Chapter 4 Tough Love (1)

'' You're gonna be better in no time.''

The nurse smiles at me kindly, I also smile saying,

''Thank you, miss.''

It seems that Lecia had also taken a sick leave, the reason she wasn't at the dorm when I was training was that she was eating her breakfast, then she went to take a bath, and finally, when she came back with a glass of hot water for me since she had heard that I had still not eaten, she saw me drenched in blood.

In short, a huge commotion happened and I was rushed to the hospital, and the doctor upon inspection couldn't find anything remotely wrong with me other than the fact that I had lost a lot of blood. They did ask me what exactly happened, to which I replied that I had suddenly started coughing blood.

I was kept under observation for two days, it was funny seeing the doctors observing me like an exotic animal. After two days, they gave up on finding what exactly was wrong with me. During this time, the mana that I absorbed from nature would vanish on its own and I had to again absorb more and more from my surroundings. It would take at least a week for me to get control of my mana back.

Right now, Lecia, Mark, and I were in his car and going back to the orphanage. Yes, Lecia was ' worried' about me.

Stupid Brat.

Mark Lauder our primary caretaker was a retired E-class hunter, he retired since he was utterly weak and fucking stupid. I don't even remember writing about him so he's probably a mob just like the rest of us at the orphanage. He called himself our ' father', little dipshit.

Well, he's the closest thing to a parent in my life right now.....

But that doesn't mean I like him okay. Seriously.

I've seen a lot of old shits like him in my previous life who call, orphans their ' family', but trust me they all have an ulterior motive inside their minds and call it my writers instinct, but he just feels a little off.

'' Child X'', Mark says breaking my entire train of thoughts,

Oh, here's another reason why I hate him.

He's the one that started calling me 'X' in the orphanage. Like seriously how petty can you be to name a child after a literal alphabet just because the child humiliated him by rejecting the name that he chose for the kid.

'' Yes, Uncle Mark.'', I say while my hiding my contempt for him in an innocent smile.

Mark's brows furrow when he hears me address him as Uncle, I was the only person in the orphanage who called him that, the rest of the children called him, 'father'.

'' The doctors found a bruise near your stomach, now I want you to be honest with me, Is anyone 'troubling' you at the orphanage?''

Both Mark and Lecia, who were both sitting in the front of the car glances my way to hear my response,

Shit. I had completely forgotten about the large bruise that I had inflicted upon myself to awaken my mana forcefully, my mind races as I think of how exactly I should respond to his question.

Of course, bullying was common in the orphanage but nothing too severe, just teasing. If I did say that I was being bullied by the other kids, then Mark would probably investigate a little and then he would find that nobody was physically hurting me, then he would question me yet again. So the most rational answer would be-

'' Everyone at the orphanage loves me, Uncle Mark. Why would they trouble me ?''

I ask wide-eyed.

Man, acting as a kid sucks.

The duo sitting in the front remains silent, I mean, of course, they wouldn't believe me. They most probably assumed that I was too scared, to tell the truth. Well, that doesn't matter to me, even if Mark tries to find out who hit me, he wouldn't find anything because the person who hit me was myself.

Lol, am I right?

~~~~

I lay on the bed silently looking at my status screen,

-----------------------------

Name : X

Age: 7

Potential: ???

Strength: G

Agility: G

Stamina: G

Intelligence: F-

Mana Grade : ???

Vitality : G

------------------------------------

Job: Swordsman lvl: 1

You have a innate understanding and talent for the sword.

Techniques: None.

Skills:

Author's Authority [ SSS rank]

Using your lifeforce you can change the present to your whims. The more significant the change, the more vitality is taken. Can only be used once a day.

-------------------

Looking at the changes that had happened to my status since last time, a smile appears on my face. But I couldn't celebrate too much. My talent increase wouldn't be that high even now, at most it would go up to E- rank, but for now that was enough.

It has been 3 days since I went to the hospital and I was currently on bed rest. During my bed rest, I continued to absorb more mana from the my surroundings and refilled my mana container, but it would take at least 3 more days for my potential and mana to completely solidify.

Lying on the bed, I couldn't help but smile as I thought about my future.

~~~~~

The next day all the 7 year old's within the orphanage were told to gather together at the dining hall. I was currently heading to the dining area while whistling slightly.

In this world, when children reached the age of seven, their potential was measured using a device, this was done so that the talented individuals would get the resources they needed in order to grow properly. The reason I was so hard on my 7- year old body was exactly because of this, now when they measure my potential they would learn that I have the potential to be at least an E rank !

The measuring device could only give an average estimate of our potential and those who got E rank and above were considered talented individuals. People who were measured E- rank or above could get scholarship and what not more easily. This was the reason why I decided to awaken my talent forcefully and raise my talent if it was below E rank.

Reaching the dining hall, I could see that most of the children around my age had gathered. I could also see Lecia as well, standing in one corner of the dining hall. When she saw me, she came towards me in a jiffy and asked in a low voice,

'' Why are you late ?''

To which I lazily replied, '' I was sleeping.''

A frown appears on Lecia's face, but she doesn't say anything, She pushes me forward and I stand last in the line that had formed, In front of the line stood an muscular man with gray hair, he looked at the children with an expressionless face. Standing beside him was a young lady with red hair.

???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????

Mark who was also standing beside them took the roll count and made sure that everyone was present and after confirming that, he gives a thumps up towards The duo standing in front of the children.

The lady with the red hair, gives us a bright smile and says in a loud voice,

'' Hello, dear children. My name is Amanda Holler and I am part of the Hero association.''

The children gasp at her words.

The Hero association, a global association that deals with everything related to a hero, if they find talent that was worth growing, they would help nurture it, The hero association monitors all the independent guilds and mercenary groups, they were also the people who created the ' Hero ranking', they rank all the heroes. Anyways the woman in front of me was someone that I knew, By knew I mean that I literally created her.

Amanda Holler was one of the characters that appeared in the beginning portions of the novel. She measured Max's talent and found that he had a SSS rank potential, but instead of telling this fact to the world, she hides it. She marks him as an S rank talent.

The reason for this was simple, there were no SSS ranks on Earth, meaning that Max was the only person in this world with that level of talent. If the rest of the world knew about his existence then they would drool all over him. He would become embroiled in plots and become exposed to all kinds of situation. But Max was just a 7 year old child then and Amanda knew that Max wasn't ready to face that kind of pressure. Right now, Max was just a kid with a lotta anger issues.

S rank might be rare, but there are lot S ranks so she knew that Max wouldn't receive that much attention and when he was ready he would reveal himself to the world. She would observe Max in school to make sure that he was on the right path, but that was it. She served no other purpose in the novel.

Looking at her now, it finally started to click that this was my reality, once again strengthening my resolve to becoming strong enough to protect myself, I listen to Amanda's words closely,

'' Can anyone guess why we're here today ?'', Amanda asks in a playful voice.

To which some rando replies, '' To measure our ranks.''

She smiles at the answer she received and said,

'' Then let's get right to it shall we ?''

~~~~

After saying that, she makes the each child touch a stone kind of object, I didn't really mention that much information about the object in the novel other than the fact that it was circular in shape, I was too lazy to include more details.

Each time a potential was found out, the muscular man would call out their potential in a loud enough voice for everyone in the room to hear,

'' F rank''

'' F rank.''

'' F rank''

'' F rank''

'' F rank''

Finally it was my turn to touch the stone like thing in Amada's hands. Before touching the stone, I smile brightly at her and say, '' Good Morning, Miss.''

She smiles at me and asks me,

'' Do you also want to be a hero when you grow up ?''

'' Yes ,miss.''

It seems that Amanda was asking what the children wanted to be in the future, and not surprisingly most of them wanted to be a hero. Being a successful hero meant that you were set for life, and who wouldn't want that.

I place my hand on the top of the rock like thing, I feel excited.

Wasn't this like one of those scenes from a novel where everyone would be astonished at the protagonist's talent. I might just be an E rank but that meant something in this shitty orphanage where every single shit was just F rank. I grin as I think about the respect that I would receive after today and how easily I could finish school with the funding from the association.

I see the muscular man's eyes scrunch up.

Yes.

Be amazed at my talent!

'' You have no talent.''

...

' What was that again ?'

~~~~