Reborn

"Hmph!" Muriel, after arriving back at her cottage, stomped to her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Oh, what happened?" Johan said while sweating heavily as he was holding the heavy piece of furniture above him.

While others went to check out the schools, Johan was forced to stay behind to train. It irked him to no end, but he knew that they had Martial Academia business to attend to there.

Cadell sat down on the sofa with an irksome expression and crossed his arms with an angry frown.

"I can imagine it now." Johan scoffed and looked at Cadell. "This jealous behavior of yours is pretty sad. I know you like her, but do you think this makes her look at you in a positive light? If she finds out, you'll never date her."

"Quiet down." Cadell said coldly. "Gotta make sure she doesn't find out then, right? If she finds out, I'll suspect that you said something, and then I'll snap your neck."

Godfred went over to her door and knocked gently. "Miri, you shouldn't be upset. Humans are pretty insensitive fools; you should forget about him!"

"But you are also a human grandpa." Muriel's voice came from the other side of the door. "Are you also insensitive?"

"I am different!" Godfred hurriedly said. "I am your grandpa!"

No other sounds came from the door except the sound of clothes dropping to the floor and the shower turning on.

"Sigh…" Godfred's head drooped low, and he slowly walked away with a face that seemed like all happiness was sucked out of him. "That fucking brat, I should kill him. No, that would make Miri hate me…"

"I can kill him." Cadell offered with his arm raised.

"No, we are here with the Martial Academia business." Godfred sat down. "It wouldn't look good if we killed one of their students."

"Who cares about what tier-4 country think?" Cadell scoffed. "We, Martial Academia, don't need any of them."

"Hey." Johan called out in annoyance.

"Let's just forget about it." Godfred said with a sigh. "She'll forget about him as well soon enough. After all, he is just average even among humans."

…

The sky turned dark as a storm rolled in. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and immediately afterwards, rain began pouring down in sheets.

"Let's return inside!" Jin shouted while sheltering himself under his jacket.

Everyone rushed back inside from the backyard, except one person—Kiernan.

"Kiernan!" Jin shouted out. "You'll get sick; come in!"

"A moment…" Kiernan placed his fist against the wooden dummy. He started doing techniques with lightning speed and precision, completely focusing on his training.

The rain poured down around him, soaking his clothes and hair.

"Iron Style, Rendering Edge." Kiernan clashed against the wooden dummy's wooden frame, feeling the satisfying impact.

At that moment, he grabbed one of the wooden dummy's "arms" with his fingers and whispered:

"Iron Style, Anatomical Bind."

It felt like he could control the wooden dummy to move as he wished. However, as he continued to practice, he began to notice a strange tingling sensation in his fingertips.

'I can't use that skill much…' Kiernan frowned and slammed his palm against the wooden dummy. "Iron Style, Sceneric Shift."

With a snap of his wrist, he threw the wooden dummy over his head and then slammed it into the ground, causing the grass to dig up around him in a cascade of dirt and grass.

At that moment, Kiernan's body started suddenly changing—thats what it at least looked like to onlookers—it was as if his body soaked up all the rain and he turned into a creature of water.

"Iron Style, Sea Fall." Kiernan fluidly moved to the wooden dummy, raised it high into the air, and then slammed it back to the ground—he did a perfect hip throw.

However, because it looked like he was made out of water, his movements were fluid and graceful. It would be extremely difficult to defend against his throw.

After the throw was completed, Kiernan returned to look like a human. Then, he picked up the wooden dummy back to its feet and walked to the porch that had shelter to cover from rain.

"I am done." Kiernan said to Jin, who watched everything happen.

He couldn't believe his eyes.

"W-what the hell was that?" Jin asked himself and turned to Kiernan, who entered the cottage. He hadn't seen anything like that before.

…

The days flew by like a shooting star.

The students of Karuza High continued to work hard while occasionally sparring against former Irio High's students.

The sparring matches were usually Ryan, Nath, and Klaus versus Kang, Shura, and Leon.

Karuza High lost all of the sparring matches. It was because Kiernan wasn't participating in those fights.

It made Jin push them even harder.

Meanwhile, Kiernan was focusing on himself. Jin allowed it, as he wasn't hurting himself as much anymore. Sometimes, he would give some advice, which Kiernan accepted and followed them.

While they trained hard, both Karuza and former Irio's students noticed something odd—Kiernan was acting rather strangely—it wasn't just the way he was acting but also the way he looked.

He was growing taller, his voice deepening, and his hair turning darker. It was as if he was aging rapidly before their eyes. It also caused his muscle mass to increase significantly, and his face matured until he looked more handsome.

This transformation also showed in his system's stats. All of them had an increase.

The strength moved from 17 to 20. Agility turned from 16 to 18. Stamina went from 11 all the way to 15. Vitality didn't have a change, and Charm moved from 12 to 15.

Kiernan, before, looked like an ordinary sixteen year-old—nothing special—but now he looked as if he were in his early twenties. It was a surprising transformation that took everyone by surprise.

It had been barely a month since he reincarnated, but he already had such a drastic transformation.

While sitting on the porch, Jin and Madigan looked over to Kiernan, who was punching the wooden dummy, just like he had done for the past few weeks.

"Puberty?" Madigan guessed.

"Haha, no way." Jin laughed. "No one has such a sudden change just because of puberty. It is something else."

"What could explain that, though?" Madigan scratched his head.

"Not sure, but when I look at him, I have a feeling." Jin smiled. "That he is much stronger than we think he is."

"He is only Middle Stage Martial Soldier." Madigan shrugged his shoulders. "We just found out that our first opponent has a Low Stage Martial Fighter—we also need Martial Fighter to win.

"Unfortunately, Ryan is nowhere close to taking that leap to that realm of power. Very unfortunate."

"Hmm…" Jin wondered. "Tomorrow, we'll go to Tiamut. The starting ceremony will be held at noon, and then the day after that, the tournament officially starts.

"We prepared as well as we could…"

"Oh, our opponent has Martial Fighter?" Kiernan overheard their conversation and came to porch to get a sip of water.

"That's right." Jin said with a serious look. "Their other two fighters aren't that strong, but that Martial Fighter alone makes this match an uphill battle. We can still win, but it is hard…"

"That means we only need Martial Fighter then." Kiernan sipped on his water.

"Easier said than done." Madigan said with a wry smile. "Ryan, if he had a few more months, maybe, but it is too late now."

Kiernan put down his water bottle and cracked his neck. It was as if he took that as a challenge.

At that moment, his soul had another layer forcibly ripped off. The diamond-looking soul started to have other colors peek from underneath its shell—there were striking shades of purple and blue that glistened in the dim light.

"Ah!" Jin and Madigan cried out. "Y-you advanced?!"

[High Stage Martial Soldier Achieved]

[100 XP Acquired!]

Kiernan's blood churned and pumped with excitement. Then, his veins rose from underneath his flesh and started pumping his body with strength and power.

After that, inside the depths of his very being, another layer slowly peeled off from the soul—like a bandage being slowly ripped off the wound—and as soon as the layer was gone, the diamond soul turned into rays of beautiful blue and amethyst light that danced and sparkled in the darkness.

"T-that's impossible!" The coach and the assistant coach shouted. They were seeing something impossible—double advancement!

[Low Stage Martial Fighter Achieved!]

[150 XP Acquired!]

"Whoo." Kiernan breathed out heavily and then moved his hair back up, his face looking radiant and devilishly handsome. "Well, it looks like we have a Martial Fighter in our midst."

*** 

[Name: Kiernan Hunter]

[System Level: Beginner]

[Martial Rank: Low Stage Martial Fighter]

[Age: 16]

[Level: 3]

[SP: 0]

[Gold: 0]

[XP: 270/500]

[Strength: 30]

[Agility: 25]

[Stamina: 20]

[Vitality: 27] 

[Charm: 25]

[Quests]

[Shop]

[Inventory]

[Lottery]