Rank 1

The following day, David packed up all his belongings and moved to his safehouse on Staten Island. His apartment in Brooklyn was already in a mess. After all, he had broken everything in it during his fit of rage after being reborn.

Another reason he moved was so the Rosettis wouldn't find him living there anymore. After all, to the world, David Watson was already dead. Thus, he moved to a safehouse which he had rented in case of emergencies.

Currently, he was sitting on the floor inside a one-bedroom apartment in Staten Island. In front of him, Natasha was solemnly introducing him to something that he would have never thought to be possible, something that he had only read in novels: magic!

"Aether is an essential element of the universe. It's forever unseen but omnipresent. It makes magic possible. Wizards harness the aether in their surroundings and convert it into spiritual force," Natasha explained.

"How do wizards tap into this… aether?" David expressionlessly asked, but the excitement in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

Natasha, noticing the teenager's expression, couldn't help but faintly smile. She proceeded to explain, "Over many years of trial and error, ancient sages of the past created meditation techniques. It's through those that we gather spiritual force inside our bodies."

"I see," David nodded in understanding.

"With the help of spiritual force, wizards carve spell models in their minds and cast spells," Natasha continued. "That's why I was so shocked when you were able to do what you did last night on the bridge."

David simply shrugged, then asked, "And where exactly do we gather spiritual force? Is it throughout our body, the heart, or maybe the mind?"

Natasha shook her head. "Spiritual force needs a container to store it. We call that container the energy core."

"Energy core?" David asked in surprise. He found it very similar to the novels that he had read.

"Yes," Natasha nodded. "The energy core is ethereal, it doesn't occupy any physical space inside the body. The size of the core is small, but the area inside of it is massive."

"Where is this energy core? How can I access it?" David eagerly asked.

"You don't have one yet," Natasha replied. "You must create one." She took out a black book from the duffel bag she was carrying and handed it to David.

The youth took the book and read aloud the title printed on the cover. "Tome of Nightshade…."

"Read through the instructions on how to create the energy core, then I'll guide you," Natasha said, then proceeded to wait for David to finish reading.

About half an hour later, David closed the book and kept it aside. He looked at Natasha and nodded. "I'm ready." With that, he closed his eyes and calmed himself as he began breathing in a mysterious pattern.

Seeing that David was breathing in the right sequence, Natasha began guiding him. "Imagine the aether in the surroundings as small motes of light or fireflies. Imagine them hovering around you…."

Her voice trailed off as David entered a trance-like state. He had never felt this peaceful before. Then he heard Natasha's calm voice drift into his ears, "Now imagine the fireflies entering your body and gathering in your solar plexus."

David followed her instructions and imagined the aether gathering at the spot right below his sternum. Slowly but surely, the aether around him began gathering and congregating at that spot. It took him about an hour until he instinctively felt that no more aether could be gathered.

He had finally formed his energy core! However, it wasn't over yet. He followed the instructions in the Tome of Nightshade and proceeded to convert the aether in the air into spiritual force and store it inside his newly-formed energy core.

About four hours later, he opened his eyes and exhaled a deep breath.

"Congratulations, Mr. Watson. You're officially a Rank 1 Bloodline Wizard," Natasha said with a faint smile.

David then heard the familiar notification of the system.

DING!

[Name: David Watson]

[Level: Rank 1 Bloodline Wizard]

[Bloodline: Nightshade Wyvern]

[Affinity: Dream, Darkness, Shadow]

[Strength: 3.1]

[Agility: 4.6]

[Vitality: 5.5]

[Status: Healthy]

His attention was drawn by Natasha. "You should've unlocked a bloodline ability, yes?"

During his advancement, David had indeed magically received knowledge about an innate ability from his bloodline, which greatly surprised him. After all, his bloodline ability could be used as a trump card in desperate situations.

He looked at Natasha and nodded. Before she could ask anything else, he said, "I'd like to spend some time alone. I hope you won't invade my privacy."

Natasha looked at him deeply. In the end, she nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she disappeared from the room.

David remained seated on the floor in a somber mood. Although he had advanced to Rank 1 and even attained an astonishing bloodline ability, he was actually quite gloomy. Just now, when he was drawing spiritual force into his energy core, he realized that it could only contain 60% of its full capacity.

And therein lay the problem.

In the supernatural world, there was something called spiritual force compatibility. In other words, talent. It was divided into four grades: low, medium, high, and supreme.

People with low-grade talent could fill their energy cores up to 40%, medium-grade talent could fill it up to 60%, high-grade talent was up to 80%, and finally, supreme-grade talents could fill their energy cores to the brim.

David only had a medium-grade talent, which is why he was so downcast at the moment; after all, a person's talent is what determined the rank they can eventually reach. In order to advance through the ranks, all a wizard needs is time and patience.

The higher their talent, the quicker they advance. If their talent was low, old age would catch up to them and they'd die before they even had the opportunity to advance to the next rank.

David already had so much going on in his life, and after realizing that he had mediocre talent, he couldn't help but curse, "FUCK!"

He buried his face in his palms, feeling lost about what to do. It felt like everything around him was crashing down on him. After having already died once, he was now extremely terrified of death. If he could, he never wanted to experience that ever again.

In the Tome of Nightshade, he learned that wizards could extend their lifespan by advancing in rank. But now, after learning that his talent was only medium grade, that hope of extending his lifespan had been quashed.

Going through a vicious rollercoaster of emotions all over the span of a few short days had caused him to be at his wit's end. Just when he was feeling helpless, his eyes suddenly lit up as he recalled something.

He asked in his mind, 'System, is Natasha around me? Please, please, please just answer me!'

[She isn't]

David heaved a sigh of relief. Over the past few days, he had been scared to check out all the functions of the system because he didn't know if Natasha was still in his shadow. But now that he had confirmed her absence, he could finally explore the system.

If there was one thing in the world that could possibly help him with his talent problem, it was definitely the system. Thus, he took a deep breath and solemnly said, "System, open shop!"