Why is it night again? Did I wake up in the middle of the night?

  I tried to get up, but my body wouldn’t respond properly. Every fiber of my being ached slightly, like I had been training for hours.

  My stomach began to growl slowly—I was starving, and also very thirsty. What happened to me?

  Am I sick again? No… that shouldn’t be possible. I didn’t have any symptoms before going to sleep. I should be in perfect condition…

  The pain gradually subsided until it was just a mild discomfort, and I noticed small changes in my body, both internal and external.

  “I think I’ve finally awakened my willpower,” I could feel a slight shift inside me. I didn’t fully understand what had changed yet, but I needed to figure it out and get used to it soon.

  I got up and headed to the kitchen. First, I needed to take care of this thirst and hunger—it’s hard to think on an empty stomach. As they say: A full stomach makes a happy person.

  On the dining table, there were two portions of food and a pitcher of red fruit juice. I love that juice. The fruit is very similar to strawberries, except for the size—they’re almost three times as large.

  “Can I eat this?” It was really late at night, and I didn’t want to wake anyone just to ask.

  “It should be mine, right? I can’t imagine anyone in the house leaving food and drinks on the table for someone else.”

  With uncertainty, I started devouring the food in front of me. I felt a little guilty… and a little afraid of being scolded in the morning. But that’s something tomorrow-Maki will have to deal with. Today-Maki needed to eat and sleep happily.

  I finished the food and drink before I even realized it.

  On my way back to my room, I stopped. With a full stomach, no more sleepiness—probably from sleeping the whole day—and the pain nearly gone, I made a slightly unreasonable decision: I’m going to train in the middle of the night.

  “They shouldn’t be able to hear me from the training grounds,” I said out loud. My habit of talking to myself had returned. When there’s no one around, it helps me feel accompanied—something I got used to in my previous life. “Am I going crazy?” … I don’t think so.

  I reached the field and began with light stretching exercises, followed by light hand strikes and more demanding physical routines.

  I could feel some improvement in my body. Nothing extraordinary—maybe around 10%. “Not bad. Let’s start training with the twin swords.”

  I kept training until I felt my body get tired—nearly four hours. The biggest improvement was in my stamina; I probably had 50% more endurance than before. That would be useful for longer training sessions. In my previous life, I used to train two or three times a day—time to return to that routine while I still had no responsibilities.

  My twin sword technique felt smoother, as if I’d broken through some invisible restriction my body had before awakening.

  “Time to sleep. Tomorrow I’ll surprise my family by showing them my willpower.” With a big smile and excited to see their reactions, I went to rest for the few remaining hours before breakfast.

  “What’s all this noise?” I slowly opened my eyes and saw my entire family gathered in my room.

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  “What’s going on here?” I wanted to surprise them in the morning, but instead they surprised me.

  “Good morning, son. How are you feeling? Any problems with your awakening?” My mother was the first to speak—the others just stared at me with curious faces.

  “I feel great right now. I did have some minor body aches yesterday, and when I woke up, I was really hungry.” I began explaining everything that had happened since yesterday up to the moment I went back to sleep.

  “Then everything’s fine. We were really worried about your body,” my father said, his curious expression replaced by a simple, happy smile.

  “My body? Why?” If there had been a risk during awakening, they would’ve told me beforehand… right?

  I expected my father to answer, but the first to speak was my grandmother, “Usually, less than one percent of people have problems during awakening. But those are regular cases, where the body is already nine or ten years old and more physically developed.”

  “We weren’t sure about your case. You’re not the first to awaken this young, but it’s been impossible to gather any information on previous cases. The most well-known ones belong to very important houses—and they would never share that information with the public.” She let out a sigh and returned to her usual expression—calm, smiling, with wisdom in her eyes.

  “We were worried since yesterday when you didn’t show up for breakfast. When we came and checked your body, we realized you’d awakened and decided to leave you alone.” My mother now sounded clearly more relaxed.

  I felt a slight shiver when I saw her face change suddenly. “I just want to know—why did you go train alone? You should’ve waited for us to supervise you. That was very irresponsible.”

  “Don’t be mad, Celes. I understand our son. I did the same thing when I awakened. Curiosity is hard to resist,” my father tried to defend me, which only led to both of us getting a scolding from my mother. We listened quietly for a few minutes until she calmed down again.

  “Maki, you’ve checked your body yourself. Now it’s time for us to see it. Put on some comfortable clothes—we’re going to train,” said my father, still cheerful despite the lecture. My mother seemed like she wanted to object but held back and agreed silently.

  “You owe me fifty Int,” Sers said to Ritmo.

  “I’ll pay you later. This is all your fault, Maki,” Ritmo grumbled, though he was clearly smiling.

  “Me? Why is it my fault?” I didn’t understand what they were talking about—I hadn’t heard about any bet.

  “I bet with Ritmo on what you’d do first after awakening. And I won.”

  “I didn’t expect a kid’s curiosity. You usually act like an adult. I was almost sure you’d go looking for my parents or Grandma first instead of training.”

  I could only smile a little guiltily. It was true—I should’ve been more careful and asked first.

  We trained for a couple of hours—my father, Sers, Ritmo, and I—and they all seemed satisfied with my new physical state. We sat down for breakfast outdoors. Eating after training is always a pleasure.

  “Maki, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the improvements in your strength, speed, and stamina are the least significant,” my grandmother said. She must have reached some sort of agreement with my parents because they just stayed silent, letting her continue.

  “Really? I don’t know much about it. Can you explain, Grandma?” I had read bits and pieces in books, but they were old texts with little explanation.

  “The two main things are your body’s increased capacity to withstand magic, and—more importantly—being able to add willpower to your movements and attacks. There are many more uses of willpower. You’ll learn them in time. For now, it’s irrelevant information that could confuse your priorities.”

  “I see. I still don’t know how to apply willpower to my movements. And the mana will come after the first ceremony, right? Grandma, what should my priorities be?” I focused all my attention—didn’t want to miss anything important. I knew they would explain again if I asked, but I didn’t want to bother them with dumb or obvious questions.

  “Yes. The ceremony is tomorrow, so prepare yourself.” She paused, giving me time to absorb the bombshell she had just dropped.

  “Your priorities are: attend your ceremony, slowly learn to master both powers and their different functions, and develop the skills that will form the foundation of your combat style. You’re a very talented prodigy focused on twin sword combat. Now, you just need to begin adding magic and willpower to your various attacks. You must practice relentlessly until you reach a high level of mastery.”

  I stayed silent, trying to process everything little by little. I didn’t want to miss a single point.

  My grandmother stared at me and said, “We don’t know how talented you’ll be with magic and willpower, but if you can master them like you did the sword… you’ll become a monster in the future.”

  She smiled as she saw my shocked and confused reaction.

  “You might reach a level only a few ever do.”