System's POV
chapter-13

Eight hours later, Shasha broke out of her trance.

The first thing she did was ask Alessia to prepare her something good to eat before returning to her own room to rest.

She initially wanted to test her gains, but her mind was too exhausted, as was expected of an eight-year-old girl.

The next day, before the sun could even rise from the East, Shasha was already in the training grounds, practicing the basic footwork and stances of the technique Thirteen imparted to her, Dance of the Moonlight.

Currently, the only things she could use were the stances and sword strikes. She couldn't summon the special abilities of the technique since her current vessel still didn't have the capacity to implement it.

After successfully finishing her First Wandering and gaining the power from The One, only then would she be able to teleport through the shadows, unleashing deadly attacks that could catch her opponents by surprise.

Thirteen was very happy with his sister's single-minded pursuit to become stronger. Perhaps not wanting to lose to Shasha, Mikhail also trained extra hard to master his own technique.

He wasn't a genius like his sister, but when it came to persistence and maybe stubbornness, which he inherited from their father, he was far from losing out. Mikhail was willing to go above and beyond in order to become stronger.

'The children of this world are really different,' Thirteen thought. 'Then again, this world isn't a normal one either.'

Tier 1 and Tier 2 Dimensional Gates would sometimes appear in their own city at any given time.

Because of this, the children of Pangea understood how harsh the world they were currently in was.

The powerless would be killed, so as a precaution, some of the families would even hire Wanderers to train their children from a young age.

They hoped that once their children turned thirteen and took part in their First Wandering, their chances of survival would be higher than most.

There were even Academies specially made for the purpose of training the next generation of Wanderers.

Gerald and Alessia didn't let their children enter these learning institutions because they believed that they would be able to teach them better.

Also, some of these institutions were either backed by the Central Government, the Five Monarch Clans, or the Ten Prestigious Families.

Although they did teach many ways of survival, they also brainwashed the children into patronizing the families that founded the institution.

The Elites who graduated from these academies would then become the subordinates of these Factions, making them part of their private armies.

As a member of one of the Ten Prestigious Families, Gerald knew this all too well.

He even had his own team of subordinates when he was still part of the Leventis Family. Unfortunately, his group was disbanded after his father disowned him.

Truth be told, Thirteen could somewhat sympathize with his current father.

Like his father, he was disowned by the System God. Both of them were also the black sheep of their families.

An hour later, it was Alessia's turn to learn the Dance of Solaris.

In order to ensure that there would be no mishaps, he asked Mikhail to stand by the door, which the latter accepted with a solemn expression on his face.

Since Gerald wanted to keep his current Sword Art, Thirteen didn't insist on letting him learn a new one.

He would just wait for his mother to beat his father up once the two of them sparred to make the latter understand what he was missing.

"… What are you doing, Zion?" Alessia blinked in confusion when her son started to scribble symbols on her body using a marker pen.

"Don't talk. Don't move. Don't do anything," Thirteen stated. "Don't disrupt my concentration. The backlash might cause me to suffer brain injuries."

After hearing his reply, Alessia no longer talked despite her curiosity.

Thirteen sighed in his heart. Unlike his siblings, their mother was an adult, so of course, she would find what he was doing silly.

Also, he used psychology to ensure that his mother really wouldn't move or distract him during the ritual.

She was already very sad when her son looked at her as if she was a complete stranger.

Alessia wouldn't do anything that would make her experience the same thing twice in a row.

An hour later, Thirteen told Mikhail that he could continue training because the ritual was over.

The older boy happily went to the Training Grounds to spar with Shasha in order to see how much she had improved after learning her Martial Technique.

Alessia was in a trance, but there was no longer any danger of a backlash. Because of this, Thirteen simply locked his door and plopped down on his bed to sleep.

He woke up four hours later, just in time for lunch.

His mother was still in a trance, so he left her alone and placed a "do not disturb" sign on the door, so no one would barge in without him.

When he arrived in the Dining Room, his father and siblings had just begun to eat.

"How is your mother?" Gerald asked after serving his son a plate of bacon and eggs.

He didn't really know how to cook food, and the most he could do was fry things.

Even so, it was still passable.

"You'll know either tonight or tomorrow, Pops," Thirteen replied. "I'm sure that Mom will look for you for a spar once she has finished her enlightenment."

"Really?" Gerald smirked. "I look forward to it."

The five-year-old smiled mischievously at his Father. Gerald definitely had no idea about what he would be facing.

If his Mother truly understood the technique, she would challenge Gerald tomorrow at noon when the sun was at its peak, allowing her to unleash her full might.

Unlike Shasha, his Mother would be capable of using the Dance of Solaris once she understood the basics.

She was already a superhuman and blessed with the ability to use spells, skills, and other techniques due to her current level of strength.

All she needed was time to build her foundations.

Thirteen believed that once Alessia fully mastered the Dance of Solaris, she would be able to defeat enemies who were a Rank above her without a problem.

That was how strong a Divine Martial Technique was, and in the hands of an expert, its true prowess would shine like the blazing sun.