"Ugh... I feel like shit..."
Cage slowly opened his eyes and saw a familiar ceiling of the facility room he and Andrew were assigned to. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't listen. Cage tried to remember how he got into such a state.
'What happened? ... Oh yeah, I fought Andrew. Did that mean I lost! Damn!'
While he was frustrated, it wasn't unexpected. He was a little upset he lost, as most people would be, but he wasn't surprised because he was fighting someone who was a Stage higher.
With nothing better to do, he began to use his mortal method to gather mana. To his surprise though, there was a noticeable difference from last time. The mana had once again gone through a change when his senses had gotten better.
'Strange, it's like paint that is only partially mixed.'
Cage could vaguely make out differences of shades and colors in the mana, but it was still mixed together and he couldn't get the base elements from it. Cage guessed that the fight stabilized his soul and he took the first step to being able to sense different elements.
Once he was able to sense the different elements, he would finally be able to know his affinity from what ever element he naturally absorbed. He would also be able to use elemental skills that corresponded with his affinity, he was especially looking forward to that because he could finally figure out what his other skill was.
After half an hour, Andrew finally began to stir. Cage could now sit up, but his muscles were still sore so he decided to stay in bed and keep resting.
"Kid?... Ah wait! Who won the fight?!"
Cage was a bit dumbfounded, "Seriously? you're more worried about the outcome than me? not even an 'are you okay?'. Gee thanks... " Moving past Andrew's unpredictability, he continued, "I don't know who won. If you also don't know then it was probab-"
Before he could finish, a voice interrupted him. "It was a tie, you were both unconscious. It was a pretty good fight to watch. I wish I had brought some snacks to watch..."
Cage turned to the origin of the voice and saw the commander with a slight smile.
'Wait, when the hell did he get in here?'
Not knowing Cage's thoughts, the commander began to speak. "It's also good to see that you both are awake now. You both had some pretty serious injuries as well, for both of you there was internal damage and broken arms. It was a good thing we brought a healer." The commander chuckled to himself.
Andrew obviously knew who the commander was. He was the guy who managed the entire mine. He was naturally very busy, hence why he looks overworked, so Andrew couldn't help but wonder why he was here still. "So, Mr. Commander, what brings you here? You surely don't have time to look at two simple beast-men."
"Hahaha, yeah... Simple..." The commander laughed nervously. "Anyways, I actually need to share a few words with you, Andrew, right?"
Andrew just nodded in response. If it was something that he, who was currently a slave, needed to know, it was probably very important. I got up and followed the Commander out of the room.
'If he's talking to me about this and not Cage, it's probably something about the wave. Hmm, actually... It could be something else...'
Cage watched Andrew and the commander disappear around the corner out of sight. Cage wondered what they were going to talk about for a second, but then he realized he didn't really care that much and could just ask Andrew later.
While Cage was increasing his soul strength, cage heard footsteps. Andrew returned by himself, 'I guess that over worked guy had stuff to take care of...'
"So, what did you guys talk about?"
Andrew flinched for a second, but almost immediately responded. Fortunately, Cage didn't notice. Andrew grinned, "Nothing much, but it turns out I got permission to be your official guardian!"
Cage just gave a thumbs up, "Nice! Now I can ask you as many questions as I want! HAHAHA!"
Andrew's face froze upon realization of what he had gotten himself into. He countered with, "Haha, well now I can order you around as your guardian!"
"Like I would listen to you you old fart."
"Oh yeah? Wanna fight again then to settle it?"
Cage suddenly had a realization. "Actually, on the topic of fights, remember that wager we had?"
Before they had started fighting, they had made a wager where the winner gets to ask one thing from the loser and the loser needed to listen regardless; no question asked. Because they had tied, Cage didn't know what would happen to their wager.
"Now that you mention it, we did tie."
"So, do you want to do it so neither of us win, or both of us win?"
After both thinking about it for a moment, they both looked at each other and said, ""We both win.""
With that, they could each ask each other to do something without exception. It was a desirable out come. Cage didn't know what he would ask of Andrew so he decided to save it for later.
Cage subconsciously kept thinking about how he was a battle maniac because Andrew still wanted to talk about the fight. Cage kind of just mindlessly listened, not really paying attention but occasionally chiming in. Eventually, Andrew moved on to an important topic. "Let's talk about how we can improve. I'll start off by telling you what you need to work on."
"Skills are classified into four different categories. Attack skills, which as the name implies, are for attacking a target. Defense skills, which are for protecting the user. There is also movement skills, which are skills that change your movement in some way. Last but not least, utility skills. They are for anything else that doesn't fit in the other three."
"My [Gale Fist] is an attack skill. I coat my fist in violent gusts of wind and compress it to make an explosive force. My [Wind Aura] boosts my speed by removing any air friction in front of me while applying gusts behind. Also, that skill I used called [Zephyr's Breath] is a utility skill."
"That skill you used could be considered a jack of all trades. It's useful in any situation, but it's like trying to learn everything as opposed to mastering one subject. While it can do a lot of things, it doesn't specialize in something specific and won't be as good as a pure attack skill or a pure defense skill. It is a good movement skill though, I'll admit that."
"Throughout the fight, I noticed you lack something that can deal heavy damage or protect your self. I recommend you have at least one Skill from each category. You also need battle experience, but you'll get that with time."
Cage nodded in understanding. However, he had to wonder why Andrew didn't use any defensive skills. "How come you don't have any defensive skills?"
Andrew scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah, about that... I probably should have explained this earlier. Certain elements are easier to make certain types of skills with. For example, my wind attribute is good with making movement skills and attack skills, but not so good with defense skills. Another one would be how earth is really good with defense but bad with movement. I haven't gotten around to making a defense skill yet..."
"What do you mean you haven't gotten around to making one yet! You've had years of nothing but time!"
"... Okay, so I like attacking..."
Cage had nothing to say. "..."
"Sigh, I'm just going to go to bed. Good night sir battle maniac."
Andrew stood up from the ground and dusted his pants. "I guess I will too, but I'll ignore that last part. I still have some fatigue from you breaking both my arms and sending me into the ground."
Cage just snorted in response, "Like you can talk, you sent me into the wall at the speed of a canon multiple times."
While he said he was going to bed, he couldn't sleep. He had too many thoughts going through his head.
'Ugh, what am I supposed to do about skills. I would rather have them based off my fighting style, but I don't have any weapons yet... I think I'll wait on making any skills until I'm able to sense the different elements...'
Andrew was in a similar situation as Cage. After what the commander told him, he couldn't fall asleep. It was truly shocking, but it explained a lot of things like Cage's absurd strength despite being a Stage One because Cage's level of strength was certainly not normal. It also explained his absurd mana control. Despite what the commander told him, he still cared about Cage.
'Even if he is what the commander said he was, I don't care. He is too much like my son...'
Andrew thought back to their conversation from earlier.
-=-=-
The commander had a serious expression, on his face. He would only have an expression if it was extremely important. Andrew raised an eyebrow. "So, what did you want to talk about to me specifically?"
"It's about that kid you seem to have bonded with. First off, I want you to become his official guardian. As to why, I'll explain that with the second point."
The commander took a deep sigh as he hated what he had to do next. "I'm sorry for this, but this an incredibly confidential matter and only a few people know this."