...Everyone next to Eric was having lunch. You could hear the soft sounds of forks and knives on plates, and people talking nicely in the big dining room.
There was lots of good food – yummy roasted at, colourful cooked vegetables, baskets of warm bread, and shiny silver cups with cool drinks. Servers were quietly walking around the edges of the room, ready to bring more food or drinks if anyone wanted them.
But Eric wasn't really paying attention to the food or the nice room. His mind was stuck on a bad feeling that he was tricking everyone.
The happy feeling he had outside was gone. Now, he felt a heavy knot of guilt in his stomach. The sa thought kept going through Eric's head again and again, like a broken record: It wasn't who won this trial.
It was the System window, the strange thing inside , that took over. The good food tasted bad, like nothing, because of this feeling of guilt.
The secret felt much bigger and heavier than the expensive plate on the table. Every kind word, every proud look from his family, felt like he was part of a big lie.
Inside Eric's body, in his secret inner world, Adam could see and feel everything through Eric's eyes. He saw the nice food, heard the talking, and felt the bad, guilty feeling inside Eric's stomach.
He knew what Eric was thinking, how guilty he felt for getting praised when he thought he didn't earn it.
Adam let out a slow sigh. It was a sound that seed to just hang in the misty air of his inner world. He was sitting on his comfortable sofa, watching Eric and his family through the connection he had to Eric.
"I didn't know Eric was so... kind," he mumbled to himself. It was a little surprising to see Eric feel this guilty about getting praise he didn't think he deserved.
Most people wouldn't care. This level of guilt was unexpected. It was... annoying.
Adam then spoke to the Millenia, System again. "Millenia," he called out. His voice was clear and sharp. "Listen to ."
When the Millenia System heard Adam's order, it showed itself to Adam in his inner world. It appeared as a bright, glowing, see-through window right in front of him.
It floated there, showing lines of glowing code. Adam just stayed sitting on the sofa, watching the outside world through Eric, using his own power that was now inside Eric.
The System window, which was the voice of Millenia, spoke in its usual voice with no feelings. "Master, were you talking to ? I am trying to break the seal outside."
When Adam heard the System was ready, he told it what to do. "Go tell Eric," Adam said.
He needed to change Eric's mind. "Make him believe, really believe, that whatever happened at the end of the fight, happened because of his power." Adam didn't want Eric feeling sad or guilty like this.
"Get him out of feeling depressed or guilty about it." Adam frowned a little. For a mont, his voice sounded like he cared, but then you could hear the real reason.
"His mind is too soft right now. This guilt is making him weak." Adam leaned back on the sofa. His true reason was clear now.
"I don't want him to feel like this. It's... not useful. It's pointless." The last words sounded cold and calculating, showing he cared more about Eric being useful than being happy or not guilty.
After Adam said this, the System window in Adam's inner world faded a bit, and it showed up for Eric in his own mind.
Eric was just staring at his plate, thinking about his guilt. He was a little surprised to see the familiar glowing window appear in his mind's eye suddenly. He hadn't called for it this ti. It just showed up on its own.
The System window spoke right into Eric's mind. "I understand you are worried, Eric," it said. Its voice was calm and gave him information clearly.
"But I want to make sothing clear." It continued, telling him the story Adam wanted.
"Even though I was in control of your body for a short ti during the end of the trial," it said, admitting it took over but quickly adding the important part,
"the power that was used, the energy that fought and won, was completely your own power. I don't have any of my own power to use when I am in a body like yours."
Eric was very surprised, completely shocked, by what the System window told him. His eyes, which had been looking sad with guilt, opened wider as he heard the amazing information.
It was the opposite of what he thought. He thought the System used its own big power to win for him. A single word ca out of his mouth, almost just a quiet sound, because he was so surprised.
"What?"
That one word, even though it was quiet, was enough to stop the talking at the table for a second. Everyone next to him in his family stopped eating and looked at him.
His father, the King, who was talking quietly to his mother, looked up from his food. His mother, the Queen, who was sitting right next to him and had been looking at him a bit, also looked right at him, looking surprised and a little worried.
His two older brothers, Leonard and Raven, sitting farther away at the long table but able to hear him, also looked towards Eric.
Their faces changed from looking relaxed and enjoying lunch to looking curious and a little confused about why Eric had suddenly spoken out loud like that.
Seeing that his family, especially his parents and brothers near him, had heard him gasp and were looking at him, Eric felt a quick rush of being awkward.
He quickly raised both of his hands from the table just a little bit, showing his palms, like people do when they want to say
"It's okay, no problem." He mumbled sothing fast, trying to hide what he had said.
"No, no," he said quickly in his thoughts, making his mouth move a little to say so quiet words.
"It just... just ca out. I was just thinking about sothing to myself and it ca out louder than I ant." He tried to make his face look innocent, opening his eyes a little wider and trying to give a small, sorry smile.
He wanted it to look like he was just thinking deeply and said sothing by mistake.
When they heard this, his family mbers gave each other small smiles, like they understood, and seed to accept his explanation that he was just thinking out loud.
They just shrugged it off with short, nice smiles, and everyone went back to eating their lunch. They started talking quietly to each other again, focusing on their food. The quiet sounds of forks and knives on plates and the soft noises of eating and talking filled the room again.
But Eric's mother didn't turn away right away. She kept looking at him for a few more monts. Her eyes were kind and loving, but she was also trying to figure out what he was thinking that made him say that.
She watched him carefully, her face still showing that she cared.
Seeing his mother still looking at him, Eric felt a warm feeling inside from her care, but also a little bit of pressure.
He didn't want her to keep worrying about him. He looked back at her directly, trying to make his smile look real and comforting this ti.
"Don't worry, Mother," he said. His voice was loud enough for her to hear over the soft sounds of lunch in the big room. He hoped his voice made her believe he was truly okay. "I'm fine. Just thinking about... the trial again."
His mother looked into his eyes for another mont, searching his face, and finally seed to believe him and feel better.
She smiled gently and turned back to her food, joining the quiet conversation with the King again. Eric also pretended to start eating his lunch again, picking up his fork.
His hand felt a little steadier now. But his mind was still working fast, thinking only about what the System had told him.
As soon as he saw that everyone's attention was definitely not on him anymore – his father and mother were talking, and his brothers were focused on their food and their own conversations – Eric used his mind to talk to the System window again.
It was still there in his thoughts, a constant, silent presence in his mind. He focused his thoughts very strongly on it.
"What did you say?" he asked inside his head. He needed to hear that very important part again, to be completely sure he heard it right and understood it. "Say that explanation again. The part about whose power it was."
After hearing Eric's ntal request, the System window answered right away. It repeated what it said before, using slightly different words but saying the sa main thing, just like Adam wanted, to make the point stronger.
"I followed a normal set of rules that allowed to connect to and temporarily take control of your body. However," the System said clearly again, its 'voice' in Eric's mind calm and sounding like facts, putting importance on the key part following Adam's plan,
"while I was in control, I used your inherent powers. The energy storage I used, the abilities I used to stop your opponents – those things were all naturally yours. They ca from inside you." The System finished, its ssage clear and ant to take away all of Eric's doubt and guilt.
"So, because of this truth, you should stop thinking or believing that I was the one who successfully finished your trial for you. The powers that did it were yours."
Hearing the System window's explanation again, clearly saying that the power used to win was his, Eric's own hidden power, made his mind feel peaceful.
The heavy feeling of guilt that had been pushing him down, the awful feeling of being a fake, the idea that he had only won because sothing else fought the fight for him using its own power – all of it started to go away, like dark clouds clearing after a storm.
It wasn't the System's power that won; it was his own power, just... used in a way he didn't rember or understand yet.
Then, sothing else ca back to him. He rembered sothing important that fit perfectly with what the System was saying now.
He rembered the very first ti the System window showed up to him, so ti ago when he was training. Back then, the System window had told him who it was and why it was there.
It had told him very clearly that it was there to help unlock his hidden power, the power that was sleeping inside him, and to guide him as he beca stronger.
It was supposed to be like a tool, a helper, sothing that would bring out his potential, not sothing that would fight on its own using its own abilities.
Thinking about this mory from before, about what the System said it was there for, and what it was explaining now – that it used his power – Eric felt a huge sense of relief.
The truth, as the System told him and as he rembered from their first eting, finally made sense together. He wasn't a trick, a fake.
The power that won the trial was his power; the victory, even though he wasn't awake for the final part, was still because of his own power inside him, even if he didn't know how to use it yet.
He picked up his fork again. The food on his plate didn't taste bad anymore. He started eating his lunch properly, tasting the food this ti.
A small, real smile, one that showed in his eyes and made the tense look on his face disappear, appeared on his face. The guilt was gone, replaced by a feeling of excitent about the power he had inside him.
After that conversation with the System window, where it told him the power was his, Eric didn't feel sad or guilty anymore.
The bad feeling of being a fake completely disappeared. Before, he honestly felt like he didn't deserve all the praise and complints from his family and the people.
He truly believed he had only passed the difficult final trial because the System window took over his body and fought for him using its own strength.
But now that he knew the truth, now that the System itself said it was done using his own hidden power, just guided by the System like a temporary driver, Eric felt calm and settled.
The praise from everyone didn't feel like a lie anymore. It felt less like getting credit for sothing soone else did and more like people seeing the amazing potential that was inside him all along, even if he didn't know how to use it yet. The heavy weight of guilt was gone.
Just like that, feeling much lighter and happier, the rest of Eric's day went by nicely. He spent a good part of the afternoon with his mother, the Queen.
She was just happy to be with him after his success. They talked and spent quiet, nice ti together in the palace's private gardens. She looked at him with eyes full of love and pride.
He also spent so ti with his father, the King, in his big office. It had tall shelves of books and stacks of important papers. The King told him he was proud of him again, talking about his son's accomplishnt with true pride.
But because the King had a huge number of important royal jobs and papers to deal with, things about ruling the whole kingdom, he couldn't spend as much long, relaxed ti with Eric as Eric might have wanted.
Their ti together was shorter, with his father giving him good advice along with telling him about being a prince. The sa was true for his two older brothers, Prince Leonard and Prince Raven.
They ca to congratulate him and joke around, clearly proud of their younger brother, but they also had their own important jobs and hard training they needed to do as princes who would help rule the kingdom. The palace was a very busy place, even for the royal family.
As the day ended and the night began, Eric left his mother after they had a quiet dinner together in a smaller family dining room. He said goodnight to his family and went to his own room in the palace.
It was a big, very fancy room, prepared just for him with nice furniture and art. He started to get ready to sleep. He walked across the soft rug towards his very fancy and very large bed.
The covers were neatly turned down, ready for him to climb in and rest. As he lay down on the soft bed, against the nice pillows, he thought about everything that had happened that day – the trial, not rembering the end,
all the praise, feeling guilty, and finally, the System explaining about his own hidden power.
Lying there in the quiet and safe comfort of his royal room, with soft magical lights glowing, Eric thought carefully about what he had found out today.
He thought about the amazing potential he seed to have inside him, the sleeping, hidden power that the System could sohow use. He thought about how proud his family was and how happy his father looked.
He closed his eyes and, in the quietness of his mind, made a promise to himself, a serious and strong promise from his heart.
He decided that he would work even harder from now on, much harder than before. He would train a lot, study everything he could learn, practice constantly, and make himself stronger both in body and mind.
He would try his best to understand and learn to use this hidden power on his own. His goal was clear: to beco truly worthy of the praise he had gotten, not just by luck or because sothing else acted for him, but by his own hard work and real ability.
He wanted to make sure everyone, especially his father, would keep seeing him with the sa proud look and respect, knowing it was because of his own real strength, skills he earned himself, and true accomplishnts.
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