"Bang!"
A fair-skinned but calloused hand suddenly appeared and grabbed the wing of the owl.
It was Tyrion's mother's hand.
The Saber-Horn Demon Owl's strike stopped, one meter from Tyrion's chest, as if it had hit a wall.
The Owl blinked in surprise and Mrs. Leonis' mouth dropped open in horror.
"When," she said quietly, without looking away from the owl, "was it your turn to discipline my child?"
She suddenly twisted her wrist.
"Crunch!"
The wing snapped and the owl shrieked loudly in pain.
Mrs. Leonis grunted and gasped as the pain was transferred to her.
The bond between summoner and symbiote meant that whatever the beast felt, the summoner felt an echo of.
Tyrion's mother flicked her wrist.
The Saber-Horn Demon Owl sailed backward through the air and collided with the wall of Mrs. Leonis' house. It slid down the wall and sat on the ground looking extremely confused.
Silence.
Mrs. Leonis stared at Tyrion's mother with shock and raw terror.
"Y— how did you— your Symbiotes were all killed! You shouldn't have that kind of strength anymore! Why are you—"
"Scram."
Mrs. Leonis scrambled backward in fear.
She made it to her door and turned in anger.
"This isn't over! When my husband gets back—"
"I said scram."
The door slammed. Tyrion heard the bolt shoot home from that distance.
He looked at his mother in surprise. She was incredibly cool at this moment.
She turned around and saw Tyrion looking at her. She then tilted her head and posed.
"Surprised?"
"I—" He closed his mouth. Opened it again.
"When were you so strong?"
"Mm." She rolled her shoulder casually as she turned back toward the house.
"When a Symbiote bonds with its summoner, the strength feedback is permanent. The beast can die, the cultivation can be lost, but the physical enhancement it granted doesn't disappear. It stays in the body."
Tyrion's eyes opened wide.
"All those years you asked me to carry the grain sacks. Or reach the high shelf. Or open a jar of jam for you, you've been pretending!?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Hmph! Lies!"
Tyrion muttered angrily but he found himself smiling despite all of it.
⸻
At breakfast, his mother set down her chopsticks.
"I spoke with Head Hunter Klein yesterday," she spoke.
"He said you're welcome at the dojo whenever you're ready. You can begin the super soldier training program of body tempering, physical conditioning, and others."
She paused.
"Even if summoning doesn't work out for you, there's real value in the body tempering path. It's slower than climbing the summoning ranks, but it's steady and reliable. And give you a means to protect yourself."
Tyrion nodded in agreement.
"Thats true. But i'm not abandoning the summoning path."
His mother frowned and looked at him.
"My chicken has rare mutant potential. You said it yourself. And the fact that it was selected during my summon at all, means it's not ordinary. It has a chance to evolve. If I can get proper resources—"
"Resources," she said. "From where?"
"University."
She was quiet for a moment.
"No decent university will accept a Maxwell," she sighed as she reminded him.
"I know." Tyrion met her eyes. "That's why I chose War-Titan."
The spoon his mother was lifting toward her mouth stopped moving.
She set it down very carefully on the table, stood up, went to her room, and closed the door.
Tyrion was stunned. He hasn't seen his mother behave in such a manner through the time he was with her. Sure she has gotten angry several times in face, but she seemed to have been really angry at this point.
Just when Tyrion was contemplating if he should change his mind, the door opened and she walked back out, and sat down.
"The university has a fifty-percent mortality rate among first-year students," she said finally.
"I know."
"Fifty percent, Tyrion. That means one in two students who enroll don't come back out."
"I know."
"You could stay here. Find a nice girl. Have children. I would love grandchildren. Three, perhaps four, living here with me and making this house lively."
Tyrion looked at her.
She pressed her lips together. Then she reached into her apron pocket and slid an envelope across the table.
The paper was old but was well preserved.
Tyrion didn't recognize it immediately, it was quite sturdy.
"Your father prepared that when you were born," she said quietly, looking at the table rather than at him. "Its an invitation letter. You background won't matter if you have this."
Tyrion turned the envelope over slowly.
"Did he attend War-Titan?"
His mother didn't answer immediately.
"Promise me you'll go see Head Hunter Klein first. Whatever you decide about university — see him first."
"Mom. Did dad—"
"Klein. First. Then university." She picked up her spoon and resumed eating.
Tyrion looked at the envelope for a long time.
Then he folded it carefully, tucked it into his shirt, and finished his breakfast.
It was still early so he got dressed, combed his hair, and set out toward the east road.
On the road, he absorbed quite a few lifetime of trees. It wasn't much but it was something.
A group of young men loitering outside immediately noticed Tyrion.
"Well, well. The chicken summoner legend is here."
Tyrion didn't look at them.
"Oi, Maxwell! How's the bird? Laying any golden eggs yet?"
Another made a chicken sound but they were just noise to him.
He walked down the street for a while and saw an old Willow tree.
He touched the old willow. Tree and the interface blinked a number at him that made his eyes widen slightly.
[Name: Ancient Weeping Willow]
[Type: Tree]
[Lifespan: 387 Years]
"So much!"
He didn't expect his tree to have lived 300 plus years! Without hesitation, he extracted the lifetime, leaving 7 years behind. He didn't want kill off such an old tree. Moreover, people would start to suspect if this tree died similar to how Mrs Leonis Sunflare oranges died.