Chapter 221: The World Where Everything is Off! Template Fusion achieved
The taxi dropped Caelus off two blocks from his house. He paid the driver and walked the rest of the way.
The house looked exactly the same. It had a brick front, three steps leading up, and a screen door that never closed properly. His old key still fit perfectly into the lock.
He pushed the door open.
The television was on in the living room. A cooking show played with the volume turned up loud. His mom sat on the sofa with a mug in her hands. She wore the same familiar robe and sat in the exact same spot on the left cushion, which sank lower than the rest.
His dad sat in the chair beside her. He had the newspaper open, and his familiar square glasses were sliding down his nose.
Caelus stood in the doorway and simply looked at them. His chest tightened in a way he was not ready for.
"Mom. Dad." He crossed the room quickly.
His mom turned around. "Caelus?" She set her mug down. "What are you doing here?"
"Are you okay?" his dad asked, lowering the newspaper.
"Why did you come back all of a sudden?" His mom looked him up and down. "You love that dorm. You barely even call. Did you miss your mommy, you stupid kid?"
She reached up and patted his head softly, just the way she used to.
Caelus did not say anything. He had not thought about them once down there. Not really. A month in the abyss with death on every side did not leave room for missing your parents. But now, as he stood in the living room with her hand on his hair, all the emotions he had shoved down came rushing right back up.
He swallowed them down.
"Are you hungry?" his dad asked. He folded the paper and dropped it onto the side table. "Your mother made too much food again. She cooks for an army, but there are only two of us. I might get fat at this rate."
"I cook for three when my son shows up," his mom shot back.
Caelus huffed out a small laugh and sat down on the sofa between them.
For a while, he just stayed there. The cooking show droned on until his mom flipped the channel over to the news. His dad started complaining about a mage on the screen who got paid a fortune to clear just one dungeon a month.
It was normal. It was so normal that it almost hurt.
Then, Caelus finally asked his question. "Hey. What were your talents again?"
His dad pushed his glasses down and stared at him. "What is up with you? Did you hit your head?"
"I just want to hear it." Caelus gave a small smile. "You used to brag about yours all the time when you were younger. Come on."
It was a lie, and he knew it was a lie. But these were his parents, and he knew how their minds worked. On the Earth he came from, his dad would go on for an hour about some deal he had closed at work. So, in a world filled with superpowers, the math was easy.
His dad sat up straighter. "A-Rank. Body Strengthening." He held up a fist as if that explained the entire thing. "Do you know how rare that is? One in ten thousand, maybe even worse. In my prime, I could punch a hole straight through a hill. The army academy wanted me, and the pro leagues wanted me too."
"And he took a desk job instead," his mom pointed out.
"I chose to raise a family," his dad corrected her.
His mom rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"What about you, Mom?" Caelus asked.
"Body Enhancement. D-Rank." She shrugged like it was nothing. "It is the exact same one you got, sweetheart. You take after me, not your show-off father."
Caelus nodded slowly.
So that was the full picture. An A-Rank dad and a D-Rank mom. The D-Rank Body Enhancement had passed straight down to him. It was quite interesting.
Everything here felt incredibly off compared to the Earth he remembered. There were no talents back then. There was no domain, and there certainly was no Milk Man on a billboard selling mana to babies. The entire history of this place had been bent into something he did not recognize, and he had absolutely no clue when or how it had happened.
But one thing still held true. These were undeniably his parents. They were the same mom and the same dad, just with powers now.
He could live with that.
He ate dinner with them. They had rice and fried fish. His mom kept telling him he looked too thin, while his dad told her to leave the boy alone. He let the familiar banter wash over him and said very little.
The entire time, one single name kept circling around in his head.
Sylvia.
She had left the abyss too, with Lyra and Mia beside her. If he had ended up here on this twisted version of Earth, then she had to be somewhere out there as well.
But where exactly was she?
He needed to find her, and he needed to do it fast. He was not worried that she had failed to make it out. That thought never even formed in his mind. This was Sylvia. The abyss could throw its absolute worst at her, and she would simply walk out chewing on it. He just had to reach her before this world did something incredibly stupid.
After dinner, Caelus stood up and grabbed his jacket.
"Leaving already?" his mom asked. "Right, the domain opens in a few hours."
"Stay safe out there, kid. Do not try to be the hero in there or you will lose your life." His mom’s voice carried a hint of worry.
"Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be fine," he said.
He soon said his goodbyes and left.
His next destination was his dorm. He was going to wait there until his template from the abyss finally merged with him.
Just then, new notifications appeared.
[Ding! Template fusion complete]
[Your powers have been calibrated into this reality.]
Boom!
His vision flickered black and white the following instant as power began pouring into him.
However, as soon as the energy began surging in, his status window also opened up.
"What?" Seeing it, or rather seeing his new rank, his expression became strange.
