"Did you two talk to him about your decision?" In her room, Rebecca was folding her clean clothes. Cassie was helping her line them up in the cupboard while checking if any of them needed to be ironed.
"I was going to, but he found the pills in my bag before I could." Cassie’s lips curled up a little, barely enough that anyone else would have missed it but not her mother. "I thought he would be against it, but it seems he is okay with me getting stronger as long as I don’t join a guild and become a hunter."
"I am with him on that too. Becoming a hunter is too dangerous; they drag people while shoving money and fame in their face, but they fail to tell you that it is only for the top one percent."
Rebecca sighed in relief before snorting coldly.
"Once your talent is under their control, they will throw you to the side unless you show them real value, and many people just stay there until the end, in that corner."
Cassie stopped, and her face turned towards her. "That is why I decided to start my own expedition team once I am strong enough, but without backup of a guild I will either have to face much discrimination and hurdles or join the government."
"I don’t do any of that for you, dear. Who knows if the government is the same as those people from the guild. In the end they are all humans, driven by their greed and interests."
Rebecca stopped, took the folded shirt to Cassie, and placed a hand on her face, looking at her with love and worry.
"Don’t worry, it might not be any time soon. I am returning the pill; Derrick told me he will get me a better one."
"A better one?" Rebecca tilted her head in confusion. "A pill of higher purity is as difficult to find as Taron."
Taron is a precious material that is harder to obtain than a diamond. What makes it special is its property to absorb Enhanced Energy.
Over the years, inside the earth, the metal would absorb the enhanced energy and grow stronger on its own. Its toughness and durability would increase with time and energy.
The more years it had spent underground absorbing the energy, the pricier it was.
"Either you have to find one in an auction or through connections. Where will he get one?" Rebecca could not help but voice her doubts, but Cassie did not share her concerns.
She shrugged casually, "Don’t know, but he never lied to me before. I believe him."
Rebecca opened her mouth to say something, but her voice died in her throat. She wanted to say that it was the old Derrick who used to do that.
Ever since he had lost his memories, she felt her son was no longer the same as he used to be.
Since the memories created a person, she knew that was true. But she did not want it to be true.
That would mean, if he never regained his memories, the son she knew and loved was...
"You are right. Derrick never lies." Rebecca repeated the words like she was convincing herself and not agreeing with her daughter.
"I will return the money to you once I return it. Thankfully the store has a return policy."
Cassie hurriedly took the shirt from her mother’s hand and placed it in the cupboard before asking, "Was that the last of it? I have to go pee."
Rebecca looked around before shaking her head. "There is some left, but you should go; I will deal with the rest. Thanks, baby."
She kissed Cassie’s cheeks, causing her to frown, but that only made Rebecca chuckle.
Cassie rushed out of the room, making her way to the bathroom, which had a toilet inside as well.
Her face twisted in urgency. She could no longer hold it any longer, so she decided against using the toilet on the ground floor.
But the moment she arrived at the door and it did not open for her, she frowned.
Knocked!
She pounced on the door and asked, "Derrick, are you inside?"
...
Inside the bathroom, the blue light flickered while Derrick seemed to have fallen asleep after the strain his body had been through. It had exhausted him mentally and physically.
Only when Cassie knocked and her voice echoed inside the room did he finally wake up.
"Come in." But Derrick’s mind was still foggy, and he did not even realize where he was while he groggily issued the command and started to stand up.
And by the time he even realized where he was, the door of the bathroom hissed open, revealing a rushed Cassie standing there.
Her eyes went wide the moment they landed on Derrick.
He was standing there, without a single cloth on him. Her gaze went down for a second before it snapped back up.
"How long have you been in that bath?" She asked, seeing the drool still wet on his face.
Panic flickered in Derrick’s eyes as he realized what happened; out of instinct, his innate technique’s active feature awakened, and any obstacle before him vanished.
It all happened so suddenly that the moment he noticed Cassie standing there, she was already...
"Why are you naked?!" He exclaimed, snapping his head to the side.
Cassie walked inside while snorting, "It’s you who is naked, not me, idiot. Can you draw the curtain? I need to pee; there is no time for you to get out of here."
Even as she said that, she had already started removing the shorts she had been wearing.
Derrick sat back down before swiping in the air. Suddenly an illusory curtain appeared between them, creating a barrier between the two, but they still could hear the sound from either side.
He could hear the rustling of clothes and then sliding on the ground.
"I thought you hated mess. How come you are acting like me?" Cassie said as she sat her naked butt on the toilet. "And did you break the tub?"
Despite how casual she tried to sound, she was clutching her face, trying to suppress the blush on her face. Don’t think about it.
She kept reminding herself.