“No wonder it was so strong,” Lee says, still thinking about the sabretooth boar beast and scanning the beast gem he retrieved from inside it. “This is a beast crystal,” he says, reading the information. “Let’s see: beast crystal level one. Now, if I remember, it is the equivalent of a level ten stone according to the app, and this one is at the value of three hundred and sixty-six yen.” Lee then adds the beast gem to his collection.

  Lee goes into the shed and drops his broken bow shaft and empty bag; looking at it, he sighs with a shake of his head. “I will need to make more arrows. Maybe I can ask my mum or dad for help buying materials so that I can make better ones.”

  Lee is distracted as he enters the house scratching his head; he only comes to at the sound of a few screams and running footsteps.

  Lee looks up, but as he only sees a blur of motion, he jumps back, placing a hand behind himself, he pulls his body up and lands on top of the cabinet that is at his shoulder level. Looking down, Lee sees a few women; on closer inspection, he realises that they are his aunties and older cousins from his dad's side of the family.

  “You guys scared me. Good evening,” Lee says, jumping down to the ground.

  Sue shakes her head. “Another ruined shirt; what happened this time?”

  “Sue, your son is covered in blood and you laugh? What is wrong with you?” his aunty says.

  “Jasmin, that is normal for him lately,” says Sue, then facing Lee she asks, “Are you hurt?”

  “Just my back and shoulders; I think I scratched them when I fell down,” Lee says and removes his shirt; only then does he realise how threatening he must have looked. Then turning around, he shows his back to Sue. “Are there any marks?”

  Sue approaches and wipes the dried blood from Lee’s back with a damp cloth. “Yes, you have some small cuts and—hold on,” she says and pulls out three thorns from Lee’s upper back. “There you go; now go take a shower and I will put some ointment on your back.”

  “Okay,” Lee says passing his ruined shirt to Sue and starts to head upstairs.

  “Lee!” Sue calls out and Lee looks at her. “What did you bring this time?”

  Lee shakes his head. “Sorry mum, it was a sabretooth boar; I couldn't bring it on my own, so I gave it to a friend I made in the woods.”

  The aunties and cousins start to talk, saying things like, “The kid is crazy,” and, “He needs his head checked,” among other things.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Cousin Leanne,” Lee calls out a female cousin and everyone quiets down looking at him. “As you work with beast gems, what is this one from?” Lee says and passes her the boar's crystal.

  The young woman takes a wand-like scanner; as she checks the stone, an hologram comes out of her watch.

  “This is a beast crystal level one, from…” Lee’s cousin starts to say, then stops and looks at Lee, and continues in a trembling voice, “It is from a sabretooth boar.”

  “Does anyone still have doubts that I made it up?” Lee asks, but doesn't wait for an answer as he climbs back up the stairs to take a shower.

  “Hello, little cousin; hope you don't mind.” Lee looks up to see who spoke and finds his male cousin—son to Jasmin and three years older than Lee—at his computer playing an online game.

  Lee smiles. “Hello, Fred; no, I don't mind. I just need a shower then I will come to join you.”

  After a shower, Lee goes to Sue and she applies the ointment on his back and arms; then Lee heads back to his room to play with his cousin.

  “Hey, I heard stories that you made a bow and arrows,” Fred asks after having lost a game. “Is that true?”

  Lee nods. “Yes, but it's broken now; I need to make a new one.”

  Fred looks at him sideways; Lee can tell that his cousin thinks that he made it up, and that there never was any bow and arrows, but he lets it slide, not bothered to explain.

  At dinner, the Watsons get the family table from storage and set it up in the back garden, and all twenty people have a family dinner outside enjoying the first days of summer.

  “So, dear little brother, are you off to anywhere nice this year?” Kenji’s eldest brother, named Takeshi, asks.

  Kenji shakes his head. “No, this year I have to work; I will only get a full week off.”

  “Lee?” Sakura asks in a quiet voice pulling at his shirt.

  Lee turns around and notices her teary eyes. “What happened, Saki? Are you okay?”

  “I’m sorry,” she says in Latin and shows Lee her bracelet that he made.

  Lee laughs and replies in Latin too. “It’s okay; look.” Lee turns on his chair, takes the bracelet from her hands, and fixes it as the string got loose and the bracelet started to get undone. “There, fixed. Back to good.” Lee shows her, and she extends her hand and he places it back in place.

  “Thank you, big brother,” Sakura says giving Lee a hug, then goes back to her seat.

  Lee smiles looking around as the garden is a bit quiet. “What happened?” Lee asks in Japanese.

  “Sorry Lee, but what language were you speaking to Sakura?” Lee’s uncle named Minato inquires. “I have studied several languages but I have never heard that one.” Hearing this, Lee remembers that this uncle is a true linguistic bookworm.

  “It’s a secret language between me and big brother,” says Sakura, and Lee keeps quiet that it's actually Latin, as when he did the research, not even the online translator had the language. This is talking about a translator with thousands of languages including alien languages, so it is normal that his uncle hadn't heard or learned the language.

  That night, two of the youngest cousins stay at Lee’s house as the rest of the family head to the holiday house they rented.

  Lee starts to think of places to hide gems, as if people start to know that they have so many valuable beast gems, the Watsons might find their house broken into.

  The next day, being a Sunday, they all head to the swimming pool. While inside, Lee is happy and playing along.

  But happiness doesn't last long; as Lee looks at the swimming pool, he hesitates to get in as he remembers that he can't swim, and that he needs the floats on his arms so he doesn't drown.

  “Lee, remember you don't know how to swim,” says Sue kneeling down to apply sunscreen on Lee after she did so to Sakura, but then she looks at Lee in the eyes. “Or do you know how to swim now?” She questions Lee to see if it is another ability that he somehow has.