First Elemental (Part One)

As a poor man, Hazel loved abundance. The many options in the [Celestial Gardens of Nine Stars] really clicked in his brain. He imagined himself wielding the power of nine special elements. Phoenix flame with healing property for his support; Abyss Elder darkness  as his crowd control and defense. With those things and other special elemental properties, he imagined himself as an invincible being under the sky.

"Mircalla, I will choose [Celestial Gardens of Nine Stars]!" Hazel exclaimed.

"I think that's suitable for you too," Mircalla replied, nodding in approval. "Then let's prepare things for you to learn the breathing technique."

"I need to prepare things?"

"Of course. You picked a top quality technique. It will cost a lot."

"Fine. What should I do?"

"First. Let's pick your first elemental phase—"

Before Mircalla could finish her words, Haz interrupted. "I want darkness, or fire, or lightning!" There were nine elements, but fire, darkness, and lightning were his most favorite.

Mircalla sighed. "Hear me out first. Sadly, you can't choose your first elemental phase. Your first will be the nature element."

"Hm, I don't mind, but why that element?" Hazel asked as he suppressed his excitement. He needed to remind himself that he was lucky to learn an elemental property aura. Most people couldn't hope to contain elemental property in their auras, and he would have nine elemental properties! So, he needed to be grateful.

"I will explain later. First, can you buy a middle-grade wood stone from the store?"

Hazel immediately opened the system's store and found the middle-grade wood stone. However, he widened his eyes when he saw the price. "500 points?"

"Buy it with your special points. You still have 600, right? It is low cost, considering your elemental will have a special property."

Hazel bought the product with a heavy heart. Even though she said it was low cost, losing 500 points still bled his heart. One point was equal to one dollar. So, he just lost $500 dollars like that.

After buying the stone, Hazel placed the stone on the ground as per Mircalla's instruction. As he was wondering what she was going to do, Mircalla suddenly sucked his mana, weakening him, but he let her do it because he believed in her.

Mircalla could absorb her host's mana to ignite her aura. She could let the host use her borrowed aura, or she could temporarily create a tangible body. She chose the latter.

Her body emanated light, and she descended from the air. Mircalla smiled at him and slapped his back. "We officially met."

Hazel blushed when her tangible form touched him. Even though he let her float around him every time and everywhere, it was because she was in her spiritual body. However, standing in front of her tangible body made him nervous.

As if sensing his nervousness, Mircalla giggled. "Look at your face. So cute. This sister would love to tease you more, but I only have a little time."

Mircalla walked toward the stone and knelt beside it. She smiled at him as she ignited her aura.

Red aura clad her body and destroyed the ground around her. The aura emitted a pressure that could literally destroy things, but she suppressed it so it wouldn't destroy anything.

"Look, Hazel. This is my special aura." After saying that, her aura turned blue, and it didn't emit pressure anymore. "Every aura user who possesses a special property can change their aura to a normal one anytime. We can also erase the color of our aura so we can hide from tracking abilities, so you need to be careful around aura users. Now...."

After explaining a few things about aura, Mircalla touched the green stone on the ground with her normal aura. Suddenly, the stone emitted green light, and it spread shining green roots across the ground. The root kept spreading until it covered both of them in a green circle. After that, it stopped expanding.

Mircalla cleared her throat and chanted something in an unfamiliar language. As she finished speaking, the roots below them shot out little green orbs to the air. These orbs gathered into one and created a body.

As the light around the body disappeared, they could see a figure of an old man. He had hunched back. His brown skin was dry like that of a tree bark. He had long, shriveled green hair and beard. However, the most eye-catching feature of him was that he had pointy ears, a clear feature of a noble humanoid race that came to Earth one hundred years ago, the elves.

The elf old man widened his eyes when he saw Mircalla. "Huh, is that you, Mircalla?"

Mircalla welcomed his question with an open arms and wide smile, as if expecting a hug, but the brown-skinned elf looked at him suspiciously, making her pout her cheeks. "This is indeed me, grandpa. Don't tell me you forget the face of your granddaughter? I even called you with the secret message that I and you know."

The old man, however, wasn't convinced of her. He didn't walk toward her, and instead, he extended his arm and shot out a branch from his palm. The tip of the branch emitted a gentle light as it tapped her forehead gently.

After a while, the old man retracted the root into his hand back and looked at her with teary eyes. "It's really you, my granddaughter." After saying that, both of them walked close to each other and embraced each other.

"Oh my gosh, I will make whoever turned you into this state pay."

"Grandpa, your way of talking has changed."

"On God. I just follow the trend of humans for real."

It was supposed to be a touching scene, but Hazel couldn't help but cringe because of the old man's way of talking. He sounded like this era's teenagers. Even some teenagers didn't speak like him.

Sensing his disgusting gaze, the old man looked at Hazel carefully. "And who might this child be? He is not yours, isn't he?"

Mircalla's face flushed, and she denied, "Grandpa, how can you say that? I have zero experience with men!" She immediately closed her mouth after saying that.

Hazel grinned at her and teased, "Zero experience, huh." He held back his urge to laugh because he caught her lying, but at the same time, he felt happy for a certain reason. He couldn't help but think, 'Are men in her world swinging that way? How did they leave this heavenly beauty alone for centuries?'

"Then who is he? Shall I get rid of this puny human?" the old man asked.

Mircalla laughed bitterly and said, "Don't do it. He is my only disciple and my benefactor. Do you see the ring on his finger?"

The old man looked at the blue-jeweled ring in his hand and widened his eyes. "Father's Love! So you really got it."

"I will explain to you the details later. For now, I need your help. My disciple is learning [Celestial Gardens of Nine Stars]. He needs a special elemental property for his first phase."

The old man caressed his beard and said, "Why don't you introduce me to him first?"

Mircalla slapped her forehead and stuck out her tongue in a cute manner. "Aish, how rude am I? Then, Hazel... meet my grandpa. He found me on the street and adopted me as his granddaughter."

The old man cleared his throat and introduced himself. "Wassup, bro. Just call me Paradicus."

Mircalla grabbed his arm and shook his body. "Grandpa... Please talk normally. Don't make me lose my face in front of my disciple," she demanded in a childish tone like when a kid asked something from their parents.

Paradicus tilted his head as he looked at the air. "But I have been talking like this for a century. How did I talk before I visited the Earth again? Aish, I forget, dear. Just let me talk like this in peace."

Hazel cleared his throat and said, "I don't mind. It doesn't decrease my views of you." Of course, he lied a bit. His way of speaking cringed him, but he still could let it pass. What mattered when judging someone was the deeds he had done. The old man saved Mircalla when she was a child, so he needed to judge him from his honorable action that he knew of.

Following his acceptance of the old man, the system window appeared in front of him.

[Paradicus's affection toward you has increased by 5!]

"Hehe, bro understand me well. Anyway, what is your name, bro?"

Hazel put his hand on his chest and bowed slightly before introducing himself. "Pardon me for my late introduction. My name is Hazel Larson, sir," he said in the most formal way he had learnt of. He wasn't the type to do this, but he did this to give an example to the old man.

"Hazel Larson." The old man nodded in approval and continued, "Alright. I will let you gain a special element for your first phase, but  you need to promise me something first."

[A new quest has appeared! Do you want to check it?]