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Chapter 33: The Gift
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 10:06:11 +0000 UTCLily leaned back on the sofa, a picture of nonchalant confidence. "Things like the Awakening Stone are usually guarded very strictly, it's true. However, with my 'face'," she said, tapping her cheek with a grin, "if I ask for him to have one chance to re-test, I’m quite sure the mayor will agree to it."
"Then… then I'll have to trouble you, Lily," Simon said, his voice filled with immense gratitude.
"We're family, brother-in-law, don't mention 'trouble'," she waved it off. "Just go with me tomorrow morning, and it'll be fine."
"Oh, right, Dad, where's Mom?" Ethan asked, looking around.
"She went out to buy groceries," Simon replied. "She said she's going to make a huge feast today. In a couple of days, your other aunt and uncle from the north district will also come over, and the whole family will have a proper get-together."
"Oh," Ethan said, then immediately turned his eager gaze back to his aunt. "Sis Lily, so… where's my gift?"
Smack!
Simon smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "Is that all you think about, gifts? Honestly, son, have you got no ambition?"
"Hey! Why does everyone like to hit my head!" Ethan complained, rubbing the spot. "Dad, you can't say that. The things Sis Lily gives, can they possibly be ordinary? They must be precious treasures that can help my training!"
Lily laughed. "You've really grown up, Ethan, at least your mouth has. But you're not wrong. I did indeed bring a good thing for you. I heard from my sister that the ability you awakened is a Fire-attribute beastification ability, is that right?"
"Yes, yes!" Ethan confirmed enthusiastically. "And it's Fucking awesome!"
Lily’s smile vanished. "Civilized language!" she chided automatically. "Forget it, I brought you an E-rank Aura Core. There's a skill inside; you can take it and absorb it. It's a pity your rank is still too low, so you can't absorb anything too powerful, otherwise I would have brought you a D-rank one."
Lily casually flipped her right hand over, and a small, exquisite box suddenly appeared in her palm out of thin air.
"A Space Ring!" Ethan gasped, his eyes widening.
He had seen one of these incredible devices once before, in The Undercurrent Market. The surrounding people had been extremely excited and awestruck, and Seraphina had also explained to him that this thing was extremely rare, not something an ordinary person could ever hope to obtain. This aunt of his was indeed impressive. This was the 'face,' the sheer influence, that came with having a Legendary-rank talent. He was so envious! So, so envious!
"By the way," Lily asked, "what rank are you now, Ethan?"
"Rank One, Level Eight."
There was nothing to hide; they were all family, so Ethan admitted it openly.
"Level Eight?!"
Hearing Ethan's answer, Simon was so shocked his jaw dropped. You have to know, it had only been about one month of summer vacation, and his son was already nearing the peak of Rank One, almost at Rank Two! With this kind of training speed, his son's innate talent was definitely not ordinary!
Lily, however, didn't have such a big reaction. She just raised an eyebrow. "Did you use some pretty good resources recently?"
"I did use some," Ethan admitted.
Simon frowned. "Tch! We only bought you a few beginner-grade psionic potions. How could you possibly train this fast from just those?"
Ethan’s mind raced. "Um… Marcus and the others gave them to me. Yes, that's it! They gave them to me!" He didn't dare let his parents know that he had done something as dangerous as going into the wild or fighting in The Gauntlet, so he could only shift the blame to his friends.
"Stinky kid!" Simon’s face darkened. "Can't you be more promising? Asking for such precious things from them! They are your friends, not your patrons!" As he spoke, Simon’s hand drifted towards the belt he had just put on after getting home from work.
Seeing his dad about to take out his ultimate disciplinary weapon, Ethan hurriedly explained, "Borrowed! They were borrowed! I swear! When my strength increases, I'm going to pay it all back!"
Hearing Ethan's panicked explanation, Simon's expression softened slightly. Lily, who had been watching this family farce with an amused expression, took a calm sip of her tea and then spoke. "To reach Level Eight in a single month's time, there are really only two possibilities. Either he is like me and possesses a Legendary-rank talent, or he has used a very large amount of high-quality resources. To be able to reach this rank in such a short time... Ethan, do you really think your innate talent can reach Legendary rank?"
Ethan was speechless. "……”
Seeing him unable to answer, Simon took out his belt again, his face stern. "Stinky kid, you've got some thick skin, don't you? Relying on your connections to take so many valuable things from your friends. See if I don't spank your butt into four pieces today!"
"Whoa whoa whoa! Dad, calm down! Calm down!" Ethan yelped, backing away. "Although I took a lot of things, my strength has also improved very quickly, right? When I get into a good university and eventually enter the official resource-gathering channels, won't I be able to pay it all back with interest?!"
Simon looked at him sternly for a long moment. "You remember what you just said! When the time comes, you have to pay them all back, every last credit!"
"Definitely, definitely!"
Seeing that the crisis with his old dad was resolved for now, Ethan turned to look at Lily again with a cheeky grin. "But then, what my dear aunt gave me, I probably don't have to pay that back, right? Hehehe!"
"Of course you don't have to pay it back. But you have to train well. Don't waste this Aura Core," Lily said with a warm smile.
"Absolutely!" Ethan excitedly accepted the Aura Core, carefully opened the box, and saw a fiery red, crystalline stone lying quietly inside, emitting a faint, warm glow. "Thank you, Sis Lily!" Ethan was almost moved to tears. He knew the value of a Skill Aura Core like this very well. He had really struck gold this time.
"Alright, hurry up and go absorb it. Let's see what kind of skill you can get from it," Lily urged.
Ethan nodded, took the Aura Core back to his room, sat down cross-legged, and began to absorb the energy within the core. A Skill Aura Core was different from a Normal Aura Core. Although it was more precious, its direct effect on improving one's rank was not that significant. This was because the vast majority of the psionic energy inside a skill core was used to store the skill itself, its complex data and energy signature. So, after a psionicist absorbed it, they would most likely obtain a new skill, but their rank, on the contrary, would not increase by much. A Normal Aura Core, on the other hand, containing pure energy, would have an obvious, direct benefit to one's rank after absorption. (Note: what is said here is a high probability; in reality, there is still a small probability of failure when absorbing a Skill Aura Core.)
As Ethan began to absorb it, the psionic energy within the Aura Core was slowly being injected into his body. Suddenly, the malfunctioning Omnitrix on his wrist began to act up. Without his command, it lit up and began to absorb all the incoming psionic energy from the Aura Core itself. The watch face automatically started up, switching the active persona to Heatblast, and then it began to send all the siphoned psionic energy directly to this alien hero's template.
Ethan started to panic. He also didn't know what this unpredictable watch was doing. "Big Brother, Big Brother! Don't mess around!" he pleaded mentally with the device. "If you want energy, can't I find you more later? At worst, I'll give you my two normal Aura Cores to eat, just please, please don't absorb this one!" But the Omnitrix paid him no mind and continued to absorb on its own. In less than five minutes, it had completely drained the Skill Aura Core of all its psionic energy.
The core crumbled to dust in his hand. Ethan shouted in exasperation, "You're truly a piece of trash! A useless, energy-sucking parasite!"
Hearing the noise, Simon called out with concern from outside the door, "Ethan, what happened in there?"
Ethan quickly composed himself. "Nothing, Dad! My ability just acted up a bit, had a little power surge! It'll be fine soon!"
Simon, who was sitting on the sofa and drinking tea with Lily, looked at her with a suspicious expression. "Abilities can still… act up?"
Lily calmly took a sip of her tea. "Under circumstances where some people don't yet have perfect control over their newly awakened abilities, it's true that some minor issues or power fluctuations can occur. It's nothing to worry about."
"Oh," Simon said, "then I'm relieved."
At this moment, Sarah returned, her arms full of groceries. Lily excitedly ran over and hugged her. "Sis! I missed you so much!"
Sarah handed the groceries she had bought to Simon and hugged her younger sister back warmly. "I missed you too, dear. How have you been at school?"
"Pretty good," Lily said proudly. "With my talent, even when placed at a school like Pinnacle University, I'm still at the top of the list."
"Our Lily is so promising," Sarah said, beaming. "Just wait, sis will make you a big, wonderful meal tonight. By the way, where's Ethan?"
Simon gestured to the closed door. "He's channeling Aura in his room. He should be out in a little while. When it's time to eat, I'll go call him."
Sarah nodded. "Oh, alright. By the way, Lily dear, with Ethan as he is now, do you think he'll be able to get into Pinnacle University?" After all, the biggest hope of most parents is for their child to get good grades and get into a good school. When she had first found out that Ethan had received a "No-rank" talent, it had really worried her sick.
