Chapter 6: levels, stress and... EVOLUTION?!

/passive skills/

/breathing Lv14/sight Lv4/Hearing Lv3/blood production Lv3/blood flow Lv12/touch (new) Lv1/smell (new) Lv1/taste (new) Lv1/movement Lv7/

_______

/active skills/

/thinking Lv6/scream Lv1/concentration Lv10/run Lv7/jump Lv6/resting (new) Lv1/simple punch (new) Lv1/simple kick (new) Lv1/meditation (new) Lv1/

"ok, after getting some new skills, it's time to level them up!" as he looked towards the walking path, he started running while doing some jumps. And after getting tired, he rested a bit while meditating and concentrating on his surroundings, and after getting all his energy back, he punched and kicked some trees.

And he did that on repeat for three full hours.

*huff* "I think it's time to go home" he said as he looked at his work.

/passive skills/

/breathing Lv14>20/sight Lv4>14/Hearing Lv3>10/blood production Lv3>9/blood flow Lv12>21/touch Lv1>3/smell Lv1>4/taste Lv1/movement Lv7>14/

_________

/active skills/

/thinking Lv6>12/scream Lv1/concentration Lv10>16/run Lv7>14/jump Lv6>13/resting Lv1>10/simple punch Lv1>12/simple kick Lv1>12/meditation Lv1>10/

"man, this is going great!!! I already feel my body getting more stronger" 'but let's go home alredy' as Asterwas saying that, he started running, returning to his home. Taking less time than when he went to the forest. And as he opened the entrance door, he found his mother standing at the entrance.

"So...didn't I tell you not to come back late?"

"y-yeah mom, I just didn't see the time and it became late with out me knowing..." Evelyn only stared at him, and after some seconds, she turned away "at least go eat some dinner"

*phew* 'I'm saved' after the conversation with his mother, he went to the kitchen to eat some dinner, took a shower, and went to his bedroom.

'Let's see, today is thursday, tomorrow Friday and then the weekend. I should have almost three days for training. I should try to learn some sports like boxing, karate and even swordsmanship. I'll ask mom if she can get me into at least one of those extra classes.'

"And now time to sleep" he opened his sheets, laid down and closed his eyes.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz....

/Skill "sleeping Lv1" has been obtained/

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

-at morning, the kitchen-

"man, what a good sleep" *yawm* 'and I think I know why'

/sleeping Lv1>11: while sleeping energy,health and mental regeneration +5%/

'this will help a lot after a day of training' while eating breakfast, he used this oportunity to talk with his mother "mom, today I see that your hair is more beautiful"

"what do you want?" his mother instantly knew he wanted something.

'... cunning' "because I'll be awakening in two years, I was thinking if I could train with some sports like boxing, swordsmanship or something to train my body. Just to be prepared" after saying that, his mother only looked at him, thinking of what to do.

"your father is working hard on the expeditions and is making enough money to have some extra expenses, and more for the future of both of you, so I will look into it later. Now go to school"

"ok mom!!!" as the brother and sister got up, they grabbed their things and went away, reaching the rift's exit and separating on their way. After Aster grabbed train D and reached the center of the city he went to school. As he was going to his class he started thinking about this morning

'on the exit of the rift, the energy detector didn't notice that I have awakened. Why? The power said that it locked the essence of things inside me, so, by being locked, other people can't notice? That's really helpfull!' while entering class, he found his friend Zale.

"how you doin Zale?"

"meh, couldn't sleep that much, and you? Did you keep playing?"

"nope, I slept like a little baby on his mothers arms"

"really? I thought you would also be stressed out with the final exams"

"...?" he was confused 'exams? What exams?'

"??? why are you putting that face? Don't tell me... YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE EXAMS?! dude they are the most important exams!!!"

" wait, they are today!!!???"

"not today but next Monday, all 6 hours of classes will just be that exam, and depending on your results you may or may not get support in the future when you awaken by the three big schools! That's why i've been telling you to pay attention!!" Zale said, almost screaming it out while grabbing Aster by his shoulders. Aster after recieving such shocking news, he could only do one thing. He got his knees on the ground, hugged his friend's torso and said.

"PLEASE HELP MEEEEEE!!!!"

'I know that my power can't be noticed, BUT I WILL STILL NEED HELP IN THE FUTURE! I plan on falsely awakening mana, because that's the only option that I can think of to hide the power that I have. BUT THOSE BASTARDS HAVE HIGH STANDARDS!! I need to learn as fast as possible!!'

"please tell me, what do I have to study..." Aster said with tears on his eyes.

"dude, it's an exam with everything we have studied so far... that's why I always told you to pay attention" he said with a sad look.

"please, I beg you help meeeee..... I know you are intelligent, you've always got 9/10 and even 10/10 on the exams. So please help-"

"OK OK, but get off, people are going to enter class. Call your family later and tell them that you will be studying at my house this weekend"

"thank you! You really are my best friend..."

"of course, because I AM your only friend, anyway the teacher is coming, go to your seat already" Aster after getting up, he went to his seat and sat down, still preoccupied.

-after school-

"mom, I will not be home this weekend, I'll be on my friend's house to study for some important exams, yes I'll be ok, bye" after ending the call, he turned to his friend.

"teach me, master!"

"ok ok, no need to act like that. First of all, what grades do you remember"

"let's see, there is ten years of school and each year is a grade, from grade 1 to 8 we will be studying all the basic things, but on grade 9 we will study the awakeners powers before awakening and on grade 10 we will study our own powers after awakening before going into our specified schools. Mmmmh, I think I started having problems since grade 6, before that I still remember a lot of things"

"ok, so you will have to study three full grades on two days and a half, do you think you can do it?" Zale said with a serious face.

"yes, my dear master"

"I said to stop talking like that! And now let's go grab my other books, I still have them" while going to the attic, Aster looked at two of his skills.

/thinking Lv12: thought speed +5.5%/

/concentration Lv16: while concentrating ,sensorial efectivenes and thinking +7,5%/

'you two are my only hope, so please level up fast and help me some more!'

"ok I've got them here. History, maths, chemistry, biology, leanguages and technology, those will be the most important ones. We will start with biology, something easy" And as he started explaining, true hell began. Aster couldn't keep up with Zale's eplanations, thus him having to go back. And it continued like that for 1 hour, until...

"yes, YES, I finally understood it!" Aster was happy for finally understanding something, meanwhile Zale was a bit different.

'he finally understood it...' he was alredy feeling tired.

While celebrating Aster noticed something.

/skill "study Lv1" has been obtained/

/study Lv1: while studying, knowledge obtainment and thinking +0%/

'YES, THIS IS PERFECT RIGHT NOW!!' "OK, let's continue!!!" Aster was excited, while Zale not so much. "yes, let's continue..."

-some hours later-

"let's stop for today and get some dinner" Zale said tired. "ok, let's keep studying tomorrow!" Aster said energized.

"...today you seem more... active"

"R-really, I didn't notice" 'well, my skills augment my thinking making me waste less energy and some other skills let me regenerate even more energy. The only problem is my mental health, but sleeping will heal it fine!' while eating dinner he looked at his currently more important skills

/thinking Lv12>22: thought speed +10.5%/

/concentration Lv16>23: while concentrating ,sensorial efectivenes and thinking +11%/

/study Lv1>16: while studying, knowledge obtainment and thinking +7,5%/

"ok, now time to sleep. I'll get you some bed sheets so you can sleep on the floor" after putting an improvised bed on the floor, the both of them went to sleep.

-the next morning, while studying-

/skill

thinking Lv25 (awakening)

is evolving/

"??!!" 'what's happening now!?'

/skill "thinking Lv25" has been evolved into "fast thinking Lv1"/

/"fast thinking" will now give +0,5% more/

/fast thinking Lv1: thought speed +25%/

'WHAT?!' "uhm, I have to go to the bathroom" Aster said rapidly before going away.

"...I'll also take a small break" said Zale while lying down.

Meanwhile, Aster was looking at his skills.

/passive skills/

/breathing Lv20>23/sight Lv12>16/Hearing Lv10>18/blood production Lv9>14/blood flow Lv21>24/touch Lv3>7/smell Lv4>9/taste Lv1>5/movement Lv14>17/

________

/active skills/

/fast thinking (new) Lv1/scream Lv1>3/concentration (awakening) Lv23>25/run Lv14>17/jump Lv13/resting Lv10>17/simple punch Lv12/simple kick Lv12/meditation Lv10/sleeping Lv11>18/study Lv16>21/

'I got another skill, and I have another skill awakening?! how did thinking evolve? I was just listening to Zale while thinking of the answer, and we were starting to pick up speed... speed...fast... it's because I was trying to think faster? Making it evolve? That means that for awakening skills, they need to meet some requirements? Then, how do I evolve concentration?'

"let's start by concentrating on something, but what?" 'on what, on what...' as he was thinking, he saw the mirror. 'what about... on me?' he looked deeply on the mirror, he looked on him. His brown hair, his greenish eyes, his slightly smooth skin, his arms, legs, torso, ears, pores...'pores? I'm not that close to the mirr-'

/skill "concentration Lv25 (awakening)" is evolving/

/skill "concentration Lv25" has been evolved into "observation Lv1"/

/"observation" will now give +0,5% more/

/observation Lv1: while observing, sensorial efectivenes, thinking and analysing +25%/

'observation? didn't expect that. But why that? While concentrating, I concentrate on something or directly on nothing. But observing? because when observing you concentrate on something?, so, it evolved into something else while keeping the same things and adding another perk?'

"so evolving skills isn't always about the same thing but better, but also, something similar but better? That's...a bit complicated, but I can somewhat understand it" 'I'll have to think a bit outside the box with the other skills' as he stopped thinking about his skills, he went to the room again.

"I'm baaaaack" as he entered, he looked at Zale.

"zzzzzzzzzzzz"

"...." Aster got closer to Zale, and started shaking his head.

"wake up, sleepyhead, you still have to teach me more things" after shaking his head some more, Zale finally woke up.

"wha... huh? What was I doing?"

"come on, you were teaching me for the exam"

"oh... right, let me get up" after doing some stretches, he went to the kitchen to drink something and came back.

"ok, let's continue"

-after some more studying-

/skill "study Lv25 (awakening)" is evolving/

/skill "study Lv25" has been evolved into "understanding Lv1"/

/"understanding" will now give +0,5% more/

/understanding Lv1: knowledge obtainment and thinking +25%/

'huh, so now I don't need to be studying for it to be activated' after levelling and evolving his skills, the studying was starting to get more easier and faster. By now, they could even easily finish tomorrow. As for Zale, he also knew it.

"It's alredy late, let's finish tomorrow"

"ok!"

-after sleeping and studying the next day-

The both of them stood in the room, silently as they were getting closer. Then, they hugged each other "YOU DID IT!!!" screamed Zale. "I DID IT!!!" also screamed Aster as he let a few happy tears.

"you can go home now and get ready for tomorrow, take care, and don't you dare forget about it!!!"

"of course, I'm sure I won't forget anything" he said while looking at his skills.

/passive skills/

/breathing (awakening) Lv23>25/sight Lv16>20/Hearing Lv18>24/blood production Lv14>19/blood flow (awakening) Lv24>25/touch Lv7>11/smell Lv9>11/taste Lv5>8/movement Lv17>18/understanding Lv1>4/

______

/active skills/

/fast thinking Lv1>5/observation Lv1>5/scream Lv3>5/run Lv17/jump Lv13/resting Lv17>22/simple punch Lv12/simple kick Lv12/meditation Lv10/sleeping Lv18>23/