Chapter 17: Midnight Irregularity

Jash sat in his favorite spot with Ziva lying on him, clasping his right hand, while Amelia held his left for an unknown period of time.

'At least it is January, or I would be compelled to move away,' Jash mused as the gentle cold breeze caressed a few strands of his hair.

If not for the cooling sensation of the cold wind, he would've sweated buckets with Ziva lying so close to him.

'Sigh. What am I even thinking…' Jash cut off his strange thoughts, closed his eyes, and tried to relax, despite the slight discomfort.

'I wish I could record her vulnerable side to tease her later.' Jash smiled slyly, recalling how she recorded him after using mana ink sneakily. Alas, he didn't have a recording device.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't know how much time had passed before he drifted off to sleep.

…

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours. Slowly but surely, time passed. In the blink of an eye, an entire year had gone by.

12 January, Year 2449 of the Holy Calendar.

A few minutes before midnight.

Despite his approaching birthday, Jash was exercising out of his bed.

"97…!"

—Drip

"98…!"

—Drip

"99…!"

—Drip

"100!"

—Drip

Sweat glistened and fell to the floor from his chiseled physique as he finished his push-ups for the day.

Without taking a break, he switched to a forearm plank, counting inwardly, '180.. 179… 178…'

He didn't mind his sweat-drenched figure. Even in breathable dark gray shorts made of rare fibers, he still looked handsome.

Alone in his room, he continued his intense workouts, unknown to most of the mansion's inhabitants.

Usually, he slept most of the day because of his nighttime training, preferring to keep it a secret to avoid interference.

Of course, both Sera and Carcel knew about his routine. Hence, they didn't force him to wake up early and train.

But they didn't confront Jash about it, glad he put in some effort without even being forced to train.

Jash, however, was mostly unaware of their charade, believing they were oblivious as he wasn't invested in the prowess of strong hunters or his forced lessons.

He aced all the tests, outscoring even Caera, who studied regularly like the ideal child, thanks to his analytical brain that helped him read and understand most books quickly.

Reading books the day before the test hadn't been tough, even if they had questions requiring high analytical skills.

'What use is getting praised as a genius if they just want me to put in more effort?' Jash scoffed at his hypocritical teachers, who complained about him but did a 180 after seeing his results.

Not wanting to remember those times, he stood up after completing his 3-minute plank, sweat dripping from every inch of his 1.6-meter-tall body. (5′4″)

Feeling the sticky sensation of sweat, Jash used a clean towel to wipe it off.

'I will shower after a 5-minute rest.'

Glancing at the clock to note the time, he realized it had crossed midnight.

"Happy 13th birthday, I guess?" Jash muttered in amusement.

He had already talked with his parents about not awakening until he was 15 or had to do it before entering the academy.

"The academy, huh…"

Jash muttered with no expression on his face, but his clenched fists spoke volumes about his hatred rather than a drive to become stronger, unlike others his age.

'Maybe I should aim for rank 1 and get the perks to sleep or something…'

Lost in his delusions, he didn't know how much time had passed before snapping out of it and recalling the changes in Caera.

A wry smile hung on his face as he shivered at even the thought of daily training for 6 hours, followed by mana cultivation alongside their common lessons…

"Just how does she do that? Does awakening drive one crazy or something?"

Unbeknownst to Caera, her efforts to make Jash understand the significance of awakening and choose to awaken even one day earlier backfired.

His hatred for awakening grew ever more prominent, and his determination to delay it increased.

'I'd much rather stick to my current routine instead of following some insane training schedule…'

"But it does change everything," Jash said, his expression morphing to a contemplative frown.

After all, a lot of things had changed. The time he spent with his parents wasn't much different, however, the conversations seemed a bit different and irrelevant to Jash.

It more or less revolved around Caera or other nobles' children who had undergone awakening and their potential classmates at the academy.

"Even Ziva is not allowed to talk on calls anymore," Jash mumbled, a hint of sadness in his tone.

'She must be training!' Jash concluded, recalling his last conversation,where he fell asleep only to wake up in his room with his grandfather. It was still fresh in his mind.

"He definitely heard it but didn't force me or anything. Rather he just left after I woke up and I haven't seen him since," Jash said rather helplessly.

His grandfather was known as the best long-ranged combatant and held titles such as 'One Hit, One Kill!', 'The Silent Shot!', 'Trueshot!', and many more.

Yet everyone called him by his moniker, 'The Keen!'

It wasn't even connected to him being an archer; it was more about his scouting ability, patience, observation skills, and never missing even the subtlest of details and whatnot.

However, to Jash, none of it held any meaning as he knew better than anyone that his grandfather wasn't the calm, old, wise, all-knowing sage!

"That old man is just as boisterous as any other knight in the family, if not for mom…" Jash unconsciously clasped his mouth shut, remembering how scary his mother could be.

Cornelius Ramille was the strongest man around until his daughter-in-law narrowed her eyes at him. It was a given, considering her fierce protectiveness of her children.

Not wanting to dwell on it on his birthday, Jash glanced at the clock, his eyes widening in shock as he stared at it speechlessly.

'Damn! I have been rambling for over 15 minutes…?'

Flexing his arms, he noticed the remaining sweat had mostly dried up. He finally moved to take his well-needed shower.

However, just as he reached for the bathroom door, a sudden headache made him flinch.

His hands instinctively clutched his forehead as he tried to ease the pain, but it felt like his head was being struck by a hammer.

'It hurts…! Ugh…'

The pain was too much for Jash, who wasn't used to such sensations. It soon overwhelmed his senses, causing him to lose his balance and tumble.

Unfortunately, things didn't improve as a mind-numbing pain soon took over his remaining consciousness.

It felt as if countless needles were piercing his brain, forcefully altering its structure. His memories, both new and old, got jumbled up, becoming unrecognizable.

Unable to even make sense of his situation, his body fainted reflexively to save his life.

Several artifacts on his body lit up with glows of varying colors to protect him, but from what?

Not sensing any external threat to him, they deactivated. But not before some artifacts notified the other holder, his parents.