"Aefia!" Mr. Grizzly Bear called.
Aefia was the ninth person to be called, right after Nada. In the few moments she got to talk to them, Aefia found out that Nada had the Polar Bear element, while Anasiy had the Cat element. The problem was that Mr. Grizzly would only identify it for them after they had absorbed it, so Aefia wouldn't know which one she was absorbing.
Another thing she didn't know was which skills belonged to which elements. Due to her experiences in video games, she had a rough idea of what colour might belong to what animal or what animal might have what skills. At the moment, she could only decode that the Cheetah's element was speed, the Polar Bear's was ice, the Whale's was water, the Lizard's was healing, and the Snake's was poison. As for the rest, she had only options.
She was quite sure the Eagle's elemental ability was 'predatory', but she also thought about whether it really was an option because 'predatory' could be special ability but not an element.
Aefia walked to the table and stared at the seven remaining rocks. They were all different colours, but only one was brighter than the rest. It was a bright red stone engraved with a symbol: a knife with waves erupting from its side. Hunting? I'm not sure, as I haven't come across anything elemental in my video games. Most of the time it represent the type of weapon a character may have.
Aefia picked up the red rock and clasped it tightly while concentrating on the magic flowing from it and trapping it. The rock's magic surged into her fingers and entered her veins, a burning pain that forced Aefia to shut her eyes. If I lose focus, I'll be dead and turn into a beast.
When the last bit of the magic was drained from the rock, Aefia opened her eyes to see her veins glowing a bright red. Her surroundings felt more vibrant, as if she could detect the slightest thermal shift.
"Wolf," Mr. Grizzly answered.
Wolf? Seriously? What element does a wolf have? Aefia thought while diving deeper into her memory to retrieve the smallest information she could get.
"You should be happy, you know? A Wolf's special skill is its instinct," Mr. Grizzly explained.
"Thanks," Aefia answered, trying her best to act polite.
Instinct isn't bad, but can it be used in combat? I can surely use my instincts to determine danger.
While walking back, Aefia looked up at Nada. She could see a faint blue outline of Nada in her current standing position, and a black outline of her coming at Aefia, waving with her left hand. When she blinked again, Nada was in the position of her black outline. So the Wolf has psychic abilities? Not bad. If I can determine my enemy's next move in battle, I can determine my next attack too.
"What ability do you think you have? And why are your eyes glowing red?" Nada asked.
"I'm not sure; Mr. Grizzly just said 'Instinct.' I've found I can detect any changes in this room—that might be the elemental magic. I can also determine a person's next move, which hints at psychic abilities, but we'll find out for sure during the skill-detection test soon. And also," Aefia blinked again, trying to force the skill away and opened her eyes. "Is it gone now?" The blue outlines were gone.
"Yes..it's just that I prefer your black hair and black eyes better," Nada answered. Aefia gave her an annoyed gaze.
"You know I realized, you are smiling more often then you did on Earth. And I really like it," Nada smiled.
"I think it's because in this world, I can enjoy what I am doing without anyone else coming in to interrupt it." Aefia smiled back.
***
"This competition makes me feel like a school student again," Aefia sighed heavily after having to line up for what felt like the hundredth time.
"True! I thought this competition would be like reading a story from a novel and acting like the main character, but this is too real and relatable to consider it fiction anymore!" Nada replied.
"This is a work of fiction to the people of Earth. If your life or my life were to be put into pages, it would seem like a fake to other people. The true definition of fiction." Aefia soon realized what Ms. Tortoise had said earlier about Nikoan being a world from fiction stories to the people of Earth, and Earth being a world from fiction stories to the people of outer worlds. But I know that there is something to do with the Guardians, the elderly man, and the revelation. It feels all connected to the 'Great Yearly Catastrophe'.
"Aefia? Did you get your element?" Ms. Tortoise said while handing out the skill-detecting device.
"Yes, I got Wolf," Aefia replied after receiving the skill-detecting device.
"I don't understand. Why did you get such a weak element? I was expecting you to get the cheetah or the snake."
"Weak? I thought Mr. Grizzly said I should be happy about it."
Ms. Tortoise glanced in the direction of Mr. Grizzly Bear. "Don't listen to my brother, he is simply annoying." Bingo! I knew it!
"One question: what do I say to start the skill detection device?"
"I will demonstrate it to you after showing you to your cell."
"Am I going to be alone?"
"No. I heard you, Nada, and Afanasiy are friends, so I decided that I will take you three as my students," Ms. Tortoise said while rustling Aefia's hair. Lady, stop that! I'm not a kid anymore, Aefia thought, a flush of embarrassment spreading across her face.
"Is it only the three of us?" Aefia asked after removing the hair in front of her eyes.
"No, I have five students including you three. You will all be trained and taken care of until the competition ends." Five! Lady, you look like you're in your mid-twenties! Aefia was surprised, thinking how hard it would be to maintain five at once. After all, her parents had always complained about having children in the first place. I believe it's the same for all Asian parents.
Ms. Tortoise handed out a list. "This list here is all the possible skills you have. We also added the 'Elemental Absorption' skill here in case you have it. Anyone who does have it needs close monitoring."
Aefia scanned the list lightly. "So do I check if I have these skills and cross off any skills that I don't have?"
"Wow, you're so quick-witted," Ms. Tortoise said before moving to the next person. Does knowing common things count as quick-witted?
Aefia was always fast at catching the intentions of people and could tell a person's personality through a simple conversation. She was also quick at guessing the answer to a lot of incomplete mysteries, like one time when her father was close to bankruptcy and Aefia realized that the financial department had a hand in that problem. Soon after firing him, the company started climbing the ranks again.
***
After the distribution, Ms. Tortoise told everyone that from now on, each participant would be called by their elemental names. So any time a stranger asks me what my name is, I will be a laughing stock.
"If I call your names, remember that I am your team's mentor. We are going to go to our respective cells which, from now on, will be our personal meeting room," Ms. Tortoise spoke while winking at Aefia. WAS THAT NECESSARY?
Ms. Tortoise's team included Wolf, Snake, Cat, Lizard, and Polar Bear. "As long as you are in my team, you will be able to share your elements with your teammates. The elements you can share are Ice, Poison, Healing, Mind Reading, and Instincts," Ms. Tortoise explained after they were in their own personal team's meeting room.
"And they didn't happened to tell you, but every element has a side effect which helps to train your body for intense power pressure." How could they forget such a critical thing?
"Oh shit, we are two minutes late already, let me quickly go through how to use the device. Then the skill detection part is all yours to find out." Ms. Tortoise said while she checked a small pocket watch and took her own device and called out 'Activate scan.' Upon hearing the command, Aefia noticed that the device was shooting infrared light into Ms. Tortoise's palm. After a few seconds, a turquoise coloured screen popped up in front of Ms. Tortoise and she read out a skill.
"My device says that one of my skills is 'mental barrier.' I believe that now you know how to use it, so be quick and submit the results to me as soon as you are done." Idon't think it includes checking out the skill, does it?
"Before that, select a pen to write with from here," Ms. Tortoise said, pointing to the five black rectangular boxes stacked on top of each other sitting on top of a book rack.
"In Nikoan, everyone write with glass pens. They say it's standard for middle-class people to have one." So I had a degradation after coming to this world, Aefia thought, rather foolishly.
Aefia picked up a box and was relieved to see that her glass pen came with an ink bottle containing thirty millilitres of black ink. Enough to last me a month, I guess... I am not a frequent writer but I am not sure if I will have to write out my research papers.
The glass pen's body was an elegant, aqua-blue. It featured a long, tapering body with a finely twisted and ribbed texture that ran along its length, culminating in a decorative, teardrop-shaped reservoir near the tip. The bulbous section was a vibrant, translucent blue, catching the light and casting a shadow on Aefia's hand.
"Alright, good luck with your skill-detection," Ms. Tortoise spoke before leaving the room.
"Activate scan," Aefia spoke into the device. She could feel the heat of the infrared rays on the centre of her palm. She tried not to flinch and after five seconds, a red screen popped up.
[Special skill: Elemental Absorption]
What?! Aefia read the skill name again. I have the absorption skill? And it is the first skill I have? Aefia read the other skills.
[Elemental Ability: Murderer's instinct]
[Special Skill: Knowledge Absorption]
[Special Skill: Short-term Futuresight]
[Ability: Multi-weapon wielder]
[Ability: Future stimulation]
[Ability: Enemy Weakpoint]
[Elemental Ability: ...]
I have thirty-seven skills in total. The majority of them are saying 'locked, unlockable after conditions have been fulfilled'. Aefia's power, based on her gaming knowledge, was that of a mage or seer although some of her skills were related to murder and hunting.
I need to think of which skills to cross out. There have been events that I witnessed in novels and games where mentors only teach you a skill you don't have. For skills you have but are locked and unlockable, they leave you to discover them alone, which may lead to incorrect knowledge. In my case, for every time I throw a dice and make my move, I am either stepping closer to death or moving away from it. If I use a skill the wrong way, I might end up getting severely injured or, in the worst-case scenario, die. So I should cross off the skills in the 'unlockable' position.
Aefia crossed off twenty-six out of the thirty-seven skills, leaving her with enough skills to encounter any small danger she comes across. I am going to unlock the others anyway so why should I be arrogant?
Just when she thought of submitting the list, she realized another important factor. The 'Elemental Absorption' skill.
I don't know why this skill needs close monitoring, but I need to consider the worst-case scenarios first. For instance, I am not sure whether I can absorb the power of dead beasts, if so, maybe I can obtain some useful skills too. But sooner or later, I might need to enhance the way I use this skill. Another thing I am not sure of is whether the side effects will be carried with it. I already have a running main element which will be an unknown side effect, and if this side effect does damage to the body, and so are the other absorbed elements, then I may end up in a coma or slowly fade away. Considering all of the possibilities, I should let a mentor know about it.
Just as Aefia was about to put down her pen, a segment of a story came into her mind.
***
"Alright, so I see that all of you are done. Soon you will all be assigned a mission where you can test these skills out." Ms.Tortoise came after what looked like ten minutes.
She picked up the papers submitted and went through all of them. "Hmm...strange!" Ms.Tortoise wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "No one with an element has the 'Elemental Absorption' skill."
It's better to take risks than suffer in the future by letting others know of your ultimately rare skill. Aefia thought while slightly grinning. The first symptom of the side effect.