What about Mark? 2

"What? Of course, it's real!" Rose asked, looking up from her hands.

'She questioned reality for a split second and looked down at her hands to make sure she was real. Cute.'

"Is it really, though?" I asked back, scrunching up my nose to drive my question home.

Angie and Mike were absolutely lost looking at me like I had lost my mind while Rose was actually giving my question some thought.

'It's perhaps too heavy of a question for these friends of mine. But Rose should get my meaning. When we were children, Rose was always the smartest out of all of us.'

"You mean like how we as humans are the ones who gave money its importance or names to everything. How time is a social construct created by Humanity to give some semblamce of rhythm and routine to a chaotic world and universe?" Rose answered after a few minutes of thought.

"I wasn't going that far but yes, essentially. We gave the shapes that appeared with the Mark a name and definition, but we don't know anything about them. We saw a correlation between some Shapes and people's actions and decided that was all they were."

"Mmh, I get that, but nobody has been able to break out of the standard definitions of the types and styles. Doesn't that mean there's some truth to them?" Rose asked like I was some professor, and she was a student.

"Some truth, yes, but don't mistake that for the whole truth. Just because something hasn't been achieved yet doesn't mean it's unachievable."

At this point, we had lost Angie and Shard, who were tilting their heads like confused puppies.

I then lifted my hand and cast a blizzard bomb above my hand, startling the trio. I then moved the bomb down into my hand, horrifying my roommates, but instead of the compact ball of ice freezing my hand, it went into it. I then closed my fist, creating a frosty whirlwind that surrounded it. Immediately I moved the spell from my right hand across my chest to my left fist and then made the frost leave my fist, reforming into a small ball of turbulent arctic ice above my hand.

"That's impossible!" Rose said in astonishment.

Angie and Mike only applauded as if I was performing magic at a children's birthday party.

"You know, I've come to realize I don't really like the word 'impossible.'" I added.

"But how? You're a pure conjurer; how can you use an augmentor spell?" Rose added, leaning too close to my face.

She was already sitting right next to me on this two-person couch with three people.

'Are these really my old friends who couldn't care less about magic?'

A few seconds later, Rose realized her close proximity and jumped back in embarrassment.

"Well, actually, I'm not. My sister was a conjurer; I just happen to be borrowing her Mark. See?" I said as I lifted my t-shirt and showed them my semi-transparent Mark flickering in and out of existence.

"Oh my, God! What's wrong with your Mark?" Rose asked, in concern.

"Wait a minute, wasn't your Mark on your left chest?" Mike added.

"You're too skinny. You need to eat more!" Angie said, causing Mike and Rose to look at her. "What? You two took all the good questions."

"My sister's Mark doesn't belong to me, so I'm transforming it into one that does," I stated, trying to calm them.

"Transform? You can do that?" Angie asked in confusion.

"You can do a lot; it's just that no one has been reckless or desperate enough to attempt it before. We assumed that the Marks are permanent and unchangeable, but why should they be?"

"Have you never wondered why Marks match their users so much? Why do hotheads have fire affinities? Why do clinical and cold individuals have ice magic? Why naturally athletic people are Augmentors, or why critical-thinkers are Conjures? Is it the Mark that makes them that way, or is it the people who make the Mark? One is genetic, but the other is psychological," I explained.

"The chicken or the egg?" Rose said.

"Exactly, but the problem is that people change as they age, and in rare cases genetically too, so why can't Marks change too?" I question.

"Of course, there are also those rare times that ones' Mark doesn't match their personality of genetics. They're cases where some people are naturally skinny, have no talent for any physical activity, and are incredibly critical-thinkers, yet despite all that have a pure augmentor type Mark with a knight style. That's because the Mark gave them what they wanted or what their mental state exemplified at the time.

When the users' Mark was being developed, they 'really' wanted to be a Knight even though they didn't have any talent for it, they would gain a Knight Mark. If that's the case, and we've already established that people can change wants, then doesn't it stand true that Marks could also change to reflect their users better." I added.

"Okay, I'm officially lost. You just said a bunch of words, and I got none of that." Mike said, standing up from the chair stretching.

"Where did you get all this from?" Rose asked, also stretching.

"Well, you know, I was raised in the underworld after my parents passed, before my sister joined the military. During that period, we were cared for by an elderly woman who did the best she could while living in the slums. It just so happened that she used to be an Arcane theorist who was discredited for her theories about Mana and the Mark.

She theorized that the Mark's are not only malleable, but they are capable of development. So I've learned most of what I know from her, but I not just blindly following her teaching; I also have my own theories and ideas. Anyways, most of what I'm saying is not applicable at our level, you two are brand new,' I pointed at Angie and Mike, "and Rose and I are still too underdeveloped," I explained.

'I'm not lying. I did learn a lot from my master, but unfortunately, more than half of her theories ended up being incorrect. However, she was considerably well-known before her descent into poverty, so she'll be the perfect excuse for my futuristic knowledge regarding mana and magic.'

"Okay, I just got my Mark yesterday. I'm not ready for advanced mana theory," Angie said.

"Right, this isn't the time for this; I get easily distracted when it comes to mana theory. It's not even 7 yet. So enough of that, why don't I show you some training to practice mana control and manipulation?" I said as I stood up.

I walked towards the bathroom and went in to grab something.

"As Marked ones, it's necessary to do mana control practice every once in a while, so you don't accidentally lose control," Rose added, explaining to Mike and Angie.

I walked back from the bathroom, holding a toilet roll in my hand. I ripped three individual tissues and handed one to each.

"Here, try this. It's simple, lift the tissue about 3 inches from your palm; once you achieve that, the next goal is to hold it for a minute. Do this, for a minimum of 10 minutes every day, until you get there," I explained.

"Mmh? I've never heard of this, don't they usually just have you meditate?" Rose asked, looking intensely at the tissue.

"Yeah, but this is of my own design," I answered, sitting back down on one of the chairs.

"Cool, but what can you do with mana control?" Angie asked, frowning in concentration at the tissue.

"Well, how about this, Rose whats your Mark status; you're a pure conjure, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm a Lighting Elementalist with a Wind affinity. I'm still only on the 10th rank, though," Rose answered.

"You have at minimum, 10 times more mana, much more refined mana, and have been a Marked one longer than me. Try it!" I urged.

Rose concentrated her mana on her palm only to blow a hole through the paper. In confusion, she grabbed another sheet and tried again only to do the same. Not relenting, she did it again, this time disintegrating the sheet in the process. By now, her forehead was covered in a light sweat.

"Now look, carefully," I said as I placed a sheet on my palm. I proceeded to make the sheet levitated, moved it up and down, and then made it rotate. After which I made it circle my hand, I crunched it up and then flattened it out again.

"Cool, but any tips? I'm busting my ass here, and it hasn't moved." Mike asked after witnessing my display. He was already breathing heavily and sweating lightly.

"Nope, sorry. Each person needs to find their own way to control their mana. For everyone, mana control is different, but I guess that some meditation breathing techniques might make it easier. Rose can teach you those," I explained.

I placed the toilet paper sheet down and started to walk back to my room. I've wasted enough time explaining things to people who are never going to put them into practice. Mike wants to eventually run his own clothing line, Angela wants to be a professional basketball player, while Rose has her eyes set on teaching.

'I need to get changed and head to the Arena. My synchronization is going slower than I'd like. I've had less and less chance to use my magic as the days progress.'

"What's the end result?" Angie asked, causing me to stop in my tracks.

"I mean, sure, someone could change their Mark, or they could use their mana better, but in the end, what's the difference between using our modern magic and the one you suggested," she continued.

"This!" I said, turning around.

I controlled the remaining mana in my body and sealed it inside, preventing even a wisp of it from leaving my body. Then I spontaneously released it in a controlled explosion of mana. The mana sent a metaphysical shock wave throughout the room that bent our perception of space itself and as it expanded from my body. In the blink of an eye, tremendous pressure was felt by the trio pressing against their bodies, oppressing them, forcing them to kneel had they not been sitting down.

In their eyes, the world had lost all color, and only I stood before them. Just as quickly as the pressure appeared, it disappeared. But for the three inexperienced teens, the world could not still regain its color.

Fear. What they felt for a fraction of a second was pure unadulterated fear, as the mana in their bodies trembled and submitted to mine.

They remained silent and unmoving even almost a full minute after my mana had been emptied.

"You guys, okay? I did hold back a little," I asked with concern.

'I didn't think they would react like this; no matter how much control I have over my mana, I have so little of it. It shouldn't have overwhelmed their minds that much; they should have only felt slight dizziness, at most gone blind for a split second.'

"Yeah, sorry, man, for spacing out there. That just surprised us a bit," Mike said after regaining his composure and checking on the girls.

"Are you saying that if we practice our mana control like you, we'll be able to do what you just did," Angela said, swallowing a bit of saliva.

"Are you okay, Rose?" I said, kneeling in front of Rose, who still looked out of it.

'I guess if anyone felt it, it would have been her. She has so much mana and has lived with it for so long that any disturbance to it would have been much more noticeable.'

After shaking her head and regaining her consciousness, she responded, "Yeah, that was just something I wasn't expecting. It felt like I was in danger of losing my life. Like I was standing in front of some apathetic Emperor who was trying to decide whether I should live or not."

"Emperor? Never say that word in front of me again!" I raised my voice, unintentionally releasing some more mana, making them shudder in fear again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I think it's better, if I go," I picked up my duffle bag from the floor next to the door to our bedroom and left.

A few minutes after Jason left the room, the three of them still sat on the couch.

Rose was shivering, unable to control her body. "Did you see that?" she asked.

"His eyes..." Mike said.

"His eyes turned..." Angie added.

"They turned reptilian," Rose finished.