Chapter 84. Skill Evolution

"Asher, you’re—""Shhh—" I hushed Anna, whispering, "Don’t make a sound."

"ASHER!!!" My mom’s sharp voice rang out. "I said, what are you doing in there?"

She sounded unnecessarily angry.

I swallowed hard. There was no way I was letting her see me naked—with Anna, also naked, on the same blanket. She’d lose her shit.

"Eyy... maybe he’s just sleeping beside his sick friend," Ivy said from the side.

I figured my best move was to pretend I was asleep.

But now Anna had regained consciousness, her eyes fluttering open in confusion.

Before she could say anything, I reacted on instinct and sealed my lips over hers, silencing her with a kiss before she could make a sound.

At the same time, I summoned a wind barrier around the bed, keeping our mothers at bay.

They tried to get close—especially my mom, who was seriously overreacting—but my barrier held firm.



Beneath the blanket, my lips stayed pressed against Anna’s. And for a moment, I lost myself in the softness of her sweet, tender lips, forgetting everything—until I heard my mom hissing in frustration before storming out of the room, Ivy following behind her. The door slammed shut.

I pulled away from the kiss, but only by inches.

Even in the dimness beneath the blanket, I could see Anna’s jade-green eyes gleaming at me.

"That was my first," she whispered.

"Huh? First—?"

"Kiss," she added hesitantly.

"Oh... shit." I exhaled. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to steal your first kiss, I just—"

She cut me off, pressing her lips to mine again.

I froze for a second, but soon, I found myself kissing her back.

When we finally pulled away, gasping, she smiled softly.

"You didn’t steal my first kiss," she murmured. "You just took it sooner than I expected. But I always wanted my first to be with you."

"Anna..." I whispered, brushing a few strands of silver hair from her face. My fingers traced down to her lips, unable to resist the temptation of their delicate softness.

But before I let myself sink any deeper, I yanked the blanket off our heads.

Anna gasped. "Why are you not wearing a shirt?! Wait—why am I also naked?!"

I groaned. "You’re just realizing that now?"

"Of course, yes!"

I chuckled, then explained what had happened and why we were both naked.

Just as I was about to climb out of bed to grab my clothes, she caught my arm.

"Don’t go," she whispered. "Stay a little longer."

I raised a brow. "Really? At least let’s put on some clothes."

She giggled, shaking her head. "No. It’s fun this way."

I sighed but laid back down, staring at the ceiling as she rested her head on my chest. We stayed like that, talking softly until we both dozed off.

I woke up in the middle of the night, realizing I had spent almost all my night in Anna’s room. Glancing at her, I found her still fast asleep, her soft snores filling the room.

At least she seemed back to normal.

Not wanting to wake her, I climbed out of bed, pulled on my clothes, and teleported back to my own room—

—Only to find my bed occupied.

Those two idiots sprawled across it, one with her leg hanging in the other’s mouth, the other sleeping in some weird, contorted position.

To make things worse, they were both wearing tiny nighties.

And I recognized those nighties.

Don’t tell me—



They’d already met Sharon?!

I told them not to make any noise!

Sighing, I grabbed a spare blanket from my wardrobe and settled onto the floor.

When morning came, a loud bang on my door jolted me awake.

I groggily opened it to find my mother standing there, arms crossed, still fuming.

"Asher, we need to talk," she said firmly.

"Okay," I mumbled, following her out.

As we passed the kitchen, I heard Sharon call out cheerfully, "Hey, brother dearest! Those two girls you brought home are fun and weird at the same time."

I groaned internally.

So they did meet.

That’s when I heard my mom sniffle as she sat on a couch at the dining room.

"Asher..." Her voice cracked. "Why are you doing this?"

"Mom..." I muttered, not understanding where this was going.

"First, it was Mrs. Rembrandt’s daughter. Then I come home to find you’ve brought two more girls! One doesn’t even talk, and the other is a black cat! Do you have any idea the kind of trouble you’re inviting into our home?!"

"Oh, Mom, don’t worry. Those girls are harmless. Everything is just fine, I promise—"

"Nothing is fine!" she blurted out, her tears falling harder. "Do you want to die like your father?!"

"Mom, don’t bring Dad into this!" Sharon snapped from the kitchen.

Hearing my mother cry twisted something painful in my chest. But more than that—I was curious.

Technically, the father she was talking about wasn’t my father. He was the father of the original owner of this body. But now l needed to know what happened to him.

"I’m sorry for worrying you, Mom," I said carefully. "But... what really happened to Dad?"

She went quiet, sobbing into her hands before finally speaking.

"Your father was just a D-rank hunter. Just like you. We fell in love, even though I outranked him. I got pregnant in secret, and no one knew who the father was. For years, we kept our relationship hidden, and things seemed fine.

"But... nothing stays hidden forever in this world."

She sobbed.

I didn’t need her to finish the story. I could already guess what had happened.

"And now..." she choked out, "I see you taking the same path your father did. I don’t want to lose you, Asher. Please, stop seeing Mrs. Rembrandt’s daughter!"

"Don’t worry, Mom. I outrank her now," I assured her. "I’ll go get my rank reassessed at the guild after school today. That way, you’ll have nothing to worry about." I rubbed her back gently.

"And those two girls!" she snapped. "Get them out of this house! Now! You were already suspected of being a devil boy, and if people see you with a black cat girl of all things, our family will never know peace!"

"Okay, Mom. I’ll take care of it." I said, heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

The last thing I wanted was to bring trouble to my family.



But... where the hell was I supposed to take them?

The Demon Realm? Urgh, Rose didn’t really like Rin, so that wasn’t a great option.

Should I rent my own place?

As l dipped myself in the hot bath—

Ding!

[You ignored me when I notified you that Skill Evolution is now available.]

I frowned at the system notification. "Which skill evolution?"

[Unique Skill: Pocket Dimension can now evolve into a Personal Realm, allowing you to enter, live, and modify the space as you see fit.]

My eyes widened. "What! Really!?"

[Would you like to unlock Dimensional Manifestation and gain full control over your realm?]

[Confirm] [Decline]

TBC