Chapter 2: with translation of chapter title

The next morning, David yawned and got up from bed, after putting on his clothes, he glanced back at Helena still asleep in the blankets and walked out of the bedroom, casually closing the door.

Because David is an adventurer, his physical fitness is much better than that of ordinary people, so he gets up earlier each day.

He washed his face, then used a toothbrush made of wood and the stiff hair of a magic beast to clean the surface of his teeth, and finally rinsed his mouth twice with clean water before walking to the living room.

Faintly, David heard a rhythmic swishing sound cutting through the air.

He cocked his ear to listen carefully; although it was faint, the sound was indeed coming from the courtyard.

David walked to the window, pushed it open, and saw his son William swinging the wooden sword he had made for him in the courtyard, over and over.

"Whoosh."

"Whoosh."

It turned out that the sound he had heard was this one.

David looked puzzled at the sun; the sun was above the horizon, obviously just risen.

"I didn't get up late either."

He looked again at his son William; William wore only a simple coarse hemp shirt on his upper body, the morning temperature was not hot at all, but William's collar was soaked with sweat, and beads of sweat covered his temples and forehead; each swing of the wooden sword sent one or two drops of sweat falling from his body.

David couldn't help but be startled; was this still the William who, yesterday, had thrown a tantrum with him because he disliked training?

"William, William." David called out to his son through the window.

William turned his head upon hearing the voice, saw that his father was calling him, and waved, indicating he should come over.

He put away the wooden sword, calculated that he had swung it 1,348 times this morning, not far from the 1,500-swing task.

"I shouldn't push myself too hard; my body is still that of a child, overdoing it would be counterproductive." William thought, then went back inside.

David asked, "William, how long have you been training?"

William thought for a moment and replied, "About an hour, I guess."

David exclaimed in surprise, "That means you got up before dawn!"

"It's light already; the neighbor Mrs. Merlin's chickens have crowed. By the way, Father, breakfast is already ready."

William said, lifting the pot lid on the stove, and hot steam rose from the pot.

David smelled the aroma, leaned in to look into the pot, and saw that it contained a dish Helena often cooked, already prepared, but obviously not made by Helena.

Just as David was about to speak, Helena came downstairs stretching lazily.

"What are you two father and son shouting about so early?"

David scratched his head and said, "Sorry for waking you."

William: "Good morning, Mother."

Helena: "Good morning, William! Oh, breakfast is already ready, David, you've made progress."

David laughed and shook his head: "No, I didn't make it; it must have been William who cooked breakfast."

In the midst of speaking, William had already dished out three servings of breakfast and brought them to the table, saying, "Come eat; let's evaluate the taste."

Hearing this, Helena's eyes widened in surprise, then she laughed, tiptoed over, and sat on the chair, saying, "I'll be the first to taste William's breakfast!"

"Mmm, the taste is really good! William, have you been secretly learning cooking by watching Mom?"

William gave a hehe laugh.

In his previous life, after his parents died, William cooked for himself for a long time.

David also sat down and took a bite; the flavor was indeed excellent, with no trace of being the work of a novice cooking for the first time, and he joked, "You couldn't be a demon in disguise, could you? Tell me, where did my son go?"

William rolled his eyes and glanced sideways at his father, an expression he often made in his previous life whenever David acted foolishly.

Seeing his son's familiar look of contempt, David laughed and said, "Oh dear, it really is my son after all."

Helena said, "David, please don't talk nonsense."

After finishing the meal, William rested a bit, then continued with physical training and sword practice in the courtyard; there were two reasons for this: firstly, his current body is too weak to wield an iron sword as he did in his previous life.

Secondly, in this world, humans awaken magical power around the age of ten; the quality of one's awakened magic determines how far they can advance on the adventurer's path as a mage or warrior, and factors influencing that magic quality include not only innate genetics but also pre-awakening physical condition and training level.

If a person starts from a young age and does daily saturated-intensity effective training, their awakened magic quality will certainly be higher than their innate talent.

In this world, human magic quality ranks from low to high as: Extinction, Life, Star, Moon, Sun, Hero, Legend, Spirit.

Ordinary commoners have a Life magic quality; most adventurers have Star talent, some better ones have Moon; if one awakens with Sun talent, that is already considered remarkably impressive.

Furthermore, it is said that among the five-member party of heroes standing at the pinnacle of human power in this world, only two have Legendary magic quality, and Spirit quality appears only in historical records.

In his previous life, when William transmigrated here, his cheat was the 【Appraisal】 skill; compared to the system-type cheats protagonists get in various web novels he read on Earth, it is far inferior, and to reach the level of an ordinary adventurer he still needs to undergo painful and tedious training every day.

That is why William in his previous life resisted training so much, ultimately awakening Extinction magic quality at age ten.

Indeed, William's magic quality in his previous life was not only inferior to that of ordinary adventurers, it was even worse than that of a common farmer, almost devoid of magic; therefore, after his parents' deaths, no matter how desperately he struggled, he ended up only as a clumsy bronze-rank adventurer.

After celebrating his birthday with his parents yesterday, William's first self-assigned goal was to complete daily saturated-intensity physical and combat training.

"This morning I finished the simplest sword-swinging training; next is a two-kilometer jog, followed by another round of 1,500 sword swings."

William, considering his current low physical condition, initially set his training intensity not too high; in his previous life, to become a bronze adventurer he had to swing his sword over ten thousand times each day.

In the morning, the residents of Bigen Village also began to go out to work one after another; at this moment, William had already run two kilometers back and was again swinging his wooden sword in the courtyard.

Mrs. Merlin, over fifty, today wore a blue coarse-cloth outfit, pushed open her door, had a scarf on her head, and a woven vegetable basket covered with floral cloth hung from her right elbow.

She intended to go out to buy fresh vegetables for today's meals, but as soon as she stepped outside she saw the neighbor David's child swinging a wooden sword over and over in the yard, while David was hiding behind the house's outer wall, peeking.

Mrs. Merlin quietly walked up beside David and said, "Good morning, David; William has become diligent, huh."

David nodded and replied, "Good morning, Mrs. Merlin; William has changed a bit."

Seeing that David's tone wasn't overly pleased, Mrs. Merlin looked at William with a worried gaze and asked doubtfully, "Isn't William being more diligent a good thing? Why are you frowning, Father?"

David laughed upon hearing that and said, "Hehe, being more diligent is certainly good; perhaps William's sudden change is too big for me to get used to."

Mrs. Merlin patted David's shoulder and joked, "You're just too thin-skinned, always overthinking; if you keep this up, you might die even earlier than my husband."

David laughed, "Haha, thanks for your concern, Mrs. Merlin; I'll pay attention myself."

Mrs. Merlin gave David a look that said 'I don't believe you,' then left.

After Mrs. Merlin left, David muttered to himself, "Could it be that I'm overthinking? No, I definitely sensed magic inside William's body, and that magic gave me a bad feeling......"

Just as David was puzzled, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey, look, William that lazybones is actually training in the yard; could he be trying to become a hero?"

"Hahaha, hahaha......"

"Haha......"

Outside the fence of David's House yard, several boys about William's age stood; the first to speak was the tallest boy standing among the kids, and after he finished speaking, the other kids burst out laughing.

This boy had short blond hair; in this world, people with blond hair are fairly common, whereas William's pure black hair is relatively rare.

William heard that, stopped swinging his wooden sword, looked at the boy, and said in a flat tone, "Bulande, do you guys have nothing to do first thing in the morning?"

The boy named Bulande replied, "William, I think you're wasting your effort; given your father's silver-rank adventurer status, your awakened magic talent definitely won't exceed that of a month."

William sighed, "No need for you to worry about this; if there's nothing else, please don't disturb my training."

Having said that, William continued swinging his wooden sword.

Bulande saw William ignoring him, felt a bit annoyed, and added, "William, I think you're wasting your effort; given your father's silver-rank adventurer status, your awakened magic talent definitely won't exceed that of a month."

"Whoosh."

"Whoosh."

"......"

After a moment, Bulande saw William still ignoring him, grew more annoyed, and said, "I bet you can't guess; let me tell you, my awakened magic aptitude is Hero—how's that, impressive?"

"Whoosh."

"Whoosh."

"Huh?"

William reacted, stopped swinging his wooden sword again, turned his head to look at the other party, and this time William was genuinely surprised.

Bulande saw William's shocked reaction and showed a smug expression.

In his previous life, because William had mature memories and personality, he didn't get along with the village kids his age, so the villagers, led by Bulande, often caused trouble for him.

William remembered that in his previous life, Bulande seemed to have died during the goblin attack on the village, and he hadn't expected Bulande's magic aptitude to be so high.

However, Bulande's magic talent being high doesn't really concern me; I must make the most of this year to train properly.

Thinking that, William resumed swinging his wooden sword.

"Whoosh."

"Whoosh."

Bulande saw William only show a brief surprise, then ignored him again, and said from the side, "Lazy William, your father is a silver-rank adventurer; no matter how you train, it's useless—maybe your awakened magic aptitude is Extinction, the lowest level of Extinction......"

Bulande and the other kids kept mocking William outside the fence; although William knew their behavior was childish, he still felt annoyed by their words.

William sighed, put down his wooden sword, and said, "Tell me, what do you want so you'll stop disturbing my training? You don't really want me to beat you up, do you?"

"Hahaha, William actually thinks he can beat Bulande—how ridiculous."

"Yeah, Bulande has awakened magic; how could William, who has no magic, possibly beat him?"

"Bulande is the strongest among us, Brother Bulande—let William see just how strong you are."

The several boys around Bulande each chimed in, putting the originally mock‑intent Bulande in a spot where he felt compelled to follow through.

William saw Bulande's hesitation and deliberately said, "Bulande, you wouldn't be unwilling to fight me, would you?"

Bulande retorted angrily, "Who's afraid of you, William? I'll let you see just how big the gap is between me, who has magic, and you!"

William laughed, "Fine, if I win, you'll never bother me again and let me train properly."

Bulande nodded, "If I win, you'll run around the village saying you're inferior to Bulande."