Today coincidentally was the first day Lord Aiken would "experiment" on me. I would have much rather waited for Zora to wake up, but I knew it wasn't best to keep him waiting. The first experiment we did was fairly basic. He did the normal things like taking my pulse and watching my breathing. He said once I was freely able to manipulate Xoul that the experiments would prove to be more fruitful. So without much trouble, I attended lessons later that morning.
All of my lessons were with Cal so far. He only taught the most basic of basic concepts to ensure that we would be prepared for more advanced manipulation. Not much happened in class yesterday. Cal had taught me how to take in small amounts of Xoul from my surroundings but that was it.
I came into the library to find Cal and Zora already waiting for me. I was overjoyed to see Zora up and running again. The air around them seemed tense, no doubt because of what happened a few days ago.
"Yo, I'm glad you're ok!" I said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.
"It's good to see you too." She whispered, averting her eyes from me completely.
"I know things might be a little awkward right not. But let's try to put it behind us so we can learn as much as we can ok?" I gestured to both Cal and Zora, although Cal boasted monster strength, he seemed to have the mental capacity of a toddler.
"I think that would be best." Zora said showing a genuine smile to Cal.
"I agree. T-thank you Lady Zora, I will make sure not to be careless next time."
"It's fine, although you did give me a bit of a shock back there." Zora smirked elbowing Cal's stomach.
"HAHAHA, why of course! Your teacher here boast the large Xoul capacity in all o-"
"Yeah yeah, we've heard it all before let's just start already."
Cal briefly went over what I was taught the day before. Absorbing Xoul from your surroundings was a difficult task at first, but became as simple as breathing once you were accustomed to it. Zora picked it up fairly quickly so we were able to move on.
"Both of you have awakened your Origins and have the ability to collect and store Xoul energy in your bodies. Now it is time to learn how to use it. I would like to be able to discover your affinity's today, so we'll go through the basics quickly."
'Affinity?'
"First thing, meditate and focus on your origin, once you find it slowly try to send your energy to one point in your body like an arm or leg."
Following his instructions, I meditated and focused on my chest where my origin was. I could feel the energy inside my origin waiting to be commanded. I tried my best to will the energy in the direction of my arm. However, the further I got the more difficult it became. The energy was wild causing me to make a few attempts before succeeding.
I was able to will energy into my right arm without losing control of the energy inside it. However, the more Xoul energy I pumped in, the harder it was to control. I opened my eyes releasing me from my meditation. My arm had no apparent changes to the outside, but on the inside, I could feel my arm's strength overflowing.
"Good job Shin! I can feel the energy coming from you, well done! If you'd like, feel free to take a jab at me with your enhanced arm, I'm curious as to how strong you currently are. You don't have to worry, I'll use my own energy to protect myself."
I was hesitant I first, but after recalling his unbelievable power I knew that I would be lucky to even land a scratch.
"All right then! I'll give you everything I've got!"
"That's the spirit!"
I steeled myself in front of Cal preparing to hit him at full force. I lunged toward him putting as much force into my legs as possible.
"Crash"
My arm made contact with Cal's hand. He had completely dominated my punch gripping my hand his in own. The few tables and books behind him fell due to the shockwave, but not a scratch was on Cal.
"HAHAHA well done! You are much stronger than me when I was your age. You have a bright future Shin!"
"T-thanks" I mumbled slightly embarrassed from his praise.
Zora had just finished her meditation after my small brawl with Cal. She jumped in the air sending her small body several feet in the air before landing.
'She put energy in the legs' I thought watching her jump once more.
"Hehehe..... this is really fun!" She smiled, looking down on Cal and me from above."
"Very good lady Zora! You two have accustomed to your energy quite well. Now please come down for further instruction."
"awww.. ok." Giving an angered frown she reluctantly came over for further instruction.
"Although you've done it once make sure you practice your energy control. The more of it you can control, the more powerful you can become. Just like other things if you train you will become stronger. The more you train your origin the more powerful it will be."
Cal's explanation made sense. I would need to practice to be able to control more of my energy and to be able to absorb more.
"Once you train your origin enough, it will evolve, allowing you to take leaps and bounds in term of ability."
'Interesting'
"Now then let's continue. As I said before I would like to discover your affinities. Every person that uses Xoul has a unique affinity. Affinity's allows your energy to take a more sophisticated form outside of your body. For example, I have an affinity for earth."
"How many affinities are there?" Zora asked curiously.
"There are seven affinities. Earth, water, fire, air, light, dark, and space. The four natural elements are the most common out of the seven, with light, dark, and space being the minority." Cal grabbed a large glass-like cube out of his bag while explaining in more detail about affinities.
"Once you pump some of your own energy into the monocrystal cube, your affinity will appear on the inside. Zora, you go first."
Her eyes beamed with excitement as she placed her hand on the crystal. Focusing her Xoul into the cube, it shined for a moment. Then a small droplet of water appeared over her hand.
"It seems Lady Zora has an affinity for water! Congratulations."
"That's awesome Zora!" Cal and I complimented at the same time our voices masking each other.
"T-thank you." Zora said blushing, averting her gaze from me.
"Now Shin you give it a go! I am excited to see what you come up with!"
"So am I" I responded matter of factly.
Placing the cube in my hand I willed my energy into it. The cube hummed clouding itself in light. A small shadow like ball appeared over the cube, however, that wasn't all. Beside it was a thin coil energy springing uncontrollably. Cal gazed confusingly at the energy above the cube.
"Is tha- Is that lightning?"