On the same day, as Xander turned in the corpse, Bowen sat on a tall tree outside the borders of Aswalt, closely observing Xander through Casper's vision.
"Xander, oh Xander! You truly are a faithful puppy, aren't you? Let's see how long your loyalty lasts. In the meantime, I'll nurture and train you with love and care," Bowen smirked.
"Keep watching, Casper," he ordered.
"Yes, master. I will report the updates by evening."
"Good! Oh, I almost forgot that I have magic classes today."
Bowen hurriedly went to Gia's room, only to find her leisurely sipping morning coffee.
"Old hag! Your dear student is here," he said, revealing a toothy grin.
"Dear student? I don't see anyone like that. All I see is an annoying brat in front of me," she replied.
"Yeah, yeah, keep calling me that. Just wait until I learn magic and surpass you someday. Then you'll proudly tell people that I'm your student."
Gia silently wondered if that day would ever come, and if it did, she would be the happiest person. Unfortunately, she knew she couldn't expect such happiness in her life. She wasn't meant to dream of such things in the first place.
"We can discuss that when you can learn your first elemental attribute," she hauntingly replied, hiding her inner remorse.
She led Bowen to one of her ordinary rooms and instructed him to sit and start cultivating, wanting to observe the flow of mana in his body.
At first, Bowen hesitated because Nova's technique was a secret divine art surpassing any existing art in Grimesphere. However, he believed in Gia, and he needed to demonstrate his cultivation process to her in order to learn elemental magic. He assumed the lotus position and began breathing according to Nova's technique, even though it didn't require meditation. Gia's eyes glowed red as she analyzed the mana pathways in Bowen's body. Her fascination grew with each passing sight of the technique. She has never seen something so pure and perfect. Initially, she thought that she could teach a high-grade cultivation technique if Bowen's was not up to the mark. but she instinctively knew what Bowen practiced was much more defined than what she herself cultivates. However, she chose not to delve deeper, acknowledging that everyone has their secrets.
"Now, instead of mana particles, try to see if you can sense other particles around you," she instructed.
Bowen started sensing, but soon frowned and said, "I cannot sense anything."
"Well, it's not easy. Here, let me help," she said and touched Bowen's hand, inducing a tiny fire elemental mana into his hand.
"Rather than imagining it and trying to feel it from nature, it is better to do it this way. Now feel the fire elemental mana I sent into your body. Slowly try to gather them and prevent them from going out of control. Next..." Before Gia could finish, Bowen let out a shout, "Aaaaa!" followed by spitting blood from his mouth. The fire mana that entered Bowen's body was too violent. It clashed with pure mana, refusing to submit, and forcefully tried to exit the body, causing injury to Bowen's internal organs.
"Sigh! I know this won't be easy," said Gia, slumping. She gave Bowen a candy to heal, but this time it was not a rejuvenation pill like the one she gave when Dale injured Bowen. It was a normal healing pill. Within seconds, his body turned prim and proper, as good as new.
"Old hag, what happened?" Bowen asked breathing and sweating heavily.
"Simple. They went berserk as you forcibly wanted to control them," Gia replied.
"Does this happen every time when one starts to feel elemental mana?" Bowen asked in confusion.
"Nope, never. For others, they will have a natural affinity towards elements, and so they can easily attract the element that they have an attribute to. For example, an awakener with a fire attribute is a magnet for fire elemental mana particles. They can feel them from nature, their surroundings, easily absorb them into their body. In your case, you don't have any elemental attribute, so I forcefully injected fire mana particles into your bloodstream, causing them to feel repulsed from your body and causing the rupture of your internal organs. Well, it's good that it was me who injected fire mana into you. I have precise control, so I can precisely inject the required amount for you to feel them. But if it was someone inexperienced and a little bit more into your body, you would have burst dead by now."
"Yo... you old hag! You did it even when you knew it was that dangerous?" Bowen exclaimed.
"Hey, didn't you say you wouldn't question my methods? And moreover, what choice have I left? Believe me, this is the shortest and time-saving way to learn element," Gia replied.
Now, Bowen wanted to rethink his decision of learning magic from this cruel old lady. But what choice did he have? He had already served his head to the lion's mouth. Could he even go back? "Dang it. Whatever, I will see it to the end," he decided.
"Now, now, don't waste your time. Let's repeat this until you are able to control them," Gia said, throwing a red pouch full of healing pills, hundreds in number. Bowen felt an acute shock down his spine seeing the pills. That meant he had to sustain the same pain and injury over and over, getting healed repeatedly by the pills.
Gia injected the fire mana particles again, and soon Bowen coughed up blood. Heal... injection... cough blood... heal... injection... cough blood... heal... injection... The same process went on and on, and it was already afternoon with the sun high up in the midday sky. Finally, Bowen managed to control the fire particles and sustain them in his body for a maximum of 15 minutes.
"Nice, now try to feel the fire mana from your surroundings, try to absorb them and sustain in the body," Gia instructed. Bowen was able to do it in couple of tries. Now he can absorb fire mana naturally from nature without help of gia.
**Ting*** congratulations! Host has awakened fire elemental attribute ! alarmed the system in bowen's head. Bowen had never been so happy to hear the system's voice.
"I did it, old hag! I did it!" exclaimed Bowen, jumping up and down.
"Don't be too cocky, brat. You have just taken the first step," Gia warned. "Next, you will have to move it through the mana route, just as you move pure mana particles. Then, turn it into fire mana liquid and store it in your mana vessel. This will be your assignment for the next few days. Come to me when you can store fire mana in your mana vessel," she said, starting to pack up and leave.
"Hey, old hag, wait! What do you mean? Are you not going to help?" Bowen asked.
"I am your guardian, not a babysitter. Learn by yourself," she replied and disappeared towards her kitchen.
Bowen wondered why he had to work so hard to become overpowered when he was the main character. "Don't other MCs level up, become overpowered, and get cheats without breaking a sweat? But why, when it comes to me, does a simple magic lesson session almost send me to my grave several times? 'LIFE IS SO UNFAIR,'" he thought.
_____#Xander's house - 10:00 PM#
Xander paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at his window. He really wished he could see that small messenger once again. He had blindly claimed to have killed the corpse, but now he had been ordered to explain the details at the head office at 11:00 PM. He saw his peacefully sleeping wife and four-year-old daughter on the bed. His wife, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, had left her home secretly for the sake of their love when her father refused the marriage. At that time, he didn't even have a job. His loving daughter always talked about how her father was her role model and how she would become a guard to protect the town in the future. He almost shed tears, feeling guilty and terrified of the consequences when everyone discovered he had lied. Not only could he be suspended or lose his job, but everyone in the town might criticize them. How could he live in shame in this town? What would happen to his daughter's future?
"Should I just surrender myself and beg the chief officer to keep this a secret?" he thought. "But even then, people like Gram would not miss such an opportunity to tarnish my name." He desperately wished for time to stop at that moment.
CHIP... CHIP... CHIP... CHIP...
Xander heard the most anticipated sound of the bird. Quickly, he regained all of his lost hope. This time, the sound came from his door instead of the window. He quietly left the bedroom and ran towards the entrance of his house. Upon opening the door, he found the same orange bird with a letter. What made it unique this time was the cloth bag placed near it. It seemed that the mysterious Lord Fate had sent him a parcel. Xander retrieved the letter from Casper, as usual, and started reading it. The more he learned, the more his head spun, unable to digest the contents of the letter. It was a long letter giving numerous orders and instructions to Xander. Taking a deep breath, Xander retrieved the parcel bag and sent off Casper.
"Please convey my thanks to your master, Lord Fate," he added, unsure if the bird could understand him. However, he felt compelled to express his gratitude as Lord Fate was the only one who could rescue him from this perilous situation.