[Re-edited: 04/05/2024]
Damovotsk, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V
After twenty minutes of pure bliss, Demian exited the shower, water dripping down from his body, soaking the bath mat. Grabbing the clean towel hanging close by, he swiftly dried his body before putting on one of the smallest bathrobes hanging on the wall. Looking at the bigger ones on his right, he shook his head slightly, thinking about their owner. 'I'm taller than I was in my previous life and I still feel small compared to Bryn.' He pondered, amused. Being suitably clothed, he swiftly exited the bathroom, walking quickly to the stairs leading to the second floor. Noticing his cousin lying on the couch, her hands behind her head in deep thought, he stated. "Sis, I'll put on some clothes and start cooking after." "Sounds good." She responded absentmindedly, her focus clearly on something else.
Not minding her curt answer, the young man climbed up the stairs at a moderate pace, trying to lessen his demand on his body. Thankfully, the previous pain wracking his nervous system had dulled slightly to the point that he only felt some dull ache for every movement he performed. This result surprised the young man slightly, however, he concluded that his Perk was working overtime to boost his attributes and heal him as a consequence. While pondering silently, Demian finally arrived at his bedroom door, opening the latter carefully to avoid waking up his Aunt. While on his way to the wardrobe, he threw a quick glance toward his bed, noticing that the middle-aged woman was still soundly sleeping, a relaxed smile on her face. Grinning subconsciously at the image in front of his eyes, the brown-haired young man briefly thought. 'She must have been really exhausted if she's still sleeping at this hour.'
Shaking his head slightly, he refocused his attention on grabbing a set of casual clothes before leaving as silently as he came in, not forgetting to close the door behind him. As the young man was about to change in the corridor, he realized that he was not wearing anything below his bathrobe. 'Forget it! I'll go change in the bathroom instead.' He inwardly decided before moving into one of the adjacent rooms. After a few painful moments, he was finally wearing normal clothes. With a bathrobe in hand, he walked back downstairs and put it back where he found it before moving toward the kitchen and starting to prepare a hearty meal for his cousin and himself. 'It'll be ready in around half an hour, sis. Do you want me to make some appetizers while you wait?" He asked the blind redhead, the latter still lying on the couch in thought.
His question pulled her out of her daydreaming, prompting her to answer. "No need. I can wait. Plus if I eat too much, I'll get fat. So that's a big no!" Chuckling at her joke, he remarked playfully. "Well, if you become fat, I'll just carry you around. No big deal!" The playful comment made her giggle before she replied. "It's a very tempting proposition, but I doubt you can hold me up, so I'll pass." Putting his hand on his heart, he had a fake hurt expression on his face as he exclaimed. "I know you're right, but did you have to be so blunt? Plus, it won't stay that way for long." His affirmation only brought a doubtful expression on the woman's face who said laconically. "We'll see..." While the two had a light chat, Demian finished preparing the meal. The result was that, thirty minutes later, a piping hot meal was ready and set on the dinner table with the two cousins facing each other, ready to dig in.
"Bon appetit!" Demian declared while observing his older cousin who had such an adorable hungry expression on her face. The petite redhead was sniffing the food's aroma with delight before she started to eat slowly, visibly savoring every mouthful for a few seconds. Feeling satisfied at her reaction, he asked rhetorically. "Is it good?" She froze briefly after she heard the question before nodding repeatedly. "It's delicious! The best you've cooked for me so far." While licking her lips to catch any rebellious sauce still present there, she added. "I'll put the dishes in the dishwasher." Feeling amused at her action, he replied while helping her stack up the dishes. "You're very welcome. And sure. I'll take care of the pans then." It did not take the two long to clean everything and put away what they used to eat their meal.
Since they were done, Demian declared. "I'll go in my room if you need me. Be careful not to wake up your mother though. She's exhausted." "Okay. I'll be here then." She retorted while sporting a happy smile. Feeling satisfied with the moment he spent with his cousin, his mind then switched toward planning his power gain as his feet slowly brought him to his bedroom. 'I'll have to find a way to improve quickly without burning myself out. Can I even be burned out with my Perk?' Shaking his head imperceptibly, he continued. 'It doesn't really matter. I don't want to become a robot living only for training. I need to find the right balance.' Letting out a tired sigh, he added. 'I'll have time to plan that out. For now, I start with a small nap before starting with the language learning.'
At that point, the young man had reached his door. Opening it slowly, he noticed that nothing had changed, with Adeliya still sleeping on his bed. Entering the room, he closed the door behind him, before walking toward his comfortable desk chair, where he sat down quietly. Feeling his body relax, the young man then closed his eyes before falling asleep less than a minute later. His nap lasted around an hour, evidenced by the change in his phone's clock, leaving him completely rested and full of energy. Feeling much better than before, his mind started working much faster, helping him remember the reason why he came to his bedroom in the first place. With a quick look to his left, he found the computer tower standing below his desk.
After pushing the power button, the device turned on followed by the screen facing him. A barely audible came from the electronic device, bringing a pleased smile to his face. 'Thank God, the technology is a bit more advanced than in my previous life. If it was my old PC Aunty would have been woken up for sure.' He thought while the desktop appeared on the screen along with multiple icons with their names written in Russian. Looking at the latter, a wry smile appeared on his face as he thought. 'It just feels so weird. When I was just Damian, I only spoke some basic French besides English, but now I can speak, read, and write Russian. It's surreal...' Experiencing a bit of mental exhaustion, the young man concluded. 'I guess I'll just need more time to get used to everything. Well, as long as I keep growing stronger, I'll have all the time in the world.'
Chuckling at the thought, he then shoved those thoughts to the side before refocusing on the screen where he found the popular browser he normally used, and clicked on the icon. Once the window materialized, he started using the search engine to look for language-learning websites. After a few minutes of multiple comparisons between the different propositions, he decided on the one he would use. It was not the cheapest of what was available, but it was the most cost-effective and with his family's current financial ability, it would be a joke to use something subpar just to save a bit of money. Technically, he was not the one who earned the money he was currently using. It was not only because he only turned eighteen a few weeks ago since he could have found something 'illegal' and be paid in cash. No, the real reason was that his Aunt 'ordered' him to focus on his studies instead. She told him that he would have plenty of time to work once he was done with those.
When he was still a blissfully ignorant teenager, it would have been fine. But now? 'Do I really want to go to college again? God no! That stuff should stay where it belongs: in the past! Instead, I'll just focus on growing my strength. After all, if I can punch a city out of existence, why would I care about a stupid piece of paper? I'd still need to convince her, though.' He pondered while paying for the monthly subscription. Once he was done, he started browsing the different languages available on the site. "Let's see... Something challenging... But it has to be interesting too... Maybe one that's widely used all over the world?" He mumbled, feeling a bit undecided. Being fluent in English for obvious reasons, he could scratch that particular possibility, leaving him with only a few widely spoken languages.
'Well, I did try to learn that one in the past...' His gaze fell on the Mandarin language as some old memories of failed attempts surfaced in his mind. 'I could give it a try once more. After all, my brain processes should improve with time. So, I'm sure I won't fail again... Right?' He pondered hesitantly before making up his mind and choosing the Chinese language. Clicking on the icon, he started following the instructions, wearing his headphones, and grabbed a notebook and pen which were both lying unused on his desk. Once ready, he started 'Lesson 1' while muttering. "Here goes nothing!" "你好 [A/N: Hello]." A calm and pleasant female voice resounded in his ears, starting with basic greetings. 'Those words give me the chills for some reason' He thought while unconsciously recalling all those hours trying in vain to study the language. 'I think I'm traumatized.' He concluded with some amusement before refocusing his attention on the lesson.
The study session then went on for hours, almost pushing his mind to the breaking point. It was only when his brain was incapable of absorbing any more information that he stopped trying any more and turned off the computer. To be honest, the fact that he was able to hold on for that long was already amazing, given his very average or even below-average affinity with studying. It may have been because learning languages was something he enjoyed doing, even if he never really took the time to do it seriously. However, the true origin for his mental endurance had probably more to do with his Perk than anything else. Whatever the case, he was really satisfied with himself this time. He did not give up despite the method of learning being a bit tedious. Rubbing his face tiredly, he inwardly commented. 'I've really grown. I'd have been incapable of holding on for that long in the past even if I had my current Perk.' Pausing his thought for a moment, he added. 'Now, I just have to do that every day and I'll grow very quickly.'
Slouching in his chair, his eyes started to close as a few last thoughts traversed his mind. 'having to work that much is annoying, but the results are worth...' As those last words formed in his mind, the young man fell asleep for the second time that day, his body naturally finding the perfect state to recuperate from the strain he put it through. An unknown amount of time later, his nap was interrupted by a soft groan coming from his bed. Regaining consciousness, the brown-haired young man's eyelids fluttered open, while confusion colored the brown eyes beneath. As everything came back to Demian, his eyes retrieved their natural serene state before his head turned toward his awakening Aunt.
"Mmmhh... Demian...?" The middle-aged redhead's sleepy voice instantly reached his ears, prompting him to answer softly. "Here, Aunty." Rubbing his eyes in a bid to remove any trace of sleep his nap left him, he could not help but let out a big yawn before standing up and stretching briefly. As he started moving, he absentmindedly noticed Adeliya jumping from the bed before her thin arms embraced him, pulling him against her bountiful chest while her hot breath tickled his ear. None of them had any strange thoughts, however. Instead, Demian hugged her back before the two enjoyed the presence of the other without needing to speak. It lasted until he felt the woman in his arms shivering, prompting him to ask with concern. "Are you o..." Before he was able to finish asking his question, his left ear caught his Aunt's sobbing voice.
"You're finally awake! I was so scared!" Squeezing her tighter, he had to take a deep breath to calm the negative emotions building up inside him. Once he felt calmer, he replied gently but firmly. "I'm fine, Aunty. You don't have to be worried about me anymore. Everything's gonna get better from now on." Words of reassurance kept flowing out of his lips until he felt the older woman's strong emotions settle down. After a brief silence, Demian could not help but comment playfully. "Look at what you did there. Now I'll have to change my shirt." Giggling at his joke, the mature woman tapped his back gently before the two let go of each other, and with a small grin on her face, she replied. "I'm sure you can bear with changing your shirt for your old Aunt's sake, can't you?"
Her question made him speechless before his gaze subconsciously examined the beautiful woman in front of his eyes. Blood-colored hair, incredible curves, a height of around 1m73, and finally beautiful facial features only marred by some old scars and minor wrinkles, although the latter only emphasized her mature charm. "Did you actually look in the mirror lately? Where does that 'old' come from?" He exclaimed half-jokingly, half-seriously. The small smile on her face turned bigger at his words, however, she half protested. "Bah! You're just saying it because I'm your Aunt." Shaking his head, he claimed, a teasing grin on his face. "Your delusion's level is really off the chart, isn't it? But you don't have to worry, I won't judge." As the words left his lips, Adeliya narrowed her eyes in irritation before remarking. "I really don't know why I was so worried about you earlier. You were so much cuter asleep."
Her reply made him burst out in laughter for a moment before he responded. "Fair enough. I'll strive to be handsome since I missed the opportunity to be cute. Anyway, I'll go eat something downstairs. Wanna join me?" Unlike what he previously joked about, he did not really change his shirt as the combination of his body temperature and summer heat would dry it quickly. Instead, the two left the room together right after the mature redhead agreed to his previous proposition. Interestingly, the thoughtful expression that Adeliya sported was completely missed by the young man who was walking in front of her, along with the intense gaze focused on his back.