Chapter 2: Clarification
The boy was trying hard to open his eyes. Two blurry figures in white clothes chatting with each other could be seen.
The boy had realized that these people were most likely scientist from their clothing and mannerism. He closed his eyes and tried to listen in to their conversation, as he thought it might prove to be useful.
"Today is the day! We will be able to properly conduct the tests. With such a fine specimen we'll definitely be able to finish within the deadline."
The boy shuddered in fear as he got reminded of the previous test they had conducted on him. His body was still aching from the pain.
"Yeah, I hope it wakes up soon, so that we can begin."
One of the scientists looked towards the boy, and then to the monitor to besides the boy. On the monitor was a green circle which had caught the eye of the man.
"It's green."
"For real?"
"We're ready for business"
The boy realised that he had been found out and could only hope for the best.
Only one of the scientist towards the boy, he had a remote control in his hand. The other scientist stayed behind watching from afar while writing down notes. The scientist with the remote control pressed a button and suddenly the stretcher started turning up resulting in the boy facing the scientist.
The scientist with the remote control moved closer and asked the boy:
"So, how familiar are you with the concept of magic?"
A hint of excitement could be felt from the boy as his eyes had shot wide open the moment the scientist had uttered the word "magic". Within darkness a ray of light had shined upon him. If the scientist was referring to that "magic", then he had found a paradise within hell.
"Hello, is somebody there?"
The scientist waved his hand in front of the boy, trying to get his attention. The boy was still caught up in his thought, but managed to straighten himself and answered:
"N-... no."
The scientist looked at the monitor where many different numbers were displayed and looked back at the boy.
"Oh, that is a relief, but interesting as well."
The boy noticed that the scientist had read something on the monitor. He wondered if they had perhaps installed a lie detector within all of the equipment he was wearing.
"To think that someone with such potential doesn't even know what magic is."
"Well, let me explain it to you then."
"Magic is a natural phenomena that can be artificially invoked through casting spells. These spells require mana in order to be cast."
"New magic spells come forth quite frequently, as the scholars around the world further their research. Quite frankly magic has limitless potential."
"It would be better if I just showed it to you directly."
The scientist held his hand out in front of the boy and the scientist's hand suddenly started glowing. A small ball of fire had taken shape floating above the scientist's hand. The boy could feel the heat emanating from the ball of fire. It had struck him for real, magic existed.
"What's your name? Calling you specimen H-698, is quite troublesome for everyone. As an extraordinary specimen you deserve this privilege."
The boy though for a while but decided to answer. He was in the shitter anyway, so he thought nothing worse could come out of giving his name.
"Sven."
"Well now Sven, in order for you to become the specimen we all need I'll be teaching you magic. Call me Ludovic."
"Before teaching you magic I'll be explain to you what we do. This is also a privilege, you've been given."
"Approximately 20 years ago for unknown reasons the climate on this planet started to change drastically. At first the climate was drastically switching from burning hot, to stormy and further to an ice cold climate. Some were quick to act and escaped this godforsaken planet, despite the low survival rate of the escapees."
"After a few years of this climate it stopped changing and ended up as a never ending blizzard. This thick blizzard covers the whole planet and made it pretty much impossible to escape through aerial means, even with magic."
"At first nobody knew what was happening, but after thorough research and scholars cooperating with each other worldwide, they arrived to the conclusion that some mystical power or phenomena had thrown the planet out of orbit. Which had lead to the crazy climate changes."
"They also proved that the blizzard for some reason posses anti magic properties which is another reason why it's pretty much impossible to escape the blizzard through aerial means."
"At this rate our planet won't stay habitable for long."
"Today the population is approximately a meager 5 million because of the harsh weather conditions."
"What our research aims to do is to find a way from this cursed planet."
"And you are a big player in all of that."
Sven had realized that this did not sound good. Although he would learn magic, he was destined to become a test subject in the end. Looking back at his past experience, things were looking grim for him.
"Now onto the topic of magic."
"The basics of magic is being able to manipulate mana."
"However as you are now you won't be able to practise properly."
Ludovic took his remote controller and pressed on some buttons. Immediately the equipment that had previously held him in place on the stretcher were moving away making him able to move freely. Sven felt relieved and stretched his arms trying to enjoy the little freedom he had gotten.
"Happy not being tied down anymore?" Said Ludovic with a smirk on his face.
"You see, those separated handcuffs you have prevents you from using any mana when the light is on, and only a can shut it off."
Sven thought to himself that they were very wary of him, and looked down on his wrists. He hadn't previously been able to see the intricate design of the handcuffs. They looked like futuristic high tech handcuffs with led lights on the circumference. These led lights were off, which meant that Ludovic had shut it off in order for Sven to be able to practice magic.
"I will start off by teaching you the basics, and after you've got them down I'll teach you some more advanced stuff."
Sven was thrilled, he was going to learn magic, he couldn't believe it. He made sure to listen to Ludovic's teachings carefully.
"Gathering mana is the basics for magic. Without mana you can't cast any magic."
"In order to gather mana you need to relax. Sit down and meditate."
"Now imagine the mana surrounding you and try absorbing it."
Sven rigorously did his best to follow Ludovic's instructions. He sat down on the floor quietly with closed eyes and meditated. But nothing happened.
Ludovic had noticed this and decided to help Sven further.
"Think of yourself as a drain that sucks up all of the surrounding mana in the air."
Once again Sven tried to imagine himself sucking up all of the air leading it to his heart. Slowly but surely he felt something happening. His chest started filling with some unknown force and his body felt a little fuzzy. But the changes did not stop here. After a minute a wind started to appear despite them being located indoors in a room without any windows. The wind grew stronger and stronger.
Ludovic thought to himself: "What is this!? I've never seen someone have such potential, not even those 'monsters' were this efficient in gathering mana in their apprentice days, not to speak of when they were just starting out." He was astonished by Sven's mana gathering efficiency. Although he himself was more efficient it wasn't by much, but what made this unbelievable was a veteran when it comes to magic, he was an elite. To think that a newbie would be able to display efficiency at this level was unheard of.
"It seems like I was right you do have a lot of potential"
With a smirk on his face Ludovic continued:
"I think you're ready to cast your first spell"
"Using magic takes a lot of creativity, there are no right or wrong ways of casting magic. You can cast a spell simply by thinking of it. However, using motions or chants can aid the spell and with some more advanced spells it can be hard, or pretty much impossible to cast without any kind of aids."
"You can start by trying to gather your mana above your fingertip and imagining a ball of fire."
Sven felt like he had lived his whole life just for this moment. He focused his mana on to his finger tip and imagined a ball of fire. He remembered the ball of fire that Ludovic had previously shown him and started to imagine more aspects of it. The size, the color and the heat. He saw that something small had started to take form. Slowly but surely a small ball of fire was floating just above his finger.
"Perfect, so far so good" Ludovic was happy with the results and was looking forward to when Sven would be proficient enough in magic to start using him as a test subject.
"Well then, let's move on to something more difficult."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Lagom
Lagom This one is a bit longer than the last one, I hope you like it! ? ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
Weekly Power Status
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