Kael looked at himself in a mirror. He did not look like fifteen years old anymore. Instead, what he saw in his reflection was a young adult, about eighteen years old, wearing a black shirt and brown pants. He grew about a head taller, with his hair now reaching his shoulders. His face is devoid of the immatureness seen from a kid. Instead, he now exudes a charm that belongs to a teen.
This is the effect brought by his awakened ability. For every use, a portion of his lifespan will be taken away from him. Nobody told him. He just knew. He even knew how it works. He even knew the name.
Lifeburn.
That's the name of his ability. By burning his lifespan, he will gain an enormous boost in his strength, perception, reaction time, mental capacity, and more. Basically, an overall upgrade. He can activate it fully or partially. If fully activated, he would get an all-around boost but would age fast. By "partially activated," it meant that he could just choose to enhance a single part of his body, like his legs or arms. It doesn't drain his lifespan that much if just used partially but the boost would not be that great.
He still did not know how much of his lifespan was burned every time he used his ability.
He looked at his hand, then clenched it. He has heard of adventurers awakening their ability before. But he never knew that there would be a drawback. He guessed that they must have kept it a secret so that it wouldn't be exploited.
The power he holds now—he wondered if he should use it or not. Now that he was given a second chance when he should have died, he wanted to live long and without regrets. The drawback is just too much. He just turned fifteen, but now he looks eighteen. He wanted to live his life fully, for himself and for his father.
Thinking of his father, his mood couldn't help but drop. Two days have passed since then. After he regained consciousness in the dungeon that day, he went back deeper to retrieve the bodies of his father's party. However, he could only fight items that belonged to them, stained with blood, and bits and pieces of flesh on the ground.
His mind was again filled with anger. Those wretched monsters didn't even leave a single bone behind.
He picked up the items and weapons belonging to his father and uncles and found a place in the forest near the town to bury them.
If only… If only I hadn't…
He blamed himself for the death of his father and uncles. If only he hadn't insisted on going, if only his ability had awakened sooner, various ifs.
"What do I do now? "
He turned to look in the mirror. Seeing the unfamiliar face in front of him, he smiled sadly. After being given a second chance, he wanted it to be fulfilling. But he doesn't know how. He doesn't know how to live without his father.
He took a deep breath and gave out a sigh.
"Okay. For now, I should get myself registered on the Adventurers Guild if I want to eat. I don't want to expose or use my ability. A D rank should be enough for me."
He planned out his next course of action. He figured that to live this life fully, he would need some money. And he knew nothing but fighting, since his father and uncles only taught him how to fight.
"But first."
He took out a scissor and cut his long, dark brown hair short. Though the haircut looked messy, at least he looked a bit better now than before.
He then put on his regular adventurer armor, which he just bought yesterday after coming back to the town, and grabbed his sword. He left the inn he was staying at and headed to the Adventurers Guild. The town he was in now, located on the borders of the continent, was the town of Hestrea.
The Adventurers Guild has branches in all towns, but the headquarters is located in the central city, which is very far from here.
Outside, the sun was already up. There are not that many people here in this town. Nobody wants to stay in the borders anyway, where monsters would usually attack in swarms.
Most houses are dilapidated, showing obvious neglect. Though there are still people that live there. After walking for a while, he arrived at the only building with clean walls, the Adventurers Guild.
There are adventurers walking in and out, most of them not from this town. They obviously just came here for their quests.
He went inside. There, the air seemed lively. Most people are smiling and laughing, bragging about their adventures. The area inside was big. There are many tables, with adventurers eating or drinking.
He went straight to the counter, where a young girl with a ponytail and a white blouse was standing. He stopped in front of the counter.
"I want to register."
Kael said plainly. However, he was actually very nervous inside. It was his first time being alone in the middle of many strangers. His father often brought him along here before, but things were different now.
"Okay. Fill this up first."
The young girl replied and handed Kael a paper. He accepted it and read that they're only asking for his name and his birth of origin and some other miscellaneous info, with nothing personal included. They seemed to respect the privacy of the adventures.
After filling up, he gave it back to the young girl.
"Okay. Wait here; I'll go check if there is anyone who can supervise your evaluation."
Seeing Kael nod, the young girl went through a door in her back, which turned out to be a pathway to the deeper part of the Guild.