A Couple Of Demonstrations Here And There

*Clap!*

"Earth to Magnus!" shouted Matt after clapping his hands in front of Magnus' face.

The dazed brown-and-blue eyes then regained their focus before moving up to Matt's eyes. The 190 cm tall teenage boy was giving him an odd look.

"I understand five elements are astonishing, but did you not know your own affinities before?" Matt asked. "Why are you looking flabbergasted?"

"I didn't," Magnus muttered quietly.

"Huh?"

"I mean, I knew I had the other four affinities, but I never had light affinity before…" he took a deep breath, trying to compose himself, "…before I went back to the past. Apparently, I got it after coming back to life."

"Oh," responded Matt, glancing at the Orb which was slowly losing its colors.

"Anyway," Magnus spoke out loud while returning the Orb into his Inventory, "it's time to start the training, guys!"

Everyone then moved to group themselves up according to the element they wanted to learn first. Magnus noticed that people with fire and wind element affinities outnumbered the others. Which was typical, as the two elements were in fact the most commonly found among humans on Earth. It was a different story in other Realms, though.

For the grouping, it looked like this:

Those who wanted to learn a fire element skill first were Mei, Garrett, Mrs. Wang, and Owen.

Those who chose wind element were Markus, Katja, Henry, Lisa, and Victoria.

As for the ones who had water affinity and wanted to learn water skill first were Fiona, Gina, and Luna.

Lastly, the earth element group consisted of Nikolai, Summer, and Patrick.

Oh yeah, and Matt. He was on his own, as he was currently the sole lightning element user. Well, Katja had a bit of lightning affinity too, but for some reason she had joined her fellow wind element folks.

Magnus, however, soon approached his father and pulled him to the side. "Dad, I want you to learn a non-element skill first," he said. Magnus had a few skills that were not given to him by Atlantis. This particular skill was one of them, and it had been taught to him by Markus himself after the doctor observed another Protagonist using the same skill. The position was flipped this time, as Magnus would the one teaching his father.

Markus raised one brow, but then nodded and didn't say anything as he stood away from the wind element group where he had been previously.

Magnus then walked up to Summer, who was positioned next to her father. "Babe, I think it's better if you learned a light element skill first, as we have enough for earth defenses for the time being," he said, referring to Nikolai and Patrick. "Besides, I myself am a defense-type combatant. But, it's your choice. If you still want to learn an earth element skill, I would definitely teach you."

Tilting her head, Summer fell into thought. She then said after a moment, "Will the light element skill be useful?"

"Light element usually deals with healing as well as Stamina and Agility-related buffs. I mean enhancement. So yeah, it's pretty useful, especially when there's only you who—well, I guess I'm also a light element user now," he said, chuckling at the end.

Summer then nodded and walked away from the group after getting an okay from her father.

Meanwhile, TJ was away at the corner of the backyard, practicing his skills on his own. For now, Magnus didn't need to worry about him.

"Alright, everyone," Magnus announced to the others. "Now I'm going to go over each group to teach one basic skill. But after that, I will have to take down the dome and the protection against the gods' eyes for fifteen minutes while I recover my mana. In the meantime, I'll leave you to take a break or do anything you want except practice. It wouldn't be a good idea to let the gods in on your progress, after all. After the fifteen minutes are over, as soon as the barrier is back up, you will have to start practicing what I've taught you. Does anybody object to this idea?"

Nobody raised a hand. Which was a good sign. That way, Magnus could save up time and immediately start his teaching.

First, he went to the fire element group and imparted his knowledge on how [Ignite] worked. In his opinion, it was a pretty simple skill that was easy to learn, so he figured it wouldn't take long for someone to finally get a congratulatory message from the system. He spent about five minutes demonstrating the skill before he moved on to the next group.

Katja, Henry, Lisa, and Victoria were eagerly waiting. Correction—Henry, Lisa, and Victoria were eagerly waiting. Apparently, Katja was still on the fence.

"Dude," she said. "Do you think I should stay here or walk over to where Matt is? He looks lonely."

Magnus knew she didn't give a damn if Matt was feeling lonely or not. She just couldn't make up her mind whether she should learn a wind or lightning skill first. "I don't know. It's up to you. Honestly, I'd rather you go with lightning first, as we have enough wind users over here. Besides, the weapon I gave you has an active wind element skill, already."

After a moment of hesitation, she finally sauntered to where Matt was standing, much to the latter's delight. He was not alone anymore.

Suddenly, Magnus 2.0 exclaimed, 'Man, look! Mr. Haysmith's already learned the skill!'

Magnus was surprised to see that. 'Of course it had to be him. The Devastators really are monsters.'

'Honestly, I still can't get over their Team name. TJ's naming sense is even worse than ours.'

Magnus then opened his Status Window, only to see that his DP remained the same. After gaining 800 from TJ's first kill and 500 after surviving—not defeating—Scoville's Descent, his DP stagnated. Owen learning a skill apparently didn't count as something that was worthy for any DP. 'System, explain.'

[The hosts are only able to gain DP from the accomplishments made by their Protagonists, including the host himself. Achievements by Supporting Characters do not count.]

'What? Why? Even normal people are able to gain Divinity just by influencing the world, albeit by very tiny amount and much more slowly compared to Authors. But they still gain DP, nonetheless.'

[That is exactly the reason why. Authors are able to raise their Divinity faster and more efficiently than non-Authors. However, in return, the way gaining DP works is tied to their status as an Author. Which means, accomplishments made by ordinary people, Supporting Characters included, will not grant the Author Divinity Points anymore, because they are not connected to the Author.

However, if it is any consolation, the hosts are given one way for Supporting Characters to help raise the hosts' Divinity Points. Since the hosts are not only an Author but also a Protagonist, if members of their Team managed to make an accomplishment big enough to stir many strings of Fate and a whole new Reality, the hosts may gain Divinity Points.]

Magnus listened to the system intently, unaware of the weird stare coming from the people around him. 'Well, I guess that's fair. Kind of.'

"Magnus? Hey, boy!" shouted Owen.

The man's voice snapped him out of his stupor. He looked at TJ's father, who was giving him an odd look.

"You've been staring at me absent-mindedly. Are you sure you're okay?" Owen asked after he saw Magnus getting back to reality.

"Ah, sorry, sir. I was just surprised you managed to learn a skill so quickly."

"Okay, I'm glad I did well. Still, getting stared at like that was uncomfortable, you know," he lightly reprimanded him.

"I understand. I'm sorry, but I was just reminded how quick TJ also was when he learned the same skill. You guys are so alike," Magnus said. He then shifted his attention back to Henry, Lisa, and Victoria. "I'm sorry, guys. I space out often."

"That's alright, Magnus," responded Henry. "Now, what kind of skill would you like us to learn?"

With the awkward atmosphere subsided, Magnus then demonstrated the skill [Wind Bullet], aiming it at his dome. After watching the almost-invisible projectile colliding with the blue barrier and exploding into gusts of wind that blew everywhere, Henry and Victoria nodded while taking a mental note.

However, Lisa wasn't fully paying attention. Instead, she turned to Magnus and said, "Can you teach me the skill that you used to make you fly?"

For a moment, Magnus was confused. He couldn't really fly. But then he remembered the moment where he launched himself away from the house, carrying the Descending Scoville.

'Ah, she means [Gale]. It does make me fly. If you could call it flying.'

He scratched his head, unsure how to explain the mechanics behind the skill to the girl. "Umm, you see, I wasn't really flying. I was merely launching myself in one direction. You know, like, how they launch rockets into space?"

"Aren't they the same thing?" Lisa retorted.

"Uuh, well, not really? Or…are they?" Magnus then contemplated for a bit. "I mean, I can always change the direction of the wind midair, allowing me to, theoretically, do maneuvers and stuff. So I guess that's technically flying. But my control over it is super rough. I've never been a flighty fighter, since I mainly do defense."

Lisa then understood. Or it seemed she did. "Okay. You can still teach me the skill. I'll see if I can learn how to control it better that you do."

Magnus then sighed in exasperation and decided to teach her the skill. Who knows? Maybe the girl would be able to refine it and turn it into a different skill that had to do with flying. It wasn't as if Magnus had never seen people using flight skills before. So he knew it was possible.

Suddenly, Victoria came closer to him. "I'd like to learn the same skill, please. After watching my son fight, and considering your words about the other elements, I feel like we're lacking people with high mobility," she requested.

Magnus of course didn't mind teaching her the skill. Besides, she was right. They could use a couple of aerial fighters who were also able to provide them with bird's-eye view.

And with that, he demonstrated [Wind Bullet] again for Henry, before executing [Gale]. He didn't apply the skill to his body, therefore he remained rooted to the ground. He only extended his arm and activated the skill forward, creating a strong gust of wind that eventually hit the blue barrier.

The skill was by no means an offense skill, as it only caused objects to be launched away somewhere. Skills with more concentrated amount of air and stronger force behind them—like Wayde's wind breath attack—or ones with highly dense air and powerful propelling force like [Wind Bullet], were more lethal.

After he was done with the two skills, he told the three people to try it out for the time being before the anti-god coating's time ran out. And then he moved on to the water element group.

There was no complication or special requests coming from this group. He demonstrated [Riptide] twice to his mother, Gina, and Luna. After giving them short tips behind the workings of the skill, he quickly moved on to the earth group.

He demonstrated making an earth wall to Nikolai and Patrick. In his case, he used the skill [Earth Manipulation]. However, he knew that once the two men learned the skill, it would be called [Earth Wall] instead. Magnus had learned several defense-type earth element skills in the past, including [Earth Wall]. At some point, Atlantis for some reason decided to combine all of them into one skill called [Earth Manipulation]. Which made it more convenient to use and less mana consuming.

However, his offensive earth element skills remained separated. Not that he used them much in the first place.

After he was done creating an earth wall twice, he moved on to the lightning group and taught Matt and Katja the skill [Thunderbolt]. The skill gathered the attribute of the lightning element and turned the air electric, before a discharge of lightning shot out from the caster's hand toward the target in, well, lightning speed. Highly lethal when it reached MAX level, it also consumed quite a bit of mana. Magnus was supposed to have the skill [Spark]—the actual skill, not the healing one he got from Atlantis—but for some reason Atlantis had him skip that first step and jump straight into the second. Regardless, it was a very useful skill when it came to offense.

With the demonstration of [Thunderbolt] done, and after answering some technical questions from Matt and Katja, he made an announcement to everyone. "Alright, I'm going to take down the dome now. The anti-god coating's time is almost up, anyway. We're taking a fifteen-minute break. After that, you guys can resume your practice while I'll be teaching dad and Summer a couple of skills."