Chapter 34: Ch74. Slight of hand - 4 (Determination and understanding)
The only things in Kurt’s mind, while he lay sprawled on the cold floor of the training room, were the overlapped memories of his otherworldly version.
The happiness for discovering that he was right about his idea, and the determination to grow stronger, in order to get revenge for his mom.
Kurt took a few breaths and tried to get up, but his arms were almost numb by the effort, and he fell back again, almost hitting his head on the floor.
"Well... I guess it can’t be helped then. My body isn’t in the ideal conditions for me to work out properly for now, so I’ll just... I’ll just... Hold up!" Another idea crossed his mind.
He remembered the sensation he felt the day before, when he focused on a sole, specific goal.
"What if I..."
He didn’t quite register the sensation by itself in his mind, but he was training, so anything was worth the shot.
Kurt didn’t even finish the thought.
He just looked at the ceiling, breathing slowly, trying to catch his breath and let his thoughts go.
To focus on a specific part of the structure.
One minute went on, then two...
Ten whole minutes passed, but nothing changed.
All he could feel was the pain in the muscles of his arms, back, shoulders, and the slight frustration for probably being proved wrong by his own self.
[FOCUSING ON NOTHING WILL NOT WORK...]
"What?" Kurt sat up like a lightning, startled by the voice. "Who’s there?"
No one replied.
"Someone? Anyone...?" Kurt called out again, but no reply came. "Huh... Am I hearing things now? Maybe... Yeah... I’m too tired to keep doing this for today."
He got up slowly and went to his room, where he had a hard time showering. His arms simply wouldn’t go up to reach his hair and back.
And when they did, Kurt almost screeched in pain, but he did it anyways.
It was another deal of effort for him to get dressed, and he felt like a cripple, frustrated by such little result after the time he spent in the training room.
"Come on... The pain should at least be worth something, right?"
But it was just talk, he was actually glad that he was right on something about it.
His dad didn’t go home that night, and after dinner, Kurt went back to his room and went straight to bed, hoping that the next morning would bring some relief to his aching muscles, and some more improvement in any other aspect of his stats.
But he wasn’t able to fall asleep straight away, because of a mosquito buzzing around his ears incessantly.
"Son of a..." Every time Kurt tried to raise his arms and slap the mosquito away, it hurt, so he just laid down there, watching the bug’s silhouette as it flew around through the silence of the room.
"Buzz... Buzz... Buzz..."
The noise was irritating, but there was nothing else Kurt could focus his attention on, so he just listened to it, trying to catch the bug’s movements in the air in the faint darkness with his eyes.
Time went by, minute by minute minute.
Until something changed.
The bug’s noise became blatantly noticeable to his ears, and Kurt was so absorbed in the bug’s dance in the air that it was almost as if the mosquito was flying in slow motion.
And all of a sudden...
Beep.
[PERCEPTION INCREASED BY 01]
Kurt’s eyes went wide with realization, and a smirk spread through his lips.
"Focusing on nothing won’t work, huh...?"
But after all that concentration, he finally felt the sleep slithering underneath his eyelids, and after slow seconds, Kurt felt the darkness wrapping around his body, with the soothing comfort of sleep taking him in.
***
As the sun rose in the horizon, Kurt opened his eyes and noticed that his upper body was aching much less than when he went to sleep.
He sat up and tried moving his arms.
"Oh, boy... That’s some relief..." Kurt hushed, letting out a long sigh. "What should I do today?"
He took a shower and wore light clothes. Jogging pants and a black hoodie that made him feel strangely familiar with a life that wasn’t his.
He felt the fabric slide across his skin while thinking that, in another version of his world, that same piece of clothing was used when the other version of Kurt was almost killed by Quintus.
"And when the other Kurt killed Quintus, too..."
Everything in his home felt different to him, ever since he woke up from the coma.
Ever since he got to meet his other world’s version and the system.
Everything was different.
He even was about to ingress in one of the most prestigious wielders academy in the country.
Kurt noticed, when he got down the stairs to have breakfast, that Octavius wasn’t home still, either.
"He must be in a raid or under a pile of paperwork at the guild’s headquarters." He muttered.
Kurt ate and got ready to leave after some serious consideration as of if he should go out for a jog or not.
But when he approached the door, he noticed an envelope near it, resting on the floor.
Kurt raised his brow and took the envelope from the floor. It was completely white, but on the front, it had a red wax crest that Kurt wasn’t familiar with.
"Hum..."
He opened the envelope and took the piece of white paper from inside it.
Dear Mr. Kurt Blake
Boston Wielders Academy hope this letter finds you well.
We are sending you notice that the return of the classes will be delayed in one month, due to some renovations the headmaster is allowing the academy to go through.
All of it for the betterment of the teaching quality for our new generation of wielders.
Your father has already dealt with all the paperwork, so everything that is left for you, is to update your holowatch settings and profile data.
We are sending you the file with the update in two days.
We see you in one month.
Hollis Hargrove.
AD.
"A letter? Seriously? Announcing a delay and the sending of a virtual file?" Kurt raised both his eyebrows. "What’s up with these people?"
He shrugged and thought it couldn’t be helped.
He would end up understanding what their deal was once he attended the academy for a few weeks.
He stepped outside, and decided that he definitely needed a jog to clear his head.
Maybe it could even increase some of his stats.
With a smile on his face, Kurt started the first of his morning jogs, hoping it would last long enough.
Without noticing the black sedan parked in front of the manor’s main gate, and the man in sun glasses taking pictures of him with his smart recorder.
"So you’re the boy who fucked my plan up... Kurt Blake..." The man said, with a dark grin on his lips. "Alright. I’ll pay you back, then."
