"Come here and stand beside me, Mr. Henderson," the teacher said. He stood with a smile on his face and beckoned Aidan to come to the stage below. That smile triggered a terrible memory, and the podium below seemed like a place he never wanted to get close to.
Aidan froze as he searched inside his brain for any knowledge regarding magic. Anything would help so he could get out of this predicament. He had been called out before by a teacher in his school for daydreaming in class and he was laughed at for not knowing what to say. Now he had to prevent that from happening again.
"Mr Henderson!" The teacher called out again.
"Yes." Aidan meekly replied and walked to the podium, passing through with his head down. His heart beat faster than it should. He slowed his footstep so he could prepare himself, but it didn't feel slow enough as Aidan arrived on the wide area below.
"Now tell us what you know," the teacher said.
Approaching the podium, Aidan looked at the audience, troubled. "I'm sorry, sir. But I only know some things about [Internal Healing]."
The teacher smiled and looked at him. He was tall with a black and white stripe suit and a white shirt underneath it. It covered him all the way up to his sleeve. Surprisingly, the clothes around here didn't seem to be lacking in aesthetic compared to earth.
"It's okay. Explain to your friends what you know about [Internal Healing]."
Aidan thought the teacher would mock and shame him, but it seemed he was mistaken.
"Yes, sir." Aidan calmed down. The knowledge about the internal healing skill book was directly ingrained inside his head. Even if he tried, he didn't think he could forget about it. That was how potent the power of the system was.
"According to the book. Internal Healing could be achieved in many ways such as accelerating the regeneration of cells or creating new cells altogether. To do this, all we have to do is flow the fate energy inside us and concentrate it directly on the wounded cells. Following that you must reconstruct a new cell or regenerate them by moving them with a constant rhythm."
Aidan continued his lecture. Doing all his best to explain his understanding of [Internal Healing]. It felt good to talk about something that you truly understand, especially so since the knowledge was directly from the book. There was no way he could get anything wrong.
"And that summed up my understanding about [Internal Healing]." Aidan sighed in relief.
The students looked at him with wide-open eyes. Even the guy who slept at the edge of the class woke up and stared at him. Immediately after, some students cut their hands and tried the method that Aidan had explained. To their shock, the wound quickly healed like it was never there.
"It works!"
"It really works!"
"I have read the book multiple times, but I can't even heal a paper cut before this."
The classroom turned into a mess as students talked among themself while more students cut their hands to try the method after seeing the others.
Aidan was surprised. He thought the knowledge was basic enough that everyone here could heal themself just like him. But looking at the students who repeatedly cut and heal themself over and over again with shock and surprises on their faces, he realized that his lecture was not as simple as it seemed.
"You have a very profound understanding of [Internal Healing]. Mr Henderson. Do you have a teacher that taught you this?" the teacher said. His smile didn't change, but his gaze seemed to be filled with expectation. Aidan had never been good with expectation.
"No, sir. I only read the book for a day."
"So you analyze the book and reduce its difficulty level? How many years did it take?" The teacher took a step toward Aidan.
Aidan took a step back. "Sir, I have only just read the book today."
The teacher turned silent as he looked at him. "It only took you a day?"
The students also turned silent and looked at him in disbelief. He couldn't distinguish the meaning of some of the students' expressions because of their race, but he was sure that most of them were shocked.
A humanoid rock creature stared at him. "For a bunch of rocks! How could that man learn the technique in a day?"
The teacher came out of his shocked state. "How did you learn it?"
Aidan tightened his lips. What was he supposed to say? He just clicked a few buttons on a blue screen panel that only he could see. Who would believe it if he say that?
"I just did, sir."
He took a deep breath and nodded. "Did the vice-dean bring you in?"
Aidan nodded.
The teacher chuckled. "No wonder. It's nice to meet you, Mr Henderson."
"You can just call me Aidan, sir."
"Haha, alright. If you need any help, just come to the teacher's office and tell the attendant that you are looking for teacher Thagallev Strart.
"Thank you, teacher."
"You can go back and sit down, Aidan."
Aidan nodded and went back to his table, Eyes on him as he climbed the stairs. He just smiled and nodded at them. After he sat down, Thagallev started his lecture again.
Aidan just pretended to listen. He didn't understand anything the teacher said. Anyway, he could learn it easier through the book, so Aidan was not worried. But even though it was better to learn with the book, the excruciating pain made Aidan reluctant to learn any more books. Sure, when the process was done, he could almost forget the pain, but it was still in his memory.
The teacher changed the subject to various plants, such as mushrooms, trees, bushes, and berries. He was never a plant person and had no interest in anything related to plants. But when the teacher said there was a forest of living trees that could move around and even build a civilization, it kind of made him interested. How would a country built by living trees and plants look like? He wanted to explore them someday, of course, defeating that ptotodactyl came first.
Aidan clicked his tongue. He could never remember the name of that bird. Was it pterodactyl something? He shook his head. It didn't matter. What mattered was that he needed to get stronger to defeat that bird. Seeing the earlier reaction of the students and teacher Thagallev, Aidan got a sense of confidence that he could quickly improve and defeat the bird.
"Hello." A voice came from behind.
Aidan turned to look at the man. "Hi."
The man was slim and tall with a dark coat and trousers. He extended a black gloved hand of which Aidan quickly shook. Thank the heavens; the ethic here wasn't so different compared to earth. The man smiled and sat down. He looked young, with no mustache or beard.
"My name is Maninsov Urbi. You can just call me Urbi. It's nice to meet you, Henderson."
"It's nice to meet you too. You can just call me Aidan. No need to be so formal."
"Then you can call me Maninsov." Maninsov smiled. "So why did you choose the internal technique pathway, Aidan?"
"Do you mean why I choose to learn the internal healing technique?"
"No, I mean why do you choose the internal technique pathway instead of the external technique pathway?"
"I'm sorry can you explain what you mean by that?"
"You haven't read the manual?"
"No," Aidan said. He had been reminded a couple of times to read that manual. Maybe he really should.
"I'll tell you. The internal technique or the external technique pathway is the path of which we, the child of fate, choose to specialize. After choosing a pathway, we cannot change it no matter what we do. Looking at how proficient you are in controlling fate energy inside your body, I thought you chose to become the internal technique pathway."
Aidan worried, how could he didn't know this important information. "How do you choose between both pathways?"
"Usually, the first type of technique you learn or master will be your pathways. There are other methods but I only know some hearsay."
"Does that mean that I could never learn how to use the external techniques?"
"You can but its effect will be greatly limited and almost unusable especially in battle. Most people who have chosen their pathways will never bother to learn the other pathways."
Aidan almost wanted to slap himself in the face. Even though Mrs Zahir had told him that only the vice-dean could manipulate space, he still wanted to learn it. He wanted to rip space apart and teleport to any place he wanted. But it was definitely an external technique since it required the user to manipulate fate energy outside the body. Now that Aidan had learned the internal technique first and even mastered it, his dream of ripping space apart could go to the trashcan.
"I should have read that damn manual." Aidan sighed.
Maninsov laughed. "What's so bad with internal pathways? You can have a stronger body, a longer lifespan, and a lot more. Those who chose external pathways cannot climb walls, run like the wind, and punch through walls. We have a lot more advantages."
"But they can fly, throw lightning, fireballs, boulders, fire snakes, and other stuff, right? How can we defeat someone who could fly?"
Maninsov looked away and scratched his head.
Aidan's expression darkened. Doomed. The internal pathways were doomed. There was no way they can defeat the external user who could fly and shoot lightning at them unless they could move at the speed of light. And he was also doomed because he needed to fight that damn bird again.
"We can throw rocks," Maninsov said.
"Rocks?" Aidan said with a flat expression.
"Yes, I just remember that with the internal technique we can imbue an object we touch with fate energy and throw them at the target. This is why most archers are internal technique users."
Then maybe there was hope, Aidan thought. Even though range attacks for internal pathways were limited, at least it had a chance. How sad it would be to look at your enemy floating in the sky while you couldn't anything but run away.
"Besides," Maninsov continued, "those who can fly are very rare and the technique has a high consumption of energy. Even the vice-dean couldn't fly for long."
Then it was very unlikely for him to encounter someone who could fly. He was reassured. This way, even if the bird hovered in the sky, he could use arrows or throw objects at it. Surely something thrown by someone who had superhuman strength would deal much more damage, and coupled with the imbued energy which made it more powerful, it seemed this internal pathway wasn't so bad after all.
"It's good if that is the case then," Aidan said.
Maninsov smiled. "If you still want to change your pathways, there is a way."
"How?"
"By using Amulet of Alteration, you can change your pathways immediately. Sadly, this is a one-use item only and is hard to find."
"It's fine. I already accept my fate as an internal Pathways user. What about you? Why do you choose the internal pathways?"
Maninsov abruptly turned his head to the side, looking behind his shoulder and with both hands on his coat. He was tense, ready to pull something out of his coat and strike someone. Scanning the classroom, he looked left and right with both feet slightly bend. Slowly, he pulled his gloved hands out of his coat—A pair of daggers Slipped out.