Edward left the house shortly after, and when he opened the door, a beautiful, serene woman was leaning against the fence on one side.
Her long blonde hair waved in the wind and fell down her back, moving gently with the breeze and revealing a splendid figure.
She was slim and tall, with long, perfectly balanced legs, her thighs covered with pantyhose under a full white dress with red trim.
Young and beautiful, even though she was wearing white sneakers, she was walking through these slums. Edward always admired that side of her. She didn't care about being fashionable, but she dressed elegantly.
She didn't care about wealth, but all her clothes looked expensive.
She was Aurora Ashford, one of the most well-known people at the Provincial Academy.
"Ed!" She smiled when she saw him and jumped toward him. "They told me you awaken. I came as soon as I heard. Is that true?" Her voice was, as always, soft and charming. But, also as always, she loved to talk.
The first thing she did when she saw him was bombard him with questions without waiting for him to greet her.
Edward smiled at her. "Come in, my father is making juice, and we're about to eat," he said.
"Is Uncle inside?" Aurora didn't even wait for him to finish stepping aside and pushed her way into the house.
"Uncle, I came to see you!" She greeted him quickly. "Grape juice? Great!" She immediately ran to Abraham, but before greeting him, she stopped and stared at him.
"Who was it?" she asked. Suddenly, anger rose in her heart when she saw the bruises on Abraham's face. He had been beaten.
They weren't family, but they got along well enough to worry. She had been friends with Edward for three years, and the same with Abraham; there was no way she wouldn't worry.
Aurora wasn't just anyone. She was a noblewoman, although her family was not at its peak; they still had power.
A word from her could bring down more than one person.
"Haha, if you're talking about the bruises, don't worry. I fell in the mines, and the bruises came naturally. I hit several rocks with my face and almost died, hahaha." Abraham laughed out loud.
"Huh? You fell?" Finally, Aurora regained her composure and approached him. "Are you okay, uncle?" she asked.
If this talented and naturally talkative girl had a problem, it was her naivety. Although it was understandable, she was only 18 years old and had been raised under the support of a wealthy family that did not let her see any problems.
Edward closed the door and entered as they were talking about the "fall."
Aurora and William were his only two friends in this world, as he received nothing but contempt from everyone else. He met William because they were both bullied, so they somehow hit it off in their last year.
But he met Aurora on his first day at the Academy. She has been a Star Student for a year now and has never stopped visiting him. She has even given him advice about awakening, although that doesn't really help much.
They had always gotten along quite well, despite the great difference between them: one is noble, born into wealth, and the other is... nothing, poor and untalented.
She brought up all kinds of topics while they made juice and some bread.
She was even happier than he was when he told her he had awakened, and she didn't care about his lack of talent; awakening was good enough.
"We can go on missions sometime, so I can help you!" she said confidently, patting her chest. "I'm pretty strong." She smiled.
Although saying she was strong was an understatement, as she was actually very powerful.
Star students are divided into stars. There are 5 stars and the "No Stars" rank to refer to newcomers, like Edward.
In this case, Aurora was the same age as him, but she was already a two-star star student and was considered one of the most talented students in the academy, as her Talent Rank was A and her evolutionary capacity was Level 3.
"I'll be counting on you then. Although to do missions with you, I have to level up quickly."
"I'm sure you can do it. You're very good," she assured him.
Saying those words to someone as untalented as him seemed like pure mockery. But Edward knew she wasn't mocking him; she meant it.
She firmly believed he was someone great.
'I don't even know when she started believing I'm so good.' He shook his head helplessly.
After making some "wine" from unfermented grapes, they ate cheerfully, while conversations arose between the three of them. Somehow, they were happy.
Abraham silently watched the conversations between Edward and Aurora and couldn't help but smile nostalgically.
'That's how we looked back then,' he thought, as he imagined his late wife.
Seeing this beautiful and talented woman insist to Edward that he would succeed and that he shouldn't have pessimistic thoughts reminded him a little of his wife, as they were quite similar in that regard.
Always positive, a little naive, but intelligent.
'It seems that all my efforts over the years have been completely worth it.'
"Dad." Edward's voice suddenly snapped him out of his reverie.
"Yes?" He quickly recovered and looked at him.
"Aurora is leaving, I'll go with her."
"Oh, yes. All right. Be careful and come back soon," said Abraham, then looked at Aurora. "Come whenever you want, little Aurora. Although it's small, there's natural juice that will help you grow."
"I'll take your word for it and come back soon, Uncle! See you later!" After a lively farewell, Abraham watched as the door closed in front of him, and they both left.
"Sigh." With his sigh came a cough. "Cough, cough." He had been holding it in for a while and couldn't help but spit up blood with it.
"Hah." He sighed heavily. "I can't even defend myself against a few useless people anymore. I've really fallen low."
Despite being badly injured and sighing, he didn't give it much thought. He looked toward a corner of the room.
His mining tools were worn out from repeated use and needed maintenance. Buying new ones would be ideal, but money was tight these days, so he could only rely on wearing them out.
"I still have to work, don't I? My little one is just starting to grow up. I still have time." Abraham smiled.
As he had been a little anxious these past few days waiting for Edward to awaken, he hadn't been able to maintain them. Still, now he finally had some time alone and was calmer, so he walked over to them, grabbed them, and went out to the backyard, where he sat on a bench next to a piece of concrete and placed them there.
"Help me a little more, old friend. It won't be long before you're free," he whispered.
Just then, a summoned beast appeared near him and wrapped itself around his arm, circling around it.
It wasn't visible, but it was there. He could feel it, even though he had lost the ability to see it.
A hammer appeared in his hand, which gradually transformed into different materials needed for the maintenance of tools of this type. He spent a good while like this...