"Classes. Though one isn't classified as either a King or a magic swordsman just because they are born that way, their lineage still matters. It lets one inherit their family's traits, such as their strength, body, intellect, stats or even mana. However, they can still choose what class they want to be depending on your will and determination to be in that class. You're born as a King because of your family's lineage, but I'm a magic swordsman by choice."

"But didn't mama say that the magic swordsman class is weak?"

"All classes have their strengths and weaknesses. The general classes, ranger, assassin, mage, tank, swordsman and etc are used as categories that allow them to split different classes. Berserkers fall in the tank category and swordsman category while magic swordsman fall in the swordsman category as well as the mage category. Get it?"

"Mmm... A bit? But how does that explain magic swordsmen being weak?"

"That's because of their flaws. I myself am a magic swordsman, and know its flaws. I chose it because it's the most convenient one. The way they establish the magic swordsman is that they have to do 3 things at the same time, cast magic, fight close combat and use enchantment magic to strengthen yourself. This burdens the user, thus they are looked down upon. But, that's their strength."

"Hmm?"

"Their strength is the fact that they can use magic as they fight. These are their class bonuses, dual cast, chain cast and weapon bond. Dual cast allows you to cast 2 spells at the same time, chain cast allows you to form spells faster after casting a spell within a small time frame while weapon bond allows you to be one with your weapon. One can easily know how to use a sword, right? With this, you can even be better."

"Urrggghhhh.... I don't get it, but they all sound powerful."

"Well, it's because of those that they get looked down upon. What's the use of a weapon when you can obliterate your enemies? What's the point of magic when you're just going to fight head on? What's the use of forming magic faster, if you're not going to cast one anyway?"

"Ohh... Now I get it."

"Yup. The reason why I picked this class to go to is because of their bonuses."

"Why?"

"If you can dual cast, then cast 2 enhancing arts at the same time. Then, with chain casting, your next spell is faster as well, giving you more options to choose. And finally, weapon bond, with my bladeless weapon, I can create whatever close combat weapon I need: sword, whip, dagger, spear, mace, etc."

"Ohhh... But then, what about 'King'?"

"'Kings' are basically the strongest. They can have any class bonus they want whenever they want without any limit. Because of that, there were people that think 'What if we kidnap them while they're young and use them as battle slaves?' Such thinking wasn't safe at all and the royalties banned any slavery. However, greedy bast- the bad people already thought of kidnapping the young Kings. That's why, keep your class a secret. You're lucky that me and your family were the only ones who know you're a King. Got it?"

"Nn..."

Aina sulked. It was reasonable, for a kid that hadn't been exposed to the dangers and reality of the world.

"Hmm... Have you ever been to the outside?"

"Where?"

"Outside of this room? This castle?"

"... Only outside the room..."

Kuro placed his hand on his forehead, thinking of something he can do. And then, an idea came into mind.

"Wanna sneak out tomorrow?"

"Eh? But, aren't we going to get scolded?"

Kuro smiles, "It's not life if there's no risk! Come on, don't you want to explore your own future kingdom?"

"Hnngghh..." Aina smiles, "Alright!"

"Cool, now we just need a plan... I'll have to finish training early in order to come here early. Alright, so we need to be quick in getting you out of this room when the time comes. I'll leave my eternal wick to you. Make sure it's lit, else I won't be able to enter and exit with you immediately. The eternal wick won't burnout unless it's manually blown off. Its fires also won't spread, so you won't have to worry about that. I'll come immediately after training, okay?"

"Nn!"

Kuro pats Aina's hair, "There we go. Alright, time to leave else Rai and my friend will scold me. Bye!"

Aina slowly raises her hand as Kuro was already at the window, "Bye..." She waves her hand as Kuro looked at her.

"Hehe, I won't be gone for a long time. Don't worry."

Kuro then entered in the flame once more and exited through the other eternal wick stuck onto the roof overlooking Aina's window.

As Kuro left, unbeknownst to them, someone was listening through the door.

"Perfect."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kuro enters the castle's dining room once more, this time, for dinner. His cold food was left at the table, without anyone to wait over it.

"Good. Well, it would've been better if this was heated, but hey, I can heat it up anyways."

Kuro let out his hands and released heat waves from his hands. As he heated the food, his mind wanders around.

'How the fuck do I beat them quickly? Is there really no other way but that? Haa... No, if I did that I'd be scolded.'

Suddenly, flashes of memories come back to him.

---

A young child was crying in front of his mother as he knelt down on his knees. However, she suddenly speaks.

"Why are you crying?"

"I... I... I acci-... I broke your plate... Your cup..."

She then held his hands tightly and turned it around, "Are you injured?"

The child shakes his head slowly.

"Alright, what do you sa~y?"

"I... I-I'm sorry..."

Unexpectedly, she hugs him tightly, "Good boy. At least you know what to do. If you make a mistake, come to me and genuinely say sorry. I won't accept your sorry if it's not real, okay?"

As she hugs him more, the child's crying stops and wraps his arms around her, hugging her back, "Nn!"

---

Kuro winces as he comes back from reality.

'Whose memories were those? Because I'm sure as fuck that that shit ain't mine.'

Kuro stops heating his food and rubs his forehead as his headache starts to form.

"Haa... This shit has been annoying. I remember some stuff, my past life... All the games I played with my family and myself, but what the fuck was that scene just then? That wasn't modern at all..."

Then, he looks at his own hand and transforms it, "... Don't fucking tell me that this life of mine is a fucking cliché where I'm actually Shin's reincarnation or some shit... Gosh fucking damn it."

Kuro plants his face onto his arm and removes the transformation.

"... It's quite awkward talking to myself now that I remember it. But... It feels eerie. Too eerie... Meh."

Kuro ate his heated dinner in the dead of night. The chirping crickets, the wind going against the windows, and the sound of clattering utensils against the plate.

As Kuro finished his meal, he used cleaning magic on his plate and utensils, all the remaining parts that can't be eaten, such as the bones were stored in his storage bag.

Walking down the halls, his footsteps echoed. The eerie silence, the chirping crickets, the wailing winds, all of it kept on resounding Kuro's ears. Looking back, there was nothing for him to see, same with looking at the front. He kept moving forward with an emotionless face, yet his fear couldn't stop his heart from beating louder than ever.

*TAK* *TAK* *TAK*

Kuro looks back once more to see the empty space behind him. He continues to move forward until he reaches his room. Before entering, he looked around. Inside his dark room, was just a bed, a table and his stuff that couldn't fit in the dimensional bag on his waist. Kuro sat on his bed, and kept feeling that single ominous presence. As he lit his room using a candle, he looked down and confronted that ominous presence.

"Gosh fucking damn it... I'm surprised that it's this big... Fucking puberty."

Kuro pushed down the monster in hopes of calming it down, but to no avail. The monster was bigger and stronger than he had anticipated, even bigger than his past life. No, it couldn't be compared anymore.

"..."

As Kuro fell silent, he placed his hands on the walls and used mana to check on the walls' density. Luckily, they were all thick. Thick enough to not leak out any sound from within. Looking behind, he closes the windows' curtains to hide himself as he had no other choice but to beat the monster with his hands.

That night, it was silent for everyone, but not for one person.

---

"Fuck me..."

"Hmm? Why? You wouldn't say that unless you actually have a problem, what's wrong?"

"Ah, it's just that I'm going through puberty again, and I can't really relieve it, so... I had a hard time sleeping."

"Ah... Right. Oh, I almost forgot. Tomorrow, we'll be going on a small dungeon excursion as training for the whole class. Don't sleep late, okay?"

"Alright I guess."

As Rai walked towards where Kuro's classmates were, Kuro hurries to where he and Zeoth will train.

Inside, only Zeoth was in there.

"Where're the others?"

"... They're on a dungeon excursion with some S-rank party."

"... More Kings?"

"Yeah."

"I see. Well, I hope they return safely."

"You're not nervous?"

"Ah, of course I am. But what can I do? Pray to a dead Goddess? All I can do is hope for their safe return. I can't go in there, nor do I even know where they are."

"That's some mentality you've got there."

"Well, gotta keep moving forward of course."

"Haha, I guess so... Wait why are you in a hurry?"

"Ah, I promised my friend that I'll meet them after training. I need to hurry, else they'll have to wait for a long time."

"Hoho... Girl or guy?"

"None of your business. Let's go!"

"HAHA! ALRIGHT KID! I'VE BEEN ITCHING TO SPAR WITH YA!"

In an instant, Kuro dashed to him with a silver fist. Zeoth blocks it with his hand, but even with an earth-cladded hand, the shell cracked in an instant.

'This kid... He's going all-out!'

Zeoth looks at Kuro's fist, but he saw it slowly transform back into a human's. He tried to look for Kuro's moves and saw his knee transform. At that moment, Kuro kicked Zeoth with his knee, but Zeoth blocks it with his left hand. Zeoth noticed it once more, Kuro's knee had immediately transformed back into human form as his left leg was already transforming. He lets go of Kuro's hand and blocks his kick with his right hand, however, Kuro's hands were transformed already and his leg was back to being human. Kuro hammers Zeoth's unprotected head rendering him nauseous, letting go of Kuro.

'Imitation: Rush. Guide, do it.'

'Yes sir.'

Kuro's left eye turns blue, and his fist transforms into his dragon form. Zeoth was met with an absurd amount of hits, each hit coming from different limbs of Kuro which instantaneously transforms into dragon form upon impact and instantly goes back to human when using the next part. Due to his speed, not even Zeoth could catch up and keep track of his hits. Using his small nimble body and by pushing himself through the explosions being used on his own limbs, Kuro's speed was tremendous.

'Kuh! This brat!'

Zeoth's bones slowly screamed in pain as he kept taking in hits from Kuro.

'Sir, you only have 2301 mana left.'

'Alright, finish it!'

Zeoth smirks, "Kid, you underestimate me. Awaken!"

"Guh?!"

'WARNING SIR! Due to the intense impact, the mana compensation will be taken due to your sequence being interrupted.'

'Shit.'

'Mana remaining: 1854/6231 -> 627/6231.'

'Shit.'

Kuro covered himself using his hands. The amount of mana Zeoth was releasing was intense, it rivaled that of the lightning dragonkin.

'I need to go! Aina's waiting for me!'

"Let's end this one kid!"

As all hopes of winning looked grim, notices came up in front of him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notice: Pre-requisite for the title, "Silver King" and "Awaken" has been met.
However, due to the current vessel being weak, only a minor version of the blessings will be given.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silver King (weakened)
A title fit for those whose power is at perfect balance between purity and destructiveness.
Effect: For every follower, enhance your stats by +10%.
Number of followers: 7.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Awaken (Immortality) - Lvl MAX (weakened)
Each person has a different awakening ability.
Effect: Permanently increases recovery and mana regen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Equip your crown?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

With all of those warnings coming up, Kuro couldn't read all of it. However, when he was prompted that question, there was only one answer.

"Equip! Awaken!"

Kuro's right hand suddenly glows and a silver ring that looked like a crown is worn on his ring finger.

'Mana remaining: 692/6231 -> 784/6231 -> 899/6231...'

Kuro's mana kept regenerating and his body healed rapidly. It was faster than his usual recovery speed, and topped with Kuro innately absorbing mana all around him and healing his body with white fire, it would be a lot harder to beat him now.

Kuro dashes onto him, intending to take on Zeoth's attack head-on.

'Goliath's fist!'

'Original Martial art: Monk: Buddha's intervention!'

As Kuro rapidly burned through his mana, increasing his speed and reaction speed, he continuously slaps Zeoth's fist, then proceeding to reach to his arm, intending to slow down the attack up to the last moment.

Zeoth, who could feel his blows, blows his eyes wide open as Kuro slows down the incoming attack, with after-images forming a flower-like shape. Finally, Zeoth touches Kuro as Kuro himself touches Zeoth's fist with his own. No impact was made. It was as if they fist bumped to one another.

Zeoth smirks, then laughs haughtily.

"HAHAHA! When'd you learn to awaken and use your King ability?"

"I don't know really, I just received a notice that just said I met the pre-requisites for both of them. But, they're weakened."

"Weakened?"

"Yeah, says that I'm still too weak. Something wrong with that?"

"Oh, no nothing really."

"Cool. Now then, I'll have to go now, bye."

"Ah-"

Kuro had already changed back to his normal clothes in an instant and rushed out. Zeoth, with his pained body, sat down on the floor and spoke to himself.

"... Can an awakening ability get weakened?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Aina waited, she laid her head down on her arm, looking at the wick with its fire lit. As she watches the little fire dance, she tries to poke it around. The flame kept dancing as she pokes it continuously. She can't feel its searing heat due to how Kuro made it be. She smiles as she sees the little fire seemingly avoid her fingers. Then, the fire grew stronger and stronger in an instant, which scares her, only to see Kuro come out of the fire, with cloaks in hand.

"Sorry I took a long while. Had to buy us disguises."

"Hmph" She pouts, "I thought you forgot."

"Well, I didn't. Here, wear this. I've enchanted it with some magic that could help us with not being recognized. Quickly now."

Aina hastily tried it on, but Kuro immediately got mad at how slow she was and just wore it on her hastily yet neatly.

"Alright, grab on real tight now."

"Huh?-Eek?!"

Kuro grabs her by the waist with his left arm and hugs her with his right hand. Kuro then jumps to the wick with her. Inside, Aina saw the inside of the wick as they travelled to the other side. It looked like the same world, but it was all on fire and it was all slowed down.

"Just hold on tight. Don't let go of me else you'll turn into a spirit."

"Nn."

Kuro flew to the other side and entered through the other wick and the world became normal again.

"Looked scary, right?"

Aina nervously nods, "Nn."

"Good, so don't let go of me or else you'll burn and die a painful death when were doing that, okay?"

Aina became scared at the small and innocent wick, to which Kuro laughs.

"Don't worry about it, I won't let go of you either way anyways. Let's go and have some fun!"

Kuro grabs her hand and falls down from the house. There, they explore the lively festivals Aina could only dream of exploring. There, they bought food with Kuro's money. Trying out foods such as a Gigapede's barbecued section [1], a Bitoad's roasted leg [2] to which Kuro didn't eat due to his fear of frogs, a Deathboar-chop [3], Ice cream made from the Angel Queen Cow's milk [4] and so much more. Aina basically emptied out Kuro's wallets whilst he tried out 4 foods, Ice cream included. Aina danced with the people celebrating the week-long celebration, as she was enjoying herself, Kuro smiles as he watches over her. The lively music, the cheerful people, the smiles they were showing, these were scenes Kuro couldn't find anywhere.

'Guide, please capture this moment for me.'

'With Aina?'

'Mmm... Sure, why not.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they sat on the town's fountain to rest after that dance, they were eating another serving of Ice cream.

"So, how's the outside world?"

Kuro looks at Aina who was happily eating her ice cream. Aina was startled, but she regained herself and swallowed the food.

"Ah, well... It's very fun! Still though, why didn't you dance?"

"... I'm not really good at dancing, especially if it's an improv."

"Ah... But still..."

Aina stands up and faces Kuro with a smile.

"Thank you for showing me something I could only dream of experiencing!"

Kuro closes his eyes with a smile.

"Well then princess, let's go back before your maids try to look for you... But..."

Kuro then hugs Aina from behind.

"I have one last thing to show you before we return."

'Guide.'

'Yes sir.'

Kuro released his wings and they flew up, letting Aina release an ear-piercing scream. Kuro's wings weren't silver, but red instead with the help of his illusion magic.

"Relax princess, we're here. Open your eyes and don't worry. I'll never let you go."

Aina, who burried herself into Kuro's chest slowly opened her eyes to a squint, but as she saw what Kuro wanted her to see, she opened her eyes wide. It was the sun setting down.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah..."

Aina was speechless as she faced the bright sun, but Kuro covers her eyes.

"Now now, we shouldn't stare too much into the sun, that'll burn our eyes. Let's go."

"Aww..."

As Kuro flew to her window, he retracted his wings. There, he removed their cloaks and placed it on the bag on his waist.

"Alright, I won't be visiting tomorrow, okay?"

"..."

"What?"

"Why won't you?"

"I'm going on a dungeon excursion with my classmates. Remember? We're only here temporarily so that we can have combat experience."

"Ah..."

"Why?"

"... Nothing..."

Kuro looked at her sad expression, it was already obvious what she wanted.

"Haa... Alright, I'll stay for the night. But I'll leave early in the morning, okay?"

Aina's expression brightened as she heard his words.

"But, I'll leave for now and come back later. I'll have to eat dinner first and pretend I'm sleeping in my room before heading here. If we're caught, my head will be removed from my body."

"Eww."

"Yep, so wait for me, okay?"

"Okay!"

 

Chapter 20 -END-

 

[1] = Gigapedes are huge centipedes that can overpower a C-rank adventerer easily. Gigapedes have huge sickles for legs and pincers, even having a sharp outer edge. Thankfully, it doesn't spew out poison. A Gigapede's diet is usually meat, but at times, it goes for fellow insects. It uses for sickles either for fighting, tree chopping when it chases its prey in the woods, or when it's climbing. They live in forests. The barbecued part is one of its sections sliced to make it thinner and actually consumable as a snack. Think of it like pork barbecue basically.

[2] = Bitoads are Huge frogs that are about 5'6" in height and 1 1/5 meters in length. Bitoads have 2 mouths, the main mouth and the second mouth behind it, hence the name Bi, meaning 2. Inside the second mouth, are its offspring which are delicacies. Its lean muscles make it chewy to eat and its taste is similar to chicken of earth. It lives in areas with a big pond, which is where its nests and breeding grounds are. Some however, prefer to live in swamps or in muddy areas. They fight by spewing white smoke that it usually emits around its body and paralyzes its opponents with it. Then, they proceed to stomp them to death. Using their second mouth, they eat their offspring at times since they don't eat insects anymore once they grow up.

[3] = Deathboars are big boars that size up to a truck without load. Their armored body and aggression makes them a dangerous opponent, even for B-rank adventurers. They live in herds, protecting the females and young. Once the herd is threatened, they will proceed to call all of those that can't fight in the center while those that can, circle around them like a protective circle. Not all of the fighters will be in the outside however, some will be inside, protecting them from those that can leak to the inside or flying opponents. Their meat rival that of Wagyu beef from Japan. They live in the death forest, a place only accessible to S-rankers as even A-rankers have been reported to die within even though majority of the monsters inside are ranked B.

[4] = Angel cows are basically Holstein demi-humans ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). They are named as such due to the fact that they are kind enough to be milked. Their milk is very healthy for any race's consumption, even strengthening them as well. Their male counterparts, Demon bulls monitor them for protection. Their King variants, Demon King bull and Angel Queen cow are different. For one, the Queen's milk quality is a lot higher than normal and a lot healthier unexpectedly so. The King however, is a lot stronger than the normal Demon bull as even an S-rank party will have a hard time against one of it. Both aren't fit for consumption, unless you yourself, are a cannibal.