I remember reading about the lightning attribute from the text message from God, and that it was on level 20, but I needed it to be on level 35 to charge my phone. I decided that since there was nothing else to do right now, I would try and hone this skill so that I could charge my phone.
I walked for a few meters and found a clearing in the forest which I thought would be perfect for practising lightning magic. I had watched a ton of anime and I had distinctly remembered all the main characters concentrating in order to access their powers, they would usually also call something out. I decided to give this a try.
I breathed in deeply and let it out and raised my right hand in front of me. I was sure if I was imagining it but it was as if I could feel the powers welling up inside of me.
I kept on repeating the word 'lightning' slowly and surely. I could feel it flow from my heart and then out through my fingertips. I gasped when a saw the distinct sparks of white light shooting between my fingertips and the slight cracking and buzzing sound it made. A huge smile engulfed my face. This was amazing. This was magic, real magic the kind I had always dreamed of and read about, now I had it.
Suddenly I heard the ping sound of a notification popping up on my phone. I checked the screen and it read 'lighting magic activated release a great amount of lighting magic to reach a higher level.'
I grinned. The thought of releasing a great amount of magic excited me a lot. I decided to just give it a try.
I placed my phone on the ground and raised both my hands and aimed straight ahead. Again I breathed deeply and concentrated, but this time I was thinking about small sparks I was thinking about huge lightning bolts, I was thinking about the sheer power of it, the amazing destructive force of it. I felt the huge pool of power within me, I took hold of it with my mind, let it boil and bubble to the point where the power was literally overwhelming and buzzing to be let out. Then I released it.
The result was horrifying. I was expecting a single bolt, but what came out of me was a humongous shot of electrical energy in an instant it barreled through the trees and severed many of them in half. The lighting scorched the earth it travelled over leaving nothing but black soot in its wake. I gasped at what I had done. What was once a beautiful forest scene, now had a gaping scorched hole in it. A literal ring of black scorch marks and burnt trees marred the scenery.
Ping
I picked up my phone from the ground and read the notification: ' lighting Magic Lv 35 reached, and new skill 'magic affinity' gained.'
Well, that was easy.
I thought as I realized that I had already reached my goal. I looked around dumbly not quite knowing what to do. I could either stay in this clearing and practice magic, or I could try and find a town or a village to sleep the night in and get acquainted with all the customs of this place. I decided on the second one.
I remembered that I had a skill called mapping, I was sure that a skill like that would lead me to a nearby town.
I called out the name of the skill I saw form the text message "Mapping."
This skill was incredible; suddenly my normal vision was replaced with some supercool x-ray vision. I could see my surrounding as if I were a bird flying way over my head. I could see from all directions all at the same time. I could also see all the animals trotting along and hiding within the large forest, some small deer grazing peacefully and some brides chirping in the trees. This world was so beautiful, nothing like the concrete jungle that is New York.
Viola! A few kilometres out of the opposite side of the forest was a small town. The name of the town was displayed in my Mapping vision, it read: Willow's Town. I could see quite a few people walking around and talking. I could also see some shops. I thought that maybe they would have an Inn or someplace where I could sleep the night. I thought that that would be the best start to this journey of mine, find a bed to sleep in and get some money for your travels, or whatever they trade-in on this planet.
I set off walking through the forest. Luckily for me there was a trail of some sort leading through it, the trail seemed to twist and wind and after a while, I wondered if the person who had made this path was drunk, but after checking with my mapping vision a few times, I was satisfied that I was going the right way.
Two hours later I decided to stop for a break. Trekking through a forest was really too much for a lazy city girl like me, even a magically reincarnated city-girl like me. I sat gently down on a smooth looking rock to rest my aching legs and feet for a while and let my eyes wander and really appreciate the beautiful scenery of green fresh forestry. I noticed cute storybook-like red and white mushrooms popping up from between tree roots. Also, pastel-coloured flowers swaying gently in the breeze. Then I noticed something popping out from the long grass off to one side of the path. There was a carriage or cart of sorts laying on its side, a few meters to the right. Its wooden structure was still intact but it was definitely toppled over.
How strange. Just a random cart lying on its side in the middle of a forest. I navigated my way through the long grass to go and get a better look. When I reached the wooden cart I saw that piles of chopped wood had spilled over the side of the cart and were just laying there next to it. I noticed that the cart had two wheels at the back and two extended wooden planks at the front. I guess it was the type of cart that a human would pull. But then where was the human?
I realized that there was a buckle of some sort sticking out from underneath the cart. It was the shine that caught my attention. I clasped my hand around it and pulled it out from underneath the cart. It was a black boot with a silver buckle on it. It looked like you classic medieval shoe from an old storybook. There was something sticky under it though. I turned the shoe around and gasped at the sight of blood on my hand. Bright red sticky blood had been smeared on my hand because I hadn't realized that there had been blood on the boot.
Blood meant that someone was bleeding. Maybe the owner of the cart... my heart thudded loudly in my chest at the thought of some poor person injured and alone in this forest. So I called out, "Hello is anybody there?"
There was no reply.
"Hello anybody? I just want to help." I called out again, but louder this time.
I heard the shakey croak of a weak voice. "Over here... Please help." The voice sounded so weak and hoarse. I immediately took off in a sprint at the direction of the voice. It didn't take me very long to find a poor man leaning his back against a tree trunk, while the rest of his body was sprawled out on the ground. My breath hitched at the sight of him. His face was an unhealthy pale colour. His eyes were exhausted and looked so hopeless. Worst of all we're his legs. I saw a huge bloodstain of one of his cotton pant legs. The blood had been thoroughly soaked into the straw-coloured pants. That same leg that was missing a shoe was bent at an unnatural angle. It was definitely broken.
I quickly pieced it all together this was probably the man who the cart belonged to. Maybe the cart had fallen on him and broken his leg. Poor guy. I wonder how long he had been out here for... Anyways what was important was that I needed to heal this guy. Hastily I ran to his side and grabbed his clammy hand.
"Hello, are you alright? Can you hear me?" I asked frantically trying to keep him awake.
Slowly he turned his head to me. His eyes met mine, and I saw that he had given up hope, maybe he thought that he was going to die here, but I was not going to let that happen.
"P-Please..." he stuttered softly, barely making out the words. "T-Tell my mother I'm sorry." His pretty blue eyes were pleading with me.
"Tell her yourself!" I shot back at home with a reassuring smile. He wasn't going to die here.
"I-It's too late for me... My leg is broken, I've lost so much blood... Please just tell my family that I love them. M-My village it just through the forest, it's called Willow's Town." He murmured slowly yet desperately trying to get me to comply.
"Hey! Listen to me. You're going to make it. I know healing magic." The guy just frowned at me. And shook his head slowly.
"It's not possible to heal me. No magic is strong enough to heal my wounds." Even though he had been a resident of this world much longer than I had, I knew that that wasn't true. Somehow I knew that my power could heal him.
I gave him one last reassuring look before beginning. He only frowned at me and was probably thinking that it was impossible.
When people get operations, one of the first things they do is get some anaesthesia. I didn't want this guy to feel any pain so I called out, "Anesthetize!"
I noticed how he looked up at me amazed. Already he looked a bit more lively.
"The pain... It's gone..." It must have worked then. Thank goodness.
"Great! Now just hold on a moment."
The next part was putting the bone back together. I took a deep breath and visualized his thigh bones realigning and reconnecting. Thankfully my magic flowed out of me and surrounded the man's leg; I watched as his bones reattached and fell back into place.
Finally the last bit. I just needed to get his flesh to heal. So I called out, "Heal!" With hearty happiness. I watched intently as the flesh meshed itself back together until there was no scar and not even a blemish, it was as if the wound was never there.
I sat back on my bottom on the grass and let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness that had worked. I turned back to the now fully healed cartman. He was gawking at his healed thigh. Slowly he stood up and walked a few paces. Again he sat down and re-examined his thigh. He retraced the gash where the cut had been but found nothing. He looked like he was in a state of shock.
Finally, he turned to look down at me. And I was a little struck by how handsome he was. He was surprisingly tall and lean. He had broad shoulders and muscular arms beneath an old aged linen shirt. Possibly from cutting down all that wood, I saw in the cart. He had a gorgeous shade of light brown hair and bright blue eyes. His look was exotic and I guess it was typical of another world. I wondered if everyone in this world would be this attractive.
My attention snapped back to him, as he crouched down in front of me. His now serious-looking blue eyes stared straight into my own dark brown ones. Another thing that startled me was his build. Perhaps it was because he was lying down, huddled against a tree that had made him look smaller than he actually was. But now as he was standing before me, I felt the full force of his masculine energy. As he stared at me I could make out a hint of bewilderment in his look, but maybe the look leaned towards confusion, maybe even upset. I realised how close he was to me - his face was probably only a few inches from mine - so I tried to inch backwards, but my back was pushed back against the tree trunk. So I just had to uncomfortably look forward, into his sharp gaze.
"Who are you?" he asked it so simply and yet I felt as if I had just been accused of murder.
"Well nobody really..." I said back softly. I couldn't manage to look into his eyes any longer, so I looked down at the ground.
"How were you able to heal me?" For someone who looked my age, he was so stoic.
"I'm a healer." He frowned at me.
"I know healers, we have a few in my village, so I know how long it takes to heal a bone or a deep cut. The shortest healing I have ever heard of was when a prince got attacked in the capital. The Royal mages came to heal him. Do you know how long it took to heal the slashes he got from the swords of the assassins?"
"No, I don't know." I felt my gut squeeze as if I had just been fought to do something bad.
"It took a whole week with two fully-fledged Royal Court mages, casting spells for hours every day."
My eyes widened with shock, no wonder he was acting so weirdly. It must have been crazy to him that I was able to heal him. But how could I explain this to him? Was I really okay to explain that actually, I had gotten this power from some Gods, would he even believe that? I decided that telling him that wasn't a good idea.
"Well, I'm just a very good healer." I tried to sound natural as I fake-laughed, but it sounded pretty fake as it came out. Consequently, he raised a thick brown eyebrow at me. But he stood up straight and took a step back.
"Thank you for saving my life."
"It's a pleasure." I smiled up at him. It felt good to save someone's life I guess. I stood up as well and noticed I was a whole head and a half shorter than he was.