In the dark room, a pale youth was sitting on the chair, struggling in pain. Veins protruded on his skin, and his hands were gripping the metallic handles of the chair, deforming and breaking them. Mana furiously whirled around him, occasionally slamming into the armored walls of the room, adding new deep dents and scratches to the ones that already existed. After a long time, the seizure finally stopped, and Aldrick, without any strength left in his tense body, nearly fell to the ground in exhaustion. He leaned on the arm of the chair and caught his faint breath.

Even though he finally made it through the agonizing ordeal, not a speck of relief could be seen on Aldrick's emaciated face. 

‘This is the last time. I won’t live through the next seizure.’

He desperately assessed and assessed again the condition of his body, and with each attempt, he became only surer that he will die soon. And now that he has come to this point, he did not know whether he should be relieved or disappointed with the fact.

Aldrick was born with amounts of mana that should not be owned by an unawakened being, let alone a newborn. So for as long as he remembered, he suffered from the excessive amounts of mana that he was born with. On the other side, his body was weak and sickly. This combination of traits was continiously destroying him all his life.

His father, a strict and merciless man, believed that this problem would be naturally fixed once Aldrich awakened. It was a right thought, as awakening would have increased Aldrick’s lifeforce and significantly strengthened his body, enough for him to be able to freely wield the terrific amounts of mana his body held without any restrictions. Therefore, from eight years onwards, Aldrick went through the hellish training. He was made to exert and control his mana till he collapsed almost everyday. Whether it shortened his lifespan in the end or helped him, Aldrick was unsure, but as a result of the training, he managed to build up strength on par with the Awakened of the A rank. All the while still being an unawakened being.

When Aldrick aged fifteen and still had not awakened, his father decided to go further. That day, Aldrick was whipped till he was one breath away from the death. And even so, he did not awaken. Seeing that it was ineffective, his father decided to start sending him into the void. Aldrick battled through a lot of dungeons since then, and a maximum difficulty that he took on was ranked B. But even so, up until today, he did not awaken. Aldrick was twenty years old now.. And he reached the end of his life. Aldrick sighed.

The next day has seen a rare event - all of his family members were present during the breakfast, so Aldrick decided to attend it and tell the news to Ricard Bludsworth, his father. 

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Aldrick, having somewhat recovered from last night, entered the dining room with calm, steady steps. He went along the long walls, painted in a pallet of red colors, and looked at his family members that were already seated and waiting for him.

Three pairs of blood red eyes stared at him, and Aldrick replied by his own stare as he continued walking in calm. As he looked at them, he was once again reminded of the changes in his body. Fiery red hair turned white as he lost his vitality; sturdy and strong body that he developed a few years ago has now lost that strength and become much frailer; blood colored eyes that blazed with power had their fierce light dimmed now and only seethed with silent hatred. 

“You are late, brother.”

One of his elder sisters greeted him with a usual concerned look on her face, while his other sister and brother just nodded at him. Ricard, his father, did not look his way.

“I apologise, Valencia.” His tone did not sound apologetic.

“Don’t, just sit down and let’s eat.” Valencia did not escalate the talk.

Those were all the words that were exchanged with him. When the meal went closer to an end and everyone finished reporting their news to the leader of the family, Aldrick judged it was the right time to tell the family about his situation.

“There was another seizure yesterday. I will die by the end of this week.” He spoke with a calm voice, as if it was not him that Aldrick was talking about.

“Are you sure of it?”

The likewise calm voice belonged to his father.

“Yes. I won’t make it through the next one.”

There was nothing but silence in the room for a few moments. His elder sisters only looked at Aldrick with a sad or complicated look, and his younger brother was expressionless, though his breath betrayed the relief he momentarily felt. His father only wore his usual stern expression that did not show any sympathy.

“Then I will arrange you to an A ranked dungeon raid by tomorrow. If you don’t awaken there, don’t bother me by returning. I will wait for the positive result.”

“Father!”

His sister responded with an outraged expression, but father's decision did not surprise Aldrick at all. He was always like that.

After the end of the meal, Aldrick left to start preparing, but was stopped on the way to his room. It was Valencia with Valerie.

“What?”

Aldrick knew what they would say, but he asked nonetheless.

“Don’t go there. We can help you leave and hide you from father. You don’t have to die in the dungeon.”

Aldrick’s eyes darkened a little. He held in the spiteness and replied.

“This is not only Ricard’s wish, Valencia. If there is even a tiny chance to awaken, I will do whatever it takes to use it. There’s no use trying to stop me.”

“But you..”

“There are no buts. This is only my decision to make.”

There was tangible heaviness in his voice this time. With that, Aldrick left. He could not take his sisters’ sympathy at a face value. In Bludsworth family, all of them were competitors for the successor’s position before they were brothers and sisters. 

That’s how Ricard Bludsworth, their father, raised them all and that’s why Aldrick would never blindly accept their help. Sincerity does not exist in this world for him.