Teacher

"D-d-did.... Did you just say four years??? Four? F-O-U-R?"

'I confirmed again and again to make sure I didn't hear anything wrong? Four years? Even my own family might forget that they had a child name Owen by then'

"Calm down, kid. You're quite lucky to be honest. At least you can prepare for it. It's not a competition that anyone can go and win. Yes, there are people who enter the competition just for fun but others, trust me, they are strong. To a surprisingly high level at that."

He scanned my body with his eyes, making a quick evaluation and then continued with his words.

"Well I don't think you are that weak too. Your body looks quite strong for someone who's ten or eleven years. If that cool looking stigmata of yours is any good then you may have a chance in four years. What star is it though?"

"Z-zero" I replied under my breath. I have been answering this question my whole life only to feel humiliated about it everytime.

"Hmm?"

"Ahh.... God dammit....Zero stars!!! Okay? So shut it now! "

Rowan's face looked like someone who was watching a delusional kid making up stories about how he saved the world yesterday.

After a moment of silence, he smiled like usual and said with a little awkwardness.

"Ha... Haha... Do you want to stay in this forest forever boy? I can give you a job."

'This damned...'

"I already have two skills though, even without my stigmata. I'm pretty sure I can win." I informed him immediately as I didn't really want him to think that I'm that much of a weakling.

"Two skills? Looks like you're quite rich for a commoner."

"Huh?! I learned it from my father, not a skillbook!

This time, I could see his jaw drop and eyebrows raised, and I swear, it was quite satisfying to look at.

"...I see. So, you're quite special. Anyway let's talk later. I have a few errands to run"

Taking the plough, he went out of the house with a complicated face.

'Is he going to farm?'

Sigh!

Now I need to analyze my situation from the beginning.

'First of all, why did I learn 'Mana Borrow'? It's a skill set from a completely different stigmata, "Stigmata of Dependency.''

It wouldn't be a problem if I learned it like the Fireball skill, but it was different this time. I was sure it was somehow related to my stigmata.

I learnt it after my stigmata somehow got activated while I was trying to copy my father to absorb mana and push it into the spear.

'Does my stigmata allow me to learn the skills from others? I can't say for sure but if that is true, then my stigmata is no longer an useless one. It'll be pretty much of a cheat to be honest.'

Second, something was strange with those Dark Wyverns. My mother said that the monsters looked as if someone created them. Did someone voluntarily mutate them or something?

They were far stronger than your average Dark Wyvern. And more than that, three Dark Wyverns were in the same town? I couldn't really digest it. Either there was some kind of horrible accident near our town or someone did everything deliberately.

And I think it's more likely the latter.

And lastly, it's about my situation here. I don't think there is any other way to go to Elysium any time soon. The royal families might be able to take me there in a year but they have no reason to help me.

Rowan said the next competition is in four years. Then I just have to make sure that I win no matter what.

I can wait. No, I have to wait. Infact, I should just take my time to understand this stigmata properly.

'Should I also ask Rowan to train me? He must be strong as he's able to survive alone in this forest. Uh... I don't think he'll agree though.'

Sigh...

With another deep sigh, I opened my status window.

Name: Owen Grey

Species: Demi-God

Rank: Apprentice

Age: 12

Level: 12

Strength : 39

Defense :33

Agility: 67

Intelligence : 68

Mana: 31

Luck: 12

[Stigmata of Void (Active)]

Stigmata of Void : ☆ (0-star)

Passive : Beginner Swordsmanship (31.63%), Beginner Spearmanship (28.31%), Beginner Mana Manipulation(19.89%).

Skills: Fireball(1-star), Mana Borrow(???)

'My agility increased by 1 and Mana by 2. 'Beginner Spearmanship' also increased more than 3%. Destroying that bastard's eye had more of an impact than I thought. I only used a skill though.

Well, as I didn't kill any monsters, I didn't get any experience points. So my level is still the same.

Wait, what? Luck increased by 3. That's rare. I even missed its notifications.

Luck is a stat that rarely increases. Most of the times it doesn't even increase while leveling up. There's also a chance for it to remain the same throughout one's whole life. So luck is considered in a separate category from the other stats.

And my luck was, not so surprisingly, very poor. For that luck to increase by 3....

'Anyway, I have to reach level 20 before the competition.'

***

At the same time, somewhere in the fields, Rowan was in a state deep thoughts. His major concern for today was obviously the demigod kid he just got acquainted with, Owen Grey.

'A zero star stigmata? Is that even possible? I don't think he'd lie about something so strange yet inferior about himself... And above all, he learnt two skills? I thought it was from his stigmata's skill set or maybe even his family's rich or something. But he learnt those from his father? Is it due his strange stigmata or his talent?'

The sun started to set near the horizon, indicating that it was finally the time to return home.

'Owen.... Quite interesting. There's a chance that he's one of those…'

Rowan returned shortly afterwards and started preparing a mushroom dish for dinner.

***

I looked at the mushroom dish that Rowan served with a few questions in my mind.

'Uh... I thought these mushrooms were poisonous. And why is he looking at me liked that? '

For some reason Rowan was staring at me for quite a while.

"A-are you sure you like girls?"

"Yes... But I like you quite a bit."

"W-What the hell... B-b-but yo-you..."

"No. What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all" I replied, shaking my head vigorously.

After closing his eyes for a moment for like the hundredth time this evening, he asked me with a rather serious face.

"Owen, I'll ask you again. What is your plan now? "

"Umm... If you don't have any problems, I would like to stay in this forest for a while. I think I can train here. If I want to win the competition, I need to become stronger one way or the other."

"I see. In that case, I have a proposal. Would you like to hear it?"

'A proposal? I wonder what he wants now.'

"Sure, what is it?"

"Owen, would you like to become my student? "

I blinked for a couple of seconds, slowly processing it in my tiny brain.

'His student? Wait! Isn't it... Isn't it like a jackpot? '

I was about to ask him to train me but wasn't sure if he'd accept. I was even ready to beg him for it. And now, he's the one making the proposal?

"You mean like a teacher and a student? Like you'll teach me swords and stuffs?"

"Well, you can think however you may want. I am just curious about you. I want to help you return home"

Well, there's no way I could trust a guy that I just met today in the middle of a jungle. But this offer... I didn't have anything to lose here. And I personally think he's a really good person.

"That's great. Please take care of me, teacher"

"Haha... Likewise. But my training will be very hard to follow"

"No problem. Trust me, I already train harder than the others."

"Good. Take a rest now. We shall start tomorrow at sunrise."

There was no bed here but I was quite certain that I'd fall asleep wherever I sleep now.

Rowan showed me to a place where the dried hays were stocked like a bed. It wasn't really that comfortable, but I really appreciated it. I could even see the stars shining brightly through the large ventilation of the cottage.

'So beautiful...'

Just when I thought I could watch it for the whole night, I fell into a deep sleep.

But my night didn't end there.

The next moment, I woke up and found myself walking somewhere.

It's a place I was oddly familiar with. There were bodies lying on the ground. They were all people that I know. People from back home.

Some of them treated me like trash whereas the others pitied me and were somewhat kind to me. Right now, they were all nothing but corpses, filling the ground up.

I looked ahead and saw someone lying among these dead bodies. My heart sank immediately as I saw my mother there. One of her arms was missing and the other arm was holding Marielle whose body already turned cold and pale.

Suddenly someone grabbed one of my shoulders from behind. I looked back and saw Esmeralda leaning onto me. She was limping off her legs and her stomach had a large wound. She came close to me and whispered softly.

''R-r... run away... I'll buy... some... time''

Before I could understand what was happening, I felt something hit me from the side. I fell to the ground and saw the Dark Wyvern grinning at me with one of its eyes missing. It flew towards me with an unbelievable speed and threw me towards the pile of bodies.

My eyes turned red and I was having hard time breathing. I tried looking for Esmeralda but she was nowhere to be seen.

Just when I thought I was about to die, I heard a second roaring sound from behind.

This again sent another round of shivers in me and I immediately jumped up.

Pant! Pant! Pant!

'W-what? Where am I? A...a dream? It felt so real...'

I could feel my eyes turning blurry as I watched the stars. The sun was about to rise and my training will begin today.

'I hope they arrive safely to my father. I know they escaped safely through the portal that night and they definitely think I'm dead.'

Sigh!

It was really one of the worst feelings I ever had. I didn't want them to suffer because of me.

I need to go back and tell them as soon as I can.

And for that I need to become stronger. Much stronger than I am right now.

I wiped my tears and wore an old set of clothes that Rowan left for me. It's good to train in these clothes as he told me. It's really comfortable.

I heard footsteps of someone entering the cabin.

"Hoh... You woke up quite early." He said with the same smile as usual.

"Yeah.... Looks like I'm a little too excited for this."

"Haha.... You might change your mind after today. You ready?"

Am I? I didn't really know. But still, I had to do it.

"Yeah... Let's go."

For my family, for that damned monster, for myself.

And for the sake of everything that's yet to come.