KR and PT

Rikkard woke up to a man with dark red hair inches away from his face.

"AHH!" Rikkard loudly exclaimed as he fell off the bed. He landed hard on the ground as his forehead banged into another bed's metal beam. He clutched his injured head as he sluggishly looked up at the person who woke him.

The red hair man stood over Rikkard with a white notepad in hand. He quickly bent over, yanked Rikkard's hand away, and inspected the forehead injury.

"Interesting. Very Interesting." The red hair man quietly murmured as he softly guided his fingers over Rikkard's injury before roughly jabbing it with his 2 fingers.

Rikkard flinched and cried out in pain as he rolled across the ground. His attacker quickly rose from the ground, rapidly scribbling away in his notepad.

"Yes, very interesting indeed." The dark red-haired man quietly said to himself. Still writing in his notepad, he hastily turned around and exited the tent.

Rikkard, after gradually getting up, slowly put on his boots. He was grabbing his sword when the man loudly popped his head back into the flaps and his long red hair spilled all over downwards.

"Are you coming or not?" the man eagerly exclaimed. Rikkard nodded. He exited the tent as the man removed his head. The sun had just peaked on the horizon, blanketing the sky in a warm orange. The birds made their morning chirps as the light breeze tinkled Rikkard's face.

Despite how early it was, everyone in the camp was busy. Groups of people were seen heading back and forth from the north end of the small base. As they passed by some tents, Rikkard could see that there were people hunched over tables, discussing whatever they were discussing in firm voices. Outside the tents, guards were steadily training with one another. The ringing sounds of metal echoed in Rikkard's ears as they moved south down the camp.

Some of the people they walked by nodded and greeted the red-haired man with smiles and pats. However, when they got to Rikkard, they had immediately returned to their neutral looks. He slightly grimaced at their cold stares. It was like standing in a camp of Kalim clones. Luckily, it didn't last long as they made it to the south part of the camp, which opened into an open field devoid of people.

The young, red-haired man looked ready to explode with excitement. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a smooth blueish-green rock. He gestured it towards Rikkard for him to take. However, the man quickly pulled his hand back.

"Whoops. Where are my manners?" the young man reached out his other hand. "The name's Murlith. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Rikkard slowly extended his hand, which Murlith roughly shook. Afterward, he extended the stone again.

"Now, take this please." Murlith almost squealed as he tried and failed to hide his excitement. Cautiously, Rikkard took the stone into his hand.

At first, nothing happened. Rikkard confusedly looked at Murlith. But a few moments later, something cold prickled out his heart. He gasped. It felt like something had stabbed him with the coldest piece of ice ever. Then the dam was broken. A cold fire raged through his body, traveling along the nerves and freezing everything in its icy touch.

Murlith gasped in surprise as he took a step back and looked at Rikkard's arms. Confused, Rikkard slowly followed his gaze down to his arms and his heart nearly leaped out of its chest. Going down his hands and stopping just short of his elbows, his arms were swamped in murky darkness that slowly wiped and curled in smoky clouds. Curious, he slowly twisted his arms over. The darkness clawed over in the same direction of the turn, moving in unison with Rikkard.

Murlith, who had gotten closer, glued his eyes on it. "Fascinating," Murlith breathlessly whispered before slowly reaching to touch it. That was a mistake. The darkness coiled back at Murlith's touch before exploding into a large dark mist that blanketed both him and Murlith. It churned and swirled around them, scrapping against Rikkard's face and blocking his view. To his surprise, he dropped the stone in his hand.

The mist collapse and the darkness disappeared in an instant. The green grass around him had completely disappeared, leaving only a circle of brown dirt around him. As he inspected his arms, he noticed that his sleeves were gone.

Worried, he hastily searched for Murlith, spotting him sprawl on the ground a few feet away. Rikkard ran up to him as Murlith quickly got up.

"Very Fascinating!" Murlith exclaimed. He immediately dove into his notes, murmuring to himself phrases and names that Rikkard didn't understand.

"Umm Murlith, Question?" Rikkard quietly asked after finishing inspecting Murlith for injuries.

"Yes?"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Rikkard shouted into Murlith's ear. Murlith glanced up from his notes in anticipation. He seemed to be waiting for that question this whole time.

"That, my friend, was your Potential Technique," Murlith eagerly responded.

"My what?!"

"It's your Potential- You know what? Have a seat real quick. I'll explain everything."

==

Murlith placed the dropped stone into his pocket and took a seat in front of Rikkard.

"Now, to explain this properly, I need to go to the basics of basics. Everything has energy within it. Humans, animals, fire, water. They all have some sort of energy. Now living things use this energy of some kind to survive their natural habitats. Follow me?"

"Yes?"

"Now, there are 2 levels of energies. The 1st is the one that everything uses unconsciously and consciously. But there's a 2nd energy that surrounds fills everything in this world. Some people have theorized that it's a sort of magical energy, but others have theorized that it's more of natural energy that isn't accessible by normal means, much like certain lights are accessible without the right equipment. But I theorized that maybe it's something that has always been here before any living things came into existence. How else would everything have access to- "

"Umm Murlith," Rikkard abruptly interrupted, "Is this related to the 'Potential Technique' or whatnot?"

"Right. Sorry, I was rambling. The 2nd energy is named Kinetic Residue, KR for short since it's always changing forms and is too 'violent or active' for normal use. Which is why it's perfect for one of its few uses: activating and powering up one's Potential Technique."

Murlith's hands shook and he bit his lips in excitement as he moved on to the next topic. "This 'ability' is something that all living beings, yes, animals as well, can use. It's sort of a hidden defensive mechanism built into organisms. All beings have a Potential Technique or PT for short. And what's more exciting is that it's unique for every organism. Blood-related family members might have similar traits or themes within PT but rest assured, it's unique."

Murlith took a deep breath before continuing. "There's more to explain but we'll be here all day. I'll skip the finer details for later. Let's move on to you. We classify abilities into Conjurer, Augmenter, and Specialist. Each class has 2 subclasses. Your's seems to classify underneath as a Conjurer, Elementalist with… Dark element traits!"

Murlith paused for Rikkard, waiting for some kind of reaction. Rikkard just stared at Murlith with a dumbfounded expression. "Umm, is that normal?" Rikkard responded.

"NO!" Murlith suddenly shouted, startling Rikkard. "Well, actually yes. Conjurer + Elementalist is a pretty common PT. What's rare is the Dark element. That element only appears in one out of every 1 billion people! So most of its aspects are unknown." Murlith's shoulders despairingly slumped. "Even I didn't know much about it…" Something twinkled in Murlith's eyes as he hungrily looked at Rikkard. "…until today, that is."

A cold chill ran down Rikkard's spine. "Why's that?" he asked nervously. Murlith slammed his hands on Rikkard's shoulders, cutting him off from any escape. Murlith had a psychotic look to his grin.

"Because I've been assigned as your PT instructor until you either die or pass the exam in 6 months. Which means 'we're' going to push your body and PT to the absolute limit to uncover the secrets of its power."