Chương 10: Skills

Ch 10 - Skills The paramedics fussed over them, checking their wounds and administering first aid. Evan wanted to tell them it wasn't necessary since Reid had already healed them, but knowing his brother wanted to keep his abilities hidden, he kept his mouth shut. Even so, suspicion lingered. The amount of blood soaking their clothes didn't match the injuries on their bodies. The healing potions Harlan and Reid had carried weren't nearly powerful enough to erase wounds like those.

Injuries that severe should have required a Healer's magic or days in a hospital bed. The paramedics kept those doubts to themselves, and all four of them were taken to a nearby hospital for thorough examinations. Evan patiently let the doctors prod, scan, and question him. During the breaks between examinations, he read everything he could find online about Rifts. After the fiasco with the Irregular B-rank Rift, he had no intention of walking into another one knowing almost nothing about his enemies.

He hated how many avoidable mistakes he'd made against monsters as weak as the pixies. By the time Reid picked him up after he had finished his examinations and the brief questioning from the officers, it was already nighttime. Evan studied his brother's face but saw no signs of distress. Did he not get scolded?

"The doctor said you're fine," Reid said.

"Does anything still hurt?" Evan shook his head. How could it when Reid had pumped so much Sacred Light into him? The ability's healing effects were powerful, though too much could cause unpleasant side effects in ordinary people. Fortunately, Evan trusted Reid to know exactly how much he could safely handle.

"How about we get some food before heading home?" Reid asked.

"Sure." The two drove back to Outer District 20 in Reid's car. Thanks to Reid's official identification, they passed through the checkpoint without delay and soon arrived at a Korean barbecue restaurant. After taking a seat, Reid placed their order. Before long, thin slices of pork belly and marinated beef arrived alongside an assortment of side dishes, followed by a steaming pot of soybean paste stew that filled the air with its savory aroma. As they ate, Evan asked, "Did you get into trouble, brother?"

"No. Do you still think Director Shin is that scary?" Reid asked with a smile. Evan didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't remember anything about the woman, so he just mumbled something under his breath and kept his gaze lowered. Reid seemed to take that as a yes.

"You should try meeting her sometime. Director Shin misses you."

"No way. What would I even talk about with an old woman?" Evan said, leaning heavily on the stereotype of kids thinking they're too cool to spend time with older people.

"She'd resent you calling her that," Reid said with a chuckle, though he didn't push the matter further.

"Though I will need to get my rank tested."

"You will?" Evan asked. Reid had rejected the System's offer. What would those machines even see when they scanned him?

"You want to come?" Reid asked.

"I can?" Evan blinked.

"But isn't tomorrow a school day?"

"I'm sure the school won't mind giving you a few days off after what happened."

"Nice!" Once they had their bellies full, Reid paid for their meal and they drove home. During that time, Reid asked Evan another question.

"You haven't asked about what my power is. Aren't you curious?"

"Will you tell me? I thought details like that were personal," Evan asked. Sure, fans loved cataloging the abilities Awakeners had displayed in public, but that only scratched the surface. Most kept the details of their powers private.

"What are you talking about? Aren't we family? Of course I'll tell you." Reid ruffled Evan's hair.

"My abilities are complicated, but the simple version is that I can use a special energy with both healing and destructive properties. I can save someone's life with it or use it to fight, like I did against that Awakened Thornwood Tree." Evan nodded, though internally he was surprised at how open Reid was being about his abilities.

"So you're very strong?"

"You could say that. Though I don't plan on being upfront about it with the Awakener Affairs Bureau," Reid said, raising a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

"Let's keep this a secret between us, okay?"

"Okay!" Evan said. His heart swelled with joy at Reid's unexpected trust. Had anyone ever trusted him with a secret before? Not really. There had been company secrets, of course, but those were simply things he was expected to keep quiet about and not reveal to customers. He hadn't had any family in his previous life, and growing up, he'd been too busy working to spend much time with friends. He had never been close enough to anyone to be entrusted with something so personal.

Yet that small spark of joy was soon doused as he was reminded that Reid wasn't exactly trusting him. He was trusting the other Evan whose body he now inhabited. If one day the man realized he had taken over his brother's body, no doubt he would tear him apart.

"What's wrong?" Reid asked.

"Nothing, I just felt a bit sleepy," Evan said, wiping away the gloomy expression on his face and replacing it with a fake yawn.

"Did you know how much I had to run from wolves today!" He then quickly launched into a long and animated retelling of what had happened while he was trapped inside the Rift, successfully changing the subject. When they arrived home, Evan took a long, hot bath to ease his sore, tired muscles before collapsing into bed. Lying there, he took a moment to appreciate the softness of his new bed. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep, until a single thought suddenly surfaced. Where is my reward?

Evan shot back up, sitting on the bed.

"System! Did you forget to give me my reward?! Or are you going to claim that since it was Reid who killed the boss, I didn't clear it? How the heck am I supposed to clear a B-rank dungeon when I'm not even an Awakener!" The System didn't respond, and for a moment he truly believed it had messed with him again. After everything it had done, Evan knew full well it was not above trolling him like that. [Congratulations!] [You have completed your mission!] This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. [You didn't die! You were absolutely pathetic back then, but hey, what can you expect from an unawakened brat!] [Reward: Awakening] Seeing those lines of insult, Evan didn't feel much beyond slight annoyance. At this point, it would be stranger if the System wasn't at least passive-aggressive with him. He was more concerned about the reward. An Awakening, huh. That was great.

While Reid could get by without it, Evan desperately needed some ability to protect himself. And unlike Reid, who could reject the System's offer, Evan couldn't. He was probably already under some kind of contract with it, whatever it was. So he didn't hesitate to press the confirm button and waited. And waited. But nothing happened. Evan frowned. Based on what he had read online, people who awakened usually felt a rush of power coursing through them, but he felt nothing at all.

"Are you sure I'm already awakened?" Evan muttered. The System replied by pulling up his status screen. [Name: Evan Whitfield] [Age: 17 years old] [Status: Awakened] [Title: Transmigrator] [Status Effect: The Curse of ■■■■■■] [Skills: -] Evan narrowed his eyes at the new status.

"Could it be that you're messing with me and didn't actually do it? And where's my skill? Aren't I supposed to get one?" [(¬_¬)ノ] [You've unlocked a new skill!] [Main Character Who?] [The main character? Who's that? You're nobody. No one. Nobody will pay attention to you! Amazing! Maybe you can try tugging a tiger's whiskers, but I wouldn't recommend it!] Okay, if Evan ignored the insults the System kept throwing at him, this was basically a stealth skill, right? Not bad. Not bad at all.

While he would have preferred a combat skill, being able to run away and go unnoticed wasn't bad either. Though, now that he thought about it, he had been able to see System windows that shouldn't have been visible to anyone else, like when he saw Reid's Awakening notification. That should have been private, right? [You've unlocked a new skill!] [You're Not Supposed To See This] [You can see stuff you normally shouldn't. Is that a good thing? Probably not! There's a saying that the less you know, the better!] Evan's eye twitched at the unexpected notification. Hold on. What was this? This new skill notification didn't make any sense at all. He already had this ability before his awakening, yet the System had only just added it to his status window.

"You're messing with me," Evan muttered. The System wasn't supposed to do things like this. It was meant to be impartial and absolutely reliable. Yet ever since he'd arrived in this world, it had felt almost... petty.

"Are you some knockoff system or something?" Evan asked. The System didn't even bother replying. Instead, it simply closed his status window. Seeing such a huffy attitude, Evan could only roll his eyes and lie back down. He would have loved to test his new ability, but he had no idea how sharp Reid's senses were. Main Character Who? sounded like a stealth skill, but the System had trolled him one too many times for him to trust a skill description at face value.

Swallowing his excitement, he reluctantly settled back into bed. After tossing and turning for several minutes, he finally drifted off to sleep.

Evan sat on the floor surrounded by children's toys, a small horse figurine in his hand. Through the open doorway, he could see a bespectacled man with East Asian features cooking in the kitchen. A moment later, footsteps sounded from upstairs as a young boy with dark hair and chubby cheeks came down carrying several books in his arms.

"Reid, can you please get me some eggs from the fridge?" the man asked.

"Sure," Reid said. He approached Evan first and put the books down beside him.

"Wait for me a little longer, okay? I need to help Father first." Evan simply stared at Reid as he walked over to the fridge, took out the eggs, and put it on the kitchen counter.

"Thanks, Reid. You're such a helpful child," his father said. Ring! A phone suddenly rang on the table.

"That's my phone! Reid, help keep an eye on the food. I need to take this," his father said.

"Just turn it off if it starts smelling weird or looks strange."

"Okay," Reid replied. His father grabbed the phone and answered the call. Evan couldn't hear what was being said, but the conversation went on for quite a while. A feeling of indignation and impatience swelled in his chest. Evan had waited long enough. How much longer was he supposed to wait? Seeing his father still busy on the phone and Reid perfectly content watching the food in the kitchen, Evan decided to take matters into his own hands. Slowly, he shifted his body.

Instead of crawling on all fours, he pushed himself upright and took a shaky step forward.

"Le!" he called. The sound caught both Reid's and his father's attention. They both gasped.

"Evan! Our little Evan is walking!" his father shouted.

"What? He is?!" a female voice exclaimed through the phone.

"And right when I'm not home! You better record it!" His father scrambled to open the camera while Reid hurried out of the kitchen toward Evan. There was still quite a distance between them. It was a gap any adult could cross in five steps, but to Evan, it felt enormous.

"Le!" Evan shouted, waving his arms.

"Aah, you're so cute, Evan! Come here! Come to Father!" his father called, crouching a few steps away. Holding his phone up to record, he stretched out his free hand, encouraging Evan to toddle toward him. Evan scrunched up his nose. As he got closer, he slapped the offending hand away and continued past him toward Reid. His father let out a dramatic wail.

"How cruel! My little son hates me!"

"Le!" Ignoring him completely, Evan called out to his brother. Once Reid was standing in front of him, he raised his arms and looked up at him, the universal sign that he wanted to be picked up. Reid smiled and lifted the small boy into his arms.

"Huhuhu, I'm so sad, but you two are so cute! Come on, smile for the camera, boys!" the man said, aiming his phone at them. Reid did as his father asked, but Evan kept his expression firmly sullen as he stared at the man who had been keeping his brother away from him. Click. The phone captured the picture.

"Aw, look at my boys," his father cooed.

"And you, Evan, you're still cute even when you're sulking." He chuckled and pinched Evan's cheek. Evan tried to bite the man's finger, but it was pulled away before he could reach it.

"How can you be so mean to your father?"

"Le!" Evan only clutched Reid tighter.

"I don't know if I should be happy or heartbroken that you're closer to your brother than your father," the man said, shaking his head. Still smiling, he ruffled Reid's hair.

"See, kiddo? Your brother loves you the most, so keep a close eye on him for me, eh?" Reid simply nodded and held Evan closer.

Evan opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling above him. To think that was the memory he had recovered from the other Evan. How useless. It would've been far better if he'd gained something practical, like school knowledge or important information about the people around him, not some childhood memory of taking his first steps. Rolling onto his side, he curled up beneath the blanket. Seeing that memory had made him think of his own time at the orphanage. The cold, cramped rooms. The noisy children.

The distant caretakers. He didn't remember when he had taken his own first steps, but he knew no one had cheered for him or tried to record the moment. Why would they? There were too many children to look after. His clearest memory from those years wasn't learning to walk or speaking his first words. It was shivering through the winter nights while wrapped in a thin, tattered blanket. It was lying on a narrow bed with a growling stomach, trying to ignore the cold that seeped through the mattress and into his bones.

Evan closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh. Soon, he drifted back to sleep, hoping he wouldn't have to sit through another unbearably sweet memory like that again. [Memory Synchronization Progress: 10%]