Chapter 3

"Haaa~"

Eyes closed, Haru deeply exhaled as he raised his hands. In front of his feet, there were some metal coins.

For five days, he had been trying to bend the metal and feel the impure earth substance within it.

But he couldn't, so he had to sit down and figure out the trick.

He had metal coins next to him, and he had been trying to feel them.

But then, it had hit him. The one who had invented Metalbending wasn't using her eyes in the first place.

She could feel her surroundings with her earthbending power. Toph had surely been a genius to use it to see, and he had to admit, it was quite powerful.

It meant that he has to work on his passive ability, Earthbending. Haru, ever since then, decided to train on that, besides his other basic skills. At first, it was hard trying to walk around with his eyes closed and bare feet. Very soon, his brain was adapting, and his senses of the earth substance around him had started helping him.

The image was dark at first, but then, he could feel the rocks in a range around him without the need to see them. The more he trained this way, the more his Earthbending was gaining experience.

When it levelled up, his sensing range increased and got stronger.

In the previous few days, he had been practising this way. For a certain time, he would close his eyes and try to sense things with his feet. It helped him. Using his Earthbending to develop an observation sense was very useful. He now can see what's behind him. And since it's not an active skill, he could use it the whole time. But he didn't believe that he was at Toph's level, but he will.

[Earthbending level 6]

It reached that level.

Haru lifted his hands, he could feel the vibes of the earth within the metal, and the metal floated a bit.

[Ding + Associated skill discovered]

[Metal Bending (0/100]

He opened the screen of the system, and a set of skills appeared in front of him. Above Earthbending, lines spread like branches, and on one of them, there was a circle with the pattern of the metal. That was metal bending.

He smiled. "At last." He decided to check his status to see how far he had developed as he opened his eyes.

[Stats.

Level: 1 (0/100 exp)

Health: 100/100

Chi: 200/1500

Affinities

-Wisdom: 6

-Physique: 2

-Agility:3

Affinity points: (0)

Skill points: 0]

As it seems, his Earth bending levelling up increased his Chi up to 1000. But the point gained in the Wisdom increased his Chi by another 500.

Did he also mention that while practising last days, he developed a skill of his own? A powerful one that surely consumes Chi much.

[Skills:

Passive Skills:

-Earthbending Level 6. (100/3000)

-Metalbending level 1 (3/100)

Active Skills:

-Compressing level 7 (2000/6000).

- Bending with Hands level 7 (300/6000)

-Swords Spiral Ring Level 2 (100/200)

-Spears Rush level 1 (0/100)]

Both of the new skills were associated with skills in Compressing and Bending with Hands. They also were his creation. Last day, he used his Compression after it reached a level to compress the earth to form a solid sword.

He then made it spin around him, thinking it would be a good move to use for defence.

After he had repeated it many times in order to get used to it, a notification had appeared.

[Associated skill had been discovered, (Swords Spiral Ring)]

And since then, he had decided to train it.

The only thing that had been in his way to mastering it fast was the fact it was consuming. It consumes 200 Chi Points per use a minute. Luckily for him, it increased and the consumption rate got less.

Haru took a deep breath and decided to level up for now before focusing on his metal bending.

He lifted his hand, and from the earth, dust floated and compressed, forming a one-meter-long sword that started spinning around him. He walked, and without even the need to think, the sword followed him.

It was worth mentioning the difference between the first level and the second.

It was how fast the sword was spinning around him. He quickly deactivated the skill in the first minute before deciding to use it again.

He knew that he won't gain more experience if he kept using it until the end of one use.

But he will gain more if he used it many times and against something. Walking to a near tree, he summoned a sword from the earth, made it spin, and made a shallow cut on it.

After about one hour, of resting and training, he levelled up the skill.

[Swords Spiral Ring level 3 (2/400)]

The sword got sharper, heavier, and a little bit faster.

But the best thing was, he could summon two swords now. Still, having two will swords would consume 300 Chi points in this level. But using one sword only consumes 150 Chi per minute. This made him know that at high levels, he wouldn't even need to consume much Chi.

Since he was training, he didn't decide to preserve his energy. Summoning two swords and making them spin around him, the tree had a deep cut this time. If this skill was used on humans around him, he was sure that they will lose their heads.

Haru suddenly collapsed to the ground and lay down, staring up at the sky.

Opening his hand, he decided to use one of the best features of the system.

Storage. It had around 64 slots, and that was only because he was in the first level. Also, the items that are stored can be stacked. Each slot can hold an object within a one cubic meter range.

In his hand, a bottle of water appeared, and he started drinking. After finishing, he stored the bottle. He rested while leaving his Chi to increase, and he started seeing his surroundings with his earthbending.

The vision was clear, everything was taking a pattern as if he was working on some 3D model.

If a person was in front of him, he would be able to see him whole, from the front and behind.

At some level, he may be able to sense their internal organs.

He was sure that in the future, he would see things in farther range and nothing will catch him off guard as long as his skin is connected to the ground.

All he needed now was to grind. And then, achieving his mission to free his dad would be easy. Hell, with metalbending, that prison is to his advantage.

Haru suddenly felt some coldness coming from his stomach when he finally paid attention to a figure that appeared within his reach.

And he was so familiar with the feminine old shape. He sat up, turned his head, and there was his mom, standing behind a tree, biting on her nails while staring at him with a quite angry expression.

Haru grew up old past to be affected by that expression.

"How long have you been there?" He asked her.

"Long enough to know what you were doing." She replied as she came out and walked toward him.

He just smiled and lifted his hand. "Sorry for that. Didn't intend to hide it from you."

She bitted on her bottom lip, formed a fist, and gave him a small punch on his head.

"What in the hell did I tell you about bending!" she screamed.

"Stop screaming. You are going to expose me before I would have a chance to do it myself." He reminded her.

"And why did you lie to me? crafting things to help us." She said. "You grew up old enough to lie straight to my face. Are you really my son."

"I didn't lie," Haru said.

"You are doing it now."

"No, seriously, I was really making chess pieces, look." He held a rock next to him, closed his fist on it, and used Compress. For the last few days, because his mastery increased over that skill, he could control the shape, almost perfectly, almost.

As he opened his hand, a small horse piece appeared, and it was almost perfect.

"Darn brat. Just hiding the truth doesn't mean you weren't lying." Some tears appeared on the face of the old woman. She swept them. "You are just as talented as your father." She said. She "No… More talented. If he was with us, he would have been proud of you."

"Hush… don't cry." Haru found himself standing up and giving her a shoulder to cry on.

She took a deep breath, looked into his eyes, and said with a shaky voice.

"You must never show this to anyone…"

"Sure, sure." Haru smiled.

She took her head back and narrowed her eyebrows, staring at his eyes.

"Why Do I feel that I can't trust your words?"

"Hahaha…" he just laughed. It was his way to dodge, and it seemed to annoy the old mom. She sighed, turned, and said. "Listen, I'm going to take a break. You take care of the store and try to make some sales."

-x-X-x-

Haru let a long yawn as he sat on the counter, legs on the office.

Although he hated this place, hated that he is living under the forces of the Fire Nation, he knew it was only temporarily. The increase in his stats made his mood better.

Thinking about his stats, he couldn't help but notice that his wisdom had increased, even without him having affinity points. It happened because of his bending training, and thus, his Chi increased.

As it seems, he can increase those points without the need for experience.

All he has to do is to find a way to practise them.

'I won't be bothered with that for now. What matters to me is mastering my offence skills, and most importantly, metalbending. I'm still a newbie when it comes to that."

He picked up a few coins from the counter, and while focusing, they jumped in the air without him throwing them.

As the coins fell, he caught them and looked at his stats. It seems that his passive skill, Metalbending, gained some experience.

He realised that playing with coins looked like a good way to pass the first level, maybe the second. But he knew that he would barely pass a higher level with the same training method.

But, he can always be creative when it's needed.

He was playing with the coins, making them jump and gaining experience.

After a half-hour passed, a bald man, wearing official clothes came and entered the store.

At first, Haru was quite delighted, thinking that some client had finally come to buy something.

Their store was selling some handmade clothes, made by the old lady, and having a client was a rare occasion. Other people are always concerned about how they will pay their taxes, and so, they save their money, barely spending it on buying anything.

Haru then frowned when he saw the clothes.

Some official that collects taxes. He stared at his yellow eyes, a trait that Fire Nation people have the most, and said.

"How can I help you?"

"What's with that attitude of yours, brat." The official said with some annoyance.

Some people, when given power, would turn into tyrants. It reminded Haru of an article in his memories. They said that once, there was an experience held on high school students. They were divided into prisoners and jailers and were supposed to live a month like that. But the jailers suddenly turned into tyrants that loves to torture, and the experience was held.

This guy is no different. Give someone power, and they will show you their true nature.

"Pardon me," Haru said with a robotic voice.

Annoyed, he walked to the counter and placed his foot there. "Where is your mother?"

"She is tired and sleeping. Do I need to wake her up?" Haru said, his eyes were bland, and his face was expressionless.

The baldy put his hand under his chin and rubbed a bit.

His body language gave that he was thinking about something.

When a smirk was drawn on his face, he stared at Haru.

Haru felt worried suddenly from that gaze.

"Not really." He said. "You can pay the taxes on the store owner's behalf."

"The usual," Haru replied as he took a small pouch that his mother had been placing on the corner, to the taxes.

"Not so fast, kid."

"What?"

"The tax had increased." The baldy said.

Haru flinched. Everything came into a piece in his mind.

Obviously, the old man was thinking of bullying him and snatching up more money.

Haru narrowed his eyebrows. "But I'm pretty sure that no one from the other stores claimed so. If it increased, I would have known."

"I decided to increase it from you." He said. "I'll collect the rest from the others later."

"Well, how about I call the owner first, and then she will discuss that with you." Haru scoffed.

The baldy narrowed his eyebrows and stared deeply into Haru's green eyes, and he said. "You dare to speak back to me. You fucker, I'll take it myself, and you can fuck yourself and your mom."

He then put his hand in, taking the pouch and trying to snatch the little money is there.

Haru's eyes were opened widely. His heart started beating like a drum. His breathing became heavy, hard.

Haru held the hand of the guy, stopping him.

The baldy lifted his head. "Don't you even dare-"

Before he could complete his words, Haru kicked on the ground, gaining momentum from his feet with his bending, and he punched. The bald man flew across the door and fell out of the store.

He was taken by emotions for one second, and he didn't know what he was doing.

But he knew one thing, punching that asshole felt so good.