Viers felt like a child again, the morning light signified that today was his first day at school. The tedious repetition of a company worker made him uncomfortable but he did it equivalent to someone who liked to eat meat, ate their vegetables. It was hard to have motivation when someone woke up and knew how the day would end for them.
This is how life should be, you woke up in the morning excited about what today would bring… I know there were those who had it rougher than me, crueler even, but I am not gonna lie, it's hard to relate to strangers you barely know or know at all. Why can't I feel excitement, I’m about to learn magic fellas!
Viers went to the bathroom, did his business and went back to his room, ready to head out. He passed by some of his dorm mates and said a polite good morning and kept walking. He chose to go rather early because he was so excited, he'd rather not interact with other people for now.
There was no clock in his room, he had a plan to buy one soon, he didn't manage to buy one yesterday. I should have bought it yesterday, why didn't it crossed my mind, you doofus… Viers lamented in his thought. The clock in the common room showed it was a bit before 7 o’clock.
He wore simple comfortable clothes, took his letter and some money then went to the guild, he found the guild's door closed, it wasn't opened yet. Dejected, Viers then went to the address of the Training Center. It was a morning walk combined with sightseeing in the new town for him. The town already buzzed with activity, a lively scene.
After about 30 minutes of walking, his destination came into view, it was a bit similar to a football club training ground. A field the size of a basketball court, a man-made wooden structure on the side, it wasn't big but more than enough to be a classroom of two dozen kids.
He went closer and saw a man practicing his sword at an imaginary foe, middle-aged, muscular build, he had the face of an uncle next door. Viers was a complete beginner at any martial way unless watching movies was counted in the equation, therefore he didn't understand whether this man was someone skilled or not. He stayed out of the man's field of vision and waited for him to finish, Viers kept on watching him, analyzing.
I don't know how strong he is, is he using some sort of ability or not? He seems experienced enough with that sword, former adventurer perhaps? Oh, his sword is glowing faintly, is that chi, ki, or something?
After five minutes the man stopped and looked at Viers's direction. “You must be the new arrival, your flabby body needs tempering, what do you know of the Path?” he asked.
“If I walk the Path, I can beat up people that I don't like,” said Viers said. He'd put on a persona that he was a 15 years old naive snot-nosed brat.
“Heh, another one that didn't know the wideness of the world,” he gave Viers a mocking smile.
“You should change your way of thinking boy, it could lengthen your life expectancy,” he added, he seemed sincere enough in Viers's eyes.
“Then may I ask what is the Path of Power, sir?” Viers asked
“The Path of Power is a way for someone to be better, to elevate themselves from their lesser state, those who are strong should help those that are weak, everyone who walks the Path have the responsibility to the betterment of the world.”
“Oh...” Viers appeared to be in deep thought.
Well, what do you expect Viers? Some kind of truth to the universe? The secret to make all the people in the world live without suffering? What he said is with great power, comes great responsibility, blech... for me, it's a way so you can beatdown your enemy, ‘nuff said.
Be thankful Viers, that you are in a place where you can dish-out the beating.
Out of his inner monologue, he replied to the man. “Thank you sir, I will take your words to heart. My name is Viers, are you the teacher here?”
“Teldo, I will be in charge of your martial training. Since this is your first time, let's test your aptitude first, follow me.”
Teldo put his training sword on his shoulder and led Viers inside the Training Center. He met and talked to a woman inside, perhaps another teacher, she glanced at Viers of a moment and led Teldo and Viers inside. It was a small room, a crystal ball on top of a table, Viers presumed that is a magic item.
It looks like what the fortune tellers on Earth use.
“I’m Nakala and will be guiding you in magical arts and teach you in the class, nice to meet you Viers,” she had a chocolate skin, curly dark hair and wore a bandana, her dark eyes gave a calm impression.
“Likewise Ms. Nakala, so what should I do now?”
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She told him to just touch the crystal with his two hands and don't let go, then she and Teldo moved to stand on the side of the room. Viers did as he was told in anticipation.
“First a little introduction about the Path of Power, every being possess Mana, it's a mysterious energy that all life forms possess. The Path of Power is about Mana manipulation. Our Mana can be changed to other elemental properties, for example, I change my Mana to water attribute and Mr. Teldo to earth attribute. Everyone has their own affinity to a particular element.”
“This crystal will test your elemental aptitude. There are many types of elements but we will delve on that topic deeper in class, for now just know this crystal will show us what your highest aptitude element,” Nakala explained.
Hmm, elemental attribute is it? I wonder what my attribute is... if it deemed I am without attribute or weakest element or something along those lines, it means I draw the jackpot! It was definitely the most OP element, other people just don't have the ability to unlock its true potential… Spring of Wisdom told me so.
Viers touched the crystal but felt nothing, no changes to the crystal either. The more ordinary the process looked, the happier Viers got, he almost couldn't stop himself from grinning.
Then a blue light could be seen glowing from the crystal, from the light, something fluid came into form. From the outside, the crystal now looked like a round aquarium. The blue light sometimes grew stronger or weaker until it found a balance, the glow was quite weak.
“Water attribute, from the scale of 1 to 5 your aptitude is 2.” Said Nakala.
Before Viers asked, Nakala said more things to clarify. ”Elemental aptitude is how attuned you are to the element, higher aptitude means the fireball you conjure would be hotter, quicker to cast, less effort to cast, you can think of it as your talent for that element.”
“Adventurers that focus on combat, averagely have tier 3 aptitude. Your talent is… below average, I’m sorry.” Nakala softly said as he looked at Viers, she expected to see the boy flabbergasted or dejected, most kids that deemed without talent didn’t take the news well.
Viers analyzed his situation in his mind.
Water, below average talent… this is quite a delicate position. If my aptitude is full-blown null without element or talent then GREAT. If my aptitude is the other end of the spectrum, tier 5, then I got a pie from the sky. If average then it’s a matter of hard work and ingenuity… but below average is quite perplexing.
He couldn't help to feel a bit down, but he didn’t his disappointment to fester. Alright, life gives you lemons, get back up and move forward, at least you aren’t tier 1. “Is there a way to increase my talent?” asked Viers to Nakala.
“There are stories and rumors, but they're mostly lies and smokes, nothing concrete has ever been proven, if there are, then it isn't public knowledge… an adventurer isn’t only about battling monster Mr. Viers, there are a lot of quests that don't require high battle prowess,” Nakala encouraged him.
“Remember that the Training Centers is a place of learning, even if you don’t become an adventurer, you can choose other jobs. You are still young Mr. Viers, the world offers countless possibilities.”
“Thank you for your kind words Ms. Nakala, though my talent in Mana is lacking, I believe learning to master it will give me some benefit, with monsters roaming the wild we all need to be able to defend ourselves,” Viers let the disappointment slid past him.
After they finished, Teldo and Nakala led Viers to the classroom before separating. There were some kids inside already, most of them were chatting among themselves in groups of two or three, Viers counted there were eight of them, he picked a seat and sat down.
Before long it was 9 o’clock, the rest of the students arrived, Teldo also came along with Nakala, when Max arrived he started asking Viers questions enthusiastically, about his aptitude, where he came from, and so on. Before long, Nakala came and started the class. She introduced Viers to the rest of the kids, Viers said a few introductory words and the class was in session.
Nakala started to explain the basics of the Path, kids that already arrived earlier already learned this, therefore they left with Teldo to the field, apparently, it was physical education for them. Viers and two others stayed for the lecture.
“So now all of you knew your own element affinity, during your stay in the Training Center you will learn to master your Mana. But first, you must understand what Mana is. All that is living have Mana, human, animals, plants, monsters, other races, all have Mana. Therefore it is widely believed that Mana is life itself, while widely believed so, the truth remains a mystery.”
“We humans are weak compared with others, take a normal bear for example. They are stronger, bigger, have sharp teeth and claws to fight. Let alone monsters that have an absurd physique and other abilities, a normal human cannot even defeat a bear.”
“But, through the efforts of our forefathers, those that came before us. We managed to find ways to survive in this world, by manipulating the Mana inside of us. People then realized they could turn raw Mana inside us and changed it to other elemental attributes thus increasing their potential, they use elemental Mana to attack and defend, it rises their power and becomes much more potent. Time goes on and improvement continues to be added to make our Mana manipulation better, in time we call the act of improving our control over Mana as Mana-mastery.”
Chinese novels called that cultivation. Good thing I'm very familiar with it. Viers added commentary in his mind.
“Just like there is no same person in this world, each person’s Mana is different. This results in a great diversity of element conversion, there are so many elements in the world. Fire, water, earth, and wind these four are the most common elements for people to possess.”
“There are others with more rare attributes such as lightning, ice, ash, sound, poison, light, dark. Then there are those whose Mana have an affinity with the more ethereal concept such as soul, space, and time.”
“The elements aren't limited only to those that I used as examples, there are others, frankly nobody knows how many elemental conversion types in the world. You must note that there is no strongest attribute, each has its own strong and weak points. Mana is like a tool, it depends on the skill of the person wielding it.”
“The whole system of Mana-mastery is called the Path of Power, and those that walk the unending Path, always searching for methods to improve themselves are called Path-seekers.”
“I am a rank 2 water Path-seeker Nakala, and you children are officially acolytes standing before the entrance of the Path. Welcome… to the Path of Power.”