Chapter 22 - Dream

Ishia House, Living room

"Uh, what happened here?" I looked to Dad questioningly, but he looked down at the table with sweat dripping down to it.

Seeing this, I glanced at Hana and Mitsuo but they pretended like they didn't notice and just continued looking at her phone and pretending to sleep respectively.

With no choice left, I turned to Mom, who has a very menacing aura vibe right now.

"Mom, what is this about?"

"Your father said that your cooking is better than mine~" Mom had a sweet smile on her face, yet her eyes were filled with competitiveness.

'Well, no wonder she's like this' I narrowed my eyes on Dad and he started to shake even more.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it like that"

"Hehehe, he sounded very sincere when he said it though"

"It was probably just a fleeting thought"

"He couldn't give me a straight answer when I asked him to clarify"

"…"

We both stared intensely at each other; our auras clashed creating shockwaves that blow the house away.

The cry of a mountain goat that could be found in Alaska could be heard ringing out off in the distance.

The screech of a bald eagle sounded off overhead, the neighs of a herd of horses were mixed in.

Lightning struck off in the background bring bellows of thunders and at the eye of the storm were just me and her, I knew at this moment that it was inevitable.

Then I snapped back to reality where none of that happened and I have only stared at her for three seconds. Except for the inevitable part, that one's true, I cannot escape from this because she'll keep bothering me about it until I concede.

Yeah, I ran out of good excuses that could get me out of this. So there's only one way out now…

"Sigh, fine. But, can I go up and change first?" I showed a defeated expression while rubbing my neck.

"Of course, I wouldn't want your new uniform to get dirty" Mom clapped her hands together and smiled happily, the menacing vibe dissipating the moment she heard my words.

"Now, go on. I'll prepare everything for this, hehehe~" Mom shooed me off and giggled excitedly like a schoolgirl.

I've wondered whether Mom was actually the same age as Dad, she looks like she's in her early-20s, not a woman who has two kids in their teens.

I mean, Dad is the same; he doesn't look a day past 24. Well, I can get why he looks so young compared to his age considering where he came from, but Mom's background was just normal.

As far as I know, the Ishia was not a descendent of some old ancient powerful clan or anything. Our grandparents were just slightly wealthy, that's about all.

Speaking of, I'm looking forward to seeing Pops and Oba-chan again after so long.

While reminiscing about my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, I headed upstairs to my room and changed into casual clothes. I looked around my room and it seemed kinda…what's the word for it, uh…barren, empty, or maybe spacious?

I mean, there's only a bed, a mat with a small table on top, some cushions, a desk and a chair, a bookshelf, a bin under my desk, and the chest I made yesterday. There's no wall decoration or anything.

This could just be because I've mostly stayed in the royal castle, which has been intricately decorated for over several millennia, and my room in the tower, which has been decorated personally by Mel, Lily, and my student Cynthia, that I'm bothered by the plainness of my own room.

'I know what? I'm not gonna think about that. Let's see what I've got in my [Personal Box] that I can hang on the wall or something, we'll start from there'

After taking a moment to scan through my memory of all my items, I pulled out a long sword in an icy blue scabbard; the guard has a frosty feathered design, the handle is white, and the pommel has a detailed snowflake design.

Channeling some mana into it, I unsheathed it, revealing a blade pure white in color; it shined brightly despite the light in the room being off.

[Legendary Sword, Gentle Snow (Re-forged)], forged by Sword Sage Alvin and re-forged by yours truly.

This sword was broken into four fragments when Alvin used it as a catalyst to open a permanent portal to the Elemental Plane of Ice over a region; this summoned an endless snowstorm that turned that region into an ice mountain and blocked off the advancement of the Demon Empire on the shorelines into the Land of Freedom.

The previous Sage managed to collect all four fragments but didn't re-forge it and instead gave it to their blacksmith friend; however, the old blacksmith died fighting an Ancient Void Dragon while out collecting materials to re-forge the sword. He was just unlucky to encounter a monster that can kill a Demigod.

After slaying the beast to avenge their friend, the previous Sage decided to let the blacksmith's family keep the fragments and they have kept it safe for generations. Until a Saint Smith rose up with their family and managed to forge all four fragments together; however, it was a failure because that Saint Smith miscalculated and got killed in the backlash, effectively turning the forged sword into a Cursed Sword.

The Unnamed Cursed Sword was then sealed away in the very ice mountain it created because it was too dangerous. It could not be wielded unless one could resist the powerful ice element magic attacks coming from the sword and the dark element mental attacks that directly target the wielder's soul coming from the trapped souls of those who have been killed by its blade.

I found it and unsealed it because I wanted to train in manipulating souls and defending soul attacks; it was frankly one of the best ideas I've come up with, albeit very dangerous, I still managed to ascend to Saint-tier because of it.

The moment I ascended, the blade snapped in half and I had to re-forge it back, which took a good week, but it's worth it for a Legendary Grade Sword.

Except for the fact that besides me and Kural, I couldn't find anyone who could use it so I just it in my [Personal Box] until now.

The thing with Legendary Grade Items with a long history is that it has its own will. Unless you meet the skill level requirements or were acknowledged by the item, you will never even be able to lift it not to mention wearing or wielding it.

That's why those who can make Legendary Grade Items, like me, are feared and respected throughout the Main Continent. One of these bad boys can change the fate of an entire country.

And why can I wield it right now with my avatar body? Well, I'm the one who re-forged it; of course, the weapon acknowledges me as its master.

However, even though no one could lift it if they're not acknowledged, it's still hazardous to leave it just chilling out in the open. This thing's a Legendary Grade for a reason after all; even in its passive mode, the sword will constantly absorb a ton of the surrounding mana and release it back out in the form of ice attributed mana.

You don't need to be a genius to figure out what that'll do.

All Legendary Grade Items, no matter its age, will release an aura of some kind to deter weaklings from getting close. It's a little defense mechanism to prevent some persistent people who don't give up easily from continuously trying to touch it.

That's why past me thought of it beforehand and made this icy blue scabbard. It's riddled with complication magic arrays to seal the aura [Gentle Snow (Re-forged)] releases whenever it's out of my hand.

I sheathed [Gentle Snow (Re-forged)] and the magic arrays on the scabbard lit up before rotating for a few seconds, then the magic arrays stopped and dimmed before disappearing.

I walked up to the wall next to my desk while using metal magic to create some sword mounts, and then I used [Great Alchemy] to make holes on the wall above the chest before inserting the sword mounts in and filling the empty space back up.

Discarding the leftover into the Void, I then placed [Gentle Snow (Re-forged)] snuggly into the sword mounts before taking a few steps back to look at my handy work.

"That's good enough for now, I'll add some more stuff later. I better head down before Mom gets impatient" I started heading downstairs for the cook-off.

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(Third person POV)

Grand Illustrious Hotel

Alice opened the door to her temporary room. The two Brusion twins will be moving out to a house closer to Kurimo Academy once everything is finalized.

They'll be living on their own along with Morgan, who will take care of daily necessities so they don't destroy the place.

The house will be your normal average modern house enough to fit a family of five, just the right size for someone like Morgan to take care of.

Alice put down her bag and took off her blazer before laying down on the bed; phone in hand, she stared at her contact list.

While on cleaning duty, the girls exchanged contact info. She got the numbers of Asahina, Suika, the girl trio, and Atsuka, who stayed to lock the classroom after they finished cleaning.

She then recalled her conversation with her cousin.

'…drop by anytime you want, just don't bring him along and we're all good, Cousin…'

'Sigh, although I got the go-ahead to visit, Alex is still banned it seems'

Alice was happy to be able to meet with her uncle so she can get the mission over with, but at the same time, she felt it was wrong of her to exploit her cousin's kindness for her own benefit.

She also felt guilty for being jealous of her cousins, after seeing Ren showing no intention of revealing her true identity or showing any sign of greed despite knowing who she is.

There were no signs of any ulterior motives behind his kindness either, unlike her other relatives in the main house, where they would take any chances they can get to gain wealth or power within the family.

This was her first time receiving true familial love outside her father, mother, and twin brother.

'Mother…'

Alice's hands clenched hard, she curled up into a ball while thinking of her mother.

Her mother was the only person who would openly show her love unlike her father and brother, who showed their love for her in slight, subtle ways.

Her father was strict and hard on both her and Alex only because he wanted them to be strong and be able to survive in the high-class world.

Her brother, Alex, although is prideful and arrogant, still cares for his two remaining family members and his subordinates.

That's why, although she fully understands Ren's reason for not liking Alex and denies his visit to the Ishia house, she's still not fully satisfied with the situation yet.

Hence why she's not gonna bring up the topic of getting her uncle to return to the main family whenever she's there until Alex gets a pass from Ren.

What? You think she's just not gonna visit and meet her uncle and his family because her brother is barred from coming along?

This is his fault; like what her cousin Ren said, he's old enough to take responsibility for the consequences of his actions.

'Though I will try to put in a good word for you, whether it'll work or not it another thing'

Alice finished that thought up before getting off the bed and changed out of her uniform.

*Knock* *Knock*

「Lady Alice, we just received a list of available houses from the real-estate company, would you like to take a look at it?」 Morgan's voice sounded from the other side of the door.

「Has Alex gone through it yet?」 Alice looked at herself in the mirror and decided to try a new hairstyle.

「I'm afraid not, Young Master Alex has told me not to disturb him and to let you pick out the house instead」

「Sigh, always leaving all the troublesome tasks to me. You may come in, leave it on the nightstand」 Alice finished off tying the ribbons on both sides of her head.

*Click*

Morgan opened the door and gracefully walked to the nightstand before placing the tablet there.

「How do I look, Morgan?」 Alice stood up from the chair and adjusted her hair to look more neatly before turning to Morgan for his opinion.

「You look beautiful, Lady Alice. Might I ask, what inspired my Lady to change your hairstyle?」 Morgan adjusted his glasses while having a neutral face, though on the inside he's thinking up several reasons for his Lady to try this cute style.

「Nothing, a friend just stated that I would look cuter with these ribbons」 Alice's expression didn't change as she walked to her bed and sat down before picking up the tablet.

'Friend?' Morgan's eyes glinted and his glasses shined at this revelation.

「If you'll excuse me, Lady Alice, I need to get to preparing dinner」 Morgan bowed gracefully before exiting the room.

「Mhm」 Alice only nodded and kept looking through the list, unaware of Morgan's intention to investigate the matter of his lady's friend.

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(Ren's POV)

"Ugh..can't….eat…stomach…too.…full…" Dad laid on the sofa with a bloated stomach and groaning.

"Here, drink this ginger tea, Dear" Mom went beside him to help him drink the ginger tea.

*Sips*

"Hah…That's good, your ginger tea always helps me relax. But in this case, I still don't feel too good" Dad pulled his strength to sit up on the sofa instead of lying down.

"Hehehe, I guess we did go a bit far" Mom looked to the many dishes from all different cultures on the dining table and the kitchen counter.

"And whose fault is that, Mom? You kept refusing to stop and Ren had to go along with it" Hana, who sat on the floor, complained to Mom with a cup of lemon tea I made for her on the coffee table.

"Well, I'm also partially to blame. I got a bit absorbed in it too" I was at the sink cleaning the plates, utensils, and everything else.

"Yeah, why were you so immersed in it!? I thought I saw two Moms with that grin you had on" Hana held her head and shivered a little.

'Hmm, I was grinning a lot while cooking just like Mom. Did I get it from her? No, probably just my High Human blood kicking in'

Ever since I obtained the Sage Legacy, I felt like my urge to experiment, make, and create things getting stronger and stronger by the day. But, it just disappeared when I ascended to Saint-tier; however, even without it I still enjoyed making things.

Now that I'm in a weaker body maybe those urges are starting to resurface just like how I have less control over my emotions now.

Eh whatever, what I should really be thinking about is how do I preserve these foods? There are just too many varieties to pick out one perfect way to preserve it. Even though we have a huge fringe, it's just not gonna fit all of them.

"Hmm…"

"Nii-san, whatcha thinking about?" Mitsuo hugged my waist and looked up at me.

"I'm thinking about how to keep all the food for breakfast tomorrow, can't just throw out all these perfectly good foods" I dried my hands with a towel.

"Why not share them with our new neighbors?" Mom suggested while coming to the kitchen.

"Wait, we have neighbors now? When did they move in?" I was a bit surprised, this was news to me. I try to sense for a presence in the house next to ours and sure enough, there were three presences.

Judging from their life force signature, there are two adults and a child.

So a family of three I presume.

"They apparently moved in last night, they came to greet us this morning after you had gone off to school with a smug grin" Mom opened some cabinets and brought out some huge bento boxes.

"Ooh, ooh, Mom, can I help!?" Mitsuo waved his hands around with great enthusiasm.

"Sure sweetie, you can help me pick out and arrange every dish" Mom patted Mitsuo's head with a proud smile.

"Yay!" Mitsuo jumped excitedly.

"Guess that's all my work done, I'm heading up to my room then" I took off the apron and hung it before walking out.

"Goodnight, Nii-san!"

"Goodnight, Ren"

"Night" I waved over my shoulder and headed up to my room.

I took out my phone and saw an invite for a group on Chat-Up from 2 hours ago and I accepted it because it was from Word_Master aka Monoa.

[Wise_Guy has joined the group]

Monoa – [Well, took ya long enough]

Ren – [I was a bit busy for the past 3 hours]

Ren – [What have you guys been talking about?]

Keirou – [Nothing much really, just Monoa-kun complaining about you not accepting the invite]

Monoa – [Speaking of, you haven't sent me those notes yet]

Ren – [Hold on a sec]

Ren – [*Sends Notes.pdf*]

Ren – [There, notes for the first chapter of all the subjects]

Monoa – [I was gonna say how much there was for just one day, but that explains it]

Keirou – [Imma just take a quick look at that, thank you]

Ren – [It's only the first chapter anyway, copy it if you want]

Ren – [This goes for you too Akirou-kun]

Akirou – [Yeah, thanks. This'll help save some time]

Monoa – [Btw, what were you doing, Ishia-kun?]

Ren – [Cooking]

Monoa – [For 3 hours?]

Keirou – [Is this what I think it is?]

Ren – [Yup]

Ren – [*Sends 7 pics*]

Keirou – [Holy hell, it happened again…]

Keirou – [You need help getting rid of those?]

Ren – [Nah, we just got new neighbors this morning so Mom's sharing it with them and maybe with the Hanada family too]

Monoa – [Wait! Are we not gonna talk about how many dishes there are in the pics!?]

Monoa – [And the variety too!]

Keirou – [Well, it's just a thing in his family to cook dishes from many different cultures]

Ren – [My mom's a Culinary Professor at an International Culinary school]

Monoa – [Ah, makes sense]

Monoa – [No, wait! It doesn't make sense at all!]

…

We all chatted for a while longer before we got off to do our own things. I noticed that Akirou didn't say a lot in the group, maybe he couldn't keep up with us? I don't know; let's leave that for next time.

I did my things before heading off to bed at around 10 pm.

I expanded the chest I made yesterday with some space magic so it can fit more; I then also put a magic lock on it so no one ends up accidentally falling in there and can't get out.

I then checked on the magic circles before going on to making the Charms of Protection.

Once I've made one for everyone close to me, I also made several more just in case I need them later.

After all that was done, I took a bath, said goodnight to Hana and in the group before drifting off to sleep.

Going to sleep is such an easy thing for me, I just think about doing it and it just starts sending me off to dreamland. It's all thanks to a sub-magic of mind magic and void magic called Dream magic.

It's a type of magic that's more skewered towards the mental more than the physical.

Dream magic is so rarely seen that most wouldn't even notice if they were being attacked by it. Though, it doesn't have that many powerful spells in its earlier stages like Advance or Master-tier.

However, at King or Saint-tier is when this magic becomes very powerful. For example, at King-tier you'll be able to disrupt the thinking of those weaker willed than you; basically, you can make your opponent fail to cast spells, misuse skills, or move wrongly, all of which would be fatal mistakes in a battle.

While at Saint-tier, you gain access to the Land of Dream or the Dream World.

Now, you may be wondering why I'm explaining this all of a sudden.

I looked up at the sky; it was different than the sky of the real world as it looked like shattered glass and it has a beautiful iridescent color, slowly changing colors at an unnoticeable rate.

That's right; I'm in my Dream World. I have no idea why I'm here because I wasn't supposed to be able to access it with my avatar mind. This Dream World was made by me back in Mirkaz, in another world.

How my weak avatar mind (compared to the mind of my main body) traveled through worlds is beyond me.