“You gotta be kidding me!”

The shout shook the car as it pulled out of the school gate, making the security guards jump in fright. Small beads of sweat was crawling down Bill’s back as he looked at Clare’s expression in the mirror. With her deep red eyes and frown, she was staring daggers at her screen.

“Is everything alright?” Bill asked, barely summoning enough courage to do so.

With cold red eyes she stared at him, sending more shivers down his spine and wrecking his nerves. Doing his best, he drove forward not daring to say another word. But he kept an eye on her expression which only deepened her rage as she continue to scroll.

When her rage seemed to reach the peak, she tossed her phone to the side and clenched her fists as if preparing for battle. Sitting back in her seat she began to smile which could catch any man attention if her bloodlust wasn’t radiating heavily.

“Oh, father you better prepare yourself.” Bill heard her mumble and sent a silent prayer for his boss.

The silent car ride soon came to an end when they arrived at the mansion where a few maids came out to greet Clare. Watching their young mistress exit the vehicle, Bill saw beads of sweat forming across the maids’ foreheads. Watching them bow to greet Clare, they kept their heads down as they didn’t dare look up until she walked past them.

***

As for Lefu, he was making his way to the farmer’s market for the chance to get more strawberries since the lasts ones were smashed from the car crash. After walking down a few blocks, his goal entered his sight but he didn’t see Old Mino’s stall anywhere. Entering the marketplace, he still couldn’t find the man anywhere. He could only give up and go home.

Doing a light jog, Lefu made it back home in a few minutes where he spotted his father standing outside with a stopwatch and clipboard. Strolling up to his father without notice, Lefu looked at the board to see a list of names and times. Seeing the list, he figured his father was testing their improvement in speed.

“Which class are you currently teaching?” He asked.

“Kickboxing. Ah, here they come.” His father said looking at the group wearing light training gear. Leading in the front of the group was a man looking about twenty or so, but the sweat pouring off of him made him look like more of dying dog than human.

“Lefu, how was school today? Did anything happen?” His mother shouted from behind the desk when she noticed him standing out front. Turning to face her, he gently replied:

“Everything went fine, also I got invited to play a role in the new episode of ‘Vampire Life,’ so I’ll be leaving early on monday.”

“That’s goo- WHAT?! you got invited to play in ‘Vampire Life,’ but how did you manage to do that?” Violet shouted as she nearly blew out everyone’s ear drums in a ten feet radius.

“I told you already. I got invited,” Replied Lefu as he covered his ears.

“That’s amazing, but why did they invite you so suddenly? Also, where’s your script?” His mother asked.

Now realizing that he wasn’t given a script, Lefu felt he was being played with. But he wouldn’t bother too much about it, since it wasn’t his money going into the recording it. After answering a few more questions from his mother, he was finally allowed to go up to the apartment.

Tossing his bag off to the side, he grabbed his laptop and jumped into the lazy chair. Pulling up the chat group, he saw that they had not made much progress in their revising of the kick. Scanning over the past messages, he tried analyzing the question of if it was physically impossible to accomplish or just a waste of energy and effort in a fight.

Thinking for a few minutes, Lefu realized he couldn’t come up with a solution so he logged out and began researching meditation. He began scanning over different websites ranging from the history of meditation all the way to the effects it has on the human body. After scanning over different websites for nearly two hours, Lefu felt his stomach growl as if it was shouting, ‘Fill me!’

Switching off his laptop, Lefu grabbed an apple off the table and headed towards his bedroom to put his research to use. Sitting down in the lotus position, he closed his eyes and appeared inside the mind realm again, only this time was different as he felt he could leave at any point.

‘From my research it said Meditation improves brain functions and helps focus the mind,’ Lefu thought as he took a look at his meditation skill so he could compare afterwards.

[Skill Meditation: Beginner 29.8%]

“Why did it skyrocket from six percent? Was it because I did research on the subject?” He questioned himself, but he needed more testing to conclude it. He added it to his list of tests to do, but he will have to wait until a new skill appears. He decided to begin his nightly meditation before dinner.

***

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Outside Lefu’s bedroom, his parents Matt and Violet were giggling as their son was going to appear with Camilla Zurie, the international superstar. With smiles and small bursts of laughter, they were nearly bowing to the poster of ‘Vampire Life’ they owned with Camilla standing in front of the cast.

“Finally my son will do something other than training,” Violet shouted between laughs.

“What’s wrong with training? Would you rather have him live unhealthy and make bad decisions?” Matt commented from the side.

“No, but all he talks about is training this or training that, now he has something new to talk about,” she retorted.

‘But training is fun though,’ Matt thought but didn’t dare voice his opinion.

“You just thought something along the lines of, ‘Training is fun,’ or something, didn't you?” Violet commented as if reading his mind.

Choosing to stay silent, he didn’t dare look at his wife who can read minds now apparently. With a glance towards the door, hoping someone would knock on the door so he can escape her smug looking face. And as if he used a month’s worth of luck, a knock at the appeared.

“I got it,” he said nearly sprinting to the door. Swinging the door wide open, he saw a man in a black suit and dark shades. Looking over the man, Matt quickly judged the man wasn’t the police or the mafia as they are still recovering from their last attack a couple weeks ago.

“Excuse me, is this where Lefu lives?” The man’s deep but powerful voice asked.

“Yeah, I’m his father. What can I help you with?”

“I’m here to deliver his script as we can’t email him without his email address.” The man quickly handed off an envelope with a slight bow. “Now if you excuse me, I must be on my way.”

Finished with his business, the man turned and left, leaving them no chance to question him further or chat. Closing the door behind him, Matt looked at his hand before setting it on the table as he resisted the urge to open it.

With a long stare at his wife who was in the middle of a battle of epic proportions of opening Lefu’s mail or not. After staring at the envelope for more then ten minutes, they decided to put it into Lefu’s room where they won’t look at it.

Quietly opening his son’s door, he gently placed it on the edge of the desk near the door not daring to disturb Lefu. Taking a glance at his son who was training his mind, it made him feel proud as his son doesn’t rest on a single aspect of training.

***

Inside the Mind Realm, Lefu was wholeheartedly focusing on meditation when he felt a wave of a cooling sensation making his body and mind feel lighter again. After the sensation disappeared, he took a glance at the meditation skill:

[Skill Meditation: Beginner 47.4%]

“Was that cooling sensation a form of enlightenment of sorts?” He questioned as he exited from his mind realm and stretched out. Spotting the envelope near the door, he grabbed it and exited his room where he found parents in a standoff.

“Come on, let me read it.” He watched his mother begging,

“No, the envelope is for Lefu,” His father blocked the entrance to his room.

“What’s going on?” Lefu stood behind his father’s desperate effort of blocking his mother from barging in.

“Your script arrived earlier and now your mother wants to see what role you have, but I didn’t want to disturb you,” His Father explained.

Acknowledging his father as it was banned from interrupting one’s practices inside the household, but some special reason are allowed but this wasn’t one. Opening the envelope, he scanned over his role only to sigh.

“What’s wrong, Leafy?” His mother asked with his nickname after seeing the sigh.

“The role I have is the cool yet bored with life boyfriend role of a pair of vampire that are going to be introduced for the episode.” He replied since Clare should have gotten the girlfriend role, and that was what her shout was about when leaving the school gate.

With a quick thought, Lefu imagined the scene of the cold girl acting and sent shivers down his spine. Lefu Looked over his parents who both held excitement in their eyes, yet hint of disappointed.

‘You’re the ones who wanted to know, so don't say I’m spoiling it for you.’ Lefu thought rolling his eyes at their expressions.

“What time is it?” Lefu asked.

“Dinner is just about ready so go look over your lines, as I expect great acting in the episode.” Matt said.

“Come practice your lines with me,” his mother insisted.

“I think I will practice them by myself.” Lefu answered.

Disappearing back into his bedroom, he began looking over his lines since it would feel awkward practicing with his mother. After looking through the his lines once, he felt odd as he remembered nearly all of it.

“Is this a benefit of Meditation?” He mumbled since his memories improved dramatically in the last 24 hours. After the second run through, he memorized all of it and began speaking his lines.

[Skill Learned: Beginning Acting 0%]

‘Huh, a new skill appeared,’ Lefu thought as the basics of acting flooded his memories. Information on projecting his voice, speaking techniques, and basic information of the acting industry.

‘I have two days to increase my acting skill as much as possible, but let’s test the theory on researching also increasing the skills.’ Lefu thought as he began speaking his line over and over again.

***

Inside the Zurie mansion, Clare was facing an older version of herself, which is an international superstar- Camilla Zurie.

“Sweetie, you’re so stiff, lighten up. It’s not the end of the world.” Camilla said.

“Why do I have to practice, Mother?” Clare complained as she was rehearsing with her mother who was playing Lefu’s part.

Calmly replying, Camilla said, “Do you want to be looked at like a fool who only got the role by buying the role?”

“But it technically was bought with money, and I already memorized everything.” Clare retorted.

“I will not have my daughter make a fool of herself when she can’t bring out her role properly.” Camilla firmly stated.

Looking with puppy eyes at her mother, Clare wanted to take a break as they had been practicing for the last three hours. She had been practicing ever since she returned from school and only had a fifteen minute break.

Noticing her daughter’s eyes and expression, Camilla felt it was enough practice for now since it was time for dinner.

“We will continue after dinner.”

“Demon!” Clare shouted.