Calm before the storm

'M-my stigma upgraded? Is that even possible?'

A swarm of questions filled my mind. Well, why wouldn't it be? This was unprecedented- something like this was never heard of before.

Though it seemed like a positive news, my initial reaction wasn't joy or excitement, but instead it was fear. I couldn't help but feel anxious about this unknown power.

I also don't know what the authorities might do to me if they find out about this.

'...I should keep this a secret for now.'

I trust Rowan and so I told him about my past too. But this is something completely different. I know he wouldn't sell me out or something but even so, I don't know how he'd take it.

'I know he'll understand even if I keep this from him for now.'

I was so shocked by this sudden message that I didn't even notice the message below it.

[Stigmata of Void (1-star) is active]

[New passive '1st Path to Memories of Silence Archery' acquired]

'This...'

I hurriedly summoned my profile and checked it out with great anticipation.

Name: Owen Grey

Species: Demi-God

Rank: Apprentice

Age: 12

Level: 12

Strength : 47

Defense :45

Agility: 69

Intelligence : 70

Mana: 49

Luck: 13

[Stigmata of Void (Active)]

Stigmata of Void: ★

Passive : Beginner's Swordsmanship (34.99%), Beginner's Spearmanship (30.92%), Beginner's Elven Mana Manipulation(15.71%), 1st Path to Memories of Silence Archery(5.27%)

Skills: Fireball(1-star), Mana Borrow(3-star)

My stigmata changed to 1-star and I learned Memories of Silence much earlier than I anticipated. But I was having a little complicated feeling about all this.

'I just hope this doesn't bring me more trouble in the future.'

Still, I managed to convince myself that as long as I was getting stronger, I was ready to carry the burden of this irregular stigmata. That is the only way to reunite with my family.

Ignoring all these thoughts for a while, I moved on to check my physical stats.

My stats are achieving a very good growth as I'm still in my early levels. But I know, as I continue to grow stronger it'll only become harder to level up.

As we go up in levels, it requires quite a lot of effort to keep them increasing.

For that reason, my mother who is 42 years old reached level 45 at the age of 34 but for the past 8 years or so, she could only improve by 3 levels.

Though I shouldn't ignore the fact that her training decreased drastically after Marielle was born.

My greatest harvest has been the Mana stat which increased from 40 to 49. Strength and Defense stats also showed great progress.

Overall, it was a pretty good improvement.

Usually the stats increase with the increase in level and level increases by killing monsters. But the stats can also be increased with the amount of training a person does.

In my case, my stats were much higher than an average Level 12 person. Some of my stats even exceeded that of a Level 16 or 17 person.

'At this rate I might catch up to my sister in a few years.'

Also Mana Borrow shows that it's 3-star now rather than '???'. Is it because my stigmata upgraded to 1-star? Well, I already knew it was a 3-star skill though.

Pushing my thoughts away for now, I decided to return to the cabin and ask Rowan for my next assignment.

But just before I was about to leave, I noticed that I still had a bunch of arrows.

I think it's still too early to leave. I even failed to hit my target.'

I decided to practice my archery till my arrows are all used up. It wasn't easy to bring the same train of thoughts and that deep concentration every time while shooting, but by the end of my training, I was finally getting a hang of it.

I even started hitting my target a few times after a while. Though I didn't know if these were just some kind of fluke or I was actually improving.

I went back to the cabin when the sun reached right above my head and all my arrows were used up. I saw Rowan cutting firewood just beside the cabin.

"Cough... Cough... H-hey teacher, I did it." Unable to decide how to start, I announced it directly instead of beating around the bush. Maybe I was a little too excited to see his reaction.

"Ohh...Your arrows are finally leaving your bow? I told you that you can get the gist of it in a couple of months."

"No, I mean... I learnt it. I learnt Memories of Silence. It's showing in my profile too."

'Yes. There it is. That face. '

I don't know how many times I've seen this face after I came here, but it gives me such pleasure every time.

"Y-y-you w-wa-hwat???"

Or maybe not. I knew he'd be flustered but not to this extent. He looks even more shocked than me when I saw my stigmata becoming 1-star.

"I said I leant Memories of Silence."

"You learned it? In three weeks?? Don't joke around. N-no dinner for you today. "

"Hahaha... You just don't want to admit I am more talented than you."

I might have said those words, but I don't think it has anything to do with my talent. I think my stigmata played every role in this again.

Last time when I learned 'Mana Borrow', there was an additional notification saying 'Stigmata of Void is active'. The same thing happened this time too.

So I just made the assumption that every time the additional notification shows itself, my stigmata has something to do with it.

'But, I don't remember anything like that message when I learned 'Fireball'. Why was that though?'

After a moment of deep thought, Rowan went inside the cabin.

"Teacher, what's my next task? Should I repeat the same training again?'' I asked as I followed him.

"No, I have to make some changes now. I didn't think you'd learn it so quickly."

He immediately went back to his state of deep thoughts for a while and taking a moment in that, he stood still with a determined expression.

"Okay, come with me. I'll tell you your next phase of training."

I continued following him into an old unused room full of dust and scraps, and after searching through his drawers for a while, he took out an old map.

"This is?"

"This is a map of this forest. Towards North, there's the Human territory and towards the South the Elven people live. The west is very dangerous and not that much of it has been explored yet, so don't ever delve too deeper into the west. At least not until you're half as strong as someone like me."

I looked at him with a frown as he marked the places on the map. I couldn't stop myself from asking about his strength after that remark.

"Really? How strong are you exactly? "

"You'll need to train for at least twice of your lifetime to reach my level. I am that strong."

"Che!" I scoffed.

Without really paying any attention to me, Rowan continued, "Anyway, the only thing you need to know of is the area near the East side. If you go about 7 miles to the South-East you'll reach the gnolls camp. You'll die if you go there at your level."

'Ahh! This guy... Just tell me what I need to know.'

"Towards North-East is a goblin camp and that's our target."

Goblins. They are neither as strong or fast as the gnolls. I could kill 2 to 3 of them alone before coming here. But a camp might have around 30 or even maybe more goblins. I don't know how many I can kill now.

"Won't it be dangerous? From what I know there should be at least 30 goblins in a camp." I asked him with some concern. I had no desire to uselessly throw my life in a dangerous situation.

"Yes, it might be so. But it's all because you learnt Memories of Silence so soon that I had to change my plans. I thought in the next two months, your other combat techniques would increase to the level of clearing the camp alone. Anyway, you can escape easily if the situation turns worse but..."

"But? But what? You mean the problem's something else?"

Looks like there's a reason why he is a little reluctant to send me there.

"There's a Minotaur base around 3 miles ahead of the goblins' camp. Though rare, sometimes too much noise may attract one or two Minotaurs roaming nearby."

I may be able to run away from the goblins but if I face a Minotaur, I'll die for sure. My sister once killed a very young Minotaur about half a year ago and it was said to be quite an accomplishment.

'She said even the young and immature Minotaur was around level 15. An adult must be around level 25 at lowest if we go by normal standards.'

"Why don't you come with me then? You know, just in case something happens?" I asked. The thing about Minotaurs really gave me a scare.

"I am your teacher, not your babysitter. And you can't learn anything seriously if you don't know what the fear of death is."

'Oh trust me, I know that really well.'

It didn't seem like there was any other option now. I would have preferred if I went to a relatively safer place to train, but at the same time I wanted to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

"I see. I'll be careful then. When should I go?"

I still hoped for a little time to prepare, maybe a week or so in order to increase my chances of survival. Well, my life also depended on it so... yeah. Why not?

'I guess two weeks later would be the most ideal.'

"Tomorrow. Early morning."

'Ah shit...'