CHAPTER 187: CHAPTER 187: BLACKHEART FAMILY (3)

Lake maintained his composure as he heard Melissa’s answer, but he couldn’t help feeling somewhat puzzled.

After some thought, he asked the question that had been plaguing his mind for years. "Who are my parents?"

Melissa felt her heart sink as she sighed.

"First, I’ll tell you about your mother, Nora Lockhart," Melissa spoke softly.

"Nora... Lockhart?" Lake repeated. The name was both foreign and unfamiliar to him, yet he pondered deeply over it.

Kate, on the other hand, frowned. The name sounded familiar, but she had no recollection of her parents ever mentioning it.

"Nora was a friend I grew up with a long time ago and later fought side by side with during The Great Disaster. It was in these battles that I met Arthur and eventually fell in love."

Arthur, sitting beside Melissa, nodded as if recalling the past.

"So my mother was a hunter?" Lake asked, a frown forming on his face.

"Mhm," Melissa nodded. "In fact, she was one of the most talented martial artists of her era. A leading figure in the war against the rifts that allowed humanity to stand where it is today."

At this point, Kate’s head snapped up. She had finally figured out why the name sounded so familiar, her eyes widening as an expression of disbelief spread across her face.

"Nora Lockhart... The First King..." Kate whispered aloud.

As she spoke, silence rang out in the dining room.

Lake too, had connected the dots and came to the same realization as Kate.

The First King — a title that held immense weight, the first person to ever reach the Martial King realm during the dark era.

She was a figure of legend, her name still written in the history books taught in schools today.

After breaking through to the Martial King realm, she led humanity in the war against the creatures of the rifts over fifty years ago, reclaiming more than a third of humanity’s lost land.

This was no small feat, especially since the world was in chaos at the time and martial arts were still underdeveloped. To not only break through to the Martial King realm during that era but also pioneer it was simply legendary.

To put Nora’s accomplishment into perspective, it wasn’t until over a decade later that the current head of the Silverveil family, Michael Silverveil, became the second person to achieve the Martial King realm, with only a few others following after him.

These few Martial Kings are commonly referred to as the Ten Kings, each managing a tenth of humanity as its defender, with the One Hundred Lords right below them.

Later, Michael went on to eventually ascend even higher, becoming the world’s first Martial Emperor after another three decades. Yet, despite this monumental accomplishment, the title of First Emperor still paled in comparison to The First King.

Such was the significance of Nora Lockhart.

"Are you talking about the Nora Lockhart from the dark era?" Lake asked, frowning.

"Yes. Your mother is who people commonly refer to today as The First King," Arthur replied firmly, leaving no room for doubt.

But Lake still had a hard time believing it because, as far as he knew...

"Didn’t The First King die in a rift collapse over forty years ago?"

"...."

Both Lake and Kate looked at Melissa and Arthur, who had both fallen into silence.

In both history books and media, it was known that The First King died after being trapped in a rift that collapsed.

If she were truly Lake’s mother, that would mean Lake would have to be over fifty years old, yet Lake didn’t remember living even half of that, so it didn’t make sense for Nora to be his mother.

Arthur didn’t immediately respond to Lake’s question. He kept his head down as if deep in thought.

After a few moments, he looked up and slowly nodded.

"Yes, Nora did die in that rift," he said.

Lake looked Arthur in the eye. He could sense some uncertainty floating about in his words but decided not to directly call it out.

Instead, he asked another question, "Then, who is my father?"

Suddenly, both Melissa and Arthur froze.

In that brief moment, Lake realized something.

’They don’t know much either...’

Honestly, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting. His friend’s parents suddenly said they knew of his birth parents but proceeded to tell him that his mother had died over fifty years ago?

It simply didn’t make sense, but for some reason, he still allowed them to continue.

Eventually, Arthur exchanged a brief glance with Melissa before sighing.

"We don’t know."

’As expected.’ Lake sighed but didn’t say anything.

"To be honest, we also thought that Nora died in the rift and still believe that to be true."

"Hm? What do you mean by thought

?" Suddenly, Lake’s expression paused as he picked up on a small detail in Arthur’s words.

"She came to see me," Arthur said, soft and mellow, almost as if he was reliving his memories with each word. "It was the day Kate was born. I was outside the emergency room, waiting for news about Melissa and Kate."

At this point, Lake had stopped thinking and focused entirely on Arthur’s voice. Kate, hearing mention of her birth, also paid close attention.

"While I waited, I sensed a disturbance in the mana outside of the hospital. Melissa was still in labor, and I didn’t want any accidents to happen, so I went to investigate."

"It was there that I met her..."

Lake’s eyes narrowed. "Who?"

Arthur’s gaze shifted back to Lake. "Nora."

The name seemed to hang in the air as Lake fell into deep thought.

"That’s impossible," Kate muttered, struggling to find any reason in her father’s words anymore. "You just said she died in the rift—how could she—?"

"That’s what we thought too," Arthur cut her off. "But it was her."

"She looked almost identical to the last time I saw her. Pitch black hair tied in a ponytail, deep blue eyes that gave the illusion of seeing right through you, and the same beauty mark under her left eye..."

Hearing Arthur’s description, Lake couldn’t help but touch his own face.

Same blue eyes, black hair, and beauty mark...

"However, it wasn’t long before I noticed a difference. Her body—"

Arthur stopped, his expression darkening.

Eventually, he sighed before continuing, his voice rough and hoarse. "She was destroyed. I didn’t notice it at first, but the signs became clearer as time went on. Her body was riddled with cracks, almost as if she were a broken vase that had been glued back together. A pale blue light escaping from the cracks."

"The moment I saw her, I knew that the Nora I knew had died in the rift that day, and whatever was standing in front of me was just a mere remnant of the past."

Lake frowned but remained silent.

After a while, Arthur continued. "At first, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but what happened next was..." Arthur paused before taking a glance at Lake.

"It was shocking to say the least. In her hands was a small swaddled child. I didn’t notice it immediately because it was wrapped so tightly and covered by the blue light, but that child... That child was you, Lake."

Lake’s mind went blank. While he had speculated many truths about his parents, he never could have guessed this.

"Then... what happened next?"

"She spoke. She gave me clear instructions, completely ignoring any attempt I made to speak to her. At one point, I even wanted to grab her to see if she was real or if I had just lost my mind. But as she explained, the cracks in her body grew larger. I didn’t dare grab her in fear of her crumbling at the slightest touch."

"Before I knew it, as I stood there in indecisiveness, she finished speaking and was attempting to hand you over to me. I hesitated for a long time at that moment. I didn’t know whether to trust the ghost before me or not."

Arthur sighed as he rubbed his temples, a defeated smile appearing on his face.

"But, while I was still hesitating, she walked up to me and said in a faint voice."

"Arthur, please."

"Those words, as if they were the final blow, decided everything for me in that instant. I took you from her hands as I watched her body fall apart into nothingness."

Lake fell into silence as he slowly digested what he had just heard.

Not only was his mother a legendary hunter, but she had also died more than forty years ago in a rift collapse.

As for his birth, he had no way of knowing, as it seems that Nora had just appeared out of nowhere to deliver him to Arthur.

If Lake were to consider just these two points, he found himself struggling to believe anything Arthur had said up till now.

It all sounded too far-fetched to be real.

However, what Arthur said next is what made him finally believe.

"What were the instructions?" Lake asked, his expression calm, yet his mind racing with various thoughts.

"She didn’t actually say much since her time was limited, but she did leave me with three clear instructions."

"First was regarding your identity. She told me everything I could possibly need, listing everything from your date of birth all the way to a false story to explain your origin."

"Second was regarding where you would be sent. The Hope Orphanage, the place where you were raised, was also arranged by your mother. She specifically instructed that it be that orphanage, and as for the reason, I do not know."

"As for the third, it was a restriction on us. She forbade us from interacting or interfering with your growth. We were to leave you to develop on your own. We were only allowed to interfere once you turned eighteen and had first interacted with mana."

Lake was nodding along to Arthur’s account but then suddenly froze. It was because of something he had noticed in the last sentence.

"Mana?" Lake asked, his face holding a stunned expression.

Arthur nodded, seemingly not picking up on Lake’s strange reaction. "...Although I also found it strange, those were her instructions. We couldn’t interact with you until you turned eighteen and interacted with mana."

Lake remained silent, his gaze fixed on the table, though his thoughts were spinning.

After integrating with the mage role, Lake’s knowledge of mana and its workings had become almost unrivaled.

Yet, even someone as knowledgeable as him could never figure out something he had noticed a while ago.

At first, he thought it must have been the work of the system or simply something his low-class mage role couldn’t possibly comprehend, but thinking back on it again, he did feel it was strange that it only ever happened around him.

All of his theories, which piled up in his head like a great library, pointed to mana being a lifeless, unfeeling substance. Yet, when he looked at it dancing around him, he couldn’t help but question that notion.

Then there was also his own body, which seemed to be greatly attuned to it. He originally thought it was because of his own talent, but now he was questioning if that really was the case.

But the final nail in the coffin was the mention of the pale blue light leaking out of Nora’s body.

If Nora—his mother—had truly been trapped inside the rift, then without a doubt, she would have died. A rift is essentially a temporary pocket of space maintained by mana and when the mana can no longer sustain it, the space collapses in on itself, devouring everything inside.

Her body would have been torn to pieces, perfectly fitting the description of the cracks on her body. Yet, the blue light leaking out of the cracks of his mother’s body seemed to tell another story.

Arthur said it was leaking out of her, but Lake had a different theory.

Looking at the specs of mana dancing around him, Lake couldn’t help but feel mystified.

’They were keeping her alive...’