11 A Double-Edged Gift

I hear voices in the distance…what are they saying? I can hear a male's voice arguing with a female. My body feels sore and achy.

"What did I say?!"

"He's fine! It's just that this stupid sword made it worse, and at least he's alive. I didn't kill him, and he certainly showed promise."

"Ugh! Still, …we need to hope that he wakes up in time before the Headmaster sees him like this. Can't you just heal him, please?"

"Fine! It's not like he needs it, he has Pure Magic, remember??" I start to feel a warm tingling sensation on my chest and I start feeling all the pain go away.

"Just in case, so the Headmaster sees that we are 'being careful' with him," he says.

I slowly open my eyes and see Arial above me, cupping both of her hands over my chest. She's releasing some sort of greenish light from her hands. Then, I see her colleague right next to her and he notices me, "Oh he's awake now, thank Nuvia." He lets out a sigh of relief; Arial looks at me and stops, "Good Morning, you had me a bit worried there, haha…let me introduce you to my colleague James," he waved at me and I lifted my hand slightly to wave back. He also wore glasses, and had fuzzy indigo hair, he also has a cowlick on the crown of his head too. She backed up away from me and I try moving a bit, "Oh wait! Don't move just yet, we have to check your vitals and see if there are any internal damages…not that you would need it anyway…" she mumbled that last part, but I still heard her.

I was laying on a white-sheeted bed that resembled a lot like a hospital bed. "Did I…pass?" I turn my head to her. She gave me a soft smile, "You have a lot of potential, Kima. If I'm being honest; I came in today with a report about you being a mistaken 'Pawn-Wielder', and all of us just sighed and wanted to get this over with. We weren't expecting much from you…haha. However, throughout this trial, you displayed significant signs of improvement and believe it or not, you've unlocked a hidden power from within, all by yourself. It was unreal, and it gave me a rush of a lifetime, but watching you fight for your life made all these years of working at this academy worth it. Sorry if that may come off a bit crazy, but to answer your question, yes. You have indeed passed, Mr. Kima," I let out a huge sigh of relief. Yes…finally…I feel like crying because I put in so much effort. I was so scared, but I managed to do it.

A feeling of satisfaction showers over me. I can't help but let out the cheesiest smile ever. Her colleague congratulated me and so did the other staff members. I thanked them for it.

Eventually, they proceeded to run a few more tests on me, and during them, I slowly started to feel better. I didn't feel too sluggish and my body didn't feel like it was in pain, yet, I still feel super exhausted. "Why do I still feel tired?"

"Magic can only heal wounds not fatigue or your mental state. Please follow me to the next room so we can proceed with the Magic Capacity test." She pushed up her glasses and rushed to a door that I didn't see because it was the actual wall just sliding open like a secret room. "This school never ceases to surprise me," I chuckled and followed her. I head into the room and it was small, it was around the same size as my dorm room. At the center was a chair with what looked like a blood pressure test machine in front of it. The machine itself was white and had a hole to stick one's arm in.

There was a 3d holographic panel on the side to control it. Inside the machine, I saw sparkles of light. "Please have a seat there and unroll your sleeve. Well, you kind of don't have to, with that torn sleeve of yours. You'll get new a blazer, don't worry," she started up the machine in front of me with a few taps and slides. She then asked me to place my arm inside the machine, she messed around a bit more with the machine's controls. Then the machine started to glow from inside and it sounded like an overheating laptop, "Um, is it supposed to sound like that?" I asked in a worried tone, and she replied, "Yes, but…what the hell? You have barely any readings. It says you barely have any Magic, yet we clearly witnessed you develop and use it. This is interesting."

I start to recall the fight I had with the ogre and how I used Magic. It felt so unreal, but I loved every second of it. I ask, "Is something wrong?" She started to scroll through the numbers I could barely see and then she fixed her glasses and spoke with a worried tone, "Mr. Kima, I don't think we can determine how much Magic you wield with this kind of machine."

"What do you mean?" I felt very concerned.

She sighed and says, "It's nothing bad, but I didn't want to be the one to tell you. The Headmaster would know more about it, but…basically…you don't wield normal Magic, you wield Pure Magic; have you heard of this before?" I start to recall the time when Eliza mentioned it before bringing me here and said it was too much to talk about. I then reply, "Yeah, but Eliza wouldn't tell me much because it was already getting too complicated for me to understand regular Magic."

"Ms. Sternbriar, correct?" I nod, and she continues, "She's right, it is a very complicated topic. So, I will try and go over, and explain Pure Magic and how Magic works within our bodies the best I can. Oh yeah! You can take your arm out now," I pulled my arm away and laid it on my lap. "Okay, hopefully, I can understand without asking too many questions, haha…" she chuckled a bit.

She begins to speak, "This machine here can only detect regular Magic within our bodies, it shouldn't be too hard to build one that detects just Pure Magic, so no worries about that. Anyways, Pure Magic is exactly what it means. It is the purest form of Magic and it's Magic that is all around us before it enters our bodies, it is also a natural stabilizer to our bodies when we're running low on Magic energy. Pure Magic comes through the body and is exerted as regular Magic. You may be thinking that they're the same and it's not called 'Pure' Magic because we have tainted it within our bodies. But, you're wrong, there is a difference…and the difference is boundless energy, variety, and limitless amounts of potential. With regular Magic energy, you can only do so much, especially if you have a strong affinity towards an element. Even prodigies and very talented Mages don't come nearly as close to someone who wields Pure Magic. Our great Goddess Nuvia who created us and this realm was the first and the only user of Pure Magic, up until now that is…her Magic was different than regular Magic. It had a godly aura, and godlike potential, she was literally Magic itself; she did create it after all," Arial didn't make a lot of eye contact when she spoke, but I could tell she was in deep thought. She also sounds like a teacher—I then ask, "Up until now? You can't be talking about me, right? There's no way, especially if a Goddess like Nuvia had it," I refused to believe that a mistaken Pawn-Wielder like myself could have such potential. It's too convenient and oddly coincidental.

"Believe it or not, but yes. We had a hard time believing it as well, its as if fate has brought you here. Anyway, just to throw this out there, we Nuvian's tried figuring out how to use Pure Magic. However, we couldn't stop the process of it turning itself into regular Magic—it had to be completely untouchable to stay the way it is. Throughout the years though after Nuvia's death, myths were passed down for centuries talking about the limitless power Nuvia once had and if one were able to reach or wield her level of strength, they would become a God themselves…" she looked at me with as a gesture to say it's me.

"That's insane, how did I even develop this?" I asked

"I know you haven't ever used magic before and as a result, you passed out when you used too much. Also, the damn sword you used was a prototype and it wasn't supposed to passively drain your Magic. It was supposed to be on command, so imagine how much you exerted while the sword already was draining you. To answer your question though…it could be because you were put into a life and death situation, which caused you to release such power. We don't know how you managed to pull it with Pure Magic but be grateful to be blessed with such power. Consider it a gift from the Goddess herself," I looked at my hand and remember the aura that I had.

"Don't get overconfident now, there could be a price for such power. According to the myths I spoke of, they say that if a person who wasn't Godly in the first place were to wield Pure Magic, it could deteriorate their body from the inside if they used an excessive amount and it would consume your entire body," she said this very calmly which made it much more nerve-racking. She wasn't playing around, and I suddenly got nervous because I remembered coughing up blood after my battle. "The after-effects of using an excess amount of regular Magic or forcing it out are similar but less extreme. It takes a madman to reach to that point, though. There are symptoms that serve as warnings; the most basic and not as harmful is fatigue. After this, it is followed by a massive headache, lack of focus, hallucinations, possible seizures, and eventually…death."

I'm instantly shook at how big of a role Magic plays in this world, and now I'm caught smackdown in the middle of it. "So…this power that I somehow developed, it's like a double-edged sword, right? If I use it too much or an excessive amount, I'm essentially destroying my body? In exchange, I wield power that the Goddess Nuvia had and I'm pretty sure it's strong." I asked while looking at her above the machine. "Well…its strong but the thing is, I don't know if it will destroy your body. Those are myths from old books that I have read in the past, and that's how I was able to determine you wielded Pure Magic, plus your aura is white. That color of aura does not exist in this realm, except for Nuvia herself. It shocked us all, trust me," she stated.

I gulped, I had a very worried look on my face and I didn't want Arial to see it, but she stared at me until I responded. I thought about one thing in that brief moment and felt a change of heart, "I'm doing this to save Nuvia, right?" I got up from my chair and looked straight at her and said, "You know what? I'm going to overcome this and I'm going to master this gift no matter what."

She smiled at me while I spouted my resolve, "Even if it deteriorates your body?"

"Yup, I'm not dying until I've completed my mission, even if I'm not the Pawn-Wielder, I will try my best to be their replacement," I said in confidence.

"Very well, I wish you luck Mr. Kima. Your results will come in tomorrow morning, and I personally will create a weapon for you. A weapon that will aid you in your journey to master Pure Magic," she pushed her glasses up and a glare whitened her lenses, which made her offer seem cooler. "Thank you, I look forward to seeing you again, Arial," I smiled.

"Don't thank me yet, you still have a long way to go," she said, blocking my appreciation.

"Haha, you're right. Wish me luck then," I said, and she pointed towards the exit so I could leave.

~~~~Arial's mind~~~

Hmm…seems like a double-edged gift to me. It's good that he's treating this as a blessing and not a curse. I better keep a close eye on him for my research as well.