Access Card

When Vaelen opened his eyes, his pod was opening automatically.

He took a small breath and stepped out. After stretching himself, he was about to go outside to relax a little when he saw his mom sitting on his bed, watching the streams of his battles.

He made his way over and sat near her. When he watched himself from another perspective, he became a little embarrassed; watching yourself in action isn't always a good feeling.

"So, how much is it?"

After watching everything, Eiselle smiled and asked.

Vaelen knew what she was asking.

"Maximum."

Eiselle squinted her eyes a little; she understood his meaning easily. She gestured for him to come and sit on her lap.

"Mom, I'm not a baby anymore."

"Yeah, and?"

Vaelen sighed and willingly went and sat on her lap while she ruffled his head from behind.

"Do you know what this meeting was about?"

Vaelen was surprised a little, but he listened with attention as his mother continued.

"The slate has new information; it is regarding those who have 100% affinities.

Whenever the slate has new information, it also acts like a prediction; it's like in the upcoming 5 or 10 years, something related to it will happen.

So when it dropped the information about 100% affinities, we were thinking that in 5 or 10 years, people with 100 percent affinities would appear.

But to think we already have a 100% affinity—congratulations, you might be the first person to have 100% affinity, or the second."

"I woke first."

"Okay, then first," Eiselle said with a smile.

Vaelen nodded; his mother's thought was exactly like his.

"By the way, let me tell you what it means to have 100 percent affinity in any element.

It's quite interesting. The slate mentioned that those who have 100 percent affinities are the element themselves.

Sounds confusing, right?"

Vaelen nodded; he was sure that he was himself, not darkness covering an area.

"Well, your personality matches that of darkness completely, so it doesn't seem to be a wrong assumption, but once you grow stronger, you will understand what it means.

There is another term used for people having 100% affinities; they are called Elemental Sovereigns.

In a generation on a planet with its own set of rules, only one Elemental Sovereign can be present, and this is the statement that made us all more concerned. It is like the Wisdom Slate is telling us that we are not alone in this universe.

But since it didn't mention it separately, it means there is no need to worry for the time being."

Vaelen was stunned a little, but given how big this universe was, not to mention the existence of the evolution theory, which the Universal Law itself promotes, it was not hard to believe that there were other civilizations in this universe.

Oh well, they hadn't even explored Earth; thinking of anything else was just a waste of time.

"Now then, what are you planning to do?"

Vaelen had already thought of one thing he wanted to ask his mother; he just didn't know if she would allow it or not. It was a little dangerous, after all, and if she felt that it would harm him, then he could forget about getting it.

"Mom, I want access to leave the city."

Eiselle looked at him with a serious expression while Vaelen looked back with a serious expression too; he really wanted that access.

"You do know it is quite dangerous, right?"

"But Mom, the area just outside is already cleared, and only low-level beasts have been left, mainly rank 1, so it would be fine."

Leaving the city is restricted unless you are an official ranker; you aren't allowed to go outside the shield that covers the whole city.

But these restrictions are only for the general public. Hidden Lineages can easily go out if they want; people related to Hidden Lineages can also access the outside world if they have an access card provided by Hidden Lineage houses.

This was the access card he wanted right now.

Eiselle sighed inwardly; she didn't want him to go—but she also didn't want to hinder his growth.

If she said to take his brother with him, then he would definitely not go himself.

"Fine, on one condition: that you don't go more than 5,000 meters from the city walls and bring emergency shields with a help beacon."

"Yes, Mom."

He immediately said yes; bringing these two wasn't much of a problem—they were small devices. He really was happy getting that access.

"Very well, what are you thinking about your academy?"

Vaelen hadn't thought much about it. You have to be 18 years old to take admission in the academy, but once again, it was for the general public.

Hidden Lineages can Join earlier than 18 years, but no one does that, because they use some time get at peak and enhance their battle strength, so it has become norm to join at 18 years of age.

He was sure he could reach the peak of Rank 1 by the age of 16, so if he wanted, he could join the academy, he have to see that time, it was still too early to decide.

He wondered how many awakened would be with affinity above 90 percent.

In his brother's generation, there were only 7 people with 90 percent or above affinity. In his generation, if they got at least 10, even then it would be considered a quite good result.

Having good teammates in clearing the Rank 3 trials is a must; the only problem is whether he could make any friends or not, and he was really not keen on doing that.

"I will think about it later; by the way, it will be anonymous, not as part of the Tenebran family maybe"

Eiselle nodded her head; she didn't care how he joined. Of course, joining as part of the Tenebran family would have given him little unsaid perks, but they weren't important.

"Well then, I will give you the access card tomorrow. I am going to cook now; don't be late for dinner."

"Okay, Mom."

They had a rule of eating dinner at 7 p.m.; there was still an hour left, so Vaelen decided to go around and have a walk.

He came outside by the riverside and sat down while looking at the flow and sometimes the occasionally jumping fish.

He looked toward the mountain; the barrier surrounding the city covered one-fourth of this mountain too, and behind this mountain was the area where the lake was.

He would have gone toward this barrier, but there was no exit here. There were only eight exit points in the city, exactly at the four direction points like north, south, east, and west, and the other four at northeast, and so on. The nearest exit point from his house was the southeast point.

He would go there tomorrow. He always wanted to leave the city and explore the Earth, and tomorrow would be his first time ever setting foot outside this city.

Time passed, and he finally came back. He sighed in relief at the clock as there were still five minutes left, or he would have been late. He really needed his personal communication device now.

…

Vaelen arrived at the dinner, and as expected, everyone was present—even his uncle. Only his aunt and cousins were at their grandmother's home, House Terran, related to the Earth element.

Vaelen took his seat, and just as he did, his father's, uncle's, and grandfather's eyes went on him; as for his brother, there was no need to mention him.

"So, mind telling us your affinity?"

"Yes, I do mind."

Vaelen replied directly; he wasn't afraid of them at all. They could stare all they wanted, even his grandfather, who was a Rank 6, the current ceiling of humans.

"Why am I not even surprised?"

It was said by none other than his grandfather; he looked quite young, in his forties. He had crossed Rank 3 in his forties, so his age appeared like that.

As at Rank 4, there is a qualitative change, and humans at Rank 4 can live up to 500 years.

"Fine, don't tell us; just tell if it is more than 95 percent or not," asked Vaelen's father again.

"Yes, it is."

"Good. Does your mom know about it?"

"Yes."

Vaelen could definitely see his father's face twitch. He didn't care though. He wasn't worried either; his mom would never sell him out.

At that moment, Eiselle entered with maids bringing food. She had already heard everything, but she acted indifferently.

Unlike Vaelen, who didn't listen to his dad and grandfather, Zareth didn't even dare to talk back, or else he would be beaten mercilessly.

Well, this was the perk of being the youngest, along with the point that no one could touch him other than Eiselle; it was already an unsaid rule in this house.

"Oh well, so we have finally someone with 95 percent or above affinity. Looks like the second barrier will break sooner than we had expected," Vaelen's uncle spoke while sighing, then continued.

"By the way, Vaelen, have you connected to the parallel world?"

Vaelen was about to say yes when his brother beat him to it.

"Uncle, how about you open the forums and check it?"

Vaelen's uncle raised an eyebrow and opened his communication device; he was too busy to check something like that casually.

Vaelen's father also got a little intrigued and opened his too, along with his grandfather.

They looked at it for a while before chuckling.

"Ashenveil, huh? That was a good kill."