The next dawn quickly came. Cain and Sofia prepared to head out with Chad to the western mountain. It was just the three of them as Alice still have some work to do and needed Selena and Gracie to help her. In case of an emergency, Cain could always summon her.
Sofia yawned, she barely slept yesterday as she was thinking of a way to freeze things with fire. She didn’t seem to reach any results.
Chad seemed to have a smile on his face, this was the first time he go on an adventure with his son. “Do you know to ride a horse?” Chad asked as he leaped on top of his steed.
“Of course, I even rode warhorses. Even though I usually just fly or teleport around.” Cain carried Sofia and Flew to his horse back. Sofia could ride a horse also but decided to pretend she cannot so she got to sit in Cain’s lap for the whole trip.
After making sure that they had all the supplies they needed, Chad rushed ahead with his horse. As they raced through the city, they passed by the red light district. Countless women waved to chad, he just returned the smile.
“Should I hit you with a fireball?” Cain asked.
“Believe me I didn’t go, they just remember me from decades ago. That’s isn’t my problem right?” Chad replied with a hesitant face.
“Well, it’s been decades as you said so it doesn’t matter,” Cain giggled a bit, he know for a fact how his father was in the past. If not for he would have never met his mother in the first place so it was wrong to fault him for it.
“Ay Chad! Here is a blade I made for you, make sure to use it well!” Dolrig rushed from his shop and yeeted a long sword at Chad.
“Dolrig, was it you who told him about what happened in the silent snow quest?” Cain could as much since he never knew they met.
“Yeah, I seem to have…AHAAAA!” Dolrig freaked out as he saw the tip of his beard burst in flames. “Who told you to talk about such a thing?” Cain lifted a finger up, he was the one who set Dolrig’s beard on flames.
“He is your father, he deserves to know. You sneaky bastard!” Dolrig yeeted his hammer at Cain with all his might. The hammer started floating around Cain and landed in his hand as he used [Telekinesis] to stop.
“A nice try, have to back!” Cain threw the hammer back toward Dolrig.
“Back at, I can catch my hammer at any time.” Dolrig managed to catch the hammer. His eyes went wide as it felt a bit different.
“It will strike with the same force but as you can see, it feels lighter in your hand. Deal with it now.” Cain poked his horse and raced away, Chad followed after giving Dolrig the encouraging words, “You can do it!”
Dolrig stared at Cain fading in the distance. It was true that getting used to the hammer will be a pain. But he always wanted to buy a lighter magic hammer so he can work more.
“Those things go for more than 400 gold coins you know…” Dolrig mumbled. Cain had turned his 2 gold coins amazing hammer into a 400 gold coin on a whim.
Dolrig rushed to his shop and closed it, he was going to make iron daggers until he get used to his new hammer.
…Chad and Cain raced through the open planes, the farmer waved to them as they recognized Cain and Sofia.
“Your riding skills are amazing for someone your age, where did you learn them?” Chad asked.
Cain thought for a second, that he did learn in the elvish kingdom. The ones who taught him were Sylph and her unicorn. Yep, unicorns are intelligent creatures but they take pride in being mounts.
“Magic, it can do a lot of things. Can I show a certain magic trick?” Cain said trying to change the subject.
“What magic has to do with horses?” Chad looked at Cain.
“Sofia, hold tightly!” Cain whispered.
[Dominate beast] Cain took direct control of the horse so it won’t freak out and used a second spell [Fly]. Cain’s horse slowly started running on air. “Kya!” Sofia screamed as she saw the horse flying.
One of the farmers that were watching from the distance dropped his buckets of water.
“See, magic can do a lot of things if used properly!” Cain landed with the horse beside Chad.
“I see, I know some spells but I never thought of making a horse fly. That honestly seems like a waste of Mana.” Chad made a point.
Cain sighed. It was true that he was just wasting Mana. It was far easier and cheaper to use [Fly] on himself.
“Well, I do have a crap load of Mana. I’m used to creating pointless things just because I can.” Cain had multiple portable houses, teleport gates, and spells that do the same thing but with different approaches. However, a normal mage that has learned [Dimension door] for example, wouldn’t waste money and time to learn [Arcane Gate] as they do the same thing with different approaches.
“Hey father, did you know about [Enchanting]?” Cain decided to ask, he might learn a thing or two from his father.
“Enchanting? What is that, the magic use to create magic weapons?” Chad replied with a confused look.
“Yes and now. When Zaleria knocked you down I discovered that you can use that type of magic to increase your physical abilities. How do you do that?” Even now after evolving into an abomination, it was impossible for Cain to increase his stats with magic. He could add magical attributes to his flesh like lightning or fire but nothing more.
Cain rolled the sleeve of his right arm and showed it to his father. Cain’s skin quickly cracked and turned brown. Flames started emerging from the cracks as lightning zapped between his fingers.
“What is that? Is your hand alright?” Chad looked worried as hell.
“This is my Enchanting magic, you seem to have something similar, how can you use it?” If Cain knew the answer, he can take his enchanting to a whole another level.
“I really don’t know anything about this enchanting, I only put all my strength into each hit or use magic strategically like foresight,” Chad replied as he flexed his arm mimicking Cain. Chad’s chiseled arm put made Cain look like a glorified bean sprout.
“What is this enchanting?” Sofia asked, she knew that Cain could enchant rings and jewelry but not himself.
“I could do this since I evolved, it’s pretty handy,” Cain replied with a smile.
“Evolved? To what?” Chad frowned at the thoughts of his son abandoning humanity for power.
“An abomination, I doubt you heard of them. Shouldn’t you evolve as well?” Cain looked at his father.
“Cain…I will never abandon my humanity. I believe that everyone is born at their best. Look at all those races fighting over power and the right to rule the world, living in constant fear and danger. We on the other hand built civilization, tamed the wild, and established peace and comfortable life for ourselves. More humans have lived happily than other races could fathom!” Chad spoke slowly and with a strong voice.
“Then why do you fight? Not all humans wish to have a quiet and peaceful life.” Cain replied.
“I agree with that, my happiness lay in traveling, discovering the unknown, and meeting new people. But I should never forget my origin, otherwise, I will be spitting in the faces of all people who wanted to be like me.” Chad said with pride.