Fortune-bringing Monster

[Congratulations! You have been chosen as a Protagonist. Author: Magnus 2.0.]

Reading the third message he received on the system screen, TJ's eyes zoomed in on the last word. "2.0?" he asked while observing the screen shifting, showing his Status Window for the first time.

Already expecting such a question, Magnus waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "It's a long story."

Meanwhile, the person in question snorted.

Giving TJ time to inspect his Status Window, Magnus opened up his own to check on his Divinity Points. Looking at the current numbers, he frowned. 'I got nothing from awakening him?'

'Obviously. TJ didn't—'

'Right,' Magnus cut his copy off. 'He didn't do shit. I'm the one awakening him, not him awakening himself.'

"Hey, what's the average stats for unawakened people?" TJ suddenly asked.

Magnus tilted his head for a moment before answering, "Like, ten to twenty?"

At that answer, TJ clicked his tongue, slightly disappointed at the numbers he saw on the screen. "Well, thanks for dragging me out of the house to exercise all this time, then."

Magnus shrugged. "No problem, dude. Anyway, our goal today is for you to learn at least one skill. I could instantly give you a skill by using my Author's power, but I'd like it so that you understand the basic of how to use mana, at least. That way, you don't have to depend entirely on items, weapons, or my generosity just to obtain skills. You can learn them on your own in your free time."

'And also so I can gain DP and recharge my AP faster hehehe,' said Magnus internally.

"Alright, sounds good," said TJ.

"Now, remember the time when I used a skill on you to make you feel less fatigued every time you finished your run?" asked Magnus.

"Oh, that one. Yeah, I did suspect it was some kind of magic spell you pulled off."

"Mhm. That one is called [Rejuvenate]. It's one of the simplest skills, so you might be able to learn it fast." Magnus then walked up to his friend and touched his shoulder. "Now I want you to get a sense of what mana feels like. So while I cast the skill on you, close your eyes and try to pay attention to the energy that will enter your body."

Closing his eyes, TJ directed all his focus on the hand that was placed on his shoulder. Immediately, he began sensing the familiar feeling of lightness spreading inside his body. Turning up his level of concentration to a hundred, it was as if time slowed down for him. His mind started unveiling the light sensation, peeling its layer off to find what had really entered his body. It was some kind of energy. The surface was colorless, but the core gave out a white light which, upon closer inspection, carried a strange attribute that TJ could only describe as…lively. It was an attribute that gave life. After he was done dissecting the energy, TJ pulled himself out of his mental zone as he opened his eyes.

Noticing an intrigued expression on his friend's eyes, Magnus removed his hand and asked, "How was it? I'm guessing you got a bit of an enlightenment? Something like that?"

"Yeah," TJ replied absent-mindedly, still trying to mentally replay the image of the energy he'd just seen. "It was an enlightenment, alright. Like, literally."

"Great! Can you tell what kind of mana—"

"The thing enlightened me so much I can still see its light illuminating my blood cells."

Magnus blinked in surprise. "Never mind! I guess you were able to see that much in a matter of holy shit I only casted it for like four seconds! Dude! Are you secretly a genius?!"

'Was he this good in the original Universe too? I never knew how he started gaining power until we met again a couple of weeks after the Prolog.'

Magnus shook his head before noticing a slight change on his still-open Status Window. There was a sudden increase in his DP. 120 points, to be precise. 'Ha? The heck happened?' He then glanced suspiciously at his friend before switching his own Status Window to that of TJ's. 'Twelve points increase in his Perception stat. Great, this guy's a fucking monster.'

"Was that how mana looks like?" TJ asked, his brows furrowed. "It shines a white light and it makes you feel more alive or whatever."

"Well, yes and no. Yes because that is indeed what a type of mana looks like. No because, well, that is only one type of mana. Mana carries attributes. Elemental attributes. Not all of them give off that white light and—" As a realization crept in his mind, Magnus let out a laugh. "You know what's funny? The first skill that I'm trying to teach you is one that uses light element while you yourself are…" he stopped himself and suddenly produced a transparent glass sphere the size of a man's hand out of thin air.

TJ's eyes widened in surprise. "Where did you get—"

"Inventory," answered Magnus while demonstrating putting the sphere back in and out of Inventory, as if there was an invisible portal that sucked in and pushed out the item.

"Ah, convenient," commented TJ, quickly understanding the concept of the feature from the online games he'd played.

"Right? That's what I thought for the first time, too!" Magnus extended his hand, offering the sphere to his friend. "Here, this is called an Element Orb."

Taking the item out of Magnus' hand, TJ observed it for a few seconds. "What does it do? Did everyone have this in your future?"

"No, I—"

'We snatched it from an Arc Tower right before ascending to The Hall of Gods, for no reason whatsoever,' said Magnus 2.0. 'Now that I think about it, we did steal a lot of things, didn't we?'

Magnus glanced at his Inventory, at the rows of 'acquired goods'. 'Are we lowkey a hoarder?'

'I mean, we also stole the system.'

"Anyway, no, not everyone owned it," Magnus answered after focusing back on the Orb. "I just happened to come across one. As to what it does, it measures your element affinity."

Turning the Orb over in his hand, TJ pondered for a moment. "You already know my affinity, though, don't you?"

"Yup. But I want you to see it for yourself. This is also a test on whether you're able to sense mana in your body and send it out into the Orb."

At the statement of a 'test', TJ scoffed. "If I can sense mana, he says," he muttered. Without hesitation, he tried to recall the image of the white energy and the sensation it gave him before searching for a similar energy in his own body. At first, he failed to find it. But then he found some form of energy with a colorless core around the center of his upper torso. Wondering why the two energies looked different, he followed his instinct and attempted to turn the colorless core into one that radiated the same white light. Along with that, he also applied the lively sensation that he'd felt before into the core, before sending the energy out through his left shoulder, arm, and lastly his hand.

Meanwhile, Magnus was quietly observing his friend hard at work. Almost two minutes later, TJ showed some signs that his effort had finally paid off. His lips curled into a faint smile and his left hand—the one holding the Orb—started to display a slight change. Through his eyes that were sensitive to the movement of mana—thanks to his high Perception stat—Magnus was able to watch as TJ's hand glowed a faint white light before it flowed into the Orb.

From TJ's perspective, he suddenly received a notification from the system.

[Congratulations! You just learned the skill [Rejuvenate]!

Skill Name: Rejuvenate

Description: Alleviates the target's fatigue and slightly raises their stamina using light element mana.

Mana Cost: 5 points/second

Cooldown: None.]

Magnus threw his hands up in exasperation. 'Can't say I'm not surprised, but honestly. I should've expected as much from this monster.' He then saw a few drops of sweat trickled down TJ's forehead, and his breathing grew slightly heavier. 'He probably used a bit too much mana…oh, wait. That's not it. It's 'cause of his opposing affinity.'

He then went on to check his DP, hoping it would show a considerable increase. 'Let's see…I hope I can at least take comfort in that—' His eyes bulged noticing the numbers. '250 points! TJ you fortune-bringing monster!'

Still staring at the system screen, TJ took his time reading the skill description. He then focused in on the part that said 'light element', and then took a glance at the Orb in his hand. In it, he could see two different glowing colors that moved around as if dancing with each other. Black and red, with red taking up a little more space inside the Orb. Looking up at his friend, TJ said, "Now I know why you find it funny that I learned this skill."

Magnus chuckled. "You finally get it? Someone with a darkness element affinity having [Rejuvenate] as his first skill. How ironic."

"Wait," said TJ, furrowing his brows in confusion. "Does that mean anyone can use any element mana, despite of their affinities?"

"Of course! I don't have light element affinity either, yet you know I've used [Rejuvenate] on you multiple times."

Observing the Orb that was slowly losing its colors due to the lack of mana supply, TJ then asked, "What are your affinities, then?"

Magnus raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Huh, plural. It's as if you already knew I had more than one." He sighed and slipped his hands into his hoodie pockets. "Water, earth, air, and lightning."

"That's a lot."

"I know. That's the reason why I was chosen as a Protagonist. Anyway, back to the topic," he said, gesturing for TJ to give the Orb back to him. "Anyone can use any element mana, but obviously their affinities allow them to use certain elements with greater effect and lower mana cost." Receiving the Orb back, he immediately stored it back in his Inventory.

Glancing at Magnus' protective dome that was now invisible, TJ asked, "What attribute does that barrier you casted have?"

"It's not very obvious, is it? The mana I used carried the solid attribute of earth from the ground and then I pulled it up into the air. The barrier itself is made of air mana mixed with the solidifying attribute of earth mana."

TJ nodded in understanding. "It basically has both the attributes of earth and air elements," he summarized.

"Exactly. For your information, the capabilities of light and darkness, on their own, are pretty limited. For example, light element can only produce illumination and heal living beings, while darkness element can only cast shadows and, well, the opposite of healing the living. That's why they are called complementary elements and never appear as anyone's affinities without being accompanied by at least one basic element. Basic elements are, of course, fire, water, air, earth, and lightning."

"So, they're like, underpowered?" asked TJ, a hint of disappointment slowly showing on his face.

"No, not really. When used to complement the quality of a basic element, the skill becomes hella strong and destructive. For example, when you cast a fire element related spell, you might wanna imbue it with a bit of darkness to add rotting quality to it. What was the skill called again? Right, it was called [Death Flame]."

TJ narrowed his eyes. "Was that a skill of mine?"

Magnus grinned and nodded, reminiscing how his friend had used the maxed-out version of the very same skill to decimate entire army sent by an enemy Protagonist.