To use arts, one needs a special technological advancement called Tokens. These small round/square (whatever shape) objects can turn the invisible One Power (threads of blue energy dancing all around the world) into actual power to be held.
One can't simply rely on a Token alone, if one wishes to perform the Art of Fire, one will need another technological object called Crystals. They are separated into colors to differentiate their use, red ones are needed to perform Fire Arts for example.
Once the Crystal is placed inside the Token, the third and final step needs to be completed. That is the calculations required to transform the One Power into the Element desired.
Meaning, that one had to be a great Mathematician to be considered a great Arts User.
...
The young man sat with his back to the desk and read from the notebook describing the power system of the world and shook his head in displeasure.
'Tsk... Even these small carved rocks require some Math calculations to use. Fortunately, the old man left me the formulas needed to activate them. It's interesting though, as some people simply memorize the formulas and use the specific arts...'
'That's what truly differentiates Great Art Users from common ones. Some only know a few arts, and others create art on the spot... Which one will I be? Don't know, for now, I need to memorize a few formulas for the most common arts and we'll proceed from there.'
'Otherwise, you can just train daily until you die out of exhaustion to become a great Fighter too... To each their own, literally!'
The young man shook his head again, "Anyways, gonna need to read a ton of things before I can even begin anything... For now, though, I need to..." He raised his head and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before sighing.
He then stood up and dusted his pants a little, he was wearing blue jeans from the looks of it with a black shirt. He still didn't know what his hair or face looked like.
'I need a mirror.' Searching around the room for a bit, he found one. 'Red hair? That is... Very weird, to say the least. Otherwise, I look... Huh! Just like how you'd imagine a handsome young noble to look... Pretty great I'd say.'
'Ahm... Bragging's not a good trait, it usually leads to the downfall of a person, gotta stay modest... Alright, then next and before... That... What else do I need?'
'A name! I need a freaking name... Name... Name... I can't think of a good one... Wait! I got it! I'll look for a cool name in one of these books, whichever one I like most is gonna be mine until I remember my own.'
With that decided, the young man took hold of some of the nearby looks and started searching for a name. The next ten minutes were dedicated to this one mission.
Finally, he seemed to find one that suited him most, "Larkins Castro... Tsk! A pretty cool name I won't lie. Larkins is taken from a Historian by the name who wrote about the ancient ruins of Alvasrom."
"As for Castro, it's a combination of Carmen and Stroman... Castro... Cool, right? I mean, it sounds noble enough... Oh right! Clothes! I can't go out looking like this, I need... Damn it!"
An idea struck him at this moment, all the clothes left inside the mansion, were owned by the dead old man. 'That's a little... Creepy to think about, but on the bright side... I just got a freaking mansion... And from the bits I saw in the notebooks, he was super rich too... Haha!'
"Ahm, anyways... Gotta pay my respects before I take any of his stuff." Larkins nodded to himself and took a step forward. He left everything inside the basement and closed the door using the same key from earlier.
Back into the dark and creepy setting of the mansion, Larkins smiled to himself lightly and tried to find a "Light Switch", which he did. Clicking on the button beside the Red Crystal, the hallway was illuminated in seconds.
"Technology developing differently than Earth because of Arts is simply fantastical... I can't wait to learn more."
Larkins then made his way toward the stairs and returned to the research office located on the second floor. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Walking inside, he switched on the light and turned to glance at the corpse of the old man. Just like he had left it, it was still there lying dead in a small pile of blood.
"Well... Where do I bury him? Should I first see if there is a backyard or not? I'm guessing there is?" Larkins made his way toward one of the nearby windows and looked around.
"Yup, there is one... Should I bury him there or is that too creepy of a thing? In the notebook I glanced through, he mentioned a nearby village down the hill... Yeah, I'm inside a mansion on top of a hill with a corpse, classic horror story set up."
"Or maybe bury him outside the fence there... Wait... Why are there Silver Crystals placed everywhere on it... And... There is one that's broken... That can't be good news, right?"
"Ahm, alright, I'll bury him inside the backyard, I'm not venturing into a forest." There was a forest that could be spotted right outside the broken fence.
Larkins nodded to himself and turned toward the bloody corpse. "Now then... Hah! So... Do I just grab it and carry it down there? I mean, I can't throw it out the window... I'm sure that it would fit, but c'mon... Gotta be respectful to the dead, not playing around with their bodies, even if they're enemies... Which, gotta say, the old man isn't... Kinda!"
The red-haired young man stared at the dead old man for a while longer, he didn't know how to feel about touching a corpse. He didn't feel much looking at it and didn't feel much about forgetting his memories, nor the idea of arts and superpowers.
And yet, he still felt a little weird about burying someone. The idea felt a little novel and creepy for him. 'C'mon, this is the nature of life, death strikes any living creature, same for this world, no one can go against this one fact.'
'It's the thing at least most living creatures agree upon. Once someone dies, some burn them and whatnot, but most bury them... I'm not burning anyone, I personally think it's barbaric to do so, but not the time for opinions... So then, c'mon, let's get this over with.'
Larkins took another deep breath before he made his way toward the corpse. Once he got there, he touched the old man's wound lightly, his hand was colored red in the next second.
The old man's blood was starting to congeal by now. Larkins cleared his throat and then gripped the old man's body. He lifted him in his hands and then put him over his shoulder.
'Damn! I knew that corpses are really heavy... But wow! Was I this strong to begin with or did this world change something? Because looking at my build, I most probably shouldn't be able to lift the old man.'
'Anyways, let's get going. Oh right... I'm gonna need a shovel... Well, I'll put the body down in the backyard then I'll go looking for one.'
Larkins stepped out of the room and carefully took the stairs down to the first floor. He then inspected around for a bit until he found a door leading into the backyard.
Fortunately, a shovel was placed right beside the door. Larkins nodded to himself and put the old man's body on the green grass.
He took the shovel and chose the farthest place from the mansion before he started digging. It took about half an hour before he stopped. 'Alright, almost confirmed that I've gotten much stronger... Or this shovel is super strong compared to normal ones, or maybe the ground's... Not the time.'
Larkins then turned to stare at the old man's corpse one more time. "I should probably cover him in some cloth... White would be well suited. Excuse me, I'll be back in a bit."
Larkins made his way inside the mansion once more. After about 15 minutes he came back with a large enough white cloth. He stared at the old man, then thought of something else.
"Should I wash his corpse... Or is it more respectful to bury him with his clothes of battle? I apologize, I'll just leave him as be."
With that, Larkins wrapped the old man in a white cloth and put him on the ground. He then started covering it with dirt. After a while, he was done, he put a stone right beside it to mark the place.
"I tried to be as respectful as can be, hopefully, I was." Larkins sighed lightly and fell to the ground. "Dang it, I'm really... Like really tired. Burying someone is supposed to be the work of many, not just one... Right?"
"I don't know, and not the time for those thoughts. For now, I just wanna take a nice warm shower and go to sleep."
"I'll come back later to check the backyard some more... I did notice a clock plastered inside the mansion, should probably check what time it is."
Larkins took in a deep breath and entered the house again. He searched for a bathroom and found one soon enough. He prepared something to wrap himself in after he was done.
Checked what could be used to wash oneself, and felt a little intrigued by the white crystal and red one inside the shower room.
"One for cold water, the other makes it hot... Haha! I don't know why I like these small details so much." With that thought, he entered the shower.
Sometime later, he was rummaging through a closet looking for clothes to wear. He found some nice noble-looking ones that suited his hair color.
'Guess these will have to do for now.' He nodded to himself and wore the red military-styled clothing. He then lay on a nearby bed.
'One thing I enjoy is that... I apparently know how to cook, and yet, I'm too tired to make anything, gonna close my eyes for a while, I'll eat later.'
Larkins finally closed his eyes and let the dream land take him away.