My Fault Twin

 Chapter 15: My Fault Twin

Two Days had passed since Phyro and Klein's punishment ended, and life had finally returned to normal.

Phyro could once again enjoy the simple things—eating without the looming threat of Akaya's deadly glare, stretching his legs outside without feeling like a prisoner, and, most importantly, training without having to sneak around like a criminal. Klein, too, seemed relieved, though he had definitely become a little more paranoid. Considering the way Akaya hunted them down last time, Phyro couldn't blame him.

But despite the return to normalcy, something had been bothering him for days.

As he sat under a large oak tree in the training yard, flipping a crystal shard between his fingers, his mind kept circling back to the Frozen Oasis dungeon. Specifically—the quest he had received.

He had done everything right. Cleared the dungeon. Defeated the boss. Reported back.

So where were his rewards?

At first, he thought maybe the system had some sort of delayed processing time, but a whole week had passed. That was more than enough time.

Today, he was getting answers.

Taking a deep breath, he focused his thoughts inward.

"Hey, System. What's up? Why haven't I gotten my quest rewards yet?"

For a moment, there was nothing.

Then, a single response appeared in his vision.

[It's a prank, bro. Chill.]

…

Phyro's mind went completely blank.

He blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.

Slowly, his expression twisted into pure disbelief.

"…What."

He rubbed his eyes. Maybe he was hallucinating? Maybe he needed more sleep?

Nope. The words were still there.

[It's a prank, bro. Chill.]

For a full ten seconds, Phyro just stared at the message, his brain struggling to process the sheer audacity of what he had just read.

His all-powerful cheat system, the thing that was supposed to be his greatest advantage in this world, had trolled him.

"…Are you serious?"

The system responded immediately.

[Yeah, my bad. Here ya go.]

Before he could even react, a rush of warmth filled his body. Power coursed through his veins, and notifications flooded his vision in rapid succession.

The first thing he felt was the experience gain, followed by the sharp, almost addicting feeling of his strength increasing. Then came the system message that caught his eye the most.

[New Title Acquired: Prodigy]

Phyro quickly opened his status screen, eager to see what the title actually did.

[Prodigy] – Grants an accelerated learning rate for combat and magic techniques. Skill adaptation increases drastically.

He read it. Then read it again. Then a third time, just to be sure.

Then, a slow, satisfied grin spread across his face.

"Oh… this is insane."

Everything he trained in would now sink in faster. Techniques that should take months or even years to master would come to him naturally. His growth had already been boosted thanks to the system, but now?

Now, it was on another level.

He clenched his fist, feeling the difference immediately. His movements felt smoother, his mana control more precise. The changes were subtle, but he could already tell—this title was ridiculously overpowered.

He turned his attention to his remaining skill points.

He had three. He could put them anywhere, but after some quick thought, he decided on two important choices.

First, he put two points into Combat Instincts. The ability let him react faster, process movements better, and generally fight smarter. With this, he'd be even harder to hit in battle.

Second, he dumped one point into Ultimate Fireball.

As soon as he did, he paused.

"…Huh. I kinda forgot I had this."

He hadn't used Ultimate Fireball in the Frozen Oasis dungeon. Now that he thought about it, it made sense—firing a massive fireball in a dungeon made entirely of ice and snow probably wouldn't have been the best idea. The environment might have weakened it, or worse, caused some kind of backlash.

Still, he wasn't about to forget it again.

With his boosted Combat Instincts and enhanced magic learning, he was about to become even more of a threat.

At that moment, Klein walked into the yard, stretching his arms. "Oi, you done spacing out? Let's spar or something."

Phyro, still buzzing with excitement from his upgrades, smirked. "Yeah… let's see how that goes."

He stood up, feeling stronger, faster, and sharper than ever before. Whatever came next, he was more than ready.