Lightning Affinity [2]

*Crackle*

A small young man was sitting in the middle of his small room with purple sparks coiling around his right hand. After a few seconds, he laid down, spreading his limbs across the floor.

'FUCK YEA!'

Too tired to scream for real, I rejoiced internally instead. After five days of hellish meditation and mana stimulation, always ending in either passing out or feeling as if I had gone through a full-on cross-fit competition, I finally had some control over my internal element.

As I had theorized before, I really did only inhabit an affinity for lightning. As absurd as it might seem, there were no indications of either fire or wind inside of me. When extending my senses internally, all I had found was a purple mass which colored the light blue mana going through it.

This was my elemental affinity. As I guided my mana through the affinity, it got converted into lightning energy. Energy defined by its speed, fierceness, and elusiveness. Although I couldn't recall what elements my game character had in my previous life, I assumed I had chosen the lightning element without anything else.

Even though I had spent four days putting all my time into desperately trying to awaken my lightning, it seems like it was a boon to only having to think about one affinity. Instead of having to discover and awaken both fire and wind, I could focus all my time on lightning.

In addition, when practicing the conversion of my mana, I realized I had another advantage over other lightning users. Instead of having to delicately split my mana convert it into two elements and then fuse the energies, I just had to guide my mana through my one, single affinity.

Although I had spent most of my waken time practicing, I knew my progress had been incredibly fast. According to the book, it would have taken the average individual at least a month to reach the level I was at now, being able to a lesser degree coat my body with elemental mana. A fast individual would need 2-3 weeks while a genius would need at least a full week of directed training. I had only needed five days on my own.

Looking back at the memories I had, I had, in fact, never actually tried any sort of mana-related training in my life. It seemed to be because of always having to run away and avoid people at the orphanage, but also because Miren had never seen the value of being strong. Why even try to fight when you could run away? As almost all adults had given up on the demon child, they hadn't forced the issue either.

'Maybe I am a prodigy?'

While thinking about the prospects and the bright future of possibly being a genius, I sat up and looked at my DAD.

'2nd of January'

Tomorrow would be the day when I got officially recognized as a student of Kirkegaard. While I had spent almost two months at the academy, my actual academy was starting. Making friends, learning about the intricacies of mana, growing stronger, and finding the love of my life!

...

Maybe not. Nonetheless, I was still very excited. Although I knew it would be hard trying to prove myself to the teachers and fitting in with the other, in my eyes, giant students, I felt my heart beat with anticipation once more.

As I stood up I could feel my body screaming from the torture it had been put through. These weeks had by no means been easy. With the exception of some small pauses, in the form of getting a pair of basic daggers and a pair of self-repairing sneakers from Mike and going out to eat, I had spent all my time training.

While I had continued to run in the evening after dinner, I had switched some of my morning runs in exchange for going to the practice field and swinging my daggers at a dummy. With the incredibly basic movements I had learned at the orphanage, I had tried my best to inflict at least some damage. Although I felt like I was incredibly fast, and my swings sharp and accurate, it always ended up the same. About two meters to the side the screen connected to a combat monitoring system was standing, always containing the same prompt after I had finished my training.

[NEGLIGIBLE DAMAGE, PROCEED TO INCREASE THE POWER OF ATTACKS]

....

'If I could do that wouldn't I already have done it?! Who would try to train just to play around?!'

The rest of my time had been spent meditating, stimulating my mana reserves, and practicing controlling the mana, including elemental conversion. This had created a situation where I felt as if my body was falling apart. As my majestic stature was fully extended I once more looked at my DAD to check the time.

[18:55]

Although it was a bit later than my usual dinner time, as I had been in a sort of trance while playing around with trying out my lightning, it was still acceptable. I went into the bathroom for a quick wash before heading out to fill my empty stomach.

***

Sitting at my usual corner I was nibbling on a piece of delicious meat. As I hadn't really had the time to relax up until this point I hadn't really appreciated the quality of the food which they served here. Even though a lot of the more luxurious had their own stationed chefs to make individual meal plans, the food at the cafeteria was still incredible. Crispy potatoes with well-prepared beef, with a side of steamed vegetables. After focusing on the food, I had also gotten to know that all of it boosted your mana pool to a very slight extent. I had no complaints about the food at all. If there were any complaints, it would be the fact that I had to sit in a public space and eat.

Today a lot of students had returned after celebrating the New Year with their families. As such, the cafeteria was crowded. With several students bumping into me while waiting to be served it was quite annoying. Because they all were a lot taller than me they had missed the fact that there was, in fact, a small student in the room. Although I had been met with polite apologies when they finally noticed me, it was quite infuriating.

'There's so much noise..'

The usually quiet cafeteria had also gotten a lot louder. Cheerful older students meeting up once again after a long break, laughing and sharing stories. Girls giggling, talking about boys and New Year's eve parties. Guys loudly bragging about what seemed to be made-up stories about their romantic conquering of girls.

*Pok*

'So annoying...'

No, I wasn't jealous. I had chosen to stay at the academy, instead of going back to the orphanage, in an attempt to try to build at least some sort of foundation before my student life started. Something I had indeed succeeded to a certain extent. Although I was probably still on the lower side of a rank II, as my mana grade wouldn't have been able to increase by a meaningful amount in the week and a half after breaking through, I had at least awakened my lightning magic.

'Why would I even have wanted to spend my time playing drinking games, {the legal age of drinking in this world is 16 years old, as well as the age where you are regarded as a young adult} flirting with girls and watching the huge mana imbued fireworks? No, of course, I wouldn't want that...'

With tears in my eyes and a mind full of denial I finally raised my eyes after finishing the food. As I walked towards the exit with my head facing down, I was once again bumped into and fell to my feet.

"HOW HARD IS IT TO LOOK DOWN ONCE IN A WHILE?!"

As my patience finally had run dry I let out an aggressive retort towards the man who had bumped into me. Looking up at the tall man I felt a weird sensation. A part of me knew this man. I did not know his name nor could I ever remember actually having seen him, but I knew him. It was the hero, the man who would protect mankind from all dangers approaching. Swordsman of the light element, the hidden descendant of the Luminary family ruling district 5.

'Fuck... I guess I really am stuck in the same time period as the game...'

Although this seemed like a fun and exciting thing, at this point in time it was a headache. I hadn't gotten nearly strong enough to survive all of the incidents that would happen, the worst part being I had no idea about the actual specifics. I couldn't remember what missions were compromised, the dates when the academy would get attacked or when monster swarms would occur. All I knew is that a lot of danger would be thrust upon me.

"Ah sorry boy, didn't see you there! Are you alright?"

Continuing my inspection of the man, I felt my face crumpling as my mind was clouded by complicated thoughts. The smile of the savior of the world seemed endlessly bright, almost if it was a symbol of his inherent abilities, as he stretched his arm towards me to help me up from the cafeteria floor.