Silvia's POV
The first thing the woman saw when she opened her eyes was Lloyd. His lips were pursed and his eyebrows were furrowed. Silvia rubbed her finger over them, smoothing out his brows.
"When did you get home?" She mumbled to herself.
She rubbed her eyes and finally woke up fully. Subconsciously, the goddess naturally absorbed the mana in the air into her core, but…something felt strange. She followed the discrepancy back to Lloyd who was still asleep.
There was this familiar feeling, the same when she had first funneled her mana into him.
She placed a hand on his chest and pushed her mana into his core. Unfortunately, her worst fear came true.
Not again!
A strange, dark fog was covering his meridian pathways once more. Thankfully, it was faint, so much so that she barely used her divine, light mana to clear it up once more. She hid her presence immediately after, the mana particles around her disappearing, hiding her power level.
Ugh, I need to teach him to hide his mana too, but I can't do that without exposing myself.
Regardless, the woman could only sigh as she placed a palm on her forehead.
"What did you get up to this time?"
He's getting too strong. I'm too weak for my mana to make a meaningful difference. I need a way to get stronger
But with barely any followers, her strength doesn't have a way to increase.
"If only there was a way to gain followers, even one would do." She turned to Lloyd.
…Should I tell him?
She ran her thumb along his soft, but cracked lips.
Would he betray me? Lock me up? Keep me as mana furnace?
It's too soon.
"If only human greed wasn't a thing. Then maybe, we could've been together forever." She placed a kiss on his forehead before getting out of bed and going to the bathroom.
…
Lloyd woke up an hour after he arrived. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and put on some sunscreen before going down to the kitchen.
A sour, tangy scent lingered in the air mixed with the fruity fragrance of strawberry. Nora and Silvia were eating the strawberry jam he bought at a farmer's market with leftover rye bread.
It wouldn't be his choice of breakfast, but he was craving something sweet after the rough start to his day.
"Morning" He called out groggily. He walked over and ruffled Nora's hair. The chipmunk huffed at him angrily, inciting a chuckle out of Silvia.
"You sound tired. Rough sleep?" Silvia probed at him.
"Uh, yeah. I woke up early to pickup some medicine from the clinic." Lloyd answered.
Now that I think of it, the doctor shouldn't be aware of Silvia's existence yet so her name shouldn't be in his files. Should I tell him about her? She'll need a health checkup eventually.
"Speaking of the clinic, would you like to get a checkup?"
Silvia stiffened.
I don't even have an ID!
She technically wasn't an actual person on earth.
"Let's discuss that later. I feel completely fine right now. You on the other hand? You don't seem fine to me" She threw a question right back at him.
"Hm?" It was Lloyd's turn to stiffen.
"It's just that I wanted to get more information regarding my mom's wellbeing, but he couldn't tell me anything about her. Just that" Well he wasn't lying.
Silvia gave him a long stare, but let it go.
Lloyd quickly ate and ran to the fields.
The spring weather was bearable and pleasant compared to the terrible, harsh winter. Lloyd was able to accelerate 50 crops a day! The patch where he would farm was small, but his land wasn't. His farming land was around 1.5 acres, but it was too massive for Lloyd to manage alone. He would only plant what he could afford. Money wasn't too much of a problem thanks to his ability. With that, he usually planted and took care of 350 crops. It would take only 7 days for plants that would take months to reduce to weeks!
Bang!
A loud, sharp sound broke Lloyd out of his daydreaming. Immediately after came the sound of wood splintering. Lloyd followed the noise that was too close to comfort to Aunty Yang's backyard.
An older man, presumably in his late fifties, was practicing his shooting.
"Uncle Shen! What are you doing?" Lloyd shouted.
"Practicing for the dungeon outbreak. I'm thinking of volunteering." The man responded calmly.
Lloyd halted.
Dungeon outbreak? Fuck, that completely slipped my mind.
Every year like clockwork, a dungeon portal would randomly spawn in the sinister looking forest. Nobody knew why, but nobody found answers either. The portals were spawning long before Lloyd was born. It was a normal event to him. Volunteers would earn a great amount of prize money, which is why Lloyd's dad volunteered a few years ago and…ultimately perished inside.
"No! It's too dangerous! If you need money, just ask me. I can lend you some." Lloyd dug his nails into his palm, the pain forcing him to calm down.
"Aren't there so many other volunteers? Why do you have to go?!"
"LLOYD!" Uncle Shen stared him down firmly.
"You weren't around for the past years so you shouldn't know. There's been more and more deaths lately. Last year, there was only 3 survivors out of 10 people. As the best hunter in this town, it's only right for it to be my turn to defend. I've lived long enough, I don't need a child's consideration." Uncle Shen didn't stutter or miss a single beat. It was clear to Lloyd that he was dead serious.
"...Does Aunty Yang know?"
"She does. I've informed her a few days ago."
"No wonder I haven't seen her around lately. Still grieving?"
"...There's nothing I can do about it. She refuses to speak to me you know? I had to sleep in the couch for the past 5 days!" The old man loudly spouted his grievances.
Lloyd could only awkwardly nod.
"Forget it. A kid wouldn't be able to understand a married man's problems. Just get back to your farm. We wouldn't want any birds to attack it! Back in my days, Emilia would use me as a scarecrow! A scarecrow I tell ya! Tell me, is my face really that scary?!"
Lloyd could only laugh. Definitely something my mom would.
After talking for a few more minutes, Lloyd went back to his farm.
He was still scared; still worried about Uncle Shen. He stared at his calloused hand then opened his stats screen.
The SSS-Rank stared back at him.
What's the point of awakening if I'm still useless?!
There was still time before the portal would open. He still had time to get stronger, to avenge his father.
I should tell Silvia first. She probably has zero idea about it.
He bent down and continued watering his plants.
Grow up quickly little guys.