Chapter 14: Chapter 13 - Teacher
"So, you're my star pupil's child. The one with dual attributes and a mana sea rivalling that of Merlin's?"
Monster.
Even though from her words I can tell she's probably not a threat, my body is still screaming at me to run away.
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It's been 2 months since Alex woke up after exhausting all her mana. When she initially came to, she was in shock, immediately closing her eyes to check within herself.
My plan worked successfully. She was now able to feel the mana coursing within her and could sense her mana sea. Naturally she had many questions, like how I was able to help her cast magic, whether I was some holy being and so on, but all I could do was tell her that it was a secret and that she should never tell anyone.
Though she immediately promised to keep it a secret and didn't mention a word of it after that, I couldn't help but have my doubts. Even now I'm monitoring her closely, but thankfully since she likes to stay by my side as often as she can, it's not a difficult thing to do.
In fact, after helping her unlock her potential as a warrior she's somehow sticking to me even more than she was previously.
Well, having a cute cat girl following me around isn't the worst feeling in the world.
Once we'd discovered that she was able to sense her mana, the next step was learning how to channel it.
Perhaps she was naturally gifted at this, because after just a few tries, she succeeded, and with that out of the way we had to figure out what attribute she had.
In order to do so, we had to perform a few experiments.
She couldn't feel any obvious changes like being faster or more agile, and when I had her try punching something to see if her power or sturdiness increased there was no luck there either.
Thus we were left with the two attributes, light or dark.
To see if her natural regeneration had increased, she ran laps around the training field until she began to feel tired. Then, she tried channeling her mana to see if her stamina would regenerate faster.
It didn't, so by process of elimination, we came to the conclusion that she either had the dark attribute, or was attributeless.
Unfortunately since the benefits of dark attribute channeling are so obscure, I couldn't tell whether there was no change because of her lack of mana or that she had no attribute.
Therefore the next step was to teach her how to cultivate. Luckily the hardest part was figuring out how to sense mana, but since she'd already learnt to do so after casting that 'LIGHT' spell, it was simply a matter of teaching her the basics of gathering and refining mana and guiding her.
Now whenever I'm practicing my mana control or cultivating, she'll be next to me doing her best to cultivate as well.
A few weeks of her sticking to me like glue and I couldn't hold back my desires anymore.
When we were alone, I'd decided to come clean. I'd been putting it off for a while now in fear that she might refuse, but I forced myself to man up and ask her,
"Alex, is it alright if I touch your ears and tail?"
I was elated when she first agreed, and now she lets me pet her while we both cultivate.
Such bliss.
Those sessions even helped us grow closer together. A few days or so after our first time together, she asked me to refer to her as Alexandra.
Even though I wanted to keep calling her Alex since it's shorter, she would always end up pouting when I did.
But it's a small price to pay if it means I can touch those soft ears and tail.
And that's how my days passed until now.
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In front of me is a monster in human skin. Or rather, that's the only feeling I can get. I can almost physically feel the waves of mana radiating off of her. It's so strong that I can't even look at her properly without feeling a stinging in my eyes.
When I'm with Abraham or Clarissa who are supposed to be a tier 6 and 5 respectively, I can only faintly feel their mana if they use it near me, but just standing several metres apart from this woman, I can still feel the mana she gives off.
She must either be at least tier 7, or have a much larger mana sea compared to my parents.
Either way, she's in a realm completely out of reach for me right now.
Thankfully after a few seconds, the mana radiation coming from her gradually shrank, until I could barely feel a thing. Much better compared to the suffocating atmosphere I was experiencing earlier.
"Judging by that reaction, you should have a strong affinity to mana too."
I hear footsteps moving closer towards me as my eyes are still recovering. The *CLICK* of her heels gradually grows louder as she shortens the distance between us.
By the time my eyes have recovered completely, the clicking has already stopped. Opening my eyes I can see a pair of unfamiliar black shoes in front of me attached to tall, slender legs.
I raise my head to take a proper look at her, and in front of me is a bombshell beauty wearing a short cut skirt and blue robes. Platinum hair that reaches her waist, pale skin like a reflection of the moon, and soft red lips that glistened in the sunlight which lit up her face.
I'm struggling to get a coherent thought out, when my mother's words bring me back to my senses abruptly.
"Don't let my teacher's looks fool you Cain. He's an old geezer who's over 500 years old."
'Those books weren't lying when they said mana determined your lifespan. From the amount I could sense, it's no surprise he's lived up to 500 years old.'
...
"HE?"
My mouth betrays me as I examine his chest.
It's completely flat.
And his next words only serve to put the nail in the coffin.
"Clarissa, how could you betray your teacher like this? I'm a woman on the inside you know."
I see, so she's actually a he.
"My Cain is just a little boy. I don't care what you do but don't you dare lay a hand on my family."
Is my whole life a lie?
"Come on Clarissa, it was just a bit of harmless fun."
Am I actually a girl too?
"I won't let you near my Cain until you promise you'll stop."
Do I even exist?
"Alright, I promise."
Hm... I seem to be forgetting something...
Ah!
Breaking free from the existential crisis I was just experiencing, I realise I'm being held by Clarissa, hidden from the sight of her teacher.
As she releases me from her hold, I turn to face her teacher, bow, and introduce myself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Cain Dubois. Thank you for taking care of my mother."
I hear them let out a sigh as I finish my introductions.
"I'm so jealous of you, my darling pupil. How I wish I could give birth to a child as cute as this. Come here, let me give you a hug."
Seeing as how Clarissa is fine with it, I don't resist.
It's actually more comfortable than I thought it would be. In fact, somehow it makes me feel safe.
Once they're done hugging me, they continue,
"It's a pleasure to meet you too little one. My name is Serena, but you can call me Aunty if you'd like."
"Okay, Aunty Serena."
Suddenly she pulls me into a hug once more. This time it's not so comfortable.
"Um, Aunty, please be a bit gentler."
"Ohh, so cute. I can't stand it. Clarissa, give him to me. Please?"
Uh-oh, am I about to be kidnapped?
Help! Call the police!
Though I don't know if they'd be able to even lift a finger against someone this powerful.
To make matters worse, I can feel eyes digging into my back. As I turn around to find the source of this discomfort I see Alexandra staring at me with a piercing glare.
What an unfortunate series of events.
As I'm about to give in to despair, Clarissa jumps in to save the day.
"Stop messing around teacher. Hurry up and tell him what you want to say."
Finally she lets go of me.
'Thank god, it was getting hard to breathe like that.'
As I desperately try to regain the lost air that was squeezed out of my lungs, Serena asks me something I didn't expect.
"Cain, how would you like to become my student?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone