Chapter 2: Family Time!

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"Ruby! Why are you screaming this early in the morning?!" My mother suddenly stepped in as she saw me and Ruby, her eyes widening. "K-Katherine?! It's you?!"

Unlike my sister, my mother immediately recognized me. Amazing! A mother's ability to discern their children is unparalleled, even among the nine heavens!

"Mother!" I cried, running to hug her. With her short black hair and her tired-looking green eyes, she was the same as ever. The mother who raised us after our father died all on her own, working in everything she could.

"Am I dreaming right now? Is this another of those nightmares I always have?" She muttered in disbelief, accepting my hug. "My Katherine… No, this can't be. Y-you disappeared ten years ago! Where have you been? Why are you so different, girl?! And what are these clothes? Were you living in China all this time?!" As she cried, she started to grab my face and stretch my cheeks.

"A lot happened, mother. I disappeared because I was sent to another world." I cried. "I was there for approximately eleven thousand years. I've changed too much, but I never forget my roots, and in all this fighting, you were always in my heart. You and Ruby, always." I found that there was no point in hiding where I came from.

"W-What are you even talking about? Maybe the Awakening Event made your brain turn to mush?" She checked my head. "My little girl... Even after you said all that nonsense, I'm so happy you're back! You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to return! I never lost hope, never!"

"S-She's really Katherine? But I remember she was so small, like almost my size back then! How come she got so tall and looked like a model?!" Ruby cried. "Is it really you?!"

"It is me, of course, Ruby! Let me prove it to you." I smiled. "Remember that time when you lost your teddy bear and cried for three days, only for me to end up finding it right below your bed? Or that time you pissed yourself and tried to frame the dog for covering the bed with piss. Or that other time when you tried making me pancakes for my birthday, but you burned them, and I still ate them with a lot of syrup? Or…"

"Okay, it's you…" She nodded, gulping saliva. "B-Big sis…" She was slowly trying to process everything, unlike Mom, who accepted it very quickly. "Holy shit… You're alive. It has been eleven fucking years, you know?!"

"I know… I'm sorry." I sighed.

"Katherine…" She started crying, standing up, and hugging me as well. "It's really you, aren't you? It's really you, big sis!"

"Yes, it's me, my dear." I smiled as my mother and my sister hugged me. They were much smaller than me. I was almost half a meter taller than them, so I could easily embrace them both with my longer arms. "Everything is okay."

"But your hair and your face..." Ruby said. "Why is your hair silvery-white now? And your eyes are gold-colored! Or rainbow? I can't tell; they keep shifting."

"Did you have some surgeries to look pretty? W-What have you been working on since you left?" My mother asked me in horror. "Don't tell me you became a…"

"Mother! Of course not!" I facepalmed. "I have changed because I cultivated my body. These eyes were stolen from the Seven Rainbow Rivers Immortal Venerable; that damned bastard never expected me to set a Blossoming Volcanic Rose Bomb inside his Immortal Realm, hahaha! And this hair? Well, it changed color once my physique changed."

"W-What?" Ruby and my mother were confused.

"So do I call the cops or…?" Juan was holding a phone outside the room.

"No, don't call the cops, Juan." My mother sighed. "Can you prepare us some coffee? There's a lot we NEED to talk with this young lady over here."

"Yeah, you're completely nuts," Ruby said. "You better tell us the truth now; we were too worried for you to bullshit us with stuff like this. I know there are Dungeons, Monsters, and a System now, but even that is more realistic than what you're telling us."

"Dungeons, Monsters, System? What are you talking about? Oh, so that's the strange energy I've felt permeating the world for a while, huh?" I wondered, rubbing my chin. "And those annoying things in the sky are glaring at us too. Are they aliens? Did they make the System?"

"Things in the sky?" My mother asked. "Katherine, you mean... You can see the Gods watching us?"

"Gods?" I raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what's that?!"

I hadn't noticed before, but there was a huge tower in the background of the city, right outside of the city. I was so focused on finding my family that I never paid attention to it.

"That's the Tower…" My sister sighed. "It is where Players go."

"You seem to have no idea about anything, dear. What happened to you? Do you have amnesia?" My mother asked.

Earth was not like this before. What happened here? Why are there magic and dungeons now? And monsters? Why? Who dares do this to my world? Who dares bring destruction and an apocalypse? Gods? Towers? Dungeons?

I suppose my journey is not over yet. Thankfully, I have not lost all my power. I'll refine everything and kill all the gods. Maybe that way, Earth will be freed or something. worth a try.

"Okay, there's way too much to process; let's sit down and talk." My mother said, "It has been years, honey, but do you still like your coffee with two spoons of sugar?"

"Ah, yes…" I nodded, feeling at ease despite the changes, as I sat down.

The atmosphere of my family and the smell of my house—my sister and my mother are here. And... Juan, why is he still here? Can't he leave?

"Hey, you're no longer needed in this house, mortal. Leave this instant. I shall now provide for my family in your stead." I said. "I'm thankful you took care of them, but I don't want to see your face here ever again."

"Eh?! I know you're Ruby's sister, but that's overly rude! I'm her boyfriend; I can't stay?" He cried pathetically.

"Worm! I've had enough patience; leave before I crush you." I stood up, my Immortal Aura surging endlessly from my body, resembling an endless pressure that made him fall to his knees. "My patience has limits! And my mercy as well."

"Uuggh! AAGH!" He could barely move before my pressure, and that was only a very small portion of it, perhaps 0.0001%?

"What the… Katherine, are you awakened too?!" My mother asked. "Let Juan go, please! He's a bit annoying, but he's a good kid."

"Hey, enough, Katherine! He's my boyfriend!" Ruby angrily said, "Leave him be!"

"Ugh… Okay, sorry." I sighed, letting my powers run rampant, which was unbefitting of me. Maybe I need to calm down a bit. I am still on high alert after that fight against Heaven's Will. "I will try to tolerate him around. But I am not too fond of men taking advantage of women. He better work hard if he wants to earn my respect."

"Cough, cough… Just how strong are you? Only A Rank Awakeners can even release such a strong Aura…" Muttered Juan. "I'm barely F Rank…"

"A Rank Awakeners…?" I wondered. "What are these weird ranks all about?"

"We'll explain to you as we eat something. You look really tired, honey. Sit down and relax, please." My mother said, kissing me on the cheek. "Okay?"

"Very well, but only because you're my mother." I nodded. "I will take no orders from anybody else."

As I sat down and enjoyed the bitter and nostalgic flavor of coffee, more memories I thought I had forgotten came back to me. We talked about the world and how it changed as I drank coffee and nodded in silence. My sister was preparing me pancakes; the smell was nice. I believe this time she wasn't going to burn them, luckily.

"So this happened ten years ago, just after I disappeared." I said. "I see. The Tower, is there only a single one in the entire world?"

"Yes, we received a message... when that thing appeared. It broke through half of New York as it surged from the depths of the Earth. A voice told us that we needed to grow stronger and climb the tower's one hundred floors if we wanted to protect our world from destruction." My mother said, "The Gods, who originally inhabited the tower as well, started spreading blessings and choosing people amongst the Awakened, who were able to assimilate Mana into their bodies and unlock the system's status. I have one too; I'm a D-Rank Hunter."

"These Gods… Are they the creators of the Tower?" I wondered, squinting my eyes.

"We don't know where they came from or who made that tower." Ruby sighed. "We only know that we need to climb the tower's floors, one floor a month. If we delay it, more Dungeon Gates will appear. In these ten years, the Tower has only advanced by 21 floors, and Dungeon Breaks are happening a lot lately. Have you noticed the new buildings all around? When one happens, a huge disaster appears, everything is destroyed, and monsters come out endlessly. It's horrible. Many people have died. We are lucky it hasn't happened to us yet."

"I won't let that ever happen to any of you," I said with a firm tone of voice. "So to free this world, we need to climb that damned tower? Can anybody go?"

"Only those who have awakened are allowed inside." My mother sighed. "It's really quite a problem... I have only explored the first and second floors myself, which have a few permanent dungeons where monsters spawn. I hunt them and sell their carcasses and magic cores to the Hunter Association to gain money and maintain our family. Luckily, your sister just got her doctorate degree, so she's going to start working too."

"A doctor! It was what you always wanted to be, Ruby!" I felt really happy.

"Yeah… It was hard, but I did it." She nodded. "I always wanted to be a doctor because of my dad... If there had been a doctor nearby when that happened to him, he wouldn't have…"

"Ruby… You don't need to think like that." My mother sighed, patting her shoulders.

"Father…" I looked at the photo of him hanging on the wall. A bulky man with a short black beard, sharp blue eyes, and a gentle smile. "Ruby, you pursue a very noble job. I remember meeting many doctors in Murim. They were inspiring people with similar goals and traumas as us. They wanted to save people because, back then, they were unable to save the ones they loved. They were all wonderful people, wonderful friends... Most of them have passed away, while I left some behind. I wonder if they're doing well."

"Sister… You look so serious when talking about that nonsense." My sister muttered. "A-Are you really… saying the truth?"

"The Tower is an amalgamation of many different worlds fused together; each floor is a different world." My mother said, "Maybe... It could truly be possible that she was sent to another world. Did you enter a gate, Katherine?"

"I… I don't remember how it went. But there was a blue light that swallowed me." I nodded.

"Maybe she's like the Lost People, then?" Juan asked. "Those people that get swallowed by Dungeon Gates and never return."

"But she returned," Ruby muttered.

I smiled back at them gently.

"Of course I did; I would never leave my family behind," I said, eating the pancakes. "Hmm, so soft and sweet. My sister's pancakes are truly a delicacy of the nine heavens, seven continents, and eleven seas."

"Eleven thousand years." My mother looked into my eyes with pity. "My dear Katherine, were you really… that many years in another world?"

"I was." I nodded, feeling slightly sorrowful. "So much happened… But I'm so happy I am finally back. Let's not overthink things. There's a present at hand we need to take care of, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess." Ruby nodded. "You're too strong, though, big sis. You need to register as a hunter, alright, if you don't want us to get into trouble. Unregistered hunters are usually seen as criminals."

"What? Such an unjust society!" I said. "Why?!"

"It is because the government needs to keep track of all of us." My mother said, "After all, unregistered hunters are always people who become criminals and use their powers not to protect humanity but to bring destruction."

"Hmm… I suppose that does make some sense. In the Heavenly Judgement Pavilion, I led; we did something similar to control the creation of new Demonic Cultivators." I nodded. "Well, anyways, I suppose I should, for the sake of it and because you ask me to. Can you lead me there once we are done eating breakfast, my dearest?"

"Of course! We'll bring you there, big sis. I think you could even be an S-Rank hunter. Holy sh*t." My sister was amazed.

"It would be incredible." My mother was still processing it. "But don't force yourself to fight if you don't want to, Katherine. If you were truly eleven thousand years old in another world fighting every day, I want you to rest and relax for a bit, if possible…"

"My world is in peril, and you ask me to relax, mother?" I sighed. "I'm sorry, but I must refuse. This is the world where my precious family and the food I love come from, as well as where my father has been buried. There is no way I am giving it away."

With that thought in mind, once breakfast was over, we moved to the big city. My mother and my sister talked to me a lot about the rules and other things hunters must follow. As I took mental notes on them, something happened. A strange crack in space spread out, opening up and revealing a spiraling purple-colored portal.

Crack, crack…!

CRASH!

"Ah, no!"

"A Dungeon Break?! Run!"

"SHIT! Get out of my way!"

As the people panicked and ran away, creatures from within the portal crawled out. Green-skinned, with long ears and noses, and sharp, crimson-colored eyes, wearing bone armor and holding rusty weapons.

"Gryehehe…"

"Goblins!" My sister cried.

"Stay behind, you two! I'll distract them until Hunters arrive." My mother attempted to fight them, but I stopped her.

"Hmm, so these are monsters, huh?" I wondered, patting my mother's shoulders. "Worry not, mother. I will take care of them."

I disappeared from the scene and swung my hand with a minuscule amount of Immortal Essence imbued into it. My movements resembled an endlessly flowing, golden river.

"{Golden Serpent's Flowing Fist}"

The goblins that were touched by my gentle hands were immediately overflowing with energy and exploded into pieces, leaving a rather gross and bloody scene. Their screams of agony were quite entertaining to hear, and without realizing it, I started to smile a bit.

"And done… Oh my, did I overdo it?" I realized I was standing over a pile of at least fifty of these "goblins".

People were staring in disbelief, and then I heard something weird in front of me as I felt a foreign energy entering my body, which I quickly decided to analyze and refine. It felt rather gentle and strong at the same time, but very different than Ki Energy.

"Could this be Mana?"

Ding!

[You have absorbed Mana into your body! Congratulations, you have Awakened as a Player!]

[A Status System has been created to…]

[ERROR]

[Incomprehensible levels of strength detected…]

[ERROR]

"Ah, of course…"

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