C6: Inner Energy Ord

After classes, I went back to my dorm room and my heart was still beating as if I had run a marathon. Despite no longer being tired.

Sitting on the cold stone floor, I tried to sense my internal energy.

Ord, that was the inner energy of exorcists. Something everyone had, but most couldn't use. If I was to rate my talent, it would be around C+ at best. But that didn't matter too much. At least it wasn't as bad as some had it. Also, there wasn't anything I could do about it, so there was that too.

Okay, okay, I gotta clear my mind now. It will take some time, but I have to try and sense my energy. Doing it in a couple of days would be amazing! Otherwise, if I don't try hard enough and my inner energy isn't unlocked by the time the demon attack happens where most of my classmates will die. Then I would be a dead man.

It was strange. It felt like the reaper's scythe was around my neck. But I was more excited than ever in my life. Had I possessed the body of some adrenaline junky?

Despite the danger, I couldn't wait to see all the fantastical special abilities. The closest thing I could compare such a feeling to was being surrounded by ten beautiful naked women who all wanted me. But at the same time, one of them was there to kill me.

Okay… that was a bad analogy. But feelings like these were hard to put into words.

The mosquito bite wasn't only drinking blood but also a little of their victim's Ord energy. That also helped someone sense their Ord. On average it took months to sense inner energy, even if they knew it existed.

But as soon as I concentrated, I sensed something bubbling and churning in my stomach. Did I eat something bad?

No, this wasn't a stomach ache. It was something I had never sensed in my previous world. Something unfamiliar, like having a sixth finger.

Then a sensation hit me and the world breathed in me. It was like every pore in my body was opened and they were breathing.

Cold! Was the first thought that went through my mind. I could feel everything, and by the time I noticed what had happened I had to try my best and close the 'pores' in my body.

"Ord aura? That was a bit too fast!" I muttered under my breath, as my mind swirled and it felt like two mountains were dragging my eyelids down. "Damn! My vital energy is leaking out! Close! Close! Close!"

My words were almost like a hypnotic saying and my Ord energy settled down and now I could sense the strange but familiar energy inside my body.

Strangely, this should have taken me at least a couple of days to sense. Even if I spent hours trying to do so. But I had done it in minutes.

That was when it dawned on me: I was already used to a normal body. I lived a whole previous life with a normal body for decades, that didn't have sensations of any internal energy. Yet now, it was like having a tail and not sensing it. It would be strange if I couldn't sense the inner energy faster than others here.

An unforeseen advantage. At least that was the only thing that made sense.

For a split second, thoughts invaded my mind that maybe I could try and develop an Exorcist Special Ability before the time of the demon's attack and train with it. Having a good Special Ability could save my life.

Such contemplations didn't last long, as I barely had the energy to get into bed. While I had stopped the leak of internal energy, a lot had spilled away. So I was tired and had to rest to get that energy back.

My eyes closed easily as sleep took me to dreamland. This was another advantage. From now on I won't have a problem falling asleep. I just needed to drain my tank of energy and sleep would come soon.

…

The next day I opened my eyes. It felt like I had slept for a year. The best sleep of my life!

All the soreness in my body was gone, and energy was bubbling inside of me. It felt like I could run a marathon!

Once again, I was reminded that I had access to supernatural energy. From now on, fatigue and other normal conditions after exerting your body were things of the past.

Since I could stop my vital energy from leaking out, there won't be any more normal illnesses or tiredness either. "This is amazing!"

I got up and started doing push-ups. At the thirty pushups mark, I started feeling the pain. But I continued doing over double that without any real tiredness.

It was as if I had limitless stamina!

In the Manga, awakening your Ord wasn't anything special. Though your health would get better, it wasn't something that deserved more than maybe one dialogue bubble. After all, the manga readers were there for the action. That was the same for me as well.

But the small things like these were amazingly otherworldly and I already loved them! For a second, I couldn't help but dream about what the future would be like.

I stopped myself from dreaming too far. Wouldn't want to get my hopes up needlessly. First and foremost, survival was the priority!

..

Walking down the hallways, with my normal background outfit on. I saw someone in the hallway slapping the vending machine, trying to get something out of it.

Normally I would ignore such a thing. But the person seemed sad, with a downtrodden look in his eyes.

He was none other than Agon, the main protagonist in the story. I was having an amazing day, but I knew from the Manga that he was having the opposite.

By now he was probably told by someone about how Sei was monstrously talented. After declaring that he will become the Sage, in front of the talented person that appeared in a thousand years. Agon was embarrassed.

I wasn't too worried about him crumbling under pressure. He was the shonen protagonist after all. How could he fall victim to something like depression? That was what normal people did. Not the happy-go-lucky protagonist.

Oh, right! In the story, the original Kon would have come and tried to bully him. But Agon beat him with one punch and was reminded of how he shouldn't waste his time doing useless things like mulling over situations he couldn't change. Instead of doing that, it would be more productive if he was training to surpass Sei instead.

Wait, that won't happen now. I didn't really want to bully Agon. Oh… that could be bad. I might have been only a small side character in the Manga. But even small things could cause a tidal wave of change.

Should I act like the bully one last time? It was for the future of humanity. But I never really bullied anyone. Would I be able to be convincing enough?

Agon might be dumb as a rock, as is normal amongst shonen protagonists. But he was also quite good at noticing strange behaviors. Me acting fake and him noticing would change the whole balance of things.

But at the same time, acting as a friend would be weird. After all, I have memories of the original Kon. He called Agon commoner trash and all sorts of other horrible things.

You know what, fuck it! I had already learned in my first life that thinking things through too much, and planning everything sometimes takes so long that making doing that a bad decision. "Wasup! What're you sulking about?"

He looks at me confused for a couple of seconds, before realization dawns in his eyes. "Oh! I remember now. You're the guy I punched at the entrance ceremony!"

That's how he remembers me?!

"Exactly!" I gave a thumbs up. It was the original Kon that got punched in the face, not me. So I shouldn't feel annoyed by this. "Now why are you all sulking? The last time we fought, you were ready to punch at the world. But now you're here dragging yourself around like a slug."

"You wouldn't understand," he sighed. His eyes looked down in shame. "My days as an exorcist are over. I don't have what it takes."

Wow, he's surprisingly honest about what he's thinking. But that's how shounen protagonists are.

Okay, this is bad. How do you help a shounen protagonist who has fallen down?

Clenching my fist. I did the first thing that came to mind; I punched Agon in the face. He was taken by surprise and couldn't even react.

What I didn't expect was for my punch to be powerful enough to send him flying and slamming onto the vending machine. Crashing through the glass, and folding the machine as if it was made of cardboard.

"..."

A punch like that would have killed a normal person in my last world. Agon wasn't moving either.

Did I just kill the main protagonist?!