Venturing Out

Randy pondered for a while as he suddenly recalled the things that happened to him recently to see if he could somehow discern the identity of this mysterious ovoid crystal that claimed that he already knew about its existence.

'Besides being beaten up by Jeremiah and his goons and awakening after the rift suddenly opened, I don't think I met anyone or anything other than those monsters that came out of the rift and then afterwards I used my personal system to record those techniques, hm? The techniqu— Wait, the unknown power?! That was something that happened after I awakened my ability and obtained my own personal system; it was because of this unknown power that I can now steal— no, I can now record any technique and skill. Could it be that…"

Randy's expression gradually turned serious as he turned his attention to the mysterious ovoid crystal with a doubtful expression.

'It can't be that the source of that unknown power that managed to infiltrate my system is that ovoid crystal, right?' Randy suddenly thought in disbelief.

Just as Randy was contemplating whether that was the case or not. He suddenly felt his consciousness blurred for a moment and then when he came to, he suddenly found himself awoken from his sleep, he was currently lying on his bed staring blankly ahead.

He could hear the sound of his alarm ringing in his ears; It was most likely his alarm that he had set for his morning routine that woke him up from his sleep.

Randy turned his head and dazingly looked at the time projected and it was actually 5:00 O'clock in the morning. Sure enough, this was the time that he usually goes to the gym for morning training.

He then turned his gaze to face the ceiling as he gradually fell into thought while recalling what he had just experienced.

'Was that a dream? No, I still remember it clearly, so it definitely wasn't just a dream, then what was that colorful ovoid crystal, is it like I thought? That it was the source of that unknown power that managed to infiltrate my system?' Randy sighed realizing that there was no one to answer him or confirm his thoughts.

After looking at the time once again, Randy finally snapped out of his daze and lazily propped himself off his bed. For some reason, yesterday when he woke up, he was extremely tired and today too, he still felt tired as if he had not slept at all last night.

Although it was somewhat understandable for yesterday since the night before that was when he went through such a devastating and life changing tribulation but for today, he should have slept early yet it felt like he never slept at all.

Nonetheless, he cannot slack off now just because of this, and so, without hesitating anymore, he went to the bathroom. After spending some time brushing his teeth and washing up, he went downstairs to the first floor but did not stop there as he proceeded to head to the basement floor of this mansion.

This was where the gymnasium was located, at the basement floor. While it says basement, but it was no different from a floor with everything available including a bathroom, couches, television, and even a bedroom for resting. Basically, this basement was another floor of their mansion.

Randy approached the door to the basement, after opening it, he went in, climbed down the slight winding stairs down. As usual, the moment he reached the room where the gymnasium was location, he immediately went in after opening the door.

Once in, he slowly walked forward and pick up some dumbbells and tried them out, however, he soon felt disappointed, he found out that they were much lighter compared to before, so they were pretty much useless to the current him.

He tried some of the other stations of the gym however they were the same. They were too light and would not serve any purpose even if he lifted them for days.

His parents did not allowed them to use too much weight when weight-lifting and thus Randy had no choice but to quit with this kind of training method for now.

With nothing else to do, he decided to run some laps on the treadmill for about 30 minutes and just like with the dumbbells which were too light weighted for him, he was not even feeling tired after running for so long, he even picked up the pace by changing the setting, but it was still the same.

'Haah, it seems that I have to at least run for a couple miles or few hours before I can start feeling somewhat tired' He sighed dejectedly and silently thought in disappointment.

Nevertheless, it was good way to warm up his body and wash away some of his sleepiness. Immediately after that, he went to the gym's bathroom and took a cold morning shower.

He came out of the shower room feeling refreshed after washing away the little amount of sweat accumulated from his 'intense' body training.

He wiped himself off with a towel before heading upstairs to his room. He stood before his wardrobe pondering what to wear and finally deciding to put on some casual clothes— a pair of black jeans and a dark-blue long sleeved T-Shirt along with a dark-red hoodie.

After that, Randy went to have some breakfast in the kitchen before leaving. He went and made himself some fried eggs mixed with some veggies along with two glasses of fresh milk that was further enhanced with magic to ensure freshness while also maintaining its nutritious content.

If one had to compared it to something in the previous era, it would be equivalent to the whey protein drinks except better in terms of nutrients.

He usually just had for himself some cereal and milk or sometimes a toast with some spread, however, he decided to go for something different today.

Because he might have to expend some energy when fighting those mutated beasts, so he decided to get some protein in his body to feel energized when he inevitably had to engage in a fight with them.

This was Randy's first time trying to hunt a mutated beast and although he was very confident with his current abilities, one cannot simply be careless and thus he still could not help but feel a slight nervousness as he thought of engaging in a fight against those fierce beasts.

Randy finished his breakfast was about to head out before he was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a sudden resounding voice.

"Where are you going this early in the morning?" The owner of the voice asked.

Randy flinched for no reason before he slowly turned around and replied, "I-I'm going to Jiang Chen's house; we have a class assignment that we need to work on together."

"Hmm…"

The owner of the voice remained silent without saying anything and only narrowed their eyes to stare at him suspiciously.

Randy felt a cold sweat behind his back, he thought for a bit, and then added, "It is an interclass assignment, so we happened to receive the same assignment; that's why I'm visiting Jiang Chen's house so that we can work together to complete the assignment faster."

"Hmm…"

They owner of the voice continued to still maintained their silence and all the while continuing to stare at him suspiciously.

Randy did not like where this was going. After gathering his thoughts, he patted his chest and confidently said, "If you don't believe me, you can simply call Jiang Chen and ask him for confirmation."

"Is that so, then why do I feel like you're hiding something." Riley casually stated and she continued to look at her son with a suspicious gaze.

"W-What would I be hiding?" Randy stuttered as he replied to her statement.

'Was I found out? Don't tell me she found out… that I had managed to awakened my ability somehow through some method?' Randy silently thought while maintaining his calm expression but with a stiff smile on his face.

"I see, if you're really not hiding anything, then why are you not informing me beforehand if you're heading out?" Riley then said to him.

"That's…" Randy appeared helpless and did not know how to answer that.

'Phew so it wasn't because she found out that I had awakened my ability? I was planning on making that a surprise when I register for the university entrance exams…' He inwardly sighed and silently thought in relief.

And then he continued his thoughts after calming himself down.

'It's not like I can say that I was going out to fight some mutated beasts in order to collect some knowledge points, right?' Randy inwardly shook his head as he helplessly thought with a wry smile on his face.

Riley then continued speaking without waiting for his answer, "Also, that friend of yours, Jiang Chen, was it? You're still hanging out that strange boy?"

"Mom, I told you that he's not strange, he's just a ner— I mean, a genius, that's right, he is a genius, that's all" Randy readily refused his mother's words, however he almost failed to defend his friend just now.

Riley was silent for a brief moment without saying in return and then she suddenly spoke up again.

"…Whatever you say, just make sure to come home early this time." She paused for a bit and then sternly continued, "Remember, don't go to places that you shouldn't and come home right away after you're done with whatever you will be doing."

"…I know, mom. I will see you later." Randy said as he turned around and was about to leave.

"Hm, be careful" Riley gently said to him as he was about to leave.

"…Okay, I will."

Randy suddenly felt warm inside, listening to her words. He could tell that his mother's attitude towards him was somehow different compared to before.

Unlike the way she was speaking to him right now, she usually does not show that much concern even when he goes out to hang out with Jiang Chen.