Aidan lay on the cold stone floor of his cell, every muscle aching, but it wasn’t just the physical pain that gnawed at him—it was the weight of the lives he had taken. The face of the gladiator he’d killed flashed before his eyes again. Wide, unseeing eyes. Blood bubbling as the flames burnt through him. A gasp for breath that never came.
He squeezed his eyes shut, but the memories came faster—soldiers in the forest, their bodies crumpling at his feet. The metallic scent of blood filled his nose, even though there was none in the cell. The dull thud of bodies hitting the ground echoed in his ears, their dying screams haunting him.
He could still feel the sticky warmth of blood on his hands, though they were clean now. Each life he had taken clung to him like a shadow.
“Why is it so easy?” he muttered. Every time, it felt like part of him was slipping away as he clenched his fists in reflex. “It shouldn’t be this easy to take a life.”
Each memory was a reminder of how close he had come to losing everything. The thoughts of where his brother might be and what he was doing quickly became overrun by the thought of Kaelira, chained and unconscious at the mercy of some stranger, her life hanging by the thinnest thread. His imagination’s image drove Aidan into a downward spiral of increasingly darker thoughts.
The cell was silent, save for the faint drip of water from somewhere in the distance. Exhaustion pulled at Aidan, trying to claim him, threatening to drag him into what would only be a troubled sleep. Aidan fought against it. The nightmares wouldn’t help him rest any more than his thoughts.
He shivered as the memory of the gladiator’s face flashed before his eyes again. “No…” he groaned, shaking his head as he tried to get rid of the image.
A soft, melodic hum filled the air, pulling him back from the edge of his despair. The sound was both familiar and foreign, stirring a strange mix of comfort and unease within him.
Aidan grunted as he shifted on the stone floor, each breath sending a sharp stab of pain through his ribs. His entire body throbbed in protest, bruises deepening with every movement. His skin felt tight, swollen from the brutal beating. Every inhale scraped through his chest like broken glass, making him wince.
The soft hum rose in pitch as it reached his ears again. At first, it seemed distant, like a memory. But the sound grew clearer, familiar. A warmth bloomed against his skin, faint at first, like sunlight breaking through the cold. The warmth spread slowly, unfurling across his chest and his limbs, seeping deep into his bones.
“Oh god…” Moaned Aidan as he felt the cold that had settled into his bones being driven out. The feeling left him tingling as the pain eased—not all at once, but in slow, gradual waves.
His aching muscles began to relax. The sharp stabs in his ribs softened into dull aches, then faded entirely. He gasped as a weight lifted from his chest, his breathing coming easier with each second that passed, the suffocating pressure loosening its hold.
Blinking against the shadows, he looked up to find the woman from before kneeling beside him, her hand hovering over his battered body. Her touch was barely there, but the warmth from her palm seeped into his wounds, knitting them together with invisible threads of healing magic. Bruises faded like shadows retreating from the sun, the ache in his limbs dissolving into nothingness.
“You’re reckless,” the woman said, her voice laced with frustration and concern. “You have power at your fingertips, yet you refuse to use it. Why do you hold back?”
Aidan blinked, still dazed from the sudden relief of his pain. “Hold back? I killed that man. He… I…” He muttered. “I killed him just like I killed those soldiers in the forest. It shouldn’t be so easy. Magic, for all its worth, causes so much pain and loss.”
The woman stepped closer, her eyes burning with frustration, and slapped him. The sound of her palm striking against his cheek echoed in the cold cell. Aidan’s head snapped to the side, a sharp sting radiating through his face. For a moment, everything froze—the pain was startling but not nearly as shocking as the fact that she had slapped him.
He stared at the floor, his cheek throbbing. The shame rose, hot and bitter. He struggled to understand he had deserved that, didn’t he? He’d failed—again. Kaelira was still in danger.
But beneath the shame, something else simmered—anger. His fists clenched at his sides, nails digging into his palms. Who was she to strike him? Who was she to demand so much from him? This world wasn’t even his. He wouldn’t even be here if he had just listened to his colleagues. Now? He was locked in a cell, waiting for someone to take him to his next fight. He was the one risking his life in that damned arena, fighting tooth and nail to survive.
Aidan took a slow, shaky breath, forcing himself to unclench his fists. He could feel the heat in his chest, a flicker of rebellion against her, but he swallowed it down. What good would anger do? He was still at her mercy, and Kaelira… Kaelira needed him to be stronger than this.
“You. Are. Reckless.” She repeated, poking him in the chest with each one. Aidan met her gaze, his jaw tight. The sting on his cheek was nothing compared to the weight of her judgment.
Shame, anger, and guilt tangled inside him, a knotted mess of emotion. But the worst part was he knew she was right.
“Stop this self-pity already. Why are you holding back?” she demanded, her voice cutting through the haze of emotions swirling in Aidan’s chest.
His mouth went dry. He wanted to yell, to defend himself. He wasn’t some unfeeling weapon; every fight was leaving scars deeper than the ones on his skin. His body could heal, but what about his mind? What about the weight of the lives he had already taken? What about the ones he knew he would still have to take?
Aidan knew that this wasn’t him. Each step he had taken was originally to find his brother. To bring him back to Earth. Somewhere along the road, Aidan knew he had gotten lost. Forced to fight. Forced to take the lives of people he didn’t know.
But try as he might, the words wouldn’t come. Aidan’s throat tightened, the fight leaving him as quickly as it had flared. He lowered his gaze, staring at the cold stone beneath his knees. Maybe she was right. Maybe he was just too weak to save Kaelira. Too weak to save himself.
After what felt like hours later, Aidan swallowed before answering. “I don’t know how,” he admitted, his voice hoarse. “I tried, but nothing happened. I thought—”
“You thought wrong.” Her voice cut through the tension like a blade. “I didn’t go to all this trouble just to watch you hesitate.”
Aidan flinched, swallowing hard. His throat felt tight, but he kept his gaze steady. “I don’t even know where to start.”
The woman sighed. “If you keep hesitating like this, You’ll die—and you will take her with you. Is that what you want?” She said before turning away, running a hand through her hair. Aidan caught a glimpse of something unguarded in her posture, a crack in her controlled facade. She muttered under her breath as her face took on a distant look. Almost as if she was remembering something. She whimpered low. Barely enough that he could just make out the words. “…Just like him… Too similar…”
Aidan tensed, his fists tightening at his sides. He wasn’t sure what she meant or who she was comparing him to, but it didn’t matter right now. Kaelira’s life was slipping through his fingers, and every second wasted felt like another nail in her coffin.
“What do you mean? I’ve been trying!” he snapped, shaking his head in frustration. “I don’t even know what this menu is supposed to do! This isn’t some game. Real people are dying.” His voice cracked on the last word, the weight of everything pressing down on him.
The woman sighed, her irritation fading into something softer—almost regretful. She turned back to him, her gaze no longer hard but steady. “You have potential, Aidan, but potential means nothing if you refuse to use it. The admin menu isn’t just a tool—it’s the key to unlocking real power. If you want to survive and save her, you have to stop holding back.”
Aidan frowned, his mind racing. “How? What am I supposed to do?”
The woman smiled faintly, a hint of something deeper in her eyes. “You’ll see. But first, you need to understand that your magic can evolve. You’re not just limited to what the so-called system provides you. There are layers to your power that you haven’t even begun to explore. But to access and control them, you need to train—both your mind and body.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
She waved her hand, and a glowing screen appeared in the air before Aidan. It was the admin menu, filled with options and abilities he hadn’t noticed before. “This is your path,” she explained. “But it’s up to you to walk it. I can guide you but can’t do it for you.”
Aidan stared at the screen, overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“That’s why I’m here,” the woman replied, her voice gentle now. “We’ll start with something simple that will be crucial for the battles ahead—body enhancement magic.”
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Aidan groaned. It had felt like hours since they had started. The woman had walked him through how the system worked. How the menu he had access to was reserved for only those the goddesses named worthy.
The woman showed him how to unlock new abilities and fine-tune his existing ones. He couldn’t unlock too much as he didn’t have the AP points to play with. But each selection Aidan made felt like the right choice.
“This is where your journey truly begins,” she said, her voice almost reverent. “Elemental magic is powerful, but it requires discipline. Unlike the system-controlled magic, this is the raw magic underneath. For example, the system lets you use the magic you have unlocked without any understanding of how the magic truly works. Elemental magic is different. Earth magic, in particular, is about control, resilience, and patience. You’ll need all three if you’re going to survive what’s coming.”
Aidan nodded, though he still felt uncertain. The woman’s confidence in him was both reassuring and daunting. “What do I need to do?”
“Focus on your connection to the earth; you have seen the brown orbs floating around; focus on them and the earth around you,” she instructed. “Feel it beneath you. Let it become a part of you. The earth is steady, unyielding—tap into that strength. Once you can connect to the earth elementals, we can work on using the system magic in parallel.”
Aidan closed his eyes, following her guidance. He tried to sense the ground beneath him and feel its solidity and power. At first, there was nothing, just the cold, hard stone of the cell floor. But as he concentrated, he began to feel a faint thrum of mana, a steady pulse that resonated deep within the earth.
“That’s it,” the woman encouraged. “Now, try to draw that mana into yourself. Let it flow through you, become a part of you.”
Aidan’s breath slowed as he focused on the sensation, the trickle of mana around him slowly growing stronger with each passing moment. He could feel a raw, primal force—ancient and unyielding.
It was like tapping into a wellspring of power he hadn’t known existed. As the mana surged through him, Aidan’s senses were overwhelmed. It wasn’t like anything he had felt before. It was wild and chaotic, as if it had a life of its own, pushing against him with relentless force.
Each breath became a struggle, the mana fighting against his control, threatening to tear him apart from the inside. He groaned as the energy seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat, pushing out through every pore, forcing its way out of his skin like water bursting from a dam. His muscles tensed, trembling under the strain as the pressure built.
Aidan struggled to understand before the realisation came to him. ‘I can’t control this.’
The thought flashed through Aidan’s mind, panic creeping in as the mana overwhelmed his senses. His body felt too small to contain the sheer force flooding into him, like trying to catch a raging storm in a cup. Every time he tried to clamp down on it, to suppress the power, it pushed back harder, threatening to explode.
Seconds ticked by, each one stretching out into an eternity of struggle. His mind raced, searching for a way to reign in the chaotic flow, but the harder he tried to force control over the mana, the more it slipped through his grasp. Sweat dripped from his brow as his body buckled under the pressure. His heart pounded in his chest, his breath ragged and shallow.
He was losing the fight.
The mana surged again, wild and unrelenting, like a storm crashing through his body. He couldn’t take it—his body couldn’t handle it. He was about to explode until it came to him. “I’m not supposed to fight it.” The thought was sudden, but in that instant, everything clicked.
He had been treating the mana like an enemy, something to be battled and contained, but that was the wrong approach. The mana wasn’t a force to be resisted—it was a part of him now, a part of everything around him, a current that flowed with or without his permission.
‘I’m at the mercy of it’, he realized, his grip on the energy loosening. ‘But I don’t have to fight it. I just need to guide it.’
With that understanding, Aidan stopped pushing back. Instead, he focused on working with the mana instead, allowing it to flow into him, but only in the amount he could handle. He didn’t need to take it all in at once. Slowly, carefully, he began to open himself to the flow of energy, letting it pour into him in a controlled, measured way.
His breathing steadied. The wild surge of power became less of an overwhelming flood and more of a steady stream. The pressure eased as he began to guide the mana, drawing in only what he needed, letting the excess flow around him instead of forcing it into his body.
The more he relaxed, the easier it became. The mana wasn’t wild anymore. It was like a river that had been dammed, the flow now smooth and steady, responding to his will instead of crashing against it. The tension in his body began to ease, his muscles relaxing as the energy spread through him.
“Good,” the woman said, her voice filled with approval. “Now, hold onto that connection and push yourself further. You have tapped into only but a part of the raw mana of the world. This is what we use to call the first step in channelling the elemental mana of the world. Keep the connection.”
Her words were sharp and commanding, but this time, Aidan felt ready. His body was no longer fighting against the flow of mana; it was working with it, strengthening him, filling him with an energy that felt as much a part of him as his own heartbeat.
“Your body is a vessel,” the woman continued, her gaze steady. “But it must be strong enough to contain this power. You need to train to push beyond your limits. Only then will you be able to use your magic to its full potential.”
Aidan nodded, a new determination hardening in his chest. He finally understood. The mana wasn’t something to be conquered or forced—it was something to be worked with, something to be shaped and guided, not crushed under his will. If he wanted to master it, he had to learn to respect it and let it flow through him naturally.
“I get it now,” Aidan murmured, his voice steady despite the strain. “I can’t just force it. I have to work with it, guide it.”
The woman smiled faintly, a glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes. “Exactly. Control is not about overpowering the mana—it’s about understanding it and working in harmony with it. The more you try to force it, the more it will resist. But if you let it flow through you and channel it in a way that aligns with your body, you’ll find it far more willing to bend to your will.”
She stood before him, her gaze steady. “We’ll begin with a simple exercise. I want you to channel the earth elemental mana you’ve gathered into your body. Focus it on your muscles, into your bones. Strengthen yourself with it.”
Aidan nodded, his brow furrowed in concentration. He closed his eyes, trying to visualize the mana inside him. At first, it felt elusive, like trying to catch smoke with his hands. But as he steadied his breathing, he found the flow of mana once more and slowly began to guide it into his body.
“Feel the power,” she whispered. “Let it spread to every fibre of your being.”
A faint warmth filled Aidan’s limbs. His muscles, sore and worn from days of fighting, began to relax. He felt lighter, his body tingling with newfound energy.
“Good. Now, maintain that flow,” the woman instructed. “We’ll combine it with physical training.”
She knelt beside him and motioned for him to stand. “First, we focus on endurance. I want you to start with push-ups—slowly and with controlled breaths. Draw in mana with each movement. Let it fuel your strength.”
Aidan hesitated briefly before dropping into a push-up position, his arms already trembling from fatigue. As his muscles strained, he focused on drawing mana, feeling it pulse through him like liquid fire.
“Focus,” the woman said sharply. “It’s not about numbers—it’s control. Let the mana carry you.”
Each repetition burned, but the mana gave him a strange surge of energy, sustaining him just enough. His breath came in short gasps as he held himself at the bottom of the movement, muscles screaming for relief. The mana fought alongside him, filling the gaps where his strength faltered.
“Hold,” she commanded, her voice firm, unyielding. “Let it flow, even when your muscles burn.”
Aidan’s arms shook. His muscles burned with each rep, but his mind wasn’t just on the exercise. Each time he lowered himself, he remembered the weight of a sword in his hand, the fleeting gasp of a man’s life slipping away. The mana pulsed, keeping him from collapsing, but it didn’t ease the weight on his conscience.
“Up,” she ordered. Aidan pushed himself up, gasping, sweat dripping from his brow. The mana coursed in time with his heartbeat, making the pain almost bearable.
“Again.”
The repetitions blurred together, each one driving him closer to collapse. But each time, the mana was there, keeping him from breaking. His arms felt like lead, his breaths shallow. But the mana was there, flowing through him, refusing to let him collapse.
Next came squats.
“Draw strength from the earth beneath you, like drawing breath,” she instructed.
Aidan visualized the solid ground beneath him, lowering himself slowly. With each movement, the mana surged through his legs, grounding him and connecting him to something deeper. His legs burned, muscles trembling, but he kept moving, feeling the mana bolster him with each squat.
“Hold,” the woman commanded again. Aidan’s legs quivered as he stayed in the deep squat, his muscles screaming, yet the mana flowed through him, steadying him.
Each squat was a war not just of muscle but of will. His body screamed for rest, but the mana whispered otherwise, steady and unyielding. He could hear the woman’s voice in the background, but his focus was on one thing—keeping the flow balanced, not letting it slip.
“Enough,” she finally said, motioning for him to stand. “Rest, but do not break the flow of mana. Even in rest, your body should draw on it.”
Aidan slumped against the wall, panting. His muscles throbbed with fatigue, but beneath that exhaustion was a strange sense of invigoration, as if his body was becoming attuned to the magic inside him. He could still feel the mana, like a steady pulse beneath the surface.
The woman watched him carefully, a satisfied smile tugging at her lips. “This is only the beginning, Aidan. Your body will grow stronger with each exercise, and as it does, so will your magic. But you must push yourself beyond your limits every time. Only then will you truly be prepared for the battles ahead.”