Chapter 02: One isn't enough.

He swept his gaze across the room.

'A bed, a closet and a table.'

         It looked like original Kai was staying in an inn. He started to mentally work out a to-do list.

He had to find out the current year to figure out whether the plot of the webnovel had started. He also had to find if the original Kai Morgan left a diary or if he had access to his memories. But before that...

"What are these balls of light ?"

There were tiny balls of light the size of a small pearl in different colours floating around the room. They shone in blue, silver and lavender colours like stars. They were everywhere. He could see them even outside his window.

He felt drawn towards them. It's almost like he can feel a connection with them. Kai raised his hand as a ball of silver light drifted towards him. The moment the silver ball of light landed on his palm, a refreshing feeling washed over him.

It felt like all the impurities in his body vanished and all the aches disappeared as if they never existed.

"So this is how divine power feels like."

        The features that softened due to the divine power draining the tension in his body hardened again into an expressionless face.

Kai wasn't that surprised to find that he can manipulate divine power. It was a given that a blessed child can manipulate divine power. Now he needed to figure out whether the blue and lavender balls of light were divine power too. He had a feeling they were not.

He went back to the bed and sat on it cross legged. He lifted his left hand and gently grabbed the blue ball of light that was near him. Simultaneously he was overwhelmed with a feeling of being surrounded by nature.

He felt connected to the air he breathed, the water he drank, the fire that warmed him, the earth that he stood on, the plants that provided shade for him and the animals that roamed the world. So this is what mana felt like.

He released the blue ball of light same as he had done to the silver ball of light. After that, he grabbed a lavender ball of light delicately between his long and slim fingers. He felt suffocated for a moment with the domineering power.

He knew the moment he touched that ball of light he could do anything he wanted with that power. If he wanted to cause a natural disaster, he could do so without much effort. If he wanted to destroy the whole world, he could do so without breaking a sweat. It was the power of the special ability users. Rather than feeling afraid, he was shocked.

When he experienced all three powers, he instinctively came to understand what they were. The conclusions he came to due to the instinctual understanding were the kind of knowledge that mages of the mage tower, the priests of the holy temple and the sword masters wielding sword aura would kill to get their hands on.

He meticulously organized the information in his mind. The first conclusion he came to was that the source of the all three powers were the same. They came to exist as different powers only due to each power consisting of different attributes of the same power source.

'It's similar to stones.' Kai absent mindedly thought.

          The divine power is like the stones used as decoration for peace of mind while mana is like the stones used to construct the foundation of a building. The power of the special ability users is like the stones used for various things. But at the end of the day, they are all stones. Just like how the powers are same at the core.

The second conclusion was that the divine power and the power of the special ability users were more similar to each other than to mana. Those powers were closer to their power source than mana. Also Kai felt chills down his spine when he thought about the lavender ball of light.

That domineering power.

He wasn't afraid because that power would suffocate and dominate him. No, it was the exact opposite of it. He felt familiar with that power as if he was made of it.

The author of the novel 'God's grace' never mentioned where the power of the special ability users came from or what was the power source even until the very end of the story.

He decided to wait on this until he had more information about this world and these powers.

"That's right."

Information.

Kim Su-bin, who became the president of a one of the most successful multibillion dollar companies knew the real value of information. He never made a move only based on assumptions.

He was musing about how to get information this world when his eyes caught on a leather bound book on the table. He moved towards the table and poured water into a glass from the jug. He lifted the glass to his lips. He took a sip at same time he opened the book and promptly choked on it.

        He slammed the glass on the table hard and started to cough uncontrollably. After composing himself, he looked at the laid out book on the table with trepidation. The book looked ominous now. He peered at it carefully. He felt goosebumps breaking over his body as he read the book.

Imperial year 611.

20 th of the first month.

To the one who became Kai Morgan,

       I am sure you are surprised with what happened. Or not. You didn't look that surprised to wake up in a different body. You are probably wondering how I knew that or who I am. Well, who I am isn't important. How I came to know this was I saw you wake up in this body through  a dream.

      Ever since I was little, I have always been able to see the future. Surprise!!! It was same with the bright lights you are seeing. Ever since I remember, I was able to see them and manipulate both mana and divine power. When I awakened a year ago, at the age of 15, I started seeing the lavender balls of light. I was also able to manipulate that power.

Kai only had one thought after reading that part of the entry.

"Isn't that too overpowered ?"

A person who can manipulate and use all three powers in the world. To give one person such power. He furrowed his brow as he fell into contemplation.

While Kai wanted the power to protect himself, he didn't want to be too outstanding. If he appeared too outstanding, he could get entangled with not only the main characters but many factions within the story.

He wanted to avoid the plot as much as possible. So he should appear as moderately strong. He nodded to himself with conviction. He focused his attention to the entry with his mind made up.

You just said, "isn't that too overpowered ?" The only thing I have to say to that is "you don't know half of it." I have never absorbed these powers directly into my body, but I have always been able to wield them as I wanted. I used divine power to heal myself even though I don't have a drop of divine power in my body. I was able to perform magic even though I had no mana in my body.

     When I awakened I didn't absorb the awakened power into my body but I was able to replicate other awakened people's abilities. At first I thought I can copy other abilities. But it was proved wrong when I actually connected with that power. All the other awakened people have a certain attribute. But my attribute was blank. You can probably guess what that means.

    Anyway can you wield a sword ? From what I saw from my visions, you didn't have a problem wielding it. You looked as if you have used swords before. I am at the expert level, only one level below the swordmaster level. You'll find my luggage and weapons under the bed. There are books related to swordsmanship and magic in the packed luggage.

    The future I saw wasn't a pleasant one but you'll be find happiness. Of course, future is never set in stone. So that could change too. So what I wanted to tell you was that, I think it's better if you absorbed the powers into your body. If you do, you will be able to overcome the wall between the expert level and the swordmaster level due to mana. So get used to this body before you leave this place.

        You don't have access to this body's memories yet. But they'll come to you with time. That will be an interesting experience. I am glad that you are the person that became Kai Morgan. I hope you will be happy.

Goodbye.

Original Kai Morgan didn't rage over having his body stolen. Neither did he seem sad over it. For some reason, when it was mentioned in the diary about how him gaining his memory will be an interesting experience, Kai felt a shiver run down his spine.

**********

After reading the entry, Kai searched throughout the room. He found original Kai Morgan's clothes in the closet while he found his luggage, a well maintained sword with an elegant sheath and a set of daggers under the bed.

        He uncovered various books on swordsmanship, magic divine power and the continent, a huge bag of gold that will be enough for him to survive for a long time, a white eye mask and a silver bracelet. The silver bracelet was a magic tool used for disguises.

        Then he informed the inn keeper to bring food to his room. For two weeks straight, he stayed in his room. He went through all the books original Kai had. He succeeded in understanding and familiarising himself with the powers. After that he absorbed mana, divine power and awakener power into his body. 

      Because of the teachings in this world, usually a human gather their whole power into one place near their heart. The place where their whole power is concentrated at is called the mana heart. Even the priests have mana hearts. From the mana heart, the power flows out towards the body.

     Having only one mana heart, many suffered because they couldn't overcome their level. You could gather only so much power to one mana heart after all. When the limit of that mana heart exceeded, it will result in fatal injuries.

     Because collisions that occur between different powers, it was known that one human can only wield one power. That misconception was broken when the special ability users emerged. There were mages who could wield the power of the special ability users.

'If what the original Kai mentioned in the diary is right, I have to absorb all the three powers.' 

          Kai thought as he assumed a lotus position on the bed.

To absorb three powers, he have to generate more than one mana heart within his body. Many have tried to create more than one mana heart before, they all but failed. Original Kai had collected many records over this phenomenon.

        After reading those records Kim Su-bin, who became Kai was able to discern something common among all these failures. All the people that tried this were the kind of people who already had a mana heart. To rectify this, Kai thought of creating many mana hearts simultaneously across his body at the same time.

         He was going to use the awakener power to connect all the mana hearts to one another. Then to balance out the collisions that could occur between the powers, he was going to use the awakener power as a barrier between the divine power and mana. He got this idea due to the fact there were many mages among the special ability users.

           Kai slowly relaxed as he closed his eyes. The tension drained from his body. He focused his concentration to the inner body. Then he drew the divine power into several points of his body simultaneously.

         He concentrated as he gathered divine power as a central point on his elbows, shoulders, his brain, heart, his hips and knees. Then he willed the divine power to flow throughout his whole body along a pathway to cover his whole body as an outer layer.

      He released the breath he was holding and sharpened his senses to feel the lavender particles scattered around him. He started to draw them towards his body and absorbed them. He willed the absorbed awakener power to rotate diagonally around the central points of divine power from the top right corner to the bottom left corner.

         He connected one central point to another by creating a pathway using the awakener power. That same pathway drew the lavender coloured awakener power towards the outermost layer he created using divine power to create another layer.

                 He did the same thing with mana. The only difference was that he willed the mana to rotate from the top left corner to bottom right corner diagonally around the central points of divine power. Lastly he drew mana towards the two outer layers that surrounded his body to create another layer as a shield.

           By the end of the second week he spent in his room at the inn, he succeeded in creating more than one mana heart within his body as well as creating three shields surrounding his body. After that, he trained himself with the sword.

               Since Kim Su-bin had trained in various martial arts back in Korea, he was able to adjust to wielding the sword as an expert level sword wielder. The muscle memory of Kai's body also aided in increasing the progress. By the end of the third week, he was ready to move onto his next destination.

The ancient ruins of Garlahad.