It's Your Mother

Just as Benjamin was starting to feel creeped out by the eyes staring at him, their owner suddenly spoke from the other side of the iron door.

"Don't make a sound. I just sent Jessica away, but she'll be back soon. I can't stay long."

It was a gentle woman's voice. Benjamin found it vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite remember whose it was.

Who is this?

He asked the system in his mind.

"Your mother."

"..."

Thanks to the system's "friendly" reminder, Benjamin finally remembered. The voice belonged to the woman who had spoken once in the living room—the mother of his birth, Mary, Claude's wife and the Old Madam's daughter-in-law.

His mother had sent the maid on guard away and come to visit him in secret.

According to the simplified memories the system had given him, Mary was a devoted wife and loving mother, and was famous throughout the Royal Capital for her sweet temper. From the time he was little, Benjamin had never seen her lose her temper or seen anyone get along badly with her—except, of course, the Old Madam.

And even though the Old Madam disliked Mary and often gave her a hard time, Mary had never truly fought back. Instead, she endured every cruel and cutting remark without a word. She could be called the model daughter-in-law of her time.

Mary hadn't been disappointed in or indifferent toward Benjamin just because he was useless, either. She treated him and Grant equally and took wonderful care of them both. That was already quite rare. Favoritism was common even between two children of similar ages, let alone in a family like Benjamin's.

Thinking of this, Benjamin didn't hesitate. He immediately put on a pitiful act.

"Mother, you finally came."

He didn't actually complain, but the miserable tone and feeble voice were enough to show just how wretched he was.

Hopefully, this'll bring out an endless well of sympathy in her.

Sure enough, Mary didn't disappoint him. "Yes. Your father just went out, so I finally had a chance to come see you. Here, you must be starving. I asked the cook to make a few extra pieces of bread and brought them for you. Have something to tide you over for now." As she spoke, she passed a little paper packet through the small opening in the door.

Benjamin was overcome with excitement. He took the packet and shakily opened it. Inside lay two soft, warm pieces of bread, giving off a faint aroma of wheat and milk.

Ah, food!

Benjamin nearly wept with joy on the spot.

"Only a mother is good in all the world; a child with a mother is like a treasure."

He wanted nothing more than to wolf down the bread in his hands, but he forced himself to endure his hunger and looked gratefully at the pair of blue eyes in the opening. "Thank you. I was about to starve to death."

Mary smiled from the other side of the door, then continued, "Don't worry. Once your father has calmed down a little tomorrow, I'll plead with him. He should let you out then. Don't worry, your father certainly won't keep you locked up here for long."

Her words reassured Benjamin, and he felt much calmer. Being locked up here for too long would seriously interfere with his plans to study magic. The sooner he got out, the sooner he could have Jeremy dig up Annie's remains for him.

He didn't want to stay in this place too long, either. It was nice to rest for a while, but after a while it got boring. Even now, though he'd been locked up for less than two hours, he was already getting sick of potatoes.

If he stayed for a few more days, would his head start sprouting?

"All right, if I stay any longer, Jessica will be back. I have to go. Be careful, and don't let them find out anyone came to see you." The eyes at the little opening moved away for a moment, as if checking what was happening outside. Soon, Mary returned and said this to Benjamin.

"Okay. Goodbye, Mother," Benjamin replied, his gratitude entirely sincere.

"Goodbye, dear."

With the faint sound of footsteps, Mary closed the little hatch in the iron door and left the basement. After watching her go, Benjamin immediately began enjoying the bread in his hands.

The portions weren't small, but Benjamin was so hungry that no amount of bread would have been too much. Before long, all that remained in his hands was an empty paper packet and a few crumbs. He contentedly rubbed his belly and let out a satisfied burp.

He crumpled the paper packet into a ball and hid it deep in the sea of potatoes so no one would find it.

Then, after his filling meal, he lazily lay down among the potatoes, closed his eyes, and sank deep into his Consciousness Space.

He had no intention of sitting around in the basement and wasting time. Since he had nothing else to do, he might as well study his Consciousness Space and that blue "Triangle Glyph" again. Just because no one else could teach him didn't mean he couldn't teach himself.

In fact, hadn't he learned to use magic all on his own?

Of course, Benjamin had also wondered whether he should practice the only spell he knew—the Water Ball Spell. In most novels, the easiest way to train a special ability was to use it over and over. But he was so close to the Grand Cathedral. As Michelle had said, the "Purifiers" could sense magic within a certain range. If he alerted the people from the Church, wouldn't he be done for?

If he wanted to practice magic, he could only do it in his Consciousness Space.

He had used the Water Ball Spell once in his Consciousness Space before, and Michelle, who had been standing right beside him, hadn't sensed a thing. The church, several streets away, probably wouldn't notice anything either.

The Consciousness Space... really was a wondrous place.

Benjamin didn't know how Michelle and the others learned magic, but his instincts told him that they didn't have a wondrous space like the Consciousness Space or concrete magical symbols like the blue glyph. Their paths to becoming mages were probably completely different from his.

By sheer chance, he seemed to have embarked on an unusual path.

That only made Benjamin even more curious about his Consciousness Space. So now, trapped in the basement with nothing to do, he entered it once again.

The boundless Consciousness Space remained just as it had been. The endless darkness, the pale blue Triangle Glyph... It was as if the whole space had been fixed in place the moment it came into being. No matter how much time passed, nothing ever changed.

Benjamin was the one who had changed.

After learning the Water Element Sensing Method when he encountered the assassin, he could tell that he had become more sensitive to water elements. As a result, the water elements drifting through the space were much clearer to him. After thinking for a while, he left the Consciousness Space and returned to reality, where he observed the water elements around him.

From what he could tell, the water elements in his Consciousness Space were far denser than those in reality.

Then he returned to his Consciousness Space. After pausing for a moment, he suddenly turned his back to the blue glyph and sprinted into the boundless darkness. As the blue light gradually receded behind him, he could clearly feel the water elements around him rapidly thinning, almost like the colors of a garment fading from blue to black.

Soon, there was nothing around him at all, only darkness so deep he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

Yet the darkness didn't make Benjamin uneasy. Instead, it gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

He didn't stop running. He had already confirmed his theory about the water elements, but another curiosity had taken hold of him: did this Consciousness Space have a boundary? What would happen if he kept running? What secrets were concealed in this deep, heavy darkness?

Exploring the unknown was human nature, whether exploring the vastness of outer space or the depths of the inner self. People always wanted to know what could be found in places they had never been.

So he kept running toward the darkness ahead.

And ended up looking like an idiot.

"Holy crap, what the hell is this place?"

After what felt like an impossibly long marathon, Benjamin finally had to stop. He braced his hands on his knees, gasping for breath as he stared wide-eyed into the endless darkness ahead.

He'd assumed that he couldn't get tired in the Consciousness Space. It seemed reasonable enough. Physical strength was something real; how could the mind get tired? But it turned out he was wrong.

He should have believed Marx. Matter was the foundation of the mind, and when the mind was heavily drained or even exhausted, it could wear down the body as well.

He had run through the boundless Consciousness Space for who knew how long, covering who knew how many miles, yet he still couldn't see a boundary. Nothing around him had changed. All he could see was darkness, darkness, and more darkness...

Even after his hands and feet had grown sore and his limbs had gone numb, there was still no sign that he was any closer to the end.

In the end, he had no choice but to stop, exhausted to the point of near collapse.

"The human consciousness is boundless to begin with. Trying to find an endpoint here is basically a waste of energy." The system suddenly appeared again, its toneless mechanical voice echoing eerily through the darkness.

"I was just curious," Benjamin replied.

"You're just bored because you've got nothing to do after eating." The mechanical voice had somehow acquired a hint of emotion.

"..." Benjamin couldn't think of a way to argue.

He had just eaten his fill, and he really had nothing else to do.

In the end, Benjamin gave up on exploring the Consciousness Space. He returned to reality, then entered the Consciousness Space again, and found himself back beside the blue glyph. Its light shone brightly, and the water elements around him once more grew abundant.

All that running had been a complete waste of time. He couldn't help feeling a little upset about it.

However, his attention soon shifted elsewhere.

He was, after all, a fairly optimistic person. When one line of exploration led nowhere, he simply moved on to the next.

He raised his hand and aimed it at the blue glyph, then recited the Water Ball Spell once again. As the glyph vibrated and the water elements gathered, a ball of water formed in his palm. Without hesitation, he dispersed it with a thought, then recited the spell again...

Over and over, he used the Water Ball Spell in his Consciousness Space. Pale blue ripples spread out in layers, stirring the water elements into a tide that surged together and dispersed through the darkness.

Before long, he could feel the water elements in the Consciousness Space growing much thinner. But he didn't stop using the spell. Instead, he sped up.

When he recited the Water Ball Spell for the forty-fifth time, he realized that no ball of water appeared in his palm. Then, as a sudden headache surged through him, he was abruptly forced out of the Consciousness Space.

For the first time, he had returned to reality against his will.

Though a series of throbs pulsed through his head, Benjamin could barely contain the delight in his voice.

"I've got it!"

"...Got what?" After a moment of silence, the system spoke with obvious reluctance. "I don't really want to go along with you, but I'll humor you this once."

Benjamin paid no attention to the system's mockery. He was caught up in the excitement of discovery, as delighted as a child taking their first steps, as jubilant as a student retaking a class for the third time after failing and seeing a score of sixty-one.

In his mind, he shouted:

"I know how mages train!"

Lately, I've been wondering what time would be best to update. I tried posting at midnight, thinking the chapter would stay on the update rankings all night and more people would see it, but it didn't seem to help much (sigh)... Now I'm posting at noon, but people have told me that evenings are better. I wonder what time everyone usually likes to read?