The Ancient Genes

Chapter 8 - Towards Arcane

"Arcane Magic Academy!"

Seeing the words on the document, Max couldn't help but felt a happiness welling inside of him.

'Hell yeah! How many days has it been? I thought my luck was murdered by the system.'

But suddenly he felt his excitement die as a realisation struck him, 'I will have to leave this place.'

After spending so much time with Mr. Stark, this workshop, and especially the hammer. He felt his heart ache at the very thought of leaving this place behind.

...

Ever since childhood, Max usually stayed alone at his house with Rolv, as his parents were always on missions. He used to say they were heroes and his idols in front of Mark, but in reality he wanted his parents to be ordinary like any other kid's parents.

But when his Mom became pregnant with Lily, they temporarily took a break from their activities. They started spending more time together. Things started looking good. He felt happy despite having a miserable school life.

After Lily was born, his father started to go out from time to time. But after his sister awakened, he was once again, left alone.

Although he was fully aware of their reason for leaving him, he still couldn't help but felt one thing, 'Why me?'

'Why am I the only one facing such things? Am I receiving a judgement from the heavens for my past life's misdeeds?' He didn't know.

But he felt that gaining strength would solve everything.

.....

He let out a sigh.

Even though he thought it wasn't his parents fault for what happened, he couldn't deny that he was disappointed with them. Especially his Grandpa.

...

'Now, the time has come to be alone again. I don't know if I can make any friends in the Academy.'

...

He headed out of the workshop and walked towards the bathroom since he was very sweaty after sitting in front of the furnace for so long.

After getting fresh and putting on his uniform, he went down the stairs to have breakfast.

After eating his breakfast, he looked for Mr. Stark hoping to get a free ride in his car to school.

Seeing him glance towards the stairs, Mary informed him, "Mr. Stark has already left for school."

Hearing her, Max looked at his watch and hurried out of the villa .

While he was waiting for a taxi, he took out his phone, looked for any information on the Arcane Magic Academy.

Seeing the information, he let out a sigh. Thankfully, the Academy was not in the capital.

Orca, the Capital of the Mistellin Continent, was a place full of the monsters and prodigies of the Mage Society.

With his current strength at that time, if he was thrown in there and ended up offending anyone, he didn't even know if his parents could save me.

And he didn't want to create any more trouble for them. After all, his situation at this time can already be considered troublesome enough for them.

....

After waiting for a while, he decided to run to the school since it was already getting late and he didn't want to be late for the graduation ceremony. After all, running 100 laps of the field on the day of the graduation ceremony would be too embarrassing.

After running for a while with his skill «Sprint», he barely reached the school gate on time.

Entering the auditorium , he looked around for a while and found Mark waving at him from his seat. He walked towards him and took a seat by his side.

"I thought you were going to be late and why are you sweating so much?" Mark asked with a confused look.

"It's so hot today, I can't help it. And stop talking about me. Have you given a thought about what you're going to do ahead?". Max asked, changing the topic.

"I have already qualified for entering the Capital's Magic Academy. With my high grades and Mana affinity, it was a piece of cake." He replied while puffing his chest out.

"Do well. I will be depending on you on the future," he replied with a smile, finding his posture to be funny.

....

Seeing Max smile, Mark realised that his earlier wordings might not have been proper. Max was smiling on the front, but was it truly how he felt? Mark had forgotten that Max didn't awaken any element at all, for a second. After they apart, Max would become lonely again.

Mark looked at him before speaking, "Hey, if you need any help just give me a call and I forgot to ask, but what are you planning to do now?"

.....

Hearing him, Max smiled before replying "Why are you being so formal? Don't tell me you don't treat me as your brother anymore, since you got admitted into the Capital's Magic Academy."

"Don't change the topic, answer me." He kept staring at him with his eyes narrowed.

'Damn it, this stubborn dude, I can't tell him I am planning to become a blacksmith after forging a knife and getting into a mess between a God and Demon,' feeling helpless, He made up a lie, "I don't have any plans for now."

Hearing him, Mark gave him a look before speaking again.

.....

After the ceremony ended, Max returned to Mr. Stark's house.

He still couldn't believe Mark, to think he was willing to go that far for him.

Idiot.

Lying on the bed, he got lost in his thoughts.

So next month, he would be leaving that place to start a new chapter in his life.

...

In the blink of an eye, a month passed away.

Packing his luggage, Max went downstairs.

Seeing Mr. Stark and Mary, he gave them a ninety degree bow, thanking them for their care until then.

Seeing his behaviour, Mr. Stark smiled before he said, "You don't need to be grateful, just go out there and flatten everyone with your skills and make me proud."

And then he asked Mary to bring a box from the workshop.

"Kid, work hard, this is a gift for you."

I looked at the old wooden box with a symbol of the crescent moon and a hammer.

" Isn't.. t..this ..y..your..family heirloom, Mr. Stark!?" he stuttered in shock.

"Yes, it is, but I don't have a son. But you are my successor and you are no different from a son to me." His eyes flickered and a smile was plastered on his face as he spoke.

Tears filled his eyes. He had very few people in this world who cared about him. Then, he had one more.

"Don't cry kid, Remember. A real Man laughs even in the worst situation. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" he heard his voice.

"YES," Max replied, wiping the tears off of his eyes.

.....

Bidding them farewell, Max boarded a cab to the express station.

He took a ticket to Arcane and boarded the express car.

Getting into the express car, he took his seat. Feeling something weird, he took out the wooden box from his backpack.

Took the hammer in his hand, he asked the system, 'System can you appraise this hammer?"

«Scanning.... 10%....50%.....100%»

«Reporting to Host, a weakened spirit is detected within the hammer»

«Name : ?????»

Grade: ??

[currently damaged: 1 star grade]

STR +3

VIT +3

Spirit: Dormant [Awaken (10/100)%]

«The weapon has been found to have some remnants of different eras»

Seeing the notification, he couldn't help but thought, 'How long of a family history does Mr. Stark have?'

'What kind of spirit is trapped within the hammer?' Many questions popped up in his head.

....

"The passengers are informed that we will be reaching Arcane in 5 minutes»

Hearing the announcement, Max put the hammer back in his backpack, and thought that time would answer everything.

For then, he had a new road ahead.

As the door of the express car opened, he got up from his seat and walked out of the door with a smile.

But he forgot one thing.

When had life ever been good to him? It seemed that the System was unable to see his smile as he heard the system's sweet voice and a notification popped out.

«Warning: Demonic Aura Detected!!»

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