Chapter 1:

No matter how much he tried, Arthur could only remember as far as his 9th birthday, the day he was abandoned by his parents in this orphanage. They had paid a staggering amount of money to the caregivers that was enough for up to his 18th birthday, and simply left him there. His memories of their faces were blurry, as if a fog was disturbing his vision, but he was sure of one thing..They were clearly crying, tears streaming down their faces as they looked back at him one last time before vanishing like the wind.

So Arthur never forgot his parents, the ones who brought him to life and regretfully parted ways with him for unknown reasons. Even as he became 16 years old, his resolve to find them was only getting stronger. People could be quite cruel to other races, and that included Demi-Humans, or as they called them, 'Halflings'.

Arthur was one such 'Halfling', but nobody knew what his other half was, not even himself. But he knew that as long as he could find his parents, he'd find out everything about himself, including the reason why his Status Window was different from those of his peers.

That day was a special day for the orphanage children, as they would finally be taught in detail about the power system of the world, as well as how to make use of their Status Windows for a better growth rate. These classes were meant to nurture future talents to give them a chance at getting recruited by the big guilds. The program was sponsored by the guilds themselves as they were securing talents for their personal use at almost no cost, so they only needed to provide a monthly sum of money to maintain proper living conditions in the orphanage.

The class began with the excited chattering of young teenagers aged 15-16 years old, the teaching staff walking in with loud and clear steps gradually calming down the chaos in the classroom.

"Greetings, my name is Zelot, and I will be your professor for the foreseeable future in the "studies of Power", so if anyone has any questions before the class starts, i'll be holding a short Q&A session for your convenience."

"Whoa..so that's the famed Zelot.."

"He looks so intimidating.."

"..."

Amidst the excited murmurs of his peers, Arthur was silently staring out of the window, looking at a flock of winged people depositing what looked like school supplies in the Orphanage's hangars. But unknown to his seatmates that were looking at him in disdain, he was the one most attentive to the class' contents, especially when the word "Power" was mentioned.

Wasn't power the only thing able to help him on his quest to find his parents? As far as he remembered, no one he had ever interacted with had been kind to him, even if some maids had looked at him with pitying looks from time to time, he wouldn't expect anyone to help him with his search for his origins. He would have to rely on himself, and for that, he needed more power.

"As most of you know, the basic component to getting more powerful in a stable manner is your Status Window. Without it, you are almost guaranteed to be clueless about which element suits you best, and your detailed physical condition is just as important to learn about from the Status Window."

"Today, I will be teaching you the method for summoning your Status Window, as well as the details considering the different levels of physique and affinity percentages. To start with, simply recite 'Status Window' in your mind, and a translucent screen will become visible to you in front of your eyes."

The students followed his words, calling out to their Status Windows in their minds, most of them getting startled by the sudden appearance of a screen right in front of their eyes.

Arthur did so as well, and he was surprised by his Status Window's content.

"Your Status Window should be coloured in the color of the affinity that you are closest to. In some cases, there are people with multiple affinities so their Status Window will have multiple colors on it. I will go in detail about each element and the corresponding colors after this, so don't be impatient."

"What color is yours? Mine is red"

"Mine is purple with a tinge of green"

"Ooh, double affinity!"

Arthur, on the other hand, was still shocked by the contents of his Status Window. It read as follows:

-STATUS WINDOW:

-Name: Arthur Crowell

-Age: 16

-Power Rating: E

-Race: Half human/ Half ??? (unknown)

-Disposition: -Neutral

-Determined

-Power Drive

-Affinities: Water = 71% (Basic Water Manipulation)

Fire = 35% (Intermediate Fire Manipulation)

Earth = 23% (Basic Earth Manipulation)

Wind = 64% (Intermediate Wind Manipulation)

-More affinities unlocked when reaching 100% in the aforementioned 4 affinities.

-Physique:

-Luck = Low (High)

-Stamina = Low (Low)

-Strength = Low (High)

-Agility = Intermediate (Low)

-Mana = Low (Low)

'4 affinities? But then why is it shining in so many different colors? And what does that phrase even mean?'

"That scum is speechless, look."

"Hey, do you think he has no affinity? It would be so fitting for a dirty Halfling like that!"

"Don't be too harsh, he might just go ahead and kill himself because of your words, haha"

"hahahaha!"

Arthur was being ridiculed by his seatmates, something that he was gradually getting used to, though being lonely for years was still stifling for the young child. Fortunately, he had something else to focus his attention on at the moment.

"Your attention, please."

clap!

The professor had only clapped once, but it felt as if the clap had shaken the classroom to the very core. The students were shocked by such an effortless show of power, Arthur included.

"That was a technique that only those with the Space and Sound affinities can achieve, and the one I used was the Sound version. You can discern between both versions of the technique by the speed and power of the clap, with Sound being faster and Space being heavier. Here is another demonstration-"

CLAP!!

This time, the clap could be discerned by the students, but it felt as if an earthquake had hit the orphanage, the tremors traveling far into the city and confusing the citizens. That singular clap had shaken space!

"Amazing..!!"

"Do it again!"

clap clap clap!

The students applauded the professor, the latter simply bowing his head then clearing his throat to quiet them down. The students were as meek as sheep this time, paying full attention to his words.

"Since you have all successfully summoned your Status Windows, we will go over the different relevant sections in it. First of all, your name, which should be at the very top, followed by your age, Power Rating which gives an approximate assessment of your power level, Race which is self explanatory, and Disposition."

"Your Disposition is in simpler terms, the defining traits of your personality, and those traits may affect you lightly, heavily, or may not affect you at all. A good example would be the 'Determined' trait, which will make a person determined in either achieving success in a singular goal or all activities in their life. This can be a double-edged sword in some cases, as the person would do anything it takes to succeed, even if they had to commit evil. This can clash with other traits such as 'Good' or 'Weak-willed' and cause mental instabilities, so please tell me if you spot any contradictions like these so we can solve them in advance."

Arthur rechecked his Status Window and looked at his traits again for confirmation.

'I do have the 'Determined' trait, but I also have the 'Neutral' trait. Does that mean I'll be able to do anything as long as it aligns with my goals? Not that I'll commit murder or anything of the sort. I wonder what 'Power Drive' means?'

"Next up, affinities. There are 15 affinities ranked according to rarity, and each affinity gives access to manipulation of the relevant element. You will find a white slate on top of your desks detailing every single element and the color it has. Please memorize them well, as you will take exams regarding these subjects."

The students picked up the magical slate with text written over it in an orderly manner, immersing themselves in lecture at once. Arthur was curious about the meaning of his multicolored Status Window, so he read through the text in search of answers.

[Element Categorization, Ranked by rarity]

Common: Fire (Red), Water (Blue), Earth (Brown), Wind (Green).

Uncommon: Magma (Scarlet), Frost (Sapphire), Metal (Metallic Grey), Lightning (Yellow).

Rare: Light (Gold), Darkness (Black), Illusion (Ethereal), Poison (Dark Green).

Epic: Space (Deep Blue), Time (Grey), Gravity (Purple).

Legendary: Theorized to exist, currently unproven.

There were 15 elements on the slate, just as professor Zelot had told them. But something still didn't make sense to Arthur. Why did he have all 15 colors on his Status Window? Did that mean he would unlock them all? If so, the phrase " More affinities unlocked when reaching 100% in the aforementioned 4 affinities." made more sense now. Was this difference related to his other half? And more importantly..

'...How do I even upgrade my affinities?'

The class continued with the professor explaining the differences between physique levels in detail.

"Next up, we will go over the different levels of physique and the methods to train each part of it thoroughly. First-"

Driiing!

"..Unfortunately, it seems the class is over. You may come find me at the library after class, I am always present there from 9pm to 12pm. If you have any questions, I will be happy to solve them for you…except for homework, of course."

And with that last statement that made the students giggle, professor Zelot packed his luggage and exited the classroom, the students gradually leaving the class. In an almost empty classroom, only Arthur was left. He had been crouching in his seat to avoid the attention of his seatmates that would surely find ways to abuse him when they got the chance to.

Now alone, Arthur got up from his seat while slinging his backpack over his shoulder, making his exit from the classroom in a stealthy manner in an almost paranoid manner.

Alas, that didn't save him from a tackle as soon as he walked out of the door, making him trip on his face and fall right on his nose.

"Told you! you owe me 10 silvers now!"

"This useless sack of shit, how weak are you!"

pack!

The angry student kicked him right in the abdomen, knocking the air out of Arthur's lungs and making him retch as if he was going to vomit, but he did not retaliate, knowing it would only make things worse.

"How could you not even avoid a leg sweep, huh!? Who's gonna give me my 10 silvers now, huuh!?"

pack! pack! pack!

After letting his anger out on Arthur's body, he then spat on his hair and gave him one last kick that turned him over on his back, then he left while huffing with the 2 boys that were watching this all happen while snickering to themselves.

"Dirty Halfling, ptu!"

"Come on dude, I'm getting bored, let's get outta here."

Arthur was left on the floor alone, desperately holding back his tears and vomit as he coughed weakly, getting up with difficulty and making his way over to his dorm room unsteadily. There were multiple pairs of eyes checking him out, some laughing at him in disdain, some uninterested as if they were looking at a bug, while the eyes of some maids were saddened by the state he was in. Arthur felt all these stares on himself, but he dared not look back, lest it made his day worse than it was already.

Arriving into his room, Arthur weakly collapsed on his bed, not bothering to wipe off the blood, spit and dust on his body, sobbing softly to himself as he reminisced about the blurry memory he had of his parents.

"..i'll...definitely find...you."

He then drifted off to sleep unknowingly, physically and mentally tired from the events that had been repeating and getting worse each year.

He did not notice the change on his Status Window until he woke up the next day.

"...Why?"

-Affinities: Water = 76% (Basic Water Manipulation)

Fire = 35% (Intermediate Fire Manipulation)

Earth = 23% (Basic Earth Manipulation)

Wind = 64% (Intermediate Wind Manipulation)

-More affinities unlocked when reaching 100% in the aforementioned 4 affinities.

…His water affinity had somehow increased by 5%.