The days dragged on in a cycle of monotony and frustration. Tomo spent hours in the mine, pushing his battered body to its limits. Yet, no matter how much he experimented, observed, or practiced, earthbending eluded him.
His attempts always ended in failure. The few times he managed to shift even a pebble, the result was lacklustre. The other miners had started avoiding him, muttering curses about his "death wish."
"You just need to find your balance," his mother had said, her words meant to be comforting. But they only added to his growing list of unanswered questions.
Balance. Stability. It sounded simple enough, but Tomo had no clue what it truly meant, let alone how to achieve it.
One night, after another grueling day in the mines, Tomo returned home and collapsed onto the floor of his shack. His hands throbbed with a dull, persistent pain. His mother had fallen asleep early, her labored breaths punctuating the silence.
Staring up at the ceiling, Tomo's thoughts spiraled.
"This doesn't make sense," he muttered. "I know I'm an earthbender. I feel the connection to the earth, but it's like...like something's blocking it. Is it my hands? Is it me?!"
Frustration boiled over, and he slammed his fist against the ground.
The impact caused a strange, faint glow to appear before his eyes. Tomo froze, blinking rapidly as the light began to solidify into text.
Tomo sat in the dim light of his shack, staring at the faint glow of the status screen that had appeared before him. It was surreal, like something straight out of a video game. But this was no game—this was his reality now.
[STATUS SCREEN]
Name: Tomo
Race: Human (Earth Bender)
Age: 13
Title(s):None
Level: 1
Rank: None
Attributes:
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 1
Endurance: 2
Perception: 2
Wisdom: 4
Focus: 1
Chi: 5
Skills:
1. Earthbending (Level 0): Untrained; potential hindered by instability and lack of balance.
2. Airbending (Level 0): Untrained; latent potential yet to be awakened.
Unique Traits:
Crushed Hands (Negative): Severe damage reduces control and precision in bending.
Earthbound Spirit: Strong potential for earthbending, hindered by instability.
Whispers of Wind: Latent airbending potential linked to the soul.
Remark: "You're not the Avatar. So why the double trouble?"
---
Tomo's eyes widened as he read the skills section again, his thoughts racing.
"Airbending?" he whispered, disbelief creeping into his voice. "That's...that's not right. Only the Avatar can bend more than one element."
His immediate thought was that he was the Avatar, but that theory quickly fell apart. He remembered the timeline: Aang, the last airbender, was supposed to awaken soon from what he could tell.
"So...if I'm not the Avatar, then how?" His gaze lingered on the word "Whispers of Wind" in the traits section.
Realization dawned slowly. "Could it be...because i transmigrated? Did I carry airbending into this world when I transmigrated?"
The idea was absurd, but then again, so was waking up in a world of bending powers.
Tomo leaned back, staring at the dusty ceiling. If earthbending was tied to balance and stability, then maybe airbending offered a different approach.
He thought back to what he knew about the airbenders: monks, nomads, spiritualists. Airbending was the element of freedom, adaptability, and lightness of being.
"Maybe...it's about letting go," he mused aloud. "Freedom from expectations. From burdens. From myself."
His crushed hands had made earthbending a near impossibility, and his attempts so far had only led to frustration. So why not try something different?
The next morning, he made a decision: he would stop trying to force the earth to bend to his will and instead focus on airbending.
Tomo's first attempts were, unsurprisingly, failures. He tried waving his arms dramatically, mimicking the techniques he remembered from the show. Nothing happened.
"Come on," he grumbled, wiping sweat from his brow. "How hard can it be?"
After several more fruitless attempts, he paused to reflect. Airbending wasn't about brute force or control—it was about flow, spirituality, and harmony.
"Okay," he muttered. "If I can't bend the air, maybe I need to connect with it first."
He decided to meditate, recalling how the airbenders valued spirituality. It sounded simple enough, but for someone who had spent their previous life glued to screens, it was anything but.
Days passed in a haze of trial and error. Tomo struggled to calm his mind and focus.
Tomo let out a frustrated sigh, his legs crossed as he tried to focus. He had spent days attempting to airbend with nothing to show for it. No gusts of wind, no subtle breezes—just silence and still air. His frustration often got the better of him, but he refused to give up.
Finally, one quiet evening, something clicked. At first, it was just as frustrating as before. But then, as his thoughts began to quiet, something strange happened.
A sensation stirred—not the air, but something deeper. It was faint, like a flickering flame somewhere within him. He focused on it, and suddenly, a notification flashed in his mind:
[New Skill Unlocked: Meditation]
[New Skill Unlocked: Chi Sense]
Tomo's eyes flew open, his heart racing. "Chi sense? But I wasn't trying to feel chi—I was trying to feel the air!" When he opened his eyes, he noticed a small breeze stirring the dust on the floor.
He frowned, the words "Chi Sense" lingering in his mind. He had a vague idea of what chi was from stories and lessons, but he'd never truly grasped its importance. His curiosity got the better of him, and he mentally opened his status screen, navigating back to his attributes panel. The first time he'd seen it, his attention had been glued to the Airbending skill tab, so he'd barely glanced at anything else.
Now, with renewed focus, he read the description of each of his attributes:
Attributes
1. Strength (STR)
Represents physical power, impacting combat effectiveness, lifting capacity, and endurance in physical tasks.
2. Agility (AGI)
Determines flexibility, movement efficiency, and balance, critical for acrobatics and chi blocking.
3. Dexterity (DEX)
Indicates precision, coordination, and fine motor skills. Essential for accuracy in combat and performing intricate tasks.
4. Endurance (END)
Measures stamina and resistance to fatigue, allowing prolonged physical or chi-based activity.
5. Perception (PER)
Defines awareness and sensory acuity, determining the ability to notice details, detect hidden objects, and sense chi flows.
6. Wisdom (WIS)
Reflects insight, intuition, and spiritual understanding, affecting meditation, chi control, and spiritual interactions.
7. Focus (FOC)
Denotes the ability to control and direct chi, essential for bending and other chi-based techniques.
8. Chi
The life energy that flows within all living beings. Powers bending, enhances physical resilience, and unlocks spiritual potential.
Tomo furrowed his brow as he read through the description for Chi. It detailed its connection to bending,
He couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. All this time, he'd been struggling to control the air outside of him when the answer had been within him all along.
"Alright," he said, exhaling slowly. "If chi's the key, then I'll start here."
Tomo grinned, a spark of hope igniting within him. This was just the beginning, but for the first time since arriving in this world, he felt like he was moving forward.
"Let's see where this takes me," he said, his voice filled with determination.