Chapter 17: Mimic

Hearing a loud shout, Josh then got out from his reverie and stood with eyes full of shock. He saw Krizel peeing her pants. Her whole pink t-shirt is covered in sweat, and her face is full of snot and tears.

Because he lost his focus, his spell got automatically canceled.

He ran to the tube and kneeled to the floor where Krizel lay crying.

"Krizel! Look at me!" He shook Krizel's body.

Krizel felt the worry Josh has, and thought that things should be finally over. With her realizing that she slowly sat straight then wiped her face off the tears using the bottom half of her shirt, not caring about her flat belly being fully exposed.

"Y-you… What did you do earlier? I thought you will devour me w-whole… like a devil…" Krizel said with her red eyes visibly shaking while looking at Josh.

...

When Rico saw from the control area that a room gave of warning, he immediately left and run toward it.

Opening the door forcefully using his muscular body, he entered and saw Josh and Krizel in the tube.

"What happened?" He asked Josh upon seeing Krizel's shocked state.

"I think my spell… scared her…"

Rico then looked at Krizel and with a wave of his hand, light green glowing particles covered Krizel's whole body.

"Full Inspect" Rico said.

After some moment, Rico canceled his spell and said thoughtfully.

"You are all fine. It's just that your magic presence reserve has released too much mana until it's only a tenth of the whole. It's just a momentary backslash, nothing to be worried about. But, how the hell did this happen?"

"Sir, I think it's my spell…" Josh said to him, but he is then interrupted.

"Your spell? Can influence others' reserve? No, no, no. That can't definitely happen. Even the 10-star light magician that guards the emperor nor the 9-star darkness magician I know of can't do that…"

"Ah! Right! You're one of those who forcefully canceled their spell, right? It must have backlash, and your reserve must have exhausted its mana directly outside your body to maintain your spells…" Rico thought with his head nodding.

"Just lie there for a moment and calm yourself, little girl. Then go to the bathroom at the end of the hallway. You, boy, assist this maiden and give your clothes to her. You have boxers, right?"

"Y-yes. Okay." Josh is at a loss.

"Your name? Have you done your training?" Rico said while looking at Josh.

"Me? Josh Cloud. And, I think so…"

"Wait, let me look up the records." Rico then accessed the computer stationed in the tube. He then searched for Josh Cloud in the records.

"Wind element… A skipper! Are you sure you're done? The robots… The system must have not replaced them after the electricity outage in your room…"

"Wind?"

"Look, you even forgot your element… I'll personally supervise you."

'Wind? Like my parent's innate elements? But, I shouldn't have had one in the beginning. And my element's is 'null' as I remember in the awakening…' Josh thought deeply about what Rico said.

When Josh stood in the center facing the dummy, he felt a piercing pain in his head.

"a-ah" He muttered inaudibly.

Josh did not notice it nor Rico, but Josh's iris momentarily changed to light-green color, giving hue to his dull grey irises.

He then said unconsciously in a very low voice that even he had a hard time hearing himself,

"mimic~"

The dull grey small snake mark on Josh's chest, beneath his shirt, changed color to light-green.

'mimic what? Have I finally gone crazy?'

Without thinking about it too much, Josh focused on releasing his mana.

"Whoaa, you have a good magic presence reserve there!" Rico exclaimed when he saw the scale getting in almost half of the measurement.

"Now, use the left mana in your reserve then pour it to your mark. Make sure to flow it through your body, not from the outside."

With his earlier experience, Josh had an easier time making his mana flow into his mark.

But, no spells came off.

"Hmmm… Are you having a hard time pouring it to your mark? That's okay, skippers tend to have a harder time in grasping the basics since they are dealing with a higher-order element."

"You can try it again in the next training or do it in your free time."

"O-okay, Sir Rico," Josh said with eyes darting.

'Is this alright? Shouldn't I tell him that I really had another element?' Josh thought guiltily.

"Okay, I'll leave you guys. And wait for me to signal on the computer before you leave. I'll also bring a change of clothes for the girl. I'm just kidding earlier. HAHAHA!" Rico then said while going out.