Foundation [3]

After yet another uneventful week it finally happened. While circulating my mana throughout my body it felt like my pores opened up and drew in a massive amount of energy lingering in the air. The newly acquired mana quickly found its place and started to fuse with my already existing little swirl of mana below my navel.

'I made it

===Status===

Name: Miren Porter

Rank: II

Strength: I

Speed: VII

Stamina: III

Intelligence: III

Mana Grade: II

Charm:?

--> Inherent Disposition : [Boundless]

--> Battle Arts:[]

Mana grade rank II, I could finally call myself something other than at least a complete failure. This was the starting line for most youths starting to attend an academy, although in my case I was probably still at the bottom at Kirkegaard. Although there would be several other students with the same mana grade, it wasn't quite so simple. You could make very real progress without actually increasing mana grade rank. Take for example the fact that even though I was still stuck at grade I for a little more than 5 weeks after coming here, my progress was still incredibly noticeable. From not even being able to feel mana, to being able to relatively accurately control it in my body.

Secondly, I still had no idea about my elemental affinities, nor had I awakened any battle arts. This was just the starting line, now I could finally start the real journey towards becoming someone powerful.

Standing up, I took a look around the small room. Although I had only occupied this space for a couple of weeks, I had become frighteningly accustomed to this way of living. Putting in, what felt like, an endless amount of hours into training, trying to get to this point. A slight feeling of pride started to emerge. For the first time, I finally felt like I accomplished something real, something meaningful, and although I had a long way to go it felt more possible than ever.

Collecting my thoughts I once again started thinking about my priorities. In about a week the other freshmen were gonna come back and we would start officially attending the academy, learning about magic theory, and be put through more advanced combat practice. Firstly I had to acquire more power, and some way to actually be able to damage a monster or villain.

Having thought about whether I should focus on trying to find my personal elements or awaken a Battle Art, I had made my decision. I would try to find my elements. The reason for this? Simple, even if I had a Battle Art my strength was still at grade I.

Now, after increasing my mana grade, I felt an incredible change in my body. It felt like I could move a lot faster, sharper, and I had a feeling I could also move my body for a lot longer. My head also felt a little bit clearer. Even though the mana grade only had a very slight impact on the actual intelligence and had more of an impact of increasing the amount of mana relative to it. My charm stat hadn't increased either, although I never really put much thought into why it was signified as '?'. I guess that it has something to do with the fact that while my face is quite handsome, albeit a bit childlike, my body had no charm to any one of the other gender, at least not in a romantic way.

My actual physical strength though? Not so much. I could barely feel a difference, having to expend a lot of mental strength to try and flex my biceps hard enough to even recognize the change. Although increasing my strength was important to me, it wasn't more important than gaining more immediate power for me to survive the ordeals of the academy. Not to mention not getting picked on by all the other students...

Thinking back on my stay here, there was one strange thing. According to this world's previous memories, almost everyone would feel hesitant to look at me. The very reason for the harassment Miren had gone through throughout his childhood. Here, it seemed like no one even noticed it, and if they did they didn't seem to care. Even though I hadn't actually gotten very close to anyone, a lot of students must have seen my eyes already. Maybe it was because of the difference in mental strength? All students here were elite, and although some were stronger than others, all of them were at least above average.

'Maybe it's possible that I can go through these 4 years without getting bullied?'

Pushing away my concerns I checked the time on my DAD, hearing from the other students this was supposedly what they called it, as an abbreviation of 'digital academy device'. No, I did not have any lingering sense of longing for a father figure, it was the normal way of calling it.

'20:43'

As the night was still young when I made my breakthrough I once more sat down after standing up to check on the changes in my body. Closing my eyes I could feel an immediate difference in my mana pool. If before it was a tiny seed it was now a small seed. Yes, the difference wasn't all too dramatic but it was at least exponentially bigger than before.

The small swirl seemed to be even more lively than before, and a lot faster to react to my wishes. If it took 10 seconds before to accumulate mana in a designated limb, now it only took about 7. Trying to inspect it closer I started to focus my mind even more. As I got a clearer mental picture of it I suddenly felt a sharp sting in my frontal lobes.

*Guh!*

Opening my eyes, I could still feel a bit of numbness around the sides of my head. My back was also covered in sweat, and it felt like I had run a marathon. With trembling legs, I stood up and checked the time once more.

'01:54'

Over three hours had already passed in what felt like an instance.

I made my way into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. As I stood in front of the basin I was met with quite a terrifying sight.

'What did I do?!'

My void-like eyes were surrounded by the color of blood. Completely bloodshot eyes, as if I had been forced to watch tv for hours without getting blink even a single time.

'What did I do?'

As my mind began to sort through the many possible reasons this could have happened it quickly found the answer.

' Mana overload'

Mana overload was, just as the name stated, an affliction caused by overstimulating your mana pool. Most often it happened when an individual tried to execute a technique above their capabilities. Unlike mana deficiency, when a person used up all the available mana in their system, the person didn't become unconscious. Instead, the mana started to behave aggressively inside their bodies and started to damage them from the inside.

As my synapses continued to fire, several different conjunctions were being fabricated.

'Why didn't I suffer from this before? What was the difference?'

The answer to this seemed to be the fact that I tried to grasp something unknown. Something foreign which I wasn't used to manipulating. Most likely I had taken a step in figuring out what elements my mana was suited to convert into.

Neither of my memories had any encounters with this, at least I couldn't remember the game mentioning anything about how you found your affinities. I would love to have someone to talk about this, but the only people I knew were Mike and the principal. I had once texted Mike, asking if he could help guide me on how to efficiently stimulate one's mana. The answer I got was less than gratifying...

'-What do you mean you need help? Just run your mana pool until it goes *frmmm* and then you swing it around until you feel a pop.'

Needless to say, I didn't ask him to help me with mana-related problems after that.

Regarding asking the principal... I didn't want to talk to that crazy old monster, hidden beneath a wrinkly skin suit in the form of a human. Although my mind had adapted to the pressure he was exuding, it was still incredibly scary. Feeling as if I was submerged underwater face to face with a giant shark wasn't a pleasant sensation. In addition, I assumed him to be quite a busy man. Being the headteacher of Kirkegaard should come with a lot of responsibilities in the form of paperwork and meetings with all the different staff.

*Fuuuuuu*

Exhaling deeply I let my already overworked brain begin to rest. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I staggered into my small bed. Even though my whole body was in pain and my head felt like a drum, I had a gut feeling that I was on the right track. The right track to find out what elements resonates with my mana reserves.

'A sharp sting and numbness'

Although it seemed farfetched to awaken a fused element before even having a basic element, it still made the most sense to me.

'Lightning'