Traveling to The Tower
I stepped into the bus with my system still open to see if anyone else could see it and there was no reaction from anybody. I made my way to my seat ecstatic that no one could see it and with some testing I could purely use my mind to control it, so I didn't have to constantly talk to myself. Idling looking at my system and the scenery buzzing by I have an epiphany and check if I can see the description of the stats or to see how to increase them. After a bit of fiddling around and bite taking, I finally have a baseline on how to increase my basic stats. Strength and stamina are the simplest with them being increased through physical activity and working out. Intelligence is the next up with it being harder to increase but through studying and just being "smart". Wisdom is the most complicated for some people. Wisdom is increased by having common sense and understanding how things work intuitively. Well, I guess if I continue with school, I might be able to increase my int If I actually try and study.
After school
'Well as expected no increase in intelligence or any of my stats but it also seems like talking to some of my classmates and teachers only one of my classmates admitted to also awakened and surprisingly, I could see their systems. they were flaunting that they could now lift double what they could before, and I'll be straight it was quite impressive. That would be a good way to see if people are awakened though but by going around the school with my system open would draw unneeded attention from those that can see. well with nothing better to do better turn on the news and see what they have to say about the towers. 'This just in there seems to be massive amounts of destruction and death going on around the tower sites through unknown causes'. Woah it seems like there were explosions around each tower good thing I live in Kansas and not near any of those things.'
"Hey mom!" I yell as I pull up my system 'I want to see if she has any reaction because it would be great to talk to somebody, I trust about this'.
As she rounds the corner no change in her face as she says "what. Do you need anything".
"Nope just wanted to see if you know what we are having for dinner".
"Idk probably just hamburger helper or something and can you help sort the boxes downstairs later we need to get everything ready before we move".
"Ya ya I know I just think our plans might have changed after the towers and everything else going on".
"Nope it's actually a better time than ever because the prices in houses down there have actually dropped a little bit for some reason".
"Weird I definitely thought that they would have gone up in price well I'm going to go downstairs see you after dinner".
"Yep, see you then" she says as I'm heading down the stairs.
As I take the last step down the stairs, I get hit with a wave of what can only be described as wind but I'm inside. Weird then a second and third wave hit me until it feels like the very air is trying to push me into the ground and then as soon as it hit me it's gone, I stand up and open up my system for some answers as I sprint back up the stairs to see if everything is good upstairs. I quickly run to my parent's room, and I see my mom just doing her thing unaffected by what I just experienced.
I quickly turn back to not draw attention as I look back at my status and my magic which I couldn't find anything about went up by one and a description is finally available. It says that by drawing in magic to my core and purifying it and compressing it the color and stage will increase and provide me with more power and reserves. I sit down in my recliner as I think about what just happened. It must have been an explosion of mana from the towers that caused that damage and the pressure I felt earlier. That's why my stat must have gone up and the pressure went away because my body adapted and maybe made a core.
I start to relax and quickly while focusing on my body I notice it right on my heart o patch of black. So that's where my core is well better go outside and try to advance my core in whatever way I can. As I step outside the pressure comes back but not nearly as intense: this must be the mana and only awakened can feel. I sit down and feel my core and try to guide and force the mana in my core but no matter what I try nothing happens.
Ok well that's not working maybe I have to use magic then I can do something with that. But how do I do that there was no miracle book to tell me what to do just that vague description of what the stat is. Wait there's a notification on my quest tab but I thought it wasn't until another 3 months until the first one. But right as I click it behold there is a quest called mastering magic and the goal is to advance my core into a full-fledged black rank, by absorbing the magic after repeated use of spells. It says to project the mana form my core into my hands using extreme concentration. I sit back down and try not to guide mana into my core but from it into my hands. After 10 minutes of focusing on my core I get a whisp of energy to travel form my core into my arms and down into my hands. As it travels, I feel stronger than I've ever been, and it burns with power and as it leaves my hands, I expect some sort of fire or lightning but as I feel it leave the tiniest spark leaves my right hand. So tiny I almost think I imagined it. I keep trying for the next hour and right as I hear the door open, I'm able to finally able to get the energy or, mana, I should call it to stay in my hands for than just a half second and my hands start glowing with a faint black light.
I look over to see who opened the door and luckily it was just my brother staring at his tablet saying dinners ready as he turns around going back inside. I get up and follow him to see that I completed the quest and awarded with the spell empower hands. The description says that using mana one is able to increase the strength of the hands for a moment allowing for increased damage and dexterity. I head inside and grab some chicken and sit down at the table. And while everyone else is eating I look over my dad and he seems lost in thought and just as I'm about to write it off as him thinking about work or something I see him whisper something and a system appears and at that my moment I drop my fork and he looks over and realize that I must also see it. He then shakes his head and mouths later and goes back to eating and I do the same.
After dinner he takes me outside and he says, "can you also see this as he pulls up his system".
and then I say "yes" as I pull up my system as well.
Before anything else I turn my system around and say "can you see my stats and my level and all that jazz or is it blank"
I want to see if it blurs my stats and level for other people. But just like I thought he says, "yes but what is this magic stat".
I start with "what you don't have it as well as I try to look at his and he turns it towards me and his just shows the basic 5 but what surprises me the most is his strength and stamina which are 20 and 14 respectably which is a lot more than what I thought his would say.
I quickly ask him "do you feel stronger than usual".
He responds with "yes how did you know that".
"Well" I respond with "because you've got more than triple my strength and like double my stamina if you check which must be nearing Olympian level at this point".
"Really you think we'll that's cool" he says.
"Well I don't really want to say this but I think it's best if we keep this from everyone else for a bit until this surely becomes more mainstream".
He agrees and we head back inside and I go downstairs and go into my room to continue to practice empower hands and maybe increases my magic stat. After another two hours of practice and breaks, I finally am able to get my empower hands to stay active for one singular punch. which caused a small dent to form in my wall from two feet away just by the force of the wind. Also checking my stats my magic also went up to one and when checking my core it grew to just barely an inch. I turn on the news after my training to see if the mana explosions have changed at all and what I see is the opposite of what I would have imagined the government official is saying that anyone who can see the screen floating next to him is to call the number on the screen and will be rewarded with 10,000 dollars and be filled in on what to do next.
The message then repeats, and I head upstairs to see if my dad had seen this yet or not and right as I round the corner into my living room my dad is standing in front of the T.V. talking on the phone presumably with the government number. I wait for 10 minutes of him saying yes or no and eventually he hangs up and looks over at me and he says get ready grab some clothes and snacks then go get in the car. After I get ready and hop in the car we start driving in silence when I ask him where we are going and what is happening. He starts with saying we are headed to Los Angelo's and that you'll know when we get there. Before I get ready to settle in and play on my phone,
I ask "are we going to get 20k or just 10"
he then turns back to me with a big smile on his face and he says "50,000 dollars can you believe it and it's all because you have the magic stat which they only have seen 10 people with it so far".
I turn back pull out my phone and zone out for the next couple of hours and eventually passed out. When I wake up we are at a truck stop and dad is also out so I decide to go back into my meditative state and train empower hands until he wakes up. After a good while he shakes himself awake gets out goes and does his stuff I also get put to stretch then without a word we get back in the car and start driving again.
Suddenly remembering mom and my siblings I ask him "if mom and my siblings are also coming or if they are just staying and going through what we would have been doing if this he hadn't have happened".
He says "no they are not coming but after what they want us to do we can get an airplane New Mexico so we don't have to drive all the way back".
I turn back and decide well if I'm going to have to start using these powers I might as well train them to my maximum. I check my status really quick and my empower hands spell leveled up to level 2 and my magic reached 4 one up from yesterday. I flip over to my quest tab and there is another quest and just like before it's how to unlock a new spell. The description is like the empower hands but it's about concentrating mana in my calf's and the reward I see says the spell name is leap. I focus back on my core and try to guide the mana towards my legs and just like last time with my hands I struggle getting the mana to my calves like my body is rejecting it for some reason.
Eventually after an hour just like with my hands the power stays there for just a second and after continuous attempts it got easier and easier. I opened my status and clicked over to my quest tab, and it was complete, and I got the leap spell. Activating the spell i felt my legs feel stronger and then it fades away joust like with my hands, for now it will only last half a second. Going back to my training I decide that I will focus on empower hands until I feel satisfied.
Finally reaching New Mexico my dad tells me we are taking a pit stop so get ready to get up to stretch go to the bathroom and eat. Realizing how terrible i feel and just how ready I am for that break I sit up and when we get there, we stretch head into the gas station and go to the bathroom then head over to the McDonald's grab a bite then hop back in and start heading towards LA again. Once we get back in the car, I start practicing empower hands until I get it to level 4 finally after another 4 hours of constant practice I get to where it will stay active for 5 seconds so after that I decide to get Leap the highest I can before we get there after another hour I pass out from the exhaustion of the practice. when I woke back up again, we are at a truck stop and when I check the GPS we are in Arizona right before the border of California I check a travel time and we are roughly 4 and half hours away.
With that in mind I get back to training leap hopefully getting it up to level 2 after roughly 45 minutes of guiding the mana to my legs and waiting for it to fill back up I finally get it to level 2 and when that happens, I look back at my core and see it slightly changed color to a slightly reddish hue. Weird I didn't think it would change at all this early on I must be just that good. While I was training, dad went and did his ritual and got back to driving and I switched to training empower hands and finally after 3 hours of training I get it to level 5 but I can feel that I'm super close to level 6. from that training though I almost pass out, so I decide to take a break until we get to Los Angelo's.
Looking out the window I realized we have never run into traffic and looking over to the other side of the highway I see why the highway is clogged up for as far as the eye can see if people leaving LA. Deciding to just maybe take a nap, I lay my head down and before I know it my dad is waking me up saying we are here. I groggily open up my eyes look around and I get up after changing my clothes and follow dad into a big high rise building with guards in military get up. When we enter, we are welcomed by a person I can only assume is a general or commander and he leads to a briefing room.