"I never thought the virus you acquired for me would be this strong. You should have seen it! They were dying like insects, with no one to even claim their bodies!"
The boy placed his mother back on the stairs, appearing extremely proud.
"Shhh!" the woman, who had been happy until now, suddenly turned serious. "Don't ever mention this again! If anyone finds out that I helped you..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but the young boy understood her implication.
The practicals assigned to the Destroyer Class were tasks they had to complete themselves, using the abilities they had received during their awakening.
He was a Virus Master, but he wasn't skilled enough to create a world-destroying virus. Even if he could create one, he couldn't be certain it could overcome the immunity of the randomly selected world for his practical exam.
He wasn't like the Tower Creators or Dimensional Gate Makers who could destroy worlds using external help.
He had to ensure he didn't fail, and that's why he asked his mother for help. If she hadn't had a Virus Grandmaster secretly create a virus for him, he wouldn't have been this fast, even if he succeeded.
"Unfortunately, even though the virus was strong, it still took three months. I wasn't the fastest to pass the exams. There are many in the Destroyer Class who completed their practicals in a much shorter time."
"You don't have to worry about them. You still passed. Your father will be so happy when he hears. You are not useless like a certain someone." The woman patted her son's head.
"You should go and rest. I will contact your father to deliver the good news." She rushed upstairs, leaving her son behind.
"Heh." The young boy also walked upstairs, going to his own room and disappearing into the unknown.
Hidden in the shadows, a boy of twelve stood frozen. The mocking laughter of these people was like a knife twisting in his gut. His fists were clenched so tightly his nails drew blood.
This place was neither his heaven nor his hell. It was a real place that left him disgusted. This place belonged to the people that destroyed his world and his family, all for some so-called exam?
Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. It hurt to know that the life of his family was nothing but a plaything for these people.
From their words, it became clear that his world wasn't the only world that suffered through the artificially created apocalypse.
When the world was being ruined by the virus, he had repeatedly asked gods for help, wondering if it was nature's way of punishing humanity for their sins. It turned out to be nothing more than a joke for the people that played gods.
"Young Master Elias, what are you doing here? Wait. Are you... crying?"
Elias, lost in emotions, hadn't noticed anyone approaching. The voice startled him, pulling him from his daze. He looked up to see a man standing before him, his facial features hidden by the dim light.
"Are you worried about your awakening ceremony tomorrow?" the man asked in a gentle voice.
Elias furrowed his brow while his face seemed to be frozen in time. He didn't recognize the man. If he was calling him "young master," did that mean he was a servant of the house? Didn't that mean he was also a significant member of this disgusting family?
"Is that blood?"
Before Elias could even ask a question, the man noticed the blood staining his palm.
"You... Did Lady Jane hurt you again?" The man sounded helpless. Clearly, this wasn't the first time he'd witnessed such a sight.
'Lady Jane? Is he talking about that bastard's mother?' Elias frowned. Why would she hurt him? Unsure of what was happening, he simply nodded in response.
"Sigh... Come with me." The man, covered in a dark cloak that barely revealed his eyes, picked Elias up into his arms and vanished into the darkness.
Elias felt a rush of wind brushing against his skin. The man moved at an impossible speed that defied the laws of physics.
When the man stopped, Elias found himself back in the room where he had first woken up.
"I can never understand why she goes this far." He sat Elias on the bed and walked over to the wardrobe, picking up the first aid box that was always kept there.
It was clear that the man wasn't joking. Elias was hurt so often that he kept the first aid box in his wardrobe.
The man walked back to Elias and started dressing the wound. "You are also a son of the Ashborn Family. Just because you are..."
He abruptly closed his mouth, as if stopping himself from saying something that could never be taken back.
For the next few moments, there was absolute silence. Even though it stung a little, Elias didn't make a sound.
"You should stay in your room and avoid Lady Jane. If you successfully awaken, I'm sure that she will stop targeting you." After finishing the treatment, the man walked back to the wardrobe and put the first aid box back.
"You said I have an awakening ceremony tomorrow. Will I be as strong as you after going through it?"
The man was about to leave the room when he heard the surprising question from Elias.
Elias should have known the answer to that question already. Then why was he asking? Was it simply an excuse because he wanted to talk to someone?
"You have the blood of the Ashborn Family. If you awaken, unless you are extremely unlucky, you will receive a class much stronger than me."
"What are the classes?" Elias' questions didn't stop.
At this point, the man was certain that Elias was using this as an excuse to talk. He just didn't want to be left alone.
He sighed and walked back, sitting on the bed next to Elias.
Even if Elias wanted to hear from scratch, he was willing to do that. If it could make Elias happy, then it wasn't a problem.
"There are three main categories of classes. The first is Creator, which includes many subclasses like Mages. The strongest subclass under Creator Class is the World Creator."
"The second class is the Destroyer. It includes classes that hold immense destructive power, mainly responsible for bringing ruin to worlds."
"And the third class is a unique one, called Auxiliary. It includes professionals like Alchemist, Artificers, and other such classes."
"As you are of the blood of Ashborn, you will definitely awaken the Destroyer Class. I'm sure you don't have to worry about it. After all, there has never been a case of an Ashborn awakening anything other than the Destroyer Class."