By pushing his hands toward the ground, Akashi managed to create enough momentum to lift himself up a bit.
But that momentum was short-lived.
When he saw how the metalbenders were watching him, he lost his momentum.
His mind worked fast.
The ability he believed he should keep hidden was now revealed.
But one should look on the bright side.
Right now, he was floating above a huge hole in the roof. The crumbles had already fallen onto the floor below, which meant they wouldn't fall on him.
'This is gonna hurt.' He forced a smile as he saw the sharp-edged stones and metal poles sticking out of them.
And he fell gracefully onto them.
"Fuck!"
He screamed in pain.
Many of his bones cracked, and a lot of spots on his skin got scratched.
But at least he managed to protect his head.
He looked at his arms and clicked his tongue. They were full of bruises.
But that wasn't something a waterbender healer couldn't fix.
That's right.
In this world, they had waterbenders. In some ways, they were better than natural recovery and modern medicine when it came to healing injuries.
His fellow police officers jumped to him and picked him up.
"You fuckers, only now you come," Akashi said disdainfully.
"Hey! We rushed as soon as we heard you screaming!"
"That was like five minutes ago!"
"More people were screaming. But at least, good job fighting on your own as a nonbender… Hold on a second, you just bent air, didn't you?"
"Fuck!" Akashi ignored the question.
The fellow police metalbender bent a metal pole toward the airship, pulling them up in Spider-Man style.
There, Akashi was taken to a special room, where he was put on a bed. Someone in doctor's clothes came in with an injection and put him to sleep.
[Ding. You have contributed to defeating an expert earthbender.]
[Ding. You are entitled to a portion of the experience.]
[+300 exp]
[Ding. You leveled up.]
[Ding. You leveled up.]
[+1 Skill Point]
[+1 Skill Point]
[+2 Attribute Points]
[+2 Attribute Points]
Akashi's eyelids moved when he heard the experience notification.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a screen in front of him, waiting for him, telling him that he had leveled up two levels in a row.
'System Stats…' he thought, wondering if it was the way to control the system through his thoughts.
[Name: Akashi.
Level: 3.
Class: Airbender.
Skill Points: 2
Attribute Points: 4
***Skill Trees***
Airbending — level 1
***Skills***
None.
***Attributes***
Wisdom: 4
Strength: 2
Vitality: 2
Agility: 3
Stamina: 2
HP: 100/100
Chi: 100/100
Stamina: 100/100
]
So, it was the type of system that could increase his attributes and skill levels through leveling up.
Not bad.
He looked at his attributes and found a question mark next to each one, explaining it.
Wisdom increased his intelligence and the efficiency of Chi usage. It also increased the amount of Chi he had.
Strength increased, well, his physical strength.
Stamina increased purely his endurance.
Vitality increased his strength slightly but mostly increased his HP. It also contributed to his natural healing.
Agility increased his speed and attack speed. It also contributed to his flexibility and reaction speed.
'Every attribute sounds very important and can't be ignored. I could go for a balanced build. It would be strong and have no weaknesses. But it would take me reaching a high level to be very strong. If I go for an imbalanced build now, I could have weaknesses but high strength without needing a high level.'
'Now that my airbending power has been exposed, I know I will get attention. From what, or who, I don't know. But that can't be good. The least worst thing that could happen is attracting the attention of a serial killer who likes to kill benders. So, I guess an unbalanced build for the first levels would be the key.'
'Man. It's a new life already, and I don't have time to think about the previous one.'
'Well, it feels like I took over this body at the age of one and kept living with my memories locked until now.'
"I see that you have finally woken up," said a familiar voice.
Akashi turned to see a gray-haired, green-eyed middle-aged woman.
"Chief," he said, his eyes noticing an important detail.
She was barefoot.
And no, he didn't have a fetish for feet.
But if the chief stood barefoot, it meant she was about to ask him questions and would use her mother's technique to detect lies.
The dangerous thing about the chief was that she would let you lie to her and never stop you so she could get the full truth out of you.
"How long have I been sleeping?" he asked.
"A couple of days," she said. "The doctor recommended that you avoid processed food and meat for now, and eat only vegetables and fruits."
"That happens." He sighed as he sat up. His muscles and bones were now fully recovered. It made him feel good.
'I guess my Vitality points aren't enough for me to regenerate from such damage,' he thought, his mind still in the game. 'But since I'm an airbender, I think going for agility is the way, since that's what made Aang special, other than being the Avatar.'
"Why are you so distracted?" she asked, beginning her interrogation.
Akashi tilted his head.
Was being an airbender all of a sudden something to suspect?
"Why are you asking?" he asked back.
"I'm your boss!" she replied, clenching her teeth while suppressing a yell.
"I'm currently on medical leave. I'll give you the certificate later," he replied.
"You're pushing it too much!" She took a few deep breaths in and out. "Listen. I'm not going to be nice anymore. You suddenly became an airbender. All of a sudden, which isn't possible since the only airbenders left in the world are Tenzin and his kids. So, tell me. Did you make some pact with evil spirits, or are you some spirit that possessed him?"
Okay… he didn't know about evil spirits granting powers or whatever, but he had heard something happened in Kyoshi's novel, though he never read it, just online Reddit stuff.
As for her concerns, they seemed quite legit.
"Isn't being a bender genetic?" he asked.
She crossed her arms and replied, "I thought so. But even if Tenzin had been with someone other than his wife, their kid would be way younger than you."
Akashi lifted his hand and said, "Pause. I didn't want you to think that I might be some illegal son. You knew my mother, right?"
"Yes, and she was an earthbender. So, what did you want me to think?"
"What I want you to think is that maybe one of my grandparents was an airbender, or one of my great-great-grandparents may have been an airbender who escaped at the start of the Hundred Years War," Akashi explained. Since this world was based on the 1920s from Earth plus some science fiction, he believed they knew all about genetics. "That's something. Or it could be some rare mutation, like being born with two heads. Very rare, but possible. As a detective and a cop, you should have thought of that."
The chief paused for a second. She seemed to think very hard about it. Then she frowned deeply. "That bald monk. Like father like son…"
Great, now she was thinking he was the illegal great son of Aang.
But she could think whatever she wanted.
After all, it was way better than believing he was possessed by an evil spirit.
And since Akashi was Bob from his previous life, if he had answered that question directly, he might have given some hint that he was lying or believed he was possessed.
So, he decided to answer what he believed in without answering that question directly.
"And no. I'm Akashi. I'm as confused as you are about waking up here as an airbender," he replied.
"Okay, you make sense," she replied. "A spirit would be too stupid to answer that question about genetics. Also, you seem really surprised." She sighed deeply.
"So, what did you decide?" she asked.
"Oh." Akashi made a silly smile and decided to be sarcastic. "I decided to be the president of Republic City."
She put her hand over her mouth. "Right, forgot to tell you. The Order of the White Lotus wants you with them. If you want to resign from the police, you can join them. If you want to stay, you're welcome. And you may get promoted."