Testing the Light

Ras woke up slowly, blinking himself awake. As his usual ritual was, he lay there, unbothered to get up for a few moments. He simply stared at the blank ceiling, thinking about what other games life would make him play. Until then, he took a sweet few moments to enjoy the silence.

A few gentle rays got inside the room, dodging the curtain, only to land on the wall opposite their entrance. He looked over at Mark's bed, which was occupied, unlike last night when he fell asleep.

As quietly as he could, he got up, still making some shuffling noises that were louder than he intended. It always wound up happening, but unlike most of the time, Mark didn't seem to react. He simply slept away. As far as Ras remembered, Mark had helped out Jean.

"Perhaps they both worked together until the dead of night. Worked, yeah, right..." thought Ras to himself with a slight smirk. He quickly changed into his usual clothes, realizing that since they're in this world, they might need a slight change of style.

"That's an issue for another time, I guess. I'll talk with Mark about this when he wakes up."

His sword was resting in a corner before he placed it on his waist. Across the room, in Mark's corner, he saw two claymores, a longsword, and two gauntlets. He still tried to wrap his head around Mark's logic when he chose this weird combination.

"What does he even need two claymores for anyway?"

With that question on his mind, he began pacing outside, closing the door silently behind him. He was already getting used to living like this. He wished a good morning to the knights he met in the hallway before he headed to the same place he did most of these days: the library.

Despite having joked about it at first, he wound up holed in there as he and Lisa tried to figure out some clues about his powers; it all proved useless.

As he walked inside the library room, he saw Lisa at her desk, drinking a cup of steaming hot coffee.

"Good morning, Lisa."

Her eyes dashed toward him as she smiled softly.

"Good morning, handsome. Did you sleep well?"

Ras chuckled, having adapted to some of her teasing.

"I did sleep well, thank you. I wonder if the same applies for you."

She chuckled softly as she sipped from her mug.

"I did sleep well, but this secret about your power does keep me awake for a bit longer. I just can't wrap my head around it."

Ras nodded as he thought for a second, an idea striking him.

"How about going out to train? I could try to test out these powers while you watch, and hopefully we could at least figure something out."

Lisa looked at him, a peaceful look on her face.

"This does sound like a great idea. It would also be a chance from the usual meetings of ours."

She kept drinking her coffee as she wrote something in a ledger.

"I'll ask someone to cover for me here as we head out."

She grabbed her mug as she walked out for a few minutes, leaving behind a dazed Ras, who decided to sit down. She came back, looking at him from the doorframe.

"Come on, Ras, we're going out."

He got up, walking to the door with a bit more enthusiasm in his step. The two of them walked together outside, where a Fatui member was waiting. Lisa was shocked to see them here, yet she had no choice but to act like they were on good terms.

"Good morning. Is there something we might be of assistance with?"

The Fatui member, a masked person, didn't even bother with pleasantries.

"Where's that Honorary Knight of yours? The one who assaulted one of our members."

Lisa was shocked as she heard the absurd accusation.

"Excuse me? No Honorary Knight of ours assaulted any of your members."

The Fatui let out a loud 'tsk' as they kept pushing.

"Just tell me where he is, unless you want the Tsarisa to turn this into a diplomatic issue with the entirety of Mondstadt."

Ras sighed, speaking before Lisa could.

"Hang around this place until Mark comes out. He's sleeping now, and trust me, you don't want to see how he acts when he's barely woken up."

He walked past the masked person, motioning for Lisa to follow. They walked through town, listening as people mentioned some sort of hero who fought off evildoers in the middle of the night. Ras didn't bother with such rumors.

"I wonder why they were looking for Mark. Does it have anything to do with Signora?"

Ras shrugged, speaking with a nonchalant tone.

"I'm sure Mark knows what happened and all that. He's smart; I'm sure he can handle himself when it comes to baseless acusations."

Lisa chuckled before crossing her arms.

"That's right. I sometimes forget that you're quite an odd duo. You sure are enough to spark a scholar's interest."

Ras brushed it aside, but he couldn't ignore Lisa's gaze. Something different lingered behind those eyes, and Ras felt like he was cornered in a way he didn't quite understand.

"I mean, we're just humans. Barely more interesting than animals, you see?"

Lisa placed a finger on her chin as she looked at Ras.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind. Until then, where are we going?"

Ras stopped, moving his eyes around, until he laughed awkwardly.

"You see, I had no location in mind. I simply began walking in a direction as I saw fit."

Lisa sighed, looking a certain way.

"Let's go here. I'm pretty sure Hydro slimes should be around. I'm really curious to see how you interact with those."

Ras turned around, following Lisa closely. He didn't really see anything worthy of note as they walked around, but he did notice that there were some smaller villages outside Mondstadt's walls.

Their steps took them to a pond, Hydro slimes of all sizes were playing around. Ras looked at the bouncing bags of jello, finding himself with a wide smile on as he saw them jiggle.

"They sure are funny beings."

Lisa chuckled as well, motioning at them with her hand.

"Go on, Ras. Try using your abilities."

He walked closer to them, watching as they began jumping his way, a funnily malicious face on each and every one of them. He nearly began laughing before one hit him, leaving behind a bit of a mark.

He placed a hand on them, and he began absorbing. Surprisingly, it worked, but only when the slime was trying to release elemental energy in the form of an attack.

"I see. I can only absorb it when they release it. I can't steal their energy."

He let go of the slime, watching as the others had him surrounded. The light on his wrist began glowing once more as he absorbed the Hydro energy they gave off, and he began puncing them with rapid blows. They blew up like water balloons, leaving behind small gelatinous fragments.

"Well, how was it?" asked Lisa, curious to see whether he found out something.

"Well, I can sort of control it, and it seems I can only absorb released elemental energy. I can't forcefully take it from them."

Lisa nodded, jotting down a few things in a small notebook she had with her.

"I see then. Maybe we should have you try to release that energy in specific forms."

Ras felt his expression narrow as he mulled it over, thinking about how he could do so. He already did something similar when increasing his strength, but he felt the energy go to his muscles. It was time to try it differently.

Raising his hand, he pointed his palm at a nearby chunk of stone, focusing on it. He closed his eyes as he tried to feel the energy in his body move around.

Confused, Lisa raised a brow, watching silently as Ras stood in an awkward position. She then saw the glow on his wrist dim lightly as something gathered in his palm, shooting into the rock, shattering it.

"Heh, looks like I did it." said Ras, somehow not even surprised. Lisa was nearly jumping out of excitement.

"Ras, this is phenomenal! Do you even realize what you did? You just shot a projectile made of energy!"

Ras nodded, feeling a bit tired.

"Well, I sure did use some energy. I even feel tired now."

Lisa once again took some quick notes before grabbing Ras by the arm, walking somewhere only she knew.

"Ah, Lisa, it's not like I don't like the idea of you randomly dragging me to a secluded place, but where exactly are we going?"

She smiled as she turned her face at him, simply winking before facing back to the way she was. Ras kept thinking to himself, baffled, unaware of what other sort of test awaited him.