Chapter 12- Awakening (Part 1)
The guards soon came and took care of the thief before dragging him away under the scorning gazes of the crowd.
Aria didn't really wait to see what they will do with him as she made her way to Rin with a small smile on her face. She seemed to be in a really good mood for some reason. Rin thought it was lost likely because she felt pride in helping other people.
The two then continued their journey around the city, they looked around, checked a few popular places, and even stopped to get some street delicacies that Rin found interesting.
Except for the fact that it was actually a job, it was pretty much a date. Rin was unaware of this fact since in his mind, Aria was basically his sister and nothing much.
That, however, didn't apply to Aria whose heart had been beating loudly for the past hour or so. Who thought she will be able to spend the day with her beloved, certainly not her.
But, the most important thing is that they were able to get closer to each other and she was more than satisfied with that. All that was left was to make him acknowledge her as a love interest.
[Host completed the 50 Mile run.]
[Host gained 10 Action Points.]
[Host completed all the daily quests.]
[Host gained 30 Action Points.]
'Great! That was brutal but I somehow was able to pull it off before the end of the day.'
The sun was still in the middle of the sky so the two of them took their time returning home. They kept chatting about trivial things throughout the way and the atmosphere soon softened greatly between them.
Rin was really starting to like Aria as she was someone he could befriend easily. Both of them had very similar characters so finding common interests between them was not that hard of a task.
When they reached the home, they found Selina waiting for them.
"Did you have fun?"
"Yes!" Rin answered with a wide smile.
"Good, good. You were never really that close as siblings but now seeing both of you like this makes me really happy." Selina's eyes teared up slightly but she quickly wiped them away.
She didn't want to cry in front of her children.
"Mother…" Aria muttered with a moved look.
As for Rin, he was also moved by it but the more important thing he focused on was the first thing she said.
'We were never close? Why is that?' He thought to himself.
Coming to think of it, he never really asked them about his old self. How was he? What did he act like?
These questions could also give him a clear idea about his relationship with others he never met.
However, he didn't want to start such a deep conversation while still in his sweaty clothes. He needed to take a shower as soon as possible.
After going back to his room, he cleaned up and threw himself on the bed to rest a little. He wasn't intending to sleep and instead pulled out his system.
'System, show stats.'
[System Profile]
[Name: Rin Silvereye.]
[Class: Shadow Bringer (First Phase)]
[Race: Human/ ???]
[Stats]
[Strength: G-]
[Agility: G-]
[Dexterity: G]
[Intelligence: G+]
[Charm: A-]
[Action Points: 160]
pA n,dan(-)0ve1.c0m [Skills: Shadow manipulation, Appraisal, Plot Detector]
'160 points, huh? What can I do with those?' He asked the system.
[You can add them to any attribute you want.]
'Oh, so I can increase my strength with it?'
[160 Action Points are insufficient to level up one of your attributes but you can still use it and wait till you accumulate the required number to do so.]
"And how much is that?"
[It depends on the rank of your attribute. Since most of your abilities are in the G-Rank I will use that as a reference to explain. To get from G- to G, you need 500 Action Points. From G to G+, you need 1000 Action points. That will obviously change when you will have to go from one rank to another but you get the gist of it.]
"So, I basically need a huge number of Action Points to be able to get really strong."
[Your deduction skills are impressive, host. That's exactly what I said.]
Rin rolled his eyes at the system's sad attempt to sound sarcastic and then looked at the stats again.
'I don't need to use these points so I think the wisest choice is to let them be for now and use them when I need a boost in strength.'
He had a clear idea of how weak he was now but that was not a good reason to waste his precious points so rashly for a momentary excitement. He might need a certain boost in one attribute when he was in danger so he kept them like that for now.
'Sigh, a lot of things need work and I'm basically still like a frog in a well. I should take it easy for now.' He thought as he closed his eyes.
And just like that, a few days passed, Rin's day was very simple, he wakes up, trains, eats, and then sleeps. He didn't need to study or do anything else since he was still not going to attend the academy for at least one more month when the new year starts.
Obviously, he made some time to spend with his new family just to strengthen their relationship. Especially Aria, he was able to talk a lot with her and they were now more like friends rather than strangers.
Rin missed the feeling of having a loving family and finding that feeling once again made him crave it even more. His wounded heart was still aching a lot as there was not even a second that passed where he doesn't remember Mika and his family's faces.
On the third day of his reincarnation, Rin was about to finally take his first step toward his goal. It was the day when he will awaken.
'Finally, today I will be able to start actually gaining strength.' He thought to himself as he walked down to the living room.
There, he found Damian, Selina, and Aria waiting for him.
They all had nervous looks on their faces for some reason. Especially his sister was visibly fidgeting around and looking really restless.
'The atmosphere is really weird. Is this awakening ceremony this hard?' He wondered.
"Are you ready, Rin?" His father asked.
"Yes…" He nodded confidently.
The three then left on a carriage toward the city. Their destination was the church of the goddess of the heavens, Lili.
'It's weird seeing them worship Lili. I can't imagine myself looking at that clumsy goddess as an actual supreme being. I can only imagine their reaction if I told them that I had to hug her and give her back rubs to make her stop crying.' He shook his head with a sigh.
"Cough! Cough! Cough." Aria suddenly started coughing loudly.
"Hmm? Is everything ok?" Rin looked at her confusedly.
"I-I'm fine… Something just got stuck in my throat."
'Anyway, as I was saying. I can only accept the fact that she's an actual goddess revered by the people of this world.'
The trip to the church took barely two hours before the carriage finally stopped near a huge building in the heart of the city.
Rin looked from inside the window and could only gasp in shock at the huge structure he saw. It looked way bigger than any church he had ever seen before with a huge statue of a woman right in front of the door.
The statue was depicting a woman with her hand in the air and some kind of ball was floating on her hand that shined faintly.
'It does look like Lili. But, how should I describe it? It looks almost like a beautified version of Lili.'
The 4 people walked inside silently, the nervous atmosphere was still there even though Rin made sure to try and ease their worries on the trip.
The inside looked like a normal church albeit bigger. At the end of the hall, a man was standing beside a statue of Lili with his hands behind his back.
The man wore a white robe and a weird hat on his head that could mean some kind of religious thing. His face was cleanly shaved and he had a peaceful smile on his face undisturbed by anything around him.
"Well, if it isn't the duke Silvereye. It's my honor to welcome you to our humble church." He said with the utmost respect.
"It's been a while, Alfred. How have you been?" Damian replied.
"Good, good. It's your great help that made this place what it is and for that, I'm deeply thankful to you. May our great goddess bless you."
"I did it for the sake of my people, Alfred. No need for that. Anyway, my son here is about to awaken so I will have to ask you to supervise this ceremony if possible."
"Well, of course. It's my honor to witness the birth of another great talent from the Silvereye lineage. I still remember the day of your awakening, Lady Aria. I'm still shocked to this day at your great talent."
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