System

"Well you check your system, of course," I replied.

"My what?" He said with a dumbfounded expression, while everyone else stared at me as well.

Are these guys serious? They haven't even unlocked the system function yet. Well, I guess it makes sense since they're just now learning about ichor.

"Didn't Order tell you guys about a 'small thing' she would give you, to help you on your journey?" I asked as they all shook their heads.

"Alright then. Instead of explaining it, I'll let you experience it for yourself. Turn around and sit down." I told Colt as he did just that.

I circled my palms around his back looking for a certain spot. The heart. As I pressed my palms on it, I slowly started to release small amounts of ichor in his core.

"Woah, it feels… peaceful." Colt, for once, had put aside his goofy demeanour, he looked relaxed, and he even had his eyes closed. 

After ten minutes of silence, I was finally done.

"Alright, next," I said as I retracted my hands and stood him up. For a moment it looked like he forgot to walk, he stumbled and wobbled before finally getting back to his old self.

"Dude, that was awesome. It felt like I was… hmm how do I say this without sounding dirty?" He contemplated, before hearing, "How about you don't describe it at all." I said as I'd rather spare myself the retching.

"But I still feel it inside me." He said.

"Dude, really." Everyone decided to ignore him at this point.

"No, I'm serious. The sensation I was feeling, it's still here. It's small and not as much, but it's definitely here." He said, pointing to his heart.

"That would be the small amount of ichor your heart has started to absorb and circulate," I explained, which he found fascinating.

"Alright Colt, say the words 'status' in your mind," I told him. He must have done it because his face went back to the typical surprise he's been all day. 

The word's status wasn't really important. The window would appear in front of them as soon as they thought of it. This was just to give them an idea of what to do.

"It's just like a game." He described it as he started to observe it.

"What does it say?" I asked. Yeah I know, I told them not to trust anyone with this information and now I'm asking them to their face, who cares.

"It says my name is Colt Hale. I'm 18 and I…" Before he started to ramble on I stopped him.

"I mean the important things." I clarified.

"Oh. It says I have a high affinity for the Lightning element. Awesome. And my personal aspect is Elemental Resistance and that it's rare. Double awesome" He said as he looked visibly giddy.

The lightning element was quite rare, and for it to be a high affinity too, he was going to be strong.

And judging by the name 'Elemental Resistance' I was probably some sort of immunity to elemental attacks, which to be honest was pretty amazing. For the cultist he's bound to run into in the future, their tricks and dark magic will be less effective on him.

"Aw sick, it has all these cool stats, just like in video games. But wait, it says my max Ichor Points is only 20. Is that low?" He asked.

"Yes and no. To be honest as a beginner you're quite above average, but in the big picture, yes. It's low." He was both happy and saddened by this answer.

As I walked to him I continued to talk. "Don't worry. You're weak now, but your status is looking quite good. You're going to be strong, so keep your chin up." 

I told him as I walked past. After a second of staring into nothingness, he finally smiled and joined up with everyone to answer their questions.

"Alright, if you see a (high) next to your elemental affinity, it means, like Colt, you have a high affinity for said element. Some benefits come with this such as less ichor reduction after using the respective element." I explained to them.

"So who's next?" I asked, wanting to finish this quickly.

"I am." Said Aaron as he tried to somewhat act tough. This slightly annoyed me, this guy was weak as hell. He had nothing to act tough about. With the way things were going, Colt would surpass him soon.

"Yeah go dawg. You'll probably get something really good." Said Colt as he patted him on the back with a large grin.

"Wait." Sophie came out of the group and grabbed Aaron by the hand.

"Do you mind if I go first? I really want to see what Colt was talking about. Please." She said with puppy dog eyes, rubbing Aaron's arm on her slightly exposed breasts.

"Uhh, yeah sure. Go ahead. I hope you get something good." Said Aaron, completely dropping his tough guy act and even starting to blush.

"Thank you." She said as she skipped her way to me while grinning.

I gave her dead eyes. To be honest, I don't blame her for what she's doing. I blame the person who's so easily seduced by someone who's clearly trying to take advantage of them.

"Should we start or…?" She questioned as she started to get a little uncomfortable.

"Sit down and turn around," I said as I prepared.

"Alright. And Don't be reaching for nothing either." She said half teasingly, half serious.

Ignoring her I proceeded to do the same thing I did to Colt.

After 10 minutes of silence, I was done.

"How do you feel?" I said as I helped her up.

"Wow…" I guess she was speechless. "Colt was right. It's relaxing. And I can still feel it in my heart." She said, feeling her heart, finally being able to stand again.

"Check your status. What's it say?" I asked, better to know than not to. 

With the same surprised expression, she answered, "It says my elemental affinity is Wind. And my personal aspect is Shapeshifting. Also, my ichor max is 12." She said as she looked at the empty air.

Interesting. Based on what I've seen and what Stacy has told me, I've concluded that she's a conniving fox, who will use her looks and trickery to get what she wants. Because of this fact and her experience messing with the opposite gender, let's call it 'acting', I think this is a perfect personal aspect for her.

"Very good. Stacy." I called out, as I saw her fidgeting in the corner. "Come," I said, waving my hand toward me. 

"Hey hold it, I was supposed to be next." Argued Aaron. 

"I couldn't care less. You apparently don't mind too much as you 'willingly' let someone else go before you." I said, gesturing quotation marks at the word 'willingly', as I was inferring the obvious.

"Come," I said, one more time, with an emotionless voice. 

As she came and sat down, I began the process. Ten minutes later I helped her up the same way.

Again, she looked surprised, like the others. 

"What does it say?" I asked. 

"High affinity for the nature element, my personal aspect is the common exceptional cooking and my max Ichor is 24." She replied.

Amazing. I thought Colt would be the best with beginner Max Ichor. This paired with her high-affinity nature element, she could start fighting efficiently with her element right now.

"That's good, you'll be a big help," I said as I prepared for the next person. I would say that this was extremely taxing on my ichor, but I knew this was just the start. After all these people I'd be feeling it in the morning.

As she smiled at me she took her spot again.

"Alright, guys let's get this over with," I said with a sigh. This was taking too long. 

As they started to come one by one I started to make a list of the good personal aspects and whatnot. None of them had particularly bad elemental affinities. I just couldn't find any more high affinities. 

Lia got the common 'adaptability' and Solar element. She seemed to be a flame user. Which to be honest wasn't bad. Adaptability was quite self-explanatory. The user would be able to easily acclimate to new situations, challenges and even environments. They would always be quick to point out the weak points in someone's fighting style and they would never fall for the same trick twice. Pretty solid.

Ester had gotten the wind element and a rare psychic personal aspect. I couldn't figure out what that meant, as it could be a multitude of things. So I asked her to read the description. She called it the ability to use Telekinesis on small/medium objects from a limited range, to use Telepathy in a small range, only on one person at a time. If the willpower and the mentality of the person are strong, the user can only read surface thoughts. This paired with her bow will be a dangerous combination.

Johan was quite interesting. He again was given the wind element, but to my surprise, his personal aspect was something I've never heard be said in this world. The rare Rune Casting. 

He described it as the ability to create runes that have different effects. However, due to limited ichor, the person can only create a few sentences before running out of ichor. He must have already known what kinds of runes he could make since he was deep in thought. 

Due to this, I changed his weapon from a sword to a crossbow. The crossbow was a one-handed weapon, it would allow him to attack and create runes at the same time. 

Now it was Liam. He also got a nature affinity and a common personal aspect of intuition. Kind of like a 6th sense. Similar to a certain arachnid-based superhero. 

Now all that was left was Aaron, Luca, Alex, Noa and Eric.

Alex came up next. He was quite silent as always, he didn't speak much and always seemed like he was depressed. After ten minutes I asked him the same as everyone else. 

"I got a high elemental affinity for earth and the rare personal aspect of Energy Absorption. The description states that the ability to absorb and utilise elemental attacks and convert it into the user's physical abilities or self-healing. However, too much energy may be harmful to said user. My max Ichor is 20. Oh, I also have an extra stat. Energy points. It's at zero right now, but the max is 100."

This ability was exceptional. In most elemental attacks, he can use it to his advantage, and with his Heightened physical abilities, the opponent won't be a match for him in hand-to-hand fighting. Truly frightening personal aspect.

Next was Aaron, I purposefully made him wait as I couldn't stand him. He got nothing great, just an earth element affinity and a common enhanced Endurance. 

After I was done with him it was Eric's turn. He looked quite calm as he smiled at me and took his seat. 

After ten minutes he told me he had gotten the Solar element and was a light user. He also said his personal aspect was the uncommon Illusion Casting. The name was enough to tell what the power did. Paired with his katana, I was intrigued to see what kind of fighter he would become. So I nodded at him as he left.

Next up was Noa. As she made her way to me, she stared at me for a couple of seconds after taking her seat. When the ten minutes were done, I asked her what she had gotten.

"I don't trust you." She said, with a smug face.

"What?" I asked although I knew why.

"You said you shouldn't release this kind of information to people you don't trust, therefore I choose not to say." She explained.

"Noa, what are you doing?" Asked Aaron. "We all told him our status." He stated.

"And you were all wrong for that. We know nothing about this guy, we don't even know what he looked like." She said pointing at my mask. The others looked at her blankly, they didn't know what to say, they all knew the benefits of telling me this as I would be better able to train them.

"Whatever. Go back to your spot." In all honesty, one person's hidden status wasn't a big deal to me. And also, after knowing what kind of person this girl is, I could tell she got nothing good.

"Alright lastly, Luca," I said. I quickly finished his circulation. 

"Oh cool. I got two elemental affinities. Fire of the Solar Element and Lightning of the Sky Element. My aspect is the rare Weather Manipulation. My max Ichor is 20."

Oh, the only dual Elementalist. Two of the strongest Elements at that. Impressive. A non-high-ranked Elementalist with more than the average 12 points, similar to everyone else, was rare to see. But I guess it made sense since he had dual elements, he needed more ichor to be able to use them both.

We were all done as I was starting to feel fatigued.

"For the rest of the day, we'll be doing meditation, to better get in touch with the little ichor you have, so you may use it more efficiently." 

As we all sat down I closed my eyes and instructed them on the process. All they had to do was feel the ichor in them, which was easy enough since it was a new sensation in them. The hard part was trying to control the ichor through the blood vessels. 

This gave me an excuse to recover some of my lost ichor, we carried on for the rest of the day.