"Oh brother, you are awake! What happened at work? Why did you collapse?" Ava asked with a concerned look on her face while stuffing her mouth with spaghetti. "Oh, by the way, I made spaghetti for us, so come here and tell me while eating!"
"Well, it was a busy day," Magnus said as he sat down. "We had to fight a space attribute boss—"
"A space attribute?!" Ava exclaimed, surprised.
"Yeah, it was really hard to defeat. There were even some casualties," Magnus said with a sad tone.
"Oh... that's sad. Anyways, did you get some of that space blood?" Ava asked with a greedy look in her eyes.
"Nah, sadly nobody collected it, but you should care more about other people's lives. A life is more precious than money," Magnus said, laughing inside his mind at what he just said.
"Why should I? They didn't even care about us when we got left..." Ava said, looking down at her now almost-finished spaghetti bowl.
What Ava said wasn't wrong. After their parents died, they were left alone. They tried to go to police stations to ask for help but got nothing. They almost starved to death, but Magnus was able to awaken, which let him become a porter. Of course, being a porter and carrying items for other people was not enough, which is why Magnus would keep some crystals and sometimes do assassination quests.
"Well, I'm finished. I need to do my homework," Ava said as she stood up from the table and walked to the kitchen.
This was normal for Ava. Whenever the topic of their childhood was discussed, she would start to get a little mad. This was because she thought that it was her fault their parents died.
"If I didn't beg them to bring us to the amusement park," she would say.
Magnus couldn't deny it, but he also blamed Ava for their parents' deaths at first. However, after a while, he decided to forget about those things and move on with life.
Magnus, now left alone to finish his meal, was deep in thought. While thinking, he remembered his dream. He finished his meal as fast as possible, wrote a note that said, "I am going to the park for a walk," and slid it under Ava's door, then he ran to the park with excitement clear in his eyes.
***
Finally reaching the park, Magnus was out of breath. He checked his surroundings to see if anybody was around. Not a single person could be seen. Magnus stretched.
"Ok, I'm ready," he said to himself.
Portal Creation, Magnus thought to himself.
A portal with a radius of about 50 cm appeared right in front of him.
"Wow... It was real," Magnus said with amazement.
Wait... it said maximum 2, so I can make 2, right?
While thinking that inside his head, he looked at the tree to his right. Another portal summoned. Magnus put his hand through the first portal. His hand emerged from the second portal, touching the rough bark of the tree. Magnus's eyes widened in awe as he wiggled his fingers, feeling the texture of the tree through the portal.
"This is incredible," he whispered to himself, retracting his hand and letting the portals close. He felt a surge of excitement and possibility. With this power, he could revolutionize his work as a porter and maybe even become more than that.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing thoughts. "I need to test this more," he decided. "But I have to be careful. If anyone finds out about this, it could be dangerous."
Magnus spent the next hour experimenting with his new ability, creating portals of various sizes and distances. He discovered that the farther apart the portals were, the more concentration it required. He also found that maintaining multiple portals at once was mentally exhausting.
As the sun began to set, Magnus knew it was time to head back home. He didn't want Ava to worry. He closed the last portal and started walking back, his mind buzzing with plans and ideas.
When he arrived home, he found Ava sitting at the table, her homework spread out in front of her. She looked up as he entered.
"Hey, how was your walk?" she asked, her voice neutral. She was always like this. She gets mad for about an hour or so, and then she will be fine again.
"It was good. Cleared my head a bit," Magnus replied, trying to keep his excitement in check. "How's the homework going?"
"Almost done," Ava said with a sigh. "It's so boring."
Magnus chuckled. "You'll get through it. You're smart."
Ava rolled her eyes but smiled a little. "Thanks, I guess."
Magnus sat down across from her, watching her work for a moment. He wanted to tell her about his new ability, but he knew he had to be careful. Not yet, he thought. Not until I know more.
For now, he would keep his secret, but he couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, this power could change their lives for the better.
***
It was 11:30 P.M. Magnus finished his call with the Ascender Association. He had to be at another door. This time it would be a C-rank door. As Magnus was already tired from a long day and the training at the park, he went to bed.
As he lay in his bed, he looked up at the ceiling. He started thinking about today's incident and what Thomas said. "He will find out and kill your family," he had said.
"I need to get stronger. I need to evolve my ability further. To protect Ava... To keep the promise to Mom..." Magnus whispered to himself.
Wait... Lone Dream. I can regenerate twice as fast and also find out more about how to evolve my ability. As Magnus remembered his other ability, he closed his eyes and thought about one thing.
Lone Dream.
***
Magnus's POV
I opened my eyes to see the familiar sight.
[Welcome back, Magnus] The golden text greeted me.
"Yo... can you at least tell me your name so I can greet you?" I asked.
[My name is Xavier]
Xavier, huh? That's a familiar name...
"Ok, Xavier. Nice to meet you. Now, I have a question. Am I able to train in here?"
[Yes. You can train here as much as you like without getting tired.]
"Nice!" I exclaimed happily.
[Oh, and I have some advice for you. You can use stuff from your inventory.]
"For real?"
[That is your Storing Projectile skill.]
"Oh, that skill. I forgot that I had another skill," I said, scratching my head. Then I thought to myself, More training for me...
[Do you want me to play some music and show you the time in real life?]
"You can do that? Wow... you are amazing," I said.
I started to summon portals and shoot arrows that were left from morning. I practiced shooting and changing their direction with portals.
Before continuing further with the training, I looked at the clock Xavier summoned.
00:39
7 hours and 21 minutes more until I have to wake up.
***
Meanwhile...
"Are you telling me that my brother sacrificed himself to protect someone?" a tall and big man asked.
The person the man was talking to was Mike.
"..Yes," Mike said, looking down, trembling with fear.
"And who was this person that Thomas protected?" the man asked.
"It w-was the porter, sir," Mike stuttered.
"Porter. Weapons! Thomas's ability is to master any weapon. So it's the porter's fault, isn't it?" the man said, looking up.
"P-possibly, sir," Mike said, still staring at the ground.
"What was the name of the porter? After you answer this question, you can go," the big man said with a big smile on his face.
"Sir?! The porter's name is Magnus Lynton. He can store items. He can't fight at all, sir," Mike said, relief on his face, looking up at the man.
"Hm, ok, off you go," the man said.
"Thank you so much—"
*Slash*
Before Mike could finish his words, he was beheaded. The big man disappeared, revealing a thin blonde man sitting right behind the now-dead Mike.
"Magnus Lynton... you will suffer."