I looked at the old man with grey hair and red eyes as he asked me to channel my mana into the transparent orb he had brought.

I knew who this guy was.

The Elder Seer.

He was responsible for measuring the talents and potential of the family’s younger generation and honestly, I had expected his arrival after the little stunt I pulled by claiming Kosetsu.

Still, I wasn’t worried in the slightest.

Although this second assessment never happened in my previous life, the first time I awakened, the orb had failed to display both my affinity and talent rank.

I didn’t know the reason.

Maybe Regression and Vector were beyond what it could measure or perhaps it was because I was a reincarnated soul.

Either way, I didn’t really care because it worked in my favor. Those who awakened talents of a sufficiently high rank were required to disclose details about their abilities and since the orb had concluded that I hadn’t awakened anything at all, nobody had asked me such questions.

But in this life, I had even less reason to worry because my [[Insight]] blocked all forms of probing and, just as I expected, the orb showed no reaction.

At the same time, a holographic screen appeared before me.

[Insight has blocked the probing.]

A smile formed on my face, in stark contrast to the frown that appeared on the Elder Seer’s.

"I wonder why the Patriarch asked me to assess your talent again when there’s no point wasting time on someone like you."

He made no effort to hide the contempt in his voice and it seemed he hadn’t been informed about me claiming Kosetsu yet.

But I simply shook my head.

"I was also surprised by this, Elder."

The old man didn’t say anything more and simply walked out with his orb in hand, grumbling about how the Patriarch was making him work too much.

Meanwhile, I closed the door after he left and threw myself onto my fluffy bed. The mattress was still damaged, with a small hole on one side where the recording artifact had been.

I reached into it and pulled out the recording crystal, my backup and inspected it for a few seconds before willing it into the treasury.

The small star-shaped mark on my hand lit up slightly, swallowing the recording crystal. It was the dimensional treasury provided by Kosetsu’s additional trait.

Kosetsu itself was also stored there.

Once I was done, I let out a sigh.

It had barely been a day since I arrived back in time and damn, a lot had happened.

But I knew things were nowhere near over.

Two months.

That was all the time I had.

By then, the academy would open and Lily would be there and before that happened, I needed to enter the forbidden ruins and evolve my talent because once academy life began, I wouldn’t get enough time.

With that thought, I sat cross-legged on my bed.

But before thinking about anything else, I had one thing to do...

...and that was to improve my pitiful body, even if only slightly.

***

Time flowed quietly after that.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month. Nothing major happened during this time and my life returned to a strange sense of normalcy.

Compared to the chaos of my first two days after regression, it was almost peaceful except for a few noisy days.

My father visited daily to apologise according to our agreement, only to return without any resolution since the apology had to be sincere and the judge of that was his own soul, which made things difficult for him.

Cedric visited me every day as well, telling me all kinds of stories and what he had been doing without me even asking.

Even his mother, Isolde, seemed to be overcome by some weird emotions and kept sending me potions and artifacts every few days as if that was enough to erase her past behaviour.

Not that I cared.

But I wasn’t one to reject free help.

Meanwhile, Amyra was completely missing as Solarius had officially accepted her as his disciple, announcing it to the public and even holding a grand banquet for the occasion. Ever since then, she spent most of her time training, saying she wanted to become strong enough to protect me.

Other than that, my other siblings, who otherwise loved to bully me and trash talk all the time, stayed out of my sight. I would have loved for them to show up but unfortunately... Amyra being accepted as Solarius’ disciple along with my father’s stern warning against messing with me due to the contract we had kept them far away.

So, I spent my days in endless training until finally, nearly a month later, the fruits of that effort began to show.

Using my memories from my past life, along with the potions Isolde had provided and the rare pills my father brought with him, thinking it would make his apology more genuine, I had managed to reach Tier V of the Mortal Rank.

...And today was also the day I would take my first true step towards becoming a superhuman because I was finally close to breaking through to the Awakened Rank.

My growth speed... wasn’t as explosive as I would have liked. My H-Rank Physique and damaged mana channels held me back.

But I was finally close.

I looked around my room, as messy as always, before pressing the small red button on the table beside my bed. Almost immediately, a maid entered the room, wearing a long black dress with a high collar and white apron, accented by a lace cap and cuffs.

She had brown hair, green eyes, and a pale beautiful face.

She was Liana, my new personal maid assigned to me after my previous two loyal servants, Mina and Vance, had met some unfortunate accidents which definitely didn’t involve me.

"I will be breaking through, Liana. Be sure not to let anyone enter, no matter who they are."

I ordered and she nodded immediately.

"Understood, young master."

"That’s all. You can leave now."

As soon as I gave the order, she bowed once and left, quietly closing the door behind her. I remained still for a few seconds before closing my eyes.

It was finally time to break through.