Damian opened the door and entered their small cabin that he had bought for way more money than it had any right to cost. Anthony had some bread and fruits with juice placed on the side table which was fixed with nails to the wooden floor.
Damian walked over and sat on the bed, nibbling on the food. Anthony sat besides him as Sam settled cross legged right in front of his face.
“There is uhm.. one thing I need to tell you kids..”
Damian and Sam looked back at the old man who had an awkward expressions as if he could not figure out how to say the thing.
“What is it old man..?” Sam asked getting annoyed, Damian couldn’t blame him.
Anthony stopped fidgeting and became serious. Touching Sam’s face he breathed in deeply and said,
“I will leave this ship when it reaches the nearest port tomorrow.”
“Humm? We are leaving already..?” Sam asked.
“No, Sam. I will be leaving. I hope that you stay with Maximus.”
“What..?” Sam’s cool demeanor immediately crumbled and an expression that would suit a kid when someone told him that his mom won’t come today to pick him up replaced it.
He looked miserable, Damian could understand though. For the kid, Anthony was the only and last family he had. Damian himself was confused as to why the old man was doing this. He never agreed to adopt a kid now, did he..? What was this geezer doing without asking him…
“I promised your mother that I will protect you, no matter what. I can’t protect you Sam. I don’t have the strength needed or the money. And I promised our little friend here something I have to deliver on that.” Anthony explained caressing Sam’s cheeks slowly.
However Sam was just not feeling it. He thwarted Anthony’s hand away from his face and glared at him with anger on his face and tears in his eyes.
“No.. No.. No.. Noooo.. Why..? WHY !?”
Sam screamed and ran away from the small cabin without even waiting for an answer, crashing the door with extra force behind him.
“Oye! When did I opened up the orphanage..?” Damian demanded.
“Sorry Maximus. I should have told you sooner, but it’s a decision I recently made. I can’t help him, but you can. I will be burden to you two, I can serve you better if I can find the people who entered the dungeon with me and learn it’s secret. That’s the best kind of help I can provide to both the kid and you. Gaining power is the only way for Sam to be free in his life.”
“You sure you can find them..?”
“Yes they invited me once to join them. I am sure I can reach them.”
“I won’t promise anything. But I could use an assistant or two I guess…” Damian said.
“Hahah.. I will let him know..”
The rest of the day Damian spent in a bed. Reading a book, since he could do nothing else without his body hurting. The injuries were healing at full speed but the internal pain, specially on his chest and back felt really sore. A day or two of rest and healing potion’s doses every few hours should do the trick. Till then only reading was his companion.
Anthony was trying his best to explain Sam why it was necessary for him to go but the kid was having none of it. Damian just observed them quietly and slept when he felt too bored.
When the next day they stopped at the port town at the very edge of Faerunia, Anthony was ready to leave. Even though Damian’s heart screamed against it, he gave the old man 5 gold coins to get him started. Which should be enough for him to get out of Faerunia as soon as possible. The old man kept returning it but Damian shoved it off on his hands.
The heart melting hug of the nephew and uncle at the docks would make any grown man cry but it only made Damian more sleepy so he just yawned and walked around the port town for a while. Getting a restock on all the paper, parchments and mana ink he could find. Even his reserve funds were below 100 gold now. The parchment costed too damn much, he had to buy 10-10 for just one big spell.
The rescuing job was definitely not for the likes of Damian, it costed too damn much.
Sam stayed sad and sulking for the rest of the day which was a quality quiet time for Damian so he used it for some light reading and making some of the essential parchment scrolls which were necessary for an emergency fight. He still had many left to draw but they could wait.
The chances of fighting on the sea were very low with the few hired pathfinders doing all the monster protecting and the route was relatively popular and safe. But just in case, Damian liked to be prepared at all times.
According to Damian it was the dumbest thing in the world, if you had power to make yourself safe and you ignored it just for temporary comfort or laziness.
“Oye, Moping willy come here for a second.” Damian called for his useless assistant who was pouting in the corner of the room.
“What..? Can’t you see I am sad..? You heartless bastard..”
“Who cares.. Just come here..”
Glaring daggers at Damian, the useless assistant finally walked up to him and sat on the side of the bed.
“What..?” Sam asked.
“Do you have a status tool..?”
“No.”
“Fine.. Here take this.. You know how it works..?”
“Yes I have done this before hundreds of times.. But my job is useless.. Everyone said so..”
“Just show me.. Will you..?”
Sam took the square runic metal tool on his hands and thought about his status. In just another second a half transparent blue screen was visible on top of the metal square.
=========
Name: Samuel Lv.26
Rank: Light Walker
Affinity: Light, fire
Mana: 500/500
STR: 31
DEF: 36
INT: 46
AGI: 41
DEX: 26
CHA: 13
LUC: 10
Job: Beginner Megaelectrobiosis Lv.1
Blessings: Sun God’s Blessing
Title: [Esper]
Skills: [Expert Tree Climbing Lv.1] [Growth x10 Lv.1] [Living powerhouse Lv.2] [Electric Control Lv.1]
=========
‘Hmm.. Interesting indeed..’
Light affinity was a real surprise, it sounded so simple but it was much harder to find in common people than one might think. Damian guessed that was why everyone thought he was a healer, because of his light affinity and lighting survivor thing. It was a necessary condition for using a better healing magic spells. Sun god’s blessings.. that’s what Damian had before he fell from the tree.
‘Goodness ! He has growth.. X10 at that… What a missed opportunity..’
Growth was a very rare and lucky skill one could learn before getting to their first ascension trial. There were even whole books written on how one might get it, no one knew for real though. The skill itself didn’t do anything but it was a real cheat as a support skill. It made your learning speed accelerate like hell.
And as a kid without any job, learning as much things as possible was the biggest advantage you could have. Unfortunately though the support skills you learned before your first job did not work after you face your first ascension trial. So it was just a wasted opportunity for Sam, the damned brat surely was lucky with those 10 luck points.
The job though… Megaelectrobiosis as an Esper. That is some real weird thing to imagine. Biosis means his body is molded in a way to collect or be used to electricity and with an added mega it could refer to his cells having greater capacity for holding electricity than an average human cells would have. The damned brat was a living battery.
And he absorbed the whole lighting strike on his head means his limit to holding electricity was nothing to scoff at. But of course no one has any electricity in this day and age anymore, except the natural ones.
Damned brat was lucky again to have found Damian, the only person in this whole wide world who might know the meaning of the word that his job was. Damian swore an oath that if ever a day came where he could increase his LUC stat he would give half his powers for that.