1 Meran's Cliff

[BANG]

As i came to i realized that I'm on the floor, my head bleeding, it seems that a flower pot fell on my head.

When I look up I see that phony smile that I hate, it's that damn fatty, Mark. I bet he threw that pot on purpose.

"Sorry, I didn't see you down there" he says while laughing.

That damn fatty has been the one who's made my life miserable the last 4 years of school; he comes from one of the wealthiest families in the city, the Plier Family.

He's a bully and I'm not his only victim, but he hates my guts the most because I'm the only one that doesn't take his attacks lying down.

I want him to pay for what he's been doing to me for the past years, but there's not much I can do, even when our strengths are similar, the power of his family is overwhelming, with the head of the family being a Gold Star Elementalist, and having several silver stars of different ranks under his command, only the other 2 big families can contend with them.

Me on the other hand, I'm an orphan who isn't even an elementalist, just a normie, but that will change next week, the awakening ceremony will allow me to start sensing the elements, breaking through to a Beginner Iron Star Elementalist.

But the elemental world is harsh, only those with a great family background or heaven defying talent can reach the top, because the awakening will require a elemental crystal as a catalyst, the school is kind enough to give every Top Ten student from each class one earth elemental crystal, the most common element, and the lowest quality of crystal.

Those from big families can buy crystal hundreds or even thousands of times better than those that poor people like me can use. And those with good talent, will be recruited by the big and small organizations in the country, getting better crystals as a result.

My talent can only be considered average and my financial situation is really bad, but even with the weakest Earth Crystal, I will grow strong, strong enough that others won't dare to look down on me ever again.

While thinking this I got up from the ground and left the school building, making my way to the orphanage at the outskirts of town.

Only one in every 1000 people has the talent to become an elementalist, and usually it's an hereditary condition, those not from an elementalist family that have great talent are rare, most of us normies have average or maybe even low talent, i suppose that i'm blessed enough as it is. But miracles happen to some, sometimes some lucky normies get an outstanding talent, just...

"Leon, what happened to you? You're bleeding!"

Just like her ~sigh~

"Hey Lana, it's nothing. I fell down the stairs hahahaha..."

I lied to her, I have to, if she were to know who did it, she would go and give him a beating and bring more trouble to herself. I don't want her to suffer because of me, she has a bright future ahead of her.

"You should be more careful then" she says while looking directly at my eyes.

I can only laugh and look away.

"Let's go inside, I'll patch you up" she said, dragging me inside the orphanage and into the small infirmary.

she helped me clean the wound and bandage it

"thank you Lana, as always"

"its fine, don't sweat it" she smiled, and left to go to her room to pack up

After all it's our last week in this place, every orphan that reaches the age of 16 has to leave and start living on his own, many of them start working in shops or go outside the walls of the city to farm.

Me, Lana and a few more, are the only ones in our batch here that have elemental talent but, different from her, me and the others' talents are average, so we will need more time and resources than her and have much less accomplishments.

But that doesnt matter, as long as I work hard I can stand on even ground with her and all the other geniuses, even if my speed is slower than theirs I will continue to soldier on and reach them. At least it's what I want to believe, but with the Elemental Crystal I received from the school my chances are lower and lower.

"sigh... Low level Earth Elemental Crystal" i sigh as i look at the light brown crystal in my hand.

That's the crystal I got from the school because of my 7th place in academics in my grade, those under the tenth spot don't even get one, they have to buy it, and if they dont they won't be able to awaken.

Crystals are natural formations created outside the city, they form in places with great accumulation of elemental energy, the more energy, the higher level of crystal that forms.

There are 4 Basic Elements, namely Fire, Water, Wind and Earth, of those the weakest and most common is Earth followed by Wind, then Water and finally Fire.

After that are the 4 Advanced Elements, Thunder, Ice, Metal and Wood.

Later in the price scale, are the Opposing Elements, Light and Darkness.

There's supposed to be even stronger and more expensive attributes crystals, but I don't know them.

Every Crystal is categorized in Low, Middle, High and Peak levels, depending on which one you use to awaken, your starting energy reserves vary in size and your accumulation speed is faster.

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After dinner, I leave the orphanage and go to the cliff in the backyard, Meran Cliff, like I do every night. This cliff is the natural boundary of the city. Meran, it's several kilometers tall and completely unscalable, the other three boundaries of the city are surrounded by tall walls.

Down the cliff is the Meran Forest, from which our city takes its name. I'm breathing the cold night air while thinking of my future. I'm not sure how i will progress from now on, but i will give it my all.

Just as i'm about to go back and sleep i heard a faint noise near me and as i turn around to see what it was i feel someone pushing me, with enough strength to make me fall down the cliff, just as i'm falling i manage to catch a glimpse of the one who pushed me, it's too dark to see his face clearly, but i can see he has a bald head with a big birthmark on his forehead.