Chapter 8: Unexpected Surprise
William returned to his room and searched everywhere. In the end, he held one copper coin in his hand with a speechless look on his face.
"Damn, I am completely broke..." He couldn’t help but grumble, feeling numb inside.
"Forget about a sword, I wouldn’t even be able to buy a handle with this money."
William rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look, wondering where he should get some money from.
To buy a decent sword that he could use, he would need at least one silver coin. One silver coin was equal to one hundred copper coins. As such, he needed to gather ninety-nine more coins.
"Should I sell one of the chickens we are raising?" This thought came to his mind for a second before he threw it out of the window.
They only had two chickens, and both of them laid eggs every day for them. If he were to sell one of them, his mother would definitely sell him just to buy that chicken back.
"Forget it, I will simply ask Mom and Dad for some money."
Although he knew his parents would feel weird when he asked for money for a sword, he could just tell them that he wanted to practice swordsmanship in the future.
Knowing how supportive both of them were, he was certain that they would give him the money.
Since he did not have money right now, William simply decided to lie down in his room instead of going out.
Rosco Barony was located far north of the Silver Wing Kingdom. It was a barren area with very low development.
William, who had witnessed the grandeur of the Empire’s capital and even famous places of different realms, was not interested in going out to take a look at long stretches of farmland and some small houses built around them.
"I wonder what those guys are doing at this moment..." William suddenly thought about his friends, and an impulse to talk to them rose in his heart.
But then he suddenly remembered that communication technology still hadn’t been fully publicized, and only nobles could use it.
The technological level of the Vermilion Realm was in a very strange condition. Because it had connections and even trade relationships with different realms, it had a mixed level of technology from different places.
For example, there were high-powered airships that could fly tens of thousands of kilometers in just a single day.
Some people had found the blueprint for making these Aether-powered airships inside a high-level small dimension a few years ago.
Because of this, the Eastern Empire possessed airships that could not only fly long distances without any problem, but also had powerful energy cannons that could kill high-level evolvers.
But now look at it from a different perspective.
Although there were airships, a very advanced mode of transport, there were no normal vehicles such as cars, buses, or bikes.
There were only modified energy carriages that ran on Aether energy crystals. These carriages focused more on luxury instead of speed, as they were mostly used by nobles.
There were also not-so-luxurious carriages that some normal people bought and used to provide taxi services and earn money.
They could make high-end airships, but they didn’t make commercial vehicles that could help improve the lives of civilians.
There is electricity in most of the houses, but there are not many things that use it.
Other than light bulbs and fans at home, there are water pumps used to irrigate the fields and a few other electric items.
However, most of them are very basic, with none of them being something that could be called advanced or remarkable.
It is as if they created electricity but forgot to create things that truly utilize it.
William did not know whether it was because all the people in the Vermilion Realm who specialized in this field were incapable of developing anything without a blueprint, or if they were not developing it for some other reasons.
In fact, even communication technology was widely spread in the future only after the Abyss began to open Astral Rifts all over the Empire.
Without widespread communication technology, it had become extremely difficult for the Empire to keep everything in check.
If not for the threat of the Abyss, they wouldn’t have spread communication technology at all.
It was as if they were trying to stop normal people from developing further.
"Although I know not all nobles are assholes, and some are even very kind like Duke Charles who helped us a lot in the future, every time I think about these nobles’ narrow minds and messed-up actions, I just can’t help myself from thinking about killing every single one of them."
William tried to calm his mind, as he knew thinking too much would only increase his resentment, and it wasn’t good for his mental health to accumulate too much hatred inside himself.
Not finding anything else to do for the time being, he finally decided to sleep, just like Samuel.
He had thought about going into the field to help his parents tend the crops, but he knew that they would immediately send him back, telling him that he didn’t need to do farm work for now.
"Well, it’s actually been quite a long time since I had a good sleep. Might as well take advantage of this peaceful time," He muttered under his breath and finally closed his eyes.
Surprisingly, although he had woken up not long ago and wasn’t even tired, he still fell asleep just a few minutes after closing his eyes.
When he woke up again, it was already late afternoon.
Coming out of his room, William stretched his body slightly while feeling extremely refreshed.
"I can’t even remember when the last time I slept so peacefully was."
On the battlefield, a relaxed sleep was a luxury. Sometimes, he couldn’t even take a nap for days. Although high-level evolvers had very strong physical bodies, it was still very depressing to not even be able to take a nap for days.
William looked at the time and saw that there were still a few hours left before his parents returned from work.
"Although everything is peaceful, it’s really boring since I have nothing to do," He scratched his cheek and sighed.
From his memories, William remembered that he had two or three friends here in his hometown. But after he left when his excellent-grade Aether affinity was discovered, his contact with them became limited and later on, it was completely cut off.
"I don’t even remember their names properly, so there is no point in going out looking for them."
After thinking about everything, William finally decided to practice his swordsmanship for a bit, as it would help him adapt to his new body.
He had a lot of experience fighting and using a sword with his adult body, but with his current one, he had none.
He left his home and returned to where he and Samuel had been practicing in the morning.
He carefully looked around the field and soon found a long stick that was slightly curved in the middle.
William swung the stick a few times, and after finding it suitable, he returned under the shade of a tree.
Taking a deep breath, he went through his memories of using the sword and, taking a step forward, performed a horizontal slash.
Swish!
The stick cut through the air, making a whooshing sound that surprised William, as he felt the power of his slash was higher than expected.
Without stopping, he followed with a stab, then a vertical slash, and continued performing other sword moves one after another.
In just a few minutes, he repeated different moves dozens of times and finally stopped.
"Something is not right..." William frowned as he looked at the stick in his hand.
Thinking for a moment, he walked in front of a tree.
Looking at the thick tree that he couldn’t embrace even by using both of his hands, he bent forward slightly, holding the stick near his waist like a sword.
He recalled the time he used a sword in the original timeline, and as those memories became clearer and clearer, a sharp light flashed in his eyes.
He took a step forward.
His hand moved, and he slashed at the tree bark using all of his strength.
Swish!
The stick moved like a blur, and the next instant—
Crack!
It snapped into two parts after striking the thick tree.
William ignored the snapped stick and stared at the tree bark with his eyes wide open, a look of disbelief clearly written on his face.
On the previously clean tree bark, there was now a two-millimeter-deep and about three-centimeter-long sword mark.
Although the mark was very faint, it was still unbelievable for a thin stick to leave behind such a mark on a tree without him using any Aether energy.
"This... what is going on? Why are my attacks so powerful?" William muttered, extremely confused.
But suddenly, something clicked in his mind.
"Could it be because of my first trait?"
He looked at his status window, and his eyes narrowed.
====
---) Status [Locked]
---) Inheritance: God of Time—Aevion’s Inheritance [Currently under trial]
---) Trial Summary: To be recognized as the true heir of the God of Time and obtain his power, you must first prove that you are worthy of wielding a power capable of changing the course of the entire world. To change the world, you must first change your own future. Step forward and shatter your past by walking on a completely different path.
---) Trial Task:
1. Become a Star Warrior before the Aether Affinity Test next month
2. Kill five unranked monsters and one Star Warrior-level monster
---) Time Limit: 30 Days
---) Trial Reward: Your soul will not be repelled by the current timeline, a random skill
(Note: If the heir fails to complete the trial task, they will lose the opportunity to obtain the God of Time’s inheritance, and their soul will be sent back to the original timeline.)
====
"Normally speaking, my status is currently locked because I haven’t become a Star Warrior, so my trait shouldn’t give me any amplification in this regard."
William looked at the other things on his status window and finally reached a conclusion.
"From what I know, traits are something that are very closely related to a person’s soul. Since it’s my soul that has come back in time, it might be possible that I can use some power of my trait despite my status still being locked," He speculated.
But William was clear about one thing.
"The amplification that my trait provides me in its locked status is limited. If it were the full power of my trait, even with just a stick, I could have carved a few centimeters deep sword mark on this tree."
Although unexpected, this surprise was welcomed by William.
With the amplification provided by his trait, his hunting operation inside the Astral Rift would become a lot easier.
"Now even if I get a rusty sword, I will still be able to cut down some unranked monsters with it."
William found another stick to practice with and continued his training for a few more hours.
As the evening approached, Elena and Karl finally finished their work and headed back home.
While going back, they suddenly noticed a grown boy swinging a stick here and there like a fool.
They felt sorry for the boy and couldn’t help but praise their own children for being sensible and not doing anything like this.
But when they passed by the tree, they found that the boy looked familiar. When they took a closer look, they realized it was their own eldest son.
Suddenly, their mood became complicated, and Elena once again thought about bringing William to the Church of Light for a check-up.
William felt extremely aggrieved when he was labeled as mentally unstable just because he was practicing swordsmanship, and he explained everything to them in great detail.
Being simple-minded farmers, both of them finally believed his words and even praised him for being sensible.
While other people’s children were sleeping or playing around, their child was practicing swordsmanship. He would definitely become a powerful person in the future.
Yes, both of them were hypocrites.
When other people’s children swung sticks around, they had mental problems. But when their own child did it, he was a genius and a sensible boy who was different from other snotty kids.
Taking advantage of the situation, William brought up the matter of buying a sword.
At first, Elena refused, as she was afraid he would get injured if he used a sword. But after coaxing her for a while, she finally agreed, and William got a sword.
For the next few days, William practiced the first Chapter of the Supreme Star Scripture and honed his swordsmanship skills to make them more suitable for his current body.
Samuel also practiced the body forging technique, but William couldn’t help but frown at the speed at which Samuel’s body was getting stronger, because it was too slow.
Even though he had medium Aether affinity, the rate at which his body improved was slower than that of people with low-level Aether affinity.
This once again confirmed William’s suspicion that there was something wrong with Samuel’s body.
But since he had no solution for the time being, he let Samuel continue practicing normally.
Just like that, five days passed in the blink of an eye, and just as William had expected, he completed the first Chapter of the Supreme Star Scripture and was finally ready to think about entering an Astral Rift.
