2 months, huh?
Soren knew for certain, or as certain as he could be, that most of that time had to have been spent unconscious, as there was simply no way he had been wandering around that ship for 2 months.
If he had to guess, the 'sentries' that the Aitherian he fought spoke of had kept him in some kind of stasis, before they eventually decided to do whatever it was they did to his system and his body.
Regardless, he was back now. With his family.
It was an odd feeling. During his short time spent on the ship, he'd missed them quite a great deal, but now that he was back far sooner than he thought, it was like nothing had happened.
That couldn't be further from the truth, obviously.
It took a couple of days, but his mom and sister eventually stopped their questions and concerns.
The police had come at some point, but with Soren sticking to the story that he had no clue what happened, they couldn't do much.
Over those couple of days, Soren simply relaxed, letting the feeling of moving purely off of survival slowly fade.
A part of him was telling him to go back, to fight that Aitherian with all he had, not that he'd actually listen to that feeling.
Due to his disappearance, he had been unregistered in the school system, so he hadn't been able to attend, at least not until they were done sorting everything out with him being enrolled once again.
Claudia had come by too at some point, but she could tell he didn't want to answer anymore questions, so she said they'd talk when he was back in school.
He was itching to get back into action. The rush of battle…
Today had been his first day back in school, and it was by far the most difficult experience of his life.
It was now even harder to pay attention, with so much else to think about, and he couldn't stand just sitting still, listening to lecture after lecture.
The weird looks his classmates gave him didn't help either. Not even Claudia was enough to circumvent his boredom.
Nothing felt the same after his experience on that ship…
Walking home with Claudia, Soren was struggling with the thought of just dropping school all together to just become a Savior. It was easy to do, and as he was in his senior year, the district government likely wouldn't reject him.
The only problem was how his mom would react. He wasn't too worried about his sister, as she had long been aware of his dream to be a Savior, but his mother had never been very approving of it.
And it wasn't like she was only scared of the dangers that were presented by dungeons. Other people could be even more dangerous, as it wasn't uncommon for people to be backstabbed and robbed blind in raid parties.
It was something the government had tried to crack down on, but there would always be ways to get around the measures they tried to put into place.
Still, the thought was far too appealing to him…
"What do you think about Saviors?" He asked, turning to look at Claudia as they walked.
She took a moment to respond, scratching at one of the horns on her head, "Eh, they're pretty shitty, honestly. At least from what I've seen online. Never really seen one here, though. This district doesn't seem to have many people with good enough abilities for the job," she said, before turning to face him, "why do you ask?"
"Well, I'm kind of thinking about dropping out to become one." Claudia was one of his only friends, so he didn't hold much back from her.
"What?! You're just gonna dip out in the middle of our senior year? Dude, what the hell happened when you went missing?" Of course she was suspicious. It was a bit weird to just suddenly drop out for something so risky.
"And, wait, don't you have {Minor Clairvoyance}? How in the hell are you gonna clear dungeons with that? No offense, but I don't think any raiding parties are gonna want to pick you up." Well, she had a point there. Good thing that wasn't the only ability he had in his arsenal.
"Well, it seems I'm a bit of a late bloomer. I know it's pretty rare, but I… awakened another ability. It's {Telekinesis}." He decided to stick with that, for now at least.
He didn't want to reveal his actual ability, as {Atomic Manipulation} wasn't among the known abilities on Earth, and he wasn't too sure what would happen if the United Districts caught wind of it.
The U.D. was made up of all the major district heads. Some "lesser" districts weren't allowed to have a representative within it.
Plus, with how he'd been using {Atomic Manipulation}, it looked a lot like just a strong {Telekinesis} ability.
"Woah, a second ability? Getting another one without looting it from a dungeon boss is pretty rare. And {Telekinesis} is pretty damn strong, regardless of the rank. What rank did it start out as?" She said, her eyebrows lifting in surprise.
"Rank 3." He answered with barely any hesitation.
The rest of their walk was spent talking about his ability, Soren being used like some sort of circus clown, lifting things at her beck and call.
As she broke away to walk down her street, they said their goodbyes, before Soren kept walking forward.
He was pretty resolute in becoming a Savior now. With how strong his ability was, he was certain he could go toe to toe with the strongest, at some point in the future, at least.
It wasn't long before he reached his house, the door having been unlocked for him.
Taking a look around and seeing no one in the living room, he decided to just head straight to his bedroom for now.
Setting his backpack on his chair, he allowed himself to flop onto his bed.
Now that he thought about it, he hadn't slept a single time while he was on the ship. Well, that's if you excluded his 2 month long unconscious state.
Honestly, he still didn't really find a need to sleep all that much. Maybe that had something to do with leveling up a couple of times…?
Regardless, sleep still felt nice, and it wasn't like he was completely immune to exhaustion.
For a majority of the evening, Soren thought about what he'd tell his mother to convince her that he was ready to be a Savior, and more than able to become a strong one at that.
It wasn't long before he heard his mom call him and his sister for dinner.
With a resolute sigh, Soren got up, his bare feet padding against the carpeted floor as he opened his bedroom door.
Walking down the hallway, he sensed the presence of his sister behind him. Giving her a simple greeting, they eventually ended up at the dining room table, an assortment of foods splayed across its expanse.
Having grabbed an empty plate, Soren sat down, his mom and Odette coming a moment later.
Just like that, most of the dinner time was spent talking about mundane things, the occasional laughter and sigh of eating good food gracing the air every once in a while.
Throughout all of that time, Soren felt his nerves starting to get the better of him. He showed a calm face, but he was worried at how his mom would react to his choice of becoming a Savior.
Not wanting to give himself more time to second guess himself, Soren spoke up during a particularly quiet moment.
"Ahem, so, uh, I've been thinking about something…" He started, his body instinctively trying to shrink back, but he didn't allow himself to. He had to show confidence in his decision.
With a bit more conviction in his voice, and seeing that he had both of their attention, Soren spoke once more, sitting up straighter in his chair, "I want to drop out of school and… become a Savior."
"Wha- What in the world?!" His mom was quick to react, nearly knocking over her whole plate of food.
Odette stayed silent, her eyebrow simply cocking up in what looked like muted surprise.
"I know, mom. You always hated the idea of me becoming a Savior, but I've had some recent, uh, inspiration, let's call it… And if you're worried about me not having a strong enough ability," As he spoke, he held out a hand, tugging on the particles surrounding the dining table.
Before their very eyes, the table lifted from the floor. "See? I, uh, got a second ability awakening."
"{Telekinesis}? Dude, that's fuckin' awesome." Even his normally apathetic sister showed surprise.
"Language!" His mom interjected, her surprise leaving for a moment, until her gaze fell back on Soren.
"Honey, are you serious? I mean, you only just got back… Why do you want to leave everything behind so soon?" Her confusion and concern were evident in her tone.
Gently putting the table back in its place, Soren lowered his hand back to his side, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.
"I just… Listen, I know you don't want what happened to Dad to happen to me," he could tell he hit a sore spot with that, as she grimaced at the mention of his father, "but I know what I'm capable of. Or, at least, I know that I have an undeniable potential. I mean, {Telekinesis} is quite a powerful ability. Even a person with bad judgment could use the ability at a C or B-tier level, which is more than enough to raid dungeons, at least in a party."
Giving her a moment to think over that for a second, he glanced at Odette. Her previous look of surprise didn't seem to last very long, but regardless, Soren could undoubtedly see that she was supportive of his wish.
She always had been…
"Well, I guess you are right about that… but still-" Before she could try to figure out anything else to say, Soren cut-in, "And if you're still having some second thoughts, I'm willing to attend one of those academies for Saviors. I'm sure with my ability, the local government would be more than willing to pay for most, if not all of the expenses. Of course, that'd mean I'd-"
"You'd have to go to the capital…" Odette finished his sentence. She had a grim look on her face as she said it, likely now understanding the complications with attending such an academy.
"Soren, honey, are you sure you want to do this…?" She was calmer than he thought she'd be, but then again, his mother was a very complicated person.
"Yes. I'm more sure about this than I've been with nearly everything in my life." He was sincere. There wasn't a shred of hesitation in his tone, nor his body language.
The urge to become stronger, the thirst… It had nearly driven him crazy over just the last couple of days of trying to live a normal life after all he had gone through.
It was getting harder to sit still with each day that passed, and he wanted to put all that energy towards something that could actually help him, and potentially others.
"... Alright. Alright, okay. If this is what you truly want, then… I should support you every step of the way."