Zion politely bid farewell to his thirteenth teacher at the entrance of the mansion.
“ Keep up the effort, Young master. “ The teacher bid farewell to him, his eyes full of pity.
His grandfather looked on from his seat with expressionless eyes. His grandmother looked at him with sympathy. Despite being only thirteen, Zion could tell that sympathy is only pretended, inside, she is jubilant.
After all, he was the grandson born to a concubine’s daughter, much worse, it is the most cherished daughter born to the most beloved concubine.
As soon as the teacher’s car left the estate, his grandfather got up from his grand chair. His eyes are full of disdain.
His grandfather looked down at him through his nose, then, with a disgusted ‘tch’, he turned away, his eyes full of disappointment.
Zion was not so young that he could not understand the meaning of this put down.
His grandmother waited till his grandfather ascended the stairs.
Then she walked to his side.
“ Useless bastard ! “ she said, her voice very gentle, her eyes full of smiles, patting his shoulder. Then with a radiant smile, she walked away. Servants walked away, as soon as she did.
Zion was left alone in front of the grand staircase, with its golden balustrades, and redcarpet.
He had never felt more worthless in his life than this day, standing in the grand hall with its ivory windows, checkered marble floor, and grand chandeliers all around, looking like a banquet hall worthy of a king.
The next day, he was carted off to the Citizen’s hunter academy.
At this point, you need a bit of background about this world. Two hundred years ago, gates descended on the world. They changed the very order of the world, by bringing mana and monsters in the world. Many people died. Some thrived. These thriving humans were called ‘Awakener’. In time, humans conquered gates, but it is not without a price. Once they did, they started exploring. Then they met new races. Elves, dwarves, vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and gods. The list is endless and ever growing.
Ofcourse, like the only being in the world that can go into heat any time of the day, they f*cked any pretty girl they could get their hands on, ofcourse, this was not limited to men alone. Female hunters are not without conquests. This gave rise to the mixed bloods. These mixed bloods almost always had more advantages than the pure humans. For a time, it was all the rage to give birth to mixed bloods. Zion was such a mixed blood.
His grandfather's most beloved concubine was an elf, one bred only, and only for beauty. Her daughter was almost as pretty. She was treated as a prized pearl in the hands. Yet, she was not without scars. She was the weakest hunter to ever be born in the clan, so much so, almost all her cousins mocked her for being a wallflower. Yet, she had an easy life, owing to her being a girl. In her youth, she fell for the strongest hunter, and gave birth to Zion.
If only he was a girl.
‘ What use is beauty in a boy ? How useless ! ‘ That is the most uttered comment any time the sheng clan gathers.
Zion only had the beauty of his elf grandmother, none of the added benefits that elven race are to have.
From the time he was three, to till now, he had gone through thirteen teachers.
While other children played with legos, he was learning math formulas.
While other children were playing with swords, he was getting beaten to pulp in swordsmanship class.
While other children were having fun in an amusement park, he was competing for his life in an obstacle course.
Zion learned well, and he worked hard.
Only … His body never improved.
All of his teachers have the same words to say about him.
“ He has perfect swordsmanship, perfect spellcasting … but he will never ascend to become a strong hunter. At most, he will be the strongest F - Rank hunter. “
He had the perfect form, absolute sense, but … his body is soft. He would never build up enough strength in his petite body. The Sheng clan is known for being warriors. Their great grandfather was called the strongest shield in the world, and even his snobby grandfather is an S ranked warrior.
His mother left when he was four. Now, she has a happy family, a rich husband, and cute children. He, who was but a youthful mistake, was long forgotten.
He had some value until then. From the moment his mother left, all he has left in his life is training, more training and some more training.
It gave him an incredible amount of knowledge - but zero skills.
At the same time, his cousins who held the sword immediately activated the swordsmanship skill, and the ones who held shield immediately awakened as shield warriors.
Now, the sheng family has completely given up on him.
However, unlike what they thought, the public school was heaven to Zion. he is beautiful, but so were many of the other children. He was given a stipend, which is more than enough to pay for his rent and play around. If there were any discomforts, it was that he was put in as an orphan. He is the owner, director and sole child of the orphanage, but in school, no one knew that. At fifteen, he had his first crush on the school belle Ceris Mayflower, only to let go of that crush when he learned she looked down on orphans.
It was probably the best decision he ever made.
It is due to the loss of that crush he found his love, Leste, who was ten times cuter and hundred times kinder than ice queen Ceris. They found a soulmate in each other. They went on a date every sunday, they finished each other’s sentences, and at times, each other's sandwiches… Usually meeting in the middle, and continuing eating each other’s lips for dessert.
So much so, they are called the Gourami pair in the school. Ofcourse, lips are not the only place they kissed each other. He can only say … Leste has a bit of a biting problem, and he enjoyed every bit of it.
Thus passed the happiest part of his newly discovered childhood, until the day of graduation came.
Usually, people could awaken from birth to death. For the talented people, the awakening happens as soon as they touch or try something that’s part of their talent. Mixed bloods have it even easier, as long as they know where the majority of their genes are coming from. For a half dwarf, holding the hammer at the first birthday is enough. Similarly, for a half elf, touching the bow accidentally is enough. It gets a little more complex when the blood line gets diluted, or more mixed, yet, despite that, most of the mixed bloods awaken before the special sixteen. At worst, they hold a hammer, shoot an arrow, do a night out ( dark elf ) , suck some blood ( vampire ) or howl into a pillow.
The worst of the lot still need not despair.
For At seventeen, the government offers an awakening with a magic stone. Unless a person is one hundred percent muggle, they awaken when you use the awakening stone. This is the graduation day for the highschool graduates. It is also the day Leste and Zion set as the D-day for the culmination of their love.
Zion was absolutely sure that his awakening would be a successful and powerful one, just like his fathers. He is not very worried. After all, his elf bloodline is very diluted, and it was not a combat elf in the first place. The human blood line is very confused, for his grandfather was a warrior, and his father seems to be a wizard. Won’t he have the synergy when awakens ? Would a profession like a battlemage come up ?
He is very excited for his turn. The names are being called alphabetically. It’s going to be a long wait, he thought as he watched the ceremony.
“ Cerise Mayflower “ The teacher called.
The teachers all looked on excitedly. Cerise is the top scorer in all subjects. They were all expecting her to awaken an S-level talent.
Cerise walked up to the stage, placed her hand on the awakening stone.
The awakening stone shone like a dim tealight. Cerise frowned, as did the most teachers and students.
Cerise’s expression, which shriveled like a bitter gourd shriveled even more as she placed her hand on the status board.
Player Name : Cerise Mayflower. ( F )
Level 1
Growth requirement ( F )
_____
Dungeon Baby
That’s it. That's all the words on the screen.
“ Pffft … ! “ Zion laughed before he could even grasp what he was doing.
His laughter sparked laughter from the entire crowd.
Cerise turned to glare at him, but she did not say anything. She walked to her seat to sit down peacefully.
The meeting continued onwards.
“ Zion Sheng. “ Finally it was his turn. Zion paused to give Cerise a mock disdain look as he climbed the stairs.
Zion confidently strode up the stage. After all, he had read the information on the internet. His elven blood is weak, while his human blood is strong. On top of that he has exhibited the extremely obvious characteristic of “body does not get strong “, which is the prime characteristic of the mages. On top of that, he is one of the top scorers in magic theory, as well as magic sensitivity. Ofcourse, he was going to be a mage. Zion was sure of that. Lights in the entire auditorium dimmed. Sound faded away. Zion gulped. Then, he placed his hand on the awakening stone with all of his sincerity, and opened up himself for the brilliant awakening that awaited him. A light flash went through the stone, one smaller than when Cerise was awakened. “ Awakening complete. “ “ Student Zion. Please go to the status board. “ the teacher informed him. “ Teacher, I don’t think the awakening worked. Maybe I should try again ? “ Zion asked. “ No. You are awakened. Check the status. “ The teache
Zion was in his room, lounging around peacefully. The first thing he did after he entered the room was to open the laptop, and move around as much money from his account as possible to the online accounts which are not under the purview of the government. He is absolutely sure that his clan will freeze his accounts as soon as they can. If he wants to have the slightest chance of getting away, he needs to prepare thoroughly. He chose all valuable items in his room, sent them to his rented house using the slowest mail possible, to be picked up at the post office. After he finished the task, he continued lounging around, ordering for the best meal in the kitchen, to be brought to his room. The servants complied. At the same time, a report was sent to his grandmother about the extremely expensive meal he requested. “ Ha ! It seems he is a wimp in the end. Send him all he wants, and double the quantity. It will be his last meal. “ Regina Sheng said with a mocking smile. It really is
The beating continued. As one of the guy’s fists headed straight for the face, a mysterious black ninja jumped in and stopped. The mysterious black man shook his head. The guards understood the meaning. The face is the last remaining value of Zion. Vernon continued making out with Leste as his minions thrashed Zion. They beat him black and blue. Vernon woke up after some time, leaving a sleeping and naked Leste on the beanbag just like that. “ Hey .. What’s this .. this bastard fainted with just this little beating ?! “ he mocked as he looked at Zion, who did not have a single centimeter of skin on his body that’s not bleeding. “ I did not believe the master when you said he was weak. He was really that weak. “ “ Why is his face still pretty ? “ Vernon wondered in askance. “ That .. Patriarch seems to want his face intact. “ one of the guys mumbled out. Vernon’s completely sedated anger comes back up bubbling once more. If he hated one thing about Zion, it is his pretty face.
“ Why … how .. How do you know about Leste ? “ Zion asked her, as Cerise retrieved a bicycle from her inventory. “ First get on. You owe me for now. We will discuss the repayment plan once we get to safety. “ Cerise said, pointing at the back seat with a harness. Zion commanded the skeleton to put him on the back seat. Cerise actually put his legs and arms in the correct kind of posture, before tying the legs and arms to herself using rescue ropes. Once he was on, she started zipping out of the place as fast as she could. With how fast she was going despite the tricky terrain, Zion figured out she has some kind of map skill. After almost an hour of cycling through the rain, they reached their destination, Zion’s dinghy rental home. Zion was almost about to faint. Cerise offered him a health potion. This was considered more of a supplement of nutrients than a real healing potion. Zion appreciated the effort. They stayed silent for more than an hour. Cerise just sat primly in t
‘ Zion Holyhammer ! Are you willing to become guardian of Cerise Vladina Drakul ? “ A holy voice with infinite echo asked inside Zion’s head. He seems to be standing in the sky with nothing underneath his feet. No matter which direction he looked, there are only sky and clouds.“ y..yes. “ Zion answered doubtfully.Isn’t Cerise’s last name Mayflower ? isn’t his name Zion Sheng ? What's happening here ?At the same time, Cerise heard another voice in her head. She stood in the center of a grand amphitheater, with pillars extending so high up they vanished into darkness. There’s only darkness and never ending pillars in any direction she could see. Just as they were about to finish their breakfast, Zion’s phone rang. The callerID is an unknown number. Zion picked it up.“ Hello ! Am I talking to Zion Sheng ? “ a man asked from the other side.At the same time, an alert arrived on Cerise’s phone.Cerise opened the alert, as she watched her phone screen, her expression became icy. Suddenly, it felt like the temperature in the cafe had gone down by two degrees.She muted her phone, and shew her phone to Zion.On the phone, a live stream is playing on one of the streaming platforms. They were calling Zion, just to make fun of him as the weakest player Omniscient CraftMaster Call from a Streamer
Zion looked at Cerise in shock. Just how much does she hate her guild ? In this world of hunters, a guild is a second home. The guilds, especially larger ones, will take care of you from birth to death. They have an affiliated hospital where all the players and their families get treated. They have child care facilities that can take care of newborns from the time they are born to the nursery, some even have schools leading up to high school. After all, when a ‘player’ parent enters the dungeon, the guild will have custody of their child. The guild makes decisions on whether to go for surgery or treat moderately in case of injury. The guild will receive inheritance of the child if a specific will is not made. Yes, it calls for a lot of injustices, but most guilds take this part of their job extremely seriously. Because once a problem occurs in any of these services, a mass exodus of players happens. It could literally make or break a guild’s future. As such, the guilds whic
After coming out of the marriage bureau, Zion headed straight to the nearby halloween store. This shop does not sell fake props, but real props like spider legs, frog eyeballs, rat tails, slimy slugs and all sorts of curiosities, mixed with cheap dollar store like “ do it yourself “ items, which are mostly used by children to set up pranks, and by low level hunters to set up traps in the wilderness. “ Zion, actually, we need to goto equipment return station. “ Cerise called him as he entered the store. All the same, she followed him. “ Are you talking about the evidence camera borrowed from the city office for filming our session in the chapel ? “ Zion asked. “ Yes. The deadline is like twelve noon, but I still have to go to the orientation. We need to go by ten. “ Cerise answered. “ How many of those cams do you have ? “ Zion asked. If it’s just one, they will go borrow more. “ ten ?! “ she answered . “ In that case, extend the lease. We will keep them for one more day. “ Zio