One week had passed since Asaru arrived in the Blakelord household, reincarnated as Ace Blakelord in this other world. It was a week filled with anxiety and worry as Ace had still not woken up.
"I'm worried," Ellie started, sitting beside Ace, holing his hands tightly. "It's already been a week, and he still hasn't woken up."
"Remember what Maria said," said Chris leaning on the doorframe. "He will eventually wake up when his mana stabilizes completely. We can only wait until then."
"Yes. But still..." said Ellie, a mix of worry and anxiety etched deeply on her face.
"I know," said Chris, putting his hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her. "I'm also worried. But we need to believe in Ace. I'm sure he will wake."
"After all," continued Chris with a smile. "He 'is' our son. Whatever he faces, he will overcome it. I'm sure of it."
"Mmm," exclaimed Ellie, her smiling face watering up with moved tears, yet feeling as though hope came back in her heart.
A few days later, one early morning, Ace woke up to the clanging sound of metal and the rhythmic thud of strikes in the backyard. Chris was in the midst of his daily training. The sword Chris wielded was a blade covered in flickering flames.
Ace rose up from bed and stood up on his own walking towards the door. He opened it, looked around the hallway and went towards the stairs. He came down the stairs and looked around the living room, kitchen and dining room. He went towards the door, opened it and was greeted by the view of the dawn, the rising sun casting its glow on the village, a magnificent breathtaking view it was.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he spread out his arms. The cool yet fresh morning breeze hit him in the face, his hair flowing smoothly, a single thought crossing his mind as he opened his eyes with a calm and serene expression. "It's all real. These memories, this feeling, they are all real. But..."
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden thud of a sword falling on the ground. It was Chris's sword, the fire had just been extinguished, and Chris, his body drenched in sweat, stood in place in shock, looking at Ace with a dumbfounded expression.
"Uh," Ace began, his voice tinged with hesitation as he skirmished around, scratching his head, fiddling with his fingers, not sure what to say in this peculiar situation. "Good morning, I guess?"
Chris's expression softened into a teary expression, rushing towards Ace and hugging him tightly. "Thank goodness," he said simply, his voice trembling with relief as tears rushed down his face. "Thank goodness you're finally awake."
Ace was still confused as to what happened to him, but tapping on Chris's back and also hugging him, he simply replied, "Sorry to have made you worry, Dad."
Chris's face watered up immediately, releasing all the days of worry and anxiety he had bottled up.
Afterwards, as Ellie and Shaw also woke up a few hours later, the household became a bundle of emotions. Ellie's tears were immeasurable as she hugged Ace so tightly that separating them seemed impossible. Shaw, on the other side, though he teared up a little, his expression turning into bright smile, happy that his big brother had finally woken up.
Afterwards, Ace's stomach growled as he had spent many days without eating. The household resounded with laughs to the situation. After a while, the family enjoyed a hearty breakfast, celebrating Ace's recovery. It was a peaceful and harmonic breakfast, a joyous family moment.
The next day, news of Ace's recovery had spread across the village. Turbana village was a small but vibrant village, surrounded by wide lush fields, located on a wide plain of grass. The Blakelord household had received many gifts from the villages. It was mostly vegetables and fruits among other crops.
The following days, Ace wasn't allowed to move too much or do anything too strenuous as he had just recovered. He would occasionally play with Shaw at home but in most cases, he wasn't that free in his movements.
One day, just like always since Ace collapsed, Maria came to visit to check upon his condition. "His mana has completely stabilized it would seem," she thought as just as when she first checked on him, she saw the vision of the silver and dark mana within Ace had completely stabilized and seemed to be in equilibrium.
"You no longer need to worry," she started discussing with Chris and Ellie. "Ace's condition is completely stable. I doubt there will be any after-effects."
"Thank you very much," said Ellie followed by Chris.
"Does that mean I can finally go play outside now?" asked Ace.
"Yes, I guess you 'can' go play outside," said Ellie as she was the one who was mostly responsible for preventing Ace to do much of anything.
"Then can I study magic and swordsmanship?" he added.
"Huh?" was the reaction of all that were present.
"I can't?" he frantically asked.
"You want to resume your training?" asked Maria, followed by a thought. "After 'that' incident, he never came back to the sessions."
"Are you sure?" started Ellie, worry etched in her voice. "You just barely recovered, and you want to resume your training?"
"Don't worry Mom," he started as he stared intently at Ellie's eyes. "I promise to not do anything too dangerous. Promise."
He then gazed at Chris, who thought that Ace's eyes seemed oddly determined. "Is this really the same Ace I know? The glint in his gaze seems... different."
"Okay, you can resume your training," said Chris with a sigh which was then followed by a light smirk.
"Honey?!" exclaimed Ellie who was then interrupted by Chris.
"I know," started Chris. "You're worried that something like 'that' might happen again. But you can't always isolate and protect him from everything. He needs to experience new things to grow. And just look at him, he's determined."
Ellie, looking at Ace gaze once again, conceited. "Okay fine. But please be careful, okay?"
"Sure!" nodded Ace with a bright smile.
"Please take care of him Maria," said Chris, who side-glanced at Ace, still wondering what changed in his son.
"Of course," replied Maria. "Then Ace, let's meet up at 10 a.m. next Monday, okay?"
"Okay," answered Ace.
"Then good day to you," she said as she stood up and got escorted out of the house by Chris.
When they arrived outside, Maria aborded Chris. "I don't know what happened to Ace but keep an eye on him. Maybe I'm just worrying for nothing but better to be prepared than sorry."
"I'll keep that in mind," replied Chris as Maria simply walked away. His expression was that of worry. He had also realized that something had changed in his son, but he was unable to figure out what it was. He simply went back inside as the sun set its glow across the village, a smooth and fresh breeze blowing across the fields.