'Ah yes, this nothingness is so nostalgic...'
Cage found himself in another void like he did a few years ago, time wise that is. To him, it didn't feel like a long time. Anyways, how could nothingness be familiar? That is not important. What is important, is that the geezer was there again. He was just floating there, with a carefree expression.
"Glad to see you made it to Stage One, but I guess with your talent it was naturally to be expected..."
The man waved his hand, a rune formation appeared. Just by looking at it's appearance, one could tell it's complexity was on another level. Cage could tell it was a skill, but he didn't even have the slightest clue as to what it did.
Seeing Cage's expression of awe and confusion, the man just chuckled. "You're one step closer to your memories, consider this a congratulatory gift."
Cage was a little skeptical. He didn't know what the rune formation did, let alone if it was good or not. However, he guessed it was probably good. The man didn't seem to have any ill intentions, but he still decided to do a subtle interrogation. "Isn't this special treatment? You're giving me a skill that is who knows how strong. I don't really know your position but you seem important, are you even aloud to do that?"
The man once again laughed, he found Cage's comment amusing. "First off, I know how strong it is because I made it. I'm not going to tell you though, it will be up to you to see it. Secondly, no need to worry. Everyone gets a skill when they advance to another Stage."
"Very well, I'll accept the formation then."
The man nodded with a smile, "You didn't have a choice anyway."
The man raised his hand towards Cage. The formation began to move towards Cage with a deep purple color. Cage didn't try to dodge it. Upon contact, he felt a burning sensation on his soul. He went to his soul-scape and saw that on the body of his soul, the formation had appeared and took up a portion of the surface area on his soul.
Cage wanted to try both of his skills as soon as possible. It was like a shiny new toy that he had just gotten and he wanted to play with it.
The man broke him out of his stupor with a cough. "*Cough* *cough*, I have a few more minor things to tell you. The skill I gave you is very complex and as you figured out, the more complex it is the more mana it will take. The other thing is that when a skill is bound to your soul, it wi-"
STSTSSSSTSSSSTSSSTS!
A static like sound filled the void. Cage clutched the fluffy ears on his head and gritted his teeth. The static was like nails on a chalkboard and sent chills down his spine.
The man suddenly had a dark look on his face as he looked off to the distance.
"Crap...Why is HE here?!" The man turned to Cage and with a sense of urgency said, "Sorry to cut us short, but I need to send you back... now."
The man seemingly teleported in front of Cage in the blink of an eye and flicked Cage's forehead.
-=-=-
Cage shot up and clutched his forehead.
"Ah fuck, that hurt! what the hell is his finger made of, steel?!"
He heard Andrew stir, quickly realized his blunder and covered his mouth as if to cut off the sound. After holding his breath for a minute, Andrew didn't show any signs of waking up.
'Wait, how did I get on my bed? Ah, it was probably Andrew. But anyways, what the heck was up with that static. I've never seen that man get an expression like that. Granted I've only seen him two times, but the fact that he became that serious...'
Cage decided to ask him about it the next time he saw him, which he guessed would be when he reached Stage Two.
'That man, just who is he?'
He wanted to try his new skills, but he didn't want to wake up Andrew. It was truly frustrating, but what could he do. He laid back down on his bed and let his mind wander aimlessly, the only sound was Andrew's snores.
After waiting for around an hour, Andrew finally began to stir again. He waited for a few more minutes but Andrew showed no signs of getting up. Getting a little impatient, he walked over and began to poke him.
Andrew subconsciously raised his hand an made a shooing motion. "mm... Five more minutes..."
Cage just sighed, 'Seriously, who is the child here?'
He raised his hand up high above his head. It almost had a gleam from the light coming through the window. He swung it down like an executioner would his blade, "Chop of waking you up old man!"
The chop landed on Andrew's stomach squarely. His muscles tensed in response to the sudden 'attack'.
"GAHHH!... What was that for!?!"
"For free, next time it will cost you..."
Andrew kept grumbling about how ungrateful Cage was and how he should let the 'elderly' sleep.
Andrew left before Cage to go to his treatment. With some free time on his hands, Cage decided to test the differences between a Stage Zero and a Stage One.
He got into a fighting stance and readied his fist. He reared back and with a whoosh, thrust his fist forward. He felt the air shake as his punch reached it's maximum.
'It's almost triple the strength of what it was before! Is this really just Stage One?! Incredible! What about my mana sense?'
He closed his eyes while trying to sense the mana. His mana sense was at least five times as sensitive as before! he was able to perceive all the mana fluctuations in a radius of around five meters. And as Andrew said, he would be able to see elemental mana. He could sense different energies and each had 'personalities' per say.
He could could feel it, but he wasn't able to discern them. The ambient mana was a like a paint mixture that was made up of many different colors and you could guess what they were, but you weren't able to find them specifically. Cage guessed it would take some time until he was able to differentiate the different mana, he was still content with his improved senses though. He decided to ask Andrew for some advice later.
After testing his mana sense, it was time for the major even he had bee looking forward to. Testing the skill he made! He would have to test it in the rehab room because not only would he have medical help if something went wrong, he would also have a good training ground. It would take some time to master, but skills truly were incredible from what he had seen and inferred.
Skills, what magical things. At higher Stages, they are able to decimate the heavens. Cage made his skill with this in mind. He realized that no matter how talented he was right now and how insane his achievements so far were, they were nothing in the face of absolute power. It didn't matter if he was a Stage One with a strong skill because he could probably still receive a heavy if not fatal wound from a Stage Two if he were to be hit.
'It really hits home how ridiculous Andrew escaping them was and how impossible it should have been. No wonder he advanced a Stage. If I was to judge someone's feats that would certainly be a heaven defying miracle...'
It is important to know that in the lower Stages, people can still be killed by conventional means. A Stage Three could be killed by a knife to the throat, but at Stage Four, it wouldn't be able to pierce the skin anymore. But this is all assuming defensive spells or skills aren't used. As such, Cage placed his speed as a top priority.
After completing his daily routine, he asked the assistant if he could test a skill. She was a little hesitant at first, but she quickly agreed. Even if Cage had the capability to break something, as long as it wasn't expensive machinery it would be able to be fixed in less than an hour.
She brought Cage to another room. The room was very bright, almost blinding to be honest. After adjusting, he could make out his surroundings. Off in a corner there was more equipment. it was rudimentary and reminded Cage of standard workout equipment back on his old world, but even if it was rudimentary it was still able to do it's job. The room was spacious and had plenty of room to run around but was pretty barren. The assistant naturally didn't want anything expensive to get hit hence why she brought him here. even
if the possibility of it breaking was slim she didn't want to risk it because if it broke, it would
be taken out of her pay to fix it due to it being on her watch. Losing pay was unacceptable for her because she was only an assistant.
"Five minutes is all I can give, I still have other patients who need to use this room."
Cage understood. With all of the injured he had been seeing, it wasn't surprising if there were some who needed to have rehab. It would be more surprising if there wasn't anyone else who needed to use the rehab area.
Cage warned the assistant a little so she was ready in case anything happened and to ease her wariness. "It can be destructive, but only if I use it to attack so no need to worry about the room. Besides, it's durability is top notch. I should know considering how many times I've accidentally ran into the wall at full speed..."
Ignoring his past embarrassments, Cage got into a flexible stance. If what he predicted about his skill, he knew he could get hurt from it if he wasn't careful. He took a deep breath, "[ Burst! ]".