Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Chapter 13: Older brother's duty

That happened purely by chance. After learning that he could get a ton of experience by doing that, Rain began to meditate between training sessions and before going to bed since that truly helped him get sleepy.

While Rain did some meditation in his previous life, meditating now was something that he could feel a lot more in that world. He could feel the energy and almost the environment around him as if he had something like another eye that only opened when his two others were closed. Or maybe it was only his other instincts working at full throttle. Either way, he could perceive his surroundings while he was meditating, as if he was feeling waves slowly passing through him.

In one of those meditation lessons, Rain felt better than usual, as if he was overflowing with power. Then his focus ended when Leiah suddenly entered the room while frowning.

(An unknown skill gained experience.)

(An unknown path gained experience.)

"I thought that I sensed something… what are you doing, Rain?" Leiah asked while looking around.

"Nothing," Rain replied.

Leiah scratched her head and then left. The timing was too suspicious, and Leiah never came to check on Rain when he was just calmingly meditating. She sensed that Rain was also feeling powerful, and that was probably mana.

"It seems that Mom has some magic senses even though she works as a scriber," Rain thought while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I probably activated some kind of basic magic, and she sensed it."

In the end, Rain decided to do that again at night when everyone was sleeping. He tried to focus, and then when he felt like that again, he calmly opened his eyes and kept his focus. Thanks to that, he could see a small blue aura enveloping his body. Before long, his mana began to drop… it was truly some sort of spell.

"My parameters are the same, so it isn't a support spell… it must be a defensive one," Rain thought. "Anyway, this system is weird. I was supposed to be able to see the skills once I learn them, but I can't… maybe it is because they need some requirements or just forcing the use isn't enough."

Rain had to study the subject more, but it was a fine progress on the path of magic.

From that day onward, Rain tried to use mana in other ways, but it was quite difficult… he pulled it off at first because the ability was simple, but the next steps weren't like that. He was also spending mana without experience, so he couldn't just do it willy-nilly.

While Rain was doing that, he was performing his morning road work as well. Thanks to it, he was lost in thought and didn't realize that his father was approaching. That was unusual… Rain froze on the spot since he kept his training a secret from his parents.

"Hey, I didn't think that you liked to run that much, Rain," Roan said. "I hated training when I was a kid, but I guess you have the energy to spare."

"... Welcome back, Dad," Rain said while forcing a smile.

"Come to think of it, you are at the age where you should interact more with other kids," Roan scratched his chin. "The kids of my friends tend to play together; you don't know them since we live in a different area, but…."

Roan gave the idea, but he was hesitating now. Probably because Rain wasn't a highborn, but he wasn't a commoner either. Roan probably thought that he wouldn't fit in since his son was too quiet. He felt even more troubled since that was a situation that he caused.

As for Rain, he couldn't care less about interacting with other kids. Playing with them was a waste of time when he could keep focusing on unlocking new paths and getting stronger.

Still, despite all his progress. Rain didn't feel like he was much stronger than a kid that was supposed to be ten or something. Sure, he was three years old, but even so… it felt like an ordinary human from Earth would have the same parameters as a human at level fifty of the human path.

"I guess starting with ten points in HP really makes me understand that I am only fifty times tougher than a newborn baby. This system is quite methodic," Rain thought.

"You always look lost in thought," Roan showed a worried expression. "Anyway, I am thankful that you never make a fuss and make things easier for me and your mum. You can tell me when you decide to play with other kids."

That will never happen, but Rain was thankful for those words. Now that he had been discovered, Rain didn't have to be so stealthy with his training. Still, that doesn't mean that he doesn't look odd for a kid of his age.

Around that time, even though Rain didn't have to hide his training, he didn't have the chance to do much more since Dana began to crawl. Leiah had to work, so he kept his little sister busy, making sure that she wouldn't go anywhere dangerous.

"Don't pull my cheek… bad, Dana," Rain said when he blocked her path when Dana was about to leave the house.

Dana was around eight months old already, and she was still a bit chubby, but she was cute, like a doll. While she was mischievous like that, Rain didn't mind that much looking after her. The job of the older siblings is to look after the younger ones, after all.