Mom gently released me from her embrace, looking down at me with warm yet concerned eyes.

  "Have you calmed down, Freed?" she asked softly, brushing a stray strand of my hair away from my damp cheek.

  I sniffled once and wiped my damp cheeks with my sleeve, feeling a little embarrassed.

  "Yes… I’m sorry."

  "Why are you apologizing?" She smiled gently, cupping my face in her hands. "It’s okay to cry, right, dad?"

  Dad, who had been silently watching, gave a small chuckle. "That’s right, Freed. To be honest, we’ve always worried about how rarely you cry. Even though you’re still a child, you hold everything in so much. The last time I saw you cry like this was when you were still a baby."

  "Is it really okay to cry…?" I muttered hesitantly, still feeling a bit embarrassed about my outburst.

  "Of course it is," Mom reassured me, her hands gently stroking my hair. "Even the sky cries when it carries too much, doesn’t it?"

  Her words made my heart tremble.

  That was a quote I had loved in my past life.

  A reminder that it was okay to feel, that it was okay to not always be strong.

  I exhaled a shaky breath, my lips curling into a small, grateful smile. "Un… Thanks, Mom, Dad. I feel better now."

  "That’s good to hear," Mom said, but then she tilted her head slightly, her expression thoughtful. "But… will you tell us why you cried all of a sudden?"

  She gently patted my head, her fingers warm and comforting. "You said you were happy to have us, but you cried so much. There must be a reason, right?"

  I hesitated.

  Of course, there was a reason.

  But how could I tell them that it wasn’t them I was missing—that I was thinking about the family from my past life?

  I wanted to keep that pain.

  I was afraid that if I said it out loud, if I explained everything, I would let go of that pain, and in doing so, I might forget them.

  I didn’t want to forget my old family.

  So instead, I gave them an excuse.

  "In the adventurer’s guild… I saw an adventurer with two slaves," I said quietly.

  At the mere mention of the word slaves, I saw their expressions harden slightly. They already knew what I was about to say. But I continued anyway.

  "That adventurer only gave his slaves the leftovers from his meal," I continued, my hands unconsciously clenching the fabric of my pants. "And the amount was so small… but they still had to share it between them."

  My voice wavered slightly as I spoke.

  "They were so thin… they must have been starving. I wanted to give them food, but I couldn’t do anything."

  I looked down, biting my lip. "And… I got scared."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Scared?" Mom repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.

  "What if… what if I became a slave one day?" I said, my voice trembling slightly. "That’s why… I’m glad. I’m so glad to be born into this family. You and Dad, Sis Celes and Sissy… You’re all so kind to me. I’m happy… so happy that I got to be here with you."

  Silence filled the room for a brief moment before Dad suddenly sighed and leaned forward, resting a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

  "There’s no way we’d let something like that happen to you, Freed," he said firmly. His usual calm and gentle voice carried an edge of conviction. "No matter what happens, you will never become a slave."

  "That’s right," Mom added, giving me a soft smile. "And it’s okay if you can’t help them, Freed. You’re not a hero. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world. But if you want to help them, then you should. Just promise me one thing."

  She reached out and held my hand in both of hers.

  "If you ever own a slave… treat them better than that adventurer did, okay?"

  I nodded without hesitation. "I promise, Mom."

  She smiled and squeezed my hands gently.

  That was the end of that conversation.

  But I wasn’t done yet.

  "Actually… there’s something else I wanted to ask," I said hesitantly.

  Mom and Dad both looked at me curiously.

  "What is it?" Mom asked.

  I took a deep breath, deciding to act as if I was confused about what was happening.

  "Well… last night, when I was practicing my mana control in my room at the guild, a blue square suddenly appeared in front of me."

  "A blue square?" Mom repeated, tilting her head slightly.

  I nodded. "Yeah. It had words written on it. Like… if I looked at my bed, the words ‘Bed’ would appear. If I looked at the door, it would say ‘Door’."

  Dad’s eyes immediately widened. "Freed. Can you try doing it again right now?"

  I nodded.

  I’m activating my Appraisal with my mana, which just requires 1 mana or aura.

  The screen then appeared in my vision.

  ? STATUS WINDOW ?

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  Name: Glacius

  Age: 38

  Race: Human

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  "There it is," I said.

  Mom tilted her head while her finger touched her lips,

  "Huh? I felt a tiny bit of mana coming from you, but… I don’t see anything."

  Dad hummed in thought. "That means only Freed can see it."

  "What does it say?" Mom asked.

  "The first line says ‘Status Window’," I explained. "Then, it says ‘Name: Glacius’, ‘Age: 38’, and ‘Race: Human’."

  Dad and Mom exchanged glances.

  "Dad… isn’t this…" Mom started.

  Dad nodded. "Yeah. Freed has an Appraisal skill."

  Mom gasped, then suddenly pulled me into another hug. "Wow, Freed! You’re amazing!"

  It’s indeed a hologram. She can pass through the screen as if there was really nothing.

  I barely had time to react before she smothered me against her chest again.

  "Appraisal skill?" I asked, playing dumb.

  Dad smiled. "It’s a rare skill, Freed. Not super rare, but not common either. Maybe six out of ten people have it. But even your Mom, your sisters, and I don’t have it."

  "Is it really that amazing?" I widened my eyes, pretending to be shocked.

  "It is." Dad nodded. "With Appraisal, you can see the information of objects, plants, and people. The reason why you’re only seeing basic details right now is probably because your skill level is low. But if you train it, you’ll be able to see much more.”

  "Like what?"

  "For example," Dad explained, "if you Appraise a monster, you’ll be able to see its abilities, status, and element affinity. You’ll also be able to Appraise plants, which is helpful for identifying which ones are poisonous."

  "Wow!" I gasped, playing up my amazement.

  "But be careful," Dad warned, his tone growing serious. "If you use Appraisal on someone with sharp perception, they might notice that you’re using your mana or aura. Some people don’t like being appraised.”

  "What happens if they find out?"

  "They might think you’re trying to spy on them or prepare to attack them," Dad said. "And if they are noble… well, some of them might execute you just for trying."

  I gulped dramatically. "Scary…"

  Dad chuckled and patted my head. "If you use it in a crowd, they probably won’t notice. Appraisal can also be blocked by some skills or items. So, just be careful, alright?.”

  "Okay," I nodded.

  Now that I had revealed my Appraisal skill, I was free to train it without hiding.

  That night, I practiced controlling my mana while using Appraisal repeatedly on different objects in the house, slowly increasing my proficiency with it.

  Bit by bit, I would level up this skill and increase my mana capacity simultaneously.

  Edited on 23/03/2025: Fix a duplicated paragraph