Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills
Chapter 117: His Name Is Hereon (2)

Chapter 117: His Name Is Hereon (2)

Normally, the maids are always around.’

He stroked his chin thoughtfully.

’Something must have happened.’

His home was eerily quiet, it was a sharp contrast to the everyday life he normally saw in here. The footsteps echoed eerily.

"Where are they?"

Now, for some reason he couldn’t tell, they were gone.

"I’ll check outside."

There was one good thing about the maids leaving.

Finally, Hereon could talk out loud, instead of resolving on musing in his mind in fear of being overheard.

He navigated his way through his home.

His hand grabbed the doorknob.

He stopped.

Hereon paused, he felt that something was wrong.

He frowned as he wrinkled his nose, he could smell a faint unpleasant stench.

It lingered to his body.

The boy’s hand left the doorknob and he went back inside.

...

Hereon’s hand grabbed the doorknob.

He had changed his clothing, now wearing a red jacket over a white shirt and orange pants.

The unpleasant odor no longer clung to his skin.

As he came outside, the evening breeze washed over him. A chill went down his spine.

For some reason, he had an unnerving feeling, like something had just stuck to him.

"Something’s there."

He was instantly alerted.

His eyes darted around his surroundings, however, he found nothing worth noticing.

"Am I, imagining things?"

He wondered.

He relaxed his guard.

Hereon let out a sigh, putting his hands in his pocket as he walked outside.

Unlike some people who had barely had any time to themselves, Hereon was actually quite free.

No one except the maids monitored him, and even then, their presence was restricted to his living area only. The Hachiman guards were assigned to guard the main clan compound.

Recently, the Hachiman clan performed brilliantly in the joint-clan tournament.

He, Jason and Zane all won.

Because of their excellent performance, the Hachiman clan successful in most of their negotiations with "Him".

Hereon was assigned another private tutor who would help him with training, his previous one was assigned to the fourth surviving Hachiman child.

His rank 3 instructor was replaced with a rank 2 instructor.

"They aren’t here either."

He quickly left the subject, his focus shifting to other things.

"I guess I’ll see father."

He was sure his father would be surprised when he told him about his achievements in training.

"If I’m lucky, he might just raise his brows in acknowledgment."

Hereon hated his father.

When Hereon had told him that Titania perished in the rank 4 dungeon, the bald man simply raised his brows before asking a question.

"You have a sister?"

Those words were all Hereon needed to lose all interest in the man that claimed to be his father.

And his mother, unknown.

He didn’t even know who his mother was.

The chilling evening breeze washed over him as he went.

The feeling that he wasn’t alone increased in intensity, nagging at him.

But Hereon didn’t bother with it, the clan had guards, it only made sense that he felt someone was here.

"But still, I’ve never had this feeling before."

A sense of unease grew in him.

He ran a hand through his damp blue hair, as if to disperse the troubling thoughts clouding his head.

He entered one of the buildings in the clan complex, one that seemed as unassuming as the rest.

Hereon navigated his way through it.

He opened the backdoor.

Hereon’s father was the second elder of the Hachiman clan, he wasn’t as old as those before him because he was the brother of the clan head.

But even though they were brothers, their relationship was even worse than that of Hereon and his father.

The old man didn’t glance in his direction, not even as he approached him.

With his arms at his back, he stared at the space in front of him, unblinking.

"Father."

The old man turned to him.

His scarlet red eyes, the same color of that of his son, seemingly stared through the boy’s soul.

The old man didn’t have a beard.

He didn’t speak.

"Father, I’ve improved."

The man’s expression didn’t change.

"Rank 3?"

He questioned.

His voice held a regal authority, one that could only belong to an elder.

’No, but I-"

Hereon wanted to tell him about the session with his new instructor, but he was cut off.

"Then you can leave, only report to me once you reach rank 3."

The man’s tone was cold.

It didn’t sound like the tone one would use to address their child, rather it sounded like one used to address an enemy.

Hereon wanted to tell the old man about what he had used during the training session.

But the words got stuck in his throat.

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

The boy shut his mouth and turned to leave.

He opened the backdoor, a feet already in the door.

"Your instructor told me about your new technique..."

Hereon turned back.

"...Focus on building your strength, do not disappoint the clan again."

Hereon’s expression fell, but he managed to nod.

He went through the door and left the building.

He gritted his teeth in frustration.

’Stupid old man, I don’t need his damned advice.’

Even though, tears slipped down his eyes.

He hated his father.

He hated the man that forgot about his own daughter.

He hated the second elder.

But he couldn’t deny that his words still hurt him, more than he thought being treated like this would ever do.

His tears dropped onto the ground as he walked away.

’I hate this clan.’

He hated it more than he hated anything, more than he hated the Giant Arachnid Spider sub-boss.

The tears soon stopped, but his feelings still remained, his hatred for his father grew.

He wiped his face, removing the tears on his face.

His eyes narrowed as he focused on someone in the distance.

A figure.

A man.

But that was all he could make out.

"Who is that?"

No one provided him with an answer.

It didn’t seem like a guard, the person was a lot more free with the uniform.

For some reason, a chill ran down his spine as he stared at the person.

"I wasn’t imagining it."

He realized.

But even then, he walked towards the individual.

As he came closer, the figure became more clearer.

While the figure wore black, he wasn’t wearing the uniform.

And he noticed an obvious distinction.

"Brown hair?!"

The amount of maids that weren’t from the Hachiman clan were few. But this person was definitely not a mage.

The last time Hereon had seen brown hair was during the joint-clan tournament.

This person wasn’t from the Hachiman clan.

But even though he knew that, he still went towards the man anyway.

"Who are you?"

His voice was cold with a tinge of anger.

The man smiled, bringing his hands out of his pocket.

"I’m not important so you don’t have to worry about my name."

His voice was childish.

"Besides, we don’t even have much time."

Hereon kept silent, listening to the words of the man.

From the way he spoke, he didn’t seem like a threat. But the question of how he entered the clan remained.

"My name is... Oh, I just said I wouldn’t say my name."

He scratched his head in embarrassment.

"I mean, I’m from an organization that needs talented people like you."

He smiled.

"I noticed from the way you acted that you had a pretty rough conversation with your father."

Hereon didn’t speak.

"A shy one? Or is it because you already seem like you know where the conversation is going?"

The man grinned innocently.

"While it may seem like your clan actually values you, they don’t. In their standards you don’t even compare to the heir of the clan, and then you even got overshadowed by the dark-skinned boy."

Hereon frowned deeply.

"Your potential is frightening, Hereon Hachiman. However, your clan is wasting your potential.

Why don’t you come and join us?"

He finally got to the point.

He wanted Hereon to join him.

But there was something Hereon didn’t understand.

’If he wants me to join his organization, why doesn’t he just take me forcefully?’

He didn’t understand this man’s reasoning.

"And before you think that we’re lying, just know that we’re not. We aren’t like the other organizations, we’re a very, very special one."

His grin widened, but it was still in the line of innocent.

"What do you say?"

’Why doesn’t father know about this?’

The vibes the man emitted were friendly, but that didn’t mean that the elders shouldn’t be able to detect his presence.

"What do you say, kid, or do you prefer Hereon Hachiman?"

Hereon’s frown faded and instead he smiled wryly.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Finally, someone that gets it."

The man put a hand over Hereon’s shoulder.

"We better be going before your clan guardian returns from wherever she went, do you know that the only reason that I was able to infiltrate this place was because she was gone, if not I would be cut into a million pieces already."

His tone was joking.

But he was serious.

’This guy isn’t normal, he’s implying that he’s evading the senses of all the elders and even the wife of the clan head.’

Hereon didn’t feel sad.

His future had already been sealed from the moment he walked to this guy. But he felt happy.

’If what he said is true, then I might actually be able to reach his strength.’

The path to reach Jason’s strength grew thinner after he had seen Jason’s various displays at the joint-clan tournament.

But now, if what this man was saying was true.

Then, it wasn’t as thin as he thought it was.

...

That day, two people were reported missing from the Hachiman clan.

Jason Hachiman.

And Hereon Hachiman.