The Ancient Genes

Chapter 3 - Threat

After entering into meditation, Max felt a thin layer of energy flowing around and passing through him.

Using the system's help, he started resisting the energy and a feeling of warmth spread through his body.

After almost one and a half hours of meditation, he felt the flow of energy starting to disappear.

As his meditation session came to an end, he felt a bit of mental exhaustion.

...

'System, why do I feel exhausted? Shouldn't I be feeling stronger instead of feeling tired?' he asked in confusion.

«Reporting to Host, With Host's current stats of Endurance, Meditating for 84 minutes is Host's limit. Crossing the limit will lead to extreme exhaustion.»

'Hm.. I see. So how much did I improve, show me!' he commanded in excitement.

«Reporting Host's Stats»

Name: Max Edwinson (Lv 0) (0/1000)

Race: Primal Human (Unawakened)

Gene Status: Awakened (0.1/100)%

Flow Method: Ancient Manual

Flow Energy: 9

«Stats»

Strength: 7

Agility: 6

Intelligence: 2

Endurance: 3

Vitality: 7

"You are joking with me, right? Only 9 points in energy. Not even a tiny bit of increase in my stats."

«Reporting to Host, Host will receive an increase in his stats only when he levels up using the flow energy. Energy required to get to the next level is 1000.»

"What!! A thousand points! You useless thing, if I need one and a half hours to gain 9 points of energy, how much time do you think I will need to level up to 1000?" he asked, gritting his teeth in frustration.

«Reporting to Host, Host can improve his meditation skill with improvements in INT and END stats.

(A/n: INT: Intelligence, END: Endurance)

1 INT = 6 FP / hr. (FP = Flow energy Points)

1 END = 12 minutes of meditation time.

«Host can gain increase in his stats by levelling up»

Looking at the system's message, he still felt that that system was too weak to save humanity.

Don't usually the MC in such stories get some OP cheat like skills?

Looks like reality is really different.

...

He took off his headphones,was preparing to go to sleep, when he heard his Mom's voice.

"Honey, why didn't he a..awaken, even Lilly turned o..out to b..be a variant." Her voice seemed to be a bit unusual. Concentrating a bit more, he realised she was weeping.

He felt his heart contorting in pain. But he endured it. He had to. All this was happening because of him. He decided to eavesdrop on their conversation in order to know about their feelings.

"I don't know. But does this even matter? He is our son and you have to stay strong. We need to let him know that we are here for him." he heard his Dad's voice which seemed to contain a firmness.

"I know, but I feel that I have made his life miserable. Today when Lilly awakened, I felt so happy that she was normal."

"It's not your fault dear. Some things just can't be explained." He heard his Dad's voice.

"But, will Father accept him? You know how he is, right?" His mom asked in her trembling voice.

"That's the reason we are going to the capital. I will talk to my father." He spoke in a determined tone.

"But, what if Max gets any wrong idea from us leaving him and we are even taking Lilly with us?" Max heard his Mom's weak voice.

"We can't leave her here, her signs of awakening haven't finished yet. It's too dangerous to leave her here and besides you have heard of the cases of disappearing variants right? And it's only a matter of a few months."

"But-."

"No Buts, let's sleep. We need to leave for the capital tomorrow."

His Dad interrupted Mom with his sentence, and then he only heard the sound of people breathing and dogs howling along with insects chirping at night.

Seated on his bed, he felt a heavy object being lifted up off his chest. He felt something sliding down his cheeks. He reached for his cheeks and found nothing other than tears .

Without knowing, he found himself in tears. After a month of bitterness, he finally heard it. he wanted to shout out, but was holding himself back.

"The only thing he couldn't understand was why Grandpa won't accept him. Is his public image even more valuable than his Grandson."

"But, it doesn't matter as long as I have my parents with me." He thought.

And the night passed, swallowing all his frustration and grief.

Getting up in the morning, Max brushed his teeth and took a bath.

He walked out of the bathroom in his towel and took out his school uniform from the wardrobe.

After getting ready, he walked downstairs to have breakfast with his family.

Finishing breakfast, they left the house and got into the car. They were going to drop him before going on their way.

Reaching the school, he got out of the car.

"Take care of yourself Max, remember to set up an alarm for getting ready early and don't skip your meals. And don't stay out too late. And-."

"Our son is responsible, honey and he is already 16. He will be fine, right Max?" his Dad interrupts his Mom and gave him a look as if he was saying 'You better say yes or it will be troublesome.'

Seeing his pleading eyes, Max balled his fingers into a fist and placed them on his chest and puffed out his chest while replying "Of course, you don't need to worry. Your son is responsible. He might even find a daughter in law for you before you return!"

"You!..." Hearing Max, his Dad choked on his next word, while his Mom burst out in laughter.

"You better only have a single one, unlike someone who used to flirt with every single girl." his Mom spoke as she rolled her eyes at his Dad.

"What are you doing!!, don't bring it out in front of the kids!" Seeing his father in sweat, he couldn't hold his laughter.

"What's going on? You are leaving me out." Seeing us laugh, Lilly pouted as if she was being left out.

"I will tell you the story sweety, now say goodbye to your brother. He is getting late for his classes." His Mom spoke as she picked Lilly out of the car.

"What! no, I don't want to." She started wiggling in Mom's arms.

"It's only for a few days Lilly, I will soon be coming with a lot of chocolates." Max started coaxing her.

"No, I don't want it, I w..want b..brother." She spoke as tears formed in her eyes.

"Ah! Lilly you know right, Grandpa has gotten very old, why don't you take care of Grandpa until I finish my school, even Grandpa was asking about his cute Lilly." He spoke while wiping her tears.

"Really?" She asked in her sobbing voice.

"Yes, sweety." Thankfully, his parents came to his rescue.

After a few minutes, they finally managed to calm her down .

He bid them farewell and turned around . But after looking around, he failed to find a single student near the gate.

Coming to a realisation, he looked at his watch.

He was late. He ran towards the classroom hoping to not meet one of the seven wonders of his school.

He looked around while running through the corridors and a familiar figure entered his sight.

'Damn it, he's here,' Max couldn't help but curse in my mind. He hid behind the wall next to the stairs closing his eyes, hoping that the man would not notice him.

He heard footsteps getting closer and closer. Sweat started to appear on his face due to nervousness.

But after a while, he heard it getting farther and farther. Letting out a sigh, he opened his eyes and found a figure staring straight into his eyes.

Agh!

A squeak slipped through his mouth and he managed to stay on his feet with the wall behind his back.

"Mr. Edwinson, would you mind letting me know the reason for your strange behaviour." he asked him in a commanding manner.

"Ah! ...I...I...w..w..was..thinking something." He replied without giving it much thought.

"Oh! and what were you thinking?" He asked, folding his hands.

"A..A...You..... know, right, A lot has happened within the past few months, I was just thinking about my future paths." he replied on the spur of the moment.

"At this time and this place." Max felt his piercing gaze.

"Y..Y..Yes." Max replied thinking, 'Damn it, if I already have lied so far, one more lie won't change anything.'

"Good, Very good. You should think about your future." Hearing him, he couldn't help but was surprised.

'Are you kidding me, this Dwarf is letting me go just like this'.

But that man's next sentence crushed all his hopes.

"Since you want to think so much, let me help you. Run 100 laps of the field and use all the time for your thinking."

With that the man got down from the stool, made of rock, and disintegrated it. But before leaving, he whistled and Max heard a series of footsteps getting closer.

He saw a golem walking towards them and he can't help but curse in realisation of the earlier events, 'Damn it, I hate earth mages.'

"You, make sure he completes 100 rounds of the field."

Hearing him, the Golem nodded and turned towards Max.

....

Walking towards the field with the golem, he sighed at the bad start of his day.

How could that guy get away with all this? The guy from earlier was the Principal of his school, Stark Zeven. He was called Dwarf by all the students because of his strong build and short height.

Even the students from rich families couldn't behave arrogantly in this school because of him.

Reaching the field, he started running. After running for an hour, he felt sweat dripping from every pore of his body and tiredness seeping into his bones .

He even forgot his counting. After a while, he asked the system while gasping for breath, 'H..How m..many mo..re?'

«The Host still has 46 laps to go».

'What! that many? Can't you do something? I will die at this rate.'

«Reporting to Host, with Host's current comprehension of running. A basic skill «Sprint» can be created for 2 FP. It will allow the host to run faster while expending less energy.»

'You have got to be kidding me! It's already so hard to earn FP. Don't you have anything for free?' he asked in a lamenting tone.

«No.»

'How about a loan for first time users?' He asked in a pleading tone.

«No.»

'Damn this useless thing!' Gritting his teeth he finally agreed, 'Fine, create it.'

Even with the help of the skill, he felt like dying after completing the 100 laps.

After taking a rest for half an hour, he finally returned to class.

....

"You here? I thought you were already dead." he heard Mark mocking him as he sat on his chair.

"Get lost."

Ignoring him, he took out his books and tried to concentrate on them.

"Hoho! do you even get it?" He heard Mark's irritating voice again.

Feeling the veins on my forehead bulging out, Max gave him a death stare.

"I mean, I could help you." Mark spoke with an arrogant smile.

'Damn it, I forgot he was the last of his species. I mean who has ever heard of an Otaku with excellent grades?'

....

And with that, the teacher entered the room and class continued.

....

After school ended, he returned home. He found Uncle Rolv, our steward, was busy in the garden.

He was a tall and strong-looking man. He had been working for Max's family since before the time, even before he was born. Thinking about it, he totally has no idea about his background. But my father trusted him.

Seeing him enter through the gate, he informed him, "A bath has been prepared, Sir."

Hearing him, he nodded and walked towards his room.

He Removed his clothes and took the bath towel, enter the bathtub. Feeling the warmth, he stretched out his hands and feet and relaxed himself, trying to forget his terrible day.

But, he was relaxing too early.

He heard the system's sweet and pleasant voice.

«!! Threat Detected !!»

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