Chapter-8
The Truth of Power
Ha-Jin slowly turned around to come face to face with the statue. He was trembling, not because he was scared but rather because of the energy the "statue" was emanating. It was dark and full of hatred. It took Ha-Jin a moment to realise the statue wasn't the one who had spoken but rather a… spirit?
He could feel the coldness of something circling around him. It sent chills down his spine. "Wh-Who are you?" Ha-Jin asked the spirit roaming around the temple.
"Look kid, I don't have much time, I'll be skipping the introductions and get straight to the point." A voice, from seemingly nowhere, echoed across the temple as Ha-Jin turned towards the voice, finally calming his nerves down, his body getting used to the aura emanated from the spirit.
"No, who are you? Tell me right this mome-" Ha-Jin tried to bark orders at the spirit but he suddenly found himself unable to open his mouth, he brought his hands up to his face, his mouth and lips were there, no doubt, he just couldn't open them.
"Shut up for a moment, I need to tell you something important before he finds me." The spirit said with urgency clear in his tone. "It seems you know about the mana attributes, right?"
There was a soft pause before Ha-Jin nodded and the spirit continued with what he was saying. "Your mana attribute, you don't know what it is, right?"
Ha-Jin nodded once again.
"I can't directly tell you what it is, it would break the rules of the world and will only get you in trouble." He said once again with a pause. Ha-Jin, after supplying his eyes with mana, could see the spirit a bit. It was frantically looking here and there, seemingly looking for something— no, someone.
"See, before this place collapses, turn around quickly and bring all your mana to your core." The spirit said, panic in its voice.
Ha-Jin did just as he was told and turned around, closing his eyes, gathering his mana at the centre from where all his mana was used to conjure spells or augment his body.
Ha-Jin felt a hand on his back as he was thrown towards the wall of the temple with a push, he felt a burning sensation through his body, he grabbed his skin where the core was supposed to be, grovelling on the ground, grunting in pain.
"What is this sensation?... It's worse than Ji-Yeong's magma scorching through my arm!.." Ha-Jin thought, his thoughts slowly fading.
"I hope you'll find your affinity… it's all on you…" The spirit mustered before Ha-Jin saw a golden light shining through the temple and the temple caved in.
Ha-Jin woke up in the real world. He was on the ground of the ring, his shirt was ripped apart, a sharp pain shot through him. He couldn't move his right arm, it was broken and badly damaged.
However, he could feel a newfound power inside him— no, his core. Even X flinched for a moment at the sudden increase in mana inside Ha-Jin. Ha-Jin managed to get up, blood pouring from his nose. "What, you scared because I got stronger? Didn't expect you to be such a pussy." Ha-Jin barked at him, though even he did not know what this newfound power was and how to use it.
He spat blood onto the ring's floor, he could feel his regeneration speed up for a moment.
[User has discovered something anew]
[User has been granted a new attribute]
"Attribute? As in a mana attribute?!" Ha-Jin thought. He was genuinely surprised, it was quite a big achievement to get a mana attribute at such a young age and so quickly at that.
Quickly snapping out of his excitement, Ha-Jin ducked, barely managing to dodge a blow from X that probably would have shattered his skull. Ha-Jin could feel it, X was getting serious, there was serious killing intent that Ha-Jin had to counter with his own mana and killing intent.
Ha-Jin tried to summon water out of his palms but failed miserably as nothing happened and dodged another attack by a hair's length. Ha-Jin tried to punch X but missed, catching a blow right to his ribcage as he puked blood onto the floor. The shattering of his ribcage could clearly be heard even by the crowd of spectators. Some spectators grimaced at the sight while some grinned.
These people really did think of this as entertainment, children killing each other and fighting for their lives. It was sickening to the core, this Interface that had been given to these people to protect themselves was being used for activities as such… to enslave children, torture people and have them fight till they drop dead.
Ha-Jin didn't feel the pain right now, he was pumped full of adrenaline at the moment. He tried to think about what attribute his mana could be as he continued to dodge X's punches and trying to sneak in a hit here and there.
"Fire.. let's try that.." Ha-Jin thought, imagining a burning hot flame in his mind on his legs.
[Martial Art: WTF Taekwondo has been activated]
[Congratulations! You have found your mana affinity!]
[You have been granted the title [Mage]]
Ha-Jin was just as surprised when his left foot managed to hit X square in the face, shattering his mask.
"W-were those… flames?!" Ha-Jin yelled out aloud, unable to contain his excitement. He could only look at X's body on the floor, the shattered pieces of his mask resting on his face, still covering his face.
X slowly got up, revealing a beautiful, almost girl-like face— which he would have surely been mistaken for if it wasn't for the deep and dark look in his blue eyes that when Ha-Jin looked at, almost made him feel sorry for the boy.
However, pushing away the feelings that had surfaced onto his mind, he quickly dashed toward X while he was still surprised.
A loud noise echoed through the crowd as Ha-Jin's knee connected with X's face. However, it felt different. It wasn't his face that Ha-Jin had hit but rather his palm. Ha-Jin had almost forgotten this was the boy who had broken him out of his trance that the system called the Autonomous-Battle Mode.
Ha-Jin broke out of his surprised state and jumped back, doing a cartwheel before landing on his feet as he slapped his palms over his cheeks, knocking him out of his prideful egoistical state.
"Come on Ha-Jin! Don't get fucking cocky! You just landed one hit on the darn guy and it didn't even faze him in the slightest!" He yelled into the distance, pulling himself out of his pride.
The crowd looked dazed from the loud noise. They had not expected the sudden crash out. One of the spectators booed at Ha-Jin, however all there was left the next second was a pile of ashes. The spectator's ashes. This made every spectator sink deeper into their seats and make a mental note to not boo at any of the contestants anymore.
Despite how much Ha-Jin enjoyed using his fire affinity, he had to accept that he wouldn't be able to use this too many times till his body completely adapted to the fire attribute his body had so suddenly unlocked. Even right now, he walked with a slight limp, wincing with every few steps he took. The fire had burnt his leg— not badly, but it sure had its effects.
Ha-Jin took a deep breath and walked towards X, who didn't hit him but rather just looked up meeting his gaze with no trace of fear in his gaze, it was almost… cocky.
Ha-Jin was about to say something before the boy spoke for the first time the entire match. "Just act incapacitated… Why do you want to win so much?... You don't have anybody to protect! You have nothing to fight this hard for! You could just end it all right now but you refuse to do that! You're gonna end up like me, living a life I never asked for!"
Ha-Jin looked down at the boy in surprise. He hadn't expected someone even younger than him to deliver a speech like this, like he had been through everything bad that life had to offer.
Both of them backed up and got into stance, X was going to go all out now, Ha-Jin could tell that much. Though, he was surprised when the boy covered his leg in a coating of earth.
Ha-Jin's hands trembled — not only with fear but also excitement. Almost as if responding to the earth mana released by X, he coated his legs with fire, ignoring the burning sensation in his legs as they both dashed towards each other.