Chapter 2: Home

After two hours of careful walking, Nor finally reached his home.

— Finally… I'm home… — he sighed, stepping into the small wooden house built from logs.

After closing the door behind him, he froze.

Silence greeted him.

I still can't get used to the fact that he's gone…

Nor slowly walked past the empty living room.

He entered a small room where a bucket of water stood. Scooping some water into his palms, Nor washed his face, rinsing off the blood and dirt.

After that, he went to his room and stopped in front of the mirror.

A tired seventeen-year-old boy stared back at him.

His black hair was still damp and his brown eyes were dull from exhaustion...

For a few seconds, Nor simply looked at his reflection in silence. Then he let out a heavy sigh, sat down on the bed…

And almost immediately fell asleep, unable to withstand the tension that had built up inside him.

— Nor, wake up… Nor… Nor… NOR!

— GRANDPA, I'M UP!!! — Nor shouted, shooting up in bed.

But after looking around the room, he froze.

No one was there.

— Ah… right… Grandpa is gone… — he whispered quietly, running a hand through his hair.

For a moment, he lowered his gaze. Then he took a deep breath.

— Alright… I need to figure this out… How did it go again?.. Status?

Nor froze, carefully reading the lines.

— Name and age… those match… But after that…

Nor frowned.

— Level 989?.. What does "level" even mean?.. And this stage… I was barely at the Apprentice Stage before… Then what exactly is "Supreme" supposed to be?..

His gaze slowly moved lower.

— Potential… What even is potential?..

A moment later, his eyes narrowed even more.

— Strength… intelligence… constitution…

He stared at the absurd numbers in silence.

Even without understanding what they meant, one thing was obvious.

They were ridiculously high.

— These numbers are insane…

Nor swallowed nervously before continuing.

— And mana… 15,000,000?..

He froze for a second.

— Okay… even I can tell that's probably not normal…

His eyes moved to the bottom of the screen.

— Shop… map… inventory?..

Nor stared at the strange words in confusion.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to try the same method he had used with the status window.

— Shop.

— What?..

He tried again.

— Map.

The same error.

— Inventory.

Again, the same result.

Nor let out a heavy sigh.

— Got it… I don't get anything…

As he thought it over, he noticed the light outside the window from the corner of his eye.

— It's already daytime?..

He got up and headed outside.

Stepping out of the house, Nor looked up at the sky.

It was clear. Bright blue. Not a single cloud.

For a second, he even relaxed…

But in the next moment, his expression changed.

The memory hit him instantly.

He had shot up… hundreds of meters into the air…

Nor swallowed nervously.

— Damn… I hate heights… — Nor muttered, walking toward a wide tree whose trunk was covered in old cuts and marks from previous strikes.

He stopped in front of it and looked over the familiar scars.

— After reaching the apprentice stage, I trained here… Let's see what's changed…

Nor took a step forward, stopping about thirty centimeters away from the trunk.

He raised his right hand and clenched his fist…

But at the last second, he froze.

The memory of what had happened to the wolf yesterday flashed before his eyes.

— Better… take it easy…

He exhaled and threw a light punch.

Crack.

In the next instant, his fist went straight through the trunk.

The tree trembled.

And then…

It broke.

The massive trunk began falling straight toward him with a heavy crack.

— What the—?!

In panic, Nor jumped to the side.

And in that same second, he realized his mistake.

— Damn it!

His body launched away.

The ground vanished beneath his feet.

Nor flew dozens of meters, smashing into tree after tree, breaking branches and punching through trunks, until he finally crashed into the ground.

A dull impact.

Silence followed.

— …Again…

He muttered, lying face-first in the dirt.

After getting up and looking at the line of trees his body had broken, Nor decided to check his fist. To his surprise, there wasn't a single scratch on it — only dust from the ground.

— What… happened to me… — Nor said quietly, clenching his fist.

After that, he ran a few more experiments and quickly understood one thing: he couldn't properly control his new strength.

Every strike was either too weak…

Or destructive.

As for jumping, he didn't even try.

After yesterday…

He'd had enough.

When it started getting dark, Nor returned to the house.

Silence greeted him, as always.

He sat down and thought.

— Looks like… it's time for me to leave… just like Grandpa used to say…

A familiar voice surfaced in his memory:

"Nor, how long are you planning to keep living off me? It's time for you to start earning your own money!"

"GRANDPA! I'm six!"

That evening, he began packing his things.

Some clothes, a few useful items, and most importantly — two gold coins left behind by his grandfather.

Half the night, Nor kept opening the status window again and again.

Reading. Staring. Trying to understand.

But…

Nothing changed.

Eventually, exhaustion took over.

And he fell asleep.

In the morning, after packing everything he needed into a sack and throwing it over his back, Nor stopped at the exit.

He looked at the living room one last time.

At the table. At the window. At everything that had been his home…

He took a deep breath.

— I… will come back here… someday…

With those words, he stepped outside, closed the door, and locked it.

But before setting out, Nor walked around the house and headed behind it.

There, beside a large stone, stood a simple wooden cross.

Nor stopped in front of it and remained silent for a few seconds.

— Well, Grandpa… I'm leaving now. Don't get too lonely here without me.

As he said those words, he felt a warm breeze touch his face and drift off into the distance.

For a moment, Nor almost felt like he could hear that familiar grumpy voice again:

"Come on already, get going. My bones are too old to keep babysitting you… And where's my kettle?"

— Yeah… he would've said something exactly like that… — Nor thought, smiling faintly.

After that, he turned around and walked toward the city.

Ravenport.

It was about seven kilometers from his home.

— I think… I can make it in an hour…

Nor stepped forward.

Into his new life.