Vince realized he was left with a pair of sweats to wear so he gathered up his dirty laundry and headed towards the laundry room. On his way, he heard a light ding on the floor behind him. He figured it was just a piece of change that fell so he kept going. On his way back from starting laundry, he noticed a little red ball. It looked like a marble but it was hollow and the inside was moving. It was a fire power skill! At some point, Josh must have snuck it into Vincent's pocket while he was getting jumped by the opposition. The POWER watch can identify power skills prior to them being absorbed by the user. This skill is called Flame Level 1 (1/3). Vincent wasn't expecting anything so even a level 1 skill is beyond belief. He read that the part in parenthesis is determined by how competent the user is in using their power skill. He has never used it so he was definitely starting from scratch. To absorb the power skill all you have to do is break it on your skin.
"Here goes nothing!" Vincent said as he broke the fire power skill on his forearm. He became flush and slightly overheated for just a moment. He opened his eyes again only to realize he felt mostly the same. Maybe a little lighter with his newfound strength. Vince was beyond excited to use the skill for the first time but there is just one problem, he doesn't know how. Where does the flame come from? His mouth? His hand? There were so many questions but because obtaining and using skills is so new, there isn't clear knowledge how to activate it.
"There's got to be something on the internet," Vincent said as he searched "How to activate power skill" The first few result pages were filled with ads and websites promising skill development within a week. It wasn't until the 6th page that he finally came across the blog that would be most beneficial to him. The blog is for people with newly acquired skills and their experiences activating them for the first time.
Ragingwater99 says:
"There is no clear reasoning why some people manifest their power before others and the same applies to being able to use skills. My power is water and this is my experience activating my level 1 skill, trickle. Trickle allows me to produce a small trickle of water from my hand. It doesn't seem special but at least I can say i'll never be dehydrated. Now I want to preface this- if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it. I saved up for years in order to afford my POWER watch and a skill. I was happy with any skill I could get my hands on. Plus the skill has the ability to advance into something more spectacular as I gain more competency in using it.
I spent 3 months trying to figure out how to activate my power skill. I tried everything you can think of from meditating to yelling the name of the skill at the top of my lungs. Nothing seemed to work until one day I was at work for about 12 hours and never left my desk. I noticed my keyboard started to get little droplets of water on it and when I lifted my hand, a small trickle of water was falling from my fingertips. It didn't feel like a magical experience, it was as natural as breathing. After this experience,I had no problem activating my skill at will. I can only imagine that skills can be activated when the situation requires that you need it. In my case, I hadn't had water all day and I was starting to feel unwell. For others, it will be different. Good luck!"
"That sounds reassuring…" Vince said as he closed the screen of his laptop down."I just have to wait until I am in dire need of a flame. He walked around his apartment trying to think of some reason that would warrant a flame. He tried hiding in a closet, trying to light his gas stove, and even getting a cigarette from his neighbor to see if that would trigger it. Nothing did of course because all those situations were easily remedied and he didn't have a strong desire to smoke. He was starting to feel defeated.
Vincent's parents left him some money for food so he decided to take a break from becoming all-powerful with his Flame skill and go grab a bite to eat. There is this great ramen shop just down the road that he frequents. It has the best ramen that somehow puts him into a deep concentration. Or at least that is what it feels like after a large hot sake.
On his way back home from the shop, he finds himself walking down a particularly dark street and Vince thought, it's awfully dark out here, wish I had some light!
Now is his chance. Surely a cold dark alley is the perfect place to activate a skill like Flame. He went through all the usual exercises: deep breathing, shouting flame, and just holding his hand out and straining to focus all his energy on generating this flame. Nothing seemed to be working. Vince decided to finish his walk home in silence, his confidence dropping, until he saw a group of people on the path in front of him. He tried to turn around but it was too late, they had already spotted him. He started to run but they quickly caught up.