Chapter 155: A Traumatic Background

After the hunt, gathering, and exploring the surroundings, the two returned to the hut when the sun started to set, signaling the coming of evening.

Though it was a fruitful day for them, as they had gathered enough food to last 2 or 3 days, Magna felt slightly disappointed by the exploration.

First of all, there was nothing magical about the place. All the animals and plants he had seen were ordinary, and none of them had the golden glow that usually appeared around mana-rich things.

Another thing was that there wasn’t much to explore due to the area being on a mountaintop. It was the kind of small area that could be completely explored within a few hours.

Apart from the place being boring, there was another problem he had started to face, which was his full mana reserve.

It had hit 100% a long while ago, and now every bit of extra mana he gained through his natural regeneration was simply slipping away from his body.

Every second, he was feeling like he was losing money, which was making him depressed about it.

The new options Gaia had offered him were also quite good, as every time he looked at them, he actually wanted to go through the mutation without wasting any more time.

[Option 1: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to improve physical regeneration speed by 5x.]

[Option 2: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to increase skin durability by 10x.]

[Option 3: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to gain 10% fire and heat resistance.]

The first option was one of the earlier ones he had received but hadn’t chosen. Gaia was offering it again, and it would be incredibly useful for surviving in a place like this.

Especially after seeing how quickly Matrim had healed his broken leg without any external help, Magna felt he needed a trait similar to that.

The second option was also a perfect defensive trait. His body was already quite durable, so if he increased his skin’s durability by 10 times, it would be almost like wearing bulletproof armor over his entire body.

Option 3 looked weak at only 10%, but if he gained more mutations like this in the future and eventually increased it to 100%, he might be able to gain complete immunity. It was more like an investment for the future.

Though Magna had already made his choice despite how difficult it was, he still chose not to go through with the mutation yet, as he didn’t want anyone to see it.

The old man called Master, above all, possessed keen eyes. He would likely notice the changes in Magna at a single glance, which risked exposing his secrets and causing severe complications.

So for now, unless he was forced to, he put the options aside and focused on getting through the night without sleeping.

While Matrim prepared the meal, being quite skilled and knowledgeable with the ingredients, Magna helped him while taking the opportunity to learn new things.

Not long after, the pot over the fireplace started boiling again, filling the surroundings with the delicious smell of stew.

’’If we want to stay awake, I suggest we don’t eat too much.’’ Matrim suggested while waiting for the meal to finish cooking.

He was already used to constantly staying hungry to keep his weight in check, so he was actually saying it for Magna’s sake.

Magna also agreed, as he was aware that the comfort of having a full stomach would make him sleepy again.

At least when he was hungry, sleeping was harder.

The night was long, so they also decided to chat to pass the time.

Matrim didn’t seem to be a very talkative person either. When he couldn’t find anything else to talk about, he started telling Magna about his family and the place where he grew up.

According to him, the Rockford family was actually one of the Great Families, and the strongest Witch in the family was a 20th Trial Witch.

Remembering that their family head was only a 16th Trial Witch last time, Magna asked why that was the case, only to receive an interesting explanation.

’’When a Witch reaches a certain level of power, they usually hit an invisible barrier. To break through it, they usually have to go down a different, long, and difficult path to surpass their limits. You can think of it as some kind of training.’’

Apparently, he didn’t have enough knowledge about it either, but long story short, she was in seclusion or something similar to break through to her next Trial.

After that, he also started telling Magna about his childhood.

As Magna listened, he became quite shocked, even questioning whether he was really listening to a child’s past at all.

Matrim was 10 years old, and according to him, every moment of his life had been filled with training to become a powerful Shadow. He hadn’t even had a single day without training.

In the end, he was an extraordinarily rare boy, the only one born into the family in the last 100 years with 5 bloodline traits. Usually, even a child born with 2 traits was considered lucky and rare.

But being born with 5 bloodline traits hadn’t given him an easy life. On the contrary, it had given him a difficult childhood.

Because of the traits passed down through the Rockford bloodline, all the children were usually trained around strength and durability. ℴℴ𝘮

They were even made to wear specially designed, extremely heavy clothes from the moment they were born so their muscles would develop faster and they would grow accustomed to the weight.

He also said that his unusually tall height had nothing to do with his genes or any of his traits.

He was actually the tallest person in his family, with his height being the result of his body being manipulated by various external methods since he was born.

One example alone reminded Magna more of torture than training.

For 1 month, he had been tied to a wooden platform shaped like an X, with his hands and legs bound while a mechanism pulled and stretched his body every day.

It wasn’t even a one-time thing. Every 3 or 4 months during his growth period, they would tie him to the mechanism again and leave him there for days to make him taller.

The reason behind it was quite simple. Since his flesh was much heavier than normal, spreading that flesh over a longer body would make his weight more balanced, which was why his family had this kind of training method.

’And here I was thinking I had a traumatic past.’ In the end, Magna had to sigh heavily after hearing all of that.

He was no longer surprised by why the boy looked more mature than he should have, as there was an insane difference between them even when compared to Faye.

One child grew up with love and warmth, while the other was only seen as a tool and weapon.

The worst part wasn’t even that he had gone through all of this at such a young age.

It was that he was telling the entire story with a smile on his face.