Author’s note- It’s a double release! By the time you are done with this one, the next one will be posted!

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THE STONE CLAN

 The five minutes passed quickly, and when they did, I got up and opened the door to the garage. And the battle had already started.

Three knives came flying at me from the bush, each with its own target. My shoulder, thigh, and stomach. Not immediately lethal areas, but it would hurt like h*ll. Thankfully, I was already prepared.

The hot feeling circulating rapidly, I condensed a flame point X10 in the middle of where they were flying.

“Bang!”

They each flew in separate directions, and I took this chance to move forward.

Running forward to the bush area cautiously, I prepared to dodge further attacks. And when I was outside of the garage, the hypersensitive hairs on my neck detected airflow. Behind me!

Rolling, something heavy smashed into the concrete, sending shock waves across the pavement! But it didn’t let me get a single chance to turn and face it; with another sound of something slamming on pavement, it attacked me again.

I formed a flame tornado under my feet and did an evasive backflip. Combined with the fact that the hot feeling had boosted my strength as well, I ended up soaring up way higher than his attack.

Looking at him from an eagle’s eye view, I formed a flame point X10 at the back of his knee. But surprisingly, the flame was repelled until it was about a foot away before I could explode it.

“Bang!”

Granddad- “Hah! Is that all? Your flame ability is so weak; I didn’t even flinch!”

Grandad stormed toward the area I would land and prepared a straight punch. If I didn’t do something, that would probably hurt. Alot.

Moving the position of the tornado to the front of me, the air started to push me behind him. This caught him off guard, as he suddenly stopped, dissipating his momentum. But unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid the punch as I was still mid air. Block!

Like a bullet train hurtling at 100 miles per hour, his gigantic fist smashed into my puny arms, sending me flying back into the garage. My arms were numbed from the attack, and my mobility with them had decreased about 50 percent. And as granddad rushed me again, I realized I wouldn’t be able to win this fight without doing things a bit more cheaply. My body enhancement was currently not a match for him head on, so I had to think smarter.

Grabbing a knife from the ground, I threw it forward as hard as I could, making the flame tornado surround it for added speed and concealment. He couldn’t dodge it, but it would heal anyway.

Holding out his left arm, he forcibly blocked the knife. But it stuck deep inside, so blood started to seep out.

He didn’t seem to care though, as he continued on like nothing happened. And in a moment, he was right in front of me.

Letting out a kick towards my chest, I assumed he wanted to end this in one blow. Unfortunately for him, although he had the edge in bodily strength, I had the edge in terms of my ability.

I set off a flame point X10 next to his kicking leg, and that threw it off in terms of how perfectly it was executed. Leaving me a hole to exploit.

Dodging the blow with a shift of my feet, I used the force from dodging to aid in a punch. My desire was not to kill by stealing his luck, but I wanted to temporarily incapacitate him. Golden aura, activate!

The punch landed on his stomach, and he spat out a mouthful of blood! He flew back, and I waited, still in stance. I could tell he was trying to get up, but he couldn’t.

Me- “Convinced?”

Granddad coughed from the floor, his face pale.

Granddad- “The punch I landed on you; if I was someone else, you would of died. That could've been a knife, poison, or some other special ability.”

Me- “So? I could of killed you as soon as I knew you were behind me. My golden aura can also kill with just a single touch. And I can extend it from any area of my body, meaning that you would of been dead the moment you tried to sneak attack me from the garage.”

Granddad- “But-”

Me- “We have a saying in our clan. If you don’t have the strength to back up your words, you just shouldn’t talk. I beat you fair and square; in fact, I was at an initial disadvantage due to your tricks. Accept your defeat!”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Granddad- “Argh. I’m getting old…”

Dad- “Should I call mom? To let her notify the clan?”

Granddad- “Go ahead. She knows the clan elders better than I do. She’ll probably be able to do something.”

Dad went back into the living room, while granddad stood up, ripping the knife out of his arm. Blood spurted out crazily, and he calmly said to dad,

Granddad- “And tell her that I need something to wrap this up with. I might lose too much blood, and that wouldn’t be fun.”

Dad nodded, and he went to the room. And I was left in the room with Granddad, not knowing what to do.

Granddad- “Hey son, can you lend me that green belt for a second? It’ll help.”

I was in shock for the moment, still reeling from the fact that he was treating it like nothing. And why wasn’t it healing?

Realizing standing still pondering wouldn’t help much, I grabbed the belt and ripped it off my gi.

Me- “Here.”

Granddad- “Thanks.”

He wrapped it up tightly, and triple knotted it.

Me- “Why isn’t it healing? For me, the blood stops after a couple of seconds.”

Granddad shifted, and said shamefully,

Granddad- “Your ability is different than ours… See, normally it’s just a body strengthening in every area, whether it be thinking speed, hardness of bones, toughness of flesh, the senses, memorization ability, strength, speed, basically an average strengthening in all directions. That’s what your father and I have. It’s only when it gets to the main bloodline or stronger when things get different. Their bodies have specializations, and whether it is physical or mental, they still enjoy the average benefits that I enjoy.”

Me- “So why is your strength so much better than mine and fathers?”

Granddad- “I’ve lived longer. Activation of the enhancement isn’t just a temporary boost; it’s a process. Your body will strengthen more and more the longer you have it active. Of course this has its limits, the first gear version can only do so much. But if you can advance your ability like I did, then you can become superhuman. Your father has lived too long in the secular world; he is weak.”

Me- “So wait. You’re saying by keeping the enhancement on, my base strength will gradually grow to the percentage of enhancement I have when I activate it? And eventually there will be no difference between activating or not activating the hot feeling?”

Granddad- “No, not quite. For the first enhancement, your strength from base can at most double. And with the hot feeling, your double strength will be increased to triple. Once you advance though, you’ll be at the second enhancement. Here, things become a little different. You can become as much as 5 times as strong, and with the activation of the enhancement that can be increased to 10 times!”

Me- “Damn! How do you advance?”

Granddad- “There is a one fits all. One must first remain conscious in their dreams, and one must overcome their subconscious. As for the details of this, it is different for everyone. I don’t want to cut off your future path for something as trivial as this. In theory, there are 6 possible advancements. But in reality, even the true monsters can only complete 5.”

The door to the garage opened, and dad came walking out with grandma.

Dad- “Dad, why are you telling him all of this now? It won’t be of use to him until much later.”

Granddad- “Kids as talented as him should have ambition! And do you have the wrap honey?”

Grandma- “How’d you get this anyway? Normally things like knives and blades only leave small scratches on you.”

Granddad lifted his arm up, and boasted proudly,

Granddad- “This boy is incredibly strong for his age! And using his dual abilities, he threw the knife and surrounded it with a flame tornado, increasing its penetrative power and speed!”

Grandma- ‘Sigh’ “Why do you sound so happy about this? You got beaten by a child, and you admire his abilities? Why can’t you just act your age for once, and keep from getting injured? I’m sure you could of dodged it, or make it graze by your arm at least!”

Granddad- “If I had to dodge any of his blows, then I wouldn’t have the pride to call myself a man!”

Grandma- “And yet you were still beaten by him...”

Granddad paused, his face sweaty. He looked incredibly embarrassed. Grandma took the chance to further wrap his arm with some gauze and a cloth strip. But he managed to finally croak out,

Granddad- “Don’t sweat the small details…”

We all burst into laughter, and afterwards, we walked into the house. Breakfast was being made when I got inside, courtesy of mom. Grandma and granddad stayed out in the garage to finish dressing the wound, and I was trying out keeping the hot feeling active. And as I walked around, doing any sort of daily motion, I could feel my body strengthening. How had I not noticed this before?

As my senses were boosted, I started to hear a faint sound of someone talking; it was coming from the garage. Grandma’s voice. I didn’t want to eavesdrop, so I started to move further away from the garage. But when I heard my name mentioned, I pulled back, now in interest.

Grandma- “Nathaniel... Yes, he is part of the Stone clan! He is not under your jurisdiction!”

Silence came from the garage for a while; I assumed the other person was speaking. And then grandma spoke again, this time in a nicer tone,

Grandma- “Well, yes. That seems fair. But I will be notifying the clan of this conversation, so if you don’t keep up your end… There will be a reckoning to be dealt with. Goodbye.”

Footsteps started to come from the other side of the garage, so I turned and walked towards the kitchen in order to not arouse suspicion. And the door to the garage opened shortly after.

Granddad- “Rachel, is breakfast ready? People like me need to eat!”

Mom- “You and the stone clan, forever hungry. Why don’t you wait for a bit, and who knows, the food might be ready before you know it!”

Dad- “Heh, I’m sorry honey. We can’t help it.”

Grandma- “Why don’t we turn on the television. I’m sure if you guys focus on something other than your hunger, then things would be so much more bearable.”

Granddad jumped on the couch and smoothed out a spot, inviting me over. I obliged him, and grandma turned on the tv. The news channel was the the first thing that popped up. The headline read, ‘Terrorist Attack, Motive Unknown’.

Female Reporter- “... and the F.B.I. showed up on scene and apprehended the terrorists. More on this? Chief Ronald?”

She gave the mike over to a man in his 40’s, and he wore a F.B.I. uniform. With a charming smile, he faced the television.

Chief Ronald- “At the Racetrac today, we were facing an armed group of about 6 terrorists. They were highly trained, and they were equipped with firepower comparable to special forces. Although we cannot disclose why they were stationed at this location, the public can rest at ease. They have been apprehended, and interrogation is underway. We’ll root them all out before they can threaten the safety of the American people!”

Female reporter- “I just have one more question, and I’m sure the residents are having this as well. Who are these people, and how do you plan to stop further assaults?”

Chief Ronald- “They are made up of a group known as New world, and their goal is the eventual overturning of government by any means. As to stopping their assaults? We have our own special forces, and they are under orders to protect the American people. Thank you for your time. We will not be answering any further questions.”

Walking away, multiple reporters attempted to get further answers from him. But he refused them all with a bright smile, and he ended up going inside a vehicle surrounded by swat members with riot shields.

When he drove off, the screen switched to a room with two people sitting at a table. I assumed they were going to give their commentary about the event, but I didn’t want to hear it. It was nonsense anyway; I already knew what happened there.

Thankfully Mom called from the kitchen, relieving me of one of my troubles,

Mom- “Breakfast is ready!”

I went to the bathroom to wash my hands before the meal, but before I was able to wash my hands, a text message came in. It was from Chloe.

Chloe- “Nathaniel, did you see what they were talking about on Tv? An F.B.I. chief tried to say that the people who attacked you are a terrorist group, dedicated to overthrowing the government. But why are they targeting you?”

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Author’s note 2- If I said the reason this didn’t come out earlier was because I was in religious services, I would only be telling a half truth. This should’ve come out on Friday, but I started reading Rebirth Thief and finished all 87 chapters. Thankfully for you guys, I read pretty fast, so this one came out today. And another one is coming as an apology.