10 Making Preparations

Ray, along with his mother and sister, sat down at the dining table to have dinner. The whole family had a good time, and Ray treasured these kinds of moments when the whole family sat together peacefully, even if they did little things like eating and having small talk. They always did find a way to make such small moments into the best moments of their lives.

After having dinner with his family, they all chatted for a while until Ray's adorable little sister felt sleepy and his mother took her to bed.

While Ray's mother took his little sister Katie to bed, Ray just sat down on the couch and reminisced about all the good times they had as a family, and as Ray reminisced about such times, his heart felt calmer.

However, as Ray was starting to relax, his mother came and sat down on a chair opposite the couch while she asked him a simple question that slightly troubled him.

"So... how was your day, and what did you do after obtaining your system?"

She asked this question from Ray with a tinge of worry and a small frown on her face because she noticed a very slight change in his aura while his demeanor had also changed a bit.

Right now, Ray froze, as he knew what she meant by her question. He thought hard about what to tell her and how to explain it to her, but he had no idea how to get out of his current predicament.

Therefore, he just came clear and explained to her everything, excluding the problems that occurred while awakening his system and also the fact about Aurora or the power she had given him, and simply stating that it was a very rare system. Then he went on to tell her how he traveled to the training hall and practiced his skills for some time, and then he told her about his venture to the "Guild's Association" and that he took a basic quest and completed it, while he excluded details about going to the "Silent Night Forest" and simply stated that he killed a couple of basic tier beasts with a guild party and after completing the quest he logged out.

Although Ray's explanation sounded very convincing, some small tidbits did not go unnoticed by his mother, like when Ray spoke of his system's awakening, he took a break to contemplate something, and she also noticed that when Ray spoke of his quest, his pupils seemed to tremble from nervousness, and he also fiddled with his fingers while a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

Yet, Ray's mother knew better than to pry further for information, as she did not know what happened inside the game, and she also didn't ask because everyone had their own secrets. whereas systems were such existences whose information was kept completely confidential as they were humanity's chance against many threats, while even a person's life was heavily dependent on their system.

Therefore, Ray's mother just nodded at Ray's explanation while she gave him a motherly smile and said, "Son!" "I know it's hard, and I also know that you are trying your best to help us all out, but please, I request that you do not overexert yourself."

To which Ray replied, "Don't worry, mom; everything will be fine, and I definitely won't over-exert myself."

Ray's mother nodded and stood up to go to bed while Ray sat on the couch for some time, and then he went to bed.

_____________________________________________________

While Ray and his family had a good dinner and also talked happily to each other afterwards, there was an existence that was watching everything. She felt extremely touched while small imaginary tears of happiness slid down her face, and she now understood why Ray was so sensitive towards his family and also why his family was his soft spot.

This existence was naturally Aurora, who watched everything from within the system.

Then, when Ray talked with his mother, Aurora understood that it was not just Ray who cared for his family and that his mother also greatly cared for his well-being.

After everything was done and Ray went to sleep, Aurora sighed and looked at the energy present within Ray's body. The energy seemed to resonate with Ray's feelings whenever he thought about his family. Therefore, Aurora felt that anyone who tried to injure or seek harm for his family would greatly suffer from this strange primal energy present within Ray.

The next day, Ray woke up early in the morning and went out for a jog to calm his mind. After that, he had breakfast with his family. Then he went to the exchange building, which is responsible for exchanging in-game currencies and real currencies. One could either buy or sell gold coins at the exchange rate, and the exchange rate changed every month depending on a lot of statistics and calculations that were unknown to many.

After Ray went into the building, he had a chat with the representative and told them about the exchange. He then proceeded with all of the processes necessary for the transaction to take place, after which he transferred the money into his mother's account. The total amount transferred was precisely 15,000 U.S dollars. To some, it may seem like a normal or small amount, but for Ray, it was an amount that could help his family out of a lot of problems.

After everything was done, Ray came back home and informed his mother about everything, then he went out to another building to attend to one of the most important matters.

The building he went to was the "System's Association." It was an association made for system users to assist them in figuring out their systems, holding tests, and grading new system users. Moreover, this association also trained system users with powerful systems and admitted them into their world-class academy known as the "Academy for System Users."

According to the information Ray had, this academy excelled at nurturing system users and helping them evolve their systems. Moreover, the academy had state-of-the-art training facilities, while one of the best system evolvers acted as a professor for the young generation. Right now, Ray's goal was to join this academy, and to do so, he would have to pass their test with perfect results to get enrolled in the best class. Other than that, Ray also knew that although the academy helped users with a lot of things, they never interfered with someone's progress in the system online or the completion of quests, as they thought of it as more of a trial for the system to complete itself while they, as an academy, would help the user in perfecting their system in real life.

Ray then walked up to a counter and asked, "Can I have a form for joining the "Academy for System Users ``?''

The man behind the counter lazily took out a piece of paper, handed it to Ray, and slumped back into his chair once again. whereupon Ray walked back and filled out the form. Afterward, he went back and handed the form back to the man behind the counter and paid 50 dollars as a fee for form submission, after which Ray left for home.

The form was a registration form for Ray so that he could attend the test that the academy would conduct two weeks later, while Ray would use those two weeks to grind and increase his strength in the system online.

After all, Ray felt that it was necessary to make preparations for the test and that he had to get stronger for various reasons .

.....

A/N: Chapter 3/10 is out now.