[Congratulations, you have chosen fire mage as your first class.]
[Congratulations, you get your first class skill; fire manipulation. ]
[Congratulations, you have chosen water mage as your first class.]
[Congratulations, you get your first class skill; water manipulation. ]
*Exhale*
'Thank god, it's the same as before.', Elena was relived seeing the notifications before her. She then turned to look at her friend.
"What skill did you get Aisha?", asked Elena with curious eyes.
"I got fire manipulation. What about you, miss?", replied Aisha with her eyes tinged with similar curiosity.
"I got water manipulation.", replied Elena with happiness while internally she exclaimed in shock, 'A manipulation skill?!'
Manipulation skills are very rare and are only obtained by beings with an unparalleled aptitude for that said element. That is why choosing mage class at the beginning has a significant effect on one's future.
This was because the first skill given to us is a random skill of the class we choose, which is only affected by our aptitude for the said class. If we had a great aptitude, then we may chance upon a great or superb skill of that class even when we didn't actually deserve it. Manipulation type of skills were just like that. You needed unparalleled aptitude or luck to chance upon them.
If you had an unparalleled aptitude, then you will eventually get the skill, but for those who didn't could only hope to gain them on their first skill or come in contact with ability scrolls that give that skill.
'I didn't expect you to be so talented.', Elena thought with surprise and slight melancholy. She had truly wronged her friend in her past life.
"You have that undistributed stat, right?"
"Yes, miss."
'This safe place was for me but it seems you would also need it.', concluded Elena, seeing her get fire manipulation.
"Good! Before you use it, let me tell you something.", Elena said in a stern tone.
"Right when you use the stat, something mysterious will happen to you. But, no matter what happens or what you experience, don't open your eyes. Keep them close.... No matter what!", Elena said with a dead serious expression.
*Gulp*
Aisha felt a chill run down her spin as she gulped when she realized how severe the situation could be by her lady's serious demeanour.
"Miss, will it....really be that dangerous?", asked Aisha in a hesitant voice. She was now unsure if she should continue.
"... Yes, only if you open your eyes"
"...", Aisha stared at the pure eyes of her young miss, which only had genuine intentions for her.
'Miss trusts me so much. I need...need to overcome this hurdle to actually be able to help young miss.'
She took a deep breath and replied, "Yes miss, I understand. I will do as told."
"Good. Remember to put your stat into the spirit stat."
"Yes"
While Aisha did as told, Elena just waited. She waited because she wasn't sure if Aisha could invoke the ascend of the Elemental realm.
Elemental realm! A strange and unknown place. Not much is known about the place except for the fact that whoever gets inside that realm comes out with a gift; a skill that the realm deems you need the most, and provided to you through the realm keeper; A Yeti.
While the skills may not possess immense power, their possession breeds envy among those without them, since these unique abilities harbor the potential to sway the tide of a death match if wielded adeptly, or offer unexpected advantages in various scenarios.
She knew this information because she herself had been there before, but unfortunately, she got nothing but a slight help from the compassionate Yeti. When in the process of ascend into the realm, a berserk silver wolf had attacked her, resulting in her spirit failure!... at least that was what the Yeti told her.
Spirit failure! A cruel fate experienced by those who are attacked or interrupted in their time of ascend. Those who suffer such a fate cannot use the element they were supposed to conquer at all because their dantian has scattered, unable to hold the mana sent into them.
The dantian is a place where we store mana, which can be anywhere is the being's body. With the dantian scattered, these unparalleled geniuses can't use magic even as good as worst of all. They fall off from the top of the pyramid, in a way never able to climb up again.
She knew all this because she experienced them the hard way. Her life had fallen to its lowest point after she experienced this cruel fate, with her only saving grace being the help given by the Yeti, which saved her from suffering a worse fate of being rap*d and turned into nothing but a pleasure slave. At least she had preserved her dignity.
Her body shuddered with fear as goosebumps covered her body when she remembered the painful and miserable fate one must suffer when someone interrupts the ascend.
*sigh*
"... Mi.. Miss.... Something... Somethings happening.", suddenly Aisha voiced in a fearful tone.
"Aisha, calm down! Clam down. It's nothing like I said. You just need to calm yourself and let yourself go." Elena came out of her thoughts, hearing her best friend's anxious call.
...
*snap*
An ethereal snap echoed in the dungeon, produced from Bittu's body himself.
"..."
"... Sigh....You should have not been so hasty."
"Well, now you can only take this as a lesson to not be reckless."
"Since this cost you, cost you a lot. It was a major loss, both to your potential and skills.", the masked man said, pensive about the situation Bittu was in.
Though, his suggestion landed on deaf ears because Bittu was in no condition to listen to anyone, not even himself. With the magnitude of pain he was suffering, he couldn't even think straight.
"...", looking at his condition of screaming, twitching, twisting, the masked man didn't utter a word and just raised his head. Almost as if his eyes pritched through the walls of the dungeon, the masked man raised both his hands and showed his middle figure.
"Did you think he won't survive? Well, I have to disappoint you, since he will."
BOOM!
As if responding to the provocation, a thunder zapped and landed straight onto the same river that swallowed Bittu.
The masked man ignored the unknown entity above and went back to stay inside Bittu.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
"Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhh"
While Bittu was writhing in his agony, three cards were currently blocking all the attacks directed towards him. These were none other than the cards that he got from his skill, card manipulation!
The number of cards this time has increased from two to three, which has had to do with the increase in Bittu's spirit. The number of times his spirit increases, the more cards he could use. Although that was the case, Bittu was in no condition to think about any of this. He was on a battlefield of his own, an otherworldly battlefield.
"Ahhhhhhh..... Ahhhhhhhhhh"
"Cough.... Cough..... "
"Aaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh"
The skeletons kept on attacking, the only living in the dungeon, but that had no effect at all. The perfect defence of the cards stopped anything from further injuring Bittu.
While all this was going on with Bittu fighting in his physical form, his ethereal self had now arrived at a new place. Bittu was looking around bewildered about his situation.
'Where am I?'
'Wasn't I just in the dungeon feeling agony like never before?'
Bittu looked around only to find himself in a desolate landscape that stretches endlessly, its parched earth cracked and barren under the relentless sun. It seemed as if not a drop of water has graced this forsaken land for a decade, leaving behind a haunting silence broken only by the occasional whisper of the dry wind. The lack of any remains in his sight stand as mute witnesses to the unforgiving drought that has gripped this desiccated realm.
Suddenly, Bittu felt the wind grow gentler and a familiar yet foreign energy enter inside him. This sense of familiarity baffled Bittu, he didn't know the reason for this strange sense of familiarity. But, as time passed, he knew what and where this familiarity was coming from.
"Mana?"
This energy was the energy that he had felt before when that strange sensation enveloped him after he upgraded his spirit.
He raised his head as he said, "and it's coming from that place." With his gaze on the sun above.
The moment his gaze landed on the sun, he heard someone whisper in his ears.
"Welcome to the elemental realm, child of the wind.", a majestic voice landed in his ears.
The moment he heard the whisper, Bittu felt his body bind in one place. Instinctively, he tried to resist but, no matter what he did, he couldn't even move a muscle. He then lowered his head to look at what happened, only to be startled by the sudden appearance of clouds all around him. Except his head, these seemingly soft and white clouds covered all around his body.
'What the hell? Who's that?! Why has he imprisoned me? ', Bittu almost cursed out loud because of the shock.
'And what this is about Child of the wind? Who's he taking about?', he was confused.
"It's a rather early encounter, but its expected from you."
"Now, let's check–"
"..."
"..."
'Why did he suddenly stop talking?!', Bittu thought as he felt the atmosphere turn heavy.
"..."
".... Spirit failure.... ", The Yeti said in a heavy voice.
".....sigh....for you suffer this fate, truly the heavens are unjust to make you lose your potential.", said the Yeti with its eyes filled with pity.
'Lose my potential? What is he talking about?'
*sigh*
"Truly a sad outcome!", the Yeti said with sadness truly apparent in his voice
"...."
"But, since you are here, here's a little gift. I hope this will help you.", said the voice filled with warmth.
*click*
Suddenly, a green-coloured starlight appeared out of nowhere and shot right into Bittu's soul, striking right onto the cards.
While Bittu was contemplating about what was going on, still unaware about the light, a new notification flashed before him.