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**Stephen left the store.**
'It's good that the shop owner wasn't a bad person.'
Stephen looked at the lab clothes he was wearing.
'Looks like I need to buy clothes for me and Mark so we don't attract attention with these torn outfits.'
He took out two rubles from his pocket and searched for a store that sold normal clothes.
When he found a store and entered it, he said to the saleswoman:
"I want four pairs of clothes — two in my size and two a bit smaller."
Mark was six years old, one year younger than Stephen.
The saleswoman bent down until she was at Stephen's height, smiled, and said:
"Hey little one, did you come alone? Where are your parents?"
Stephen looked at her coldly and said, "I'm alone. How much for the clothes?"
The saleswoman was surprised and said, "Two rubles for each pair — but do you have the money?"
She looked suspiciously at his torn clothes.
Stephen handed her the four rubles he had taken out.
"Where are the clothes?" he asked.
She said hesitantly, "Wait a second, I'll get them."
"Alright."
Stephen waited five minutes, and the saleswoman brought the clothes.
"I've put them in the bag. Check them."
Stephen looked inside the bag, nodded, and left the store.
The saleswoman looked at him and muttered, "Strange child."
…
Stephen went to find Mark in the alley.
Mark said impatiently, "Finally, you came!"
Mark looked at him nervously and said,
"I thought you'd leave me."
Stephen looked calmly at Mark and lowered his gaze to the bag.
"Hmm… not yet," he said.
Stephen took out a set of clothes and threw them to Mark.
"Put this on."
Mark looked anxiously at Stephen.
'Does he mean he'll leave me, but not now?'
'I have to make him like me so he won't leave.'
Mark made his decision with courage and determination, took out his set of clothes, and began putting them on.
Mark thought for a moment, looking at the clothes he wore, and curiously asked,
"Where did you get the money?"
Stephen replied indifferently, "I picked it up from the corpses of the doctors and guards I killed."
"..." Mark was speechless.
Mark thought, 'When did he take it? I didn't see him.'
Stephen said, "Let's find a restaurant to eat. We didn't have a proper meal in the lab."
Mark said excitedly, "Really?! The same food normal people eat — we can eat it too!"
Stephen looked for a second at the child before him, shook his head slightly, and said quietly,
"Follow me."
Mark followed him happily.
They arrived at a cheap restaurant and ordered food, which cost Stephen 20 ron per person.
Mark ate the food and started crying.
Stephen was confused — he didn't know what to do when a child cried in front of him. He only said quietly,
"Don't cry. We're out now."
After a few minutes, Mark stopped crying and said to Stephen,
"Thank you, Stephen… thank you for saving me from that hell."
Stephen scratched the back of his neck. Even he had thought about leaving this child, but he didn't want to feel pain either. So when he thought of escaping like that, maybe he was afraid of facing the outside world and had the idea that it was fine to die here as long as no one would hurt him anymore. That's why he executed the plan rashly.
"I wasn't sure if we could get out of there."
"But… thanks to you, we finally did. Even though I doubted your plan at first, in the end, we made it out."
Mark smiled weakly.
"And I even ate food like anyone else. I don't even know how to thank you. Even if these moments last only a little while… at least I got to experience them."
Stephen didn't know how to reply. "Umm."
Mark looked at him for a minute and then said shyly and hesitantly,
"Can I… call you brother?"
Although Stephen didn't like people, he still found children under seven innocent and kind, so he couldn't make a child cry or ignore him or treat him coldly. He also felt some strange kindness toward Mark that he didn't understand.
Stephen nodded. "Do what you want."
Mark's face lit up, and he nodded quickly.
Stephen looked at him, his eyes softening slightly, but he didn't smile.
Stephen said, "Come on, let's go find a cheap hotel to rest in tonight."
It was nighttime, and the sky was dark.
Mark nodded and stood up, and the two left the place.
When they found a cheap hotel, Stephen looked around near it and found an alley, so he went there.
Mark asked nervously, "Why are we going into the alley?"
Stephen didn't speak — he found explaining tiring. When they entered the alley, Stephen used his disguise skill: his height increased, his clothes changed to suit his height, and he reached out to hold Mark's hand.
On his waist was the sword he had taken from the lab's storage.
Mark was surprised by Stephen's action but followed his movements as they entered the hotel.
Stephen asked the receptionist, "How much for one night?"
The receptionist said, "Good evening, sir. One night costs five rubles."
Stephen took out five rubles and handed them to her.
She gave him the room key and said with a smile,
"Have a good night, sir — you and your son."
But for some reason, she kept glancing shyly at Stephen, her face red.
Stephen and Mark went to the room whose number was on the key tag.
They entered the room, closed the door, and Stephen removed the disguise.
He looked at Mark and said,
"Go to sleep now. Tomorrow, we have a journey ahead — to become stronger."
Stephen thought in annoyance,
'My body is still small and needs rest… and Mark also needs rest.'
Mark nodded seriously. "Yes, I want to become strong like you, brother."
He obediently went to bed.
Stephen frowned in thought.
'But I'm not strong yet either.'
'I have to train myself well and hide carefully so the lab won't find us.'
'There are too many things to worry about — too many things to do.'
He closed his eyes and rubbed his head.
'I wish I had two bodies… one body alone isn't enough to survive in this second life.'
Stephen sighed and began thinking where he should go first to increase his strength.
'Now, I'll find where the Mist Forest is.'
The Mist Forest was a large forest — its depths covered in mist. Inside the mist were unknown dangerous monsters that even top awakeners couldn't survive against for an hour.
The outer parts of the forest not covered by mist contained low-level monsters ranked G, F, and E.
So it was the best place for an awakener to train in real combat and experience life-and-death battles.
Other awakeners trained in virtual reality or in dungeons, but most preferred virtual reality because they were afraid of dying — which reduced their real combat experience and desperation.
Stephen opened the map on his watch and checked the forest's location.
'It's not very far — just half an hour by train.'
'It's the year 2520…
That means in three years, my father will kill the hero Kai.'
'Doesn't matter — I have no way to interfere now since I'm still weak.'
'And the bandits who attacked the village weren't ordinary. Their leader had a contract with a powerful demon.'
'No matter — for now, I have to improve my mana so I can use the disguise and time skills. I tried the time skill — it's really amazing. Its only side effect is a headache. I don't know if the side effects will worsen as the skill grows stronger, but even one second in battle can change everything.'
Stephen sat on the floor and began meditating.
After six hours, Stephen broke through to a higher rank, and impurities were expelled from his body.
Impurities are only expelled when someone breaks through to a higher rank — not a lower one.
A foul smell came from Stephen's body.
Unable to bear it, Stephen rushed to the bathroom to shower. When he came out, he sighed in relief.
'Damn, my body is so sleepy… I barely held out until midnight. I should sleep after checking my status.'
He said, "Status window."
**Name:** Stephen
**Age:** 7 years
**Race:** Human
**Status:** Awakened
**Talent:** SS
**Magic:** A+
**Mana:** F–
**Strength:** F–
**Intelligence:** S
**(Swordsmanship: Beginner) Level 1**
Allows you to understand the basics of swordsmanship.
**(Author):**
Allows you to see the status of main characters mentioned in the novel *Search for Hope.*
**Memory:** Locked
Unlocks when conditions are met.
**Time:** Level 1
Allows you to stop time for one second. As the level increases, the skill evolves.
**Disguise:** (Beginner Level 2)
Allows you to change hair and eye color only and creates the illusion of increased height depending on your mana.
'The talent of this body is amazing.'
'I'll go sleep for a few hours — my body is exhausted.'
He yawned and went to bed, sinking into a deep sleep.
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