บท 37: My powers part 2

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"So how do you feel young lad?"

"Greetings professors. Nothing special to account for."

Kiel recognised both of them. One was among the instructors of his group and the other was the chief executive officer of the Light Academy. Although he forgot his name.

"My my such a great lad. You should have seen the both of us. I am professor Ian, he is CE Guman Mitarashi. We are here to inquire about your health."

[CE- chief executive]

"Well, as I said, the young man has no problems. He can even start running now if required. No weakness at all. He is even better than expected. You should believe the expert here."

"Hello! Nice to meet you all. I am Kiel Dmitriev." Kiel greeted everyone with a bow even the clumsy nurse.

"Professor, do you mind if I ask how did I get here?"

"Well, not at all young man. You fainted during the awakening. So we carried you here for a medical check-up. It seems that you have an A-grade mana aptitude. And during the awakening, you manifested a large scale mana phenomenon which took a toll on your weak physique. Your body couldn't handle such a large intake of pure mana, resulting in your fainting."

Mana aptitude. Kiel knew what it was. If you think all you need is elements to practice mana then you are all wrong.

The classification of mana aptitudes is the one that specifies the affinity towards mana of a certain individual and the growth of the same individual in mana practising. It is also the grades in aptitudes that determine how fast one would come into contact with mana.

In other words, those with higher aptitudes would get a HEADSTART with respect to those of the lower aptitudes. And in this competitive and cruel world, where strength reigns supreme, once someone falls back, they would forever remain as tails of the stronger ones. Unless… they have some fortuitous encounter, not that it was unheard of.

Well, fortune favours the brave… not the fool though.

Some even state that the higher one's mana aptitude, the better chances one would have to reach the higher stages. Basically, mana aptitude was something like one's innate affinity towards mana. The greater their affinity, the greater and most importantly the faster the chances to attain higher magical stages, resulting in greater strength, fame and finally lifespan.

After all, let's be honest here, who doesn't want to live longer?

As taught before to the kids, and what Kiel recalled from his classes, mana aptitudes were classified into six grades, starting from the lower F-grade to all the A-grade.

Like what Kiel knew everyone during their awakening obtain a pure first strand of mana. And mana is by nature wild. So they have to tame the energy using their respective elements and simulate the feeling they felt during their awakening to sense the mana around themselves and gradually circulate the mana within themselves and finally manipulate it. This would be the requirement to reach the peak of Inceptor rank.

The F-grade or what some others tend to call it, the Failed grade. Below this grade all grades are worthless. So no point in knowing them. These are those who can't even sense the mana around them even after five years. Hence, no academies want them. Or you just need wealth hehe. To be honest, they don't have the talent to be a mage. Kiel's twin sisters also fell in this category. That's why Derek called them trashes.

After that comes the E-grade, or the Passing grade. Those having this grade can sense mana around them in five years and can so practice mana at a slow but steady rate. This grade ensures that you can join academies and can have better job security later on.

The third in order is the D-grade or the Decent grade. Those having this aptitude can sense mana in three to five years. Only from the D-grade can one get a headstart above others.

Then comes the C-grade who can sense mana in one-three years.

B-grade in at most a year and A-grade in six months.

Except for these grades, there also exists the legendary S-grade who can are said to be able to sense mana in at most a month. There is nothing to say about these people. But rumours has it been since that there exist some individuals with special constitutions who can innately sense mana(from birth). But these were as rare as phoenix feathers and dragon scales. What can be told about them except calling them cheats? So let's not talk about them.

"Young man you are now five. Do some training to keep your body fit. Although you have great mana aptitude, it doesn't mean that you should avoid some pain. It would keep physicians like me away haha"

"Hmm… ok" Kiel woke up from his thoughts. He looked at the pair of stern professors standing beside him along with a middle-aged self-proclaimed physician and the same fidgeting nurse from before.

He was thinking about what would happen if he told them he can sense all the mana around them like some floating tiny clouds filled with many colourful particles. If he focused just a little, the tiny meridians within would fill up with mana and present to him a colourful world from some unknown fantasy.

Big clouds of cyan particles mixed with light blue particles. There we're even many orange ones floating about. Near their feet were mostly fogs of brown particles. Shiny gold particles were also swirling about abundantly in the sunlight and some black and grey colour particles in the dark corners and shadows. There were even a little silver and purple particles appearing and then disappearing. All these sceneries were so magical that Kiel had no words to describe them.

Hehe… it would be funny to see their faces if he told them about this.

<Hey! Looks like your own species here is underestimating you! How about clarifying them about your aptitude?>

'You are still there?'

[A/N: from now on " " means conversations; ' ' means thoughts; < > means system barking. And no the system is not a dog!]

'Hmm?... ok fine'

The sudden outburst of the system woke him from the magical world. But suddenly he felt a little light-headed. It was a little exhausting to focus for now.

But Kiel had no time to think about it as he could feel that if the system had a face now, she would be probably pouting so hard now. Well whatever, let's continue the story.

" Young man? What happened? Where were you lost?"

"Oh sorry. Just a little light-headed. So what we're talking about?"

'Can't tell you who was I talking to and what I can see, now can I?'

"Oh ok then. We were saying that do you feel any elemental traces in your body like feeling hot, cold, or something like that?"

"Hmm, nothing like that"

"Don't shrug it off so fast. Focus for a bit" Ian seemed to be worried even more than Kiel.

"Oh…" Kiel focused within himself for a bit to see was anything was like that.

<Beep! Beep! Beep! Congratulations you just discovered a new otherworldly system. Nothing else there. Host! I already did a scan. You should wait for the in-depth scan to finish.>

Kiel could already feel his veins popping up. All his life he preferred silence more than anything. And now imagine a constant beeping sound within your mind buzzing about. Kiel would have already put himself under a microscope if he didn't know there was a system within him.

'Do you have a mute button installed?'

<Beep… The host has good humour. I don't exist physically. So no questions of buttons>

"…"

<…>

And this was the day that Kiel decided ignorance is bliss.

"Hmm. Nothing… so what elements did I awaken?"

Although Kiel knew the answer he couldn't help but think that maybe the system had some error. But he didn't fail to notice the slightly disappointed faces of the two professors for a moment.

"Hmm… it seems a little complicated. You don't have any elemental traces despite having such high mana aptitude. We were wondering if there was an error in the readings, but we see its true. Sigh! How can such mana affinity exist without any accompanying element?"

"Ya, you are right Ian. According to the Mana-mine theory, we consider mana to be a precious gem and an element as the ore form of it. We can only extract a mineral from its ore. But in this case, it's like there is no ore at all. How can a mineral exist without its ore form? Odd isn't it?"

"Definitely odd sir."

"But we know magic is an even odder phenomenon. We still know so little about it to this day. So this is nothing new about it."

"True"

"Hmm. Professor? Although I don't like to disturb you two, can I get a discharge now? My aunt is waiting at home and as the doctor said I'm perfectly fine."

"You should… "

"Oh… ok, you can. We will report your case to the superiors. We have your data. We will let you know if there are any results."

"Ok. Thank you, sir!" Kiel did notice something about prof Ian, but he didn't mind it. After all, there was nothing he could do about it. And he even got discharged due to the CE. So what was there to complain?

"Oh, and young man, remember to take your mana awakening certificate along with the standard practice manual. It will help you a lot."

"Yes. Thank you. Goodbye sires"

Kiel bowed a little to the professors and physician and walked out closing the door. But he didn't forget to smile at the cute nurse before that. And she fidgeted even more which was kinda funny.

"Phew finally out! Let's go home! Aunt Ena would be glad to know I have grade A aptitude hehe"

"Sir CE why did you stop me from detaining him here for further tests. He is a peculiar case. And maybe we could have even recruited him now. "

"Sigh! Ian although you are good in theoretical and teaching stuff, you don't know much about people psychology."

"What do you mean sir?"

"What I mean is…" Guman noticed that they were not alone and so he turned towards the doctor

"Sir, can you leave us alone for a moment here?"

"Sure. Right away sir. You can take your time."

There was no hesitation in the physician's expression and both he and the nurse went out leaving the duo alone.

"Excuse us then"

Seeing they were alone Guman continued...

"Now Ian what I meant to say was that didn't you notice that kid was way too calm for his age. And even while talking to us, he had no apparent change in his expressions. No reverence towards us even, like what you expect from these little kids. If you tell a little appreciation only. It was like he was already used to talking to people at our level."

"Now that you mention it Sire" Ian also recalled the little boy to be without any nervousness talking to them.

Hehe if Kiel was here he would only shrug it off by saying that he had been handling old fogeys like them for almost half his life. So why would he be nervous talking to them? More to say, even they had to pay their respects to him. And… he was also an old fogey not long ago.

"Not only that, he didn't even flinch when hearing about his mana aptitude or having no element. Usually, they would make a lot of fuss here. But to him, it was like not that big of a deal. Quite an interesting kid."

"But sire that's all the more reason to keep him here."

"Sigh! Ian patience. What meant to be ours will become ours. And what do you think, if we kept him here would he care from his attitude? And even if we did won't he rebel?"

"But..."

"No buts. I know you are telling me I could recruit him or could handle it better. But it would be too much effort. Besides he is only five. Let him enjoy his freedom for a few more years. If he still can survive the ordeal without breaking down and can still cultivate, then there would be some value in him otherwise to invest. And what do you think can we teach him now if he doesn't even have an element."

"... "

" I also heard that he is without a father. So let's show some humanity where we can. But we can even keep an eye on him. So don't worry. Let's just report the case as it is. It's not like he would vanish somewhere now"

"Alright, sir. As you wish" Ian still seemed a little unsatisfied.

Seeing him like this Guman only sighed. "Remember prof Ian forcing others don't always lead to a great outcome"

The stern man's look did soften a little. But it went unnoticed. Looks like everyone holds their own secret.