CATMAN - 20 Inherited Ability?!

“W-what do you mean?” Auden hesitantly asked.

“I mean to say what are you hiding from us?” Lianna asked.

“Hahaha…nothing. I hide nothing from you. I slept on the terrace yesterday just so to temper my body. You know the body can only get strong in harsh conditions. So, I was trying to temper it in cold.” Auden replied.

“I see,” Lianna said, “Then where were you before sleeping in the terrace?”

“Um… Sigh~ I went to the town for providing others help.” Auden said. “You checked up on me last night?”

“No, I didn’t check your room? I can sense your presence if or not you’re in the house.” She said as she rested her hands on the forehead, “Yesterday, when I was preparing dinner, you jumped from the terrace and ran outside. Then someone else delivered you on the terrace.”

“You lost your pendant even before the time to dinner. I sensed all of it. But it seems like you don’t need pendant anymore because right now your body is automatically expelling the mana like you’ve developed some resistance to it…but why do you lie? Even if you can’t tell the truth…just say you don’t want to and we won’t force you for an answer.”

“Don’t make us worry by lying to us all the time. Can’t you even trust your own parents?”

I trust my parents, and a lot by the way. That’s why I know that if I mention the system in front of my parents…I definitely know that they’ll send me for medication. So, I definitely can’t talk to them about the system.

“I trust you. I now think I shouldn’t have made you worry. I will tell you everything. Actually, it started a year ago…” Auden said.

…

“I started seeing spirits from that day.”

“You were so close to death, but a spirit saved you and now you can see spirits?” Lianna asked as if making sure.

“Yes, it’s actually that. I too was confused at first but then I started seeing spirits more often…And now I have many spirit friends.” Auden said.

“I see…why am I hardly surprised? If that’s the case then it explains everything. If you have started taking help from spirit to grow stronger then all the pieces fit itself. I can’t believe it…” Lianna said as she controlled her emotion.

“But it makes me happy is that you inherited the same ability I possess even though you can’t use magic. We believed that since you couldn’t use magic… you might be feeling like a rock dragging the family name all because you’re powerless. I was afraid that you might do something which you shouldn’t because of that…”

Suicide?! Even if I wanted to suicide…I wouldn’t have done it. The reason was my family…and also because I was a coward myself. I was afraid to die…and even more afraid to leave the family that believed in me.

Even though I couldn’t use magic…they didn’t hate me…nor did they despise me. They encouraged me to become what I am right now.

“But…but it makes me really happy…” Tears flowed down her eyes as she hugged Auden.

“Mother…?”

“It makes me happy that you lived through all those shame and now you can see spirits just like me…I’m happy that you won’t be feeling down anymore,” Lianna said.

“W-what do you mean just like you? Isn’t your ability to proficiently control the lightning?” Auden asked.

“Yes, that’s the ability I have or I tell I have to others. But actually…I have formed a contract with a spirit that can proficiently control the lightning.” Lianna said with teary eyes but still smile on her lips.

“You can see spirits and your actual ability is related to spirits? That’s news to me.” Auden said without losing his composure.

Wiping her tears, she said, “Actually it was your father’s idea not to let you know. If you knew that we were more gifted than you thought then…you’d be devastated. Just being a son of two talented wizards might have made you feel worse and if you knew that we were even stronger than what you thought we were then you’d be really heartbroken.”

“But now you don’t have to feel bad anymore. Even if you have a broken vessel, you can also become strong. You’re not weak anymore.” She said.

“You mean trash right?”

“Shhhh- No one is trash in this world. There are only two types of people in this world currently. People who are either strong or weak…not trash.” Lianna said,

“I thought you believed in these words as well. Did the school corrupt your mind…if that’s indeed the case then we should stop sending you to school.”

“Now, now, mother, let’s not be hasty. I only wanted to know what you believed in…and I got my answer. You don’t have to ban me from going to school.” Auden said.

“I see. But why aren’t you happy to know that even you can become strong?” Lianna honestly asked.

“Well, I got the gist of it when I first started seeing spirits. I at that time already realized that I wasn’t normal anymore even if I can’t use magic.” Auden said.

“You weren’t surprised?” She said,”…But it doesn’t matter.”

“But mother…I want to know about your ability.” Auden said, “If you really can see spirits and have formed contract or whatever…how did it make you strong?”

“Well, the spirits helped me a lot by doing most of the works and since any normal wizards can’t see them…people just think that I am a prodigy,” Lia said.

“They are like extra hands that will help if the other hands are useless.”

“Hmm…then it might be a lot of help to me if I were to form a contract with spirits right?” Auden asked.

“Not necessarily. There are different types of spirit and if the spirit that forms a contract with you isn’t compatible with you then you’ll end up suffering a huge setback. And not to mention you’ll have to summon the spirits from Spirit’s world itself to form a contract.” She said.

“Spirit world?”

“Yes, spirits live in different dimensions than us which is known as Spirit World. If we want to form a contract with them then both parties must agree and what’s most important is that you can’t just form a contract with any spirit.” Lianna said,

“There are rules to be followed. If you form a contract with the spirit which already has a master…or if you form a contract with a degraded spirit who was exiled from spirit world then the King of Spirit World will tear apart your soul.”

“Woah…how do you know so much?” Auden asked as if surprised.

“The spirit that formed a contract with me told me…duh!” Lianna said.

“With that said…don’t mention the fact that you can see spirits in front of others, ever. Go to school for now and after I get back from the mission next week…I will tell you more about that ability of yours.”

“What? You’re going on a mission today?” He asked.

“Yes…” She answered.

“Hahaha, now I’m going to tell that you have the ability to see spirits to your father…he’ll be so happy…and so sad.” She laughed evilly as she said that.

It seems that they have a history of their own. But to think that they were hiding their strength in front of me just so I wouldn’t be burdened anymore…that makes me happy.

“Then I’ll be off to school,” Auden said as he stood up from the chair.

“See you later, Mother.”

Auden didn’t tell his mother the actual truth about the system, but he didn’t lie either. He after becoming CatMan could see spirits.

It started right after he became a CatMan. The first spirit he saw was Ariel who always stood at the school gate. At first glance, he didn’t think that she was something different and ignored her, but day after day seeing her stand at the same place made him curious and he started chatting with her.

To everyone watching him, he was just like some idiot talking to himself in the school gate…but in reality, he was talking to the spirit which others couldn’t see and he also mostly dodged the question if someone asked him about it deeming it as a habit.

As always after he greeted Ariel at the school gate, he entered the school building. Many students were gathered in front of the notice board like hundreds of caterpillars in a tree.

Auden was interested in what was mentioned in the notice board since the notice board was mostly used to notify the students about upcoming surprise events that school was going to hold.

Why always surprise everyone? Why not just inform them so that they would have more time to prepare for it? Auden at some point thought that Fret school was getting some kind of kick by surprising everyone but it seemed like every school was following the surprise plan when he asked about it to others.

After squeezing through the crown, he found out that the school was going to hold ‘Magical Week’ and was informing students just a few hours ahead of it. He then glanced at another piece of paper that was newly pinned on the notice board as well.

“I found it on the floor…if this pendant is yours then come to find me on the rooftop? What the heck? Which idiot lost his pendant on the school?” He mumbled as he glanced at the picture of the pendant on the paper.

“That’s my pendant…”

“Did I drop it in school even before I went to the mansion?”

Other students were also looking at the notice as they were captivated by the picture of the pendant.

“I think I should go and retrieve back my pendant.” One of the students said.

“Yeah, I’m going to take my pendant back.” Another student said.

“Just give up. I went to the rooftop before and found out that it was a trap. Many students went there and were beaten badly by the ‘Witch’.”

“What? It is a trap set up by ‘Scarlet Witch’? Then I’m not going. I don’t want to fight with her…she is a monster.”

Auden who saw his pendant’s image in the paper immediately rushed towards the rooftop without a second thought.

Gasping though he was, he finally reached the rooftop and was greeted by about twenty unconscious bodies of the students. And from their clothes, he could clearly see that the students were of title ‘Perfects’.

“You’ve finally appeared…geez, I waited for about fifteen minutes.” Rebecca’s voice came from above,

“Haven’t you heard that you shouldn’t make a lady wait?”