Anna lived on the edge of the imperial city of the Teren Empire. The house was only one floor and had only 2 living rooms for Anna and little Annie. It was not big, but not small either.
Anna was only 25 years old right now. With Mark's money support, as much as she hates everything about him, she still needs money for herself, Annie, and Vincent, so she endured.
Right now, Vincent is in Anna's room, she just ended up breastfeeding him. She placed him in a crib and went to sleep.
Vincent opened his red eyes and turned to look at Anna, who was just falling asleep.
Vincent suddenly heard some noise and turned towards the door. He saw a little girl about 3-4 years old peeking inside.
After confirming that her mother is sleeping, she headed toward Vincent.
"Little brother… little brother, it's me, your older sister Annie. Look what I have. Are you like them? They are my best. Wanna play?" Annie brought a few dolls with her to show her brother.
Vincent pretended to be sleeping, so Annie could go back. Annie was quite an energetic girl and often went to Vincent to play with.
He was already taken home by Anna. He wanted to start to gather the faint elemental essence around him, but each time Annie would come and disturb him.
He didn't mind much though. He knew that it was common behavior towards a newborn. If he will ignore her, she might leave him alone for some time. In the daytime, he is always with Anna, can't do much, and can't just start to read geographical books in front of her, it would be too suspicious. He needs to be able to talk properly before reading whatever he wants.
When Annie saw him not respond, she tried to call him again but decided to not. She placed one of her loved dolls near him. and left.
'Finally some peace... Currently, I can try to learn about fire, water, and light particles since they are available in this room in their most basic form. Fire… let's try.' Vincent crawled up and quietly headed toward the lifted candle. He looked at sleeping Anna and then back to the candle.
He stretched his right hand above the fire and after a few seconds, his hand began to hurt. He take his hand back and looked at the burn mark from the fire, but he noticed that the pain was quite...weak. He was even more amazed when the burn mark began to heal himself slowly.
One of the 'God's' gifts - is resistance to pain and fastened regeneration agility. Even after his body cultivation is settled, he still wants to temper his body with various elements and rise his understanding of those elements in the process. For example, if he tempers his body with lightning, he would manage to turn his body into a lightning bolt to speed up.
Such a thing can do only by mages with high enough affinity, but for Vincent, it is achievable even without it.
Vincent could feel the fire particles around the candle, and the most density in the fire itself.
He continued this for the entire night and then went back to sleep. Since he was a very quiet child, Anna was not disturbed.
Early in the morning, Vincent woke up too after he felt that he needed to 'change'. It felt horrible, but he could do nothing. Anna cleaned him up and put him back while going to see Annie.
Anna doesn't need to work right now at all with Mark's money, so she can spend all her time with her kids.
Days go in the same routine. Sleep, breastfeeding, as well as his sessions with fire at night time.
He started to notice that the more he burned himself the more the fire element became clear to him. If he puts his entire little arm in the fire for a few seconds, it will take around 10 minutes to be completely healed. With such a method, he will soon be able to lift up a bit of fire by himself for a short amount of time. The more he absorbed fire particles from the candle, the weaker the fire became.
He also noticed that Anna from time to time leaves at night and comes back in a few hours with bruises.
Of course, it was Mark's work.
Anna tried to hide it from Annie and Vincent.
Vincent already decided what he will do to Mark when he is ready, but he needs to speed up with his elemental advancements. When he conquered the basics of fire, he would try the light element. And most light particles come from the… sunlight.
By his calculations, he will need 1 month to be able to light up a bit of fire on his finger for a few minutes. In 4 months, he will be able to light up his fingers with candle fire.
…
In such a way 6 months passed.
Vincent already can light up fire on his hand, from his fingers to his wrist. The fire was only at candle temperature, but it was enough for him currently.
He began to do the same with sunlight.
Currently, Vincent was under the window bathing in the sunlight while Anna was with Annie.
He could feel light particles enter his body and spread to every corner of his body, but it was a bit slower when he burned his hand.
After a few minutes of sitting with closed eyes under the sunlight, he suddenly had an idea.
He opened his red eyes and turned to look at the… sun.
He immediately felt a sharp pain in his eyes and fastly closed them, but his eyes were already half-blind. Still, he lightly smiled. He was right. The more damage he received from various elements, the more particles there would be for him to absorb.
His eyes were self-healed in 20 minutes. Just after this one session, he already felt a few dense light particles absorbed by his body.
He continued to bathe under the sunlight even with Anna by his side. Who knows what she might think if she knows what crazy thing her son planned.
Each time Anna leaves the room, Vincent will stare at the sun for a longer time, burning his eyes under intense light from a massive star from far away.
By his calculations, it will take him around 3 months to use absorbed light particles to speed up regeneration self ability slightly, and around 5 months to be able to use them to heal others. This way he can heal Anna when she is sleeping.
He continues to ignore Annie's invitation to play. He already scheduled his time. In sunny weather, he willfully concentrates on absorbing light particles; at night he will work with candle fire; he also began to work with water, but it was much slower than the previous two. It should take him around a year to absorb the same amount of particles as from fire.
Water too can be used in healing, and if it is combined with light elements… will it become the so-called 'holy water'? He has no idea.