Chương 5: Lightning Is The Only Way

Ray spent most of the next day with different base personnel. Today, he was to choose his very first Essence. The influx of information from the System had given him a basic understanding of how his Attributes worked and how Mana affected them. In order to use Elemental Mana, one must draw on the specific Essence and funnel it through the Soul Core. From there, the Mana would travel through the Mana Ways the same as before. An easy way to understand the process was to imagine a long tube filled with water.

In order for the water to travel out either side of the tube, something of equal mass must enter the opposite side, pushing the water out. The Mana Ways were the tube, and Nul Mana was the water. The Soul Core acted as the additional mass by funneling more Mana into the Mana Ways. Let's say you wanted the liquid inside the tube to be something other than water. The quickest way to accomplish that would be to push out all the water and then fill the tube with whatever liquid you desired.

That method was horribly inefficient, however. Mana wasn't a finite resource by any means, but it was difficult to absorb an endless amount into the Soul Core, hence Mana regeneration speeds. Dumping out all of one's Mana mid-fight would be a death sentence. In order to replace the Nul Mana with Elemental Mana, the Soul Core had to feed the Elemental Mana into the stream of Nul Mana, and due to the properties of Nul Mana, it would then cycle back into the Core.

This meant there was a slight delay when changing elements, which was why most people chose to specialize in only one. High Intelligence and Mana control could lessen the time it took to switch elements, but it would only have noticeable results in the 3rd Stage. Before that, Ability cast times tended to be on the longer side and were usually cumbersome and difficult to manage on the fly.

This made using a single element even more enticing, since most of the early Stages were about forming a powerful and cohesive set of Abilities and less about the speed at which you used them. Tech could also lessen the gap, but most people found it difficult to develop more than a few of their own Techniques. Ray was told by the personnel that he would be escorted to the west side of the base, an area he had yet to visit since his arrival.

He was informed that this was where the weapons and other important items for System users were kept. Essence, battlegear, and even combat-ready vehicles were abundant at the GLMB, and in order to gain access to them, one had to spend contribution points. Due to being in the program, Ray was allotted a balance of 1000 contribution points. This was to purchase his first handful of Essence, weapons, and gear to help with his transition into the war against the Beasts.

Ray was told none of the other members of the program had woken up yet, but the first ones were expected to within the next 24-48 hours. A week was the minimum most people spent recovering from the System initialization, so they were right on schedule. After today, Ray would follow the System's instructions to finish his training. Gunther, Clive, and Rize would be busy, and after the last person had gone through training, the program would begin its first phase. He would learn all about that in a week or so.

Until then, he had to absorb his first Essence and undergo the Evolution. Ray found himself in a room uncharacteristically small for the base it was in. He sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair at a simple white desk. Atop the desk was a monitor like any other he had seen in the base. His job was to connect to the monitor through the System and browse the list of potential first Essence. Doing so was as easy as willing it, and he was suddenly met with a wall of options on the screen.

The options were divided by element and rarity. The prices were higher than he had imagined, and he was surprised to see some elements had larger stocks than others. A Fire Essence (Uncommon) would cost him 100 contribution points, but a Fire Essence (Rare) cost 300! There were even ones marked (Legendary) worth a whopping 1000 contribution points. The personnel had informed Ray that he would benefit from an Essence of Rare quality, but he had hoped they would be cheaper than nearly a third of his budget.

This was also the first time Ray had gotten a good look at all the different elements. Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Light. Dark. Lightning. Seven. There were seven total elements. Nul Mana was separate. This was in line with what he had learned from the System, but seeing them displayed in front of him made it truly sink in. He would have to choose one of these seven elements. Or did he? Everyone claimed specialization was better than generalization, but were they right?

Essences had five tiers, and each tier corresponded to a rarity. Common. Uncommon. Rare. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Elite. Legendary. These were how gear and Essence were categorized. Ray took note that Common Essence only cost 50 contribution points, most likely to help out struggling military members. Everyone deserved a full set of Abilities, even if they came from lower-rarity Essence.

These Common Essence were most likely meant for people who never planned on making it to Stage 3. A nagging feeling persisted in the back of his mind, and he couldn't help but feel excited by the idea forming in his head. Nothing in particular pointed to why, but Ray couldn't shake the feeling that specializing would only become a hindrance to him. The idea of commanding every element and mastering every Attribute felt like his true calling. The one who would break the mold and surpass all those who came before.

Mana was something that had seemed forever out of reach, even in a world full of it. And yet, somehow, it had landed in his hands. Was it greedy to want more? Ray selected the Essence he wanted, quelling his urge to purchase multiple.

'I should make sure each one is at least Rare rarity,' he thought.

'That just seems right.' Once Ray made his selection, one of the personnel entered the room and ushered him through a series of hallways to another room. This one was much larger, filled with heavy equipment and multiple staff members. The personnel informed Ray that he would receive his Essence within the next hour and that his first absorption would be monitored closely by the staff. Ray had dished out almost an entire third of his current military wealth for the Essence. He could barely wait for its arrival.

The next hour consisted of an explanation of how to absorb an Essence from both one of the personnel and the System. The gist of it was that he had to absorb the Essence into his body by holding it against a body part. Everyone used different parts of their body for some or all of the Essence they absorbed. It was common practice to designate each limb, along with the head, chest and pelvis, for one Essence each. A few unique users, however, put all 7 in one location.

Ray decided to at least follow tradition in this aspect and put one Essence in each section of his body. After an hour of preparation, a staff member arrived with a large all-black briefcase. Ray was given the briefcase and put in a room with a 2-way mirror. The staff could watch, but he was unable to see them, giving the illusion of privacy. Opening the briefcase was as surprising as it was nerve-racking. Inside was a palm-sized orb.

It had a faint yellow glow and small streaks of what appeared to be electricity dancing inside. Ray willed the System to identify the orb. [Lightning Essence, Rank 3 (Rare)] A light hum could be heard coming from the Essence, and Ray's arm hair stood on end as he reached to pick it up. His fingers tingled as a current of Mana ran up his arm from the Essence.

'Lightning is the only way,' he thought. Ray had been feigning confidence and the influx of knowledge from the System made it easy to follow along, but he couldn't help but notice the significance of this small orb. It was truly the key to actual power. He felt so small. [Absorb Essence?] Ray focused on the System message and immediately raised the orb to his chest. [Essence absorption commencing] A white light erupted from the Essence and a wave of Lightning Mana came pouring out into the room.

It danced until forming a cyclone that funneled toward Ray's diaphragm. Inside of Ray's body, the Soul Core also glowed with a white light as it absorbed the Lightning Mana. The yellow Lightning Mana mixed with the clear Nul Mana, tainting its purity at first. But the yellow slowly cleared as the Nul Mana seemed to eat the Lightning Mana. Once the yellow Mana was all but gone, the orb in Ray's hand began to melt into his chest. Inside Ray's chest, the orb reformed and began to shine with a golden hue.

It shone even brighter than when the absorption first began, pulsating with power. The room was suddenly still and Ray could feel the Mana in his body going haywire. His body felt like it would burst, but suddenly the Mana seemed to stabilize and the Essence in his chest lost most of its luster. Multiple System messages signified the end of the process.

[Essence absorption complete] [Lightning Essence Ability obtained: Bolt] [Bolt: User creates a bolt of lightning that can be used as a projectile, to explode on impact, or for physical enhancement] [Bolt (Rare) Mana usage: medium] [Lightning Mana, Rank 1 (Gold)] [Essence absorbed: 1/7] Ray was neither impressed nor disappointed in the Ability. He knew offensive Abilities were easier to obtain with Rare Essence, but he thought that meant the Ability would be that much more impressive.

Most lower-tier Essence offered Abilities that were utility-based. The personnel informed Ray that he was meant to test out his Ability as soon as he absorbed the Essence, hence why the room looked to be heavily reinforced. He decided to do just that. Ray willed his Ability to activate and brought a closed fist out in front of him. It happened in what felt like only a moment or two, but Ray could feel the Lightning Mana living deep in the Essence begin to pour out and flow into his Soul Core.

The Core then began to feed the Lightning Mana into his Mana Ways. As soon as the Elemental Mana entered his Mana Ways, sparks of golden electricity began to breach his skin on his extended arm. Within another breath of time, what Ray could only describe as a rod of golden lightning had formed inside his arm. He instinctively felt like he could shoot it out or make it explode on impact when he struck something.

The knowledge of the Ability granted by the System felt second nature and he willed the bolt of lightning to hit the wall across the room. The bolt of lightning erupted out of his palm as Ray's hand opened unconsciously. It missed the spot he was aiming for by several inches, but the collision caused a deafening sound to reverberate throughout the room. Boom! A giant scorch mark was left on the wall, but no other visible damage could be seen.

The volume of the blast led Ray to believe that if he were on the receiving end, he would barely be more than chunks of burnt flesh. It was like someone had shot a rocket launcher at the wall. The wall was obviously made of Mana-infused material, but any mundane wall would have been left with a crater in it. The sharp smell left behind by the blast hung in the reinforced room. Ray flexed his hand, half expecting it to hurt, but there was only a faint tingling beneath his skin.

A few days ago, power had been a number on a screen. Now it had left a scorch mark across the room. Ray thought of his Mana reserves and the System obliged with a message. [Mana: 89%]'A little over 10 percent?' he thought.

'That's roughly 9 blasts before I run out of Mana, 10 if my regen speed is good enough.' Ray was rather satisfied with his new Ability. It was good at range and up close. The limits of how it could be used were beyond his current tactical mind. He only hoped he could be just as lucky going forward.