Magic.
That one concept, one word, the very epitome of this world-
-Was the reason of all my humiliation, my suffering, and my parents' death.
Why did it exist?
Why did whoever created the universe include magic in it?
Why must I, and I alone, have to bear the burden of being a weak, powerless trash?
All of that is unimportant now. All of it is in the past.
This swirling energy I felt in my body...mana - was what I was missing for the past 14 years. And now...everything seemed to fall in place - like the satisfaction of when a machine is completely put back together after falling apart, except that no one purposefully caused it: the machine had always been broken.
It was unmistakable - all the lessons I went through in my first year at Shenzhen Magic High School about detecting mana in your body and the basic foundations of magic - this was an exact replica of what I had imagined based on the information I had received...except for one tiny detail.
This energy, was POWERFUL.
Mr. Wang had said in a lesson not long after we first arrived at the school:
"If you feel a slight tremor in your Dantian as if something is swirling around in your lower abdomen area, that means you have a sufficient amount of mana in your body. The stronger the vibration, the more mana you have."
Right now, I felt as if someone had injected a Level One Earth Element spell, Earth Quake, directly into my body. The trembling that had been described by any teachers or textbooks were nothing in comparison to this. The movement in my Dantian was so strong, in fact, that I was already beginning to feel dizzy - and not even a minute had passed since I broke free from the chains (which were now nowhere to be seen).
I did my best to clear my head and slowly began to remember the events that had led up to this situation. I had a lot of questions, but they could be saved for later. Time was the only thing I had, after all-
No. That was what I would've said in the past. But now...it's different. I have power now. I have the ability to protect the things and people that I care about.
And...I also have the power to take revenge.
Putting that aside, I looked around. The smokescreen from earlier was still up, but I doubted such a thing could've masked the heart-felt yells I had unleashed earlier. Thinking back on it now logically, it was quite a bad move. I could already hear murmurs and talks coming from outside including guesses at what had happened and how multiple people have already informed the police.
Deciding that this will be a hassle to explain as I looked at the evidence of offensive magic laid out all around, I proceeded to get out of here. But something long and golden stood out in contrast with the dark floor.
"...Feng Mian?" I murmured.
I quickly went over and fanned the smoke away from her. Feng Mian's elegant figure was still beautiful, even while unconscious and stained by the smoke. Her clothes were...well, inappropriate for a proper lady, to say to the least. Averting my eyes, I picked her up in a princess carry and mused at how light she was - but then I realized: I can't climb with someone in my arms.
It wouldn't be too long until the police arrived, and the only exit I could reach without climbing up was the dark alleyway's entrance where a huge crowd was gathered, by the active chatter. I thought about it for a while...
"Well...it's worth a shot." I said to myself.
Still holding Feng Mian in my arms, I shut my eyes tight and concentrated as hard as I could. I searched through my index of all the different Level One magic spells I had learned over the years, but were unable to put into reality. At all magic schools, students were required to learn all elements, even if they didn't awaken it. This was because there was a chance they would awaken them in the future - when they broke through to the next level mage.
Indeed - there was a system to awaken elements. It was known as The Awakening. Whenever you were promoted to the next level as a mage, you were granted an opportunity by the International Magic Foundation to gain another element - although how many you managed to wake in one Awakening was based solely on your own aptitude. All the Foundation did was provide you with an Awakening stone - one stone had mana traces of all 21 elements, and the one(s) you had most affinity with would be awoken within your body.
Sounds amazing, doesn't it? However, this was under the prerequisite that the candidate in question had mana to begin with, and of course - already awoken elements from when they were born. In addition, breaking through to the next stage was no easy feat - the difference between Spell Tiers are far more distant than they seem. It's roughly at a 1:10 ratio - a single Level Two spell would take 10 Level One spells to counter it. The same applies for Level Three spells - 10 Level Two spells would be needed to counter it, and so on.
That being said, there was an upgrade system developed by the Foundation to allow Level One spells to reach the power of a Level Three. The max you could upgrade a spell was two times, meaning you couldn't take a Level Two spell and upgrade it into one with the destruction power of a Saint-Tier spell. In addition, you couldn't upgrade Saint-Tier or Divine-Tier spells - the mana and technology required for that is far beyond what the Foundation currently has. They are on a completely different plane of existence from the tiers before it.
Upgrading is certainly a strong tool - but everything comes with a price fitting for it. Only the wealthiest of people were able to purchase Upgrade Runes, which was the essential catalyst to upgrade a spell. Furthermore, the total price only increased for upgrading spells with a higher base tier. For example, upgrading a Legendary-Tier spell would cost considerably more than a Level Three one. The higher the base tier, the more and higher-quality Upgrade Runes you would need. Thus, most people just abandon their basic spells and go for more advanced ones as soon as they get a chance to.
That, too, comes with a price too, however. Level Two spells were obviously harder to learn and cast than Level One spells. On the other hand, if you simply upgraded a Level One spell, you wouldn't have to spend time learning a more advanced technique. It would also save you casting time in battle - in which even a fraction of a second could decide the outcome right then and there.
After going through my mental index for a little, I found what I was looking for. Level One Blessing Magic - Potentia Salire: Casting Instructions.
Blessing Magic was the opposite of Curse Magic. It was mainly used to cast enhancements and buffs on others, or to cancel out Curses. This buff in particular fell under the Spell Family of Potentia - a series of spells that enhance basic abilities, such as jump height, speed, sense, or strength. The only ones I knew were Level One spells, but they were enough for this situation.
I didn't know what element exactly I had awoken, but at this point I could only give everything a try. If it didn't work, I would have to figure something else out.
After briefly going through the casting directions (which I had already completely memorized, like I did with all other spells I was taught) I put all my focus into the casting, just as the instructions had stated.
"Potentia Excitant: Salire!"
Immediately, I felt immense strength coming into my legs, and my body feeling a lot lighter, even while carrying Feng Mian (who wasn't all that heavy herself). It appeared that the casting was successful.
So the element I had awoken is the Blessing element? I was quite disappointed, considering there aren't any offensive-type spells in the Blessing element that I knew of. All I could do was provide support...which wasn't really my style. They say that all elements have their own personalities, and the one that you awaken was supposed to have one that matched your own.
...Then why had I awoken this element?
Well - now was not the time to worry about that. I took a deep breath, and leapt up with all my strength, careful to not drop Feng Mian. Surprisingly enough, I made the roof in one leap. Although it was only 6-7 meters tall, that was still two stories - and jumping directly to the top of a two-story building was no small feat, even with magic. Quite frankly, I was bewildered at how effective Level One magic was...albeit I've never seen any other Blessing element mages at Shenzhen Magic High School cast a Potentia spell with such high efficacy.
Thinking back, the tremor in my Dantian that was supposed to be 'slight' did seem like an earthquake...
...Like it was in Chaos.
However, this reasoning didn't make sense either as the amount of mana you have has nothing to do with the effectiveness of your spells. Your mana capacity only defined whether or not you would be able to cast the spell - the power of the spell shouldn't be altered.
Mentally adding this to the already overflowing list of questions that I had, I set Feng Mian down on the roof and proceeded to wake her up. I wouldn't get anywhere with her like this.
However, as I got closer to her, a sudden hostility took place within my heart-
"She's an enemy," it seemed to say.
"She's lying to you," it continued.
"It was all an act," it carried on further.
These words...brought back a faint sense of déjà vu somehow. Wait - I remember now! This was when-
"K̶̶͟I̶̶̧̛ĹL̴̴͝ ̶͟͢H̶͡È̶̕͟͡R͘͞-̢̢͡"
"UGH!" I let out a sudden cry of pain as a sharp headache hit me.
I quickly stepped away from Feng Mian and collapsed. After a short while, the pain subdued.
"...What was that?" I asked no one in particular.
That faint voice from earlier...was it telling me...to KILL her?
That's...no. I would never kill someone innocent.
But...where have I heard that voice before?
It was female and soothing, yet grand at the same time - fitting for an empress. But the words it said-
-Lacked all human conscience and morals, betraying her queen-like tone.
But before I could think deeply about the matter, a slight movement in front of me captivated me.
"Mmrnghh..." a soft and feminine sound, in contrast to the imposing voice from just earlier, rose up.
It was Feng Mian. She rubbed her eyes in a cute gesture, then looked around her - and at last her eyes landed on me.
"Xu...Xuan Kai?" she asked uncertainly.
"...It's me," I replied. "Sorry, did I wake you?"
"U-Um, I'm fine...but why...how...?" she seemed to be confused at the situation. But that could come later, because-
"...I'll explain everything to you later, but for now, would you mind covering up?" I said as I averted my eyes from her perfect figure.
"H-Huh? A-Ah!" Feng Mian appeared muddled at first, but looks like she finally noticed.
Her current attire, as previously stated, were in no way appropriate for a proper lady to wear in public. Several of the buttons on her uniform were nowhere to be found, leaving her chest area nearly completely exposed. Her skirt, as well, seemed to have received a little of bit of damage from the aftereffects of the Abomination Flare from earlier. Thus, from my point of view, her bra and panties were on full display.
As she hurriedly pulled together her uniform with one hand and covered up her panties with the other, there was no mistaking the deep flush on her face. Maybe I shouldn't have told her, after all?
No, no, no. That would only get me into more trouble later, lest she accuses me of gazing at her in a perverted manner.
"U-Um, I'm done." Feng Mian finally said.
"Good. Now...I expect you want to hear the full story about what had happened while you were unconscious, so I'll just start from the beginning-"
"W-Wait." Feng Mian interrupted me mid-sentence.
Annoyed wouldn't be the right word, I was more like confused. She wanted to know, did she not? I raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "...Yes?"
"B-Before you tell me..." Feng Mian stopped and looked away sheepishly. "W-Would you mind p-putting on some c-clothes as well?"
Huh?
Oh.
I glanced down at myself and realized that this entire time, I hadn't been wearing anything on the top half of my body. I could hardly be blamed, however - any fabric I had been wearing at the time was burnt mercilessly to a crisp by the Abomination Flare.
Good thing what was covering the bottom-half as well as my 'member' wasn't incinerated as well. Otherwise, I would've been labeled as a pervert for the rest of my life (not that the current rumors about me were any better). I looked around for something to wear, but to no avail.
"...Er, I can't seem to find any-"
"H-Here." Feng Mian interrupted me once more, but this time with her uniform jacket in her outstretched hand, which she held out towards me.
"...Uh...Are you sure?" I asked.
"I-I have something u-underneath, so it's f-fine!" she replied hastily with a blush.
Although she was embarrassed herself, she still didn't hesitate to give me her clothes.
What a nice girl-
"K̶̶͟I̶̶̧̛ĹL̴̴͝ ̶͟͢H̶͡È̶̕͟͡R͘͞-̢̢͡"
"UGH!" the same headache from before struck once more, and I clutched my head in a futile attempt to ease the pain.
"W-Wha-!" Feng Mian was surprised, but her expression immediately changed to one of concern. "X-Xuan Kai, are you okay?! H-Hey! Stay with me!"
But alas, this time, I could not suppress the pain and hold on any longer.
The only thing I could do now was try to ease her fear-
"...Don't...worry..."
...I'll...be...fine...
-But I didn't have the strength to muster out the final three words before everything faded to darkness.
...No one noticed the single shadow that fled from the top of the massive IMF Tower, holding a telescope in one hand.