A Small Victory and Preparations

For the next week, Jason went to the shelter daily, something he had left after Karna had taught him all the basics.

He would usually get the goats out and take them to graze early in the morning or would battle a few of them.

Jason had also tried increasing the duration of his 'Lightning Steps' but he had been unsuccessful so far.

"Haha…" The boy panted as he sat down with his back against a tree and his face towards the shelter. "I wonder what happened to the cheat that I was supposed to receive."

Even though Jason said that, he was glad that he hadn't received a spoon feeding system or something along those lines.

[ Huh, look who is coming to like the things he has without wishing for more. ] The system teased.

'You couldn't stay quite for long enough, could you?' Jason retorted in an annoyed tone, making the system chuckle once.

[ I finally managed to understood what happened back then but you will need to go to the laboratory to practice this. ] It replied seriously.

"You know what? I am going to sleep and go there later on." Jason mumbled and before the system could finish sighing, he was fast asleep.

[ What should I do about you, host… ]

***

"So you are telling me that the small amount of light mana we had seen earlier was responsible for healing me?!" Jason asked, feeling baffled.

[ You are asking that for the fifth time host and I think you already know the answer to that… ] the system sighed.

Jason shut his mouth quickly to prevent himself from saying the same thing for the sixth time.

Instead, he looked at the wound that he had cut on his thumb with the help of the dagger earlier.

It would have taken at least two days for it to heal completely yet there was no wound in its place now.

'I gotta test this…' Jason thought as he took out the dagger again and cut another cut against his thumb.

Though he felt like a masochist while doing that, Jason was too focused on seeing the cut. Hopefully he wouldn't get addicted to experimenting too much...

He closed his eyes and sent a small amount of dark mana towards the wound. He felt the pain from the wound increase as the dark element rioted around.

The pain gradually reduced and in front of Jason's eyes, the blood dried up. The wound started closing as Jason inhaled sharply.

He turned his gaze towards the Eelfish he had successfully used the corrosive property of dark element on.

It had been kept in a separate case and had notably different growth then the ones who still had the destruction causing cells in them.

"System, I think that I might have stuck jackpot," Jason said in a dazed voice. "If I can turn this into a passive ability, I might be invincible to a certain extent."

Happy with his discovery, Jason decided to resume his practice again. In the following three weeks, he didn't make any notable advancement.

He had successfully managed to destroy over fifty percent of the infected cells in each of the remaining Eelfishes but he had wounded himself six more times during that.

But just as he had expected, the wounds automatically healed after he had focused a bit on the mana running inside his arm.

Jason and the system also noticed that using the corrosive property of the dark element drained his mana much quicker than normal.

Though no new skill had been formed after Jason's experiments, he had decided to use 'Double-Edged Healing' to refer to healing using the dark element.

Jason also realized that going to the shelter to chill for some time was a good way to relax. But fighting with goats was getting boring and Jason had realized that he had to fight beasts now.

He couldn't increase his power level without getting into dangerous near-death fighting experiences.

[ Host, you should be careful what you wish for. ] The system suddenly interrupted his train of thought as Jason raised an eyebrow.

He was currently lying on his bed while trying to act asleep. Risa was standing just outside his room and the moment Jason would wake up, she would come inside and ask him to pack.

Even though the Crystal ceremony was eight days away, the Syrward family had to leave for it the next day.

This meant that they couldn't celebrate new year but neither of the two children minded that. They were instead interested in getting to see more children their age.

Though Jason was a bit guarded regarding the nobility, he had to admit that getting to explore the world and getting involved in some action was something that he very much needed.

'I don't think I can outlast grandma.' Jason sighed as he sat up and looked at the door. Risa opened the door at the same time as her eyes wandered over Jason with a sweet smile.

"Jason, get ready for the day and after having breakfast, please bring everything you need to take downstairs." Risa explained before closing the door and getting started with her own preparations.

Jason felt like sleeping once again but since he was awake now, the chances of him falling asleep were very low.

'Well, its not like I can go there without taking any clothes or important stuff with me.' Jason thought as he stood up and got ready for his day.

After eating his breakfast, he got back into his room and tore through his closet.

[ To think that you only have five shirts and three trousers in your entire closet… ] The system sounded astounded as Jason just shrugged and grabbed the clothes tightly.

'I am not a woman. I can make due with these easily so there is no need to get extra clothes.' He replied but the real reason was that Jason had learned it early on to be grateful for what he got.

He only had two pairs of clothes back on Earth and it was hard to go in his life with them. Though there were a few second hand clothes giving to the orphanage, Jason never took more than a single piece of cloth.

The habit had followed him to Duphia as well. He also noticed that the only other things he needed were basic daily life things and his pillow.

'And to think that I am a noble child. I wonder how many of those snot nosed brats are going to be flexing at the ceremony.' He sneered.

Jason then went down in the living room to see Nora standing there with a similar set of things. Though his younger brother held one more thing in his hand, a sheathed dagger.

It was the same dagger that Jason had, hidden inside his clothes and ready to be taken out at a moment's notice.

Nora was nowhere near the naïve kid he had been some time ago as Zara had trained him well. But compared to Jason, who was very well a middle aged man by mentality, he was still a kid.

'It would be good if he can retain this behavior in the future but things change. I wonder how the ceremony would go.' Jason thought as he and Nora heard the sound of footsteps echoing around the stairs.

They turned to stare at Ray and Zara stepping down, each of them holding a suitcase of their own.

For some reason, Jason's face twitched a little as he wasn't able to avoid looking at his own stuff and then his aunt and uncle's stuff.

'Oh well, they are adults. Who knows how much stuff I would be carrying in the future.' He thought before putting his stuff down on a chair and waiting for his grandparents to show up.

Risa and Issac took their sweet time in appearing, one of them coming with the stuff from upstairs while the other one walked inside the door, respectively.

"I guess everyone is ready to go," Issac muttered as he walked up to the living room. He was holding a golden ring in his hand that none of them had seen before.

However, Zara and Ray soon realized what it was as they brought their suitcases forward and held it in their arms.

Issac then touched both of them once with the ring before muttering something under his breath.

Both the suitcases suddenly started fading and in a matter of seconds, they vanished from the duo's arms.

Jason and Nora's jaw dropped down as they exchanged a glance before looking at Issac with surprise.

"How did you do that?" Asked Nora.

"Was that space magic and is that a space ring?" Jason asked while stepping closer to Issac.

"Woah, wait for some time. Let us finish the packing and lock the house. Issac will answer your questions then." Risa suddenly interrupted as both the children nodded and brought their stuff to Issac.

Risa followed suit and once all of them were done, the entire family wore their shoes and stored an extra pair in the ring.

Jason's eyes were continuously looking at the golden ring and was only pulled away when he had do to something important.

But once they had stepped out of the house and were ready to leave, his eyes were pulled away by something even fascinating and awe aspiring then the ring.

"Look closely children. I am going to teach you how you to lock the house," Issac said with a grin as he wore the ring and sat down.

He then bit his right thumb and placed it on the ground right in front of the gates.

"Lockdown!"