Chapter 23 Leaving the hospital
Heather sat near the edge of the bed, smiling as she brushed Kai's hair away from his face.
It had grown longer as it had been nearly two months since she had cut his hair.
She sighed, tired. She had barely been able to get any sleep the last few days, and worse, Kai's medical costs soared to nearly 2.5 million dollars, money that they did not have.
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Nearly 2500 years ago, the first people found how to use mana, and then 500 years later they found bloodlines, an integral part of cultivating mana and growing stronger. Not even two years passed before the world split as people fought with mana and bloodline abilities. Those battles were so devastating many places on Earth were now called forbidden zones due to the chaotic mana within them.
One of these forbidden zones was the continent of Australia. The animals within had shifted, turning into ruthless beasts.
Spiders growing to 50 meters tall, and every animal there was now a beast, and other places as well like Africa were also nearly destroyed, but its upper parts were still not completely destroyed, though day by day the chaotic energy grew more and was now on the brink of engulfing Africa.
While Kai now lived in Japan, there was no more simple money like dollars. There were mana stones. Each one had the same amount of mana, so it became the new currency.
But dollars became used as the template, so one mana stone was around half a thousand dollars.
So they needed 5,000 mana stones, and right now they could barely scrape half of that cost.
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Kai finally woke up after one hour, and now it was one hour after sunset, so 7:00 pm exactly.
Kai and his mother started talking, and then she said, "Kai, now you do have a bloodline, you can join the Great National Bloodline Academy."
Kai said, "I do not know. After all, they ignored me like I was not even there."
Heather sighed and said, "I am sorry. I know when you were younger I said we would not force you to do anything you do not want, but this is for your own good."
Heather looked out of the curtains, being careful not to disrupt Nova, who was sleeping on the couch, completely dead tired. Though she was meant to sleep in the guest room, she was simply too tired to do anything.
Heather then said softly, "I know you are both awake and going to the academy next week. Please take care of my son. Kyle told me about it."
Nova's body trembled, but she dared not move. She did not know how Heather had known that she was awake, but she did not want Kai to know it.
While Heather looked out the window, Kai looked in front of him at a holographic screen.
[6 months left for the year.]
[Yearly Quests]
[Find Your True Name] (Removal of level up locks)
[Find the truth of your world] (10,000 Exp)
[Undergo Enlightenment (Completed)] (3 instant level up)
Kai frowned but was happy at the same time.
He muttered, "My true name?"
Heather heard his muttering and walked over to him, not before covering Nova with a blanket, who quickly truly went to sleep.
As she came closer, Kai spoke in his mind, "System, inspect my mom as much as my current level allows."
Instantly, a holographic screen appeared.
[Name: Heather Val]
[Bloodline: Unknown - requires direct contact to identify]
[Bloodline Tier: Earth]
[Status: Mental Fatigue]
[Strength: N/A]
[Intelligence: 100]
[Speed: 150]
[Charm: 99]
[Soul Strength: N/A]
[Perception: 458]
[Agility: 50]
[Defense: N A]
[Mental Fortitude: 298]
[Endurance: N/A]
[Some information is not available due to your body level being too low.]
Heather felt something weird, but she did not think of it too much.
Then she said, "Kai, what did you say a second ago?"
Kai snapped out of his gaze and said, "Huh? What did I say?"
Her eyes narrowed, then softened, and she whispered near his ear, "Yuan."
Kai's eyes widened and he said, "Who is this Yuan?"
She chuckled and said, "You will know soon enough. Anyway, it is getting late. I will not be back. The academy will though."
As she left, a holographic screen suddenly popped up.
[Error.]
[System has been fully absorbed with your body and true name.]
[You have completed one of your yearly quests.]
[You have gained 3 new levels and your level up locks have been removed.]
[Your system level has moved up from 2 to 5]
[Shop has been unlocked.]
[Now you no longer need to wait for your system to level up so your body can grow. Your body can now surpass the system.]
[Host Status]
[Name: Kai]
[Strength: 11]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Speed: 11]
[Charm: Locked]
[Soul Strength: 596]
[Perception: 5]
[Agility: 9]
[Defense: 11]
[Mental Fortitude: 11]
[Endurance: 7]
[Mana: 1500 / 1500]
[Body Status: 100% / 100%]
[Attribute Points: 2]
Kai screamed mentally, "596! Soul strength!"
[You spent nearly 2 days of complete soul training. Each second you keep it active, the more it increases, so for two complete days.]
Kai exclaimed "and my mana shot up even more!"
[Affirmative, when one loses mana and then cultivates it back or reseives it they the are able to gain a bit more mana.]
Kai grinned and then said, "I am not going to complain. Open shop."