Chapter 19 - Strength : Trouble

A gentle breeze blew by, rustling the tree's leaves and allowing a few glimpses of first sunlight to poke through its canopy, knocking on the rounded windows of the cozy hut, signalling the arrival of the next day.

Tonight, was the best for Aiden so far. A warm and comfortable bed, and not leaves and the solid ground to turn his head for the day. The first thought that crossed Aiden's mind was to check up on the remaining time for the system, before he would be granted the skill.

[Analysis complete, processing information, creating skill. Remaining time: 1 hours 47 minutes 50 seconds]

'Not much more...' smiled Aiden happily to himself. Turning to his left, he checked on the room's other resident, the happily snoring little girl, Lily, on her bed on the other side of the room, still sleeping. She was hugging a stuffed bear toy, and low murmurs could be occasionally be heard:

"Hehehe…. Brother…"

Shaking his head while smiling on his new 'sisters' shenanigans, he leisurely stood up from his bed, and stretched his arms and legs.

'This was the best sleep so far. I'm so refreshed!'

Making his way towards the room next door which served as a primitive bathroom, he was thinking about today's plan. He should definitely make time to test out his new body and see his limits. His strength is much higher than he expected. Lifting the barrel full of water was child's play yesterday, and before that, when he was trying to learn the usage of his limbs, He destroyed a section of the floor.

'Come to think of it, I should help the old lady, fix the floor I ruined. Well that can wait until I can talk with them.'

---

At the far side of the corridor, Granny noticed Aiden entering the bathroom, probably to freshen up and getting ready for the day, she sighed to herself.

'This kid is full of mysteries... He has abnormal strength, high intelligence, and - from what I've seen so far - an analytic mind. I bet he tried to analyze and learn everything he saw yesterday. Today since we have nothing important while waiting for the cooling to finish, we should go and test out his strength. Lifting that heavy barrel without using any magic…'

---

Minutes passed, and soon all 3 of them were sitting around the fully packed dining table. Similarly to yesterday, various dishes were placed on it. Fresh vegetables, fruits, baked pastries, and some cooked meat as well. 3 glasses filled with the same white liquid that the 2 called 'Milk' yesterday, was also placed in front of them.

They picked their portions, just like yesterday, Granny filled her plate with a mixture of fruits and vegetables, Lily got a bit of everything while Aiden filled his side with only meat.

After a brief greeting, and Lily's usually cheerful attitude, they enjoyed their morning ritual in relative silence. Only the sound of food crushing and munching could be heard.

---

After breakfast, they all gathered outside, at the back yard. When they finished eating, she told them to come, as they should spend some time testing out the limits of Aiden's strength, which they all agreed.

Pointing to a large rock in front of them, Granny explained.

"Okay Aiden, that stone in front of us, is about 3 times the weight of the barrel you lifted yesterday. Once you are ready, try picking it up, okay?'

Aiden nodded then went ahead and placed his hands on the stone slab. Compared to the barrel yesterday, he did feel the rock, but it still did not provide much challenge. Lifting it in the air above his head, he turned around and looked at Granny for the next set of instructions.

Both Granny and Lily were stunned seeing the sight of the fragile boy, lifting a huge slab of stone from the ground easily. Shaking her head to get out of the stupor that sight placed her in, he smiled at Aiden.

"You are really, really strong. Stronger than I expected. So much so, that it might be difficult to find your limits... Hmm... " Thinking a bit, an idea struck her head. "Let's try throwing it!" Then pointing her right hand towards the distance, away from the hut, she said "Throw it away from the hut, towards that direction. We shouldn't disturb anything in that area."

Looking at the direction she was pointing at, Aiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He really wanted to test his limits, so gathering some of his energy, and empowering his muscles in his arms, he threw the stone with all of his might.

The rock's sudden increase in speed created a loud boom as it immediately crossed the speed of sound from his previous inertia.The rock rocketed to the sky, like if some rocket was launched instead, and slowly blinked out of the horizon, with no sign of it decreasing its altitude.

The sonic boom that was created, pushed the little girl to fall on her bum, while Granny could still hold her ground. They were both stunned once again, not expecting such a show of might.

"I was not expecting that…" exclaimed Granny. She was incapable of saying anything for the moment. She experienced way too many shocking events in a short time, for her aged mind to process.

"Woooooaaaah! Brother you are super strong! We couldn't even see where the rock landed! Awesome!" Then standing up, she started hopping around and cheerfully giggling.

"Hehehe… my little brother is awesome!"

Just like these 2, Aiden was also shocked to see his own power. If he would have punched the rock it would have probably crumbled into dust.

'This is… not what I expected…'

Shaking his head Aiden looked back at Granny with a dismayed expression. He wasn't sure what to do now, and he hoped that he didn't cause any troubles for the two.

Looking at the boy's troubled expression, Granny regained her clarity, and smiled at him with a gentle voice.

"Don't worry Aiden, there's nothing in that direction for miles. At worst you would crush some wild animal, but most likely the rock will land outside the forest with nothing around it. You see, there's nothing there for hundreds of miles!"

Seeing as they most likely finished for now, she signalled to Lily, and then spoke to them.

"Let's go back inside, I will make some cookies for you two, to snack on."

Lily immediately raised her right fist to the air, gleefully exclaiming "YOSH!".

Making their way inside, Aiden was deep in thought.

'Now that I know roughly what my current might translate to, I should focus on controlling it. When I threw that rock, I tried exerting my full power, and I have also used a small amount of energy as well. " thinking about energy, he suddenly remembered something that he hasn't used since emerging from the cocoon.

His Dark Sense. Before, he relied on this special sensory ability, to be aware of his surroundings. Even if he is in a safe environment, knowing what lurks behind the bushes, should be second nature to him.

'With so much stimuli, I somehow forgot something this important…'

Taking another look at the countdown, he still had a little over 15 minutes left before the process would finish, and he would be finally able to communicate. Activating his dark sense, he immediately noticed a change. With the evolution he gone through, his Sense seemed to have also morphed, and evolved into some sort of sixth sense. He could sense, life signs all around him, and could roughly tell the distance as well.

Looking at his mapping feature in the system, he noticed that instead of mapping out the environment completely, his new sense made small dots appear on his map.

'Are these the various life signs I sensed? I guess they are the various wildlife around us. Thank god, it doesn't seem to be tracking all the insects around me, otherwise it would be useless...'

Smiling at this, he was about to dismiss the screen in his mind, when he noticed 3 dots close to each other making their way towards them at a fast pace.

Turning his head towards their direction, he creased his eyebrows. Something told him that these 3 dots will be trouble...

Granny noticed Aiden's sudden change, and how he was looking towards the front door. A bad premonition grew inside her heart, which she couldn't explain. Looking at Lily, she grabbed her shoulders.

"Lily, my dear, please go inside your room, and close the door. Do not come out, until me or Aiden tell you to, okay?"

Lily looked at Granny and nodded her head with surprising understanding. 'Seems like this wasn't the first time something like this happened.' thought Aiden to himself.

Without a word, Lily went into her room, and closed the door. Then Granny looked at Aiden, and grinned.

"Aiden, it seems like you noticed the arrival of some unwanted pests. Let's go, greet our new guests, shall we?"