Ch-24 A Conversation About Spirits

"Is he alright?" Myra's concern was evident in her tone.

"Yeah, he should be fine," Rex said.

The two of them were in Williams room right now, and on the bed, William was passed out.

It had been two days since William overexerted himself.

Myra originally wanted to scold her husband for William's condition, but she could see the guilt evident in Rex's eyes, so she stopped herself. 

Myra knew her husband's personality despite his strength or looks; he was a softie on the inside, and he cared about his family more than anyone else.

So she didn't want to be too hard on him; at this point, all she could do was pray for her child to wake up soon.

***

After another day, Williams finally woke up.

At first, he was bombarded by questions from both his parents about what happened to him, but seeing his confusion, they dropped the subject.

Now he was sitting on the dining table, enjoying his mother's cooking.

Myra was always an exceptional chef, but she usually didn't cook much and just let the chefs do their duty.

However, seeing her son's condition, she decided to make food for him herself, and she couldn't say she regretted it.

After all, William had a wide smile on his face as he devoured the food in front of him.

'It's been a while since I last ate my mother's cooking, and it's still as good as I remember,' William thought as he took a sip of some orange juice.

"Thanks for the meal," William said with a satisfied expression once he was done eating.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Myra said with a smile on her face.

After that, for the next few minutes, there was an awkward silence as no one said anything, not wanting to be the first one to start the conversation.

"William, if there's anything you need to tell us, feel free to open up." Rex asked, finding the silence suffocating.

"I'm not quite sure what you're talking about." William asked, clueless, about what his father was talking about.

"Oh, come on, don't pay dumb; we both should know what I'm trying to say here." Rex said he was a bit annoyed by William's antics.

"Ah," William let out a weird sound, finally understanding what Rex was trying to say.

"Finally, now tell me why you went crazy three days ago."

"Well, I'm not quite sure." William took a second to think about what he was about to say: "Honestly, it's just that swordsmanship was more fun than I expected.".

"At first, it was really tiring and boring, but once I noticed improvement in my stance and technique, I was hit with a wave of dopamine, and I couldn't really stop."

Rex was a bit stunned to hear William talk about his reason, but at least he was glad that his son wasn't pushing himself just for his validation.

"You're really talented with the sword; if you continue to devote yourself to it, you can eventually even surpass me," Rex said with a hint of pride in his tone. He figured it'd be best to compliment William for his effort, as he deserved it in his eyes.

"Thanks, dad. I hope we can continue our daily training from now on."

"Of course, I can't let a talent like yours go to waste, though we should do it in moderation from now on."

"Sure," William replied with a smile on his face.

"Well, with all that sorted, it's going to be your birthday in a month, so tell me if you want anything." Myra decided to chime in, seeing that the Rex and Williams conversation was over.

William was a bit taken back, as he had almost forgotten about his own birthday, but now, with Myra bringing it up, he had a pretty good idea as to what he wanted.

"Well, actually, there is something that I would really appreciate for this birthday."

"Sure, go ahead."

"I want an elemental spirit."

"WHAT!!!???" Both Rex and Myra asked in unison.

"William, we've already talked about this before. You can only have one spirit companion your whole life. You should wait for now and make such an important decision once you're older." Myra said  trying to coax her son out of doing something stupid.

"Don't worry, mom, I know what I'm doing; you can trust me." William tried to reassure her, even though he knew she was right.

What Myra said was indeed correct; making a decision like this was one of the most important aspects of a awakend, something that would greatly affect their future prospects.

So making a decision like this, which can only be made once in anyone's life while you're still a kid and haven't fully matured, is about one of the dumbest things someone can do.

But what Myra didn't know was that this wasn't the case for William due to his multiple-mana core.

He'll be repeating this process multiple times in his life.

Another reason why people prefer to wait before contracting a spirit is so that they can fully develop their prospects and mana core to attract spirits.

However, once again, that wasn't a problem for him; after all, he had [Child of Mana] and [Loved by Spirits] passive skills; spirits would practically beg just to sign a contract with him.

So William was quite certain about his decision.

Another reason why William was so stubborn about getting a spirit was because it was extremely hard to learn spirit arts, and since he was going to be practicing multiple of them, it's better for him to start early.

In a few years, once he's confident, he's going to go to the neutral continent.

While Zephyr told him to go now, William didn't fully trust him, so he wanted to be strong enough to at least survive on that godforsaken continent.

"Bu-" Myra still looked unconvinced, but before she could object, she was interrupted by William.

"Mom, trust me, I don't plan on ruining my future over a childish game," William said, his words displaying his conviction.

"Sigh fine, whatever. I hope you can back up your confidence." In the end, Myra decided to give in; after all, no parent can win against their child.

"Yay!" William let out a victorious yelp.

"Alright, stop getting so excited and go to bed. It's getting late, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure," William said as he got up from his chair and made his way to his room.