The first thing he noticed was waking up and having excruciating pain wrack his mind. He placed his hands on his head, hoping to relieve the pain, but it didn't help him as his head throbbed and his heartbeat thumped loudly in his ears. He can hear his blood rushing. He was painfully flooded with memories of his current host.
How he had been neglected in his childhood and, sooner or later, left to fend for himself. And how he had just been beaten by a trio of bullies who also took all his belongings. This kid has had a hard life. He quickly got up, wincing at the throbbing bruises that littered his- well, his new body. They didn't even give the kid any mercy. He hears flowing water to the left of him and thinks that it wouldn't hurt to check out what he looks like, along with also cleaning himself up.
As he bent on the ground and looked over the end and into the crystal clear water, he looked at his reflection. He was stunned. Jet-black hair that looks somewhere between curly and wavy, which made it stick out from the sides. Dark Amethyst eyes that also glow in the sunlight from what he can tell by the reflecting sun rays off the water, wide-slitted pupils, and a mole under the right corner of his right eye. He had also noticed slightly pointy ears, which were abnormal. Where in the heck is he? And what is he for that matter?
Now that he thought about it, this body looks handsome, but yet again cute or maybe adorable? As he thought more intensely, while also staring at his reflection, in a quick second, his pupils constricted, which freaked him out and he fell back with a gasp, heart beating quickly.
Soon after, he quickly regains his composure, and he goes back to looking at his reflection. His pupils were no longer constricted, which made him question if what he saw earlier was just his eyes playing tricks. He sighs, shaking his head, trying to clear out his unnecessary thoughts.
He soon got up, and cleaned his clothes off the best he could, before actually taking a moment to look at his clothes. He wore black skinny jeans and a black long-sleeve shirt with a grey jacket, and some black boots suited for combat, more specifically, running. Now that he thought about it, does his host even know? With that thought in mind, he searches for answers in his hosts' memories, and he finds out a lot of stuff.
It turns out he is in another world named Izzaiah (Isaiah), which houses many races. His host, who he has now found out the name of, which is coincidentally the same one he had in his past life; Haise was on his way to join the Moon sect. Which is 1 of the 5 successful Sects in this continent. The continent that he is currently in is named Lilith, which houses a large city named Prem.
The city holds at least a large number of people that revolves around a million to two million. Which is a lot. Surprisingly though, his host had also learned a few things about sword fighting, which will help him out in the long run, and it also seems like his body is fit, but not too fit, just enough that he cannot have his body inconveniently restrict him with anything.
The Moon sect isn't located in this big city but on the very outskirts of the surrounding mountains that are around this city. The Moon Sect is located in the Jongshu mountains, which is nicknamed the disappearing top. It got that name because the clouds would surround the mountain and make it disappear, some may even call it irregular.
Also because no regular people can find the Sect when they search for it in the mountains, it's like it doesn't exist at all. His host was on his way to enroll himself into the Moon Sect, but he can't do that now because he doesn't have any money and it costs 10 black coins to get in, and 20 to get your supplies. Which his host's thieves took.
He sighs irritatedly as he rubs the back of his neck. He is quite surprised that he is taking this so well, but considering his other life, it shouldn't be surprising. Now, he has no choice but to find them and get his money back.
Truthfully he doesn't have to, but now thinking about it, he doesn't know that much about the laws of this world, currency, or anything important, so his only option is to lay low, get into a sect that, in this case, is the Moon Sect, and stay there for a while in their protection.
He stops rubbing his neck and he sets off to find his thieves, who in some cases, might not survive. As he walks through the crowds with his hood up, covering half of his face, he is intrigued to see many new things he has never seen before. Flying drakes are seen overhead, flapping their wide wings, and seeming to be transporting something on their backs. Haise was surprised that they were tamed- well, they seem like they are.
He also noticed how there were a lot of vendors selling goods, weapons, armor, and plants, which seemed to be herbs and many other things he didn't quite recognize. Haise was amazed, that this world, despite not being high-end in tech, was flourishing. Everyone was smiling and having genuine conversations with each other, which you don't see every day in his original world.
Despite weaving his way through crowds of people and seemingly going unnoticed, he still took time to take in everything he could see and smell, some new, unknown, and old. But despite him doing that, he is also keeping a lookout for the thieves who took his magic bag and his money.
The one thing he didn't take into account was the fact that the trio could have gone anywhere and wouldn't have stayed in the vicinity of their target, which in this case was him. If they were, then they would be stupid because who would stay in the same vicinity of the person you beat up, it could also be the fact that they over-underestimate their victims' capabilities, sometimes it is right to underestimate one's abilities if you can back it up with evidence, but usually, it isn't right to do so if they have something up their sleeve that you wouldn't see coming.
Anyway, he was getting off-topic. Haise had stopped near a vendor selling jewelry because he had spotted the trio. And it turns out that they are stupid, they are close to the ally they beat his host up in, and he can hear them gloating.
"That kid was weak," #1 said as another laughed.
"I know right, did you see how scrawny he looked too?" #2 agreed and then questioned.
"Was he actually scrawny?" #3 says, unsure.
"Seriously? You were there picking on him and you didn't get a good look!?" #1 said as he looked at #3 with crossed arms and a raised brow.
The other looked at him sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry I don't have a good memory"
"I guess he isn't worth remembering then" #2 snickers, enticing the others to laugh as well.
Haise watches as they laugh, holding their stomachs and hunching over. He sets his arms to his sides and walks up to them, which garners their attention.
"Huh? What do you want?" #1 says as he stares at the hooded individual with a curious stare.
His friends' attention is now all on the hooded figure as they also stare at him.
"I want my stuff back," The hooded figure says as they stick their hand out, indicating for them to give the figure their stuff.
The trio chuckled before suddenly stopping and staring at them with an intimidating glare.
"You better leave or we'll make you," #2 says as #3 cracks their knuckles trying to add to the intimidation tactic, which was sorely lacking and not scaring anyone.
Haise decides to give them another chance as he asks them again, "Please give me my stuff back, I don't have time for this" he spoke calmly as his arm fell back to his side.
The trio laughed before quickly launching themselves at him individually. Haise sighs as he side-steps to the right and then the left and crouches to the ground. He dodged the trio, one from his right, one left, and one front. The three crashed into the ground, faces first, which made them take mouthfuls of dirt. In the whole process, Haises' hood comes off, giving a perfect view of who he is to his thieves.
"I-It's you!" #1 said as he glared in his direction.
#3 looked at Haise with wide eyes, "I thought you were dead!?" he yelled, shocked.
#2 just stared at Haise, mouth hanging wide open and completely stunned. Haise turns around, places a hand on his hip, and shifts his weight onto his right foot as he stares at the trio below him.
"I told you to give me my stuff back but it seemed you hadn't listened, but if I had actually touched you three," Haise spoke, a grin donning his face as he finished, "You wouldn't be awake right now" The trio gulped before #2 stupidly decided to push away their fears of the person in front them and throw an insult.
"Who do you think you are!? You bastard!" He said as he angrily stood up.
Haise stares at him, completely unmoved by his words as he reaches a hand behind him, making the three in front of him flinch as he pulls out three magic bags, which belong to the thieves.
Their eyes widened, "How did you!?-" #2 muttered in anger as he pointed a finger at him, a slight tremble ran through him as he glared at Haise who just smirked in response.
"It was quite easy, but, didn't your mother ever tell you that pointing fingers at people was rude?" The thief boiled in anger as Haise smirked.
The thief stammered and tried getting out any rebuttals but none came out. The others just stayed quiet.
Haise soon got tired, "If you aren't gonna say anything, then it's best that I leave, Tootles!"
Haise quickly waved goodbye and ran away, while the trio, in anger and shock, yelled after him. Now a far distance where he can't hear their loud voices anymore, he finally decides to check out what the three thieves had in their bags.
Haise opens one of the bags and dumps it all out onto the ground of the alley he stepped into. There were ten black coins, some paper, and candy. The second one consisted of the same but just had ten more black coins, along with the third.
It was good they had money in their bags so Haise could count it as a plus, but it was sad that he couldn't get anything else besides just the money, so everything else he counts as a negative, but he doesn't dwell on it any longer than he already has. Haise gathered up the stuff he wanted, which was primarily the coins, and stuffed it all inside his magic bag, before throwing the other three bags away.
He walks out of the alley, but before he can take another step, he finally realizes something. He doesn't know where the recruiting is being held! He becomes a little nervous, but that is soon taken over with a steady calm and reassurance when he can just ask someone. He looks around and spots a smithy.
He decides that this would be the best place to ask since they make weapons and sell them to other people so they must have heard where the recruiting will be at. He walks into the smithy, the door closes behind him and he walks up to the front desk.
He notices a girl sleeping on the job. She had blonde hair that was pushed back into a half up half down hairstyle, and she wore, what seemed to be a white dress with a leather apron across her waist. He notices a bell on the desk and he taps it twice, enticing two rings that woke up the young maiden.
She seemed spooked and started babbling out random words, "NO I DIDN'T EAT YOUR PUDDING BUT DON'T TAKE MY CAT AWAY!!!" She yelled, her hands waving in all directions until she opened her eyes and finally noticed his presence.
She stammered and her face took on a red color as she turned around, and cleared her throat before turning back around and saying professionally, "Hello! Welcome to Wayland Smithy! How can I be of service to you?" She smiled as her hands folded in front of her.
"Hello, I was just wanting to ask a quick question"
She nodded towards him to continue, "Do you know where the Moon Sect recruitment area is? I can't seem to find it myself" He questioned and chuckled lightly.
The girl smiled, "Yes I do! It's outside the border of town near the south entrance!" Haise nods his head, grateful that he had his question answered. Haise said his thanks and quickly left the smithy.
Now that he knew where the recruitment was being held, all he needed to do was get there, do the requirements, and pass. He brings his hood up which covers half his face and blends into the crowd. After a long while, he makes it out of the city and near the recruitment area, which is packed full of tents and people. He looks around and spots someone wearing a sword on their hip.
Haise thought this person might know where he should go, so he walked up to the person and tapped their shoulder. It surprised them and they jumped back, slightly reaching out for their sword before taking a second look.
They sighed and loosened up their stance, before asking, "Are you here for the recruitment?" Haise nods and the guy gestures his hand in a direction to his left, "The tents over there are for mages and the ones on the other side are for Fighters. Pick whichever and go into that tent, you'll know when they are ready to have you when they call you from inside" he explained. Haise thanked him as he proceeded to walk in the direction of the mage tents.
As the soldier stares at the back of the teen he just directed, he can't help but think how bizarre the teen is. He is a professional swordfighter and has a lot of experience not to let people sneak up on him, but for some reason this kid did. Sadly, he was left with no answers to his questions when the kid was finally out of his sight.
As Haise gets to one of the mage tents, he stops in front of it, and waits for a minute, slightly unsure if he should go in or just wait.
He hears someone say, "Come in" in a muffled voice which was probably the cause of the tent they were in.
He steps in and out of habit, says "Excuse me" and to his sight, there are two chairs positioned on opposite sides of a table, one of them being occupied by a grandma.
"Hello dear, please sit," she said kindly, to which he followed.
He sat in the chair across from her.
"How are you today?" She asked as a smile crept onto her face.
He smiles back at her, "I'm doing great, how are you doing today?" He said so honestly before asking about her.
The grandma smiled wider as she answered his question, "I'm doing great." One of her hands reaches below her before coming back up with two objects. One was a crystal ball-looking thing, and the other seemed to be a meter.
The granny set them on the table and asked if he knew what they were. It was quiet for a moment, he had a few ideas of what they might be or what they do, but he wasn't quite sure if this world had it or not. More specifically, other worlds might not use mana or it might just be named differently but work the same way.
So he just shook his head.
The grandma just smiled, "That's alright, not many know either, so I'll happily explain it to you" she spoke before she continued whilst pointing at the said object she would be talking about, which was the crystal ball.
"This here gives a view of what someone's most linked element attribute is" She explained.
Still, Haise didn't quite get it so she explained in simpler words, "People who can use Mana will also gain the ability to use certain elements that you may have an attribute with, most people have one or two elements they are, in this case, most linked to. The more linked you are to the element the more you have an affinity with it, which also means that you can use more of that element than you can the others, does that sum it up just a little better?" She explained.
Haise stays quiet for a moment, "So basically, the element that you are most linked to or for better words, have the most affinity to, you'll be able to use more of that element than you can the others, but what does that mean?" He asked, still a little confused.
"This clear ball is used to see the colors of the elements one has the affinity of, the first one that shows up is usually the strongest while the last one can be deemed the weakest, but sometimes, they can either be switched" She explained.
Even though Haise has a little trouble wrapping his head around it, he just nods his head. The grandma chuckles a little before pointing at the thermometer thing, "This measures how many Mana points you have. To be able to enter the sect your Mana points have to be above 130" She explained before she continued, "You ready?" Haise took a moment before nodding his head.
"Okay, place both of your hands onto the ball" She instructed to which he followed.
"Now, close your eyes and I want you to focus on a pull, like a string" She instructed.
He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. He isn't quite sure what she meant by a pull, but he will just have to feel for it. The grandma watches. She is pretty curious about this boy, but that might just be because he was nice, but then again. There is something about him that doesn't feel right.
She is brought back to her senses as she watches the ball glow. She watches intensely. The grandma notes the colors, white, black, blue, and red. She was stunned, never had she met anyone with this many elements. This teen has an affinity with the elements, wind, darkness, water, and- wait, that can't be right, she took another closer look at the red color showing up in the clear orb.
It's a different shade than that of fire, but what is it? She thought again. Never in her time has she seen a different shade of red before when looking at elements. She sighs, the only thing for her to do is keep an eye on him.
Haise opened his eyes and took his hands off the orb, "Did I do it?" he asked to which she smiled, "Did you feel something warm when you grabbed the string?" She asked, to which he nodded, "Then yes, you did, and you did great" She praised, which made him smile.
He was never praised before so this was his first, and it felt nice. It made him all warm inside and he loved the feeling. "Now, are you ready for the Mana Point measurer?" She asked as she moved the crystal ball away and scooted the measurer closer to him.
He nodded. "Great, now, this measurer goes up to 200 MP (Mana Points) There were a few back then that went up to 200, and it was a great experience, but, the average of someone's Mana Points are 150, now, just a reminder, your Mana points have to be above 130" She explained and he nodded.
"Great, now let's start" Haise hovers his hand above the measurer and closes his eyes. He focused on pouring something into the object, and when he felt his hand be engulfed in warmth, he knew then that it was working.
The grandma watched as the numbers from one hundred to two hundred light up, and it was a miracle. Haise opens his eyes and sets his hand back onto his lap, "I did it right?" He asked.
The granny hums with a smile on her face, "Yep, you did, great job!" She praises.
Haise smiles brightly with a bit of an unnoticeable blush on his cheeks.
"Now, you ready for your scores?" She asks him to which he nods, excited yet nervous to know.
"Alright, so, you have an affinity with the elements, Wind, Darkness, and Water" She halfway explained.
Haise felt happy and ecstatic as she continued, "But, there was a color that I wasn't quite familiar with, It was the color red, and typically it would be counted as you having the affinity with fire, but, the colors were a bit off, so I am unsure if it was something else that you have an affinity of in the red color scheme or it was fire you have an affinity with, so just in case, if anything were to happen that makes you question, then if you would, please tell me. But overall, you did great! Just watch out for that unknown element" She explained and later praised.
Haise was stunned. He didn't know that he had four elements, it's like this world is deliberately trying to make him the main character. It's not like he cares, just as long as he doesn't have to go through a shitty life again, basically he just wants a fun and normal life and even makes some friends.
He wants it to be the complete opposite of what his other life was.
"Now, you ready for your Mana points?" The grandma asked and he nodded.
"Now, before, I said that the measurer goes up to 200, yes?" Haise nods and she continues, "Well, like before, there were people, usually one or two, that were able to make it up to 200 MP, and, I have only met one, but now I have met another in this lifetime of mine" She finished with a smile.
Haise was shocked and his mind was all over the place. First off he was transferred into the body of an eighteen-year-old, and now, coincidentally, his Mana Points are at 200 which is the max on the measurer and he has an affinity with four elements.
Now he is pretty sure that this world's creator or someone is deliberately making him out to be the main character. But despite that, he is kind of excited. There are many things he doesn't know about the world he is in and he can't wait to figure it out. It has his heart racing and his hands anxious.
"Child, do you think you can fill this out for me, it's just basic information about yourself, Name, Age, and your Mana Points and Elements" The grandma brought him back to reality as she explained and handed him a paper. He filled out the paper and handed it back to her.
"Thank you, dear. Haise is it?" She asked as she looked from the paper back to him. He nods to which she smiles.
The grandma puts everything away, including his paper information before grabbing what looks to be a pen.
"Since you passed the requirements you are allowed to now enter the Moon Sect, but first, we usually give our pupils a type of tattoo anywhere on their body that is easy to access. It does hurt a bit but usually not that much" she explained as the tip of the pen glowed.
Haise hums, "Where would you like the symbol," Granny asked him patiently as she had been the whole time.
"Um, under my right ear, if that is an acceptable place for you?" he answered her, which was more of a question to her than it was an actual answer.
She just chuckled, "It's your body, You can have the symbol anywhere you want, and I don't mind drawing it either" She answered as she came closer to him, "Apologies for my shortness but if you could crouch a little?" she asked and he listened.
He crouched to her height and she gave him a warning that she was gonna start now.
He didn't feel much, just a bit of a long pinch, the granny was surprised because even grown men would be screaming or if not screaming squirming around a bunch because of the pain. After she was done, she wiped and cleaned it then healed it up with a spell.
"Now, if you come across someone that has a moon tattoo but it slightly looks different from yours, don't worry too much because others made special requests to have theirs look different, but, their symbol contains either a moon or two moons, which usually means that they are of the moon sect and contain either one or two elements" she explained which shocked him because he could have made in a special request this whole time!
The grandma chuckles, "Don't worry, I am a pretty good artist myself so don't worry too much, For you though, there is a big moon in the middle with two crescent moons facing away from it but they are connected to it. It means that you are of the Moon Sect and can use three or more elements" she explained before she turned away and rummaged through a bag for a minute before bringing out what looked like a mirror.
She turns back to face him and positions the mirror at an angle where you will be able to see the symbol. Haise was stunned by what he saw, it was beautiful, and she was right she was an awesome artist. A circle in the middle is a moon, and a crescent is connected to it on each side, their openings facing away as their backs are linked into the full moon in the middle.
The symbol was beautiful and very detailed. "This is magnificent! I love it" Haise exclaimed with a smile on his face.
The grandma looked at him with a smile, "Glad you like it" she said as she put the mirror back.
"Now, everyone that is recruited into the sect is taken to some quarters to stay until they have to leave, which is in two days tops" the grandma explained as she motioned for him to follow her out of the tent.
"Since it's my break, I'll show you around and help you get yourself situated.'' She smiled and he smiled back.