Chapter 64   - Four Months

Deflecting and dodging to the side, Kai heard the whistle of Elijah’s strike pass an inch from his ear. Taking advantage of the small opening, he went on the offensive. Mana flooded his muscles and tendons as he activated Empower. His movements gained a burst of superhuman speed.

I got him.

His blade gleamed in the sun as he performed a horizontal slash. Arms, legs and torso, his whole body was in on the strike. Elijah was too close to dodge and his sword too far for an effective parry. No second thought was spared at the fact he was swinging a perfectly sharp steel sword at another human.

Kai could feel the sweet taste of victory. Adrenaline and mana pumping in his veins, the effect was inebriating. His gaze met the cold blue eyes of his opponent. Something was wrong.

Before his brain could process what was happening, the wooden sword hit right on the side of his blade. Kai could feel the momentum of his strike being redirected together with his body.

He didn’t get any chance to correct his stance. He had put all his weight behind that blow. A second hit on his left shin sealed his fate, making him lose balance.

Dammit!

His sword escaped his grip and he met the white beach face-first. Ignoring the pain growing on his leg and sputtering mouthfuls of sand, Kai stood back up. His body trembling from rage, arm pointed accusatory.

“You cheated!”

Elijah looked back at him placidly. “I only said I would not use more strength or speed than you. I never promised not to use my mana.”

“N— tha—.” Kai was heaving. He wanted to find the right words to express his rage, staring daggers at the man. What he said was technically true, but he had never used mana before. It was obvious there would be no point in the fight if he did.

“You just couldn’t stand to lose to me!” His words sounded lame as he said them but were the only thing he could come up with right now.

The pale man smirked at him. “Are you sure you’re not talking about yourself?

“I won fair and square.”

“Do you consider that a win? While I might not have been able to parry, you left your body wide open for a counterattack. You need to treat this like a real fight. If you get in the habit of using such reckless tactics now, it will be even harder to stop in the heat of the moment. Beating your opponent at the price of your life or a grave wound is not a victory.”

Kai pressed his lips together. He wanted to argue, to come up with the right comeback. He had wanted to score a hit at any cost, knowing he was in no real danger. The only thought in his mind had been how to best Elijah. Nothing else mattered.

His anger subsided slightly. “Maybe if you stopped using a wooden stick, it would be easier to take this more seriously.”

Elijah gave him a smug look, knowing he had won the argument. “I will when you get good enough. I promise not to use any mana or skill when you will truly beat me.” He said and walked away with the last word.

“Jerk,” Kai muttered under his breath, perfectly aware he would be heard anyway. He picked up his sword and headed towards his house to get a shower.

I swear I’ll swipe away that damn smug grin.

Even if he didn’t get any praise from his teacher, he knew his progress had been more than decent. It had been only four months and his Swordsmanship kept increasing at a steady pace. The Guide itself recognized his improvements, who cared what a moody butler said?

Each time he thought he was getting closer to matching Elijah with the help of Empower, Kai discovered his opponent had been holding back the whole time. Again. Again. And again.

He refused to believe the butler’s skill with a sword could reach much further. No matter how good he was, he had taken him by surprise with Empower. If he did it once, he could do it twice. Next time it would be a clean win.

As the cold water came out of the nozzle and washed over his body, Kai summoned his skills.

Running (lv80>89)

Swimming (lv79>89)

Meditation (lv68>72)

Herbology (lv61>70)

Awareness (lv57>68)

Acting (lv52>55)

Processing – Plants (lv41>49)

Swordsmanship (lv17>36)

Mana Sense (lv44>49)

Mana Manipulation (lv15>22)

Inspect (lv12>17)

Alchemy (lv11>16)

Empower (lv4>11)

Runes (lv1>3)

His gains were more than decent. He didn’t know if it was due to his higher stats or if he was more focused on his training. There was no one else to compare himself to, but he remembered a year ago his progress had not been this smooth or fast.

Swordsmanship maintained steady growth even after he stopped reaping the benefits of his pre-skill training in Greenside. It was a slow grind, but all his skills were advancing.

Acting was the only one that lagged a bit behind. There were few chances to push the skill in the estate, but it had already proven how invaluable it could be in the real world. Not all skills could be grinded. Apart from joining a theater troupe, he could not think of much else.

Do they even exist? There must be some on the mainland. It would be interesting to join a wandering group and travel the continent.

Not something he was likely to actually do, but never say never.

With skills and professions, there must be amazing artists out there.

He could plagiarize some of Earth’s stories. No way the little mouse lawyers could find him here and sue him for copyright infringement, right?

It was a romantic idea, but not very practical. He had never really used Acting that way. If he wanted to get more potential evolutions that would aid him in social situations, performing a play would not help much.

Pushing the daydreaming out of his head, Kai focused on his latest accomplishment. Three weeks prior he had managed to create a resonance between Drawing and Runes. He still wasn’t too clear about how that worked.

From what Dora explained, having a compatible lower-grade skill reduced the requirements of the higher-tier ones. Instead of having to fulfill all the prerequisites to unlock Runes, he only needed 90% or something along those lines. It depended on the compatibility between the two skills, the level of the skill he possessed and more hidden requirements that changed for every skill.

No, nothing could ever be easy.

When he first came here his mind could not think beyond the next day. Since he came back, insidious thoughts kept occasionally popping into his head. The more he learned about all the wondrous potions and resources that existed out there, the harder it got to drive off greed. Why couldn't they just be a little more generous? It would cost them so little and help him so much.

From the huge mansion to the expensive interior decorations, everything spoke of luxury and wealth. A simple knickknack of theirs could probably fetch him enough to buy himself a shortcut to months of hard work on a skill.

Getting the Runes skill had helped put things into perspective and made him aware of how lucky he was to have someone willing to share their knowledge. If he had made a different choice, he would be left to stumble through the dark alone.

It wasn’t that far-fetched to imagine there were a ton of people out there who got stuck for years because they missed a single simple requirement. Or maybe passed great opportunities unwittingly.

Looking back to his ungrateful thoughts he had felt ashamed. That was the wrong mindset and a quick path to becoming a narcissistic and entitled asshole.

They don’t owe me anything, while I owe them everything. Even if they can be so infuriating and I wished I could strangle them sometimes. No, I’m not referring to anyone in particular.

With a lighter heart, Kai walked into Dora’s laboratory with a smile.

Fake it till you make it.

“Good morning, aunty.”

The alchemist smiled brightly offering him his daily potion. “Good morning to you too, dear. Are you having a good day?”

Kai took the greenish smoothie from her. Dora had a breakthrough a week ago and was now fixing more trivial aspects like taste and smell. He had some hopes it would not be totally repugnant.

He activated Mana Sense and Inspect to give a casual scan. The potion lit up with swirling mana. At the same time, a notification started blinking in the corner of his eye.

That’s weird.

Dora was looking at him expectantly, so he gobbled down the potion in one go. It tasted spicy and burnt, but he tried not to grimace. It was still better than the last one. The memory of that rotten concoction sent shivers down his back.

With a mental command, he gave the Guide the option to go to show him what was so pressing.

*Ding*

Mana Sense has reached lv50, requisite for the first milestone met, congratulations!

*Ding*

New Feat: For pushing an Orange skill to the first milestone through your own efforts before your Second Seal, you are awarded: +1 Favor!

Kai froze on the spot. It had been two weeks that he had been trying to push Mana Sense over the edge with no success. Then it tipped over by watching a damn smoothie?

“Is something wrong, Kai? I was going for a minty flavor. How close did I get?”

“Almost there.” He responded absentmindedly, continuing to stare into the void. “Mana Sense just reached the threshold.”

“Oh… Congratulations! I guess my potion had to be really good.” Dora winked at him with a laugh.

Kai nodded distractedly.

“Did you not get the specialization?”

“I haven’t checked yet.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ve got it.”

Dora’s confidence increased the pressure he felt.

Contrary to red skills, in most circumstances, it was a waste not to take any specialization for orange skills. It took a huge effort to reach the thresholds. For Mana Sense there was only one evolution everyone went for. The key to unlocking a whole branch of magic and the reason mages were so rare to begin with.

No point in delaying. Even if I don’t get it, I can just wait till I unlock it.

Mana Sense (lv50) ➔

As you reach the first milestone, you are presented with two choices to continue your journey:

Stay the course on your current path. You won’t gain new significant benefits, but you’ll deepen the insight into your path.

Watch deeper. Choose to branch off your senses to perceive the elemental alignment of mana. The higher your affinity the clearer it will be.

His tense body relaxed, he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “I got it.”

“Wonderful.” Dora patted him on the back. “Go on, get it. No point wasting time, we can do the ritual first thing tomorrow.”

*Ding*

You chose to look deeper and become more in sync with the elementals, Mana Sense (lv50) can now reach lv75.

Kai wanted to celebrate. It was his first orange skill to reach the lv50 threshold. Even the Guide thought it was noteworthy enough to grant him a feat. Yet, he couldn’t help but think of what came next.

“Did it ever happen for someone to have no elemental affinities?”

The Guide could help you with many things, but not this. No amount of hard work could bridge the gap if it turned out he had no talent. He read there were treasures and extraordinary circumstances that could change it, but he wasn’t likely to encounter either on the archipelago. Even in the Republic proper, they were considered extremely rare.

According to Dora, he should start to notice subtle differences the next time he used Mana Sense; changes in the color and behavior of the mana particles which distinguished the various elemental components of ambient mana. In theory, the stronger his affinity to an element the clearer it would be to sense and control.

He would need to learn how to use the skill in a new way and a lot of training, but many geniuses were immediately able to tell the difference. The idea of activating the skill was both tempting and terrifying.

What if everything appeared the same as before?

“Do not worry too much. It’s incredibly unlikely for someone so proficient with mana to not have at least one strong elemental alignment.”

The only thing Kai heard was that it was not impossible for it to happen. He doubted any amount of Favor could change someone who was probably decided at birth. “Does that mean it can happen?”

“Well…” Dora paused. “Most of the time the problem is not that someone has no talent in any element, but that they have an aptitude for something weird or rare element that is not present in most places. But those are called rare for a reason.”

Her reassurances did make him feel a bit better. However, there was still doubt in his mind. Was he really talented with mana skills or did that appear to be because of his years of experience over other kids? Obviously, he could not ask her that.

Sensing his somber mood, Dora tried to cheer him up. “Remember that a strong elemental alignment is not necessary. You don’t really need one for alchemy for example.”

Kai responded with a weak smile to not offend Dora, but inside he wasn’t very reassured. He liked alchemy, but he had already decided he would not become a scholar mage closed all day in his laboratory.

A strong affinity with the elements wasn’t strictly necessary, but it was damn convenient. There were many professions that depended on that.

“Come on. I’ll show you a new rune today.” Dora smiled brightly.

He nodded. Nothing like a full day to keep the mind off things.