The Academy was going to be starting in two months time... and that was when the real plot started.

So during that time, Ren planned to go straight ahead to the town where the Hero’s aunt was serving as an Adventurer... at least he knew the name of the town and the way the woman looked.

He leaned back against the cushioned fabric of his dining chair.

’The novel didn’t really give me that much to work with,’ he thought, letting out a long, heavy sigh that ruffled his blue hair.

He needed to prepare for the absolute worst-case scenarios before the plot officially kicked off.

"I am not moving out permanently by any means hehe~" Ren told Stella and shifted his posture, resting his forearms against the edge of the table. "The Academy’s Entrance exams are going to start in two months time so I just need dedicated training in a different environment to prepare for it."

He watched his mother sniffle into her silk handkerchief.

"Even though I am already strong, there is nothing like not enough training," he continued, making sure to show total confidence. "I will be coming back. I don’t plan to leave at all. In fact, I will even stay here until I am a hundred."

Rowan, who had been sitting quietly with his arms crossed over his broad chest flinched.

’Till a hundred?’ Rowan thought, glaring at his son from the head of the table. ’Does he plan to freeload or something?’

Stella, on the other hand, lowered her handkerchief.

She wiped the smeared makeup from her cheeks, and then reached forward, using the damp silk cloth to meticulously dry the teardrops she had spilled all over the expensive mahogany table.

Once the wood was clean, she beamed a bright, absolutely radiant smile that completely contradicted her earlier breakdown.

"I’ll only agree if you stay here until you are like three hundred years old." she said, her voice entirely serious despite the ridiculous number.

"Calm down Mom." Ren told her, shaking his head.

"Calm down Stella." Rowan echoed simultaneously.

Their synchronized deadpan response made Stella laugh.

"Well, it won’t be an issue," Stella said, waving her hand dismissively. She adjusted the collar of her fine dress and offered him a supportive nod. "If it is for training, then I can agree with you moving out."

"Moving out?"

A high-pitched voice came from the top of the marble staircase leading upstairs. Alina ran downstairs, her small leather shoes slapping rapidly against the stone steps.

She gripped a thick drawing book tightly in one hand. Her vibrant blue hair bounced wildly with every step she took, and her golden eyes trembled with panic as she closed the distance between the stairs and the dining table.

She didn’t stop until she collided directly with him. Alina threw her arms around his right arm, hugging his hand and pulling it tightly to her chest with surprising physical strength, completely anchoring him and making him sit in place.

"I don’t agree!" she said, her voice shaking as she looked up at him with wide watery eyes. "Why would Big brother move out?"

Stella offered a gentle reassuring smile from across the table.

"He just wants to go for training, sweetie..." she told the little girl. "He’lll be back."

Alina refused to let go.

She hugged his arm even tighter, burying her face against his sleeve.

"Even if it is for training, why would you go?" She said with a sigh. "You’re already strong enough!"

Ren looked down at the top of her blue head. He reached over with his free left hand and gently patted her hair, smoothing down the messy strands.

"I am not the strongest, though," he told her honestly.

The world was full of absolute monsters, and relying on his current stats alone was a surefire way to get a sword through the chest. "You shouldn’t worry. I’ll bring a lot of gifts for you when I return."

She slowly lifted her head, her golden eyes still shining with unshed tears as she stared intensely into his face. "Promise?" she asked.

Ren nodded his head without a single second of hesitation.

"Of course." He gave her a small smile. "And we can even keep in contact by using Mirrors. You can call me when you feel lonely, and I will pick up."

He let go of her hair and reached into the deep pockets of his coat with his fingers searching the interior lining. He furrowed his brows, checking his trousers next and he blinked, patting his chest.

"Where is my Mirror?" he asked, looking around the table then he remembered that he didn’t even see it when he was looking for it in the morning.

Rowan let out a deep sigh and interrupted him with a heavy rub of his own forehead.

"Don’t you remember?" He said, pointing a finger at him. "You destroyed it a while ago in one of your temper tantrums."

Ren blinked.

He searched the memories of the original body... Right... The arrogant noble had shattered the incredibly expensive magical artifact against a wall because Lumi had declined his calls five times.

Mirrors were quite expensive, functioning as the primary pinnacle of communication technology in this world. This was especially true for the kinds that high-ranking nobles used.

The elite versions were forged with spatial compression runes that could hold an absolutely unlimited amount of contacts.

The regular Mirrors used by the common populace had a lot of strict limitations, as the weak magic signals couldn’t call past the borders of the nearby Empire. Top-tier mirrors, however, could call across the entire world, provided they had the underground wires connecting the specific regions.

Stella reached out, resting her elbows on the table.

"I predicted something like this would happen," She said smugly. "So I had it fixed for you."

She tapped the silver band of her spatial storage ring. In a bright flash of blue light, a sleek perfectly pristine white circular mirror materialized in her palm.

She extended her arm, handing it over to him across the table.

Ren held it carefully, feeling the cool smooth texture of the mirror... It was completely fixed.

"Thanks, Mom," Ren said softly. "I’ll cherish it."

The woman physically flinched at the genuine gratitude. A deep blush instantly spread across her cheeks, coloring her face bright red.

She aggressively looked away, staring at the tapestries on the wall, and began twirling a strand of her blue hair around her index finger.

"Y-You should stop saying embarrassing stuff like that," She stammered out. "You are welcome. I already loaded it with your former contacts."

Ren looked down at the smooth white surface.

He tapped the Mirror exactly once with his index finger. The artifact hummed and the glass glowed as a translucent blue holographic list of his contacts showed up, projecting into the air.

He stared at the floating blue text and Ren felt pathetic immediately.

There was only a single name hovering in the projection, the only contact that the original heir had bothered to save was Lumi.

’Could you be any more pathetic?’ Ren thought.

He directed the intense wave of disgust inward, not toward himself, but toward the absolute loser who used to pilot this body.

To have unlimited contact storage and only use it to simp for a girl who hated him was the absolute peak of misery.

Without a second thought, he raised his finger and with a swift, decisive swipe left on the mirror’s projection, the contact was deleted immediately.

The blue text shattered into particles of light and vanished, leaving his contact list completely empty.

He dismissed the projection, turning back to his family then he smiled.

"Can you load your mirror contacts here too?" he asked them.

Mirror Contacts were securely shared by physically tapping the artifacts together. You could only get the contact information when the owner was actively holding their mirror, channeling a trace amount of their personal mana, and you were holding yours.

Simply finding a lost Mirror and tapping it while it wasn’t being held by the registered owner would do absolutely nothing, it was a built-in security measure to prevent espionage.

Everyone around the table reached into their pockets and brought out their respective mirrors.

Ren leaned down and pressed the smooth edge of his white one against Alina’s smaller silver-rimmed mirror first and the two artifacts chimed in perfect harmony. They let out a soft blue light as a new hologram formed above his own device.

[Contact has been saved]

He repeated the exact same physical motion for the two others, tapping his glass against Rowan’s obsidian mirror and then against Stella’s diamond-encrusted one.

Stella looked down at her glowing screen, verifying the connection.

"I will call you to check how you are doing once you are gone," she said, tapping the glass to close the projection.

She looked back up at him. "When do you plan to leave?"

"As early as tomorrow evening..." Ren said, putting the Mirror back into his deep coat pocket.

He looked at Rowan. "You don’t need to worry about giving me money. I have plenty saved up."

Rowan scoffed.

"Impossible..."

The man reached inside his velvet coat and pulled out a heavy reinforced leather pouch.

He dropped a pouch directly in front of him. It hit the table with a solid incredibly heavy thud that rattled the teacups.

It contained gold coins and Ren lifted it, testing the weight in his palm.

"There are thirty gold coins inside," Rowan said, crossing his arms again. "Be sure to handle it properly fucker, don’t waste it on women."

"Thank you." Ren said, tying the pouch securely to his belt.

Alina, who was still aggressively clinging to his arm, looked back and forth between the money and her brother.

"Instead of Ren calling me," she asked, looking directly at her Father. "Why don’t I join him, Papa?"

Rowan stood up from his chair.

"Because," Rowan said, stepping around the chairs and approaching the girl, "you are almost to the age of Awakening your class so we will begin your training my dear, Immediately."

Before Alina could even process the threat, Rowan walked over to his daughter.

He reached down with one hand, grabbing her firmly by the ankle, and lifting her up by the foot. He hoisted her entirely off the ground, dangling her upside down like a captured rabbit.

They walked upstairs.

Alina complained loudly, her arms crossing over her chest as her blue hair hung toward the floorboards with her face turning red from the rush of blood but eventually, she accepted her fate. As her father carried her up the marble steps, she waved at Ren.

"I’ll miss you Big Brother!" She called out. "Bring me a lot of gifts when you are coming back!"

Ren sighed, watching the ridiculous spectacle until they disappeared onto the second floor. He turned his head and looked at Stella.

She was smiling softly.

She reached out across the table, her hand gentle as she touched his face with her thumb brushing against his cheekbone.

"Take care of yourself," she said, her voice filled with genuine warmth. "We will always be proud of you... Always."

The woman then moved to stand up as she smoothed the wrinkles from her silk dress and began to walk to the stairs to follow her husband with her heels clicked sharply against the floorboards.

Just as her foot touched the first marble step, she stopped and turned back around.

The warm, motherly affection completely vanished from her face, replaced instantly by an terrifying icy glare.

"You better not impregnate anybody on this training trip..." She said and Ren sighed, he didn’t have any plans to... Probably.

...

Ren opened his eyes. He was in an underground training room instead of the normal one that he used usually on the surface.

The air down here was significantly colder as the Crowhurst family mansion had different kinds of training rooms built deep underground which was completely isolated from the main estate to prevent structural damage.

This one specifically worked by using localized environmental mana to produce physical people to fight, creating highly durable constructs for live combat scenarios.

The walls were lined with reinforced black steel, and the floor was a massive expanse of heavily enchanted stone.

He turned his head and standing behind a thick pane of magically reinforced glass was Mandy. He looked at his short personal butler and pointed at the control console.

"Rev up the machine..." Ren told him, cracking his neck from side to side. "Summon like ten Jaces."

Mandy swallowed hard, looking slightly nervous, but the young man nodded. He turned toward the glowing runes on the control board, pressing a series of buttons in rapid succession.

The heavy machinery built into the walls ground to life with a deep hum.

The ambient mana in the air gathered rapidly in the center of the training room, swirling into miniature blue tornadoes.

In a matter of seconds, ten exact replicas of the blond-haired, annoying Simp Hero appeared in the training room, standing about twenty meters away from him.

They possessed the exact same smug facial expressions, the exact same armor, and they each held onto their glowing broadswords while getting into a synchronized aggressive combat stance.

Ren watched them lock their eyes onto him.

"Very good..." He said.

He stepped forward and then he took a stance, his feet planting firmly against the stone tiles. He didn’t draw a physical weapon.

He was going to test out the new skill that he had acquired recently... The unique ability he had gotten from taking his stuff back from Lumi.

Lightning Blade.

He turned his head slightly to look back at the glass booth.

"Let them move..." he told Mandy.

The butler slammed his palm against a large red button on the console. Immediately, the ten Jaces began moving with their boots stomping against the stone as they charged forward in a deadly coordinated formation.

As they closed the distance, the gap shrinking from twenty meters to fifteen, Ren bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity.

He focused his internal mana network, channeling the energy straight down his right arm.

’Lightning Blade!’ he thought.

From the instinctive information that he had gotten from acquiring Lightning Blade, he knew exactly how the mechanics operated.

He could coat a physical sword in crackling lightning to increase its cutting power... He could compress the mana and fire arcs of it outward as highly destructive, long-range projectiles... Or, if he focused hard enough, he could even create a solid physical blade made entirely out of raw concentrated lightning as well.

He wanted to do the latter.

Lightning immediately shot out of his body. It erupted from his skin in violent, jagged bursts of blinding blue-white energy, crackling all around his form.

The sheer intensity of the light reflecting off the steel walls made Mandy cover his eyes behind the glass as stray sparks of lightning shot around the room, superheating the air and leaving deep scorch marks wherever they struck the stone floor.

Ren felt the power condense perfectly into his right palm, forming a long blade of unstable electricity. He pushed off his back foot and then Ren moved forward just as the first Jace moved to swing his broadsword.

The impact was entirely one-sided. Ren moved forward with terrifying speed as his boots sent massive spiderweb cracks across the enchanted ground as he launched himself into the fray.

He was nothing but a blinding streak of blue electricity. He shot past the first Jace, parrying the broadsword with a horrific screech of grinding energy, and instantly severed the construct’s torso.

He didn’t stop.

He pivoted on his heel, dodging a thrust from the second, his lightning blade slicing through the construct’s neck in a smooth, continuous arc.

He moved like a storm, bouncing between the remaining enemies with physics-defying agility. The air absolutely shattered with the deafening cracks of thunder with every step he took.

He dashed past the third, the fourth, the fifth as his blade drew a chaotic, jagged line of blue light through the air.

In less than five seconds, the entire formation was broken. He skidded to a halt as the friction of his boots tore long gouges into the stone, and appeared directly behind the tenth one.

He dropped into a low crouch while in an absolutely flawless position as the crackling lightning in his hand fully solidified into a blade.

The ten Jaces remained standing completely still behind him, completely frozen in their attack animations and then Ren slowly stood up.

He struck a dramatic pose, casually turning his wrist as if he was dropping his hand.

The delayed impact triggered. A massive, deafening burst of lightning went through all of the Jaces immediately... The jagged arcs of electricity erupted from their bodies from the inside out, completely slashing them in half and causing them to explode into massive puffs of blue mana that washed over the room like a shockwave.

The training room fell dead silent and the only sound that remained was the sizzling of the scorch marks on the stone.

Ren dispersed the Lightning blade with the energy retracting back into his palm with a sharp hiss... He stood up straight and looked back at the empty space where the constructs used to be.

’That was pretty cool.’ he thought, thoroughly satisfied with the sheer destructive output of the skill.

He rolled his shoulders, feeling a slight burn in his muscles from the rapid expenditure of mana, and then he walked toward the heavy steel door.

Behind the glass, Mandy switched off the machine and the hum of the generator died down completely.

The short butler unlocked the door and stepped out into the training room, holding a clipboard in his hands.

"Excellent work, my Lord..." Mandy said, scribbling something down. "Do you want to do your daily training of soaking in lava now? Or perhaps sleeping on a bed of rusted spikes to build poison resistance? We also have the pendulum blades ready for your dodging drills."

Ren stopped walking. He slowly turned his head and he gave him a deadpan look, staring at the short butler as if the man was speaking complete gibberish or something.

"What are you talking about?" Ren asked, shaking his head. "I want to sleep."