After they had gotten into a bit more complicated material, Kaden started enjoying his lessons with Mr. Stein.
At first the man came off like a grumpy old man, but he was quite nice when you got to know him. Especially to Kaden, since he was eager and studious.
The lessons mostly revolved around reading and writing. There had been some basic addition and subtraction mixed in at first, but it quickly became clear that they didn’t need to spend too much time on it.
After learning what the symbols in this world meant, the math was just the same as what he was used to. But reading and writing were different and still took time for him to master. Especially writing. The theory of it was easy enough, but it took hours and hours of repetition for his writing to be acceptable.
There were lots of computer devices in this world, which could also be used for writing. And Kaden just didn’t understand why he couldn’t use those instead, as it was a lot easier than writing by hand. But Mr. Stein had insisted that he needed to start with the basics.
Kaden didn’t quite see the logic in it, but supposed it wasn’t too bad of an idea.
For six months, his time was mostly split between his meditation and Mr. Stein’s lessons. That still gave him a lot of free time though, which was mostly taken up by Lily and Amy. Often at the same time.
Godfrey wasn’t there as he had left home to attend the Central Martial Academy. Kaden could tell that Amy missed Godfrey a lot, which made sense as they were almost the same age and were quite close.
Still, she seemed to get on fine, though she rambled endlessly about how she would be going to the same academy when she turned ten.
In the meantime, she busied herself with her always favorite game, which Kaden naturally had to take part in. And much to his dismay, her younger sister had inherited that same affinity.
But at least spending time with Amy and Lily was having a positive influence on him in some ways. Mostly in the art of convincing.
And after some insistence, his father had finally promised to teach him how to wield the spear. But not before his fourth birthday.
***
After over 200 days, it finally happened again.
Kaden couldn’t help but feel pleased when he saw the blue notification appear before him. And it was massive.
Experience Criteria Met
Level increased from 1 to 2
Race Reward
+0.50 To All Attributes
+4 Attribute Points
Class Reward (No Class)
Points will be retroactively applied after picking a class
Bloodline Reward [ The Will of the Spear ]
+1 Willpower, +0.5 Endurance, +0.5 Agility
Bloodline Reward [ The Pride of a Monarch ]
+2 Strength, +1 Vitality, +1 Attribute Point
As he read the rewards one by one, Kaden marveled at the amount there was. He’d known it would happen, but it was still a bit of a shock to see it.
Very satisfied with his progress on that part, he turned his attention to another matter, and felt a ball of nervousness begin to form in his stomach.
Opening his status panel to check, his worst fear was confirmed.
STATUS PANEL
Kaden Hale Age: 3 Half-Human / Half-Demon Class: None (Locked)
Health 245/260 Regen 0.2/m Stamina 240/250 Regen 0.2/m Essence 315/320 Regen 0.43/m
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 33 Potential SS Agility 27 Potential S Vitality 26 Potential A Endurance 25 Potential A Willpower 43 Potential SS Essence Power 32 Potential S
Attribute Points 28 Natural Growth Cycle 12% Complete
BLOODLINES
The Will of the Spear (Unique)
The Pride of a Monarch (Mythic)
Level 2 - Experience 0/400
Exactly what he’d been dreading the most… Just like before, the experience requirement had doubled again. He’d been desperately hoping it wouldn’t happen, but it did.
Eight hundred hours.
It was a difficult thought to deal with.
According to his father, a single level would only take a day or two if you were to enter a dungeon. But with meditation, well, the two couldn’t even be compared.
But he didn’t have a class, nor any fighting ability, and he was only three bloody years old.
It did seem like a waste to keep meditating at this point, though. He could think of far better ways to spend eight hundred hours. Like his spear training. There were only three months left until his fourth birthday now, and then he could start.
Meditation would have to be put on the back-burner for now.
***
A pair of hands shook him lightly, and Kaden found himself coming to, still sleepy and slightly confused.
“Are you awake, honey?” A sweet whisper called out to him.
Opening his eyes, he saw his mother standing at the side of his bed, looking at him fondly.
He almost had to do a double take. It was a long time since he had seen an expression like that on her face. Actually, it was a long time since he had seen her at all.
“Yeah,” He answered, not sure if he was still dreaming or what. He felt like he had to be.
His eyes traveled to her side, where his father was standing. The two of them shared a look, and then both of their lips curved upwards into big fat smiles.
“Whatisit?” Kaden said, groggily wiping the sleep from his eyes as he sat up.
“Your father and I have some good news to tell you,” His mother said, bursting with excitement.
Kaden couldn’t help but think that the smile and excitement looked out of place on her. It was almost freaky in a way.
He couldn’t help but wonder if she was somewhat mentally unstable. People didn’t just change overnight like that.
She clasped his hands and held them tight, and then she couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I’m pregnant! You’re going to have a little brother.”
“Huh what?” Kaden was at a loss for words.
He almost couldn’t believe it, it was way too sudden. He didn’t even understand how it could’ve happened. His mother rarely left her room, and his father didn’t come by much either.
“I know, it’s quite a surprise. We only just got back from the hospital after finding out ourselves, and your mother couldn’t wait to tell you.” Camden gave her a playful, harsh look. “Well, there’ll be plenty of time to talk about it later. For now, you should go back to sleep, it’s still early.” Camden gave his son’s hair a quick ruffle.
“When?” Kaden asked before they could leave.
It was the only question he could think of now, but also one he would quite like to know the answer to.
“When she’s giving birth?” Camden asked, not sure what he had meant.
Kaden nodded.
“Well, hm…” Camden said, and then that look that he always got when he had what he thought was a funny idea, appeared on his face.
Kaden almost rolled his eyes in anticipation of what was coming up, but managed to refrain from doing so.
“Pregnancy takes about 40 weeks, and the doctor said she was 16 weeks into her pregnancy. Since Mr. Stein has been teaching you so much, you should be able to figure it out easily,” Camden laughed, and then ruffled his hair again.
It was just as lame as he had been expecting. But at least he got the information he wanted.
“Go back to sleep now, we really shouldn’t have woken you this early. I just couldn’t convince her not to.” Camden smiled, putting his arm around Casey who was giving him a sour look.
As he watched them leave, Kaden couldn’t help but be completely baffled. They were utterly enamored with each other. It was like the world had been flipped upside down.
Because of the low birthrate in the Underworld, he had often heard that a baby could rekindle old romances. Now he believed that was true.
After the surprising news that night, life in the manor changed a little. The most notable influence on that change was of course his mother.
She didn’t stay cooped up in her room as much and was almost always in a good mood as she wandered around the manor.
Observing from a distance, Kaden could clearly see that the way the other wives treated her hadn’t changed a bit. And leading it all, was the mother of the twins, Ava, who was also his father’s first wife.
Tensions between them ran higher than ever, and everyone in the manor could see it. Yet Kaden noticed that his father did nothing to mediate the situation.
Ava really was quite a spiteful woman, and Kaden could understand why his mother didn’t get on well with her. But having a bad relationship with her definitely wasn’t a benefit, as the woman seemed to be held in high regard within the family.
Kaden had no idea why. Both of the twins were talented, sure, but not more than Godfrey. And Camden treated all his children the same, anyway.
Since it didn’t seem like she herself was particularly powerful, Kaden suspected it had something to do with the woman’s family, and maybe even the circumstances regarding her and Camden’s marriage. But that was just a suspicion, and he couldn’t be sure.
He knew that there had to be something that prevented Camden from acting in this situation, though. And with all the things dwelling beneath the surface, Kaden had a nagging feeling that the peace wasn’t going to last.