Chapter 003 | Awakening (1)

Edited 11/04/23

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With his hands on the awakening potion, Alister quickly arrived at his shop and locked the door.

He made his way to the basement, taking off his cloak and hanging it behind the door.

He lit an oil lamp that illuminated the room and started taking off all of his clothes.

Awakening of magic using a potion was a cumbersome process that required one to focus and actively guide the energies within their body.

Depending on the element that was awakened, the awakening could be a spontaneous process or a lackluster one.

For example, if one were to awaken the element of Fire, it is very much possible that they would end up burning everything around them in the process before being able to control their magic. Whereas if one were to awaken the element of Water, the room temperature would drop down to frigid temperatures but it wouldn't be nearly as destructive.

There were a total of 8 elements, Space, Time, Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth.

Most people had no affinity at all, while from those who did, the majority would awaken only one element, with only a handful awakening two, but that was the limit. However, it didn't mean that they couldn't use elemental magic; affinity towards a certain element only defined how well-attuned a person would be to the said element.

Some of these elements were commonly seen while a few of them were rarely seen, if ever at all; but the upper limit for utilizing the said elements were the same. At an extremely high level of magic, elemental magic would transform into the manifestation of concepts, and all elemental concepts were equivalent to each other.

Having a strong affinity only meant that the person would have a much easier time interacting with the said element, they could still very well use other elements however they would have a much harder time interacting with other elements that they had no affinity for.

"I wonder what element would I awaken…"

Alister wondered to himself as he sat down on the ground, butt naked.

He held a green vial in his hand.

Slowly, he unscrewed the cork and glanced at the content of the vial.

The swirling liquid inside sent his mind into a whirlpool of thoughts as he thought about his life in this unfamiliar world.

It had been 2-years since he woke up here, and ever since he learned about the miracles this world had to offer, he had decided to uncover all the mysteries himself.

He wanted to travel this world and see what it had to offer him.

He had spent so much time and resources gathering knowledge.

Knowledge about the academy, about magic, and about nobility.

The years hadn't been kind to him and he had given too much to his ambitions.

"It's now or never!"

With a determined heart, he clenched the vial before gulping down the entire content of the vial.

"Arghh…"

He growled at the unpleasant taste as his head started to spin.

A cool sensation washed over him.

His senses buzzed as heavy nausea came over him.

It felt like his inwards were being smashed together like someone had lit his body on fire while repeatedly dumping cold water onto his body.

"Fuck!"

He couldn't help but curse as he grits his teeth, enduring the pain, fighting tooth and nail to remain conscious.

His vision suddenly twisted as the world around him started to melt, like wax.

"Thee shard isss…."

"yyours destinyyy…"

"ffollow ttthe paaathhh…."

Strange whispers resounded all around him, it felt like people of different ages were muttering incoherent words to him.

He felt his palms sinkings into the floor as his eyes rolled back into his head.

Alister was hallucinating.

And if he wasn't so preoccupied, he would have noticed the pendant given by his parents seemed to be glowing in a dazzling white light, similar to the glow he had observed on the statue of Lord Of A Thousand Suns.

Suddenly, the air around him seemed to rise up and down in a strange, oscillatory motion, before it abruptly froze and solidified into invisible arcs of wind, of varying size.

Screeech!

Loud screeching noises filled the basement as its walls bled under the arcs of wind that dug deeper and deeper.

Multiple arcs of wind bombarded the room; leaving half a hand-deep lacerations on the walls.

In front of these arcs, it was as if the walls were made of paper.

This continued for about another minute before Alister finally lost consciousness and collapsed onto the cold floor.

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"You sure this is a good idea boss? That noble seemed to fancy this guy…"

"I know John, but she must have paid him a lot of gold, 50-60 coins at the very least, given how frequently she visits his shop."

"Once we get our hands on the money, we can immediately flee the city through the sewers and never worry about being caught."

"With that kind of money we wouldn't even need to steal anymore, we can live like kings for the rest of our lives!"

"You are right boss!"

John bellowed as his eyes turned red at the mere mention of the gold coins.

It had been 3-weeks since he and his boss started lurking around the clothing shop, to them the shop owner was a high-profile target who had grown into quite an authority, in the hand-made clothing market.

They were sure that their target had stashed quite a lot of gold coins on his person rather than depositing them in the bank.

It seemed like he was preparing for something but they had no idea what it could be nor did they want to find out.

John and his boss were both petty thieves that had been plaguing the capital for quite some time now.

They usually operated around the slums and stayed far away from the business district, but now it seemed that the lack of resources had forced them to gamble their lives here.

If they succeeded, they would have enough money to live the rest of their lives without having to steal, ever again. Of course, that was under the premise that they are able to leave the city without getting caught. Otherwise, if they failed, the local enforcers would find them and butcher them like some animal.

Either way, it was either do or die for them.

Having stalked their target for so long, they were quite confident in stealing the gold from his shop under the cover of the dark and cold night.

"The owner is cautious but inexperienced nevertheless, living in the business district has caused him to become lax…"

"Yes, boss! They would never expect us to hit the business district."

"All that money will be ours, boss!"

John said with a strange glint in his eyes.

Tonight, they would make their move.

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"Urghhh…"

Alister grumbled sorely as he felt a splitting headache assaulting his brain.

Clutching his head with his palm he slowly pushed himself off the ground.

Feeling a bit weak and wobbly, as if he had just run some 30-km marathon, he slowly walked towards the stairs and sat down.

The lamp placed within the room had been shredded into bits and pieces upon his awakening plunging the basement into pitch-black darkness.

"This is without a doubt the worst headache I have felt in both of my lives."

He spoke with great difficulty.

His heart was beating wildly as he tried to access the situation.

He took deep breaths to calm down and released the tightness he felt within his chest.

Using his palm he slowly felt the stairs before moving his hands towards the wall, so that he could support himself up.

"What is this!?"

He exclaimed in surprise as he traced his finger around the deep gnash within the wall.

"I did this?"

He frowned before he remembered that awakening was a spontaneous process, depending on the element that one would awaken should they expect such corresponding occurrences.

Excited at the prospect of finally wielding magic, Alister quickly remembered what he had learned after months of gathering information.

"I need to concentrate…"

His headache had already subdued and he was also feeling a lot better now that he had calmed down.

Closing his eyes, he slowed down his breathing and focused on imagining a human heart…his heart.

Among the many books he had gathered through the black market, there was one that explained in great detail how one would awaken their magic and how to interact with the said magic.

The book described the awakening as rebirth.

'Birth' was associated with a new life, and a 'heartbeat' represented life.

Therefore, he imagined the human heart, then artilleries, and then vessels coiling against it as the flesh wriggled to life.

Ba-Dump!

A heartbeat resounded within his mind as a bright greenish-sphere crystal appeared in front of his eyes.

New information flowed into his mind, it took him a minute to understand his situation.

"An [Earth grade] wind affinity?"

He whispered, his tone carrying conflicting emotions.

With the blessing of the bright greenish-sphere crystal, Alister understood that he was attuned to wind, a rather rare affinity.

However, the fact that his affinity was only that of a [Earth-grade] left him disappointed.

There were five grades when it came to measuring the quality of one's affinity with an element.

[Beginner-grade], [Earth-grade], [Sky-grade], [Heaven-grade], and [Supreme-grade]; most of the time, commoners had no affinity to any elements, in some rare cases a commoner might possess a [Water-grade] affinity.

Nobles all had an affinity to at least one element no matter their political standing.

Each and every noble, without a doubt, had an affinity.

Their affinity grade usually ranged from [Earth-grade] to [Heaven-grade], most of them had the former while only those from the family of a duke had [Heaven-grade] affinity.

Whereas [Supreme-grade] affinity was only observed in the Royal Lineage.

Alister had prepared himself for the worst outcome, while he wasn't exactly a normal commoner, he was a commoner nevertheless.

Unexpectedly he was able to awaken an affinity, however, he couldn't help but wish for it to be of an even higher grade.

"Alas, I didn't awaken any innate ability, after all."

Adding on to his disappointment, he also didn't manage to awaken any innate ability.

Innate abilities were exceedingly rare and impossible to categorize.

Each innate ability had special properties which made their users extremely formidable. The current head of the Royal Lineage, King Of The Astral Kingdom, was a mage with the innate ability [Child Of Fire] which made him immune to any and all kinds of fire and allowed him to manipulate any fire without needing to use any magic.

Those with innate abilities were too hard to kill conventionally and commanded great respect among their fellow peers but that wasn't the end of it.

Innate abilities could grow, they could evolve into something even greater and this possibility struck terror in the hearts of the living, those with these abilities were very sought after and had a target painted on their back 24/7.

Alister wished that he would be able to awaken some kind of innate ability so but alas, it seemed like destiny had other plans for him.

"It is what it is…at least I can use magic now."

Alister smiled wryly as he made his way out of the basement and headed toward his room.

He could feel that his newly discovered magic reserves had been emptied after he had lost control over his magic.

"I guess I should sleep…"

He mumbled before crashing onto his bed, exhausted.