Hearing footsteps, Kadyn gaped his eyes and found it was dark. He peered at the approaching figure and asked. “What are you doing here?”

“I brought your dinner.” Elora said, and placed the box on the counter. After that she directed a bowl there as well. “This is the ointment I made. It will soothe your wounds and heal them faster.”

“Alright, you can go now, or mother will worry. Be careful on the way.”

Elora eyed him one last time and sighed before hurrying out of the shop. Kadyn settled the ointment and the dinner on the shelf and winced to stand up. “Fuck, it hurts!” he cursed as excruciation throbbed inside his legs and transferred onto his spinal cord and all the way to the head.

At first he undressed himself and stood naked in the dark gallery. “Is there no light?”

In no time the entire shop illuminated. “You just need to think to brighten the shop.” The system reminded him. Kadyn had no energy to waste on the system as his body was the junction of wounds, blood, and pain. He rubbed the ointment on his body. It gave the cool sensation and felt good on gashes. It was no wonder Elora was a healing mage. She could even make such an amazing paste.

“Fuck!” when he was done at the front, he tried to apply on the back, but failed. He tried again and again, but his hands could not reach on many places. His body cramped, and he could no further maintain his posture. At last he gave up and brushed the bowl on the shelf. Then went into the Magic and Time Acceleration Room. Time to meditate.

Kadyn positioned himself at the centre of the formation and looked at his watch. 9:00 P.M. He shut his eyes and activated the Elemental Chaos Formula. Time passed and energy rushed into his body, increasing mana inside the elemental pool. Activated stars shone brightly and inactive longed to be activated, devouring the mana. Kadyn did not even notice that the darkness had faded and the yellow ball had climbed on the eastern sky, rushing higher and higher, beyond the grasp of clouds.

[Energy Points: 18-4—>14]

Kadyn snapped his eyes and peered at his watch—9:00 A.M. He meditated entire 12 hours! He examined his body and found that most of the wounds had been healed. He also succeeded in activating one fire magic star. Now he had total 6 activated fire stars.

He hurried towards the counter and brought a scroll from the drawer. It was Elementary Potion Making Scroll. He bit his finger and dropped the drop of blood over the scroll. No more waiting. He wanted to learn everything and become strong.

“Argh!” he clenched his skull when a spasm burst into his head. There was a vast amount of information wrecking havoc inside his brain, but he paid little attention to the information due to excruciation. He fell on the ground and rolled as fish rolls out of the water. After ten minutes later, the throb alleviated and Kadyn sighed in relief.

He supported himself on both of his hands and sat on his butt before browsing the information. There were methods of herb preservation. Potion Formulas. Merit and demerits of all the medicines. Classes of potions and poisons, information about hundreds of diseases and their cures, so on and so forth.

There were hundreds of thousands of herbs in his memory about which he never even heard, much less seen. The most bewildering thing was that he could tell their benefits and drawbacks. He knew how to purify them and how to meld them together at the time of potion making.

[Mission: Concoct a level 1 Healing Potion, with a quality of at least average. Reward: 20 Energy Points+?]

“What’s the meaning of this question mark?”

“You will know after completing the quest.” The system replied emotionlessly.

“Brother!!”

When Kadyn was reckoning in anticipation about the mission, a shout jolted him awake. He veered around and saw Elora stumbling into a shop with messy hair and tattered clothes, covered in marks of blood. Kadyn gazed at his sister with a horrifying expression and dashed towards her, catching before falling. He brought her inside the shop and gave her a water bottle. “Drink it first!” he said gently, unaware of what to do.

Elora gulped the entire bottle down her throat. The water sloshed out of her mouth, wetting her clothes. “Mo-mom, sh-she vanished!”

At first Kadyn failed to understand what she meant, but when he did, his eyes bulged almost out of their socket. He could not believe what he had heard just now, and his head buzzed ‘Vanished? What do you mean?’ “How could she vanish!?” he inquired in an anxious voice.

“I-I don’t know. When I arrived at home last night, everything was a mess in our house. However, when I called mom, someone hit on my head and I fell on the floor. They wanted to kidnap me as well. But someone saved me. I couldn’t see that person’s face as I lost my conciousness immediately, but I heard them saying they will come later for me.” She said and bawled loudly. Tears rolled down her cheek.

“Someone dared to kidnap mom. Should we go to the Magic Association? It is the alliance of the greatest wizards of the human empires. They are like the government…”

“They won’t do anything. We aren’t even surnamed. There is no difference between us and bugs in their eyes.” Elora wiped her tears and replied. She peered at Kadyn with wet eyes. “I want to see mom.”

Kadyn winced at hearing her words. “Don’t worry. We will find her together.” He patted on her back gently. “Have you called father?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“Alright, let’s go home.” He reckoned, but his eyes shone with an extreme ruthlessness that even he hadn’t perceived, and unchained his bicycle. Today he realised the value of status. He decided one day he would make the Leader of the Magic Association kneel in front of him for making such unfair rules. Ain’t poor human? Don’t poor pay taxes? Don’t Poor fight with demons and other races?