Awakening to Heroism

A laboratory inside Nakamura labs. A young man lay on a hospital bed, his abdomen bandaged.

A woman and a man were standing in a side room and looking through a window into the room.

"Miss Nakamura, he is in good condition thanks to you. We tested his vital functions and everything seems to be alright."

Watching Ayano Nakamura with a curious glance he continued, "Do you mind telling me, why you would risk so much for this young man?"

Ayano laughed, "Isn't it normal to repay the graze bestowed upon oneself, Mr. Baker? Besides, he reminds me of her..." A longing in her eyes she sighed.

"Nevertheless, you risked way too much for him. You might have exposed yourself there.", Mr. Baker responded.

With a dismissive gesture, she answered, "Don't worry too much. The knife was empowered with mana. In a while, he will be like me. Then there will be no point in him disparaging any information about me. Besides a person with that kind of character wouldn't have helped me!"

"I hope you are right Miss Nakamura.", he said leaving the room.

Left alone in the room, Ayano said with a melancholic voice, "If you knew Mr. Baker..."

Spellbound by the young man lying on the other side of the window, she raised her hand touching the empty socket of the necklace she wore.

Meanwhile inside Dave's head.

"Where am I? HEEEELLLLLOOOO?!? Someone there?" Dave shouted. He woke up and found himself inside a bluish fog.

'Am I dead?'

Dave looked down at his stomach. He was pretty sure that he got stabbed there. But alas there was no wound, scar, or anything else. There wasn't even a stomach to look at.

"What the hell happened to me?" Dave mumbled to himself. The only thing he could see, where his body should have been, was a golden haze.

"Good question!" A warm female voice answered shocking Dave, who thought he was alone.

"Who are you?" Dave shouted startled.

"Me? The answer to that question, I am not able to give you. But I am an ally. So to answer your question from before... Right now you are an energy body."

"Energy body?" he asked perplexed.

"I see your confusion.", the voice said.

"So let me explain everything in detail. Right now we are in your mind world. It is a place where only the pure energy of your body takes form."

Dave interrupted the voice, "And why am I here, and how can I leave this place?"

"You are here because you got attacked and wounded by a knife covered with mana. Your body trying to repel the invasive hostile mana awakened or to be true it is still awakening."

Expecting Dave's question the female voice added,

"Awakening means in this case that your mind learned a way how to handle the mana within you."

"How can that be? I don't know how to do it...? So how can my body know how to do it?" Dave asked bewildered.

The voice giggled, "Can you control everything your body does or even explain how it does these things? Can you control the beating of your heart or can you tell me how you can dream while sleeping? So why do you think you have to know how your body did it when there are already tons of things your body does automatically without you knowing anything about?"

Dave interrupted her again, "Yeah but shouldn't I feel, I don't know, kind of different?"

"Just let me continue and everything will be clear.", the female responded.

"The reason why you don't feel anything yet is that your awakening is still in progress. Look at you, your body is only a haze. After you fully awakened you should have substantialized in some way or another.

At that point in time, an ability should have manifested inside yourself."

"Ability?" Dave questioned her.

"An ability is a manifestation of your power but at the same time, it is so much more. It is a reflection of your personality and mentality."

"Okay, and what should I do now? Just waiting for it to take place or is there anything I have to do." Dave asked curiously. Of course, Dave was excited. Every gamer dreamed about gaining a cool ability and Dave wasn't just a hobby gamer but a pro.

"A good question.", the voice said. "You have two possibilities right now.

The first is, you just wait for it to happen. It will take quite a long time, maybe around a week but you will gain a manifested ability. The second on the other hand is much faster. I can help you awaken your ability and if you pass my trial I will even grant you a power-up!"

Dave's ears tingled, "Power-up?!?" This was a trigger word for every gamer. Nevertheless, he had to ask another question, "Is there any danger included in gaining the power-up?"

"No, I will just enter your energy body to scour your memories. If your character and disposition are to my liking, then you have passed."

"Okay, then do it." Dave was too excited to ask more questions. First, he would awaken an ability, and second, he would even gain a power-up. Which gamer wouldn't dream about having a special power inside the game? A power that no other person had and that would grant them an ultimate advantage.

"As you wish.", was the only thing the female voice answered. Then the bluish fog churned as if there was some kind of suction, and entered the golden haze.

Scouring through his memories she started with the last.

She saw Dave saving a woman, then she dove deeper.

Memories flashed through her mind, Dave getting kicked out and hit by his teammates, Dave winning ALC world championships alone after his team left. She scoured through the memories one by one only needing milliseconds for each. She dove deeper and deeper into it. She reached his childhood, saw his family, and the tragedy he had to endure. Then she understood, who he was, his personality.

'So his innate ability is Heroism.' she thought. 'Indeed he is worthy of my help, I understand now why she would bring us together.'

'But this ability is hard to grasp and even harder to handle. It needs some kind of framework for him to advance in. I will fuse a seed of my power with his to help him stay on the right path.'

She moved a small part of the blue fog to the center of the golden haze.

Then the rest of the fog left Dave's energy body.

The moment she left it, a splendid golden light appeared from the haze with some kind of bluish light ray mixed in.

For ten seconds the light kept intensifying. Then it stopped abruptly and a man materialized. He wore a light blue cloak embroidered with golden lines and symbols, a golden belt, and deep blue gloves and boots both with golden embroidery. His outfit was completed by a deep blue long-sleeved shirt and trousers with golden lines accentuating his muscles.

"Congratulations Dave.", the female voice said.

Dave looked down at his fingers. "Something in me changed. But what is my ability? I don't know how to control it..."

"Of course you changed. Nothing will ever be like before. You will see and experience the world differently from now on.", she said passionately.

"Since you passed my test, I granted you a power-up. This power-up is not an immediate boost but something that will allow you to learn faster to control your ability and to grow and shape it to your likings."

Dave looked confused, "I don't get what you mean. Can you show me, what you are talking about?"

"Okay, a simplified explanation..." she answered. "I created something like a game system for you. While others would have to explore their abilities for many years to be able to use them in a useful way. This system is basically telling you what your ability can do and how to use it. Even better than this is that it shows you ways to further advance on your chosen path."

"Ohh, you mean like the system in ALC," Dave shouted excitedly.

Happy about his understanding she answered, "Exactly, your memories helped me shape it similarly. I wanted to create something familiar for you. Of course, it was only possible because our powers have a similar root."

Dave wanted to interrupt her to ask another question, but she stopped him. "Don't cut me off, I have to go in hibernation for some time. Doing all of this consumed a big chunk of my power. So I can only give you a brief summary. The first thing you should know is that all your abilities can be triggered through voice commands. You don't have to say them in the real world. Just do it here with your energy body. You will always be connected to it and your real body at the same time. After all, this just gave your mind a more physical manifestation."

"Ah okay, I think I understood," Dave said. He knew that there was not much of her power left because her voice started wavering and he wanted more information about the other aspects.

"So let me give you for the beginning a few voice commands you should use. The rest will explain itself later on. Otherwise, I might show them to you after my hibernation." the female voice continued. Her voice was already quite faint.

"Status, Skill List, M..." before she could finish her sentence her voice died out.

At the same time, Dave felt something pull at him like a magnet. The sensation grew stronger and suddenly he felt not only his energy body but his real body as well.

Back in the real world, he opened his eyes and was confused.

"Where am I?" he mumbeled.