Chapter 23 A Nightmare From The Past
After Jason and Issac had returned, they ate their dinner in silence.
"So grandpa, when are you going to start teaching me the basics of magic?" Jason asked after finishing his dinner while staring directly into Issac's eyes.
His grandpa was forced to put down the dessert he had been eating to answer Jason's questions.
"I won't teach you anything yet," Issac shifted his gaze towards his wife who was sitting opposite him. "You will have to first train to control your element with Risa."
Jason nodded as he climbed down from his chair and left the dining room. His mind was still thinking of the battle and how easily Issac and Karna had killed all those demons.
However, the coolest person was Amon who had managed to scare Astaroth by basically doing nothing.
'I would like to be that powerful too...'
For some reason, Jason exited the manor moments after thinking that .
"Status." He said aloud as the status window appeared in front of him.
---
Name: Jason Syrward
Race: Half-Demon
HP: 1800/1800
Mana: 5000/5000
Child Of Darkness(Main Job Class): 10%
Thunder Mage(Subjob Class): 10%
---
His mana and health points had grown considerably after unlocking his system and his progress bar for both his job classes had moved up too.
Jason then opened his skill tree for both of his job classes. Two blue windows opened up side by side as Jason saw that he had one new skill to unlock in each of his job classes.
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< Night's Blessings (Passive) >
- During the nighttime, all of your statuses will become twice as powerful as their original amount.
- This doesn't apply to HP.
< Requires 30 system points to unlock. >
---
'System, how am I supposed to know what my multiplied stats are if I don't know my base stats?'
[ Simple: You don't. ]
'…'
Jason didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this so he just decided to accept it and unlocked the skill.
The skill already came out maxed and moved the progression bar of his main job class by another five percent. However, that didn't unlock any new skills for him leaving him with no way to increase his progression.
Jason had no idea what kind of 'enlightenment' he would need to get progression.
He thought of asking the system but changed his mind when he realized that the system would most likely reply with "you will know when the time comes" or something similar.
[ You are becoming a smarter host. Good job. ]
Jason simply ignored that comment and moved on.
---
< Lightning Sense (Passive) >
- Allows you to sense a lightning mage from 500 meters away.
< Requires 20 system points to unlock >
---
'I ain't buying that now.' Jason thought as he closed up his skill trees. Currently, the skill was useless to him since there was no use in knowing whether the people around him were lightning mages or not.
[ Well, I don't create them so don't blame me. ]
'I never intended to do that.'
[ Thank you for being so sensible. ]
A sign escaped his lips as he lay down on the ground and stared at the sky. The stars were visible all around the night sky followed by a single moon just like Earth's moon.
Seeing it, Jason was reminded of the time that he used to stargaze with Thalia from their orphanage. He would hardly see any stars as the sky was mostly obstructed with haze.
Now, he could see the entire sky yet didn't have anyone to watch it with.
[ *Cough* ]
'You don't count as a person.'
[ Having me is better than being alone. At least I will make sure that you don't feel lonely. ]
'I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.'
Jason then wondered what had happened to Thalia.
He had seen her get shot in the chest at point-blank range meaning that her chances of survival had been pretty much zero.
He would have liked to delude himself by thinking that she would have survived due to some miracle but sadly, he had seen her dead body collapsing right before his eyes.
The memory was still freshly carved into his mind and made his heart hurt whenever he thought about it.
Jason knew that it was already too late to divert his mind as the memories of the war filled his mind.
The eyes of terrified children as soldiers broke inside their orphanage. The screams of agony and fear when the soldiers started putting down every single person that even moved.
Jason had been standing at the door when he had seen his best friend darting forward to save a ten-year-old who was about to be shot.
She had plunged a knife into the soldier's chest and somehow managed to twist it before being peppered with bullets.
Jason remembered that his mind went blank as he dived near the soldier's body and used it as a meat shield.
On the body, he had found two grenades, one normal and one flash. He had instantly opened the former, counted to nine, and thrown it away while dashing away.
The banging sound had left him temporarily deaf as he managed to blow every single person inside the room.
He too had suffered from the blast but it was restricted to his arms.
[ Host, calm down. Your heart rate is increasing! ] The system's gentle voice entered his mind yet Jason could no longer make sense of it.
He clearly remembered the mutilated bodies that lined the floor and Thalia's last words. He hadn't cried or rather, the tears refused to fall.
All he had done was scream. He had screamed until his throat had constricted and he couldn't speak anymore.
He had left the orphanage with burning flames while trying to control himself.
[ Host, you are no longer on a battlefield. You are in a new world, surrounded by a family that loves you and will fight to protect you. ]
"B-but…" Jason began speaking but was suddenly cut off by the system.
[ I know that it still haunts you. I know you are jolted awake by your nightmares many times. I didn't say anything as I thought you would grow out of it but that was a mistake. I should have known that a nightmare from the past is still fresh in the present. ]
Jason's heartbeat slowly started to calm down as the system successfully managed to console him.
'Well, I guess having you is better than trying to find a psychologist in a magical world.' Jason sighed as he dispelled his memories of his past life and sat straight.
But before he could relax, the system faked a cough inside his mind.
'Now what?'
[ Your maternal grandmother saw everything and now, she is coming here… ]
'…'