Awakening (part 2)

"Arthur!" I heard someone whisper my name. It was a strange voice, distant, yet at the same time, extremely intimate.

"Arthur..." The voice continued to call me, reach out to me, coax me.

"Arthur!" A sudden shout broke into my ears, forcing this strange voice away. "Are you okay?!" I could recognize the owner of this voice. It was soft yet worried. Pleasant yet distressing. "What did you do to him?!" Mia shouted, directing her words at someone else.

The light that covered my vision slowly started to fade away. The milky-white aura that surrounded me from all sides and in all dimensions bleached out, slowly revealing the reality underneath it.

I was still in the same garden where I met with the elder for the first time. I could see the training pillar in the corner of my eyes and the entrance to the alcove behind a shape that was likely the elder himself.

"Just let him come back to his senses," the elder said... Or rather, the voice reached my ears while the shape directly in front of me comically moved the cloud at the height of where the elder's head should be.

Even though the light was fading away, it still blocked the majority of my vision. For now, I could only see the general shapes rather than the details of the world around me.

"Arthur!" Mia wailed. From how close her voice came from, I could tell that she was on her knees right beside me.

"What happened?" I managed to utter those words in a weak whisper. Bit by bit, my consciousness continued to return to its usual state.

It was as if this strange light was the inhibiting factor behind my sudden weak will.

"Are you okay?" the elder asked, his shape twisting in a weird way. If I could risk a guess, he likely kneeled on one knee before me.

"More or less..." I attempted to calm the situation down.

I was quite happy with how Mia lashed out at the elder when she realized that something was wrong with me... But I couldn't allow this situation to continue.

The elder appeared to be a person who could forgive such transgression once, but if Mia were to continue to act aggressively, I would be in no way capable of saving her from the elder's wrath.

After a few more moments, the light finally receded, allowing me to take stock of the situation properly.

Yet, just as I raised my eyes to look around and calm myself down, my vision once again went crazy.

"Arthur?" Both Mia and the elder spoke up at the same time.

'I guess it showed up on my face,' I thought, overwhelmed by how insanely much my system expanded.

This was the reason behind the second wave of my shock.

The initial three windows of my system suddenly multiplied in a poly-amorous relationship, giving birth to two more windows! Yet, as if that wasn't enough, each of the windows substantially expanded!

All this new information, all this new stuff... It made the reality around me pretty confusing!

"I'm okay!" I shouted, raising my hands in the air. It wasn't a well thought-off gesture, but rather something that I did on the spot. Maybe an attempt to prove that I could control my body? "Still... what was that?" I asked, hoping to get some desperately needed answers.

'Did I unlock the full potential of my system or something?' I thought, trying to make sense of what was going on even before the elder could reply.

"You just entered the Qi Condensation stage!" the elder announced with a cheerful voice. A smile appeared on his face as he reached out and patted his hand on my shoulder.

'That's weird,' I thought, taking a quick look at the leftmost panel of my screen. On it, with bolded letters, it stated Mana Condensation instead!

"What does it mean?" I asked, unsatisfied with just the name. While I could draw some assumptions from it, I was likely to only get confused later if I were to guess its meaning wrong!

"When you first joined the sect, you were nothing more but a mere mortal," the elder replied, surprisingly happy to give me some answers. "By hitting that stone over and over again, you managed to purify that mortal body of yours. By feeding the energy of your attacks into it, the pillar stirred your body in return, forcing it to rid itself out of all the filth," he added before locking his hands behind his back.

'That's generally what I expected,' I thought. In the end, what else could 'purification' mean?

"Elder, this disciple will be forever grateful for the elder's help!" I pushed all the system windows aside and stood up, only to kneel right back down and cup my hands above my head.

"Don't sweat it," the man replied with a small chuckle. "Once the semester ends, you would be tested for your potential anyway. What I did, was only speeding the process up!" he said, patting my shoulder once again before finally retracting his hand.

"Elder, if I may ask..." I started only to cut my sentence short. After the man helped me already, was I even in a position to ask for some more pointers from him?"

"Seriously, if you have some questions, just ask!" the man replied, rolling his eyes.

"How am I supposed to train, now?" I asked.

In the end, this was the most important aspect of my new situation. Striking the pillar surely did its job... but what was I supposed to do next?

"I'm quite sure you can't afford spirit stones, not to speak about the pills that could enhance your growth..." the elder muttered, raising his hand and rubbing it against his beard. "For now, just continue training as you were for the last two weeks," he finally said, revealing that my adventure with the pillar wasn't over yet.

"I still have some matters to attend to, but I will come back to visit in two days. If your growth will satisfy me," the elder said as his smile expanded all over his face, "I might even consider accepting you as my direct disciple!" he announced.

For a moment, I had no idea what I should say. All my words ended up stuck in my throat as I was trying to find out the proper way to reply.

"This disciple will not disappoint the elder!" I fell back to my knees, lowering my head and cupping my hands.

"Good. Now stop with those useless formalities and get back to training!" he urged me and turned around, clearly attempting to leave the place.

But there was still one thing that I had to ask him about.

"Elder..." I muttered, not even sure if I should do it.

"What is it?" the man asked, turning his head around. In his eyes, curiosity burned, proving just how peculiar my situation was to him.

"If I may beg for a favor... Could you please consider helping Mia to enter the Qi Condensation stage as well?"

**********************

BODY STATUS WINDOW

***

- Name: Arthur (Fian) Pendragon

- Age: 17

- Status: Healthy

- Hidden Status: Shocked

- Body Status: Paramortal

- Hidden Body Status: Apostle

***

PROGRESS STATUS WINDOW

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- Body status: Mortal

- Growth status: Mana Condensation

- Body status modifier:

- Endurance:5/200

- Willpower: 5/200

***

Mana Condensation 75/500

{

Mana Pool 0/300

Mana Flow 0/300

Mana Density 0/300(+75)

}

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Objective status window:

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Completed: [Hidden Mission] Advance to the next stage!

{By reaching the required threshold of body purification, the host can enter the second stage of human existence, one where mana finally becomes his integral part rather than an outside source of energy}

X: Rewards: 50 points into mana density. :X

X: Bonus Rewards: 25 points into mana density. :X

Active: Fill the gauge of your status!

{After reaching the mana condensation stage, the host can finally venture on the journey of becoming a proper mage. But in order to properly wield magic, one needs to get his body accustomed to doing so first!}

***

Battle Techniques and Spells

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Basic combination: By extensively training his body, the host learned how to combine his attacks into a continuous, fluid motion, allowing him to increase the strength of each following attack. [+25% damage for each consecutive attack/+25% effort threshold for each consecutive attack]

***

Bonus Window

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Pristine Body: By purifying his body beyond the standard and almost to the possible pinnacle, the host ensured a smoother path for him to grow! [+0.49 modifier to growth]

***