Chapter 82: A Father’s Gift

The peace inside the family lounge lasted for less than a minute.

Frey had only just settled deeper into the sofa when hurried footsteps thundered somewhere beyond the corridor. They were approaching fast enough that Laurent lowered his newspaper again, while Celeste closed her eyes with the resigned expression of a mother who already knew exactly what was coming.

The doors burst open.

Two figures rushed inside almost simultaneously.

The first was a boy of fifteen with dark hair that had clearly resisted every attempt to keep it neat. Lucien Valentin D’Aubigné strongly resembled Frey, although his features were still softer with youth and his body hadn’t yet developed the lean athletic build of his older brother.

He was already tall for his age, with long limbs that suggested he would probably catch up to Frey within the next few years.

His eyes were darker than Frey’s hazel ones, inherited from Laurent instead, and he wore a loose black shirt over grey trousers as though he had abandoned whatever he had been doing the instant someone told him his brother had returned.

Beside him was his twin sister, Amélie Valentin D’Aubigné, who possessed more of Celeste’s features. Her long black hair had been tied into a high ponytail, revealing an expressive face and bright hazel eyes that immediately locked onto Frey.

Unlike Lucien, who needed half a second to register that his brother was actually sitting there, Amélie didn’t slow down at all.

"BIG BROTHER!"

Frey barely managed to straighten before Amélie crashed into him.

Lucien arrived a heartbeat later and threw himself into the reunion as well, turning what should have been a hug into enough combined weight to push Frey backward against the sofa.

Frey laughed as he wrapped one arm around each of them. "I leave for one week and both of you suddenly forget how normal people greet someone. Get off before you break the sofa."

"You disappeared for seven days!" Amélie complained without releasing him. She pulled back only enough to inspect his face before immediately noticing the fading bruise near his shoulder. "And you came back injured. Mum, look! I told you he was probably getting beaten up somewhere."

Lucien leaned closer to examine the same bruise before grinning. "That’s nothing. If he spent an entire week fighting monsters and this is all he came back with, maybe the monsters weren’t very impressive."

Frey slowly turned toward his younger brother. "You became remarkably brave while I was gone."

Lucien’s grin disappeared.

Before Frey could grab him, the boy retreated behind Laurent’s chair while Amélie burst into laughter. The room immediately descended into noise as Frey threatened to demonstrate exactly how impressive the monsters had been using Lucien as an example, while Lucien argued that threatening an unawakened fifteen-year-old was an abuse of supernatural power.

Celeste finally clapped her hands sharply. "Both of you, give your brother a rest. He just came back from the Beyond, and the first thing you do is jump on him and start causing trouble."

Amélie immediately pointed at Lucien. "He started it."

"I didn’t even touch him first!"

"You were going to."

"How can I start something I didn’t do?"

Frey leaned toward Laurent while the twins argued. "Were they always this annoying, or did something happen while I was away?"

Laurent folded his newspaper again and replied quietly, "They’ve been asking when you were coming home since the second day. Don’t let them hear me tell you that, though. Apparently they’re both too old to miss their brother."

Both twins heard him.

Their protests came immediately.

The resulting laughter filled the lounge, and whatever remained of the quiet afternoon disappeared completely. Celeste eventually gave up trying to restore order and announced that she was going to prepare a proper feast since everyone was finally home.

Frey reminded her that they had household staff perfectly capable of cooking dinner, but Celeste dismissed the suggestion before he finished speaking.

Her eldest son had spent a week in another world eating whatever Zenith Citadel and temporary camps provided, which apparently meant only food personally prepared by his mother could restore him to acceptable condition.

She had barely left for the kitchen when Lucien moved closer to Frey again.

His earlier teasing had disappeared beneath obvious curiosity. "Big Brother, can you actually show us something? Just one ability. We haven’t seen you use your Divine Rune since the Second Red Moon."

Amélie immediately joined him. "Yes! Show us Vritra. You said the tattoo became a real Divine Rune, but you’ve barely shown us anything."

Frey’s exhaustion suddenly became considerably less important.

Showing off to his younger siblings was exactly the kind of responsibility he took seriously.

He leaned back and gave them a deliberately thoughtful expression. "I suppose I could demonstrate one or two things. Vritra has developed quite a bit recently, so you’ll need to prepare yourselves emotionally before witnessing something incredible."

Laurent sighed behind his tea. "There it is. I was wondering how long it would take."

Frey ignored him.

Lucien was already excited, while Amélie demanded that he stop talking and actually show them something. Frey started considering where on the estate he could safely manifest Vritra’s Coil when Laurent casually placed his cup on the table.

"You might as well use your training room."

Frey stopped.

He slowly looked toward his father. "My what?"

Laurent picked up his newspaper again as though he hadn’t just said anything unusual. "Your training room. I had one built while you were away."

Frey stared at him.

Then his eyes lit up.

Ten minutes later, any intention of resting had disappeared.

Laurent led his three children through another section of the residence and into a corridor Frey rarely had reason to visit. They descended one floor before entering a newer wing of the estate, where the traditional stone and wood gradually gave way to reinforced walls and cleaner metallic surfaces.

At the end of the corridor stood a massive black door without any visible handle.

A thin blue line illuminated across its center as Laurent approached.

An artificial voice sounded from hidden speakers.

[Identity confirmed. Laurent D’Aubigné. Authorization accepted.]

[Welcome.]

The door separated down the middle and slid silently into the surrounding walls.

Frey stepped through and stopped.

The facility beyond was enormous.

The main chamber alone stretched dozens of meters from wall to wall, with a ceiling high enough to accommodate abilities that required significant vertical space. Reinforced panels covered the floor and walls, separated by narrow metallic channels containing embedded Mana conductors.

Several sections branched away from the central chamber through additional doors, while equipment Frey couldn’t immediately identify occupied stations along the perimeter.

Weapon racks lined one wall.

Swords, spears, axes, staffs, bows and training weapons of numerous designs rested inside secured frames. Some were ordinary reinforced equipment while others had clearly been manufactured specifically for Awakeners. There were even empty sections where Frey’s preferred weapons could be stored.

He slowly turned toward Laurent. "You built all of this in one week?"

Laurent walked past him with both hands in his pockets. "The foundation already existed. I decided it was better to renovate the entire section once you awakened rather than have you constantly travel somewhere else whenever you needed proper facilities. Your mother also preferred the idea of you training somewhere with emergency medical systems nearby."

Frey looked around again.

Calling it a training room was ridiculous.

It was a private Awakener facility.

Laurent gestured toward the largest open chamber. "This is the primary combat area. The walls are reinforced against lower-Star Awakener attacks, and the internal Mana barriers provide another layer of protection. Don’t interpret that as permission to test the strongest attack you possess. The contractors were very clear that durability ratings aren’t invitations to deliberately destroy things."

Frey immediately thought about Total Discharge.

He decided not to mention it.

Laurent continued toward a control panel and touched the display.

The lighting changed.

Several emitters positioned around the chamber activated, and a human figure suddenly appeared approximately twenty meters away.

Lucien nearly jumped.

The projection was remarkably realistic. A muscular man stood within the combat area wearing lightweight armor and holding a spear. Information appeared beside the figure, listing physical parameters, preferred weapon, movement patterns and recorded combat tendencies.

Frey stepped closer.

Laurent explained, "The simulation system uses recorded combat data to create opponents. It can’t reproduce a Divine Rune perfectly, especially abilities whose mechanics aren’t publicly available, but physical movements, known techniques, reaction patterns and documented combat habits can be reconstructed with reasonable accuracy."

He moved through the interface.

More holographic figures appeared.

Some carried swords. Others used spears, shields or ranged weapons. Several wore recognizable Awakener equipment, while others appeared to be generic training profiles.

"I purchased licensed combat data for a number of professional Awakeners," Laurent continued. "Nothing classified and nothing obtained illegally. Most of it comes from public matches, licensed training archives and commercial combat packages. You can select an opponent, adjust the simulated physical parameters and fight the projection. The system records your movements afterward and identifies obvious weaknesses."

Frey’s grin widened with every sentence.

Amélie looked between the projections and her father. "Can normal people use it?"

"Within safe settings," Laurent answered. "Which means neither you nor your brother will secretly increase the difficulty and attempt to fight an Awakener simulation."

Lucien looked personally attacked despite having said nothing.

Laurent dismissed the holograms and led them through another door.

The next room was smaller and almost completely empty except for a circular platform occupying its center. Dense arrays of Mana conductors covered the walls, converging around several crystalline devices positioned beneath transparent protective panels.

"This is the Mana cultivation room," Laurent explained. "It can regulate environmental Mana density within safe limits and monitor absorption efficiency, circulation and fluctuations while you cultivate. It doesn’t replace Mana Crystals or magically increase your Star Rank, but it gives you a controlled environment for training your Mana manipulation."

Frey walked onto the platform and immediately felt the difference when Laurent activated the system at its lowest setting. Mana gradually gathered throughout the chamber, becoming easier to perceive without reaching anything close to uncomfortable density.

That alone would be useful.

They continued through the facility.

There was a physical conditioning section equipped with machines designed for Awakener strength rather than ordinary humans, a recovery room containing medical scanners and emergency treatment equipment, a smaller chamber for precision testing, storage for Mana Crystals and monster materials, and reinforced lockers for weapons and combat gear.

Another station could measure striking force, acceleration and reaction speed, allowing Frey to track changes as his Star Rank and Divine Rune developed.

By the time they returned to the main combat chamber, Frey had forgotten that he had been exhausted twenty minutes earlier.

He stood in the center and slowly looked around at everything his father had prepared while he was gone.

Laurent hadn’t built it because he expected anything from him.

There was no lecture about becoming stronger, protecting the D’Aubigné name or repaying the money spent on the facility. His father had simply seen the path his son had chosen after awakening and made sure he had somewhere safe to walk it.

Frey turned toward him with a genuine smile. "Dad, this is insane. Seriously. Thank you."

Laurent smiled back and gave a small shrug. "You’re welcome. Just try not to destroy it during your first week."

Frey opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

Laurent narrowed his eyes. "Why did you hesitate?"

Amélie immediately started laughing while Lucien looked at his older brother with renewed excitement.

Frey cleared his throat and deliberately changed the subject. "Didn’t the two of you want to see Vritra?"

That was enough.

Both younger siblings rushed toward the edge of the combat area while Laurent muttered something about avoiding the question. Frey walked toward the center of the reinforced floor, rolled his shoulders and felt the familiar connection across the Divine Rune covering his chest.

A smile slowly spread across his face.

If his father had gone through the trouble of building an entire Awakener training facility for him, it would have been terribly ungrateful not to test it.

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