Yuto met up with the rest of his family outside setting things up for this week's trip, "Wow they look even more excited than you Master," Mizuki states nodding her head, she floats around seeing all the delicious food that they are packing, the warm blankets and coffee beans.

Yuto sighs and thinks, "To be clear, I am the only one who can hear and see you correct?"

Mizuki floats back in front of him, "Of course, unless you wish for me to show and be heard by anyone else, I will but of course, I know currently that's not what you want right?"

Yuto nods his head, "Heh, of course, don't even get me started on what my mom would say if she knew a beauty like you was in my room"

He walks over to where his dad is loading up the boxes to place them in his storage ring carefully.

<- System ->

[ Detecting item: Storage Ring ]

[ A handy tool that can store almost any item, as it allows the user to put objects into another space ]

"The system truly is helpful," he whispers to himself.

He taps his dad on the back, "Umm, Dad do you and Mom need some help packing up?"

His dad smiles and points at his storage ring, "It's fine as this is a special day for you, so just wait in the carriage I have this storage ring so me, your mother, and sister will help set things up for me to put away"

Yuto nods and heads to the carriage, making himself comfortable by laying out a blanket and sitting on it.

Mizuki shows herself again, sitting beside him, her appearance still stunning him, "Oh so even your father knows the importance of awakening", she reaches over to his side and grabs his leather flask.

"What do you mean?" He watches in amazement as she drinks his whole flask.

"I'll explain down the road, but you'll see that natural awakening is better than artificial awakening," she wipes her mouth handing back the flask.

Yuto turns his head to Mizuki, his heart beating as he stares into her eyes, this is a thought that's been bothering him for a while now.

"What exactly is our relationship?"

"Are we master and servant"

"Partners?"

Mizuki smirks, "What do you want our relationship to be?", she lays her head down on her knees, her eyes never leaving his sight.

"Come on Mizuki, I'm asking honestly, those memories you showed me, we seemed so close, but it feels as if you are putting up a barrier"

Mizuki pats his head, such a simple action and yet it brings him comfort, "Although I cannot say much, we are partners, and maybe more in the future, is that good enough"

Yuto smiles widely, he caresses the ring on his finger, "I still have some questions but knowing we are partners is more than enough"

"Well, I'll allow you one more question, as I know you must be curious about one thing I've said in the past right?"

Yuto bites his lip but doesn't hesitate to ask, "What did you mean when you said I had to collect the other fragments?"

She stayed quiet for a second before grabbing his hand and placing it on her chest, where her heart is supposed to be

"My soul was shattered, it shattered when my original master abounded me and because they broke the bond and contract I paid the price, your job is now to collect my shards so I can become whole again"

Yuto is angry, remembering how she was locked up for so many years, afraid and alone, "If I am to retrieve those fragments for you, will our memories return, and will you explain the truth of my past?"

She cups his cheek, "Once I become whole again all of your memories will be restored, including the ones I'm hiding from you, as soon as that happens I will explain everything you've been dying to know"

"Hah, how long do you think that will take?" he wraps his hand around hers and squeezes it gently

She chuckles as she leans on your shoulder, "Depends on your determination really, but if we work hard enough we may achieve our goal before our final quest"

I rest my head on yours as well, "Okay, I won't ask any more questions, for the time being, I can see that you want to answer them even though you can't right now"

She pulls Yuto close to her and wraps her arms around him, resting her chin on top of his head, "Trust me, I want to spill everything to you, but that would ruin things for the long run"

He wrapped his arms around her, "Promise you won't leave me", She hugged Yuto tighter at his words, resting her head in the crook of his neck and not his head anymore.

"Never, I'm contractually obligated to stay by your side 24/7, and even if I weren't I would still do it, trust me, I'm too attached to you to let you go now"

They hear his family coming back, it seems like they stored everything away already, "We can talk via thought right?" he smiles wiping away the few tears that escaped.

She nods, letting him go, "That's right, as said, we are tied now, I can feel everything you feel, think everything you think, and vice versa"

"What a useful ability," he grins patting her head and staring into her eyes

"Heh, imagine what else it could be used for," she said with a smirk and wink.

Yuto blushes, "J-just go back to the ring," she chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Okay, okay, no need to get so flustered, we have time, after all, we will be together for a long long time"

She said before transforming back to the ring and going around his finger, "Jeez, what am I going to do with you," it's been a while since he smiled this big since his heart felt warm.

Yuto could faintly hear her voice inside his mind.

"Heh, I already have a bunch of ideas, and trust me they are all entertaining ~"

Leaving Yuto to turn extremely beat red, his mother is the first one to enter the carriage.

"Yuto, do you have a fever?" She presses her head against his head, and he pulls away covering his face, "It's fine Mom, I'm just a bit flustered you know?"

His father begins the carriage, and they begin to ride off to the forest, "This is going to be a long journey," his father said with a big smile, it's been a long time since they visited their family members.

Mizuki's voice replied in Yuto's head, "I hope you don't mind me being stuck with you for months or years. Who knows?"

Yuto replied, "Of course not, but I'm going to look at the skills the system says I have."

Her voice chuckled at that, "Okay, look at them then, and tell me what you see"

Yuto opens up the system again, it feels weird that he did it so naturally but that's not important right now "Blood arts level 1, Shadow step level 1, Stealth level 1, Evolution level 1, Shadow knives level 1, Alert, Do you know what any of this means?"

Her voice seems genuinely amused.

"Hehe, of course, I do, it's quite self-explanatory when you think about it, I'm more surprised to see 'Blood arts' there, I thought you hated using that type of martial arts but I guess that was another memory you lost"

"It seems so, blood arts just the name gives me shivers, you seem to know about it though, is it related to our lost memories, Mizuki?"

Her voice seems a bit... colder than before, "You can say that yeah... 'Blood arts' is what my original master called my martial arts, it has limitless possibilities, but with a hefty cost..."

Yuto tries to comfort her in the mind space, "So then why do I have it?"

She chuckled, her mood brightening again.

"My best guess is because you're my owner. Your soul probably became tied to mine as soon as I bound to you, so you could say you can feel a fraction of my power... but that's just me rambling. It could very well be something else entirely"

Yuto nods and goes down the list, "Shadow knives, Shadow step, and Stealth are pretty self-explanatory, but what is Evolution and Alert?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Her voice took a serious tone, "Evolution lets you access stronger and more refined skills. Your body and mind will become sharper and more powerful with time. Think of it as you leveling up in a game"

"And alert... well, the name speaks for itself, it's a passive skill, it lets you see your surroundings with extreme clarity, and it will also help you in predicting your foe's next move"

Yuto nods, "Thank you Mizuki, still though, getting stronger and refining skills seems like a cheat.

Her voice chuckled again, "It is a cheat in a sense, but remember that everything has a cost and that even your own body has its limits, you can't train and train without stopping, it could do more harm than good if you push yourself too much"

Yuto lightens up, "Ah so it has a hidden condition to use, probably has to do something with the system"

She chuckled again, "Ding ding ding, and you got it in one try! Yeah, for every skill you use, every time you level up or gain EXP, you pay a hidden cost, it varies from skill to skill depending on their importance and usefulness. "

"Interesting, so does the system give me a quest? I haven't received anything like that since I got it," Yuto looks up and down the system, and yet cannot see anything that says quest or anything related to it.

There was a small pause before her voice replied, she had to think if she knew the answer

"I don't think 'Quests' is the right word for it, instead, what you get are 'goals', you won't receive a quest, but you might stumble on something in your path, let's say you find a strange object, and it catches your attention, so now your goal is to find out what this object is and what it does"

"So it's based on my actions and the path I take," he thinks about the dreams, the monsters he slayed, and the ways he killed them countless times.

She smiled as she nodded her head, agreeing with him

"Exactly, you won't get a random 'Quest' that you must complete, you create your path, and the system just supports you in your journey"

"My level is currently 30, usually in situations like this, you get a quest at level 1, so you're right that it's not random", do his dreams affect reality or at least his system?

Her voice chuckled at level 30, "Well, as I said before... you are quite the special case, your situation is a far cry from the norm, a level 30 'Noob' is not something you see every day"

"Hahaha," He stopped laughing when he noticed that his mother and sister were looking at him concerned, hell even his father was about to stop the carriage because he was laughing at nothing.

Yuto buries his face under his blanket, "I forgot they can't hear you"

She chuckled in response, "They must think you are just a little bonkers right about now, laughing alone like that"

They continue their journey through the forest, finally stopping in a safe location, at night his father asks if he wants to do some training.

Yuto simply nods and follows his father to the middle of their campsite, his mother and sister sit and watch from the side, Cynthia reaches for the bag and pulls out some popcorn, while his mother already has some potions ready.

"Your sister is quite the glutton and your mother already seems worried about how this fight is going to be," Mizuki says with a smile pointing out how Cynthia is already on her 3rd bag of popcorn.

Yuto simply nods, not being able to respond as his father has a very serious look, his hands hovering over his sword.

"Yuto," his father's voice seems a bit cold, not like this morning when his father was practically lifting him off the ground.

"Y-yes Dad?" Mizuki could feel Yuto's emotions spinning and turning

"What are you trying to learn?", his eyes never leaving Yuto's, as if trying to read how his body responds to each question.

"I wish to learn your martial arts"

His father raises his eyebrow, clearly curious, his mother and sister practically choke on the popcorn after hearing Yuto's response.

"May I ask why?", his father smirks, Yuto has asked for the longest time but because he never awakened, he could not understand how the martial art works.

"To protect our family and the people I will meet," Mizuki pats Yuto's head, she was happy to hear that response.

"Are you willing to go to extreme lengths to protect them?"

Yuto calls forth Mizuki, she takes the form that Yuto saw in the dream, a beautiful sword with 2 red ribbons attached to it, "I am"

His father watches Yuto carefully, his eyes analyzing how his son holds the blade, "My boy it seems you've had some training, but will you walk the path of a Sword Master?"

Yuto simply nods his head, "Mizuki are you ready?" He can feel Mizuki's response as the sword faintly glows

His father chuckles, amused with his confident response, "Very well, you seem passionate about this goal of yours. You need that determination to see this through to the end"

"Honey, Cynthia, do not intervene until one of us surrenders okay?" his mother and sister nod in agreement, already on their 6th bag of popcorn.

"Come at me, son," his father does not draw out his blade though, just simply keeping it in its scabbard.

Yuto runs at him drawing his blade upwards, clearly intending to cut his father's arm.

His father quickly blocks Yuto's sword, parrying it effortlessly, "Not bad. You're fast, but too straightforward"

He pushes him back lightly, "Try a feint attack next"

Mizuki chuckles at his dad's response, "He's right, it's always better to take things slowly and build proper fundamentals than over-rely on speed and brute force"

Yuto nodded at Mizuki and thought, "I doubt he'll give us that advantage though"

Yuto comes back sword by his side, this time throwing some dirt toward his father's eyes and trying to attack his blind spot.

His father easily ducks as he sees the dirt being thrown at his eyes, "You're smarter than I thought"

Yuto tries to attack his blind spot, but his father quickly swings his sword in a wide arc, predicting the feint.

"But not quite smart enough," he blocks the next swing and follows it up with a quick slash, attempting to disarm Yuto.

Yuto tries to back up before feeling pain in his stomach.

His attempt to fall back was useless as his father delivered a swift knee strike to his stomach, the force of it caused Yuto to stagger backward, pain coursing through his body.

Mizuki is worried about him as she too feels the pain coursing through her body, "The state we're in right now is like a lamb trying to attack a lion, Yuto the outcome was very clear from the beginning, it seems the reasons you couldn't see your father's level is simply because it's too high"

His father approaches Yuto, his hand stopping his mother and sister from intervening, Yuto does his best not to fall, gripping the sword more tightly.

"You have spirit, my boy, I'll give you that. But you're still too predictable"

Yuto coughs out the blood and wipes his mouth, "Not yet", shadow step -> quick step level 1

His father raises his eyebrow again, impressed by the sudden burst of speed his son has shown.

"Very fast, it seems like you're trying to show me that you're serious about this goal"

His father quickly moves to match Yuto's speed, his eyes already reading his every move.

Yuto is shocked, he even used this new skill and yet he quickly caught up to him using nothing but pure muscle, Yuto aims for his father's core.

His father smiles, his eyes narrowing as he sees his son aim for his core, "You're trying to go for vitals now?"

"DODGE YUTO!" Mizuki shouts but it's too late

His father dodges Yuto's attack at the last second, moving with incredible reflexes, "But you'll have to be faster than that to land a hit"

Yuto felt a heavy blow to his back, such pain almost causing him to black out, his father followed up his dodge with a swift kick to his back, knocking Yuto to the ground harshly.

"You're too focused on offense. You forgot about your defense"

His father looks at Yuto a bit disappointed but notices how he never lets go of his sword.

Yuto tries to get up but feels another kick to his hand, forcing him to drop his sword.

His father continues the relentless assault as Yuto tries reaching for his sword through the relentless assault.

Mizuki appears by his side, as she feels his father's attack, "This is no longer a fight Yuto, it's slaughter at best, I wonder how long it will take until your old man decides to stop this humiliating beating"

Yuto lets out a small laugh at her responses, he knows how she feels and is trying to make light of this one-sided beat-down

"It seems as if you are starting to rely too much on your weapon, it's nothing but a crutch for your weaknesses", his father looks at Yuto his eyes showing remorse.

Time appears to come to a stop as Mizuki and Yuto meet in the mind space, looking at how Yuto was quickly disarmed and put down on the ground.

"Mizuki, I'm going to fight him differently this time, as much as I hate to admit it, I do feel as if I've been relying on weapons too much"

Mizuki simply smiles and pats his head, "Show him then, show him the man who has never backed down not even once"

Yuto smiles as he returns to reality, Mizuki returns to his finger as a ring, and he raises his fist, his blood still dripping from his nose.

His father chuckles as he puts his sword on the ground and raises his fist as well, "So you're going with your fist now? How bold"

He raises his fist forward already preparing for Yuto's next attack.

Yuto comes at his father throwing a hook before switching up to an uppercut.

His father blocks the hook with his forearms, the impact slightly causing him to grunt.

"Not bad son, you're switching up your techniques between attacks"

He dodges Yuto's uppercut and tries to sweep his legs.

Yuto quickly jumps up, throwing an ax kick.

His father backs up to avoid Yuto's kick, but his eyes narrowly avoid it.

"Impressive, your agility and unpredictability improved in such a short time"

He takes advantage of Yuto's airborne movement, attempting to grab his ankle.

Yuto uses the speed he built up to throw a roundhouse kick.

His father blocks the kick, but the force causes him to stumble back a bit.

"You're adapting quickly", his father pats his shoulders, still no sign of damage.

Yuto falls back to the ground, quickly getting up to start a Dempsey Roll.

His father looks in surprise, "Interesting, who did you learn boxing from, this is different from how others use it"

His father tries to counter Yuto's barrage of blows, blocking and parrying almost every attack, his eyes narrow, as if he's studying his son's techniques.

His father tries to maintain his footing as Yuto continues his relentless attacks, he prevents his father from counter-attacking.

"Relentless just like your old man heh", his father smiles and Yuto feels pain on his chin

His father had leaped towards him and launched a flying kick that stroked Yuto's chin, sending him flying a few feet back

He merely wipes a bit of sweat off his forehead as he sees Yuto trying his best to stand up again.

<- System Warning ->

[ The host health has fallen below half, some stats and abilities may not be the same due to low health ]

Yuto's whole world is starting to look blurry, he knows he won't last long so he charges up one final attack, he has to ignore the system's warning.

His father sees him rushing towards him and prepares to counter his attack "I assume that this is your final attack?"

Yuto pretends to throw a punch while hiding his last technique, following Mizuki's words he lands a Crescent kick.

His father prepared to block a punch but is caught off guard by the sudden new technique Yuto revealed

"Haha sneaky", the kick landed right on his abdomen, catching him off balance and sending him stumbling backward.

Yuto falls forward, and the amount of blood loss and damage that his body accumulated finally catches up to him, and he faints.

As he was falling his father quickly caught him, preventing Yuto from hitting the ground.

"Easy there, that was quite the foolish move, attacking with what little strength you had left"

He notices a small smile on Yuto's lips, "Despite that foolishness, my boy, I am incredibly proud of you and the potential you have shown me"

He picks up Yuto and begins walking back to where the rest of his family are, Yuto felt Mizuki patting his head gently, "That was an amazing fight, I knew it, you are returning to me"

His mother and sister run towards them, already ready to take care of his every wound.

<- System Rewards ->

[ Host has fought and survived against the kingdom's Sword Master

+5 levels / New martial art collection / + 3 to every stat, new stat available - Mentality - ]

". . . . . . Hey . . Wake . . . .up . . . .hey"

A faint voice can be heard but does not reach Yuto, as he falls into an ocean of warmth as if washing away his pain before he feels the ground again.

"So you've returned here, I guess the questions you have kept hidden are reappearing here", Yuto immediately gets up at the sound of a new voice and spots a hooded figure drinking tea.

He looks around and notices that he's back at the cabin, he feels a pit in his stomach as if he's going to throw up.

"Woah now, can't have you making a mess, why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea?", the hooded figure gestures their hand towards the empty seat.

Yuto nods and walks to the chair, although they are back at the cabin, there is no sign of blood anywhere, no smell of corpses instead the smell of flowers, and the red sky is replaced with beautiful blue.

He took a seat and looked at the hooded figure still drinking their tea and eating a few treats, "Who are you?" Yuto asked bluntly, his tone wasn't accusive but curious

The figure stops, "You can call me Ernaline"

Yuto's eyes widen, as he looks down to his ring, "Ernaline, you say?"

Ernaline nods, "But I doubt that's what you want to know, so I'll give you one question"

Yuto bit his lip, his hands were playing with the ring, he had a lot to ask but his number one was, "What exactly is this place?"

Ernaline turned her head as if trying to read his body movement, she could tell that Yuto was serious about this question, and she sighed as she poured herself another cup.

"We are where you wanna be, a place not disturbed by reality and not influenced by the mind or dreamworld, to put it into words, we are in another space of your creation"

Yuto immediately gets up from his chair, his hands hitting the table, "M-my creation you say, how could I create all of this, and why would I?"

Ernaline puts down her cup and sighs, "While I would love to answer you, it seems like we've run out of time"

The world around them starts cracking, as the floor beneath them starts to shake, "When we see each other again, I will answer 3 questions, so think very hard of what those questions are My King"

She takes off her hoodie, she has beautiful pink hair with elf ears, and she cups his cheek, "So take care until then, for this is merely our first meeting"

Yuto feels the floor beneath him disappear and fall into the void, he reaches out his hand,

"WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ERNALINE!", all he can see is that smile, a smile that holds nostalgia but also a pang of sadness.

So many questions enter his mind, why did she look at him like that, what's her goal and why just why did she look at him like that?

As he falls deeper and deeper into the void, he feels a hand reach out and grabs him.

. . . . . "YUTO!"

Mizuki's voice finally gets through to him, as she helps Yuto up, "Mizuki, where are we?"

He looks around and sees the only ones in the carriage are him and her, and notices that he's covered in bandages.

"No, how long was I out?", Mizuki helps him sit up and passes him his leather flask

"3 days I'm afraid, your father did a number on you, so much that your mother and sister refused to talk to him"

3 days, he thinks, so he missed 3 days' worth of training and admiring the beauty of nature

"What are each of my family members doing right now?"

Mizuki helps change his bandages, "If I recall, your mother is starting lunch, while your sister and father are out hunting"

"I'm sorry Mizuki"

She looks at him surprised, "For what, Yuto?"

"I should have relied on you, asked you for help, instead I merely thought of you as a sword and instead of my partner"

He puts his head down in shame, he can't even make eye contact with his hair, but he feels warm hands cupping his cheek.

"Yuto Sweetie, it's okay, it was our first fight together as partners, that's why it's called training for a reason, to practice for situations like this"

"Still I sh-", she puts her fingers on his lips, "Ah ah I told you it's okay, now come outside, I'm sure your mother would be very happy to see you awake"

Yuto smiles as he pulls Mizuki into a hug, "Thank you"

He puts on his coat as Mizuki transforms back into a ring.

"I do have one question though", Mizuki says with curiosity.

Yuto stops, "Oh, and what is it?"

"Back when you fought your dad, why didn't you use the suit of armor the other ring gives you?"

The ring of Ernaline, felt too much like a cheat, "Because I wanted to take my father down, just the two of us"

Mizuki chuckles at his response, "Yeah instead we ended up getting our asses handed to us"

Yuto laughs as well, "I'll make sure to use it next time, I promise"

<- System Rewards ->

[ Would the host like to receive their rewards now? ]

Yuto stops again, looking at how the system just appeared before him, as Mizuki said, it's not quests but actions that give Yuto rewards.

He reaches out his hand and accepts the rewards.

[ Host has accepted rewards ]