What happened to Yoel?
The first thing Vasil felt when he saw Yoel was confusion. Why was he suddenly lying on the ground?
Don't tell me he's already expended…
Before he could finish that sentence, his train of thought was stopped by a sudden gust of wind that rose from a blind spot somewhere at his back.
The unnamed professor had already realized what was happening and dashed to Yoel's aid. He didn't waste a single second to spring into action.
"Avon burnout. Seems like not all of you can handle this much yet."
As he spoke, the tattoos once again vanished from the surface of his skin, flickered into existence for but a moment and once again disappeared.
Even though he could not see it, Vasil instinctually believed that the creatures were now in Yoel's body.
The professor's words had also rekindled a long-forgotten memory about Yoel.
When they had all been strangers to each other; they had all been tested on their awakening chances, and Yoel's had been the lowest out of all of them, in fact… it had been the lowest in history.
Nobody had made a fuss that he had still awakened an enigma besides the chances being incredibly against his favor.
So, Vasil had assumed that either they had all forgotten that Yoel's chances had been the lowest out of all of them, or they took another, more complicated route to ensure that his awakening wouldn't cause an uproar.
And from what it looked like to Vasil, they had chosen the latter.
But despite beating all odds and proving the world wrong for assuming he was already a failure, awakening even though he was practically doomed to be a normal human for life, he still would struggle after his awakening.
The lower the chances, the less avon one's body possessed upon awakening.
Vasil pitied Yoel, he really believed that he could succeed despite his disadvantages in this field.
He himself had not awakened an enigma yet, and he could control avon almost as decently as any other Blessed. How tough must it be on Yoel, who was the exact opposite of him?
Without letting his inner monologue get the best of him, he focused on the situation in front of him.
Lately, he was spending too much time thinking to himself than actually doing. If only he had never accepted that job...
"...cant hear me now, can you?"
The professor was speaking to Yoel, and his tattoos were not displayed on his body anymore, a clear sign that they were being used for another purpose.
Vasil thought he had seen the professor with a distraught face, but when he blinked the image disappeared before his eyes as soon as it had appeared.
Whatever was happening to Yoel was most likely something that Vasil should not concern himself with too much. After all, he had to play the role of an acquainted stranger, at most.
And he had quite the method of distracting himself from this scene.
Why… am I able to manipulate avon?
I never experienced bright yellow lights falling down on me, nor have I felt particularly strengthened the past few days.
So, why am I able to manipulate a force I am not supposed to be manipulating?
For as long as he was alive, he knew that humans and Blessed were never the same. Humans could never replicate what the Blessed could do, and if they so much as tried so, they would be a few feet under at least.
He remembered when they tried to make a human touch an avon source, it was truly a gruesome thing, something he wished he had not remembered.
But all of it imposed the same questions within him. Why was he so different?
Lately, Vasil had been obsessed with explanations, ever since the dungeon exam he had been more in his head than the real world. It should have been tiring, but for some reason he could go on for hours and hours without stopping.
His train of thought was almost twice as long as before, if not thrice.
No matter how much he tried to sense a change within him, he sensed nothing. He had been the same Vasil as always.
It irritated him too much, it was as if he was walking towards a destination, but without actually moving from the starting point, remaining there no matter if he walked or ran.
He clenched his fists at the thought, and the avon that had been floating around him suddenly stiffened– sharp spikes appearing on the long tails of water almost immediately.
A few students that sat around him were startled, but not enough to stop paying attention to the show happening due to Yoel.
Even he himself had been startled, did the avon just respond to his emotions? Is that how it is supposed to work?
The avon was not done developing itself, however. The few tails of water became unstable, and then…
The avon had been split into multiple slim vines with thorns decorating their watery bodies.
Each one of them closely twisting around his body, as if serving as both a means to attack and a means to defend.
W-What.. the fuck?
The watery vines moved and twisted unstably around him, however as if they had a life of their own, they scanned and analyzed their surroundings, carefully pinpointing any with ill intent towards their master.
For the first time in a while, Vasil thought he was about to reach some kind of answer.
After a long time of nothing but questions, even he began to get drunk at the thought of finally achieving a hint, at what he was supposed to do; or what he was.
He tried to reach even farther, so he decided to test out his luck by commanding them to attack an open area in the ground.
The vines did not respond, they kept close to Vasil's body, acting as a shield as if their master had never commanded them to fight.
Once again, the moment I find even an inkling of an answer I'm pushed back again. Damn this fucking ability of mine.
For a few seconds, he stood there silently. Throughout his entire life he was easily irritated, causing him to lash out at someone without really meaning to.
Ever since getting out of the dungeon, though, the irritation faded almost completely, only very rarely did he get truly angry.
This was one such case. He simply couldn't allow himself to stumble into another failure after trying so long.
He decided that he was not done trying, and now he imbued his heartfelt anger into his commands, bracing himself for another failure.
What happened next, left him with his mouth agape.
The vines twisted once more, just enough to not touch his skin, and slithered to the floor as if a bunch of vipers, and like vines whipped their bodies to the location of the pinpointed anger.
What…?
Is the answer to Vasil's mysterious control over avon… emotion?
He had been quite perplexed, as he had never heard of any kind of theory or belief that avon would change corresponding to someone's emotions. Many have tried but to no avail.
To think that he was able to precisely control his avon despite being afflicted with emotions. And all of that while still being a normal human.
This is weird. This is way too weird.
His thoughts were stopped before they had gotten too loud once again, the professor's voice crashing against his ears.
"All of you. Outside. Go take your break. Your class starts in a few minutes. I know a lot of you were exhausted, trying to control your avon. I won't scold you since this is the first day, but be mindful from today and on."
The professor had been loud, and kind of urgent. It was as if he had just realized he had to attend to something at the last second– maybe he really did.
It did not take long for the students to take their leave. After the first one had risen the rest followed suit soon enough.
After the crowd had dispersed, he noticed Yoel was sitting in a cross-legged position, his head tilted slightly towards the ground, his eyes open but not quite looking forward.
It was as if he was piercing the ground with his eyes, looking at something beyond it; or looking at something within himself.
He was about to walk up to him– to shake him out of his trance, but the professor noticed him long before he took the decision to approach him.
"What are you still doing in here? Get out quickly before your break ends and you have no time to recover!"
The professor made a swift move to place one of his palms on his shoulder, locking it tightly in place.
He was hurriedly pushed out of the arena, with no time to complain or to resist. The second the professor put his hands on his shoulders, he suddenly saw the world lurch and before he had realized it, he was outside.