Ch 10 - Skills

The paramedics hovered over the four of them, checking wounds and applying first aid. Evan wanted to tell them it wasn't necessary, since Reid had already healed them, but his brother wanted his abilities hidden, so Evan held his tongue.

Suspicion hung in the air anyway. The amount of blood soaking their clothes didn't match the injuries on their bodies. The healing potions Harlan and Reid carried weren't nearly strong enough to erase wounds like those. Damage that severe called for a Healer's magic or days in a hospital bed.

The paramedics said nothing and took them to a nearby hospital for full examinations. Evan submitted to the doctors' prodding without complaint. Having spent so long trapped inside that Rift, all three students had to be checked for mana poisoning. Awakeners could endure long stretches in a Rift's dense mana, but ordinary humans were far more vulnerable. Thankfully, none of them showed any sign of it.

Night had fallen by the time Reid collected him, once the examinations and the officers' brief questioning were done. Evan searched his brother's face for any trace of distress and found none. Had he really escaped without a scolding?

"The doctor said you're fine," Reid said. "Does anything still hurt?"

Evan shook his head. How could it, when Reid had pumped so much Sacred Light into him?

"How about we get some food before heading home?" Reid asked.

"Sure."

Reid's car carried them back to District 20. His official identification got them through the checkpoint without delay, and soon they pulled up at a Korean barbecue restaurant. After they were seated, Reid placed their order. Before long, thin slices of pork belly and marinated beef arrived with an assortment of side dishes, followed by a pot of soybean paste stew whose savory steam rose over the table.

Midway through the meal, Evan asked, "Did you get into trouble?"

"No. Do you still think Director Shin is that scary?" Reid asked with a smile.

Evan didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't remember anything about the woman, so he mumbled into his food and kept his gaze lowered.

Reid seemed to take that as a yes.

"You should try meeting her sometime. Director Shin misses you."

"No way. What would I even talk about with an old woman?" Evan said, playing up the way kids insist they're too cool for older people.

"She'd resent you calling her that," Reid said with a chuckle, but he didn't push the matter further. "I will need to get my rank tested, though."

"You will?"

Reid had rejected the System's offer. What would those machines even see when they scanned him?

"You want to come?" Reid asked.

"I can?" Evan blinked. "But isn't tomorrow a school day?"

"I'm sure the school won't mind giving you a few days off after what happened."

"Nice!"

With their bellies full, Reid paid and they headed home. Partway there, he asked Evan another question. "You haven't asked about what my power is. Aren't you curious?"

"Will you tell me? I thought details like that were personal," Evan said.

Fans tracked the abilities Awakeners showed in public, but those records only revealed so much. Most Awakeners kept the full extent of their powers private.

"What are you talking about? Aren't we family? Of course I'll tell you." Reid ruffled Evan's hair. "My abilities are complicated, but the simple version is that I can use a special energy with both healing and destructive properties. I can save someone's life with it or use it to fight, like I did against that Awakened Thornwood Tree."

"So you're very strong?"

"You could say that. Though I don't plan on being upfront about it with the Awakener Affairs Bureau," Reid said, pressing a finger to his lips. "Let's keep this a secret between us, okay?"

"Okay!" Evan's heart swelled at the trust Reid had so easily handed him. Had anyone ever trusted him with a secret before? Not really. There had been company secrets, but those were simply things he was expected to keep from customers. He'd had no family in his previous life, and growing up, he'd been too busy working to spend much time with friends. He had never been close enough to anyone to be handed something so personal.

The spark of joy died as quickly as it had come, because Reid wasn't truly trusting him. He trusted the brother whose body Evan now inhabited, and if he ever discovered the truth, he would no doubt destroy Evan.

"What's wrong?" Reid asked.

"Nothing, I'm just sleepy." Evan smoothed the gloom from his face with a fake yawn. "You wouldn't believe how much I had to run from wolves today!"

He then launched into a long and animated retelling of what had happened while he was trapped inside the Rift, and the change of subject worked.

When they arrived home, Evan took a long, hot shower to ease his sore muscles before crawling under the covers. He sank into the softness of his new mattress, closed his eyes, and felt sleep pulling at him, until a single thought surfaced.

Where is my reward?

Evan shot back up, sitting on the bed. "System! Did you forget to give me my reward?! Or are you going to claim that since it was Reid who killed the boss, I didn't clear it? How the heck am I supposed to clear a B-rank dungeon when I'm not even an Awakener?!"

The System didn't respond, and for a moment he truly believed it had messed with him again. After everything it had done, Evan knew full well it was not above trolling him like that.

[Congratulations!]
[You have completed your mission!]
[You didn't die! You were absolutely pathetic back then, but hey, what can you expect from an unawakened brat!]
[Reward: Awakening]

The insults barely registered beyond mild annoyance. At this point, it would have been stranger if the System had shown him any genuine goodwill. The reward concerned him far more. An Awakening was exactly what he needed. Reid could manage without one, but Evan desperately needed some means of protecting himself. Unlike Reid, he had no choice but to accept the System's offer. Whatever connection bound him to it, it had probably trapped him already.

He pressed the confirm button without hesitation and waited. Nothing happened. Evan frowned. According to what he had read online, awakening usually came with a rush of power through the body, yet nothing stirred in him.

"Are you sure I'm already awakened?" Evan muttered.

The System replied by pulling up his status screen.

[Name: Evan Whitfield]
[Age: 17 years old]
[Status: Awakened]
[Title: Transmigrator]
[Status Effect: The Curse of ■■■■■■]
[Skills: -]

Evan narrowed his eyes at the screen. "Could it be that you're messing with me and didn't actually do it? And where's my skill? Shouldn't you give me one, or are you really that stingy?"

[(¬_¬ )ノ]

[You've unlocked a new skill!]
[Main Character Who?]
[The main character? Who's that? You're nobody. No one. Nobody will pay attention to you! Amazing! Maybe you can try tugging a tiger's whiskers, but I wouldn't recommend it!]

Okay, if Evan ignored the insults, this was basically a stealth skill, right? Not bad. Not bad at all. He would have preferred a combat skill, but the ability to slip away unnoticed had its own value.

He had already been seeing System windows that should have been hidden from everyone else, like Reid's Awakening notification. That was supposed to be private, wasn't it?

[You've unlocked a new skill!]
[You're Not Supposed To See This]
[You can see stuff you normally shouldn't. Is that a good thing? Probably not! There's a saying that the less you know, the better!]

Evan's eye twitched.

Hold on. This notification made no sense. He'd had this ability before his awakening, yet the System had only just added it to his status window.

"You're messing with me," Evan muttered.

The System wasn't supposed to behave like this. It was meant to be impartial and absolutely reliable. Yet ever since he'd arrived in this world, it had seemed petty at best and downright incompetent at worst.

"Are you some knockoff System or something?"

The System didn't bother replying. It simply closed his status window, a huffy gesture that made Evan roll his eyes as he lay back down.

He would have loved to test his new ability, but he had no idea how sharp Reid's senses were. Main Character Who? sounded like a stealth skill, but the System had trolled him one too many times for him to trust a skill description at face value. He swallowed his excitement and settled back into bed. Several minutes of tossing and turning passed before sleep finally took him.

***

Evan sat on the floor amid a scatter of children's toys, a small horse figurine clutched in his hand. Through the open doorway, a bespectacled man with East Asian features worked at the stove. A moment later, footsteps thumped down the stairs and a young boy with dark hair and chubby cheeks appeared, several books stacked in his arms.

"Reid, can you please get me some eggs from the fridge?" the man asked.

"Sure," Reid said. He crossed to Evan and set the books beside him. "Wait for me a little longer, all right? I need to help Father first." He fetched the eggs from the fridge and set them on the counter.

"Thanks. You're such a helpful child," his father said.

Ring!

A phone shrilled on the table.

"Reid, help keep an eye on the food. I need to take this," his father said. "Just turn it off if it starts smelling weird or looks strange."

"Okay," Reid replied.

His father snatched up the phone and answered. Evan couldn't make out the words, but the conversation dragged on, and indignation and impatience swelled in his chest.

He had waited long enough. How much longer was he supposed to wait? With his father still tied up on the phone and Reid perfectly content to watch the food, Evan decided to take matters into his own hands. He shifted his weight slowly. Instead of crawling on all fours, he pushed himself upright and took a shaky step forward.

"Le!" he called.

Both Reid and his father turned at the sound, and both gasped.

"Evan! Our little Evan is walking!" his father shouted.

"What? He is?!" a female voice exclaimed through the phone. "And right when I'm not home! You'd better record it!"

His father scrambled to open the camera while Reid hurried out of the kitchen toward Evan. A gap still lay between them. Any adult could cross it in five steps, but to Evan, it stretched out like open country.

"Le!" Evan shouted, waving his arms.

"Aah, you're so cute, Evan! Come here! Come to Father!" his father called, crouching a few steps away. He held the phone up to record and stretched out his free hand, coaxing Evan to toddle toward him.

Evan scrunched up his nose. He wobbled closer, slapped the offending hand aside, and pushed on past him toward Reid.

His father let out a dramatic wail. "How cruel! My cute little son hates me!"

"Le!" Evan ignored him completely and called to his brother. When Reid stood before him, he raised his arms and tipped his head back, the universal sign for pick me up.

Reid smiled and scooped the small boy into his arms.

"Huhuhu, I'm so sad, but you two are so cute! Come on, smile for the camera, boys!" the man said, aiming his phone at them.

Reid did as his father asked, but Evan kept his face stubbornly sullen and glared at the man who had been keeping his brother away from him.

Click.

The phone caught the moment.

"Aw, look at my boys," his father cooed. "And you, Evan, you're still cute even when you're sulking."

He chuckled and pinched Evan's cheek.

Evan snapped at the man's finger, but it whisked out of reach before his teeth closed.

"How can you be so mean to your father?"

"Le!" Evan only burrowed tighter against Reid.

"I don't know if I should be happy or heartbroken that you're closer to your brother than your father," the man said, shaking his head. Still smiling, he ruffled Reid's hair. "See, kiddo? Your brother loves you the most, so keep a close eye on him for me, eh?"

Reid simply nodded and tightened his hold on Evan.

***

Evan opened his eyes to the ceiling. That was the memory he had recovered from the other Evan? He would have traded it for something practical, like what they taught at school or who the people around him were. Anything would have served better than a toddler's first steps.

He rolled onto his side and curled up beneath the blanket. The flashback had dredged up his own years at the orphanage, with its cold, cramped rooms, its noisy children, and its distant caretakers. He didn't remember when he had taken his own first steps, but he knew no one had cheered for him or tried to record the moment. Why would they? There were too many children to look after.

What he remembered best from those years had nothing to do with learning to walk or speaking his first words. He remembered winter nights spent shivering under a thin, tattered blanket, lying on a narrow bed with a growling stomach while the cold crept up through the mattress and into his bones.

Evan sighed and sank back into sleep, hoping he would never have to sit through another moment so unbearably sweet.

[Memory Synchronization Progress: 10%]

A/N:

Evan: Give me the other Evan's memories.

System: Shows wholesome childhood memory.

Evan: Not that one!

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