Lightning storm was a difficult skill Acer had tried to learn, but ended up pushed aback by its unnerving demands.
An A-ranked skill - its advantage rolling somewhere between a witting amount of strength and eye-popping versatility.
Acer smiled as his gaze trailed across every word, swallowing at every sentence he went through.
Reminded of what the skill could do once again, the tragedy of his past futile attempts flushed out of his mind... replaced by a mental picture of using the skill to his triumph.
'Looks like there are some differences this time – Oh! So it's a Primal type.'
Acer was immersed entirely in the write-up, brows scrunched and eyes widened, all at different paces
Something he now knew was that the skill wasn't just a chant-and-effect skill like his other stockpile, but required more body movement that synced with whatever effect one expected it to have - thus the term, Primal.
Though it meant the skill now had a whole new level of difficulty, he now saw a path that could be taken to get what he wanted.
Reading further downwards, his gaze met a short note,
'A quick way to examine if a person can wield the skill… [Scent the page, and chant the power phrase after]'
And those were the last words on the page, leaving Acer in a coaster of mixed emotions.
His midnight eyes were shimmering like a glossy film at the content of his thudding heart, and his brows were scrunched with a fierce gaze of suspicion.
Was he finally going to harness the skill after nearly giving up on it?
But even more awe-inspiring, who must have left the skill note exposed in the book.
However, he now cared less.
Power would be a definite reward if he followed the instructions carefully.
Plus, he would've beared no risk of destroying his Mana-core - a mana-fueled engine attached to the heart of every human with an ability.
Acer looked around and picked the pale paper from the table, holding it close to his nose in the best inattentive way he could.
After a good whiff, Acer dropped the paper back on the brown surface of the desk, disappointed by the pale scent of the item.
Afterward, he proceeded to look at the highlighted power phrase of Lightning Storm, a type of personalized word used to activate almost every type of skill.
Magic skills, irrespective of their ranking were primarily subdivided into three. Of which was the Caster, the Primal, or just a combination of both.
And pitifully, Lightning Storm fell into what was a combination of both.
'[Call The Storm]'
Acer heaved trying to memorize the phrase before he got into any phase of action.
It would have been catastrophic if he got interrupted while he tried to draw mana from his Mana-core since the library was cleansed of any.
Ready to leverage into his mount of concentration, a shadow suddenly hovered over him, the tall figure easily obstructing the light that reflected from the window pane.
"Get out of my way Cole! I'm in the middle of something."
Acer didn't stare at the tall guy twice before knowing who he was.
He was Adam's forever loyal mate and one of the four best students in his class.
With a tall and masculine figure, Cole would have stood out on any occasion but ended up flawed with his terrible facial features - sunken eyes with dark patches, a crooked nose, and a blemished skin tone.
"Nah-ah!" "I realized nobody praised your terrible work… and I came to do so."
A silence boiled - Acer's focus savoring on the brown page he'd hidden under his book, and Cole staring a him with a devilish snicker.
"And Adam tossed you into the waste can in this one." The boy laughed.
Acer's fist crashed on the brown desk. He was getting frustrated by Cole's words, and even worse – the boy was delaying a process that he would've been done with, "You aren't roasted yet, right? Now before I lose it-"
"Pfft! You can barely beat me in combat."
Acer's eyes flared upon those words, and he finally shared eye contact with the latter whose grin looked no different from what Adam usually wore.
Sparks of lightning sizzled on his fair skin, painting him with a dangerous hue that could scare the life of any onlooker.
Cole also chose to retaliate, a blackness tinting the paleness of his skin as a black surge of blackness broke out from his clenched fist.
'Is this guy trying to fight?' Acer broke out of the tension after a brain analysis.
Simply shaking his head, the dancing stroke of lightning on his skin dissipated, "We'll settle this outside the library. Watch out for me!"
Cole smiled in satisfaction and backed away. Nodding at Acer's declaration like that was what he had come for since the beginning.
The atmosphere ended up more relieved after Cole's exit from the library, only wary at the lookout of the other students dispersed through the section.
Who wouldn't want to watch the popular Acer Pierce of Moorloch Grand Academy get into a heated fight? It would have been entertaining and tensed, bet on the stakes of his reputation.
Acer soon returned to his former preside, revealing the paper from its hiding sheath.
'Should I smell the paper again?'
Acer shrugs, quickly repeating the phase and then continuing on his attempt to undue mana from his core.
His eyes shut and his thoughts isolated, only allowing the power phrase of the skill to echo in his mind.
Then finally, he felt the spark in his heart. The mana synced with his beating heart, densely enveloping his veins.
It felt enlivening and somewhat liberating to have used an amount of his stored mana.
The flow was smooth and thorough as every mana power streamed through him.
But in an instant, something condensed inside of him. It first invaded the mana in his bloodstream, and then began a gradual build-up towards his heart.
Acer's eyes flung open, his palms suddenly clenched on his chest that sprang into an alarming heat.
He knew what was happening. It was a war.
One between the natural Mana from his Mana-core, and a foreign body he still had no idea of its purpose.
But the latter was certainly doing one thing to an obvious degree - struggling to have even though a small embrace with his Mana-core. And with the consistent push and pull between whatever it was that was invading his bloodstream... and his mana, trickle of tears gathered in his eyes, urging to fall because he could not scream out the pain he felt.
It felt like an hour of torture with Acer sitting still on his seat, his head resting on the table. Then it finally ended.
But when it did, Acer didn't feel a liberation of any sort.
Instead, it felt only like a void now spiraled in his heart. The feeling of an emptiness that he only knew could exist at this very moment.
'Please! N-not what I think.'