"Summon your soul weapons." Father said and pulled off the cloths covering the cages, revealing the goblins that was frozen in fear.
Isadora and I did as we were told. I summoned my twin katanas, Dheadris and Zakhristos, while she summoned her staff, Nova.
A moment later, Father vanished with both cages, freeing the goblins from their captivity.
There were four them, two for each of us. The goblins started showing signs of movement, no longer feeling Father's overwhelming presence.
I immediately unsheated my katanas, shifted my body into a proper stance, preparing myself for anything.
Once the goblins saw us, their animal instinct immediately overrode any conscious thought they had and they sprinted our direction with murder in their gaze and drool dripping fron their razor sharp teeth.
Instead of mirroring their charge, I decided to play cautious and wait for them to make the first move. Remembering my mercenary training.
When the first goblin came within range to me, it swung at my chest with its right hand.
'Slow.' I thought.
I blocked the swing with the katana in my left, and my right hand immediately followed through, cutting it diagonally from shoulder to hip.
[Exp Gained: 100(3)]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
The consecutive chimes sounded in my head, but I paid them no mind, as I had to leap back to dodge the attack from the other goblin.
We made eye contact for a brief moment and I could see it hesitating for a split second.
It confused me, but I didn't dwell on any longer, instead I capitalized on its mistake and activated [Spatial Step], appearing behind it.
–Shinng
My blade cut through its neck like it was butter, causing purple blood to spray out from its headless stump.
[Exp Gained: 100(3)]
[Level Up!]
I turned to see how Isa was doing, and she stood there with her hands on her hips, watching me.
"Took you long enough." She said with a smug smile.
I looked over to the goblins she fought, and they were all dead, with several red spears shot through them.
"Show off." I said.
"Excellent." Father praised, appearing from the same spot he left earlier, as if he was always there.
"But there was one mistake the both of you made: wordless spellcasting. To use spell without calling out the name is amazing, something I've never heard of before, and something I am truly happy the both of you have.
But other races and even vampires, won't be. Instead, they will capture you, torture you, and then cut you up while you're alive.
All just to learn how you did it.
So, from now on, no more wordless spellcasting, understand?"
"Yes, Father." Me and Isadora agreed.
"Now, summon you status window and tell me how many stat points you got." Father said.
"Status."
********
[Status]
[Name: Julian Valerius Dracul]
[Age: 10(48)]
[Race: Dragon(30%), Vampire(39%), Watcher Angel(30%), Human(1%)]
[Blessing: Moon Goddess(Luna), Star Goddess(Stella)]
[Title(s): The Watcher's Son, Prince of Blood, Celestial Prince, Bloodsucker, 1/4 of the Children of Mana, Soul from Another World]
[Affinities: Blood, Night, Shadow, Darkness, Death, Space, Gravity, Lunar(Moon), Stellar(Star), Time, Soul]
[Realm: Novice]
[Level: 4]
[Experience Points: 0/400]
『Stats』
[Strength: 70]
[Speed: 82]
[Vitality: 1000]
[Agility: 81]
[Constitution: 100]
[Perception: 92]
[Magic: 49]
[Willpower: 110]
[Mana: 1000(×2)]
[Charm:––]
[Unallocated Stats: 144]
********
"144." I said.
"147." Isadora said.
"Impossible." Father said, stroking his beard, deep in thought. "Which level are you?"
"4." Me and Isadora said in unison.
"144 divided by 3, equals 48. And 147 divided by 3, equals 49. That makes more sense." Father muttered aloud. "No, still doesn't make any sense. Each of them killed two goblins, and each goblin are worth a hundred Experience points at the Novice Realm.
So they should still be at Level 2, but they said they are at level 4. That must mean that..."
Father turned to the two of us, who just waited for him to figure it out.
"Do you have a skill that multiples your experience points?" He asked.
"Yes, Father." We answered.
"Hahaha." Father laughed. "The world is truly unfair. But I'm happy that it's my children that gets all these benefits."
"What's next, Father?" Isadora asked, stopping Father's thoughts from spiraling.
"Oh, I almost forget." He signaled something to someone only he could see. "Your mother left one more gift for you."
A moment later, two of the same figures with the pitch black robes appeared, carrying glass boxes in their hands.
In both boxes was an hourglass. But they weren't ordinary, mother's gifts were never ordinary.
Inside them was this flowing sky blue liquid, that moved and crashed into the glass frame, reminiscent of a ocean.
"What are those?" Isadora asked, her eyes widening in intrigue.
"A hourglass." Father replied, matter-of-factly.
"I know that." Isadora said. "But what are they for?"
"These will help you go to the next realm." Father began. "You see, before you can go to the next realm, there is a waiting time of five years. So, that means that you will only be able to reach the Advanced Realm once you turn fifteen, when you are about to enter the academy.
But these completely erases that waiting period. Unfortunately they are rare, so there are only one for each of you.
And if you want to get more, you have to go to the Nubilia Academy on the Dragon Continent, since they hold all the other hourglasses."
'... School. I never went to school in my past life, therefore I was always curious about how it was. It seems like this time around I'm going to experience it.' I thought.
"What do you do with it?" Isadora asked, already holding one hourglass in her hand.
"You twist open the cork at the top, and then you drink the liquid." Father said.
'They should call it time-juice.' I joked.
I took the hourglass out of the box that the mysterious figure was holding, opened the cork and drank the liquid inside.
It was tasteless, but it gave your throat a soothing feeling. When it went down to my stomach, I felt my mana cores absorbing the liquid.
"That's it?" I was expecting another round of swirling energy to surround our bodies.
"That's it." Father confirmed.
"What now?" Isadora asked.
"Now," Father started pulling some things out of his pockets, "since you are the goddesses' chosen champion and saintess, you are in charge of building them churches."
"This is a scroll that gives you the authority of the Emperor." He threw the scroll to me.
"And this is a map of the Empire. You can choose wherever you want these churches to be build." He threw the other scroll to Isadora.
"Where are you going?" Isadora asked after she caught the scroll.
"To the border. There are some grudges that I have to settle and a new blessing to test out.
Ask Mila and Nala if you need anything, don't forget to level up, and don't worry about safety, the Shadow Legion are always there, even when you don't see them."
And then, he was gone. Just like that.
"..."
"... Oh." You could basically see her none existent ears droop on disappointment.
"Shitty father." I spat.
"Don't worry, Isa." I said while stroking her head. "Who cares about him when we have each other."
"Yeah." She turned towards me with a smile, unshed tears still shimmering in her eyes. "Who cares."