After the effects of the resonance adapting to the system, Harkel was passed out on what seemed to be a hospital bed. When the system hit 100%, the boy awoken.
"Where am I?" the boy questioned. He took a look around his surroundings. "A hospital? No, I'm still in a mansion." What he thought, then a woman ran in.
"Harkel, you're awake! Everything OK? Are you—are you fine?" This was his mother. She was overprotective of him, never really letting him practice with his father or brother.
"Yes, I'm fine, Mom." Then a man followed behind; it was his father.
"My boy, you had us so worried. All we heard was you screaming out in pain, and then all we saw was you passed out on the ground. Do you have any idea what might have happened to you?" The man had an angered look on his face. Their family had made a lot of enemies. To think one of them might have tried to go after his son made him want to go out and try to annihilate them all.
"No, no clue at all. It felt like just a burning pain in my heart that wouldn't stop." Harkel semi-lied. The feeling of the pain was true, but him having no clue was the lie. He had a pretty good idea of who might've been involved. He saw the system bar go up from 0 to 100, which immediately put a person in his mind.
His father's eyes narrowed when he got the response. He felt like his son was lying, but for what, he had no idea why.
"How about we continue what we left off on yesterday?" Harkel looked energetic.
"No, you need to rest before you give yourself an aneurysm," she said firmly.
"Mom, I'm okay, I promise. Truthfully, I feel better than OK. I feel like no one in the world could stop me." Harkel started pounding his chest over and over again like he was a gorilla.
"OK now, gorilla, you've been asleep for around five hours, so I guess you do have a lot of energy, and you rested enough. But please don't push him to his limit," she said, looking at the boy's father.
"I'll make it a bit easier for him, but I'm not making any promises. Harkel, come." He walked out as Harkel quickly changed into what seemed to be a type of gi.
"How dare that woman try to tell me how I should train my own son and then try to hinder his training." The man had a disgusted look on his face as Harkel said nothing and just looked down. His father was an inner-family player—not like that in family—but instead of people who he had mated with, and thanks to their family culture, he wouldn't abandon the children or the women. Instead, he would let the children and the women stay in the family. Yet the role of the woman would be minor, only there to comfort the child if things got too rough for them. This is why around the area there were tons of different women and children running about. Not all of them were his; maybe some of them were his relatives as well. As the leader of the Voss Family, he lived in the stronghold with some of his other family members who also lived there, but others lived in different branches of the family. He also didn't really like the family being called, well, a family. He liked the family being called something like a clan, thinking saying family was too close to him trying to match up with the big four families—not wanting to get on their bad side.
"Hey, Harkel," a little girl came to him with a big smile on her face.
"Hey, Cousin Teresa, have Auntie and Uncle been treating you well?" he said, rubbing her hair, with her replying with a nod up and down. "You're getting big. How old are you now?"
"I'm—" the girl started counting her fingers. "Six! I'm six now."
Harkel shuddered a bit. Six was the age where the people in the Voss Family would start their training. Even though he was directly the son of the leader, it didn't stop him from training at the age of six either. If it wasn't for how protective his mother was and her bringing up so many excuses to come to his defense, Harkel always thought to himself that if it wasn't for his mother, he would've become as cold as his father.
"That's great. Next time I'll see you, I'll bring you a toy." Harkel smiled as he walked away to follow his father. Even after all that, he still somehow found respect for his father—the man who was able to reach the top of his own family by being the strongest out of all his siblings and elders. It made him view his father as a type of grand lord, with others bowing at his presence. It made Harkel want to be as strong as him—no, to be even stronger than him—but his mindset wavered time and time again thanks to the fact that he had fallen behind his other siblings and cousins. Even though he was the son of this grand lord, it didn't really mean much since there were ten kids who were also his children—Harkel being the eighth and his big brother Axel being the fourth. The three siblings had all gone their separate ways, with them all having this thing towards their father, and one day their mothers left as well, most likely going with their children. Harkel caught up to his father.
"So, Father, what will you teach me today?"
"Today you'll be training with one of your elders and the family members who have also come back from their academy and camp." He then looked at his son, shaking his head and looking away. This hurt Harkel. He knew his father was somewhat disappointed in him for not being in the eyes of one of the four families, while children who were still part of their clan got selected, while the son of the head didn't even get selected. It felt like he brought shame to his own family. When his father opened the door, a man of old age immediately stood up and bowed toward him.
"Now, now, Father, there's no point in you doing this—you know this," he said with a smile on his face. Even though the elders were supposed to respect the leader, that didn't mean the leader could be disrespectful towards the elders. Harkel's grandfather had great respect throughout the clan. He was said to be a person who could've taken the throne—the Lord of his time—but never did because of the respect he had for him.
"Ah, young Harkel, it's good to see you in great health. We all heard you screaming in pain and agony last night; you had us all worried."
"Yes, Grandfather, I am OK now," but in his mind were the different words: "Worried my ass," he thought, as he could hear small chuckles from the kids beside the elder. They also bowed towards his father, but when they looked at him, they just had looks that told them to pass out from laughter.
"Now, my niece and nephews, I can see some of you have improved since yesterday. That I am glad of. Your strength will definitely empower our clan further to the point where maybe even the families won't be able to stop us."
Harkel didn't like these words because he had never used them on him throughout his childhood. He had never gotten an "I'm so proud of you, son" speech from his father—maybe from his mother and some of his older siblings, but never from the man who created him.
"Hey, Harkel, it's been a little while, hasn't it?" one of them walked up to him.
"Yes, it has, Emery. How was the Broken Veil's camp?" Emery was one of the many people who hadn't evolved in the family, but even though they hadn't evolved, they were still kept in the family thanks to tradition and still trained to one day help the family.
"It was OK. They taught me a lot of tricks and moves that I could use against evolvers, but I don't want—I don't wanna spoil it yet, especially since we'll be going up against one another."
"If it isn't my little cousin Harkel. Man, you can scream like that—I didn't know if you were in pain or you were just having a one-night stand with a man up there."
"Callen, always with the jokes. Keep messing around, and I might have to teach you how to keep that mouth shut," Harkel said, holding out a fist.
"Really now? If I were to recall, every time we fought, I won. That's exactly why the Black Halo invited me to their camp. But who knows, maybe the academy helped you grow a lot," he sneered.
"You're awfully quiet, Thane. What's up with you?" Harkel questioned.
"Don't talk like we're on the same level. If everyone at the academy is so weak that you grew a backbone, because if so, I'll just shatter it."
Harkel was going to walk up and get right in Thane's face but was stopped by a girl.
"Break it up, Harkel. Don't come in here starting things—we were doing fine before you opened your big mouth, so just shut it."
"Nira? Why so rude? What happened to the girl I used to defend? They said I let the power go to my head—I guess getting selected by the—" but he was cut off.
"Enough! No more of you kids bickering," the Lord yelled out. "Now, today, this is what I want to happen. I want to see if you can land a hit on me. Now, obviously with my intel, I know about this tournament that these man-children are playing at, so to make it fair, I wouldn't advise any of you to use your full ability, or you might give away your academy or camp secrets. So hold back—unless you don't want to, it doesn't really matter. Just know that I'll hold back as well. I'll be using, uh, 30% of my true abilities—no beast weapons or armor." When he clapped, wooden weapons showed up on the walls. "Pick a weapon of your choice and stand over here." He pointed about 30 meters away from where he was standing. Harkel picked up a long sword and started walking away while his cousins picked out their own weapons.
"Now our great elder will count us down."
"Wait, Lord, are you sure you should be doing this with no weapons at all?" Nira questioned.
"No weapon—when you get to a certain level of strength, your hands are more dangerous than any weapon," he said as he got ready, both of his fists curled up, and him being in a fighting stance.
"It looks like he's taking a defensive stand, so maybe rushing in isn't the best option," Harkel thought to himself.
As the elder said zero, Emery and Thane rushed in, baring their swords. It's what they were mainly taught in, so all of them used swords but different variations—a long sword, short sword, twin-bladed sword, katana, rapier, and broad sword. Emery held the rapier while Thane had the broad sword.
The Lord was able to immediately defend the two off by twisting his body, making the rapier nearly miss while also blocking Thane's broad sword, then sweeping the boy's leg while also pushing the girl back. He may be cruel in some aspects, but he wasn't trying to fully hurt them. Nira then tried her luck with Callen right next to her, both doing the same as the others, but something was different. They were more in tune with one another—when she would slash at the Lord, he would dodge, then try to counterattack, but with Callen's double-edged wooden sword, he would counter the counterattack with his own, causing the Lord to be pushed back slightly. Emery then stood back up, charging in. She clashed with him, trying to get a hit—moving rapidly and trying to be unpredictable—but he predicted each of her attacks and blocked them as well. It astounded all of them in the room since Emery was the most skilled with the sword, unlike them who focused on both ability and weapon. She could only focus on the weapon, which is what everybody else also tried to do, not wanting the others to hear how far their ability had come.
Thane then got up, trying to sneak a hit from behind, but the Lord turned his fist, smashing the wooden sword.
"Thane, you have disappointed me today. For such big talk, you are the weakest out of all of them when it comes to using a sword. Trying to use brute strength won't solve your weakness. But let's see how far that ability of yours has come." He then delivered a powerful punch. Thane knew this was going to take him out, but not wanting to disappoint his Lord, he used his ability—tanking the attack and returning it right back at him with a bunch of his own. The Lord blocked but was still pushed far away.
"There it is. You finally swallowed that pride of yours and used your ability. What was it again? All right—kinetic absorption. It isn't really the best when it comes down to it, but it can be useful. But still, by your face, you were barely able to hold that much force inside of you, so you're out." The Lord then rushed back in, delivering another powerful blow to Thane's chest. This time, when he tried to absorb it, it just made his body shut down, making him fall unconscious. "One down, four more to go," he said, clapping his hands together.
Harkel himself then moved in, having a good understanding of his father's movement pattern. He slashed quickly at his father's chest, but the man easily avoided it. He then tried to deliver a kick to the boy's face, but Harkel was also able to avoid the strike. Unlike the others, it wasn't just barely—it was like he already knew the attack was coming, so he had a counterattack prepared. He then dropped low, trying to sweep his father's leg, but the man jumped up, doing a flip and trying to stomp on the boy, who dodged again. The Lord of the clan then backed off in surprise.
"Harkel, you've gotten faster—way faster. I guess my blood finally kicked in, huh?" he chuckled.
Harkel ignored his words and rushed in again, but this time using the power of wind to boost his steps. They all watched in surprise—his sudden boost in speed. His wooden sword was right in front of the Lord's face, ready to smack him in the eye, but he was able to dodge the strike at the last moment and hit the boy with a punch to the face, sending him flying back.
"Thirty-six," he whispered. Harkel had made him use 36% of his true power. He didn't use his ability yet, not wanting to overwhelm the kids with too much power, but at some point, he might have to defend himself. "Harkel, you're impressing me. Has the academy improved you so much?" he questioned.
"It wasn't just my speed that increased." Harkel then started smashing the air, making slashes of wind come out.
"And there goes my excitement," the Lord said as he dodged the air slashes. "Really? They taught you the most common thing a person with an air ability could do." But then he noticed Harkel twisting his hand in a motion, with the air slashes turning into a cyclone coming toward him at high speed. "Hmm," was all he said as he held his fist out in a punching motion, causing all of the air to disperse. "You've improved your air abilities, but one problem—air is one of the weakest abilities an evolver could have."
Nira then tried to sneak a hit, but he easily dodged and punted her away. "Can't you see I'm having a father-son moment here? Move," he said, kicking her toward where Thane was. "Now, if that was all, Harkel, then let's end this quickly. You've already impressed me."
"Say it, say it," was all Harkel thought to himself.
"But all you did was improve something that anyone could do."
Harkel balled his fists. "He almost said it. He almost said he was proud of me. I need to push more."
Harkel didn't know himself why he was yearning for his father to say the words "I'm proud of you," but something kicked in. He wanted to hear those words come from that man's mouth. His hair flowed up with a green aura surrounding his body. He'd noticed the system got reworked—everyone was still able to keep one primal thing: their true awakening form. "I'll make you say it."
Harkel then rushed toward his father faster than ever before. The man was shocked to see his son's hair blowing in the wind and the air around him, but he was still able to unconsciously dodge the attack.
"You've achieved a true awakening form. This is something that barely anyone in the family could do, yet you, my son, can—haha."
Harkel threw out the air slashes faster and more deadly than before. The man was still able to dodge, but not without putting up more of a percentage.
"Forty-five," he calmly said as he rushed in toward his son. When he did, he tried to trip him up, but Harkel jumped up and then put his face close to his father's.
"Gust Jab," was all he said quietly as a powerful burst of wind came out of his fist. The Lord dodged, but when he looked back at the damage the attack caused, he was shocked to see a giant hole in the middle of the floor. The two then started clashing, with their Lord getting the upper hand every hit.
How is that possible? When Harkel left, he wasn't able to lay a hand on any of us, yet now he's able to go toe to toe with the Lord."
"Not toe to toe, young Callen. The Lord is still holding back—not only holding back his physicality but also not using his evolved ability as well. He wants to see how much his son has grown. But I can also tell Harkel himself is also holding back—what exactly, I don't know," the elder said, amazed at Harkel's progress.
"Dang it, he's moving too fast. I can't get a hit on him. Fine then, I have no choice." Harkel then put his palm on the ground, and everyone in the room could feel it—a great force building up from the boy. They could feel the heat leaving the ground. "This will definitely call the direct."
Harkel then yelled out as the room they were in collapsed, blown apart, allowing them to see the sky. When the dust cleared, Harkel could see his father looking OK—like not a speck of damage had ever touched him—but also with a metal exterior allowing him to tank the attack. As for the others, they were behind the elder, who had what seemed to be a field of lightning around them.
"Damn, still nothing." Harkel then tried attacking his father more, but the man just blocked instead of dodging since his son's hits were doing nothing to him.
"That's enough. You have no more tricks up your sleeve—or at least none that you're willing to show."
Harkel knew showing off the true awakening form was enough of a reveal, but showing off that he had more than one ability—which was never seen before—was too much. He might even get some of his friends in trouble along the way.
"No, no, this is not it—it's not." A flare then showed up inside his chest, but it wasn't burning him—it was soothing him. His father noticed a difference, and so did everyone else. Harkel's speed grew faster, but not only that—his strength became much stronger as well. Harkel became too unstable and desperate, where he just started throwing out anything to try to land a hit on his father. But after one hour, he felt a burn in his heart that made him drop to his knees and made him wheeze with every breath he took.
"That's enough, son. You've improved a lot since the last time I saw you, but you have lost this encounter. You cannot land a hit on me, but be proud of yourself knowing that you have my admiration."
Harkel had his hopes up when he heard the word "proud," but when he heard his father say, "Be proud of yourself," all he could do was let out a single tear as he got up, still holding his chest. He walked next to the elder and sat down, holding his head low in disappointment.
"I'll never catch your attention, will I?"
"Now that that's over, the rest of you who are not Harkel or Thane, get over here and continue," the Lord said as his mental body started to disappear. They all were hesitant, but they went in anyway, and none of them were able to land a hit on him that day.
Harkel made it back to his own room with a face of disappointment. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit. Even after all that, even after exposing the fact that I have a true awakening, he still never said, 'I'm proud of you.' Maybe if I didn't use all my skill tree into lightning, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe if I just would've used lightning…"
Harkel knew that he was wrong. He still would've lost even if he had used lightning. If that would've taken more of a percentage of his power, he would've exposed that he had two evolved abilities for nothing. "At least I was able to shut up the others," Harkel said, making somewhat peace with himself. He then heard a knock on his door. "Come in."
The person who opened the door was the elder—aka his grandfather.
"Grandfather, what brings you here?" Harkel said respectfully.
"Nothing much. I'm just here to give you peace of mind." He then walked into his grandson's room, sitting on his bed, with Harkel sitting beside him. "I could tell by the look in your eyes you're desperate for your father's approval." Harkel was getting ready to deny it, but he was stopped by his grandfather. "Don't try to deny it. I know that look all too well—it was the same look your father had when he was around your age and I was around his. I remember distinctly, even though I never said it. He became the Lord. Every improvement your father went through, every wall your father broke through—I've been proud of him. I didn't show it, nor did I say it, but I was. And knowing him, he is as well—just not saying it to you. He's proud of you, even though you all are going down different paths. He didn't do anything to keep you from going down them because he knows wherever you go, you have a home back here." Throughout the entire speech, he was holding onto Harkel's shoulder.
"Are you sure?" Harkel asked, with uncertainty plastered on his face.
"Yes, my boy, I am sure."