Chương 3: 1.1.03 - Am I Kakashi?

It had been three days since I woke up in this new world. Even though I had been given a second chance in a world of magic, there were a few things I did miss about my old life. For starters, my old bed. If I told you the orphanage I lived in now was poor, that would be an understatement. Apparently the hard straw pillow I complained about when I first opened my eyes was Marta's bed, and that was the best in this place.

She had let me sleep in her bed instead when I had my fever, and after recovering, she had sent me back to bunk in my old room with the other boys. I shared a room with four other boys. Gallum, Mervath, Wylric, and Harthen. Don't ask me how to pronounce their names as it seemed whoever first came up with names in this world probably had a brain aneurysm. At least their short forms they went by, Gal, Merv, Wyl, and Harth, were easier to pronounce.

Gal was the oldest of the lot and could not wait for the day his core awakened. He would probably grill me endlessly if he knew my core had awakened early. He talked about his grand ambitions to become an adventurer once he awakened his core, hopefully a rare affinity. Merv and Wyl looked to be about eight or nine years old and were on the smaller side. I had not had the opportunity to interact much with them these last few days but from Asher's memory they were typically quite cheerful but kept to themselves.

Harth was the youngest. He was at the age where he asked why for every response you gave him. I managed to get out of it by feigning sickness the last few days but would probably need to figure out new ways moving forward. The saving grace of this place was the size at least. The orphanage used to be a former lord's hunting lodge. It seemed his heir preferred indoors and was probably more charitable and hence donated it years back to set it up as a shelter for kids.

It had since been formalised as an orphanage and we even received a monthly stipend from the crown of this country. Another four girls shared another room upstairs. Branwen, who was the oldest of the lot, helped out around the orphanage with chores as well. As I came into the common kitchen for breakfast, I could see her helping Marta with the cooking. Everyone tried to help around where they could to alleviate Marta's burden but she insisted that kids should be kids.

The only exception was Branwen as she was twelve now and would be considered an adult in this world in another year's time. I tried to ask more about magic in the last few days and always got a stare down from Marta to remind me of my promise. Nevertheless, she indulged me in some basic knowledge anyway. Apparently everyone was only born with one affinity, with some legends being told of people who acquired a second minor affinity with mythical treasures.

The single lottery ticket you got handed at birth and the only one you would ever scratch. People with rare affinities would usually get whisked away by the crown but would not need to worry about money in their lifetime. The uncommon affinities that had more combat application unfortunately got sent to the military academy. I was of the latter category, and hence Marta's warning. I still remembered Branwen's comment when she overheard my conversation with Marta.

"They say if you eat the right stone, you could wake up with a second one. I read it in a book somewhere." It sounded exactly like power up stones from a certain creature catching game I used to obsess about. I laughed in my head, picturing Branwen going through some kind of evolution. Most people were also only born with common affinities such as fire, water, earth, and air.

Marta had an uncommon life affinity but it was only low grade, hence it was more difficult to learn higher tier spells and she never really pursued a career as a healer. Branwen awakened a medium fire core, something she was quite proud of as that would let her find an apprenticeship. She couldn't wait to leave and lighten the load on the orphanage, aspiring to "send help back" when she could. Only twelve years old and she had to worry about mouths to feed and helping out with finances.

This world was not one you could play on easy mode. As everyone settled down around the table to begin eating, I worked up my courage to finally ask Marta for the one thing standing between me and magic.

"Hey Marta, do you think you can teach me how to read?" As I waited for her to respond, I started to come up with different responses I could use to convince her depending on what she said. I had three different angles ready, ranked by how desperate I was willing to look and how much dignity I was willing to forego.

"Sure, when would you like to start?" Marta responded as she ate her oatmeal. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"You're serious? You're not lying, right?" I said in surprise.

"You've been weird since you had your fever. We should probably go see the priest in town to check on you" Branwen added.

"Yes of course I am serious, why would I be lying? You can join Merv, Thal and Wyl in their weekly lessons. I am just surprised you're asking for it this early. Wyl and Merv would have skipped if I didn't make them do it" Marta replied.

"Thank you! I will be looking forward to the lesson" I replied before quickly wolfing down the rest of my breakfast. The second thing I missed from my old life was probably the food. While I still got three meals a day, they were mostly carbohydrate based with vegetables mixed in. We only got meat a few meals a week. Now that I had secured my first objective of the day, I started working out how to achieve my second objective. I found a more secluded spot a bit further out by the back of the building.

I needed to be far enough away that whatever I was doing was not immediately obvious to whoever was looking down from the second floor, but still within earshot so I could respond if Marta called for me. I was not sure if this world also had four seasons but the weather seemed to be closer to autumn currently. The leaves on the tree had changed colours into that mix of rust and burnt orange that I had seen during autumn back on Earth. The air was chilly but not cold enough to freeze the rivers and lakes over.

I could still hear the river running beside the orphanage. I vaguely remembered playing in it during summer, even though all the kids had been cautioned by Marta not to. We got lucky once in a while and caught some fish, which was considered a luxury considering our current sparse selection. First order of business, learning to cast the only spell in my repertoire.

"Electro Perception!" I yelled. Drats, I should have known it would not work. Somewhere in the distance, I swore a crow-like bird cawed, mocking me as I made a fool of myself. Then I tried it with fingers on my temple just like Professor X, in case the universe worked like those anime I watched. I also repeated it in English, because at that point why not. The crow cawed again. I was starting to take it personally. I tried to recall what triggered the activation of the spell back then.

I remembered I was trying to sense where Marta was as she came up the stairs. Pulling up my status again, I looked at the spell description. It said "Assist with sensing and visualising of electrical energy signatures or activity..."

"I probably need to focus on the intent of the spell." Instead of shouting the spell name again, I tried to focus on the intent of what I was trying to do. I needed to sense electrical signatures or activity. I focused on that thought and I could sense the same flicker appearing at the corner of my eyes. Immediately the world lit up around me. This was likely static electricity that was constantly in the background. I looked down and could see the same nervous system I saw the other day.

I tried to look through the back of my head, but unfortunately, it didn't work. I could only pick up on electrical signals in the direction I looked at. No Byakugan for me, to my disappointment. When I was done experimenting, I looked down and noticed a well of energy concentrated around my sternum, with branches arching and tapering out. There was a branch thicker than the rest that seemed to be heading towards my head. Ah right I thought, I should know this given the unhealthy amount of fantasy anime I watched.

That well of energy was probably my mana core and those branches were probably my mana channels or mana coils. I tried to focus on sensing my mana core. I was not sure if it was my perfect affinity or the visualisation that helped; or maybe it was both, but I could feel something in my sternum. I moved on to try casting another spell next. From my extensive research I did in my past life, I would typically need to move my mana towards the outside of my body.

The only logical body parts I could think of were my arms. As I tried to stir some of the mana in my core, I could see two of the mana coils start to thicken and elongate towards my arms. I had to drop my focus after a while, and while some of the energy receded, I could see that the mana coils that were extended stayed in their elongated forms, just emptier. After I caught my breath I attempted it again and this time I could push it further out.

I repeated this over the course of the hour until I saw the coils reach my arms. This was probably the first time I exerted myself so much in both lifetimes combined but the prospect of magic got me too excited to stop. As I was taking an extended break this time before the last hurrah, I looked down and realised that my mana core was a lot dimmer than when I first started this morning.

I could probably safely infer at this point that the brightness of my core through my Electro Perception had a direct correlation with how much mana I had left in my core. I would need to figure out later if there were ways to accelerate the recovery or if there was a base recovery rate based on your environment. My next attempt allowed me to push the mana into my palms and I could see the lightning mana sparking in my palm.

I tried to do a Hadouken motion in an attempt to push it out towards a bush but nothing happened. The mana just clung to my palm. That's when I remembered I needed to focus on my intent when I cast my vision spell. I probably also needed to channel my intent through my mana. I dismissed the mana in my palms and started from the beginning. This time I focused on the intent to harm and electrocute, picturing myself as an oversized Pikachu as I pushed the mana through my mana coils to my palms.

As it reached my palms, a ball of lightning appeared in my hands and arced to the closest bush. It scorched the bush but luckily did not catch fire. Marta would have given me hell for starting a fire in the forest. That's when the notification I was looking for finally appeared. [You have learned a new spell 'Spark'] [Spark leveled up 0 -> 1] [You have increased your Mana Core Capacity by 100] [You have leveled up 1 -> 2] Holy shit I did it! Did I just cast Chidori?? Author Note: This is the work of Josh Shoniix.

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