Foundation [2]

I was sitting on my cold, hard floor in my apartment in a cross-legged position. Feeling my mana flow through my body created quite a comfortable sensation. From my navel, into my back, spreading out into my limbs, my body felt refreshing. It was quite an addicting feeling, similar to sinking your body into a hot bath after a long day at work

'Not that I would really know what that's like...'

After a month of practice, I finally felt like I could somewhat control my mana, not just guide it. As I controlled it through my limbs an incredibly subtle glow emerged from the limbs where the mana was active. At this point, I could even accumulate and charge up mana in a specified place! After 4 weeks of training, I had come so far!

Filling my fist with mana, creating a small, dim glow around it. I felt like a superman! Maybe this was when I learned the [Soul-crushing Fist] from that one novel I had read, or at least think I read? Still confusing trying to sift through the memories of my previous life, it was as if my mind knew the memories existed but when I tried to grasp the details it just kept slipping away.

Nonetheless, although it was pretty cool to be able to accumulate mana in my fists and pretend to be a xianxia character it wasn't too useful.

Mana in itself couldn't produce an effect, it needed a catalyst. Most often these were Battle Arts, where you converted the mana in your body into force to execute a general or specific technique. For example, most Battle Arts made you learn how to focus and channel your mana into your muscles. Although it was quite similar to the process I had learned, there was one significant difference. You needed to be able to convert the mana into another energy that your muscles could use.

Although there wasn't a specific name for this it was important nonetheless. Just because a mage had an immense amount of mana didn't mean that the individual could become superman just by channeling mana through its body. Instead, it was a question of affinity, talent, and practicing the conversion of energy. Although fighters generally had a lower amount of mana, as a result of lower intelligence relative to their mana grade, they could produce a bigger physical reinforcement as it was a matter of strength in relation to mana grade.

Drawing from this, mages were often better at using their mana to produce external effects. Create fireballs, rain of ice, or even create a gravity field around the enemies.

Most people have inherent attributes that were less black or white, meaning they could learn at least to some extent to do both. If they put in the time they would be able to create external elemental attacks as well as learn to wield a physical-based Battle Art. Although there were some people, like the hero in the game I played, who became proficient in both, most people chose to specialize in one or the other. This was based on the logical reasoning that it was better to be proficient at one role than to be mediocre at many.

While on the subject of Battle Arts, that was another point of contention for me. It was quite mystical really. Although many larger families passed down their battle arts to their children, every individual would awaken their own individual art. For example, even if a child was practicing a sword art to awaken an art, there was still a chance that the child would awaken a dagger art instead.

The statistics behind it showed that among the common folk it was quite random, while the descendants of the ancient magic families had a large chance to awaken their traditional art. That being said, the weapon or magic you practiced had at least to some extent an effect on what art you would awaken. There was a very slim chance you would awaken a hammer art if you practiced the sword.

Another thing to consider was the elemental affinities you were ingrained with. Although several people would begin with awakening the generic Battle Art of [Swordsmanship], their elemental affinities could differ. Some people would imbue their sword with fire, some with ice. Some could increase the weight of the blows with the earth element and so forth. Just like Battle Arts, it was quite random what affinities you had, although the magic families had a general theme. Depending on the affinities you had your mana could convert into different kinds of energies with different characteristics.

District 1 was the home of the fire element, down in the south heated up by the harsh deserts. District 2 was the home of the water element, up in the north with its harsh winters and icy seas. District 3 was the home of the earth element, in the west surrounded by huge, spiky mountains. District 4 was the home of the wind element, in the east situated in the middle of bountiful forests.

Then there was district 5. Unlike the other districts, District 5 was special. At this point, the family had gotten reduced to shambles with no real inheritor. This district did not have a specified general element, instead, it was full of different elements with the heir of the hidden family required to have the elusive light element.

The light element was quite special compared to the other 4 basic elements. Where the fire was fierce and explosive, the earth was grounded and protective, the water was serene and reinvigorating and the wind was sharp but refreshing, the light element was different.

The light element didn't have distinct characteristics. It could be healing, protective, sharp as well as explosive.

...

Yes, if my memories are correct the hero in the game had inherited the light element. A magic swordsman who was proficient in both internal as well as external control of mana, who would be the one to defend the human race when it was needed.

Physical Battle Art techniques were a lot of the time, a combination of utilizing mana to empower your muscles as well as add an elemental effect to it. There were also rare cases of people having an affinity for healing, most of these being people of either water or wind element, with the rare case of being fire. An individual could also in rare cases carry a dual affinity, which created a situation where you could combine two different elements, as long as these weren't opposites. Fire and water couldn't be merged and wind and earth couldn't be merged.

Water and earth would become ice, combining the calm of water with the sturdiness of earth to freeze the surroundings. Water and wind would become a specialized healing element called Rize, fully focusing on healing and restoring the condition of one's party. Fire and earth would become steel, the sharpest and most durable element. Finally, fire and wind would become lightning, creating explosive but at the same time flowing attacks.

In my case, I would have to wait until I strengthen my mana grade before I would be able to figure out my affinities. My status suggested that I would be the most suited to be either an assassin-style or ranger-style hero, with the only problem being that when I went to the shooting range I could barely pull the string of a bow, not to talk about my nonexistent ability to pat the enemies with daggers.

In the end, I had primarily chosen to try using daggers. Even if I couldn't inflict damage to anyone, at least I could make some sort of attack with them, in contrast to the bow. In the end, the solution felt like it was to raise my mana grade, as to be able to inflict elemental damage.

I could feel my mana reserves getting bigger, stronger, and purer by the day. It felt like I would be able to break through very soon. At that point, I would have to focus on trying to figure out what elemental affinities I had. Hopefully, it would be something useful that could create a way around my lack of strength.

Thinking about the 4 weeks I had spent here, it really had been uneventful. Waking up in the mornings for my morning run and doing some calisthenics in some pathetic attempts to improve my strength, something I figured would be the most suitable after trying the outdoor gym without being able to lift even the lightest of weights available. If it was a gym outside of the academy I could probably have a pretty decent workout but here it was just all too heavy, suitable for the elites of society.

After my morning workout, I would take a shower and then go for breakfast. The cafeteria was just like your ordinary school cafeteria, with lots of tables and a big counter with staff serving the different foods. The first time I went there it was quite awkward, having to almost throw my student ID at the lunch ladies for them to believe I was genuinely a student... At least it was free...

Thankfully, it was always quite empty in the mornings, no students would wake up at such an ungodly hour. Most often I got there at around 6:30 in the morning. With the rare occurrence of one or more students eating I was alone.

After breakfast I would go back to my flat, meditating and practicing my mana control until I felt the need for more fuel. Often this would be late at night. I would fall in such a trance that my body completely lost the sense of time, only breaking when my body started to scream in retaliation for not being fed.

At about 18:30 I would make my way to the cafeteria once again. At this time the academy grounds were bustling. The streets were full of the tall, beautiful creatures called students, who all had pretty much had the same reaction to me walking around.

'-Did that kid get lost?'

When I got to the cafeteria the lunch ladies would serve me an extra generous portion of food, incredibly delicious but there was no way for my tiny body to consume such a large amount of food. Sitting alone in a corner, I got bombarded with looks during the first week I spent here but with time people started getting used to "the little ghost kid who is only seen eating".

....

Thankfully it was now December, meaning the other students were on breaks with only a few remaining.

After eating I would go for a run once again, my focus was on speed after all. In contrast to the light runs in the mornings, this run was always more intense. This was the time when I would test my limits. I was fast, really fast. It felt like I was more of a hawk diving towards prey than a little boy running. At some point, I felt like I could probably rival mopeds or old cars. Although the day after was incredibly painful, with the veins on my calves pulsing and my quads contracting.

At the end of my days, I would take a shower and get back into meditating late into the night. After a few days, I had noticed that this new body didn't need a lot of sleep. My body could perform at max after just 4 hours of sleep.

Like this, I once again laid back in my bed and closed my eyes, thinking about repeating it all again tomorrow.