By the time I arrived home, everyone was already seated at the dinner table and as I entered, I immediately remarked that I was now the center of attention.

My mother was the first to speak, "Matthew, get washed up and sit with us at the table. I think there are a few things we need to clear up."

As soon as I heard her call me Matthew, I knew the direction that the discussion was going to take.

I washed my hands and my face and sat between to Cara and Seb at the table.

"You were all over the news today and we saw that creature you had to fight, and then Ellie and Cara told us that that was nothing compared another monster you had to fight. Some high-level boss from a higher level or something.

"We have given you a lot of freedom, and we know that you have reasons for what you do, but we didn't raise you all these years just to see you get killed for some tower. I know that you are too old for us to tell you what you can or can't do, but I am begging you to stop now, before you get yourself killed."

"I was able to save 4 people today, or 9 depending on how you look at it, so I think that I did the right thing. And I don't believe that the armor-plated T-Rex I had to fight was the Dungeon's fault. from what Cara tells me, that was most likely another tower champion named Antonius. I think he is the one I need to deal with and the dungeon should return to normal. Dangerous, but a more normal dangerous."

My mother's fork fell from her fingers and clanged as it hit her plate.

"An armor-plated T-Rex? Are you serious? Have you lost your mind? Who in their right mind fights against an armor-plated T-Rex? Can't you see where this is headed? One of the next fights you may not come back, you can't put us through that! Haven't we been through enough? Why do you have to solve all the problems?"

At that point she put her head in her hands and started sobbing.

"Mom, listen, I have made great progress the last couple of days. I have gotten much stronger, and I am building a team. Already 4 of the national guard are training to help me, and the mayor's office is assisting us as well."

"I admit, the T-Rex was a handful, but the real problem is Antonius, and I have a plan. I promise to be careful, and tomorrow I plan on spending all day working on weapons that will protect me even better."

"I have purposely kept you all out of my plans, to keep you safe, so don't go and get involved. If I need to worry about all of you, then I am sure to fail. I have set aside all day to work on making weapons that will greatly improve my chances for survival. Speaking of which, Dad, can I use the basement tomorrow? I have quite a bit of metal work to do."

"Sure, as long as you clean up when you're done, and promise not to blow anything up."

"I will be careful." I replied.

For the moment, calm returned to the table and we ate our dinner with no more discussions about the day’s events.

I looked over at Cara and I couldn't help but notice that Cara was wearing one of her new outfits, and she looked absolutely amazing. She had reminded me a lot of some actress, but it was only now that I realized who she looked like and it was crazy how much she resembled Ana de Armas.

She seemed to get along great with the family and I could tell that Ellie and she were quickly becoming close friends.

I was sure that Seb would be attracted to her and I hoped that wouldn't be a problem. The fact he left the seat next to her free, told me that he was leaving me the first chance with her, but we had always had fallen for the same girls most of our life so I had no doubt that he was interested in her.

Thinking about Seb reminded me of a question I had been meaning to ask him. "Hey Seb, any word from the hospital? Have they called you back for testing?" I asked.

"I went in for a scan and a blood test today. The scan was clean, but I don't have the blood results yet."

"I suspect that they probably took a bit extra to figure out what was in the potion. I don't expect that they will be letting you off easy."

"I don't mind Seb replied. Honestly, I am just happy to be alive, they can do any tests they want."

"Speaking of that, I learned healing today. I can heal without using a potion. Of course, it takes a bit longer than a potion, and I only tried it on myself so far, but it will be a major advantage."

"Well, if you can do something about my sciatic nerve that would be wonderful." my father said "That thing has been aching for years."

I didn't want you to waste one of your potions on it, but if you are looking for a lab rat, feel free to try. The doctor's say there is nothing more they can do."

"Sure, I have been dying to try it out anyway."

When we finished dinner, I asked my father to lay on his back and I placed my hands on his stomach. I let tendrils of mana seep through his skin and closed my eyes as I looked using my mana vision until I located his spinal column. I let my mana flow over the bones and the disks, flowing into the nerves. I could sense the electrical currents flowing through the nerve fibers.

I could see that the cartilage between his disks was compressed so I sent healing mana to regenerate the cartilage and return it to its original form. I also could see that arthritis had deformed the bones of his spinal column. This I was able to reverse and transformed the vertebrae to a heathy bone structure. I felt the current was flowing much more smoothly through his nerves, but I could sense that the nerve was damaged where it had been compressed for so long.

I encouraged the nerve to regenerate where it had been damaged and as finally, I strengthened the dorsal and abdominal muscles which supported his vertebrae.

I removed my hands from him and asked him to see if there was any improvement.

He stood up and moved a stretched in every direction and smiled. "It's gone! There's no pain at all, I feel better than I have in years.

"When you are in pain for so long you forget what it feels like to not have pain anymore. Thank you, this is by the best gift you could have given me." He said, hugging me tightly.

"I am happy that I could help. And thanks for being my guinea pig." I said joking.

"If you don't mind, I am going to go to the basement, I would like to setup the workshop in the to prepare for tomorrow. I have a lot to get done. "

"Do you mind if I come along?" Seb asked as he followed me down the stairs to the basement.

The basement wasn't very large and was cluttered. There was a workbench, but it was covered in a bunch of half-finished projects and pieces of scrap wood and metal.

We grabbed a couple of empty crates and filled them with the junk from the workbench.

"I know that I already thanked you for what you did for me." Seb said, suddenly taking on a serious tone. "I would likely be dead now if it weren't for you. I guess I just want you to know that I will never forget what you did.

"And I also want to admit that I am a bit jealous of everything you can do now. I mean you're damn amazing, and it's obvious Cara is crazy about you, but I don't want anything to ever come between us so I had to get that off my chest."

"I know how you feel, I was super jealous of you most of my life but you know, life can change in a blink of an eye and when you were in the hospital, I regretted my jealousy. I felt that somehow my being jealous was the reason you ended up sick, I felt responsible."

"I guess jealousy is human nature, a bit stupid but it is what it is. I just want to say that I am proud of you and won't forget what you did, no matter how amazing your life is right now."

Seb Hesitated as he seemed to be struggling with something else he wanted to say, so I may it easier for him.

"Just spit it out Seb, you can ask me anything, what is it?"

"You said that you don't want the family involved in your plans, and I get that, but if there was a way that I could get powers too, that would be amazing. I mean, in a little while a lot of people will be getting powers and will be entering the tower so it wouldn't be that strange if I got some too."

"Seb, I would be happy if you got powers, I just don't want to make you or any of the family a target. I will have enemies and if they figure out that you are my brother, you'll be a target and the whole family will be at risk.

"But, if you promise to keep it to yourself, I will teach you about mana, but you will have to work on developing it yourself. The closer you are to the tower, the easier it will be. If I get a mana core potion, I will give it to you and you will progress much faster, but you can't let anyone see until more people start getting powers."

"I get it, and don't worry, it will stay in the family. I owe you so much already I don't know how to thank you enough."

I took out my mana gem and infused it with mana until it started glowing. "This is a memory-stone, it will teach you all you need to know about mana.

I then touched it to Seb’s forehead and watched his shocked expression as all the knowledge on mana manipulation flowed into his brain.

While I watched him absorbing, the information, a thought occurred to me. I wondered if I could re-create a mana core in Seb, using mine as a template. A mana core should react similarly to any other healing process, at least in theory.

I asked Seb to sit down, and I put one hand to my chest, and the other one to Seb's.

I enveloped my core with healing mana, studying every connection, every molecule of its makeup and I poured more healing mana into Seb's chest, reproducing my core in his chest, I then focused on creating the channels and meridians. It was a long and strenuous exercise but I managed to create a duplicate of my mana network in Seb. I then filled his Mana core with mana.

Now the rest was largely up to Seb. He needed to feel his core and activate his mana flow. I could assist him once the flow started, but he needed to make the first steps.

I explained to him what he needed to and he also had the knowledge from the mana gem.

For the first few minutes nothing happened, there was no mana circulation and his core sat there dormant. I then took out one of my spider cores and put it in his hand and asked him to try to absorb the mana from the beast core into the channel in his hand.

After about a minute, I noticed that he was absorbing the mana. I encouraged the mana to flow through his channels into his core and got the mana turning and cycling through his core. Finally, the mana left his core through the other channels to create a full circuit at which point I let him continue cycling it.

"For the moment you will need to concentrate on maintaining the cycle, but soon you should no longer even need to think about it, it should become second nature. You need to keep this flow going 24 hours a day, like breathing.

I left Seb meditating while I finished cleaning up the workspace and the rest of the basement.

When I had finished, I saw Seb hold out his hand and a moment later, a glowing white orb appeared above his palm.

The look of satisfaction on his face was priceless.

"That was pretty amazing Seb, nice job for your first day. Once they open the academy you should enroll, there is a lot more mana there and you can train for a dungeon run. But they must never know that you are my family and I want to be there when you go on your first ascent."

I am going to bed now, but if you want, we can do some exercises tomorrow after I have finished my projects. Of course, you can join me if you want."

"Sure, I will try not to get in your way" . he said before following me up the stairs."