Lottery win?

After waking up, Nial felt as if a memory that had been sealed in the depths of his conscience had somehow resurfaced.

It was related to the incident from 15 years ago when he was a toddler.

A hazy memory consisting of the outlines of someone...or something emerged in his mind, only to disperse a moment later.

His mind was rattling as he forced it to recall the memory but the more he tried, the more it slipped away from him just like grains of sand that would trickle out of someone's fist no matter how hard they tried to hold on to it.

A searing headache shot up his mind as it began to ache heavily, without giving him a second glance of the being he had seen.

Suddenly, the pain intensified and spread through his entire body making it hard for him to even lift his hand to hold his head.

'Fuck, I cannot move!' Nial thought, realizing that every single cell in his body was begging for rest after being injured due to his reckless act of exceeding his body's limitation.

Tired, he wanted to sink into a deep slumber in his bed, only to notice something the moment he took a deep breath. The space smelled familiar to him.

'I am...in my room?'

At that moment, he heard noises from next to him, and Nial didn't even have to think, who it was as he had already smelled and sensed it.

"M-Melvin, how much...time passed since we returned?" It took him a lot of effort to even speak a few words but he was glad that he could utter them.

He had already thought that he wouldn't be able to move his mouth either, let alone speak, and it was extremely difficult.

Nonetheless, it worked, and that was important.

When Melvin, who was getting ready to sleep, heard his voice, he jumped up from the mattress and stared at him in shock.

"Nial?! You are already awake?? How are you? Don't move! Master Junades said that you need to rest to allow your body to recuperate from being strained too much!"

It was great that Melvin was worried about him, but Nial couldn't help but feel that his friend didn't sort his priorities first.

As such, Nial simply said one word, "Infos" in order to show that he couldn't speak much and that he wanted to get some information.

His body didn't want him to move while it was a heavy burden to speak, hence that was the only thing he could do, which Melvin fortunately realized.

"Of course, but I'll first tell Maline and Miles that you are awake, they were really worried about you!"

Saying so, Melvin turned towards the door, but before he could leave, he heard Nial say just one more word again.

"Later"

Right now, Nial wanted to get information. If his parents were to find out that he had woken up, they would storm through the room and create pure chaos.

To understand this, one didn't even have to know his parents really well.

Only now did Melvin understand why Nial was adamant on getting some information first.

Thus, he turned back to his friend before sitting down on his mattress.

"You are really a nutcase, Nial! I never thought that you would be masochistic enough to fight against Master Junades for more than half an hour without collapsing on the ground.

I barely made it 15 minutes on my first try. Well, but you slept for three days straight, so I guess your willpower is truly something to be frightened of…"

Nial was astonished to hear that he had slept for three days because even after a rest of 72 hours his body felt like it was tearing apart.

As long as he didn't move, everything was fine, but even thinking was painful.

Thus, Nial couldn't help but wonder if his effort was really worth it because he had lost against Master Junades. He hadn't even hit him a single time though he had tried his best.

Yet, what he didn't know was that Master Junades had cheated, which Melvin mentioned only now.

"Did you know that Master Junades first thought that you had awoken an innate ability that strengthened your willpower or something like that? Because of that he got curious and used some mana in order to figure out what was going on with you.

That means, he lost against you! That is really something you can be proud of, you're a real monster, Nial...hehe!!"

His friend's excited squeal caused a faint smile to emerge on Nial's face.

It hurt, but even if his entire body was aching, he knew that he couldn't simply continue lying in bed.

As such, he forced his body to move, knowing that he was healing rapidly owing to the effects of multiple healing serums that were already tending to his injuries and exhaustion.

Thus, while listening to the summary of events that occurred during the last three days, Nial began to do a warm-up and stretched his body to relax his sore muscles.

"Either way, Master Junades knocked you out because he was not sure if you would harm yourself any further by continuing to fight if he wouldn't have done that.

After that, he brought you back home, and your mother scolded him left and right.

In the end, I had to tell Maline that she was just lecturing one of the strongest powerhouses in Katu, which I should have done a little bit earlier because she almost fainted upon hearing that.

Fortunately, Master Junades is a sensible man, and he could clearly understand why Maline reacted that way….you looked like dozens of people had thrashed you, after all…

Either way, because he cheated, Master Junades gave me the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique in addition to a letter, which he asked me to hand over to you. If you want, I can read the letter out loud once I'm done summarizing everything.

After he handed me the letter he had hastily scribbled, Master Junades also thrust three healing serums in my hands. They were of a high grade and quality.

In the end, it was only because we fed you one every day that you woke up so soon, otherwise you would have slept for one more week, at the bare minimum!

Either way, we also fed one of the healing serums we purchased to Sabrina, and they seem to be even more potent than I thought.

Today, Sabrina was awake for a total of two hours, and she asked about you.

You should really meet her tomorrow, she looks much better than before, and you will be astonished once you hear her voice. She is as stubborn as ever!

Oh..I think I strayed away a bit so…back to the main topic.

Yesterday, your parents seemed to have won something from the Originals lottery. They won a total of five permanent membership cards to Katu's central library, isn't that great?

Other than that...nothing special happened. I ventured into the Melind dungeon to test the [Path of a Thousand Lightningstrikes] technique, and it's truly miraculous.

I'm really eager to see how you will handle the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique!"

Nial had not expected so many things to happen when he was unconscious. The best news was that his sister was now able to stay awake for a total of two hours.

That was reassuring and clearly showed Nial that his path had been the correct one and his efforts hadn't been futile...at least to some extent.

Because of that, he began to exert a bit more force while moving and ignored the pain spreading through his body that felt like light faint electric currents zapping his body.

"What about the letter?"

Nial asked once he made sense of what exactly had happened.

Having expected Nial's question, Melvin took out the handwritten letter, creating rustling noises before he began to read out loud.

[Hey Nial, I don't want to make any excuses so I'll be blunt; I cheated in our spar, so you won our small bet.

Despite that, I don't want to sell the technique. Instead, consider it as a gift from me! Use the rest of your money however you please, but there is one condition; You have to use it for yourself!

I heard Melvin lecturing you, so I kind of understand that you don't like purchasing things for yourself. Nevertheless, as an Original it is important to be in your best shape.

Either way, you might wonder how exactly I deflected the last attack of yours. In fact, it's no secret, but I can control my emotions almost perfectly. I've honed and sharpened that skill for more than a decade because I'm a unique Original.

There are specific techniques only unique Originals can use, and they're sort of similar to abilities that can be utilized without mana, so don't be too disappointed.

Your talent is endless, never give up!!

P.S If you want to become stronger, improve your knowledge first, and go to the library in the central district. Tell the librarian that I sent you. That way, he will probably let you through without any issues.]

After reading the letter out loud for Nial, Melvin couldn't help but feel impressed.

"You made one of humanity's powerhouses acknowledge his mistakes, and reveal one of his secrets...not bad.

It looks like he likes you. That's great!"

Nial didn't really understand why Melvin was so overjoyed, and he wanted to figure out more about humanity's powerhouses and their real strength which made him open his mouth to ask numerous questions that weighed on his mind.

Yet, before he could utter another word, he heard loud footsteps from outside his room.

Just a moment later, his parents barged into his room, flinging the door open that was almost hanging on its hinges.

"Nial! Are you awake? How are you? Can you move?"

It was his mother whose voice resounded through the entire house, almost waking up Sabrina, who was in a deep slumber.

Sighing deeply, Nial couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by his mother's overprotectiveness.

Earlier, this had already been a mess, but now that he was actively exposed to dangers, where he would often be injured, his mother seemed to become even more paranoid.

It showed that she was truly concerned about him, but it burdened Nial even more because he knew that even the slightest scratch on his body would worry his mother, thus giving him more pressure to conquer dungeons unscathed or not to take bold risks.

Because he didn't want to be restricted in that way, Nial simply averted the attention from his injuries to something Melvin had said earlier.

"Yes I'm awake mom, and I'm perfectly fine. Don't worry too much. By the way, I heard that you won in the Originals' lottery. I didn't even know that we had purchased a lottery ticket!"

Lifting his body, he ignored the pain and smiled in the direction of his mother. He didn't know what he looked like, but when he sensed his mother's wildly fluctuating mana, he knew that it might now have been the best move to get up from the bed.

'I must look really bad..well, if I look as bad as I feel, it's truly the worst…' Smiling dryly, he had already tried to change the topic, which his father noticed.

Making use of it, he tried to further distract his wife by replying hastily,

"We don't have a ticket, and we won because it was one of the 'random Originals' that was chosen as a winner, which coincidentally hit us.

I plan to sell our permanent membership coupons. I just wanted to keep two for you and Sabrina, once we find a cure for her!"

Nial had planned to ask for one of the permanent membership coupons as it allowed him to visit the library, which he wanted to enter either way.

It would be great to improve his knowledge as much as possible, and due to his body's condition, it would take at least one more week before he was well-rested and could bounce back on his feet once again.

As such, he made up his mind to learn the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique by reading all kinds of other books first!