5-Promises, Secrets, and Subterfuge.

3/1/5/4353 M.A.C - Niwut - Mid-Afternoon

"Your formal apprentice? Um, although I appreciate the offer, I don't really have plans on becoming a professional scholar. I just studied and took the examination because having the certification would be useful, make my father proud, and would teach me some useful things. I am probably going to end up doing a lot of research and experimentation in the future, but mostly so I can make the things I come up with. I thought I could have you act as an advisor for the next season and that I could get access to the library for research materials."

Doro tilted his head down a bit and then added to his response hurriedly.

"If I was looking into becoming a professional scholar, I would accept your offer on the spot."

Scholar Atwut straightened his back and chuckled a bit.

"Doro, I am not offering you discipleship, don't worry. An apprenticeship under me would just make me your teacher. Officially I would be tutoring you for the next stages of the scholar certification and giving you some minor tasks to help you practice and aid with my research. I would get a lot of social credit in scholarly circles if one of my apprentices were to pass his third-tier examination by the age of twelve. My position is rather elevated but the scholars who are more focused on research than teaching or administration tend to dismiss me as a paper-pusher and minder of children. Teaching you could help me shut them up a little, if you were to succeed."

Scholar Atwut took a breath and then clapped his hands together.

"You won the bet so if all you desire is access to the library and for me to act as your advisor for one season, that is what you will get. If you accept my offer and work towards getting your third-tier certification by the time you become twelve and get another shot at the free examinations, I will extend your reward duration from one season to three years. In exchange, you will do some minor tasks to help with my personal research here and there and call me Professor, at least when in the presence of others. What do you say?"

That actually seems to be a pretty good deal. His motivations are arguably petty but it doesn't seem like he is trying to trick me. Guess I'll ask him another question or two and then decide.

"Scholar Atwut, before I make my decision, I have two questions for you. First, What is the field of study in which you conduct your research? Second, if I come to you with ideas for inventions and discoveries that I would rather keep quiet, is there a way to protect me from you or another senior scholar running with the idea without crediting me or keeping me involved?"

Scholar Atwut had a grave look on his face as he answered.

"I shall answer your second question first. There is a form of contract that we could sign that would forbid us from sharing any information about a project we both work on without the approval of the other party. This is normally used when multiple scholars collaborate on a large project that involves multiple fields. There is a contract apprentices and discliples have to sign normally but it only works to protect the teacher. If we make your apprenticeship into a collaboration, on paper, then we could sign that contract instead and it would protect you from leaking my research to others and vice-versa. Seeing as it would be beneficial for both of us, I have no issue with signing such a contract. One addendum is that if either of us is breaking an imperial law then the other is allowed to divulge information on that matter directly to the authorities or to the Scholarium. As for your first question, I specialize in advanced geometry and architecture. Most of my research involves figuring out new ways to build structures and refining older techniques. I do believe that the abilities you will develop as a meister might be helpful."

Oh, so it isn't just my exam scores. He also took my Choice into consideration before making his offer. His field of study seems pretty compatible though. I think we can both benefit from this so, why not?

After thinking it through for a few moments, Doro nodded in acquiescence.

"I accept your proposal, Professor."

Doro grinned and put his hand out. Scholar Atwut returned his smile and clasped the hand with both of his before shaking it once.

"Let's get your certification marks added to your sigil and then I'll see you on Learning-day at eighth bell. My position as Imperial Enumerator has me occupied between second and eighth bell. If you need my counsel, you are free to hop in any day after I switch to my personal research, at the risk of being put to work."

Scholar Atwut led him back to get his new certification added. Doro tried to ask the scholar to only give him the first-tier certification but he refused.

"I apologize, but since I gave you the test and you passed it. I am duty-bound to record it in the registry and to give you the equivalent mark. I should normally also be giving you your second-tier merchant certification since you proved your grasp of the knowledge required and that was the deal I had given you. However, the second-tier merchant certification allows you to work in positions that may be responsible for significant amounts of money.

Therefore it is restricted for citizens below the age of twelve."

The scholar then showed Doro the way to his office and bid him farewell. He handed him a token and told him that it would identify Doro as his apprentice, thus allowing him to make his way around some of the restricted parts of the imperial complex, including the library.

"Don't go wandering around or exploring quite yet, I'll give you a small tour of the areas you have access to and the rules when you come back in four days. Go have fun testing out your new abilities in the meantime."

Scholar Atwut then closed the door to his office, leaving Doro standing on his own in the corridor.

Time to go home. How am I going to explain all this to my parents? I guess if I manage to get Dad alone, I could tell him the truth about me being a Blessed and ask him to play along. He might agree. The problem is Mom though. If she gets drunk, there is no way she isn't going to start boasting about her son being a Blessed. If it becomes public knowledge, things are going to get troublesome. Some random holy men making a pilgrimage to my home and worshipping me would be annoying as hell, but that would probably be the best-case scenario.

Doro started walking out of the complex while trying to come up with a plan. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Sarima waiting for him outside until she patted him on the back.

"Don't worry too much about it, I'm sure there aren't nearly as many toilets in the complex as the scholar made it seem."

Oh right, she probably thinks I failed. I was quite deep in thought and probably looked troubled as I walked out.

"Hey Sarima, Congratulations on passing! So... don't freak out, but check this."

Doro held his hand in front of him, with his palm facing Sarima, and displayed his Sigil. Two new marks had appeared in the square. The first was the same one that Sarima had just acquired, a white symbol of a weighing scale with a black outline. The other was a picture of an open book and a quill, however, this one was bronze-colored. The Certifications were color-coded, the first tier was white, and second was bronze. Sarima smiled at him as she saw he had passed, but her eyes widened as she noticed the color of Doro's scholar's mark.

"Wait you passed!? That's amazing! Remember our pro-"

Sarima nearly choked on her words as she studied the mark more closely.

I guess the meaning behind the color just sank in.

She managed to sort herself out after a couple of seconds and questioned Doro intently. He relayed part of the events of the day to her, using his premade excuse about his father preparing him, and leaving out any bits about being a Blessed. At the end of his story, she was looked at Doro with eyes wide open and straightened her posture.

"I know I am the one who asked, but are you sure it's fine for me to take lessons from you for free? You have a second-tier certification and you are the apprentice of an Imperial Scholar now, and I don't have anything I could trade that would be worth your time-"

Doro interrupted her to try and avoid her self-confidence taking a hit from the direction she was taking the conversation in.

"Don't worry about that. You never know, I might piss him off again at some point and he'll kick me out. If you really feel bad about doing it for free, how about in exchange I give you some of the things I make, and you sell them for me alongside your father's wares in your shop, on consignment? As long as your father is ok with it."

Sarima brightened up at the prospect but then started looking troubled again.

"But don't your parents also have a shop? You don't really need me for this, you are just trying to be nice..."

"Nah, we do have a shop if you wish to be very liberal with the term, but my parents deal with direct orders. The only things on display in the shop are some example pieces of my mother's ceramics and some of my father's metals and glazes. It is not the best setup for selling things off the shelves."

"Ok deal, don't worry about my dad, he'll accept. I'm the one who feeds him after all."

Sarima gave a mischievous wink at Doro but he wasn't quite ready to believe she was only joking.

She's dangerous that one. Better not put myself in a position where I become a target of her ire. Wait a sec, if she wants to be useful to me to pay me back for my time, maybe I could use her to distract Mom.

"Sarima? You know, there is something I could really use your help with right now. You see I want to surprise my mother with my results. If you could get her out of the house for thirty minutes so that I can talk with my dad in private and decide how we are going to tell her, it would be really helpful."

Doro tried his best to act nonchalant as he asked for her help but he was not a proficient liar. He probably hesitated too long as he was coming up with his excuse and Sarima appeared to have picked up on something.

"You are up to something! Aren't you? Well as long as I don't get in trouble for it, why not? What excuse could I use to get her though?"

The pair continued talking as they walked back to the industrial district. At some point they decided to act like Doro had forgotten the bag with his two remaining buns and to have Sarima go to his house to return it. At that point, she would let it slip that her father recently bought some tasty foreign liquor on the cheap. She would then offer to lead Suyum to the merchant from whom her father had procured it. Sarima didn't seem convinced at first, but after Doro told her a few stories to illustrate Suyum's love of alcohol, she agreed that the plan would probably work.

"Plus, if you are going to start showing up at my house every morning, it won't hurt for you to win some points with my mom through booze. By the way, I completely forgot to ask but what was your Choice? I ended up as a Phase Meister, pretty happy with it."

Sarima froze in place as he asked and her expression became difficult to read. She seemed to have resolved herself to answer his question as a look of conviction appeared on her face.

"It is complicated. To put it simply I ended up picking Store Manager. However it was strange, I ended up with two options representing Store Manager. One of them came with an extra hidden bit that I can choose not to display. Before I tell you though, I need to ask you a question."

Huh? She can't be a Blessed or I would feel it, unless Gallius lied. No, I don't see any reason he would have. Curious, I wonder what kind of hidden Choice she found.

"Doro, are you a Ble-"

Doro's hand snapped up and covered her mouth before she could finish the word.

"Damn it! How!? Whisper the answer to me, we are in public and we don't know who could be listening in."

Sarima's face had betrayed her rising anger at being interrupted but she visibly calmed down as he explained himself. She then approached and whispered into his ear.

"Well, The full name of my Choice is "Blessed's Store Manager". It would seem that our deal outside unlocked a special Choice. It seems to be the same as a normal version of the Choice to start with but comes with an extra focus and Ability. The Ability is "Teachings of the Blessed", it should use a small amount of energy to allow me to remember any interaction with the blessed I am linked to. At least that's what the description said."

She then looked pointedly at Doro as if to indicate that he was the one she was speaking of.

"The focus seems to have also been influenced as I got a focus on exotic materials. My dad uses standard-quality iron, steel, and bronze. Nothing exotic about those materials. So I guess that is a direction that your Choice leans into."

Doro looked at her and could do nothing but blink in silence as he realized that this girl had picked a Choice that gave her Abilities entirely reliant on his input.

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She was intelligent enough to piece the clues together but it would seem she can be quite reckless. If I decided not to help her out, she'd be shit out of luck. She doesn't have a Source of exotic materials, and she will lose out on one of her base Abilities entirely if I don't teach her. Then there is no telling how many more of the Abilities she gets as she levels up will depend on me. What if I get run over by a cart and die?

Doro's befuddlement slowly turned to disbelief and then to irritation as he realized how hasty she had been.

"You do understand that by picking that Choice, you might as well have sworn a lifelong oath to me. If your choice revolves around me, what if we became enemies, or I just went off and died? Where would that leave you? Not only that but there are two sides to an oath and I did not know that by accepting to give you some quick lessons, I would end up bound to you and in a way responsible for you as long as we both live. If I was a lord it would be like I gave you a small task and you somehow managed to turn that into becoming my sworn knight without my input. Your Decision affects both of us! What if I turned out to be evil? We barely knew each other before this morning and now we are tied together for the foreseeable future..."

Doro's irritation fizzled out by the end of his rant. he was finally calm enough to observe Sarima's reaction. She was red as a Thermal in the desert as she began muttering.

"lifelong oath....tied together.....like a couple?"

Doro did a spit take, which was quite an achievement considering he had not been drinking anything.

"Wha in the what!? No! The example I used was a lord and his knight, I don't know what adult novels you got your hands on, but lords and their knights aren't normally romantically involved. Also, for the second time today, let me say it again so that it truly sinks in this time around. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN ROMANCE! Any ideas you may have of us being together should be nipped in the bud before they have a chance to grow and make things awkward. I promise not to fall in love with you and I will request you to do the same."

Sarima's face was still entirely red, but for a completely different reason now, she was nearly fuming.

"Wow, someone's too big for their briches. I'm not in love with you, we barely know each other. You know? you are right! I understand how rash I was to make this Choice now. I had no idea you could be such a big-headed arse."

She then turned around and started stomping away.

Oops... I may have messed up. I still need her to help with Mom so I better apologize and stop her now.

"Wait Sarima! I'm sorry, I may have run my mouth off. My bad. Please don't go, I actually need your help with my mother. Also, you are the only one who knows my secret so I would say we are a little bit more than strangers."

Sarima stopped and waited for a second as if she was pondering whether to forgive Doro. She then turned around and beamed at him.

"Too easy! And you said I wouldn't be able to manipulate you when we talked this morning. Guess you and scholar Atwut have the same weakness. You shouldn't underestimate people Teach'. Don't worry, I'll go take care of your mom now and I'll see you tomorrow bright and early!"

She then sprinted away while cackling loudly before Doro could really comprehend what had just happened.

Dammit, I really thought I would kick this weakness to the curb. It would seem I'm weak to women manipulating me even if I am not attracted to them. Well, I'm still young. I just need to work on picking up when I'm being messed with. If I'm gonna interact with Sarima on a daily basis, that should cover my training in this area.

Doro chuckled to himself, accepting his defeat. He waited five minutes to give Sarima a head start then made his way back home. He had decided that he would tell his father the truth and let him decide if, or in what way, they should let Suyum know.

Doro continued to make his way home but his footsteps were growing heavier. He knew that his father was a man of logic and hoped that he would understand. Even with his memories as Ben returned, Doro still existed. He really wished he could make his father understand that his son hadn't been replaced, only that he had become more than he was before.

Man, this is gonna be awkward.

Doro eventually made it back to the front door of his home, so concerned with how to explain himself to his father that he forgot to check if his mother and Sarima had gone. Luckily, before he opened the door, he heard Sarima let out a high-pitched giggle. Doro dashed to the narrow space between his house and the neighboring one as the door swung open.

"Miss Suyum, that sour bun was evil! You have to teach me how you made it so I can trick my father... and brother if he ever comes back."

Victim number two! I better make an offering to RNGesus to offset the luck I just expended. I wonder how my D&D buddies are doing. Emi died alongside me so they lost both their bard and their artificer. My Choices aren't an exact match but I somehow ended up with a similar power set to my character. Maybe Emi is out there somewhere being a bard, I'm sure she'd love that. Wonder if the campaign continued past our deaths. It would be funny if it turned out my character outlived me. That's a bit dark, moving on.

By the time he finished reminiscing, Suyum and Sarima had walked onto another street and he was free to make his way in. Doro walked to the Door and took in a big breath. He slowly let the air out of his lungs causing his muscles to relax slightly and his tension to ease.

I never really got the whole clearing your mind part of meditation, but the breathing exercises really do help. Alright, I only have so much time before Mom comes back.

Doro walked in through the door that led to the kitchen. He didn't find his father at the table, so he went to the corridor and continued walking until he arrived in front of his father's workshop. Doro had been forbidden from entering until he was old enough and even though it hadn't been outright stated, he had assumed that meant until his first Choice.

Still, better not to test the waters before the conversation. Don't want to risk making his mood worse.

Doro knocked on the door and waited. He could hear his father's footsteps becoming steadily clearer as he approached. Khetep opened the door to find his son waiting for him, exuding a serious aura.

"Hey Son, you're back! Did something go wrong? Oh, did your stomach troubles from yesterday return?"

Khetep had come to the wrong conclusion, not that the subjects were completely unrelated.

"Dad, we need to talk about something important before Mom comes back. It might be best if you sat down."

Doro turned around and walked back toward the kitchen, motioning his father to follow. The two reached the kitchen and sat down across from one another.

"What is it Son?"

Khetep appeared worried by the way Doro was acting and those feelings were carried in his tone.

"Well, Dad, before I get to it, how much do you know about the Blessed?"

Khetep did not seem to expect this topic as he blinked a few times before answering, in a slightly confused tone.

"Probably a little more than most but not much. Your mother, and all other Gal family members, share an ancestor who was a Blessed. She told me a couple of stories, but aside from them having two Choices and their habit of changing the world by coming up with new knowledge or achieving mighty deeds, I do not know much."

"There is something else you should know about the Blessed before we move on. Each of the Blessed, at some point in their childhood, before their first Choice is made, has a very lucid dream. In that dream, they see scenes from another world called Earth. They see it through the eyes of one of the denizens of that world, going through their daily lives with them. Sadly, those dreams end with the early death of said denizen, waking the Blessed up from the dream. The thing is, after they wake up, the dream doesn't fade. They remember all the knowledge of the denizen of Earth they incarnated, as well as their emotions. Then, when they make their first Choice, they see a message from one of the ascended telling them that Earth was a real place in one of the two waning words and that the person they had dreamed of had actually been the previous incarnation of their soul. That is why the Blessed have two Choices. One of them is the Choice that would have been the most suited to them in their previous life."

Doro paused and observed his father's reaction but all he could see was a slightly confused look on his face.

"Did they teach you that during the lectures? That is interesting and all, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Guess I'll need to say it outright. Me being a Blessed appears to be so improbable to him that he isn't jumping to the obvious conclusion.

"I'm telling you this because two nights ago, I had that dream. Yesterday, I remembered my previous life. Today, Gallius spoke to me and I was given a second Choice. Dad...I have awakened as a Blessed."

Doro was nervous. he had done a lot of planning but this was the moment of truth. Would his father understand that Doro was still there, or would he treat him as a stranger responsible for his son's disappearance? As it turns out, Khetep's reaction wasn't one he had planned for.

"Ha haha...ha. Nice one Doro! You nearly got me going. Okay Suyum you can come out now! This was a good attempt, but you should know I'm not that gullible."

Silence hung heavily as Doro kept eye contact with his father. After a minute of Suyum not appearing, Khetep's eyes widened and his mouth opened half-way. He remained in this pose for a couple of seconds before gathering his wits enough to ask a question.

"Do you have proof? Are you sure that person calling themselves Gallius wasn't an impersonator? You seem to believe what you are saying, truly..."

"I could show you that I have two Choices, but you could think it was trickery. I've got an idea!"

Doro showed his palm to his father and made his sigil appear.

"As you can see I passed the second-tier scholar certification. No one knows my academic level better than you, my teacher. Do you believe that I could have achieved this without having become a Blessed? You know that last

decan I would have barely been able to pass the first-tier exam. If you think I somehow cheated on the exam, go ahead and ask me questions to test my knowledge until you are satisfied."

Ten minutes later, Doro started regretting his choice of words. His father had been testing him for the entire time and the scope of his questions had progressed beyond what had been in the second-tier exam.

"Dad, I've answered more than enough to prove myself. Can you please stop and just accept it already!"

Doro was getting a bit annoyed, but his father's response made keeping his temper under control a real challenge.

"Oh, I believe you. I did after about a minute. I was just wondering how smart you got and got carried away."

He even chuckled in a relaxed manner as he said that. Doro was getting a bit angry and confused at his father's reaction.

Is he in shock maybe? Why the hell does he seem so cool with it... I haven't reassured him that I am still his son and view him as my dad yet. This is not going according to my carefully crafted plan at all!

"What gives!? shouldn't you be acting more worried, asking me if I am still really your son, Doro? Or even accusing me of having taken your son away from you and demanding I return him as he was. I'd like to point out that I still see myself as Doro by the way. What I felt before,I still feel now. There is just more of it."

Khetep just chuckled again before speaking up.

"I figured you were still my son. You said this happened two nights ago right? Well, we have been living our lives for the past two days, and aside from you being a little tense, you've still been acting pretty much like my son. The fact that you came up to me and told me the truth and that you seemed so scared of my reaction just reassured me of that. If you weren't my son and had just replaced him, you wouldn't care about how I reacted since you could always just reveal yourself to the empire and have them take great care of you in the Imperial Capital instead of staying in our sooty home. The fact that I can see you are scared and anxious of my reaction in itself is proof enough of your feelings. Let us not tell your mother just yet though."

Doro visibly deflated as he finally managed to relax a little.

"We should tell her you have been secretly tutoring me more than she knew, to explain how I managed to get my second-tier certification. Oh, by the way, I became the apprentice of the Imperial Enumerator who registered me. I am to report to him every Seventh-day afternoon. Before you ask, he doesn't know. Only you and Sarima do."

"You told Sarima? Why? It's not like I ever saw you playing with her. What made you decide to trust her? Also how much did you do today!?"

Doro could not help but let out a deep, tired sigh before he answered.

"I didn't exactly tell her. Before we made our Choice we spoke a little and she badgered me until I agreed to give her a bit of my time every morning to help with her studies. It turns out that it managed to fill in some unknown requirement that allowed her to get a special Choice option. She is a Blessed's Store Manager. She was smart enough to put two and two together and she outright asked me if I was a Blessed on our way back. Couldn't come up with a good excuse so I ended up with no choice but to trust her. To be fair, with the Choice she picked, it is in her best interest not to make an enemy out of me so I believe she should be trustworthy for now. If only out of self-interest."

Khetep nodded along and as Doro finished the story, his father started displaying a saccharine smile.

"Doro! My favorite son! You do remember that I have been somewhat stuck at my threshold for the last year and a half right? Maybe if you were willing to teach me some of your otherwordly knowledge, I could pass the bottleneck and get a special Choice on my thirtieth level. Now that you are old enough, there is no reason you shouldn't spend your time in my workshop for some quality father-son bonding time instead of always being in your mother's right?"

"....Dad? Please stop speaking to me as if you were trying to sell me a second-hand cart with a hidden defect. It's creepy. Of course, I'll help you out. Luckily for you, it turns out that my Blessed Choice is right up your alley. If you study hard enough you might even qualify for a version of it. I do believe it is probably a new Choice. Have you ever heard of a Synthesist?"

Khetep pinched himself before answering.

Yeah, I get it. From his end, it must feel like winning the lottery. His son who always spent time with his mother and had more of an interest in art and crafting than in the sciences has suddenly become a Blessed. If that wasn't enough, his son now shares his interest in the sciences and is willing to teach him advanced scientific theories from another world. I'd probably think I was dreaming too.

"If Mom asks why you are wearing this huge, stupid grin on your face, tell her it's because you are proud of me becoming a second-tier scholar. I would tell you to stop grinning altogether but as I am saying this, I realize you aren't listening to what I am saying anymore and simply nodding along, stuck thinking about all the crazy things you might achieve. Keep nodding if you are a stinky baboon with a bald butt."

Khetep kept nodding for a few seconds before his gaze focused again.

"Uh, what was that? No, you are the stinky baboon with a bald butt!"

Too frazzled to find a better comeback, this lame response was the best he could come up with. Sadly for him, that is when his wife chose to open the door and walk in.

"Sweety? I'm proud that you seem to finally be willin' to work on banter, which in your own words was "too vulgar for your tastes". However that particular insult was just... Did you hit your head and become a kid again while I was away?"

Khetep would have blushed if his skin tone permitted it. He immediately threw Doro under the bus to try and save himself some shame.

"Ah, you are back. Don't worry, Doro came up with it. I was just returning it to him, so to speak...."

Khetep fidgeted a bit on the spot, hoping this excuse would save him from his wife's teasing.

"Yes Mom, I came up with it. But even though Dad is a super smart adult, the only comeback he could think of was to add the words "No, you are..." before repeating the insult a nine-year-old child came up with."

Trying to put the heat on me was a bad plan Daddy-O, now suffer for your transgressions!

Suyum bent over laughing and slapped the table hard, repeatedly.

"I thought you were meant to be his teacher. How come he's the one who just schooled you?"

After managing to let out these words in between fits of laughter, Suyum just kept on laughing.

She seems to have done a bit too much liquor sampling wherever Sarima took her.

Having been soundly defeated, and without an ally, Khetep stood up and made his way back to his workshop with the sounds of his wife's laughter acting as musical accompaniment. Doro could not help but imagine his father channeling a certain 2D, red-jacket-wearing, fat kid from Colorado as he hurried off.

"So Doro. Did you end up with the Clown Choice? Good for you. You know how I feel about laughin'."

Doro gave his mother a pity chuckle before responding.

"Nah, I got something better. Pretty sure you'll agree. The name by itself is pretty neat. You now have the honor of being allowed to call yourself "Mother of the Great Meister of Phases"."

Suyum flicked Doro on the forehead, causing him to change course slightly.

"Ouch! I was just joking! Well not about being a Phase Meister, but the delivery."

"A Meister eh? That's a nice one. Should be a boon to your craftin' and let you do a bunch of fun things to boot. What is a phase though? Like the moons? That doesn;t sound very useful."

Alright, I better explain this with an example rather than technical terms with her being somewhat tipsy and all.

"Phases as in materials. For example, think of steel. When you heat it enough, it gradually goes from hard, to soft, and then to liquid. I can use energy to affect matter in the same way without using heat. In practice, I should be able to take one of your finished products, soften a portion of it to change its shape, and harden it again without having to use a kiln or new clay."

Suyum had a predatory smile on her face by the time Doro understood the mistake he had just made.

"Uh but of course, that will probably take a lot of energy and as a level 1, I only have meager amounts at the moment."

"That is true, that is why you will be needin' a lot of practice! I think I have a few ideas as to what you could practice on."

Doro wasn't listening to his mother anymore. The excitement of the day had caught up to him. With all the ups and downs, as well as the many curveballs life threw at him today, his nine-year-old body just couldn't keep up anymore. He tried to keep his eyes open, but with his hands busy holding his head up, he was fighting a losing battle. As the edges of his vision started to become blurry and darkened progressively, one last thought went through his mind.

Wait...I wanted to check out my new abilities...

Doro tried to put his right hand onto the table, palm up, but before he could activate his sigil, his head dropped forward and his forehead connected with the palm of his hand as he fell into a heavy sleep.

Sometime later, Suyum stopped speaking as she saw that her son was remaining motionless, face-first on the table.

"Eh? Like mother like son I guess. I can wait until tomorrow before puttin' you to work."

She carefully picked up her son and carried him into his room. She placed him on his bed, gingerly, and kissed him on the forehead before closing the door.