. And even if it was capable of hurting him badly, there was no way she would let it hit him.

That's what he thought as he braced himself for the hit but just before the fireball could hit him, he saw a quick stream of lightning as the fireball was knocked away before exploding.

"Huh?"

He quickly turned his gaze to his mother to see that she was walking toward him now with the cannons slowly retracting.

"Looks like you got a bit too confident there." She said just as she stopped in front of him.

"I guess, but that's not fair, you can't just suddenly switch up the pattern like that." Neo retorted.

"Was there really a pattern?"

"Huh?"

'Of course, there was clearly a pattern.'

"I'm asking if there was actually a pattern or did you just convince yourself there was one because everything followed a convenient route for you to understand?" She inquired.

"Huh? You're confusing me now." He shook his head before slowly bringing his head now.

"Don't worry, there's no need to think too much about it." She smiled before placing her hand on his head. "But you should know that things don't always appear to be the way your mind wants it to be for convenience's sake, you should always take a closer and more careful look before making conclusions."

'That's the second time she's saying that to me now.'

"Okay." He responded with a nod.

Getting that response, she slowly lifted her hand off his head before slowly turning away from him.

"Now that you've officially the test, let's get to the real reason why we're here."

"What do you mean officially failed the test? You never said anything about evaluation?"

She wasn't too quick to respond to that as she slowly turned to him with a gaze that indicated suspicion.

"Hmmm, I don't think that's the normal response for a kid your age."

Neo wasn't expecting her to say something like that since he believed that she had already gotten used to him sounding older than he looked and now he was hesitant to say anything.

"What am I saying? You've always sounded older than you look." She chuckled before turning away from him.

'What is wrong with this woman?'

"Anyway, I was talking to your father the other day and he said it's okay to start your combat training earlier than we planned to." She disclosed.

"Seriously?" Neo asked, his face curling up in a smile.

"Yeah, but before that, you'll need to pick out something."

Just after saying that, she tapped her right foot on the floor and almost immediately, the floor began to shake but it wasn't violent enough to knock Neo off his feet.

"Is something coming up?" Neo muttered.

He felt like something was coming up and he was actually right, a rectangular glass that he expected to stop just after getting to the height of his mother but it kept going up until it was slightly towering over her.

"Woah."

He had a mesmerized look on his face as those words escaped from his lips but that wasn't because of the glass, it was because of what was inside the glass.

The glass cabinet was holding different kinds of weapons in a collection of rows.

In the first row were the swords; long swords, rapiers, and claymores.

The second row had different kinds of polearms placed side by side; spears, lances, pikes, and halberds.

The third row contained different kinds of bows and quivers but there didn't seem to be any arrows in sight.

The fourth row didn't really hold any specific type of weapon compared to the other rows, there were all sorts of projectiles, different sizes and shapes of daggers, and a couple of gauntlets.

The fifth row didn't hold any weapon, just boots, gloves, and helmets.

Everything looked really cool with neat and unique designs and Neo was dying to touch one.

"Are you seriously saying that I can get one of those?" He asked with his gaze fixated on his mother.

"Mhm." She nodded. "But since you failed the test, I'll be the one doing the picking." She revealed.

"I knew there was something sketchy going on." He sighed.

"I don't see anything sketchy, if you wanted to pick your weapon by yourself then you should have concentrated to complete the challenge," Luna remarked, reaching for the first row.

'Eh, I think I'll be okay with whatever she picks out, they all look anyway.'

That was what he thought, but that thought immediately evaporated as soon as she dropped the sword she picked in his hand.

"A wooden sword!"

He couldn't believe his eyes, he couldn't remember seeing a wooden sword in there but somehow there was one in his hand now.

"Yes, and the best one in the kingdom." She nodded with a smile.

He had seen that smile before, she always smiled like that with her mouth tightly sealed whenever she was trying to hold in laughter.

"What am I supposed to do with a wooden sword?" He asked, the disappointment in his voice quite adamant.

"Train, we talked about it before I brought the cabinet up, remember?"

"Yeah, you're not going to be slaying rift beasts with it."

He quickly turned his gaze to the stairs where he heard the voice come from to see his father making his way down there.

He was wearing long black pants and a white vest that made it possible to see his well-built chest.

He had short brown hair around the time Neo was born but he had been letting it grow for a while now so his hair was quite long now reaching up to his elbow.

"Nobody asked for your input." Neo retorted with a huff.

His reaction to that was a smile as he slowly made his way to him.

"I don't need your permission to say something, buddy." He said before grabbing him by his waist to lift him off. "Wow, you've gotten real heavy lately."

"Let me go," Neo grumbled before kicking him in the chest but that didn't budge him. "I said, get your hands off me!"

He kicked him again and again but nothing happened, he just stared at him with a smile.

"I can't tell what's softer, your kicks or your mother's kiss." He remarked.

"Oh, Henry."

"Is that so?" Neo muttered as a mischievous smile slowly found its way to his face. "How's this for soft then?"

He raised his sword and was about to smack it on his head but he ended up not being able to land the hit as he grabbed the sword before he could do so.

He let go of him at that moment and now he was just hanging on by the sword.

"That sword's for training, Neo, not snacking people."

His voice sounded a bit serious there as he let go of the sword allowing him to drop to the floor on his butt.

"Hmph, I'm the one who gets to decide what to do with the sword." He huffed before turning away from Henry.

"Is that so?" Henry uttered before reaching for the bag around his waist. "Anyway, I have something for you."

"Huh?"

He turned his gaze to him at that moment to see him holding out a book toward him, a book with a red cover.

"A book?" He muttered with a confused expression on his face.

"Yeah, remember that book you told me that it would be nice if it had a sequel?" Henry inquired.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, it turns out it does have a sequel, I went into town to check after work today and ended up getting it. Here you go."

"But I didn't ask for this."

His voice dropped at that moment as he slowly brought his gaze down.

Henry's response to that was a sigh as he proceeded to smack his head with the book.

"Dummy, do you really believe that you have to tell me about something before I decide to get it for you? I'm your father, not some stranger."

'Well, I know a father who was like a stranger to me.'

"Just take it," Henry said before placing the book in his chest.

Neo was a bit hesitant but he was finally able to accept the book from him and after that, he muttered something.

"Was that a thank you just now?"

"You didn't hear anything." He huffed before quickly turning away from him.

Now that his gaze was away from his father, he turned his gaze to the book cover as a subtle smile slowly found its way to his face.

'Ascendance Of A Rejected: Prison Of Fate.'

Meanwhile, both of his parents were looking at him with bright smiles on their faces.