The world started to twist and Varian saw presented with a familiar setting and faces.
16 year old Varian and Sia were on way back to their home from the not so prestigious high school back they attended.
The two were seated side by side on a hover bus along with other students.
The students in the back pointed at Varian sitting next to Sia.
Their eyes were filled with mockery and contempt.
A tall boy in the back whispered in a low voice. "He doesn't realize that they're miles apart, does he?
We're almost past the first year and he hasn't even awakened.
Sia is not only the most beautiful girl, but she's the most talented of the school.
Heck, I bet she'd be the most beautiful wherever she goes.
On the other hand, that trash…even if he awakens now, I doubt he can reach level 2.
It's also this guy that wants to join the Imperial Defense Academy. Who is he kidding?"
The boys next to him nodded and sneered at Varian. They didn't talk loudly in fear of being heard by Sia. She was very protective of Varian…a bit too protective.
When a few seniors asked her not to associate herself with Varian, she got into a conflict with them. The end result was unknown, but since that day, no one bothered Sia again.
Naturally, Varian also received that privilege.
But seeing the most beautiful girl in their school next to an unawakened of all people and knowing they were not blood related, they couldn't stand the jealousy.
A boy with a sharp chin and red hair said. "Defense Academy you say…even geniuses of our school can only dream."
The tall boy raised an eyebrow and his lips curled. "He must be feeling that he can go to the academy and the Dean himself welcomes him and begs him to be his disciple."
"Hahaha!"
"Like that'll ever happen, euk!"
The boys that were laughing suddenly clutched their heads as they felt a stinging pain in their mind.
The tall boy looked up and saw Sia looking at them.
Her eyes that looked at Varian with gentleness now had incomparable coldness.
"Hiss!"
Suddenly, the pain spiked and one by one pissed their pants.
"What!"
"Hey!"
There were small whispers from behind, and as Varian was about to turn back, Sia grabbed his arm.
"Let's go. Our stop is here."
"Hm." Young Varian nodded and alighted from the hover bus with Sia.
Sia started a topic and Varian responded, but from the corner of his eyes, he saw a few boys looking fearfully at Sia at the back of the distancing bus.
The faces of those boys were filled with fear and terror.
They were laughing and chatting a few moments ago. Even though he couldn't hear the topic, everything seemed fine.
"Let's go." Sia walked forward and looked back at him.
In a white shirt and a pleated black skirt, she looked stunning under the sunset.
Varian clenched his fists behind his back.
'I am useless. She is protecting since the start of high school.
I don't want to remain weak. I want to make a difference…argh, why can't I awaken?'
Hiding his thoughts under a smile, Varian nodded and walked home with her.
He didn't wish to vent his stress on her.
The last time he was impulsive and went to hunt some the raging lion, Sia nearly lost her life.
Even though he was uncomfortable with the status quo and wanted to awaken—he didn't want to do it at the expense of her life.
So these days, he was slowly improving his combat power.
With Sia helping him, he was also progressively hunting stronger Level 0 monsters.
Today, he'd defeat the strongest level 0 monster.
In the near future, he'd aim for level 1.
'Patience.' Varian told himself as they reached their home.
Amanda was rarely home.
But with Sia, he made many memories in this small place.
If Varian had any complaints, it was that it had only two bedrooms.
Thankfully, Amanda stayed out for her duty most of the time, so Sia lived in Amanda's room.
'I'd be dead if I had to live in the same room as Sia.' Varian sighed looking at the girl who was growing more beautiful with each day.
She already went from cute to beautiful. If there was another word above beautiful, then she was transitioning to it.
Sia received confession letters everyday. And rejected them without a second thought.
Those boys couldn't even get to talk to her properly despite their relentless attempts.
On the other hand, He lived under the same roof with her.
It caused uncontrollable envy and was the source of almost all troubles in school.
Varian had no problem being envied about this. But he wished he could be envied for one more thing.
'Once I awaken, you'll envy my prowess.' Varian vowed and entered the bathroom attached to his bedroom to grab a quick shower.
He avoided all the cliche scenarios of taking the wrong bathroom or not seeing if the bathroom was in use by someone else.
Especially after once he walked in when she was bathing and forgot to lock the door.
He still remembered everything vividly…ahem, not for the inappropriate reasons.
They were still kids back then. Barely 10.
After realizing that they had different parts underneath, he asked Amanda about it.
After some explanation, she had him cultivate this habit of checking if anyone was in the bathroom before entering.
Fortunately or unfortunately, since that day, he never walked in on her bathing again…even though there were four instances where she used his bathroom and forgot to lock the door.
'I'm too pure?' Varian wondered as he changed into training clothes and walked into living room and waited for Sia.
'But I just feel weird. Why would I want to see her naked? I didn't feel this before. Is this because of hormones?
But hormones on me? Tsk. Weak hormones.'
Soon, she was out in black sports dress. The tight shirt and pant perfectly showed her developing, but already alluring curves.
'I take it back. Hormones are strong.' Varian shook his head and threw away the thoughts.
Even though they troubled him sometimes, Varian had control over himself.
Looking at him, Sia held the hair clip between her lips and mumbled. "…the led lock fark?"
Varian grabbed the hair clip and tied her soft brown hair into pony tail while chiding.
"I'm worried, one of these days, you'll swallow the hairclip."
"Hehe. Then tie my hair every day." Sia turned around and smiled.
Varian showed a bitter expression. "I know what you're thinking. I already learnt four stylings for you…anymore and I'll die."
Sia put her hands on her hips and leaned towards him. "Then I'm not learning that new dish you asked last week."
"I'll learn. I'll learn. It's just styling hair. I won't die from it! What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." Varian waved the white flag.
Living without Sia's cooking was a nightmare.
"Umu." Sia nodded with satisfaction.
"Redrock Park, let's go." He said and they took off.
After a boarding a few buses, they reached a park.
It was deserted and had only level 0 monsters. There were level 2 security guards outside the park.
Essentially, it was a place for children to come out and check the strength of the level 0 monsters.
By thickening his skin, Varian started using this place to hone his fighting skills.
Most people awakened in the first semester of high school.
Now, they were at the end of the second semester and he was still not showing any signs of awakening.
Since Amanda had to pay tuition for both him and Sia, she had no money to pay for the Adventurers to protect him inside the dungeon.
So the scene where Varian fought with Level 0 monsters ranging from horned pigs to red crocodiles took place.
Sia overlooked his fight and was on standby to help him out.
He insisted her to practice on her own, but she was stubborn.
If he wanted to practice combat with these monsters, she needed to be there.
So under her watchful gaze, Varian challenged the apex predator.
The strongest level Zero monster.
The Raging Lion.
The kind of monster that nearly put him and Sia to death last time.
The one he would kill today.